Look—a New Book!
For more than two years Mike Easton, Nathan Sloan, Larry McCrary, and myself have been working on a strategic book titled The Sending Church Applied. It's a followup to our earlier book The Sending Church Defined, and unpacks our seventeen Sending Church Elements (one chapter per element). It's meant to be like a "periodic table" of global missions for the local church, teaching leaders how to cultivate a sending church step by step. We hope it will be a wonderfully helpful resource for churches!
I wish I knew just how many hours I have spent on this project. Not only did I write a large portion of the book, I also served as the senior editor. That means I have read every word and inspected every detail at least a dozen times. And now that it's published, we will be working hard to get the word out over the next few months. Thank you for your prayers—and please continue to do so!
A Trip to Durham
Our Upstream team is almost entirely made up of part-time remote workers in different parts of the country and the world. We have missions pastors, missions organization leaders, work-from-home mothers, and retirees who also devote time to Upstream. So, it's rare for our team to get together in person. However, in August I was able to gather with three other team members in Durham, North Carolina (each coming from Kentucky, Virginia, Iowa, and South Carolina). Our focus was building our relationships and strategizing about the future of Upstream Equipping. We all left encouraged (even despite losing my luggage and having my flights home cancelled 🥴).
Pictured (left to right): with James David Williams (a friend and former student from my time as a youth minister), mid-flight to Durham, with Julius Tennal (a friend and missions pastor at Summit Church)
A Trip to Disney
Over seven years ago my friend Rodney Calfee (who also has all daughters) told us about Chase's Disney credit card, which accrues points toward anything Disney. Since then we have used that credit card, paying it off each month, and building points. Finally, this past month we used our points to pay for a trip to Disney World. This was particularly special because four of the Bell girls have birthdays in August (Katie, Anneliese, Charlotte, and Madeleine). Charlotte and Madeleine, who share a birthday, spent their birthdays at Magic Kingdom.
We enjoyed each other so much as we experienced new things together. Katie and I love investing in our girls' imagination and creativity, which Disney facilitates well. We want them to have the foundation for an expansive faith that's eager to behold the beauty of God all around them. And it was easy to show them how each Disney story unknowingly points to the greatest story of all: the gospel. Most of all, we had a blast!
Pictured (left to right): at Magic Kingdom's castle, Elisabeth and Charlotte in Dino Land, at Animal Kingdom's tree of life, Madeleine's birthday cupcake, with my princesses, Madeleine's "fun exhaustion" 😆
Join Us in Prayer
If you're read this far, I hope you have some satisfaction in the effectiveness of your prayers for us. We have experienced grace upon grace. Thank you!
For September please continue to pray in the following ways:
As I help lead two Upstream cohorts for a dozen missions pastors. One of these cohorts will be hosted in Louisville next week, and the other in Seattle. Missions pastors from all over the country will attend as we equip them to send well from their churches. Pray for my energy and confidence—it's a lot of work and a lot of pressure!
As I attend and speak at MissioNexus’ Mission Leader Conference. MissioNexus is a missions organization for missions organization leaders, but they are expanding their work to churches. Therefore Upstream leaders including me will be attending and speaking (my session is "How to Engage Your Lead Pastor"). Please pray for my teaching and connecting with churches.
For my cross-country train trip to celebrate my 40th birthday. Each milestone birthday I like to do something adventurous, so this month I'll be traveling by train from Chicago to Seattle to San Fransisco and back. It will be a long trek, while also the girls will be visiting a friend in Texas. Pray for safe journeys and for rich reflections on the last forty years.
As always, thanks for your support!
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