RockTheDesert

Worship Central

Tim Hughes and Al Gordon were in town yesterday.  FNC's worship team attended a great afternoon session on worship leading. Afterwards we had dinner at Pei Wei's, then we headed back for the worship concert at 7. We had such a great time! I love concerts where I know every song and can sing along.  Al & Tim spent about 20 min. mid-concert to share more teaching on getting our worship life in order. They have started an online school of worship in partnership with Soul Survivor called Worship Central. Check out the website www.worshipcentral.org for awesome training and resources. I highly regret that we didn't get a picture of our team with Tim & Al - however, they were totally mobbed at the end of the concert so it just didn't happen.

Here's my notes from the evening teaching session.
Worship should be:
C - Christ Centered. It's not entertainment. It's not for my benefit. In Revelation 4 & 5 we get a glimpse of heaven. Not surprisingly, the spotlight is solely on Jesus - the Lamb that was slain.
H - Holy-Spirit-led. We can't manipulate people into worshipping. When we see blank faces staring back at us, we might try to play louder or faster or even throw in their all-time-favorite song (How Great Is Our God), but all man-centered efforts will fail to bring about true worship in Spirit and truth without the divine leading and intervention of the Holy Spirit. Worship is kindled within us when we are touched by the Holy Spirit. Interesting quote by A.W. Tozer (my paraphrase) "If the Holy Spirit left the church today, no one would notice. We would just carry on as usual."
R - Revealing the Father. Zephaniah 3:17 "God is mighty to save. He will quiet you with His love. He will sing songs over you.
I - Intimate. One on one. No interruptions. The bride belongs to the bridegroom. Heart to heart. Face to face. Whole life dependence on God.
S - Sensitive. Be willing to sing songs of lament. We lament not because we are backsliders, but because true lament moves us closer to God, not further away. Jesus is comfortable with messy lives. The people He encountered were lost in sin, longing, grief, pain, death, regret. Sing songs that are raw, real and honest. Move away from hype, performance, masks.
T - Transforming. Worship must affect the world outside the church. God's heart is for the lost and the poor, the least and those on the margins of society. Worship without mission = self-indulgent. Mission without worship = powerless.

WCW - Inspired by Alyssa

It's Watercooler Wednesday - check out the creative ideas around the "watercooler" at Randy Elrod's Ethos blog! Randy's post is about  Interactive Architecture. Check it out HERE.

Here's my first submission:

I look to my daughter, Alyssa, for creative inspiration most of the time. She is a dreamer and a poet and has a deeply artistic soul. I stopped by her house last week and took a few photos of her current works in progress...

1. Sign Language "fade"

2. Fabric sewn on paper in frame

3. This phone wasn't made by Alyssa but purchased on eBay - I am inspired by this phone and something about it makes me insanely happy

The Swing Of Things

My friend and fellow blogger, Dan Perkins, wrote this great article called The Swing of Things. I encourage all to read and digest this article. The following is an excerpt. Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

I've spent a good part of my morning and afternoon with my jet-lagged butt parked on the couch catching up on reading blogs about our time in Europe and our friends who traveled with Compassion International over to Uganda. Both groups, the Uganda team and Tom, Mario and I, arrived back in the US yesterday. The votes are in and consensus is we have way too much in light of real need and poverty seen in much of the world. Ironically, the spiritual and social uniquenesses of the two regions we visited are vastly contrasted but our reports created the same sense of embarrassment or humility when imagined in the abundance and comfort of our homeland. Don't get me wrong... I'm grateful, as is everyone I read this morning about their return home, to have a life in this great country. What I am saying is we are having a difficult time digesting what we experienced and returning to a life "that is" differently than a life "that was."  In other words, going about business as usual without compromising our experience's desire to change us will not be easy. But then again, it just might be too easy.   

Emmanuel

This is Emmanuel. He was my translator in Rwanda in September. I think I talked about him a bit when I got back from Rwanda. When we arrived in Burundi in January, I discovered Emmanuel would be joining us from Rwanda! He rode 6 hours on a bus - that means he probably was crammed into a vehicle holding 2-3 times the intended number of occupants, probably holding his possessions on his lap the entire time. We weren't assigned to the same team this time - he was with Bishop Independance and was assigned to translate for a wonderful woman named Carol from South Carolina. Emmanuel asked me if I would pray with him every morning before going out for ministry. We managed to find a quite spot in the garden where we could pray our guts out together - he is an amazing intercessor for the Kingdom of God!! He had been praying for 6 months to be able to come to Burundi to share the Gospel and was so humbled and joyful that God had answered his prayer. Emmanuel has a heart for the lost in Africa - he is Rwandan, but grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda due to the genocide in Rwanda. He speaks fantastic English, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, and Kirundi. We have continued to be prayer partners. He sends me the greatest, most encouraging emails. If you're so inclined, you could add Emmanuel to your prayer list. He is a treasure, a force for the Kingdom, a talented singer, loves working with youth, visionary, gentle, kind, yet a powerful, passionate translator/preacher. Pray that God would provide for his daily needs and that God would direct his steps and give him peace and joy.

High Calling Blogs

I joined High Calling Blogs about 1 month ago. HighCallingBlogs.com is "a network of personal websites focused specifically on the intersection of faith and work." I'm very excited about being a part of this network. I hope to interact with a lot of like-minded bloggers and increase the number of RockTheDesert readers at the same time! In my initial signing up, I somehow missed step #1 - this step involves placing a High Calling Banner on my blog. So, today, after talking to a fellow blogger about HCB, I realized that I had never followed through on this. I immediately added a HCB banner in the sidebar. Check it out. Click on it if you want to. You'll be directed to High Calling Blogs. Feel free to browse around and sign up if you feel compelled to. A related site you might want to check out is http://TheHighCalling.org. This is a great website devoted to spiritual formation, encouragement,  and helping Christians connect with God. They have nearly 3000 different resources—including audio messages, interviews, bible reflections, personal reflections, daily reflections, and more.

Wednesday was my dad's real birthday...

Not to be confused with Sunday, February 17, the more convenient day to hold a birthday celebration with nearly 100 family and friends!! Now, if you want to get technical about it, February 20th is the day that has been celebrated as my dad's birthday for as long as he can remember, but, on a calendar or birth certificate or public record somewhere deep in Mexico, I do believe hearing tales from relatives of another possible day that is actually my dad's birthday. I'll have to get some official verification of this rumor from someone in the know - not that it really matters so much, I guess. 70 years plus or minus a day or two still counts as 70 years. I hope to have as much energy when I'm 70 as my dad does. It's amazing to watch him in action. He never seems to stop. He gets up at 5am, gets in his truck and joins the commuter morning rush hour to get to Temecula or Leucadia or Escondido to do a "little job" for a friend or a church or whoever needs his services. No reason to wait 'til a more reasonable hour and avoid the traffic! You'd never know he's been retired for at least 5 years, maybe longer. His truck is rarely in the driveway - it's more often in the Home Depot parking lot, one of his daughters' driveways, or on the road on the way to help someone out!

I've posted quite a few pictures in the 70th bday party album in the sidebar. Check 'em out!

Watercooler Wednesday/Thursday

I've been invited to join Randy Elrod at his "cultural watercooler" to "gather 'round the watercooler and chat about culture and/or creative tips."  If it is indeed true that we as creative people have been called not to change the world but to create culture, then this watercooler experience should prove to be an enlightening, rewarding, sharpening, shaping and inspiring conversation!

Join us at the watercooler - click HERE to read Randy's 1st WCW post!

Our Hotel In Burundi

On this last trip to Burundi, I tried packing everything in giant ziploc bags in order to keep like items together and protect everything from possible rain and bugs while sitting on the runway. For some reason, after my initial few neat bags of stuff, I started packing sort of randomly in order to conserve bags - 3 shirts, 1 skirt, 1 can of mosquito repellant, and a few toiletries. Or 1 pair of jeans, a bible, a phone charger, 8 pairs of socks, and a can of deodorant. I managed to pack in such a way that it required me to completely dump out the contents of my suitcase in order to find something. It didn't matter what I was looking for - I couldn't find it. After 2 days in our hotel room in Burundi, Dan thought it would be appropriate to capture the look and feel of the room on camera - so thoughtful of him wanting to preserve memories, don't you think? (Picture #1)On the day that it rained, we came back with really muddy shoes on. Dan headed straight to the balcony to remove his shoes. I headed straight to the bathroom because when there's no bathroom available for 7 hours, you really need to get out of my way when I run up the stairs and into my room - the floors in the bathroom had not dried up since our early morning showers due to the humidity - so my muddy shoes didn't help the situation at all!(Picture #2) Other than the giant tangled mess of things I can't live without while traveling and the constantly muddy, slippery floors, the hotel room was very nice - big, relatively clean, tile floors throughout, giant closet, beautiful balcony, mini-fridge. The grounds were absolutely beautiful - green and lush and overflowing with colorful, flowering plants and trees!! (Picture #3) Of all the mission trips I've been on, this was definitely the nicest hotel - something I shouldn't get too used to - soon enough we'll be back to other parts of Africa and back to the simpler reality of church-run guest houses.

Gross Leg

While in Burundi, my husband managed to become afflicted with..."Gross Leg." Gross leg was an accumulation of poor circulation from air travel for nearly 40 hours and massive amounts of bug bites in concentrated areas on his leg, knee and hip due to no mosquito repellent due to lost luggage! On a scale of 1-10, Gross Leg, at its full-blown worst, was about an 8.5. Since I zoomed in on the calf area, you can't see the hugely swollen ankle that made wearing shoes nearly impossible. I took this picture on Thursday when some of the worst bites had started to fade. We tried to count the bites - I lost count at 90-something!! When we got home, Dan went straight to the doctor - they prescribed an anti-parasite-anti-malaria-antibiotic that was extremely powerful and effective - 1 day later the swelling was nearly gone! Please note: the whiteness of the leg has nothing to do with poor circulation, air travel, or bug bites!

My Dad Is Turning 70!

Today we will gather in California to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday!! We have been cooking for 2 days straight. Chicken flautas. 2 kinds of enchiladas. Carne asada. Rice. Beans. Salad. Chips and salsa, bean dip, pico de gallo with shrimp, fruit platters with lime, bacon-wrapped jalapeno's. It will be fun to see nearly 100 friends and family members join together to honor my dad's faith-filled life!

Pics will be posted tonight.

Uganda Stories

As the stories are pouring out of Randy Elrod's real-time experience in Uganda, I'm trying to do my part in spreading the word about Compassion International and the incredible work God is accomplishing thru their ministry in Uganda and really around the world. Click HERE to be re-directed to Randy's latest entry.

Prayerfully consider sponsoring a child thru Compassion. There's not a better way to spend $32/month. Even if you think you can't possibly afford it, think about this - $1 per day is not so difficult an amount for God to provide through you. If you feel the tug on your heart telling you to go for it, just do it - and ask God to provide that extra $1 per day in whatever way would bring most glory to Him!!

While you're thinking of it, be sure to check out the other bloggers perspective on this Compassion trip to Uganda. Click HERE for a list of blogs.

Remember to PRAY, READ, and SPREAD!

Compassion + Bloggers = Hope

Randy Elrod, the person who inspired me to start a blog, has joined with 16 bloggers from across the country to take an epic, missionary journey to Uganda to see and experience and report firsthand about the need for child sponsorship in Uganda. I'm going to feature daily posts on this topic until they return from Uganda. It is their hope and dream and that they will see over 500 children sponsored as a result of their blogging and the outpouring of compassion from the readers of their blogs. Please consider sponsoring a child for only $32 / month. Here's Randy's entire post from February 10. You can follow the rest of his journey at http://randyelrod.typepad.com. Remember - PRAY, READ, SPREAD!!!

To Uganda With Compassion ...

I am heading to Uganda with 16 other bloggers in hopes of documenting and spreading the life-saving work of Compassion International there.  Compassion International is the first organization of its kind to spread its message through the blogosphere in this way and, as a result, hopefully, release hundreds of children from poverty.

We could use your help making this first-of-its-kind trip a success:

PRAY: Please pray for our technology, creativity, health, families we leave behind, for our thousands of readers and the thousands of children in the third world in need of our help.

READ: Please visit our blogs February 10-18 and leave comments on our posts, let us know you're with us. Go HERE for a complete list of participating blogs.

SPREAD: If you have a blog yourself, please link to our posts from Uganda, embed the videos we churn out, post a list of the bloggers and invite folks to read along with you.  If you don't, e-mail posts that grab you, spread the word about this trip through your network of like-minded friends.  Lastly, we've got text links and instructions for widgets you can embed on any website.  Here are links to those:

Link Text: http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=80309

To add a widget using a Typepad "Links" Typelist: Use the picture above.

Use this URL to link the picture:

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=80309

The choose "Configure" and select "Notes As Text" then select "Save".

For more information about Compassion International visit their WEBSITE.

Thank you for helping us release children from poverty in Uganda.

I am heading to Uganda with 16 other bloggers in hopes of documenting and spreading the life-saving work of Compassion International there.  Compassion International is the first organization of its kind to spread its message through the blogosphere in this way and, as a result, hopefully, release hundreds of children from poverty.

We could use your help making this first-of-its-kind trip a success:

PRAY: Please pray for our technology, creativity, health, families we leave behind, for our thousands of readers and the thousands of children in the third world in need of our help.

READ: Please visit our blogs February 10-18 and leave comments on our posts, let us know you're with us. Go HERE for a complete list of participating blogs.

SPREAD: If you have a blog yourself, please link to our posts from Uganda, embed the videos we churn out, post a list of the bloggers and invite folks to read along with you.  If you don't, e-mail posts that grab you, spread the word about this trip through your network of like-minded friends.  Lastly, we've got text links and instructions for widgets you can embed on any website.  Here are links to those:

Link Text: http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=80309

To add a widget using a Typepad "Links" Typelist: Use the picture above.

Use this URL to link the picture:

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=80309

The choose "Configure" and select "Notes As Text" then select "Save".

For more information about Compassion International visit their WEBSITE.

Thank you for helping us release children from poverty in Uganda.

Recreate wrapup...Thursday Evening

OK, last, but definitely not least, was our amazing night of worship sponsored by Word Music and held at Cumberland Church which is a Northpoint venue! Even if we didn't have pink cake for dessert, the night would have been wonderful! Jeremy Riddle, Mark Roach, Sheri Carr & Meredith Wilson shared songs. The songs were interspersed with video clips. Max Lucado, Erwin McManus, um, I think that's everyone! I'm telling you - I was so blown away by Sheri & Meredith. They led worship with such authority and passion and conviction. I spoke with Sheri afterwards. Told her how I was just blown away by the songs she sang. Click HERE to listen to a great interview with Sheri. Click HERE to go to Meredith's MySpace page.

Got back to the hotel and started packing. The swag at Recreate is unbelievably generous. CDs, books, DVDs, tote bags, mouse pad and other cool stuff. Here's a picture of the swag - I found it on Kim's blog - I didn't meet her - saw her several times throughout the course of the conference - her church must have not been in the "tiny church" category so she was in a different focus group.

Recreate wrapup...Thursday Afternoon

On Thursday afternoon we visited Kalein. Please visit the website for information and inspiration about this place that is about to be...124 pristine acres that will someday house artists from around the world who want to change things. Artists who are not content with the status quo. Gifted artists who feel a calling to something deeper than themselves. The mission, the goal, the vision, the purpose (whatever you may call it) is to provide a place to encourage and equip extremely gifted artists to discover, develop and discipline their calling.

We were transported to Kalein via 4-wheel drives towing trailers filled with hay! We were greeted by Alpaca and horses. A bonfire warmed us up along with steaming hot chocolate!! I took a few pics while I wandered around the property. When we were all done exploring, Randy Elrod called us all back together to share his personal vision for Kalein. It was a beautiful time of intimacy and solidarity as musicians and dreamers. After Randy finished talking, he introduced us to Charles Robinson. The last pics I've posted are of Charles, his wife, Siouxsan, and his sister-in-law, Dana. They shared Native American dances with and blessed the Kalein property with a dance of blessing.  I absolutely loved this part of our day. Charles has a non-profit called  The Red Road.  Go to his website and read it - every inch of it is interesting and informative and enlightening!

Recreate wrapup...Thursday morning

Mark Roach led us in worship this morning, along with his wife, Carolyn. I love his songs. We do lots of them all the time at Fellowship North. Up next was a time of reflection and communion while we were led in worship by Mike Lewis...

Mike Lewis - The Jesus Painter. He started with a blank canvas, then he started smearing, splattering, wiping, finger-painting, zigzagging with a large brush. When he stepped away from the canvas, it was like time stood still for just a moment as the complexity of the creative process was instantly distilled into an incredible likeness of Christ. Christ's eyes. Christ crucified, bloody, suffering on the cross. Christ with arms outreached to the world, hands pierced and dripping with the blood of atonement. Amazing. This pic can't even begin to capture what we saw and experienced. Check out his website. Buy the DVD. You can also go to YouTube and WATCH him in action -

Ken Davis. Ken is a masterful communicator. A comedian. A teacher. I was sitting in the front row, directly in front of him. I didn't feel comfortable taking his picture. Too invasive in my opinion. To read the notes I took during his talk, click the link below.

Recreate wrap-up...Friday

I'll start with Friday and work backwards. Friday morning I took Dan Perkins and Mario Minardi to the airport. They were heading back to San Jose to Twin Oaks Church. The two of them leave next week for Croatia. Their church will soon be expanding its missions vision and this is an integral part of the next step for them. At nine-thirty I checked out of the hotel and headed to EMI/WorshipTogether for a great Re:create add-on. Brenton Brown and Matt Maher led us in worship. Awesome. Had a couple of discussion panels with various EMI execs and some of their songwriters. Really informative. David Gutekunst told us all about the new and improved worshiptogether.com website, including a brand new blog and a newly expanded and highly improved song section. Great resources for worship leaders and fun to explore - lots of stuff to click on - in fact, I used the song section to look up a specific topic for worship this weekend!

After lunch, we broke up into two groups for the song critiquing session. Now, I had forgotten that this was part of the Friday deal. So, I scrambled and with a little bit of help from some friends, I burned a CD of one of Jeff Bakalar's original songs - one that I wasn't involved in writing at all - I submitted My Salvation Your Redeemed for critique by Jimi Williams and Matt Ewald and several of the Re:create attendees. I was super-nervous on Jeff's behalf. The overall critique was really positive. They had a couple of suggestions for improvement to the song. I've posted this song here before, but in case you missed it, here it is!

Download MySalvation.m4a

Last full day of Recreate

Wow. What a day. There was a shift today to a more personal aspect of being on the front lines of worship leading, planning, etc. Lots of cool elements today - CCLI shared about their new and improved services. You can actually upload video performances (original songs) to a designated section of their website. That's a very cool feature I'll be checking out soon. Mark Roach led us in worship. We sing a lot of his songs at Fellowship North. They really resonate with our team and our people.

Mike Lewis, the Jesus Painter, led us in an incredible time of worship - visually thru painting giant canvases focused on Christ. It was a magical unfolding of splashes and splatters and random lines and then you'd see it - the face of Christ as clear as anything right there on the canvas. Amazing. We shared communion during his painting time. Very moving and beautiful.

We heard from Mark Stuart from Audio A. He shared about personal stuff and about his involvement with Hands And Feet which is a very cool project in Haiti. Audio A and their fans have created a village - they house 30 orphans right now, but their plan is to house 80 kids. Their vision is to grow them up and nurture them and educate them and love them and then they will have raised up a new generation who can make an impact in their native country. They've built bunkhouses that can accommodate groups coming in on mission/work trips. It sounds amazing. I liked Mark so much. Click HERE to read more about Hands And Feet. There's a lot of cool details I'm leaving out because I'm dead tired and trying to get to bed. But I might, no, definitely WILL have more to say about this in the near future. Because missions and music are the two things I'm passionate about - and when you combine the two together, watch out - it's gonna be strong!

Ken Davis spoke to us - he got really vulnerable when sharing his story. More about this later - I related so much to his 3 points - I got out my laptop and typed fast & furiously during his talk.

Then we got to visit Kalein. Oh my. Breathtakingly beautiful. So many details about this coming later. Let's just say, adventure, vision, blessing.

Capped the day off with a great night of dinner and worship sponsored by Word. I can't WAIT to listen to a couple of the CDs they gave us - let's just say - the girls rocked the house! Such authority and passion in their words and the delivery rocked my world - I'm still thinking about it!

Much more later on all these topics. Off to bed!

Story behind photo #9

Friday was our last full day in Burundi. We finished all our evangelism and church planting activities late Thursday night with a celebration service and dinner at one of the mother churches. Friday, we met at the shores of Lake Tanganyika for a baptism service. It was planned by Bishop Independance and his team. I've got really great video footage and no way to upload it. Someday it will be posted here - as soon as I figure out how to change it from .mov to .mpeg4. Uh, yeah.

Anyway, there was a huge worship celebration going on when we arrived at the lake. There were rhythm instruments - big metal shakers and a big drum. And lots of voices singing praises to God. It was really glorious. Then a short message by Independance. Then the baptizing began. The singing never stopped, it only got louder and included lots of cheering as the newly baptized Christians came up out of the water then returned to the shore. Bouquets of flowers were handed out and those robes came right off and were handed to the next person waiting to be baptized. It was so great to join this celebration because it really brought home the fact that lifechange did happen in a big way during our time of ministry. Each person wearing a robe was witness to the fact that our God is Big. He's Huge. And He showed up and poured out His power and love and grace and blessing over Bujumbura, Burundi in a spectacular way. I look forward to how God will use this movement of spiritual awakening and revival to impact this city and the other cities and villages in Burundi. I've been invited to do a women's conference in Burundi. Not once, but twice by two totally different, unrelated people. I'm praying about that opportunity. That would really be a branching out experience for me.

After 4 trips to Africa in 10 months (Dan's been on 6 trips), I've got a lot to think about and pray about. My world has changed a lot. My life has been marked with permanent marker - I'm not the same person I used to be. And that's a good thing. The words of Romans 8:28 are not so vague and out of reach anymore. The tapestry that can be is starting to come into focus. Could it really be that personal and true - that God works ALL things together for good for those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose... 

Recreate goes on a field trip

We spent a few hours this afternoon at an auto museum. Surprisingly, I wasn't surprised that we were at this museum. Randy gave a huge hint on his blog recently about how cool this place is. When we pulled up in the buses, I had a strange sense of anticipation/completion. I mean, when I read about things/experiences on blogs, it's more of a vicarious thing. Great blog writers leave me feeling like I was really there and saw and felt the same thing. So, today was a great experience for me. This huge warehouse, formerly a bread factory/bakery, houses tons of vintage autos. Some were beautiful, some whimsical, some fanciful, some practical, at least one amphibious vehicle, one powered by coal, one powered by pedaling, tiny cars, three-wheeled cars, a tiny car towing a tiny boat, etc. So many details that would normally be overlooked, yet when you truly study the cars from a design perspective, there's a lot to discover. I loved the car that had a perfect little spot on the trunk to strap on a square, wicker picnic basket. Randy arranged for a professor from O'More College of Design to be our narrator/guide. His name was John. He was very soft-spoken, but shared many nuggets of truth and inspiration. He read a condensed article from the Washington Post called "Pearls Before Breakfast." I challenge you all to click HERE and read the entire article (it's pretty long), along with the video clips. It is telling and inspiring and thought-provoking. Then I challenge you (and me) to take action. I'm not talking about starting a fiery revolution. I'm talking about listening, feeling, tasting, touching, seeing, living life differently - living with more feeling, more empathy, more patience, more kindness, more passion, more eloquence, more thoughtfulness, more adventure, more anticipation, more curiosity, more creativity, more beauty, more of all that is missing from our lives that we alone have the power to introduce and integrate into our lives.

Story behind picture #8

This is one of my favorite stories. Simon, my translator, is on the left. Odette is on the right. On Thursday, our last day of ministry, we set out to make every minute count because we had to be back at the church site by noon for our final discipleship meeting before the end of the campaign. We shared with many groups of people. Lots of people prayed to receive Christ. Time flew by. By the time we checked on the time, it was already noon. We started walking back to the church. Along the way we were stopped by a young man sitting in the shade on a street corner. He wanted to know what we were sharing with people. We shared the Gospel using the Evangecube. A crowd immediately gathered. Probably 30 people. When it came time to pray, the man who initiated the presentation walked away, not interested in praying to receive Christ. But a lot of other people did pray. By the end of the prayer another crowd had gathered so we shared again. More people prayed to receive Christ. Another crowd gathered. Still more prayed to receive Christ. I noticed a teenage girl in the crowd who was white. Then I realized she was albino. No pigment in her skin. Her face was sunburned bright red. She had yellow-white hair. She had a few brown freckles on her face. Her eyes were watery blue - very pale. I didn't take her picture because I thought she might feel uncomfortable and singled out. At the end of the third group presentation, a young woman, Odette, came up to Simon and asked for prayer for a difficult situation in her family. I couldn't hear her talking because there were a lot of people all around me. Simon and I prayed over her. He prayed in Kirundi, I prayed in English. We prayed out loud, fervently, for healing and restoration in her family situation. I prayed that God would use the situation in her life to bring glory to Himself, whether by healing or by giving her grace to endure the trial. We probably prayed for 5 minutes. At the end of the prayer, we again headed back to the church. Odette came with us. She wanted to see where the church was. We stopped one more time along the main road. A shopkeeper called us over and asked us to share with him. Another crowd gathered then a bus dropped off a large group of high school students - they all stayed to listen. I'm telling you, God takes care of providing the people to listen - they show up from out of seemingly nowhere! Anyways, we finally made it back to the church. We worshipped and prayed and encouraged the new church members. Then Pastor Hurbert asked for testimonies. Odette stepped forward to share her testimony. She explained her family situation. Evidently, her husband had attempted to strangle her. She survived but was unable to speak. She had permanent damage to her vocal chords. She went to several doctors. None of them could help her. She was told she would never be able to speak above a whisper. She reported that while we were praying for her, God healed her throat. That's why she was able to share her testimony with the church with her full voice. That's why she wanted to follow us to the church - she couldn't wait to be a part of this new church! It was an amazing miracle of God!! I pray that God will use her testimony of healing to bring glory to Himself and that He will make Himself known to many others because of this miracle!

I'm At Cre:ate Blogging Live

Sitting in a breakout session led by Dr. Thom Parham. Sitting with Mario Minardi, Dan Perkins, Mark Warnock. Earlier this morning, Randy Elrod drew a lucky name from a bag full of names - Rick Muchow won a 1-week Caribbean cruise for 2. Unbelievable. Then Michael Olson led us in worship. Wow! I've never heard him (I don't think) or even really of him. Then Marty McGehee (4Him) sang 4 new original songs from his newest solo project. Cool grooves, little bit of rap, definitely a more rock and roll sound than 4Him ever had. Yesterday, Matthew West led worship in the afternoon then we went to an awesome dinner sponsored by Integrity Music. We traveled by motorcoach to The Factory. There's this very cool & vibey church called The Journey at Ecclesia. Awesome venue. Paul Baloche, Jared Anderson, Kelly Jo, and ? led worship after dinner. During the worship time, we started hearing sirens. I thought there must be a massive car accident being responded to. Then the lights started flickering. Then we were interrupted and told that there was a tornado heading our way and we needed to be ready to bolt to the hallway if necessary. That's the closest I've ever been to a tornado, unless you count the Twister attraction at Universal Studios.

Story behind picture #7

These kids made me smile. I spent at least 30 minutes sharing the Gospel with a man and his family and a friend inside their courtyard (see pictures below). They had a surprisingly nice home. They had water from a pump in their courtyard. They had a concrete floor in the house. I saw a cushioned chair inside and a nice wood cabinet against one wall with dishes stacked in it. There was a big iron gate to give us a little bit of privacy. The kids all knew not to come in until they were invited. And they weren't invited in until I was done sharing. Then they came streaming in excitedly.
They saw my camera and started pointing and smiling and pushing their way to the front. I managed to snap some pretty big smiles I think. I never ran into a shortage of smiles in Burundi. And each time I showed the picture screen to the kids (and the adults too for that matter), they just went wild with joy! It's like our kids who find great joy in playing with the box the toy came in at Christmas time - these kids never got tired of me taking their picture and showing it to them!

The house with the courtyard belonged to this man. His name was interesting but I forgot to write it down. He prayed to receive Christ. So did his wife and his friend. He asked a lot of great questions. When we were done sharing with him, I gave him an Evangecube. I really felt like he was someone who would use his influence to share his faith with others.

Here's his wife and their youngest child. I saw a few more kids in the courtyard and house that I'm pretty sure belonged to him, but they sort of got mixed into the crowd.  One more picture...

I had to include this picture. This man also prayed to receive Christ in the courtyard that day. I tried to discreetly take a picture of his t-shirt. If you look closely it says Black Mt. Brewery Beer Drinking Team. At the bottom of the shirt it says Cave Creek, Arizona. The middle of the shirt shows a picture of a beer mug, full of frosty beer with lots of foam on top. In the middle of the mug it says "The Satisfied Frog." By now, those of you familiar with Cave Creek might be mildly amused that this t-shirt somehow made its way to Africa. The school that I taught at last year was located in Cave Creek, practically inches away from The Satisfied Frog! This man didn't speak one word of English. It is so random that someone would donate this shirt and that it would end up in a small neighborhood near Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa! Small world, don't you think???

Story behind picture #6

I love this little girl. I'll tell you why in just a minute. Part of the cost of our trips is in-town transportation. We usually assign 2 teams per van. Let me just say for the record: "Toyota makes an incredibly tough van!" We've rented these same vans in Rwanda and Kenya. They appear to be indestructible - they're not much too look at, though! The seats in our van were all rotted away - most of them were down to just the bare foam cushion which looked all chewed up. The van creaked and groaned and shuddered. But I'm telling you - these vans go right through deep mud like it's nothing. They also manage to maintain speeds of 80 mph while dodging traffic, passing slower cars on 2 lane roads, swerving around pedestrians, bicycle taxis, motorbikes, and goats! Every day our team got dropped off first. Then at the end of the day we waited for the other team to come back and pick us up in the afternoon. On Wednesday, the van came to pick us up without the other team. We got to go on a road trip to the other team's church site. We careened through the city streets then turned right on a 1 lane road with 2 way traffic along with all the usual street traffic. Oh, it was market day so there were tons of little mom & pop shops lining the road as well. I think we hit every pothole with all 4 wheels. The seats in the van are high off the ground so you can fit your luggage under the seat - that means tall people like Dan get their head bumped repeatedly. When we finally stopped in front of the other church site, we were pretty rattled. We settled in to wait for the other team. Dan looked a little bit green. He closed his eyes and was kind of dozing off. I was sitting in the very back seat. At least 50 kids swarmed around the van. They all were waving and smiling and trying to talk to us in broken English. They are taught some English in school. They all can say, "what is your name," "what is your country," "how are you," "my name is..." It was pretty fun to talk to them and see their response. Dan, meanwhile managed to fall asleep. The kids kept trying to get his attention, but he was out. A few kids started laughing and singing a song that included umuzungu (white person) in the lyrics. The girl in this picture was very inquisitive and friendly. She seemed very intelligent. I think her name was Alene. After she exhausted her English phrases, she started talking to me in Kirundi. Simon translated for me. Alene told me I was beautiful. Those simple words made me feel not so tired. And made me realize, again, the power of words of affirmation! She made my day.   

Story behind picture #5

Our church plant was part of The Church of God denomination. We called our church "Avocado Church" because it meets under this avocado tree. They leased this little piece of land for 1 week while we were in town. When the owners of the land saw that North Americans were helping with the church, they upped the price to $35 per month which is beyond the reach of the brand new little church. Before we left town, they had secured a school to rent instead which we felt was a wise decision. The school is only $25 to rent and it includes chairs and with all the rain they have it will be nice to have a roof over their heads. Simon was my translator all week. He's on the far left. He's married and has two adorable kids. Pastor Nathaniel has the wild print shirt on. He's the mother church Pastor. Pastor Hurbert is kneeling down in front. He's the new church Pastor. To Dan's left is Pierre. He was Dan's translator. He's a Nazarene pastor. He loved the work we did all week, so much so, that he's praying about leaving the Nazarene church so that he can start planting churches! The other two guys are Burundi nationals. They knew the neighborhoods and were able to introduce us to people. They also were well trained on the using the Evangecube and when the crowd around us would grow too large for everyone to hear and see, they would pull a group of people around themselves and start a separate presentation. Together we were a great team!

Story behind picture #4

I don't know this little girl's name. I saw her every day at our new church site. You start to recognize people not so much by what they look like, but by what they're wearing, since they tend to wear the same thing many days in a row. She's wearing two of my favorite colors and I couldn't resist capturing her beautiful smile. There are lots of kids in Burundi. Many are able to go to school. Many others can't afford to go to school. So they stay home and help their mom take care of the other children and work in the fields. It wouldn't be uncommon for a young girl, just like this one, to have an infant strapped to her back all day long and be the primary caregiver while her mom is busy working in the fields or running a business. In spite of the challenges, every child whose picture I took had a brilliant smile and child-like joy when I showed them their picture on the screen. They giggled and laughed and pointed and touched the picture on the screen. Taking pictures is something that I've never been great at. I'm usually digging in my purse for my Kodak while the perfect picture moment whizzes by. This time, since I knew I'd be blogging about the photos, I took pictures with great purpose and surprise, surprise, most of the pics came out pretty good!