Off to Training

Tomorrow... Actually in 4 hours I will be leaving Lake Jackson/Clute, Texas to go be trained. As I have read the books that have been given to me in order to prepare for this adventure I am about to undertake I have constantly been reminded of how little I have depended on God throughout all of this. As a human being and as a man I like to think that I am capable and competent enough to do anything that I put my heart to. I know it's pride, but it's just that way I think. In all honesty, I think that even if I never stop to pray I could 'get through' the next two years. However, I don't want to just 'get through' these next two years. I want God to show up in huge and mighty ways. In Habakkuk 1:5 God says, "Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." I hope that God does things that are unthinkable and unbelieveable. I know that these things will not happen though, unless I learn to rely on Him and live every moment for Him and not for myself.

I guess what I'm getting at is the idea of prayer. I have not taken nearly enough time to just sit before the Creator and Sustainer and let Him give me hope and vision and joy as he prepares me for where I am to go. I definitely believe that God answers prayers; however, if anyone were to actually look at my life, they would never know it. It's not a priority. I've heard stories of the "Heroes of our Faith" who spent hours in prayer each and every day. They were sensitive to God's calling and leading throughout their days.

One of the books that I have been reading is called Church Planting Movements. As the title suggests, it is about planting churches that plant churches that plant churches. It's about a movement - a revolution that changes the thoughts and beliefs of entire people groups as it rapidly spreads throughout landscapes. One of the quotes is as follows, "Prayer permeates Church Planting Movements... Church Planting Movements are steeped in prayer." I love those verbs - permeates and steeped. Prayer is everything in missions. If we expect God to act then he expects us to humbly approach His throne.

So, I want to ask you to pray. Right now. Tonight. Tomorrow morning. Or even all the above! Pray for yourself that you would be sensitive to God's leading in your life today! Also, pray for my mission trip. Most likely, the reason you are reading this is because you have already been praying or want to know how to pray for me as I go. So let me give you a few thoughts from the book I mentioned previously.

1. Pray for the missionaries

I hate to put myself first, but it's the order it's in in the book! As I go to training I have no idea what training holds. I know that I will be extremely busy and probably tired. I know they will try to get us out of our comfort zones as we prepare to move into an entirely different culture. I'm fairly positive that they are going to stuff our little noggins with an information overload that will be hard to keep up with. Pray that I grow ever closer to our Savior each and every day. Pray that God uses this time to refine me (which often isn't easy) into the man I need to be as I approach the time to leave for Brazil. Pray that God would show up in incredible ways at Orientation.

2. Pray for the lost people group.

The people that I will be going to may have some prior knowledge of the Gospel. However, if they have any it is very faint and most likely mixed with some sort of spirit worship that many would associate with villages in remote locations. As I said in a previous blog, I won't be done with training until April or May of next year. But it is never too early to start praying for lost souls. Pray that God would open their eyes to see His glory and the hope that He offers. Pray that they would actively receive it and willingly spread the news throughout their region.

3. Pray for the new believers.

I have no idea what will happen when the first group of people turn to Christ. The rest of the community may treat them the same, or they may be ignored and harmed. Pray that God would grant them His strength to be bold. Pray that they would persevere as the faith becomes their own and they proclaim it to others.

4. Pray for new workers.

Pray that as men and women come to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, they would become missionaries. The goal would be for them to become church planters and evangelists.

Just pray! To be honest I have no idea what's in store for these next few months, but I do know that the best way to prepare is to pray. So join me in lifting up the men and women along the Amazon River to our Lord.

A Fortnight Away

Let me start off with a story I read from 2 Kings 7 last night. It's one I have heard, but one that hit close to home since I leave in two weeks for training. It's a story about 4 lepers. While sitting outside of the entrance to the city, they say to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, 'Let us enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go..." So they rise up and go to the only place where they even have a chance of living, to the camp of the enemies - the Syrians. As they were headed down to the camp of the Syrians, God made these lepers sound like a great army coming to fight. Because the Syrians feared that a mighty army was coming to besiege them, they fled. In their fear they left everything behind them. "When these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them." They just found immense treasure and everything they needed to stay alive, as this was what compelled them to approach the Syrians to begin with. But they hid it. They kept it to themselves. Remember, there was a famine in the city, and upon finding all that the Syrian army had left behind they chose to hoard it for themselves rather than share this great news with the others. Then they realized what they were doing. They said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. Let us go and tell..." So they went and told the king's household. Then, all the people went and plundered the camp of the Syrians and were able to have abundant amounts of food and drink.

While reading a commentary on these verses I found a quote from Charles Spurgeon, "If the only result of our religion is the comfort of our poor little souls, if the beginning and the end of piety is contained within one’s self, why, it is a strange thing to be in connection with the unselfish Jesus, and to be the fruit of his gracious Spirit. Surely, Jesus did not come to save us that we might live unto ourselves. He came to save us from selfishness."

I have been blessed greatly by the family that God has given me and the friends that God has surrounded me with. Most importantly I have been blessed by God by being able to call myself a son of God, to receive an inheritance greater than anything the earth has to offer. Therefore I cannot keep it to myself. Just as the lepers went and told the nation of Israel, so I must go and tell.

Many of you know that I am headed out to training here in two weeks to start my two months of training. After this I will be heading down to Brazil sometime between mid-October and mid-November. At that point I will go through another 5-6 months of training. Then I will start my missions job. Amazon RACE - Radical Approach to Church planting and Evangelism. I will be paired up with a native Brazilian. We will canoe down the Amazon River in search of a particular river-community that will be our new home for about a year and a half (not a year and a half straight though, we will be there for 3-4 months then back to the city of Manaus for 2 weeks, then in the river community for 3-4 months, then back to Manaus for 2 weeks...). As the Amazon RACE name implies, my job will be to develop relationships that lead to Christ-centered conversations that will lead to discipleship that will lead to church planting that will lead to sharing the Gospel in surrounding river communities. I am definitely excited about the next two years of my life. There is absolutely no telling what God will do inside of me and around me. Clearly, at this point I need prayer, and lots of it, so here are some things you could be praying for:

- That I would learn more about God and depend more on Him and less on myself each and every day.

- Language learning, I have been told that this is one of the most important things at this point.

- Visa, that the visa process would be pain free and not delay me in going to Brazil.

- Last, but definitely not least, that God would prepare the hearts of those I am going to be ministering to and that He would use me to bring people to Himself that at this point have never even heard of Him.

Thank you all! I am so excited about this.