The majority of this sweltering Memphis week has been spent under the teaching of Dr. Wade Akins. The name of the class is Pauline Theology and Missions.
Kyle Roy, half-Uruguayan, sips some sort of crazy Uruguayan maté all day.
The practical wisdom and insight the Dr. Akins shares with us has had a significant impact on my life.
My wife and I served in Lima, Peru for two years prior to coming to Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. It was an amazing experience and God taught us a lot of things that continue to have an impact on our lives and ministry.
We did a lot of traveling in the Andes Mountains when we lived in Peru. On one of these trips we met a man named Daniel, a village doctor. Daniel seemed good-natured, but was very skeptical of who we were and what we were doing in Peru. The following day our team leader, Mike, visited Daniel again and gave him a New Testament. We assumed that was all we would hear of him, but we were wrong.
The next morning Mike returned from town with some exciting news. He told us that as he was walking through the village Daniel ran out to meet him. “His face was beaming!” Mike said. He told Mike that he had read through the New Testament the night before and realized his sin and need for Jesus. Daniel had given his life to Christ!! The team was pumped, but God wasn’t done yet.
That night we had scheduled town meetings in two neighboring villages. In these meetings we handed out New Testaments and taught people how to study God’s Word. Daniel, our new brother in Christ, came along with us. At the first village, Daniel shared his testimony and how God’s Word had changed his life. Twenty-five people put their faith in Christ!! At the second village, he shared his faith again and over twenty more people trusted Jesus!! God used the seed we planted by sharing his Word to bring over forty people into his kingdom!
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul said “My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God, not we, who made it grow. The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important because he is the one who makes the seed grow.” The Corinthians had made the mistake of forgetting that it was God who gives the increase. It is important that we recognize that we are simply vessels or tools that God uses. When someone builds a house, the hammer is not praised, the man who built it is. We are the hammer, God is the builder.
Brittney Oster spent 6 weeks in Niger working in a rural health clinic with the Fulani. One of the most amazing stories she told was about a baby was born not breathing. The doctor handed her the baby and said “Start CPR.” She removed all the mucus from the baby’s nostrils and throat. After a few rounds of breaths, it began to breath on its own.
Kathy relates her experience of sharing with a Sudanese woman.
David Sills is on faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Before SBTS, he served with the IMB in South America. But, more than all that, he’s a really cool guy. I led a group from 9th and O Baptist Church in Louisville, KY of which David was a part. We explored an area just outside the city of Cuzco called Anta.
David’s love for the Latin American people, wisdom in helping them connect with Jesus, and encouragement to me had a significant impact on me.
I’m excited about his new book. David deals with questions that a lot of people struggle with as they think about missions. Questions like . . .
Do all Christians have the missionary call?
How can you know whether you have the missionary call?
Is the missionary call a lifelong call?
How does being single impact the missionary call?
What should you do if your spouse does not share your sense of call?
You can find out a lot more about the book here. The Missionary Call is officially out in bookstores and online.
I went to Namibia, Africa in 2000. I spent 2 weeks with a group of students from Ouachita Baptist University in Windhoek, the capital city. Our main offering was an allegorical drama called “The Kingdom”. I played the evil knight (Satan). That’s me up there . . . the good-looking one with horns.
Because I didn’t become a follower of Jesus until I was 17-years-old, this was my first mission trip. And, it was amazing. My world was turned upside down. My understanding of myself and role on this planet was shaken to the core. Needless to say, I was changed. And, in a lot of ways that trip was the beginning of a call to missions that has led me to lots of short-term trips to Mexico and Peru and a two year stint with the IMB in Peru.
Calling . . . that’s a tricky one. I’m pretty pumped about this book coming out in July. I spent a week in Cuzco with Dr. Sills and a group from his church back in 2006. His love for Jesus and the Peruvian people was so evident and infectious that I am still encouraged today by the memories of that trip.
At any rate, if you’d like to see more pics from my trip to Africa click here. I digitalized a scrapbook that I put together shortly after the trip. The link should take you to a slide show of it.
This guy was tall anyway, but standing on a stage, with worn cowboy boots, and a gray cowboy hat, he looked a good 7 feet tall.
“Everyone knows missionaries have to adapt to the culture they find themselves in.” he began in slow, cautious cowboy speak.
They have to learn the language, the customs, the traditions. Missionaries have to dress like the people and eat what the people eat. After working in Senegal, my wife and I returned to Jonesboro and found a culture that nobody was reaching out to.
Ya know, a lot of churches have fights over what style of worship music to use in the services. We don’t have that problem at the Cowboy Church. We use both: Country and Western. We don’t care what you stepped in before you got there and we don’t care how you look. Our doors are open.
A few weeks ago a pastor came to our service. I asked him why he was there and he told me that he had a couple friends he rode horses with and they wouldn’t go to his church. He said he was going to bring them to Cowboy Church. They were willing to come to Cowboy Church. Sure enough, the next week the pastor showed up with a friend. After the service I went up and shook his hand. He wouldn’t turn loose of me. He gripped my hand and started sobbing. When the Lord throws a loop it’s hard to get loose. We’ll be baptizing him in a horse trough in a few weeks.
The crowd of a few hundred men were hanging on this soft-spoken cowboy’s every word. For the second time this weekend I found myself fighting back tears. My friend Larry said it best just after the breakfast as we were getting in his car. He said “It’s amazing to see a big ol’ boy like that being used by the Lord in such a great way.” I know what he means. Had I passed that cowboy on the street I probably would have thought this guy capable of eating a cactus whole. Yet, humility and grace is what I noticed as he spoke.
The Higher Trails Cowboy Church is a mission of Central Baptist Church of Jonesboro.
For more information call Phillip Brown: 870-761-0614 or email him: philkaren[at]writeme.com.
Toni Blackwell is asking that this message get to as many as folks as possible:
I JUST RECEIVED A CALL FROM DAVE HUGHEY REGARDING AUDRA HINSON. AUDRA IS ONE OF THE MAIN PEOPLE SCHEDULED TO LEAVE ON THE PERU MISSION TRIP TOMORROW. HOWEVER, SHE IS VERY ILL AND WILL BE GOING TO THE DOCTOR AT 1:40 P.M. TODAY. DAVE SAID TO PLEASE GET EVERYONE WE POSSIBLY CAN TO PRAY FOR HER NOW!!! PRAY THAT THE DOCTORS WILL FIND THE PROBLEM AND THAT SHE CAN GET OVER THIS QUICKLY. THEY DESPERATELY NEED HER ON THE TRIP.PLEASE PASS THE WORD TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW.
THANK YOU,
Doyle Moore
Jeff and his family sold it all and moved to another country in obedience to Jesus. Here is part of an email he wrote about driving in his new country of residence. It is an very accurate (and funny) picture of the struggles one goes through when adjusting to a new culture.
I think I speak for all of us when I say that my greatest concern in living here isn’t the possibility of quakes and tsunamis, it isn’t fear of dengue or malaria, and it isn’t the potential of civil war or extremist violence. Don’t get me wrong. We aren’t reckless in our approach to all of those threats. We take precautions, but we won’t be frozen in fear of them. No, the thing I most worry about, most obsess about, and am most challenged by is…driving.
In training, you are always reminded not to impose your own cultural expectations on that of the culture you join. This can be hard at first, but you learn to be flexible (as a guy, I have to admit that letting go of certain hygiene and politeness norms were probably easier for me than for the ladies).
However, driving is different. I can handle driving on the opposite side of the road and now it is second nature to go left on red or circumnavigate traffic circles in a counter-clockwise direction. However, it is the practices of those with whom I share the road that totally get under my skin.
Motorbikes outnumber cars and trucks by a ratio of about 10 to 1…probably greater. Stop at a red light (which apparently is very optional) and every empty space between you, the curb, and the other drivers is immediately filled by someone on a bike. No space is too small. I get nervous just standing still. Once the light turns green, you have to wait for the swarm to begin to flow and pick an empty spot and head for it.
While there is an age restriction on licenses here, the cultural expectation is that nearly anyone of any age can (and will) drive on the road. The first 20 times I was passed (at a high rate of speed) by a motorbike piloted by a child that couldn’t have been older than 10 years old, I was shocked. Now I don’t even blink…I can’t afford to.
I owned a motorcycle when I was in junior/high school. I know how fun they can be…especially doing the “s” swerve maneuver. However that little maneuver is standard practice here. You know what I’m talking about – the biker is following you close to your bumper in the left lane, he abruptly swerves to the right lane, passes you, and just as he clears your front bumper, he swerves back to the left lane. Any slight miscalculation can be deadly.
There is a helmet law here. I’ve seen the signs. However, compliance follows an odd if/then pattern: If someone has a helmet, then it is usually the driver. The passengers (generally your wife/girlfriend and/or children – up to 3 others on the same bike) go without one. If someone is wearing a helmet, then it is generally a small plastic one — the kind I used to wear while playing Army in my yard as a kid. Generally helmets aren’t fastened and I’ve literally seen them blown off of people’s heads by the wind.
When new, all motorbikes come with two mirrors – one on either side. However, the first customization a rider here makes to his bike is to remove either left one or both. Evidently, if your bike has both mirrors on it, the locals ridicule you and ask “is your bike praying?” (The posture for prayer here is to have your hands raised with your palms up.) Frankly, more folks need to be praying while driving here…I do.
I guess it is ok not to have mirrors because no one would use them anyway. The rule of the road appears to be, you only concern yourself with what is directly in front of you. This means that the rest of us have our heads on constant swivel…anticipating that someone will come out of nowhere.
Something as simple as a turn signal can have an entirely different meaning. I’ve been behind people that signal for a right turn and then pull over and stop on the left shoulder. I’ve finally realized that they are signaling so that I know it is ok to PASS them on the right…not that they wanted to turn right. It is hard enough to learn one new language…