Wycliffe called today, kendal and I have been accepted and are officially members of Wycliffe!
we're excited but peaceful. it's odd, like opening a present on christmas you have peaked at ahead of time.
We're excited but not surprised, God put us on this path. Thanks to all those praying for us and thanks to God who is having us be a part of His plan.
The question: What comes next?
Well stay tuned. We had a phone meeting today and really quite a few things happen now. This is the point at which the work to prepare to go into the field can begin.
We will update you as we progress but for now we're taking a moment to celebrate, to praise God and to thank you, for supporting us.
10/26/2005
Perspectives Week 5
speaker: Larry Walker from ACMC
I took about 3 pages of notes. That's a lot for me since I don't typically bother with notes.
As a speaker he was acceptable to good. But the material covered was great.
We talked about pioneers in missions. William Carey, Cameron Townsend, Dondal Mcgavren, Ralph Winter, Luis Bush.
Then the second half was "strategy" where we found that:
95% of American churches income is spent on themselves
4.5% is spent on existing missions efforts
.5% is spent on new missions enterprises
that more than 1/2 the world's population is still "unreached".
The difference between America and other countries is they are unchurched, not unreached.
(America has access to the Gospel, many people groups do not)
Many missiologists feel that the time of America being the largest country of missions origin is gone.
Christendom is moving south.
Interestingly though America has a unique position in the global economy where other countries want us to come with skills that help them be competitive in the new world of "globalism", and thus it is easier for Americans to get access as professionals than as missionaries.
All of that strategy is interesting.... it points to today.. now.. being an exciting era for missions growth, for reaching the unreached.
BUt the most important revelations came to me during the break when I was talking with Mr. Walker.
-I need to stop thinking of the country's borders as it's boundaries. Think people groups, not borders. If you reach a people group with the Gospel, they aren't going to spread that to another people group in the same country. They have language and culture borders. In India, if you win one caste the Gospel won't spread to the caste above or below... so suddenly your boundaries become more constricted and these days you really don't go out after a country, but focus on a people group.
-The Bible shows us that God has a movement, and He doesn't need to use America to get it done. Instead of thinking "how can God use me" perhaps I should think "God is doing something and I want to be involved instead of sitting on the sidelines."
Suddenly that thought, changed me. In my head I think things like
-maybe this isn't the right place to go
-maybe this isn't the right job to do
-God can't possibly use someone like me
-I am not worthy to be considered part of the family that these great pioneers began.
-what is the best possible use of my skills for God?
and these days I'm thinking more:
-it doesn't matter what I do, or where I go, God is doing something and I want to be involved.
that calms the spirit of all anxieties. I know God has put on my heart to go to PNG and to work in computers. I know it's not exactly a front-line job, it's not exactly a pioneering position, and I won't be called upon daily to share the Gospel or risk my life... but that doesn't matter.
I'll be a very very small part of what God is doing, and if that's where He wants me, that's where I should be.
The significance to be found is not in how well I perform, what stature the job is, what country I go to. The significance rests solely on who God is and what He is doing.
I took about 3 pages of notes. That's a lot for me since I don't typically bother with notes.
As a speaker he was acceptable to good. But the material covered was great.
We talked about pioneers in missions. William Carey, Cameron Townsend, Dondal Mcgavren, Ralph Winter, Luis Bush.
Then the second half was "strategy" where we found that:
95% of American churches income is spent on themselves
4.5% is spent on existing missions efforts
.5% is spent on new missions enterprises
that more than 1/2 the world's population is still "unreached".
The difference between America and other countries is they are unchurched, not unreached.
(America has access to the Gospel, many people groups do not)
Many missiologists feel that the time of America being the largest country of missions origin is gone.
Christendom is moving south.
Interestingly though America has a unique position in the global economy where other countries want us to come with skills that help them be competitive in the new world of "globalism", and thus it is easier for Americans to get access as professionals than as missionaries.
All of that strategy is interesting.... it points to today.. now.. being an exciting era for missions growth, for reaching the unreached.
BUt the most important revelations came to me during the break when I was talking with Mr. Walker.
-I need to stop thinking of the country's borders as it's boundaries. Think people groups, not borders. If you reach a people group with the Gospel, they aren't going to spread that to another people group in the same country. They have language and culture borders. In India, if you win one caste the Gospel won't spread to the caste above or below... so suddenly your boundaries become more constricted and these days you really don't go out after a country, but focus on a people group.
-The Bible shows us that God has a movement, and He doesn't need to use America to get it done. Instead of thinking "how can God use me" perhaps I should think "God is doing something and I want to be involved instead of sitting on the sidelines."
Suddenly that thought, changed me. In my head I think things like
-maybe this isn't the right place to go
-maybe this isn't the right job to do
-God can't possibly use someone like me
-I am not worthy to be considered part of the family that these great pioneers began.
-what is the best possible use of my skills for God?
and these days I'm thinking more:
-it doesn't matter what I do, or where I go, God is doing something and I want to be involved.
that calms the spirit of all anxieties. I know God has put on my heart to go to PNG and to work in computers. I know it's not exactly a front-line job, it's not exactly a pioneering position, and I won't be called upon daily to share the Gospel or risk my life... but that doesn't matter.
I'll be a very very small part of what God is doing, and if that's where He wants me, that's where I should be.
The significance to be found is not in how well I perform, what stature the job is, what country I go to. The significance rests solely on who God is and what He is doing.
10/19/2005
Status update
Stage: Status: Notes:
Preliminary Questionnaire arrives in Personnel; complete
Phone/email contact made complete
Send application packet complete
· Applicant directed to interview with Pastor complete helpful, establishes first contact with pastor
Application Papers returned complete
(PA) evaluates application materials complete
· PA makes phone contact with applicant complete first contact with PA over the phone is helpful as well.
· Technical evaluation by Domain Coordinator complete this actually happens right before the committee decides a good sign.
· General References returned complete remember to remind your referers to get these in.
Send:
· Policy Statements complete paperwork to read
· Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) complete a 562 question #2 pencil type test
· Bible Knowledge Assessment (BKA) complete harder than it looks need to know your Bible very well.
· MMPI-2 & BKA returned complete we scored lower than they'd have liked but higher than we expected
· Technical Evaluation finished complete phone interview with IT guy went great
· Policy Statements returned complete paperwork
Biographical Interview complete 2 hour phone conversation with PA.
PA calls Pastor complete
Membership Decision waiting
Personnel Actions Committee or Administrative Action
New Member
Packet sent
Wycliffe incomplete scheduled for Jan/Feb
Training Camp
Partnership Development focus
Possible further Training:
· SIL courses (could happen at any point)
· ICC
· Medical Clearance (Physical Exam)
· Assignment Match-up
· Technical Orientation
· Language Study
· Field Training Courses
Initial
Assignment
Service Review
after +/- 2 years
Preliminary Questionnaire arrives in Personnel; complete
Phone/email contact made complete
Send application packet complete
· Applicant directed to interview with Pastor complete helpful, establishes first contact with pastor
Application Papers returned complete
(PA) evaluates application materials complete
· PA makes phone contact with applicant complete first contact with PA over the phone is helpful as well.
· Technical evaluation by Domain Coordinator complete this actually happens right before the committee decides a good sign.
· General References returned complete remember to remind your referers to get these in.
Send:
· Policy Statements complete paperwork to read
· Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) complete a 562 question #2 pencil type test
· Bible Knowledge Assessment (BKA) complete harder than it looks need to know your Bible very well.
· MMPI-2 & BKA returned complete we scored lower than they'd have liked but higher than we expected
· Technical Evaluation finished complete phone interview with IT guy went great
· Policy Statements returned complete paperwork
Biographical Interview complete 2 hour phone conversation with PA.
PA calls Pastor complete
Membership Decision waiting
Personnel Actions Committee or Administrative Action
New Member
Packet sent
Wycliffe incomplete scheduled for Jan/Feb
Training Camp
Partnership Development focus
Possible further Training:
· SIL courses (could happen at any point)
· ICC
· Medical Clearance (Physical Exam)
· Assignment Match-up
· Technical Orientation
· Language Study
· Field Training Courses
Initial
Assignment
Service Review
after +/- 2 years
Perspectives week 4
speaker: Michael Boyland
WOW, what a fabulous speaker. We're into the beginning of the history of the spread of christianity across the world. The reading this week was tedious, I often find historical reading tedious, but I'm interested in history, I simply need to hear someone who understands it and can communicate it well.
Michael Boyland was the west coast national ACMC conference M.C. this year (he had a broken foot)
It was interesting because he spoke energetically and at a fast pace, he was brilliant with the material. He liked to go between two themes.
National contribution to the spread of christianity
Individual contribution.
I don't think other people felt the themes, to them it looked like he was jumping around from topic to topic, but I definitely sensed where he was going the whole night.
I felt very in sync with the speaker... so in sync in fact that before long I turned over to kendal and said "did you ever see the movie "the MISSION" " she said no..
not 10 minutes later he says "have any of you seen the movie the MISSION".
When he was talking about the vikings and their gods, I'm thinking about Thor from Douglass Adams "Dirk Gently" series and suddenly he says, "who here has read douglass adams" I raise my hand... I'm the only one who raises their hands.
"Have you read his Dirk Gently books?"
Yes I have... I acknowledged.
It was pretty fun for me. I liked how he would go on tangents about the personality of the individuals like saint patrick, Boniface, Constantine, Francis of Assisi... etc.
By far the best class of the series thus far.
WOW, what a fabulous speaker. We're into the beginning of the history of the spread of christianity across the world. The reading this week was tedious, I often find historical reading tedious, but I'm interested in history, I simply need to hear someone who understands it and can communicate it well.
Michael Boyland was the west coast national ACMC conference M.C. this year (he had a broken foot)
It was interesting because he spoke energetically and at a fast pace, he was brilliant with the material. He liked to go between two themes.
National contribution to the spread of christianity
Individual contribution.
I don't think other people felt the themes, to them it looked like he was jumping around from topic to topic, but I definitely sensed where he was going the whole night.
I felt very in sync with the speaker... so in sync in fact that before long I turned over to kendal and said "did you ever see the movie "the MISSION" " she said no..
not 10 minutes later he says "have any of you seen the movie the MISSION".
When he was talking about the vikings and their gods, I'm thinking about Thor from Douglass Adams "Dirk Gently" series and suddenly he says, "who here has read douglass adams" I raise my hand... I'm the only one who raises their hands.
"Have you read his Dirk Gently books?"
Yes I have... I acknowledged.
It was pretty fun for me. I liked how he would go on tangents about the personality of the individuals like saint patrick, Boniface, Constantine, Francis of Assisi... etc.
By far the best class of the series thus far.
10/12/2005
Perspectives Week 3
well everything is in, and we're told we should expect to know on Oct. 26 whether or not we're accepted.
One of the interesting obstacles of this process has been communication. For each applicant (or couple) Wycliffe assigns a PA, someone who knows the processes well and can guide you through the application. In our instance, our PA is new, having come out of the field and taken this position after doing other work stateside. A good guy, but not the seasoned pro that knows all the ins and outs. As such, we've had a few bumps, but not horrible ones.
Perspectives last night was interesting, a gentleman named Nzash from the Congo spoke. He mostly went through an overview of the previous weeks and was a tad hard to follow, but his heart and his passion was well understood.
And that's where I finally understood Paul.
Paul valued spreading the Gospel, and glorifying God more than his own life.
I'm not afraid of losing my lifestyle, I'm not afraid of whatever suffering may come... family members dying, getting sick, growing up resentful.. I fear none of that.
The only thing I fear, is fear itself at this point. I pray that God would remove that from me, and allow me to serve Him unfettered by human weakness as best I can.
God couldn't have given me a better partner and children to go through this with, and I want to make sure I'm the man who can live up to this privilege of calling.
It is by Grace that I have received this call to serve, and not anything I know or can do that makes me special. God is working and He's invited me to show up and watch, and maybe pitch in a bit where I can.
I jsut pray I do not try to make it about me in any way.... make it solely about God's mission.
One of the interesting obstacles of this process has been communication. For each applicant (or couple) Wycliffe assigns a PA, someone who knows the processes well and can guide you through the application. In our instance, our PA is new, having come out of the field and taken this position after doing other work stateside. A good guy, but not the seasoned pro that knows all the ins and outs. As such, we've had a few bumps, but not horrible ones.
Perspectives last night was interesting, a gentleman named Nzash from the Congo spoke. He mostly went through an overview of the previous weeks and was a tad hard to follow, but his heart and his passion was well understood.
And that's where I finally understood Paul.
Paul valued spreading the Gospel, and glorifying God more than his own life.
I'm not afraid of losing my lifestyle, I'm not afraid of whatever suffering may come... family members dying, getting sick, growing up resentful.. I fear none of that.
The only thing I fear, is fear itself at this point. I pray that God would remove that from me, and allow me to serve Him unfettered by human weakness as best I can.
God couldn't have given me a better partner and children to go through this with, and I want to make sure I'm the man who can live up to this privilege of calling.
It is by Grace that I have received this call to serve, and not anything I know or can do that makes me special. God is working and He's invited me to show up and watch, and maybe pitch in a bit where I can.
I jsut pray I do not try to make it about me in any way.... make it solely about God's mission.
10/05/2005
Perspectives week 2
under the advisement of friends we are taking the Perspectives course.
The main gist of the course is to teach people that God has had a design from the beginning of time to reach out to people and win them back to himself.
we study this plan in several ways.
last night was excellent as Steve Hoke spoke, someone I've heard speak before at the ACMC.
he asks us to write down "YBI's" your big ideas.... the points we want to remember.. here are my 11.
1. God is less concerned about getting things DONE and more with developing our character. God is not in a rush like we are, to accomplish anything.
2. God is the star of the mission story
3. Theme of the course - God is at work around the world, completing His big picture.
4. Every decision we make will be faulty until we see the world as God sees it. (align our perspective with His) It is at this point, that we begin to Worship God and become very effective for Him
5. We are blessed so that we can bless others (abraham)
6. Evangelism is as basic as blessing someone else.
7. Melchizedek and Abraham - Abraham is blessed by God, and in turn 4 kings bless God.
.....
11. Would I waste my blessings for fear of losing them?
Sure I skipped a bit, but 11 was the one that hit me. See I'm going to the field, I'm not worried about losing what most Americans see as blessings. I feel that I will only understand my dependance on material wealth once I lose it, at the moment i'm looking forward to that. Although DSL will be a sad loss (-;.
But the blessings I hold most dear are the hardest to give to God. My children, my wife, my future security. These are the things that God has blessed me with, but I can't hold myself back from being a blessing to others simply because I'm afraid of what might happen to what I have. Abraham was going to kill his son.. his 16 year old son. They were infertile for something like 80 years... and then had a son, and then out of obedience for God, Abraham was going to lose him.
And then .... he worshipped God.
One quote was interesting "Missions exists because worship doesn't."
That quote doesn't mean that if we all were believers we wouldn't have missions.
It means if we were all filled in our hearts with the desire to uplift and bless God and did so exuberantly and effervescently, then God's Word would spread like wildfire... and there would be no need for missions.
The challenge I'm putting before myself after last night is this.
-to seek out God solely, so that my heart would be filled with Worship, and I would overflow with all things from God. From that one point, everything would work properly. I would not need ten step how-to manuals... I would not need to worry abotu how to share the Gospel, or how to serve my wife... because the spirit would fill me with a heart of Worship for God.
God is great.. He is amazing, and I'm only now realizing that it isn't out of duty, that you say these words, but out of something other than yourself that is poured into your heart through the conduit that is your relationship with God. My only duty is to keep that conduit wide and in repair so that His love may flow in ample quantities.
The main gist of the course is to teach people that God has had a design from the beginning of time to reach out to people and win them back to himself.
we study this plan in several ways.
last night was excellent as Steve Hoke spoke, someone I've heard speak before at the ACMC.
he asks us to write down "YBI's" your big ideas.... the points we want to remember.. here are my 11.
1. God is less concerned about getting things DONE and more with developing our character. God is not in a rush like we are, to accomplish anything.
2. God is the star of the mission story
3. Theme of the course - God is at work around the world, completing His big picture.
4. Every decision we make will be faulty until we see the world as God sees it. (align our perspective with His) It is at this point, that we begin to Worship God and become very effective for Him
5. We are blessed so that we can bless others (abraham)
6. Evangelism is as basic as blessing someone else.
7. Melchizedek and Abraham - Abraham is blessed by God, and in turn 4 kings bless God.
.....
11. Would I waste my blessings for fear of losing them?
Sure I skipped a bit, but 11 was the one that hit me. See I'm going to the field, I'm not worried about losing what most Americans see as blessings. I feel that I will only understand my dependance on material wealth once I lose it, at the moment i'm looking forward to that. Although DSL will be a sad loss (-;.
But the blessings I hold most dear are the hardest to give to God. My children, my wife, my future security. These are the things that God has blessed me with, but I can't hold myself back from being a blessing to others simply because I'm afraid of what might happen to what I have. Abraham was going to kill his son.. his 16 year old son. They were infertile for something like 80 years... and then had a son, and then out of obedience for God, Abraham was going to lose him.
And then .... he worshipped God.
One quote was interesting "Missions exists because worship doesn't."
That quote doesn't mean that if we all were believers we wouldn't have missions.
It means if we were all filled in our hearts with the desire to uplift and bless God and did so exuberantly and effervescently, then God's Word would spread like wildfire... and there would be no need for missions.
The challenge I'm putting before myself after last night is this.
-to seek out God solely, so that my heart would be filled with Worship, and I would overflow with all things from God. From that one point, everything would work properly. I would not need ten step how-to manuals... I would not need to worry abotu how to share the Gospel, or how to serve my wife... because the spirit would fill me with a heart of Worship for God.
God is great.. He is amazing, and I'm only now realizing that it isn't out of duty, that you say these words, but out of something other than yourself that is poured into your heart through the conduit that is your relationship with God. My only duty is to keep that conduit wide and in repair so that His love may flow in ample quantities.
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