Christmas is a time when new is in the air. We celebrate the newness of a Savior’s birth, even though it happens every year Christmas provides the chance to feel the freshness of the story all over again. It’s also a time when most of us anticipate new stuff. New clothes, new toys, new games…a new Lexus. (Honestly who buys a new Lexus as a Christmas present. Maybe I don’t travel in those circles, but $60,000 on a single gift seems pretty crazy to me. Not that I’d turn it down if that’s what you were planning to get me this year!!)

The new thing that’s got me all excited this year is a new mission opportunity I’ve been working on. It’s called 1 by Youth and the idea is to bring transformational change to a single neighborhood in need in a single day through the work of 1000 – 2000 volunteers. That’s the kind of new thing that gets me very excited. And it’s not just a wild-eyed dream. There are teams working right this very minute to make such a thing happen in Indianapolis, Indiana and Manassas, Virginia in the spring of 2010.

The thing about most new stuff you get at Christmas is that the excitement wears off and the joy goes away and the stuff wears out or goes out of style. When it comes to mission work that doesn’t happen. When you go on a mission trip you make a difference that isn’t forgotten a week or a month or a year later.

I enjoy the new stuff that comes at Christmas as much as the next guy. But it’ll never compare to being part of something new that changes lives, neighborhoods and whole communities. That’s the kind of new I hope you get excited about, too.