Thoughts at the End of Five Years of the Zambia Project…

Here's some of what I shared in chapel at WA as we end another school year and Zambia Project...

“More than just another year of raising over $100,000, as remarkable as that truly is, I want you to wrestle along with me about the condition of our hearts…and how we think about and respond to the needs we have and others have…and I long for three things to be true about us in light of Jesus’ conversation with an lady caught in adultery and brought before the religious leaders in John 8…

1. Give and Live in Grace that transforms rather than Condemnation that destroys…we don’t throw stones, but encourage one another to sin no more…

2. Become more aware of our own spiritual condition than the sins of others…stop bringing/talking about people in the public square, but rather in vulnerability enter into deep and meaningful conversation…

3. May this be a community where we don’t live in fear, alone, and staying caught…may God bring freedom in the light for those struggling with sexual stuff, those trapped by a lifestyle of alcohol consumption, or marijuana addiction…may those of you who find yourself constantly lying and pretending be able to come forward, find help, and meet Jesus in the dirt…

You see, here’s the deal: my prayer has been and continues to be that our hearts care even more deeply about the orphans and widows in Zambia devastated by AIDS and hunger…and that your heart broken by what you see in Africa will cause you to have a heart that is drawn to talk to and offer shelter to and provide for a homeless person in DuPage County, to be irresistibly drawn to tutor children living in poverty with little love and attention in Carol Stream, to see with new eyes that within a mile or two of our campus are people wondering if they’ll eat today, have housing next month, who don’t know the story and reality of who Jesus is and what He’s done despite hundreds of churches in our area…

I wonder what happened in that woman’s life whom Jesus rescued in John 8—we don’t know from the Scriptural account—but I have a feeling that this encounter with Jesus was a truly life-changing moment for her…and ultimately that’s what we can experience and what we can offer in the next 5 years of the Zambia Project…encounters with Jesus, and all who meet Him will never be the same…