as an I.T. member heading to PNG, I ran into another IT guy about 15 years my senior. Great guy.
right after dinner another new member found me and asked me to get her laptop on the network via wireless.
well I was rushed, so I got her (new to her) laptop online via cable in 2 minutes, but could not get her IEEE1394 wireless connection to work.
I could not figure it out... all I was thinking was "AH! I gotta get back to my apartment!" I had a ton of homework to do (part of this GREAT training camp is drinking from the informational firehose)
meanwhile the biography of the Wycliffe founder is ringing in my ears "..he never seemed in a rush."
so I'm trying not to seem in a rush, when the other IT guy came in and said "this laptop doesn't have a wireless"
I pointed at the ieee1394 interface and he said "isn't 1394 firewire?"
I FELT SO STUPID.
GOD was humbling me there.
Great first impression I thought.
So I accepted my lesson and humbly said, "you're right, good catch, two brains are better than one."
this guy, he's applying to PNG, we'll most likely be co-workers.
rushing, forever created a first technical impression on a co-worker of "oops"... but he didn't take it that way because he's a humble guy.
Lesson learned... PATIENCE and PRIORITIES.
it was a mistake I could have never made if I spent even a single minute focussing on the issue at hand.
Today we learned so much, and met so many incredible servants of God.
But that lesson will stick with me for a while because it isn't like me to make stupid small mistakes. (even if I could partially blame windows for making a firewire connection a network interface).
This parallels something we learned in class today.
We need to remember NOT to view our assignment as our ministry and hurry on our way there.
What we're doing now, meeting people, sharing our passion for God and His call, talking to folks, praying with folks, THAT is our current ministry. We do not want to view this ministry of partnership discovery as a means to an end, but rather a ministry all in itself that will never end.
We strongly desire to have a widespread group of people praying for us. We do not want to "give up" like the statistics say, and while we are passionate this will not happen, we are not so naive as to believe we can accomplish anything alone.
We need you, and we all need God.
1/23/2006
1/22/2006
Sunday
training camp, Orlando, Florida
Sunday
this morning we began with worship, and then we each were given 3 minutes to say how God brought us to the point we're at.
How incredible God is that He leads us all on different paths to the same point of humbled obedience to His calling!
The interesting thing was that no matter how different the stories, we still all had a very common bond.
32 kids, 28 adults.
The facility is very nice. The task of learning before us is pretty large as we are discovering, there are a lot of things we need to understand so that we can answer all of your questions.
If you have a question please email us at
chad@gimpel.tv
and we'll ask it while we're here.
Thank you for praying for us while we're here. Health is good, energy is good. Please pray that it keeps up.
Sunday
this morning we began with worship, and then we each were given 3 minutes to say how God brought us to the point we're at.
How incredible God is that He leads us all on different paths to the same point of humbled obedience to His calling!
The interesting thing was that no matter how different the stories, we still all had a very common bond.
32 kids, 28 adults.
The facility is very nice. The task of learning before us is pretty large as we are discovering, there are a lot of things we need to understand so that we can answer all of your questions.
If you have a question please email us at
chad@gimpel.tv
and we'll ask it while we're here.
Thank you for praying for us while we're here. Health is good, energy is good. Please pray that it keeps up.
1/20/2006
Training Begins
We have arrived in Orlando, Florida. You can see a google satellite pic of where we are here. (we're the arc shaped building)
We're right across from the Campus Crusade building.
The flight was good, getting into our apartment was not wrinkle free, but still we're here, in our apartment, on the Wycliffe campus.
The place is rather nice, and I am told that missionaries on furlough live here at times.
We're adapting a "go with the flow" mentality here, trying to give God some breathing room to change our plans and show us what He wants to.
He already has blessed us in so many ways, two ways in the past day or so:
1 - ran into an acquaintance from PNG as our first (and only thus far) visitor 'Maggie'. We ran into her as we were hunting for our apartment.
2 - some friends were able to bless us with tickets to Disneyworld and another park (don't tell the kids yet it's a surprise), at no expense to us, and even more than that, free use of a car!
3 - we were asked to talk to a youth group while we were here!
God's timing is great!
God is faithful.
they are words that have been said before, but the truth of them is growing in strength with each passing day.
Saturday - today, we're able to adjust to the time schedule, walk the campus, handle a few check-in details and for the most part are not in any large rush.
Sunday -Friday the training schedule begins. 7am-6pm is the regiment, but it's a regiment we look forward to.
We're right across from the Campus Crusade building.
The flight was good, getting into our apartment was not wrinkle free, but still we're here, in our apartment, on the Wycliffe campus.
The place is rather nice, and I am told that missionaries on furlough live here at times.
We're adapting a "go with the flow" mentality here, trying to give God some breathing room to change our plans and show us what He wants to.
He already has blessed us in so many ways, two ways in the past day or so:
1 - ran into an acquaintance from PNG as our first (and only thus far) visitor 'Maggie'. We ran into her as we were hunting for our apartment.
2 - some friends were able to bless us with tickets to Disneyworld and another park (don't tell the kids yet it's a surprise), at no expense to us, and even more than that, free use of a car!
3 - we were asked to talk to a youth group while we were here!
God's timing is great!
God is faithful.
they are words that have been said before, but the truth of them is growing in strength with each passing day.
Saturday - today, we're able to adjust to the time schedule, walk the campus, handle a few check-in details and for the most part are not in any large rush.
Sunday -Friday the training schedule begins. 7am-6pm is the regiment, but it's a regiment we look forward to.
1/16/2006
Partnership
This is a very sensitive area, one that I am very new to, and I've hesitated in blogging this because the topic makes me a little too vulnerable and may be more than folks are ready to read. But I've dedicated myself to this blog being about the process of becoming a missionary and for that purpose this is an area I need to discuss.
As an American male, sole income provider, changing into a submissive no-income provider.
That is one way to look at it, and was the first hurdle for me.
I will not be "earning" an income. This was a hard one, easier for my wife than for me because she has been dependent on me for a while.
Questions like "well, what is my contribution to this family now?" or "how am I to judge the value of my skills without an income associated?"
I got over the first hurdle by submitting that part of Faith is believing in God to supply.
Hurdle #2 - income - learning to not see money as "income" so much as a tangible way people would joining the ministry. And learning that it isn't "our" ministry as in my family's but "our" ministry in that God is joining all the different folks to do something and money and prayer are a huge part of it.
I have never been the type who has wanted to make people have to sacrifice. I don't like to sit in the nice "dad" chair at other people's homes, I don't like to be the topic of conversation because it means we're not talking about someone else. I don't like to have folks get up to fill my glass. It isn't a pride in self-sufficience, but a recognition that I do not make it my aim in life to make others serve me. I prefer to be the server. I also realize that there are different skills that folks have.
-I find sacrificial giving tough
-I find going ... not as tough
-I find praying ..not so tough.
So when people give us money, I see that as the toughest thing to do and am overwhelmed and honored by it. I in fact at first feel bad because I know that these people have made a decision to go -without- something in order to do this. This is a hard hurdle to overcome, the feeling that you are putting someone else out.
I'm excited to share that while this is a process, my Bible Study today helped me to clear that hurdle. This is a huge hurdle for me. Getting a check from a friend, made me feel honored, overwhelmed, sick to my stomach, excited, and guilty... months ago.
I feel like I get to do God's work, and not foot the bill. We get to see exciting places, do what we see as our dream job, while other people do all the "work" and sacrifice to make our dreams come true. That is how it seemed at first. I've never felt that this going was a sacrifice, not yet, I probably won't until I'm there sacrificing. From the time God put it on our hearts I've felt there is simply nothing else I'd rather be doing.
So I write this to share with you our excitement as we go through this metamorphosis of mind and heart. Our minds have told us, God will provide partners and it'll be exciting to see who they are. But today my heart finally kicked in when I read this:
It's that GREAT? I have always read this as "focus on God and He will meet your needs." But today I read this as "others, when they give money to this ministry, and make it THEIR ministry, they are focussing on God and that I (chad) shouldn't worry about what they might be sacrificing, because God is going to bless them, God is going to supply for them."
How awkward I was before today that someone felt that we... were important enough to sacrifice for... and yet honored at the same time... but that we were the cause of this sacrifice. And now I see that isn't the case at all. God is the cause, and the reason and will receive the Glory and is the catalyst and the provider, and the insurer, and the receiver.
To be honest, it is hard for me to take a compliment. And I see compliments in everything people do. An invitation to dinner says "we want to be around you." This honors me. Being asked to be in a wedding party, being asked into a home, being given a gift, being paid a verbal compliment. All of these things surprise me, and make me feel unworthy and yet so appreciative. So appreciative that there are no words or actions to communicate it.
I now have a new hurdle (-; removing myself as the perceived object of the giving. I have to confess, to feel guilt or honor for receiving a gift is pride based. I have wrongfully put myself in the center of a ministry that doesn't belong to me. It's God's. For that same reason taking a compliment now is praise to God not to me, receiving a check, is money given to God, not to me. I don't feel it's wrong to be elated about a compliment or a gift but I do believe the right thing to do is to give that glory to God.
At the same time, though, the wonderful thing is that the Spirit is working through personal relationships. The reason you are giving of your prayers and gifts to this ministry is because of the relationship God has inspired between us. The fabric of His plan is magnificent in that you can simultaneously give to God and to us and to yourself and your family and to the "church".
There is no counterfeit for a Gift from God a "God Thing". It is amazing how one action can be so far reaching and so personal.
You ever get those goosebumps when God unveils a tiny part of His plan to you?
WOW! I mean wow.
Wow #1 - God has something planned... and it's big. He's amassing people together to accomplish it, and it is not because of us, or in spite of us, it is simply all God bringing all of us together! Wow. WOW.
Wow #2 - We are joining together not because of common interests or goals which we have, but because God's Spirit is speaking to our hearts, and combining us to unification for the Glory of God. WOW! I mean is that not exactly what it talks about in Ephesians 4:13?
This is a sensitive subject, and presents many hurdles for people, but I can tell you right now even as I write this, my soul is so excited and jazzed, GLORY to God,.. shout it out right now...
God is great... His plan is outside of my comprehension. He has spoken to my heart today and shown me that He is at work through you.
Thank you so much.
I suppose I can summarize this entire entry as:
I see the process of partnershpi in two ways based on the Scripture quoted above: 1 – God will provide for my family, don’t worry just focus on Him be willing and God will be glorified. But ALSO, 2 – do not feel guilt for those that sacrificially give to this ministry, because sacrificing for God is good, and He will provide for them as well as for us.
In a way giving means we(the going, the giving, the sending, the praying) are becoming partners in relying on God to supply our needs, and in watching for the Glory He will be given.
As an American male, sole income provider, changing into a submissive no-income provider.
That is one way to look at it, and was the first hurdle for me.
I will not be "earning" an income. This was a hard one, easier for my wife than for me because she has been dependent on me for a while.
Questions like "well, what is my contribution to this family now?" or "how am I to judge the value of my skills without an income associated?"
I got over the first hurdle by submitting that part of Faith is believing in God to supply.
Hurdle #2 - income - learning to not see money as "income" so much as a tangible way people would joining the ministry. And learning that it isn't "our" ministry as in my family's but "our" ministry in that God is joining all the different folks to do something and money and prayer are a huge part of it.
I have never been the type who has wanted to make people have to sacrifice. I don't like to sit in the nice "dad" chair at other people's homes, I don't like to be the topic of conversation because it means we're not talking about someone else. I don't like to have folks get up to fill my glass. It isn't a pride in self-sufficience, but a recognition that I do not make it my aim in life to make others serve me. I prefer to be the server. I also realize that there are different skills that folks have.
-I find sacrificial giving tough
-I find going ... not as tough
-I find praying ..not so tough.
So when people give us money, I see that as the toughest thing to do and am overwhelmed and honored by it. I in fact at first feel bad because I know that these people have made a decision to go -without- something in order to do this. This is a hard hurdle to overcome, the feeling that you are putting someone else out.
I'm excited to share that while this is a process, my Bible Study today helped me to clear that hurdle. This is a huge hurdle for me. Getting a check from a friend, made me feel honored, overwhelmed, sick to my stomach, excited, and guilty... months ago.
I feel like I get to do God's work, and not foot the bill. We get to see exciting places, do what we see as our dream job, while other people do all the "work" and sacrifice to make our dreams come true. That is how it seemed at first. I've never felt that this going was a sacrifice, not yet, I probably won't until I'm there sacrificing. From the time God put it on our hearts I've felt there is simply nothing else I'd rather be doing.
So I write this to share with you our excitement as we go through this metamorphosis of mind and heart. Our minds have told us, God will provide partners and it'll be exciting to see who they are. But today my heart finally kicked in when I read this:
Matt 6:24 (the Message)
24"You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.
25"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. 26Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? 28All this time and money wasted on fashion--do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, 29but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best--dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
30"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers--most of which are never even seen--don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? 31What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. 32People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. 33Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
34"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
It's that GREAT? I have always read this as "focus on God and He will meet your needs." But today I read this as "others, when they give money to this ministry, and make it THEIR ministry, they are focussing on God and that I (chad) shouldn't worry about what they might be sacrificing, because God is going to bless them, God is going to supply for them."
How awkward I was before today that someone felt that we... were important enough to sacrifice for... and yet honored at the same time... but that we were the cause of this sacrifice. And now I see that isn't the case at all. God is the cause, and the reason and will receive the Glory and is the catalyst and the provider, and the insurer, and the receiver.
To be honest, it is hard for me to take a compliment. And I see compliments in everything people do. An invitation to dinner says "we want to be around you." This honors me. Being asked to be in a wedding party, being asked into a home, being given a gift, being paid a verbal compliment. All of these things surprise me, and make me feel unworthy and yet so appreciative. So appreciative that there are no words or actions to communicate it.
I now have a new hurdle (-; removing myself as the perceived object of the giving. I have to confess, to feel guilt or honor for receiving a gift is pride based. I have wrongfully put myself in the center of a ministry that doesn't belong to me. It's God's. For that same reason taking a compliment now is praise to God not to me, receiving a check, is money given to God, not to me. I don't feel it's wrong to be elated about a compliment or a gift but I do believe the right thing to do is to give that glory to God.
At the same time, though, the wonderful thing is that the Spirit is working through personal relationships. The reason you are giving of your prayers and gifts to this ministry is because of the relationship God has inspired between us. The fabric of His plan is magnificent in that you can simultaneously give to God and to us and to yourself and your family and to the "church".
There is no counterfeit for a Gift from God a "God Thing". It is amazing how one action can be so far reaching and so personal.
You ever get those goosebumps when God unveils a tiny part of His plan to you?
WOW! I mean wow.
Wow #1 - God has something planned... and it's big. He's amassing people together to accomplish it, and it is not because of us, or in spite of us, it is simply all God bringing all of us together! Wow. WOW.
Wow #2 - We are joining together not because of common interests or goals which we have, but because God's Spirit is speaking to our hearts, and combining us to unification for the Glory of God. WOW! I mean is that not exactly what it talks about in Ephesians 4:13?
This is a sensitive subject, and presents many hurdles for people, but I can tell you right now even as I write this, my soul is so excited and jazzed, GLORY to God,.. shout it out right now...
God is great... His plan is outside of my comprehension. He has spoken to my heart today and shown me that He is at work through you.
Thank you so much.
I suppose I can summarize this entire entry as:
I see the process of partnershpi in two ways based on the Scripture quoted above: 1 – God will provide for my family, don’t worry just focus on Him be willing and God will be glorified. But ALSO, 2 – do not feel guilt for those that sacrificially give to this ministry, because sacrificing for God is good, and He will provide for them as well as for us.
In a way giving means we(the going, the giving, the sending, the praying) are becoming partners in relying on God to supply our needs, and in watching for the Glory He will be given.
Training Time
well we're pretty revved up about Wycliffe training in Orlande for the next few weeks.
We're leaving this friday and won't be back until Feb 8th.
My son has a fever today, so pray specifically:
-health : it seems one of us always gets sick when we travel, sickness will throw a monkey wrench in the works as both me and my wife need to attend a lot of training (from what I understand the schedule is very busy). We also need to take physicals to get membership finalized and can't do that if we're sick.
-patience and low stress: although the kids are great travellers, there is always a bit of extra stress when you're trying to navigate airports and security stations, shuttles and schedules.
the purpose is to go through the Wycliffe training, and really understand the semantics of relocating your family as well as the specifics about partnership development etc.
We walk into the training, with a lot of questions and we hope to have them answered before we get home.
If any of you have detailed questions for us we'd be glad to ask them while we're there, email us at:
owens@gimpel.tv
thanks for praying!
We're leaving this friday and won't be back until Feb 8th.
My son has a fever today, so pray specifically:
-health : it seems one of us always gets sick when we travel, sickness will throw a monkey wrench in the works as both me and my wife need to attend a lot of training (from what I understand the schedule is very busy). We also need to take physicals to get membership finalized and can't do that if we're sick.
-patience and low stress: although the kids are great travellers, there is always a bit of extra stress when you're trying to navigate airports and security stations, shuttles and schedules.
the purpose is to go through the Wycliffe training, and really understand the semantics of relocating your family as well as the specifics about partnership development etc.
We walk into the training, with a lot of questions and we hope to have them answered before we get home.
If any of you have detailed questions for us we'd be glad to ask them while we're there, email us at:
owens@gimpel.tv
thanks for praying!
12/29/2005
Christmas New Years and Upcoming Training
Merry Christmas!
and Happy New Year!
this season has been very enjoyable for us as a family. We have not rushed around, and everyone has been so well behaved. We are really enjoying our kids! They are at an age and a character right now where they are a joy for us to be around and celebrate with (well they always have been). They seem so very excited about Christmas and yet we never really heard any "I want" or "I need". They were not interested in writing a list or making gift requests. Well Sydney wanted a turtle but changed her mind. We're not sure why she wanted a turtle (-;
We got through the main sickness, everyone was pretty sick the week leading up to Christmas but we were cured in the nick of time.
at the end of January we are flying across the country to Florida where we will be for 2.5 weeks of training and hopefully a few moments of family time as we'll all 4 be together.
Our prayers for that time are :
1 - we understand specifics and fill in the blanks we have regarding the process of getting to PNG.
2 - as many details as possible can be handled during this time.
3 - that the Holy Spirit would fill and encourage us as we're there.
hope everyone has a good new year! What an exciting year this is going to be!
and Happy New Year!
this season has been very enjoyable for us as a family. We have not rushed around, and everyone has been so well behaved. We are really enjoying our kids! They are at an age and a character right now where they are a joy for us to be around and celebrate with (well they always have been). They seem so very excited about Christmas and yet we never really heard any "I want" or "I need". They were not interested in writing a list or making gift requests. Well Sydney wanted a turtle but changed her mind. We're not sure why she wanted a turtle (-;
We got through the main sickness, everyone was pretty sick the week leading up to Christmas but we were cured in the nick of time.
at the end of January we are flying across the country to Florida where we will be for 2.5 weeks of training and hopefully a few moments of family time as we'll all 4 be together.
Our prayers for that time are :
1 - we understand specifics and fill in the blanks we have regarding the process of getting to PNG.
2 - as many details as possible can be handled during this time.
3 - that the Holy Spirit would fill and encourage us as we're there.
hope everyone has a good new year! What an exciting year this is going to be!
12/13/2005
End of Perspectives
Tonight's speaker was good. In fact the last two were great! There is so much I would like to express but he did tell us that we don't want to "uncork" at people because we're so excited after the class.
Both my wife and I have such respect and love for senders/mobilizers/intercessors. We have been so honored by you and so in awe of how God is glorified.
Often we hear "I respect your faith to go" or "I wish I could go" as if somehow the going is the more highly esteemed part of the ministry. We both feel we are in no way more valuable than any other member of the church participating in missions simply because we "go". Going takes so long (an average of 5-7 years to get into the field) AND 50% of overseas goer's come back before 5 years and never go again. So really if anyone has a "bad" name it would be goer's (-;
But tonight the speaker really touched on our heart and our excitement for this ministry. To paraphrase him does injustice, perhaps I can post a sound clip in the near future
"If you do the math in the most liberal sense, less than 1% of the church can be goer's. If more people went we'd be so disorganized we'd be falling all over ourselves. So what about that other 99%? Missions is a call to ALL believers, and while it isn't the only part of being a christian, it is A part. I challenge everyone here to think about how they can answer the great commission in their own context."
he shared several stories that were so cool. One that touched me.
They were moving from Denver to Washington, and a member of their church said,
"I don't have a lot of money to send you, but God gave you the ability to go and do this thing, and He gave me a strong back. I manage a professional moving company, and I would like to handle your move to Washington."
What an amazing God we serve. He's positioned us, brought us up and uses us to serve Him. When He calls us to obey, He rarely lets us see the details of the future (lets be honest, if He did, we might be terrified until we take baby steps to build the trust), but when we step out in obedience, He often uses exactly what He's already given us to serve Him.
My wife and I are able and willing and custom tailored to go, and to go to PNG.
Some of you are custom tailored to do something else, perhaps its to join us, to encourage us, to prayer for us, to support us, to become a part of this team to go out there and get the Gospel translated.
In my head, I imagine the day I would get to work on that first computer as full time missionary and I get pumped up.
I want to dedicate myself to making technology a help to the work of God instead of a hindrance. I don't want anyone with the talents of doing translation work, or teaching or taking care of youth/children to ever despair because of a failed computer. I want them to know they can call on me to fix it.
My wife wants them to be confident that their education is in good hands, and they will learn about God and learn to read His Word.
This is the passion on our hearts, and we need to combine that passion with your passion. What is your passion?
Please feel free to write us
owens@gimpel.tv
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and we will be updating it again soon.
Both my wife and I have such respect and love for senders/mobilizers/intercessors. We have been so honored by you and so in awe of how God is glorified.
Often we hear "I respect your faith to go" or "I wish I could go" as if somehow the going is the more highly esteemed part of the ministry. We both feel we are in no way more valuable than any other member of the church participating in missions simply because we "go". Going takes so long (an average of 5-7 years to get into the field) AND 50% of overseas goer's come back before 5 years and never go again. So really if anyone has a "bad" name it would be goer's (-;
But tonight the speaker really touched on our heart and our excitement for this ministry. To paraphrase him does injustice, perhaps I can post a sound clip in the near future
"If you do the math in the most liberal sense, less than 1% of the church can be goer's. If more people went we'd be so disorganized we'd be falling all over ourselves. So what about that other 99%? Missions is a call to ALL believers, and while it isn't the only part of being a christian, it is A part. I challenge everyone here to think about how they can answer the great commission in their own context."
he shared several stories that were so cool. One that touched me.
They were moving from Denver to Washington, and a member of their church said,
"I don't have a lot of money to send you, but God gave you the ability to go and do this thing, and He gave me a strong back. I manage a professional moving company, and I would like to handle your move to Washington."
What an amazing God we serve. He's positioned us, brought us up and uses us to serve Him. When He calls us to obey, He rarely lets us see the details of the future (lets be honest, if He did, we might be terrified until we take baby steps to build the trust), but when we step out in obedience, He often uses exactly what He's already given us to serve Him.
My wife and I are able and willing and custom tailored to go, and to go to PNG.
Some of you are custom tailored to do something else, perhaps its to join us, to encourage us, to prayer for us, to support us, to become a part of this team to go out there and get the Gospel translated.
In my head, I imagine the day I would get to work on that first computer as full time missionary and I get pumped up.
I want to dedicate myself to making technology a help to the work of God instead of a hindrance. I don't want anyone with the talents of doing translation work, or teaching or taking care of youth/children to ever despair because of a failed computer. I want them to know they can call on me to fix it.
My wife wants them to be confident that their education is in good hands, and they will learn about God and learn to read His Word.
This is the passion on our hearts, and we need to combine that passion with your passion. What is your passion?
Please feel free to write us
owens@gimpel.tv
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and we will be updating it again soon.
12/07/2005
Dec. 7th
It has been a month since updating this blog, and we've made significant progress. First and foremost, we've received our unofficial assignment which is PNG working at the computer center! Wycliffe didn't pitch other places to us, in fact felt confident this was the right place to send us. What an exciting confirmation that God is calling us there!
what next?: Training is in January.
We have a letter we're wanting to send out to folks to tell them about what we're doing and giving a general update, it's coming hopefully in the next few days. We need to construct our mailing list and it is taking us some time to accomplish in the midst of all the holiday busy-ness and work schedules, and all the other things that eat up time.
We need to begin medical preparations which means doctor visits and physicals and shots etc. Our kids seem to be pretty good with shots so that's not a major issue.
-------
Perspectives... only 1 more week to go.
Did you know that a lot of missionaries have taken this course throughout the years?
Last night the speaker was very supportive of the perspectives course, he called it a major tool of God.
Rich Lederer (not sure of the spelling of his last name).
Texan, spent 13 years in Mongolia, is now in iraq. 57.
He was very much a straight shooter who really was passionate about our goal being the kingdom of God. The topic was contextualization, which basically means that when we teach people about Jesus, we're careful not to destroy their culture and bring in "our" culture. Let a born again muslim still pray in mosques, knowing they are praying to God now. Otherwise you remove them from the very culture they can be effective for Christ in.
He said a lot of good things, and shared a lot of good stories.
One thing he did was confirm that he was listening to the call of the Holy Spirit and following it.
He didn't address how that process worked for him but he told a few stories.
One of which stands out to me. For me, once you respond to God's calling, you start to see Him working in certain terms.
4 weeks ago, Rich began reading the "Camel Training Method". He became convinced that we would see no movement in Iraq for Christ until the strongman was bound, until we fought against the principalities in place in that area.
He was in the family room and his daughters were there and his wife, and he was working on his laptop when his daughter let out a gasp. There was a 4" long scorpion on the floor near his daughter. While he was searching for something to kill it with, his daughter reached out and said "daddy do you want me to ...." and then killed it.
After it calmed down he sat back down and said.. "family, look what I jsut typed into my system."
God works, God talks to us. This to them was a confirmation their move to Iraq was the right one, and that their decision to bind Satan out there was the right one and an encouragement that God has given then the authority to be bold and be victorious!
A lot of my life I have wanted God to talk to me, tell me what to do, and make it not confusing but to be clear. It doesn't jsut happen, you don't wait around to hear God, you seek Him out. You seek God in the scriptures, in prayer. You respond.
Another thing he said was he often hears the concept "we have to earn the right to be heard." This is a cultural sensitivity that has been taught to preparing missionaries for decades. Don't simply preach, earn the right to be heard.
He confronted that concept. He said, "Jesus earned the right to be heard, we need to go forward boldly." He re-iterated that we shouldn't be insensitive, but we should also not be timid and pass up opportunities.
I tell you last night as this man spoke, I felt like I was in the presence of the shadow of Paul. This man was enthusiastic, bold, encouraging, accurate, and every thing he said rang with wonderful truth and conviction. He was very focussed on shaping the church movement up.
You know I'm not so sure God has called us to go and do anything spectacular like what this man has done, but I'm sure God has called us. We don't know what we're going to end up doing, but we know our passion and we know what God has told us to do and that's what we're doing.
God has called us to this work in PNG. He has confirmed it multiple times. It is where He wants us for whatever reason, and we do not do this thing to further our career, or appear to have achieved some holiness that others lack. We do this thing because our Father has called us to it, and we can't ignore it. It isn't a glamorous thing we go to do, it is a very very simple thing.
Our focus is not on spreading "christianity as a culture" but on furthering the kingdom of God that all would worship Him in spirit and in truth.
I write this because I want to make sure that no one ever looks at us and says, "I wish I had __________ that Kendal and Chad have." or "I could never do what they're doing." You can. Never say of us "you're doing a great thing." We possess no special thing of ourselves that enable us to do this thing, it's completely from God.
How to Pray:
- one of the things we were reminded of this week was that a typical quality of the larger church movements was ... primarily.... extraordinary prayer. One director said to his board "if you're not going to pray every day... EVERY day over this, resign now." That's the type of mentality, the dedication of prayer that is going to be required to fight against the strongman. So...
-pray that as we build our address list, we find the people who are excited about what we're doing. That God would show us the people and the churches that would support us in prayer and financially and be excited to join our ministry with theirs to reach and support the translation work in PNG.
We know that God has prepared their hearts, we want to find them... and then join our small part of this ministry with theirs to become a team.
what next?: Training is in January.
We have a letter we're wanting to send out to folks to tell them about what we're doing and giving a general update, it's coming hopefully in the next few days. We need to construct our mailing list and it is taking us some time to accomplish in the midst of all the holiday busy-ness and work schedules, and all the other things that eat up time.
We need to begin medical preparations which means doctor visits and physicals and shots etc. Our kids seem to be pretty good with shots so that's not a major issue.
-------
Perspectives... only 1 more week to go.
Did you know that a lot of missionaries have taken this course throughout the years?
Last night the speaker was very supportive of the perspectives course, he called it a major tool of God.
Rich Lederer (not sure of the spelling of his last name).
Texan, spent 13 years in Mongolia, is now in iraq. 57.
He was very much a straight shooter who really was passionate about our goal being the kingdom of God. The topic was contextualization, which basically means that when we teach people about Jesus, we're careful not to destroy their culture and bring in "our" culture. Let a born again muslim still pray in mosques, knowing they are praying to God now. Otherwise you remove them from the very culture they can be effective for Christ in.
He said a lot of good things, and shared a lot of good stories.
One thing he did was confirm that he was listening to the call of the Holy Spirit and following it.
He didn't address how that process worked for him but he told a few stories.
One of which stands out to me. For me, once you respond to God's calling, you start to see Him working in certain terms.
4 weeks ago, Rich began reading the "Camel Training Method". He became convinced that we would see no movement in Iraq for Christ until the strongman was bound, until we fought against the principalities in place in that area.
He was in the family room and his daughters were there and his wife, and he was working on his laptop when his daughter let out a gasp. There was a 4" long scorpion on the floor near his daughter. While he was searching for something to kill it with, his daughter reached out and said "daddy do you want me to ...." and then killed it.
After it calmed down he sat back down and said.. "family, look what I jsut typed into my system."
Luke 10:19 - I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
God works, God talks to us. This to them was a confirmation their move to Iraq was the right one, and that their decision to bind Satan out there was the right one and an encouragement that God has given then the authority to be bold and be victorious!
A lot of my life I have wanted God to talk to me, tell me what to do, and make it not confusing but to be clear. It doesn't jsut happen, you don't wait around to hear God, you seek Him out. You seek God in the scriptures, in prayer. You respond.
Another thing he said was he often hears the concept "we have to earn the right to be heard." This is a cultural sensitivity that has been taught to preparing missionaries for decades. Don't simply preach, earn the right to be heard.
He confronted that concept. He said, "Jesus earned the right to be heard, we need to go forward boldly." He re-iterated that we shouldn't be insensitive, but we should also not be timid and pass up opportunities.
I tell you last night as this man spoke, I felt like I was in the presence of the shadow of Paul. This man was enthusiastic, bold, encouraging, accurate, and every thing he said rang with wonderful truth and conviction. He was very focussed on shaping the church movement up.
You know I'm not so sure God has called us to go and do anything spectacular like what this man has done, but I'm sure God has called us. We don't know what we're going to end up doing, but we know our passion and we know what God has told us to do and that's what we're doing.
God has called us to this work in PNG. He has confirmed it multiple times. It is where He wants us for whatever reason, and we do not do this thing to further our career, or appear to have achieved some holiness that others lack. We do this thing because our Father has called us to it, and we can't ignore it. It isn't a glamorous thing we go to do, it is a very very simple thing.
Our focus is not on spreading "christianity as a culture" but on furthering the kingdom of God that all would worship Him in spirit and in truth.
I write this because I want to make sure that no one ever looks at us and says, "I wish I had __________ that Kendal and Chad have." or "I could never do what they're doing." You can. Never say of us "you're doing a great thing." We possess no special thing of ourselves that enable us to do this thing, it's completely from God.
How to Pray:
- one of the things we were reminded of this week was that a typical quality of the larger church movements was ... primarily.... extraordinary prayer. One director said to his board "if you're not going to pray every day... EVERY day over this, resign now." That's the type of mentality, the dedication of prayer that is going to be required to fight against the strongman. So...
-pray that as we build our address list, we find the people who are excited about what we're doing. That God would show us the people and the churches that would support us in prayer and financially and be excited to join our ministry with theirs to reach and support the translation work in PNG.
We know that God has prepared their hearts, we want to find them... and then join our small part of this ministry with theirs to become a team.
11/08/2005
Perspectives Week 7
Carol Davis - this is the one we've been waiting for. We would be unable to reproduce what she taught but I can give my impressions.
Luke 10:1-7 was the bible study, and we asked the questions:
-what do you like?
-what do you dislike?
-what didn't you understand?
-what did it teach you about God?
-what do you need to do because of it?
-what verse would you like to keep with you?
Sometimes simply having a Bible and those 6 questions are enough to win entire people groups.
We see ourselves as the "go" part of a team whose goal it is to support missionaries in Papua New Guinea, to further bible translation and literacy, to further disciple the reached tribal groups in PNG and to reach the unreached people groups in PNG with the Gospel of Christ.
It's a team. Missions is for every member of the church. Somehow folks got it into their head (and I used to be one) that missions is for the sending agency and the missions committee. But we're each called to play a role.
the roles can be:
goer
sender
mobilizer
intercessor (prayer)
welcomer
God has prepared a ministry and a team to accomplish it. He has been working in all of our hearts to get the job done, He has built us into who we are now (regardless of how much you may struggle with your past, it was built there to make you a specialized member of the team) so that we can join this team.
The task before us is to find each other, join forces, and get the work done. God has already prepared the harvest. In the coming weeks, my wife and I will begin the process of trying to find each of the members of this team.
Wycliffe provides training on the subject, documents on the subject and "how to's" but we already know that God has put all the hearts into play and like the Apostles, what we really need to do now is walk around proclaiming God's glory and unite the team, and then go and get it done.
For those of you that are already on the team, we love you guys, we thank God for you, and we praise God for preparing the special parts of your lives and your hearts that He has.
It is an honor to be teaming with you, you represent a skillset and a willingness specialized by God to hone this team into a glorifying unit for God.
We can not wait to go.... we're waiting on God's timing, but boy are we praying for Him to teach us what we need to learn so that we can go sooner than later!
We're excited.
So... prayer requests for this week:
-pray that God would help us discover those folks He has planned
-pray for the completion of forms and physicals and training that need to be completed before we can go.
-pray for blessings on every member of the team and for spiritual protection, growth, and purity.
thank you.
Luke 10:1-7 was the bible study, and we asked the questions:
-what do you like?
-what do you dislike?
-what didn't you understand?
-what did it teach you about God?
-what do you need to do because of it?
-what verse would you like to keep with you?
Sometimes simply having a Bible and those 6 questions are enough to win entire people groups.
We see ourselves as the "go" part of a team whose goal it is to support missionaries in Papua New Guinea, to further bible translation and literacy, to further disciple the reached tribal groups in PNG and to reach the unreached people groups in PNG with the Gospel of Christ.
It's a team. Missions is for every member of the church. Somehow folks got it into their head (and I used to be one) that missions is for the sending agency and the missions committee. But we're each called to play a role.
the roles can be:
goer
sender
mobilizer
intercessor (prayer)
welcomer
God has prepared a ministry and a team to accomplish it. He has been working in all of our hearts to get the job done, He has built us into who we are now (regardless of how much you may struggle with your past, it was built there to make you a specialized member of the team) so that we can join this team.
The task before us is to find each other, join forces, and get the work done. God has already prepared the harvest. In the coming weeks, my wife and I will begin the process of trying to find each of the members of this team.
Wycliffe provides training on the subject, documents on the subject and "how to's" but we already know that God has put all the hearts into play and like the Apostles, what we really need to do now is walk around proclaiming God's glory and unite the team, and then go and get it done.
For those of you that are already on the team, we love you guys, we thank God for you, and we praise God for preparing the special parts of your lives and your hearts that He has.
It is an honor to be teaming with you, you represent a skillset and a willingness specialized by God to hone this team into a glorifying unit for God.
We can not wait to go.... we're waiting on God's timing, but boy are we praying for Him to teach us what we need to learn so that we can go sooner than later!
We're excited.
So... prayer requests for this week:
-pray that God would help us discover those folks He has planned
-pray for the completion of forms and physicals and training that need to be completed before we can go.
-pray for blessings on every member of the team and for spiritual protection, growth, and purity.
thank you.
11/06/2005
The Kids
As a friend of ours once put it "I signed up to be a missionary, but my kids were drafted." We've noticed that many of you have asked the questions "how are your kids taking it?" or "Have you talked to them about it?" It, being the move to Papua New Guinea.
From the very beginning our children have been our primary concern in this entire affair. Before even considering this seriously we researched how children adapt, what challenges they face, both in leaving and in returning to America. How multi-culturalism affects them and in what ways. Would we be signing up to never see our kids again once they come of age because they too have a global perspective and go into the mission field?
Today in church we spoke of Giving willingly and cheefully to God. Many people were considering the gift as money or time. I spent the day thinking of it as a sacrificial gift of my children's future. Reliquinshing their future in faith to God.
Parents already know they have a very limited control over their kids safety, and future. You try to influence it, you pray.. and pray.. and hope and worry and fear and pray. In perspectives class the mothers were asked to pray their daughters to Muslim countries. WOAH! Were we really willing to do that?
In a more general sense, as parents are we truly willing to let go of our most precious treasure to God like Abraham did with Isaac? Having full faith that God knows what He is doing, is more easily said and done when it doesn't involved your kids.
It still tears me up that possibly God could be calling us to embark on a journey that will most likely end up with us not sitting at home in our old age with our grandkids around our ankles or on our knees.
Are we willing to have cross racial marriages with our kids?
Are we willing to have a non-primary English speaking son in law?
Are we willing to not see our kids on a weekly basis once we retire?
The answer has to be yes, but it's a struggle to get to it.
Right now as I type this I'm breaking up because in the other room my daughter is singing beautifully "take my hand, precious Jesus, I am yours.. take my heart I am yours... drive my life." She's six. She doesn't know I'm typing this... but that's what I'm hearing... as if God told her to speak to my heart this very moment.
With the perfect amount of humor too because as she asked Jesus to drive she then sings "beep beep". How can we part from that?
Well this is probably what the grandparents are struggling with right now, and all the while I pray for their ability to cope emotionally I am praying this:
"God everything we have is given to us by You, and we dedicated it all to Your name that You may be glorified.....and if there's a way in the future to get that done and still be close geographically as a family, we sure would appreciate it."
So we don't pray "please don't send us to Africa" instead we pray "if you send us to Africa, could you find us a house big enough for everyone ?"
I could go on for a very long time about the role of families in the Old Testament and answering God's call but I still haven't answered the main question.
At first our kids didn't like the idea, because all they heard was leaving.
My wife and I decided we needed to instill in them a global perspective, which meant teaching them about other countries and about other peoples. So we did.
They still don't want to leave their best friends, but they are getting excited about moving to Papua New Guinea.
Tonight, we taught them where Pakistan was.
We told them what the climate was like, what the people are called, that they don't believe Jesus is God's son, and we created a weekly list of prayers for the missionaries we know there. They are able to find Pakistan on a globe and are praying for the missionaries and for the Muslims.
The point is, I'm told Americans are the least globally minded people of the major political power countries. We have dedicated a few minutes each Sunday (after football) to talk about 1 country and how we can pray for that country.
As we do this, we hope to see the kids start to understand God's desire to teach others about who Jesus is and how we can play a part in that. Children adapt quickly and while they are a huge concern we're convinced that the benefits of this move far outweigh the drawbacks. We wrote a list of pros and cons and the cons far outweighed the pros until at the bottom of the pro list we wrote "God has asked us to do this." The rest of the pros and the cons don't really matter after that. He is faithful, He already has proven so very faithful to us, that we're confident the future of our children will be bright.
From the very beginning our children have been our primary concern in this entire affair. Before even considering this seriously we researched how children adapt, what challenges they face, both in leaving and in returning to America. How multi-culturalism affects them and in what ways. Would we be signing up to never see our kids again once they come of age because they too have a global perspective and go into the mission field?
Today in church we spoke of Giving willingly and cheefully to God. Many people were considering the gift as money or time. I spent the day thinking of it as a sacrificial gift of my children's future. Reliquinshing their future in faith to God.
Parents already know they have a very limited control over their kids safety, and future. You try to influence it, you pray.. and pray.. and hope and worry and fear and pray. In perspectives class the mothers were asked to pray their daughters to Muslim countries. WOAH! Were we really willing to do that?
In a more general sense, as parents are we truly willing to let go of our most precious treasure to God like Abraham did with Isaac? Having full faith that God knows what He is doing, is more easily said and done when it doesn't involved your kids.
It still tears me up that possibly God could be calling us to embark on a journey that will most likely end up with us not sitting at home in our old age with our grandkids around our ankles or on our knees.
Are we willing to have cross racial marriages with our kids?
Are we willing to have a non-primary English speaking son in law?
Are we willing to not see our kids on a weekly basis once we retire?
The answer has to be yes, but it's a struggle to get to it.
Right now as I type this I'm breaking up because in the other room my daughter is singing beautifully "take my hand, precious Jesus, I am yours.. take my heart I am yours... drive my life." She's six. She doesn't know I'm typing this... but that's what I'm hearing... as if God told her to speak to my heart this very moment.
With the perfect amount of humor too because as she asked Jesus to drive she then sings "beep beep". How can we part from that?
Well this is probably what the grandparents are struggling with right now, and all the while I pray for their ability to cope emotionally I am praying this:
"God everything we have is given to us by You, and we dedicated it all to Your name that You may be glorified.....and if there's a way in the future to get that done and still be close geographically as a family, we sure would appreciate it."
So we don't pray "please don't send us to Africa" instead we pray "if you send us to Africa, could you find us a house big enough for everyone ?"
I could go on for a very long time about the role of families in the Old Testament and answering God's call but I still haven't answered the main question.
At first our kids didn't like the idea, because all they heard was leaving.
My wife and I decided we needed to instill in them a global perspective, which meant teaching them about other countries and about other peoples. So we did.
They still don't want to leave their best friends, but they are getting excited about moving to Papua New Guinea.
Tonight, we taught them where Pakistan was.
We told them what the climate was like, what the people are called, that they don't believe Jesus is God's son, and we created a weekly list of prayers for the missionaries we know there. They are able to find Pakistan on a globe and are praying for the missionaries and for the Muslims.
The point is, I'm told Americans are the least globally minded people of the major political power countries. We have dedicated a few minutes each Sunday (after football) to talk about 1 country and how we can pray for that country.
As we do this, we hope to see the kids start to understand God's desire to teach others about who Jesus is and how we can play a part in that. Children adapt quickly and while they are a huge concern we're convinced that the benefits of this move far outweigh the drawbacks. We wrote a list of pros and cons and the cons far outweighed the pros until at the bottom of the pro list we wrote "God has asked us to do this." The rest of the pros and the cons don't really matter after that. He is faithful, He already has proven so very faithful to us, that we're confident the future of our children will be bright.
11/01/2005
Perspectives Week 6
the purpose of this blog is ultimately to glorify God. We praise God tonight as we type this and do so to inform you of what He's doing.
Tonight God did an incredible thing! He answered prayers so specifically that it was as if we were having a conversation.
I'll skip the content of the course tonight and go straight to what happened between me and God. (I may put more about the content in later postings)
Last week, the speaker opened a lot of questions in my heart and as I did my Bible study and read my homework those questions begat more questions, and so I started to write them down. Then I shared them with my wife, and then we began to pray over them, and tonight, God spoke through the speaker and gave us direct answers.
You can not imagine the energy coursing through my body right now. I understand now how man can not stare into God's face... I believe I would explode. Simply hearing from God, that He would answer my prayers so magnificently... He is so awesome and worthy! This isn't the first time, but boy it was a needed time. I'm not so worthy as to continually beg God to talk to me, give me direction and then have Him do so again. You'd think He'd be fed up "enough already Chad.. GO DO IT!" but I'm so stubborn I keep asking Him to narrow it down more and more for us.
I will share the prayer requests here for you, our close circle of supporters and friends and family. You are our core, those who pray for us.
I will also share the answers. I'm rather sure it won't be as exciting for you to hear them as it was for me, but I wanted you to know that your prayers are being heard by God and He is in fact working daily in our lives.
-What is our vision? What is our exact vision for our ministry as a family?
-If it is to support missionaries, then doesn't the example of fixfree.org prove we can support them remotely?
-Do we need to go to Papua New Guinea or are we called somewhere else? (say a muslim nation)
-Do we want to support PNG missionaries or simply missionaries anywhere?
-Where can we do the greatest good?
-We're not very educated or pure, or special in anyway, I'm jsut a big dumb guy... does God really want me to do anything?
These are all questions of focus. We know God has given us a calling to obey and I ask these questions in the light of what I'm learning to try and focus what it is God wants us to do. My wife enjoys watching me struggle but feels peace that our goals is what we're intended to do. She is a wise and good helper because she's already arrived at what God told me tonight.
Here is the answers paraphrased and in no direct order:
-Jonah wasn't pure, he was rebellious and yet he obeyed, he wasn't the most passionate speaker to the Ninevites and yet they believed God.... evidence that a perfect heart is not required to serve God, and that skill has little to do with it.
-Simon, was a good fisherman, but Christ asked him to cast his net in the deep water, a place Simon knew there'd be no fish "we've been trying all night"... and yet he obeyed, and the harvest nearly sunk ships. Evidence that you can be skilled and still, obedience is important. The two examples, (and there are many more) have one thread, obedience.
Obedience to what you know God is saying, faith for what you don't understand yet.
-We don't need to reach huge groups, a couple was mentioned that went to PNG.. amazing for us since no other couples were mentioned... why mention PNG? it was no coincidence. This couple had a heart for a people group with only 200 people in it. Was it a waste? No it was wonderful that God would call people to what seems like such a small mission. God spoke to my heart here... I need to stop looking at where I can be BEST used for the GREATEST affect, and go where I know we're being called, and that is PNG. The calling of God outweighs the strategy of reaching out. (that was our reading this week)
-Our vision.... this is the best part.
Our vision is to support the missionaries in Papua New Guinea who do reach the nationals. Not EVERY Wycliffe missionary, but the ones in PNG. When I heard this couple's name I loved them instantly, I wanted to hug them, and give them a warm place to rest their heads, I wanted to gaurantee they'd have no computer problems, and I wanted to create a safe haven for them to return to, knowing that my wife was teaching their children, and that they would be safe with us. Missionaries need support at home, prayer, funds, and encouragement, but they also need support in the field. They need people to offload distraction from what God has called them to. They need us. The fact that we can partake in the larger picture by serving such a small role enthralls us, excites us, and encourages us. God is doing work in PNG, Wycliffe is doing His work there, translators are doing the work, and supporting staff are helping them do it. Can you imagine being the man who built the desk that Paul would use to write the letters to the churches?
It all makes sense, it was like a huge "CLICK" tonight in my heart. Why I've felt a call to minister to couples, to disciple men, to encourage believers. Why I've felt a strong desire to go to Papua New Guinea, why I married a woman who loves people and is outgoing. Why I love the Russells over there like family and enjoy doing little things to encourage them. It all makes total sense.
I'm a big dumb guy who is in no way perfect. ( by the way the speaker tonight said those actual words... talk about a God who answers prayer) But I know that God has called us to Papua New Guinea, and tonight I learned it was so that we can support and encourage people who God has called to reach the unreached, translate the Gospel, and spread the Word. I praise God that we won't be the ones getting glory for doing the work, that we have the awesome and humbling opportunity to be behind the scenes, ensuring God's work gets done.
I'll tell you a lesson I learned by watching people whom I admire.
I would rather live a life serving God in confidence of obedience and to never receive a single moment of glory, thanks, appreciation or stature, than to live any other way. I have too long cared about what man thinks of me, and not long enough thought about what man thinks of God.
That is our heart, that is our mission, our vision. And now.... the task is before us to put feet to it.
Prayer requests:
in January we have training and there are costs.
Before us is a lot of training.
We need patience and stamina to retain this vision and the passion.
WE need wisdom in how to best build a circle of supporters and partners to get us there and keep us there.
My attitude on partnership is very simple.
God has already put it on the hearts of people to be excited about what He wants to get done. We need to put the footwork into discovering those people and communicating to them clearly what it is God will have us do.
Pray that we can communicate this well. I was unclear how to communicate our vision before tonight, how to put it into words. Now my only challenge is to harness this energy into a more easily digestible format.
Thanks for your support and your patience in reading this rather wordy entry.
We love you.
Tonight God did an incredible thing! He answered prayers so specifically that it was as if we were having a conversation.
I'll skip the content of the course tonight and go straight to what happened between me and God. (I may put more about the content in later postings)
Last week, the speaker opened a lot of questions in my heart and as I did my Bible study and read my homework those questions begat more questions, and so I started to write them down. Then I shared them with my wife, and then we began to pray over them, and tonight, God spoke through the speaker and gave us direct answers.
You can not imagine the energy coursing through my body right now. I understand now how man can not stare into God's face... I believe I would explode. Simply hearing from God, that He would answer my prayers so magnificently... He is so awesome and worthy! This isn't the first time, but boy it was a needed time. I'm not so worthy as to continually beg God to talk to me, give me direction and then have Him do so again. You'd think He'd be fed up "enough already Chad.. GO DO IT!" but I'm so stubborn I keep asking Him to narrow it down more and more for us.
I will share the prayer requests here for you, our close circle of supporters and friends and family. You are our core, those who pray for us.
I will also share the answers. I'm rather sure it won't be as exciting for you to hear them as it was for me, but I wanted you to know that your prayers are being heard by God and He is in fact working daily in our lives.
-What is our vision? What is our exact vision for our ministry as a family?
-If it is to support missionaries, then doesn't the example of fixfree.org prove we can support them remotely?
-Do we need to go to Papua New Guinea or are we called somewhere else? (say a muslim nation)
-Do we want to support PNG missionaries or simply missionaries anywhere?
-Where can we do the greatest good?
-We're not very educated or pure, or special in anyway, I'm jsut a big dumb guy... does God really want me to do anything?
These are all questions of focus. We know God has given us a calling to obey and I ask these questions in the light of what I'm learning to try and focus what it is God wants us to do. My wife enjoys watching me struggle but feels peace that our goals is what we're intended to do. She is a wise and good helper because she's already arrived at what God told me tonight.
Here is the answers paraphrased and in no direct order:
-Jonah wasn't pure, he was rebellious and yet he obeyed, he wasn't the most passionate speaker to the Ninevites and yet they believed God.... evidence that a perfect heart is not required to serve God, and that skill has little to do with it.
-Simon, was a good fisherman, but Christ asked him to cast his net in the deep water, a place Simon knew there'd be no fish "we've been trying all night"... and yet he obeyed, and the harvest nearly sunk ships. Evidence that you can be skilled and still, obedience is important. The two examples, (and there are many more) have one thread, obedience.
Obedience to what you know God is saying, faith for what you don't understand yet.
-We don't need to reach huge groups, a couple was mentioned that went to PNG.. amazing for us since no other couples were mentioned... why mention PNG? it was no coincidence. This couple had a heart for a people group with only 200 people in it. Was it a waste? No it was wonderful that God would call people to what seems like such a small mission. God spoke to my heart here... I need to stop looking at where I can be BEST used for the GREATEST affect, and go where I know we're being called, and that is PNG. The calling of God outweighs the strategy of reaching out. (that was our reading this week)
-Our vision.... this is the best part.
Our vision is to support the missionaries in Papua New Guinea who do reach the nationals. Not EVERY Wycliffe missionary, but the ones in PNG. When I heard this couple's name I loved them instantly, I wanted to hug them, and give them a warm place to rest their heads, I wanted to gaurantee they'd have no computer problems, and I wanted to create a safe haven for them to return to, knowing that my wife was teaching their children, and that they would be safe with us. Missionaries need support at home, prayer, funds, and encouragement, but they also need support in the field. They need people to offload distraction from what God has called them to. They need us. The fact that we can partake in the larger picture by serving such a small role enthralls us, excites us, and encourages us. God is doing work in PNG, Wycliffe is doing His work there, translators are doing the work, and supporting staff are helping them do it. Can you imagine being the man who built the desk that Paul would use to write the letters to the churches?
It all makes sense, it was like a huge "CLICK" tonight in my heart. Why I've felt a call to minister to couples, to disciple men, to encourage believers. Why I've felt a strong desire to go to Papua New Guinea, why I married a woman who loves people and is outgoing. Why I love the Russells over there like family and enjoy doing little things to encourage them. It all makes total sense.
I'm a big dumb guy who is in no way perfect. ( by the way the speaker tonight said those actual words... talk about a God who answers prayer) But I know that God has called us to Papua New Guinea, and tonight I learned it was so that we can support and encourage people who God has called to reach the unreached, translate the Gospel, and spread the Word. I praise God that we won't be the ones getting glory for doing the work, that we have the awesome and humbling opportunity to be behind the scenes, ensuring God's work gets done.
I'll tell you a lesson I learned by watching people whom I admire.
I would rather live a life serving God in confidence of obedience and to never receive a single moment of glory, thanks, appreciation or stature, than to live any other way. I have too long cared about what man thinks of me, and not long enough thought about what man thinks of God.
That is our heart, that is our mission, our vision. And now.... the task is before us to put feet to it.
Prayer requests:
in January we have training and there are costs.
Before us is a lot of training.
We need patience and stamina to retain this vision and the passion.
WE need wisdom in how to best build a circle of supporters and partners to get us there and keep us there.
My attitude on partnership is very simple.
God has already put it on the hearts of people to be excited about what He wants to get done. We need to put the footwork into discovering those people and communicating to them clearly what it is God will have us do.
Pray that we can communicate this well. I was unclear how to communicate our vision before tonight, how to put it into words. Now my only challenge is to harness this energy into a more easily digestible format.
Thanks for your support and your patience in reading this rather wordy entry.
We love you.
10/26/2005
Accepted
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.
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.
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.
9/28/2005
Technical interview
one of the finalizing steps of the application process (for I.T. anyway) is to meet and talk to a technical recruiter who can find your skill set and make suggestions as to where to place you.
I met Ken, great guy. He mostly said after reading up on me, and hearing other interviews that he felt it would be a waste to talk about whether or not I was skilled, I was, he instead took the time to see what and where I would like to be, and then explain a bit about how I.T. in Wycliffe worked. At certain levels of technical ability, it's easy to see if people are skilled and the interview process is more of a chance to get to know personality.
It was a good conversation and he told me he'd make the recommendation of sending us to PNG. He also mentioned that a teacher/I.T. pair is like the Wycliffe power team. (-; That's always good to hear. Sort of reinforces the feeling that God intended for us to be together and do this since before we were born.
He also told me a lot about I.T. and how important it is, and how a lot of I.T. people are located in the U.S. offices but it's hard for them to discover support because to many people "missions" means "leaving the country". He used the analogy of soldiers. People see soldiers as carrying rifles and driving humvees, but what about the hundreds of soldiers back in Washington supporting them? An aircraft carrier is all about the aircraft, but there are more on the ship than in the plane.
So things are progressing along and it does look good.
I met Ken, great guy. He mostly said after reading up on me, and hearing other interviews that he felt it would be a waste to talk about whether or not I was skilled, I was, he instead took the time to see what and where I would like to be, and then explain a bit about how I.T. in Wycliffe worked. At certain levels of technical ability, it's easy to see if people are skilled and the interview process is more of a chance to get to know personality.
It was a good conversation and he told me he'd make the recommendation of sending us to PNG. He also mentioned that a teacher/I.T. pair is like the Wycliffe power team. (-; That's always good to hear. Sort of reinforces the feeling that God intended for us to be together and do this since before we were born.
He also told me a lot about I.T. and how important it is, and how a lot of I.T. people are located in the U.S. offices but it's hard for them to discover support because to many people "missions" means "leaving the country". He used the analogy of soldiers. People see soldiers as carrying rifles and driving humvees, but what about the hundreds of soldiers back in Washington supporting them? An aircraft carrier is all about the aircraft, but there are more on the ship than in the plane.
So things are progressing along and it does look good.
Perspectives
My wife and I have attended our first perspectives course. It is a biblical 12 week teaching series on missions. Our first night started a bit rocky, with the babysitter being a tad late and traffic and such, but we arrived on time, took a deep breath and sat down for 3 hours of teaching.
3 hours of teaching during a time when you're used to relaxing your brain is harder than it used to be when were in college. But it was sound teaching.
So I've done the pre-reading... it was GREAT! learned a lot.
then the speaker spoke, he was good, but mostly regurgitated the reading and I didn't necessarily get any new application or angle on the reading.. if anything he clarified it.. which I see a total need for because:
1 - not everyone does the reading
2 - not everyone can get the clear points in a theological essay.
3 - some people learn differently.
thus far it was a decent class... and I'm suspecting it's going to be VERY good. I enjoyed meeting the new people around me, etc.
3 hours of teaching during a time when you're used to relaxing your brain is harder than it used to be when were in college. But it was sound teaching.
So I've done the pre-reading... it was GREAT! learned a lot.
then the speaker spoke, he was good, but mostly regurgitated the reading and I didn't necessarily get any new application or angle on the reading.. if anything he clarified it.. which I see a total need for because:
1 - not everyone does the reading
2 - not everyone can get the clear points in a theological essay.
3 - some people learn differently.
thus far it was a decent class... and I'm suspecting it's going to be VERY good. I enjoyed meeting the new people around me, etc.
9/23/2005
this week completes our first round (and perhaps only) of phone interviews. They interviewed me separately from my wife for 2 hours or so. Our answers were so similiar (after talking about them) that I wonder if they think that I coached my wife (as there was a day in between answers). The truth is, my wife and I talk about stuff, and typically if it's something important that concerns us both, you'll get a similiar answer regardless of who you ask.
is that odd? I don't think it is.
apparently my personality test says I'm normal, so that's good news.
Now we wait again. We wait on Wycliffe to gather our final paperwork, and to talk to parties necessary. And then finally perhaps I have to take a phone interview for technical skills to prove I know something about computers.
so.... it is looking like end of October to hear if we've been accepted.
is that odd? I don't think it is.
apparently my personality test says I'm normal, so that's good news.
Now we wait again. We wait on Wycliffe to gather our final paperwork, and to talk to parties necessary. And then finally perhaps I have to take a phone interview for technical skills to prove I know something about computers.
so.... it is looking like end of October to hear if we've been accepted.
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