Journal - September 7, 2008

1:05 pm – This morning I woke up at 5:00 am wanting to put the finishing touches on my message and talk to my family on Skype. The dorm was all locked up, so I had to go on battery power in my computer. This was pretty scary because my computer is old and when the battery gets too low it doesn’t warn you, it just shuts down. Anyway, it worked long enough so that Cheryl and Emily and I could talk. Kaitie was babysitting.

The church was packed today. I only recognized two songs this week; “I Give You My Heart” and “My Redeemer Lives”. Instead of a worship trio leading like last week, this week there was one man who led worship. The praise band played both weeks: drums, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboard.

Before my message, I gave my copy of Shaped By God’s Heart to Pastor Mariono. I preached from Philemon verses 3 through 7a and encouraged them to use prayer to develop a passion for God and compassion for people. Casey translated and hopefully God spoke to hearts. One young man, probably 11 or 12 years old, took very extensive notes and had me autograph his notes!

After preaching, they asked me to sing, so I sang “Thank You, Lord” about Indiana, the dinosaur tree, and my thankfulness to God for His many blessings.

After eating brunch at Casey and Sharon’s we were supposed to go to a rice farm. My stomach started turning flips again so I took a nap while Ron and Tory went with Casey and the boys, Nicko and Ryan. I feel a little better now but not 100%. I’ll be going back to the church in a few minutes for the second worship seminar.

9:36 pm – Ron and Tory said they really enjoyed the rice farm. I’ll try to get pictures from them to share. This afternoon’s worship seminar was a lot of fun. People were a little bit freer in sharing, and asking questions, and joking.

After the worship seminar concluded, the church gave each of us (Ron, Tory, and myself) a gift so that we will remember Indonesia. Tory opened his tonight and it is a batik map of Indonesia and a batik placemat/coaster set. Ron and I liked the paper so much that we decided not to open ours yet.

I didn’t eat supper; my stomach was still feeling funny. But one of the Indonesian grandmothers insisted I eat one of the fried puffed rice chips. It tasted a little like rice crispys. My stomach feels basically the same. I think I just need some sleep.

You can find more trip pictures at my Facebook Page (http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504321719).

They are also posted at my Flickr.com Page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtisferrell/)

Thanks for reading!

Journal - September 3, 2008

8:50 am - traveled to Salab Putih (retreat site) to look at the sound system. It's fairly new but more like a home stereo amp than a sound mixer. Only 5 - 1/4" mic inputs and three mixer controls (1; 2 and 4;3 and 5). We will have to run guitars on their own amps; the keyboard and the microphones will run through the sound system. With live drums and a very LIVE (echoy) room, worship will have a tendancy to be too loud We'll see.

Ron and Tory were up all night - couldn't sleep. I slept great. Kim, the teacher that took me to Salab Putih says that spiritual opposition is very tangible during Ramadan. Her son, Clayton, didn't sleep well last night either. He will be my drummer for morning worship and the sound tech for evening worship.

9:37 am - Preparing to go to the Jr. High Bible Class. I'm uploading video, so you should be able to watch some "moving pictures" soon.

Casey is having a busy day. Ron is in his second day of electrical work. Some tiles have broken and other minor emergencies that require Casey's attention. Tory is still not 100% but is teaching a defense class this morning.

Casey said we had ordered cheeseburgers and fries for lunch. It's still moderately warm, but not unbearable. We've had two good rains since Sunday (the first one caused the power to go out!), so the rainy season here has begun. Six months dry and six months rainy.

1:44 pm - The 9th & 10th grade Bible Class was fun. Turned out that there were no 10th graders, so it was just a 9th grade Bible Class. Ron talked first and then me. The theme seemd to be multi-faceted.

1. Live life to the full.
2. Great Commandment - love god, love people.
3. Read the word - it's exciting.
4. Don't be afraid to walk thru doors that God opens.

Kim, the teacher, then walked thru the topics the class was discussing. What was Noah's responsibility and what was God's. Then she asked what is our responsibility, and what is God's. She added that many times we become unhappy when we try to do God's things and fail to do ours.

3:23 pm - I don't know if I've told you this before . . . In muslim cultures there is a call to prayer 5 times a day. There are loudspeakers located at the top of every mosque. In Salatiga there are several mosques - not so much denominations, but easy-access locations. The loudspeakers crank up at various times of the day including 4:00 am. During ramadan the kids are encouraged to go into the streets and set off firecrackers at 1:00 or 2:00 am so that people will wake up and eat (since it is the month of fasting, they are not supposed to eat during the day). This keeps the non-muslims up as well, but it hasn't bothered my sleep, so I am thankful!

More later . . .

You can find more trip pictures at my Facebook Page (http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504321719).

They are also posted at my Flickr.com Page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/curtisferrell/)

Thanks for reading!

Journal - September 1, 2008

3:48 PM - Trying to update everyone before I rest. I have a praise band rehearsal tonight at 6:30 PM.

We went to the open air market this morning. Very interesting! (I'll post some pictures later). Raw meat (beef, chicken, fish) sitting out in the open - no refrigeration. People walking, riding scooters (sepeda motor), riding bicycle powerd carts, and driving horse (kuda) drawn carts.

At 11:00 am we went to the local mosque. This was very exciting because it is the first day of Ramadan (Islamic month of fasting). The professor of the English department of the university located at the mosque gave us a tour. His name is Hamam. He guided Ron and Casey and me, along with three of his students through the university/mosque complex. One male student will attend a university in Oregon in March. Another male student will study in Arizona in January. A Female student named Okta also accompanied our tour.

Pray for Okta; I believe that the Holy Spirit is working in her life and she would be open to a presentation of the Gospel. Pray also for Hamam; he is wanting to travel to the US for his Doctorate.

After the tour, we returned to Hamam's office and sat around a table covered with green indoor/outdoor carpet. We asked and asnwered questions about Chritianity and Islam. I believe we shattered some of their misconceptions about Christianity.

Afterwards, we went to another local resaurant and had rice and spicy chicken. They had cucumbers and lettuce too, but we have been instructed not to eat the local vegetables unless they are from Sharon and Casey's home and have been washed in bleach water.

At 1:00 PM we wnet to a gamelan instructor. He introduced us to several traditional Javaneese instruments which, when played together but 5 to 18 people, is called gamelan. They are all percussion instruments. Some are drums, some are like xylophones, and others are like upside-down brass pots with one big "bump" sticking up from the bottom". The gamelan plays while a traditional shadow puppet play is performed.

Then we discovered that this gentalman, named Gideon, uses his gamelan as a way to share the good news about Jesus with people. They modify the traditional shadow puppets and replace the "white monkey king" and the "evil king" with characters like Jesus and Peter and Paul, etc. The people in the communities they go to, welcome them because they are bringing traditional Javaneese music and musical instruments. Then Gideon and his crew use puppets to thell them about Jesus! What an exciting way to communicate the gospel!

Well I need to Go rest before rehearsal. More later . . .

Sept 1 - 10:17 pm - Rehearsed with Praise Team A at 6:30 pm. Trying to get people excited about worship is a recurring theme among worship leaders here. I think what they are really saying is, "I want people to be passionate about God." So how do you develop passion? Do you cast a vision & hope they see? Do you remind people about what God has done? Is passion a gift FROM God or a gift FOR God?

More Trip Details

Here’s some more details about my trip to Indonesia:

On Sundays, August 31st and September 7th, I will be leading a worship leader’s training session in the local churches [3 am ~ 6 am Eastern Daylight Time].

I will be teaching in a Worship Class at Mountainview International Christian School (www.mountainviewics.org) on Tuesday, September 2nd [11:30 pm 9/1 ~ 1 am 9/2 EDT].

On Wednesday, September 3rd I will be teaching in a 9th grade Bible Class [11:30 pm 9/2 ~ 1 am 9/3 EDT].

Thursday, September 4th will begin with a teaching time in the 11th & 12th grade Leadership Class [11:30 pm 9/3 ~ 1 am 9/4 EDT]. Then from Thursday afternoon through Saturday morning, September 6th I will be leading worship at a youth retreat. The speaker will be using 2nd Timothy as the text for the retreat.

I would appreciate your prayers before, during, and after my trip. Pray for the students in Indonesia. Pray and care for my family here in New Castle. Pray for my health (rebuke kidney stones!). Pray that passage through Customs will go smoothly. Thank God that He provided the resources that I needed to make the trip. Pray that God will enable me to learn the Indonesian language. Pray that God would be glorified, and the Kingdom of God would be advanced, as a result of the trip.

Less Than Three Weeks Till The Trip!

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 . . .

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?

God Chose To Reveal Himself

Courier-Times Article for December 8, 2007

God chose to reveal His nature in an event we call advent or Christmas time. He used his powerful angels, not to bring death and destruction but, to sing songs of joy and good tidings.

Hail the heav'n born Prince of Peace! / Hail the Sun of righteousness! / Light and life to all He brings, / Ris'n with healing in His wings. / Mild He lays His glory by, / Born that man no more may die; / Born to raise the sons of earth, / Born to give them second birth. / Hark! the herald angels sing, / "Glory to the newborn King!"

He chose to reveal Himself, not to royalty or power-brokers but, to shepherds tending their flocks at night.

While shepherds kept their watching, / O'er silent flocks by night; / Behold throughout the heavens, / There shone a holy light. / The shepherds feared and trembled, / When lo above the earth; / Rang out the angel chorus, / That hailed our Savior's birth.

He chose to reveal Himself, not in the capitol or royal city but, in a humble village suburb near Herod’s palace.

Come to Bethlehem and see, / Him whose birth the angels sing; / Come adore on bended knee, / Christ the Lord, the newborn King.

He chose to reveal Himself, not to experienced respectable parents but, to a bewildered teen couple, engaged to be married, and unexpectedly pregnant.

What Child is this, who laid to rest / On Mary's lap is sleeping? / Whom angels greet with anthems sweet / While shepherds watch are keeping? / This, this is Christ the King, / Whom shepherds guard and angels sing. / Haste, haste to bring Him laud, / The Babe the Son of Mary.

He chose to reveal Himself, not as a mighty warrior or eloquent politician but, as a defenseless, vulnerable baby.

Born Thy people to deliver, / Born a Child and yet a King; / Born to reign in us forever, / Now Thy gracious kingdom bring. / By Thine own eternal Spirit, / Rule in all our hearts alone; / By Thine all sufficient merit, / Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

He chose to reveal Himself, not as an invincible, unbreakable hero but, as a bruised and battered servant, who died and was buried in a borrowed grave.

Good Christian men, rejoice / With heart, and soul, and voice; / Now ye need not fear the grave, / Peace! Peace! / Jesus Christ was born to save! / Calls you one calls you all, / To gain His everlasting hall. / Christ was born to save! / Christ was born to save!

Then He chose to reveal himself as Messiah, Christ, and Savior of the world!

He rules the world with truth and grace / And makes the nations prove. / The glories of His righteousness / And wonders of His love, / And wonders of His love, / And wonders / And wonders of His love.

He chose to reveal Himself, not as a mean-spirited God of wrath, but as a God of peace and a God of second chances.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, / "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; / The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, / With peace on earth, good will to men."

He chose to reveal Himself as a loving God who is worthy of our worship.

Then let us all with one accord / Sing praises to our heavenly Lord, / That hath made heaven and earth of naught, / And with His blood mankind hath bought. / Noel, noel! Noel, noel! / Born is the King of Israel!

If you desire to worship the God of Peace, who revealed Himself during Advent, take some time in the next few days and invest it in a local church. Who knows? God might reveal Himself to you this Christmas.

On Sunday night, December 16th at 6:00 pm South Memorial Drive Church of God will celebrate Candles and Carols. We will be reading the Christmas story and singing traditional Christmas carols. At 5:40 pm the Woodwind Instrumental Choir from New Castle High School will be providing our pre-service music. Join us in worshiping Christ, the newborn King!

O come let us adore Him, / O come let us adore Him, / O come let us adore Him, / Christ the Lord.

Thoughts on Worship

Courier-Times Article for Saturday, August 11, 2007

There are three fundamental questions that need to be answered regarding Christian worship.

First, what is God ordained worship? The essence of worship can be found in the first ten verses of the 26th chapter of Deuteronomy.

This portion of the law outlines the process that God established for encountering Him in a worship experience. Verses 5 and 6 call for us to remember who we were before we were transformed by the presence of God in our lives. Verses 7 and 8 call for us to remember what actions God took when He transformed our lives. Verses 9 and 10 call for us to remember the blessing of transformation that has been generated in our lives by God. This is who I was; this is what God did; this is where I am now. Praise and worship naturally flow out of our lives each time we walk through this process.

If our worship life is deficient in one of these “areas or remembrance”, then what we experience is something less than God ordained worship.

The second question to be answered is what is the proper posture in worship? We are not talking about an external posture but an internal posture. How are we to approach God? In twenty-first century America we are immersed in a culture of personal growth, self satisfaction, and a positive bottom line. In other words, how does this benefit me?

In direct contradiction to this cultural mindset, King David makes a remarkable statement found in 2 Samuel 24:24, considering that he was the ruler of all Israel. “I will not offer to God that which costs me nothing.” In this simple statement David indicates His posture when he approached God. He was not approaching God with the idea that he was going to benefit from this encounter. He was not even approaching with the idea that somehow he could use his position and authority to influence God. David came to offer a sacrificial gift to God, something that was costly to him personally.

Worship is not about getting anything from God. Worship is about giving something of worth to God. The posture of a true worshiper is one that indicates humble sacrifice, not prideful self-gratification.

Finally, what is the function of worship? True worship has one function with two products. Worship is a vehicle.

Worship functions as a vehicle in two ways. In the first instance, worship carries the individual, or a collected body of worshipers, into a realization of the presence of God. This means that, as worship leaders, we need to understand who will be “riding” in the vehicle. If I am leading a gathering of Frenchmen into worship, my worship should be in the French language. If I am leading a group of children into worship, my worship selection should include elements of worship that are easily accessible to the child. If I am leading a group of senior citizens in worship, the structure of the “vehicle” I assemble needs to accommodate those that will be taking the ride.

Secondly, worship carries the individual, or a collected body of worshipers, into an environment where the Word of God can have its best effect on their lives. This second product of worship enables the worship leader to partner with, and serve, the one who is called to proclaim the Word of God. In this way, we “set the table” for the main course.

In the design world, form follows function. What a thing does, or is supposed to do, has a direct impact on how that thing looks or how it is structured. This brings us back to the answer to the first question.

If we follow the form found in Deuteronomy, we can create a vehicle that is designed to carry people into a realization of the presence of God, where they can offer sacrificial gifts of thanksgiving and praise, and where they can be transformed anew by the Word of God.

The Well Of Community Is Dry

Courier-Times, New Castle, IN - July 8, 2006

I hear it all the time. The problems all seem different, but they have the same source. “People just aren’t committed any more.” “We have to cancel the meeting, we can’t get a quorum.” “I just don’t understand them, how can they think that way?” “I can believe it. Another minister (or lay person) is going down in flames!” “I just don’t trust him anymore.” “I don’t understand why people don’t give to the church like they used to.”

All of these issues in life, both inside and outside of the church, flow from one well. Actually, these are all problems that indicate a lack of flow from a well that has nearly run dry. That well is what we used to call community.

We still believe that we have community and that we live in community, but rarely to 21st century Americans experience genuine community. We used to sit on our front porch and wave at the neighbors driving down the street, or those tending to their own front porch. Now we stay inside our air-conditioned homes and watch the latest sitcom on TV.

We used to gather the entire family, or neighborhood around the TV to watch the Ed Sullivan Show or pre-WWF wrestling. Now we have four TVs in a household of three and, if we all happen to be in the house at the same time, we are watching at least three different stations in three different rooms.

People used to show up for Sunday Evening service, even non-church-goers, just to be with the rest of the community. Now church is a second thought if it even ends up in our minds at all.

What we are witnessing is the drying up of the well of community, what researchers call social capital. Fewer people are participating in group activities and more and more are participating in solo activities. We bowl alone, eat alone, commute to work alone, play video games alone, surf the web alone. We have fewer common experiences. We watch television shows designed for our specific demographic. We stop listening to the local radio station (a common experience) and start listening to our I-Pods (a personal experience). We’ve even stopped worshiping together and demanded “our own style of worship service.”

Often, as a result, we don’t trust each other, we don’t understand each other, we don’t work together, we don’t pool our resources like we once did, and we are more likely to fail when it comes to moral accountability. There is a reason why God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Even before the fall of humankind, and the first act of sin, there was something in the garden that was not good and that something was aloneness.

It is not good to be alone. But we live in a culture that elevates the personal preference over the common good. If we are to replenish the dried up well of community, we will have to make intentional decisions to make it happen. Community doesn’t happen accidentally in American culture. We must decide to recapture or reinvent community. That’s where you come in.

When was the last time you invited someone over after church, or after the game, and just sat around the backyard and talked? When was the last time you talked to your neighbor down the street? When was the last time you turned off the technology and ate dinner together as a family? When was the last time you and your spouse had a casual conversation that didn’t anticipate an end result or by-product? Only you have the power to make community happen in your life. It is not good for you or me to be alone.

You can make a difference and help replenish the well of community, and I hope you make an effort to do just that.