Day 3-6: Catching you non-Facebookers Up!

Africa Day 3
Well I only got five hours sleep last night. I could not go to sleep and just for Grant Mills...I watched Stomp the Yard on TV. So I have been tired all day. It is almost 1 AM now and I am still awake. I have taken a sleeping pill so hopefully I will be gone in a few minutes. Today we finished shopping and we prepared hospitality bags for everyone and placed them in their rooms. That took a while. Our team arrives throughout the day tomorrow. Please pray for the event in Joburg on Saturday. It starts at 10 AM here and runs until 10 PM. That will be 4 AM for you. We ate at the Spur tonight which is a favorite of ours here in SA. Well I hope church goes well tonight. Thanks Chuck for preaching. Do not forget the Pool Blast at Court South next Wednesday-it will be a blast! I love you guys!

Africa Day 4
Please pray that I can sleep. I get so tired during the day but at night I cannot sleep. It is 12:20 AM and I am wide awake. All of our team arrived in Joburg today. I was able to talk very briefly with Chris and Louie today. I rested awhile this afternoon and have been studying and preparing sermons for Wednesday's and Sunday nights. I am so pumped about the new Sunday nights starting in September. Tonight I went to dinner with our team leads and the Fee band. These guys are awesome! After dinner we sat in the hotel talking. These are some great guys and I know SA will love them. I cannot wait until Saturday. I want to thank God for this experience and for what God is doing in my life. Not only has God given me a great wife and kids...but he has given me a great church and ministry at CHBC. God is also providing things I have been praying about for years. I love God! Well tonight I am going to bed excited. Tomorrow I will be at the venue all day as we are setting up for Saturday. Keep praying and I will talk to you tomorrow. Thanks for journeying with me. To all of the bloggers, I am sorry...I cannot access my blog from Joburg.

Africa Day 5 & 6
I apologize for not writing yesterday. I spent 12 hours at the venue setting up and getting everything ready for today. We then went as a team to Moya, which is an authentic African Restaurant. We had 5 courses and 2 desserts. It was very good but not good on the stomach. Several of our team did not feel well today. Yesterday was amazing and very tiring.What can I say about today...WOW! God showed up as did the South Africans. We had 6,000 people going hard after the heart of God. The Passion video started with Hello Joburg and the noise was deafening. It only got louder as the day went by. It was great to see Whites, Black's, and coloreds worshipping together. They came together under the banner of love to worship the King of Glory! Steve Fee was amazing and he also rocked the place to the ground. At one point so many people were jumping up and down that the floor was actually bouncing! It was also great to see that many university students with their eyes closed and hands lifted in worship. No one cared today, almost everyone went for it! I will never forget today. Today will be kept in my heart and images etched into my mind. It was so rewarding to see a year of planning pay off. I thank God for everyone involved with Passion and for this opportunity they gave to me. Louie spoke on what Passion is about and Isaiah 26:8. He also spoke about Ashley for the last two sessions. The students were into it and again I wish my words could express what really happened today. I will talk more tomorrow. I got only several hours of sleep last night and i must be up early again tomorrow. Please pray for me as I have hurt my knee really bad. I do not know what happened. I was walking and when I took a step, it popped. I am in a lot of pain. God provided a physical therapist and my knee keeps popping in and out. Anyway enough of that...God will provide! I cannot wait to tell you stories upon my return. Pray also for my family. I have been gone almost 2 weeks and still have 6 days to go. Carrie is amazing and I love her so much. I will see you soon. Thanks for praying for Joburg!

Africa Day 7: I am back on!

Well I am sorry for all of you non-facebook people but I have not been able to access this page while I was in Joburg. You can read Day 3-6 on facebook though. I am copying day 7 below and will try and add the others later. Things here are awesome!

Well today we sent the biggest part of the team to the Kruger national Park and our little small lead team flew to Cape Town which i must say is one of the coolest places on planet earth. I love it here. I would live here in a second. Well not a second because it would take about 20 hours to fly here. We left Joburg with great thoughts in our minds, smiles on our faces, and joy in our hearts. Looking back I think of the greatest of God. God could have done that event without any of us but that he allowed me to do anything makes me love Him even more. I think of the floor shaking, hands lifted up in worship, and a loud noise that I know made God very happy! South Africans are crazy and not afraid to go after God in worship...I love it! I did forget to mention two funny events yesterday. Evan walked into the green room during the first session and one of our rented tables was on fire! The flames were huge. A candle had gotten hot and tipped over spilling hot wax onto a wooden basket and the rest is history. Luckily Evan had a water bottle in his and and others close by. Evan saved the day and no one but us even knew. The table did die however with a huge hole burnt into it. The other event happened late last night. Everyone had left and Evan, Christina, and I were loading up the final things into the van. Someone from Evan's group texted Christina and she was trying to figure out how to call them (we are using old SA cell phones here). Instead of walking through the open glass door, she walked right into a closed one. We all three laughed so hard we almost became sick. It really was a great day yesterday and I cannot wait to share it with you. Today we landed in Cape Town. We checked into the hotel which is awesome and rested a bit. Tonight we went to Hillsong Cape Town. It is a church plant from the main church in Australia. The former student pastor Phil Dooley is the lead pastor. They have only been in existence since the middle of June and they already have 4 services that are full and thinking of starting number five. It was a great service. The worship was awesome and they did one of my favorite songs "The Time Has Come." Phil's message was great and challenging. It was a good night. We ate at the Spur on the waterfront which is one of our favorite SA places to eat. I am now here and going to bed. I hope church was well at CHBC and wherever you go! Thanks for all of you who prayed for me and for my knee. It was so crazy...I walking and it popped causing a lot of pain and today the same thing happened and I have no pain at all. I believe God healed me! Thanks again for the prayers. Also please pray for some friends of ours. I got word today that one of my friends in Charlotte was killed in a motorcycle accident Saturday. He was young and he leaves a young wife Erica behind. Please pray for her and for those ministering to her. Well today is Sunday and I will be home on Saturday. I cannot wait to see my kids and my beautiful wife. I have not gotten to talk to them today so I am home sick tonight. Sweet dreams guys I love you! Regan, if I could choose any girls in the world to be my daughter I would choose you every time. Brycen and Corbin, if I could choose any boys to be my sons, I would choose you both every time. Carrie what can I say...of all the women in the world, you are the greatest! I love you so much. You still make my heart beat fast!Mark

Africa Day 2- Shopping and more Shopping!!!

Well you can tell by the title how my dad was. We shopped a lot! We had to buy things for the green room and hospitality bags that we will give the team when they arrive Thursday morning. We woke up at 8:30 and had breakfast at 9. We are 6 hours ahead of you. After breakfast, we met with Jire which is an Christian organization that has helped us with tickets, transportation, and other items. After the meeting we had a quick walk through in the venue. We then shopped the rest of the day. Hopefully tomorrow will consist of less shopping! We are eating Pizza with Evan's family. They have triple decker pizza which is GOOD!!!! I have had some grapetizer today which is my favorite drink here in SA. Well that is my day today. I hope all is well with everyone. I miss you.

Mark

Africa Day 1- Planes, Flights, and Johnny Knoxville

Well I am here in Joburg, SA. I promised I would blog every day so you could journey with me. However, I cannot access my blog here for some reason. So I will place my thoughts here tonight and try again tomorrow. It is winter here and cold. I traveled from 1:00 PM Sunday from Knoxville until 5:05 PM Monday here in Joburg. There is not much to say except I watched movies on the plane, ate bad food, and slept. I watched Prince Caspian and Iron Man. I guess the only exciting thing that happened besides our plane dropping in turbulence and watching lightning underneath us was i flew from Knoxville to Atlanta with Johnny Knoxville. I saw him in th airport and thought it was him. When i heard him talk I knew. I prayed that we would sit close enough for me to talk to him but he was in the back of the plane. Well that is all for day 1. I will talk to you tomorrow.

Mark

Goodbye to my Friend

Well tonight I say goodbye to my intern Josue Leon and his wife Erika. Their internship is over and they are moving to Florida this summer to go back to school. Unfortunately I have done this several times but this something is different. Josue has touched my heart and changed my life. About a year ago Josue came up with the idea to bring a girl here to speak to our students. Her name was Fatu and she had her arm cut off by rebels during the blood diamonds era in Sierra Leon. The result of this night is forever life changing not just for me but for our students and our ministry. We all began to look out more than inward. I remember telling her that I would go to Africa someday and make a difference. I said that not knowing that I would start working alongside Passion the next day to do a conference in South Africa. Josue loves missions, he is a result of it. An orphan in Hati, Josue was adopted by American missionaries and then given money, lodging, schooling, etc. by a man named Rex who was doing missions. After having lunch one day, we developed a strategy for our students;"Change me, Change here, Change everywhere." We have raised over $2000 in a year to help Oneverse, Blood Water Mission, and World Vision. We have done many local mission projects in Knoxville and we are going to Nicaragua in July. I want to say thanks Josue. You have changed my life and I will never be the same. It is people like you that make Christianity look very good. You are a man of God that I know God will use to do great things for the Kingdom. I have been blessed to know you and Erika and I pray our friendship lasts forever. By the way, I will never tell anyone that you were 1-41 against me in Ping Pong. It is our little secret. I love you buddy!

Do you recycle?

We live in a time when it is cool to recycle and everyone is going green. It seems as if everyone is now considering the world and maybe what it may look like 100 years from now. On Friday, driving home from school Regan said to Carrie, "Mom can you believe that some people do not recycle!" Regan learned about recycling at school last week. Well to be honest with everyone, that someone was us. Not anymore. Tonight as Regan lead the way we went to Target and finally to Walmart to buy 2 containers so the McKeehan's could recycle. One bin for plastic and one for cans. We now have 7 cans in the plastic box and half of a 26 gallon trash can filled with all of the plastic things I could find rummaging through our existing trash. What a joy I had to see my little 4 year old baby girl laugh and smile as she put in the first can and first plastic water bottle. By the way, she is not done. She has already called my parents to ask them if they recycle? It also got me thinking about how I spend money. If I have to buy things and everyone does, why not spend it places that help others. We shopped at Target tonight because they give 5% of their profit away to organizations like the United Way and other notable charities. Ethos water has the mission to help children have safe and pure drinking water. Jedidiah clothing has a line of clothes that sends a percentage away to help others. Maybe if we think and plan, we can spend the money we are going to spend anyway and help others along the way. We should all recycle and we should all help people. Jesus said when you do to the least of these, you are doing unto me. As I laid my beautiful baby girl to bed she was still asking what she could recycle. She is passionate and I am thankful. I want to change the world and I am lucky-Regan is right behind me!

Today is a new day!

I woke up this morning feeling sick. My allergies are killing. I drove to the office after talking to a pastor friend of mine for 30 minutes. I thought to myself this is just another Monday. Then I was challenged. I am reading a book called "Crazy Love" by Frances Chan. Here is the deal...I live on a sphere called earth that is spinning about 1000 mph. This sphere we call earth is traveling around a ball of fire called the sun at 67,000 mph. The earth is tilted and if that changed any we are in trouble. If we are closer or farther away from the sun, we are in big trouble. So when you think about it, no day is ordinary and normal. This place we live in is miraculous and special. Then there is you and I. We are miracles! I guess I am saying God loves you and I hope you live today with that mindset. It will change what you say, where you go, what you do. It will affect your conversations with people. You see God is not in heaven wanting to take things away. Sometimes I feel like people view God as a money grubbing being who is always saying "Show me the Money!" God does not need your money, if he did he is bigger than you can could take it if he wanted to. I have learned generosity is not a hardship to us it is a blessing for us. The bible says God wants to give. John 1:14 says Jesus came full of grace and glory. He did not need to get anything. I have realized again today I have really messed up. I am a sinner and no matter how good I try to live I still mess up. It is important because at the end of my life I do not get to judge myself, that will be left up to God. Life doesn't end with you walking through clouds and standing in front of a tall white podium and an old white haired man named St. Peter asking "so how do you think you did..." As you read the book of revelation you quickly see that we as Christians come face to face to a holy glorious God. To those who are not Christians, they face judgment and hell! So do not live your thinking success and godliness is based upon how you view yourself but how God views you. Let's be honest we can all find someone worse than us. God loves you, he loves me. Think about this, because of all of my mess-ups, God sent his son Jesus to die for them. We have all messed up and God punished his own son for the things that we did. That is love! The creator of the universe loves you. Not only does he love us, he also forgives us. So as I stare outside my window today I am thanking God for his blessings upon my life. This is no ordinary day, it is another day I have to live for God and glorify him in all that I do and say. As the psalmist said, "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in HIM!"