I'm about to eat a Snickers Bar. Now, normally, I wouldn't go much out of my way to buy a Snickers Bar. I'm not a candy-bar-kind-of-guy. But this Snickers Bar came attached to a note. It read: "Dear Ken Hensley. You are the best. You have been the best for 3 years. I hope I am coming back. Genavasie." Genavasie is one of our campers at Opportunity Camp. After she delivered the candy bar, she hung around and we talked for about 15 minutes. We covered a range of topics: her brother (who came last year but is getting in trouble), her new foster home, and her mom. We talked about the Bible stories I tell everyday in assembly. She apologized for not being able to speak well; I told her she was doing fine. Her story breaks my heart. Here is the short version: 12 years old. 9 years…
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Before travelling to Nepal, I had done a fair amount of reading about the country -- both online and offline (also known as books for those of you weened on the Internet). At a thrift store, I stumbled upon an old Frommer's Guide to Nepal, written back when Jimmy Carter and Conway Twitty were both at the top of their games. Most of the businesses were likely out of business by the time we arrived, but the mountains still looked the same. Nepal is an interesting country for many different reasons. The natural landscape is incredible. At home in Colorado we talk about climbing "14'ers", which means a mountain that is at least 14,000 feet tall. In Nepal, that is called a hill. The Himalayas routinely top 28,000 or 30,000 feet in height. One of my favorite memories was taking an early morning drive while we were staying Pohkara to…
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It's been about two weeks since I've posted something on this blog. Rest assured, I've not been taking a long nap nor have I spent any time in jail. No law-breaking or slacking for me. Simply put, I've been busy. Hannah and I spent ten days in Nepal, along with other people from our church. We were taking an exploratory trip to see what partnership opportunities might exist between Christians and Christian organizations in Nepal and our church. I'll write more about my experiences in another post. Needless to say, this occupied a fair amount of time. I'm writing this current post from a coffee shop in the booming metropolis of Felton, CA. The coffee shop is called "White Raven", meaning you can find crystals and incense alongside lattes and cappuchinos. It's also a place where you are likely to hear someone say, "That was groovy back in 1973" (like…
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It's night time here in Nepal. Our team spent the first part of today meeting various people at Tiny Hands, the organization that we are working with this week. They shared with us more specifics regarding their mission and vision. After lunch we had a few free hours and I settled into a coffee shop (surprise). This one grew and roasted its own beans. The coffee was fantastic ... but I digress. Tonight we split into two teams and went to two different children's homes. I went to an all boys home. The boys ranged in age from 4-14. After introductions, we played a few indoor games and then went upstairs to the roof, also known as the dance floor. The "dance floor" was a piece of wood spread out over concrete. The boys obviously practice dancing quite a bit. After a little encouragement, I busted a few moves myself.…
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In preaching and public speaking, one of the greatest challenges a speaker faces is how to make the message applicable to his or her listeners. In other words, how to move from information to transformation. Over the years, I have learned to "think ahead" when it comes to preaching. As I'm researching and writing my message, I try to think ahead to the different types of people who will be in the crowd and the different aspects of life each of them faces. To jumpstart your move to application, you might consider thinking through how your message applies to one or more of these areas: People stuff. How does your main point affect their marriage? How they raise their children? Handle employees? Conflict and tension. Does your main point or passage help resolve a conflict or give perspective to a particular tension? Is there an immediate step of action they…
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