Pastor Vinny's Voice

Update on the little boy of the rape victim

2008-02-26T16:14:00.000-05:00

Ed sent some pictures of the little boy who had surgery on a tumor. Thanks to the folks who gave so this little boy could be helped! Him mom, one of the rape victims we met in Bukavu is overjoyed!

Update on Offering

2008-02-26T16:09:00.000-05:00

With the extra money we raised last Sunday for the earthquake relief, we were able to help repair one of the pastor's houses that was heavily damaged.

His name isRutakangwa Murhula. His house was totally destroyed in the earthquake. He received $60 to get his family into a rental house for 6 months but needs to rebuild. He has given me an estimate of $813 for all of the material and labor to get it done. This would be a house made from poles to which bamboo strips would be attached inside and out so that in between they can put small rocks and then coat with a layer of mud. It would have a metal roof.

He has come to work here every day since he got the $60 so he could help with the building of the wall without expecting any pay in return.

Thanks to those who gave and now have seen a blessing from the Lord!

Some good news on repairing Sopo's House

2008-02-24T16:06:00.001-05:00

Mick Adams one of our Unit guys shared with our congregation this morning about Sopo's house and what we were doing in trying to repair it after the earthquake.

We gave people an opportunity to help us withe the expenses, needed about $1,000. The folks came up with almost $2,000! God bless you all! What a joy it is to pastor at a place like Maryland! You guys rock!

To God be the glory!

A night to hear about the Congo Trip

2008-02-22T18:46:00.001-05:00

There will be a dessert and coffee time on Thursday Feb. 28, 6:30 pm in the Atrium at MCC for you to come and hear, see and learn about "The Unit's" mission to Congo.

There will be pictures and some video.

Love to have you there! Plan on coming.

Sunday At MCC

2008-02-17T16:47:00.000-05:00

It was great seeing all "the Unit" at church this morning! Some of us were a little ragged and still getting over jet lag and some tummy issues. But it was such a joy to be back worshiping with our family at Maryland.

My son asked me, "was culture shock harder going to Congo or coming back?" Good question! I told him they were both very uncomfortable and each was hard.

The sheer lack of normal comforts was everywhere in Bukavu. I missed my wife, my recliner, my shower, my bed, my TV, my good internet connection, my cell phone, electricity being on all the time, running water all the time, etc. The constant onslaught of poverty and the ravages of war were all around. One amazing cultural difference was the huge honor and respect the church of Congo gave us. We were treated like royalty and their humble respect was overwhelming.

Back here in the USA I was just overcome by all the things that were available to me that I had taken for granted. The sheer ability to be comfortable was just awesome. I don't think I ever want to take it for granted again. As I walked into MCC I was overwhelmed by the huge difference it was compared to the three churches we had worshiped at in Congo. Sometimes you just have to distance yourself from what you have to appreciate it and even understand it.

It was so hard after church to try and explain to a reporter about our trip. How do you put it into words. They seemed to fail us. But we tried. I found myself even disappointed in all the pictures that just didn't quite communicate what I saw and felt. In some ways I find myself thinking, wow, no wonder Jesus had such a hard time communicating the Kingdom of God! Talk about foreign concepts!

The little phrase we were taught by Ed Buell, was "TIA" or That Is Africa is really almost impossible to communicate to somone who hasn't been there and experienced it.

Hopefully over the next few months the six of us will do our best to communicate about our neighbors in Bukavu Congo. They taught us so much about faith, living for the day and hope. We learned what it meant do something in the name of Jesus and have it make a difference. Some lives were change, including ours.

I want to live more "in the moment" and not so much in the future. Easy to say, but I know how hard it will be. I think, "one day at a time" really hit me between the eyes in Congo.

Well so much for that rambling, forgive me, I am still kind of working it all through.

HOME!

2008-02-14T09:32:00.000-05:00

We arrived home safe and almost sound at 10:10 pm in Indianapolis.

We had a slight detour through St. Louis after missing a connection in Chicago from a delay in Brussels, but that is minor with all this in perspective!

We will all be reorienting for a few days for sure.

God has been good! I have truly enjoyed and been blessed by the five guys; Mick, Dutch, Denny, Paul and Jim who joined me on this mission. Way to go UUNIT, you were awesome!

Thanks Ed and Brenda, you two were amazing, we are so blessed at MCC to partner with you and African Christian Mission.

From a tired but blessed Pastor Vinny.

On our way home!

2008-02-13T01:54:00.000-05:00

We left for home on Tuesday morning 9 am Bukavu time. We flew out of Bukavu to Kigali; interesting flight but all went well. We stayed in Kigali for 8 hours before we left for Brussels. That was quite an experience. Not your airport with a lot of conveniences! A ragged internet connection, but it did work with only two electrical outages!

We met a woman who works for the American Embassy; she is a believer and was worshiping at a church in Rwanda when the earthquake hit. We share our "rock and roll" stories. She was excited about what we had done and we gave her the blog site to check it out.

Met two guys in disaster relief that were stuck at the airport; one from New York the other from L.A. They said they were going to be on Oprah on March 2; we will see if we see them!

Met to missionary ladies from Phoenix also; Dutch had a great time talking with them and sharing stories.

We arrived here in Brussels at 7:30 am Brussels time; 1:30 am Terre Haute time. Have a four hour layover before an eight hour flight to Chicago. We are glad to see some things that look like home!

I am having a great cup of Espresso Mocha; not sure what I paid for it, but it was worth it! The internet is working like a charm and I am in a little bit of heaven until we real set foot of the mother land! Not looking forward to more airtime, but if that is what it takes! Dutch said it beats the vans and taxis in Bukavu!

See you soon!

Monday Evening 2.11

2008-02-12T06:15:00.001-05:00

Monday evening 2.11

We had two groups of Congolese come to say good-bye to us. JP and his family was a precious time that we all deeply appreciated. What a great blessing from the Lord they were to us and continue to be to the Buell's.

Then the executive committee from Ceca 40 came had some tea and food with us. They formally thanked us from coming. Muganza, the President (Jeff & Peta), read from John 13:14-15 and told us that we had come to Congo and washed their feet. They gave us a certified thank you letter and invited us to come back any time. We likewise invited them to come to the U.S. some time. They laughed and said it was a pretty long walk and swim!

We closed out the night with a couple of more tremors, why not! We will not miss those things for sure.

None of us slept well. We were physically and emotionally exhausted. I just kept flashing back to my walk through the crowded market going to Sopo's. Then scenes of their house. Jambo'sana kept going through my head. The scene of washing feet was also on my mind. I have taught on that example many times. But this teaching to me was powerful. To say that people's feet are dirty around here and in need of attention is no overstatement for effect, it is reality.

The scenes of beautifully dressed Congolese women and smartly dressed men walking in mud and sewage will never leave my memory. The extreme measures they go through to be clean in the middle of all this dirt is exhausting.

Sopo's Housse

2008-02-11T09:42:00.000-05:00

Monday 2. 11

Today we start work on Sopo's house in the mountains. We are leaving in two crew's; the car Dido is using can only take four of us at a time.

It rained all night and we had a pretty good tremor this morning. We are praying that the conditions will be the best they can be so we can get the house all under roof before dark.

We were able to put the generator out under the new lean-to in case the electricity goes off. That was a real relief to Ed and Brenda. Brenda is so pleased with the bright newly painted dinning room at the mission house.

We are all getting the things we are leaving out of all our bags and condensing what we have for the trip back home. We will be leaving at 9 am for the Bukavu airport to take a short flight to Kigali. We will stay for about 5 hours in Kigali before our flight out to Brussels.

We have some real mixed emotions for sure. We all talked at our devotion time about where do we go from here with our partnership. We will seek the Lord's leading and work with the Eldership as they partner with Ed when he returns. On a short-term basis we will try to raise the balance of the money for the rebuilding of Sopo's house; about $1,000.

The scene of walking to Sopo's house was breathtaking. It made all our other experiences of walking in Bukavu pale in comparison. The poverty and filth was magnified by a hundred. Little shanty houses beyond description.

Sopo and Josephine were just overwhelmed with our generosity. She proudly showed me her home. We got a shot of five of the seven children at the door. You see it here on the blog. They were precious.

We drew a crowd, I would estimate between a hundred and a hundred and fifty little children just enthralled with all the "muzungo" (white man) at our house. Josephine said she had never dreamed a white person would ever be at her house let alone be so generous to them. She said several times in broken English that God had blessed her and her house was beautiful.

Denny and Paul did the lion's share of the work along with a Congolese roofing guy and his helpers. We all felt frustrated at not being able to help more. We drew more attention than help!

The view driving down the mountain was breathtaking in its beauty mixed with the raw ugliness of humanity. I am just in awe at how the two are mixed here. The lake, the mountains and the plants are simply some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The sheer filth and poverty is totally contrasted against it.

We have offered a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus. It seems like a drop of water in an ocean of pain and suffering. Please Lord, multiply it a hundred fold for your glory.

The six of us ache for a beautiful people suffering from the ugly result of war and hatred.

Abba Father, love on your hurting children for us, we can't get our arms around all of them but know you can.

Sunday Church

2008-02-11T09:41:00.001-05:00

Sunday 2.10

We got up early to catch our 7:30 am van. We are off to Mudaka church about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north following Lake Kivu. That is a bit misleading! It took us 1 hour and 10 minutes to get there. I wish I could describe the drive. All six of us would tell you it was a ride in hell on our way to a heavenly experience! It was on roads that are literally beyond description. We got beat up on the ride and I do mean beat up. Ed said if he had known how badly the roads had deteriorated he would have never had us make the trip.

When we arrived they treated us as royalty. We entered as a group and sat on wooden planks that had been placed over their baptistry at the front right side of the building. The building was a really nice brick structure that Ed Nickles helped them build in 1983.

We worshiped the Lord with them in some great rhythmic motion. The pastor introduced Ed and Brenda and then Ed introduced each of us to the congregation. I preached the same message as last Sunday on hope, shortened a bit due to the fact it took us longer to get there than we all anticipated and I needed to adjust for time sake! We arrived at 9:30 am and the service ended at 12:30 pm. We shared in times of thanksgiving, the Lord's Table. They dismissed all the non-baptized people prior to taking Communion, a unique way for many of us.

Forty-Seven people came forward after my message to repent and be prayed for. They placed straw mats in the center of the room and they all knelt as the Elders prayed over them.

They then had the sick come forward in a large group; not sure how many, and then they invited Mick one of our Elders to come and pray over them.

There were 466 present at the service; there were three other locations having services also from this congregation that totaled 1,000.

At the close of the service the pastor invited me up front and prayed a blessing over me and asked they our congregation pray for them. He read from I Thess. 5:16-25. I was in awe. That is our Shalom passage about being sanctified in Spirit, body and soul. It was a God moment.

After the service we were given a tour of the grounds, shown the original mud and board building built in 1972. They have a really small and deteriorated building for a medical clinic.

They treated us to a chicken, rice and banana lunch.

We took our long ride home and got back to the house at 3:30 pm.

Building a Lean-To

2008-02-09T08:16:00.000-05:00

Saturday 2.9

We had two tremors last night; some of us felt them and others just slept through them, I think we are getting a bit used to it!

Mick, Dennis and Ed took off to do some more supply shopping and a trip to Sopo's house to get a visual on all that is going to need to be done. Looks like all we are going to be able to do is put the tin roof on.

Meanwhile the three carpenters, and a go-fer (me) staid at the mission house to build a shelter for the generator. It was quite a planning session in trying use the not so perfect African lumber and tying it in to the back of the house. Once there were enough discussions and a lot of figuring we got to work. We missed "engufu" the strong man (Dennis) but with the four of us we made up for him!

It was a gorgeous morning, one of the most pretty so far. Nice 80 degree temperature and a beautiful blue sky. We took a few breaks to enjoy the scenery and rest our weary bodies. We all plan on awarding Paul a "purple heart" for the most blood shed. The band-aids and neosporin have come in rather "handy" and I am sure when you see him you will be able to tell why!

I am "tweaking" my sermon from last Sunday to change a few words that will make it better for Ed to translate. We are all looking forward to our worship withe the Congolese church again. Ed is making final plans as to which one we will attend. He would like to take us a little farther out of the city so we can do a little more sight seeing on the way.

We all ate popcorn and watch an old flick called "The God's Must Be Crazy". Ed and Brenda thought we would get a kick out of it. It is about a bush-man in Africa who deals with some pretty strange folks and an "evil thing" he needs to get rid of. The picture looked great on the computer projector as we shot it up on the freshly white painted wall of the kitchen. Dutch nodded off a few more times than was polite, but to say we were all a little "bushed" ourselves was an understatement.

I am working to get both these blogs (Friday and Saturday) up, not sure I will get a chance on Sunday. We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We face that with some mixed emotions. We are all anxious to get back to the states and our families, but at the same time there is just so much to do. Ed and Brenda are kind, they know things just take a little longer to get done around here.

We are planning to go to Sopo's house on Monday if we can get the supplies ready and begin the rebuild on his mud house. Please pray about helping us with that in any small way you an. Check out my Friday post for the details.

Helping Re-build a home

2008-02-09T08:13:00.000-05:00

Friday 2.8

We have made a great friend of one of our Congolese brothers in Christ named Sopo. Brenda says they are the best choir in the district and get requests to come sing all over town. He is a choir director for one of the Ceca 40 churches that Ed and Brenda work with here in Bukavu. His wife Josephina is the head of the women's ministry. Our friendship began the first day we began work at Tracy's Heart. All six of us converged on the rooms we were going to paint and were kind of working out some details when in walked a tall Congolese man.

Ed introduced him to us as one of the volunteers from the church that was going to give his time to helps us paint. He waved his hands in a choir leader fashion and stated that he was a choir leader. He addressed me as "pastore" and was really pleased we could work together.

Every day we were there, so was Sopo. He worked long and hard right along side us not getting paid just like us. Some of the Congolese men were being paid due to their expertise and the needs that Ed had to have some important projects on the house completed.

We learned he has seven children, he brought a handmade guitar one day and began playing it for us. Denny was impressed! He picked it up and did a little jamming with Sopo. In case you didn't know it, Denny used to play a lot of guitar (I hadn't known that until our trip here).

We learned that Sopo is one of the many who has been effected by the earthquake. He has a mud house that has one whole wall tilted away from the house and beyond repair. One of the things that Ed and Brenda have been trying to do, much like us at MCC, is to get people to help each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Sopo has been doing that in helping to remodel Tracy's Heart.

The six of us here along with the Buell's are going to start the project of rebuilding his home as an act of love from us and for his contribution to Tracy's Heart. We believe we are going to need about $1,500 to get this small mud house completed. We know we can't get it all done before we leave, we are going to order materials and do what we can on Monday before we leave. You can tell by the pictures that we have our work cut out for us.

If you can help us show Sopo and his family how his family in Indiana care just get a check to me at MCC as soon as you can. Anything will help! We will wire it to Ed and Brenda and get it done!

As you can tell from the pictures, we painted inside the mission house today and finished up some roofing. Ed ordered materials for building a shed to house the generator. It was quite a site watching the materials being delivered. There was quite a chaotic moment as the dump truck was attempting to back into the drive and dump the sand for concrete. He finally decided after a lot of directions from about everyone that the best thing to do would be to dump it just outside the gate, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

We had some great comic relief at dinner time when Mick tried to complement the cook about his doing a great job on the chicken. "Cuku" means good in Swahi. The cook thought he was calling him a chicken!

Mick and Dutch got a treat of going downtown to do some shopping (won't tell you what they bought) it was quite an experience. Brenda actually made it back with both of them and not so usual, they got a good deal on what they were looking for.

2008-02-08T02:46:00.001-05:00

Thursday 2.7

We had a quiet nights sleep! No tremors after four days. We are all relieved.

We divided and conquered today. Some went to Tracy's Heart to finish some plumbing, painting and tile work. The bathroom there is really beginning to look nice. New toilet, shower, hot-water heater, tile and fresh paint.

The others worked at the Mission House (where Ed and Brenda live and we are staying). Paul and Chu Chu did their high wire act on the roof. Lots of repairing of nails on the tin roof, patching and replacing some well worn pieces. Don't worry Kerri, we yelled at him real hard! The pictures make it look a lot worse than what it was (he told me to say that). Scot Telle wanted some creative shots, how about that one of Chu Chu! Looks like he is really a magical man! (Eat your heart out Jim Avelis---now that was a shot!)

Dutch, Jim and Mick took a cabinet out of the attic, lowering through the ceiling, yes that is what I said, and putting it in the kitchen (Mick and I caught it!). Now Brenda has some nice storage space. A mason put a tile top on the sink and it really brightened it up with a fresh coat of paint thanks to Mick and Dutch.

Dennis did some finish up plumbing and hung a really nice mirror in Ed and Brenda's bedroom.

Brenda and I worked hard at trying to get the blog up at the internet cafe this morning. Spent and hour and a half trying to get things done on the blog. Was only able to get one picture and the words. Very very frustrating. But as they say TIA (that is Africa). Hopefully I can get more uploaded today.

This afternoon Ed arranged for about seven guys to come by the house and show us their things for sale. This is much easier and less of a problem than if we all went to the market. Ed and Brenda did the bargaining for us and we all made some purchases for loved ones----yes, some of you reading this. Won't tell you what, but we got some really nice things that we were grateful for the help the Buell's provided. It was a pretty wild and crazy place on the lawn as they all had their things for sale all scattered out for us to see. We really hated not being able to buy something from each of them. They need the income so badly.

Four ladies and a baby came to see Brenda today. The baby had fallen during the earthquake and hit his head. They sang and prayed and asked God to protect the little boy. The songs and prayers in Swahili were a pleasing sound to God and to us.

Today we feel like we have made some great progress. We are getting a little frustrated that we can't get as much done as we had expected but everything just takes so long! Between the purchase and the travel it is not like going to Lowe's or Walmart!

Dido, the driver the Buell's have hired for us to run us around, told me today through Brenda that he felt bad about the way he is beating us up in all trips on the rough roads! He says it really wears him out each day as he drives. If you all only could experience a two mile trip in a taxi in Bukavu you would understand.

We had some fresh tomatoes for lunch today from the market that you all in Indiana would just die for! Fresh from the vine and delicious. The passion fruit juice and pineapples are wonderful. We eat a lot of rice, they grow it hear and it is a real staple. The sauce that the cook makes to pour on it is delicious, have no idea what it is make of. Of course Denny and I manage a nice cup of Starbucks at 3pm-----when we can! Had to bring an American staple with us!

Ed led us in a devotion from James 1:2-3 on " Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." Here was a comment he made that really struck home to us. "pure joy is not the absence of pain, it is the presence of God."

An Answered Prayer!

2008-02-07T04:34:00.001-05:00

Wednesday 2.6

We started out at the internet cafe this morning and had a lot better success at getting on and using a good connection.

We continue to have small tremors and that always keeps you a little on the anxious side. The article I found on the BBC says it had the quake at 6.1 on the richter scale; 99 buildings down with over 200 damaged; 5 people killed. With news the way it is around here it is all hard to tell but that is the best we know.

An old friend of Brenda, Christina, came by and told her that she and her family have been sleeping on cold concrete outside. She related to us that it was ok, they still had God and he would protect and care for them. A local pastor came by and talked with Ed, he has lost his mud house in the quake and is looking for another place. Ed was able to give him $60; six months rent until they can get a new mud house built; probably about $500 or so.

I shared out of Hebrews 12:25-27 at devotions. "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. The words, "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken----that is, created things---so that what cannot be shaken may remain."

We are learning what being "shaken" really means. As the earth has moved, we have been moved. Nothing and I mean nothing can remove us from the love of God. Not even an earthquake.

Wanted to update you on the little boy of Bernadette, the rape victim from the bush I mentioned. The money has been pledged by some of you folks back in the states. GOD BLESS YOU! He has been glorified. This woman's life is being touched by the love of God through His people.

We got a lot done today. Ed was back and forth with supplies and trying to find a lot of plumbing pieces.

We had glass replaced in windows. Sometimes it took some create carpentry from Paul, Dutch and Chu Chu. The guys were not impressed with the window glaze stuff we had to use but it got the job done.

Jim and Dennis did some serious plumbing. They got hot water line ran to the kitchen, a faucet in the kitchen and the water heater hung in the bathroom. They were working on the lines to the water heater and should get them pretty much finished today. A local mason was installing a bathroom stool----yes, mounted in concrete.

Sopo one of the local choir directors has been awesome painting with us and we got a second coat on three rooms.

Been without electricity since early this morning when Brenda fixed us eggs and toast, it is 3 pm and no electricity. Makes the day challenging. Lwahira (the cook at Buell's) fixed us fried rabbit, cooked carrots, and rice for dinner using charcoal and a kerosene burner. It was delicious. We had put in a hard day at it really hit hit the spot. Brenda kidded us about little bunny fu fu but we just ignored her!

We have really grown to appreciate this African brother who gets paid $12 a week to come and cook and clean for us. It costs his $4 of that to travel. Don't get it wrong, he is blessed by that. But is sure puts a new bent on the value of a dollar.

We are finding some lanterns and getting ready for our evening devotions. It has been a good day, we hope we don't do any rocking and rolling tonight.

2008-02-06T02:27:00.000-05:00

Tuesday 2.5

We had fairly good nights sleep, still a few rumblings, but believe it or not, we have almost gotten used to it! Many people still slept outside out of fear of falling homes. If you could see them you would understand.

Things are back to pretty much normal at the market and stores. They have cleaned up, and I use that term lightly, but most are open for business. JP's wife did not work today because the store she worked at is still closed.

While Ed did some preparation for our work today, all us guys hand carried bricks to prepare for the repairing of the fallen wall. These bricks are not your "hard as a rock American bricks". They break very easily, about a third of them were in pieces.

Ed did some shopping for materials today for repairs on Tracy's Heart. He found an 80 gallon water heater, some faucets, some piping but still lacking on some connectors that they are trying to track down.

The bathroom was almost beyond words, Dennis and Jim jumped in and drained the shallow concrete basin that remained of the tub that was taken out. They cut metal pipes and removed a non-working toilet. Mick, Dutch and I did some painting in the kitchen and living room. Paul and Chu Chu one of the Congolese guys from the church repaired the metal corrugated roof with new nails, replacing some pieces and patching quite a few holes.

Some of the rape victims came to meet us today. Diadota one of the rape victims that has been helped by Tracy's Heart has become a Christian and worshiped with us on Sunday. She had a smile that was electric. They brought a new victim from the bush with a little baby boy that was quite sick. He had a "tumor" like growth. Her name was Bernadette. She was terrified to come in the yard, but the other women helped her. By the time we had talked and made her welcome she was willing to let us pray for her and the little boy. Brenda arranged for her to be taken to a doctor for an exam for $15. It will be a $1,000 for operating on the little boy we found out later this afternoon. They are going to try and find a less expensive place that will do the surgery.

We learned today that the word for strong in Swahili is "engufu"; that is what they keep calling Dennis. We like that new nickname only we think it is a little closer to "goofy" than he would like to be called! Don't worry Rita we are taking good care of your man.

We had our first taste of a local food for lunch today; it was called Sombosa. They were a little like egg rolls only a lot more spicy. We enjoyed!

JP is going downtown to renew our visas for another seven days. We bought airfare from Bukavu to Kigali. We all decided that the short airplane trip would be a little better than the six hour van ride back through the Rhwanda mountains. We will see! Don't be nervous Bob Brown, we are told they are very reliable planes. I must say, the risk couldn't be much worse than that van ride we took! I can't even describe the wild ride and all the dodging of people alongside the roads.

It is 7:35 pm here in Bukavu. We were having our devotions on Mt. 6:25 ff. "Do not worry about your life...." and a sudden quake hit. We are not positive, but it was real close to the power of the first one. We were all ready to head for the door and it began to settle down. We are really concerned for the poor people here who have already lost their homes. There is a volcano about 60 miles north of here and some are concerned about that. Wow, this has been a little more than what we bargained for! I don't want to overly concern you folks in Terre Haute, but this is quite a local tragedy. People don't have much before this started, now there have been people sleeping outside for the last three days.

Rocking and Rolling in Bukavu, Congo!

2008-02-04T09:55:00.000-05:00

Sunday 2.3

The Church of Buholo, Bukavu
Pastor Gaston, Pastor Buhendwa, Pastor Ngoy, JP Nshombo (Elder)

We started for church after our morning devotions given by Brenda Buell. 9 am.

We took a ride in a van that was quite a sight! A new van had been rented but broke down; this van was running but that is an overstatement!

The trip literally brought some of us to tears as we drove the 20 minutes to the church. The scenes of poverty and suffering is beyond words. The roads will have me never complaining about a pot hole again as long as I live.

The church of six years old meets in a lean-two shelter on the back of a home that one of the members lets them use. These are people who escaped to Bukavu during the war. One of the testimonies was by a man who told his story of escape in the war. One mother testified that she was so happy to be there this morning after the Lord had healed her son that she thought was gong to die for several weeks. She then started a "thank offering" with her gift to God. They took this offering along with a building offering in addition to the tithe offering. Ed had given us some Congolese Franks ($10 worth) that we had divided into three gifts.

We had many choirs come and sing for us after we were introduced. The children's choir, students choir, women's choir and several special numbers. One of them was the English version of "Lord We Lift Your Name On High" just for us. We sang and did the motions and they were thrilled and loved watching us as we sang! A brief moment of the universal Church!

Mid-way through a congregational song led by one of the choirs, the earth began to shake, and I mean shake! An earthquake hit the city! We found out later in the day; 4.5 on the richter scale with an epicenter 35 mi. east of Bukavu in Rhawanda. JP one of the Elders that took us had a phone and he received a call. They were telling him about the damage. His house had some small damage, but a house nearby had severed damage and a wall fell on a little boy and he was killed. A market came down and killed about six people we were told, we saw the market on our way home. The house we are staying at, Ed and Brenda's house has some damage inside with the concrete walls and a back privacy wall that came down. We heard that twenty-three were killed in nearby Rhawanda about sixty miles away. We praise the Lord that we are all ok; about four aftershocks have made us a little nervous.

I preached and Ed Buell translated. They wanted the pastor of the Mission couple to preach for them. They really considered it a real treat. I was truly humbled and it was so difficult to speak to them. You all know me, speaking is a natural part of who I am, but speaking with a translator is really really hard. I wanted to say so much but just had to limit myself to a written message that I could go slow and have a translation going. I spoke on hope. Wow, if any group of people I know that needs hope it is this group of people.

Our Elder Mick Adams had the precious privilege of joining the Elders of this congregation in blessing a baby. He was brought to tears and the privilege of praying for the baby and his parents. We were treated to bread and coke after the service and many goggling children. They are just amazed at us white folks. They all wanted their picture taken and Dutch and Mick were more than happy to oblige. I picked one picture among more than you can imagine.

As we broke bread together and shared in the blood it was truly a God-sized moment. "Glocalization" was becoming really really visible for the body of Christ from Maryland Community Church. Our Elder in the group, Mick Adams, was honored by being asked to help pray for a baby that was being dedicated. He was so surprised that he asked if "he was to pray in English?" We kidded him that it would have been a good time to pray in tongues!

Four hours later we left to go check out the earthquake damage at JP's home, Tracy's heart and the Buell's. We sat down to eat about three o'clock after making some quick calls home to some wives we could reach. We didn't know if the news of the quake would make it back home or not.

Ed and some of the guys have called a taxi to go see what we need to do in damage control at Tracy's heart tomorrow. The rest of us are here at the house, feeling a few tremors and just in awe of all the good, scary and amazing moments of the day. God has been gracious to us, we grieve with the memory of the sight of the house near Tracy's heart with the family of the little dead boy killed by a falling wall. The feelings are overwhelming and we struggle. We have went from such a spiritual high to such a spiritual sorrow. Please father God, wrap these hurting people in your arms of love for us. We seem so incapable of helping more.

My message today ended with the words of Paul, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" from Colossians 1:27. I am so reminded of the truth of those words, without Christ in us, there is no hope. This world fails us, people fail us, we are surrounded by suffering and death. One day, all the tears will be wiped away., all suffering and pain will be gone. Maranatha, come soon Lord Jesus! I will one day stand around the throne with my Congolese brothers and sisters.

A Lord's Day I will never forget.

On a lighter note; make sure you ask Brenda how Paul Robinson marks his socks. Then ask Mick what "anopheles" is, he thinks he is so smart! Or if that doesn't get your attention; ask him what "a great concert with a second movement" is.

Monday 2.4

We had a pretty restless "rock and roll" night in Bukavu. We had two more strong aftershocks. Ed and Brenda ended up sleeping in chairs in the living room at about 2:30 am. The wall in their bedroom was losing some concrete and making it a little uncomfortable! Most of the people in Bukavu slept out in their yards. The last we knew there were 6 dead and 110 injured. Ed went to buy some supplies for lunch and most of the stores were closed for cleaning up; shelves emptied!

We joined many of the Congolese Christians in doing earthquake repair at Tracy's heart in the morning. There were somewhere between 30-40 young and old that joined us. We broke up mortar off the fallen brick walls; cleaned the bricks and stacked them in large piles. We did it under the tree that a monkey was tied to and he wasn't too happy!

We shoveled dirt and rocks from a retaining wall so it could be rebuilt. We found a few snakes and a couple of friendly scorpions, well at least Denny said their were friendly! All this while there were guys white-washing and running conduit for electricity. I will post one picture of the conduit for Norm Cheesman to see. Denny wanted to make sure you saw what a real electrician could do!

Norm, you won't believe the skill this guy had. He cut six one foot pieces with a putty knife by scratching it and then breaking it. He took the pieces; chewed some cardboard, stuffed it in the ends. He then poured sand in the six tubes. He then took a charcoal pan and heated them over it slowly and then did 90 degree bends. If that wasn't enough, he then heated the ends, used a cold piece and made joints! What do you union guys know anyway!

We took a break for lunch; bought the Congolese guys some rolls and Cocas (Cokes). They loved it! They don't usually have lunch.

We then regrouped and took on the safety wall that had fallen down at the mission house. About six of the guys from over at Tracy's Heart joined us there.

I don't have room for all the pictures of kids that where gogling at us, but there were a lot. Dutch pestered them and Denny fed them, go figure! We were all impressed with how hard all the Congolese boys worked. They were barefoot but kept pace and out did us at times. They shoveled in their bare-feet. When one of them cut his hand handling the bricks; Denny gave him his gloves, well then they all started showing us their hands so we gave up our gloves too!

The pastor of the congregation we worshiped at Sunday joined us; he was awesome. He had a big smile on his face and wore a 50 Cent t-shirt. We kidded him of course. This was a great opportunity for volunteerism and team-work for them and Ed was thrilled with the turn-out and the energy they displayed in working with their American brothers.

Well, guess I have stalled long enough, better get out and help The Unit work on the Wall!

The Unit In Bukavu

2008-02-02T06:32:00.000-05:00

Bukavu,

Wednesday (1.30)

What a whirlwind of a emotions and tiredness! We took a six and a half hour bus ride across the mountains of Rhwanda to the border of Congo. The ride was quite a thrill ride; hard to even explain in words. But let's just say we did a lot of sliding on the seats and praying for all the little children walking along the road. I guess you could call most of it a road! We enjoyed seeing the monkeys as we went through the national forrest. Little black and white flashes of fun alongside the road.

When we got to the border it was quite a scene that still takes my breath away. The definite difference in poverty from Rhwanda to the Congo was staggering. There were large crowds of people, men women and children all battling for the privilege of carrying our 26 pieces of luggage or so across the rickety bridge. JP negotiated terms and gave out the work. It seemed like it took forever to get our health cards and passports all cleared on the Congo side. Rhwanda was computerized but not so in Congo. Ed said it was one of the more difficult and long ordeals of getting everything squared away he has ever had. We enjoyed that! That was a joke by the way.

Once we got to Bukavu, we were rushed off to the church building to be greeted by three choirs, the executive team from the organized church in Congo. It was quite humbling and overwhelming. The choirs were awesome even though we couldn't understand a word. The smiles, joy, clapping and dancing had a language all of its own. We were taken to the English school room at the bottom of a hill; quite a hill; and had a meal as special guests. The rice and potatoes were awesome and very delicious. The meat was very very tough; not any grain fed cattle here! We drank warm "Coca" or a coke for you Americans. How the bottle tops were taken off the one of the dignitaries from the Congo government offices is hard to describe! She took one bottle and with her fingers and a great act of leverage opened the second bottle! Never saw that before but quite ingenious!

We came home on some roads that I have never even imagined down through the city square and through the market. A pretty amazing sight, one I don't think I will ever get out of my mind. The level of poverty and desperation is quiet beyond words and only can be absorbed by your heart. Your mind can not even begin to process it all.

We all got situated in our bunks; mosquito nets and all! We had varying degrees of success at sleep.

Thursday (1.31)

We got up pretty early; 6 am or so. The electricity only went off for about 20 minutes, just enough time to get the generator outside and going! That was the only outage we had for the day. We were so busy, we were never able to get to an internet cafe on the first day of actual work.

We had several projects we tackled.

1) We screened the windows; at leas one in each room around the mission house. This was a long and hard task for measuring, cutting and then stapling the screen to the white washed windows. That was an easy description. The windows were all bared up; so getting the stapler to the window and stapling was the real tough part. Paul used a less that OSHA approved ladder on half the house! He was the smallest guy and the one we felt had the best odds! The rest of us cheered him on and held the ladder.

2) Dennis and Jim built some vert strong and large saw horses! Then they tackled a bench that proved to be very helpful in the evening for the meal we had with a large crowd of people!

3) Dutch, Paul and a lot of advisers then tackled a small but difficult task of building a box around the front door screen in which you could put your hand back through the screen door and lock it from the inside with a padlock. This amounted to some great engineering, some tactful hinges, some not so graceful cutting of a piece of metal and and very handy piece of rubber tire! But it got done! I must say the Dutch was a great deal of inspiration as he cheered Paul on and hassled Mick's sage advice.

4) Vince took a lot of pictures, prayed a lot by practicing the presence of the Lord in every small task! And of course tried to keep Dutch from totally breaking our silly bones.

5) Dennis and Jim tackled a new fauset in one of the bathrooms. You will have to ask them about the great washers they built and the wonderful experience of righty tighty and lefty lucy. Enough said.

6) We celebrated Ed's 57th birthday with a wonderful meal and good friends! JP the Buell's right hand man and all his wonderful family came over to eat with us and share in some cake. JP''s little two year old grandaughter stole the show! She was adorable and gave everyone big kisses. She was really decked out and full of energy, needless to say the camera's got a lot of action and the tired old men just were in awe!.

The jet lag kicked in for us in ways we had not expected. Some light headed kind of sugar low feeling; don't worry dear; it really wasn't, a little queasiness and a mid-afternoon point of exhaustion.

Ed and Brenda spent hours down town going from shop to shop trying to find some hinges, nails, paint and some tile. It was very frustrating and only about half successful. They will try again in the morning with some further help from the son-in-law of JP who knows some connections and places to look.

I am writing this at 5 am on Friday morning; woke up about 4 am and took a shower; nice and warm! Having a cup of spiritual Joe and trying to clear my head and heart of so many thoughts.

I will say, I will never feel unfortunate again. I will never feel poor again. I will never feel more humble than I am feeling at this moment. I say that knowing that the next days the lie ahead will probably turn out that it will only intensify!

Friday (2.1)

Ed took Mick and I (Vince) to a hardware store; not exactly what we have in the states, to purchase paint for Tracy's Heart. It took us two and a half-hours to finally get 20 gallons of paint. It was a much better quality of paint than he had found in others places but it went from one extreme, really thin, to really thick. We had to cut this paint to get it able to use.

A couple of the guys, Paul and Jim, had to hang around the house and do some sleeping and hydrating for the day. The jet lag and dehydration had really got to them. They look a lot better today!

The rest of us cleaned and painted three of the five rooms we needed to get painted. At least we finished one good coat on two of them and two coats on one. We will finish the two other rooms and a hall way on Saturday morning and then take some time to hopefully get some rest and visit the internet cafe to get this posted!

Mick, Dutch and I spent a little time at breaks just viewing the scenery from Tracy's heart and praying. It is quite a site, pictures don't do it justice. You have the UN camp high on the hill on the left and the Congolese camp far on the right. Below them are a lot of houses in all kinds of sizes and shapes that just breaks our hearts for the people. It is impossible for us to comprehend their daily existence, and I mean that quite literally.

Dennis gave a little guy a snickers candy bar and sat him on his lap. It was quite a site, not sure he ever had a snickers!

The choir director from one of the churches came and volunteered his help with us. He really worked hard! We had quite a time communicating with him. But his eyes and smile were awesome!

Saturday (2.2)

We finished up some painting at Tracy's Heart; 4 rooms and a hall way. Looks much much better!

Finished some screen work on the mission house.

Took a while to get lunch today; the electricity was out all morning; used charcoal, etc.

You should see the charcoal iron ladies! Getting our Sunday morning best prepared.

Used the generator to do the first load of laundry on a brand new Japanese washer that is quite interesting!

We are at an internet cafe that is less than up to speed; but we are grateful!

Pray for us tomorrow as we go to worship service. They said to be prepared for 3 hours worth!

I don't ever want to hear about too long again!

2008-01-29T15:07:00.000-05:00

We have all arrived safe and a little travel weary in Kigali, Rhwanda.

We got here at 10 pm; their time; 3 pm Indiana time.

Brenda and Ed have done us well and we are all grateful.

We have arrived at the Iris Guest House and getting a lemonade to drink and some bottled water.

Here is my little hang out!

Stay tune for more coming later. We will leave in the morning for Bukavu, Congo on a 25 passenger bus.

I am sure it will be quite a ride!

Shalom! and God Bless

Vince

2008-01-28T18:26:00.000-05:00

Well we are off to Congo! Sort of, we are at the Chicago airport with a two hour delay to Brussels. Everyone is doing fine; talking, eating, drinking and waiting for the plane!

Keep praying for us; Brenda has her hands full with the six of us guys! Mick has especially been a handful, make sure you ask him about the pajama escapade when you see him in a couple of weeks.

2008-01-25T08:36:00.000-05:00

Tracy's Heart House NEW FROM ED BUELL

1:40 PM Tuesday, January 22, 2008 – Missionary House, Bukavu
Well it has been a very busy time since I last wrote. I learned one very disappointing thing on Sunday evening. The people in Tracy’s Heart Center have not moved out yet. It is a long story and I will mention some of later but it would prove to be an issue which would slow us down a lot. On Monday the 14th I met with the members of the Executive Committee to work out the arrangements for us using the house for Tracy’s Heart Center. We worked out the main details of the agreement so we could move forward. We will rent it for $500 per month which is at least $500 less than we could find any other property. It is more than they could get otherwise so we both get helped out a little. Of course we are making the repairs. Over time the house will be restored to good condition.

After that I went hunting for things we would need for the house. It took the rest of the afternoon to find just a few necessary things but we got several things to make life easier for the guests coming in on Wednesday. Buying things here is a real challenge. You make your list then start going from place to place where you think you might find some things, then you go to places you don’t think will have it and it comes out about 50-50. That is, you find about 50% of what you are looking for and find it about 50% of the time where you think it should be. I’ll be glad when we get settled in and I don’t have to have too many more big shopping days!!! That evening I had to get ready for the trip to Kigali to meet the first group from Rochester, IL.

Tuesday I got up about 3:30 AM. The internal clock was still ticking a little out of time. Must be a cuckoo clock! We left about 7:45 for the border to go on to Kigali. After going across we took a small taxi up to the bus stop and got our tickets. They told us the bus was waiting for us but it really hadn’t even arrived yet. Go figure! I got 3 seats for JP and me to share so we would have more room. The seats were only $7 each so it wasn’t too bad. We did get placed in the back but good old Dramamine kept my stomach settled. It is a very winding road and being in the back can be bad. While there we had the chance to set up a plan to rent a bus just like that one for the return trip. It holds 25 people so we had to pay for 25 seats which came to $165. With all of our bags and people we pretty well filled it up. Just a small car costs $100 to $120. We would have required 2 cars at least so this was cheaper and much more comfortable. We will do the same for the other group as well. For a 6 hour trip it works out pretty well.

We made it fine to Kigali about 2 PM or so. After a long ride it was nice to sit on something that didn’t move. We got our rooms arranged and made plans for the next morning to pick up the work crew at the airport at 9:30 AM. We took a taxi there and had arranged for the bus to pick us up but after waiting for about an hour and no bus we finally took another fancy one. That was 40 bucks to the hotel but at least we were there. They arrived with 10 bags. There were originally 5 guys coming but one had to drop out at the last minute. Unfortunately the ticket was totally non-refundable. But when the group got on the plane in Chicago they showed the ticket to the agent and, though she couldn’t give them anything for the ticket itself, she did not charge them for the overweight bags or the two extra ones they had. It was a nice help. It could easily have cost them as much as $500.

After a nice lunch at the hotel, we hired a small van to take us to see some wells the church in Rochester had paid to have drilled in Rwanda, not too far from Kigali. It took about 30-40 minutes to drive to the village. Once there we had to begin finding someone who could tell us where the wells might be. One young boy got in with us on the road and took us to the home of an official. No one was there. We went on to another place they said he would be and we found him at a funeral. It must have been finished as he also got in with us and took us on a little bit of a ride. After a while of him asking people various questions and directions we started out going out into the bush area. But the more we went to more it seemed like he was just leading us around nowhere. After a while JP, our friend with us from Congo, also realizes something was wrong and he took him aside and ask some questions. It finally came out that one of the two wells in the village area was not working. He was apparently afraid to tell them that so he was stalling, maybe hoping we would go away. So he decided to take us there. After driving through some pretty back country, we left the van and started out on foot. We walked for a good while, constantly going downhill to the lowest point in the valley where they could get to the water when they drilled. After looking things over for a while and trying to figure out why it was not working, we asked if the other one worked and if we could see it. They said yes and after some discussion to be sure the way there, we went back to the van and headed out. I made the mistake of asking if we could walk to the other well or if we would take the van. They we would take the van and I realized later they thought by asking the question I meant we were too tired to walk. So we drove through some very questionable place and got all the way there. Anyway, we made it and everyone was happy to see a working well.

After getting back to the hotel we had dinner and all headed into sleep. Of course for these guys sleep would not come as schedules are way off. It is 8 hours different than central time and though it makes little sense, what usually happens to us is that we go to sleep at 10 PM and by 1 to 2 AM we are awake and can’t go back to sleep. Then of course, at 6 am we are ready to sleep. But, we did all make it for breakfast at 7 AM and got on our way to CONGO at about 7:30. But of course, the bus had not put gas in yet so we had to wait while fuel was purchased and then we started on our way. Good trip, saw a few monkeys, the guys had some goat skewers, we bought some samosas (small triangular meat pies which are deep fried) and after a couple of potty breaks we made it to the border at about 2 PM. We had no problem crossing the border and went to the Nguba Church for a greeting by the church leaders and local Christians.

Following the short welcoming meeting, we went to the missionary house for a meal with the Executive Committee and their spouses and JP and Esperance. We had 14 chairs and 14 people. It was a good time of sharing together and helping to confirm our unity. Even now all we have are the plastic chairs like people have outside at home sometimes. They are pretty comfortable at least. We have a dining table, no couch or easy chairs, nothing else except our beds, one wardrobe, one cabinet and one dresser.

We had to move one bed which meant taking it apart so we could get it through the door. From Kigali I sent word to the house worker to move one of the beds from one room to another. They did it but misunderstood what I wanted and ended up putting it into a very small musty little cubby hole. Communication is sometime really hard. But nothing lost, just re-done to get it the way we wanted it.

The house looked pretty rough, and still does but progress is being made as we have painting done, a new kitchen sink built, a new toilet installed, a couple of windows replaced, floors patched, etc.

5:40 AM Friday, January 25, 2008 – Missionary House, Bukavu

Getting to the Internet Café has been harder than expected so far, mostly because in the evening when I usually would go I still have people coming to the house to talk about various needs. We have decided we will take time to go today so I have a lot to write. Hope you don’t get too tired of reading.

When we talked to the church leaders again last Friday they conformed we could not yet get into Tracy’s Heart. So they guys started here by ripping out the old sink and a cabinet in the kitchen. They were built out of cement and wood. The cement had begun to crumble and the wood had rotted so it all had to be replaced. I sent out an order for a guy to bring me 3000 bricks and a load of 6 metric cubes of sand. It took most of the day for sand to arrive because on the way here the truck had a flat tire and had to get it repaired. Oh, life in Congo!!!

We also have several guys here painting the outside of the house for us. Actually, the main part is getting whitewash. It makes it nice and white and clean looking and should last for a good while. They have also painted all the window trim, put new glazing on (of sorts), and painted the steel bars on the doors and windows. They had to take the old screens off which were in terrible shape. The group form Terre Haute should be bringing some screen wire to replace them. So progress is being made. The guy building the new kitchen sink has been pretty slow but finally got the sink reset today, Friday, and should finish up the rest of the cement base of the counter top today. Then it will need to have tile put on over it to make a nice final finish. The front looks more like a barbeque grill with the brick showing but to me it looks just fine. They will put some sort of sealer on the bricks to keep water from soaking in. These bricks are very soft and extremely absorbent.

I am trying to get this journal written but I have a lot of people coming to see me so it really hard to get it done. They all have legitimate needs and it is hard to hear them and be able to help. I will talk about it more later but one of the hardest things the Lord has given me to do is to help them take their eyes off of us and onto God. The fastest thing would be to hunt for funds to cover most of their needs but it is both impossible to meet all the needs and it is not in their best interest in the long run. But getting that across to them is very hard. I am sure it would be to me as well if I were hurting like they are. I am not angry but I have to stand firm on the right way to deal with things so eventually it can work out well. Please pray for God to keep me strong and yet with compassion for really hurting people.

The work group is really working over at Tracy’s Heart the last few days. The people living there have not moved out but they have agreed to let us get into the house and begin work. They took out the kitchen sink and cabinets and are building a new one, similar to the one you see above. It will be a little bit larger. They have already been able to replace the ceilings in two other rooms outside the main house and paint them, put in electric wiring, etc. Today they are also taking out the old bathtub and we will see what we can do to put in a shower instead which will take much less water. Then we will need to do a lot of painting and replace a few boards on the fascia and replace the rest of the house wiring. Once the kitchen sink is in it will make the rest of the work go much faster. There will still be plenty to do at Tracy’s Heart for the Terre Haute crew. I am looking forward seeing what it will look like after a few days of cleaning and painting!!!

That is what I have for now. God bless and please keep praying.

Yours in Christ, Ed

Ed Buell
Field Coordinator - DR Congo
ACM International
619 Washington Ave.
Terre Haute, IN 47802
Office Phone - 812-238-2883
Cell Phone - 812-240-1902

2008-01-13T07:39:00.000-05:00

"the Unit" from EPIC Community at Maryland Community Church will being going to Bukavu, Dem. Rep. of Congo on Jan. 28 and returning Feb. 13. The group is composed of myself, Mick Adams, Dutch Gunyon, Paul Robinson, Dennis Rehmel and Jim Vaughn. We will join Ed and Brenda Buell of African Christian Mission on the Tracy's Heart project.

Watch this blog for ongoing details in the trip. We will be helping to remodel two homes. One is for the actual rape victims of a past war and the other is a home for mission personnel.

Here is some information on Bukavu that will be helpful in your praying:

check this out www.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukavu

This city lies next door to Kilgali, Rwanda where one of the greatest genecide efforts in the world took place. The women of Bukavu were victims of this war as the city sheltered many refugees from Rwanda.

Tracy's Heart is going to be a home where victims from the 16,000 rape victims can find a place of healing and help with their lives.

A Historical Moment

2008-01-07T21:56:00.000-05:00

Sunday January 6th will be a spiritual marker for me. After twenty years of prayer and making every effort to make strides for Christian unity in Terre Haute an amazing moment materialized! We had people from twenty different protestant churches worshiping with Catholics in a Catholic Church! We sang, prayed and testified as one.

God moved a worship leader from Ireland, Catholic and Charismatic to come to Terre Haute and work with St. Joseph's University Parish. Cormac O'Duffy has been an answer from God to many of us who have been praying every Tuesday morning for unity and the city-wide Church in Terre Haute.

Cormac's experience in the United Kingdom gave him a real hunger and thirst for some gatherins where singing and praise took place with any church who would like to join together. He took it upon himself to work with his pastor Fr. Richard Kaley about just such a gathering.

We had about 400-450 people gather in a remarkable experience of a mixed choir and musicians with various worship leaders and testimony givers. Wow, it was awesome! It had front page coverage on the Tribune-Star this morning.

I am thrilled about what this step of unity will accomplish for the future of the Church of Terre Haute!

The Great Debaters

2008-01-05T20:17:00.001-05:00

I love a good movie! "The Great Debaters" is a great movie. If you want to not only be entertained but challenged to live better, this movie is worth far more than the the money and time it will cost you.

I was greatly moved by the facts of history this movie gave me along with the great motivation to live a life that counts. The Wiley College debate team overcomes huge obstacles, odds and a violent world to win a historic victory. I won't give away the details but wow, some of the lessons I can't help but shout!

1) "You have to do what you have to do in order to do what you want."

The high value of discipline and great deal of work and pain it takes to be great and not just good is one of the brightest colors in this movie.

2) Injustice can be overcome, and not just with violence.

We live in a violent world filled with the temptation to be violent in response. This movie reminded me of the brush stroke of non-violence and its power to paint a different picture from what we are seeing.

3) Never give up! Pain and defeat are only motivations to keep doing what you know is right.

So many opportunities to quit in life, so little room for success! I am so afraid of failing sometimes it stops me from starting. I hate not finishing! This movie will encourage you to finish what you start in spite of difficult obstacles.

4) Passion is powerful in communicating truth!

You will just have to see it to know what this means!

5) God can take the worst in us and shape it for His best. The most troublesome student can turn out to be a world changer!

Ditto, won't give it away.

Are there more you ask, probably so, go watch it, I will see it again. Let me know what you things touched and challenged you.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-22T11:47:00.000-05:00

Well here is our family Christmas Picture for 2007! These kinds of moments are always a chore and quite a project as we all know. This snap shot comes from our annual Thanksgiving gathering at our home. We all try to make for Thanksgiving and sometimes we can all get together at Christmas. This year we will all make!

Sandy and I always look forward to these special moments in the year. The older we grow the more special they become! Life is short! These moments are special and are to be savored for all they are worth! Being mom had dad has been a pleasure over the years and becoming grandparents was an even deeper experince of love and amazement. How special little children are!

I kind of know what Jesus meant about the Kingdom when He compared it to being child-like. What precious and loving creatures children are! Yes, they have their moments as do we all, but by and large their innocence and joy are so much more a part of their nature.

Little LoraLei Rose is our new addition for this Christmas. Having a baby present at Christmas is really over the top in experiencing the joy and awe of this Holy Season. The Son of God came as a baby, that will never cease to amaze me!

Take time to enjoy a child this Holy Day. Remember, God graced us with His presence in the form of a squiggly baby. Cool huh.

From all of the McFarland's, Have a great Christmas!

Heart to Heart

2007-11-17T12:38:00.000-05:00

Just finished our first "week of prayer" at Maryland Community Church. Wow, what a mixed bunch of feelings and thoughts I have. Doing anything new is always a challenge and this certainly was no exception.

First, the Heart Center, two of our conference rooms turned into a 24/7 prayer station was really wonderful. Thanks to Steve Trine, Missy Konkey, Roberta Adams and Jack Fox! Great spaces to pray with artwork and helpful prayer guides. Many commented on how pleasant and powerful the room was for them to pray in. We had a 12 hour prayer watch yesterday and it was good but I always anticipate more people praying than actually do----a pastor would!

Our special prayer focuses had mixed reviews as would usually be the case; different topics and different leaders always lead to differences upon reception. We had a good variety of things for people to participate in and learn from. The Encounter time on Wed. night was special. Not in numbers but in atmosphere and response. This worship prayer based model is so great in providing ways for people to engage each other and the Lord.

Some things are just unknown. I am wondering how many within MCC truly have been seeking the Heart of the Father and then are taking the time to lay it over their heart. That is the spiritual goal of such activities. I know activities don't always do that, but sometimes, some people experience that. We will have at ime of GAP this Sunday---God Answers Prayer. We may hear of some great stories!

A new grand baby!

2007-07-25T15:46:00.000-04:00

Wow! What a thrill to hold a newborn baby! She is the absolute most cutest and precious baby in the whole universe! I suppose you expected that from a granpa, but hey, that is what I am.

Loralei Rose Hevesy came into this big world on July 23 and I am a much better man for it! The wonder of life is so real in the touch of a newborn. Life is so precious and so soft. Sandy and I are just soaking in the pure joy of the experience and loving every miinute of it. Loralei's big sister and big brother are pretty impressed too.

A piece of my history there in my hands! It is hard to remember Cady being that little, but she was, now look at her, a mommy! Wow, how time flies! It is good, God is good. Life is good.

I am sovoring the moment. Jesus loves the little ones and yiou sure can see why! Oh Father, guard and protect the little ones. They are so helpless, they need you! Such is the Kingdom of God! How helpless are all of us compared to our God.

Well, grandpa needs to go back to cooing!

Global Day of Prayer--Terre Haute

2007-05-28T14:03:00.000-04:00

Wow! What a day! Check it out: http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_story_148000903.html

Words are hard to describe how I felt as I worshiped in song and prayer on Sunday May 27 at ISU's Memorial Stadium. This kind of event is always difficult because it is hard to communicate what it is and why it is being done. It is so Christian counter culture.

No big names, not big agenda's for any particular church or denomination. Just simply gathering together in a public arena to praise and worship God together simply as the city-wide church. This is a great Kingdom idea and agenda! Seven pastors prayed, no names announced, no churches announced. A worship band composed of members from throughout the city; no names; no billboard!

It was a hard day because not only was in Pentecost and Memorial Day in Indiana, it was race day and a rainy day to boot! I must say, I did pray for a two hour window off opportunity. We had thought that outside in a stadium was a great venue for this event. But, outside has its problems! We ran into those for sure in threatening weather and a lack of promised personnel to get the electricity we needed, but it all came together!

I was so blessed to see hundreds, maybe a thousand people from many different churches gather and worship together in one voice for the cause of Christ to sweep the world! The songs were great, the fellowship was awesome and the prayer time powerful. Seven different people used seven different languages to read the world day of prayer; prayer. It was pretty amazing and quite contagious to hear the world pray!

Once again, I just love the guys I prayed with! These guys are awesome and so humble to pray in this fashion and to surrender personal preferences for the cause of Christ and His Kingdom. We represented various churches and many different ways of worshiping, but on this day we were one! We shared hopes, dreams and hurts.

Thank you God for putting together that party! It was amazing! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

300 million children all gathered across the world to honor their Dad, enough said!

Spiritual Diversity

2007-05-26T13:40:00.000-04:00

I have been doing a teaching series on "What We Believe" at MCC over that past four weeks. This kind of series is always hard for an independent non-denominational leader. I don't the luxury or difficulty in saying what my "group" says I ought to say. Our type of congregations try hard to do their theology in real time and in the context of community.

Community among believers has always been complicated; just look at Acts 15 if you don't think so! The issues of salvation and following Christ daily have always been caught up in culture, time and space. The same is true with us today living right here in Terre Haute Indiana. What one member of our community believes is constantly connected with what others believe. Sometimes those are pretty universal and ordinary; but at times it can get complicated and quite touchy.

I always use the examples of baptism, communion, eternal security and the gifts of the Holy Spirit as examples of those touchy kinds of beliefs. I historically like the challenge of trying hard to understand what is essential and what is not in regard to these beliefs. It is a challenge, it is not always a slam dunk.

Can Jesus remain the core of these issues? That is what is essential. Some times people equate Jesus with doctrine and that can be a huge mistake. He is not just a doctrine or a teaching! That would be to make him into what the Pharisees and others of the Jewish community tried to do. Jesus is a living person who interacts with us regularly in time and space, yes in scripture but also in life. I know that is a little scary for some believers, but none the less true. Look at Hebrews 4:12 and see it beyond scripture.

Now, how do we as a community relate to the "tertiary" issues of the faith such as speaking in tongues and the other miraculous sign gifts? I would hope we can take the same position as the Southern Baptist Mission Board and try hard to see some things as not necessary to separate us. Should any means of prayer divide believers? I don't think so! Yes, we may have our preferences, even those things we believe strongly, but not to such a degree we refuse to fellowship with each other!

I have lived the "fear" of those "weird" people who spoke in tongues! I have even been misinformed about the priority of such things. Honestly, wasn't that the core of what the Apostle Paul was battling in Corinth? That battle hasn't changed much at all. Just because I don't speak in tongues does not make it wrong for someone else to do so.

The real error in dealing with non-normative miraculous spiritual gifts is the personal experience weight of evaluating them. If "I don't" or I can't" then no one should! How prideful! How narrowing can you be in the body of Christ! The whole point of Paul's teaching was "some."

It is the "some" that makes us strong! We are a unique and diverse body, not a body of all who do certain things. This is the challenge of denominationalism and the comfort in such things. When we all believe the same thing there is comfort, but I wonder if there is power! I wonder if there is true equipment! I do believe it is disfiguring to what the body of Christ is to look like!

It is an honorable discomfort to be a member of a group of people who work hard at what is essential and allow for diverse beliefs in spiritual gifts. It is so hard in our culture to believe and live in a way that acknowledges the supernatural. But necessary. I challenge believers to believe and to live in ways that make power and spiritual encounter a regular part of their lives.

As Paul said, "He is able!" And as I would say, we are not! Never lose sight of those two facts of scripture and life.

2007-04-16T07:46:00.000-04:00

Journeys take various paths and go at a varying speed. We are reminded in scripture that we are in a marathon and not a sprint! I have to remind myself of that once in a while, don't know about you. I have been on a journey of following Jesus for over thirty seven years, it has been quite a trip. I have personally had my ups and downs and needless to say so have the folks who have been following their leader! Pastors are fellow journeymen if you will.

I believe every follower of Jesus is on a quest for a perfect relationship with Jesus, or at least a really great one! We have our moments, those are the bumps and obstacles we hit simply due to the fact we are not the best of companions. Humanity always fails in relating to divinity! It is not the other way around.

I must confess that as a leader in the body of Christ some similarities exist in the relationships we call a fellowship or the church. I honestly believe that most pastors and most church members want a great church; not a perfect one, but a really really good one. We fail at this too for the exact same reasons I mentioned above. Every fellowship of believers is made up of frail imperfect people.

As I have recently wrestled with some "emergent" and "missional" stuff as a leader I have to admit it gets a little challenging at times. Why not just be satisfied with what is? Why rock the boat? Isn't what we have ok? I sure have to admit, we have a good fellowship at Maryland but I must admit the "great" and "perfect" goal is still out there! As much as I personally want to be a better follower of Jesus, I want Maryland Community Church to be a better bride of Christ.

I kind of like what I read a few weeks ago from a blogger who was wrestling with the same kinds of things. He said, "Give me a church that has a dash of the attractional, a piece of the emergent, a block of the missional and yes, throw in some missional!"

He was just simply trying to communicate something I have aimed for in my leadership; balance. He was trying to say that all the ingredients that go into a really great church have the best of all of those church worlds and not just any one in particular. That is hard to believe at times for most of us leaders and it certainly is hard to try and develop! It is easy to me narrow and single eyed in leadership sometimes. It has to be this way or else! You can call it leagalism or whatever ism you want, but God is a whole lot more whole than we give him credit for at times!

Wholeness is what I want. I want the whole thing! God's wholeness is and always has been the goal of God's people. A united view of the whole universe, a whole concept of Man and a balanced fellowship that sees all the needs of people. Worship and Mission are not either or! Attracting people and Seeking people are not opposites! Fellowship and Outreach are not enemies! Service and being Healed are not mutually exclusive. Get my drift?

I hope so, for His sake.

2007-03-24T14:26:00.000-04:00

I had a great time at another Pastors and wives gathering at Mt. Pleasant a few nights ago. it was at least a year in coming! We had some reps from the Anderson IN churches come and share with us about their city-wide church efforts and what Fusion ministries has done with them to help.

The two pastors who came and shared with us were at their congregations for 25 and 30 years each! Long term guys who have seen a lot come and go. They encouraged us and our efforts by reminding us it is a marathon and things do come and go as fellow pastors come and go. They have about 120 churches in Anderson and about 80% of those are on their email list. They ahve about 40 active pastors in their group. They have a leadership team of seven pastors. This prayer leadrship is a distinct group from their ministerial group. They shared their joint efforts with racial reconcilliation (CURE); and their efforts to work with a specific elementary school that was having a lot of problems and effecting the whole district.

I was especially excitied about a phrase the Fusion rep made. He said, "You are not to be pastors of congregations, but co-pastors of a community!" Kingdom stuff; no turf management. Seeing the big picture. He stressed the importance of relationships gained through praying together. They do so every other week and have a monthly gathering at a non-church locaation downtown. They also have regualr GAP meetings (God Answers Prayer).

I enjoyed getting to meet a new pastor in our city, Evan Casey, at Northside Christian Church. He and his wife Tricia are excited about their new ministry with this congregation. They showed a lot of enthusiasm for the church and for the community of pastors they saw in Terre Haute. I am always excited about meeting new pastors who want to join us in our city-wide effort. BUT especially one who likes a good cup of coffee and palys golf! Way to go God! Welecome Evan!

I am teaching on Prayer and Unity this Sunday from John 17. I have been living out the possibilities of this teaching for nearly 21 years here in Terre Haute. We began with three guys in the basement of the old MCC building on seventh street; praying at believe it or not; Tuesday mornings at 6:30 am! Things have come a long ways! They still have a long way to go!

2007-02-22T15:29:00.000-05:00

I am sure that most of you reading this are aware of a term called "church growth." It is not often that you talk positively about "church shrinkage!" But let me digress.

It all goes back to about seven years ago as I dreamed, prayed and worked hard on the design of a worship environment for our new sanctuary. You have to understand, we were about 400 strong in a room that seated 450. We strained to get people seated, the parking lot emptied and usually chastised people for coming to more than one worship gathering! I lovingly and sometimes not so lovingly asked our core group of folks to "sit up front, park way out, and give up your seat!" Oh how I longed for bigger parking lots and more seats!

When we were nearing our move it was pretty clear that our evening worship group called Exchange would need to do something really strange. We would close off half the new space so the 300 or so could fit better for community rather than be scattered among the 1400 seats. We did that, it worked well and the community grew for all kinds of really good reasons. We eventually opened up the other seats and gave some space. Good church growth!

However, our Sunday morning community, called EPIC suffered from some "shrinkage" for some really bad reasons. Wow, what a bummer and what a challenge! We had filled up our space pretty well for a couple of years. Then gradually and in some spurts the numbers dropped and people were comfortably spread all over the place. For years our leaders and staff struggled with some constant comments of; "we don't feel as close, we don't know anyone, something just isn't the same."

Now I will not even begin to say that space is the ultimate reason for all of those things. But in my 37 years of pastoring I have learned a few things about space. It can and does many times dictate "feelings." Close if a proximity thing you just have to design at times. This is true whether you are teaching, small grouping, or worshiping. If interaction and relationship are key it is important for people to be close; not too close of course, but close.

It is sort of like when I used to be at home with my parents around the dinner table; seven of us. When all five boys were gone, I notice mom and dad moved their usual chairs and got closer. Not because they had to, but because they wanted to. I sometimes watch good teachers in a large room move their students closer. It just kind of makes sense.

BUT, we like birds, nest! I find my space, my spot, my seat and I like it. All of us are like that. In one of my classes at church the other night it was a real object lesson. We have 22 students that have met for 8 weeks. We all have "our seats." On this one particular night, my friend Ed came early and sat in my seat up front. He said he needed to in order to help the speaker. Well that was ok, but you know, it felt kind of weird for me to move a row back. But the real amazing thing was the "dominoes" that fell! In the end, we all sat in different seats! There was a real different "feel" that night. Not good or bad but just different. Yet the difference brought some new interaction with other students-----that I believe is good.

I am going to do a really huge thing in a couple of weeks at EPIC Sunday Morning worship gathering. I am going to centralize our seating by cutting it in half. We are going to try a bit of "closeness" for 5 weeks or so and see how it feels. Now dont' get me wrong, I know initially it won't feel good or even be perceived as good. But like in the class, I think given some time it will do the same kind of thing. People meeting and talking with some new people and maybe even feeling a little closer.

I remember visiting a church in Indianapolis a few years back with my wife Sandy. We kind of looked the room over, chose two seats we thought were nice. In a few minutes a very unhappy women approaced us and said, I quote, "you are in my seat." Hum, I didn't know people owned seats in a church! My mistake for sure.

May I call on our community to grow a little by shrinking! Let's be courageous and see what this new environment might do to help us relate to each other God maybe a "little" better. Maybe not a big thing, but who knows, could be.

I sign out today as "the big bird" in the stressed flock hoping we can nest in a new spot!

The Missional Journey

2007-02-01T13:34:00.000-05:00

In my journey to transform my own thinking about "doing church" if you will, it has become even more challenging to think about mission. I don't mean missions in the traditional sense of the word, but "Mission" in the sense of the purpose of the local church. A local church on mission must look and act differently than one that is totally driven by programs and performance.

I realy liked the steps a church in Texas took in order to revitalize their congregation:

1. To be honest about our current condition. This can be hard for a church with such a storied past.

People kept asking: Why have our long-term members left? When are things going to get back to the way they were? What's wrong with us?

Such questions can squelch even the most sincere brainstorming sessions. The hard truth we've tried to communicate through all of this is that the glory days of the past are exactly that—past glory days. We're not to try to return to them. Garnett will never again be the church it once was. We have to do the difficult thing of letting go of our former glory in order to allow God to do a new thing in us.

2. To relinquish our rights as members to a church building that we are no longer able to pay for by ourselves. The Garnett Church of Christ building is becoming the Garnett Event Center.

Already, several other churches are using our facilities on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon: a Messianic Jewish community, a charismatic Hispanic church, a rock church called Rolling Stone, and a new church plant.

3. To recognize that the most life-giving activities of our church aren't necessarily going to happen in our facility. Church leaders in event-driven and personality-centered churches tend to gauge success by headcount, the number of people who show up. This is what leaders talked about, and subsequently members tended to judge success by how pews and collection baskets were filled.

With Michael Frost (author of Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture) and Alan Hirsch (The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church), we have been forced to ask new questions: What if events of church, personalities of church, and Sunday assembly went away? What would be our view of the Christian life? What would we do as Christians, and who would we be?

4. To learn to be missionaries in our own culture. "we want to be a better neighbor to you and this community." And really, that's the first step to becoming missionaries: getting to know our neighbors' needs.

That's what we're determined to do: equip our congregation to be Christ to neighbors, co-workers, and family members, rather than trying to coax people into signing up for every church program possible and burning families out with church involvement.

Anything aside from a Christ-centered approach is out in favor of teaching one another how to be incarnational presence of Christ, in practical ways in our jobs, neighborhoods, PTAs, and sports teams.

These four steps are challenging; much easier said or written than done!

A way that the missional church is described by some is in "dimensions."

1) upward focused- on God in worship that is passionate
2) inward focused- on community among believers taht is demonstrated in relationships of love and compassion
3) outward focused- on a world that does not yet know God

I have especially been wrestling with the two great obstacles to becoming missional.

1) self-preservation
2) church growth

These obstacles are qute common in making any kind of major change in a local church.

Self-preservation is a huge anchor to the past and to our comfort zones.

Church growth is a huge wall that prevents us from crossing over to transformation rather than attraction.

I have always tried as a leader to help followers see the "both and" as opposed to the "either or" of choices. The three dimensions of a missional church are totally right on and make the local church a powerful force in society. It sort of deflates when only one or two of the dimensions are real.

I know the journey I am on to become more like the original intent of the church rather than the cultural wrapper it now comes in is a marathon and not a sprint! Seems like it is composed of small baby steps. I hate that! But I realize turning around a large congregation like the one I am leading just doesn't react quickly to major changes.

As is always the case, it needs to start with leaders and then work its way to followers. I am reading, praying and intentionally trying to activate plans that will make me more missional. This in turn will be the catalyst for change among followers.

Forgive me Lord when my worship is passionaless. Forgive me Lord when my relationships are not marked by love and compassion. Forgive me Lord when I care more about those who know God rather than those who do not. Break the stronghold of self-preservation in me! Crusth the tendency to be more concerned about attracting people to a building than I am about engaging them in the community.

Daniel Henderson said, "I often tell pastors that the only way to see a turnaround in the church is to focus first on personal renewal and leadership renewal, and then congregational renewal and that will result in mission renewal and structural renewal."

So let it be!

Encountering God

2007-01-17T15:33:00.000-05:00

We use several words around MCC that describe our relationship with God and our fellow followers. Words like; connect, fellowship, community, walk, and journey. But this word “encounter” kind of has an ominous ring to it doesn’t it. It has the feel of tension and struggle and fight. It is almost the kind of thing we would normally try to avoid!
God is complicated, kind of like the people he created! There are times when he is safe and comforting and gentle. Then there are times he is not safe, in fact dangerous and angry! I have always loved the picture of God in the writing of C.S. Lewis. The concept of a Lion is kind of amazing isn’t it. We like Lucy at times wonder if he is safe or dangerous when we approach.

Approaching God is to be a daily task, and I do mean task, it is not easy or always safe. I think that is why we ignore him a lot! We can simplify approaching God that is for sure, I hear people do it all the time and I at times have to correct myself in making it so simple. Here is what I mean.

As followers of God we at times talk like God talks to us all the time. We also talk in ways that make him our buddy and closest friend. Yes, those things are true but at times we really over play that kind of talk. We walk a fine line between “the holy other” and “he walks with us.” I need both in my life but most of the time I really don’t want to encounter the holiness of God!

The bible is full of examples where common ordinary people just like us encountered the holy God. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, and Isaiah just to name a few. Our problem is that we don’t think of these people as someone “just like us!” You mean to say that I could hear God, I could see angels, I could see a bush burning and not burn up, I could pray and ask God for big things and have it happen? That is exactly what James the apostle said!

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.” (James 5:16-17 NIV)

I know that not everyone who comes to a Sunday worship gathering intends to encounter God. They, we, come for lots of reasons and not always encounter! But, at times, people do. Sometimes an encounter takes some effort as I have mentioned. Sometimes it takes an intentional search kind of like Dr. Henry Blackaby taught us when he was here. He reminded us that we should “seek him while he can be found!”

If I wanted to encounter Tiger Woods it would take some specific and intentional actions on my part. I would put God in an even higher status and degree of difficulty at times! Don’t you find it hard sometimes to find God? I do. Not always, but sometimes. When we have those times it is good to know we have somewhere we can go.

For us here at MCC it would be a place called “Encounter.” This place is in its early stages of development but it is real. There is a group of people who meet together in the Prayer Room every Wednesday night at 7 pm to seek God and find his heart. You can come for all kinds of reasons, but it is to seek the one who really matters in life. We are working on making this environment a safe place to meet a dangerous God so he can make us dangerous in our world. Why not come join me in this encounter some time? The encounter is worth it, people who meet God are never the same.

2007-01-13T21:39:00.000-05:00

The EPIC Walk

When you look at how our relationship with God is described one particular picture comes to mind, walk. In the Garden of Eden God walked with Adam and Eve, a picture of personal relationship for sure! Enoch and Noah had their relationship with God described as walking with him (Gen. 5:22,24, 6:9).

Haven’t you heard at some point this description of a good follower of God, he “walks the walk and talks the talk.” In other words, he lives and says the things that mark him as a follower of God.

When I personally think of walking I think of exercise, health and going slow! Now when you think about it, those aren’t bad ideas of describing a walk with God. Walking should get your heart rate up, get your muscles moving and all of those things are good for your health. If I were to think of getting somewhere quickly it wouldn’t be walking! Walking is going slow, it is watching, it is thinking, it is journeying at a pace you can see and hear well.

The way we describe our relationship with God and with our fellow followers is that of journey. One biblical example of this whole idea of walk is found in Luke 24. Here we find some guys walking from a place of huge meaning, Jerusalem to a place of not much significance, Emmaus. These guys in their walk will encounter the living Jesus Christ. Quite a surprise on their walk! They certainly didn’t expect that, in fact they were engulfed in disappointment, grief and loss.

In their walk, these guys discover that Jesus is not dead! Hie is alive and walking with them! As some of you may know, this event has been made very relevant for people today in a retreat format called “The Walk to Emmaus.” It is a time in a person’s life that they too discover that Jesus is alive and that he can and does walk with us in our every day lives.

The heart of the real walk was the experience of seeing and experiencing Jesus in the breaking of bread. At some mystical moment while they ate together the men on the walk understood that the stranger that had joined them was Jesus, the one who had been crucified. He was alive and then took some time to inform them about all the prophets and the meaning behind what those words really meant about Messiah. Their hearts were warmed and their lives were changed!

Having lives changed today does take place in many retreat settings like an Emmaus Walk, but also in everyday walking through life. If we slow down enough, walk and not run; if we focus on things around us, if we get our hearts warmed it could be that we too might experience the living presence of Jesus right there with us. I am convinced that the times Jesus feels more distant are the times I am in a rush, not really looking and listening and definitely having a cold heart.

Some of the ancient ways that people were taught to walk with God centered on the very practical model. Walk “with” God, look, listen, and feel the presence. This sort of mystical approach has some real tangible means of experiencing the grace of God. It could be described as learning to walk with God.

Our walk, or journey in life, must be characterized by “quiet” and “focused looking and listening.” A quiet time is thus a time to look and listen for the voice of God. The most objective and real way of hearing God is found in our reading, thinking, praying and obeying scripture. As simple as this sounds, it takes years usually to get very good at this sort of thing. Practice if you will.

Some have found that writing while walking with God is a way to slow your thoughts and heart down enough to allow times of change. This is why journaling or writing your thoughts and prayers can be very good exercises. Other kinds of exercise here include doing these things “with others.” Relationship or community. Living and learning together.

Obedience is also a key in our walking or journeying. Obedience is like a super GPS system or compass that keeps us going in the right direction. Scripture and community guidance help us make good and healthy choices in our living. Obedience can be described in many ways; but it contains first fruits (stewardship), gathering for worship and instruction in apostolic teaching (See Acts 2:42-47).

One of the big changes that people in our generation must change in order to get more out of their walk with the Lord is the understanding of a point in time and eternity. The point in time is our accepting Christ as Savior; having our sins forgiven; being justified. The time in eternity is following Jesus as Lord. This is a continual daily journey, not something you do once and then it requires no more. Salvation is both the point and the eternity. Heretical for some, but I would challenge you to walk with Jesus for a while and see if that isn’t true. The difference between just taking a walk and taking an “EPIC Walk” is the eternity piece. It is living a powerful world changing life led by the living Christ and not just passively relying on some kind of spiritual life insurance.

Those who walk with Jesus change the world!

A New Year!

2007-01-01T11:20:00.000-05:00

2006 has been one of my most difficult years as a pastor at Maryland Community Church. I have had harder ones for sure in the early years of recreating a dying church, but this was one of the most disappointing years. Two kinds of difficult!

This past year was a compendium, collection if you will, of bad things and bad timing. In addition to some hard times with staff members there was the overwhelming influx of selfishness that characterizes our culture. To say we suffered from a "mechurch" attitude is a grave understatement. A sad truth I have learned in cases like this is that we never "lost people" we actually "never had them!" True community is not about, "I will love you as long as you please me!"

Staff difficulties are always hard because even if staff members detest the fact that some people will leave a church because of a staff members leaving it does happen! Sometimes this snowballs as it did in our case. We did not as a congregation exhibit great forgiveness or great perseverance, we in the case of many fell victim to "I'm mad and I'm not going to take it any more! I would rather leave than forgive!"

As bad as this was, and it was bad, we had something much more sinister happen. Our very nature as a "community church" for "everyone" was attacked from the a variety of directions. We were too big, not big enough, too friendly, not friendly enough, we were a church with music that was too loud, not loud enough, we were too pentecostal and at the same time not penecostal enough. The pastor wasn't deep enough, he wasn't personal enough, he wasn't honest enough, he was too open with his thoughts. And of course, all we ever talk about is money! Just to name a few!

Since our first week in our new location we had been through an attendance spike with at lot of lookers and shirt sleeve relatives to a down turn of almost 250 people each Sunday. Those slides are hard emotionally and spiritually. No one likes the appearance of failure in the face of great success! Least of all me! I have to really watch it when my happiness or sadness revolves around how many bodies are sitting in chairs on Sunday!

The thing I want us all at MCC to spiritually discern this coming year is the deep meaning of success and failure. As easy as it is to say that the ABC's of church don't necessarily dictate success it very hard to hold to that fact in the middle of an onslaught of criticism and arm chair quarterbacking. Attendance, buildings and cash are not the key components of success in the Kingdom. They may be in the world, but not the Kingdom! If we are to sincerely seek His Kingdom and not worldly success then we are up against a real spiritual challenge!

I can and sure have second guessed myself on a lot of things as a pastor over this past year. So much of a pastor's "worldly esteem" comes from the the ABC's of church growth. Even when you know it is wrong! It is a battle of Pauline proportion! As Paul wrestled in Romans 7 with knowing to do good and not doing it, so do I as a pastor at times. I know my esteem comes from Christ and His approval or disapproval with my character, faith and behavior. History proves God doesn't always get excited about the ABC's of His people. He evaluates the heart, the mind and the faith of his leaders. I ask His forgiveness and yours for times I have given in to a wrong view of my esteeem.

Now don't get me wrong, I know the temporal value of a crowd, a great building and lots of cash! In and of themselves they are not all bad, it is when we place our value on them rather than the organic Kingdom based values of God's people. Can a church have a lot of people, a huge new building and lots of money and still be out of God's will? Of course they can! Those measures don't measure faithfulness or being Kingdom focused. Being a large church does not equal greatness; never has, never will.

The real questions are: 1) Are we on mission? 2) Are we faithful in worshipping God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit? 3) Are we as members of the body of Christ living in ways that give God glory? 4) Are each of us as members of the body of Christ pointing non-believers to the saving grace of Jesus Christ through meaningful relationships?

We must refocus on Kingdom Growth: The tendency of every congregation is to be overly concerned with “their world” and not “God’s world.” In the same way individuals can be selfish so can congregations. Our perspective is that of a “World view” and not just a neighborhood. We have a city target and not just a certain segment of our community. This is what we mean by “missional.”

The missional church is a community where all members are involved in learning to become disciples of Jesus, this community seeks to discern God’s specific mission in the city it serves and the personal mission of all its members to proclaim the gospel to the whole world.

This next year; we need to care for each other and tighten up our connections as family (community). We need to encourage and challenge each other in our walk with the Lord (journey) and refocus ourselves on our kingdom priorities (mission).

Here is a new years resolution of repentance for all of us: 1) I will stop being critical of other Christians, Churches, pastors (including ones right here at MCC!) 2) I will pray intensely and seek the Lord for my personal growth and the growth of His Kingdom. 3) I will consciously seek the will of God rather than my personal need; if it really isn't about me, then it must be about Him!

There are nearly 70,000 unchurched people in are county. While we want our church to grow, we want His Kingdom to grow even more! Wouldn't it be awesome if every Christ following church in Vigo county grew over the next year! Now that would be real success! If that were happening, then I am sure that our crime rate would fall, our enconomy would flourish and we would enjoy great times of transformation as churches, a city, and a county!

Let's pray to be dangerous in 2007! Not just safe, but dangerous. We want to strike fear into the heart of the enemies of God! Our greatest defense is to overcome personal satisfaction as our daily goal; the bible calls this carnality or taking care of our own flesh! Our greatest offense is this; join the Father in changing the world one person at a time, one city at a time, one nation at a time.

The Nativity Story

2006-12-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

The Christmas season is always a challenge for me. I have so many different things going on in my life; husband, father, papaw, and pastor! Each of these perspectives on Dec. 25 have their pros and cons as most of us earthlings are aware.

This season had a real surprise and thrill as Sandy and I took some time away to go see a movie. We took a Sunday night and went to watch "The Nativity Story." I wasn't sure what to expect, it certainly wasn't hyped as much as "The Passion of The Christ" was but at the same time there had been some good publicity on how well done it was for a film with a "Christian" theme.

One of my "pastor" perspectives has always been the crazy time-line that has stuck to the Christmas story in regard to the wisemen. I do mean stuck, just try and rearrange the plot on that one some time and see how hard it is for most folks to understand the little "two year" pause between the birth of the child and the visit of the Magi!

This story treats this timeline as most folks would have it in their hearts. The wisemen are an integral part of the story and do show up right at the birth-----but I must say it was a wonderful depiction and really got you into the moment quite deeply.

I was thrilled with how the film got me to see the harshness of life at the time of this little one's entrance into humanity. The toughness of the times for families, and for Jews and for adventurers was very very well done. You certainly experienced it all. I was especially impressed with the portrayal of Joseph; he came alive to me.

The reality of Herod and his obsession with killing this coming king was horrifying. His evil intent came through in graphic detail. The death of little boys in Bethlehem exploded on the screen. The birth scenes in the movie were quite amazing and certainly didn't candy coat any of it! This was a real moment with real pain and real hardship.

For me, during this season of Advent, it took me to the center of the message of the Angel; "Do not be afraid!" Both Joseph and Mary were very real in their conversation about their angelic experiences. They both admitted that while the Angel said "Do not be afraid", they were afraid! Boy if that didn't hit home to me. They are just like me!

I honestly believe the "heavenly voice" but my reality has to be walked out in fearful faith. I am encouraged and motivated by the message, but I still tremble as I walk in this hard life. Although God worked powerfully in the life of Joseph and Mary, they still lived real lives with real problems. Our situations in December 2006 are the same!

My challenge to myself is to courageously go forward, not retreating out of fear, but constantly trusting that the same God who worked it out for Joseph and Mary will work it out for me! Wow, a God who would visit us this personally is to be adored! He really really cares! He traded a perfect pain free life for a life of flesh filled struggle. Thank you Jesus! I love you for getting dirty here on earth with me and showing me God, your father, in a truly real way I can understand.

Have a blessed, Christ filled Holy Day!

2006-11-08T10:38:00.000-05:00

Free Moral Choice

A local columnist in Terre Haute once again took on the conservative evangelical right in regard to their view of life, sin and politics. As is always the case with criticism, some of it usually is valid. In this case some of it was, but not all. The columnist joked about our "Flip Wilson" mentality at times concerning sin; "The Devil made me do it." The writer would rather opt for Sigmund Freud.

I for one want to weigh in on a much needed view that sometimes goes amiss at times like this. Each of us in my understaning are "free moreal agents." Meaning that in the very complicated understanding of spirit and flesh, each of us as humans is free to choose our behavior. Even Chirstians! Paul in Romans 7 is a good snapshot of a righteous man struggling with personal sin. I always find it easier to talk about Paul than someone like Ted Haggard.

For my liberal friends, yes I believe someone like Bill Clinton sinned. Inspite of that, I hold a high regard for the office of President of the United States and would not destroy that office or its integrity because of the sin of one president. Can we not do the same with Ted Haggard? I hope so. I get so tired of people generalizing personal sin; it is exactly that. Now I am not saying we are not to speak about sin, I am just saying we ought to be a whole lot more like Jesus than the media.

It is always true that with leadership comes higher expectations and greater exposure to failure. Lot's of pastors unfortunately have made the same ethical mistakes that Ted has made. But their leadership is of a much smaller followership. It is true, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Ted's sin doesn't justify homosexualty or infidelity. Don't go there. We do have a very hard lesson in hypocrisy and deception for sure. It is a stern warning to pastors, church lay leaders, denominational leaders and members of God's family. We are all capable of moral duplexity. Just like Paul. Evil is powerful and can control, if you will, to the degree we as free moral agents allow it to.

I am not saying that addiction in any form isn't controling, it demands strong intervention on the part of humans and God. We cooperate as part of our failure or recovery. I am so very pleased that Ted is now being open honest and cooperating in the process of getting his behavior back in line with biblical ethics.

I apologize if as a conservative evangelical I have not been compassionate and fair in dealing with immoral behavior evenly or fairly. I believe in a world where Jehovah God has given a moral code of behavior that all people are accountable to it. The only means of ever being forgiven for breaking that code is found in the person of Jesus of Nazereth.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” (Rom 8:1-4 NIV)

I understand that in any given community of followers of Jesus there are people living hypocritical lives just like Ted. I know that I too must constantly be on guard against my own self deception and allow the Holy Spirit and Word of God to search me and convince me of my personal sin. I can lie and hide from people, I can't do that with God. He will know, He will blow the whistle on me. To all of my fellow hypocrits, let's clean up our act! If you have unconfessed sin in your life, confess it. If you need help, get it.

Let's bring fame, not shame to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.

2006-11-04T12:07:00.000-05:00

Ted Haggard

I was shocked Friday morning Nov. 3rd as I looked at my news reader and found out about Ted's stepping down from the New Life Church in Colorado Springs and his stepping down from being the leader of the National Association of Evangelicals. He had been accused of a very ugly thing; a homosexual relationship for three years.

This was especially disturbing to me because I have held Ted up in such high esteem as one of the most dynamic leaders within the Evangelical Church and a great spokesman of biblical ethics. I was disturbed at the comments by the new associate pastor who said that "there was truth in some of the allegations." As the day wore on it became apparent from Ted's admission that he had purchased Meth but did not use it and did order a massage from this particulare person who had accused him on the radio.

I am angry! At Ted, at the Devil and at the great shame that was brought on the bride of Christ through the unfaithfulness of a leader. I know that leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ have failed in many differrent ways, many right here in my own city. But when I know someone personally and I see this person as a frontline warrior of great importance it really grieves me. I have a great loss in my heart and soul.

Don't get me wrong, I know the grace of God, and I am sure that when Ted repents he will be forgiven and restored. But he will never be the same. He will have lost moral integrity and gerat moral leadership. His church will suffer great harm and grieve for a long time. Pastors in the church will never quite have the respect and trust they once did. Great damage, the need for some very great healing.

I want to reflect on this crucial moment from my own experience. I know from my study and my previous experience that God's leaders are human and very vulnerable to the attack of the enemy and the giving in to their flesh. Both are so true and so frequently exoperienced by us all. The Devil is after the leaders of the Bride of Christ and the Army of God. He has in this case won another battle------but not the war! We in the church do not shoot our wounded and we know that God can and will heal and restore. As long as repentance comes there will be another day to fight!

God's leaders will fail, just like Moses, just like David, just like Peter; but failure is why Jesus came! Our ability to be forgiven and made holy again can only be accomplished we we connect with the saving blood of Jesus. This connection comes through our repentance.

Heb. 6:4 ¶ It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
Heb. 6:5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,
Heb. 6:6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

The key to this passage on "falling away" is the lack of repentance. This lack is like crucifying Christ again!

When God's people repent, they are forgiven, made clean and and holy. They don't lose their place in the family but they may lose their place in leadership. That has always been true with leaders. When you look at passages about leadership it is always important to note the importance of character. When our character and integrity are damages, so is our leadership.

Here is my plea, to myself, and to you. We must be repenting on a regular basis for the enemy to be unable to take advantage of our weakness. We are weak, we will always be, but we don't have to allow the enemy to get a foothold or in some cases a strangle hord on our lives. By our constant confession and repentance we stay humble and useable.

It is always a given that we confess and repent of obvious misbehaviors. But what I am talking about is our deeper problems of moral vices. Behind murder is hate. Behind adultery is lust. Behind addictive behavior is insecurity. Now you may not agree with all of my comparisons here; especially addiction. Put whatever underlying cause you believe is more accurate from your perspective----maybe it is pain, maybe it is grief, maybe it is anger; whatever.

If we are not constantly seeking to be aware of our internal vices, confessing them, and repenting of them, we will become vulnerable. God's leaders are no exception, I am no exception. I know that but for the grace of God and my constant confessiona and repentance I too could be just like Ted.

"Search me O God," don't let my tendency to sin be covered up or trivialized. This is serious business, staying clean before you and before the enemy. I must be the confessor and not the Publican. I cry out to God on behalf of a brother and a sister congregation who are in ashes. God give them a garment of praise! Restore, heal and protect. Do what you have to do to makes us deader to our sin and always aware of how close we all are to being an unfaithflul family member and a traitor to your causes.

2006-10-28T19:39:00.000-04:00

Harvest Prayer Ministries Regional Conference

Ever since I began reading some of the books of Dr. Henry Blackaby I have treasured the thought of one day having him come and teach at our church. That dream was realized this week! Dr. Blackaby was here as the main speaker for a prayer conference that we partner with several other ministries to put on each year.

The experience of sitting under his teaching was amazing. The thing about Henry isn't his flashy style or his charismatic personality, it is his authority with which he speaks. He is authentic and real in his teaching on prayer and its value and virtual life giving power to people and congregations. His message is radical and convicting because of the obvious flow from God's Word.

This kind of teaching is as "prophetic" as I have ever experienced. It is so in the true sense of the word. It is the voice of God speaking through his servant. It is a life giving word and a life challenging word. You can't just hear it, you must respond to it. It is hard to call it "good teaching." It is "sword" teaching, dividing your heart and mind with truth and power.

I don't want to be freaky, but the mysterious presence of God was in this place! God is always around us, don't get me wrong, but at times he is "near" and so very real. Isaiah the prophet said that when those moments come you don't want to miss them. (Is. 55:6) I am so glad I didn't miss the nearness of God in these days.

The obvious, but not so obvious to some, visual things were present. The altars were full, there were tears and crying out to God, there were people confessing sin, making commitments to be watchman on the walls and many begging God to "lay his heart on their hearts" so they could intercede more effectively for people and our nation. There was praise, there was prayer, there was some deep fellowship among people from many different denominations and spiritual heritages. Wow! It was a real God moment!

I must say that the one real conviction that came my way was this. You have what you pray.

For your family, our church, your city, and your nation. God is always looking for that one person who will humbly seek his intervention in the lives of people. A stand in the gap kind of person. Weak pitiful praying yields pathetic results.

“The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
turned back on the day of battle;
they did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by his law.
They forgot what he had done,
the wonders he had shown them.”
(Psa 78:9-11 NIV)

This passage went right to my heart! Being ready and equipped is one thing, failing to be obedient, not keeping my covenant promise and not making God famous are completely different things!

I might say, we have not because we have lived not! Forgive us Father! As leaders in your Kingdom, forgive our faithlessness and our arrogant disobedience of your revealed will.

I know that many of the pastors who gathered at Maryland Community Church have vowed to challenge and call their leaders to a more active and obedient life! We must pray the price and stand in the gap for all that is precious to God.

2006-10-19T15:22:00.000-04:00

I have been reading a book about missional leaders over a break. Like any good book it is both reinforcing in what I believe and at the same time challenging what I believe. I am sure you have read books like that or watched movies that did the same thing.

Here is a quote that really hit home; "We can see this phenomenon of making private need paramount in the increasing number of people who make it known that the forms of life in a particular congregation are no longer enough for them. As a result, they seek another congregation that will satisfy their needs. To them, it is vividly clear that the public gathering of the people of God has a single, primary purpose: meeting the private, personal needs of each individual member." p. 68 The Missional Leader

My down to earth theology knows that usually people go at their particular circumstance from one of two equally valid and important truths. 1) God is holy and all powerful, 2) God became flesh and suffered just like me. You can word those in many different ways of course.

It seems that many congregations, followers of Jesus, sufffer at times from an over emphasis on #2. They see everything through the lense of "how will that help me?" If it doesn't then I will change churches, pastors, leaders, cities, countries, religions.

If there isn't something bigger and more important than me in my circumstance then I have to do whatever it takes to alter my circumstance.

What if there was something bigger and more important than you? What if it was more important than your circumstance? For some that is even hard to imagine let alone believe.

For true followers of Jesus we know who and what is more important. Jesus is more important and His Kingdom is greater than mine! Without this focus I will never believe that God's desires would ever trump mine or that his power is greater than mine.

We live in such a winner take all world that the idea of staying with anything that is perceived as being inferior or a loser is quite distasteful. Shouldn't I move on? Shouldn't I go with the winner?

The Kingdom of God doesn't always look like a winner or being superior. That is why Jesus looked and sounded like such a fool in his day. He still does in our day to a large extent.

Pretty soon we will have 300,000,000 churches in America. In case you didn't know; one for every person. Sad isn't it.

2006-10-13T15:34:00.000-04:00

I attended a pastors gathering at Mt. Pleasant UMC last night that was truly amazing! The group represented were among the United Methodists, Southern Baptists, Assemblies, Independent Pentecostal, Church of Christ Non-Instrumental and Messianic.

We gathered for fellowship and then to watch a documentary of the revival in Fiji produced by the Sentinel group. It was an amazing story of revival among a nation that had been racked by political and racial uproar for many years.

The gist of things was desperation with circumstances, prayerful repentance, efforts at reconciliation both racially and denominationally and political action. There was an amazing turnaround in the whole nation socially, economically and geographically. There truly was an answer to II Chronicles 7:14!

As we talked about this and how it impacted us, it became very clear that we too wanted such things for our city, state and nation. Our small gathering every Tuesday morning for 16 years has increasingly grown in numbers of pastors and intensity for revival. We certainly are not as desperate as we could be or should be, but we are getting there! Our prayer is not yet as fervent as it could be or should be, but we are getting there!

One things has become increasingly more apparent. We are united around Jesus Christ and the truth of the Word of God. Denominational ties are being broken. Personal agendas set aside. There is more and more a visible city-wide church! Oh how I long for this to increase!

Pastors praying together, worshiping together and then working together is amazing! I believe it will make an impact in our city. These three things are the key to proactive city-wide ministry; prayer, worship and service.

We will be reading and studying revival more and meeting again in a month; Nov. 27th.

2006-10-09T20:19:00.000-04:00

Both of our Days of Vision for EPIC and Exchange are now complete! How exciting to share what God is doing at Maryland Community Church. Our two communities are unique methods of reaching various as many people as we can. I am constantly amazed at how two different environments can reach different people for many different reasons.

I am excited to see what God is going to do through our multiple environments over the next few years. The Blessed Life series that Scot Longyear, pastor of Exchange, and I have been teaching from materials from Robert Morris have been great tools for helping both communities come to grips with putting first things first in our lives. Our financial resources are one of the litmus tests to our heart condition. I know God is continuing to search our hearts to see if we will be faithful and responsible with all the many talents and resources he has given this great church.

I would challenge all our followers of Jesus to pray hard on how they can respond on November 19th. This Sunday is a crucial moment in the life of Maryland Community Church. Our commitments to tithing and extra giving are of immence importance and we look to the future. Let's IMAGINE together what God can do through us!

Love Languages

2006-10-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

Sandy and I are anxiously waiting to see what God will do with our series on the "Five Love Languages."

Love is a big deal to us! We love God with all our heart and try very hard to love each other as Christ has loved us. Needless to say this has been a journey of many years; 37 to be exact!

Love is the real heart of marriage. It is a language that God has used to communicate his relationship with his people down through the ages. It was an epic description of the relationship of Jesus and the Church. Jesus the groom and the Church the bride. Ephesians 5 is the classic biblical text for the love of man and woman; Christ and the Church.

Come join us at Maryland Community Church, 4700 S. St. Rd. 46 in Terre Haute, IN and see what the Lord is saying to you about these two major relationships. Begins Sunday Oct. 8 and goes through Sunday Nov. 5; 10 am.