Just wanted to let you all know that I'll be speaking at Grace Church in Mooresville this Sunday, on the topic "ReThink Church". It's a sermon intended to challenge our assumptions about what it means to be the Church today and broaden our understanding of how to make a difference in our world.
If you're in the neighborhood and want to stop in, be sure to come on over. The services times are 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. For more information and directions, click here.
Hope to you see you there. 
Sorry for the extended absence, friends, but I've been forced into survival mode for a while.
Ever have one of those periods that borders on the catastrophic--and forces you to reevaluate many things, even your whole life? I've only had a few in my truly fortunate 36 trips around the sun. But this last week happened to be one. The least significant of events has been the last few days which find me battling my annual bout of strep throat (a 102.7 degree fever, chills, severe sore throat, the usual...). But that has been coupled with a series of other things which have significantly compounded our life situation at the moment.
Last week, Caleb and I survived a very serious car crash, which totaled the vehicle I was driving. But for God's grace, we were not seriously injured (though Caleb did have to have a couple of stitches over his right eye). Had the point of impact with the other vehicle been a few feet either way, we would have either hit the other driver head-on, or he would have hit us directly where Caleb was sittting. Either one of us could have been seriously hurt or killed. Beyond all of this, there are some other more significant things that I'm having to deal with as well. So, for those of you who are inclined to pray, I and my family would covet your prayers right now as we slowly, but surely, navigate these circumstances which have converged at this time and seek to fully embrace all that God is trying to teach us.
Thanks for your patience. I'll be back as soon as I can.
Hey all, just a quick update to let you know that I won't be able to round out the experience down here at Catalyst this year until later this weekend. We are leaving right after the event ends at 5:30 p.m. and deadheadin' through the night to get back to Indy sometime early tomorrow morning. So, once I recover from the self-induced coma, I'll share of the content from this final day of Catalyst, including the mind-blowing exchange we observed earlier this morning. It was amazing to watch! More later, including some great leadership content from Dave Ramsey, Chuck Swindoll, Louie Giglio, and Andy Stanley (as well as Mac Powell from Third Day)... See you when we get back to Indy.
First of all, I hope you all had a good and restful weekend. The Crane clan took our annual overnight trip up to the Dunes here in Indiana, and had a great time. I had intended to do a better job of staying on top of the blog, but "the best laid plans of mice and men..." as they say.
Anyway, I mentioned last Friday that I'm starting into a busy season of speaking and teaching. Tomorrow evening (Wednesday, September 9 @ 6:30p.m.), I'm starting an 8-week teaching series entitled, "Back to the Basics" at the church were I was formerly on staff, Light and Life Free Methodist Church. The essence of the series (beyond sharing some of my experiences in Oxford last summer) is to explore what it means to live out a real, vibrant, and relevant Christian faith in today's world. This is not your typical "church class".
For those of you on the westside of Indianapolis, feel free to stop on by if you're in the neighborhood. I know it will be challenging, and I trust it will have you considering (or reconsidering) Christianity through a whole new lens. Hope to see you there.
I'm getting ready to head into a very busy season of speaking and writing. As some of you know, I've been working for a while on developing a small group curriculum series designed to help people who are wanting to learn how to better apply their Christian faith to their daily life in a real and relevant way. As a part of that process, I'll be teaching that series over 8 weeks at both Light and Life Free Methodist Church (on Wednesdays, starting September 9th) and Kingsway Christian Church (on Sundays, starting September 20th). If you are in the Indianapolis area, I would encourage you be a part of either one of those experiences.
In addition, I'll be speaking at The Journey church in Brownsburg, IN next Sunday, September 13th.
And one event that is not on the official schedule is that I'll be teaching the "Growing Deeper" class at Kingsway this coming Sunday, September 6th at 10:30 a.m. It will be focused on looking at Dr. John Caldwell's sermon, "Saving the Family", in more depth, exploring what it means to lead our families in cultivating a godly home.
For more on the details, be sure to check out my Speaking Schedule page. You're always welcome to come to any of these events. I trust they will prove to be beneficial to you. I hope to see you there.
In the meantime, have a safe and restful Labor Day weekend. Just be sure to keep the R & R to a maximum and the labor to a minimum. :)
It's official! I...FINALLY...HAVE...A...REAL...JOB!!! (You can only imagine how happy my wife, Jean, is. And how happy I am because of that! :)
Even I can't believe it, but it's true. As of last week, I have secured full-time employment for the foreseeable future. It only took 13 months, much, much longer than I ever anticipated. :)
I was just hired as the Executive Director of the Sagamore Student Leadership Initiative. Some of you may already be aware of this student development start-up idea. I've been talking about my having been working for quite a while with a committed group of leaders here in Indianapolis to see about getting it off the ground. (In looking back at my notes, I was surprised to discover that we have been slowly-but-surely moving this idea forward since September of 2005).
Briefly, the SSLI is an organization that is dedicated to equipping next-generation leaders to exercise strategic leadership in the culture. It centers around educating them on who we are as a country and culture--teaching them to understand and respect our past in order to impact our future. Incorporated in this effort is also the opportunity to help young people begin to recognize their passions and calling in life, develop certain fundamental leadership skills, and pursue those passions in whatever endeavor they pursue in the culture (e.g. media, journalism, law, business, education, politics, science, sports, etc.).
I must say, I'm very excited about this opportunity to be able to impact the next generation of leaders to go out and make a lasting difference in the world. (We certainly need that kind of positive influence.) But this endeavor is not without it's significant challenges. (So don't be surprised if many of you begin to hear from me, since I'll be reaching out to anyone and everyone who I think may be able to help us out with this effort. :) Right now, we have no website yet, no real office yet, no letterhead, no staff...not even a stapler. But at least we have the first and only employee, ME! :) The rest are minor details by comparison and will be taken care of in due time.
I will be posting a more personal follow-up this week on all of this, but for now, I wanted you all to at least be aware that Yours Truly (and the rest of the family) are finally off the bread line. :)
I'll be down in Mooresville, IN tomorrow morning speaking at the Mooresville Free Methodist Church on the idea of transformation. Their service starts at 10:00 a.m. for any of you in the greater Indianapolis area who might be inclined to come. If so, you can mapquest directions to their address at 20 Star Lane, Mooresville, IN 46158.
This week was Faith, Hope and Love week here in Indianapolis. This effort was started 5 years ago by Merlin Gonzales, who first began a faith-based organization by the same name which has since expanded far beyond his original expectations. Each summer in July, Faith, Hope, and Love brings people together from different churches, businesses, and other organizations for a week of giving back to our community. Incredibly, there have been between 1,200-1,500 volunteers who have been actively serving the greater Indianapolis community this week.
Brother Ethan has been actively involved in this organization for some time, and as such, is always ready to recruit members of the family at every available opportunity. :) Thus, I gave a talk to one of the group of volunteers on Wednesday, and then I had an opportunity to take the boys out and join in the community service activities (which The Indianapolis Star happened to catch with some pictures and a nice little write-up in today's paper--and fortunately, all of the boys got into the press action, when the Star accidently labeled a picture of Caleb using Andrew's name, so everyone was happy. :)
If those of you in Indy are ever interested in helping with Faith, Hope and Love organization, you can find more information here. And whether it's working with FHL or not, the important this is that we are all continually looking for opportunities to reach out and help our neighbors.
As Lee Greenwood would sing. I'm leaving later this morning to head up to Minnesota via the Megabus to catch up with Jean and the kids. I'm really looking forward to going (not so much because of the bus, but more because of being able to see them all again). It's been way too long.
So, I will be in and out where the computer is concerned. I'll try to post something if I can, but if I not, I'll be back on Tuesday. Have a great rest of the week and weekend.
Okay, so those of you who are following Jean on Facebook may have already seen a few of them, but I just put together a more extensive photo album over on Facebook from our recent trip out to Oregon. It was a great trip of beaches, mountains, waterfalls, and lots of hiking in beautiful scenery--. (And yes, Erin, we will take you up on being our nanny the next time we go out there. :)
