O Canada

Church planting has opened a whole new world for us.  As church planters, we are privileged to spend time with other church planters and people who support church planting.  Due to the nature of the calling, often those who have accepted the challenge of church planting are young.  It takes a step of faith and a whole lot of hard work - especially in pioneer church planting.  To go to a place that is barren of the Word and knowledge of a relational Jesus because of a lack of churches takes courage and quite frankly, a little craziness.  We love to be with and around those crazies.

We connected with a young couple from the Oklahoma/Arkansas area who fell in love with Toronto, Canada and her people.  Matt and Arrica Hess picked up their three children and their lives as they knew them and moved across the US Northern border to plant churches.  We followed their story and bought into their plan.  Compass made the decision to be a partner church with this young family and ultimately their first church plant, Fellowship Pickering.

One of the ways that partners become engaged with a church planter is to send teams to help as the church is being established.  We have just taken our first small team to work with the Hess family in Toronto, Canada.

The first night we arrived, we visited in the Hess home.  They graciously had grilled up some hotdogs for us and we were able to provide a pine-apple upside-down cake sent by one of our local members wanting to fulfill one of Aarica's requests.  Following the meal, we began to get to know them.  Matt presented their plan for a church planting movement.  He told the story of how they got there and encouraged us to fall in love with the people, too.  The children played as we talked and laughed together, quickly bonding.  We were very tired and retired to our hotel pretty early, knowing that the night would be short and we had a busy week ahead of us.

We settled in, checking in our three rooms, and got up early for a quick team devotional and some free breakfast at the hotel.  That morning we would be meeting with the Hess family to support a local non-profit by cheering on runners of a charity quad-marathon and children's run at the finish line.  We cheered on the last runners and spent good time with the Hess family as the little ones hunted snails, ran up to meet the runners and even ran in the children's fun run.  It was then time to do some work.  We met the two trucks loaded with signs, cones, water containers, tables and chairs and began to unload it.  We carried, rolled and pushed items from the truck into the storage buildings behind the little local church who allowed the non-profit organization to use their facility.  The non-profit organization serviced homeless teens in the area, giving them shelter and food and counseling, as needed.  It was manual labor, but much appreciated.

We weren't done for the day.  Later that afternoon, we met James and Kevin, who were interns with Fellowship Pickering.  We were assigned streets in a large area to walk and survey door to door.  We had 6 questions to ask.  We didn't find many people home, but it was valuable information that we collected.  We asked questions about God, the community and their personal viewpoints on such.  Most people complied and we had some good and interesting conversation. The evening came and we were worn out.  We had to get something to eat and be ready for their church meeting the next morning.

Finally morning came and we arrived at the elementary school where church was going to meet.  Someone was outside putting up a banner heralding that Fellowship Pickering meets here.  There was a buzz of business going on inside the virtually vacant building.  Those early morning volunteers, each knowing their own job, were purposely carrying out his or her normal duties with anticipation of the coming crowd.  Worship was on their mind and souls were on their hearts. We, too, pitched in making ready for the service.  Two by two we surveyed our assignments and began making ready our areas.  Two were practicing praise and worship, two were setting up the Birth - 3 year old room, and two were doing a quick overview of the lesson for the 4 year - 11 year old children.  The newness and excitement of a church plants Sunday morning anticipation hung in the air like a familiar aroma.  It felt right and nostalgic at the same time.  "We are they..." came back to mind as I recalled our early days in planting Compass.

Exhausting as it is to put up and tear down for a service each week, the benefit is still worth it.  For people who have never heard the Gospel in a no man-made rules context, there is a freedom that can't be replicated anywhere else.  Being used and used up brings more joy than is imaginable to those who are surrendered.  I saw this in the eyes and heard it in the testimonies of those committed to take this message to the masses of Pickering and surrounding areas.

We had lunch at the PickeringTown Centre food court and went from there to low income areas to market the free Sports Camp that Fellowship Pickering would host the following week.  It was easy to approach people with a brochure and explain to them that we were offering something free to them without any strings attached.  People were receptive and several moms clutched the registration brochure as though it were gold.

 I had been seeing "Shwarma" signs everywhere.  I was interested in getting some for one of our meals, having experienced this wonderful food delight in India at a Persian Restaurant.  One of the interns had shared with some of our group that we should try Ali Baba's in downtown Toronto.  We decided to give it a try.  Besides, we wanted to experience downtown Toronto anyway.  We found the small little restaurant in a diverse part of town.  We went in and surveyed to food which was already set up and eye candy for us, behind a glass viewing case.  I am pretty sure this is the type of food which holds a negative connotation for Tom, but he was a good sport.  We ordered.  I had chicken shwarma with the works.  Mine included picked turnips and hummus.  The server heaped on the fix in's inside an open pocket bread and wrapped it skillfully in aluminum foil.  It was HUGE.  It was amazing.  Everyone followed suit - choosing their own toppings and maybe garlic sauce instead of hummus, but the consensus was a plus.  The young man who was working there was very interested in talking with us.  He was a student and had come from Algeria.  He asked us a lot of questions.  He treated us to a veggie bite that was so good and then Tom treated us to some Baklava.  It was a perfect outing.

Monday morning came.  We actually got a chance to sleep in a little with our first meeting set for 10:30 am.  It was raining when we woke up.  After we met for breakfast and our morning devotional, Kesavan arrived and told us his plan.  He wanted to share his story with us and due to the threat of rain, we would drive the area where he would be planting a church under the umbrella of Fellowship Pickering.  Kesavan was one of the church planters that Fellowship Pickering had prayed for when they envisioned what the Toronto church planting movement would look like.  The plan includes 12 church plants in 10 years, all connected but possibly looking very different.

Kesavan quickly set about being transparent and sincere in the recounting of his story.  He is a native of Shri Lanka.  As a young boy, his family was driven from their country by civil war.  They had been practicing Hindus and first resettled in Germany where Kesavan learned German quickly but they soon moved to France.  Again he learned the local language quickly, but they were not to stay there either.  Eventually they made their way to Toronto, Canada and processed through.  They made their home there but there was much tension between the young men of differing nations.  The Shri Lanka boys were beaten and teased in their new homeland.  Soon they realized that it was only through banding together that they could protect one another.  They did't intend to be forming one, but the camaraderie quickly turned into a gang.  They began warring against one another and even carrying weapons for protection.  One night after the beating of a friend, Kesavan's gang put out the word to meet for the purpose of revenge on the offending gang.  Things went very sour and a young man lost his life that night.  There had been much shooting and Kesavan was actually shot in the hand.  He fled the scene and went home.  It was hard to believe that the night had happened and the events had been real.  Kesavan was just days away from graduation and had already secured a good job.  And suddenly, his life was completely turned around.  Kesavan went to jail that night.  His is a story of redemption for sure.  After receiving a Bible in his jail cell and beginning to read it over and over, for a lack of anything else to read, God began changing his heart.  Kesavan spent almost 10 years in prison, taking the fall for the shooting that night, and God changed him and used him during those 10 years.  He is now in his early 30's, married to a beautiful Shri Lankan woman with two little boys.  His desire is to plant a church.  We drove with him to a school and park in the neighborhood he is praying over.  He told us about families and apartment complexes and how he is praying through God's plan - expecting BIG things.  We stood on the school ground, joined hands and prayed.  I felt that God was telling me - "Take off your shoes - You are standing on Holy Ground."  So I did.

We visited the mall,  for putting into practice a "Live Like Jesus Challenge." We began praying and finding people with whom we could talk and impact with a kindness, a word of encouragement or a story.  It felt a little odd to be approaching people with the Gospel in its simplest form, who were from another culture and another country.  It was challenging and rewarding.  Prayer was the only dependable tool that we had at our immediate disposal.  That meant we were completely relying on God to lead us and show us the need in people around us.  One of the challenges was to "recognize temptation" to not carry through in the difficult and uncomfortable moment.

The evening was upon us and we were to meet yet another church planter at his home for pizza.  His name is Ferdi.  Ferdi is a Philippino church planter who has a love for and a desire to reach Muslims.  He left the Philippines and went to Dubai to find work.  What he found there was the underground church for Background Believing Muslims.  God used him to work with Muslims, he was interrogated and knew he would be asked to go back to The Philipines where there was no work, so he came to Toronto instead.  He had been making a lot of money in Dubai and so he and his wife had to both work hard to make a living in Toronto, but he feels that God placed him there for a purpose.  Ferdi's wife had just received very bad news concerning her father in the Philippines - that he was on a ventilator and was near death.  Her family was praying for God to take him to Heaven at that time and to not leave him here suffering.  We prayed with Beth for that very thing in their tiny apartment that night.  Ferdi shared some statistics with us and a short slide show presentation.  The time came for Ferdi to give us our training concerning our night's ministry project.  We were going into the muslim neighborhood where the followers of Islam would be answering the call to prayer by attending the local mosque and then breaking Ramadan fast.  Ferdi told us to say,"Eid Mubarak" (Something like, Happy Celebration) to passing muslims, knowing it would please them as well as it would please us for someone to say, "Merry Christmas" to us.  He gave us each a stack of Fellowship Pickering cards and The Jesus Film on CD with Arabic subtitles.  He took us to the Afghan Mosque and we prayed over the area together as in conversation with one another but directing it to the Father.  We were then assigned different stations and told to go and engage muslims in conversation by offering them our "gift".  It was hard.  Saying "Eid Mubarak" was the easy part.  We indeed get the attention of the passers by who often nodded and said the Arabic phrase back to us.  The women could only approach women and the men, only men.  If a woman was walking with her husband, she would not accept the gift or if the older woman was shrouded with many coverings, neither would she accept the gift, but many young women took it eagerly and willingly.  I don't think many men accepted the gift.  In our final moments, a muslim man called to Mickey from his car window to come talk to him.  When Mickey got there, he asked Mickey what we were doing.  Mickey explained to him that we were looking for people to talk to about Jesus.  The man began immediately, but not hatefully, explaining to Mickey who Jesus is and who He is not.  He was trying to convert Mickey to Islam and would have talked all night to Mickey if there had been time.  It was a very cold night and a strange experience.  It had me completely out of my comfort zone.

Our final day for ministry arrived.  We we're all very tired but also very satisfied.  We had a lot to think about.  The morning was spent walking the nearby the park neighborhoods doing marketing for the Registration for the free Sports Camp which was scheduled for that evening.

The afternoon was slated for prayer walking Pickering.  We met in a park and walked the school where Fellowship Pickering meets and the surrounding neighborhood.  Mickey and I walked with Matt Hess and had a sweet time of fellowship in prayer for many different needs of the neighborhood.

At 6:30 we met with Fellowship Pickering and helped with Sports Camp registration, face painting, balloon blowing, and pick up games of basket shooting.  We rejoiced as people began to arrive.  The night was successful and several new families signed up their children for camp.

The time for good-byes had come and they were mingled with emotion.  We had come into this world of Canadian church planting just a few days before but had seen so much and met so many people, yet were totally spent for Jesus.  Several times we hugged and said good-bye and kept hanging around and did it all over again.  We had invested a small part of our time and lives in these people and a measure of love had grown in our hearts for them.  That is what church planting missions should be all about.

The Way to Peace

We are entering a holiday season that is often marked by spiritual overtones.  One word that is used and perhaps overused during Christmas and the New Year is "peace".  "Peace be with you", "Peace on Earth", "Go in Peace"...there are so many phrases on plaques, wreaths, Christmas cards...in greetings, sermons and yes, even blogs that sometimes these words are spoken with as much notice as a common "How are you?".  I am guilty.  The word "peace" usually just goes over my head.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's.  It was a time when there was great change and also great fear.  The "Jesus movement" was a part of the hippie environment that was predominate among the young people of that generation.  Free love and peace were displayed on posters, graffiti, and seen on the news, television shows, in the art work and in movies.  The carnage of the Vietnam War was aired into our living rooms as young soldiers were caught on tape crawling through jungles, being shot and killed, and killing.  There were protestors, draft dodgers, and injured soldiers on the streets and in the news.  As news of the Vietnam War came to an end, we found ourselves living under the constant threat of nuclear war.  The school children were very much aware that the USSR had nuclear war heads pointed at our country - one for every one we had pointed at the USSR.  We watched informational films at school describing what would happen in the event of a nuclear war.  The Emergency Broadcast System interrupted our favorite cartoons to remind us how we would be given instruction in case of such emergencies.  My church was designated as a "bomb shelter" because of the thick concrete walls on its foundation.  Peace was being called for all the time.  I remember watching the beauty pageants where the contestants were asked a question.  Often it would be something like, "What is one thing that you would work toward to change our world for the better?"  Inevitably the answer would be, "Peace".  The hand peace sign was created.  The hippies would hold us two fingers and flash them at cameras and passersby.  The circular symbol with a crows foot inside began to show up on T-shirts, mugs, walls, and jewelry.  The Christians tried to stop the use of this symbol claiming some sort of Satanic attachment and a hidden meaning behind it, but the need for expression of this ideal and the commercial market was weighty enough that it has made a resurgence time and time again.  Music and poetry have always produced nostalgic notions of a time of peace that once was, has never really been, or is longed for.

Most of these attempts to express a need that we have in the core of our very being have failed.  We feel hopeless to see wars and the threat of wars end.  We feel that violence has overtaken our cities and streets and there is no way we will regain them.  We see the wounds of disdain for one another in crimes of hate.  There is an epidemic of violence in the home.  There is then, as well, apathy for it all.
We really feel there is no peace and don't know where to find it.  It is just a word.

This week it became more than a word to me.  As I continued in my personal study of the book of Romans, I was brought to Chapter 5.  The first four chapters are written so that we understand that Christ died for all who believe, that it is by grace only we are justified, and that we have no righteousness of our own - but that we have the righteousness of Christ living in us.  The first few verses in Chapter 5, then, give us what we are longing for - the way to have peace.  There is only one way to have peace - real peace - and that is of God.  He is Peace.  He is the giver of Peace.  He is the sustainer of Peace everlasting.  We will never attain peace in this world.  It is not of man, nor is it of the world. Only in God, is peace found.  I saw some booklets that some children had written - probably as a project for school - in which they had been asked to describe peace.  Some of them said, "Peace is petting my cat,"  "Peace is a warm home." and even "Peace is ME".  I am sure they had been told to draw pictures of and comment on what peace meant to them personally and they thought of happiness.  I'm sure that if parents had been asked the same thing they would have come up with things such as the kids not fighting, financial security, quiet day off, and maybe no war.  But real peace comes from the Creator God who made us and from following his son, Jesus, and obeying His word.

This has really made me more aware of what I am looking for from this world.  I am more sure that this world is not our home and a better place has been planned for us.  Someday we will live in the peace of the presence of our Father and there will be no more war, no more fighting, no more hate or greed or sin.  Until that time, we can find true peace only in the confines of our faith and trust in God.

Criticism...How Will We Handle It?

The second session with Kathy Litton at the Arkansas Ministers' Wives Luncheon and Conference was excellent, as well.  These are my notes from her time with us.

"Being Healthy with Criticism" was the title she gave this session.  That catches the eye of most women right off.

There are two extreme responses to criticism that we exhibit - ignore/dismiss or reach/respond.

Receive what you have been given - recognize there is an element of truth in every criticism.  We must look for that kernel of truth.
Flush some criticisms - they are not issues that we should respond to
Redirect criticisms that have nothing to do with you to the person or group with whom they belong
Reject those things that you should not have conversation or concern about.

Be careful to not take criticisms too personally, own the fact that often improvement is needed, apologize when needed, and realize that criticisms and complaints are always going to come.

Work on relationships with those who tend to be your critics - improve relationship outside of the area that your critic seems to dwell upon.

God uses criticism.
He uses it for correction, to remind me that He is the one that I should most want to please, to teach me to rest in His love, to mature me emotionally. and to allow me to set an example for others.

One thing that stood out to me and touch me personally is this statement: "We have the stewardship of the fruit of our disappointment."  Recognizing that we will face disappointment and there is no getting around it, we must be on guard as to how we will handle it.  Our disappointments can produce regrets and bitterness or they can produce maturity and graciousness.  It is up to us whether we will use what we learn from our disappointments for the better of ourselves and our influence on others or whether we will wallow in it.  I choose to grow and learn from these, sometimes, heartbreaking experiences.  This is where we rest in Him and trust His love for us.  We must ask ourselves when faced with disappointment - "What am I going to do with this?"

The Art of Sacred Influence - Notes Worth Sharing

Here are my notes taken at the Arkansas Ministers' Wives Luncheon and Conference this weekend.  Our guest key note speaker was Kathy Litton.  She spoke with authority and wisdom that comes from experience as she has walked in the sacred influence of the Holy Spirit.  Her words spoke volumes to the young women who sat at her feet and stood as a clanging reminder for the women my own age to whom she ministered.

*We live in a "thumbs up/thumbs down" world.  People are always giving one of these symbols to our husbands.
*Character and wisdom are important attributes.  Talent is over-rated.

Kathy made us aware of the effect of our influence.  She gave us both positive and negative ways that we can influence our husbands and assured us that we will always be influential in both ways.  This came with a warning...that our influence might stir our husbands to act.

Ways we can be a positive influence - displaying an authentic spiritual passion; having Godly character;  showing Biblical love; sharing their vision; relying on wisdom from above (James 1:5).

Ways we can be a negative influence - when an action is about control, changing, or for criticizing; when we don't discipline our own emotions (Emotions are TRUE, but they are not TRUTH...Lead your heart - don't follow it.  1 Peter 3:4); having a lack of humility; complaining, comparing, criticizing (Philippines 4:5); never speaking words of encouragement

She had so much more to say, but this is it in a nutshell.  If you ever get the opportunity to hear Kathy speak...do it!  I want to take a look at these each day and put them into practice.  This particular conference was for wives of ministers exclusively, but I think her advice can be applied to any Christian wife concerning her Christian husband.

Kathy recommended "Sacred Influence" by Gary Thomas as a good read.

If You Don't Stand for Something...

I have been thinking about the old advice adage of "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."  I don't know that I appreciate this advice all that much, nor do I repeat it to others.  But it did make me start thinking about my own stances - or lack thereof.

I started out by creating a head-list of my beliefs or pet causes that I would stand firm upon.  I decided to list 10.  That did not go so well.  I spent two days thinking about that top ten list and discovered I could not really identify that many things that mean so much to me that I would stand firm upon my conviction of them.  I then decided to identify only five.  This is my attempt to put those five hard-core convictions into written form.

I think my dearest conviction is that I believe in the one true and living God.  I believe in His written Word (the Bible) and I believe in The Word (Jesus).  I believe that God in the form of the Trinity was present at the creation of the world and, indeed, is the Creator.  I believe that the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of God that lives inside of me, guiding me, convicting me, comforting me and inspiring me.  I admit that I don't have this mystery completely figured out and can not explain the details of my triune God's existence.  My faith in Christ Jesus and acceptance of His free gift of grace is the key to my salvation.  I have no righteousness of my own but I understand that I am justified by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.  I am a sinner and can not save my self.  I deserve hell and so do you.  God loves us - His creation -  and wants relationship with us.  I am so blessed to live at a time and location where this truth is readily available to me through the Word written in my language, a country where I am free to worship and grow with other Believers and gather in a church where God's Word is honored and taught.  I believe that following Jesus is the way to salvation and that He has commanded me to love others and tell other people who do not know Him about Him, and love and obey Him exclusively.  I believe in a real hell and a real Heaven.  I know that Heaven is where I will spend eternity when my body fails and dies.  My soul belongs to God and I will see Jesus' face some day.  He has prepared a place for me and those who believe in Him.  I don't know a lot about that place but the Bible says there will be no more tears or pain or dying there.  It also says there will be a banqueting table from which we will eat.  It also says that there will be a representative from every tribe, tongue and nation worshipping together around His throne.  I am excited about that day when I see Jesus' face!  There is so much more that I could share - and so much more that I have to learn and understand. I would die for this conviction.  Peter said the same thing but denied his friend and Lord three times before the cock crowed...hummm.

My second stance I would take is about the sanctity of marriage - mine and yours.  I believe that marriage and family were the first created and God ordained institution - even before the church - and that it is a very serious commitment to God, the parties involved in making vows, the church, and the community.  I believe the perfect plan of God is two - man and woman - vowing to remain exclusive  for a lifetime to work together, live together, love one another, pro-create, and make His name famous among the nations.  I believe outside of these parameters that people ideally are to love God and make Him enough exclusively.  I don't completely understand the multiple wives of Bible days heroes of the Faith, divorce and remarriage, and the modern day take on the nuclear family.  I believe that acting upon homosexual tendencies is a sexual sin but I do not believe it is a sin unto death.  I intend to remain in the marriage of my youth until the day Jesus calls one of us home.  Anything less than that and I will look to Jesus as the one who completes me, never marrying again.  This is a firm conviction.

I surprised myself with the next one.  I have never consumed alcohol and never intend to do so.  My viewpoint of this issue has been developed over a life time.  In my very young years I was exposed to alcoholic behavior through my uncles who partied and used alcohol excessively.  My mother and her sisters were adamantly against its use because of the destruction it had caused in their brothers' lives. I was influenced negatively about any use of alcohol because of my own mother's stance against its use.  I'm not sure if she intended to link it to our religious beliefs but in my mind, it became a part of our family's stance tied to those beliefs.  I thought she really believed that the use of alcohol would send you to hell.  It was a great fear factor.  As I grew up, this perspective probably kept me from experimenting with its use though I was raised in a wet county and my friends around me were using it freely.  I married someone who didn't use alcohol either but his family didn't adhere strictly to the no-use practices that were demanded in my family.  We raised our children in an alcohol-free home and use of it was prohibited.  As Believers in Jesus and Southern Baptist tea-totelers, most of our friends didn't partake either.  At some point in my life, I was convinced that "good christian people" don't drink and that was final.  I was also mistakenly informed (or uninformed) that the Baptist Faith and Message denounced drinking alcohol and promoted abstinence.  Since we were covenant keepers of the BF&M, I thought that we should adhere to the abstinence statement.  It wasn't until we planted a Southern Baptist Church and I read the BF&M cover to cover that I realized it simply isn't in there.  There is no doubt that the Biblical stance on use of alcohol is clear - we are not to drink to the point of drunkenness or be out of control of our minds and bodies. Still, after being better informed and realizing that drinking alcohol would not send you to hell, I am happy with my life choice.  I think my life has been cleaner and less complicated by my abstinence.  I don't have any guilt or shame connected with that choice.  I am becoming more free from my burden of judgement of others associated with my life-long search for reasons that no one should drink alcohol and I am grateful for that.  It is a decision that I choose to continue and don't ever see myself changing - though I might not die for it.

I don't like politics.  I don't form opinions about politicians or political agendas.  I don't care a lot about voting or have a strong conviction that I should.  I will not associate myself with any party.  I don't believe that one party is better or worse than another.  I don't want politics or government issues to be a part of the church that I attend.  In fact, I don't want to celebrate America in my church.  I don't want to have Fourth of July, Memorial Day, or Veterans' Day Celebrations or church sponsored events on Sundays instead of focusing on Jesus.  I don't mind recognizing those who serve and have served and praying for them, but I don't want that to be the focus of any church service I attend.  I want us to celebrate the nations - including our American enemies.  Instead of standing for the United States of American - which I do love - as a matter of pride in my church.  I want to honor the flag and sing The Star Spangle Banner at ballgames, and public events, and in those such public places, hold my head high in support of our country.  I want to stand proudly as an American in the appropriate venues but to stand humbly before my God in all areas of my life and in submission to Him instead of elected officials and the government.

I want to support change in this world that matters.  I want to be a part of the solution for orphan care in our world today.  I want to be actively involved in awareness about modern day slavery in our world today.  I want to see education reform in countries that are plagued by denial of education for under privileged and even those doomed by caste systems.  I want to be an agent of change for those who see animal rights as being just as important as human rights.  I want to support those caught in the political web of environmental rights over-riding the rights of people and their livelihood.  I don't know how to stand for these things, but I want to learn and become more aware of these issues. I can make these problems and evils of the world a matter of prayer for change in hearts. I am aware that I will be viewed as politically incorrect because of some of these statements and I am ok with that.

As I began to think of some of these things, many other things began to occupy my thoughts but I knew that they weren't as important to me as I wanted to think they were, because I wouldn't die for them or take action on them or even care to state my opinion to anyone else about them.  I'm not even really sure I feel strongly enough about the things I've mentioned to keep all of them on my top five list.  I have a feeling that I need to revisit this in a couple of years and see...have my actions matched my words?