The Love Does Tour will raise funds for Restore International, specifically its Restore Leadership Academy in Uganda, providing scholarships, text-books, uniforms, medical care and classrooms for future leaders of Africa. The tour is organized by Venture Expeditions.

Venture exists to “actively engage people in God’s story of Justice

Restore International’s goal is simple: to fight injustice.

The tour is also centered around the good work of Bob Goff  who is the New York Times Best-Selling Author of Love Does, as well as an attorney who founded Restore International.  Goff is all about inspiring current and future influencers to get to the ”do” part of life.  Please join me in praying for these amazing folks as they live “love does!”

You can follow their journey here…Tweets about “#lovedoestour”

at ground zero in joplin, mo as part of the present hope tour with my gopro2 on my helmet

IJM Freedom Tour

Present Hope Tour

if you look back through my videos you’ll find almost all of the footage is done on a gopro. (i’ve got over 2 terabytes of video archived) this story of how the company got started reflects what one person with an idea fueled by passion can accomplish. I use my gopro to capture life…in my bride’s garden-at youth group-on my bike-at youth conferences…i love that it allows me to visually tell stories that otherwise words would somehow seem incomplete. this article by Ryan Mac in Forbes, Five Startup Lessons From GoPro Founder And Billionaire Nick Woodman   Woodman’s story is a crazy one.  several points from his pursuit to perfect the gopro camera stand out.

1) Follow your passions.

2) Fear failure.

Ryan Mac’s interview is worth the watch.

jefferson bethke – Why I hate religion, but love Jesus

jefferson bethke  has done it again…messing with our comfortable view of faith.  a little over a year ago he released his video – Why I hate religion, but love Jesus  that stir much conversation in the Kingdom. His newest effort “messes” too with our comfortable positions and he suggests that most that most of us are really good at “playing the game of neglecting the issues”. i get it.

its only recently in my faith journey that my awareness of biblical justice and compassion for those in need have turned in a new way. That awareness grew exponentially as i rode my bike with a group of 24 incredible men and women-young and mature, 500 miles for the IJM Freedom Tour and the issue of modern-day slavery.

there’s another adventure i’ve been invited into. different, but equally large and has in it, the possibility of focusing on some of those “neglected issues” and impacting deeply the corner of the Kingdom that i’m walking in.   more on that soon…

without a goal…you can’t score
when nothing’s for sure…anything can happen

lots of interesting thots as we close 2012 and step off into 2013.

i

Returning home i learned of the tragedy of Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins.  Pondering the “why” as we all do i stumbled on Kevin Powell’s column on CNN entitled  Manhood, football and suicide

I think Kevin is right on point.  He says we have to teach men to find ways to cope with life’s challenges…

For the past several years, I have privately advised and counseled several professional and amateur athletes, and entertainers, all men, all grappling with very warped definitions of manhood. The recurring theme over and over is fear of expressing themselves fully, fear of letting others down, fear of not being the tough and rugged men they were told they had to be. And on the inside so many of them are damaged as a result. The very definition of manhood they’ve embraced is more an emotional prison than anything else.

There is so much confusion in our culture and the crisis is spreading.  The tension of what I was privileged to at the weekend and the reality of such a tragedy is disconcerting.  I was greatly encouraged by the hearts and minds of those men who attended the weekend.  I was particularly blessed by four young men that were in my small group.  Yet, the tragic event reminds that there remains much.

I want to echo Kevin’s closing thoughts… they are critical here…

We must struggle, harder than ever, as men, as boys, as a nation, to reach the point where a heart-to-heart conversation is the first and only option, not a gun, not gun violence. The lives of Jovan Belcher and Kasandra Perkins will have been in vain completely if we do not go deeper within ourselves to teach and show our sons, our husbands, our boyfriends, our fathers, our men and boys, that there is another way.

I watched a room full of men, over 3 days, move towards “another way”. Hearing stories of how God had saved marriages, restored relationships and brought healing. There is hope, but it will come one man and family at a time. the common theme as we wrapped up was a deeper gratitude for a new sense for some and a restored sense of “freedom” for others.

hat tip to cory and brett

22.5 miles with a total ascent of 177.17 ft and has a maximum elevation of 1,197.51

a cool (literally…about 50 degrees) late fall afternoon ride on the Richland B&O trail. Started in Lexington and headed to the southern trailhead in Butler. Which is also the area that was recently completed repaved. a delightful ride of 22.5 miles.

I”m a evidence-based activist
your heart is not the most important thing…it helps but if your heart hasn’t found a rhyme with your head its of no use.
it’s not charity that fires…its justice which is a higher tougher standard
if you want to change the world it’s not going to take a minute or an hour or a day, but your whole life

aide is just a stopgap – commerce is the future : it’s not aide…its trade.

keeping faith with an idea…America is an idea: we are all created equal. 

life is not endured but enjoyed.

you see something you can’t unsee  this last one, is a phrase that came up in a similar way on the IJM ride…You can’t unknow what you know.  which forces one to ponder what impact you’re going to make.

Bono closes with this quote….“The power of the people is much stronger than the people in power.”- Google executive Wael Ghonim who began a Facebook page that galvanized protest in Egypt’s democratic revolution.

click on this image to go to the Georgetown webcast site. Bono’s talk begins around the 14 minute mark.

Donald Miller listening to some thoughts from David deSilva, Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at ATS

My grad school – Ashland Seminary hosted an evening conversation with Donald Miller Friday, Nov 2nd. The event was hosted at the Vineyard Community Church in Westerville.  With 1,400 folks in attendance it was a great night.

Unknown to Donald was the presence of an old friend. “Iron” Mike Barrow. So Melinda and I and Iron Mike waited around at the end of the evening to get a chance to say hello. We intentionally waited til we were the last in line along with a good friend from ATS, David deSilva a professor who had some really interesting questions and thoughts about “narrative” and “story”.  David is an accomplished author in his own right, some 11 titles he joked as we waited that his thoughts were being offered to Donald whose published works though less in number has sold many more copies.

It was fun to reconnect with Iron Mike who along with myself and Donald share together the experience of a Venture Expeditions tour. Iron Mike and Donald did the inaugural ride for Blood Water Mission Tour 4 years ago from Santa Monica to Delaware. I met Iron Mike and his bride, Joanne at the end of the Present Hope Tour last October, they hosted our daughter Emmah and I and Deb Go and Ben Skoda for dinner as we ended the return to our homes.

Iron Mike and Joanne also encouraged the IJM Freedom Tour with a visit as we trained in Cincinnati. I’m really grateful too that Melinda got an opportunity to meet Mike and Donald (and will someday soon, Joanne) and together spend some time and sharing in this great evening.  Grateful once again for the community that Venture fosters…and truly  a Venture tour —Benefits the World -discover your soul.

I’m excited about the impact that this event had and will have for Ashland Seminary as it leverages its training of leaders for the Kingdom.