Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Encounter the unpredictable... endure the predictable



I was looking back through my journal for this year and ran across this entry from February 23rd.  It encouraged me and I pray it encourages you and puts more iron in our souls as we follow Him.


"Reading back through the highlights of Walking with Bilbo. It talks about simply sticking to the path.  Along this path we encounter the unpredictable and we endure the predictable; both take great courage and faith.  If we finish what God has called us to do, we must move forward trusting in times of obscurity and doing the mundane tasks over and over.  The doors will eventually open.  We are under the dragon spell when we are jealous or hurt for being overlooked.  

Sometimes there is no clear cut ending to various chapters of our story and we often wonder what God is up to.
Will He bring our adventure to a good end?

I must keep up my hobbitry of heart (this is what Tolkien wrote to his son who was fighting in WWII).  All stories feel like this when you are in them, but it is faith in God who finishes what he starts and brings our story to a happy ending.  This is not about us, but about His purposes.  So if you are feeling a little uneasy about the details of following Jesus, take heart.  That is how I feel at times; faint at heart, dis-heartened, but God will strengthen our hearts along the way.   

Let us stick to the path He has showed us: To lead young people to finish the Great Commission in this Generation!  He will help us encounter the unpredictable and endure the predictable.   

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Do you have a thinking problem?



Our mind is a battlefield.  Many times we have a thinking problem: worry, inferiority, condemnation, thinking as the world thinks, having worldly goals and ambitions.  2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we are to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
We must put a security guard at the door of our minds and check every thought coming in so that the thoughts can be conformed to the word of God and the will of God.  I must meditate on what the word says about myself, the world, God, and God's will. 

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Tasting and seeing

See what Ruth has to say from her summer...  read her blog & watch her video

-Waray Riverboat Team, Philippines 
 




Monday, August 18, 2014

Hands On

Hands On is a program through the IMB that provides semester-length cross cultural opportunities for students. Click here for more specifics about the program: http://www.imbstudents.org/HandsOn.aspx#.U_GOz6ONDFI

Students are now being assigned for Spring 2015 semester. (Dates on the field: Feb 5-Aug 5, 2015) There are several teams that will be working directly with field supervisors who utilize Nehemiah Teams. Several of these will also be available for the Fall 2015 semester (Aug-Dec 2015). Let us know if you might be interested in filling one of the following positions or would like more info.

109644 Church Planter/Student Worker (Bicol, Philippines)
109701 Student English Center (Southeast Asia)
109702 National NT Mobilizer (Philippines)
110351 Student Ministry Catalyst (Southeast Asia)
110359 Adventure Tourism Pioneer (Southeast Asia) Male only
110354 Urban IT Park (Cebu City, Philippines)
110363 Conversational English (Southeast Asia)

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Don't forget... commission permanence

It has now been 2 weeks.  As team members go about the normal routine of their day... the sights, sounds and faces of people race through their minds like a fragmented slide show.  They know they were there. They have the t-shirt and NT/P52 manual to prove it.  But it seems so surreal.  Almost like they never went. 
 

Child psychologists have discovered that infants do not have the ability to understand that something exists when they don’t see it.  Put an object in front of them, and it exists; take it away, and it ceases to exist.  There is no sense of object permanence. 
It has been said that this generation has a lack of compassion permanenceDangle a news report about a typhoon in the Philippines before them and they sit transfixed, their hearts “broken.”  Change the channel and in their minds, the typhoon and its victims cease to exist.

Final debrief session
 

On July 31st, team members were challenged to take personal responsibility for finishing the Great Commission in this generation.  Many of them responded. They made a decision that was life changing for them and for those without Christ. 
 

We are now calling on them to continue on in commission permanenceThat is, staying with their commitment as a World Christian long term.  Keeping All Nations in view after the tearful emotions wear off; living a life of long obedience to His Great Commission.
Don’t forget!



Waray Riverboat team (Philippines)

Friday, August 15, 2014

God must love me...

This summer in the Philippines we had the opportunity to have Bible study with a lady in our village who was suffering from paralysis due to a recent stroke. The lady used a plastic chair to get around on the rocky, uneven ground, and God laid it on my heart and my teammate's, Lauren Dalrymple, heart to buy this lady a cane. When the lady received the cane, she said, "God must love me because he sent you." Who knew the gift of cane could so perfectly demonstrate the message of God's grace! 1 John 4:7-1

-Catherine
Rural Healthcare Team, Philippines

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Not if, but when... not should, but must

As Christians, we are all commanded to share our faith to the ends of the earth. It's not an if, it's a when. It's not a should, it's a must. So... when I see others condemning intercultural mission work & calling it useless & selfish because there are lost here, I would challenge them to think of the world out there who has NEVER heard of Jesus or what He did for them. 

It's hard to believe until you experience it, but there are millions who will give you a blank stare if you talk about Jesus.

God desires to bring every nation, tribe, & tongue unto Him. 
 He will do it, with or without us. 

So... before you call international missions selfish or pointless, think of the one missionary assigned to a people group of six million who have never heard. Think of how hell grows every day with the cries of those who had no one sent to them. Let God break your heart for the millions lost with no one to show them the way.

-Destinie
2014 Waray Riverboat

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Heart for the Nations

He has chosen us to carry the treasure of the gospel to the nations.
Matthew 28:19-20 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
 

This is a command.
 
How many of us treat it as optional?
 

To all of you adventure-seekers out there... do you know the adventure of saying yes to God and throwing yourself into His plan, dying to yourself, and then the miracle of how He uses you to take light into the darkness and live on the edge and see beauty and experience cultures where no one has gone before?? That is the best kind of adventure.

Oh my brothers and sisters...  I know there are people here (in the USA) who need Jesus. I know. And God has convicted my heart this summer more than ever before about sharing the gospel everywhere I go, here and across the ocean, and talking about Jesus daily because after all, we were created to glorify Him. The truth I am trying to convey is that we often use the excuse that "there are still so many people who need Jesus here" as a reason not to go... but we forget... they have access to the gospel- it's in their language and down their street and in their bookstores and millions of others do not.
 

There are also internationals who have come here- in our schools and our workplaces and these people have come to us... but are we welcoming them? God literally hands us the nations in these instances and so many (myself included) overlook them or don't take the time to know them because they're different or "they just wouldn't understand me anyway."

I hope you hear my heart. I am burdened for the gospel. Y'all, it's all we have, and the only thing worth spending your life for because it's the only thing that has eternal value. You hold a treasure of hope and love and joy and peace and LIFE. Who are you sharing it with?
 

So maybe you can't go right this minute. I understand. My heart is burning with the knowledge of the need among the nations, but right now I just don't have the money to go and I have to go to school because that is where God has placed me for this season. But that doesn't let me off the hook. I can PRAY ...oh don't get me started on the power of prayer! Maybe you don't know yet. Maybe you haven't seen how God delights in answering the requests of His children when they are praying for His will to be done... test Him and see.  

Pray boldly for the missionaries, for the persecuted church, for God to send laborers to the fields ripe for harvest, for your lost friends and family, and for the sick and the burdened and the stress that you yourself are under. 
Pray with the knowledge of the power--that raised Jesus Christ from the grave!!-- that is in you as a child of God. Keep praying...and watch what God can do.
 

You and I can give to missions, and not just tossing a few coins in the plate as it passes by but really sacrificially giving... find a ministry that stirs your heart where the needs are written plain and the gospel is the message they carry... and dig deep. Give that money you would use at Starbucks to sit over coffee and talk about world change and give it to someone who is in a place to use it to literally change the world for Jesus (I'm preaching to myself here- y'all know how much I love my coffee)! 

Oh friends, do you see it?
 
You have the potential in you- and I know you want your life to make a difference in the world- to really change things. You truly do! Love the person next to you. Remember those serving and those in need of the gospel among the nations. Pray and give and look for opportunities to go. God has already given you the go-ahead... and time is short. Life keeps ticking by, people are born and die, and today won't come again. Make it count, my friend. If you see me wasting time with trivial things- call me out on it.

 
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come.
 
I want all nations to know Him because that is His heart. So it is my heart. When I get home (in heaven) I want to worship beside every tribe and tongue. I think my generation can do this. We have the resources and the passion and the adventurous spirit... but are we selfless enough to spend our lives for A Story that is so much greater than my story? 
 
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
Acts 20:24
 
-Amanda
2014 Rural Healthcare Team, Philippines

Rebuilding Lives



Nehemiah Teams helping rebuild lives in Bohol, Philippines. Many thanks to these three young men that gave their summer to help Filipinos.

-Glen T.
BGR Representative,
Philippines

Friday, August 8, 2014

Does your heart break?

They warned us it would be hard. Coming back. Everyone says welcome home and wants to hear about my journey but there are some problems: 
1. I'm not home. This summer taught me more than ever that only heaven is my home... and until I am kneeling up there before my Jesus, surrounded by the nations worshiping Him in every tongue, my heart will be restless and my feet will keep wandering this wide earth to carry the gospel to those without hope. 
2. Words. Can't. Even. I try, genuinely try, to communicate all God did this summer and how He changed me, but words fall short. How can I put into the words the ache in my heart for the people we left and the burning in my soul for the nations to know Him and the jittery feeling of frustration as I observe the "Christian hipsters" of our generation complacently talking of world change while sitting over coffee doing nothing with this treasure of the gospel???

I don't mean to offend anyone but oh I just want the ones who call themselves followers of Christ to wake up to the need that is surrounding us!! I think I understand a tiny bit more of the heart of Jesus... Did you know that the entire Bible is full of scripture pointing to God's heart for the nations? From Genesis to Revelation 7:9 "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (other references: Genesis 1:28, 9:1, 12:1-3, 26:4; Deuteronomy 4:4-6; Joshua 2:9-10; 1 Kings 4:34; Matthew 24:14, 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8, Romans 10:14-15... just to name a few)

Did you know that there are over 3.5 billion people who haven't heard the gospel??? The easy places have already been reached. The places that are left are the hard to reach (which is why they are still unreached) ...in the deep jungles and on the tops of mountains... the places without water and the places that flood... the places wrecked by the elements and considered "harsh" and unlivable"... the places filthy and disease-infested in the middle of cities and trash dumps where the people are "nobodies" and don't even speak the common language and they haven't heard because no one is taking the time to learn their language and love on them.... and oh if this isn't breaking your heart yet, do you remember where they are going? Those who have not heard the gospel and do not know what Jesus did for them on the cross are dying and going to hell because John 14:6 makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is the only way and their blood is crying up from the earth... "if only I had known the truth, if only someone had told me about Him, I knew there was something bigger than me that's why I worshiped idols because I thought maybe...." and Jesus is looking at His church and crying out... Do you not see? Can you not hear above the noise of your Christian music and comfortable culture the sound of people dying without ever knowing they can have a relationship with me??? 

-Amanda
2014 Rural Healthcare Team, Philippines 

Thursday, August 7, 2014

One week since Good-Bye!

It has been a week since I said goodbye to these precious people and the beautiful country I spent the summer serving. The Philippines and especially the village I lived in, Maguinda, will always have a very special place in my heart. Salamat sa Ginoo. Thanks be to God. Worthy is the Lamb.

-Maddison

Wide-eyed & Lovely

What a blessing it was to hold baby Trisha and play and rock her to sleep while my teammates shared with her mommy about Jesus' love. Trisha's mom was Muslim, but had never read a holy book, be it the Quran or Bible. 

As we began to read a book with her that was written for her and written in her own language, God began to change her heart. What joy to know this precious child will grow up knowing of her Father's love for her!

-Grace

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

2014 Quizzing Champs!


Winners of the 2014
debrief quizzing... way to go Filipino guys!

We never stand alone

8/4/2014
I have only been home for three days and I’ve had so much to reflect on lately. I had just returned from a two month long mission trip in the Philippines. Right now, I have been experiencing what some might call a “reverse-culture-shock.” After I had just become accustomed to living and loving a new culture that had seemed to feel like a second home, I soon found myself returning to what feels almost like another universe. Soon, I found that I had new eyes to see things about my own culture before I had seemed to be so oblivious to. 


When I was in the Philippines, I left my comfort zone to adjust to a culture whose social some in my own culture may consider strange or backwards. But the reality might be that my own culture is the one living backwards. 

In the Philippines I was living in a culture where everything is more event oriented rather than time oriented. You could walk up to any house and people would just invite you in or to come and eat with them if they were having dinner. When I would walk down the road with my new Filipino friends, they would often grab your arms or almost lean against me as we would walk and talk. People were always close to their friends, family, and even their neighbors. 

In Filipino culture, among your group, often times you will find that “what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.” One friend told me that in another “warm-culture” country he himself visited, that it was rude to call someone and say you were coming over—you were just supposed to come over. Now, I was in the province area of the Philippines so I couldn’t tell you much about the city there, which almost seems like a different culture, but what I did experience in the city was not real pleasant. There, I saw so many in need, but they were more than often ignored. The province had its problems too. Many families I met had a parent or parents who worked in the cities and would only see their children in the province a few times a year. 

When I was making my return home to the U.S. was when I really started to see the monster of isolation that plagues our culture and is steadily moving into other parts of our world. On my flight home, I sat near a traveling American woman who was shying away a small booklet she was reading entitled “How to Make Friends.” At home now I am missing all the everyday community I had grown accustomed to. 

I recently attended a new church plant in my town that is eager to see true gospel community in our area. The pastor, at the end of our gathering, talk about something they like to do called “community group.” Community group is where believers share life together, pray together, share meals together, and simply fellowship together as Christ’s family. Some people in our area may find this strange, but it’s nothing new to the church. Such gatherings are seen in the early church in Acts chapter 2. Such community in the church reflects who God is. 

God is not some lonely being but is triune and has community in himself with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To be the church in our culture who show the world who God is means being counter-cultural and being uncomfortable. It means not being isolated and putting the needs and interests of others above ourselves. This is not easy and we need grace for this. We need to be reminded that in the Gospel that God reconciled a people for himself to live in community with himself and one another. Sin and death still plague our world, but as Christians, we are messengers that hold is coming to an end and that the battle has already been won before it has even ended. 

Personally, I now know how a foreigner may feel coming from such a warm culture to one so isolated as ours. And that can open so many doors to show hospitality that they may miss or even to our own nationals who may have never experienced it. A community that does not simply have community to get something from someone else but community that gives selflessly for the needs and interests of others like Jesus Christ has done for undeserving people like me. The church has the privilege to be the light of Christ to the lost, lonely, dying and dark world around us—and we never stand alone.

-Caleb F.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

The Adventure of Saying Yes


You have to be some sort of brave to say yes to God. After all, He rarely outlines His plan and all the details in advance. The key to this type of adventure is faith.

Trusting God has it all together when you can't see how the pieces fit. After all, adventures aren't always fun. Sometimes they are hard and exhausting. Your purpose in adventuring determines whether or not you keep going. 

In this missionary journey, the purpose is to share the story of Jesus. I've learned a lot on this adventure- hard to believe there is only a week more on this bit of earth before the journey back to the states. But I have a feeling this adventure will linger. I've learned much about myself and my Jesus that I cannot wait to share, but there is also a fire deep in my heart that cannot be quenched. I need to talk about the hope and love and grace and greatness of my Jesus. Like a fish needs water. I'm not especially brave nor do I have much faith. More often than not the "Oh you of little faith..." statements of Jesus prick this doubting heart... 

But I've learned the secret- just say yes

Saying yes brought me to the Philippines- the opposite side of the world from where I thought I would be. Saying yes brought several new brothers and sisters in Christ and many new friends.
Saying yes brought laughter and joy and countless new experiences with a team that God designed. 
Saying yes put me waaaay out of my comfort zone and made me fall only on God. 
Saying yes brought struggles and sickness and tears and scraped knees and exhaustion.
Saying yes brought chipped toenail polish from kneeling on cement praying fervently for His kingdom to come, His will to be done.
 

My prayer is to never stop saying yes to God. The day I stop is the day I have forgotten what is truly important, and I might as well stop wasting oxygen. 

My prayer for you, right now reading this? That somehow, someway, you see Jesus in these words and realize that saying "Yes Lord, your will be done in my life, yes Lord I will go, yes Lord I will speak, yes Lord"... is the only way to truly live because He alone knows all you are capable of accomplishing in Him. Be brave because He is worth it all, and walking with Jesus is the best kind of adventure.
be brave

-Amanda

Friday, August 1, 2014

NT House Band

2014 Nehemiah Teams house band. 
Loved serving with these guys.

Dying so others can live

This group of incredible people died just a few hours ago so that others can have a chance to live. 

They committed to do their part in fulfilling the Great Commission in their "wherever." I can't begin to put into words how overwhelmed with gratitude I have been this summer to take even the smallest and insignificant part in something so much bigger than me. 

I was honored just to be able to unite in prayer for these selfless students as they traveled over the summer to their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the Earth to give of themselves so that others can come to know Christ. I was able to sit in on some of their orientation meetings, worship sessions, and hear some of their testimonies. 

I have been challenged. 
I have been convicted. 
I have been inspired. 
I have been touched. 

Congratulations to Nehemiah Teams 2014! Thank you for your sacrifice. However, this is only the beginning of your journey!

-Jason B
Sylvania, AL