All About Missions

Story time with Uncle Shenk

Craig — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:22:17 +0000

If you need to get stoked about actually living with the people you want to minister to, and if you need it by way of stories and general wittiness, consider this podcast by Clayton Shenk (York, PA), given at the BMA Church Planter’s Institute in 2011.

Oh yeah, and if you want to go to CPI this year, pack your bags real quick and meet me in Mississippi this Saturday and Sunday.

Apostle Paul on Extra-Biblical Rules

Craig — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:50:56 +0000

In Sunday school we are studying the book of Galations. What’s a flaming liberal not to like about Galations? It’s the anti-conservative rant!

Or is it?

Lets think about it a bit differently, since we are almost all liberal compared to some and conservative compared to others.

The book of Galations is about protecting the Gospel. The Judaizers were about protecting Judaism (if I’ve got the motivation right). In fact, it appears they wanted to protect Judaism inside Christianity.

I propose this tendency is not unique to 55 A.D. We all have a preference for a certain culture. The temptation is to somehow think the culture we prefer must naturally be the Gospel. For instance, I prefer 4-part singing in worship services. But the truth is, 4-part singing is not the Gospel. Its interesting to consider the possibility that the Judaizers were, in their own minds, sincerely contending for the truth.

Why was Paul so against what these guys wanted? There’s nothing morally wrong with circumcision. In Paul’s own words:

But we did not give up and submit to these people for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you.

What then is the Gospel? Galations 1:3-5 does a fantastic job of describing the essence of the Gospel. Here it is in the HCSB:

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. To whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Interview with Rosene Yoder

Craig — Sat, 04 May 2013 17:36:29 +0000

Rosene, welcome to All About Missions and welcome back to Kansas! How did you end up in Thailand and what did you do?

In 2008 I made a trip to Thailand to visit a friend who I’d been with at New Horizons and who was then serving as a nanny with Chara Ministries under Global Tribes Outreach. I had some interest in IGo and was planning to visit there as well in hopes of possibly returning as a student. God had other plans, and a year later I was back in Thailand as a nanny. I fostered 3 different children during my time in Thailand. Gan, my first little boy, was almost 2 when he was adopted by a wonderful Christian couple in Vancouver. He is 4 1/2 years old now, still quite the spunky, fun-loving little guy, and I’m looking forward to visiting him this summer! Phoenix, my second one, was only with me four months before his birth mother asked to have him back. He would be 3 1/2 years old now, but I haven’t heard anything from him since a few months after he returned to his mother. Rakchanok, my beautiful little girl, came to live with me when she was almost 3 weeks old. Because of some paperwork snags, her adoption took longer than most and she was almost 3 years old before she was adopted in December by a family from Maryland.

Have you heard from Rakchanok since you’re back in the U.S.?

I haven’t heard as much as I would like to, but the reports and pictures I have received have been very positive. She’s been with her family almost 5 months now and though the initial transition was pretty tough, time does have a way of healing and her family has done very well with allowing her to grieve and talk through the adjustments and changes.

What was one of the most difficult things you experienced?

One of our babies fell suddenly, quite seriously ill, doctors claimed it was abuse and that child and his twin brother were taken from our care. Several weeks later we had an infant die of SIDS which, when the two cases were “linked”, resulted in the closing of our program. It was an incredibly difficult time, full of pain and the fear of what was going to happen next. That whole thing is yet unresolved, and I still do not understand all the “whys”, but I do see God’s hand through it all and am so thankful for the ways He worked in my life through it. One of the huge answers to prayer was that our program was not immediately shut down, and the three children remaining in our care at the end were allowed to stay with us until they were adopted.

What was one of the best parts of your life in Thailand?

My kids. They were my life and added joy to every single day. Saying good-bye broke my heart every time but loving and being loved by a little person who depends on you for their very being is truly a rewarding thing! I’d do it all over again.
And Thailand is just an amazing, beautiful place to live, I loved it

So you were the last staff at Chara Ministries. Is there still a need for the services that Chara provided?

Absolutely. Anywhere you go in the world there are so many many children in need of care–food, clothing, protection, and most of all love. In an orphanage a child may be clothed and fed, but sadly lacking the bonding and nurture that one primary care giver can provide.

Would it be possible for someone to start a similar organization?

In the future, possibly. At this point there are some options being explored for starting up a program in another country.

What’s next for you?

That is an excellent question. One I find myself asking quite frequently.:) I feel like I am still in a transition/decision making stage and am not yet sure where I’ll be ending up. Trusting God to guide as He always has

What are some of your favorite books?

I don’t nearly do the reading I would like to, but one book that has really resonated with me is Strong Women Soft Hearts by Paula Rinehart. I would highly recommend it for women in any stage of life

What advice do you have for someone considering ‘child care as ministry’?

Go for it! But first talk with people who have had experience, get a hold of some resources on issues like reactive attachment disorders, have a support group, and most of all be sure it’s where God wants you! It’s a real need, it’s an incredibly rewarding work, but it’s not one to be taken lightly or done on your own.

Increments

Craig — Thu, 02 May 2013 03:28:54 +0000

I’ve been thinking about incremental progress the last while. I’ve got big things I want to do. Big things seem to happen when there is a lot of passion that supports persistence. What the persistence does is to enable many, many little things. What little things are you doing today?

Kevin Nisly on Potential

Craig — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:35:04 +0000

There’s a point where potential, which is such a wonderful, positive, hopeful word becomes unfulfilled potential. To see someone who had great “potential” live a lesser life than what could have been is incredibly sad. The more potential, the sadder it is. We are all responsible. We’ve been given different amounts of different things. You are responsible. If potential doesn’t become something else, if it stays potential, it automatically becomes unfulfilled potential.

Does it not absolutely terrify you, the fact that your usefulness to God, His Kingdom, your community, and the world depends so much on translating your potential to something real? If it stays potential, it will become unfulfilled potential. So how do you and I fulfill our potential? I’m not sure. I’m betting pretty heavily it involves learning to listen well to God, and then doing a lot of things that we’re not completely ready for, and don’t know for sure how to do them.

You can’t seriously sincerely believe THAT?!!

Craig — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:55:56 +0000

I have been very personally involved in the debates and questions surrounding more “conservative” and more “liberal” forms of Christianity. Its a very interesting discussion because everyone feels so strongly that they are right, myself included.

So then I look around. Here is a God fearing brother who doesn’t think the same as another God fearing brother. Here is a very successful conservative mission and here is a conservative mission that built a brittle foundation.

And then I think about the fact that we have this thing called confirmation bias. We look for information that supports our view and ignore or belittle or fear information that does not.

So let us hear the conclusion of the matter.

“…above all these things put on charity…”

I’m going to be in heaven with a lot of brothers and sisters who disagreed with my point of view.

We had better start getting along now.

Be a Sheep

Craig — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 16:55:20 +0000

I find in myself a resistance to truly turning over the whole evangelism thing to Jesus. I want to power through it and feel strong and brave. I’m not strong and brave.

In my childhood I raised calves and showed them at our county 4-H fair. It seems like most of the time when I was leading a calf the calf was either straining forward or not moving in a very determined manner.

The challenge is to stay in the presence of Jesus. Its so easy to either blast into evangelism without consulting Him (“What’s that?” “Of course my idea is a good idea.”) or else just quit (“I intend to evangelize, but I never think about it at the right time.”)

Don’t be a calf.

Back

Craig — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:06:19 +0000

Yep, I been to Asia. I thought about missions. I thought about churches.

Week 4 Report: Friendship Evangelism, or at least Frienship

Craig — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:30:22 +0000

I’m trying to get a little something posted here before boarding a flight.

I had some friendly calling and texting with my sort of Baptist friend. No, we didn’t go spiritual, but I do still consider it a success from a contact point of view.

For the education of the week I listened to another one of Allen’s talks. I think this one pertained to evangelism and church planting. One take away was that if you plan on doing a NMBB based church, you should decide very specifically what your ideal ratio of MBB to NMBB.

Asia bound…

The Atheist’s Dilemma

Craig — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:03:00 +0000

In a podcast awhile back I heard about cosmicfingerprints.com. I didn’t get around to looking at it till recently. Its pretty interesting. One of the main insights is that DNA is a code. All code has a code writer. Therefore, DNA is a strong evidence for Intelligent Design. Perry Marshall distinguishes between patterns and code. Random events can create patterns, such as a wave or a snowflake. Code, however, must have a writer. There’s a lot more on the site, too. Check it out.