Category: From the Blog

Monday morning I got really angry , I’m talking furiously angry.  The sad part is this came one day after preaching a message from James 1:19-21 on responding to frustrating situations with meekness instead of anger.

So what was it that made me get so worked up less than 24 hours after preaching against anger?  The split screen on my laptop wasn’t working properly while doing sermon prep.

Basically this meant instead of copying and pasting with shortcuts on my keyboard I was forced to (gasp) actually copy and paste using an actual mouse, and click on each application!  The bottom line this added maybe ten-minutes to my sermon prep time which obviously was absolutely unacceptable, so I spent a half-hour trying the fix the problem (and failing).

 The Lord is using this and other experiences to remind me that he fastest way isn’t always necessarily the best

Jimmy Needham wrote a great article on this subject last Thursday called “Learning to Linger in a Spotify World.”  In it he pointed out we as a culture have forgotten what it means to focus on things for an extended period of time (waiting, studying them, and truly listening to what they have to say).  A big part of this is the explosive growth of streaming services

Our age, though, is one of short-form content. We live in a world of bits and bytes, snippets and sermonettes, scores of one-liners—140 characters or less if you please. In the early 2000s, as the capacity for greater bandwidth grew, a new era of audio and video streaming services was born. The internet exploded with on-demand songs and shows. Today, streaming music services are even closing in on iTunes for the lion’s share of the market.

Of course this kind of convenience makes life a lot more comfortable, but it keeps us from lingering or thinking deeply about subjects

It’s natural for us consumers to assume that convenience is progress. Isn’t being more streamlined a good thing? Isn’t it nice to have millions of songs at our fingertips whenever and wherever we want? Perhaps. But at what expense? If easy, cheap access to art causes us to forget how to pause and reflect, ponder and savor, then maybe we’ve gained less than we’ve lost

The thing that hit me most in Jimmy Needam’s article is the belief that convenience or speed is always better than doing a job slowly.  He points out the fallacy of this belief very well.

The best things in life don’t come in an instant but over time, which means we must cultivate the ability to wait, listen, and linger.

In other words we should embrace the habit of doing jobs slowly; evaluating every detail, reflecting on lessons learned, and how we can do better in the future.  This is especially true with things like sermon preparation, or Bible study

Mr. Needam’s article helped me do my sermon prep this morning in the slowest way possible as I lingered over the passage…and I can’t help but think God was Glorified

Friday night a Church member came by and asked if he could sleep at the house since he and another member were going spearfishing at 6:00 in the morning.  I told him that was fine, but when he asked if I wanted to go I just laughed.  Partly because that would be mean getting up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning but more because I didn’t want to humiliate myself

You see I don’t get to spend a lot of time in the water (only if someone has a pool) and these men on the other hand have been on the ocean pretty much all their lives.  So what would be second nature for them in my case would be an opportunity to embarrass myself in spectacular fashion.  But when my friend came to spend the night and encouraged me to join them I ended up agreeing.

When going on a spearfishing trip with those men there were only three responsibilities

1. Row the boat
2. Skin and gut the fish
3. Clean the boat down afterwards
4. The actual spearfishing was carried out by a Church member who had done it since he was ten years old, so I was part of the “boat crew” that picked up the fish and skinned them.

It didn’t take long for my utter lack of experience on the ocean reveal itself

As I rowed with all my might in order to make the boat go five inches

While I attempted to skin a fish somehow managed to cut it in half

And while I didn’t get any fish, did catch a nasty sunburn

Whenever one of them asked if I wanted to do something I responded in the same way.  Saying the word “okay” in a voice that shared no confidence whatsoever, and a look of pure terror in my eyes, but of course that didn’t keep me from having lots of fun 🙂

While these kinds of experiences can be tough, they are also absolutely necessary because they allow people to see that we are human, and can deal with embarrassment in a mature way.

The thing is if the Church members only see me doing things that I’m really good at (preaching, teaching, working with children) and never something that I don’t do very well it can give them the idea that I’m good at everything…or even more dangerous that could mean I refuse to let them see me show weakness

However a willingness to embrace weakness reveals Godly character

1. Not being afraid to laugh at myself
2. A willingness to ask for help
3. A determination to try again even though last time it didn’t do very well
4. And confessing that another person knows how to do something better than me

Deeper than that I’m thankful for the spearfishing trip because the Lord’s using things like that to help me attempt things that are scary or out of my areas of strength.  Often the Lord calls us to do things that fit in with strengths or abilities, but sometimes to test our faith He calls us to go spearfishing.

In those moments we should respond with a very weak “okay” instead of waiting for the fear to go away.

Just don’t be afraid to laugh if you fail

As I was walking to the house yesterday a little boy  came hurrying up to greet me.  We walked for a while talking and as I got to the house he informed me that the missionaries wife who I’m filling for along with her husband made food for  him every time he came by.

This isn’t abnormal since a number of children have already come by ringing the doorbell and asking me for food since the missionaries wife always cooked things for them.

I’m actually not questioning their honesty about being fed  since she was well-known for being a very good cook.  It was after asking what she made them that the truth seemed to be stretched a bit.

When I asked Church members they said  she would make things like cookies or pancakes with the  occasional sandwich.  My new friend yesterday confidently told me  she made him roasted chicken and salad 🙂
Now this dear women may  have  actually prepared roasted chicken and salad for that little boy…but I’m pretty sure the line of children demanding tier roasted chicken would be a mile long if she did it often.

Though a little disappointed about not getting roasted chicken the boy was happy to come inside (I don’t do this often but he was able to prove he had been visiting the Church regularly) and take two-dollars for cookies (I’m not heartless after all).  He sat down on the couch while I sat in a chair and asked what he enjoyed about Church.  After a  few minutes of talking he got very quiet…

Is that your  tablet?  He asked motioning to my iPad on the kitchen table with wide eyes

I nodded yes and handed it to him  with a few ground rules

1. No using the internet
2. He can only play with it for five minutes
3. And it was done with me nearby…prepared to  tackle him if he made a break for it 🙂

After he was  done we went  through some “negotiations” and decided on Monday he would come to the missionary’s house after school where I  would supply him with cookies (perhaps pancakes) and thirty minutes with my iPad.

It’s kind of funny but I’ve been praying that the Lord would provide something that would bring the children of Barrouaille to my front porch so I could share the Gospel with them.  Cooking was the Missionaries wifes way of doing it, but my “baking skills” leave a lot to be desired.  It’s possible that something like a tablet can be what God has provided to connect with the children of Barrouaille.

I’m not quite ready to have children ringing my bell all day asking to play with my tablet Editors note:  the boy coming Monday was given clear instructions that ONLY HE can come to play with the iPad.  If there is more than one child, the door stays closed   However if loaning my iPad out for ten minutes is  what it takes for them to hear the  Gospel…then that’s what I will do.

  
Coming back to the island is an incredible blessing because I have a much better idea about what the Lord would have me do here as I wrote yesterday, but at the same time I need to step from “learning the culture” to ministry within it for the Gospel of Christ.

Thankfully the Lord has given me lots of work do as Pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Barrouaille while their pastor is in the States. I’m incredibly grateful for ministry opportunities that include sermon preparation, preaching, discipleship, visitation, and transporting people to services.

The truth is Tabernacles ministry keeps me busy from 7:00 till about 4:00 every day with the occassional nap 🙂 and I meet with Church members three or four nights a week. As awesome as that is though my heart knows in order to truly reach Barrouaille time every day must be spent reaching the unsaved of my town

And that’s where things get hard

See most of my experience is in helping out with ministries that have already been established (like Tabernacle) or working with a Missionary team. At this point there aren’t any clearly defined outreach ministries in Barrouaille for Tabernacle, the reason for this is evangelism on the island is based on relationships. That’s a great thing, but can be hard when you don’t have deeply connected relationships.

Because of this yesterday I started setting aside an hour or two each day to connect with the unsaved of Barrouaille. But that’s still being done very differently than in the States.

In the US finding a way to connect with lost people is easy

1.  Volunteer in schools or other area
2. Get involved with different community groups
3. Become part of an already established outreach ministry with your Church, or Bible study

These kind of things aren’t prominent in a place like Barrouaille so instead of googling for “volunteer opportunities” I take a prayer walk in the rain.
My prayer walk involves things like

1. Making eye contact and saying good afternoon, or good morning
2. Lots of smiling
3. Praying for the people of Barrouaille
4. Reminding myself to slow down (I tend to walk too fast)
5. And ocassionally get caught in a rain storm

Now in a moment of honesty I would say smiling and greeting people doesn’t seem as important as doing something physical (like english tutoring for instance). And the truth is those prayer walks right now probably AREN’T as powerful as ministry in the culture.

But thats okay because I don’t go on prayer walks because of what they accomplish today anyways…I go on prayer walks for what they will accomplish in the future.

Because that smile and greeting will eventually turn into a “how are you today?”

And a short conversation that allows me to share the Gospel

And over time longer discussions about Christ

It’s tempting to start looking for the larger opportunities instead of going for a prayer walk in the morning or afternoon. But in the long run God will accomplish more with one prayer walk than all the english lessons in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I got the email from a Missionary in St Vincent telling me there was an opportunity for ministry there in early August I became very excited.  After a phone call with him and an hour on Skype with the Missionary who I would be filing in for that excitement was at a fever pitch.  In that moment my plan was to fly there, and throw myself into the work right away.

Instead of going along with that the Missionary and trusted friends encouraged me to take a two-week trip to St. Vincent, and then return for a longer ministry if God opened the door

To be perfectly honest part of me wasn’t too crazy about that idea.  After all a huge spiritual impact usually can’t be made in that short of a time, and taking two trips instead of one seemed like a waste of money as well as time.

It didn’t take long to realize just how wrong I was.

The truth is these short visits (commonly called survey trips) aren’t meant to make an impact upon a culture for the Gospel of Christ (though the Lord does use them in that way sometimes).  Instead they allow Missionaries to live in and understand the culture.

Now at first “understanding the culture” may not seem as important as evangelism or teaching.  But personal experience has taught me you can avoid many headaches in ministry by understanding how ministry is done best in that culture (of course the Gospel never changes, but people are reached in a different way in St Vincent than America).

A greater blessing of these trips however aren’t in understanding the Gospel, but knowing what NOT to do there.

For instance here are a few lessons I learned during my two weeks on the island

1. Always carry cash because nobody takes debit cards
2. When meeting someone in the cities main public transportation terminal under no circumstances leave the terminal
3. People will think your weird if you walk too fast
4. The majority of the day should be spent on your front porch (it’s cooler there)
5. It’s acceptable to preach for about an hour since people walk to the service

These and many other lessons have helped me approach the island with confidence this time instead of confusion…and a better understanding of how the Lord can use me there.

Best of all taking the time to understand a culture (taking two-weeks for a survey trip followed by about ten days in the States) makes you feel comfortable with that culture.

Last night about 6:00 I stepped of a plane in St. Vincent and was immediately met with sights, sounds, and even smells that were incredibly familiar to me.

And as crazy as it may seem, the island felt like home.

Because I had walked those roads

And listened to those crickets

And smelled that smoke from nearby cooking fires before

This morning I sat on the same front porch where I sat the evening of August 13th for the first time looking at a town that was absolutely foreign to me.  But this time I saw a town and people who had become familiar.

Do I know everything about the town of Barrouaille?  Of course not!  But I can tell you taking the time to experience and understand the culture for two weeks has given me a vision for the people I never had before

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