On Thursday, October 2, 2008, join Mac Richard and renowned leaders from various walks as they allow all comers to see inside the challenges, triumphs and unbridled truths of leading from the heart. This inaugural gathering is designed for those who desire to plug into a selfless leadership community whose time is now. Spur Conference 2008—-Experience it, then live it.

Looking forward to learning from some of the BEST leaders in the market place and in the church world today. I’m so excited for my good friend, Mac Richard, and his vision for Spur leadership. His line up for this ground breaking conference is out of the park!

I’ll keep you posted on what I learn.

I’m also looking forward to seeing some dear friends, Ed Young, Preston Mitchell, and Bil Cornelius.  I’m grateful to God for all of these men that have impacted my life and sharpened me as a leader.

By the way, if you haven’t registered for the C3 on the Road Conference on October 13th at Northway Church, you can do so here.

My bro and I were homesick, so we decided to come home early to surprise our families. We caught a flight from Hong Kong to JFK, and after 13 hours in the air, I hear that classic song from Elton John… “Rocket Man�…when I heard the lyrics I lost it.

I miss the earth so much… I miss my wife!
It’s lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

I’m such a wuss…I replayed this song over and over again. I’m just not wired to be away from my family. I have traveled more in a short amount of time in 2008 than any other year to date. Some of it was planned…

• C3 Conference in Texas is a staple for me and something I wouldn’t miss!
• China was a stretch but was a once in a life time opportunity that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Those two were planned well in advance…but then if you factor in the health challenges of my father…that you can’t plan. Now, that makes 2 more trips to Springfield, Missouri. The net effect? 4 trips…I have been gone almost a month out of the first 2 and half months of the year! To be honest…I’m so glad to be home. It’s been taxing on my family, my team and my church. I just want to pause and say thank you to ALL of you. Thank you for your patience and having my back. It’s great to be home!

Social Claustrophobia

Every where I look in the cities…I see a sea of swarming people.  From crammed-full, double-decker buses to jam-packed highways full of cars, buses, and bikes, it’s just a way of life over here. The closest thing I have experienced to this is New York City around Christmas time.

And while one of my favorite times to visit New York City is at Christmas time, I don’t think I would function very well in that environment continually.  It always seems to surprise people when they discover I’m introverted. My God-given personality needs                   space.

I’m an internal thinker and processor, and I think I’m overloaded trying to process ALL I have seen and observed. It has definitely been a stretch and challenge for me here. I’m leaving China enriched with many things, one being…having an enormous amount of respect for my sister, Kristin, and my brother-in-law, Jerry.

Food issues

Ok. If you know me, you know I have food issues. With that said, they have been magnified with this trip. Chicken feet, fish eyes, duck…yum yum yum! Excuse me…I can’t tell you the number of times I have thrown up in my mouth. I feel like I’m living in an ongoing episode of Fear Factor

Good news…we found a place that sold western snacks…so we scored some Snickers and Oreos! Thank God! I’m by no means being disrespectful…I’m sure the Chinese think our food is just as gross. It’s just different cultures.

Let me ask you…do you think you could eat chicken feet? Have you ever eaten fish eyes?

Red Lung.

It was almost dark as we were on our way home after visiting the village people. We passed a village, and guess what we saw? Another basketball court! A chance to redeem myself! Jerry pulled over…and you should have seen their faces as John, Jerry and I walked on the court.

3 white giants against 6 village dudes. No air balls this time. Get this…after you make a shot or move, they would clap for you! I love that! They thought I was Michael Jordan…only 100lbs heavier. We dominated, and we had so much fun…until we got back in the car.

I forgot that we were playing 6500 feet above sea level. Dude, I think I coughed up a lung. All of us were barking the whole way home…it’s 2 days later, and I’m still hurting. My lungs are on fire!

Besides traveling…and the 13 hour time difference between home and here…yesterday, I traveled back in time thousands of years. The villages here are incredible, and the village people…(not the YMCA ones)…are remarkable!

I am blown away with their work ethic and their hospitality!

Work ethic: If you ever think your job is hard…try climbing mountains…6500 feet above sea level…to farm land in between rock, sun-up to sun-down with a water buffalo as your tractor. Every day…the same thing over and over agin. These village people are amazing!

Hospitality: I have been asked repeatedly to stay the night at the homes of complete strangers. Here is the deal…they are not just saying it…they mean it! Come and eat our food…come and spend the night…and then they want to send you away with gifts!

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel back in time and experience this first hand.  But, we all would be well-served in America to learn from the Chinese…to get back to the future of work ethic and hospitality that transcend time and space.

Spiritually Speechless

Went to a village Wednesday, and what I saw left me spiritually speechless. That’s really all I can say…I’ll share more as I have a chance to process it…

Beyond belief!

After 30 hours of traveling and the 13 hour time difference …I’m still trying to process that I’m literally on the other side of the world. I have never been more out of place or have stuck out more in a crowd. I can’t understand what anybody is saying…it sounds like everyone is cussing at me. I don’t get the food here at all…I think I’ll lose weight this week…but guess what? I LOVE IT!

The people in China are the BEST! So hospitable! So Friendly. I heard that 85 percent of the 1.5 billion people that live here live in villages. That is where we are spending most of our time. Get this… yesterday…my first real coherent day here…we went to a village where they didn’t speak mandarin. The village is almost impossible to get to…and you will never believe what they had in the middle of the village. A basketball court! They were having a basketball tournament…it was incredible…all of the surrounding villages came to watch. I wanted to play so bad…so I went down thru the crowd at half time with Jerry. The whole crowd went…oooohhhh…it was like something out of a movie. I grabbed the basketball…and you feel the crowd crescendo in anticipation of this huge white foreigner.

I thought…I was born for this moment! They think I’m Larry Legend. The great white hope! I went to the three point line for my first shot…took a couple of dribbles and then…the sweet release…perfect form…the ball left my hands…the perfect follow thru…the ball floating in the air with perfect back spin…the crowd leaned in…it felt great…as a shooter you can just tell…what happened next?

AIR BALL! I’m talking like 5 feet short! You could hear the disappointment in the crowd. So I shook it off…and took another shot…

Another stinking air ball! I totally didn’t represent…sorry Amercia!

This past fall I did a message series at Northway that changed the trajectory of our church and my life called “ Live Different.� The premise was, life is short… live different. One of the topics was listing goals on your own dream list…stuff that you wanted to accomplish before you die. Mind you, this was before the movie Bucket List came out and ripped off our series! I want royalties, dude!

One of the things on my own dream list was going to China someday to see my sister, Kristin, and my brother-in-law, Jerry. Besides being family, they are dear friends and have influenced my life in an unparalleled way! The reason for writing your goals and dreams down is that we can find every reason and excuse not to move toward our dreams.

Setting goals gives you traction towards your dreams…dreams are the destination and goals are how you get there.

Well my bro, John, has been asking me for a while to go to China with him. If you know my bro, he is one persistent dude. I told him, “John I would love to…but I just don’t have time.” Well, that dog wouldn’t hunt anymore after our Live Different series.

When am I ever going to find time to go to China? In my next life? So I caved and committed, and guess what?

Dude, I’m in China!

I have limited access to the internet, but I’ll try to keep you posted as much as I can. I’m taking plenty of pics…and rough video as well that I’ll share later.