Seventeen days on the road with Henderson will wear you out, even when they’re not consecutive. It’s not the travel so much as the total disregard he seems to have for sleep. Passion and purpose seem to have a way of making such trivial traditions irrelevant, I suppose.

We started back in June with a Doable Evangelism Training weekend for the Stonecroft Couples retreat in Kansas City. It turns out that Stonecroft is a women’s ministry (started in 1938), probably better known as “Christian Women’s Clubs”. We flew out to their 40-acre campus (well, we flew pretty close, then drove some) where we were greeted by the President and CEO, Geneva Vollrath…who happens to be a dear friend of mine from my early Young Life days. I had no idea what Stonecroft was, or that Geneva was newly at the helm of it, but we had a blast reconnecting and sharing our hearts and vision for our respective work. The DE training went really well with about 50 couples (and many of the staff at Stonecroft), and we left with a sense that Off The Map and Stonecroft are wanting to travel some of the same roads…possibly together at times. How weird is that?

After the weekend Geneva was willing to accept our invitation to become the newest member of the OTM board of directors, and as a result we ended up flying back out Aug. 20-22 to meet with her and her Vice President of Ministry, Cheryl Davis, to talk through some collaboration ideas. You’ll be able to meet Geneva and Cheryl at our November event in Seattle. They have a great vision for developing young women leaders and connecting with the people that Jesus misses most in new and respectful ways. We happen to share the same passion for these two things, which makes seven-year-old Off The Map and seventy-year-old Stonecroft an odd but rather exciting pair.

We flew home for a day, washed clothes and then flew out for another DE training in Newark, Ohio (near Columbus). We were hosted by Pastor Craig and Sharon Martin, and the rest of the Family of Faith team as we presented the DE concepts on Saturday. Jim spoke Sunday morning at their worship service and rocked the house. We were treated to lunch with some of the staff and then headed out by car to Cincinnati for a little party in Jim’s honor. A couple dozen people (some old friends, some new) showed up at the Speckled Bird Café to hear about what Jim has been up to since he left Cincy, and to get their minds and hearts stimulated by doable evangelism and “otherlyness” (the spiritual practice of serving others). We didn’t leave for our hotel until well after midnight. This time it was my bad. Somebody offered me a Cuban cigar, so I felt led by the Lord to stay and minister to him. Thanks, Rob. I really, really needed that.

Cincinnati is a home of sorts for Jim. There are lots of deeply significant friendships and ministry connections lingering from his pastor days there. We spent Monday morning the 27th at OTM board member Craig Spinks’ place, using his loft-like condo in a historic area of downtown as a photo studio for some publicity shots (yeah, like we’re rock stars), taken by professional photographer and friend of Craig Spinks, Michael Wilson (michaelwilsonphotographer.com). I’m hoping for a lot of airbrushing.

We spent the rest of the day connecting with a few key folks (like Peter Block) and mooching off Craig, then drove a couple of hours to Indianapolis. We joined Sunil and Pam Sardar and their amazing kids for some authentic Indian food…prepared by Sunil at their home. It’s a very surreal experience to hang with the Sardars (I hope you get to meet them someday, if you haven’t yet). Sunil is actually leading a HUGE movement in India to eradicate the caste system (a form of religiously imposed social slavery that’s been around for something like 3500 years…think apartheid). You’d never know he’s leading a movement from looking at him, but if you let him speak at all it won’t take him more than 30 seconds to get to the plight of his people in India. Listen for 15 minutes and you’ll be booking a plane for New Delhi to join him. This night we just got to hang with friends and laugh and play and eat really excellent spicy and curried food with our fingers while we talked about changing the face of history like it’s what everyone does. Wow.

The Sardars are trying to get back to India but are experiencing some weird visa issues with their kids (who seem extraordinarily bright and well adjusted). We sat up late talking and praying and had another post-midnight return to our rooms. After a stunning 3.5 hours of sleep, I flew out at 7am for Reno on Tuesday the 28th while Jim stayed behind to make a few more contacts and spend a little more time with Sunil.

We both had the same thought during this most recent road trip: There are a LOT of really smart people gathering around this little thing called Off The Map. I have described what I’m beginning to see as a growing tsunami that followers of Jesus all around the world are noticing. We’re paddling like crazy to get in the right position to ride this thing wherever it’s going, as are many, many others. We don’t know exactly where it’s going or when it will stop, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s just cool to be near it, to have the chance to ride the crest of it.

In Jim’s Sunday morning message he mentioned that there are two things starting with the letter “P” that Jesus seemed to be really committed to practicing in the Gospels. Praying…and partying. I love the fact that OTM is also deeply committed to these same practices. We are compelled to pray by our circumstance, and we are inclined to celebrate whenever we can as a spiritual practice. Thanks for praying and partying with us.