RockTheDesert

Jesus vs Religion

I've got some amazing friends that I've met while working and being involved in churches for the past 22 years. One of these friends is Bobby Brewer whom I met in 2005. Bobby is on staff at a church with campuses in Scottsdale and Mesa, AZ. He's got an incredibly diverse background, once saw a UFO, has authored some interesting books, wears cool shirts, and knows EVERYBODY!

Bobby sent me this video a couple of days ago. I watched it and thought it was absolutely worthy of posting at all the social sites I'm involved in. Hope you watch it and learn something new, are encouraged, and take time to check out Bobby's facebook site, and his blog (recent review of "the book" by Rob Bell - definitely worth a read)!

Packing for Burundi

We put the tree away last week. In its place, we've put 4 large suitcases. It's time to start packing for Burundi! Dan and I leave on January 17. My clothes are already packed. I've got a comprehensive packing list sent to me by a seasoned E3 campaigner named Ky whom I met on our last Rwanda campaign. Ky is my hero. If he went on Survivor, he would win.

You can see that Dan has already been working hard on packing the essentials for his trip. M & M's. Tins of butter cookies. Spare pair of underwear.

Click HERE for our Prayer Calendar for this trip. The trip leader is Mike Talley. This trip is Dan's final training trip with E3. After this, assuming he is able to complete the tasks competently, he will be an official full-time E3 Church Planter! No word yet on when my E3 training trips will begin. I anticipate an extremely busy year of music ministry at FNC, combined with at least 2 trips to Africa along with 2 training trips!

Featured Video - Kenya/Rwanda - June '07

Enjoy this video which includes mostly our Kenya trip with a couple of clips of Rwanda mixed in!

The Africans dressed in mostly red are part of the Maasai tribe. They are the cattle owners/herders in Kenya. They are nomadic and still follow ancient tribal customs such as drinking cow's blood. Yuck. They also live in extremely short huts made from dried mud and manure. The Maasai women traditionally build the homes. They are not very tall so they only build the houses as tall as they can reach. Ironically, Maasai men are extremely tall, so they have to hunch way over in in order to move about in their homes. We were blessed to be able to meet with a group of Christian Maasai. We worshiped with them and they let us look inside their homes and allowed us to take pictures of them.

From 53 seconds to 57 seconds, you'll see the green hills of Rwanda. Then from 1:03 to 1:08 you'll catch just a 5 second glimpse of some children in Rwanda.

Silly & Not So Silly Stuff

This is Ky. He is a seasoned campaigner. He has the most amazingly comprehensive packing list I've ever seen. Retired firefighter. From California originally. Now lives in Oregon. He was on our trip to Rwanda then continued on to Sudan with Dan and Patricia. While in Rwanda, we had to make our own lunches. We brought loads of peanut butter & jelly & honey. Bread was provided for us. The bread slicer was missing half of its blades. So each loaf of bread went something like - slice, slice, slice, BIG slice, BIG slice, HUMONGOUS slice, slice, slice, GIANT slice, etc. We only had a butter knife to work with and Ky volunteered to cut each thick slice in half. Don't even ask about the crumbs and mangled slices of bread. It wasn't pretty. But when you're hungry, bread is bread, and we appreciated every single misshapen slice.   

I finally finished our Sept/Oct Team Berryman Update newsletter. Click here to see the final product.

Dan is now preparing for his second training trip. This will be E3's first ever church planting campaign in Burundi, January 17-27. He needs to recruit at least 2 more campaigners. Email Dan if you're interested and available those dates. [email protected].

Check out this great website http://www.hisgreatplan.com/. Mike & Mary Wagner are E3 Church Planters and they are very good at what they do. If you've never been on a trip before, you've got to go on at least 1 trip with the Wagners. You'll be hooked!

We are working on setting up dessert parties in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area to give us a chance to share with friends and friends of friends what it is that we've been called to do with E3 Partners Ministry. We'd love to have you join us. Please email Marina at [email protected] if you're interested in attending or hosting. Thanks.

Burundi

Burundi is a little known African country - directly in the center of the continent. It's referred to as "the heart of Africa" and to my surprise, when I looked it up on a world map, it's actually sort of shaped like a heart. Sort of. Or maybe a goat's head. But probably mostly like a heart. You can see from the picture that it's located directly south of Rwanda.

Dan's final training trip will take place in Burundi in January 2008. The first ever E3 trip to Burundi is currently scheduled for January 17-27. According to the promotional flyer, they will be working with 11 or 12 churches to establish new mission churches/cell groups through door-to-door evangelism and evangelistic services in the capital city of Bujumbura. Statistics tell us that less than 5% of the people are born again Christians. Government representatives, including the President, have extended an invitation for E3 to come and evangelize their country.

We all are very excited about this incredible opportunity to share the Gospel in an unreached land. I hope to be able to go with Dan on this very first trip. While in Rwanda in September, we actually met and worked with some wonderful Christian leaders from Burundi. They love & worship God passionately. The pastors/bishops we met will be key leaders on the Burundi campaign. This picture is of Steven with Bishop Independence and Bishop Bosco.

Dan is currently assisting in mobilizing Christians to be a part of this adventure. If you think that this might be the missions trip you've been waiting for, or you know someone who would love to be a part of this, please have them check out the E3 website for more trip details and registration info.

Leaving Sudan

I'm looking forward to seeing Dan and hearing all the details of the trip - I did receive a text message from him - 259 1st time professions of faith in Christ. He said it was the most difficult trip he's been on to date! Thank you to all who have been praying faithfully for him and the team!

This is another forwarded email - this time from Patricia - we met Patricia on our Rwanda trip - she is a CPC with e3partners.

_______________________

Flying home towards Nairobi in our 12 passenger plane. No weight problem on this leg. We have left all of our ministry materials in Sudan. We are all well and have seen the infathomable love of God at work in Sudan.

Yesterday God have me the desire of my heart. When I visited Kormachi in July I met a woman named Maria. She was in the compound of the chief and had more beads on than any of the other women. She had the look of being the Queen Bee. She had the appearance of being in another world very far away and unreachable. It was the face of Maria that motivated me to research, pray and prepare to take the gospel to the most primitive area I had ever traveled to. The Toposa. In Nairobi on our way to Sudan we spent the day with missionaries who had lived 6 years with a similar tribe. They opened their hearts to us and shared all the materials their 6 years of work produced. God supplied all we needed to begin to work with the Toposa of southern Sudan. Did you read about our 5 hours stuck in the mud on the way to Kormachi? Our 1st day we had to turn around. Courageous man of Faith David Kaya was willing to try yet again the following day. The road was such that I had to close my eyes and pray. If you are big on off road driving and mud slides. Sudan will be your cup of tea! Kormachi at last!

After picking up a translator at the school we went immediately to the hut of the chief (his compound of huts). The chief was not there but several women and children, Maria and her close friend were there smoking pipes. Such a hardness on her face. That same expression I had seen before that made me wonder if we would ever be able to bridge the gap. Not all the faces had this hard look. Mostly we found warm welcoming faces.

The afternoon and following trip allowed us the opportunity to visit other compounds but the door did not open again for üs to visit the chief's compound until our final day in Kormachi. We had the awesome opportunity to spend an ünrushed 1 hour with Maria and 5 other women, 2 men and a gaggle of kids. I had an EXCELLENT Toposa translator (huge answered prayer) and was able to tell the stories of God's creation that had been taught to me by the missionaries. FAR from perfect but I soooooo believe God used it for His Glory. I hope you too can take great Joy in this divine opportunity. Most of the adults in that circle prayed a prayer to receive Christ as their Savior. I trust in the Lord with all my heart that He heard those prayers and will continue to draw the people of Kormachi and Kapoeta to Himself with cords of human kindness (Hosea 11:4).

Thank you so much for your prayers. God's Grace has been abundant and overflowing!

God bless you

patricia

Back To Normal

Today is a normal day. Both boys went to school. I made breakfast and packed lunches. I'll be doing laundry the rest of the day. I'm thinking of dusting the living room and sorting through the mail. I'll be planning out worship songs for the coming weekend. Grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and Sprouts. Sorting through the mail. Replying to email and phone messages.

Thought I'd share 1 story from Rwanda...although I don't have very many pictures to show yet...Dan forgot his memory card for his camera. So before I left, I gave him the card from my camera so he could take lots of Sudan pics.

I was a Team Lead - Michael was on my team. We each had a ministry partner/translator. We also had a Bishop from Burundi on our team named Independence. He didn't need a translator. We had a group of 9 nationals from the Mother Church in Kibuye join us for daily door-to-door evangelism. On the first day, after training on how to use the Evangecube, we split up into 5 teams and headed out to share the Gospel. Emmanuel was my ministry partner. Jane was Michael's ministry partner. We all went in different directions. I headed down the road, led by two nationals. From the road there was a stunning view of Lake Kivu. I was looking straight ahead, trying to spot some houses to stop at. Suddenly our nationals made a sharp right turn and disappeared off the side of the mountain. Or so I thought. I inched cautiously over to the edge and looked straight down. Realized that there were houses built into the side of the cliffs and all along the path down to the lake. There were narrow, muddy trails weaving back and forth all the way down. Great. Just great. Emmanuel went ahead of me, carrying my water bottle, my backpack, his backpack, and holding my hand the whole way. He was very kind and didn't mind when I stopped to re-group every 10 steps. We reached a house. Went inside. It was a small room. Small table. 1 bench. Very clean. Concrete floor. 2 chairs. There was an older gentleman inside. Probably in his early 70's. Very welcoming. Three more adults showed up and entered the room. They probably saw us (strangers) heading down the trail and were curious about what was going on. Two young boys entered the room. I was able to share the Gospel with the whole group. All of them prayed to receive Christ. I did a short discipleship lesson. Gave them tracts to read and urged them to read the tracts to their families and to pass along the message of Christ to others. One of the young boys turned out to be an orphan. He was 6 years old. This was his grandpa's home. He had come to live here when his parents died. His name was Claude. He followed us around the rest of the week and whenever asked could recite the story of salvation and knew the meaning of all the pictures on the Evangecube. As soon as Dan arrives home (Sept 29), I'll post a picture of Claude. He wore a lime green shirt every day. In the villages, people tend to have only 1 set of clothes. It's pretty easy to remember people day to day because you recognize their clothes. 

 

Finally Home

We made it home...finally. Africa is a really, really long way from home. And it seems to take twice as long to get home. Our luggage did not make it home with us. Which is a much better scenario than not having our luggage make it to Africa with us - which happened to one of our team members. His luggage arrived in Rwanda on the day we were heading back to the USA. I got a knock on my door at 1:45am this morning - 4 suitcases needed to be signed for. I can sleep better now, knowing that our dirty laundry has arrived!

We are grateful for the prayers of friends and family. It was an amazing trip. We all had life-changing moments personally too. That was cool.

Kibuye, Rwanda has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world...it's right on Lake Kivu which is an enormous, blue green body of water. We kept our window open at night and could hear the waves lapping the shore gently. None of the photos I took can truly depict its beauty. Hopefully others on the trip were able to capture the sights and scenery...as soon as those photos are available, I'll start building a new photo album for the trip. For now, I'll just post a few photos and start telling stories tomorrow when I can think coherently!

New Cubes

Guess what we got in the mail last week...

These are pocket-size Evangecubes! Dan ordered 100 of them. So many that they actually came with their own retail display case which we proudly have showcased on the sideboard in the dining room! You can see from the picture that Dan spent some serious time designing his merchandise display.

From left to right you can see the entire story of salvation just by glancing at the display. Jesus on the cross. Soldiers guarding the tomb where Jesus was buried. The miracle of the resurrection. Jesus is the bridge - the way, the truth, the life. Choose God's free gift of salvation. He's waiting to take you by the hand, offer you forgiveness & reconciliation with Him as well as an abundant & eternal life. There's even a basic discipleship lesson on the far right. And of course, you can clip these cubes on your belt right next to your phone and/or pager, you can clamp it on a backpack or purse, and if you're just the simple, no-frills type, you can just carry it in your hand.

These are part of our "arsenal" that we take with us to Rwanda. They are an invaluable evangelism tool. Over the course of the week, we will tell the story of salvation multiple times. And each time we do, it becomes even more ingrained in our hearts and impressed in our minds. It is amazing how God is using this simple tool to make His name known in the most remote places in the world. We are anxiously waiting to board that plane on Wednesday. We are so blessed to be able to share this experience with our sons. They are excited about seeing the place that captured our hearts and for which we are giving up life as we've known it for 21 years in order to be "all in" on this e3 journey.

Rwanda in 5

It's Friday. Normally a busier day than most because of all the weekend prep that goes on. Setting the stage. Designing Easy Worship presentation. Music copied and put on music stands. Worship order finalized and printed. All these tasks are familiar and necessary like dots on i's and crosses on t's. But today, this Friday, I've added a new layer of tasks to be completed. I'm determined to not have a terrible Tuesday the day before we leave. So I'm trying to cross huge chunks of items off my to-do list, starting today. I've got guest musicians scheduled to come in on the Sundays I'm gone so I'm finalizing details with them. I'm burning CDs for the worship team and band. I'm putting together packets of music for both weeks. I'm also building the Easy Worship shows for both weeks. I'm buying batteries and Lay's potato chips (long story). I'm re-confirming availability of band and singers. I'm even putting together a contingency plan in case of catastrophic projector failure. I've got lyric sheets ready to pass out to the congregation and lyrics & music for singers and band. Just in case! 

In just 5 short days, we will board a plane and head to Washington D.C. where we will meet the other members of our North American team of Missionaries to Rwanda. We will then travel to Ethiopia and spend one night before the final leg of our journey which takes us to Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda. After we go through customs, we will be greeted by a welcoming committee of e3 trainers and Rwandan nationals. It's a custom they have of coming to the airport to greet us. Then we'll pile our luggage and supplies and ourselves into 12 passenger Toyota vans which will carry us to the Kibuye region. We will check into a guest house. Get settled. Then get started on the work which we've been called to do.

This is a picture of Kibuye and Lake Kivu. I found it on Joshua and Alyssa's photo blog. Click HERE to go to Joshua and Alyssa's photo blog (BrooksAfrica.blogspot.com). They were in Kibuye in May so you can get an idea of this incredible place where we will be sharing the Gospel. Be sure to check out the ONLINE VIDEO of the entire team ministering in Kibuye. It's very inspiring and hopefully will give you a glimpse of why we are so passionate about Rwanda.

Encounter

OK, something totally cool happened to us on Saturday. We took Michael to work at Chickfila. Decided to swing into Sports Chalet to look for last minute travel items. When we went to start up the car to head toward home, we had a sluggish, "the battery is dying" start. Since my knight-in-shining-armor was with me, disaster was avoided and we were able to head straight over to WalMart to get a new battery. The wait was about an hour. We decided to do some more last minute travel shopping. Travel alarm clocks. Batteries. Vitamins. Etc.

Now, in the past, we had noticed that WalMart had hired some African refugees. We even had spoken to one of them before and he said he was from Sudan. So, today we decided that we should look for someone from Sudan and, if possible, strike up a conversation. We chose Checkstand #15. I just had a feeling that the cashier was from Sudan. There was only one couple ahead of us. They were chatting with the cashier and telling him that they were from South Africa. He mumbled something about Sudan. I was ecstatic. I knew he was from Sudan! When it was our turn, Dan started asking him if he was from Sudan. Dan mentioned that we were traveling to Africa and that he would be in Sudan soon. Well, the cashier not only was from Sudan, he was from the very region, in fact, the very village that Dan will be working in, Kapoeta. We decided that we absolutely had to be-friend him. He has agreed to have dinner with us before we leave so that he can tell us all about Sudan and Kapoeta. We are very excited about this "chance" encounter and I'm sure I'll have much more to post after we have dinner. Pray that we would have a chance to share the Gospel with him and that we would establish a friendship with him and possibly others who've been recently relocated to Phoenix from Africa.

2 Week Checkup

We leave for Rwanda 2 weeks from today...

I'm already mostly packed.
I know exactly how to pack for Michael & Steven.
Dan packs for himself. That way he can sneak in his stash of candy bars, cans of nuts, fast food condiment packets, etc.

My goal is to be more spiritually prepared this time. We've been asked, as team leads, to be prepared to speak for 20-25 minutes each time we are at a church gathering. That means I'll have to be able to impart spiritual truths to both those we do ministry with and the new converts who gather with us every afternoon and at the church service on Sunday. I am intimidated by this task. I know that God will hold me accountable for the words that I speak. I'm also looking forward to seeing God work in me and through me to make His name known.

I don't want to be like Megaphone Man. When we first moved to Phoenix, we were driving west on Camelback Road toward 16th Street. We were in the left turn lane and had the red light. On the south west corner, I could see a white mini-van with a couple of bored looking teens loitering around it, sitting on the bumper, etc. And I could see a man - youth pastor looking guy - with a megaphone milling about on the street corner. We all rolled down our windows to listen to what he was saying. MM was yelling at every car, every pedestrian, the entire intersection - something about hell, sin, condemnation, burning in hell, repent, repent, be saved, turn from your evil lives...etc...etc. Wow. Now that's real commitment, don't you think??? Actually, I was absolutely mortified that someone could possibly think that yelling into a megaphone could actually produce anything but ridicule, anger, apathy and rolling eyes in the passersby.

My prayer is that God would use me and give me words to speak that glorify Him and encourage & challenge both the believers and the non-believers. No megaphone will be necessary.

2 Calendars and a Video

Download prayer_calendar_rw07c.pdf

Click on the link above to download and print our Rwanda prayer calendar.
We would love to have you partner with us in prayer during our upcoming trip to Rwanda. Dan, Mike, Steve & I will travel to Rwanda on September 5 for an e3 partners church planting campaign.

Dan will then continue on to Sudan for another e3 partners church planting campaign which also happens to be his first training trip. I know that Dan and the entire team would really appreciate your prayers as well. Click on the link below to download and print the Sudan prayer calendar. It's actually a combined calendar - our Rwanda trip back to back with the Sudan trip - since there are 3 people on our Rwanda campaign who will continue on to the Sudan campaign.

Download prayercalendarPatriciaSeptember.doc

And finally, check out this video. It was recorded recently in the area where Dan will be in Sudan.

Websites

I love websites. Well, I love websites that are good websites. The kind that answer the question that brought you to the website in the first place. Right now, as I type, I am supposed to be helping Ean (IT guy at FNC - see pic below) design, create, build, launch, etc. a new website for FNC. I am excited about the prospect of the website turning out great. I will post updates to our progress as soon as something materializes that is really cool. For now, back to the creative process.

 

Kapoeta, Sudan

Dan will be going to Kapoeta, Sudan on his first E3 "training" trip. He needs to complete 2 training trips in order to be considered a fully trained E3 staff member. Oh, yeah, he also needs to raise 100% of his financial support. Then it's all official. Right now it looks like he'll be in Sudan from September 19-29. This trip will focus on evangelism, discipleship and church planting in Southern Sudan. Two unreached people groups will be targeted: the Toposa people and the Dadinga people. Northern Sudan is almost totally made of Muslim and they are working to bring Isalm to Southern Sudan.

Dan is very excited about this trip. He'll get a chance to help plan and execute the trip from start to finish. He'll lead a team while he's there and have on-the-job training as a church planter while he's there.

We recently received this letter from an E3 Church Planting Coordinator named Nadine who has just returned from a trip to Sudan. This will help to explain the need for a trip to Sudan, as well as the urgent need to cover this trip and its participants in prayer.

"It was a good trip, but I am left with how do I describe/process Sudan? A country of contrasts. Beauty in the midst of total devastation. Friendly people immersed in severe poverty.  Remnants of war; abandoned tanks dotting the landscape with beautiful mountains as the backdrop,  empty bullet cases laying on the ground, bombed out buildings, and unbelievable worship in a church with a bullet riddled roof.  Naked children next to grass huts happily playing. Children running to us with their little bowls to get rice, only to find out that the packages we brought weren’t rice, they were mosquito nets to save their lives from Malaria. Children joyfully collecting termites to eat, and a 3 day old baby lying on a mat on the dirt ground contentedly with his brother.  Bringing children with measles who would die if we didn’t bring them to a hospital that didn’t have any medicine. (we bought the medicine) Talking about a girl in the village who was just “cut with a knife” to let the poison out because she was sick, only to find out that EVERY one of the nationals from the local church that we were working with had been through the same thing as a child.  Intimidating soldiers giving their life to the Lord and thanking us for coming saying “no one has ever come to talk with them about God before.”  How do I describe a place where the only other vehicles belong to the UN  and yet we felt safe. Or about witnessing to the people about Gods’ love in a village where 28 people were massacred by the LRA last December. I wish you could see the strength and dignity of the Sudanese women or the interest that men had in talking about the things of God.. I think what I want to remember the most is the people of Sudan. So warm and welcoming with beautiful smiles and handshakes for everyone. I want to remember watching the pain in their faces turn to joy as they realized that God hadn’t forgotten about them when they gave their lives to our all powerful Savior. Sure there were “hard things’ about the trip, but all of those things seem insignificant to the privilege of working side by side with the local pastor, (who is appropriately named Victor), knowing that he would be riding his new bicycle, (that we bought him) 3 hours one way to do the follow up for this village. Seeing his dedication that as “soon as the grass grows” he will be building his tukul there and moving his family because “a shepherd has to be with his sheep.”  Sharing the work with the Sudanese Christians is an honor that fades away earthly “conveniences” and brings a realization of shame for ever having thought of them as important. Yes in Sudan there is beauty amongst devastation, but there is also His kingdom shattering the darkness!  Kor Ingles Sudan is a tiny drop on the map of the world, but God’s kingdom broke in there and there are now 256 people in Sudan who turned to the Lord in the midst of their suffering and now have the Hope that only He can give."

Update from Joshua & Alyssa

Got a text message from Joshua & Alyssa at 9:19pm tonight: "We're in Nairobi (airport) waiting on our plane for Kigali (Rwanda). We're hot, tired, but in good spirits...Pray for us and enlist everyone else you can, too. We luv U." I know they would greatly appreciate any and all prayers offered up on their behalf. They are so excited about their back-to-back trips. I know that God will work mightily both in them and through them and all the others on these trips!!

The following is a devotional that Joshua posted on the Epic forum - I've also included my response...

Matthew 15:11 - "It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." Psalm 15:1-3 - LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman.

I'll keep this one simple, because the closer I get the proclaiming the Word the more I feel like a child with only simple things to say... The more I realize that I'm ill equipped to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that’s okay because salvation belongs to the Lord. Not one of us will save a soul or fail to do so... It is the Holy Spirit who saves souls. God does not need our help, we go only because He said go. We go to be obedient... And take courage and remember - The battle is already won.

Here is my simple devotional for the scripture above: Let every word be pleasing to the Lord... Let every movement be an offering pleasing to the Lord... Let every look be given to God... Let every breath be worship.... Let your life be the Gospel.... And when you fail to do this, confess and remember that He made you blameless... Preach the Gospel, Preach the Gospel, Preach the Gospel - if necessary, use words (St. Francis of Assisi).

MY RESPONSE Joshua, I love this devotional. It is so simple -- the life we are called to live is not meant to be as complicated as we allow it to become. If we live and move and breathe in the Spirit, then we will live lives that are an offering to God and which please Him immensely. If we look to God continuously, we see His holiness and perfection and we are reminded over and over again of our powerlessness to save souls...this actually takes such a huge burden off of me. Christ died. The price was paid. The gift is free and is offered to all. Those who receive this gift receive Christ not me. Those who reject this gift reject Christ not me. So simple. I pray that we would, as much as possible, be blameless in His sight, so that we can walk in His ways and that our offering of obedience would be pleasing to Him.

Everything

"Everything" is one of many great songs by Tim Hughes (others include "Here I Am To Worship," "Happy Day," "Be Glorified"). We are singing "Everything" this weekend at Fellowship North Church - learned it tonight. Randy is in the middle of a "Drive" series and this week the theme is trust/faith in your "Chief Spotter."

Download everything.mp3 - this is a 40 sec. clip

http://www.worshiptogether.com/features/article.aspx?iid=518476&tid=227 - this link takes you to Worship Together - they have a new jukebox feature and one of the featured songs just happens to be "Everything."

Here's a question for you to ponder with me: In general, have we (the church at large) turned our praise and worship time into a feel-good experience for us and those around us without regard for how God might feel? Oh, it's a subtle shift. We tend to move from spectator to participant to consumer to connoisseur to cynic pretty rapidly...during the whole "seeker" movement, we may have unintentionally helped to create worshippers who have forgotten that worship isn't about them at all - it's all about Him. And if we lose sight of Him during our daily life, a few songs on Sunday aren't going to restore our relationship with Him. Oh, we might feel like we're back on track because we have an emotional/physical response to worship. But, if we aren't truly striving to live our lives in response to God's unconditional love and forgiveness, then we shouldn't be singing at all, but instead, mourning, repenting, surrendering, giving and receiving unconditional love, and being the body of Christ to a world that desperately needs compassion, justice, mercy, grace, goodness, righteousness, gentleness, peace, joy, everything that we have been given through Christ displayed and lived out in a daily, practical way!

And so my heart's cry (and maybe yours too) should and will be "Be my Everything, You Are Everything, Jesus Everything." 

Thoughts on Creativity

Found this at http://ragamuffinsoul.com. I actually took a "how-to-blog" seminar by the author (Carlos Whitaker) last summer at Saddleback's worship conference. Gave me a lot to think about. Took me 9 months to get it all together and start blogging. This article is on creativity, one of my favorite subjects.

9 Attitudes of Highly Creative People.

Published May 9th, 2007 in .

1. Curiosity

I’ve written previously on the topic of curiosity because I’m convinced that it is an essential skill to build as a blogger. Learning to ask ‘why’, ‘what if’ and ‘I wonder…’ are great questions t build into your life if you want to be a more creative person.

2. Seeing Problems as Interesting and Acceptable

ChallengeOne of the problems of the Western mindset is that we often see problems or obstacles in life as unacceptable parts of life. We avoid pain or suppress it when it comes and in doing so don’t often see and feel symptoms that are there to tell us something important. Creative people see problems as a natural and normal part of life - in fact they often have a fascination with problems and are drawn to them.

3. Confronting Challenge

Many of the most creative ideas through out history have come from people facing a challenge or crisis and rather than running from it asking ‘how can I overcome this’?
4. Constructive Discontent

Creative people often have an acute awareness of what’s wrong with the world around them - however they are constructive about this awareness and won’t allow themselves to get bogged down in grumbling about it - they take their discontent and let it be a motivation to doing something constructive.

5. Optimism

OptimismCreative people generally have a deeply held belief that most (if not all) problems can be solved. No challenge is too big to be overcome and no problem cannot be solved (this doesn’t mean they’re always happy or never depressed - but they don’t generally get stumped by a challenge).

6. Suspending Judgment

The ability to hold off on judging or critiquing an idea is important in the process of creativity. Often great ideas start as crazy ones - if critique is applied too early the idea will be killed and never developed into something useful and useable. (note - this doesn’t mean there is never a time for critique or judgement in the creative process - it’s actually key - but there is a time and place for it).

7. Seeing Hurdles as leading to improvements and solutions

HurdlesThis relates to some of the above - but by ‘hurdles’ I mean problems and mistakes in the creative process itself. Sometimes it’s on the journey of developing an idea that the real magic happens and it’s often out of the little problems or mistakes that the idea is actually improved.

8. Perseverance

Creative people who actually see their ideas come to fruition have the ability to stick with their ideas and see them through - even when the going gets tough. This is what sets apart the great from the good in this whole sphere. Stick-ability is key.

9. Flexible Imagination

FlexibleI love watching a truly creative person at work when they’re ‘on fire’. They have this amazing ability to see a problem or challenge and it’s many potential solutions simultaneously and they have an intuitive knack at being able to bring previously disconnected ideas together in flashes of brilliance that seem so simple - yet which are so impossible to dream up for the average person.

Good stuff. Sorry for all the practical info lately.
Just what’s in my head.

Los

Team Berryman is Wired!

Check out this new magazine cover - we are wired and ready for our trip!! If you'd like to create your own magazine cover, click here! Steven's passport arrived on Saturday. Now all we need to do is get yellow fever shots for the boys. Such fun. I think I'll have Dan take them in. Last time Michael had a shot, now that was a terrible day. I wouldn't be surprised if the doctor retired after that day. I'm pretty sure his entire staff needed counseling. Our FNC Kenya team met on Sunday after church. We will meet weekly until we leave. We practiced sharing the Gospel using an evangecube. We had documents notarized by Debbie Lawson (thanks Debbie!). We prayed together. The trip is fast becoming a reality and it is really exciting to see so many teens "wired" and ready to go!

Crazy People

I'm starting to realize that we might be crazy. A special kind of crazy. I remember hearing Erwin McManus speak at a leadership conference and he talked about how missionaries need to be crazy in order to spend their entire life passionately devoted to the cause. I believe this message eventually became his book "The Barbarian Way." He definitely has a point. Lately Dan has been telling people about his new passion in life and how he's leaving his job and evangelizing Africa. He tends to get this look of shock, then disbelief (because, after all, he is a great jokester), then amazement, then the bullying starts or the dismissal and uncomfortable subject change. Very few people have truly understood what it is God is calling him to do. I have to admit that at first I couldn't fully understand. I wanted to understand. I understood intellectually, but I couldn't feel it. I could see the look in his eyes and the fire in his belly was undeniable, but I didn't have the same conviction. But God knew I needed to experience Africa for myself. And I needed to hear Him say 'go.' Not because Dan is going or because of any other reason except that God said 'go.'

We know another couple, actually are related to them. They are also crazy. They are the ones who started all this missionary business within the family. Ray & Mary Berryman. They are constantly travelling the globe, taking every single opportunity possible to share the Gospel with anyone who will listen. And people definitely are listening. They've had the chance to meet heads of state in lots of countries. They've dined with multi-millionaires and with paupers. They've eaten things that shouldn't even be spoken of. They've slept at the Ritz and they've slept under the stars in Africa. They don't do this for themselves. They do it because God also said 'go.' And because of their example and encouragement and prayers, we are headed down a similar path.

Here's an excerpt from their prayer letter for their trip to Spain this coming weekend. Whether you're a prayer warrior or not, I know they would appreciate as much prayer as possible for this outreach.

Mary and I will be traveling to Barcelona, Spain this Thursday, April 12, 2007 to conduct a leadership outreach mission there. We will be working with the leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ to reach and disciple top leaders there in Spain. A number of executive outreach meetings and interviews with key leaders have been scheduled, and we will be sharing with them how they can achieve true success in their businesses and in their lives through having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and applying integrity in all they do.    In this once religious Catholic nation, most of the population is now secular and have little interest in hearing about Christianity. However, people are desperately searching for meaning in life at this time as they see unrest and Islam knocking at their door. This sets the stage to have people become more open to seek solutions to their current state of affairs, resulting in a more friendly reception of biblical truths.   This is our first outreach to the leadership in Spain and we are hoping that the hearts of the people will be open to the truths that can transform their nation...As a follow up to these meetings, the new believers and seekers will be connected with existing Christian leaders there to help provide fellowship and discipleship of those that are interested in learning more...

Rwanda - Part 14

Time to do the final wrap...Saturday we shopped. Bought some beautiful fabric to make pillows. Ask me in 1 year if they're made yet. Fancy dinner at a beautiful lodge near the gorilla volcano. Jack Hanna has a home on the golf course. Rumor has it that heads of state and celebrities have all stayed at his place.

Early morning on Sunday we began our long trek back home. At this point, memories were fading fast and it's like time was standing still yet moving forward more rapidly than we could fathom. Weird. We spent some time at the Genocide Museum. Sobering. And Sad. And Maddening. Why didn't the world help these people. Where was I when 1 million innocent people were slaughtered with machetes in cold blood?

Then off to the Kigali Airport. Waiting. Boarded a plane to Nairobi, Kenya. 6-hour layover in Kenya. Not a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The airport had a power outage that lasted for a couple of hours while we were there. We shopped. We ate. We walked. We were too tired to talk. I sent an email to Joshua & Alyssa from an internet cafe. We watched an ER re-run and another show full of violence. Not so nice. Then we finally left at about 11pm. Flew all night to London. Large group of Africans on the plane in the rows in front of us. I thought they were on an organized tourist trip to America. One person appeared to be in charge and kept reassuring them and making sure they were all seated properly. Turns out they were refugees from the Congo all seeking asylum in the U.S.A. They were headed to New York. Parted ways with our group in London. Dan and I ate breakfast at TGI Fridays. A proper English breakfast (I assume) complete with baked beans, sausage, bacon, egg, toast. $4 for an 8 oz bottle of water. On our way to our gate, stopped in at Starbucks for a white chocolate mocha and a frappuccino. Boarded our plane for Washington D.C. Back row. Right next to the only bathroom on the plane. Really long flight. Boring in-flight movie. Went thru customs when we landed. Then we waited for our flight to Phoenix. Made a couple of cell phone calls (finally!) Tried (unsuccessfully) to change our seats (very last row, both middle seats). And then we met Eric. I noticed two Africans sitting in the seats across from us. A young woman and man. I wasn't totally sure if they were together or not. Trying to be friendly, I asked the woman what language her Bible was printed in. I was pretty sure it was a Bible - gold edging on the pages, she had a tiny cross on a chain around her neck. The woman appeared to not understand me at all. Then the young man next to her tried to answer my question. It turns out that he had met her in Ethiopia a few hours earlier when she needed assistance understanding where and when to board the plane headed for Phoenix. Since he was headed for Phoenix, he was appointed to be her unofficial "guardian." I asked him where he was from. I was elated to learn he was from Rwanda. His name was Eric. We managed to exchange contact information before we boarded the plane. We saw each other at the baggage claim carousel in Phoenix. Told him we would call and have him over for dinner.

OK, so tonight, we had Eric over for dinner. I am so happy that God put Eric in our path. I look forward to getting to know him. I'm hoping that I'll pick up some helpful phrases in Kinyarwandan. I hope that we can be a blessing to him as he gets acclimated to life in Phoenix. He is here on a student visa, studying mechanical engineering at ASU. Dan showed him the wonders of our computer, including Google Earth and digital photos. We actually pinpointed his home in Rwanda. Amazing. I hope to post a photo of him in a future post. Forgot to take the photo. For sure next time. Eric speaks Kinyarwandan, French and English and Swahili. He lost many family members in the genocide, including a younger brother. Life is not fair.

So, the journey is told and will probably be re-told many times. And Rwanda will be a part of us forever. I feel like our lives are permanently entwined with this beautiful part of Africa. There are so many more people who need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. So many dreams were birthed in this place. We will follow the calling with all our hearts and hopefully mobilize many others to do the same. For Him. Because of Him. It's all about Him.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Rwanda - Part 13

The Unity Goat Project. Designed to provide assistance to the poorest/neediest families in the local church. Each Church Plant pastor decides which families could benefit immediately from a goat. Then goats are distributed accordingly. Each of those families agrees that they will return the offspring of the goat to the church for distribution to another needy family. Etc. Etc. Etc. This could and should go on for a very long time. The cost of each impregnated goat is $25-$30. Each goat typically has twins or triplets. It gets a little complicated. But they have a good system. There is a three-fold value in each goat. First of all, it produces milk which the people can drink. Second, it produces manure which they use for fertilizer. Great idea. Third, they can eventually slaughter it and eat it. I suppose if times were really tough, they could also sell it for cash. I wonder how much a used goat sells for??!!

This trip changed the course of my life. I know that sounds pretty dramatic. But really, our lives will never be the same. On the Tuesday that Dan went back to work, he turned in his resignation letter. That was a pretty big deal. He signed up for a course called Body Builders which is designed to teach you the Biblical way to approach support-raising. I'm attending the course with him. It's in Jacksonville, FL. He has been assigned two mentors through e3...one will mentor him with fundraising, another with becoming a Church Planter. We are both very excited about the process he is embarking on.

And now, moving on to Burundi. Burundi is a small country in Africa directly south of Rwanda. This is a country that is very open to having e3 partners come in and evangelize the entire country. The president is a fully devoted follower of Christ. So, there is a possibility that Dan would become involved in church planting there. I am also praying about becoming involved in e3 partners as a Church Planting Coordinator. This is something that I am actually almost wrestling with. I know that I love being involved in ministry. Up to this point, it's been in music/worship in local churches. I'm wondering what in the world God is up to. Being a missionary wouldn't be so far removed from working in a church. We'd actually work with churches and mobilize groups of people from churches to go on trips. I'm watching and waiting to see God start to orchestrate the details and provide us little glimpses of what the future might hold. Maybe I need to have more blind faith than that. Maybe as I move forward, the road will be invisible. Am I ready for that kind of faith?

Rwanda - Part 12

Friday afternoon we had a celebration service at the New Church Site. It was so much fun. Tons of singing and praising. A challenge from Dan. Final sermon from me! We also received some gifts...the mother church, the new church, each of the pastors & their wives, beautiful tokens of their appreciation. I especially was touched by the carved wooden picture of a shepherd with sheep gathered around him - that was in direct reference to the message I gave one day. Then John Peter (a super cool guy from the mother church who worked with us all week) said he had a gift for us. So we stood up to receive a Rwandan flag on a little stand. Very nice. Then finally, a woman who prayed to receive Christ on Sunday at the mother church, said she had a gift for us. She was standing there holding her young baby in her arms - so we stood up to receive whatever gift she had to give us - I assumed she had something in her hand just underneath the baby - to my amazement and shock, when I reached for her hand, she handed me her baby. I had no idea what to say or do. Then she hugged me and her picture taken with me. Then she took the baby and handed it to Dan and hugged him and had her picture taken with him. Then she took the baby back and sat down. You know, that could have been very awkward. I guess she wanted to give us something of value and maybe her child is the most valuable item she has. Not quite sure what she was thinking but I'd like to think of it as a sweet gesture. Then it was all over. We got in the van for the ride back to the Guest House. The kids, as usual, followed the van, running & racing as far as they could. We saw so many people lining the road that we recognized. I saw Jacqueline, the young woman who asked me to be her spiritual mother. I saw the teenage girl who was an orphan who had many promises broken to her in her young life, yet through Christ she now had new hope and renewed sense of purpose and was determined to share the message of Christ with as many children as she could. There was the man dressed in white who was in charge of disbursing water to villagers at his little water station...now he had received the gift of living water and would no longer thirst. There was the young man dressed in his work clothes - he's a guide at the Gorilla excursion - now he's a follower of Christ and so hungry to learn more about the Bible. He completed all of the discipleship lessons and wanted more. We saw groups of teens and pre-teens and young adults, all with a new-found faith -- this faith and the boldness to now share Christ will hopefully change the course of this entire village for eternity's sake.

We had Pastor Japhet and Pastor John D'Amour in the van with us. We were all pretty quiet on the ride back. So much had transpired. So many miracles. We started the week with a big, green, grassy field. We ended the week with a church - not a building but a living, breathing organism. People who were lost but now were found. People who were blind but now could see. Amazing.

Back at the guest house, we hung out in the gazebo next to our room. Finished up some paperwork. Then went to the celebration wrap-up for the campaign. All the teams along with the pastors and the YWAM kids were there to praise God for His mighty work that week. Each team also was able to present a lot of discipleship materials to the pastors, along with a Proclaimer (suitable for large gatherings) and a smaller, similar device, can't remember its name, (suitable for small gatherings) that had "The Story of God" on it. We also gave them all the contact information we had gathered over the week for all the people who had prayed to receive Christ. Then Robert Mutijima announced that we were also able to give 5-6 impregnated goats to each site as part of the Unity Goat Project.

More on that later.

Rwanda - Part 11

I feel like I'm finally winding down. Maybe. Friday was a wonderful day. It was a full circle day for me. Definitely. We started up the road today. Headed to a part of the banana grove I hadn't seen yet. God kept sending us groups of people to share with. A group of women. A group of men. A new group of kids. A group of field workers heading to work. A woman at her home who invited 2 passersby to join us. A group of women in the middle of the field they were planting. A group of men who were just passing by. Another group of women heading to work. And of course more and more kids. Today was particularly meaningful because of where we were for most of the early afternoon. From about 11am - 1:30pm we were in the middle of several large fields that were being plowed and planted. The first two women we shared with were in the middle of a field. So we joined them there. One woman was completely stooped over. Even when she stood up to greet us she was still bent over at the waist. She was probably in her early 70s. We asked if we could share the story of God using some pictures. They said yes. As I began to share the Evangecube, another woman joined the group. To my amazement, it was the 1st woman I led to Christ on Day 1. She was smiling and encouraging the women to listen to the message. She stayed to listen and was so happy when both of her co-workers prayed to receive Christ. Jane sat down in a pile of dirt to write down their names. I moved to the road. I noticed that John D'Amour was sharing with a group of people. They all prayed to receive Christ. By then another group had gathered around me. Jane and I shared the Cube. They all prayed to receive Christ. Three older men walked by. They stopped to hear the message. They were unbelievably happy to hear it. When I showed them the picture of God's hand reaching down from heaven, they all reached out and shook our hands. They were completely into the message. They all three prayed to receive Christ. And on and on. Finally John D'Amour said it was time to head back to the Church Plant site. I couldn't believe how quickly time had passed. I felt like I had shared the message 'til I was practically hoarse. Yet I wasn't hungry or thirsty and had no sense of what time it might be. I had a surreal moment when I realized that we were living out, in real time, the passage in John 4:34-38. 34" My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." Thank God for the "sowers" who went before me, planting seeds that they maybe thought would never be reaped. I'm talking about missionaries and pastors and evangelists and passionate people who came to this area before me, maybe even martyrs who gave up everything for the cause and now I was having the privilege of reaping the harvest. Unbelievable. It made me realize that every single "no" we had experienced was just another seed that would hopefully be reaped by someone else someday, in God's timing.

We headed back to the church for our celebration service. And it was quite a celebration! Come back tomorrow for the conclusion!!

Rwanda - Part 10

Backtrack to Thursday. Thursday morning we headed down the road instead of up the road. This is the first day that I went into someone's home. We were in a little housing compound - lots of houses fairly close together separated by some common courtyard areas. We crowded into a small, dark "front room." The floor was dirt with rocks everywhere...just like the ground outside. Three women came in to hear the gospel -- all three of them were nursing their babies. As I went through the Evangecube, I started to smell a different kind of smell behind me. I took a quick peek and noticed a large straw nest with several chickens roosting in it. That was different. All three women prayed to receive Christ. That was awesome. Then we moved on. I shared the gospel with an 85 yr old woman who was missing both legs. She had an old, rusting pair of crutches on the mat next to her. She agreed to pray with me for salvation. But then she sort of chickened out and said she couldn't understand my translator's Kinyaranda pronounciation. First time all week we had that excuse. But then her hearing miraculously improved and she again agreed to pray out loud - this time she really did it. Our Church Plant pastor, John D'Amour said that he wanted to use some of the compassion money we gave his church to help this woman.

Early in the afternoon there was a real downpour. It rained for quite a while. We had to take shelter on the porch of the courthouse. Of course, the kids thought this was great fun. We decided to go through the discipleship lessons with everyone who was there. We had probably 20 people going through the various lessons we had. Very cool. Jane kept the kids occupied with the gospel glove. I sort of wished that the kids would have stood in the rain just to rinse them off a little bit. But they either stood with us on the porch or found a banana leaf to cover their head, or a scarf around their waist to drape over their head. Oh well. A lost opportunity to wash off some of the accumulated dirt and dust and grime.

When it finally stopped raining, we gathered for our afternoon meeting. The sermon was from Ephesians 6. Putting on the full armor of God. The kids especially liked this one. But the adults really got it too. I have to thank my good friend Pam for the inspiration to expound on this particular passage. When we left the church site that afternoon, my heart sort of sank to the ground. Only one more day in this beautiful place with these beautiful people. I was overwhelmed with sadness. I don't know if I'll ever see that place again. I hope that I can. But life goes on. The church will hopefully grow deep roots and be able to plant another church someday. They hopefully caught the vision for what could be. They hopefully understand the eternal significance of their decision to follow Christ. They hopefully caught the vision for continuing to share Christ with the people in their village. It's up to God to draw them close to Himself. It's up to God to give them the desire to grow in His knowledge. It's up to God to reveal to them their spiritual gifts with which to serve the body of Christ. It's up to God to convict them and guide their steps. I pray His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Rwanda - Part 9

I need to backtrack to Wednesday. On Wednesday morning our village (Musanze) had "court day." This is when the perpetrators and victims of the genocide get their "day in court." Interesting. When your name appears on the court docket that's your chance to make sure that justice is served. If the person accused of murdering/harming your family sincerely apologizes to you and is repentant, then the person will be forgiven. If the person accused of murdering/harming your family refuses to apologizes and is unrepentant, then the person will go to prison. WOW! Talk about a great metaphor for the kind of forgiveness Christ offers and those who choose to accept it or reject it. We weren't allowed to be in the village until 2pm. In fact, no one is really allowed to be out and about until court is over. So for this morning we were assigned to go to another Mission Point whose village wasn't having "court day." Then in the afternoon we returned to Musanze.

We were with Ana and her team in a village that seemed to be about 30 min. away from our village in the exact opposite direction. The new church site was actually right off of a paved road. There seemed to be a lot more "city" influence in this area. Lots of bicycles, motorcycles, even a couple of cars occasionally. And in my opinion, the spiritual climate was totally different from our village. Jane and I went out with two nationals from the village. Both women were very sweet but extremely shy. One woman had a 3 week old baby strapped to her back. We stopped at a couple of homes and were able to disciple and pray with some women who had prayed to receive Christ earlier in the week. Then we ventured further into the banana plantation and shared with a married couple who were squeezing banana juice into a giant wooden trough. Probably making banana beer. They both prayed to receive Christ. Let me tell you - flies love bananas and banana juice - I struggled with all the flies just a little bit. Then we shared with a woman who prayed to receive Christ earlier in the week yet refused to tell them her name. She also refused to tell me her name. Then we shared with a devout Catholic who I believe knew Christ as her Savior. She had a very sweet, peaceful assurance. Then we reached a huge dry river bed. Went down a steep, sandy embankment, slipping and sliding all the way. Then crossed a bridge made of straw, twigs, and rotting plywood - I almost sat down and refused to go across. Then up the embankment on the other side. We were in yet another part of the banana grove. Came to an old woman sitting on a little grassy knoll outside her house. Shared the gospel with her. She prayed to receive Christ. While I was sharing with her, a young man, maybe in his early 20s came up and listened intently. He also prayed to receive Christ. I went through the last part of the cube with both of them - this is a simple discipleship lesson. I was struck by the thought that I was in the middle of the jungle in a village no one has ever heard of and most people will never see and I will never see these people again. Maybe in heaven we will recognize each other. As we were leaving, the young man started talking to me in limited English. He said he wanted to move to America someday because he had heard life was easy there. Whoa! Back up the bus - time for a little more conversation. I told him that life in America isn't easy. Not by any means. It's a lot more comfortable, but we pay a high price for that comfort. And then we moved on but I kept thinking about life in America and how easy it isn't. Our lives are so complicated. Relationships are mixed up and messed up. We have so many choices. And so many "needs." Life in any village or city is not easy. God promised us that it wouldn't be. Even life with Christ is not easy. But His grace is sufficient for us. He is our Sustainer. He is our Comforter. His mercies are new every morning. Think about the significance of that. He is our Provider. He is our Shelter. We are His children. We can come to Him any time. He offers to carry our burdens for us. We can rest in the shadow of His wings. He lifts us up on wings like eagles. He is listening, watching, waiting, willing, and able. He is everything we need to live this life we've been called to live. We are more than conquerors through Him. Hallelujah! Amen!

Rwanda - Part 8

I should write a book. Or a booklet. There is so much more of the story to tell. Stay with me. We had the privilege of working with 3 different young adults from Youth With A Mission (YWAM). All three of them represented their organization very well. They were very humble servants of God and were willing to serve in any capacity that was needed at any given moment. They were equally able to share the gospel, entertain 100's of kids, lead worship, and translate what we had to say to the people. They were invaluable to us because of all the kids at our site.

Thursday was a fantastic day. What I wrote in my devotional journal on Wednesday night may have had a lot to do with my outlook. I wrote "Be simple. Be real. Don't sell. Just tell. Lift up the name and message of Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. He speaks quite well for Himself. He draws people to Himself. We get in the way sometimes. Spinning. Persuading. Begging. Guilting. I am not. He Is. If the children are from Satan, God, please deliver us from them. If not, then please fill us up with an uncommonly deep well of love, patience, strength and endurance. Reveal Yourself to these kids. Draw them to You not to us."

The feeling today was totally different. Dan started really leading the team. I think he felt a lot more confident as a team leader today. Our entire team really came together today. All day long we stood in the gap for each other at various times. It was a wonderful, synergistic experience. The kids responded. The adults responded. We had a lot of people go through the discipleship materials. Not even the rain could keep us from accomplishing what we set out to do. In fact, the heavy rains in the afternoon reminded me of God. Pouring out His favor and blessing and Spirit upon that place. And it was refreshing and necessary and wonderful.

Rwanda - Part 7

Tonight I finally finished a list of 70 potential prayer & financial partners for Michael & Steven. They are going to Kenya with Dan and I on an e3 Partners campaign in June. Actually, a group of 23 of us from Fellowship North Church are going together. We'll meet up with a similar group from Alabama. We'll help plant new churches within walking distance of several villages. Our youth will focus on the youth and children we encounter. We hopefully will have activities, games, sports, etc. that will draw a lot of children and teens.

Well, since I'm still up, I thought I'd try to upload more thoughts and memories of Rwanda.

To be brutally honest, after 2 wonderful days of working as a team and sharing the Gospel with so many people, Wednesday came in like a roaring lion, promising destruction, pain, and disruption. Let's talk about all the kids first. It seemed that the kids grew in numbers exponentially each day. By Wednesday, we had at least 150 kids at our site. We were definitely under-prepared with resources to deal with that many kids. Don't get me wrong, I loved the kids. Having worked with kids this year both at Ventana Academy and Rancho Solano, I've realized that I'm not as scared of kids as I used to be. I've actually started to enjoy the time I spend with the kids at school. So, I tried to take some of my real life experience into the situation. Tried to break up the kids into groups. Had one group listening to the Bible being read out loud on The Proclaimer. Tried to read a story out loud to a group of kids. Shared the gospel glove. Taught them how to sing Kum Ba Ya (who knew this song would be a big hit). Worked with them on memorizing John 14:6. And then 30 minutes later, we were out of patience and activities. I would have given just about anything for a big screen, a DVD player and a stack of movies to play for them. Dan was also extremely annoyed by the kids by this time. Although we both know the New Testament gives many examples of Jesus reaching out to children, Dan and I were perplexed and overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and as a result this was definitely interfering with our best laid plans to disciple new believers and continue our gospel presentation to the villagers. It was hot outside, my scalp got extremely sunburned so that I had little blisters on my head that itched and stung. The kids kept coming closer and closer to me, invading my personal space. Those of you who know me know that I've got a hula hoop sized personal space issue. But in Rwanda, I had kids almost nose to nose with me, sitting next to me, standing behind me, literally everywhere, sneezing in my face, touching my hands, holding my hands, pulling my hair, watching my every move, dying of curiosity to see what I'd pull out of my backpack next. I was pretty quiet on the van ride home. Back at the room I was in tears and frustrated. This ultimately led to a meltdown between Dan and I. Yes. You heard it here first. Our first cross words in 21 years (jk). I think that maybe, quite possibly, I overreacted and took out my anger and frustration on Dan. I quit his team. I quit the trip. It was all over. After we both calmed down, it appeared that there could be solutions to all issues. The storm was over. We regrouped. Apologized. Refocused on our purpose and mission. Ate dinner. Celebrated with the other teams. Slept soundly. Started again the next day. God is good. He sent us help in the form of some wonderful volunteers from YWAM. More on YWAM tomorrow.

Randy talked about Anger at God today at church. I could really relate. I think my main anger and frustration that day really was with God. Why so many kids? Why so little resources? What about the pre-teens and the teens? Where do they fit into everything? Why orphans? Why are there kids sleeping on the floor of the banana plantations at night? Where are the dads? Where are the moms who let their 6-7 year old daughters spend the entire day alone with a young baby strapped to their backs? Why are their little feet already callused and worn? Where are the sandals or shoes? What about affection? Who tucks them in at night? Why do they just get up and leave school when we walk by? Who cares about them? What do they drink? What do they eat? If their clothes turn to unwearable shreds, are there other clothes available for them to wear? Do they really realize what we're sharing with them? Is their faith real or are we just providing a forgettable distraction from their everyday lives? Does God really have a plan for their lives? (Jeremiah 29:11)

Rwanda - Part 6

Randy Shoulders asked me to share a 5-minute testimony at church today, highlighting our experience in Rwanda and then weaving it into the worship set. I've cut and pasted my notes from today. I ended up not reading the notes but I think what I said is pretty accurately expressed in the following document.

Spoken Bridge

"As some of you know, my husband Dan and I had the privilege of going to

Rwanda

with e3 Partners on an evangelistic missions trip. We joined a team of 12 other North Americans and formed 8 teams, with each team planting a brand new church in 8 different villages in the northern part of

Rwanda

near a city called Ruhengeri. Before we left on the trip, I felt a lot like Jonah. Knowing I should go. Knowing God was calling me to go. Knowing that I had -0- excuses to not go. But just dragging my feet and even up to the last few hours before we left, I still couldn’t believe I’d be getting on a plane and starting the journey to another continent. This wasn’t really part of my plan. But it was part of God’s plan. And I’m really glad I submitted to Him and His will. The whole experience was amazing and life-changing. From 9am to 2pm daily we went from house to house, hut to hut, field to field, grove to grove, person to person, to anyone who would listen, we shared the good news of salvation thru Jesus Christ. I want to tell you about the first woman I spoke to who prayed to receive Christ. She was probably in her late 50s or early 60s and lives across the street from where the new church site is. After sharing the gospel with her, I asked her if she’d like to pray to receive Christ as her personal Savior. To my utter amazement, she said yes. Then she disappeared into her house. I thought she might be praying alone in the house. But then she reappeared with a woven mat which she laid on the ground and knelt down on. I led her in a simple prayer. Then another person who’d been listening in on our conversation, a young man maybe in his late teens or early twenties, said that he’d like to accept Jesus Christ as well. So he knelt down and prayed the prayer. Then the woman, full of faith, told us that she had been pretty ill for about the past month and had been unable to work. She asked me to pray that God would heal her physically. At that moment I pretty much panicked. I’m no faith healer. I mean, of course I know that God heals. He’s the Great Physician. But at that moment, I didn’t know quite what to pray for. I thought about telling the woman that God might heal her and He might not. I thought that I should add a disclaimer with my prayer. And I certainly thought about having a trained pastor come back later to pray an eloquent, tried and true prayer for healing over her. But then I realized I was being like Jonah again. I realized right then and there that this whole trip to

Rwanda

would be one that would not only be outreach to others but that I would find my own faith and hope renewed through the faith of others. So, I prayed a pretty impassioned prayer for healing for her. I thanked God that He had already healed her spiritually and asked Him to heal her physically as well. I thanked God for her new faith. I asked God to strengthen her and give her grace to endure the ailments she had. But above all, I prayed for divine healing. Then I left it in God’s hands and we had to move on to the next house. Well, on Wednesday afternoon at our church meeting, Dan asked people to stand up and share testimonies of their new-found faith in Christ. This woman came up to the front and yelled out “Hallelujah!” To which everyone responded “Amen!” She did this three times, louder and louder each time. Then she told of how she had prayed for salvation on Monday and received the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Then of how she had asked for prayer for physical healing. And of how on Tuesday she started feeling well enough to be up and around the house. And on Wednesday, she picked up her hoe and headed out to work in the fields. She praised God with all her heart for this miraculous healing. And I’ve got to tell you, my faith has never been so strong as it was in that very moment. Not my words. Not my prayer. But her faith and God’s power healed her. I just got to share in the blessing of watching God at work. When I think about how God can and will use broken vessels, as long as they are willing to be used, I can’t help but think of how deep and wide his grace and mercy must be. God is all-sufficient, he doesn’t even need me to share the message of salvation or pray a prayer for healing. He can pretty much handle everything on His own. But He allowed me to be a part of His work in order to grow my faith and bring even more glory to Himself. God is mighty. He is strong. He heals. He listens. He is ever-watchful. Ever-waiting. All creation sings His praise. He is Holy. So holy."

Rwanda - Part 5

Every morning we woke up at 5:30am. Dan had a leader's meeting at 6:30am. Then we had worship and devotions in the gazebo with the entire team at 7:15. Pretty cool times. Once I thought I had missed the worship time because I heard all this singing. So I raced out of the room with wet hair, no bug spray on, praying no one would mind my tardiness. When I got to the gazebo, I realized that I wasn't late, I was actually early and walked into the middle of a pre-worship/devotion time. Our Ministry Partners were in the middle of praying for the North American team. Now, when I say praying, I mean all of them pouring out their hearts before God at the same time. It was really beautiful, almost like a song. It started out medium loud, then escalated to gut-wrenching intercession - really loud, then started to decresendo back down to quiet then they were done. It was almost like a conductor led them through a beautiful symphony of prayer, praise, intercession, imploring, surrender, and peace. Amazing. I felt like I was standing on holy ground. Then they broke into praise and worship again.

Every morning our breakfast was the same - plain omelettes, toast, honey, and "margarine." Oh yeah, there was also a platter of tiny bananas, fresh pineapple, and some mysterious fruits, possibly a type of passion fruit. Then we loaded into the vans and headed off to our villages. We had 8 teams - 4 vans with 2 teams on each. Pretty crowded. Every morning I tried to mentally prepare myself for my day. But it was nearly impossible. Every day was similar yet different. We shared the Gospel using the Evangecube from 9am to 1:30pm daily. Then we broke for lunch. Then discipleship lessons at the church plant site from 2-4. Then our afternoon meeting from 4-5:30. Every day was long but fruitful.

The kids turned out to be very challenging. By the end of the week we had hundreds of kids at our site. The loved to come up behind me when I was sitting on a bench and pull down on my curly hair and watch it spring up when they let go. Some of them tried to communicate with me in French. So, now I know 2 phrases in French. We told them Bible stories and used a gospel glove to share a simple story of salvation with them. Gold = heaven. Black = sin. Red = Jesus died on the cross. White = forgiveness. Green = new life. We had them memorize John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except thru Me." We also had a device called The Proclaimer. It's like an audio player that plays the New Testament in Kinyaranda which is their language. It has a solar battery which will last up to 600 times through the New Testament. The battery can also be hand-cranked to re-charge. It is waterproof and virtually indestructible. It can reach an audience of up to 300 people. When we ran out of things to do with the kids, we just turned on The Proclaimer and let it play the Word of God. Most of them sat and listened pretty intently. Adults also listened. We ran across quite a few adults who couldn't read or write so this was the perfect tool for them to hear the Bible probably for the first time.

Every day we shared the Gospel with anyone who would listen. We went to homes, huts, fields, banana groves, over rivers, into places most people haven't ever seen or imagined. God was definitely at work in a big way throughout the time we were there. Every day we returned to the Guest House, sunburned, exhausted, tired of talking, overwhelmed by kids, and thirsty. But God's strength was all we needed to accomplish what He had for us. By dinner time, we were revived and ready to celebrate with the other teams.

Every night, Michelle Parker and I made sack lunches for the entire team to take with them. I believe Nabisco donated a ton of pre-pack snacks so we just had to make 30 PBJs/PBHs and assemble the bags. A lot of us ended up giving our lunches away to those who worked with us during the day. I guess most Rwandans only eat 2 meals per day. So, we'd sometimes have nationals with us all day and they never ate or drank anything that I could see. They were very loving, kind people. A pleasure to work with.

More tomorrow.

Rwanda - Part 4

First a long story in order to tell some more of the story - - I feel like I've been a Christian my whole life. I'm pretty sure my mom never missed a church service while she was pregnant with me. And I'm pretty sure I was in church from 2 weeks on. I remember missing 1 Sunday when I was 11 yrs old due to extreme illness. Other than that, I was there. We even managed to find a suitable church service to attend when we were on vacation. So, when I share my testimony, I focus not so much on the terrible life I used to live but more on how important it is to share Christ with your children from when they are young and to be involved in church in order to learn how to live a life that pleases God. My conversion experience was when I was ten years old and my dad prayed with me to receive Christ. I remember the exact place and the feeling I had after I prayed. When I was 12 years old, our family switched churches. We started attending a non-Nazarene (gasp!) church called Emmanuel Faith Community Church. It was at this church that I started hearing the Bible taught in an expository manner. Wow! What a huge difference that made! - - Sitting at this church service in Rwanda, we attempted to worship with them. Tried (unsuccessfully) to keep up with the clapping and dancing. Then the pastor introduced Dan and I and pretty much turned the service over to us. Not exactly what I expected would happen. We each had a chance to share our testimonies. Then they sang some more songs. Than a short encouragement from the pastor. Then he said we would be sharing messages out of the Bible for them. Really??? That was definitely news to me. So, Dan went first. I started scrolling through all my sermons in my mind. I realized that all of them had to do with manners, etiquette, proper behavior, not fighting with your brother, etc. Not exactly spiritually deep, although I can be pretty eloquent on these topics. So, I got out my Bible. Turned to Psalm 34. Asked God to speak through me. Realized that all the years of incredible teaching at Emmanuel Faith would finally come to great use here in the middle of Rwanda. I thank God for the gift of spiritual formation that my parents gave to me. What I thought I had to say to the people wasn't nearly as important as what God allowed me to say to the people. Maybe lives were impacted and changed. I don't know. But I do know that my life was impacted and changed. I was starting to realize that this trip would be just as much for me and my faith journey as it was for the people we would be sharing the Gospel with. Awesome God! Awesome time of revelation, refining, and restoration!

This is taking a lot longer than I thought it would! 

Rwanda - Part 3

Sunday morning we woke up out of a dead sleep and experienced our shower for the first time. It wasn't nearly as primitive as I had been prepared for. Last year in Rwanda, Dan had a tub and a bucket - no shower nozzle. We at least had a hand-held shower nozzle. It is so difficult to rinse your head and face without getting water in your nose or mouth. I kept blowing water droplets off my lips hoping I wouldn't accidently swallow the tiniest drop. After showers, we poisoned ourselves with DEET spray. Although I faithfully swallowed a malaria tablet (malarone) every day, Dan chose to not go with the medicine. He claims (yet to be substantiated) that we were above the malaria line. And I'll admit we didn't meet or hear of anyone that had malaria where we were, but just to be on the safe side...we did see lots of mosquitoes due to the tropical climate, but they pretty much kept their distance. I wore my long black skirt, a long-sleeved shirt, white tennis shoes and black socks. Nice combination. We met the Mother Church pastor, Japhet and the Mission Point pastor, John D'Amour at the EER Guest House. They rode with us over to the Mother Church. The Mother Church was about a mile up a very rocky, rutted out dirt/mud road. All the way there, people stared at us. Not just because cars rarely are seen on that road, but because we were white. We were quite the novelty. All the people - women & children included, had either totally shaved heads or very, extremely close to the scalp, hair.  Since they expected a larger crowd and also wanted to attract people walking by, we met outside the building. The people sat on benches or on the ground or just stood under umbrellas (shade from the sun). The first sounds we heard were those of people enthusiastically worshipping. There was a woman keeping rhythm on a giant drum which she beat with a mallet. She was also the worship leader. Each song seemed to be very long. Our Ministry Partners explained that a lot of the songs they sing tell stories of God and what He has done. Some songs had motions and dancing. It was very cool. All a capella with people clapping along and adding harmonies. We sat at the front facing the people. As the crowd grew, I started to get sort of nervous. I felt every thought leave my head. Great. Totally blank. I realized that anything I had to say would come from God because all my earthly knowledge, "wisdom", and experience had vanished. I was left completely vulnerable and utterly dependent on God's mercy for Him to be able to use me to share His message. It was unreal. This was the feeling that I carried with me everyday. Absolute brokenness and surrender. A deep sense of belonging totally to God and knowing I was in the right place at the right time for the right purpose and the results were out of my control. It was all about divine appointments, the outpouring of God's favor and the Holy Spirit, and my obedience to share God's message. The pressure was off. The results were up to Him. If He could use me, I was willing.

More later.

Rwanda - Part 2

We had a 3 hour journey to Ruhengeri. We piled into several Toyota vans that had seen better days. But, surprisingly the brakes were pretty good. This was important because we had an uphill, curvy road to navigate. Now, I'm not normally a backseat driver, but I definitely had my braking foot ready to go. These cars had the steering wheel on the right side of the vehicle. However, we drove in the right hand lane. Interesting. I don't think I ever saw a road bigger than a 2-lane. We shared that 2-lane with traffic heading in the opposite direction, goats, children, and people. Every woman was carrying a bundle of some sort on her head. Some had giant flat bowls overflowing with produce like bananas, lettuce, passion fruit, avocados. Others had overflowing backpacks on their heads. Still others had huge 8 ft. long bunches of branches tied together and on their heads. Others had between 10-20 liter containers of water somehow balanced on their heads. Unbelievable. Most people had plastic sandals on or were barefoot. Dan took a double dose of dramamine and pretty much looked green and dozed and drooled the whole way there. The altitude didn't help his condition very much. Of course, on the way up the mountain, it started to rain. Our van had to pull over to try to roll up the windows. This was a complicated process since none of the windows were on their track. So it was pretty much a lost cause. The rain wasn't terribly cold because of the tropical climate, but our stuff got pretty wet. The windshield kept fogging up because of no defroster. But the view was absolutely beautiful. Waterfalls pouring down the mountain. Green everything. Tons of banana trees. Rows and rows of plowed fields. Steep mountainsides planted with flourishing crops. We finally arrived in Ruhengeri and found our new home for the next week. The EER Guest House. Similar to a hostel. Very simple. The grounds were pretty. Giant mosquito netting over the bed. Tiny restaurant. Smiling, helpful staff. We had a few minutes to rest and recover from the ride before dinner. At dinner we discovered an all new meaning to a high carb diet. Rice. Roasted potatoes. French fries. Sweet Potatoes (white flesh, not as sweet). Boiled bananas. Peas. Sauce with little pieces of meat swimming in it. Little pieces of fried fish. Chicken bones with very little meat. Bananas for dessert. Coca Cola & Fanta. A feast for most Rwandans. Every day we found ourselves to be very thankful for the feast after working in the villages. The time we spent around the tables was enjoyable and encouraging and enlightening. We went to bed early because Sunday was a-comin'. The day when we would meet our Mother Church pastor and Mission Point pastor. The day when the hard work would begin. While Dan prayed for relief from his motion sickness, I prayed for no mosquitoes.

More to come...

Rwanda - Part 1

Well, we made it back from Rwanda. It was an unbelievable journey. Our team of North Americans was incredible to work with. Mike & Mary Wagner are two amazing servants of God who shepherded us before, during and after the trip and imparted vision, wisdom and passion for the lost souls in Rwanda. It was a privilege to work with them. I've uploaded several photos that we took on the trip. It's hard to capture in photos what it was really like there. Our senses were assaulted from the minute we stepped off the plane in Kigali, Rwanda. We were greeted by our Ministry Partners, aka our translators. Meeting these young men & women of God was overwhelming. Their humility and their knowledge of the Bible as well as their gift for languages and the ability to translate scripture, the salvation message, and make it come alive for the people we encountered was very humbling for me. A lot of them have experienced genocide, civil war, abandonment and violence so horrific that it can't be adequately expressed in words. I could see such depth of faith in their eyes, feel it in their handshake, hear it in their voices. They were different than any people I've ever met. I almost wanted to weep every time I talked to them. They knew God and had walked with Him more intimately than I've ever imagined I could. I was so inspired to live and breathe and talk and think and be more like the Christ I saw in them.

More to follow...

24

I've only seen the 24 show once. I really liked it. But I don't watch TV enough to be a regular viewer of any show. I know, I know, I could buy each season and do a weekend marathon and be comatose by Sunday. Maybe someday I'll do that. For now, I feel like I'm living out the next 24 hours with a similar amount of detail packed into each hour. Still packing for Rwanda. Still printing lyric sheets for both Sundays I'm gone. Still burning CDs for the band to refer to. Still doing laundry. Making a list of schedules and routes and routines in order to set up my mother-in-law, Judy, for success. Picking up prescriptions. Verifying Sunday scheduling. Praying through devotionals, memorizing the Evangecube script. Small group at 7. Teach at Ventana all day. Pick up Alyssa & Joshua at the airport. Spend quality time with Mike & Steve. Pick out paint colors for their bedrooms. Scrub the showers. Change the sheets. Gather addresses for postcards and email addresses for updates. Assemble all my airplane reading/entertainment. Blogging one last time. This actually may be the last time for a while. 24 hours seems like a small amount of time but if I work it out just right, I might be able to eat dinner with the family tonight and actually get some sleep. Maybe.

What Color is Easter?

While most people plan Easter in a rather linear way - which Easter Egg Hunt do I take my kids to -- what am I serving for dinner- ham or spring lamb -- which church has the most convenient Easter service times -- those of us in ministry are trying to see and present the Easter story in a not-so-linear, relevant, high-impact format. We focus with fierce precision on seamless transitions from countdown to opening jam to music/worship to video to testimony to message to closing song to brunch. Along the way we manage to drag a team of people down the road of chaos with us. Oh, and the family. Well, a spectacular brunch will make up for any lapses in temper that occur directly prior to and after the big event. I actually have a chance this year to thoughtfully plan and pray through simple elements that will infuse hope, conviction, and inspiration into the Easter message that many have memorized but few have let wash over them and change the way they live, breathe and think. This is a task that I take seriously. I, more than anyone, need this message to change my life. I want Easter this year to not be represented by the lovely pastel colors of our favorite candies (you know what I'm talking about) but by bold colors representing sin, death, agony on a cross, resurrection, forgiveness, life and celebration.