một, hai, ba ...

Travel travel travel.

In the middle of city #1 out of 4 in the next couple weeks. South of LA right now at Catalyst West Coast conference. Tomorrow morning I'll be sharing the stage with Naomi Zacharias - her father Ravi spoke this afternoon - and Jeannie Mai; two incredible women who are also involved in fighting sex trafficking.

On another note, some amazing things happening with a particularly violent case we've been working against in South Asia - details and prayers over at www.ijminstitute.org WIsh I could give more specifics, but we have to keep things secure so that the operation can continue to full success.

Missing my boys a ton... trying to keep the right perspective while I'm away from them multiple times over the next weeks. Be fully present where I am, trust the Lord to care for our family, and be fully present when I am home. And not fear. Fear not... my watchword. I always appreciate your prayers for us, especially as we have so much on our plate as a family right now. Hope to post some fun pics soon.

Set Design

Beckham, on location at the 2009 GPG, setting up for the Saturday night experience with special guests Sara Groves, Sharon Cohn Wu, and an undisclosed (for security) field office director. He was quite the stage hand!

Silly Me...

I have a blogroll (short, but still...) and yet I neglected to put IJM's blog that I run on it. Changed that.

Daily posts over at www.ijminstitute.org - let me know what you think!

Baby Shoes = Rescued Child Slaves?

So great - just found this blog promoting Robee-like shoes that are more durable, half the price ($15!), made in USA (increasingly important to me given all the disturbing news on China products as of late), and...

GIVES 5% of the proceeds to IJM! 

(IJM/International Justice Mission is the org. I work for that rescues children, among others, from slavery and other forms of violent injustice).

http://michereviews.blogspot.com/2008/10/bugaloo-kids-soft-soled-shoes.html

Coming Soon...

Hopefully tonight:  Update on my travels from the past week. It was an incredible whirlwind.  And a total heartbreak to be away from Beckham. I planned to blog every day, but every moment was packed and I barely slept.  Definitely unexpected, but great.

All blogging energy over the past week went toward launching the new IJM Institute and writing for the Willow Creek Leadership Summit - you can check out both of these at www.ijminstitute.org and http://wall.willowcreek.com/nextSteps/index.asp

On the Leadership Summit page, you'll find them selling a audio download of me preaching. Also, I served as a Guest Blogger responding to Gary Haugen and Chuck Colson - if those posts are not up on Willow's site yet, they should be very soon.

Let me know what you think!

Now... back to Beckham :-)

Am I sensing a theme here?

Over the next week you may notice two things happening here on my blog:

1) Beckham photos popping up as much as possible as I cathartically prepare for and endure my first extended travel without him. If you are reading this, please begin praying for us (mostly me, I'm sure) now!!

2) Repeated references to IJM first official blog... it's going public mid-week!

Without Your Permission.

Thanks to Jeff Shinabarger and Gabe Lyons who created the Q Conference, I first heard Justin Dillon's vision for this movement and film in the spring of 2007.  Tomorrow night Justin, IJM, and Different Drummer have packed-out the Rosslyn Spectrum for a screening of this film. You can guarantee I'll be there. 

As Emmanuel Jal, an artist in the film, has said, "Music is powerful. It is the only thing that can speak into your mind, your heart and your soul without your permission." In this film, music speaks to you about slavery.  About abolition. And without seeking your permission, it will compel you to move. To act. To commit to the journey, no matter how long it takes.

Blogging the Leadership Summit

Just had a fantastic phone conversation with staff over at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.  They have been a deep encouragement to IJM in our planning and preparations. Right now we're conspiring together to co-host a blogger rendezvous (let me know if you're interested). 

Really looking forward to being at the Summit with my team -- Gary Haugen will be speaking the first morning, then doing a live Q&A with Bill Hybels.  We'll also be rolling out the new IJM Institute blog - its in final design stage as we speak!