I’m looking forward to a new year. There is always something motivating about change. Every year I spend the last few days looking back to learn and looking ahead for motivation and clarity. I hope to post more on this later.

Necole and I spent the majority of yesterday evaluating our present situation and discussing the future. We feel like we have two key windows in life:

Next 12-15 years:

We will still be SOMEWHAT young. How do we want to spend the next 15 years. After these 15 years I will be 50 and headed to the so-called second half of life. (not sure how that works, since I don’t want to live to be 100)

The Next 15 years: (these are not in order)

1. We deeply want HELP to thrive and make a significant impact. I don’t want to say we are fighting global poverty as much as we want to help leverage the local church that lives and does ministry in communities that deal with poverty. I just spoke with Steven last week and it looks like we’re going to invest in a church planting/business building vision in Cape Town. I feel like I’m getting a greater sense of clarity and focus for HELP. More to come in 2009.

2. Church Planting will be our key passion. I see HELP and church planting as one. It’s hard for me to separate the two in my thinking. I wish I could, but it’s just not possible. My wife feels the same way, which I love. We will either church plant or be involved in another church plant. Not sure when or where. I do have a vision for this.

3. Kids: We really want to spend as much time as possible with our kids. Life is fast and we want to embrace every moment so we can shape them and create memories.

4. Community: By nature we love to build communities. Its natural for us. We have great friends across the globe. We live in a day and age where many people don’t have a community to love and cherish-how sad!

5. Health: As we get older, health is more important then ever. We simply want to be active, spend time with our kids and community outside doing things that bring life to mind, body and soul.

6. Experience: Again, life is short and there is so much to do and see. We would love to spend a summer in Africa and Europe with our kids before they go to college. But more than anything we want to experience life and enjoy the journey, we don’t want work to dominate us and we forget that life is also about playing.

7. Missional: No matter what we do, or where we do it. We want the mission of God to be the foundation of our lives. What does it mean to see the Gospel lived out in every aspect of who we are and what we do. How does the fame of Jesus be the ultimate end-game in every endeavor.

8. Business: Necole will start a new biz in 2009. We want her to work part-time. The good thing about part-time for her is she can make a full salary. So that is helpful. We want her to be able to spend more time with the kids and have a flexible schedule so we can travel more and enjoy life.

As we move forward and pray for wisdom and direction, these are some of the key elements that we will focus on.

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