Saturday was our all-day training for the trip. We met up at Justin and Ana's house in the morning and discussed everything from cultural differences to packing lists.
We also received our trip schedule from our friends in Mexico; it looks like we'll be doing outreach both on campus and in some open Plazas that people enjoy spending time in during the evenings. It's a good opportunity for the new church to build relationships with their neighbors, though we may encounter less English-speakers.
We also got a look at the church's evangelism/discipleship strategy, called "Multiplica Multiplicadores." It's similar in structure to the Discovery Bible Study Method that Fellowship has been learning about lately. What this method is, is a Evangelistic Bible study method that allows rapid church-planting growth and equips new believers to share their faith and build community almost immediately. The goal is to spend an evening in a person's home, taking them and their family/friends through a Bible Study that focuses on the Gospel and then Discipleship. These types of methods are being used with amazing effectiveness in community-based cultures all over the world. I am super excited to have our team take part in this strategy. Check out this link if you want to look at the materials they use (it's in Spanish though).
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
pre-trip: no worries
God knows exactly what your faith needs.
I feel like the most common thing for me to say to people struggling with worry or stress is what Jesus says in Matthew 6 - seek God, do what he says and everything - every little thing - is gonna be alright (yes, I did just quote Bob Marley to quote Jesus).
Yet, when things in my life start to get cloudy - when all the promised support is slow to come, when the team goals aren't being met, when the people in charge of our trip start to talk about cancellation - I am reminded how much easier trust is to say than to live.
God knows exactly what your faith needs. And what your faith needs is for God to be glorified in and through your life. Sometimes that will look like immediate results; 1 Kings 18, Elijah-style fire from heaven stuff. And that brings God so much glory (be sure to give it to him by telling people of his faithfulness)! Other times, however, God is most glorified by stretching your trust in him. He's taken me to the very edge of my faith so many times, and when I come to the end of myself and cry out in my doubt; he swoops in and provides for me and it brings him so much glory and grows my faith for the future!
God brought me to the edge of my faith today. I have $150 of $1,500 raised for this trip and we're 2 weeks past our $600 deadline, 3 weeks aways from our final deadline. I started analyzing today which bills I could postpone to meet our deadlines without incurring any undue financial wrath. I wanted to be angry at people who ignored my letters, I wanted to be angry at the deadlines and those enforcing them, I wanted to be angry at God for not coming through. But none of that makes any sense. I am so thankful that God always does what is best for me (in this case, revealing my lack of trust). I am so thankful for Rodger and Justin and Jenni for doing all of the things for this trip that I cannot (which is virtually all of the planning, heh). And I am so thankful for the 6 people who contacted me to say "hey, I'm supporting you; it's in the mail!"
God knows and does what is best for us; I call that love :)
Please pray for our team; that we would do all we can in our support-raising and trust that God will take care of us...
I feel like the most common thing for me to say to people struggling with worry or stress is what Jesus says in Matthew 6 - seek God, do what he says and everything - every little thing - is gonna be alright (yes, I did just quote Bob Marley to quote Jesus).
Yet, when things in my life start to get cloudy - when all the promised support is slow to come, when the team goals aren't being met, when the people in charge of our trip start to talk about cancellation - I am reminded how much easier trust is to say than to live.
God knows exactly what your faith needs. And what your faith needs is for God to be glorified in and through your life. Sometimes that will look like immediate results; 1 Kings 18, Elijah-style fire from heaven stuff. And that brings God so much glory (be sure to give it to him by telling people of his faithfulness)! Other times, however, God is most glorified by stretching your trust in him. He's taken me to the very edge of my faith so many times, and when I come to the end of myself and cry out in my doubt; he swoops in and provides for me and it brings him so much glory and grows my faith for the future!
God brought me to the edge of my faith today. I have $150 of $1,500 raised for this trip and we're 2 weeks past our $600 deadline, 3 weeks aways from our final deadline. I started analyzing today which bills I could postpone to meet our deadlines without incurring any undue financial wrath. I wanted to be angry at people who ignored my letters, I wanted to be angry at the deadlines and those enforcing them, I wanted to be angry at God for not coming through. But none of that makes any sense. I am so thankful that God always does what is best for me (in this case, revealing my lack of trust). I am so thankful for Rodger and Justin and Jenni for doing all of the things for this trip that I cannot (which is virtually all of the planning, heh). And I am so thankful for the 6 people who contacted me to say "hey, I'm supporting you; it's in the mail!"
God knows and does what is best for us; I call that love :)
Please pray for our team; that we would do all we can in our support-raising and trust that God will take care of us...
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