I am a skeptical jerk. Over time however, even the Grinch's little black heart began to change for the better. I've always made a thousand excuses about why we don't give money to global poverty.

"My mission field is here in my neighborhood." I would say.

And it is. I do feel called to draw those around me into an authentic relationship with this living Jesus who has changed my everything. But something has been stirring in me lately.

My wife Allison started a new job a few weeks back. We had been scraping by for a few months and now we are able to catch up on the bills that got stuffed into that junk drawer. I had planned to start giving more of our money to our local church, and I will, because we are truly investing in some amazing things God is doing around here...but I also feel led to give to something else. I'm feeling a call to give voice to the voiceless and help support those who can't support themselves.

Anne Jackson @ Flowerdust.net has inspired me quite a bit lately. She has informed me of the amazing things that Compassion International is doing. I've heard of Compassion before...probably a hundred times honestly, but I've been believing a lie that I don't have enough to give to something like that. I don't believe that lie anymore.

Last night Allison and I looked through photos of children in need on Compassion's website. Upon doing research it would seem that Compassion International is always at the top of the list when it comes to financial stewardship when it comes to money going directly towards the children. They have so many programs in place it's astounding. You can search for kids to sponsor in dozens of countries...there are so many that need assistance.

We sponsored two kids last night.



I picked Ana Rosa from Honduras simply because I've been there and seen the poverty. I had to pick someone quickly as I did not want to try figuring out who needed help the most. Ana had a little red heart on her picture that meant she has been waiting for more than six months for a sponsor.

Allison picked Miriam from Bolivia...another one of God's beautiful children. As I look at my daughter Ava, who lives here in the affluence of the US with all of her fancy things, my heart breaks a little. An axiom I like to live by is "Don't talk about it...be about it."

$32 a month is allowing me to be about it a little bit more. $64 monthly for two kids...hope will be boosted and there will be light in a dark place. Now as I slip into my cynical mind and begin to think of how little this will really help I have to stop myself and remember that I am a part of something much bigger than myself. If we all stop talking about it...and be about it, who knows what could happen.

Please check out these kids and sponsor one. I love what Tony Campolo said about Compassion and sponsoring a child. He says, "I don't think there are many things in my life that God is pleased about. But sponsoring a child through Compassion is one thing He is pleased about - I'm sure!"

If you do sponsor someone, I would love to hear about it. This is not bragging, but boasting in Christ.

To follow up the post from last week about our baptism service, here's taking it a step further. This is a video I worked hard on this week. It played during 3 services on Saturday and Sunday at the Vineyard. Socks were rocked.



Just remember - He loves us. No matter how far gone we thought we were. He's still relentlessly chasing after us. May we be found.

This past weekend was a powerful one. Vineyard Westside held an annual outdoor baptism service as we have done for the past 3 years now. We typically meet inside the movie theater, but for this service, we call everyone together all at once and meet outside in the parking lot.

We set up tents and chairs and expect that hundreds of people will show up. And they do. Five hundred or so show up hungry for hamburgers and hotdogs, drinks and sides, but most importantly they show up hungry for God.

Our worship team cranks everything up a few notches and they play until their fingers are numb.







They rock out a few songs and get everyone excited to be there.



At this point, Jim, our children's pastor comes up to do baby dedications. This is an opportunity to have parents and their kids prayed over to devote themselves to a life of following God.



And now it's time for the waterworks. Emotions quickly begin flying all over the place as people line up to get into a horse trough. We don't have a fancy baptismal or anything like that. We've got a 300 gallon Rubbermaid container...and it's holy. It's holy because people step into it who are announcing to the world that they're willing to die to themselves to be raised to life in Christ.

Music continues to play as friends and family join around loved ones for prayer and support.



And then it happens. People surrender themselves and become so vulnerable that everyone can see it. And we have baptism. My sister goes first. Those of you who know me personally are aware of the insane crap that's gone down with Amie...here's to a step in the right direction.







One after another, people line up and get ready for the big splash.







I even got the opportunity to baptize people who are very close to me.

This is my father-in-law Ted. He wrote a letter that stated he doesn't want to do it all on his own anymore.



Ryan and Carrie, our beloved house mates were baptized.



My friend Jon baptized his son Jonah.





My wife's sister Andrea came out of the crowd as she was overwhelmed by the Spirit...she just had to do it. Her husband Chris was given the honor.



Lo and behold my beautiful bride Allison made the decision to be baptized as well. She was baptized as a baby and she wanted this one to be up to her.





I'm still reeling from everything that happened yesterday. It was all a bit surreal. I took about 400 pictures and this is less than 20 of them. At least 35 people were baptized yesterday and some serious damage was done to the kingdom of darkness.

Praise be to Jesus.

Here's a video I created for this weekend's gatherings. We're a small church compared to many...but we're trying to make a dent. Peep it.

I've been thinking a lot lately. A lot about what I have. A lot about what I need, and more specifically what I don't need. It would seem I don't need much really.

Looking at a stack of a couple hundred DVDs got me thinking:

I don't NEED these.

How often do I watch these?

Why did I buy all of these DVDs?

I could probably survive without them.

I wonder how much I could get for them.

I wonder what I could do with the money.

So I listed them on Amazon. I listed all of them...and some books. And some video games. And some other stuff. And you know what? It sold! At least a lot of it did. I've made over $500 so far and it's all going to be poured into the Kingdom of God. It's actually been a lot of fun.

What's something that you could do without to provide more wiggle-room for important stuff? In other words, what is something you could sacrifice to provide for others?