Where I'm At!

A little less than 2 months ago I wrote a blog about where I am in terms of Support Raising and I ended with a cool story about how a STUDENT...a HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT joined my team with a gift of $1000.00!

I wrote that I was only receiving about 15% of my monthly support but that I had nearly 40% "pledged".

Where am I now?  I'm receiving about 50% of monthly support and I have about 80% pledged.  God is Good!

That means I need three things to happen before the end of the year (preferably before the end of November!).

• I need to raise 20% of my monthly support (which is only $600).  
• I need for all my "pledges" to get started by December (if you're giving through a Bank Transfer, you have to start the transfer 30 days before the date of the intended transaction...that is, if you're giving a monthly transaction that begins November 15th, then you must submit the form before the 15th of THIS month in order for it to take effect otherwise it will be December before it takes effect!)
• I need one-time gifts.  My Start-up Account is separate from my Monthly Support Account and I still need nearly $5000 in that account.

Now here's another cool story.  I was in a wedding a few weeks ago.  I didn't really know anyone in that part of the State except the couple and some of their immediate family.  But in the course of meeting some new people that weekend I've already received a $250 gift and I have a pledge for more than $1000 more. 

God is good; better than I deserve...meeting my needs beyond what I can even ask for!

Celebration of Discipline

I enjoy reading.  I read several kinds of books.  I like history, I like fiction, I like "Christian Help" kind of books.

But sometimes it's just hard to get through a book.  That was often the case when I was in Seminary.  I spent the better part of three years being told by someone else what to read.  The first thing I bought after graduation was a big, fat fantasy novel with dragons and elves and magic!

Celebration of Disciple is an assigned read.  It's part of my preparation for going overseas with International Teams.  It's the kind of book that I should be able to devour in a day and spit out the book review in under an hour!

That hasn't been the case.  I've had a terrible time getting "into it".  I've been chipping away at it for a couple months and I'm still not finished with it.

But something blogworthy (in my opinion) happened today.  I read the chapter on "Confession".  And as I was beginning the chapter on "Confession", I have to "confess" that I didn't think I'd like it too much.

I was wrong.  I wish I would have read it three years ago.  (In fact, I'm not sure how I escaped reading this book at some point in the past anyway.   It may have been one of those books I sleepwalked through when I was in Seminary!)

Here are some excerpts from the chapter on Confession through which the Lord really spoke to me this afternoon:

"The followers of Jesus Christ have been given the authority to receive the confession of sin and to forgive it in his name (Jn 20:33).... Why do we shy away from such a life-giving ministry?  If we, not out of merit but sheer grace, have been given the authority to set others free, how dare we withhold this great gift!"


Counsel in the Giving of a Confession


"A generalized confession may save us from humiliation and shame, but it will not ignite inner healing."


"Then there is the practical matter of to whom we should go to confess.  It is quite correct theologically to say that every Christian believer can receive the confession of another, but not every Christian believer will have sufficient empathy and understanding.  Though it is unfortunate, it is a fact of life that some people seem unable to keep a confidence."


Counsel in the Receiving of a Confession


"We begin by learning to live under the Cross.  Bonhoeffer writes, "Anybody who lives beneath the Cross and who has discerned in the Cross of Jesus the utter wickedness of all men and of his own heart will find there is no sin that can ever be alien to him.  Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus to the Cross will no longer be horrified by even the rankest sins of a brother."  This is the one thing that will save us from ever being offended in the confession of another.  It forever delivers us from conveying any attitude of superiority.  We know the deceptiveness of the human heart, and we know the grace and mercy of God's acceptance.  Once we see the awfulness of sin we know that, regardless of what others have done, we ourselves are the chief of sinners.  Therefore, there is nothing that anyone can say that will disturb us.  Nothing.  By living under the cross we can hear the worst possible things from the best possible people without so much as batting an eyelash."


That chapter alone was worth the price of admission!

It reminds me why I think something like "Celebrate Recovery" ought to replace every Adult Sunday School Class in every Baptist Church.  And it reminds me why I like Derek Webb's "House Show" CD (where he preaches a LOT about being real and transparent).  You can't live in the "light" unless you can put your crap on the table.  It's a better way to live, folks...if you can find a safe place (and safe people) in which to practice this particular discipline.

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!