This weekend Lindsay, Asher and I will be heading to thebridge in Iowa, where I’ve been given the opportunity to preach. We’re pumped about this. Making the weekend even more exciting is the fact that this is the preaching equivalent to a substitute teaching assignment or a blind date. Here’s how pastor Marty Schmidt explains it:
Back in March we brought Lon Wong in as a guest teacher at thebridge. Prior to Lon’s visit I had only known him through his blog. I was energized by how his mind worked and thought he would be a great catalyst for us at thebridge. We were not disappointed. Lon flew in dropped an awesome message on us and went back to that small city in Canada known as Toronto (which by the way will be hosting an NFL game this year!).
I wasn’t all that sure we would do something like this again. It felt like it was one of those God ordained moments that was a one and done. But over the past few months the promptings reemerged and I was again led to toss an invitation to teach at thebridge to someone I had never met before. After some prayer on both sides, AJ has agreed to drive up from his small city of Kansas City (which by the way will be hosting 8 NFL games this year – no playoffs for you Chiefs fans) to visit us in Ottumwa and guest teach next week. We have been praying for him and his family the past few weeks and are super stoked about what he has for us.
I haven’t apprised Marty of the fact that I’m a militant KU hoops fan, a fact I plan to unveil about halfway through the message. More seriously, we really appreciate the generosity and faith behind this invitation. If you think of it, pray for me. I’ll let you know how my shtick goes over.
cool blog dude, i’ll be following along!
Long before you opened your mega-church and were on the bestseller lists in both non-fiction and fiction, I knew you when.
Have a good safe trip and bring the message to the masses!
Will
Good luck! Please keep me in your prayers. I’m leaving Saturday morning for Temiscaming, Quebec. A small village, just 5 hours north of Toronto.
@ Lon. Thanks, and same for you!
@ Will, thanks for the well wishes, dude. Don’t necessarily hold your breath on the megachurch, though. I’ll see what I can do about the books. Hey, how bouts I just get published first?
@ Spyder, thanks! I’ll absolutely pray for your trip to Quebec.
Small world, Ive been keeping up with your blog for a few months, I forget how I found it. Anyway, the Ottumwa church plant is one of our denominational connections here in central Iowa. Kinda fun to see random crossing of paths in God’s world.
Sub pastor. Cool. Let me know how it goes! (you should bring a copy of your message to church)
N8 T8
@ Mark, I agree, I get stoked when I see all kinds of people connecting in order to get churches planted and the gospel on the move. It’s awesome.
@ N8, I think the MP3 will be posted online, so if it goes up, I’ll link it to give myself some self-inflicted humility. God was good, though. I think it went well.
[...] saw that AJ had some fun comments leading into this past weekends visit to thebridge here. What was crazy cool about the weekend for me is that I am continually being confirmed by others [...]