One month from today I will be returning from Indonesia. Some of the plans have changed so I’ll give you an update.
As we were preparing to purchase tickets, the purchase price jumped over $900 for each person! Cheryl got on the internet and found some flights considerably cheaper. After forwarding this information to the travel agent, we were able to get tickets at about the price we had estimated. God is good . . . all the time!
Keith Stork, who recruited me for the trip is not going to Indonesia now. He is completing a sabbatical and is unable to go. That leaves me, Ron Baker (mission worker/electrician from Newton Falls, Ohio), and Tory Buchan (Martial Arts Expert from Anderson, Indiana). We will be leaving Wednesday, August 27th and returning September 11th, 2008. Church of God missionaries, Casey and Sharon Bernhardt, will be our contacts “in country” and are making final preparations for us now.
Our focus will still be the Mountain View International Christian School where the Bernhardts act as missionaries and where Madison Park’s youth pastor Joe Webb’s brother serves. Mountain View International Christian School is located on the central Indonesian island of Java just south of the equator (1200 miles south of Vietnam, 1000 miles north of Western Australia, and nearly 10,000 miles from Indianapolis). In September they will be 11 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Savings Time. (Noon in INDY = 11:00 PM on Java)
We will be flying from INDY (IND), to St.Louis (STL), to LA (LAX), to Taipei-Taiwan (TPE), to Jakarta-Indonesia (CGK), to Semarang-Indonesia (SRG), followed by a car trip to Salatiga which will be our base city. We will leave INDY at 5:55 PM on Wednesday, August 27 and arrive in Jakarta at 2:00 AM, Friday, August 29th (all Eastern Daylight Savings Time) with a total in-air-flight time of over 24 hours plus layover hours. (I don’t have the Jakarta ~ Semarang ~ Salatiga details yet)
On the way back we will leave Jakarta-Indonesia (CGK) at 3:00 AM on Wednesday, September 10, travel to Taipei-Taiwan (TPE), to LA (LAX), to Dallas-Ft.Worth (DFW), and arrive at INDY (IND) at 10:40 AM on Thursday, September 11. This is a total in-air-flight time of over 23 hours plus layover hours, plus travel time from Salatiga, to Semarang, to Jakarta.
I will be leading worship for a youth retreat for all of the students at the school (high-school), I will be sharing and teaching in a worship class at the school, and I will be sharing and teaching worship leaders in the local churches. Ron will be working on electrical repairs and installations. Tory will be training the security detail at the school.
Indonesia is primarily a Muslim nation and there is growing hostility between radical Muslims and others (moderate Muslims, Muslim sects, and non-Muslims). There is also a growing use of property laws to take property owned by churches and missionaries (think “imminent domain” on a local or neighborhood scale). Central Java is still very safe. Ramadan (Muslim holy month of fasting) begins on September 1st and the country is also gearing up for major elections in 2009.
As of this writing, I have funded all but $250 of the trip. I’m sure God will provide the rest! I’m looking forward to you holding me up in prayer. Pray that lives will be changed, that the kingdom of God will advance, and that I will be an effective tool in the hand of God. I’m also sure that you will encourage and support Cheryl and the girls while I am gone in whatever way you can.
Also, I will try to update my blog (http://clfnotes.blogspot.com/) and my facebook site (http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504321719) while I am in Indonesia. If you have an e-mail address, make sure that you send that to me so that I can update you directly.
Thanks again for your support, more news soon . . .
Showing posts with label mission. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mission. Show all posts
Monday, August 11, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
What Ties Bind You?
Christian Perspectives Article for the New Castle Courier Times 07-26-08
There’s an old church hymn with these lyrics: Blest be the tie that binds / Our hearts in Christian love / The fellowship of kindred minds / Is like to that above. What are the ties that bind you to your local fellowship of Christ-followers?
For many church-goers, the only connecting point is that we meet in the same building once a week. The advent of the automobile and the increasing desire for personal preference in worship styles has effectively eliminated the “neighborhood church”. We rarely worship with our next-door neighbors. Instead, we drive some distance to find “just-the-right” church.
But what happens when we don’t see our fellow worshipers during the week? What do we miss when we only see each other on Sunday mornings?
Those weekly meetings are staged, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, facing forward and listening. When do we sit across the table, and share face-to-face about our struggles and joys? What are the ties, or connection points, that bind us to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ through the week?
When someone is hurting because of a broken relationship, do we find out because of direct interaction with that person? Or do we find out through that particularly Christian form of “sharing” called the prayer chain? Prayer chains are fine, but when do we have the opportunity to personally minister the grace and peace of Christ to someone who is hurting? Those opportunities usually happen within the context of a meaningful ongoing relationship.
The only way we can be in the right place at the right time is to be in the right place to begin with. This might sound redundant but explore the idea with me. How can we minister to people with whom we have little or no contact? How can we connect with people we only see for ninety minutes, one day a week? When the right time comes along, will be in the right place?
What will it require, in rescheduling our lives, to create new ties that bind? How can we “live life together” more effectively? The early Christians were known for gathering daily to talk and eat and share and minister. When someone had a need, the rest of them sold personal belongings and addressed the need together, as a community. But they couldn’t have addressed the need together if they were never drawn together.
Togetherness deepens our understanding of each other, our trust for each other, our accountability to each other, and our compassion for each other. Separateness breeds misunderstanding, mistrust, and cynicism, and opens the door for all kinds of behavior that dishonors God. We fail in our mission, when we fail to interact with other believers and the rest of the world.
What are the ties that bind you to other believers? If it’s just a car and a spot on a bench for an hour-and-a-half, that tie is very fragile: handle with care. What can you do today to improve those ties? What will you have to give up in order to spend more time with brothers and sisters in Christ, not to mention those who have no relationship with him?
There’s an old church hymn with these lyrics: Blest be the tie that binds / Our hearts in Christian love / The fellowship of kindred minds / Is like to that above. What are the ties that bind you to your local fellowship of Christ-followers?
For many church-goers, the only connecting point is that we meet in the same building once a week. The advent of the automobile and the increasing desire for personal preference in worship styles has effectively eliminated the “neighborhood church”. We rarely worship with our next-door neighbors. Instead, we drive some distance to find “just-the-right” church.
But what happens when we don’t see our fellow worshipers during the week? What do we miss when we only see each other on Sunday mornings?
Those weekly meetings are staged, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, facing forward and listening. When do we sit across the table, and share face-to-face about our struggles and joys? What are the ties, or connection points, that bind us to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ through the week?
When someone is hurting because of a broken relationship, do we find out because of direct interaction with that person? Or do we find out through that particularly Christian form of “sharing” called the prayer chain? Prayer chains are fine, but when do we have the opportunity to personally minister the grace and peace of Christ to someone who is hurting? Those opportunities usually happen within the context of a meaningful ongoing relationship.
The only way we can be in the right place at the right time is to be in the right place to begin with. This might sound redundant but explore the idea with me. How can we minister to people with whom we have little or no contact? How can we connect with people we only see for ninety minutes, one day a week? When the right time comes along, will be in the right place?
What will it require, in rescheduling our lives, to create new ties that bind? How can we “live life together” more effectively? The early Christians were known for gathering daily to talk and eat and share and minister. When someone had a need, the rest of them sold personal belongings and addressed the need together, as a community. But they couldn’t have addressed the need together if they were never drawn together.
Togetherness deepens our understanding of each other, our trust for each other, our accountability to each other, and our compassion for each other. Separateness breeds misunderstanding, mistrust, and cynicism, and opens the door for all kinds of behavior that dishonors God. We fail in our mission, when we fail to interact with other believers and the rest of the world.
What are the ties that bind you to other believers? If it’s just a car and a spot on a bench for an hour-and-a-half, that tie is very fragile: handle with care. What can you do today to improve those ties? What will you have to give up in order to spend more time with brothers and sisters in Christ, not to mention those who have no relationship with him?
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