Last night Rod, David and I went to pick up the team from Camp Bighorn, which will be in Mexico for a month but in Ixtapaluca area for about a week.
It’s been good to start to learn a little more about Camp Bighorn. Their Journey program actually reminds me quite a bit of what we did with Friends & Followers at VTI. Of course at VTI the focus was the arts, and at Camp Bighorn the focus is more outdoor adventure.
That being said, at least two people on the team have some interest in drama, and so we enjoyed talking about Shakespearean English and improv over tacos. 🙂
The team is from the US, but there are a couple of Canadians on the team. However, they kept us well separated, lest we talk about how many medals Canada got in the Olympics as compared to the US. Then again, the embarrassing topic of Olympic hockey could come up.
Anyway, we gave them a good introduction to Mexico City traffic last night, and they’re back downtown today checking out the sites. I’ll meet up with them again tomorrow.
For the rest of their visit Rod has organized lots for them to do. They will be helping with community centre classes, youth ministry, English classes at a local high school, a special event or two… and of course they will experience the adventurous side of Mexican cuisine.
As many of you know, Hannah is hoping to go to school this coming fall in Canada. But how does that work, when you’ve lived two thirds of your life in another country?
After all, you don’t have the many shared experiences of your peers, or their vocabulary, and you don’t know what they know and they don’t know what you know.
Well, that’s where ReBoot fits in, of course!
Reboot is a retreat put on by the Canadian MK Network (under the MORE Network), whose vision is: To provide a safe place for Canadian MKs to review their life stories, be refreshed through worship and peer relationships in order to re-enter and navigate the transition to Canadian life and culture with God’s grace.
There are retreats in Alberta and Ontario. The retreat that Hannah hopes to go to is in Calgary this August, hosted by Ambrose University. It’s for MKs age 17-20.
However, there’s a catch – the organizers want to see if there are enough students before they commit to running the program. By March 31st they want to have around 15 students registered, or they might *gasp* cancel!
So would you help us spread the word? If you know any MKs who may be transitioning to life in Canada, or even who have returned to Canada over the past year or two, tell them to consider ReBoot. There’s lots of information in that link, including videos and testimonials.
As we listened to and talked to many short term missionaries over the summer, I was reminded again of the fact that we are all in this together, and that we all have the same challenge to face. Sure, we all have different lives, but it’s the hard thing that we all have to do – die to ourselves, and serve the Lord Jesus.
If you don’t want to “be a missionary” because you don’t want to “give up” something, or because you could “just never do that”, you need to face the question – are you actually willing to die to your sin, and take up your cross, and join the death march (Matthew 16:24-25)? If not, you shouldn’t be asking if you’re missionary material or not. You should be asking if you’ve really found salvation in Christ (Romans 6:2; 1Peter 2:24; 2Corinthians 13:5).
No, there’s no one on this side of the keyboard who has perfectly died to all his sin, who is living in perfect saintly harmony with Christ. But – like I say – we all have the same challenge, the same call, and the same Saviour.
I appreciated the perspective I recently read in The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. They’re talking about how we need to be training people to serve the Lord in what they call ‘gospel ministry’, and they mention two mistakes that we often fall into . . .
In challenging people about gospel ministry, there are two errors we commonly fall into. One is to create two classes of Christians–those who are really working for the Lord and seeking to proclaim his kingdom (the ‘recognized gospel workers’), and the rest. In this model, making disciples is like Formula I motor racing. There is really only one driver, and the rest of the people involved do their bit in the background. They might work in the pits, they might help to finance the team, or they might find sponsors and organize the logos to be painted on the cars. But the driver is the superstar and the focus, and the rest of the team members are background boys. No wonder they feel like second-class citizens.
As we’ve already seen, this is not how he Bible envisages gospel work. There are not two classes of disciples–we are all both disciples and disciple-makers. All Christians are called to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus to death; to give up their lives to his honour and service. It’s more like a football team, where each person does all they can to advance the ball downfield. There are leaders and captains, but fundamentally and above all else, everyone is a player. In fact, in many teams, it’s not necessarily the captain who is the best player or the most valuable contributor to any given game.
The second common error is to react to the first by dissolving the distinction between gospel work and other work . . .
The authors go on to explain the second mistake – to ‘baptize’ secular work to the extend that we feel it’s never appropriate to call someone to ‘full time gospel work’. And if you want to read the rest of the explanation, go read the book!
Bottom line? We’re all in this together. And my biggest problem is yours too – killing my sin. And we’re also all in this together – this Great Commission that has been given to us by our Saviour. And so we can all look forward to the joy of the harvest (John 4:36)!
I didn’t have a chance to write after that. Nathanael and I were with the Connect Team in Villa Hermosa, a small village in the State of Veracruz (there’s more than one Villa Hermosa, so here it is on the map. Just zoom out to get an idea where it is. You can even see the main road on Google Street View.)
The people in Villa Hermosa were very gracious and we enjoyed our time of ministry in a couple of churches there, although perhaps our greatest ministry was just spending time with people.
The last team to come was from Leroy Community Chapel in Ohio. They did a lot of work with the construction of the main sanctuary for the church in the community of Jesús MarÃa. They finished the stage and also put up lighting. They also were involved in hearing aid/reading glasses evangelistic events, visitation, a craft class, and service at a rehab centre.
By the way, there are dozens of new pictures in our photo gallery, if you’d like to see what all this looked like!
I was especially excited about the event we had in Las Palmas. We’ve never done anything like this in Las Palmas, but the party hall was full of people getting their hearing checked, and getting reading glasses. We partnered with the municipality, who also brought in a chiropractor!
Apart from seeing people’s eyes light up when they could actually hear with a new hearing aid, it was exciting to see people hearing the gospel, and to see conversations going on around the room, often with Bibles open. A new family came to our Sunday service who had gotten to know us through this event.
When short term teams come to Ixtapaluca, one of the things they almost always mention in the feeling of community. That’s because of the Mexican culture, but also the service of fellow believers that they meet here. The team members usually stay in Mexican homes, and get to know people in real life.
So I’d like to close with a few photos from the goodbye party that we had for team #3 in the church in Jesús MarÃa. This team, and all the teams, made an impact on people’s lives. And the people here in Mexico made an impact on their lives. And God continues to work!
Team members have new Mexican familiesA birthday surprise for Michelle!Thankful for Google TranslateCross-cultural SelfieTwo churches from two countries pray together, under the newly installed lights!
Christ’s love for the lost was celebrated in the old song The Ninety and Nine, written by a loving sister in the hope that her brother had been saved before his death. It was put to music after her death by the famous musician Ira D. Sankey.
It seems like many songs celebrate what we do for Christ, and maybe what He has done in general for us. But the highly personal, passionate nature of this song is rare.
If you’re a fan of men’s choirs, you may enjoy the rendition below (audio only). For more reflections on the song, see my Dad’s article: The Ninety and Nine
Today 28 people will be arriving in Ixtapaluca, to be involved in the ministry here. This will begin a month of short-term MANIA, featuring 3 different teams.
The first team to come is from Mt Calvary Church in Elizabethtown, PA, Rod‘s home area. This church sent a team last year (pictured below doing an evangelistic skit at a public junior high school). Also coming to check out the ministry here are Phil and Jessie, from Kansas. 13 Mexican families have generously agreed to host people from this team.
If you know us, you know that we believe in short term missions. Ever since the itinerant ministry of many of the Apostles, God has used short term missionaries. And we’ve been blessed by the fruit of short term teams. There are many in our churches who are there because of short term ministry in cooperation with long term ministry.
So how can you pray for us and for these teams coming over the next 30 days? Here are some ideas:
Pray that there would be a real connection between team members, teams and missionaries, teams and local believers, and believers and unbelievers. This means true unity in the Spirit among believers of whatever culture, and an opportunity for those believers to share Christ with unbelievers.
Pray for health and strength. Some days can be pretty intense, and serving in a tropical country always has special health challenges. Pray for missionaries, host families, and team members. And pray that God would show His strength in us, even when we’re weak.
Pray for humility and open-mindedness, and the ability to listen. We all need to serve one another and serve the Lord, and learn from one another, even when our first reaction toward someone or something is overly judgmental.
Pray that we would grow to be more like Christ, and that people would see Him in us.
Pray that we as believers would remember to turn to God in prayer, and turn to His Word, when we need help (and when we think we don’t!).
Pray for long term results. First, that people would come to know the Lord, that new friends would be made, and that local believers would grow. Also pray for short term team members, that this time would be a part of long term growth, and a new vision for service in their churches, in their communities, and in the world.
It’s been good to start to learn a little more about Camp Bighorn. Their Journey program actually reminds me quite a bit of what we did with Friends & Followers at VTI. Of course at VTI the focus was the arts, and at Camp Bighorn the focus is more outdoor adventure.
