Africa
Advent Week 3: Bono on True Religion
I’m preaching from Matthew 11:2-11 this week. It’s one of the lectionary texts for Advent. I remembered this quote from Bono who was preaching speaking at the NAACP Awards in 2008. I generally love U2 and I think Bono is amazing. His theology is far from perfect (but so is yours and mine) but I…
Read MoreThe Mob.
Who do you get when you take a poor person in a slum in Ndola Zambia and give them… a house, a fenced in back yard, a two car garage, cable television with a DVR, two cars for that garage, and a job that pays me well but makes me work 50+ hours a week?…
Read MoreThe Slave Tree in Ndola, Zambia
This summer I went to Zambia to work with a two other pastors from the states and our good friend George Palo who is doing some awesome work there with the Zambian Church. George pastors in Ndola which is about 4 hours north of the capital, Lusaka. Just outside Ndola is a tree known…
Read MoreEcclesia, Africa and Best Western Breakfasts
I’m sitting in the Best Western in Richmond, VA at the continental breakfast bar area. It’s been about 7 minutes since I had one of their breakfast sandwiches and things are already getting interesting in my stomach… but I guess that’s a story for another time… I’m here with Tom Ward of East Point Community…
Read MoreAre You Rioting with the Suburban Mob?
Okay, its been about a half a week since I’ve been back from Zambia. I’ve not done much deep writing around the trip because there is so much in my head that I am just trying to sort it all out. Sunday morning, I preached a mess of a sermon that I am hoping made…
Read MoreFinal Zambia Reflections
I am finally back from Zambia after two weeks of spending time with Pastor George Palo of Harvest City Church in Ndola, Zambia. I have a ton in my head and I have to say that these two weeks will likely turnout to be a watershed moment for the lives of the Hiestands. You’ll have…
Read MoreZambia Update: Saturday, June 21, 2008
I am sitting in nice cosy guest house that we are in and just reflecting a bit on our last two days. Its been an encouraging and challenging two days as we have begun to meet with the Zambian people and specifically some of the church leaders. Last night Tom and I spoke at the…
Read MoreZambia Update: Friday Morning
I only have a limited amount of time here on the web. I have to buy it by the half hour and I’m trying to get as much done in this time as possible. But, not surprisingly, the web is so slow. So, I am going to brain dump as much as a I can…
Read MoreZamba Day 1-3: Sleep, Pot Holes, Victoria Falls
So, after about 36 hours of travel and maybe 2 hours of sleep, we arrived in Lusaka. Sleeping on the plane was harder than I thought so I ended up just watching movies. Five of them. So, I saw: Charlie Wilson’s War, Semi-Pro, Jumper, The Great Debaters, and one more that was apparently very forgettable. …
Read MoreWaiting in JFK
So after a fantastic service at The Well this morning we’ve finally made it up to JFK airport in NYC. (If you weren’t at The Well today… go to our church website and listen to Gary’s sermon on Acts 19. It was fantastic. Definitely worth 29 minutes of your time. I was thinking today during…
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