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Thank You Ralph Winters

To be a blog about advancing the life, mission and kingdom of God beyond borders and not stop and honor the legacy of one of the 20th centuries greatest missional minds would be wrong. Though I never met Ralph Winters face to face, I have met him in the printed text. I have been to the Center for World Missions in Pasadena, CA, I have purchased many of his resources for Grace Point Beyond Borders Cafe. We are moving toward hosting the Perspectives course at Grace Point Church in the coming years.


I am passing on the tribute from BreakPoint by Charles Colson (another influential mind of our day). I think Colson does a great job a paying tribute to an amazing globally focused man.


"The Church on earth recently lost a great visionary. You may not be familiar with his name, but it’s likely you’ve witnessed the results of Ralph Winter’s strategic thinking. If you’ve ever heard the terms “unreached people group,” “frontier missions,” or “10-40 window,” it’s because of Ralph Winter’s catalytic effect on the Church to fully embrace the Great Commission. A retired missionary, professor at Fuller Seminary, and Ph.D. in linguistics, Winter burst onto the international stage in 1974 at the Lausanne Conference on World Evangelization. There among Christian leaders like Billy Graham, Bill Bright, and John Stott, Winter blew the lid off some of the most pernicious misconceptions of the day. Because the Gospel had gone to every continent and nearly every country, many people had begun to assume that the work of missions was over. They thought that the only thing now was for local Christians to engage in evangelism.

In a paper circulated prior to the gathering, Winter wrote, “The awesome problem is . . . that most non-Christians in the world today are not culturally near neighbors of any Christians, and that it will take a special kind of ‘cross-cultural’ evangelism to reach them.” Winter knew that if every Christian in the world shared the Gospel with his neighbors, only half the world would hear it.

To illustrate his point, Winter explained the case of the Batak church in Indonesia, where the Gospel had taken root and people were actively evangelizing. But because of Indonesia’s mosaic of languages and people groups, for the Batak to reach others—even in their own country—they would have to engage in cross-cultural missions.

With America becoming more and more multicultural, and with our secular neighbors not even speaking our language, we would do well to see our evangelism at home as Winter taught us to see it around the world.

Ralph Winter’s strategic emphasis on reaching not simply every nation with the Gospel, but every people group, dramatically altered the strategies and budget allocations of missionary organizations around the world. In fact, Billy Graham wrote, “Ralph Winter has . . . accelerated world evangelization.”

A few years later, Winter founded the U.S. Center for World Missions and soon after the William Carey International University. He had no financial backing at the time, and only $100 to begin with. Audacious? Yes. But as Winter wrote, “We were willing to fail because the goal we sensed was so urgent and strategic."

But the center did not fail. Since then the center has not only trained thousands of missionaries and support personnel, but also has worked tirelessly to bring the vision of reaching hidden peoples to the wider Church. The Perspectives Course, a college-level course the center sponsors, has equipped almost 60,000 lay people round the world with this vision.
In 2005, Time magazine included Winter as one of the top 25 most influential evangelicals. Last year, the North American Mission Conference gave him the lifetime service award. But no doubt Winter will take greater pleasure in meeting the men and women from every tribe, tongue and nation who praise the name of Jesus in glory—all because of his passion to spread Christ’s message."



Thank you Ralph for your love for God, and for "every tribe, tongue and nation."

Is God Green? Are you Green?

To ask if a person is "green" in this highly enviromentally conscious world of today, is like asking are you Democratic or Republican. The views on global warming are about as divided as the Hatfield's and McCoy's (a little southern rivalry). Going "green," by far, is the politically correct thing to do. Employees are getting challenged daily by their leadership to "go green." Companies are spending multiplied thousands of dollars to transform their businesses into sustainable companies with as little carbon footprint as is possible. Living green, as per my working definition, means to consciously live in a harmonious manner with our ecosystem, while reducing as many potentially harmful actions to it as possible. Not because of global warming, but because this isn't my earth to begin with (Psalms 24:1). My question isn't is it politically expedient for me to live politically correct (that is like a dog chasing it's tell, trying to keep up with the ever political correctness). The real question is, what is the Biblically correct thing to do? I think it is time for a "theology of ecology."

IS GOD GREEN?

Does God really care what we do with the earth, it's atmosphere, the plant life and wildlife? Some would equate the fight to go green and save turtle's egg more valuable than saving a fetus of a mother? A panentheist, believes that God is in the trees, frogs, and dogs. Therefore, to save a tree from being cut down would be saving a piece of God. To believe everything Al Gore says about the environment a true assault and insult on reason and God. This is bad eco-theology.

Neither is the view that God isn't interested in climate change, the sustainability of the forest, waters and wildlife a sound Biblical argument. For conservative Christians to debate so strongly for the literal creation of the earth as God's amazing and miraculous work, but not be far more involved in the preservation of His miraculous work, it is duplicitous at best.

He, God, made this world and all that is in it for himself (Colo 1:16). He values all his creation and claims ownership to it all, man, land and the animals (Ps 50:10). He only gave us management rights to His creation (Gen 2:15). We need to understand that God lives in the praises of all His creation (Ps 19:1). God uses His creation as one of the tools to bring people into the saving knowledge of Himself (Rom 1:20). God greatly values all his creation.

Is God Green? You bet your sweet potato's He is. Are you?

ARE YOU GREEN?

I would hope that you would want to be "green" if God is "green." You can take steps forward to live a more intentionally aware and develop a life-style that is more sustainable. Beware, it may be more costly too.

1. Become informed about ways our lifestyle is affecting God's creation. Don't argue for or against climate change until you have done your home work. Check out some faith based environmental websites. These sites hopefully will hold a high view of God and His Word and promote Eco-stewardship:

http://www.restoringeden.org/
http://www.savinggodsgreenearth.com/
http://www.baptistcreationcare.org/

Other non-faith based, but full of helpful ideas
http://www.eco-cycle.org/
http://www.earth911.org/

2. Go plant something...with your family. Model for your children that God made this big blue marble and we must take care of it.

3. Begin somewhere today! Reduce: simplify, simplify, simplify. Remember, you own it then it owns you. Reuse: this could be as small as reusing plastic bags in the house to as large as "reusing" the car you have for an additional 10,000-20,000 more miles. Recycle: Participate fully in local community recycling efforts.

You might feel insignificant and not all that important doing your part. Read Zechariah 4:10, "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin."

Is God green? You tell me.

Giving that Gives

I have read two articles today that disturb and encourage me all in the same. Though we all know that our nation of affluence has undergone recent set backs that have touch every area our lives. We can't make light of the financial pain and adjustments that people have had to make in their life. I have read studies that virtually everyone has been financially affected by the downturn. Pain is felt by all.

The first article I read today broke my heart. It shows how the downturn in the economy has ripple effects that spread beyond our borders. When I read how one of the strongest church planting, care giving international mission agencies in the country is reducing it missionary personnel appointments in the future, I was saddened. The International Mission Board (IMB), the largest evangelical mission sending agency in the world, is being forced to reduce future missionary appointments. This isn't good for God's ultimate calling to all believers go to the ends of the earth. We must continue to do what William Carey said to do: "hold the rope, as he goes down into the pit." There is something deep in my heart that simply isn't right about slowing down God's global work, when we should be speeding up.


The second article encouraged my spirit when I see creative ways God's people in the church are responding the hard times. Instead of turning inward, I love it when churches turns outward. Kudos's to Cross Timber Community Church for how they are opening themselves up to the community and stepping up.

I am thankful that I get to Pastor a people who knows the value of global missions as our church ranks in the top giving churches by per capita giving to the IMB. When our contributors give to our Global Missions offering, 50% of it goes directly to support IMB missionaries on the field. Of the remaining: 30% goes to support missions throughout North America, 10% goes to support missions throughout Arkansas and 10% goes to help orphanages and crisis family support in Arkansas. Giving is a beautiful act of service.

HOPE-NWA has become a local initiative to keep hope alive in Northwest Arkansas. This is an initiative started at Grace Point Church, but has quickly spread to become a community effort to nurture hope in practical and free ways, much like the Cross Timber's Community effort. There are many new and developing community projects in the making so get ready to be a part.

So the next time you think of giving to something, ask the question, "what is my giving - giving?"

Great Commission Resurgence

There is a stirring in the air that is a breath of fresh air. I am pleased that some Southern Baptist have recognized the need to engage in a desperate and what could be heated conversation that is long over due.

I can finally see some a glimmer of hope for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in the latest call for resurgence. I have been quite concerned about the viability and sustainability of our historically Great Commission convention.

As a student and proponent of the Conservative Biblical Resurgence of the 1980's within the SBC, I have become very disillusioned with the militaristic rhetoric and dogmatic elitism that has emerged in our convention in the new millennium. I think it is time for the convention to wake up to the evadable: the convention has a very short “shelf life,” if there isn’t a resurgence of the Great Commission.

The axiom’s that the Great Commission Resurgence advocate are maybe what is necessary to help a dying convention extend it's life, but more important than extending the SBC life is finishing the task Christ gave his followers 2000 years ago. I think the statements are a good move in the right direction to help recreate the aroma of the SBC.

Here is the value of the axioms as I see it:

1. The Axioms reinforce what the SBC has believed historically, reproduced in their seminaries and modeled through their missionaries. However, there has develop a great disconnect between what many Southern Baptist believe and live; between what churches say they do and what they actually do; between what the agencies where designed to produce what they actually produce.

2. Some have said “our [the SBC] convention is in worse shape now than it was 15 years ago” as a rationale for doing nothing to change. They have used this rational as reasoning for not signing the axioms. What did Einstein say one is when we keep doing the same thing, but expect different results? Insanity. If the SBC, historically the largest mission sending protestant convention, is broke, as some say, this is all the more reason to adjust our actions, spending and programming. The convention has had a spiralling down problem for years. At least now some are trying to stem the tide and change the direction.

3. The axioms call for a serious self evaluation of each agency, seminary and board in an effort to downsize of duplicated duties to create leaner and more efficient mission agencies and training institutions.

5. It is time for the local churches in to be the missional agencies instead of funding larger agencies to do the work of the church. This is a form of prosititution. When the local church send's $1,000 of dollars to agencies to do their missions for them, it is virtually prositituing the gospel because the local church isn't willing to do what they have been called to do. Missions starts with local churches reproducing local churches. Sending our money to others to do our mission is not the most effective church planting approach. The cry of the missional church is to go and not just to gather. It is time for the church to be the church in the community. As the church becomes the mission agency we will need leaner and more strategic agencies to come along and support the mission.

It is time for all the churches of all denominations to call for a resurgence of the Great Commission. it's time to become lean and strategic

Can Women Preach?

The Bible says women are to remain silent and keep the heads covered when they are in church right (1 Cor 13:34)? Then how come I asked my wife to speak on my behalf while I am on sabbatical? This won't be the first time she has spoken before the GPC family. I respectfully know a few people, who it has been a bit of a rub for them to have a woman, such as Lori, speak to men in church on Sunday. So since Lori is speaking for me tomorrow (Feb 8th), I will share my views on the 1 Corinthian passage as well as my thoughts on women teaching men. The following is a email conversation that I had with someone once on the very subject. So what you will read next, will be the content of my response to a geninue question on this subject.

I understand your concern and it warrants a clear and thorough review. The observation is made that women are to be silent, not talk and should cover their heads (11:2-16). The prohibition for women to speak is given in the same letter with the command for women to keep their heads covered. To do one and not the other is disingenuous; to demand that women be silent because the Bible says to, but not cover our heads when the Bible says to do so is duplicitous. So how does one interpret this passage?

If we take this passage at face value, then women speaking in the church is wrong. Then also, we at GPC violate this passage anytime a woman speaks or we allow them into the church with their head uncovered. Under the strictest interpretation women would be forbidden to even ask questions (v.35). I certainly don’t adhere to this strict of interpretation.

One principle of interpretation, when you hold to such a high view of Scripture as I do, is that the Scripture will help interpret Scripture. In short, Scripture won't compromise itself. It will be consistent. The interpreter must work for a harmony of the whole Bible.

I see women speaking throughout the Bible to men. Deborah was one of the great judges in Scripture (Judges). Mary, the mother of Jesus, practically TOLD Jesus to turn the water into wine. Mary Magdalene “preached” the first resurrection message in the Bible to Peter and John. In Acts 2:4 all those in the upper room, men and women, were filled with the spirit and all were proclaiming (preaching). Phillip, had 4 daughters who were prophetesses (Acts 21:9) Even Paul in 1 Cor 11:5, the very book that “prohibits” women from speaking, is clearly implying that women will “pray” and “prophecy” in the church.

My CONCLUSION: women are permitted to speak truth to men formally or informally, but there are deeper more local issues in Corinth that Paul is dealing with in this passage.

So why the prohibition in 1 Corinthians? It is likely due to the decision and issues within the Corinthian church (drunkenness at the Lord’s Supper, abuse of spiritual gifts, maybe women being dominant in the church). They had a whole lot of issues going on. The context of the book seems to deal more with a church in trouble theologically, practically, and possibly culturally. Paul gave instructions and rebukes throughout both 1 and 2 Corinthians seeking to bring order to their worship (1 Cor 14:40). There were clearly modesty and cultural issues playing into the church. Thus, Paul told them to cover their head and not to talk. The question must be asked, was there some cultural faux pas going on in their culture where maybe the women were using their new found faith to buck the cultural ways? Paul brings them back to a culturally relevant conduct so as not to hinder the message? Were the women being assertive and immodest and that is why Paul brings them back to submission? A lot of questions are left unanswered.

A contemporary example of cultural faux pas, would be when we go to Mali, all women must wear dresses and men pants. It’s not a biblical requirement to wear dresses or pants as much as it would be a cultural thing if when we were in Mali I were to wear shorts. If I am delievering a important message, but the Malians can't hear me because I am wearing shorts, my message is corrupt in their minds before I ever open my mouth.

My conclusion: Since women are speakers of truth throughout the Bible, I interpret this as more order and focused point of application specific to the church at Corinth due to their confused and disorderly ways. I can only take this liberty of interpretation because I am trying to keep the entire Bible congruent and harmonized. To say that women can’t speak truth to men in gatherings, leaves me with more explaining to do in MANY other before mentioned scenarios such as Deborah, Phillip's four daughters, etc.

My prayer for Lori tonight as she prepares is: "Preach the Word" from the overflow of God's Holy Spirit in you. Do it boldly, humbly, and authentically. Though I won't be with you, I will be praying for you and know that God will use you."

I Am Wearing Green on St. Pats Day this Year

St. Patrick is a new hero of mine. I just finished reading The Celtic Way of Evangelism, by George Hunter. It was a cross between a historical look at Patrick's effort to reach across cultural barriers to a people who were far from God and a 21st century look at the similarities we share with the late 5th century Europe. Sound exciting yet??? Hope so...I give it a solid B+

I always look for "take home" from any book - something I can apply to my life and ministry. The "take home" from this book was understanding how Patrick and his colleagues were so effective in starting a movement that transformed a culture that was pre-Christian before he arrived. As a missiologist, it begs the question, what lessons can followers of Christ who are living missionally in post-Christian culture learn from a 5th century missionaries engaging a pre-Christan culture? ---okay, so basically how can we learn from these guys in the past who did it right?

Patrick, in A.D. 432, began an indigenous Christian movement that resulted in many thousands being baptized. At least 55 new churches were launched under Patrick's lead. Several points of application come from his success.

Indigenous Church planting...
The Roman Christian leaders required that a culture be civilized before they could tell them about Jesus. They had to be able to read and willing to do church in Latin...the Roman way. When in Rome, do as Rome and when outside of Rome do as Rome, was the clear methodology of that day. The church assumed that reaching the barbarians (Anglo-Saxon, Celts, Goths, etc) was impossible because you couldn't train them to do Christianity the way Romans did it. It is sad to say, but Rome's approach to church planting was the colonial approach with many church planters in the 19th and 20th centuries. If you don't do church like the mother church, or like the County seat First Church, you are not a legitimate church.

Ireland and Italy were and still are vastly different in culture and worldview. The Irish were more emotional and Rome was more logical. The Irish were primarily right brain thinkers and the Romans were left brain dominate. The faith communities started under Patrick were far more in line with the Celtic culture than with Rome.

Incarnation of the Gospel...
The monastic communities of the Celts were not faith communities that were exclusive and an escape the evil world. However, this was one of the goals of Eastern monasteries. They were located outside the greater communities in deserts, cliffs, away for society. Celtic monasteries were located in the heart of the community where the "pagan" people lived. They existed, in part, for the "barbarians." They were organized to save peoples' souls rather than to save one's soul from people.

Personal communication approach...
Another lesson learned from the Celts the process that new believers came to faith. I think of similarities between the non-Christian versus Christian cultures. The Roman model for evangelism favored the predominate Christian culture. In the Roman approach: one explains the gospel, the listener accepts Christ, and they are welcomed into the church (presentation, decision, then assimilation). Many churches still to this day use this approach.

The Celtic model appears to be more appropriate in a non-Christian milieu such as Pre-Christiendom or post-Christendom. In the Celtic model, first you establish community with the people (e.g. Celtics placed their monasteries among the pagans rather than out separated from them). Second, they engaged outsiders in prayer, worship, ministry, etc. even if they were not followers of Christ. Finally, once a "pagan" felt they were a part of the fellowship, they found themselves committing their lives to following Christ. They belonged before they believed.

In the book, the history of the Celtic's gets a bit long and dry after some reading. If the reader will focus his mind to unpack and process the lessons from history down deep into the methods and practices of his/her own faith in this post-Christian culture we live in now, the Western world can be reached... again.

An Imam and a Pastor Engage in a Conversation

Day 5

Throughout our days on this trip, God continued to allow me to engage in conversations with Muslims. I have had conversations with Muslim men often in my travels, but never so often or at this level. My last two days in the bush gave me the opportunity to sit down with the retired Imam of the village. (An Imam is the Muslim leader of the village.) It was a first for me to be able to talk with someone so schooled in Islam and so influential in the culture. He was forced into retirement due to the deterioration of his eye sight.

Our meeting came as a result of what happened in his grandchild's life in November. When the GPC team was in K-village in November, his grandson became a believer. Each night while our Jan team was there, the little boy sat with us every night around the the camp fire as we told stories from God's Word. He listened intently. Other children slept and others played. He was listened.

I believe it was the little boy's hunger for the message of Christ and the change that it made in his life that stirred the grandfather to explore the Christian faith. The grandfather came one night to greet us and hear our stories, but before we got started he needed to be led by the hand home.

I told the Imam that I was willing to come to his hut and tell him the stories of Jesus. He said he would like it very much. The first morning Sara and I went. I shared the story from John 1 and how Jesus is God and is our connection to God. Sara went back later in the afternoon and told the story of the "Creation to the Cross" with his wife and the Imam. By the time Sara got to the Imam's home he was able to recite a verse from the morning lesson.

Our time in the village was closing. I was able to go back the morning before we left. This was my second visit with him. I simply built on the foundation Sara and I had laid the first day. We talked and shared about how Nicodemus was a religious man, much like the Imam was a religious man. We also shared how in John 3 Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again. We told the Imam he would also have to be "born again."

All mankind, if they want to know God and be with Him forever must be born again. I had to be born again, Nicodemus had to be born again, and the Imam has to be born again. After some discussion and deliberation. He stated he knew he had a big decision to make. He said the teaching was very good, but he didn't know what he was going to do yet.

Pray for one blind Imam in K-village that he would spiritually see more than he has ever seen physically. May the light and truth of Christ become abundantly clear to him and may he choose to accept Christ.

Camels and Travelers from a Far

Day 4

Who doesn't enjoy a good camel ride? We were in the process of getting started in the day, when randomly 2 camels and their owners came through the village. The Malians weren't near as impressed with the site as we 5 pale faced Americans were. They were nomads traveling North to Timbuktu (yes, it is a real place in Mali). We moved quickly to greet the nomads and brokered a deal with them for a ride and a photo of ourselves on their camels (2,000 CFA per person= $4 per person). If you look closely at the photo you will see a person in terror as the camel rocks me forward as it tries to stand up, lunging me rapidly toward an uncomfortable position as he also turns his face back toward me as to kiss me or spit on me - I didn't know. I wasn't sure whether to duck or pucker. As you can see from the by-standers, I was clearly not doing it right. The owner ran either to my rescue or the camels, I still don't know.

The camel ride was one to remember. But, so was the beautiful one to two hours of a solid conversation I had with three Muslim men about their faith and my faith. We read from the Koran and the Bible. The conversation was a growing time for us all. Pray for the three twenty something year old men who hold the future of Mali in their hands. Pray that they will continue the conversation regarding the Deity of Christ.

One focus of this trip was to train teachers to teach. It was not our aim merely to go and teach, but to train to teach so that as we leave this village they will be trained in their faith so they can train others (2 Tim 2:2). The method is called T4T (Teaching for Trainers). We all identified two men or women that we could spend some time with everyday and share the key stories that linked all the Old and New Testament together. My men, for the most part, were faithful to come together daily. We gathered under the large mango tree just east of the "GPC Hilton." We spent a couple of hours each day working through the stories. This time it was David and Bathsheba and Nathan's confrontation with David.

While we were in mid stride in the T4T that day, two men rode up on bikes. I had never seen these men. They were both wearing white robes. The older man, Koniba from J-village (see Jan. 27th post) was wearing a traditional Bambara hunter's uniform with all hunting accoutrements and a seasoned muzzle loader rifle that was no less than 60 years old. The younger man, named Fotigi, wore the West African head wrap. Fotigi was from F-village.

The men joined us under the mango tree. After greeting them we continued on with our retelling of the Bible story. When the story training time was complete, the men went further into introducing themselves. Fotigi, from F-village began to tell us about the recent 4 month spiritual adventure in his life. Fotigi came from a village far beyond J-village. Where J-village is walking distance of approximately 5 KM one way, F-village is 40 Km. The nationals told me, if I wanted to walk to F-village I would have to go alone. It was too far to walk.

During the month of Ramadan 2008, Fotigi came across a group of believers gathering with some Americans from North Carolina as they told people the story of Jesus. The village was not Fotigi's village but he stayed and listened as a guest in the village. The stories he heard moved him to following Jesus. But as the son the chief in F-village, he knew there weren't any followers of Christ in his village. What was he to do? How can he share the news of Jesus in his village?

The team gave him a "Megavoice" solar powered MP3 player with 60 pivotal stories to help bring a new believer along in their faith. Fotitgi took his new gift home to his village and began to listen to the stories. Others came in and heard the stories with him. Everyone that heard the stories of Jesus were hearing them for the first time. Fotitgi grew in his faith, but others around him also wanted to learn more.

Fast forward to this mid afternoon day in January 2009, Fotitgi came and said that he has listened to all the stories about Jesus multiple times. He also opened up his satchel and pulled out a heavily worn primary school note book that bore the names of 56 people in his village who are currently waiting for instructions and are ready to become followers of Jesus. Fotitgi's dad is the chief of the village and sent him out of the village to find some "Christians" who could come to their village and tell them how to become a follower of Christ. .....................to this day they wait, the village is waiting.

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'"

Romans 10:14-15

F-village is waiting. Who will have beautiful feet? They are waiting...

On the Road to J-village

Day 3
I woke up this morning not know what to expect. Would anyone come to travel to J-village with us? While we were still savoring Sara's and Jessica' delicious breakfast, 5 men showed up ready for the journey. Jessica made us some ham samswiches, chips, cookies, salami...she did not want us to go hungry. Of course Charles, her "Shmoop", was going and she really wanted to take care of him!!

We took off on our 5 "African Kilometers" hike. It was flat terrain, the weather couldn't have been any better. 1 hour and 15 minutes later we walked up on J-village. They had no clue we were coming. The Internet, telephones or any other line of communication hasn't made it that far yet. Many of the believers were out in the fields working.

Prior to our arrival in J-village, there has only been two other times that Christ followers carried the message of Christ to this village. Nine months prior, a Nigerian missionary had showed the Jesus film and 15-20 villagers commit to following Christ. The second time was when a team from GPC went in September and the believers from K-village baptized the J-village believers.

In short, for nine months 15-20 new believers have expressed their earnest desire to follow Christ, but had virtually no one to come and share stories and walk with them in the way of Jesus. When I asked if they had been meeting to learn of Jesus, sing, pray, tell Bible stories, they replied, " We can't because we don't know what to do. " They had the desire to follow Jesus, they want to follow Jesus, but no one was showing them the path of Jesus. I was heart broken. How can these people go the way of Jesus? It's much a like a new baby. Without a model of learning to talk or walk, they never will. How can we expect these new believers to ever function as a church without someone to guide them? They don't have a Bible; they don't have a leader; they don't know how to pray or worship. They don't have a any songs to sing. They are baby believers living in the middle of the bush. How can we ever expect them to grow up and be mature followers of Christ? They don't have the knowledge to follow Jesus, or a model, how will they ever be like Jesus?

I had to ask myself: How can WE help these new believers to survive and not die in their faith out here. They will surely die, give up and stay in there animistic ways. The gospel story will die here and go no further. We gave a quick lesson on prayer, told them a Bible story, sang a few songs that we hoped would be a model for them to meet and worship together. I asked the men of K-village to come back each week and tell the people of J-village Bible stories. The Bible stories that we bring from America to share in K-village could be shared in J-village.

Just as we finished and were about to "ask for the road," all the negative feelings and remaining culture shock melted away. In the Bambara tradition of formal communication they started speaking to one another, one man telling another man, who would tell another man, who would tell another man, and so on - much like the "gossip" game we played as a child except instead of whispering, it was spoken out loud before the entire gathering. The message was meant for the believers of K-village and us, their American guests. The message was that they couldn't wait to tell the message of Jesus that they had learned. They, by themselves, were traveling to B-village every Friday and telling the chief their the story of Jesus. The chief in B-village was expressing his interest in following the road of Jesus.

The chief of B-village's name is Jofolo. I've never met him, but the new believers of J-village know him and want him to take the path of Jesus too. They simply couldn't keep the message of Jesus to themselves but had to make it known!!

Pray for the believers of J-village...they don't have a Bible and couldn't read it if they did. They don't have a leader, teacher or missionary. They don't have the experience of praying and worshiping God corporately, but they do have a faith that compels them to go outside of their own village to B-village in hopes that Jofolo and other villagers will join them on the path to following Jesus.

This was an amazing breakthrough. There was a definite spring in my step as we walked the 5 "African Kilometers" home.

A day to Assess

The cool night under the African moon coupled with about 45 minutes under a mango tree (turned sanctuary) helped me gain the perspective I needed for the trip. The culture shock was gone. Sleeping it off and starting a new day under a Mango tree 100 yards away from camp with only my Bible and journal helped me see K-village through God's eyes.

Day 2

This would be a day of assessment. A day to see where the believers are or are not. A day of the customary go and greet the chief and ask for his permission to stay in the village and tell stories about Jesus.

We were very well received by the chief; in part, because we have spent over 2 years in the village building relationships with the villagers, teaching in the school, helping their sick and telling them stories from the Bible. The chief recently expressed an interest in "going the road of Jesus" when "Bangi" (Bobby M.) came and told stories from the Bible with him in September 2008. The chief was glad to see us, but he was most interested in the well being of Bangi. He instructed us all to make sure and take care of Bangi.

On the way through the village and back to our mud hut (AKA: Grace Point Hilton) we stopped by a circular cage. It was made of 3 inch in diameter posts driven into the ground with a thatched roof over head. The villagers in front of us walked swiftly past the cage, but we Americans, in true American flavor, stopped to admire it and took photos. We were quickly repremanded not to stay there and take photos. After inquiring with some persistance as to the African responses to "the cage" I was told it was a place of African traditional worship. The African man leading us through the village said that people in the village live in fear of evil spirits, disease, and danger and that we as Christians wouldn't understand and we were sternly told by the church leader not to talk about it and to move on.

As the day progressed into the night, we continued to see some disturbing trends with the infant believers of K-village. Very few people came out for our teaching at night. This wasn't the norm. When 5 white Americans show up in any rural bush village, there is always a buzz and curious, friendly interest. We went to bed asking a lot of questions...

• What was the spiritual health of the village believers?
  
• To what degree do the traditional animistic ways still haunt the villagers?


• How could we adjust and help in the spiritual formation process of these 30 or so believers?


• What was holding this church back from taking the message of Jesus to other villages? After all, we want to see many churches established throughout West Africa and the only true way to see such an advancement among a the Bambara people (4 million strong with less than 1% believers) is through a multiplying church effect. We want churches to go, engage, reproduce their faith in other villages.

We concluded the evening by issuing a challenge to the men. We asked if they were willing to walk to the next village, J-village, tomorrow. If so, we would leave the next morning with them.

J-village has barely been reached with the message of Jesus. A handful of people in this village recently became believers and wanted to continue to learn the way of Jesus. The problem was, the believers of K-village weren't going to J-village and instructing them. We went to bed wondering if any men would return tomorrow and walk to J-village with us.

Beginning the New Year in Shock

I started 2009 in one of my favorite places on earth...the bush of Africa. There is no place more simple, serene, or sincere. The pace of life is simple. There is no doubt that basic, everyday tasks take more time to accomplish; but who cares about time, schedules, or agendas when you are with great people. The experience and the people become the focus not the agenda. Everyday involves a prayer to God "God in whose life are you at work today? How can I join you?" Then I watch to see the simple hand of God at work, and try to join Him. The serenity of Africa, with its distinct aromas, amazing sounds, and breath taking sunsets, causes me to stop, turn off my ipod, and absorb it all. Enjoying the serenity of my surroundings with all five senses, soaking it up and trying to capture some of it to bring home with me becomes the goal. The people of this village, we call K-village, are so loving and sincere. It doesn't matter if you are talking of Fumba, Zan, Ingee, Jaco, or Manata. When you are with the people of this village, you know they sincerely love and will care for you. The barriers of language and culture run deep and wide, but their loyalty and love penetrates it all. Oh, the joy of being back in Africa.

Day 1

Over the course of the next 4 days, I want to turn the pages of my journal and let you travel with me day by day through God's beautiful work in me, around me, and prayfully through me. You will read of my lows and highs; about set backs and breakthroughs.

I must confess the first day in the bush was the worst for me. I was quickly hurled into culture shock. My mind said, "culture shock happens to everyone else, not to an experienced traveler or or a missionary." Wrong! Culture shock happens to everyone to some degree and intensity whether you live internationally or simply visit for a couple of weeks. No drug will cure you. Only time, rest, and perspective. The real problem with culture shock is if you don't identify the shock, you can't get past it. The result is crippling. I faced the shock to the point that I was regretting taking the trip. I was thinking of my family back home, all the work I needed to do on my doctorate, etc. I just wanted out. I didn't eat dinner the first night in the bush. I said I was feeling nauseous...actually I was nauseous of Africa.

I don't know what triggered my shock exactly, but I know the language barrier was hard for me this time. I am a communicator and communicators communicate...but I couldn't communicate. Was it the constant dirty, gritty feel from the Sahara winds, jet lag (30+ hours of travel time), or all the above.? My response: I sat silently in the hammock until bed time and could only pray that the a good night sleep outside under the moon and stars would bring a brighter tomorrow.