Today I drove back and forth to Atlanta and visted with the leadership of the North American Mission Board in Georgia. It was good to see some old friends, but it was really not necessary for them to "throw" a fire alarm in my honor. I'd wager $50 that the person who burned the popcorn had a bad rest of the day.

When I take long car drives, I like catch up with appointments and phone calls. Here are a few updates from "Friday is for Friends."

Junias Venugopal, Dean of Columbia International University

Junias Venugopal, Dean at Columbia Biblical Seminary, called today. Columbia is one of my favorite seminaries. They model discipleship, sacrifice, and missions. I have had the privilege to teach there twice and am always amazed at their students and faculty.

Today, Junias told me about some exciting new training. I will share more in the coming days, but there are exciting things coming up from CIU in church planting. Particularly exciting is their new extension in Atlanta.

Ron Krandall, Dean of Asbury Seminary

Ron called today and we talked about church revitalization. Ron is about to add a new resource to the church revitalization field. He wrote a book over a decade ago called Turnaround Strategies for the Small Church. Well, by the end of the year they will republish the book having revisited the same churches 10 years later. Such longitudinal research is incredibly helpful and I look forward to seeing this new research. Well done.

David Platt

Had a great talk with David Platt today, one of the youngest megachurch pastors in the country. (He is 29, though I am guessing he is tired of people point that out.) Christianity Today has a write up on David here.

The church has an amazing and growing global vision. Take a look at their global ministry page here. I believe 1600 of their people were engaged in a global mission project this year.

SBC Voices

The guys who ripped and posted a portion of my SBC sermon on YouTube, making it the 14th most downloaded video on YouTube for one day, have now added me a a "March Madness" contest. I must confess that I am incredibly ignorant to how these kind of contests work (knowing nothing of basketball), but I was told today that I am winning. (I'd like to thank the academy.)

You can correct that lead by voting here. I voted.

The Infinity Alliance is off and running.

Todd Milby, Mission Leader and Teaching Pastor at the Summit Church, shared some exciting news about the launching of the Infinity Alliance.

He wrote:

What does God want for America? Imagine what God could do in your neighborhood, town, city or state if every man, woman, and child who lived there was given the repeated opportunity to see and hear the transformational Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe God wants His church to come together for this mission to reduce lostness in given geographies across America and transform communities with His Gospel. The Infinity Alliance exists to unveil God's Kingdom by reaching every man, woman and child throughout the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by starting and partnering with missional churches. We believe that God not only wants to start new missional churches in our communities but also see the existing expressions of His church mobilized for this mission.

In 2008 Infinity Alliance desires to:
-Establish 5 city movements in US cities where church leaders come together around the mission to reach every man, woman, and child with the Gospel in their geography. (i.e. Mission Columbia, Mission SWFL, Mission Buffalo, etc.)
-Start and/or partner with 300 missional churches in America.
-Establish Renovation Centers in 10 cities in the US with 10-20 projects each (Existing churches or church plants)
-Embrace 5 international joint venture projects around the world where God is initiating national movements to reach every man, woman, and child.

The Strategy

Envisioning

Through relationships and envisioning events, recruit catalytic leaders that will identify a city or region and have the capacity to take responsibility for delivering the gospel to every man, woman, and child as well as participate in international joint venture projects to invest people and resources in saturating another region with the transforming message of Jesus Christ.

Training

Provide resources and personnel to establish Renovation Centers to equip church leaders with missional thinking and practices that reflect a biblical understanding on church and leadership.

Resources

Resource these leaders with the connections, accountability, and strategies needed to fully evangelize their designated geography. (10 Session Manual & DVD Series Releasing March 2008)

For More Info: www.theinfinityalliance.com

Have a great Lord's Day on Sunday!

This whole "Friday is for Photos" thing is intriguing. Unfortunately, I have a tremendous lack of creativity in that area.

I can't even spell "Phriday" the way you should to be hip and trendy.

For better photos, see Joe Thorn, who always has an incredible knack for getting the right shot.

But, I did find one that I wanted to share... and I have been saving it for a couple of weeks now.

So, for my first photo in "Occasionally Friday is for Photos if I Find a Really Good One," I attach this one:

I have a wonderful wife who has given me three wonderful daughters... I am blessed beyond measure. It is interesting how, with three daughters, my life tends to revolve around playhouses.

Good times.