I watched a great TV Show last night...read all about it!

Last night I watched a PBS program called, "The American Experience: The Great Famine" ... The film is based on Stanford researcher Bertrand Patenaude'sThe Big Show in Bololand: The American Relief Expedition to Soviet Russia in the Famine of 1921.


It was a fascinating program depicting a bit of American history that I had never heard before.


The story begins in Russia following its devastating losses in World War 1 and also following the chaos and bloodshed of the Bolshevik Revolution and Civil War.  In the wake of an already difficult time Russia's rich farming regions East of Moscow suffered a severe drought. Famine ensued.  The new communist government apparently refused to seek international aid (which was really unknown of for the time anyway) but they did allow certain influential individuals to appeal for help and the writer Maxim Gorky made a strong case to the West for help, essentially saying that millions would die without help.


Gorky's plea caught the eye/ear/heart of someday-to-be President Herbert Hoover, then the Director of the newly formed American Relief Administration.  He began by using his budget and privately raised funds to feed upwards of 100,000 starving Russian children PER DAY!  Running the operation on the ground in Russia was US Colonel William Haskell...a WW1 Veteran who had overseen relief efforts in Belgium after the War.   On the ground, he could see that the famine was worse than imagined and they would need to provide food for adults as well as children.  Herbert Hoover fought a battle with Congress to gain an aid package worth $20 Million (1920) Dollars...that would be more than $200 Million in 2011 Dollars...twice what was initially offered by the US to Haiti after the earthquake.


(As a sidenote: I noticed in the film that the bags of corn were clearly marked, "Corn from America".  Last summer in Haiti some of our volunteers had problems that the supplies we were giving out were marked "US AID"...like we were taking advantage of the situation.  Maybe that's so...you can't escape politics but the practice of letting people know where the help is coming from goes back at least to the beginnings of US Government relief efforts following WW1- it's not a new thing!)


At the peak of the operation, the United States (along with several others efforts...but mostly it was a US- ARA effort)...fed more than 11 million people PER DAY in 19,000 kitchens!  PER DAY!  I said... PER DAY!


The PBS Program never said much about the motivations of the 300+ Americans that responded to the crises by living and working in Russia for 2+ years in incredibly severe conditions...that led to the death of several!  The program mentioned that "Hoovers' Boys" were adventurous.  That's for sure.  I suspect something more...maybe there's more about it in the book...but early 1920's might have seen the peak of the American Social Gospel movement- the application of theology to social justice issues.  A lot of modern, conservative, evangelical theologians today have some disdain for the Social Gospel Movement...and to be sure, at it's extreme- all "Social" and no "Gospel", it's empty...it's sharing a cup of cold water without sharing whose name your sharing it in!!  But in my way of thinking there is no Gospel without addressing Justice issues.  It's both addressing Justice and Making Disciples.  I digress.  What I wanted to say here is that I suspect many of the Americans that responded so heroically probably did so out of their Christian convictions.


A lot of people today have a problem with the money the US spends on humanitarian efforts around the globe.  I don't have a problem with it.  It's a minuscule amount compared to what is wasted by our government.  Herbert Hoover was credited with saving more lives than any single person that's ever lived!  That's worth more than anything I can think of that our government is spending money on!


You can read more about this episode of American History here:  http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/april/famine-040411.html

The PBS Episode "The American Experience: The Great Famine" is available on Netflix...I encourage you watch it and be proud of what we did there.

I guess I'm dreamin' of a White (family) Christmas

Today is September 19th.  Almost a year ago, in December 2010 I was accepted to serve in Ukraine with International Teams.  In my wild imagination I envisioned completing about 20 weeks of training and raising support in time to be in Ukraine by mid-summer.

After the initial phase of training in Elgin, IL in January and February, I revised my schedule in anticipation of going to Ukraine in August.

After attending the Support Raising Bootcamp in April I revised my schedule again with an eye toward landing in Ukraine in early October.

Ain't gonna happen!

I already have more supporters than I originally planned for.  That's a good thing.  The average gifts however are smaller than I thought they would be.  It's also been more difficult for me to get appointments and do follow-ups while working (support raising is a full-time gig and I don't have the time or money to do it that way).

SO.  I'm revising my schedule yet again.  I'm shooting for the first week of January- after January 7 which is Christmas in Ukraine.  This schedule will allow me to fully engage with my family and friends for the holidays so I'm excited about that.

I have a few friends who have been "early adopters" and have supported me since I made the assignment announcement back in December.  THANK YOU.  Money that is accumulating in my account will pay for my "start-up" expenses once I get there.  If you're planning to support and haven't begun yet, then please consider doing so.  Again, money that is accumulating will help with expenses and give me some "cushion".

Thanksgiving.  Christmas.  New Year.  Then I'll volunteer at the Passion Conference in Atlanta January 2-5 and fly from there a couple days later.  Lord willing.

Support Raising- Where am I? (and then a cool conclusion)

I don't want this blog to be about where I am in my Support Raising.  There's a cool story at the end.  Part of me wants to say, "I'm right where God wants me to be" because He's in control, right?  Part of me wants to say I am where I am because of the effort (and at times, lack thereof) that I've put in.  

Actually, I think it's both.  God is in control but there's work for me to do as well.

So I'll say a little something about "where I am" and then I'll get on to the real story.

According to I-Teams I'm only about 15% supported.  That's the monthly support I'm already receiving (as of last month).

According to commitments I've received from friends I'm a little over 40% supported (their bank drafts just haven't started coming through yet).  

I've had some really good visits in the last 5 weeks and I have about 10 "follow-ups" to make.  I know better than count my eggs before they hatch but I feel like most of those visits will yield monthly support worth maybe as much as 15-25% meaning I should have 60+% of my support as soon as I can follow-up on those visits.

But here's the cool story.

I received a $1000.00 one-time gift the other day.  

Now, that's only 1/60th of my total need (monthly support plus Start-up plus all my training/traveling expenses).  

And it's only 1/36th of my monthly support.  

It's 1/10th of my Start-up cost.

Hang on, I'm not to the cool part yet.

I've received some bigger gifts.  I've received some other $1000.00 gifts.

I've never received that big of a gift from a 16 year old though.  In fact, this kid is my youngest supporter at any level.  And I'm so incredibly humbled that a 16 year old would bless me that much.  

There are days when I doubt I'll ever get there; and then there are days like that.

I should be listening to Dental Stops and Fricatives

Time:  11:15 pm
When:  Sunday Night.  August 7.
What: In the middle of a two week long Introduction to Phonetics course.  About 3/4 through Lesson 10.

Motivation: Gone

Would rather watch a movie on Netflix.  Would rather eat.  Would rather sleep till noon tomorrow.

Went to church this morning at historic Moody Church in downtown Chicago.  Now that was cool.  The building is nearly 100 years old and it's beautiful.  What was even more beautiful was that it was packed with young families and while it wasn't as quite a diverse congregation as I expected, it was still much more ethnically diverse than most churches.

After cruising around the northside of Chicago after church and having lunch on the way home I crashed for a really long nap this evening (4 pm- 8 pm) and now I'm trying to get back into academic mode for tomorrow by finishing up homework.

This stuff is CRAZY!  It's hard to explain.  I guess it would be stranger to me if I hadn't already studied Russian, but suffice to say there are a lot more sounds that can be made than the ones we use in English.  And that's what we're doing these 2 weeks.  We're learning how to hear and make those sounds; some of which will show up in the various languages we will study on the mission field.

Therein lies part of the motivation problem.  I've studied enough Russian to know which of these sounds are present and which are not and therefore have little motivation to learn the ones which do not.  Make sense?

What I really want to do is see my Support Account increase by about 50% and then go to Ukraine in October as planned!

Let me tell you about something that fires me up

I was on the road again today.  I semi-scheduled a few visits (I'm raising support to go to Ukraine, right?) but they were all "lite" visits- more social and soft-sell and about nurturing relationships than about getting money.

I spent a few minutes with a Pastor-friend that I admire a lot.  Bro Hal was my Pastor in Amory for about 10 months back in the late 80's.  I've probably seen him one time since then and that was before 1997!  He's a great guy and we enjoyed our brief visit.  After all these years I really didn't want to hard-sell my support goals but I know he and his wife will prayerfully consider supporting me anyway.

After that I stopped by another nearby church where I know practically the whole staff.  Tommy, Mark, Nick and Rusty.  They are great guys, great friends (ok, I just met Rusty today but I've known Nick all his life and Tommy and Mark for several years!)  Again, no hard sell with them- just a social visit.  I appreciate their hearts and just wanted to connect with them for a few minutes.

I had lunch with another buddy that I worked with on a volunteer basis doing Campus Ministry back in my Gulfport days.  It was good to catch up with Kevin and good to hear his continued passion for youth ministry.

I had ice cream with a former youth- Heather-who just had all her wisdom teeth removed!  She was sporting some serious chipmunk cheeks!

I visited my old church and got to hear another of my former "youths" leading tonight's Bible study.  Will did a great job.

The highlight though was visiting with my friend Jamie.

Jamie was in maybe the 8th or 9th grade when I left Gulfport at the end of 2006.  She was fired-up about her relationship with Christ back then.  She still is today; even moreso.  Her passion is mature and focused.  Her heart is for the Nations.  She just got back to the States after living in Indonesia for the summer.  With very limited internet access and staying a whole 2 months- she was able to not only get out of America, but she was able to get America out of her.  We could all stand that kind of de-tox!

We talked.  And we kept talking.  And we walked to our cars and kept talking.  And it occurred to me as we were trying to say goodbye that I could talk to her and listen to her passion for the Nations all night long.  I LOVE spending that kind of time with someone.  I think I love it even more when it's a student.  It doesn't hurt that in a small way I can claim she's one of "mine" (Thank you Jesus for letting her be in my life and me in hers!).  That fires me up!

Waffle House and Walmart

Waffle House and Walmart!  Yep, that makes for a fine dining experience and good family entertainment!

I guess we're in the "dog days" of Summer.  I think both of my readers know that I'm living with and working with my best friend from college (when I'm not traipsing around the country looking for mission supporters!).  My buddy Stik- he's an engineer and surveyor.  Mostly, we Survey.  And that can be a HOT job during a Mississippi Summer.  So basically, we do as little as possible during this annual global warming tribute to Al Gore.

Actually, I've been able to increase the frequency of my Support Raising meetings now that we're not committed to a survey job everyday.  That's been a good thing for me.

There are days when I'm very anxious about securing 100% of my support but then there are days when God is just too good!  In my mind, I can't help but imagine how much Support person X or Y will give me as a meeting approaches.  Time and again I've been surprised.  I'm surprised that some of my greatest givers are former students just now beginning their careers.  How humbling is that?  I'm surprised about once a month here lately when someone that I had "written off" weeks ago contacts me to begin their giving.  Every time someone says "yes", it's affirmation to me that God has called me to Ukraine for such a time as this and where He called, He'll provide.  I wonder if my Supporters understand how their giving affirms me?

I'm starting to feel a little behind the 8-Ball for an early October departure but that's the goal.

I've got a lot of catching-up to do here on the Blog- I've spent a week at StudentLife Camp with the Zion Hill Youth, I've spoken in a couple churches, and I'm headed back to Chicago next week to continue training with I-Teams.  Be on the lookout for more news soon!

Ponderings and a Prayer Request

It's midnight.  I'm mellow tonight.  It's a combination of today's happenings and the music I'm listening to right now.

Today was Arrival Day for Super Summer Staff.  I was in the Jackson area so I basically just crashed the party and hung-out during Registration, Dinner and the opening worship event for staff.  I've been a part of Super Summer since 1992 or 93.  I missed the year Kim had her Double Lung Transplant (98) and again in 07 (World Race), 09 (Ukraine), and 10 (Haiti).  And this year I'll be at StudentLife in Daytona Beach.

Super Summer is the best camp I was ever a part of.  Why?  The Leadership is pretty much all Mississippi Youth Ministers.  Guys and girls that are in the trenches everyday working with teenagers.  They serve the kids at Super Summer like they are their own kids...which of course, they are.  The second element is the students themselves.  They are just always top-notch.  The last element is the small group leaders.  Many of them (most of them) grew up going to Super Summer.  Most of them are in college and most of them are simply outstanding young people.  I guess I could mention that the worship leaders and speakers are consistently amazing.

So tonight I got to hang out with youth ministers I've known and worked with since the late 80's!  I saw kids that were once in my youth group who are small group leaders.  I saw Executive Staffers that I knew when they were students at Super Summer.  They are all world class.

After my visit with them I stopped by the hospital to see some friends who are keeping vigil over a loved one in ICU.  I performed the wedding for Amy and Stevie back in 08 and now Stevie's 30 year old brother is fighting for his life with a broken neck and no feeling in his arms and legs after a diving accident on July 4.  To say I'm in a sober mood right now would be an understatement.  If you've never had a loved one in an ICU, in critical condition with tubes and wires and monitors and only able to step into the room for a few minutes every several hours....well, I rather hope you don't have to do that.  Ever.  I hurt for them.

I'd love for you to join me in prayer for all of them.  For Brian, that God would perform a miracle.  He's to be thanked for Brian receiving the great care he's receiving...but he needs more than that.  I pray for him to regain full function and live the rest of his life as a living testimony of God's greatness and goodness and power.  I pray for the family that's waiting.  For peace and comfort that's out of this world, for employers and friends and co-workers and teachers who are patient and graceful towards the family who, despite the fact that life goes on and there are obligations to be met, really have more consuming thoughts right now than work, class, cutting the grass and all that stuff.  I pray for friends to rally around the family and just be there.  No words are necessary really.