What if I told you I could get them to Western Hills Baptist Church for one day only? Would you show up?

You are going to get a chance.

Seriously, truth is — I can’t get them to physically be there but Leadership Network has made it possible for them to be there via the Web. On September 9th starting at 10.30 in the morning, Leadership Network will be webcasting a unique leader conference called The Nines. It’s a 100 Christian leaders who each get 6 minutes to share with us the biggest GAMECHANGER they have ever experienced.

We’ll be showing it all day long on the BIG SCREEN here at the church and you’re invited. Bring your whole ministry team or use it as a leadership development day for your job or team. Plan on being with us the whole day or just stop in for lunch or a session or two.

In fact – if you are coming for lunch, let me know and I’ll make sure we have some sub sandwiches for you. Drop me an email at genglish AT whillschurch DOT org.

Here is a list of all the speakers.

Here’s a list of FAQs.

Now go put this on your calendar and I’ll see you then.

But I loved the toys and getting to blow things up. I loved having a mission that focused all of our decisions. Loved the leadership development, having a team focused on an important task where much was at stake. Putting our lives into the effort. It really wasn’t just a job. Loved the process of developing leaders — where the goal was to develop people to be better. And I loved serving my country. It was hard but it was rewarding.

What’s this got to do with whyChurch? Over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at Jesus’ mission for the church, what WH is doing to fulfill that mission. We’ll take a trip down memory lane as well as look at the future of what implications His mission has on us.

Here’s a nugget from my notes so far:

The mission of God can be first seen in Genesis 12 with Abram and gets sharper in focus leading up to the arrival of Jesus. Jesus brought a laser focus to His mission by using simple, powerful stories that captured the heart. These simple – not easy – stories were given to us so that the focus would be on DOING the mission, not defining it, dissecting it, or discussing it.

The Past 30, The Next 30
A Little Sacrifice Now…
Why The Debt And Why Now
Exodus 36:5
A Gentle Rebuke

So what happened Sunday? We had over 17k dollars come in towards the debt…which means there is 19k left…which means in the span of 9 months we’ve gone from 100+k in debt to 19k…which means we are on track to be debt free for 2010. Praise God.

The point of it all was not to just get out of debt to get out of debt – which would have been reason enough. The point is for us – the Church – to start putting our money where our vision statement says we put our money – helping people. Being out of debt allows the church to spend money on ministry, in people, helping others.

Next series – whyChurch?

I know this principle applies in multiple areas – sports, education, leadership – but for us we’re applying to the Harvest and the reduction of debt at Western Hill. We’ve called for the church to spend the month of September in prayer – to seek God’s wisdom as to how each of us at WH needs to participate above our normal giving. October we’ll bring it all in.

As we sat around the Creative Team table this week, I was asked to share the decision we’ve made as a family concerning the Harvest with the rest of the church. Giving is one of those areas that I’m always nervous talking to people about. It’s like talking about politics…eventually you’re going to offend somebody.

However, I’m more convinced that the Church is capable of impacting and helping the culture like no other organization in history. We exist to help others in the name of Jesus. Because of the Church’s volunteers, we’re able to do so much more with so much less. I realize this isn’t true of every church and that some (some would argue most) churches exist only to perpetuate themselves. But that’s not true of WH and I think more and more churches are getting the big picture.

That’s why I’m not as bashful asking for money now days. I know how we are going to use it and it will go to helping people. We bought appliances for a single mom last week, we regularly give away grocery cards. We’re helping a local school, a Hispanic church, a Native American mission, and not to mention our Upward sports.

The point is, as long as we understand that getting rid of the debt in and of itself is not the point but ministry is – we’ll be okay. Anyway I can help people see that clearer – I’m all for. Even if it means a few minutes of uncomfortableness telling everyone how we’re giving.

So what are we doing? We’re giving up our weekly night out as a family. We normally grab a night at Qdoba – that money for the next months will go to the debt. Also Amy’s paycheck from working from the school – a sizeable portion of that will go towards the debt as well. Gary talked about how he and Nancy we’re reallocating some of their budget that had either been paid off or no longer needed to the debt.

And so we start. I’m looking forward to hear what God is saying to the rest of us.