Just a quick update:
Late this afternoon I got official word from e3 that Larry's team made it safely to Delhi. I believe that as I write this Larry is in a jet headed home. A jet is basically a metal tube, surrounded by combustible fuel and propelled at frightening speeds through a series of controlled explosions and then lifted to a few thousand feet above the earth. Allegedly this is a safer place than Larry was just 36 hours ago. I say we should keep praying.
Thanks so much for your response and prayers for the teams safety. I think it's a strong reminder that most of the world is not as blessed as we are here in the states.
I'll give Larry a week to decompress after the trip and then work on an interview so I can share his experiences with all of you.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Posted with Blogsy
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Under Attack
NOTE: I started the following post this morning, planning to publish it on Larry's return. That, along with the title of the post, changed tonight for reasons you will read about below.
I wanted to give you a little update on my friend Larry. Larry went with me to India this last February and he was a great travel companion and roommate. He suffered a bit on the last trip with some stomach problems, a nasty spider bite, and, of course, having to be my roommate.
Larry had planned on coming with us in January of 2013, but it turned out that by the time our trip got scheduled, his number one employee, the one he counts on to keep his business going when he takes trips, had scheduled a Caribbean cruise with her husband. The husband is bigger than Larry so rather than try and fight him for her, he decided to go with another group. He just got back this week.
Larry's trip turned out to be a little more exciting than most. It started out with a series of airport delays and cancelled flights due to a winter storm, all of which combined to leave him without the rest of his group wandering the Delhi airport for several hours. Adding to the excitement is that Larry didn't really know where his team would be working in India. They purposefully kept the information from him so he wouldn't let it slip and endanger the team. The particular area they were working in has been hostile to those sharing the gospel and there have been arrests, beatings, and worse in the past.
Here's where the post changes.
Yesterday I recieved a two day old report that the teams in that region of India had so far shared the gospel with about 1000 people and nearly 300 had prayed to recieve Christ as their Savior.
At about 6:45 tonight, a call was recieved from Larry. His team was under immediate threat from a terrorist group. They were in the process of evacuating their hotel and fleeing to Delhi. Please pray for Larry and his team. If they can make it to Delhi they should be relatively safe. I am praying that the words of the 3rd Psalm would come to life for the team there.
I wanted to give you a little update on my friend Larry. Larry went with me to India this last February and he was a great travel companion and roommate. He suffered a bit on the last trip with some stomach problems, a nasty spider bite, and, of course, having to be my roommate.
Larry had planned on coming with us in January of 2013, but it turned out that by the time our trip got scheduled, his number one employee, the one he counts on to keep his business going when he takes trips, had scheduled a Caribbean cruise with her husband. The husband is bigger than Larry so rather than try and fight him for her, he decided to go with another group. He just got back this week.
Larry's trip turned out to be a little more exciting than most. It started out with a series of airport delays and cancelled flights due to a winter storm, all of which combined to leave him without the rest of his group wandering the Delhi airport for several hours. Adding to the excitement is that Larry didn't really know where his team would be working in India. They purposefully kept the information from him so he wouldn't let it slip and endanger the team. The particular area they were working in has been hostile to those sharing the gospel and there have been arrests, beatings, and worse in the past.
Here's where the post changes.
Yesterday I recieved a two day old report that the teams in that region of India had so far shared the gospel with about 1000 people and nearly 300 had prayed to recieve Christ as their Savior.
At about 6:45 tonight, a call was recieved from Larry. His team was under immediate threat from a terrorist group. They were in the process of evacuating their hotel and fleeing to Delhi. Please pray for Larry and his team. If they can make it to Delhi they should be relatively safe. I am praying that the words of the 3rd Psalm would come to life for the team there.
A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
1 O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him." "Selah" 3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. 4 To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. "Selah" 5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. 6 I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. 7 Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. "Selah"
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Communication
I blogged earlier about the new initiative that my church had the chance to support in India. In a nutshell, it became apparent that a vast majority of the over 1,500 people that we reached during our 2012 trip were illiterate. Even if bibles were available in their language, Assamese, it wouldn't do any good because they simply can't read. It also wasn't helpful for us to quote scripture as we talked to them because it was referring to a written word that they couldn't understand.
Since the dawn of civilization until a relatively short time ago, a vast majority of people passed on knowledge through the art of storytelling. In much of the underdeveloped world, this tradition still exists. The oral tradition is the way that nearly all knowledge, beliefs, history, and custom is passed between peoples and one generation and another. e3 has worked on techniques to use this tradition, one that the people we are trying to reach are comfortable with, in order to share the gospel. In addition to sharing the story of Christ in a way that is familiar to the people you are working with, the technique is also a safer method for the missionaries as it doesn't require the carrying of a bible or even an evangicube. In many regions of the world, including parts of India, having either of these items can create problems with authorities or militant believers of the native religions.
I found this approach interesting for a couple of reasons. First off, e3 took the time and effort to find out from the native pastors what tools they needed in the mission field. To often outsiders don't take the time to find out what is actually needed. When my church board approached me about finding a project in India to support financially, the original idea was to do something like dig a well for fresh water. Instead of pursuing that, I asked Charles Gulla, one of e3's Indian leaders, what his people needed. I did this because I remembered hearing a story about a multi-million dollar chicken processing plant that westerner's built in Afghanistan in order to "help" the local people. The problem was that there was no infrastructure to transport these beautifully cleaned and processed birds, no refrigerators in the homes of the people that would buy the processed poultry, and no money in their pockets to purchase the chickens if they wanted them. Westerners had spent tremendous resources to do something that the locals simply didn't need and failed to address the needs that actually existed.
Secondly, reading and researching this initiative made me realize just how much we have lost the ancient art of storytelling in our modern world. In this day of computers, televisions, texting, and video games, we even seem to have lost the simple skill of conversation. It's sad. I'm not that old really, but I remember my uncle's telling me stories of their youth and nights with family when a television wouldn't even be turned on. I'm just as bad about my reliance on technology to pass the time. On a recent trip to visit some very dear friends, it wasn't an hour after we were in their home that we were all centered around the front of a television. Even the first step of storytelling, simple conversation, seemed to elude us. That's something I'm definately going to work on.
Anyway, here is a video from e3 that tells about the power of storytelling as a tool to reach an oral people.
For more information about e3's storytelling initiative, you can check out their site here: http://www.e3partners.org/orality#/about
Since the dawn of civilization until a relatively short time ago, a vast majority of people passed on knowledge through the art of storytelling. In much of the underdeveloped world, this tradition still exists. The oral tradition is the way that nearly all knowledge, beliefs, history, and custom is passed between peoples and one generation and another. e3 has worked on techniques to use this tradition, one that the people we are trying to reach are comfortable with, in order to share the gospel. In addition to sharing the story of Christ in a way that is familiar to the people you are working with, the technique is also a safer method for the missionaries as it doesn't require the carrying of a bible or even an evangicube. In many regions of the world, including parts of India, having either of these items can create problems with authorities or militant believers of the native religions.
I found this approach interesting for a couple of reasons. First off, e3 took the time and effort to find out from the native pastors what tools they needed in the mission field. To often outsiders don't take the time to find out what is actually needed. When my church board approached me about finding a project in India to support financially, the original idea was to do something like dig a well for fresh water. Instead of pursuing that, I asked Charles Gulla, one of e3's Indian leaders, what his people needed. I did this because I remembered hearing a story about a multi-million dollar chicken processing plant that westerner's built in Afghanistan in order to "help" the local people. The problem was that there was no infrastructure to transport these beautifully cleaned and processed birds, no refrigerators in the homes of the people that would buy the processed poultry, and no money in their pockets to purchase the chickens if they wanted them. Westerners had spent tremendous resources to do something that the locals simply didn't need and failed to address the needs that actually existed.
Secondly, reading and researching this initiative made me realize just how much we have lost the ancient art of storytelling in our modern world. In this day of computers, televisions, texting, and video games, we even seem to have lost the simple skill of conversation. It's sad. I'm not that old really, but I remember my uncle's telling me stories of their youth and nights with family when a television wouldn't even be turned on. I'm just as bad about my reliance on technology to pass the time. On a recent trip to visit some very dear friends, it wasn't an hour after we were in their home that we were all centered around the front of a television. Even the first step of storytelling, simple conversation, seemed to elude us. That's something I'm definately going to work on.
Anyway, here is a video from e3 that tells about the power of storytelling as a tool to reach an oral people.
For more information about e3's storytelling initiative, you can check out their site here: http://www.e3partners.org/orality#/about
Monday, November 5, 2012
Saying Goodbye
So what's this doing in an India mission blog? Well, truth be told, my decision to sell wasn't solely about me not getting time to ride. It had more to do with priorities.
 |
| Here it is, a former friend of mine that gave me a lot of smiles over the last 4 years. |
That's right. $1,200.00 would cover his food, lodging, living expenses, traveling expenses, and ministry. As I walked around with that knowledge in my head, it became very difficult to walk by this blue and silver machine that I had really only used about 20 days over the last year. It gnawed on me. With the knowledge that an Indian pastor and his family can live off $1,200.00 for a whole year, could I really justify having something worth around $3,000.00 sitting around doing nothing for more than 90% of my time? I just couldn't. And so I put it and some of it's associated goodies on the market. The largest part of the proceeds from the sale will go to my mission trip, some will go to support other Indian missions, and some will take care of other expenses I have so that I can free up a little cash flow in preperation for the trip.
 |
| I did keep this little guy. He's been with me on one motorcycle or another for about 20,000 miles. |
- This doesn't in any way mean that I'm a more spiritual person than anyone else. Let's face it: if I was only using it a very little bit of the time, I obviously won't miss it much. Remember the story of the widow's mite. Her offering, as small as it was, was considered more worthy by Christ because for her, it was sacrificial. Given it's lack of use, my motorcycle is obviously not the equivelant of the widow's mite. I'll miss the bike being there when I want to take a spin, but it isn't going to be any sacrifice for me to be without it. All it really means is that I got a piece of knowledge (what an Indian pastor can survive on) and God used that knowlege to put a conviction in my heart.
- I'm not telling you this in order to brag about what a great guy I am for giving something up. Read the above point. I'm also not trying to put a guilt trip on anyone about their own toys. I've still got lots of toys. I'm still very prone to the great ailment of the west, consumerism. (He says as he types on an iPad.) But I do wish that all of us, including myself, would think about our priorities more. If you're reading this it is most likely that you're an American. Even with the downturn in the economy, we're still the most blessed nation on earth. Even our poor have things like cel phones, cable television, computers, and running vehicles. Most of us are blessed enough to have all that plus much more. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But I know that in my own case I often put my desire for these things above my support for ministry and God's work. It's something I struggle with daily.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)