Dear Friends and Family,
If you're reading this, you support us here in New Orleans, or pray for us, for are friends, family and those in our lives here. Due to time constraints, we're sending a mass email to all of you. So here goes...

We're deploying four of our team/community here in New Orleans to Haiti in 24 hours.

Why: You've seen the news - 200K dead and climbing. There are 20K/day dying from injuries, infection, etc.
How: We got a call from a sister team/community in Miami. They were approached by people in Haiti and The Dominican Republic to help. Our team there has been able to get in a couple of convoys of fuel to two field hospitals on the verge of running out of fuel for their generators. But the needs are so immense they need more boots on the ground.

BUT it got the attention of the UN and the US Army's 82d Airborne Division. The Army is supplying security and the UN is looking for fuel trucks.

What: We're going to establish a marshaling point, hopefully a warehouse. From there, some people can purchase supplies (Medical, Rx, Food, Water and Fuel). We'll then convoy it and while they are gone, begin marshaling supplies for the next run. The convoy will make the 12 hour trip to Port au Prince, and drop it to a distribution point we're setting up. We expect a couple of us to be in Port-au-Prince running that site.

Expect Chad and Kyle to be in Santiago operating the logistics point and Adam and I in Haiti (for the French speaking and liaising with the US Army). BUT that can change when we hit the ground. We could all four end up in the Haiti distribution point. We'll see!

Tonight, we spent several hours getting poked with the tropic regimen for deployment to a disaster zone... Ouch! Sore! Now it's time to wash, pack and get ready to go.

When: We deploy Friday 22nd, and return a month to six weeks later. For many, this will be huge. For our own families, for our work here in New Orleans and for the kids we coach.

Some other details:
1. We expect to have communication with people back here.
2. We may be gone 4 weeks, but maybe 6 weeks.
3. This will impact our work with lacrosse, but our parents, coaches and guys are super.
4. This is fluid and we don't know what to expect yet. We may deploy two women in our community, but we need to assess the situation, discover what logistical situation we're in, etc.

What can you do?
1. Pray for us, regularly!
2. Help The people left back here (if you're local). They'll need help with keeping the grass cut, playing with the kids, meals, etc.
3. We need money! ! ! ! If we raised a $1M, it would not be enough... the needs are so huge. We'll use the funds to get us there, keep us there, and then for supplies! 100% of the funds will go to the deployment.

You can contribute in several ways and every donation will get a tax deductible receipt from our 501 (c) 3 organization. Here are the details on how to do that:
1. Checks made out to “Communitas New Orleans”. Mail to 2539 Octavia Street, New Orleans, LA 70115-6535
2. Wires can be sent (but they cost $15) Email: communitasnola@gmail.com. Our people staying back in New Orleans helping with the kids, working, managing donations, etc will get the routing process if you want to wire money.
3. Online at www.Paypal.com Can use debit or credit card, or paypal account. Email address is communitasnola@gmail.com In the instruction field leave mailing address for receipt – otherwise we won’t be able to know who it’s from that we can send a receipt for your taxes.

Look, we don't really "want" to go. We have lives here, families and responsibilities. Yet, the need is compelling and our Miami team is begging us for help. This is what we're about - Christ with flesh here and now. We don't feel like heroes or special. We don't know what to expect. We simply got a phone call. Your friendship and support is so appreciated. Your prayers are coveted.

"The Church is the people of God. The Latin word for "church," ecclesia, comes from the Greek ek, which means "out," and kaleo, which means "to call." The Church is the people of God called out of slavery to freedom, sin to salvation, despair to hope, darkness to light, an existence centered on death to an existence focused on life.

When we think of Church we have to think of a body of people, travelling together. We have to envision women, men, and children of all ages, races, and societies supporting one another on their long and often tiresome journeys to their final home."   

                                                                    - Henri Nouwen

I am not reading 1 John Chapter 3 this week like my Tall Monastic friend Ryan Taylor but I agree with the message this song/video brings and thought it was worth posting. It is catching little tune that may offend some peoples sense of who they've created their image of God to be.

This seems to ring true in my life and in the lives of those I know who are actively praying to live and move and have our being in Him, to be directed by the Holy Spirit. When this is your bent in life it will come at a personal cost.

You will be tired....do you have the discipline to make time to rest and rejuvenate?

Spiritual warfare will come at an intense pace....do you have the eyes to see it and the companions to battle it?

Weariness and tears and battles will ensue daily....do you have the perseverance and support of community to endure?

Schaeffer is right, this seems very counter intuitive for our simulated fabrications of how the Holy Spirit moves. We often see the Holy Spirit like the ice-cream man who only brings good things for us to experience and eat and ride the sugar high.

And most people will limit the moving of the holy spirit to an event, an hour of produced emotional manipulation that the programmers have conjured up, so we can willingly offer ourselves to the experience. And if we feel the tinge of emotional up-rise internally, like a good story will naturally cause, we say wow, the holy spirit was really moving this hour, I could feel him.

But maybe, just maybe the scriptures are right and we are wrong about how the Holy Spirit moves. Schaeffer's insight to the scriptures and the history of the church are sobering. When the Holy Spirit works, there is always tremendous cost to the people of God....weariness....and tears....and battles. So let's not mistake the emotional high of a weekend experience that was crafted to give us the high we seek, with the true working of the Holy Spirit.

If you are crying out for the Holy Spirit to move in your life and in the lives of those around you and it seems that things are not going smooth, you are getting weary and life is difficult, don't be surprised. When you pray for the Holy Spirit to move, life is not lived beyond the fray but rather it is lived right in the middle. Offer your praise to God and get real with your faith community and go to battle, because whenever the Holy Spirit moves the enemy will be there.

Read Article HERE

Bob blogs HERE

Have you ever stopped to think about what (or who) shaped your belief in who you are or who you want to be?

For some, you were raised in an environment where parents, teachers, coaches, grandparents, friends, peers, boyfriends/girlfriends, pastors, cub scout leaders, and even the lunchroom lady constantly protected your heart from the attacks of the enemy's voice so you could only hear the sweet sound of your heavenly father speaking his truth into your heart unconditionally, "I love you", "I created you", "You are good", "You are lovely", "You have what it takes", "You are mine", "You are fearfully and wonderfully made", "You are worth it"!

For the rest of us we didn't have such privilege. We grew up where the enemy used all the above mentioned people and created personal situations to attack our hearts with false agreements about who we are and who we will become, all cultivated from his bag of lies.

I'm not suggesting that everything we grew up believing about ourselves is a lie. Far from it. We are who we are because our individual experiences along our journey have shaped us into who we are. God will use all people and all experiences in our life for good - if we allow him to own it. What I am suggesting is that there are those subtle agreements that we have made with ourselves (and the enemy), while on the surface seem like good, well intentioned moments, are actually quite damaging to who we are and who we want to become.

Let's take for example a parent telling their child; "You are a hard worker", or "You are a good cook", or "You are a good student", or "I am proud of you for how well you did in your game". And as these well intentioned words of affirmation are given repeatedly over time and are rewarded with the parent's love and approval, they go right to the heart of their child's self-worth. It sends a very strong message when we equate our love and approval to someones self-worth based on their performance and our own expectations. And the message, I believe, is damaging. Essentially we are saying, "I want relationship with you as long as you are performing well".

Don't think so. Then ask yourself. What if the child was not a hard worker, not a good cook, not a good student, or wasn't a good athlete? How would that same parent respond? Would he/she still be proud? Approving? Loving?

I had a parent of our baseball team tell me this weekend that they were so glad their son finally got a hit last game. He said that he didn't care if his son was a great ball player, but he was glad he got a hit because he wanted him to have good self-esteem. On the surface this sound great, but do you see the subtle tie of self-worth to performance. Basically this dad, unknowingly, is making an agreement that if his son does not perform well in baseball that somehow he will not have a good sense of self-worth. It's not the dad, it's the enemy at work here to get the dad and his son to make subtle agreements with him all under the guise of well intentioned motives.

We read about this same type of subtle attack by the enemy on Jesus in Matthew and Mark's writings. The enemy uses Peter to attack Jesus' heart, to try and get Him to make agreements about who He is, what His purpose is, who He will become. Similar to Peter there are times when these attacks come from those closest to us with the best of intentions, albeit misguided intentions. Jesus recognized it for what it was and does not even address Peter, but instead confronts the enemy directly and makes no agreements with him.

On a personal note, when I was younger, my grandpa hired my two brothers and I to rake the leaves in his backyard. I really didn't want to, but I remember thinking if I was going to to do it, I just wanted to get it done. So I jumped in and worked hard and non-stop until the job was completed. My brothers took a different approach and played in the leaves while they worked and goofed off a bit. Hey we were kids! When we were finished, my loving well intentioned grandpa sent a very strong message to me that day. This is what he did.

After we came in the house he paid my bothers each two dollars and then handed me a crisp five dollar bill. I stood there holding the fruits of my labor a bit stunned by the shear wealth that I had just received. My brothers were stunned for a different reason. They complained, "That's not fair, why does Mike get more?" To which my grandpa replied, "Yes it is fair. I stood here at the window and watched you three rake the leaves for the last hour and Mike by far worked harder than both of you and as a result deserves more money. He earned it." I agreed because I loved my grandpa's approval of me and our relationship in that moment. I went on to do many more projects for my grandpa and each time I did it for his approval.

Now I am sure if you have read this far you are thinking. What's wrong with this story. It's a great lesson on hard work, earning you keep, you get what you put into it, economics 101. And you would be right if you were thinking in terms of worldly reasoning.

When I made an agreement that day, it set me on a coarse for the rest of my life to work hard, to not stop until the job is finished, to seek the reward for a job well done, to seek approval from others for my performance, to seek acceptance from others through my efforts. As a result, I can flat out execute, I have been rewarded, I have been recognized, I have been approved of. I don't know what message that experience sent my brothers that day, what agreements they made, if any. For me I made a small agreement that I like the feeling of being accepted, loved and rewarded for my performance; so I crave it, I am addicted to it, I seek it, I am a doer of my self-worth.

My human experience has been very powerful and agreements are difficult to break, impossible on my own, but possible through relationship with the Trinity. So I am seeking each day to Sit with God, to walk with Jesus, to listen to his counselor. Through this relationship I am learning to be a be-er of my self worth.

What about you? What agreements have you made?