Reports from the Frontier of LuskoLand

2012-02-04T08:44:00.000-08:00

Successful Launch: Heidi off to Bible College

There is a reason the British Empire once ruled the world: The English are so stylish! Our continental cousins act like they have a superior civilization because they do. Coming from the colonies the first time years ago, I was massively humbled by a London taxi driver (do not think Manhattan, think clean and cool) when I innocently asked him how it sounded to the British to hear an American speak.

'Have you ever heard someone from the deep south of the U.S. drawl? That's how you sound to us.'

Lesson learned y'all. I now talk as little as possible in the UK.

We made a quick trip to England last week to deliver Heidi to Calvary Chapel Bible College in York. Good friends Doug and Lisa Keen have planted a church in Hastings, by the English Channel, and they graciously invited us to stay with them and have me teach Sunday morning at CC Hastings.

No interpreter was provided.

Doug is a pastor, tennis pro, and good friend - their three girls are precious and have adapted well to England.

The case can be made that the British empire shrank in concert with a loss of spiritual vigor in the homeland. Once the pulpits of England flamed with Spurgeon, Morgan et al, but that was then. Today the evangelical community is infinitesimal. God certainly has his remnant through Hillsong, Calvary and others, but Doug told of Franklin Graham speaking in York and receiving a response of four hands to a gospel invitation to thousands. Chilling.

Larissa & Heidi in Cambridge

Our whirlwind trip took us the length of the country, London, Hastings, then north to York. I chose to pass on trains this time and rent a car. Challenging. Shifting with my left, driving on the 'wrong side' and navigating with a steering wheel in the passengers seat. Not for the faint of heart.

And the GPS did not work. Rubbish

We made a lunch stop in Cambridge to visit the home of my favorite Bible and it was excellent to stroll around the village, Kings College and environs. Inspiring and on the list for a longer stay, perhaps to write much and talk little.

Then on to York, a walled city where the Bible College is located. How thankful I am for the Calvary Chapel Bible College system. Heidi is the fifth child to attend a various campus and it is a wonderful to see each child immerse themselves in scripture, each one has grown marvelously from this experience. Thank you Pastor Chuck.

Castle and moat near Hastings

This does leave the Lusko Nest empty of first generation children for the first time in a long time; No worries, we shall reload with g-kids.

Cheers.

2011- It's Only A Number Now

2011-12-31T06:39:00.001-08:00

Happy to be vertical for 2012. Everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die, now there is a cliche that I can relate to. And here is another that rings loud and clear: It is all about the family. True, true. In June, when I was on the brink, I wasn't thinking about the unfinished projects on my iPad. I wasn't texting my assistant from the ambulance, I was alone in Miami and I wanted to reach my family. So at the close of 2011, the people in my family and not projects are on my heart.

Larissa- 2011 at our favorite coffee shop in Miami

Valentines Day 2005

Where are they now? L-R: Daniel & Leanne live in ABQ, Daniel is working on his first feature film, Leanne teaches piano, and they are expecting soon! Jason & Becca, just moved to Denver with Jaxon & Brigette, mixed emotions for me. Levi & Jennie live in Montana, where Levi is pastor of Fresh Life Church, with Alivia, Lenya, Daisy and another one on the way! BTW: Alivia is in this photo, she just hasn't been born yet!

MIA: Josh, (works at Apple at ABQ Uptown) married to Tamara with sweet Aisley. Heidi, still at home for now, went to UNM this fall, attending Bible College in York, England in February. Jesse works as a pastor at Calvary. Bekah leads worship and attends UNM.

Most of the growing fam

Larissa- teaching at She, the women's ministry at Calvary

Aisley, what a doll

What can you say about a boy named Jaxon?

Hi! Brigette

Levi & Jennie with the girls in Whitefish

Pedro Garcia, younger brother I never had!

The Fab Lusko Five, smiling and styling, Knob Hill, October 2011

Bekah & Jesse-dog

Daniel, Leanne & Co.

Okay- here is one project I completed in 2011, Never Surrender, the documentary story of General Jerry Boykin.

And if I had a bucket list (I don't) hiking rim to rim across the Grand Canyon last May would have been on it. Check.

Now, let's move on, shall we?

Does God read the sports page?

2011-12-28T06:28:00.000-08:00

Tebowmania has swept the country, this we know: From SNL to the Wall Street Journal to NFL Live, I have never seen anything quite like it.

Kurt Warner was faith visible, and dozens of NFL players gather for prayer mid-field after all games, but Tim has taken it to a new level.

Never before has a players character affected sports commentary in such a severe way.

As a Christian and a Bronco fan, I was taken aback by the virulent anti-Tebow rhetoric from ESPN etc. Is he over the top? Should he dial it back a notch or two? I don't think so. Seems to me, this is the genuine Tim Tebow. The larger question that arises from all the credit the Lord gets from NFL wins is, 'Does God care about football?'

The answer is easy, of course He does, not because He is a Bronco fan though. God cares about football because we do. What concerns man, concerns God; He cares equally about polo as He does about the Super Bowl, as He does about chess. The heart of man is always the issue in heaven.

During the recent improbable Bronco winning streak, nearly one thousand people died from flooding in the Philippines, while hundreds were massacred in Syria. Meanwhile in the Sudan, famine is a daily life and death issue, and I am thinking that kind of story should capture our attention, emotion and support.

I lived in Colorado during the Elway years, as a whole region was swept along with Bronco fever, it was fun, but I do not think it was all that healthy, and I am sure it was not balanced in terms of a worldview. After all, pro sports is largely made up of spoiled millionaires playing a game. So bravo to Tim Tebow for his boldness and his balance.

And yes, God reads the sports page, but I think He first turns to the obituaries. That's the real news.

Jesus wept, not at a soccer game, but at a cemetery.

Finale from Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-16T06:05:00.000-08:00

Dec 16, 8:09 AM EST

Christopher Hitchens, militant pundit, dies at 62

His ideal way to die:

"Fully conscious, and either fighting or reciting (or fooling around)."

Hitchens was an extremely talented writer and a huge contradiction. He authored, 'God is Not Great,' and numerous anti-God essays. He hated Mother Teresa and supported George Bush. He spoke boldly against radical Islam and tried to have the Pope arrested. He reveled in a debauched life and faced cancer defiantly. Now he knows.

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

AP Photo/CHAD RACHMAN

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Cancer weakened, but did not soften Christopher Hitchens. He did not repent or forgive or ask for pity. As if granted diplomatic immunity, his mind's eye looked plainly upon the attack and counterattack of disease and treatments that robbed him of his hair, his stamina, his speaking voice and eventually his life.

"I love the imagery of struggle," he wrote about his illness in an August 2010 essay in Vanity Fair. "I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient."

Hitchens, a Washington, D.C.-based author, essayist and polemicist who waged verbal and occasional physical battle on behalf of causes left and right, died Thursday night at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston of pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer, according to a statement from Vanity Fair magazine. He was 62.

"There will never be another like Christopher. A man of ferocious intellect, who was as vibrant on the page as he was at the bar," said Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter. "Those who read him felt they knew him, and those who knew him were profoundly fortunate souls."

He had enjoyed his drink (enough to "to kill or stun the average mule") and cigarettes, until he announced in June 2010 that he was being treated for cancer of the esophagus.

He was a most engaged, prolific and public intellectual who wrote numerous books, was a frequent television commentator and a contributor to Vanity Fair, Slate and other publications. He became a popular author in 2007 thanks to "God is Not Great," a manifesto for atheists.

"Christopher Hitchens was everything a great essayist should be: infuriating, brilliant, highly provocative and yet intensely serious," said Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. "I worked as an intern for him years ago. My job was to fact check his articles. Since he had a photographic memory and an encyclopedic mind it was the easiest job I've ever done."

Long after his diagnosis, his columns and essays appeared regularly, savaging the royal family, reveling in the death of Osama bin Laden, or pondering the letters of poet Philip Larkin. He was intolerant of nonsense, including about his own health. In a piece which appeared in the January 2012 issue of Vanity Fair, he dismissed the old saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

"So far, I have decided to take whatever my disease can throw at me, and to stay combative even while taking the measure of my inevitable decline. I repeat, this is no more than what a healthy person has to do in slower motion," he wrote. "It is our common fate. In either case, though, one can dispense with facile maxims that don't live up to their apparent billing."

Eloquent and intemperate, bawdy and urbane, Hitchens was an acknowledged contrarian and contradiction - half-Christian, half-Jewish and fully non-believing; a native of England who settled in America; a former Trotskyite who backed the Iraq war and supported George W. Bush. But his passions remained constant and targets of his youth, from Henry Kissinger to Mother Teresa, remained hated.

He was a militant humanist who believed in pluralism and racial justice and freedom of speech, big cities and fine art and the willingness to stand the consequences. He was smacked in the rear by then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and beaten up in Beirut. He once submitted to waterboarding to prove that it was indeed torture.

Hitchens was a committed sensualist who abstained from clean living as if it were just another kind of church. In 2005, he would recall a trip to Aspen, Colo., and a brief encounter after stepping off a ski lift.

"I was met by immaculate specimens of young American womanhood, holding silver trays and flashing perfect dentition," he wrote. "What would I like? I thought a gin and tonic would meet the case. `Sir, that would be inappropriate.' In what respect? `At this altitude gin would be very much more toxic than at ground level.' In that case, I said, make it a double."

An emphatic ally and inspired foe, he stood by friends in trouble ("Satanic Verses" novelist Salman Rushdie) and against enemies in power (Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini). His heroes included George Orwell, Thomas Paine and Gore Vidal (pre-Sept. 11). Among those on the Hitchens list of shame: Michael Moore, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Sarah Palin, Gore Vidal (post Sept. 11) and Prince Charles.

"We have known for a long time that Prince Charles' empty sails are so rigged as to be swelled by any passing waft or breeze of crankiness and cant," Hitchens wrote in Slate in 2010 after the heir to the British throne gave a speech criticizing Galileo for the scientist's focus on "the material aspect of reality."

"He fell for the fake anthropologist Laurens van der Post. He was bowled over by the charms of homeopathic medicine. He has been believably reported as saying that plants do better if you talk to them in a soothing and encouraging way. But this latest departure promotes him from an advocate of harmless nonsense to positively sinister nonsense."

Hitchens was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1949. His father, Eric, was a "purse-lipped" Navy veteran known as "The Commander"; his mother, Yvonne, a romantic who later killed herself during an extra-marital rendezvous in Greece. Young Christopher would have rather read a book. He was "a mere weed and weakling and kick-bag" who discovered that "words could function as weapons" and so stockpiled them.

In college, Oxford, he made such longtime friends as authors Martin Amis and Ian McEwan and claimed to be nearby when visiting Rhodes scholar Bill Clinton did or did not inhale marijuana. Radicalized by the 1960s, Hitchens was often arrested at political rallies, was kicked out of Britain's Labour Party over his opposition to the Vietnam War and became a correspondent for the radical magazine International Socialiam. His reputation broadened in the 1970s through his writings for the New Statesman.

Wavy-haired and brooding and aflame with wit and righteous anger, he was a star of the left on paper and on camera, a popular television guest and a columnist for one of the world's oldest liberal publications, The Nation. In friendlier times, Vidal was quoted as citing Hitchens as a worthy heir to his satirical throne.

But Hitchens never could simply nod his head. He feuded with fellow Nation columnist Alexander Cockburn, broke with Vidal and angered freedom of choice supporters by stating that the child's life begins at conception. An essay for Vanity Fair was titled "Why Women Aren't Funny," and Hitchens wasn't kidding.

He had long been unhappy with the left's reluctance to confront enemies or friends. He would note his strong disappointment that Arthur Miller and other leading liberals shied from making public appearances on behalf of Rushdie after the Ayatollah Khomeini called for his death. He advocated intervention in Bosnia and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Rushdie posted on his Twitter page early Friday: "Goodbye, my beloved friend. A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops."

No Democrat angered him more than Clinton, whose presidency led to the bitter end of Hitchens' friendship with White House aide Sidney Blumenthal and other Clinton backers. As Hitchens wrote in his memoir, he found Clinton "hateful in his behavior to women, pathological as a liar, and deeply suspect when it came to money in politics."

He wrote the anti-Clinton book, "No One Left to Lie To," at a time when most liberals were supporting the president as he faced impeachment over his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Hitchens also loathed Hillary Rodham Clinton and switched his affiliation from independent to Democrat in 2008 just so he could vote against her in the presidential primary.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, completed his exit. He fought with Vidal, Noam Chomsky and others who either suggested that U.S. foreign policy had helped cause the tragedy or that the Bush administration had advanced knowledge. He supported the Iraq war, quit The Nation, backed Bush for re-election in 2004 and repeatedly chastised those whom he believed worried unduly about the feelings of Muslims.

"It's not enough that faith claims to be the solution to all problems," he wrote in Slate in 2009 after a Danish newspaper apologized for publishing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that led Muslim organizations to threaten legal action. "It is now demanded that such a preposterous claim be made immune from any inquiry, any critique, and any ridicule."

His essays were compiled in such books as "For the Sake of Argument" and "Prepared for the Worst." He also wrote short biographies/appreciations of Paine and Thomas Jefferson, a tribute to Orwell and "Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring)," in which he advised that "Only an open conflict of ideas and principles can produce any clarity." A collection of essays, "Arguably," came out in September 2011 and he was planning a "book-length meditation on malady and mortality." He appeared in a 2010 documentary about the topical singer Phil Ochs.

Survived by his second wife, author Carol Blue, and by his three children (Alexander, Sophia and Antonia), Hitchens had quotable ideas about posterity, clarified years ago when he saw himself referred to as "the late" Christopher Hitchens in print. For the May 2010 issue of Vanity Fair, before his illness, Hitchens submitted answers for the Proust Questionnaire, a probing and personal survey for which the famous have revealed everything from their favorite color to their greatest fear.

His vision of earthly bliss: "To be vindicated in my own lifetime."

His ideal way to die: "Fully conscious, and either fighting or reciting (or fooling around)."

Of Cancer and Christianity Part Three

2011-12-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

I have been following the story of Christopher Hitchens, an aggressive atheist who has terminal cancer. A tragic story made more intriguing because his brother is a staunch Christian, as is Christopher's brilliant doctor. Hitchens himself is well spoken and an author of slick anti-God propaganda. I still hope for a miracle, but time is running out.

Former self: Christopher Hitchens before his battle with cancer

Although he gave up cigarettes in 2008 after claiming to have had an epiphany, he once said he could 'drink enough every day to kill or stun the average mule.'

From the UK Daily Mail

Cancer-stricken Christopher Hitchens says his 'time' is coming as he makes first public appearance in months to receive atheism award

By JOHN STEVENS

October 2011

Christopher Hitchens said that his 'time' is coming as he made his first public appearance in months at the weekend.

The controversial writer and fervent atheist, who is suffering from oesophagus cancer, attended the Atheist Alliance of America conference in Texas where he was presented an award by Richard Dawkins.

The 62-year-old said that he had been determined to attend the conference because of the state's Bible Belt devotion.

Battle: Christopher Hitchens, who is suffering from oesophagus cancer, spoke at the Atheist Alliance of America conference in Texas

Receiving the Richard Dawkins Freethinker of the Year Award, Hitchens looked gaunt and his voice was soft.

At one point he struggled to speak and started to cough. 'I was worried this would happen,' he told the gathering of over a thousand atheist.

'I think being an atheist is something you are, not something you do,' he told the New York Times.

'I'm not sure we need to be honoured. We don't need positive reinforcement.

'On the other hand, we do need to stick up for ourselves, especially in a place like Texas, where they have laws, I think, that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ you can't run for sheriff.'

Dawkins praised him for showing his atheist determination even in the face of death and said he had disproved the saying that there are 'no atheists in foxholes'.

Illness: Hitchens, who has lost his hair, looked gaunt and struggled to speak at times

'I'm not going to quit until absolutely I have to,' Hitchens told the audience before receiving a standing ovation.

During his speech Hitchens said that he appreciated the fact that Texas governor Rick Perry had been open about his faith and his desire to inject fundamentalism into public life, reported the Houston Chronicle.

After being asked by an eight-year-old girl what books she should read, he recommended Dawkins' Magic of Reality, Greek and Roman myths, anything satirical by Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, PG Wodehouse, David Hume, and Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.

Hitchens discovered in June 2010 that he had Stage 4 oesophageal cancer.

The writer, who is also a columnist for Vanity Fair magazine, has admitted to prolific drinking and smoking heavily for much of his life.

Hitchens whose brother Peter is a columnist for the Mail on Sunday, has repeatedly hit the headlines in recent years.

He notably tried, along with fellow campaigning atheist Richard Dawkins, to have the Pope arrested when he visited Britain for what they allege was his complicity in covering up child sex abuse in the Catholic church.

Twice married, last year he announced he had gay relations with two ministers in Margaret Thatcher's government while he was at Oxford University but refused to name them.

He met his first wife while working as a journalist in Cyprus and they have two children Alexander and Sophia.

In 1989 he met the journalist Carol Blue and they later married and had a daughter Antonia.

Note: An Atheist Award! Congratulations, you don't believe in anything. How awful to face certain death with a false sense of bravado. There must be some very dark nights for Mr. Hitchens. He certainly has heard the gospel from his brother at least. Let us pray that the truth of God's love finally breaks through, even to the last breath, there is hope.

2011-11-23T06:28:00.001-08:00

The Heart of the Matter

Ezekiel 36:26

David Berkowitz

In the course of documentary filmmaking, I've been able to take part in some fascinating interviews. Benjamin Netanyahu, Tim LaHaye, Franklin Graham and Chuck Smith are just a few that come to mind. But one that is seared into my memory didn't even involve a camera. Through our radio ministry a man named David Berkowitz got in touch and requested a visit while Skip and I were in upstate New York conducting an outreach. We needed to go to him, because he was serving a lifetime prison sentence. David Berkowitz was known as the Son of Sam during a New York summer when he killed six people and shot three more. A book and movie made him even more famous after his arrest. He told us demons talked to him through a neighbor's dog and he responded by terrorizing his borough for a full year.

I did not know what to expect in meeting a serial killer, I knew he had claimed a conversion to Jesus, but I took a wait and see attitude, and I saw.

It was immediately clear that this man was not pulling a con job.

He was gentle, humble and genuine about his faith. An hour long conversation in the prison left me fully aware I had been with a changed man. While this body had pulled the trigger that ended lives, the spirit was that of a transformed person. No doubt he had a new heart.

Ezekiel 36:26

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

It was 1967 I think, when Dr. Christian Barnard conducted the first successful heart transplant. The South African native rocked the medical world and I remember him on the cover of Life magazine. Truth be told, God has been doing much more impressive transplants for a very long time because Dr. Barnard's patients eventually passed away. David Berkowitz and all those who receive a new spirit heart will live forever.

The Best Compliment Ever

We all love compliments but most are vain ego parties.

But King David received the best compliment ever:

He was called a man after God's heart. That one sticks, here's why:

David was:

A man of the Word: Oh, How I love your law!

A man of prayer: I will call upon Him my whole life

A man of praise: Seven Times a day will I praise You

A man who hated evil: I hate every false way

Heaven is always recruiting men and women who will match their full will to God's. When that rare individual is found, look out!

Until Jesus - David was a preview, we should be a review of this dynamic life.

Okay, so I have been a little more interested in studying the heart since June 6 of this year. In rapid order I found that the Bible is blunt and clear that the heart of man is in deep trouble:

Here is profile of the more than eight hundred times the heart is mentioned. Suffice to say, man's unredeemed heart gets a wicked review.

All the thoughts of man's heart are continually wicked

Genesis

Heart is desperately wicked… who can know it

Jeremiah

Out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts.

Matthew

Danger of darkened hearts

Romans

Heart is waxed gross (thick and heavy)

Matthew

False Hearts-Mouth draws near to God but heart is far from Him

Matthew

The Double-minded heart

Ephesians

Polluted & Bitter Hearts

Hebrews

No wonder then that Genesis also says, God's heart was grieved that He made man. Happily, He chose to resolve the issue by offering a full change of heart, a transplant.

Heart disease has killed millions, but EVERYBODY has this genetic defect from the fall- literally broken hearts.

The markers are everywhere, Jesus said:

Out of the abundance of the heart- your lips speak. You don't have to look long to know that mankind is far from God.

How magnificent then that a poisoned heart like mine or Berkowitz's can be demonstrably and permanently changed.

How can you change your heart? Self-Surgery is never successful and amateur surgeons are not recommended. So much of what we do to feel better or change our behavior treats the fruit and not the root of the issue. Relieving symptoms will not bring the healing we need.

Confess with your lips and believe in your heart that Jesus died and God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved.

Cue Andrae Crouch: 'Jesus is the answer for the world today.'

Only God's Spirit using the scalpel of His Word can cut between soul and spirit and get to the heart of the matter.

Can 60 really be the new 40?

2011-10-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

Maybe

Whatever Woody Allen may think about life insurance salesmen, this much is true, they have done a fine job of rebranding the true essence of their job description. In fact they do not insure life, but death. Nothing happens as long as the client lives, it is death that brings a claim and payout.

Therefore the 'life' insurance industry takes infinite interest in actuary tables of life expectancy. For Americans, the facts are these, in 1965 the average American male lived to 65.6 years of age. Get this, in 1900 it was 47.9!

Happily, today that number has grown to 75.8 for males and 81.58 for females. Whether life expectancy in America continues to creep forward remains to be seen. Our horrible eating habits may finally counteract advances in medical treatment.

Obesity is found in fully 25% of the population, there is going to be hell to pay for all those Quarter Pounders.

I had not given my 'life insurance' much thought until I almost needed it this summer, but no, not yet.

My stunted immaturity has never really allowed my age to catch up with me, my emotional growth is pretty much stalled at 25, though my wife would say 15. My ego and image will never allow me to do several things typically associated with hitting your 7th decade: Use a senior discount, join AARP or go to Branson, Missouri.

That's just me.

Here are some of my take-home leftovers from having crawled back from the brink of death in June:

1. Everybody, and I mean everybody knows someone who has had a heart 'event'.' Without fail, after telling me how shocked they are that a health freak like me would go through this, everyone says, 'You know, my (brother, father, sister, ) fill in the blank, had that happen……" Usually, it is followed by, 'And they lived 20 more years.' Some unfortunate friends don't sort their intel, and an awkward pause is followed by,'… and they died on the way to the hospital.'

Not surprising since the only notice one third of all heart attack victims get is death.

When I think back to roaming the halls of the Key Biscayne Hilton at 5:30 am on June 6th to 'walk off' my chest pains, I realize that could have easily been the end.

2. I'm surprised anyone is alive. I haven't spent much time studying actuary tables or disease stats, but after some quick web education, I now think that between cancer and heart attacks, it's amazing anyone is still here. And of course, eventually, we won't be.

3. I'm putting a message together for some guest speaking titled, 'The Heart of the Matter.'

It wasn't a stroke of genius for me to begin studying this topic when I was laid up in Critical Care in Miami waiting for my special moment in the operating room. So I have been diving into what the Bible says about the heart. Short answer: A lot, as in 833 mentions. I will post a link to this teaching, after I give it in a couple of weeks. Here is the text:

Eze 36:26

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

Can 60 really be the new 40? Absolutely. And not just from a statistical standpoint, however, hardening of the attitudes is the real disease that can short circuit this opportunity. If we feel old, we will act old, lose vision and check out when we should be all in. From a biblical standpoint, experience, wisdom and opportunity should intersect at the later stage of life to make it an epic era. Joshua, Moses and Caleb knew this.

Here is a message by Levi Lusko that really sums up my attitude towards aging:

Caleb, Getting Old and Staying Awesome-

http://vimeo.com/29584014

Retirement? From what? To what?

Slow down? Why? Time is short, pedal to the metal.

Give up grand dreams? No way Jose. Bring it on, as long as this heart is beating, I am going after it.

As Caleb put it, give me my mountain.

Getting on God's Wheel

2011-09-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a decent summer, except for the part where I almost died in Miami..... then was sliced open like a yellow fin tuna. That was a speed bump that rocked me like nothing else, ever. Summer 2011 is almost in my rear view mirror, so a few glances backwards.

Here are a few highlights:

Wrapping up the 'Never Surrender' documentary with Daniel, the video biography of General Jerry Boykin. The content for this project includes Dr. James Dobson, Oliver North and Franklin Graham. It was an honor to conduct a three hour interview with General Boykin.

Daniel and I also had an excellent trip to New York City with our wives to interview Governor Mike Huckabee.

NYC interview with Governor Mike Huckabee

One of the best… so far. Governor Huckabee is super articulate and has a great grasp on an intelligent approach to the lethal issues that are strangling our nation. He is just the sort of leader we need, but is probably too sensible and kind to become president.

We are releasing this documentary on 9/11 with a worldwide TV interview with General Boykin from California.

Larissa is extending her teaching and doing a wonderful job. She was invited to speak in Denver and Miami and blew things up with her message. She is compact but powerful!

Tropical Storm Larissa bringing it in Miami.

Meanwhile, Heidi has turned 18, and is now a college student. Wild. Here's a few snapshots of the last Lusko to leave the nest.

Heidi and our friend Flipper

Heidi during her brief Unabomber phase With Jesse & Bekah

Favorite line on her first drive: 'The brake is the big pedal, right?" Dear Lord.....

Looking up to her big sister Rebecca

Gee, what great daughters!

I went from biking fifty miles a day to being unable to walk fifty feet. Stunning. Thankfully, I am in full recovery and am on the road back to my previous endurance levels. Thirty-five miles yesterday. Whew. Nonetheless, all the lessons about mortality, counting my days and making a mark for Jesus have been underscored and highlighted for me in neon.

Larissa and I took a business trip to Colorado and combined it with an excursion to Breckenridge to see the USA Pro Cycling Race- with Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck etc.

Andy Schleck, sprinting in Breckenridge. Second, three times in the Tour de France!

Meanwhile in Montana, Levi and I started a new annual race, The Huckleberry 100. I had organized Chase the Balloons for the past 8 years in ABQ at Fiesta time, but I have moved on. It was a huge setback not to be able to ride in the inaugural Montana race…. but next year I'll be ready for it.

Levi still smiling after his first century

All in all, I have turned a corner, I am turning 60 (the new 40!) and I have my ear to the ground to see what adventure the Lord has ahead. I do know this, I want to use the cycling principle of drafting behind Jesus- getting on God's wheel!

Here's a teaching by Levi Lusko that lays out this point, Slipstream for your soul:

http://freshlifechurch.com/3.0/teachings/search.php

How fallen can it get? Very and quickly.

2011-07-26T08:51:00.001-07:00

I cannot count how many times in a teaching message I ended with the evangelistic admonition, "You are one heartbeat from eternity." True, true. But when you are rolling in a Miami ambulance and peering at the end of life as you know it, that shot of truth takes on a whole new shape. One form that fact took was to give me a broad sense of how desperate the human condition truly is. We are all very good at insulating ourselves from this harsh reality, but like a Weekend at Bernie's, we are really propping up a corpse and going on a road trip. When the Bible says all mankind is, 'Dead in their sins,' it is not talking about half measures. Dead is dead, not mostly dead, but totally so.

Therefore our world is generally populated and operated by dead people, out of touch with their creator and capable of the worst in zombie-like behavior. Extreme? I think not. Only our salt and the Spirit prevents a total collapse into depravity.

In the hospital, the History Channel was about the only one that was not trying to sell me something. And June seemed to be 'Nazi Special Month.' I am well studied about the holocaust, have visited Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and shudder during Schindler's List. Maybe it was the morphine, but seeing these Nazi monsters massacre Jews, Gypsies and other 'inferior' races, made me more disgusted than ever. And truth be told, the Nazi's were amateurs compared to Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and many, many others. Don't get me started. The Assyrians may have set the mark for monstrous behavior, their treatment of prisoners was so gruesome it cannot be repeated. And what really happened to the Mayans? My observation is that they disappeared due to sacrificing their male population to the freaking demons, (See Mel Gibson's Apocalypto). And this is not all ancient history before mankind evolved to enlightenment. The 20th century was the worst, not the best.

Remember, until the 1900's, life for most of mankind was short, dark and brutal. Even now it is no picnic for many, consider that our garbage disposals eat better than thirty percent of the world.

All that to say this, most of us are children of, as Bob Seger sang, 'The UMC,' (Upper Middle Class) and as such, we are beneficiaries of all that Western European Judeo-Christian Civilization can offer. Fueled by a cheap and temporary energy bubble since WW II, we have had it soft and sweet.

This is neither normal nor permanent in the context of history and prophecy.

Far from that doom and gloom guy, I am generally a hopeless optimist, but reality bites. It is going to get worse. Much worse. I wish it were not so for the sake of our children and grandchildren, but my Bible has the book of Revelation in it.

Now perhaps our leaders will be ingenious enough to postpone the inevitable for a generation, or two. Actually, the best option is an amazing revival in America immediately followed by the rapture with no stops for judgment or the national humiliation which we so richly deserve due to abortion, mocking God, etc. Here's hoping.

John MacArthur said the path to a civilization's judgment is paved with pornography. Check. William Durant said that before a nation can be conquered from without, it must crumble from within. Partial check, working on it.

Radical Islam is relentless, (see Constantinople Jerusalem and Cordoba) they will neither give up or give in, so buckle up, this is at least the beginning of the end. But keep in mind, it took centuries for Muslims to establish Istanbul as an Islamic capitol in the heart of Christendom. (Note, Turkey is now 99% Muslim).

As I write this on my lanai in New Mexico, it is a gorgeous day, blue skies, birds, blah-blah-blah. But reality is just a click away on CNN where I see some guy shot up a camp full of teens in Norway.

They were meeting to discuss making the world a better place.

I'm thinking Jesus has a plan for this.

Fun things to know and tell after a heart attack

2011-06-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

Two weeks after surgery with Dr. Ricci- 'The Man, aka, The Guy with the Golden Hands.' From the University of Miami.

1. The shock is wearing off. I did not consider myself a candidate for heart trouble. No red meat, hundreds of spin classes and an aversion to fast food did not buy me immunity from my end of the gene pool. I'm guessing self-induced stress did not help.

2. I know that we will all die of our last illness, I just didn't want it to be this one.

3. End of the Superman syndrome. I have always had this inherent confidence that I could hustle my way through any adversity. I could always work longer, get up earlier and juggle more projects to get it done.
Those days are dead. Better them than me.

4. The world is so worldly. Like a heightened sense of smell, in the hospital I became more attuned to just how ungodly most of the world is. Duh. It was just a sad dullness of how much people and daily activities are amputated from any sense of God.

5. And I had it 'easy.' A wonderfully supportive wife, immediate and church family; A world class Miami hospital and recovery in a four star hotel. NOTHING to complain about. We were very nearly in Belize and not Key West for our holiday. That could have been a much different picture.

6. Back on the bike. Amazing the vacuum that now exists in my life because I cannot work out normally. I did crawl back on a stationary bike the other day. Yes, I realized it was not mobile, but I felt so enabled. Can't wait to ride again!

7. I am determined not to waste this event. I have been arrested in my tracks by God. I am slowly picking up the pieces of projects that were in motion. But I am convinced the Lord wants to expand my faith in the medium and long term future and do something serious. I am emptying myself, waiting, listening and stretching. We will see.

A Pirate Looks at 60

2011-06-18T00:57:00.000-07:00

With Larissa, in the Miami hospital. I am looking better than I feel, and I realize that is not saying much.

Team Lusko: Daniel, Becca, Jesse, Heidi, Levi & the victim. They made me laugh, cry and kept me sane as possible when you are about to have your chest split open with a chain saw. We prayed, read scripture, sang and watched teachings together. Priceless support.

They were also constantly on covert food runs to South Beach.

In Key West, two days before, The Event. Larissa and I took Heidi and our niece Jazzy to celebrate graduating from high school.

Because I have journalism training, I subconsciously proofread many things I see, billboards, magazine ads and what not. It is a mixed blessing (a bit of OCD). As I lay in the back of a Miami ambulance a few weeks ago, I couldn't help proofing the rescue rate card hanging on the wall, 'EKG: $100 etc.' My heart was attacking me and it was an annoying way to start the week. I had other plans, and they did not include waking up on Biscayne Bay with such classic heart attack symptoms that even I could not go into denial for long. So instead of heading for an early workout on the Bay and a cup of Illy coffee, I stumbled to the Hilton lobby and mentioned to the clerk that she should call 911.

When my new ambulance friends deposited me at the emergency room of nearby Jackson Memorial Hospital, I had no idea I would be thrust into my first major hospital experience. Fifty-nine years old and I had spent one night in a hospital for a minor cut repair. That would change. I was about to be initiated into the hospital culture. Hospitals are a combination of mediocre hotel, much needed torture chambers and a palace for medical working heroes.

Image is everything, and I could hardly bring myself to say, 'I had a heart attack.' But I did. The ER doors of JMH became a wormhole to a new reality for me. Cath lab, angioplasty and a quick prognosis. I would need open heart surgery as soon as my blood thickened. And oh yes, I could go into cardiac arrest at any moment, but the cardio doctor said I was 'lucky.' Lucky to have no other risk factors, lucky to be staying close to a fine cardio hospital and very lucky I did not wait longer. Fifty per cent of heart attack victims perish in the first sixty minutes without treatment. I was in surgery almost one hour to the minute from when I woke up in a cold sweat. My favorite line came from the gurney guy, 'Man, that could have killed you.' He has seen a lot, so enough said. I heard the word lucky and fortunate many times that day. But I knew there was much more, had this 'event' taken place at a different time and place I would have been toast. I could have been hiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim as I was two weeks before. I can just see my lifeless body draped over a Canyon mule. Two days earlier, I was 45 minutes off Key West in the Gulf on a dive boat. One week earlier I was on a bike ride with my cycling team, 20 miles out, not good. But a hotel five minutes from one of the highest rated heart hospitals in the country would be excellent, thank you.

God's hand was not missing.

Things I thought while my heart attacked

'Really Lord, like this?' Fifty-nine, alone in Miami, with a legal pad of important projects on the runway. I felt no excitement for heaven, though I had assurance, I felt disappointment. Not the unfulfilled bucket list jive of cycling the Alps or diving the Truk Islands. Something else. It was just that for the past year or more I have sensed a rumbling in the Spirit. I know something big is coming, I don't know what or when. I just was put off at the idea of not catching this Spiritual Set. There were no C.S. Lewis moments of clarity, just a dull mixture of anxiety and amazement.

I am pleased to report that I had no nagging need to reconcile with any of my family. I was at total peace with my wife and kids, nothing left unsaid, except maybe, 'Good-bye.'

That brought me to the need for communication. No one knew. It was 6 AM Eastern, so the middle of the night in New Mexico and Montana. Plus, phoning with nitroglycerin under my tongue was a challenge. So I texted out, first to my wife Larissa, then a group text to all the children: 'I love you. Chest pains. Ambulance. Miami.' Here's some dark humor, I sometimes send my wife song lyric fragments and she has to answer back.

That's what she thought I was doing and not recognizing the Jimmy Buffett ballad, 'Chest Pains,' she did not play along.

I finally called her after surgery and the word went out. Facebook & Twitter are amazing.

Surrounded

Within twenty hours I would be surrounded by Larissa and all five kids, like spiritual centurions, Team Lusko was on guard. Levi had the most challenging flight path, taking a private plane from Kalispell to Great Falls to escape the weird vortex of Montana flight schedules.

Larissa and Heidi had both been with me in Key West the day before, I had stayed behind for work in Miami, so they made a quick return trip from ABQ.

Daniel, Jesse and Becca dropped everything and showed up quickly.

So there I was, laying in CCU with all five Lusko children and my lovely wife Larissa waiting for my chest to be opened.

Support

In addition, support poured in from around the world. Calvary of Albuquerque was incredibly gracious as were other churches like Calvary Kendall here in South Florida. But mainly, people prayed and I could tell. And thank God, because I was in for the medical equivalent of the Tour de France. Before long I had IV's in my arms and neck (the worst) and other tubes and wires in my body. I felt like Frankenstein. Through it all, more support flowed in, Kent Bagdasar, a life long friend from So Cal showed up, as did Pedro and Lourdes Garcia. Other pastor friends offered to fly in and and run errands. I was deeply touched.

The Fruit

Four hours of surgery brought more prayer pay off. They did not need to stop my heart and use the heart-lung machine. This alone is a major meta-physical victory for me.

The 48 hours after surgery are a foggy, painful blur. I do recall looking at Levi, and demanding to know who he was.

Each child in turn was special to be around, each spiritual, each supportive and altogether a lot of my tears were shed.

Released from the hospital after 4 days, the hits keep coming. I have been off pain meds since then, literally pain free. I am weak, but walking. Talking briefly to the kids each day to make sure this really happened. It did.

Now what?

Four months ahead of my 60th, I have raised my family, conducted a 40 year media career and have been given a new lease on life. I do not plan to waste a single moment for the Kingdom.

For This Purpose

Here is an interesting point, Louie Giglio has a current 'Open Heart Series,' that really got my attention in the hospital, let's just say. It was also something wild to watch Levi teach online from Tucson just after he had to leave. Surreal. I was to have been there, but no.

All that to say, what have I been hearing? If I had to distill my spiritual impressions to a single thought it would be this:

Be sure you are able to say, 'For this purpose was I born,' as Jesus was. This is not harvesting any fresh manna, but my perspective gave me a new hunger to go all out on a spiritual adventure, 'and see what the Lord will do.'

Once you discover your God given passion, do not look back. Genuine passion is contagious, outrageous and rare. It needs to be exposed to all the world. We cannot convince people to love Jesus (thank you Frances Chan) but we can be so incredibly on fire and in love with Him that the world will want to watch us burn as they warm themselves by our fires.

Anybody got a match?

Oh, and I did not find any typo's on the ambulance rate card.

Prime Time in Miami

2011-05-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

Pasion Cielo, excellent coffee shop in Coral Gables. Esta muy bien! Blue Mountain from Jamaica, etc., etc., wow.
Main event, creative session for the 2012 One Conference in Miami. The team that does Catalyst primed the pump. We'll be at the University of Miami next February, but this is how the work gets done. www.oneconference.com
Without a vision..... here is Pedro Garcia the Miami Hurricane Himself. Dreaming kingdom dreams & talking about it.

Of Cancer & Christianity Part 2

2011-05-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows someone who has suffered from cancer. My mom endured a horrific year with brain cancer that took her life in her mid-forties. The worst suffering I have ever seen, so far. That is not being cynical, but pragmatic: One out of three Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Cancer is responsible for one of four deaths. These are not good odds.

I will say that while watching my mother go through cancer induced dementia was the most painful episode to date in my life, it was also one of the most spiritually powerful times as well. God was there in a tangible way; I had recently been converted and was living in a Christian commune in Honolulu when a phone call came that changed everything. Within 24 hours I was standing in a southern California hospital hearing a fatal diagnosis from the Doctor. But I was not alone, the Lord touched my whole family and many of them came to Christ.

I was able to baptize both my mom & dad in their pool.

That leads me to this remarkable story that I have been following....

The story of Christopher Hitchens, author of:

'God is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything'

I recently posted the story of Christopher & Peter Hitchens, brothers on totally opposite spiritual spectrums. Christopher, a raving (but brilliant) atheist. Peter, a Christian author and apologist in his own right.

See how Peter made peace with his brother:

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255983/How-I-God-peace-atheist-brother-PETER-HITCHENS-traces-journey-Christianity.html)

However, Christopher has stage 4 cancer that is ravaging his body. Now, a curious twist to the story has further captured my attention. His former debate opponent is a doctor and is now his hope for recovery!

Read this & pray:

Atheist Christopher Hitchens turns to evangelical Christian doctor in his fight against cancer

By SIMON NEVILLE

The last person you might expect Christopher Hitchens, one of the world’s best known atheists, to turn to for help would be an evangelical Christian.

But a highly religious doctor might be the only individual who can help the author and journalist who is suffering from cancer.

Dr Francis Collins, the former director of the National Human Genome Research Project was one part of the team which developed techniques to map out the entire human DNA make-up is using Hitchens as a guinea pig for a new treatment.

Friends: Atheist Christopher Hitchens, left, is being treated by Christian Dr Francis Collins using a new technique of DNA mapping to tackle the mutated DNA directly

Hitchens, author of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, has had his genome mapped out in its entirety by taking DNA from healthy tissue and from his cancerous tumour.

On each sample six billion DNA matches were run, in order to catalogue the mutations in the cancerous cells which had given Hitchens cancer of the oesophagus.

Then in the New Year Dr Collins found a mutation and went about tackling the DNA directly.

He discovered that a drug already existed to treat the particular mutation and now Hitchens takes just one tablet a day, rather than undergoing gruelling chemotherapy.

Hitchens, 61, told London’s Daily Telegraph: ‘I’m an experiment.

‘These are early stages, but in theory it should attack the primary site of the tumour.

Authors: The duo have both written books about God. Hitchens said of Dr Collins: 'I won’t say he doesn’t pray for me, because I think he probably does.'

‘If that does happen, it won’t just be good news for me, it will be very exciting in the general treatment of cancer.’

The unlikely alliance between the Christian and Atheist formed when the pair used to debate each other about whether God existed, leading to the two becoming friends.

Dr Collins, who is director of America’s National Institutes of Health, has authored his own book on religion’s role in medicine: The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

Hitchens added: ‘It is a rather wonderful relationship.

‘I won’t say he doesn’t pray for me, because I think he probably does; but he doesn’t discuss it with me.

Hitchens, a prominent Atheist, he refused to change his views on religion even after his diagnosis in June 2010.‘He agrees that his medical experience does not include anything that could be described as a miracle cure.’

He said he finds the new treatment very exciting.

‘At least it spares me some of the boredom of being a cancer patient because what I’m going through is very absorbing and positively inspiring,’ he said. ‘But if it doesn’t work, I don’t know what they could try next.’

He added that during his treatment he was constantly contacted by other atheists sending him positive messages.

‘I get a huge number of letters and emails every day, a lot of them from people I don’t know, and they quite often say things like, “If anyone can beat this, it’s you”, “Cancer is a fool to take you on”… Jaunty, upbeat stuff like that.

'A lot of people, because of my contempt for the false consolations of religion, think of me as a symbolic public opponent of that in extremis. And sometimes that makes me feel a bit alarmed, to be the repository of other people’s hope.’

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This could be a real set up from the Lord. Stay tuned.

Easter 2011 - The Day After

2011-04-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Easter was huge this year, and it seems to be building in momentum in ABQ and all around the country.

Here's a link to the stadium event in New Mexico:

Easter 2011 - The Day After

Passion Rocked.; Rob Bell on the Slippery Slope

2011-04-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

A few thoughts now that I have de-compressed from 11 days on the road:

Passion 2011-

http://www.268generation.com

Passion 2011: Outrageous, contagious & dangerous to darkness

The emergent church hypesters like to pontificate on the failures of the church. Pardon me, Jesus sort of said He would build His church & He does all things well. Case in point: Passion 2011 in Texas: 10,000 18-25 year-old's spending the weekend in a poorly ventilated conference center in Ft. Worth. Chris Tomlin rocked,

Francis Chan wept, Louie leveled us with his message on branding and the Koso people group got their Bible translation funded. I slid in as the guest of Pedro Garcia through Shelley & Louie Giglio. Louie may not be the best Bible teacher on the planet, but he could be the best Bible communicator.

The new Mrs. Chris Tomlin (Lauren), unknown guy, Chris & Pedro (texting of course), lunch Passion 2011.

I finally had the chance to meet him after admiring his ministry for more than a decade. These guys could act like rock stars, but they are totally down to earth.

Fifteen years in, Passion shows no signs of decay. They are pushing the edges, going large and leaving a mark. If this is the American church in decline, I will gladly go down with this ship.

Rob Bell: What the Hell? To great fanfare, his book, 'Love Wins,' came out challenging the concept of eternal separation from God.

This new book pretends a lot of the red letters in the New Testament are invisible. Great angst and confusion over heaven and hell.

Really? This makes me grieve for the 10,000 plus in his Grand Rapids flock. How does he start each message, 'We can't be sure, but …..?' 'Love Wins' is a confused, ambiguous book at best. No one likes the idea of hell Rob, its just that Jesus and the Bible are very clear about it. Get over it & get with the program or get out of the pulpit.

Let's remember this is the same guy who observed,'We have to admit that the church in America is mostly a failure.'

I'm sure he can find a liberal seminary that would love to have him on the faculty.

Guest Speaking at Awaken in Tennessee:

Church Planting is an exquisite, exciting, frustrating adventure.

This was a flashback to my start up days at Calvary Chapel Southbay and later in Colorado. The results are out of your control, I remember standing in parking lots wondering if anybody would come. Somebody always did. At the end of the day, God was always faithful, you learn not to despise the days of small things. Sometimes, a gusher of living water shows up as in Albuquerque, other times, not so much. But that is not the issue, Jesus said Go! I salute those who have Gone.

Montana

My favorite new question, 'Are you related to Levi Lusko?'

My favorite new answer, 'Who?' Not really of course. Levi is blazing trails and setting records. I could not be more thrilled.

See for yourself: www.freshlifechurch.com

(Plus, look at these grand-daughters!)

Miami

In addition to having the worst drivers in the country, south Florida has the distinction of being the cross-roads to South/Central America and the Caribbean. It also has Pedro Garcia. I cannot tell you what is about to happen in Miami, but I know a spiritual hurricane is forming. I want to be in the eye of the storm.

This might kickstart it:

www.oneconference.com

Here are some shots from the Life FM open house along with Pedro and Lourdes Garcia during Team Week.

Coast to Coast & Then Some...

2011-04-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

This is not a trip- its a tour. California to Florida with stops in Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Tennessee. Wouldn't do it if the projects weren't worth it.

Passion 2011 in Ft. Worth this weekend. Outrageous worship and teaching. Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Louie Giglio & Francis Chan. Need I say more? Yeah, I know it is for 18-25, but I was the guest of brother Pedro - very, very grateful for the chance to see this. 10,000 college students- truly the hope of America.

Late night with part of the Anthem team in Phoenix, much needed by the ASU campus, 50,000+ students.
Dr. James Dobson was kind enough to give me an interview for the Never Surrender Documentary.
I was able to stop by and see Al Pittman while in the Springs, this shot is from his office balcony- million dollar view of Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods. His church is blowing up (in a good way).
Heidi- joined me in Texas, the Fresh Life Team Van from Montana was able to swing by ABQ and pick her up. Here's a shot from downtown Fort Worth with two angels warming up for the resurrection.

Final tour thought after 7 security checks: Mr. TSA guy, you don't know me that well.

Spring Break

2011-03-23T06:31:00.001-07:00

Spring Break in Montana with Larissa & Heidi. Our friends at Pottersfield Ranch were kind enough to provide a nice condo and a pick-up truck for us to drive. Felt like a real resident!
Mush you huskies! Always wanted to do this.
Whitefish, Montana, home of Hammer Nutrition. Met with them to set up a Fresh Life Radio ride next summer.

Heidi Summer Lusko on the first sunset of spring in the Flathead Valley. Saturday night service at the Strand.
Sunday morning at the Whitefish Fresh Life Campus. Packed.

Nice to have Crystal Lewis Ray leading worship with her daughter Izzy & band. Wild new song from Kevin Guido. You'll hear it in the future. I know when I hear a hit.
Levi preaching the Rise & Rise Again series. The intro video was outrageous.
Side trip with Levi & Coy to Billings, where Fresh Life Radio is getting a new FM station. This could be a future location for a Skull Church Event.

Two Weeks of High Speed Snapshots

2011-03-10T10:32:00.001-08:00

Tucson Conference- Highlights?

Pastor Chuck was there for all three days- wonderful

to be able to see him and hang out.

Mike Macintosh, Bob Coy & Steve Mays were there along with Don McClure and many more......including of course, Pedro.

Levi & Bob Coy compare study note technology
Tappan dinner with Scott and Pam Richards. Planning some diving excursions hopefully.

Sunday night at ABQ. Anthem launch for Nick Crespo & the Phoenix team- Arizona will never be the same. Glad to serve on his board and help blow things up in AZ.
Pre-game green room
Weekend in Fla- classic corner at Calvary of Ft. Lauderdale.

Also watched their lacrosse team practice. Really.
Spent a big weekend at Calvary in Miami- one year anniversary for Life FM

Guest speaker at Rebel Church.

Got to know Ben Houston from Sydney. He thinks I have an accent.

Good to see Pedro kicks off the One Conference for next year. Epic.

www.oneconference.com

Excellent speakers, yes. But a conference with a cause.

So Cal & San Diego

2011-02-20T06:23:00.001-08:00

Spent some time with Daniel in California, he is working on his

film, 'The Persecuted, (www.thepersecutedmovie.com). It is really getting traction. We are also seeing interest in TV land for Riptide, (www.riptidemovie.com). And finally, we spent half a day shooting the principle interview with Lt. General Jerry Boykin for the bio documentary we are producing about his life and book, 'Never Surrender.' He is a great brother, it is an honor to produce this film. Levi happened to be in So Cal speaking at a Harvest retreat at Green Valley- but its a big state, couldn't catch up with him, wish we could have.

Random Week Snaps

2011-02-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

Red Bull creative meeting in Montana with Levi, Kevin Guido, Coy Trammel and Josh Bowers.

Famous Dave's with Alivia. The moose is still looking at me.
My good friend Kent was in town last week for a sad occasion, but it was great to have Uncle Kent at the casa.

Freaks, Geeks & Unique's

2011-02-05T16:18:00.000-08:00

I 've made some spiritual diet changes in the past few months and it's kicking in. For literally decades, every morning, and I mean every morning, I rolled through studies by Jon Courson, Pastor Chuck, John MacArthur and Greg Laurie on KNKT and before that on stations in Colorado and California. Don't get me wrong, I still love hearing Dr. John, Greg and all, and listen to them. And of course I go to Calvary ABQ, so I get a consistent solid dose of Skip's smooth teachings.

But, late in the fall when I left The Connection, I decided to change my menu of daily teachers, nothing permanent.

I really got the idea from my weight room work out. I realized I have the same gym routine I had in college football in 1973!

Read an article about surprising your muscles with a fresh workout, so I thought the same principle would apply to my spirit man, (so to speak).

I consciously changed to a different daily line up, not better just different: Louie Giglio, Steven Furtick and James MacDonald. Different day, different voices, and they are speaking into my life.

Furtick and Giglio are on it in a big way. Love the passion, focus and challenge. Also need to mention the Miami hurricane, Pedro Garcia- watch this one.

Oh yeah, there is another guy, Levi in Montana who is rocking the Word.

So Cal Weekend

2011-01-31T10:36:00.000-08:00

Pastor's meeting at Horizon in San Diego with Mike Macintosh & company. Jon Mac in the blue cap, Evan Wickham on the end. Good bunch of guys.

Heidi and I were able to go to Calvary Costa Mesa Sunday morning. Pastor Chuck recently had back surgery and was in obvious pain. But! When he made it to the pulpit, he lit up, and went off on a strong message about prayer. You could almost see the anointing descend. Extraordinary.
We stopped at Huntington Beach to see an old friend, Bill Welsh. I have worked with Bill for years, served on his board and love his family. Great to see the fruit.
We were in So Cal, in part to visit Azusa Pacific as a possible school for Heidi. We will see.
Happily, Levi and the northern tribe (Levi, Jennie, Alivia, Lenya & Daisy) were in So Cal all week because he was speaking at Harvest Riverside on Sunday and Orange County Thursday night. Good timing, great to see them.
Lenya in the So Cal sun. Liv with an attitude.
Daisy and Jennie, she is such a sweetheart!

Fab Five Update

2011-01-14T21:39:00.001-08:00

Daniel, Heidi, Becca, Levi, Jesse

Even though Daniel appears pre-occupied and disengaged, here's a shot of the five Lusko children, looking good.
It is a source of endless amazement and joy for me to see them grow and prosper.
A mega-church pastor, movie-making, a Mac Store mgr, a homecoming princess and a youth pastor. Really? And don't even get me started on the grandchildren. When they were growing, I really never envisioned this stage of life. Perhaps because I was consumed by survival. These kids, especially the first wave of three, were hyper high octane. But now, wow, I am in constant contact and it is the best.
All the credit goes to the Lord.
I cannot imagine what lies ahead, but I know it is more than I could ask or think.
I am good with that.

2010 - A Glance Back

2010-12-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

Heidi, Jim Caviezel & Larissa, the night I interviewed him for an hour to a full house. I know it was last year, but I like the shot, and this blog is on Chip Time.

Below is a project oriented look back. Not to mention new grandchildren in Montana & New Mexico! I can't say enough about

how gracious God has been to me to give me a family that serves Him. All my children are amazing. It was a good year, tough to leave friends at The Connection, but I am more stoked than ever.

Glancing Back

First- below are the highlights of 2010 projects, not people.

Time and space does not allow me to rave about Becca, Alivia etc.

I do lots of that already!

So, after 20 years, I left day to day staff at Calvary in 2010, Jesse and Larissa went on staff full time. Who knew?

My wife has shown herself to be a talented teacher and special events coordinator. She put together a Summer Boot Camp for Women at Calvary that rocked. I helped with this spot:

http://video.calvaryabq.org/videodept/video.asp?VideoID=35

Nice job honey!

We need a serious vacation. Yes, we've travelled a lot, but I always weasel in some work, speaking or something. I am leaving the lap top and Iphone behind this time. Wow, I get nervous even writing that.

Top 10 projects for 2010- in flow of mind order, not importance!

1. Finishing Shattered

Now, working on national and international distribution and TV rights.

http://shatteretheddvd.com

Featured a dramatic reenactment of Skip & Gino in Mexico. Shot in San Francisco, Sedona and Columbine in Colorado. Highlight was a touching interview with Brian Rohrbough, father of a slain teen.

2. Radio Specials

Wrote and produced some in 2010, three come to mind:

Just As He Is

A Tribute to Billy Graham,

www.justasheis.org

hosted by Skip, dozens of high profile interviews, asked Fernando Ortega to write and record a special song, he did, very touching.

Crystal Lewis Christmas Special

http://crystallewis.com

Featured Greg Laurie, Lenya & Levi

Epicenter Conference 2010 Radio Special

Went to Philadelphia for a weekend to produce this one. Featured Joel Rosenberg, Greg & General Boykin.

Next one in Jerusalem again, in May

With Joel Rosenberg at NRB in Nashville

http://epicenterconference.com

3. Riptide

http://riptidemovie.com

The story of Calvary & Pastor Chuck.

Two years, three continents, 40 interviews

Glad to get this story told. Honored.

4. Christmas '10 - Denver!

Full circle, back to Colorado from whence I came, to help put together an 80,000 watt station for Calvary Aurora.

Interesting time of year to build a station, but we got it on the air at midnight, 12/23.

Blasting great teaching: Word & Worship

Check it: http://897gracefm.com

New station in Denver! Little perk from the Lord, this couple showed up at a Bronco game with our new bumper sticker! As an 'I bleed Orange & Blue' Bronco fan, this was a treat.

5. Produced Collision Course Prophecy Special. We always need to keep the 'seasons' of prophecy in mind:

http://wakeupabq.org/

6. Calvary Celebration for the Riptide Preview.

http://www.calvarycelebration.com/

Anaheim Convention Center in So Cal.

Jon Courson, Pastor Chuck, Raul, Mike, Skip. With music by Crystal & Band, The Phil Wickham Band & Richie Furay. Let's just say, it was an amazing evening.

Bonus: Larissa, Jaxon, Levi & Alivia at the Magic Kingdom the day after!

7. Life FM - Viva Miami - www.909lifefm.com

This fall I took a more active role in a strong station that comes out of the Keys and roars through South Florida and Miami.

I had consulted with Pedro Garcia as he negotiated the station, but now I have a day to day management role.

Consulting radio in Montana, Miami & Denver means a lot of travel, but the destinations are nice. I am not returning phone calls to midwest markets at this time! MIA & DIA are one thing, but I can't get up for flying to O'hare.

8. The Persecuted

Daniel has written a screenplay and is way down the road to production & distribution. He has attached an Oscar winning producer. It's been a fun ride with him. Learning lots too.

Amazing.

Website:

http://www.thepersecutedmovie.com/

Variety Article:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026680?refCatId=13

9. Skull Church

www.skullchurch.com

Spurgeon would love what Levi is doing in Montana. Edgy, fresh but solid. I stand in awe.

10. New Video Campuses for Calvary

We were able to start several video campuses for Calvary.

Downtown ABQ came first, then Santa Fe

www.metrosantafe.org

Worked with Jesse on the Metro ABQ campus.

Jesse also assumed co-leadership of the Vertical student ministry at Calvary

www.verticalabq.org

It's a treat to see him teach & lead.

Honorable Mentions:

Accepting Station of the Year Award from Focus on the Family for KNKT. Normally, I wouldn't walk across the street for a Christian Broadcast Award. Sorry, most Christian media is so mediocre. Exception, Focus on the Family, so their recognition got my attention.

Israel 2010. Overloaded. Overworked. All night in the business center juggling CCABQ stuff and a daytime video crew on the ground in Israel. Special bonus: bus captain every day on the tour. Nonetheless, Israel is amazing even in super stress mode. But never again like that.

Easter 2010 --Blew up Comcast, bought every avail on Easter Sunday for a Stephen Baldwin/Skip commercial, I love, love, love blasting the gospel on secular stations.

Easter Shoot with Daniel

Teaching at Calvary- several times. After all these years, it is always a privilege for Skip to ask me. I first spoke at Calvary of Albuquerque in the mid 80's. It was a thriving church meeting in a small building, but you could tell it was dynamic. Now, 25 years later, I've taught probably a hundred messages at CCABQ, and the people are still hungry for God's Word. Great body of believers.

Here's a link to a timeless New Year's Eve message.

http://www.calvaryabq.tv/live/?ServiceID=299

Finishing out 2010 on 12/26 for three services was a treat. That closes the year. When our Dreams Die, God's Dreams for us can come to life.

2010? Decent. I can do better. Ready to charge forward.

Thank you Jesus

When Dreams Die

2010-12-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

These are the notes from my granddaughter Alivia in Montana, she took them from watching me teach in ABQ. That is amazing.

Along with dedicating Bridget at the service, this is really a gift from the Lord I could never have anticipated. The '600' in her notes comes from a section where I talked about there being 600 churches in America for each unreached people group in the world. She gets it. Truly, exceeding and abundantly beyond all I could ask or think.

In addition to teaching the services at Calvary this weekend, I had the bonus of dedicating my grand-daughter Bridget. What a treat. Of course Jaxon had to 'share' the spotlight.

Preparing for a message to teach is an interesting process.

First you have to personally receive the instruction from the passage before you can teach it to anyone. It can be very dangerous to insulate yourself from the Word you study. You must be willing to apply to your own life the truths you uncover.

When Dreams Die is the title of the teaching I gave this Sunday at 3 morning services. It is always an honor to step into the pulpit and I take it seriously. I am still processing the impact of what I learned from Hebrews 11:24-29. But I do know this, we all tend to underestimate God. In 2011, I want to expand my vision, pray big, go deep and push the borders. I am renewed, refreshed and ready to go strong. Take a look, just paste this link in:

http://www.calvaryabq.tv/live/882

One Generation Away, Part 2: One Generation Away From Changing The World

2010-12-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a razor edge series from Stephen Furdick of Elevation Church in Charlotte. This is the guy who wrote, 'Sun Stand Still,' and preached for 24 hours straight at its release. Much more than a gimmick, this was an extraordinary thing to see, and I did. Hope you watch this one:

One Generation Away, Part 2: One Generation Away From Changing The World

White Week in Colorado & Montana

2010-12-04T21:36:00.001-08:00

Park Meadows Mall in Denver. You must love a mall with valet parking, a huge fireplace and a food court with a Paradise Bakery, a place that started in Aspen back in the day.

It's not hard to get in the spirit of a White Christmas when you spend a week in Colorado and Montana. First a day in Vail with friends Pedro and Lourdes Garcia. The slopes were empty and the snow was good. I have always loved the Vail Valley. Fabulous mountain, but the fur coat vibe is not for me. Crested Butte, Telluride and Breckenridge (before the t-shirt shops took over, it really was a Victorian Village, not a faux one) are my style. But the Lionshead Gondola at Vail has world class runs. So that's where I spent one day.

Then a couple of intense days of work in Aurora at Calvary Chapel prepping their new radio station for sign on later this month. Finally, Larissa went back to ABQ for her Celebration of Light while I headed for Montana and Fresh Life Radio work and... the kids!
Alivia with an attitude.
Snow boarding at Vail with Pedro and Lourdes Garcia from Miami. Nice to take a gondola ride between runs where you can relax and hang out.

What was I thinking?

2010-11-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

I have been offline for about 10 days because of deep grief. For some unknown reason, in the midst of a simple upgrade to my iPhone, I erased ALL my contacts and photo's. This is a major loss. Along with hamstringing my contact with the outside world, I lost all the photo's from the last trips to Denver and Thanksgiving. Thus, no posts.

The upside is that every new phone call is an adventure. And many texts come in and I have to guess how to respond. Too embarrassed to admit the obvious. Above is a random photo that survived, some long, lean guys: Sons, son-in-law & one grandson.

Off to Denver and Montana this week, won't make the same mistake twice.

Eight Days, Two Oceans, Five States, Little Sleep

2010-11-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

Family photo of the week: Jason, Jaxon, Becca & Bridget!

Started the trip in Denver doing some consulting for Grace FM- a new Calvary station. Brought Heidi along to check out Colorado Christian University. Highlight: met up with my niece Jasmine and toured the King Tut exhibition. Despite the make up and strange hair, at least the Egyptians thought about eternal life. Came to so strange conclusions however.
Then to Santa Monica: At the American Film Marketing deal at Loew's Hotel. This is where the deals get done, Daniel is making serious progress on his film, 'The Persecuted.'

Ended the trip in Miami, with Pedro & Pastor Chuck. Then three days on air with Pedro on Life FM. Jammed it home to make a nice dinner with Joel Rosenberg who was in ABQ for the weekend.

Blurry two weeks

2010-11-01T05:37:00.001-07:00

A few weeks have flashed by, starting with Heidi as Hope Homecoming Princess during the weekend Levi was in town to host a Love Life event with Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church.

From there, let's see, a couple days in Denver for radio consulting, off to LA for a film meeting and some time at the Trinity Broadcasting Network, followed by a week in Montana for the Fresh Life Board meeting and another in Miami to work with Joel Rosenberg and Pedro Garcia. Travel is playing havoc with my training, as I am ramping up to a ride in December from Key Largo to Key West, Fla. I have to be very creative finding spin classes and health clubs. Challenging.

Five Guys in Colorado......

2010-10-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

....this is not a hamburger joint! As I was sitting in a ReFresh Conference at Calvary, Aurora last week, I noticed five guys in the room who had moved from Albuquerque to Colorado to start churches: Gino Geraci, Al Pittman, Fernando Ortiz, Mike Montgomery & Larry Eckton all came from CCABQ. Who was the one guy in the building who moved from Colorado to Albuquerque? Moi. The way of a lone wolf is a solitary path! No complaints & no regrets over the honor I have had to serve in New Mexico, but now I get the opportunity to consult with a new metro radio station in Denver, and I see the Lord bringing me full circle. So ABQ will be my home base while Montana, Miami & Colorado are my new stomping grounds.

Looks like Freq Flyer miles will mount up, while I bring some Connection projects in for landings. Launching the Shattered the DVD is high on my radar, as are putting two new radio Connection stations on the air in Arizona & south New Mexico. After a few days in Colorado last week I spent a day in LA, where I toured the Trinity Broadcast Network with Paul Crouch Jr. TBN has a tremendous global footprint and I have high hopes for what could happen with this platform.

Also dropped into KWVE to see Pastor Chuck and hand deliver a copy of Riptide to him,

almost 2 years to the day when we conducted a two hour interview with him to launch production of the project.

Aisley Rebecca makes her appearance
No words for Jaxon!

A Few Days In Fla & A Birthday In the City Different

2010-10-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

You might hear about 'monsoon season' in New Mexico, well I went through a minor tropical storm last week in Florida. Nicole rolled through Miami and they cancelled church!

They said it was mild, but man, 20 inches of rain later.....

Amazing thing was, no thunder, no wind, no warning, the heavens just opened and poured warm water. Very tropical, and with no lightening, the pool at my hotel stayed open and swimming was a trip in the storm. Of course I did get wet.

It is going to be nice escaping to South Florida this winter for work, the team at Calvary in Miami is in for a wild ride- it will be fun to go along.

Celebrating my birthday in Santa Fe at Larissa & my favorite place, the La Posada near the Plaza.

Only 45 minutes from ABQ, but a whole different vibe. Great place to write, eat and soak it all in.

This pic is of the Plaza at sunrise.
Friend of animals- sun rising at St. Francis' church
Happy Birthday to me, after 2 years of production, the first shipment of Riptide DVD's arrived.

Thank you Lord. I am very pleased with the outcome, I think it tells the story.

Dozens of interviews, six countries along with blood, sweat etc.......here is the trailer:

www.riptidemovie.com - let me know what you think.

North to Montana

2010-09-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

Skull Church! Finally- able to see my first Skull Church in person in Montana. This is one of the reasons I am now known as 'Levi Lusko's Dad,' though I used to be someone (not really!).
Skull Church is the real deal: smooth, powerful and gritty at the same time. Not for the faint of heart, Skull Church roars into action every Wednesday at 7, (www.skullchurch.com) from the Strand Theater in Kalispell, Montana, but I am thinking that very soon, the Strand will not be able to hold it, and it will bust loose to parts unknown.Homage to the Original Mermaid: Home of the first Starbucks - in Seattle

Second Childhood? On my way to Montana I had a meeting and significant layover in Seattle. That is a good thing, great city. There wasn't time to go to the San Juan Islands,
and check out the Orca whales, so I did the obvious, headed for Pike Place to watch fish get tossed, have some salmon and reverently have coffee at the Original Starbucks.
Also found time for some bike shopping. Interesting, when I was 12, I did not care about cars, all I wanted was a Schwinn. Now, I have a convertible Mustang, and could not care less, all I want is a newer bike. Granted, the Litespeed above goes for double what my first new car ('73 Ford Maverick) cost!

Pike Place: Home of Flying Fish and Fabulous Fruit

Meeting Daisy Grace for the first time,
Queen Alivia and her court
What a sweetheart- Daisy locks eyes and just laughs

A Few Connection Flashbacks

2010-09-05T00:47:00.000-07:00

As you can see above, I was very young when I started managing Connection Communications.
Well, maybe I haven't been there quite that long, but I did start supervising The Connection Radio & TV broadcast 20 years ago this summer.

The Past

The Connection Brand actually was born 1n 1980 in Southern California when a friend of mine, Kent Bagdasar and I began a weekly contemporary Christian radio program on KFOX radio in Redondo Beach. I came up with the name, The Calvary Connection and then it all began. Kent eventually moved to Albuquerque to manage KKIM Radio, where the Connection made its New Mexico debut. Soon, Skip and Lenya moved to New Mexico and started a Bible study; Kent then applied this name to the CCABQ radio ministry on his station.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I moved to Colorado to manage a radio station and start a church.
Eventually, Kent and I owned two radio stations in Colorado Springs and I became General Sales Manager of a new Fox TV station. Here, Skip and I began producing The Calvary Connection TV program and I started producing the Connection daily radio broadcast.
So that's the ancient history. Oh yeah, I also moved the Lusko tribe to Albququerque and went on staff full time, at that time there were 1 and 1/2 people working at the Connection, Dawn Chancellor in art & Dan Eliot in audio. Who knew we would one day have our own building with over 40 people on the media team? God knew.

Career Highlight: Bibleman hugged me

What's Next: On the Road with Jaxon

The People
I can't say there is one singular lesson from this experience during my time on the Calvary Campus, but high on the list is this: I have learned to value people over projects. There it is, as a sometimes maniacally driven individual, I can be focused to the point of obsession. That trait doesn't always translate well into horizontal relationships, and just maybe this passion can come across as a bit aloof. It's been a process, but God has gradually helped me appreciate the people around me more than my own productivity. No one will confuse me with Dr. Phil, but I am making progress. The team at the Connection is a talented group of dedicated professionals, my basic job was to turn the lights on for them. I served with some for 10-15 years, they rock.
Levi, Daniel, Heidi, Becca & Jesse
The Fam
One amazing opportunity I have had at Calvary is to work with my kids. In turn all have been a part of ministry at CCABQ. The campus has been a magnet for each of them and I am so grateful for the activities and events that have kept my kids off the streets and walking with the Lord. I am way blessed to have been able to serve in ministry with them, and there is more ahead. (Josh, not pictured, but he did his time at Solomon's Porch & the Skate Park!)

The Highlights
I won't even try to be remotely exhaustive here, but flow of consciousness goes like this:

The first Harvest Crusade at old Dukes Stadium
Signing on KNKT with Skip at midnight on a Good Friday in 95 (I think)
Israel Trip #5, with Chuck Smith, Skip & Joel Rosenberg.
Epicenter Conference in Jerusalem, Jesus Boat Shoot in the Galilee
Easter Sunrise Service (Pick one)
Levi coming from Montana teaching his first weekend at Calvary of Albuquerque
Debut of Massive Radio
Preaching in a soccer stadium in Ghana with the Kry
Making the Epicenter Documentary with Daniel, Skip & Joel in Israel
Road to Rome Video shoot with Daniel
Teaching at Levi's church in Montana
Daniel's multi-media auto biography: Zeal!
Meeting Benjamin Netanyahu for Epicenter interview
Speaking at Lifeline Missions events
Connection Celebration in Belize. Clive!
Set-up trip with Becca in Manila
Calvary Celebration in Anaheim for Riptide
Watching Larissa teach at Women at Calvary
Having Jesse in my Shepherd's School class

It almost sounds like bragging when I review these spiritual resumes. But not at all, I am boasting in the Lord, He did it. The kids have all generally avoided the PK syndrome, gone voluntarily to Christian Colleges and are certain to surpass my accomplishments. Jesse is now co-leading Vertical and also still on campus is my lovely wife Larissa who is working with Lenya in management of Women at Calvary. She is a fine teacher, strong administrator and keeps me on the straight and narrow, generally.

Larissa. Yes, way over my pay grade

The Lowlight
No contest: It's the loss of relationships through the transition from hell a few years back. I received a crash course in crisis management that Michigan State did not offer, and lost some lifelong friends in the mix. Very sad. Did get a glimpse of what it is like for the media to smell blood in the water. Fins were circling, and no Jimmy Buffett music.
I learned that bloggers in bunny slippers can become spiritual criminals, lucky for them, I am not the judge and jury. We shall leave that to the Lord. In the Romans 8 department, I saw that God's hand is on the thermostat, and He will let you get pretty well broasted.

The Next Pasture
Hope to spend some time in Montana with the Fresh Life Team, work with Daniel on his first feature film and launch Heidi properly. There are also a few movies I want to make while I pray large & push the borders. There are some good friends who are inviting me on mega-adventures. As Will Smith would say, Gotta go, gotta go!
Just want to stay hungry, dive Tahiti, spend time with Larissa in Belize, Paris and wherever.

I also plan to periodically embarrass my children by refusing to act my age.

Parting Shot
I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve at Calvary. Skip has always been very gracious to give me a shot at pushing the edges. Usually it worked, there were 'other' times when my ideas led me out to thin ice, but not many.
It has been an amazing ride watching God blow up this work. Calvary has an incredible pulpit and I have learned a great deal about pulpit faithfulness from Skip.
At the end of the day- it's about getting God's word out in as many echoes as possible, that's why I came to ABQ, and that's why I got up this morning too.
Or as Joey B says, 'It's all about the kids.' True, true.

Home Crawling with Grandchildren

2010-08-04T05:04:00.000-07:00

Touchdown! Larissa, Levi, Heidi & Alivia

Levi was in town recently to teach at Calvary and was able to bring Alivia- happily. great weekend, here are some snapshots

Levi was in the main sancturary-while Jesse led the Vertical teaching in the Hub
Fresh take on the book of Jonah: God Rocks the Punk. Jonah was a punk. So are we.
Who's watching who? Lusko's at the zoo.
Liv does the pink flamingo.

Levi joins me and Team Rio for a 40 mile ride.
Jaxon & Alivia
Pre-game: Levi and Jesse preparing for Saturday night teachings. I am a blessed dude.

Collide Magazine | Church Spotlight: Fresh Life Church

2010-06-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

Officially one of my favorite coffee places on the planet, (and that is saying a great deal) Montana Coffee Traders in Whitefish.Daniel directing as I interview Levi for Riptide at the Liberty Theater

Three and a half years back, Levi left the warm vibe of Southern California for the frontier of Montana. Quite a leap. Levi could have stayed comfortably on staff at a mega-church, but elected to take a serious spiritual adventure. He did not choose a soft landing. The Flathead Valley of Montana could not be more different from Orange County. Let's just say Levi is not a
flannel and pick-up kind of guy. Long story short: God has moved and a remarkable work has sprung up. Levi took some homies (sp) with him, a spiritual bratpack from ABQ & SoCal.
Best analysis came from a Calvary ABQ team that visited, after walking through the church and seeing what God was doing through a bunch of former youth group leaders, he said:
'Where are the grown-ups, and who tells you guys when to go to bed?!" Answer: No one does.

Here are some links to check it:

http://freshlifechurch.com
http://levilusko.com
http://skullchurch.com
http://freshliferadio.com

And here's an article from Collide Mag:

Collide Magazine | Church Spotlight: Fresh Life Church

Calvary of Albuquerque Webcast - Will the Church Survive?

2010-06-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

Calvary of Albuquerque Webcast - Will the Church Survive?

Calvary Celebration Afterglow

2010-05-29T14:47:00.001-07:00

Pastor Chuck Smith prepares to go onstage at the Calvary Celebration at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Jon Courson and his wife, now this is celebrating.
Sunday night in Anaheim we put together a Calvary Celebration to recognize what the Lord has done through Calvary Chapel and Chuck Smith. Epic venue, great crowd and lots of good friends.
Also ran a preview of Riptide. ( see the trailer at www.riptidemovie.com)
Familiar face and that friendly voice. I've been listening to Pastor Chuck since 1977 when I picked up my first blue and white Word for Today tape at a Shiloh House in Honolulu.
'Oh let the Son of God enfold you....'
Nice crowd.
Raul Ries and Mike MacIntosh.
Phil Wickham and band. That's the way to open & close the night.
Richie Furay, from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a Calvary Pastor in Colorado.
Also one of THE nicest guys you will ever meet.

K.P. Yohannan flew in from India for this. He has helped start 7500 churches and broadcasts in over 100 languages. He credits Chuck for his philosophy of ministry. Now that is fruit. Dude.
Some of the fella's. Senior CC Pastors on hand Sunday night.

Levi and Phil Wickham amused as they communicate by texting each other.
Pancho Juarez and Jon Courson
Pastor Chuck and Kay Smith. This is why we did this.

2010-05-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

Loving the Mouse

2010-05-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Alivia, Larissa, Chip, Jaxon & Daniel. Levi on camera duty.

Always good to go the Disneyland, IF you go on a Monday not during summer!
That was the plan this week when we invaded after the Calvary Celebration. Short lines,
a lot of shade and two sons and two grand kids made it a treat.
The Disney Style is always instructive & inspiring.
Jaxon is euphoric meeting Woody, but instantly looking for Buzz. Liv took a cooler approach.
Lusko child re-union.
Surrounded, Jaxon thinks the duck may be a little creepy. Pluto is okay.
The main Mouse. The worlds only multi-billionaire rodent.
This works for me.

Israel to Italy: Between Euphoria & Exhaustion

2010-05-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

Lunch with Larissa overlooking the Temple Mount

A few thoughts from 17 days in Israel and Italy, fifteen hour days and more great coffee than any sane person would drink:
First of all, Alitalia Airlines is pretty brutal. No movies and seats made for midgets with no legs. Ouch.
In any case, Israel, as always, was a major shot of spiritual adrenaline.

On our first free day, we were able to get away to Dor Harbor and visit our friend Kurt Raveh.
He has over 6,000 dives and has found amazing things, including a Phoenician ship with a hold full of the idols below. These pagan idols were used to represent Molech in ritual child sacrifice.

Even though conditions were bleak, Kurt and I were able to dive. This is a Crusader sword he found in the past.

Always nice to have a video crew along with the tour, (read: 150 of our closest friends).
Happily we had a separate video van driven by Ofer the Ferocious, our driver who still approaches driving as if he were in the Israeli Army.

Herod the Great was certifiable. A brilliant builder, (The Temple II, Masada, Caesarea, etc.) but a genuine paranoid nut case.
Heidi was supposed to make this trip to Israel, but she qualified for the State Track Finals, and the conflict kept her in New Mexico. I was very depressed about missing the event, I try to go to every one of the kid's sporting events I can, and missing a Final was distressing. Amazingly, on the day of the meet, Heidi sent me a text saying the meet was going to be carried live on web.
Wow! It was excellent sitting in Jerusalem at midnight watching Heidi become a state champion and end up on the podium for all three events! Thank you Jesus and Al Gore.
Over the years, I have seen this gold menorah at the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. Over 5 feet tall, it was built to be put in the yet to be constructed Temple. Two years back it showed up overlooking the Western Wall, slowly making the journey to the Temple Mount. This is the real deal.
Below is the Arch of Titus in Rome- with an engraving of the last Menorah from the Temple in 70 A.D., when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and brought the instruments to Rome in triumph.
The Romans thought that was the end of Israel, but its not over till the Lord says its over.

The end of Paul's long road to Rome. A few years back we traced Paul's path from Israel to Turkey to Greece to Rome. Check out the documentary we made: The Road to Rome at
www.crossbridge.com

Just think, the Romans built the triumphal arch for Titus because smacking Israel was a major victory. So it took the best of Roman legions to conquer Israel, but the gospel conquered Rome without firing a shot. Paul, Peter and company overcame Caesar on foot.
Amazing.
What if the Catholic church had stayed on task? What if they hadn't turned inward and become obsessed with extravagant building and weird costumes? I get the excellence in art deal, but Luther had a point, when people are starving, another cathedral isn't a wise call.
What if they hadn't let aberrant theology distract and dilute?
At one time, the Catholics had it going, but excess took over. Now the Vatican is like a Dead Popes Society. Seriously, there are dead pope's laying around St. Peter's. Just plain strange. And sad.
What could have been.

Lost Vegas

2010-04-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

What would some entertainers do without Vegas and the Native American Casino's to prolong their careers?

What would Caesar think? Simple, he would want his cut.

I know Las Vegas takes a lot of heat as 'Sin City,' but there are actually some things I appreciate about this place. It is a city that is not lukewarm about its passions. Las Vegas is both extravagant and excellent in how it expresses itself. Granted, the message is often depraved and the toll in human lives is beyond comprehension. What Las Vegas does say to me is, 'look what man is capable of when he fully gives himself over to his pursuits!' In this case, avarice, carnality and sex.
I'm thinking this is pretty much what Babylon, Rome and Egypt were like, without neon and the Hoover Dam.
The excess and success of Las Vegas would make Bugsy Siegel smirk, (I would say, rest his soul, but....). Christians should be determined to make the Lord smile, not by building exorbitant ego trips or palaces of worship, but by exercising extreme faith and determination to light up the world for Jesus. We should work to see that 'what happens in the church, does not stay in the church.'

Click this to see a nice (ab)normal stroll in a Vegas mall.

Easter Download

2010-04-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend is like a spiritual Superbowl for us. From Good Friday through Easter we roll through 4 services and this year, 22,000 plus people. Also we added a prime time TV Special,
(see it at: www.wakeupabq.org) The Charlie Hall band is a premier worship group, and the weather cooperated. So, it was an excellent weekend, lots of motion, lots of fruit.

Altar Call

Easter brunch with the southern tribe at Flying Star

Becca, Jaxon, Jason & Bridgette, soaking up the rays at the 11:15 service
OH, Happy Day!
Skip, Nick and myself received our ipad units- my Apple laptop is expressing jealousy.

What a difference a day makes! Here's a shot of our Easter Stage Saturday evening.....
And then- Sunday morning! 15,000 plus ! As you see, it is a Sunrise Service.

Levi & Jennie Lusko & Fam. Lenya is less than excited about the early Easter service time.
Get used to it sweetheart, your dad will be doing this as long as he lives. It is genetic.

Here a couple of videos from Charlie and, and one of Jaxon going deep at Lobo stadium.
He is being chased by a little girl named Jasmine. May not be the last time for him.

Easter Headlines from Montana:

Church will now own three buildings; First Avenue East Café closing down

Still Growing: Fresh Life Expands to Another Downtown Building

Fresh Life Church, which purchased the Liberty Theater last year, is buying the neighboring First Avenue East Cafe. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon

By Myers Reece , 04-04-10

To accommodate its rapid growth, Fresh Life Church is purchasing the building currently occupied by First Avenue East Café in downtown Kalispell.

The church will also close on the purchase of the Strand Theatre, which it was previously leasing, on April 30. It already owns the Liberty Theatre. The two theaters and café location were formerly owned by Phil Harris, the developer of Hutton Ranch Plaza.

First Avenue East Café, a popular breakfast and lunch restaurant, will have its last day on April 8, according to owner Beth Sparby. Sparby, who owns and operates the restaurant with her mother, said she has found a buyer for most of her major restaurant equipment but will hold a sale on April 9-10 at the restaurant to get rid of what’s left.

Sparby said the recession has been rough on her business, and she said the road doesn’t appear to get any easier with the Montana Club moving into town and more restaurants starting to serve breakfast. When she heard Fresh Life Church was looking to purchase the building at the beginning of the year, she started searching for people interested in purchasing her equipment. She said she was fortunate to find a buyer.

With no kitchen-ready locations available for an affordable lease, Sparby said she has no plans to reopen a restaurant.

“It’s going to be sad, but we would like to thank everybody who has supported us,” Sparby said.

Since being established in Kalispell in 2007, Fresh Life Church has grown to about 1,500 congregants and has established a prominent presence downtown, occupying both the Strand and Liberty theaters, along with a rented space on the corner of Second Street East and First Avenue East. The rented space is used for a kids’ ministry.

The church has services on Wednesdays and Sundays at the Strand and Liberty, with one theater holding the service and the other offering live-streamed feeds. The Liberty has an espresso bar in its foyer. In the upstairs of the Strand, the church has offices, classrooms and other spaces.

The café location will be called “The Lab,” according to the church’s 27-year-old pastor Levi Lusko. Lusko said it will be used as a meeting spot for the church’s college and high school ministries, and to host any other event, including wedding receptions and meet-and-greet sessions for the many bands the church brings to town.

Currently, Lusko said the church doesn’t have an appropriately sized meeting venue to accommodate crowds in between classroom and theater size. Lusko said Fresh Life is under contract to buy the café building and will close on the deal on June 30.

“Our goal isn’t snatching up properties,” Lusko said. “Our goal is to accommodate the growth of the church.”

He added: “All of the purchasing and the buildings are for the people who are stranded in sin so they can find liberty and life in Jesus Christ.”

Though Lusko said the church doesn’t have an official membership, he has a good idea of how many people attend the services.

“We’re seeing about 1,500 with adults and kids,” he said. “In January of ’07, it was just me and my wife and a few friends.”

Though only 27, Lusko already has a ministry resume that spans several states. He has also done missionary work across the world. Before starting Fresh Life in 2007, Lusko had served as youth pastor at Calvary of Albuquerque, one of the largest churches in New Mexico, and was the director of student ministries at Ocean Hills Church in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., another large church. Today he lives in the Flathead with his wife and their two daughters.

Fresh Life Church is a non-denominational Christian church that takes a modern, laid-back approach to religion. The church has a radio station and an interactive Web site with streaming videos and podcasts to better broadcast the church’s services and messages. Both pastors and congregants alike often dress in casual attire.

With its “Skull Church,” Lusko said Fresh Life is able to preach in a way that is relevant to young people and folks who aren’t heavily involved in religion. Lusko said many young people have skull tattoos or skulls on their snowboards or elsewhere in their lives.

Using the skull as a “relatable point of reference,” the church meets every Wednesday and attracts a large youth following. Out-of-state Christian bands frequently play.

“People are coming to Skull Church who haven’t been to church for years or ever,” Lusko said.

Lusko said church officials looked at other spaces downtown, but when they heard about First Avenue East Café’s availability, it seemed like the right location.

“To us, it was a fully opened door,” Lusko said. “We didn’t have to kick her out, she was really sweet. It was perfect.”

On 04-06-10, awmontana commented....
Next obvious question is, have you been to Fresh Life or have you just decided that because it is a church and is succssesful,and doing things differently (skull church)that it is bad?And the church gets accused of being narrow minded! This is a good thing that is happening people.Just…

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Slide Show: Costume-Clad Pond Skimmers

Riptide- That would be a wrap

2010-03-30T04:44:00.000-07:00

A few days in So Cal, Larissa had a meeting at Harvest (above) and I had a walk through at the Anaheim Convention Center for an upcoming event. Daniel was with us to close up Riptide interviews.
Not much rest, but we did wrap Riptide- so 18 months of shooting is at an end.
Eighteen months, four countries, fifty-five interviews. This should look good.
Daniel and Miles McPherson, former NFL player for the Chargers and a mega-church pastor at Rock Church in San Diego.
Mike MacIntosh in Joshua Tree. We found the Institute of Mental Physics for his site. Perfect for his story.

At the historic Mission Inn, looks like Hotel California.

Drive by of Disneyland on the way to Anaheim Convention Center. Back to see Mickey in May. With Jaxon!
Interviewing Joey Buran in Newport Beach. Joey is a world champion surfer at the Pipeline Masters, also coached the US Surf Team.
Larissa and our pal Kent.

Week in Review

2010-03-23T21:50:00.001-07:00

Larissa- teaching about manna Tuesday at Women at Calvary. Excellent, now after Levi, Jesse and Larissa, I get to be the fourth best Lusko teacher.

Below: Sunday- Up to Colorado Springs for an interview with Ryan Dobson for Riptide. Million dollar set: Pikes Peak in the background.

Spring snowstorm at Sandia, so Friday afternoon, up the Tram with Jesse, Nathan & Skip. Great snow.
Unclear why they are flying an Arizona flag here in New Mexico.
Coffee and Snickers after a few runs always fires up the snowboard jets.
Jesse, tramming it. Just 20 minutes from church and we are up to the Crest of Sandia for snowboarding. Longest Tram span in the US. But I think Palm Springs claims this too.

Easter TV shoot at Lobo Stadium, Skip & Stephen Baldwin, with an attitude.

Rolling into Lobo Stadium in my pony.

Ready for the Easter shoot.

Above, you can tell who has practice posing. Below, they both do.

Tuscon Conference

2010-03-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

Daniel, Jesse and I headed for Tuscon recently for a Calvary Conference. Daniel came to shoot some interviews, Jesse and I were there as part of the CCABQ staff. We met Levi there, as he was one of the speakers. Good times.
Levi, James MacDonald and Greg Laurie in the green room, causing trouble.
Pedro Garcia, a human hurricane from Miami, and the Lusko Pirates. Dinner at Chili's, not exactly my choice. But it was a fun to have the fella's together.

I had heard a lot about James MacDonald, but I had never met him or listen to him teach.
That changed in Tuscon recently at the SW Pastor's Conference. He is a character as well as a strong and biblical teacher.
This year a stellar line-up included Alistair Begg, Skip, Pedro, Levi and James. Greg Laurie came in to hang out and be a part of a pretty wild Q & A session. The theme was the life of David, and the takeaway was significant.
Skip was surgical, James was comical and powerful. Levi was... well, it is stunning to see my son in such company, but he was sharp, deep and crisp.
Pedro was passionate, while Damian Kyle, was as usual, convicting. Gayle Erwin, was Gayle Erwin!

Conference Speakers -


Skip Heitzig	Jack Hibbs	Gayle Erwin	James MacDonald	Levi Lusko

Damian Kyle	Pedro Garcia	Alistair Begg	Don McClure	Robert Furrow

You can hear the teaching archive at http://www.calvarytucson.com/listen.asp

A Few Things Darwin Doesn't Want Known

2010-03-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

A Few Things Darwin Wishes Weren’t Published
By Chip Lusko

I wish I had kept my fifth grade science book. It had a terrific graph showing a strange little fox-like creature who ended up as a horse, and I guess eventually as Mr. Ed.

Science books from that point on carried variations on that theme, and it was just assumed that this evolutionary chain was bedrock fact. Of course, we know now that no transitional forms exist to support this chart. This is just one of the many credibility problems I have discovered with evolution since fifth grade. Here are a few more:

"If my theory be true, numberless intermediate varieties, linking most closely all the species of the same group together, must assuredly have existed” – Charles Darwin, Origin of Species

Charles Darwin assumed that transitional forms would be discovered in the future, but they do not exist. An example of a transitional form would be the discovery of a half-fish, half-man skeleton. Evolution demands that this “missing link” must have existed somewhere, sometime (besides fifth grade science books), like maybe in the fossil record.

"In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an Atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God” – Letters of Charles Darwin

That’s hedging your bet, Charles. On the other hand, there is something known as practical atheism:

"The Old Testament from its manifestly false history of the world, with the Tower of Babel, the rainbow as a sign, etc., etc., and from its attributing to God the feelings of a revengeful tyrant, was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos,(sp) or the beliefs of any barbarian.”—Autobiography of Charles Darwin

Ouch. Painful scholarship, and embarrassing for Darwin apologists on so many levels.
It would also be helpful to spell Hindu's correctly.

“There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties” - Charles Darwin, Descent of Man

As with many of Darwin’s positions, the best response is often, “Speak for yourself.”

"Now I have never systematically thought much on religion in relation to science, or on morals in relation to society" - Letters of Charles Darwin

That would be true for Darwin and Planned Parenthood.

"To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree." - Charles Darwin, Origin of Species

A rare moment of honest clarity for Charles. Now, consider:

•Your eyes are composed of more than two million working parts.
•They can process 36,000 bits of information every hour.
•Number of fibers in human optic nerve = 1,200,000
•You will see almost 24 million images of the world around you in a normal lifespan.
•The human eye can detect over 10 million different colors.
•There are 120 million rod cells in the retina of your eye.

In the glaring light of reality, it is stunning that Darwin’s theory has so many fans. Perhaps it is only out of desperate agnosticism that this absurd theory has been dressed up, propped up and allowed to be such a pretender of truth. Enough.