World Cup? Who Cares?

Well to be honest, I do. I love the World Cup. I'm not much of a sports buff, but the World Cup is my cup of tea. Love what Brian Houston, the Lead Pastor of Hillsong Church (the place where all our good music comes from) said on his twitter recently - "Love being one of the 6.7 billion people in the world who enjoy the World Cup, instead of 1 of the 330 million who don't." There's something about the World Cup that makes it have more world flavor than other sports. As our good friend and missionary to Argentina, Nathan Grams has told us, even the poorest kids in the world can find an empty field and a ball to kick around and learn to play soccer.

What I mean by the title is that the World Cup is not the only exciting event taking place in South Africa this year. This year marks the historic 3rd World Congress on World Evangelization via the Lausanne Movement.

Michelle and I connected with the Lausanne Movement through their 12 Conversations l 12 Cities event that took place in Minneapolis late April, thanks to director Jimmy Lee. We even got to meet one of the moderators, Vonnette Bright, wife of the late Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, Four Spiritual Laws and the Jesus Video among other ministries). They went on from here to go to Saddleback Church for a special conversation night with Rick Warren and Skye Jethani.

The Lausanne Movement was started by Billy Graham and his team in the 1970's. Lausanne leadership have gone on to hold multiple regional gatherings, but this year will be the 3rd ever "World Congress." Space is limited, and only 4,000 people have been invited to the physical gathering, but thanks to the wonders of technology - every one of us can be involved via the internet. Connect with Lausanne Movement on facebook here ... on twitter here ... and set up a profile on their main website here to interact with like-minded believers on world issues. Michelle and I are part of a group of official bloggers leading up to this fall, and will keep you posted with relevant topics and articles.

So what are you more excited about - the World Cup or the World Congress?