woah

It's a crazy time… I'm plunging deep into my research this next week.  I've completed one interview… and have about fifteen churches all over North America to go.  Here's a look at the wildness already scheduled:

April 20 – Toronto area
April 21 – Detroit area
April 22-25 – Chicago area
April 30 – Los Angeles area
May 2 – Sacramento area
May 18 – Portland area
May 20 – Philadelphia area

Somewhere in all of this I still am supposed to squeeze a couple day trips to BC and Saskatchewan.  Hopefully in June then I'll get out to the central north of the US for a couple churches in the Dakotas and Minnesota.  Simple.  No big deal.

It's clear already though that the interviews are going to provide a deeply rich soil to dig in.  To visit these churches in person, to see these leaders tilling the ground, and to hear them describe how they plant/water/harvest is going to be a privileged experience.

I'm going to sit down with some high-profile leaders as well as some others who have steadily plowed the ground for years.  Some of the churches are thousands in attendance while others are much, much smaller.  Some are structured with traditional hierarchy… while others are chaordically organized. 

I can't begin to express my love and thanks to Kathy for supporting me and encouraging me in this project.  It's a long dream in the making and she has given her time, energy, emotions and money to it.  I also am so appreciative to my church family which is jumping with me through all this.  Some up-and-coming leaders are traveling with me while others have offered their blessing to me, their time to my family or their financial support to the project.  Thank you!  [For more info on this project feel free to visit my journal.]