I checked the stats on our Connexus website the other day and was a bit shocked at what I saw using Google Analytics. Adjusted to accommodate the size of our countries, twice as many Americans per capita visit Connexus online as Canadians. Isn't it amazing to know we are being cheered on and lifted up in prayer by people who might never visit us (although so many indicate they want to make the trip!).

This week, leaders from many countries will gather at Drive. Last week, I spent time with church leaders from South Africa and met other leaders from New Zealand and leaders who work in Africa and elsewhere.

So here's what I'm asking you to do this week.  Can you pray for countries?  Pray for those where sharing faith is harder. Please do pray for Canada, that God would ignite a huge movement that would see millions more discover what a growing relationship with Jesus means. Also pray for our friends in Africa (I had three emails this week alone from Connexus people investing in mission in Africa), for our friends all over the world who are persevering in the name of Jesus under intense circumstances.

We are all part of something so much bigger than ourselves.  God is showing up all over the planet, and we are being cheered on and prayed for by people all over the place.  Let's return the favour.

It's been a full year since Toni and I have have gotten away together for a vacation with just the two of us.  As we were driving around Atlanta yesterday it just kind of dawned on us: these eight days together have been the longest the two of us have been away together since we had kids, which in our case is 16 years. While we're both crazy about our boys and love our home community, I can't tell you how good it was for us to get away together.  I'm so grateful my parents were willing to move in and do life with our guys for a week so Toni could come with me! 

It made the Orange Conference so much more meaningful for me.  We had a few days to hang out and go hiking (one of her favourite things) in the North Georgia mountains, and a few days to hang out with some of our Atlanta friends. 

The one thing these eight days gave us as a couple was margin. Yeah, I had a bunch of talks to do, but we actually had several days where our huge agenda for the day was NOTHING.  It was great.  We got to talk about things we don't usually have time to talk about thing.  And we did this really novel thing: we just enjoyed being together without the pressures that usually arise when we're at home.  It moved us well beyond the place of surviving (which is what life can feel like sometimes) and into a place of thriving.

As I was driving her to the airport, we realized how important our date nights are (usually just a few hours out for coffee, a bike ride or dinner).  We saw so clearly how important it is for us to get away with just the two of us even in small snippets.   

I know life is crazy (and not everyone has parents nearby willing to help), but even applied to your context, here's my question: what kind of margin are you making to nurture the most important relationships in your life?

Orange is about helping church leaders to work together with parents to raise our kids morally and spiritually.  I also think it's a huge front door that God is opening into communities world wide.  Think about it:  the average parent who doesn't go to church rarely lies awake at night wondering what a lead pastor is going to speak about next, but the average parent who doesn't go to church lies awake at night wondering whether their kids are going to be okay.  If we come alongside parents and simply say "we care about the same things you do", it opens conversations that might never happen otherwise.

It's what makes me so thrilled to be part of Connexus at home, and so excited to see thousands of church leaders catch a vision for what could be as we partner with parents to help their kids become everything God dreams of us being.

This is more than a conference...it feels much more like a movement. 

Orangeologists...what potential do you see?

Today we'll hear from people like Francis Chan and Donald Miller.  I'm teaching on how to simplify your church ministry model and doing  breakout together with Reggie Joiner about what it was like to work with Andy Stanley and what we can learn from that (which is kind of interesting, since I've never worked directly for Andy Stanley, but I guess that means' I'm the 'here are the principles we can learn about this' kind of guy.)

Plus, today our friends from Global TV are hanging out with me all day today.  They are filiming today as part of the one hour Kevin Newman special they are creating on what churches are doing to reach people who don't go to church.

Hey, Connexus friends - once again your story is being told at Orange to encourage other leaders to take bold risks.  There's a two page write up in the Orange Conference book about your incredible faith in starting Connexus.  Reggie also had fun explaining why we left a building we built to move into a theater church so that, like a loving father, we could reach more people who were missing.  I'm so grateful for you and proud of you!

If you want pics, check out Dan Scott's blog.

Hey, one last but most important thing - happy birthday to my completely sweet bride, Toni! It will be great to hang out together again today.

Toni and I went to Buckhead Church this morning (awesome service!!), which is in the Buckhead neighbourhood of uptown Atlanta.  I saw the most disorienting thing.  The line up of cars to get into the Buckhead parking lot went on for a block, which was cool.  I've seen that kind of thing before at North Point,  Willow Creek, Kensington and other great ministries I've been to on Sundays (a few times over the years it even happened in our neighbourhood).  But Buckhead is not a suburban church on 100 acres of land.  It's urban. There are other buildings and shopping malls and stores all around it.

As Toni and left Buckhead church this morning, here's what killed me -- the rest of the streets were empty.  The mall parking lots were empty (even though the stores were open).  The MAIN thing happening Sunday morning was that people were gathering to worship God in a relevant environment - and they were inviting their friends.   (Buckhead has  ton of people who didn't used to go to church.)

I dream of that day in my country.  Malls empty.  Churches full. People being sucked out of the malls and beaches (and hockey rinks) to experience the life change that only Jesus brings.  God, bring it on!

So I get there, all anticipatory, excited.  The person behind the counter tells me they are all out of vanilla.  The last time I was at that Second Cup, they were out of latte.  Yep.  Their machine was broken.  Now this is an airport kiosk, but I couldn't believe it.  It's like going to church and being told that sorry, we're all out of Jesus this week.

Actually, it made me wonder how many people come to our churches looking for Jesus only to find we didn't point to him that week.  Got to think about that one.

And there are no Second Cups in the US.  Guess I can't wait to get home to Canada.

I love that in several days 4000 church leaders are going to gather north of Atlanta for the Orange Conference.  Think about that - 4000 people who if deployed in their communities with a fresh passion and hunger for Jesus could turn things upside down.

I love having much of my life consumed by a big mission - one too big for me along to carry out.  I love being swept up not only by a HUGELY loving God, but by millions of others who know Him and love Him and want to change the world.  Otherwise, I fear I would retreat into my little selfish cocoon and make my whole 70whatever years about me and my wishes.  Blech.

Where are you today?  On the edge of something large?  Do you sense the hugeness of God's love (were talking about love, baby, at Orange this year)?  Do you sense God is calling you to be part of something HUGE - His plan for the world?

God, let my life get consumed by YOU.  Somehow at Connexus, we get to play our part of that much bigger whole.  Somehow at Orange (and a week from now at Drive), we'll get another glimpse into how LARGE our God really is.

                - David Crowder

So Toni and I are leaving tonight to go to Atlanta for a couple of weeks.  So it's that crazy "work twice as hard before you go and work twice as hard when you get back to make up for being away" kind of deal.

I woke up exhausted today. My temptation was to run into the office at 6:30 a.m. and just plow through all the writing I need to do for Connexus before I leave (some key documents and oh, yeah, that preaching stuff that's going to ROCK in May). But I took some time with my one year Bible and took some time to pray.  Then I jumped on the treadmill and ran for 30 minutes, iPod on and David Crowder loud.  At first, I thought "there's no way I can run for half an hour".  But the end, my pulse was racing, I increased my top run speed and I felt great.  Fantastic.

Martin Luther said it well hundreds of years ago when he said "I have so much to do today I can't imagine not praying for 3 hours before my day begins."  I wasn't at the three hour mark today (or most days, honestly), but he's so onto the right stuff.  God gives you energy.  Incredible energy.  And since I'm sure Martin Luther chopped wood or something and I mostly eat chop suey, the treadmill thing is more necessary in my life than in his.

God gives me energy (incredible energy).  Fitness gives me energy (admittedly this is very new in my life).  And people give me energy. I get particularly energized by volunteers who are on-mission and living it out and leaders in general who are sold out to the cause of Christ.

I'm excited to be able to share some talks this year at the Orange and Drive Conferences in Atlanta.  The leadership community that gathers for those events is nothing short of dynamite.  I would appreciate your prayers for Toni and I as we head out, for our Connexus team here (great things are lined up for the next two weekends here at home -- don't miss them!!) and for those from Connexus heading down, for all the speakers at the events and for the leaders who will gather. I'll blog the happenings. In the meantime, I continue to pray this:  God, move.

I have the opportunity to have dinner tomorrow night with Erwin McManus.  He's in Toronto for a conference and a few of us have been invited for dinner - an opportunity I'm so grateful for. I've heard Erwin speak before and he challenges me deeply.  Read some of his books and again he challenges me deeply all over again.  He just gets Jesus.

Often when I meet great leaders who have influenced me and I get a chance to interact with them, my brain goes to mush and I really don't know what to say or ask. Bad leverage of a God-given opportunity.  Also, I usually learn so much I always wish dozens of others were there with me to hear what was said.

So, I'd love for you to submit one question you'd love to ask Erwin if you were at the table.  (Got this idea from my friend Jay Hardwick who has also met some really cool leaders). I'll pick a question and will share the answer, plus some highlights from his talk at the conference later that night.  If you were at the table with this man God is using so powerfully, what would you ask him?

P.S.  I'm really excited about going to Muskoka tonight to talk with some leaders there about the launch of a Connexus campus in that region.  Pray for us.  Many of us have been praying about this for years.

When we were working on some upcoming projects, Reggie shared a simple story about a dad who took his son to breakfast every Saturday.  As his son grew older, his dad began to doubt whether the breakfasts meant anything any more.  Mostly they wouldn't have much to say. 

One day when the dad was with his teenage son, he said "You know, why don't we just pass on the breakfast this week.  I can understand if you've got other things you'd rather be doing."  The son stopped and looked confused.  "Dad," he shot back.  "Why?'   "Well" his dad said, "I can understand if don't really enjoy spending time with me anymore."  "Dad," his son responded, "That's the most meaningful time I spend anywhere all week."

I think most of us underestimate the positive impact we have on others.  I think most of us feel we undercontribute in this life, that God isn't using even what we offer to Him.

Quick message of encouragement today.  Believe.  Believe God is using you as you seek to do good in His name. 

There are a lot of reasons for you to stop doing the right thing right now, and only one that would keep you going:  God. 

Believe.