Yesterday ended our classes. The teaching wasn't very intense. The bulk of it was some more church planting tips and strategies from Georges. It was a great time of fellowship with everyone there. Around 4 pm we went to the mountains to have our graduation ceremony. We received certificates, spoke a bit, ate, and just had a great time together. We had lots of fun. We didn't see any mountain lions or bears, but we were looking :)
Afterwards we went to Golden with Ryan, Sarah and the boys. We had a great time, and lots of tired laughter. It was great! Sarah gets really loopy when she's tired.
This morning we took some of our new friends to the airport. It was a bit sad but great. God is working in all of our lives. I look forward to hear what the Lord is going to do in Tajikistan, Turkey, Michigan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and London. It is so great that the Lord wants to use such ordinary people for His extraordinary work. Please pray for the harvest in these places. I'm sure there are harvesters in the harvest.
Shameless plug: if you get the opportunity to go to SIMS, or another conference that is hosted by Georges Houssney, you need to go. Yes, that means you too. It went above and beyond my expectations, and now has become a spiritual marker for me.
Anyway, we are now in Dodge City, Kansas. Russell was right. It was the most boring drive of my life! Nothing to see. The Great Plains are pretty plain. We are with Erline's family until Thursday.
If I haven't said it enough, thank you again for your prayer and support. We would not have been able to go to Boulder, nor Kansas without your prayer and support. We greatly appreciate it. We love you and are so thankful for you all.
We will be back next Friday, which means that work starts that following Monday. I hope the days pass by slowly:)
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Insurgents
We learned today from Andre that we should focus on a first century model of missions. The difference between the old model and the 1st Century model is that the approach most people use are like the Army style, while the 1st century is an insurgency model. People take initiative, even though every detail is not spelled out. Insurgents are generalist. They do whatever needs to be done.
People in an army mode do not move until orders are given, but our orders have already been given: GO!
Anyway, we are on our way to pearl street for the last time. We learned lots of practical things about evangelism, discipleship and church planting from Lee Bridges that hopefully we will put to use tonight.
Tomorrow is the last day! It has been a worth-while journey.
People in an army mode do not move until orders are given, but our orders have already been given: GO!
Anyway, we are on our way to pearl street for the last time. We learned lots of practical things about evangelism, discipleship and church planting from Lee Bridges that hopefully we will put to use tonight.
Tomorrow is the last day! It has been a worth-while journey.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Worn out Wednesday
The first thing Erline said this morning when she woke up was "I don't feel like learning anymore." I think we are all feeling it now. It hasn't been overwhelming, but we see the finish line. I think most of us are just eager to put this stuff into practice.
Today has been great. Something hit me this morning. John 15:5 says "without me (Jesus) you can do nothing. Luke 2:37 says with God nothing is impossible. So with God, we can do anything!
We had a case study from what God is doing in Tunisia, which was encouraging. God is at work all over the world. We also learned many practical things from our final teacher about church planting, such as MAWL (model, assist, watch and launch) to get people moving and sharing the Gospel. It is amazing how long we wait in the west to train people to share the Gospel with others. Maybe it is our individualist thinking, which isn't all bad, but that we need to get to a certain level in our relationship with God before He can use us. It didn't take very long for the Lord to use Paul. We must encourage those we are discipling to do the work of the ministry as well. They can reach those that we cannot reach ourselves.
2 Timothy 2:2 And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men, that they will be able to teach others also.
Anyway, we will be hanging out with the Johnsons tonight. By the way, I got a higher score than Erline in bowling last night, so that means she will be watching the Dark Knight Rises again with me. I guess we're a little competitive :)
Today has been great. Something hit me this morning. John 15:5 says "without me (Jesus) you can do nothing. Luke 2:37 says with God nothing is impossible. So with God, we can do anything!
We had a case study from what God is doing in Tunisia, which was encouraging. God is at work all over the world. We also learned many practical things from our final teacher about church planting, such as MAWL (model, assist, watch and launch) to get people moving and sharing the Gospel. It is amazing how long we wait in the west to train people to share the Gospel with others. Maybe it is our individualist thinking, which isn't all bad, but that we need to get to a certain level in our relationship with God before He can use us. It didn't take very long for the Lord to use Paul. We must encourage those we are discipling to do the work of the ministry as well. They can reach those that we cannot reach ourselves.
2 Timothy 2:2 And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men, that they will be able to teach others also.
Anyway, we will be hanging out with the Johnsons tonight. By the way, I got a higher score than Erline in bowling last night, so that means she will be watching the Dark Knight Rises again with me. I guess we're a little competitive :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)