Radical Stewardship

As we have just entered into another Christmas shopping season and just survived another "Black Friday" I have been thinking a lot about material possessions lately. I must admit that this focus on thinking about material things actually started not just last week but about a month ago. Mars Hill Church which we now attend (Bellevue Campus) began it's "Generous Campaign" and made available (for no material gain) the book "Money: God or Gift" by pastor Jamie Munson. About the same time I picked up the book "Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream" by David Platt. These together stimulated me to further reading and studying particularly the Bible's teaching on material possessions.

I want to share with you a sampling of quotes and thoughts from my reading which together I hope will give you an understanding of where I think scripture leads us and hopefully also cause us all to think more intentionally about how we handle material possessions this Christmas and beyond.

"Materialism is the single biggest competitor with authentic Christianity for the hearts and souls of millions... today, including many in the... church" (Craig Bloomberg in "Neither Poverty nor Riches" pg 132)

Steawardship of material possessions is according to Jesus' teaching "the most important test-case of one's profession of discipleship". (Craig Bloomber in "Neither Poverty nor Risches" pg 126-7)

Scripture shows that: "1. God hears, feed, satisfies, rescues, defends, raises up and secures justice for the poor who trust Him*; 2. God's response to those who neglect the poor is condemnation (Luke 16)" (David Platt in "Radical" pg 114)
*Job 34:28, Psalm 68:10, Psalm 22:26, Psalm 35:10, Psalm 82:3, 1Sam 2:8, Psalm 113:7, Psalm 140:12

Jamie Munson discusses 4 types of stewards:
1. Righteous rich stewards
2. Unrighteous rich stewards
3. Righteous poor stewards
4. Unrighteous poor stewards
"The money itself is merely a prop on the stage of God's story, used or pursued for good or for ill, depending on the intentions of the steward's heart." (Jamie Munson in "Money: God or Gift" pg 26-7)

"rich people who neglect the poor are not the people of God" (Platt pg 115)

"the battle against materialism is a war" (Platt pg 136)

"Is materialism a blind spot in the American Church today? ... is materialism a blind spot in your Christianity today?" (Platt pg 111)

Am I ready to be the radical (righteous) steward God wants me to be of my material possessions? Are you? Are we as the Church? Especially during this Christmas season?

Blessed Relationships

Robin and I have just returned to the US after 3 weeks in South Africa. We were incredibly blessed by the time there which absolutely flew by. Unfortunately due to some struggles with internet access I was not able to post a real-time update on our trip the final 2 weeks. So I want to give a brief synopsis of some of the highlights of the rest of our trip that included.

• Sweet reunions with our home cell group from Norwegian Church and so many other friends in South Africa
• The miracle of finding a new flat in town at the right price for Debbie, Rachel and Nunus; seeing their joy in having a better and more secure place to live
• The Ugu AIDS Alliance meeting during which Two Tunics and the other members shared their programs and mapped out who's working where in the Ugu District
• Our visits with Doug and Suzy Hufton to Moi at Sinekhono Project and Cornelia at Jesus Christ Cares Ministry
• Our precious time with Sharon Jones, our dear friend and manager of the Genesis Care Centre on her return from England on the day of our departure
• And most especially 12 September 2010, the day Rachel and Nunus (our "adopted" nieces) prayed to invite Jesus into their lives as Savior and Lord as we shared the gospel with them

The event of this last bullet will certainly be the most enduring memory of our trip and the one with a certain eternal impact. The amazing growth we have seen in the girls over these last 4+ years has been incredible to be a part of. (We also celebrated Nunus' 8th birthday during the trip.) The seeds planted through the commitment to get them weekly to the Norwegian Church services and children's church, the children's Bibles given and read with them, the Scripture Union camps and the gospel message shared with them last March have, through the watering and nourishment of the Spirit born fruit for a harvest now. God is good!

In my previous post about the first week of our trip I mentioned the word or theme that stood out for me was "progress". Progress that brought me a little taste of heaven. As I reflect on the highlights of the last half of our trip listed above another theme word is clear. That word is "relationships". Every one of the highlights listed above involves a very important and precious relationship that God has brought into our lives since he first called us to South Africa in 2005.

God is a God of relationships. He accomplishes His purposes through the relationship of His people with Himself and with other people. The Bible is full of the stories of relationships of God with his people and their relationships with one another. God initiates a relationship with us and then pursues it. As we respond and enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, He grants us life, faith, hope and love. And that love must be lived out in our relationships with other people. God has blessed us with incredible loving relationships with so many people in South Africa. Being with them again was such a blessing to us and another foretaste of heaven.

A Taste of Heaven

We have had a busy and blessed week since arriving in South Africa on Sunday. It has been great having Sandra and Douglas Shuff here with us this week from Northview Bible Church in Spokane. Sandra has been a part of two short-term mission teams that have served here with Two Tunics in 2008 and 2009, while it is Douglas's first time visiting.

Some highlights of the week for me:

• Worshipping at the tin shack church of Pastor Amos in the Mkholmbe shanty town
• Sweet reunions with the staff at Genesis Care Centre and many other dear friends
• Sandra's "Jesus Loves Me" presentations at 3 of our community creche (preschool) partners
• Home based care visits with Amos and Busi - humbling, disturbing and uplifting at once
• Seeing the "investment" in projects like Nokukhanya and Sinothando Creches bearing fruit (especially Lindiwe's teaching of the children and Pas's garden in a bag)
• Oh, and let's not forget lunch at the Waffle House and dinner at Edelweiss (it hasn't been all work and no play)
  

One of the words or themes that stands out for me this week is "progress". When one is here full time working in the community, frustration over lack of progress can become an everyday experience. The positive changes that do occur is so slow and incremental that it is easy to overlook them. Now returning after nearly 6 months away (our longest absence in 5 years) and with Sandra return 18 months after here last visit, it has been encouraging to see much evidence of positive changes around several of our partners.

I've already mentioned Nokukhanya Creche with Lindiwe's teaching of the children ( Two Tunics is providing her training through TREE) and Pas's incredible bag garden (Two Tunics provided "seed money" and training through Tim Barratt a local farmer). There are also many children Sandra remembered by names and faces who were sick, dull and full of rashes before who are healthy and vibrant now (thanks largely to good nutrition Two Tunics supplies through Food4Africa and Feed the Babies). And a man with TB lying dying on the dirt I saw during home based care visits in March is now sitting up, eating and interacting with his family (thanks to support given to family to consistently administer his medications and much prayer).

Yesterday I was reading in 2 Corinthians 5 and was struck by verse 4 which speaks of the mortal or dying being "swallowed up by life" (NIV). Paul was speaking about how through Christ, although our mortal bodies are dying we have future heavenly living bodies. But I was struck by the evidence I had seen this week that even while in these mortal bodies awaiting our desired heavenly dwellings, we can experience little pockets of life swallowing up death and hopelessness. This happens as each of us follows and serves Christ in the way he has been called. And I believe God is glorified whenever and however death is "swallowed up by life".

I thank God for the foretaste of heaven He has given me this week.

Gazing Godward

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just off the face of internet publishing. Not that anyone will have noticed or certainly had their life impacted negatively by my absence. And yet I still feel the need to apologize if only to myself. God doesn't want my apology, only my repentance so I will offer that as well.

Since I last posted:

• South Africa hosted a successful World Cup - congrats to Spain but I was pulling for the Dutch - (commiserations Alfon's and Marco
  
• The 4th of July was rained out in Seattle


• Summer came to Seattle on July 5th and still hasn't left - "yeah!" (see picture below of Robin and Debbie on the ferry from Seattle)


• Two new members joined the Two Tunics board - welcome Debbie Tucker and Doug Hufton, our St Louis connections


• My daughter turned 28 (don't tell her I told you)


• We started attending Mars Hill Church at the Bellevue campus


• My wife Robin and I have enjoyed 4 more blessed months with our grandson Mikah (see picture below gathering eggs in Vicki's henhouse)


• The work of Two Tunics in South Africa goes forward thanks to Onnie, Debbie and our 9 amazing community project partners as well as all our faithful supporters
  
  

All the stuff above was good stuff. Well most of it - we'll forget about the 4th of July in Seattle. But somehow through it all I didn't feel like I had anything to share here. It wasn't like God wasn't using this time and teaching me. We have loved the teaching at Mars Hill. And God has used The Pursuit of God by Tozer in some deep places in my life. But day to day I think I have struggled with the separation from the work I still feel called to in South Africa, even knowing without a doubt that this (Seattle) is where God wants us to be for a time.

Now as I resume this blog I think back to why it started - sharing a faith journey. The title of this blog comes from a description by Spurgeon of faith as "slender wires". That description still rings true in my life and I think always will. Now another description of faith has come to me as well by Tozer. Faith is the "gaze of the soul upon a saving God". As Tozer says "looking and believing are really the same thing". We direct our attention where we look. And faith is not a looking once, but a continuous gazing, a "habit of inwardly gazing Godward".

I think maybe during this time I have been looking in the wrong direction. Not all bad places - in the Bible and in good books, but not continuously at Him. And too much at myself. The eye never sees itself, and so faith is occupied only with the Object upon which it rests. I need to continuously practice looking away.

Getting back to the final bullet point above. In 2 days Robin and I will leave for another 3 week visit to South Africa. We have much to accomplish there both personally and for Two Tunics. It will be good to be back but I'm sure hard as well. My prayer is that as we go we will be gazing on Him.

The Whole Gospel: Shelter in the Storm

This past weekend Robin and I had the privilege of being part of the Whitworth University's "Missions in Africa" Symposium. We presented a couple workshops entitled "AIDS & Orphans: Shelter in the Storm". The focus was on supporting children in families in AIDS affected communities. Given the scope of the problem and the numbers of OVC (orphans and vulnerable children), institutional care is not a cost effective response and has never been God's plan for the care of children. As I researched, prepared and then presented the workshop it cemented in my mind that the model of family based care of children in AIDS affected communities that we at Two Tunics are trying to expand is the right approach.

But more about that in a later post perhaps. Today what is on my heart is an even deeper issue that continues to be cemented more and more in my mind and heart. The reason why I am about this work. The reason the church must be about this work. The gospel of Jesus Christ. The whole gospel as Richard Stearns calls it in his book The Hole in Our Gospel.

The Missions in Africa Symposium last Saturday started off appropriately with a time of worship and devotions in the Whitworth University chapel. Terry McGonigal, the Whitworth chaplain (and ex-neighbor of ours in Spokane) presented the message. He started by asking us to describe the gospel in one sentence to the person sitting next to us. A couple excellent examples were offered from the audience on the order of "God so loved us that he sent His Son Jesus to die so that we might have forgiveness of sin and live eternally with God".

Terry then took us to a biblical one sentence summary of the gospel in Isaiah 52:7. Many of you are probably familiar with this verse and especially the opening line "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news". "Good news" is the definition of the Greek word translated as "gospel" in the New Testament. This opening line is a well known and cherished verse to those involved in missions. People involved in missions are being Christs hands and feet, going to spread the good news, and this verse tells us that in God's eyes they are beautiful. But sadly we in missions are often bringing only a part of that good news described in the rest of the verse. Maybe we're not as beautiful as we thought.

Terry pointed out the three essential elements of the gospel described in Isaiah 52:7, summarized in the three Hebrew words "shalom" (peace), yeshua (salvation) and Yaweh malak (God reigns). The salvation part is what Christian missions has historically been faithful to. Yeshua is the Hebrew version of the name Jesus which both mean "God saves". Shalom is a deep and rich Hebrew word that is difficult to translate but is much more than peace in the sense of absence of conflict. It is closer to that full and abundant life that God desires for every person in His creation. Yaweh malak or God reigns is an affirmation of the reality of the Kingdom of God. Gods' Kingdom rule is a present reality and not just a future hope. We, the church are to be about establishing God's kingdom in the world, bringing shalom to the world as well as salvation. This 2/3's of the gospel has often been neglected in missions. It is the "hole in our gospel" as described by Stearns.

We entitled our presentation on AIDS & Orphans "Shelter in the Storm". Isaiah 32 is a prophecy describing God's Kingdom. Verse 1-2 says,"See a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each man will be a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm". The storm in Africa is AIDS. In God's kingdom each man is to be a shelter in the storm. Missions in Africa must be about the whole gospel. How beautiful are your feet?

A Tale of Three Churches

This past Sunday was "move in day" at New Life Church in Renton . New Life has become our home church since we moved back from South Africa to Renton WA last November. New Life is a church of a couple thousand people and is alive and growing. Although it had a large facility to meet in with an attached building for it's Christian school, New Life had made a decision a couple years ago to build a new sanctuary and turn the current sanctuary and lobby into "Kids Town" as well as a gym for the school. Sunday was the first services held in the new building. The new auditorium has a feel much like the old building but is larger and will seat 1600 people. There is also a new 400 seat chapel. You can even take a tour of the new facility on the "New Building" section of the website. Although we are newcomers to New Life, we could sense that Sunday was a very special day in the life of this church. It is obvious that this is a blessed church.

Sitting in the new church building on Sunday I was reminded of a chapter in the book "The Hole In Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. I read this book during our recent trip to South Africa. One advantage of spending about 50 hours in airplanes is that it gives you a lot of time to catch up on your reading. The book is excellent and challenging for Christians and American churches. John Ortberg says about the book "It is a prophetic and hope-filled word for our day. If enough people read it and do it, the world will change." That is exactly what the gospel of Jesus, the whole gospel, the one without the hole in it is about - changing the world by changing the lives of people. Stearns says the whole gospel "encompasses tangible compassion for the sick and the poor, as well as biblical justice ... the spiritual, physical and social dimensions of our being."

On the flight back to the USA last week I read the chapter entitled "A Tale of Two Churches". In it Stearns tells a parable of two churches. One, The Church of God's Blessings could well be New Life Church or any number of churches in America. It could also very well be Norwegian Settler's Church in South Africa, our other home church where we worshiped the last four years. Another church with a building program that you can watch from the web cam on the church website.

The other church Stearns describes, The Church of the Suffering Servant could well be Pastor Amos' church in South Africa we had visited the previous Sunday (see my March 26 post South Africa Trip Highlights). As I wrote in my last post, Pastor Amos is one of the key partners Two Tunics is working with in South Africa. He has a powerful ministry in communities where AIDS and poverty are having a devastating impact on people's lives. Communities where spiritual warfare with the powers of darkness is an everyday reality. Through Amos' Jesus Voice Kingdom Ministries people are receiving the whole gospel. People are experiencing real deliverance from oppression. People are responding to the gospel and his church is growing. Growing beyond the walls of the 3 sided tin shed the church meets in and around.
Robin and I with our friend Athena in the church in Mkholombe

One of the pastors speaking to the Mkholombe Church

People attending the church crowd around the shed in the hot sun

These last 2 weeks I have attended 3 churches. All of them have new building programs. Two belong to "The Church of God's Blessings". One belongs to "The Church of the Suffering Servant". I thank God that I have the privilege of attending all of them. I can't wait until my next visit to the Mkholombe church. The Churches of God's Blessings that I attend are doing good things. They are having an effective ministry. They are making at least some attempts to be about the whole gospel. As Stearns says:

The American church in my little parable was not a "bad" church; it was just oblivious to the suffering of the little church in Africa. It wasn't that they wouldn't help the African congregation; they were just so preoccupied with their own programs and people that they failed to see the bigger picture: the reality of the church across the world.

Thank you Lord for letting me see the bigger picture with the small African church in it. Thank you Lord that your gospel doesn't have a hole in it. Thank you Lord that we have the opportunity to partner with Pastor Amos in bringing the whole gospel to people who desperately need its hope. Pastor Amos in front of the new building for the Mkholombe church which needs a roof

South Africa Trip Highlights

It was so good to sleep in my own bed last night. Especially after 3 weeks in a small bed in a hot room and our 33 hour trip back to Seattle. These last 3 weeks in South Africa have been busy and hard but incredible in so many ways. Unfortunately due to the busy schedule and shortage of access to the internet I have not been able to post regular updates on the progress of the trip over the last 2 weeks. So I will try to give you the highlights now and fill in some of the details at a later time.

Some Trip Highlights
In addition to delivery day and the church dedication in Eastern Cape I wrote about in the previous posts, here is a partial list of other trip highlights.

1. Meeting with the management committees of the community projects of Two Tunics' 9 key community based partners: These meetings were one of the key objectives of our trip. Two Tunics is committed to responding to the needs related to AIDS and poverty in a way that enables each person to fulfill God's purpose for them. We want to be about sustainable solutions that build upon local assets (people, knowledge, skills, and resources) rather than just offers short term relief. We really believe that real solutions are to be found in the local community and especially the local church (Christian people not institutions).

We have selected 9 key community projects to partner with in a more developmental, non-paternalist way that does not perpetuate unhealthy dependence. Our meetings were such a confirmation that we have selected the right projects to work with. Each of them is led by a person or two that have incredible hearts for people in their communities, especially the children. Cornelia, Thabile, Dumisani, Busi & Lindiwe, Pas, Evelyn, Bonisile, Moie, and Amos are names of some of our heroes. While we often get the thanks, these people are the ones doing the hard work of caring for the needy in their communities and sharing Christ's love on an everyday basis, with little or no support at times. We believe in these people. We are privileged to be a part of what they are doing.
Meeting with Sinothando Creche management committee.
Pas is in the center holding the child.

2. Spending the day with the Grace Church short term mission team: The South Africa mission team from Grace Church in St Louis overcame incredible adversity, and I believe attacks of the enemy, in serving God last week. After spending two nights in airport hotels in Mpls and Atalanta due to flight delays, they arrived 2 days late and without their luggage. Having their mission cut from 7 to 5 days just seems to give this team a greater urgency and determination to overcome any and all challenges as they jumped in to serve in schools, creches, churches and communities. They spent one of their precious days in South Africa with Two Tunics and God used that time to bless us all.

Grace Church has partnered with us in supporting Busi & Lindiwe and their Sunnyside Creche in Murchison. We had a great morning at the creche loving on the children (the parachute was a big hit) and making plans together for further improvements to the facility. Then Pastor Amos took the team on several home based care visits. The team got a close up look at the impact of poverty and AIDS on a few of the thousands of affected families in the area. I believe God did a work in hearts of many on the team during those few hours. The team also had a powerful time of worship and prayer with each family. Finally, the afternoon ended with a visit to Pastor Dumisani's feeding project in Gamalakhe township, which included the distribution of shoes to needy children. As always the singing of the children blessed us all. Hearts were stretched, challenged, full and overflowing at the end of the amazing day. Grace Church team visiting poor families outside the shack home.
Grace Church team distributing new shoes to children at Dumisani's feeding project.

3. Having a chance to catch up face to face with our South African friends: Robin and I loved being together again with our South African home cell group on a Thursday evening. Also spending time with dear friends like Sharon Jones, Athena and Dougie, Pauline and Simon, Ami, Pastor Trevor and Helene and so many of our friends at Norwegian church. Meeting with staff at the Genesis Care Centre over tea was special as was being able to meet with Dave at Genesis, Clement at Positive Ray, Chris at Gibela and all our Ugu AIDS Alliance partners.

Having 3 weeks to enjoy times with Debbie and her girls Rachel and Nunus was also very special. They are family to us. It was amazing how the girls had grown in just 4 months! Whether it was going to church at Norwegian's, going out to lunch, swimming and a picnic at the beach or shopping together for Rachel's birthday gift (her birthday is on Easter this year) our time with them was precious. Picnic by the beach with Debbie, Rachel and Nunus.

4. Visiting a Zulu church started by pastor Amos meeting in a shed in the Mkholombe shanty town: As we met with our community partners we began to hear stories of several strange happenings in the communities, especially involving children and the schools. Children are falling down crying in the schools, often saying they are seeing dwarf like creatures. Some schools have had to be closed for the rest of the day. The high school age daughter of one of our partners has been plagued by disturbing appearances and attacks at school. We are convinced that many of these happenings are the result of spiritual warfare. God is doing a work in this area especially through many of our community partners and God's enemy is bringing opposition. This is strange stuff to us and not in the realm of our usual experience. Pastor Amos leader of Jesus' Voice Kingdom Ministries, one of our partners, has been called out with other pastors to pray at the schools and with affected individuals. Pastor Amos has a lot of experience with these things that he says are the results of the activities of demons. Much of this is related to the traditional African religious practices of the culture.

As we met with Amos he shared with us the work God was doing through the church he had started in Mkholombe a shanty town on the outskirts of Port Shepstone. People, many who have been plagued by spiritual attacks are responding to the gospel and experiencing incredible deliverance. The church which meets in a small 3 sided shed has grown to 150 people. They have started building another larger "shed" to meet in but don't have funds for the roof. Amos asked us if we would come and visit the church on Sunday and see the new building. So Sunday after attending nearby Norwegian Settlers church in their large hall with the new even larger church building going up next door, we and our friend Athena followed Amos on the short dirt path-like road to a little shed with sounds of amazing voices singing praises coming from it. We then walked down a narrow path to the site of the new church "building". The wood poles with slats forming walls were already overgrown by tall weeds and could not be used for church meetings in this hot sun (or frequent rain showers) without a roof.

Following the sounds of praise back to the existing "church", space was made for us on the crowded benches under the shade of the roof. Dozens of others crowded around the opening of the shed in the beating sun. For the next hour we were blessed to worship, pray and share from God's word with this incredibly real, vibrant and growing church. God is using Amos in a powerful way to bring light and hope in this incredibly needy, dark and hopeless place. We are convinced that God would have us be partners in this work.

Watch this space for more details to come. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with on the day we visited Amos' church but he did have his and took some photos. I will hopefully get some from him via our South Africa office and post some soon. I also plan to give some more details about my thoughts and impressions as a result of this trip back to South Africa in future posts.

Visit to Eastern Cape

Yesterday was truely an amazing day.

One of the projects Two Tunics has been supporting for a little over one year now is the Jesus Christ Cares Ministry (JCCM) in Holy Cross in the Eastern Cape. As Two Tunics we focus our work in the Ugu District of KwaZulu-Natal and JCCM is the one exception being a project outside of our usual catchment area. The reason for this exception is that the chairperson of this project is Cornelia Mgaga, the mother of Onnie our Two Tunics Programs Manager. JCCM is serving orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in a very poor and underserved area. We have been pleased to help with support of the feeding program offering Food4Africa porridge and 500Rands ($70) for groceries each month.


Robin and I visited the project which is run out of Onnie's mother's home in November 2008. At that time we saw the partially finished church on the back of their familie's property.We stood with some of the women from the church that have been meeting in a small flat on their property and prayed that God would supply the funds needed to finish the church. This church had been the vision of Onnie's father who tried for many years to obtain land for it and eventually gave the church a piece of the family's land for the church building. In 1998 the women began to dig the foundations of the church and when Onnie's father died in 2000, her mother committed to use a portion of his pension for the building of the church.

After our visit in November 2008, several people heard about the need to complete the church building and through them God has provided. So on 10 March 2010 a celebration and dedication of the new Taweni AFM Church building was held on the occassion of Robin and my return to visit JCCM again. The original purpose of our visit was to meet with the JCCM committee members to discuss the future of their partnership with Two Tunics. As we sat in the Mgaga home discussing the project we could here the singing voices coming from the church building just behind.

As we closed the meeting the Regional AFM Pastor and other pastors and guests arrived for the church dedication. It was a blessed time of song and dance and celebration.

A digital photobook by Smilebox

During the event I shared a message from God's Word from Luke 4:16-21 where Jesus announces that He is the messiah and is bringing the gospel of good news to the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed. Robin presented orphan sponsorship gifts of shool uniforms and bags to 5 orphans that had been identified as especially needed. The gogos (grandmothers) who care for them wept with gratitude as did Onnie's aunt at seeing the vision of her brother for the church become a reality.



Praise be to our faithful God and thanks for the privilege of being in His service!

Delivery Day

Monday was a long, hot and dusty day. It was delivery day for Two Tunics. Through our partnernship with Food4Africa and Feed the Babies we receive monthly supplies of a nutritional porridge to distribute to our Two Tunics supported creches and other projects. Currently this program is supplying nutritional support to over 950 children in 6 communities.

Normally the deliveries are done over two days at the beginning of each month utlizing Pastor Amos and his van. But since Robin and I are here this month wanting t see all the projects in a short time and we have the use of our vehicle again, we elected to do all of the deliveries in one day. The day started at 8am by sorting the large bags and boxes of porridge into piles on the floor of the office so that each of the 13 projects will receive the needed numbr of packets for the month. Then the separated bags and boxes were loaded into Amos's van and my Subaru in the right order - first in, last out according to the delivery schedule for the day.

Porridge sorting (top)

Debbie stacking porridge in the store room (left)

By a little after 9am Amos, Onnie, Debbie, Robin and I were on the Road to Murchison community with a quick stop at Norwegian Church to pick up Marco. He is a volunteer from Holland working with the Ugu AIDS Alliance who wanted to come along to see what Two Tunics was all about. We made deliveries to our 5 creches in Murchison with the last stop being Sunnyside Creche(Nokukhanya in Zulu). This is the site of one fo the 3 creche classroom buildings provided by Two Tunics last year. It was gratifying to see the creche thriving and the faclity being so well used. It was also encouraging to see a sign posted announcing that the Department of Health was going to utilize the crech in April as a site to provide polio and measles immunizations to children in the community. It has been a vision of Two Tunics Community for Kids program from the beginning to see the creches become projects in the communities that other services could be built around. It was very rewarding to see this becoming a reality in Murchison. As we were leaving "Good by tin house" written with red pain on the door of the tin shack formerly used to house the creche.

New Sunnyside Creche Building; Department of Health Notice at the Creche

Then it was off for deliveries to 6 more creches in Bhobhoyi, Bhomela and Gamalakhe communities. At the Lutheran Church Creche one of the facilitators from TREE was there doing a site visit to the creche.TREE is an organization that trains creche (pre-school) teachers on early childhood education. Two Tunics has sponsored several of our creche teachers to complete level one training. This includes onsite follow-up visits to see how the training is being implemented in the classroom. Again it was gratifying to see the educational material from the curriculum posted on the wall of the creche and the TREE staff person keeping the teachers accountable for using what they are learning to benefit the children.

Finishing up in Gamalakhe we said goodbye to Amos and headed down the coast about 30km and then inland to the final two delivery sites, Masakhane Community project and Khandandlovu Baptisit Church. At Khandandlovu iIt was great to see Pastor Eric's wife Bonisile and her 4 month old son (he looks just like his brothers). This is the site of another of the Two Tunics provideed classtooms. Unfortunately there had been a freak windstorm a couple weeks before that caused sever damage to a small area around the church. The portion of the roof of the church and the new creche classroom was damaged. We will have some discussions with the project next week to see how we can help with some of the repairs needed.

Having completed our deliveries it was back to the office in Port Shepstone, dropping Marco on the way. Delivery day was a full day, a good day, a blessed day.

This digital slideshow created with Smilebox

Back In The Office

Well, at about 11:30 pm on Tuesday night, and about 33 hours after we left for the Seattle airport we arrived at the flat we are renting for this week in Uvongo, near Port Shepstone South Africa. Thankfully all our bags arrived intact as well. Overall the trip went very smoothly and we both were able to sleep about 5 hours on the 15 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. Thank you to those who were praying for our travel. God is faithful and gracious.

It is now 1:45 am on Thursday “morning” and I am sitting here typing because I am unable to sleep even after taking a sleeping pill, drinking some rooibos tea and having a snack, hoping that one or more of these will assist me in getting back to sleep for a couple more hours. The jet lag is always hard on me as in recent years I have become a bit of a fitful sleeper. Thankfully the weather has cooled considerably from recent weeks. Although still quite sticky, there are some cooler ocean breezes and gentle rains that are refreshing. With the low dark clouds and drizzle it does feel a bit like we brought Seattle weather with us as many here had asked us to do.

But as I said in the previous post this trip is not about the hard travel, the jet lag or the weather. We have much to accomplish and so we jumped right in with a busy day yesterday (Wednesday 3March). Most of the day was filled with things we needed to do to get settled here for the next 3 weeks. Buying groceries, water and other supplies, getting our old car back, sorting through stuff in our storage room at the old house to find what we need for this trip. Then it was off to the Two Tunics office in Port Shepstone to hook up to the internet, catch up on emails from the last 2 days and to meet with our staff to go over the continually evolving schedule for the next 3 weeks.

When we arrived at the office, there was our staff, Onnie and Debbie greeting us with smiling faces and warm hugs. It was hard to believe we were back with them so soon and it felt a little like we had only been away a few days. They both look well and despite the additional stresses they have had to deal with since our departure last November it quickly became obvious that their attitudes remain positive.

Onnie and Debbie

As we talked through our plans and schedule – receiving the Food4Africa and Feed the Babies porridge deliveries at the office, setting up the deliveries and visits to all the projects, arranging Pastor Amos and his vehicle to help with them, preparing for the building dedication event in Eastern Cape, arranging meetings with the management committees of our 8 key community partners, meeting with Give A Child A Family about the orphan issues we are struggling with, and more – I was struck by the tremendous volume of work these two women and this small office are doing and what a huge service and ministry they are providing.

They continue to have a great commitment to the work Two Tunics is doing in the lives of people affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty in the Ugu district. Onnie is the incredibly competent and detail oriented Programs Manager that we depend on to run the operations. Onnie accurately tracks and documents a large amount of information about donations received and distributed, progress of training and other activities for each project supported, as well as the needs and support of the orphans in the communities. And Debbie is the right hand Office Assistant that Onnie depends on. Even as the four of us met together, Debbie popped up several times to answer the phone or the door, to sign for a package or to print a few copies of a document.

Please continue to pray for Onnie and Debbie. Some of the changes we are asking them to implement will not be easy. Dealing with people and getting them to change their thinking never is. Pray that God would protect them and strengthen them. Pray for their health and for their families, especially Onnie’s son and Debbie’s two daughters. Pray that God would use them in a way that allows others to see Jesus in them. It is a privilege to be here with them doing this work. Our community partners and the children they serve are depending on them. They are depending on us and we are depending on God’s people.

Returning to South Africa

Well, Robin and I will be leaving early tomorrow morning for the Seattle airport. Thirty some hours later we should arrive on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal South Africa. This will be a 3+ week Two Tunics working visit. We are definitely not looking forward to the long trip or to the tremendous heat and humidity that everyone in South Africa has been telling us about this summer over there. But this trip is not about the weather and hopefully will be well worth the discomfort of the trip. I plan to use this blog to provide (hopefully) regular updates and insights on the progress of our trip.

The primary purpose of the trip is a little difficult to express concisely in a sentence or two but let me try. The bottom line is that we at Two Tunics want to ensure that the ministries and programs that we are involved with in South Africa are implemented in a way that empowers and equips the communities we are serving. One key way of doing this is to ensure that we are working through local partners in effective partnerships. We want to avoid paternalism ("we know what is best for you") and not create or perpetuate dependence ("we're poor and need your money/resources to meet our community's needs").

We do feel that from the beginning we have been participatory, relational and humble in our approach. We went in as learners and identified what locals were doing that was working and then supported that. But we still have much to learn about serving poor communities in a way that helps and not hurts both the poor, their communities and our witness as followers of Jesus Christ. Our Two Tunics board has recognized certain dangers and potential pitfalls that we need to be sure we avoid in our approach. Therefore we are going back to South Africa now to begin making needed adjustments in our structure and approach.

The decision for us to go back to South Africa at this time (only 3+ months into our "furlough") was made as a result of discussion around these issues during our board meetings in January. Since then I have read a book that moved my thinking about some of these issues to a whole new level. The book is called "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself" by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert. I think it should be required reading for anyone doing or considering doing missions work (short or long term) in a poor community. It has really challenged me but also excited me. This is going to be a really hard road but the rewards will be great as long as we travel the hard road.

I will be commenting some more on this book in upcoming blogs but if you or your church are doing any kind of mission work in poor communities or you are supporting any organizations involved in care of children or the poor, I recommend you read this book. For now stay tuned to this blog for updates and insights on the progress of our journey these next 3-4 weeks.

Shopping Spree

This past week Robin and I spent some time in St Louis. This was at the invitation and as guests of Grace Church, a vibrant, growing, multiracial church with an attendance of 4-5000 each weekend. They have connected with the work we are doing as Two Tunics in South Africa through two short term mission teams last year. We were blown away by their hospitality during our visit (as well as that of Doug and Suzy Hufton who opened their home to us).

One amazing gift to us during our visit was a free shopping spree in their well stocked church bookstore. "When we have missionaries visit we like to send them away with some good reading material" we were told. I thought we would pick up 3 or 4 books when Debbie (Pastor Ron Tucker's wife) came in with a empty printer paper box and said "you have to fill this up and we can ship it to you at library rates". Suddenly I was like a kid in a candy store. Do you know how much I love books? We had just arrived a couples hours earlier and God was knocking my socks off already.

As I browsed around the bookstore I seemed to keep coming across books authored by people I had heard speak at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. The last 4 years in South Africa we had been fortunate to attend the video-cast Global Leadership Summit held in Durban each October. Willow Creek presents the Summit live in Chicago in August (simulcast throughout many sites in North America) and then presents video-cast Summits throughout the world over the next several months. Robin and I have been blessed to attend the Durban conference with our "home church" in South Africa, Norwegian Settler's Church and its Genesis outreach ministry staff. Each year it has been amazing and yet the following year is even better yet. If you have not attended the Leadership Summit, or watched the DVD made of it each year I would definitely recommend getting to see or at least hear the 2010 Summit. Click on the image below to get more information about the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. (Even if you are only responsible for leadership of your own life you qualify.)


As I browsed the Grace Church bookstore I picked up "Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller. Read this book and better yet also watch the video of his talk of the same title at the 2009 Leadership Summit. If you think you know this parable, think again. I found out I didn't know what "prodigal" means (and it's not "wayward" or "lost" although you will see that there is more than one lost son in the parable).

Then I picked up " Too Small to Ignore" by Wess Stafford, the President of Compassion International. He gave the most personal and tearful as well as a very powerful talk at the 2009 Summit. His passion comes out just as strongly in the book and it is all about the priority of children, not just according to Wess but according to Jesus.

I also collected a couple books by John Ortberg. He gave an excellent message on "A Leader's Greatest Fear" to the Leadership Summit a couple years ago, Summit 2007 I believe. Funny enough I didn't pick up anything written by Bill Hybels, the Senior Pastor of Willow Creek Church and the leadership "guru" behind the success of the Leadership Summit. I do have a couple of his titles on my bookshelf at home (here or in South Africa - I'm not sure which).

Well I can't tell you all the books I was blessed with at Grace Church and anyway Robin and Debbie filled a good portion of the box with children's books and videos (go Veggietales!) for Mikah our grandson. Thanks again to Grace Church and to Willow Creek Leadership Summit for providing such great material to keep challenging me and growing me.

Change

These last 3 months since my last post (sorry about that) have been a time of incredible change in our lives. We continue on our journey serving God through Two Tunics but on 11 November 2009 we left South Africa to return to the USA for an undetermined length of time. All the final details leaving Africa, both personal and organizational were quite hectic. But once we left the pace of change began to accelerate even more. In the first week there were stops in New York, Minneapolis, Spokane and finally, with a U-Haul truck full of household goods, arrival at our new (and as yet unseen) home in Renton Washington.

That was followed by unpacking stuff not seen for 4+ years, making room for a second truckload of stuff from Spokane and more unpacking, sorting, selling and giving away. During the first month in our new rented townhouse we were able to celebrate with family our first Thanksgiving Day in 5 years, Mikah's 3rd birth day, Robin's birthday (who's counting?) and Christmas. Robin jumped right in helping with Mikah's daycare 3 days each week and it has been a blessing growing our relationship with our delightful and beautiful grandson.

As I said at the beginning, the theme of our lives these last 3 months has been change. We miss our friends, work, church and lifestyle we had in South Africa these last 4 years. We are trying to adjust to living in an area we have never lived before without friends, a home church or family other than our daughter, son-in law and grandson. And in a way we are grieving the loss of the lifestyle we had previously here in the USA before I left my practice at the VA.

One of the books I read during this transition and highly recommend is "Wide Awake" by Erwin McManus. One of the chapters entitled "adapt" has definitely encouraged me during this time. As McManus says, "You can't model your life after Jesus and be unwilling to adapt." The incarnation makes anything we have to adapt to pretty minor in comparison. He also points out that "the Bible is all about change. Transformation means change. Conversion means change. Repentance means change. Sanctification means (yep you guessed it) change." And following and obeying means change.

It is so easy for us to get comfortable in our life. As a result we often resist change. In South Africa I had become comfortable even with the difficult things I often had to deal with day to day. Sometimes I long to go back to that comfort, that known, rather than face the uncertainty of my future here. But Christ calls me to adapt.

How can I do that? I think McManus gives us the answer to that as well. It's all about another Biblical word that has to do with change - love. "Love transforms." "When you are loved, you no longer fear change nor are you afraid to change. When you love you are willing to embrace the sacrifice of change..." God, thank you that you love me so much. So much that I am free to change. And God help me to love enough to embrace the sacrifice of change.