Dear Elders

It is a privilege to be in a congregation of believers. For our trip to Kenya to be a team representing River Cities Community Church we needed the approval of our elders. While leadership comes naturally for some of us, life often works best when we choose to work under the authority of others. Time had come for me to write a proposal for their approval.

Woven into the letter were the confirmations of God's directing us to have a trip as well as a list of goals. The current goals include:

1. Vacation Bible School for all ages.
2. Development of curriculum for the Sunday morning worship for the orphanage and community children.
3. Development of curriculum for Saturday afternoon Bible class for the Into Abba's Arms family.
4. Resourcing the on site nursery school that serves the community as well.

Would you pray for us as we work on the steps to reaching those goals? We have a great bunch of talented people comprising our team, but we still need the Holy Spirit's leadership as we work on the particulars. It is not by might, nor by power, nor by good looks but by the Spirit of the Lord that this will be accomplished according to Zechariah 4:6. We want His creativity, fun and depth in the lessons in a manner that is appropriate for the Kenyan culture.

The chapel at IAA attracts anywhere from 80 to 150 children each week. Some walk quite a distance. They tend to be quite poor, so we will include lunch of  beans and rice each day. 

We want to give them the "How To's of Growing in Christ" using the Navigator Wheel as an outline for the week. Maybe we should call the week's Vacation Bible School "Rolling with Jesus".

Submit your ideas for naming the VBS in the comment section. The person submitting the best name for the VBS will get an Into Abba's Arms tshirt! 

The Phone Call with Donna

According to Chuck Colson back in July, Kenya's proposed consitutional changes could bring Shari'a Law in effect nationally in Kenya. (http://www.breakpoint.org/features-columns/speakout/entryI/26/14825 provides more information.) I shuddered. The constitution passed. Now we had to pray that the two top officials would never be Muslim.

But we also needed to equip people with the "How To's" of growing in Christ so no matter what took place politically, they would be prepared for the possible persecution. They needed to learn to spiritually feed themselves; enjoy simple spiritual disciplines; and help others do the same. What about our children at Into Abba's Arms and their buddies who worship at our chapel every Sunday?



Auntie Donna and Mum Jane



                                          So who is Donna?

Donna Campbell is an American who lives at Into Abba's Arms home for our 30 orphans in Kenya. She was in the United States for a visit with family. I wanted to talk with her regarding the spiritual needs of the orphanage, especially in light of the new constitutional threats. As we conversed she shared how she longed for the kids to experience Vacation Bible School. She just knew that would be such a wonderful ministry to IAA kids as well as community children. THAT DID IT! Why couldn't we do a Vacation Bible School covering "The Wheel" for growing in Christ, a helpful analogy for maturing in Christ?

A mission trip was being conceived! The Lord provided challenge and faith to take on the adventure through the various readings discussed in earlier blogs. Combined with Donna's desires everything converged to say "It is time to pull together a trip and see who God raises up to be the team."

Oh, yeah, maybe I should share all this with the Elders....

How Do You Know God's Will?

Have certain truths ever slapped you in the face? Or maybe just startled you because you had missed how obvious they were in the first place. When going through Henry Blackaby's work Experiencing God for the first time I was awakened to the stark reality I did not need to ask God to show me His will for some big project, I needed to simply look for where God was active and get on board with what He was doing.

This summer amidst doing Radical as an entire church, our Friday Ladies Bible Study was doing the updated version of Experiencing God. Some of us had done it before but we wanted to reexamine the basic truths as presented in the new version. Here the "Seven Realities" Blackaby gives and my thoughts are in red:

1. God is always at work around you. This nice isn't it!
2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal. Praise the Lord I am so glad!
3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work. This could be fun or maybe make me sweat, or depend on Him more.
4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways. Of course.
5. God's invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action. Whoa. This sounds frightening. This term "crisis" makes me nervous. And the words "faith and action" are serious.
6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing. Now this is where it really can get pretty challenging. The first time I did this study I left one job and began to work in a more faith demanding job. What is He up to now? 
7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His will through you. We are now moving from sweet ideas about the will of God to the rigors of doing it. But how amazing that the God of the universe would accomplish His will through me! Humbling. Overwhelming.

And then there was the phone call with Donna.

Thanks Hudson Taylor!

I recall people speaking of Hudson Taylor. I knew he was the founder of China Inland Mission. I was aware of his challenge to traditional style of missions by dressing as Chinese did in the later 1800's; dying his hair black; wearing the typical long braid. Amazed I discovered that,

At his, (speakng of Hudson Taylor), death in 1905 at Changsha (the capital of the last province opened to the Gospel), there were 205 stations with 849 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christians in the China Inland Mission (1989, Hudson Taylors's Spiritual Secret, p.x)

Reading Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, introduced me to a man who embraced his calling to win the Chinese to Christ with such fervor. The intensity of his life's service challenged me to consider my own behavior. Was I lazy in trying to lead a "life of balance"? His driving compassion woke me up to question the depth of my love for others. His faith expressed through transparent prayer seemed to grow with struggles I would want to escape.

And then Hudson discovered the secret of life released to the working of God's Holy Spirit, living IN Hudson. As Colossians 1:27 closes, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Instead of depending on his personal capabilities, he identified his needs to a Heavenly Father Whose Spirit would gladly supply. He called out for comfort amidst the deaths of family members. He depended on the Almighty for immense measures of wisdom. Whatever the demand  he was confident the Holy Spirit would supply. The results? He gave up worrying. Taylor enjoyed "a restful sense of sufficiency in Another." (p.157)

Thank you Hudson Taylor for reminding me:

1. God's Holy Spirit is the source of all I need.
2. God's resources are unlimited and will be available through the craziest means. (George Mueller, the one who fed 2,000 orphans a day through prayer, gave the China Inland Mission over $10,000 in his lifetime.)
3. I need to pray about everything.
4. God will show me who to love and provide wise compassion, instead of foolish codependency.
5. There in an appropriate time for rest and creativity. If you don't take care of yourself, few others will.
6. It added to Radical the reminder that people need to be exposed to Jesus. A return to Kenya was becoming real.

I hope you will pick up this tiny volume. Be prepared to turn the pages at break neck speed. Clear your calendar since you won't want to put the book down. Grab journaling tools.

Subtle Stirrings

In reading the book, Radical, by David Platt, I was quite familiar with the basic content. But what interrupted my "ho hum" attitude was the stark contrasts between the typical American local church and the world beyond America. Platt writes with his heart. Before long I was engaged heart to heart.

As a congregation we dealt with the Biblical themes underlying each of Platt's chapters through the avenues of small groups, worship, preaching, and some prayer. I saw the Holy Spirit wake people up to His purposes for their lives. People began questioning the invisible boundaries in which they lived. What was comfortable and somewhat thought provoking, began to stir folks into making decisions to seek the Lord for His leadership of how they were to live out what was being put before them. The word "surrender" was challenging people to risk new action.

I was thrilled with how the Holy Spirit was working in others' lives. Conversations were expressing questions, struggles, and "ah hah" moments. Because of the familiarity and conviction about the basic content of Radical, God had to weave in some other books so I would move beyond the subtle stirring. My heart was engaged but it needed to shift to a better  gear.

Little did I know what Hudson Taylor's life had to say to me.

Beginnings

The beginnings of this blog are scary. We want to present thoughts that will be encouraging, challenging, and provoking.
My, (Beth), first intention of beginning this blog was to share about our forthcoming mission trip to Kenya. But then I realized Dave has so much to share that would be of interest to others.

In June 2007 I traveled with our younger daughter, Kemble with a mission team from Into Abba's Arms Foundation, (IAA),  to the foundation's orphange in Kenya. After several days of being  there we ministered in the Kisumu region among small rural church families. The outcome of that trip has taken various forms:

1. A better understanding of Simon who we sponsor at IAA.
2. A challenge to think through the discipling process of nonreaders.
3. A role of support for the workings of the foundation, beyond finances.

I desired to return to IAA, but was waiting on God's timing. In August 2010, our congregation at River Cities Community Church began to delve into David Platt's book, Radical. At the same time I was leading our Friday Ladies Bible Study gang through Henry Blackaby's revised version of Experiencing God. Then I thought for "fun" or "lighter reading" I would venture into Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret.

What did I get myself into?