Holiday Prayers...

We are praying God will provide 100% of our financial budget so we can begin ministry in Lyon, France by the summer of 2012. Please join with us in prayer that each financial partner that God is speaking to will take action now to reach Lyon with the Gospel of Christ!

Being ReachGlobal missionary candidates, God has placed us in an organization that loves to effectively prepare their staff to serve in cross-cultural settings. Our final training session before departing for the field is 3-pronged - two online courses (each 6 weeks long) followed by one onsite, 8-day training session in Minneapolis.  The training in MN is only offered two times per year - April & October.  We are aiming to attend in April 2012.  The online courses that prepare us for the April course begin in January 2012 (only 3+ months from now).  We need to have 50% of our financial needs committed by the end of December to be able to begin these courses.  We will then need to be at 75% by April to be able to attend the final onsite training session in Minneapolis.  Otherwise, our departure date will need to be moved out further to the end of 2012.

We would ask that you join us in specifically praying what we'd like to call "holiday" prayers...

• Pray that 57 new financial supporters will make commitments and begin giving by this Christmas 2011!
• Pray too that an additional 34 new financial supporters will make commitments by Easter 2012!
• And, pray that the final 33 supporters will join the team by Memorial Day 2012!

God is at work all around us! He is working in...
...the lives of so many in France who we will one day we will meet, interact with and share His love
...our lives, preparing us for life & ministry in France
...others' lives, preparing them to join the Lyon Team as prayer partners & financial partners


Is He working in your life? What is He asking you to do?

Crooked Fences...

On our way to work every morning we pass a curiously-installed fence.  You have to have things in life that just make you kind of giggle, and this fence does it for me.  I’ve not had any training in how to install fences, and so my ability to do so, no matter how good of a heart I have, would, I’m afraid, result in something that looks pretty similar, or even worse.  I’m thinking that nobody told the person who put the posts in that they probably should have done some good planning and gathered the appropriate tools before they began the job.  A simple internet search might have provided some training on effective use of a mason’s line to make sure the posts were all at the same level.  But then, it wouldn’t be any fun to drive by each morning.

Crooked fences aside, we have been so very impressed with the commitment of ReachGlobal, our sending agency, to properly train its staff.  They’re not training us to build fences, but rather to effectively navigate the ins and outs of missionary work and life.  With over four hundred missionary staff serving in more than thirty nations, there are many who come to ReachGlobal like us, who have little formal theological, missiological or cross-cultural education.  Our life-long ministry work suits the needs well for where we will serve, but we do lack other appropriate training for the work that is ahead of us. 

One of the guiding principles of ReachGlobal is that it is a ‘learning organization’.  Toward that end, they have created a virtual warehouse of resources that provides a go-to place for staff to find relevant and quality information that helps to facilitate training on a variety of subjects that will provide the means to not build ‘crooked fences’.

We had the opportunity to already take one of the online courses, Intentional Living, and really appreciated the tools and skills that we learned in order to be more effective in how we live our everyday lives.  It was a five week learning module that “teaches missionaries and those in ministry essential skills of self-management and strategic planning from a Christian perspective by highlighting four themes:  Guard Your Heart, Minister From Your Strengths, Figure Out Your Big Rocks, and Connect the Compass to the Clock”. 

Once we reach a certain percentage of committed monthly support and get within about six months of leaving for our ministry assignment in France, we will be enrolled in two sequential online classes called “Pre-field Training”, followed by an eight-day live event at the headquarters in Minnesota.   This training deals with tools for successful life and ministry in another culture, including segments on spiritual warfare, healthy team dynamics, effective communications, addressing poverty, the balance between compassion and proclamation ministries, evangelism, being coached, crisis management, discipleship, introductory missiology, and culture shock.  We appreciate the fact that ReachGlobal believes that missionary families are most successful and will be able to stay longer on the field if the entire family is adequately prepared.  Because of this, all our kids will join us for the portion of that training in MN.

We are flying to Minneapolis tonight to attend a weekend for missionary candidates designed to help in the process of raising both prayer and financial support.  We are excited about the great information and tools we will receive from this time with Dave Sherman from Stewardship Ambassadors.  We’ve been told that "Dave's philosophy on doing Ministry Partner Development is more about challenging others to be kingdom minded and to pray about how God might have them be good stewards, rather than doing ‘an ask’ for an amount of money or for financial support.  As the name of the organization says, it is about stewardship, not about raising financial support.”

We’re grateful that ReachGlobal takes seriously the need to train their staff properly.  We’re excited for what this weekend holds and for the ministry that will be enabled because of it. 

You can read more about some of ReachGlobal’s philosophy on being a Learning Organization, and a great paper on how they are all about Enhancing Missionary Training ThroughTechnology by clicking on the hyperlinks.

If You Come to the Party, I'll wave a Flag

I remember waiting on the front porch of our home on Linwood Avenue on July 4th one year while growing up in California. This was going to be special! Our family friends were coming over for the afternoon and evening to swim, eat and 'do' fireworks. My middle brother, Marc most-likely provided the fireworks for his little brother (he was always doing nice things like that for me), and no-doubt mom had been working hard getting the food ready. I can't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure it would have been her amazing chicken for the BBQ, or her even more amazing shish kabobs. There's good reason to suspect that we would have already worked hard cranking the vanilla ice cream, and it would have been hidden in the chest freezer (with the squeekly lid--that darn parental-alerting-lid that would announce when we were stealing quick pre-dessert time tastes). Everything was ready. The house was clean, (yes, my room too), and Dad would have made sure that the pool was spotless, the breezeway was swept, and the 'cool deck' around the pool was washed down. Everything was perfect. Yep. And so, there I sat. Waiting. Waving my little American flag. Hoping they'd come soon, so that when they came in the driveway I could mark the perfect beginning to the perfect party for the perfect Independance Day.

I'm like that, you know. I really do like things to be perfect. And so I waited for a perfect two hours. Burned in my memory. It might as well have been 2 years. Two hours is a long time to wait when you're trying to make sure that you're ready to wave the flag, just right when they drive in the driveway. But arrive, they did, and I think I did wave the flag. At this point I can't remember, and I suppose that's the point--so much of my life I live in this realm of "wouldn't it be perfect if?", and it never is. I'm learning to live with the reality more than the perfect these days. 45 years later, I'm getting pretty good at it. I’m learning how to trade my perfect for His perfect.

In the days following our acceptance with ReachGlobal, we were told that God would teach us so much during this time of support team building.  They spoke the truth. We do seem to be in the fast lane of all that God wants to do in our hearts and minds as we journey toward Lyon, France. Some of it is amazing. Some of it is painful. Some of it is humbling. Some of it is I'll-never-go-back-life-changing.

I suppose one of the hardest things so far is coming to the realization that the journey won't be ‘perfect’ by any stretch of the imagination. And so we've had to put away our 'wouldn't it be perfect if we were able to raise the support needed in a very short time and make it all fit in our neat little world?' tendency and come to grips with the actual reality that we are now looking at being here for another 12 months.

Although we would love to packing, sorting and doing all the steps needed to move to another country, we are not yet near that part of our journey. ReachGlobal has lots of great training requirements for each family unit heading to the field. We’re not able to attend some of these training events until we have a certain percentage of our support raised. One of these crucial sessions is meant to help prepare us for the cross-cultural changes we’ll face on the field and are best attended as close to departure to the field as possible. There are 12+ weeks of online sessions that lead up to this 10-day live session, which is only offered two times a year. Due to the current level of our support, we will not be able to attend the live session until next April 2012. With this in mind, we’ve decided the kids should stay and complete the school year.

It’s hard for us to live in two worlds – continuing our jobs & schooling here while preparing our hearts & minds for serving in France. At the same time, we’ll just trust in HIS perfect plan:  Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans. (Prov. 16:3)  To choose His way over my way reminds me of a song that we used in a Christmas production a few years ago

"If I had my way about it..." 
If I had my way about it I'd dance in grassy fields and fragrant meadows.
I would rise up in the morning to hear the robin's lovely melody.
I would live in the wide spaces far away from hurting places
I would bear a cross that asks much less of me.
I'd never sail in troubled winds or on the raging seas
If only You had left it up to me.
But if I'd had my way I might be wading through the rivers
When You wanted me to walk upon the seas.
And if I'd had my say with all of my wants and whims and wishes
You know how weak, how shallow I would be.
If only You had left it up to me.
And if I'd had my way about it I would only know Your majesty and glory.
I would pass my cup of sorrow to someone far more willing to receive.
I would pen the grandest phrases, I would sing such lofty praises
I would sail above my own humanity..
The wounded would never die and hearts would never bleed...
If only You had left it up to me.
But if I had my way I might be wading through the rivers
When You wanted me to walk upon the seas.
And if I had my say, with all my wants and whims and wishes
You know how weak, how shallow I would be...
I trust Your wisdom over mine because You've proven over time
That in my narrow way of seeing things I leave the best behind sometimes...
I might not have stayed close to You, Lord
If I'd had my way.
http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0050410&

I'm trying to give up my way for His way.  It seems to be better.