The weekend in Mexico was a straight-forward project. Nineteen men were able to respond to the call this weekend. Many others wanted but could not participate this time but will participate on future trips. The call was simple...

"There's got to be something bigger than you and I at work..."

"I was born in South Africa to an orthodox Jewish family...became addicted to methamphetamine when I was 17..."

"I was a runaway at the age of twelve, on the streets at fourteen...I got preyed upon...I resigned myself to the fact that meth was going to kill me...People had lost hope on me...I didn't need someone to tell me I was forgiven...I needed to feel forgiven."

I've had the unique privilege of spending a lot of time during the past month thinking and planning the communications aspects of this new series, "Out of the Bubble." In other words, I had a pretty good idea of what Dave was going to share before he spoke. I have to admit that from the moment I learned of the concept of the bubble, I just didn't want to believe that I could possibly be that kind of person/Christian/follower of Jesus. Ha!

In Dave's message this weekend, he reflected on the Willow Creek Arts Conference where Nancy Beach called us to reflect on "living in the contradiction," the place where our faith must meet real-life storms face-to-face...the place where it gets personal between us and God.

As teens and young adults flocked to beaches and lakes for Spring Break '07, I had the privilege of taking 20 of our high school students and leaders on a work and witness trip in Maneaderos, Mexico. We joined up with a team of 20 parents to build a children's room for La Iglesia de Nazareno, a Nazarene church in the heart of Maneaderos. As the weekend passed, we realized this trip was about more than just building a room - it was about the awesome relationships that we formed with the pastor and the people in the church.