Charlie Wear’s Notes

Last Thursday weird weather struck in my "hometown," Moreno Valley. When I started home from work I didn’t know that two tornadoes had touched down. One of them blew a tractor-trailer over and derailed a train. It touched down about 5 miles from my backyard. We also had hail the size of garbanzo beans which left a pretty amazing landscape for a May afternoon in Southern California.

I had to turn around and take alternate routes twice on the way home because of flooding. Some of it on the nearest cross street, Cottonwood Ave. The water left a nice reflection pond on the concrete that used to be the Moreno Valley Skate Ministry. I’ve already sent an email to Mr. Gore telling him this global warming stuff has got to stop!

I think it is rare to find leaders that we can truly look up to. One of my heroes is a pastor named Larry Kapchinsky. Besides his many years of steady pastoral leadership of the church he started in the 1980s he has put some meaning into the word “missional.”

In 1991, after the fall of Communism opened up the door to humanitarian aid to Russia, Larry gathered a group of other concerned individuals and began traveling to Russia, hand delivering basic essential to Russian orphans. As word spread about the deplorable conditions in these orphanages, the number of volunteers and volume of relief donations increased exponentially. People saw the need and were moved to action.

Larry Kapchinsky

From these beginnings, KidCare International, a relationship-based humanitarian aid organization was born. It’s mission: to equip and empower desperately disadvantaged children to lead lives of purpose, service, and leadership through sustainable programs and strategic partnerships. Larry has challenged people to “do something about it.”

In the emerging church there is plenty of talk about being missional. If missional communities are looking for role models, Larry Kapchinsky and KidCare International are a good place to start. Larry started by responding to the call of the Holy Spirit and then followed up by putting “boots on the ground.”

Sophia

This year KidCare celebrates 15 years of service. Last Friday night they held their annual fundraising dinner and Larry invited me to attend. I was moved by the stories. In Arusha, Tanzania, 12-yr.-old Sophia knows nothing of the cost of food, gasoline, or the housing market crisis. Her only question was, “What will I do now my mother is dead?” Sophia is an AIDS orphan. She had been sold to a 60-yr.old man with 9 other wives. She gathered unusual courage and ran away, escaping to a shelter supported by KidCare. There she found hope and encouragement to continue her education.

So you want to be missional and you are not sure where to start? Study KidCare International. Learn from them and participate with them.

I’d like to write something profound, but what can I say? It’s Monday morning. I checked in with some of my favorite bloggers for some inspiration: Andrew Jones, Jordon Cooper, Bob Hyatt and Chris Elrod. Lot’s of profound stuff there, that’s for sure.

I took a moment to drop by my good friend, Scott Bane’s blog, just wanted to see if he had posted anything new since he was looking for apostles on April 2. Of course I can’t blame him, I usually eke out about one post every week. He and his wife Sheryl had a new baby daughter to go with their three boys in the last few weeks. And according to Sheryl’s blog, Aisling doesn’t like to sleep very much and really enjoys exercising her lungs! Scott and his family are gearing up to move and plant a church staring in June. Wow!

Last week my wife decided we should go camping. There is a lake about 15 minutes from our house and before I knew it, I was getting a message, "We are camped at site 423, see you tonight." Sleeping on an air mattress, even if it is a queen-sized Coleman is a challenge for me these days. But there we were, Ben, Loretta, Opie (our dog) and I. It was cozy, that’s for sure. Getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom was really fun! My favorite part, telling bedtime stories just before we went to sleep. We all took a turn.

Yesterday we took the cover off the hot springs spa in our backyard. Bailed out the old and dirty water, cleaned it, filled it and heated it up enough to enjoy a good soak. It was Mother’s day. Loretta got a card from Walmart, some purple petunias, and a day cleaning a spa! A board broke and I fell through the deck, but recovered enough to help bail out the water. We had two hoses siphoning for about 3 hours and the level lowered about 4 inches. Thirty minutes of bailing and the tub was empty. The payoff was sitting in warm water, wind rustling through the trees in the twilight. Maybe that is about as profound as things got this weekend…

I did find some inspiration in this video by Martina McBride.

I always learn something from Jordon Cooper’s Contextless Links. Today’s lesson was a link to Brad Bird’s list of ways to foster innovation. Boy, there is some good stuff there. Because I have a five-yr. old I know a lot about Pixar products! I have watched the Incredibles numerous times and, I have to admit, I love the movie. What has made Pixar special is their ability to tell a great story using animation.

Ben’s favorite from last summer was "Meet the Robinsons.’ " Companies like Pixar always look like they would be fun to work for. Much more fun than any of the companies or organizations I have worked for. People scoot around on scooters and spend the day drawing pictures and making up stories. Doesn’t that sound like fun. Maybe I can get a job in a place like that when I grow up!