Archive for the 'Missions' Category

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The Big Picture: Colorful India

Published on February 8, 2010 in Missions. 0 Comments

1.2 billion people and according to Operation World, “India has more (and larger) people groups with no Christians, churches or workers than any other part of the world.”

The Big Picture takes us to India:

January 26th, 2010 marked the 60th anniversary of India’s adoption of the Constitution of India, and the 80th anniversary of its original 1930 Declaration of Independence from British rule. The annual holiday is celebrated as Republic Day, with a grand parade held in the capital, New Delhi, and many other celebrations across the diverse nation. Collected here are a number of photographs from the Republic Day celebrations and many more colorful glimpses of daily life from all around India.

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More here.

Pictures from Afghanistan

Published on January 31, 2010 in Missions. 0 Comments

Another amazing collection.

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Click here to see more at the Big Picture.

Mark Driscoll in Haiti

Published on January 27, 2010 in Missions and suffering. 0 Comments

HT: Z

Devotions about Haiti, a hell of a surprise to be avoided, and eyes to see Christ naked

Published on January 15, 2010 in Missions and suffering. 0 Comments

If God is touching your heart about Haiti, but, you’re not quite sure how to respond, here’s a devotional exercise you could do in the next few days.

  1. Read Matthew 25 aloud.  It is a good thing to force yourself to slow down and hear a segment of God’s Word.
  2. Notice that there are three segments:
    1. The parable of the Ten Virgins
    2. The parable of the Talents
    3. The final judgment
  3. Reflect on the significance of each of the three sections.  Do you agree with these summary statements?
    1. Matthew 25:1-13: Only foolish people are not prepared when Christ comes back.  And, we can be sure that the Master will return when many are not ready – - at which time it will be too late.  Oh, can you say you are ready, brother? 
    2. Readiness looks like aggressively leveraging what God has entrusted to us, not playing it safe.  Matthew 25:14-30: Wise people aggressively multiply the resources entrusted to them.  Christians are not called to bury their savings in a 401K (which doesn’t turn out to be so safe after all) or to put our stuff in a safety deposit box of one kind or another. We are to shrewdly dream about the ways that we can shine the light of the Gospel across the street and around the world (see also Luke 16:8-9).
    3. In particular, readiness means being mobilized to help hurting people.  Those who decline to help the hurting should fear for their souls.  Matthew 25:31-46: To ignore the least of these is to ignore Jesus.  Our Lord said is that if we have no heart for the “naked,” then we have no heart for him – - indeed, those who think they are His, but bear no fruit of compassion – - these have a Hell of a shock in front of them (Matt 25:46).  Deeds of compassion don’t save us; but, the saved feature deeds of compassion.  2 Corinthians 13:5.

On a corporate level, if a local church is just a local church; then it may one day have a hell of a shock; if a group of believers look only inwardly, only locally, then they have reason to question if they are the real deal or not.

Rather, let us see Christ when he is naked.

The Big Picture: Earthquake in Haiti

Published on January 13, 2010 in Missions and suffering. 3 Comments

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Click here for more pictures from Haiti.  Pray.

This photo collection may help you be thankful for the blessings in your life even as you pray for the Gospel to spread

Published on November 26, 2009 in Missions. 0 Comments

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Click here to see more.

HT: Challies

The West’s Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?

Published on November 15, 2009 in Missions and Politics. 3 Comments

Tony Blankley, Editorial Page Editor, The Washington Times, writes in his book, The West’s Last Chance:

The threat of the radical Islamists taking over Europe is every bit as great to the United States as was the threat of the Nazis taking over Europe in the 1940’s.  We cannot afford to lose Europe.  We cannot afford to see Europe transformed into a launching pad for Islamist jihad.

My purpose in writing this book is to assess, with cold logic and objectivity, how the West is responding to the radical Islamist threat—and how we can and should respond.  My central assertion is that while we in the United States and Europe have vast resources for protecting ourselves, we have thought ourselves into a position of near impotence.

Catching Up With Miss Mango

Published on November 4, 2009 in Missions. 2 Comments

Togolese Angel

It has been awhile since I posted on Miss Mango.  For those who are new to my blog, I took a picture of the little girl to the right when I was in Mango, Togo last spring.  I am part of an ABWE effort to see a hospital built in the Mango area.

The project continues to forge ahead.  The groundbreaking was held on October 24.

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Pastor Andrew Ford posts:

“From ABWE Missionaries in Mango, Togo.  Three things stand out to me:

  1. Mango is ready for a hospital and ripe for the Gospel.
  2. God is at work there.  So many things are coming together that can only be attributed to God’s grace and work in a special way.
  3. It rained.  Make sure you read the last paragraph.

October 24, 2009

It’s a cloudy Saturday, and I think it best to write today as we travel to Dapaong tomorrow and have meetings in the evening here in Mango.  The big news is of course the laying of the first stone for the Wendell Kempton Medical and Ministry Center on Thursday.

First off, the President didn’t come, which was both a disappointment and a relief.  It certainly lowered the level of security, and that was a blessing.  He did send his greetings, and the person who announced the change in plans attributed his absence to a last minute affair of state that required his presence in Lome.  We did have four cabinet ministers and five representatives from the Togolese National Assembly, so there was plenty of “star power” in attendance.  The authorities here told us they estimated the crowd at 4000, and people came from distant villages, and from as far away as Lome.  The day started off with a light fog, which cooled things down early in the morning.  But that burned off, and it rapidly heated up.  We were under a canvas shelter, but most of the crowd was seated, or standing in the sun, which had to be very uncomfortable.

To me, the high point of the affair was when Pastor Pat Nemmers preached from Mark 2 about the paralyzed man whose friends brought to Jesus.  Our desire here is to talk about our Lord Jesus Christ, and to show His mighty works, and wonderful teaching.  Pastor Nemmers spoke of how we can be healed physically but then lose our souls. Jesus, however, went beyond healing the man physically, forgiving his sins and giving him eternal life in the process.  Our friends here see Jesus as a powerful prophet, but not as God in the flesh.  The story in Mark 2 defines His deity in a powerful way, for only God has power to forgive sins. 

Read the whole thing here.

Who can you encourage “all over the world”?

Published on November 1, 2009 in Missions and Romans. 1 Comment

A chief strategy of the evil one is to isolate Christians.  He wants us to believe that we are part of nothing larger than the squabbles in our church committee meetings  Satan tries to shrink our conception of what God is doing and make us feel part of something small.

This morning I will continue preaching in our Romans project.  I plan to focus on Romans 1:8.  Here we see that one of the ways that Paul sought to encourage the Romans was by assuring them that there was a global awareness of their faith that extended far beyond Rome.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. . . (Romans 1:8a)

We should encourage others in the same way.

Is there a missionary, or a believer in some other part of the country that you can email or write today and say,

“Your faith is known and proclaimed.  I’m thankful for you.  I’m praying for you.  I thank God that we are part of the Body together.”

The Hope Children’s Center in Zambia

Published on October 17, 2009 in Missions. 0 Comments

imageI’m thankful to hear that the Hope Children’s Center in Zambia is now up and running.  Cornerstone in Ames, IA took leadership in making this happen. 

Our church family may remember that Jeff Dodge from Cornerstone preached in our church and that we took up an offering for the Hope Children’s Center and also made a gift from our church missions budget.

So, by God’s grace, we had a very small part in this project – - It gives me such joy to reflect on this, to think what it can mean for some children and the future of Zambia.

Click here to read more.