Well.. actually we are going.  To Atlanta that is.  The 2007 Catalyst Conference will be held in Duluth GA this week and we are taking a group of 16 from our church down to attend.  This is my first Catalyst, but I have heard great things about them, and I have seen the line-up of speakers and that makes me slightly pumped.  There will be speakers from a wide range of emphases:  Rick Warren I am sure will be bringing the PDL flavor along with his PEACE plan, and Shane Claiborne will stir us all up and make us want to sell our cars and ride bikes home (actually he would probably challenge us to cling closer to Jesus and live that out in radical ways), and Patrick Lencioni, the team-work guru will most likely bring his blunt and humorous take on team-work in ministry.  There are many other speakers, such as Erwin McManus - the pastor of Mosaic (a Church that meets in a bar - i think - and its Southern Baptist!).  However an interesting note is that there are no female main stage speakers.  This was pointed out to me by our sassy former-Children's minister who happens to be a women.  This is something that I admittedly did not notice.  However, even though the conference will definitely betray some of its Southern Baptist origins there is still much to be gained (no offense to all my Southern Baptist peeps out there, just keep letting all the women preach to the kids and youth :).  I do hope that the group we take will be encouraged to be the change at our church and that this doesn't turn out to be an adult version of Resurrection (the youth conference we went to as young members of the Holston Conference where the typical pattern was to get fired up about God for one weekend, only to see the last dying embers only a few short weeks later).  I do believe it will be an exciting time of fellowship and renewal, and I am looking forward to getting to know the folks we will be traveling with over the next few days.  

The hard part will be leaving Morgan with Nanna and Poppa for three nights.  Sarah and I aren't ready for that and I know there will be many phone calls over the next few days.  She has been saying that she didn't want us to come with her.  Usually this came out as, "you stay here, I go with Nanna". I know she will have a blast over the next few days as she plays with Nanna and Poppa and gets pretty much anything she wants!  However, it broke our hearts as we were putting her to bed tonight and she said, "Mommy, Daddy, you come with me".   Children have such an innocence about them that I have a hard time grasping sometimes.  Morgan's unpretentious nature humbles me and makes me regret those times when I am legalistic with rules and get grumpy or pre-occupied when all she wants is attention and love.  We will definitely miss her spontaneous songs and smiles while we are on the trip.  

Posted In: life children

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I have a bunch of magnetic poetry on my office door at the church.  Every once in a while someone will actually exercise some creativity and make a poem or statement.  Sometimes they are really good and I will leave them up for a while, and sometimes I am not sure whether it was one of the staff that created it or if a random 7th grade boy stumbled upon a chance to express his mix of hormones and lack of self control on my door (I say this not meaning to paint all 7th grade boys with the same broad brush stroke... well, yeah I do, never mind).  However, I came into the office the other day and found this word of truth jumbled together as a magnetic voice, calling me to something a little more real than my usual hurried day.  It said, "Whisper not unto the darkness but praise the soul of the righteous son living in the light."   The beautiful thing about this is that it wasn't created by one of the folks in the office who have Masters or Doctorates in theology, but rather it came from the heart of an 11 year old girl.  When our culture has become so inundated with technology and a life of doing, it is breath of fresh air to see the fruits of contemplation springing from youth.  There is hope for the church, God's Spirit carries on...

Posted In: children spirituality

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There were many sequels out this summer: Spiderman, Harry Potter, a plethora of endless horror films.  However, I did not expect to have a sequel of our own.  Yet it came to be the blockbuster hit of our lives when the soon to be mini-LaDuke #2 made his/her debut with morning sickness and flu-like symptoms.  

I have to be honest - this was a shock.  I have no idea what two kids is going to look like for us.  I have heard good things and bad things from those who have 2 or more. Sarah and I are excited and Morgan loves the ultra-sound picture of her 'baby-sitter'.  While we do not expect this to be easy, great things rarely are.  If you have any ideas for names drop them in a comment.  We are not sure if it is a boy or girl yet.  Sarah is about 2 months along and is puking all the time.  The good news is that means the baby is healthy. More updates to come.

Posted In: life children

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Sounds funny, doesn’t it? Why would we have to vote for that? But unfortunately we do. Fortunately we can, and we can influence that vote. With 10 million children under the age of 5 dying every year from preventable causes we cannot remain silent.

For us in the US, diarrhea is a nuisance. For a child in the developing world, it is a death sentence. In 2007 it is estimated that 1.8 million children will die from dehydration due to diarrhea. In many cases, all that it takes to re-hydrate these children to save their lives is a handful of sugar, a bottle of clean water, and a pinch of salt.

Sadly, there is one more ingredient needed to save these children: the will to do it. The Global Child Survival Act is an expression of that will. It would dramatically scale up funding for effective and affordable child and maternal health programs and it would require the government to develop a comprehensive plan for improving children’s health around the world.

You can be a part of the solution. Write your representative and Senators and ask them to vote for Childhood Survival. We live in a global culture and we are now globally responsible. This is one small thing you can do to help.

Check out the Fact Sheet on Childhood Mortality from ONE.org

Posted In: children poverty

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