Famine Again?

I have heard it before, but it is still true: When dealing with long term problems, there are no easy answers.

Over the last few years, God has opened my eyes to the numerous times he commands us as Christians to care for the poor, widowed, and orphaned. I have come to understand that caring for others is intricately tied to Jesus' command to make disciples of all people groups. But caring for the poor, weak, and hungry can seem overwhelming. As Jesus himself said, we will always have the poor with us.

What we call "poor" here in America is a far cry from the poor around the world. The poor here may deserve our help, but only a small percentage are truly starving. That is not the case elsewhere. To be poor truly means to be living on the edge of one last meal before starvation.

So how do we help them? That is the question for which there is no easy answers. But Christianity Today has an excellent article that tries to tackle the deeper reasons for why famine and starvation seem to return often to Africa, in spite of all of our help and good intentions. I highly recommend you go to this link and read the article: "Famine Again?" http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/may/27.42.html

New Posts Coming Soon

With the birth of our first son, things have been a little busy for the last month. But new posts will be coming soon. Stay tuned and check back later.

He Is Risen!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

We have the most exciting message that has ever been shared in human history: Jesus is risen from the dead! He did not just resuscitate for a time and then die again (like Lazarus and others). He is alive and he will never die.

Paul captured this thought beautifully in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The resurrection is far more than one man who came back to life. It is about the God-Man who conquered sin and has provided eternal life—the ability to know and have a relationship with God (John 17:3).

The tragedy is that there are still people around the world who have not heard this Good News. The best estimate is that at least 1/3 of the world’s population—2 billion people—still are waiting to hear.

I am very excited about our prayer, care, and share emphasis here at New Covenant. But if it does not extend to those who have never heard, we have failed to obey Jesus’ command to make disciples of all people groups (the literal meaning of “nations” in Matthew 28:19).

We have exciting news. Let’s not keep it to ourselves. Consider using prayer, care, and share as a model for taking this news to the ends of the earth.

• Pray for those who have never heard. Pray that the Lord of the Harvest would raise up laborers to bring them the message of the Gospel.
• Care for those who have never heard by going to serve them or by giving to agencies and individuals who care for them.
• Share with those who have never heard by going as a missionary or by regularly financially supporting a missionary.

Let us make sure people in every tongue, tribe, and nation will one day say with us, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!”

Persecution at all time high in India

Here is part of a recent article from Mission Network News:

India (MNN) -- Hindu militants have threatened to set the homes of Christians on fire, while in another area of the country evangelists and missionaries were attacked. These are more examples of the increase in persecution against Christians in India.

Voice of the Martyrs' Todd Nettleton says nine years ago India was a peaceful place as it related to violence against Christians. "We thought of it as the world's largest functioning democracy -- a free country -- a place where Christians could worship freely. Last year, 2006, Voice of the Martyrs staff documented more than 200 significant incidents of persecution."

These were serious events where Christians were beaten or even killed because of their faith in Christ. Nettleton says this violence is significant. "That's four times a week, somewhere in India, a Christian is being persecuted for their faith. The persecution has just increased dramatically even in the last 18 months."

To read more, click here to go to the Mission Network News website.

Prisoner Alert

I have added two new links on the right.

The first is Prisoner Alert. Check it often to find out how you can pray and get involved on behalf of those persecuted for their faith in Christ.

The second is Christian Persecution Blog. As the name suggests, it is a blog about the persecuted church.

To Bless All Nations

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

"I will make you into a great nation

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you."
(Genesis 12:1-3 NIV)

Where do we first find the concept of “missions” in the Bible? I suspect that many would turn to the Great Commission in Matthew 28. They see missions as primarily (if not exclusively) a New Testament concept. The reality is God has had a plan for the nations from the very beginning.

Genesis 1 starts with God’s plan for mankind as a whole, but it is not long before sin enters the picture and attempts to destroy God’s plan. The next few chapters show the history of the human race, but then the focus narrows in on one person, Abram (later named Abraham).

Genesis 12 records God’s call and promise to Abram. It might appear to a casual reader that God played favorites and excluded the other nations when he chose Abram. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Look at the end of the promise in verse 3: God blesses Abram so that through him all of the nations can be blessed.

God’s plan for the nations was not put on hold during the Old Testament. On the contrary, it was actively at work in spite of the disobedience of the descendants of Abraham. The commission in Matthew 28 was not a sudden or new idea. Rather, it was the continuation and the expansion of a promise made 2,000 years before Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The question is not whether God has a plan for the nations throughout history. The question is whether you are willing to participate in his plan.

Transition

One of our missionary families recently announced that they will be making a significant transition. They will be moving from Japan to Kansas! If you want to learn more about the Hederstedt move back to the states, you can read their update at http://www.hederstedt.org/page7/page7.html.

The End of a Ministry

Some of you may have never heard of ACMC (Advancing Church Missions Commitment) and Caleb Project. But I have. ACMC in particular had some great materials and offered some outstanding conferences. I particularly enjoyed the conference I went to a few years ago. I returned to New Covenant full of fresh ideas and energy. I have had the opportunity to implement many of the things I learned.

A few months ago the two agencies merged and became known as Initiative 360 -- Take it Gloal. The hope was that together they would offer even more to the local church. Unfortunately, things didn't work out. As I write this, Initiative 360 is no more.

I am confident God has something new in store to help those of us who promote the idea of kingdom partnerships in local churches. There is hope that another agency will pick up some of what they have been doing. (Go to this link to read their press release: http://www.takeitglobal.org/) Whether that happens or not, I am grateful for the way ACMC helped me over the last 13 years of ministry.

A Goal, Not Just a Process

When Jesus gave us His mandate in Matthew 28:18-20 (commonly referred to as “The Great Commission”), He left us with a very specific task. This task was not just given to the “missions program” of the church or to a few who feel called to be a “missionary.” This task was given to all of us. Here is how one author has explained the mandate that Jesus gave to all of us who are followers of Jesus Christ:

“Disciple all the peoples.”

Jesus spoke as if they could see every single nation from the hill on which he stood. To disciple each one of the nations meant that there would be a once-for-all change among every one of the tribes, languages, and peoples.

In the syntax of His sentence, the Greek word translated “make disciples” required an object for the discipling action. The scope of that object (in this case “all the peoples”) would define the extent of the discipling action. The mandate should never be abbreviated as merely “make disciples,” as if Jesus simply wanted the process of disciple-making to happen. The expression must stand as a whole: “disciple all the peoples.” Jesus was setting out a super-goal. A discipling movement was in the destiny of every people on earth. He was given them the task of starting the movements.

Jesus did not emphasize the process of communicating the gospel. In fact, He said nothing about the gospel itself. They were not mandated merely to expose people to the gospel. They were commissioned to bring about a result, a response, a global following of Jesus from every people. It was a task to be accomplished. And it would be completed. No doubts crossed their minds about that. Jesus always finished everything He set out to do.

(Excerpt from Steven Hawthorne, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, Third Edition, page 110.)

(Map image from www.mapability.com)

An Upside-Down World

You may have noticed over the last few months a growing emphasis here on the least-reached people groups of the world. That emphasis is deliberate. Jesus’ mandate was very clear: We are to make disciples of all people groups.

It is important, though, to also see the bigger context of what is happening around the world. Christianity Today recently had an article entitled “An Upside-Down World.” Here is how it begins:

The map of global Christianity that our grandparents knew has been turned upside down. At the start of the 20^th century, only ten percent of the world’s Christians lived in the continents of the south and east. Ninety percent lived in North America and Europe, along with Australia and New Zealand. But at the start of the 21^st century, at least 70 percent of the world’s Christians lived in the non-Western world—more appropriately called the majority world.

This fact has a crucial implication: Missions is becoming multidirectional—again! This was true in the book of Acts, and is true today. We are not alone in sending out missionaries. India is now the second largest contributor of Protestant cross-cultural missionaries. (The United States is the largest). There are now more Korean missionaries than British.

With this shift, our role needs to change. We must not see ourselves in terms of “senders” and other countries as the “receivers.” That is why I like the term “kingdom partners”—because that is what we are! Whether it is in the Czech Republic or Uganda, Asia or Nebraska, we have the privilege to come alongside churches and individuals and partner with them in making disciples of all who have not heard the Gospel message.

God is at work in and through churches around the world. The need for us to partner with them is not less—it is greater than ever! So prayerfully consider what role you can play as a Kingdom Partner today.

(You can read the Christianity Today article by going to www.christianitytoday.com/40514.)

(Globe image from www.mapability.com)

Prayer Resources

If you are a Kingdom Partner, then you know that prayer is one of the most important ways that you can be actively involved in global disciple making. One of the best resources out there for praying for people all over this planet is Operation World. They have information on both countries and people groups. Go to their website for a daily prayer guide.

Another resource is 24-7 Prayer. This website uses the information from Operation World to give you a quick list of facts about various countries and prayer needs.

I encourage you to explore both websites. The links will be permanently listed on the left under the "Perspectives Links."

The Role of a Kingdom Partner

I believe every one of us can and should be a Kingdom Partner. But what does that mean?

Here at New Covenant, Pastor Bob preached a few weeks ago that our mission is to be a disciple making church. According to Matthew 28, this is not just limited to New Covenant or Cedar Rapids. It is a mandate to make disciples of all people groups. A Kingdom Partner is someone who is an active participant in making disciples of all people groups.

It is important that you realize that this is not the job of just a few. This is not something for just the 19 missionaries we support or our church equipping staff. Your involvement is not optional. Jesus’ command was to all of us.

Your specific role as a Kingdom Partner will depend on the gifts and abilities God has entrusted to you. Let me use an analogy. Jesus sometimes used a field ready for harvest as a metaphor for the work we must do (Matthew 9:35-38). We might be tempted to think solely of the one who goes out and brings in the harvest from the field. While this is true to a certain degree in our personal life, Paul expands the metaphor and helps us to see that in terms of the Kingdom, those who plant and those who water are equally important (1 Corinthians 3:5-9).

If you actively pray for those on your bookmark, you are a Kingdom Partner. If you financially support a missionary, you are a Kingdom Partner. If you invite someone to New Covenant who does not know Christ, you are a Kingdom Partner. If you regularly write or email a missionary, you are a Kingdom Partner. If you participate on a short term mission trip, you are a Kingdom Partner. If you give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name, you are a Kingdom Partner.

May God grant you the courage and the boldness to act boldly for the Kingdom this week.

Perspectives Links

I have added a new section to my blog. On the right you will find a "Perspectives Links" section. It will provide websites and resources concerning God's heart for the nations. I will add new links in the coming weeks as I learn about them.

Poland Team Safely Home!

There was a large crowd waiting for the Poland Team tonight, and they gave a huge welcome to the team!
They were all tired but they are safely home.
As far as I know, all of their luggage arrived safely. I am not sure because the crowd wouldn't let them leave to go get it!

Thanks for praying for the team. I will post any links with updates and reports from the team that I receive, so check this blog again in a few days!

Poland Team Return Info

The Poland Team returns Saturday, January 27. Help us welcome them home at the Eastern Iowa airport at 9:00 PM. For up-to-date arrival information, go to www.united.com, flight 7625. Continue to pray for their safety, health, financial needs, team unity, sense of God’s presence and power, and readjustment to life here at home.

Poland Update -- Thursday

It’s been a great trip! Thanks for all your prayers. We saw many, many spiritual breakthroughs on this trip and we can’t wait to get home to tell you all about them. We said the hard goodbyes this morning at 10 am as we left the camp. The 1 ½ hour ride was somber, but we’re full of gratitude. We’re back in Krakow now and had some time today for shopping and visiting the city castle. Tomorrow we’ll go to Auschwitz the German concentration camp here in Poland and tour the museum as well as say goodbye to several students who live nearby. Then we’ll debrief with Przemek and Julie and Danielle. Early Saturday morning (4:50 am) we’ll get to the airport and begin our long journey home! We ought to arrive at the Cedar Rapids airport Saturday night at 8:53 pm.

Our plan is to make a presentation with a photo show in Sr. High this Sunday morning at 9:20 (small group) and 6:30 (large group) for those interested!

I don’t know if we’ll get any more updates out or not, but plan on seeing us soon!

Mark

Poland Update -- Wednesday

Austin has posted more pictures including their first snow! See them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/56052885@N00/sets .

Poland Update -- Monday

Good morning! We have updates! May God go with the team this week! Also, new pictures have been posted at: http://poland.impactforjesus.org

Updates

Lexi: It’s going great, thanks for the prayers. I haven’t gotten sick yet so thank the Lord.

Kitty: I’m alive and having a lot of fun! Everyone here is awesome and I really love all of them! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!! We all really appreciate it!! See you all in 6 days!!

Garrett: Yeah, this may sound cheesy, but I’M ALIVE! Haha! Actually, I am alive in the sense that God has given and is giving me an amazing time here! Before I left for Poland, God asked me, “Are you ready for an adventure?” A couple of nights ago, God asked me, “How are you enjoying My adventure?” Of course, I have! Please pray for the three guys that I am rooming with: Victor (a saved but hurting Christian young man), Martin (a nonbeliever), and “Christopher”(another nonbeliever). Thanks for you prayer and support! I will try to send another update as soon as I can!

Amber: Thanks for all your prayers! God is working in this camp, both in our lives, and in the lives of the Polish students. We had a great day trip to Krynica yesterday. Everyone was exhausted when we got home, but it was fun! There have also been a couple of neat conversations with the Polish students that have been shared in staff meeting. Praise God!

PS - One thing I found interesting, is that our toilet paper at the camp is always changing! We started out with green toilet paper, and green water in the toilets. Then, it went to brown paper, and still green water. I don’t think the green water is going to change. :-) The paper has had the texture of paper towels from home, just a little softer. Yesterday, we had a new change! The toilet paper is blue, and it’s really soft! But not only that – it also is scented! Pretty fun. The paper towels that you dry your hands on are green, and they pretty much disintegrate as you try to use them. They also have a really bad smell, and it leaves your hands smelling like the paper towels. That’s all – just thought you might enjoy knowing some of the little details! :-)

David: Aloha! God’s been good and I have had a couple opportunities to talk to Tomek about his walk with Christ and was able to share some things about my life. It has been difficult to establish much of any relationship with any of the students. I would love if you’d pray that I’d be able to focus just on a few students and to be able to really connect with them and get into their lives. My cold is getting better slowly but surely. I’m pretty worn out and have been nauseated today and yesterday so prayer for strength and energy would be awesome. The time here is going by really fast, too fast for me. I’m loving it here. God’s awesome! Talk to you guys later, and thanks for all your prayers!

Anna: Almost the entire staff is in here working or postcarding. It’s been a good past couple days, I’ve absolutely loved every moment I’ve had here. Like Amber said, God is working in the camp, and our lives. I’m so excited to see what happens next. God is here and working may all be to and for Him. God bless you all and thank you for praying, I can’t tell you how much we appreciate it.

Austin: Everything has been great. God is definitely still doing great things. I am still alive for those of you praying for me. I really appreciate all the prayers and such. Well that’s all for today. God Bless….

Poland Team Update -- Sunday

As you may have heard, parts of Poland were hit with some pretty strong storms. (Click here for the news story.) The team is doing well. Here is an update:

Cindy (Mark's wife) talked to Mark at 10:30 a.m. Iowa time Saturday and the team is safe. They had high winds and power outages but he made no real mention of a big storm!

They had hoped to email today but the library they access the internet from closed early and is closed on Sunday. So... Lord willing, Monday we will get a nice big update! :>)

They truly covet your prayers. God is doing mighty things with this team!

Gina

Poland Update -- Thursday

Austin has posted more pictures! You can see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/56052885@N00/sets

Our Football

“This is a football.” What an important reminder Pastor Bob gave us last week. Our “football” is to be a disciple-making church (Matthew 28:19-20). It is “taking our Christ-given mission and participating in its accomplishment.”

Our current emphasis on prayer, care, and share has helped us to advance the football here in Iowa—as we should. But to stop here would be to fumble the ball. Jesus’ command was to make disciples of all the “nations”—literally all “people groups.” Put simply, a people group refers to a community who shares the same language, culture and geography. They are able to communicate without facing a major geographical, linguistic, or cultural barrier. If a refugee from Iraq who speaks only Arabic moved next door to you, you would face both a cultural and linguistic barrier in sharing the Gospel with him.

I believe our participation in accomplishing our mission is not done until there is a church within every people group on earth. If this is true, it has an impact on our strategy for missions at New Covenant. Let’s go back to a football analogy. While I lived in Dallas, I became a Cowboys fan. But for a number of years, they were not a good team. Yet during those bad years they seemed to always be able to beat the Washington Redskins. That victory was always sweet, but consistently winning against one team does not take you to the Super Bowl!

In a similar way, there are people groups that already have an established church. If we only send missionaries to those places, it would be like the Cowboys always playing the Redskins—it is a game that must be played, but it does not complete the whole football season. There are good reasons to send missionaries to people groups that have an established church. But we must also send missionaries to those who have never heard if we are to be obedient to Jesus’ command to make disciples of all people groups.

Poland Update -- Wednesday

Here is an update from Pastor Mark. He also sent updates from many on the team. The updates are too long to post, but if you send me an email, I will be glad to forward them to you.

Below you’ll find the daily schedule, refined from before. There are 23 Polish students, along with the 14 of us staff, so that makes for 37 altogether. Of those, many are new believers from last summer, so this may end up being as much of a discipleship camp as evangelism. There hasn’t been a youth discipleship camp in Krakow for about 18 months, so this is a huge need too. Most of those who made decisions for Christ at recent camps are baby Christians at best. We know of just a few of the boys who are totally new contacts and therefore it is likely they are unbelievers.

As you’ll see from the reports, things are starting to happen ministry-wise in our group. We’ve moved from the “unknown” to real ministry with real people. They are doing a fantastic job of connecting with the Polish students—I’m very proud of them. Even Lexi is finding a special niche as the Hybel’s have a 1-year old and Lexi keeps her occupied during staff meetings and at other times so her parents can be free to direct us.

We sure appreciate your communication with our prayer network. They are as much a part of our team as we are. Jet lag for most seems to be ending. People are still tired though if they stay up too late, which teens tend to do! Imagine that!

Some other things of interest to report: Amber and Lindsey were the vocalists for worship last night. The food is good here! Cailey’s testimony about trusting God for the little things went great. 9 came to my optional Bible study on the reliability of scripture, which is a good turnout. You’ll notice that all girls’ names end in the letter “a”. Their names all are chosen from a list of approved names by the Catholic Church.

Blessings to you on your side of the world!

Mark

Daily Camp Schedule.

8:00 Staff Meeting

9:00 Breakfast

9:45-10:45 Reading groups

10:45-2:00 Free Time

2:00 Lunch

2:45-4:45 English classes

5:00-6:00 Bible Study

6:00-7:00 Conversation groups

7:00 Supper

8:00-9:30 Evening activities

11:00 Quiet in halls

11:30 Getting ready for bed

12:00 Lights out/quiet

Poland Update -- Monday

Mark was able to access a computer at the library they were in. This is a first person account!

Mark: We’re off to a great start! The team is excited!

Garrett: God is good! We’ve made it to Poland! We saw God making our way smooth not just in the big ways but in the small ways too. Some of the things include Anna getting to sit next a kind, plane-smart man on her first flight, having a nice tailwind with little turbulence, and staying at a nice hostel. Krakow was incredible; it truly looked like something out of a movie or a story. Right now we are in Czchow waiting for a staff meeting to start. I am excited about what is going to happen today. Please pray as we begin to connect with the students here!

Cailey: So, I’ve been sitting with this laptop for the last fifteen minutes, trying to decide what to write. I want to share how God has been working in my heart since I left Cedar Rapids on Friday. For different reasons, leaving the airport in Cedar Rapids was very difficult for me. I felt alone,separated from friends and family, and as though I wasn’t wanted on the team. I was sure that God didn’t want me to go to Poland and that I felt as though I had no purpose. At Chicago OHare, things were especially difficult and God was really working in my heart, showing me that I had a purpose and there was a reason that I was going to Poland. I am especially thankful for Amber, who allowed God to work through her and came alongside of me and support me. Now that we are in Poland and getting prepared for the students who will be arriving later this afternoon, I am very excited and feel as though God has placed me here in Czchow, Poland with this team, for a reason. I am very excited to see God work through my teammates and me and in the students’ hearts. Please be praying for the students who will be attending, that we will be able to connect with and share with the students. Praying for you all at home!

Austin: I have no clue what to write or really what to say. So far things have really been pretty good and it has been great getting to sleep in and just get some rest before things started. The air plane ride was excellent, and I was able to sleep and just take some time out for that also. I cant wait to see what God will do once all the students get here and we get to start our classes. Thanks to all of you who have supported me, and I am praying for you all at home also! Have a good one… until next time…

Kitty: Greetings from POLAND!! Haha, so these past couple days have been a little bit hard on me for some odd reason because I’ve been more homesick than I thought I would have been! Since the campers just started coming today (the 15th) we’ve just been sitting around together and waiting for them to get here! Don’t get me wrong, its been a lot of fun getting to know everyone, especially Steve because he’s so funny and volunteers in Cabrini Green so he’s pretty much a gangster (Mere and Nicole, if you’re reading this watch out… I’m coming home a gangsta) and getting to know everyone has been a lot of fun! But last night was probably the hardest because I looked at my pictures and journaled before I went to bed which made me miss everyone so much more! Because of that, I couldn’t get to sleep but luckily my roomie (Lindsey) was also awake so we just talked until 3:15 a.m. and looked at the stars… which are AMAZING here!! Today during our team devotional, Mark told us how 6 weeks ago we had no idea that we were coming but God did! God had planned on all of us meeting here in Czchow before we even knew it, which reassured my being here! So thanks to God for answering one of my prayers! Well, I should probably be done now because I basically wrote a novel, but I could go on and on about how amazing this trip has been! Don’t worry, I’m going to be coming back with so many stories to tell all of you guys… and you all know me, I’m going to be coming home with about 2,000 pictures to show you guys!! I miss you guys soooo much and love you guys even more!!! Thanks for all the prayers and support!!! Oh, p.s. Christine—thanks so much for the everyday notes! They make my days so much easier!!

Anna: Hmm… finally got a chance to write and now I have nothing to say… I’m safe and well… I considered leaving it at that… I’ll expand for your guys’ sake. :) I can’t quite put into words how excited I am for camp to really get going. Though I miss all of you, I haven’t really felt homesick. I’ve become quite fond of the people I’m going to be working with and everyone I’ve met so far. I was lucky in that three of my Polish roommates were here last night, I can’t wait to get to know them better. I prayed for God to stretch me and grow me, and He’s already doing such. I don’t know exactly how, but I’m definitely feeling stretched and grown… Maybe it’s the jet lag, maybe it’s being in another country, whatever it is, I’m quite glad that He’s doing it, it’s giving me a desire to know Him better and follow Him closer. I could already talk for 3 hours about everything that has happened, but I need to keep this to a paragraph, so mom and dad, be prepared to set aside a day or two of listening to me. I love you all so much, thank you all for the support and prayers, I’m definitely feeling God’s hand in everything I do. See you in a couple weeks!!

Lexi: dear mom and Brenda, thank you for all of your prayers and support. I am having a great time here. Polish people are just starting to arrive. I am still healthy and happy. Love ya! Dear Jacts, thank you for all of your prayers. I am having a great time preparing too teach English. Gotta go now From Lexi.

For Lexi's class: Dear class, I am having a great time in Poland. I am preparing to teach English.I’ll talk to you later From:Lexi

Ąmber: I'm so thankful to be here! I just met 2 of my roomates, and i love them already. I met Basia and Justina. One more will arrive yet today. I'm nervous about meeting new people, and teaching, but I am so grateful that God chose to use me to come here. Please continue to pray for us. The spiritual warfare has been evident already on this trip. Thank you for all your support. As a few of us were eating breakfast this morning, we were realizing that your prayer and financial support is what has enabled us to be here, and what is making us effective. Thank you! Love you all!

Poland Team Pictures Available

Austin has posted some pictures from Poland. You can see them at the Poland Blog (click on the Poland Pictures link on the right) or go directly to his Flickr slides at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56052885@N00/