• It’s good to be back home and to be speaking this weekend at Ginghamsburg. As a matter of fact I will be speaking here for the next five weekends. I have been busy on the road for most of February. Last week I spoke ten times to pastors and church leaders in The Republic of Korea. Ginghamsburg’s mission focus has inspired an international event on April 24-25 called Change The World Day. 11 million United Methodists will make the commitment to serve outside the walls of their church buildings in the communities where they are located. Click on the video for more information.

• We must continue to hold Darfur in our prayers. I just got off the phone with the producer of the PBS program, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. We were discussing the importance of not forgetting the ongoing crisis in Darfur just when there seems to be some hints of light at the end of a still very volatile tunnel. Just last week, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir claimed in a speech “The war in Darfur is over. Darfur is now at peace.” His announcement was made the day after his government and the Justice and Equality (JEM) rebel group signed a ceasefire and agreed to work toward a lasting peace agreement. Yet, the Save Darfur coalition reports that just this past Monday, the Sudanese government launched a new military offensive in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur, leading to the death of more than 100 civilians and the displacement of 100,000 more from their homes. Internally displaced persons (IDP) camp leaders from six camps reported to Save Darfur representatives that Darfuris continue to fear greatly for their safety. Most refuse to go home because the insecurity is just too great. President Bashir, who has an arrest warrant against him from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, is working urgently of course to position himself well for April’s elections—elections in which Darfur’s people feel largely unrepresented and silenced. As we continue to serve and pray for victims of the recent and terrible natural disasters like our Haiti sisters and brothers, we must remain unceasing in our prayer commitment in Darfur. We must also remain an urgent voice and presence for the marginalized children, women and men of Darfur, Sudan, who are still waiting for a real and lasting peace. PBS is planning on sending a film crew back to Tipp City to finish the program that we shot the first segment for in December with hopes of airing the program nationally the week before the Sudanese elections in April.

• Due to a cancelled flight, I found myself stuck in Tokyo last weekend. Carolyn called me on Sunday morning and told me that a tsunami was due to hit the island within two hours. It was quite an experience waiting out the outcome in the gate area of the airport. There was minor damage with the reports of some small villages being flooded but otherwise gracefully uneventful. Does it seem like there has been an increase in global disasters in our lifetime? Jesus talked about these being the beginning of birth pains for the end of current times. We dare not fall into a sense of false security nor forget that we are waiting for the return of the King. Our waiting is not passive, however. We must sacrificially commit ourselves to do the work of God while it is yet day!

God bless…