i am sitting here with pam, (who is cattle prodding me to blog) awaiting to head to ukraine from bucharest at 5 am. we are facing a 40 hour train ride which normally would spark travel day anxieties because of the typical brutish nature of world race travel days. this time however, i am excited for the travel day as we will be romping across eastern europe in a train. not only will i get to see some great scenery, but the peaceful time will allow me to reflect on the last 9 months on the road and prepare myself mentally and spiritually for the end of this crazy race as next month i will be heading back to the states for the summer. from january until the end of march, i was in africa; this did not allow me a lot of opportunity to blog but nonetheless, i feel it necessary to offer up an apology to my supporters and those back home who pray for me on a constant basis. when i leave in the morning, i will be heading to the last country i will see before i fly back to america. i am unsure what ministry will look like in ukraine, but i do know that our group will be situated outside Lugansk. from within this city, you can actually see into russia. anyways, this area seems to be full of people who lack hope and love and whose lives are marked by endless seasons of drowning away their lives with their constant companions: alcohol. this is what we are up against next month. i know that this description is general, but there will be more details when i have them. i will also spend some time talking about what 3 months of africa was like but to be honest, i am still trying to straighten all of those memories and God given lessons that Africa brought with it.
i do want to encourage my supporters by letting you what your money has accomplished this year as we you have teamed with God and myself to literally bring his kingdom down from above. we loved the homeless at a garbage dump in guatemala as well as served as the Hands of Jesus in a childrens hospital. we fought against prostitution in vietnam, reached out to those ostracized by HIV, and fed mentally and physically handicapped children and young adults. in myanmar, a small group of us provided much needed food/goods to families in the delta who lives had been ravaged by cyclone nargis. we also ushered orphans into the presence of God through games, skits, bible messages and the love of Christ that flows through us. in London, we reached out to the rapidly growing muslim population and began breaking strongholds that are so prevalent there. in mozambique, we moved an orphanage complex to a place that will give them a great chance to become more modern and catch the attention of the government. in malawi, we planted churches in 3 different villages and got to experience extended community within that culture. i can say that when the body of Christ is unified across boundaries and borders, the world is being changed and Christ is being magnified.
Walking daily how Jesus walked; reaching out to those that society has rejected or loving those who are deemed unlovable, those who are broken and hurting means that you are making the world a better place. The cross and the empty tomb are central to the truth of God, but we cannot miss how Jesus walked out his daily life. for those who have partnered with me this past year, know that God has used you to impact the world for the better
Seventeen
members of our squad spent the month of January in Temane, Mozambique,
partnering with Jesus 4 Africa Ministries, run by Jaco and Maria
Rudolph. Among other ministries, their main focus is the Temane
Orphanage.
Twenty-four
orphans were found in the bush of Mozambique following the devastation
of Cyclone Flavio in 2006 by a man named Eric. He took responsibility
for them. He would now care for them and protect them. However, Eric
did not have the means to provide much else.
Once
Jaco and Maria discovered Eric and these children, they knew God was
calling them to help. With little more than their own personal support,
the Rudolph's set about the task of living out God's call.
Currently
the children sleep in large revival style tents on grass mats with
blankets. At this time, a building is being constructed to offer more
suitable living conditions. In order to prepare the children for this
transition, several of our team mates feel called to return to
Mozambique for the month of March. This preparation will consist of,
among other things, the Raise UP! Project.
Raise UP!
And
your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations
of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
-Isaiah 58:12
Raise UP!
is a respect and incentive program coupled with discipleship. The goal
is to establish routine in order to teach respect for themselves,
others, their belongings, and environment. The goal is that through
these children, we may set the foundations of this generation firmly in
the Lord and His Truth, so that they can raise their children to repair
and restore the breaches of their nation.
The
respect incentive portion of the program will focus on scheduled
rewards for adhering to established guidelines. Each child will be
given a box, which they can personalize. The first week will focus on
each child receiving all the incentive items which include: toothbrush,
soap, washcloth, small toys, etc.
After
the initial one-month course, additional materials will be sent via
e-mail, complete with scheduled rewards to be given by orphanage staff.
Teaching
the children to care for their boxes and contents will help them to
form good habits of taking ownership and responsibility. With guidance,
these habits will overflow into all areas of their lives.
Our
vision is to invest in this generation. We are asking for your help to
Raise UP! a foundation for these children. Below is a list of supplies
and costs needed to obtain them.
Supplies:
Box $10 per child
Incentive Items $20 per child
Teaching Materials $200
Rewards $200
Miscellaneous $100
Total $1,220
Click here to give to this Project. Please
write "World Race Ministry - Mozambique" in the space provided in order
to make sure your gift is designated to this ministry.
our flight leaves london tomorrow at around 2:30 and we will head first to qatar and then to south africa. our squad will be split in half but the full squad will nontheless be in mozambique for about 2 and a half weeks. i believe the crux of our ministry there will be spent working with orphans as well as aiding local pastors. we will be living in the bush as they say and will be camping out. i am personally happy to be out of a big city as we have spent most of the last 4 months in large cities. i have a feeling that this will be a rewarding time for me personally and i look forward to getting my hands dirty and my heart broken. we will be in africa until the end of march and then we will head back to europe for the finale. bringing the hope of Christ to this continent in particular is a great way to kick off 2009 and i know the Lord has great things in store for me and many lessons to offer. anyways, i want to give a huge thank you to all who have supported. you guys have been very faithful in your giving and in your prayers. the truth of Jesus is spreading to the four corners of the globe in part because of your faithfulness. my current supporters have done more than i can ask. but i NEED new supporters. i know that God has always provided for me at every turn of my life and that He will continue to do so. i still have roughly $3000 to raise and i am going to be behind at the next deadline. with so much going on in my day to day life currently, this is not a matter that i need to be focusing on. so please give, your money goes extremely far in the places that we are going to! thank you in advance for your support both financially and in prayer
I love to cook. As much as I enjoy eating, I think that I might actually enjoy cooking more. Sounds weird, I know. Being here in London has afforded me the time and opportunity to use whatever skill I have in the kitchen to benefit my teammates. The base where we have stayed after Christmas has a really sweet kitchen with all kinds of nifty gadgets that I can use. Mix that in with my heart to serve and I have been active in the kitchen lately. I have not really made anything that I would consider gourmet, but I have made a few different soups, pasta alfredo and crepes. When I am cooking for others is when I feel the need to make it excellent. I get enjoyment when I see people come back for 2nd's or 3rd's. I want the meal that I have prepared to be the best meal that you have eaten all day, all week, and maybe even all month! What in the world does this any of this have to do with the world race, or with your faith? Good question, I am glad I asked it. I want Jesus to prepare a meal for me and I know that someday he will. Does anyone think that the creator of chef's can top anything that the best chef in the world can make? In Psalms 23, David declares that "You prepare a table before me....you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." The author of Revelation continues this theme in the 19th chapter when an angel tells him "blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" Some day, I will get to feast at the most incredible banquet of all time and according to King David, it is the Lord himself who prepares the feast. What I am trying to get at here is the position that we have in Christ. He has made the ultimate sacrifice, performed the most humble act of all time by becoming who we are so that we get to share in the riches that are His from the beginning. Jesus did all He did so that we get to share in the massive banquet where we receive from Him an oil anointing which declares that we are honored guests at this banquet. That is humbling. That is incredible. I can look at all 30 years of my life and cannot even begin to account for all the bad decisions, bad lifestyle choices and rebellious acts towards Christ and scratch my head as I read those passages. As forrest gump said, "some things just don't make no sense" and from a human perspective they don't. The truth is that Christ has elevated us to an incredibly high position. In Ephesians it says to "live a life worthy of the calling we have received" and as I have been thinking about that here lately, I have come to the conclusion that it not only means to be Jesus with skin, to be set apart from the standards of the world but it also means acknowledging the position we have in Christ. I think that sometimes, perhaps more often than not, we are happy to sit beneath the table catching the crumbs that may fall off the edge of the table. This is not where Christ has positioned us! He has given us a seat at the table of God and has anointed our head with oil. If we continue to live as one who collects crumbs while sitting on the ground then what does that say about our God? God's love for us is made to look less than it is when we are crumb catchers. Get up, acknowledge your position in Christ because it will change how you view Him and change how you represent Him to a world that i can personally attest to as spiritually dying.
Our time here in London is in its final hours. Recently I have been having a hard time finding the words to speak and I think that is due in large part to the fact that I have not wanted to look in the mirror for fear of what reflection I would see. To be honest, this month here in London has probably the most unspiritual stretch I have had during the 6 months on the race. I can think of several excuses for this but they all have to do with my failure to pursue God and what He is doing here in London or in me for that matter. I could say that I was worn out by a busy schedule, yet that did not stop me from watching NFL games at 1am. I can say that we did not have enough personal time, yet that did not stop me from watching mindless youtube clips, movies or playing ping pong. I can say that I was distracted by the big city and the newness that it offered as I went to various museums, malls and historical landmarks. I can say that I was distracted by the season and the fact that I was not around family to celebrate this most special time of the year but the fact is, my Christmas this year was one of the most memorable ones I will ever get to experience. Perhaps I was distracted by the type of ministry here; I can say that it helped aid my lack of connection with God. I can say that it was different from what we have done on the world race thus far or that the biting coldness of the streets separated me from God because of discomfort. Yet I cannot deny that God brought us here for a reason, so that does not work. The one thing I cannot find any excuse for is why I did not seek the Father more. As I started thinking about that, a verse came to me. In Luke 17, Jesus says "the kingdom of God does not come with careful observation, nor will people say, "here it is or there it is" because the kingdom of God is within you." I have been mulling over the words of Andrew Shearman at our 2nd Koh Samet debrief and how all places we step are being reclaimed and added back to His kingdom because as Jesus clearly points out in that Luke passage, the kingdom of God is inside of us. I neglected to acknowledge that this month. I allowed my own selfish desires to drag me here and there and not until the end have I wanted to affirm that atrocity over myself. God really started working me over in church Sunday morning and this blog is the result. Unfortunately, it is not the end of it. God's chastisement of my behavior did not end there. As God started to bring down the hammer on me, I protested. But God, look at what I have done this month!! I went out with a smile on my face every day. I treated my teammates great (I think). I passed out tracks in warm and cordial tones; I used my servant's heart to serve my team in various ways on most days. Unfortunately for me, God was not hearing my half-hearted response. He then proceeded to take me behind the woodshed for another session. The verses He led me to were some of the most painful things I have ever heard Him say to me and to be quite frank, IT SUCKED! Matthew 23 is a scathing passage from Jesus to the Pharisees. This time it also served as a scathing word from Him to me. "Woe to you....you clean the outside of the cup and dish but the inside are full of greed and self-indulgence.....you are like a whitewashed tomb, you look beautiful on the outside but the inside is full of dead men's bones...." Thankfully, He stopped before he called me a snake, part of a brood of vipers! I did not want to admit it initially, but that has been my experience over the last month. I attempted to look like Christ on the outside while ignoring the place that I need to look like Christ the most: on the inside. It is months like this that serve to remind me how far I still have to go. That my faith does not complete itself over a short span but rather over the course of my life is a comforting thought. God always affirms the good in us while He is pointing out areas that need working on. He left me with Proverbs 3:11-12. "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline because the Lord disciplines those He loves."
"Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts..."- Psalm 95: 7-8
i am glad that the onus is not on my shoulders to bring about spiritual awakening to the reality of Christ in any individual. if it was, i would have given up by now. the previous 3 months before we landed in London were spent working in asian buddhist countries where most people assented to a religious ideal without questioning why. in most cases, this simply led to a real lack of application or conviction concerning one's stated religion. it seemed to me that most buddhists inherited their religion from their parents who inherited it from their parents and so forth and so on. it was the status quo of their culture and in their minds, there was no good reason to go against the grain, or no knowledge that they needed to do so. the fact that the buddhists i worked with just accepted religion and did not really embrace it indicated that they were open to the message of Christ. they would listen attentively and objectively. though they seemed far from Christ, i saw hope for those countries. there was a real sensitivity to things that are not of this world. flash forward to london. the thought here is probably the same as it is in the rest of europe:. i dont care about God, i dont care about His Son so dont bother me about it. Faith of many generations ago has been replaced by the faith of logic and reason. in their minds, if they want to see God all they have to do is look in the mirror. given the nature of our ministry here (passing out tracks and general street evangelism) i have had plenty of contact with several Englishmen as well as countless others from many parts of the globe who have migrated here and now call London home. i have come to the conclusion that the condition of the heart in most Londoners is like the winter here: cold and bitter. but where our feet step, we bring hope. We bring the truth and we bring the message that can make the deadest heart come to life. however, i have a feeling that when i leave london, i am not going to feel like i have in other countries where the message of Christ is not deeply rooted. i am going to feel like little changed here. i have no doubt that God brought us here for a reason but at this moment i have little clue as to why. all that being said, my mission is to be obedient to Him who sent me here regardless of whether i know fully what God is doing or have vague notions.
i can say that many here were exposed again to the message of Christ during the time we have been here. but the question goes back to the verse at the top of the page; did they HEAR the voice of God? did they hear God and continue to remain hard hearted as the Jews did following Egyptian oppression? God knows the answer and i trust that He is on the move here but i do find it somewhat ironic that i felt more hope in buddhist countries than a modern western city. please pray for this city!
most of you probably know about the situation here in bangkok as political riots broke out early last week which forced us to stay here in thailand as opposed to heading to africa. well, it seems that we are going to be on the move tonight. but unexpectedly, we are heading to london, england for the rest of the month and possibly through the new year. this came as quite a surprise, but we are excited to add england to the list of places that the kingdom is being brought to! we know that in all of this that 1. God is always in control, and 2. that our God reigns!!! i have no idea what He is going to do through us, but it is going to be a challenge to bring the gospel to europe earlier than expected. i believe that europe still lives in the age of reason, or rationalism. a good number of europeans certainly promote the postmodern mindset. God is once again expanding our territory and i have full confidence that this squad, as part of the 42 generation will rise up to the challenge. we will still be spending 3 months in africa so our time there is being slightly delayed. i am sure that you guys keep on praying for me and i know that you all have the best interests of the kingdom of God in heart and mind. thank you for your continued support and i look forward to updating you soon.
andrew shearman does a great job talking about the kingdom of God and how we as bearers of the truth now have the role of bringing the kingdom back to earth (on earth as it is in heaven). In the old testament, God made a promise to abraham that was to be fulfilled by succeeding generations. the promise to abraham is multi-fold, but i want to look at only 1. God promised abraham that his descendants would be a great nation. After God led the Israelites out off 400 years of slavery in Egypt, He did so with the intention of His people truly being HIS people and He would deliver them to the promised land and thereby fulfill His promise to abraham to make his descendants a great nation. Moses (whom i have heard referred to as the Jesus of the old testament) was to be the one that would turn that promise into reality. 1 problem- lack of faith from the Israelites and a constant rebelling and turning away from God. God's response- His presence left them and they wandered around the desert for 40 years until that rebellious generation was dead. out of that entire clan, only 2 were faithful to God and had the ultimate confidence that against all odds that God is always true to His word even when all circumstances mount in front you like giant mountains. Joshua and Caleb were those two men that said with the Lord in front of us, we will slay every "giant" that stands in the way of us inheriting the promised land. Our God is bigger and badder than any giant that tries to come against us. If God says we will conquer, then we have to have the faith of joshua and caleb and confidently move forward. We are called into battle and attitudes should reflect that we march against the enemy with the knowledge that we win! Joshua and Caleb knew this and eventually God rewarded their faith and confidence in Him. they crossed the jordan and took possession of what belonged to them. as i was reading in joshua this morning, i came across a verse that reflects the attitude that i want to have until my body is in the ground and my soul is eternally celebrating. Caleb was asking Joshua for his inheritance (a city called hebron) and i Joshua 14: 10-12 he says "i am 85 years old and i am as strong today as the day Moses sent me out (to scout the land, caleb was 40)...i am just as vigorous to go out to battle now as i was then.....now give me this hill country!!!!" i love his attitude! Caleb knows that what God says He will do, He will do. Even as an older man, Caleb still is willing to battle for the Lord. this needs to be the attitude off this generation: battle ready at all times, confident fully in the Lord at all times, striving to the end no matter when that is. Caleb and Joshua did not fight alone and neither do we
We are a part of an army here on the world race. sure, it is a family but we are also an army. but i dont know that if any point during our first 5 months we were ready to march into battle TOGETHER. perhaps this is why we are still here in bangkok. God knew that we needed to grow together as a family before we proceed into the next battle. maybe God looked at our squad and thought "there are not quite where I want them to be, so I am going to give them the chance to get there." i think that we have had moments where we have come together as a squad, but those moments seem to be inconsistent or in many cases we have had to have someone from the "outside" come in spur us on to be a squad worthy of the calling we have received. this has not sustained consistently. however, i do believe that things are once again on the upswing. the last few days we have been "stuck" in bangkok but we as a squad have come together in all facets of ministry. we have laughed together, cried together, worshipped together, eaten bugs together, prayed for one another, carried one anothers burdens, loved one another, accepted each other, been reconciled, confessed (painfully)....in other words we have been the church fully. it feels different this time. i dont think that it is once again fleeting. We have been a squad that has had great outward focus, but inwardly i think that God knew that we needed work and i think that is why we are still here in bangkok. as michael hindes puts it "the most important ministry is the family we have around us for this year." i think we are waking up and walking into that reality. God is preparing us for the battle that is ahead. God is bringing us together so that we can confidently march into battle arm in arm as a family and as an army of the Lord. so are we really "stuck" in bangkok?? He is preparing us to truly bring Kingdom, to bring life, to bring water to the barren places. He is preparing us to lead others into the promised land just like Joshua and Caleb.
