Learning through the pain of life
Aug/31/2009 14:30
After a several day hiatus, I am slowly climbing back in the saddle. It was a rough several days, it’s now 10 days after learning that my wife and I lost our baby at 10 weeks into the pregnancy. Going through this process has been a learning experience for both of us; we’ve learned a lot about our relationship, our devotion to God, and our need for him. We’ve learned how important the body of Christ is and how our lives impact those around us, in ways we didn’t even know about. We’ve learned a little about the process of grief and the blessing that it can be in our lives. Most importantly, we’ve learned what we’ve really known all along, that it is so easy to be distracted from what really matters.
So what really matters? Not much outside of Jesus and his loving sacrifice for us, the blessings of family and friends, and the hope of the resurrection in Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4:13:
So what really matters? Not much outside of Jesus and his loving sacrifice for us, the blessings of family and friends, and the hope of the resurrection in Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4:13:
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”
Jots (8/21)
Aug/21/2009 08:52
Is the social medium a fad? You tell me...
Like him or not, Warren Buffet is truly an economic mogul who’s opinion should at least be considered when speaking on monetary policy. His op-ed in the New York Times is an interesting article on the debt that the U.S. is pumping into the world economy.“To understand this threat, we need to look at where we stand historically. If we leave aside the war-impacted years of 1942 to 1946, the largest annual deficit the United States has incurred since 1920 was 6 percent of gross domestic product. This fiscal year, though, the deficit will rise to about 13 percent of G.D.P., more than twice the non-wartime record. In dollars, that equates to a staggering $1.8 trillion. Fiscally, we are in uncharted territory.”
We all start out as the fry guy...
The tornado that touched down in Minneapolis was an interesting “phenomena” that just happened to occur during the vote to approve homosexual clergy during the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's national convention this week. Read John Piper’s thoughts about the event here.
Tim Challies re-posted an interesting story this week about a Harvard professor who taught his students with a fish. I’ve read the story before but share it again here for you. The Road to Foreign Ministry (When working a full time job) - Part 2
Aug/18/2009 15:03
Part 2
Last week, I began a post looking at the preparation process of getting to the mission field for those gifted for ministry but also working a full time job at the same time. There are several things that we full time workers can’t do and several things that we need to expect during the process or support raising and mission preparation. You can read part 1 here then continue with my continuing observations of the process below.
4) You’ll be better equipped to minister to people who work full time. During my first ministry in Ireland I vividly remember an early morning appointment my colleague and I had that woke me up to the realization that I had forgotten what it was like to get up and be somewhere early in the morning. Working from home had dulled my understanding of their lives and made me less sympathetic and understanding to the juggle of life. Now that I’ve been a member of the workforce going to work at 7 AM for the past 2 years I know and can sympathize with the fatigue that my congregants feel when trying to work, raise a family, and also serve in the church. It ain’t easy. During this season of preparation I have reminded myself over and over not to forget what it feels like to work all day, come home to prepare a sermon, prepare, lead, or attend a mid-week small group, or go to some congregational function. I’m hopeful that upon arrival in Portugal we’ll have a new perspective of what it means to be a Christian in the midst of a hectic life.
5) You’re going to feel out of the “ministry” loop because you’re working. This perhaps has been the biggest struggle for me during this season of preparation. In the ministry world there is a lot of activities taking place all over the United States and the world that as full time employees we simply cannot attend. Missionaries get to attend conferences, meetings, and are blessed to be with other ministers and missionaries. Working full time does not afford us the opportunity so in some ways we are out of the loop. While you might feel “out of it” fret not, missing some conferences isn’t altogether bad. You can still stay with the happenings around the ministry world by staying involved and engaged in your local congregation, reading and contributing to ministry blogs and news sites, and listening to podcasts. Most large conferences gift the main sessions to the church body though podcasts or .mp3 downloads. Get an .mp3 player or an iPod and stock up!
6) You’ll feel impatient and wonder if you’re doing enough. Do you remember waiting for something when you were a little kid? Christmas seemed light years away and summer camp might as well have been cancelled it took so long to arrive. It’s the feeling of ordering something really exciting but having to wait for what seems like forever. When planning for ministry (especially ministry overseas) you will be tempted to think that you’re doing enough to get there when you’re working full time. Those of us who work 8-10 hours a day at our normal daily jobs are forced to take things slower by nature of our schedules. We just don’t have the time to rush things along. That doesn’t mean we have the luxury of intentionally slowing things down but you shouldn’t make things hard on yourself. For instance, I have been working on our website, blog, schedules, ministry material, calling supporters, meeting supporters, writing emails, building our presentation, all on top of living. Working on our main website, building our presentation, and calling supporters isn’t something that I can pull out and work on during the day so I’m left working on it for an hour or two in the evenings. Doing things this way takes t...i...m...e... and that’s just the nature of the beast. Keep plodding along, eventually you’ll get there.
Last week, I began a post looking at the preparation process of getting to the mission field for those gifted for ministry but also working a full time job at the same time. There are several things that we full time workers can’t do and several things that we need to expect during the process or support raising and mission preparation. You can read part 1 here then continue with my continuing observations of the process below.
4) You’ll be better equipped to minister to people who work full time. During my first ministry in Ireland I vividly remember an early morning appointment my colleague and I had that woke me up to the realization that I had forgotten what it was like to get up and be somewhere early in the morning. Working from home had dulled my understanding of their lives and made me less sympathetic and understanding to the juggle of life. Now that I’ve been a member of the workforce going to work at 7 AM for the past 2 years I know and can sympathize with the fatigue that my congregants feel when trying to work, raise a family, and also serve in the church. It ain’t easy. During this season of preparation I have reminded myself over and over not to forget what it feels like to work all day, come home to prepare a sermon, prepare, lead, or attend a mid-week small group, or go to some congregational function. I’m hopeful that upon arrival in Portugal we’ll have a new perspective of what it means to be a Christian in the midst of a hectic life.
5) You’re going to feel out of the “ministry” loop because you’re working. This perhaps has been the biggest struggle for me during this season of preparation. In the ministry world there is a lot of activities taking place all over the United States and the world that as full time employees we simply cannot attend. Missionaries get to attend conferences, meetings, and are blessed to be with other ministers and missionaries. Working full time does not afford us the opportunity so in some ways we are out of the loop. While you might feel “out of it” fret not, missing some conferences isn’t altogether bad. You can still stay with the happenings around the ministry world by staying involved and engaged in your local congregation, reading and contributing to ministry blogs and news sites, and listening to podcasts. Most large conferences gift the main sessions to the church body though podcasts or .mp3 downloads. Get an .mp3 player or an iPod and stock up!
6) You’ll feel impatient and wonder if you’re doing enough. Do you remember waiting for something when you were a little kid? Christmas seemed light years away and summer camp might as well have been cancelled it took so long to arrive. It’s the feeling of ordering something really exciting but having to wait for what seems like forever. When planning for ministry (especially ministry overseas) you will be tempted to think that you’re doing enough to get there when you’re working full time. Those of us who work 8-10 hours a day at our normal daily jobs are forced to take things slower by nature of our schedules. We just don’t have the time to rush things along. That doesn’t mean we have the luxury of intentionally slowing things down but you shouldn’t make things hard on yourself. For instance, I have been working on our website, blog, schedules, ministry material, calling supporters, meeting supporters, writing emails, building our presentation, all on top of living. Working on our main website, building our presentation, and calling supporters isn’t something that I can pull out and work on during the day so I’m left working on it for an hour or two in the evenings. Doing things this way takes t...i...m...e... and that’s just the nature of the beast. Keep plodding along, eventually you’ll get there.
The Road to Foreign Ministry (when working a full time job)
Aug/12/2009 10:24
Part 1
For you missionaries-in-planning, perhaps you’ve been down this road before. You’re certain about your vision, you’ve thought through the implications of your decision, you’ve found a spot on the map, you’re ready to make that commitment and... you’ve got that nagging full time job to deal with.
For those of us gifted specifically for mission/ministry work in a foreign country getting to the field while working a full time job can be another full time job by itself. This has been our experience. When we left for Ireland we were just finishing preaching school and had no real ties to anything. At that point we had been in school for two years and living on support, so we didn’t really have any issues transferring onto support for our work in a foreign country. Planning this time around has not been so easy. We’ve both had full time jobs to contend with and busy lives that make support raising, ministry planning, and logistics time consuming. If you find yourself in this particular situation in your life right now here are a few issues we’ve dealt with and how to keep hope during the process:
1) Support raising is going to go painfully slow. Traveling around from church to church while you’re working full time is impossible. As a full time employee somewhere you simply don’t have enough vacation time to cover all of the places you need to go. Your support raising is going to crawl. Don’t worry about it and don’t rush it. “But, but, there are lost people there that are going to hell unless I get to them asap!” Calm down, you’ll get to your destination when you get there, and once you’re there you’ll have a lifetime to teach and preach. Just take your time and get the support raising right without intruding on your employers time. Knowing that your support raising is going to slug along takes the pressure off of you to perform and allows you to raise money relationally while at the same time forcing you to depend upon God’s providence and timing. It’s a hearty process.
2) You’re not going to be able to speak about your vision to everyone. You’re excited, your families are excited, your church is excited...but not your boss. There is a right time and a wrong time to discuss your plans with your employer and unless you’re looking at concrete departures and finalized decisions, it’s not the right time. No, it’s not. You may be tempted to rush right into your boss’s office and tell him or her about your missionary vision to the Congo but... you might find yourself packing right then and there. Only when you have made concrete decisions, sought enormous amounts of counsel, prayed and prayed again should you go and speak to your boss. Remember, only you know when the time is right but this does not give you a pass to lie either. Dishonesty is not an option but self-control and discipline are. Keep your mouth shut while you’re working on the details and never let your ministry planning overtake your job responsibilities. Do your job with excellence until your very last day, you may find some hidden support when you leave.
3) You’ll have to think outside the box. If you’re working full-time, you don’t have the luxury of spending hours of planning and support raising time on the phone. You’re going to have to think outside the box to get your message and your vision out. What this has looked like for us is a website that I created to house the majority of our missions information. I have also worked on maintaining a blog (this one) where I can share my ideas. Being able to direct potential supporters to our sites while I’m working during the day lets them get the information they need and communicate with me without me having to spend hours on the phone. Something else to consider is staying away from sites like Facebook and Myspace until your plans are public at work. We’ve made the conscious decision to refrain from Facebook (despite the obvious benefits) because nothing would kill our stealth planning faster than our colleagues at work finding out through Facebook prematurely. Can you imagine a Facebook poke saying, “so what’s this I hear about you leaving us and moving out of the country?” Ooops, better get packing.
(To be continued)
For you missionaries-in-planning, perhaps you’ve been down this road before. You’re certain about your vision, you’ve thought through the implications of your decision, you’ve found a spot on the map, you’re ready to make that commitment and... you’ve got that nagging full time job to deal with.
For those of us gifted specifically for mission/ministry work in a foreign country getting to the field while working a full time job can be another full time job by itself. This has been our experience. When we left for Ireland we were just finishing preaching school and had no real ties to anything. At that point we had been in school for two years and living on support, so we didn’t really have any issues transferring onto support for our work in a foreign country. Planning this time around has not been so easy. We’ve both had full time jobs to contend with and busy lives that make support raising, ministry planning, and logistics time consuming. If you find yourself in this particular situation in your life right now here are a few issues we’ve dealt with and how to keep hope during the process:
1) Support raising is going to go painfully slow. Traveling around from church to church while you’re working full time is impossible. As a full time employee somewhere you simply don’t have enough vacation time to cover all of the places you need to go. Your support raising is going to crawl. Don’t worry about it and don’t rush it. “But, but, there are lost people there that are going to hell unless I get to them asap!” Calm down, you’ll get to your destination when you get there, and once you’re there you’ll have a lifetime to teach and preach. Just take your time and get the support raising right without intruding on your employers time. Knowing that your support raising is going to slug along takes the pressure off of you to perform and allows you to raise money relationally while at the same time forcing you to depend upon God’s providence and timing. It’s a hearty process.
2) You’re not going to be able to speak about your vision to everyone. You’re excited, your families are excited, your church is excited...but not your boss. There is a right time and a wrong time to discuss your plans with your employer and unless you’re looking at concrete departures and finalized decisions, it’s not the right time. No, it’s not. You may be tempted to rush right into your boss’s office and tell him or her about your missionary vision to the Congo but... you might find yourself packing right then and there. Only when you have made concrete decisions, sought enormous amounts of counsel, prayed and prayed again should you go and speak to your boss. Remember, only you know when the time is right but this does not give you a pass to lie either. Dishonesty is not an option but self-control and discipline are. Keep your mouth shut while you’re working on the details and never let your ministry planning overtake your job responsibilities. Do your job with excellence until your very last day, you may find some hidden support when you leave.
3) You’ll have to think outside the box. If you’re working full-time, you don’t have the luxury of spending hours of planning and support raising time on the phone. You’re going to have to think outside the box to get your message and your vision out. What this has looked like for us is a website that I created to house the majority of our missions information. I have also worked on maintaining a blog (this one) where I can share my ideas. Being able to direct potential supporters to our sites while I’m working during the day lets them get the information they need and communicate with me without me having to spend hours on the phone. Something else to consider is staying away from sites like Facebook and Myspace until your plans are public at work. We’ve made the conscious decision to refrain from Facebook (despite the obvious benefits) because nothing would kill our stealth planning faster than our colleagues at work finding out through Facebook prematurely. Can you imagine a Facebook poke saying, “so what’s this I hear about you leaving us and moving out of the country?” Ooops, better get packing.
(To be continued)
Observing the Lord's Day
Aug/12/2009 09:52
Dan Walker writes a very interesting article about why the observance of the Lord’s day is an important aspect to his life and career:
I think it is interesting that for many who claim Christ in America, more time is spent at the restaurant table and shopping than relaxing and enjoying the restful day that God has blessed us with. What message are we sending to the world with our non-stop busy Sundays? Certainly food for thought. Read the rest here. (Via Challies.com)
“‘You will not get anywhere with an attitude like that!’ Those are the words that were ringing in my ears as I left the offices of a major radio station in London back in 2000. The interviewers were under the impression that what I had written in my CV about not working on a Sunday was a joke. When I explained that I was a Christian, and why I felt the way I did, one of them just sat there with his mouth wide open for about ten seconds. It was a great job and they fully expected me to give up everything to work for them.”
I think it is interesting that for many who claim Christ in America, more time is spent at the restaurant table and shopping than relaxing and enjoying the restful day that God has blessed us with. What message are we sending to the world with our non-stop busy Sundays? Certainly food for thought. Read the rest here. (Via Challies.com)
Jots (8/10)
Aug/10/2009 08:24
Steve McCoy has written a two-parter on intentional engagement of neighbors and acquaintances in sharing the life and message of Jesus with them. One article is on Sub Text blog the other part is on his reformissionary blog. Great ideas! Polyamory is a growing trend (I guess) within Western Culture and Albert Mohler shares his thoughts on this bankrupt trend.“The movement now claims a number of recognized books, logs, podcasts, and even an online magazine entitled "Loving More." According to Newsweek, actress Tilda Swinton and Carla Bruni, the First Lady of France, have emerged as prominent spokespersons for nonmonogamy. As should be expected, the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University now features a "polyamory library."
UPI has a very interesting article about the death of the socialist left in European politics. As I’ve blogged elsewhere, the left-leaning political parties have taken a severe beating this past year and will probably do so into the coming year as several general elections come around. We need to be praying that God will put governments in place that open opportunities for preaching and teaching Jesus in Western Europe."Is the PS (Parti Socialiste) going to die? No. It is dead," says prominent French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy. "No one, or almost no one, dares say it. But everyone, or almost everyone, knows it's true."
Left Behind
Aug/05/2009 15:56
Kate Taylor over at Mission Leader penned a very poignant article back in July and I thought I would share it here. As a missionary, it is easy to be mindful of the sacrifice that we’re making for the gospel expansion. As Kate says:
However,
Its easy to forget those who don’t go, who support from afar, and cheer us as we move away. This is a reminder to remember those left behind and to thank them. Here is my letter to our prayer and support team below:
I was reminded today by a missions article about all of you...and no, not in a bad way! It was about you who stay behind to cheer us on, to support us from afar, to offer supplications to the Father as we work on the front lines of the kingdom expansion. Sometimes it is easy to forget that we're not alone in our calling and vocation to ministry. That there are many of you whose sacrifice for the kingdom is different than ours but still a sacrifice. And that you all matter to God because those of you who have chosen to support us through money and prayer are also called to send and support. The truth is we would not be going if you were not sending. As we work towards our eventual leaving please know how important you are and how much we cherish each and every partner. As John Piper says:
"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't."
As a large team, we're all working because worship does not yet exist across the majority of Portugal, yet. This week, let's pray for our immediate families, our church family, and our friends that stay behind to do the work of sending and praying in America. From us to you, thanks.
“Most of us realize the enormous sacrifices which long-term international missionaries make when they go overseas. They are willing to walk away from their country, their home, their families and their comforts for the sake of Christ. It takes an incredible leap of faith to love a people enough to step outside everything you have known so they would come to know the love and peace that flow from the hands of Christ.”
However,
“What few of us truly understand is the sacrifice made by those left behind...When a couple answers the call of Christ to love the unlovable in the slums of India, two sets of parents lose their beloved children. Two loving families have fewer members at the Christmas dinner table and fewer stockings on the mantle. When God blesses that couple with children, two sets of grandparents miss the chance to play hide and go seek in the backyard or unload the bags for a long weekend sleepover.”
Its easy to forget those who don’t go, who support from afar, and cheer us as we move away. This is a reminder to remember those left behind and to thank them. Here is my letter to our prayer and support team below:
I was reminded today by a missions article about all of you...and no, not in a bad way! It was about you who stay behind to cheer us on, to support us from afar, to offer supplications to the Father as we work on the front lines of the kingdom expansion. Sometimes it is easy to forget that we're not alone in our calling and vocation to ministry. That there are many of you whose sacrifice for the kingdom is different than ours but still a sacrifice. And that you all matter to God because those of you who have chosen to support us through money and prayer are also called to send and support. The truth is we would not be going if you were not sending. As we work towards our eventual leaving please know how important you are and how much we cherish each and every partner. As John Piper says:
"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't."
As a large team, we're all working because worship does not yet exist across the majority of Portugal, yet. This week, let's pray for our immediate families, our church family, and our friends that stay behind to do the work of sending and praying in America. From us to you, thanks.
Jots (8/4)
Aug/04/2009 15:45
Save the planet: Have fewer kids. Yahoo posted a brilliant (sarcasm) article from LiveScience actually advocating that people have fewer kids to save the planet. This is what happens when God is replaced by earth. The bad boys of the x-games are making quite a stir in their profession of faith in Jesus. Read about it here. (via Owen Strachan) A-Team posts on why “Atheism is Ugly.”The "Rightness" of Missions (Part 2)
Aug/04/2009 07:16
Living the missionary life is a lot like playing the role of life’s mechanic. Most people don’t realize that their lives, like our demon car, are really broken beyond repair. They continue to sink time, money, and emotion into something that cannot be fixed no matter how much they pour into it and yet they keep trying. Just like the mechanic, our job is to lovingly, humbly, and patiently explain that no matter what they do, they cannot repair their broken lives. At some point they need to ditch it:
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. Luke 17:33
We Christians are prime candidates for helping people because we know what its like for the brokenness to be fixed. Just like a good mechanic tells you what’s wrong with your car, we have the opportunity to help people fix what’s wrong with their lives through Jesus. This is who we are and it is what we do; it’s what makes missions “right.”
Jots (8/3)
Aug/03/2009 21:32
Haughty Spirit : Fall :: Pride : Destruction - The title says it all. (via Between two worlds) The Line over at Boundless has an interesting article about the pressure ladies have when thinking of their futures. I think Candace probes a very difficult question for Christian women in today’s culture. Grady started a very interesting discussion over on MIssional Space about evangelism “tools” such as “The Way of the Master” and others. Are they helpful or do they short-circuit the discipleship process? What do you do with seemingly disappointing outcomes when working in very difficult circumstances? These are the types of questions that must be asked by those of us working in western culture. C. Holland explores it here.The "Rightness" of Missions
Aug/03/2009 21:16
Who gives us the “right” in being missionaries? In other words, on what authority do we leave our culture, move to a new place, preach about Jesus, call sin sin, call people to repentance, and grow churches? Living in a post-moder-esq society brought this idea to my attention especially in the current political climate as each side is claiming that the other doesn’t have the right to do or spend what they’re doing. Here we are planning on moving to Portugal and I’ve never stopped to ask why I believe we ought to.
It’s easy to assume that because we’re all Christians we should be involved in missions. But that is a foolish notion. Not everyone who calls themselves Christians believes that we have the right or the duty to be engaged in evangelism, whether in America or Europe. Some see missions as crusader-like or authoritarian but Jesus didn’t see it that way:
Jesus claimed all authority for himself and through that authority sent his disciples to make more disciples. He sent them out.
So the first principle on the “rightness” of missions is that we go because Jesus sends. We don’t go on our own authority but on the authority of the one we call Lord.
(To be continued)
It’s easy to assume that because we’re all Christians we should be involved in missions. But that is a foolish notion. Not everyone who calls themselves Christians believes that we have the right or the duty to be engaged in evangelism, whether in America or Europe. Some see missions as crusader-like or authoritarian but Jesus didn’t see it that way:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus claimed all authority for himself and through that authority sent his disciples to make more disciples. He sent them out.
So the first principle on the “rightness” of missions is that we go because Jesus sends. We don’t go on our own authority but on the authority of the one we call Lord.
(To be continued)
