As I write this blog today, Cape Town 2010 is 311 days away. 

311 days away – whew.

311 DAYS AWAY – YIKES!!!

Part of me grows short of breath and weak in the knees (figuratively and sometimes literally!) when I think about how few days there are between now and then.  We’ve been planning for Cape Town 2010 (CT2010) for almost five years and it has seemed sometimes as if the day would never come and now it’s just around the corner.

To serve the 4000-plus people onsite is no small task.  Papers need to be written by speakers, multiplex sessions organized, volunteers identified, media registered, meals planned, website pages developed, equipment and furniture ordered, videos edited, Internet technology expanded, registrations completed, hotels booked, airplane tickets purchased, music and drama rehearsed, and on it goes.

Every day I receive emails from people who are just learning about Cape Town 2010 and want to attend onsite.  Understandably, many express disappointment when I tell them that the application period for onsite participants ended several months ago. 

Yet, many also express surprise and delight that being onsite in Cape Town is not the only way they can participate.

God willing, as never before Cape Town 2010 will bring leaders together from around the world - both onsite and through technology - in a truly global conversation around the issues facing the evangelical church in sharing Christ in word and deed. 

No matter where you are, you have the opportunity to participate in Cape Town 2010 today through:

• Praying.  We’re convinced that prayer is the most important element in the preparation and planning for the Congress.  Would you commit to praying regularly for Lausanne leaders as they plan for CT2010, for all participants and for the finances and resources needed to support the Congress?
• Joining The Lausanne Global Conversation (LGC), an online dialogue about mission and evangelization issues facing the global church.  The LGC continues through Cape Town 2010 and beyond as you interact with leaders from around the world who, like you, are sharing their expertise on the issues.
• Being at a Cape Town GlobaLink site, remote Congress sites that will receive learning materials and specially edited sessions from the Congress.  Our goal is to have more than 200 GlobaLink sites around the world.  Please consider hosting a GlobaLink site in your area or joining a site already planned.  Each registered GlobaLink site will be able to personalize their own programme and schedule using resources provided by The Lausanne Movement. 
• Studying Ephesians.  Everyone involved in CT2010 is being asked to spend the next few months leading up to the Congress studying the book of Ephesians.  This study of Ephesians will help prepare our hearts as together we seek to hear God’s voice and discern his will for our own lives  personally as well as the body of Christ corporately.
• Becoming a Volunteer.  Skilled volunteers are needed for everything from communications to accounting.   

No matter where we are on the globe, as brothers and sisters in Christ we are linked together through the love of God, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and by our desire to share Christ so that all the world may know him. 

The countdown is on toward October 2010.  Won’t you consider how you can be involved?