St. Andrew’s own, Meghan Smith, daughter of Mary & Kurtz Smith (Kurtz is our Men’s Ministry Leader), was officially announced as the first ever Levi’s Girl. Well done, Meghan, congratulations!!

I had the misfortune of spending the past 10 days at Oxford participating in something called the “Christian Leadership Forum”.  Gathered were academic, business and church leaders from around the globe.  I say “misfortune” because despite fascinating people (a professor of Philosophy at the People’s University in Beijing, an MP, and OBE, etc.), stimulating conversations and reflective presentations, and despite the lifting of a few pints, nothing could make up for my missing THE global event of the week, LeBron James’ “Decision.”

In case you, too, missed The Decision the presenters at last night’s ESPYS recapped:

Boos emanated from the crowd at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live every time the name LeBron James was mentioned during the ESPY awards show on Wednesday night.

On stage, Seth Meyers and his buddies were just as critical, with jokes and skits dedicated to the hour-long ESPN show ’The Decision’ in which James announced that he’d take his talents to Miami to join Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

“Did it really need to be an hour?” Saturday Night Live‘s Seth Meyers, the night’s host, said of James’s ESPN special where he announced he would play for the Miami Heat. “Somebody time me. Miami. How long did that take? A second.” He also offered some comfort to Cavaliers fans, noting, “Literally every team that has ever won an NBA championship has done it without LeBron James.”

Even Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell chimed in, filming a parody of James’ one-hour ESPN special. But this time, the stakes of “the decision” involved ditching Chili’s for Outback Steakhouse.

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

to the next generation:

What do you think?

I spent most of the week in Chicago at the Alpha in the Americas Conference.  It was great – good teaching, good worship and my favorite part: the conversations with folks from across the contintent(s) all committed to telling the wonderful story of Jesus.  Anyway, some pretty impressive storms moved through the area, especially on Wednesday.  Someone caught three simultaneous lightning stikes on downtown buildings on film slowing it to 1/16th speed for maximum effect.  Pretty cool.

Lighting strikes three of the tallest buildings in Chicago at the same time! from Craig Shimala on Vimeo.

Here’s where I’ll be for the next few days as part of the leadership team: