And A-WAY We Goooooo!!!

Left at 4 a.m. for this round of India teams this morning.  Will be focusing my blogging energies on the team site (which you can view by clicking here if you would like to track it), so hope to see you there!  Feel free to comment!  It's always encouraging to the teams to hear from people back home.  Catch you all in 10 days! -samurai jack

Best Christmas Ever...

We just had the best Christmas ever.  I think i mentioned in a previous post that i'm not usually big on Christmas, but we made a concerted effort this year to really focus on trying to reinvigorate it with some fresh meaning.  Here's what we did:

* We attended GCC's Christmas Eve service together.  The kids totally dug the candle-lighting.  Elijah especially is a budding pyromaniac, so thought that 2,100 people burning things was a GREAT way to celebrate.

* We ate out!  Yup.  Part of our new tradition will 

be to NOT create additional stress by adding another meal that we have to prep and fix at home.  This year's Eve selection:  5 Guys.  Not exactly "Chop Suey Palace" from Christmas Story, but it got the job done and we had fun.

* We did a "year in review".  From the movies we watched to the things we did, we each went around the table and talked about things that were significant for us throughout the year.  Sami wrote them all down in one of her notebooks, and we'll transcribe them to a "formal journal" later.

* We came back home and exchanged gifts.  The catch, however, was that we "gave ourselves" in some special way.  Sami's gift to me?  More kissing this year!  Woo-hoo!!!  Not to say that i am kiss-deprived now... just that "drowning" in kissage will be a fun experiment.  My gift to her? Regulated alone time twice a month for her to just have quiet and space of her own.   No munchkins, no chaos, no errands... just Zen and Sami for at least two predictable spaces.

* We also decided to try to find a way for us to give "of ourselves" to Jesus in some way this whole upcoming year.  We came up with some great ideas, and are still smithing, but expect to have a firm plan by the end of the week.

* Then the kids had collaborated on a few gifts for us on their own.  Elijah gave me his favorite ARC Trooper action figure, and Peri gave Sami a roll of Scotch tape (which, in context, is a HUGE sacrifice on her part since we go through the stuff like water and there's never any around when Sami needs it).

The "topper" for the evening for me was a hand-written note from Elijah to Sami and me.  It read as follows:

"Dear Mom and Dad.  Merry Christmas! I hope the Grinch does not try to steal my Christmas because he can't steal mine.  Because my Christmas isint prsents, feasts, or treditions its about falmily and Ch[r]ist. Your son Elijah."

Maybe my heart will grow "two sizes" this year from its normal Grinchy "size and a half too small".  I'm starting to think so.  Merry Christmas.

1,000 Pounds of Love...

So how much does 5 complete bio-sand water filter kits, 2 complete "Indian Jiffy Lube" micro-enterprise sets, 1 portable ONE Prayer multi-media kit, and 1 duffel bag full of supplies for our Indian ground staff weigh?  About 700 pounds!  Add to that 3 hard-side "pelican" cases for our Media team, and about 4 "team" check bags, and you get about 1,000 pounds worth of checked gear spread across 7 large Army-green duffels, 10 blue "sport bags" (each carrying 50 lbs of sand), and an assortment of other bags.

Plus all our carry ons.  Holy cow!

So Dan Blacketor (who is leading our Construction Team) and i set out this morning to individually mark, package and pack everything that we currently have into their appropriate bags, and i thought you might like to see how we turned the GCC Atrium into a "staging area" for the better part of the afternoon.  

The tall blue cylinders you see are the container units for the bio-sand water filters we'll be installing.  These are "tester" units  and we will use them for demonstration set-up.  Later in January, 75 filters that we're shipping via boat will arrive for them to install village-wide.  

The clear bags are varying diameters of sand, gravel and rock.  Each water filter contains about 120 lbs of sand and various filtered forms of gravel and rock, and the answer to the most commonly asked question ("can't you just use sand, gravel and rock that you can find in India?  I mean... do they not HAVE sand and rock in India? C'mon!") is "yes, but we didn't have time to set up the appropriate filter operations to ensure sand and gravel diameter.  We'll do that in round #2 for next year.  

As for the Tech Team, we are taking 2 complete sets of wrenches, socket-kits, screw-drivers, battery-testers, spark-plug/ignitor testers, pliers, multi-tools, flashlights and a host of other things.  The idea is that we will train a small number of families how to open a secondary enterprise venture that looks a lot like what we're calling an "Indian Jiffy Lube".  It's not a full-fledged mechanic or repair shop, but if you just need an oil change for your motorcycle or to have it spiffied up before you head to Chennai for the weekend, they'll be all set to help.  

Media Team is taking everything they need to fully shoot and capture footage for 3 complete "GCC quality" media, plus "B-roll" for training and other materials later.

It's a good thing that the Justice Team is planning to travel so light.  With this much gear, i'm not sure how we would get it all there otherwise!  

After we finished packing our "1,000 pounds of love", Dan Blacketor and i passed out on the ground.  Lugging it 9,000 miles to India is going to be a different story!

ONE Prayer: Phase 1 Report...

Hey, for those of you who are interested, we have officially published our first "Phase Report" for ONE Prayer.  Each of these reports outlines a lot of the technical specifics of how each of our field partners is approaching the mission objective of planting 500 churches in 4 countries (India, Sudan, China and Cambodia) in 18 months, and if you would like to take a look, you can go straight to the PDF version of the report on the ONE Prayer site by clicking here.

Cool! Or, More Acurately... Icy!

Rob and i went to grab a quick bite to eat over at Taste of Asia, and the strip mall where the restaurant is located has several little planters out front.  The ice-storm from last night was so fast and thorough that all the beautiful little plants outside didn't wither and die, but rather just crystalized standing up and blooming with a thin sheet of ice covering them.  I snapped this quick shot of one of the lovely little arrangements, and Rob and i stood out in the low teen weather to gawk at the marvelous little scene for a few minutes before rushing back inside to warm up.

From PC to "Apple"...

So i'm talking with Ed Buford in our IT Dept and lamenting how hard i am on hardware and technology.  I've been looking at a variety of "Toughbook" manufacturers like Dell, GTAC, etc., but the problem with each of them is that the units are a) most often prohibitively expensive and/or b) would sacrifice "performance" in some way in order to gain the necessary field durability that they boast.

At this point, i've been through 3 laptops in just over 3 years (yeah... do the math), and with the upcoming international travel schedule to faraway places in remote environments for both our work here at GCC and also ONE Prayer, am kind of at a loss for what to do.  I have every confidence that my little Dell is as tricked out as it can be, but every "business model" has its limits, particularly when it spends time around me for very long (apparently... i'm not your average user).

Then Ed said, "Well, Jack, i've got an Apple over here you can try if you really want to."  "Really?!" i said breathlessly, "Sure!"  Now, I'm typically not one to think of myself as a Mac user, but hey, would be willing to give it a shot if someone were to just "give" me one.  When we got to his desk, he turned around with a plump Washington red in his hand.  "Here you go...", he said, "all yours."  D'Oh!!! 

  

A Thing of Beauty!

Last night, i spent the better part of 2 hours with over 75 men and women from GCC who will be helping to lead our annual Food Drop.  Our Drop leader (Paul Chandler) and the rest of our core team (Mark Hatfield, Sam Rose, Terry & Sherry Ingle, Kurt Reiners, Dan Blacketor, Tim Papp) did a fantastic job equipping everyone for their various roles and responsibilities on January 10th, 2009, when annually more than 2,500 men, women and children will show up on our two campuses (here at GCC and also in Elkhart) to unload 6 semis of food and personal care items (pci) onto trucks circulating to more than 15 sites, neighborhoods and agencies.   

In conjunction with these semi's (provided through partnership with Feed the Children), each semi carries 880 food and/or pci boxes, and each box typically weighs about 25 lbs (for a collected weight of more than 130,000 lbs of relief and food supplies).  The food boxes contain enough supplements and staples to feed a family of 5 for 7 - 10 days, and each pci box contains about $50 worth of everything from shampoo to shaving cream.  In addition, this year, we will also be joined by two other area churches who will be participating in the Drop with us.  Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church will be sourcing their own semi for delivery into the neighborhoods around their church, and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church will be helping to off-load in the Harber Homes community on the West side, where they are currently attempting to build relationships for service. 

ONE Prayer Update: India

This is brother Vasanth Solomon. He is from a Christian family, and his father is a Pastor. After his father’s death, he assumed that he would simply acquire his father’s property and continue his mission, though he wasn’t exactly sure how to go about accomplishing that goal. Using basic evangelism tactics, Vasanth worked hard to build a network of over 150 new believers over a period of 5 years, but still believed that he needed additional training in order to further his effectiveness in the field.

Then he attended the Kingdom of God training (KGT) offered by Life Mission International through the ONE Prayer network. There, he learned about the importance of vision, goal setting and doing relational evangelism. He started praying for God to show him a place where he could plant a church and engage the community. Shortly thereafter, the Lord guided him to Puzhiyankannu village, where no one knows Christ. It is “completely unreached”. Here, all the people are high caste Hindus, and the village also supports two full time temple prostitutes.

When Vasanth started sharing Jesus in this village, the head of the village gathered all the people together and told them not to allow any other God to enter the village. In addition, when Vasanth shared a Gospel booklet with a member of the village, a young man pulled the booklet from his hand and tossed it into the fire. That night, however, the young man became so frightened and he quite literally went insane. This sent a wave of fear through the minds of the people in the village and gave them a high sense that they should not do any additional harm to Vasanth. In addition, Vasanth began praying for God to heal the young man.

After two months, people are showing great interest in learning about this new God. Thus far, 12 people have accepted Christ and are attending a small group Bible study. Vasanth is supervising 3 similar groups in this area, and also conducts a Children’s program in two places (currently, there are more than 60 children attending). Please pray that Vasanth will continue to make appropriate inroads for the Gospel and the Kingdom in this unreached village!

ONE Prayer Update: Sudan

The following came in from our field partners currently functioning in Sudan through the ONE Prayer network.  Enjoy! -sj

**********

Kajo Keji is exploding! Two hundred and seventy thousand people have already arrived from refugee camps in the north and west, and another one hundred thousand are expected this year. Most live in tents, but the government and aid agencies have begun to help with building mud huts.

According to Enoka and Michael, there is great hunger… not for food… but for community. “The opportunity to do church planting is incredible.” Enoka and Michael head up the ministry in this area and have organized the training for the church planters.

Several pilot projects have already been completed and seven schools were set up for the children of displaced families. Now 150 church planters are starting their training. They are being trained in “batches” of 20-30 and a main focus is the emerging neighborhoods of Kajo Keji (seen from the air). Some of the refugees moving into this area come from Christian villages where their families were attacked and churches burned to the ground. They are eager to help the teams of church planters to reach the larger population which has had no access to the gospel.

ONE Prayer Update: China

Crew!

The following is our most recent update from the ministry extending through our ONE Prayer partnerships in China.  Enjoy! -sj

*********

God’s Amazing Choice

Arthur Tian was born completely healthy, but with a hump on his back. For many years of his life Arthur felt completely useless in society. He had no purpose in life at all. Arthur was growing up secluded and reserved because of his physical appearance. Quite often people made fun of him and laughed at him. When Arthur turned 20, his parents died and he moved to live with his older brother. Later on Arthur’s older sister accepted Christ and begun to share Jesus Christ with him also.

Arthur went to church with her and discovered that people in church were different than people in this world. People in the world quite often laughed at him, but in church they showed him love and cared for him. It was here at church where Arthur for the first time in his life truly felt the love of God.

After accepting Christ as his Savior Arthur felt a deep desire to tell others around him about this newly discovered love of God. When Arthur’s parents died, they left him a small amount of money, which they were saving for their whole lives. His parents were afraid that Arthur won’t be able to provide for himself after they pass away and this money would help him a little, at least for a while. After Arthur became a Christian he spent all the money his parents left him to live on. He spent it on mission work. But God has not forgotten Arthur. God continues to bless his life.

This year God has blessed Arthur with a loving spouse, who is helping him now in his ministry of preaching the Gospel. Almost immediately after their marriage the young couple moved to a different town in China with the goal of planting a church there. In the last two months Arthur started a Bible study group and five people already have accepted Christ. PTL!

Please pray for Arthur and his ministry!

“…God chose the weak things of the world …” 1 Cor.1,27

ONE Prayer Update: Cambodia

Crew!  See the following update from our ministry partners in Cambodia for the ONE Prayer network.  Enjoy!  -sj

*********

Fear to Fruitfulness... the story of Pastor Saran

My life before I followed Jesus
I was born in 1965. My early years were shaped during a time of turmoil in SE Asia, including a horrible civil war in Cambodia. I had no respect for public authorities nor did I follow the laws of so

ciety. My life was lonely, full of fear, and panic. There was even one time during the civil war when I was almost killed. I wanted to kill those who were my enemy. I saw no place for forgiveness toward other people, and my life was totally without purpose. I even hated foreign religious beliefs, and I did not want them to be practiced in Cambodia. I followed the traditions of my parents and had been brought up as a Buddhist.

When I heard about JesusDuring those difficult days of my early life, I often questioned within myself whether there even was a “god”, or a place better than the earth. I wanted to know if there really was a heaven or a hell beyond this life. In 1991 a friend, who was not a follower of Jesus, told me about he had heard about someone called, Jesus Christ. I was interested in knowing more about Jesus and how His followers lived. So I looked for their meetings and attended for about three weeks. I did not understand at all what they were talking about, however, I was interested in the nice sound of the songs they sang praising to God. On the forth week of being with these followers of Jesus, I was touched in my heart when I heard them say that “Jesus can save humans from their sins”. This reminded me of a time when I was about seven years old, when I was able to read a little, I read part of a book that was saying that it was this same Jesus who created water, land, fire and wind.

I continued to meet with these people who followed Jesus, but I kept on wondering if Jesus was really a true God, and if God really existed. I also wondered what would happen to me if I became a follower of Christ. I wanted to know if others would hate me or love me. Then one day, I decided to ask a simple prayer of this God by asking Him to help me quit smoking, if he was a true God. On that very day in 1992, I felt that I did not want to smoke a cigarette at all! I was so happy because I had tried to quit smoking by myself many times, but always failed. I decided then and there to trust in Jesus as the true God. 

I made a commitment that I believed in Jesus always no matter whether others might hate me or love me. I started to tell my wife about the importance of following Jesus. I told my cousins and friends about Jesus as I wanted them to follow Jesus too.

The Call of God to Serve
I began to feel that God was calling me to serve him by telling even more people about Him. But I did not feel that I could do anything like that. I enjoyed attending the bible studies and fellowshipping with other believers, but I felt that to become a leader might be a very difficult thing for me to do. I spent all my money to buy a motorbike so I could attend bible study and worship more often. But, three months latter, someone stole it from me! I literally cried because of feeling so sad about the loss, and I wanted to know why there was such a bad thing happening to me. I even felt so ashamed about the bad thing that had happened to me, I no longer had the courage to share with my wife and others about Jesus.

Because of the shame, and sorrow of having the bike stolen, I knelt down and started to pray with tears, that if He gave me another motorbike, I would serve Him. About a week latter, I further prayed that I will serve Him forever, if He provided another motorbike for me. I started to believe that if God wanted me to serve Him, He would fulfill all my needs. Two months latter the wife of the thief who stole my motorbike came and confessed her husband’s crime. She also brought an older motorbike to us to replace the stolen one, so we did not make a complaint to the police. I accepted the old motorbike with joy and forgiveness. I then decided to start sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with other people, and gather with believers at a friend’s house near my house.

I did not want to be the leader of the group, and I just helped to bring the new believers together to study the bible and with all my heart, I helped those who came to me for help. We met together for about six weeks, but there was still not really a leader among the ten believers. So I began leading the worship and visited the homes of the believers. I was hungry for the Word of God and I was curious to know the meaning and the good things the Word of God has for believers. I read and finished the New Testament about two times. But there were still many things I did not understand and wondered if I was really called to lead among the believers. I then met a Cambodian Christian from the US and he helped me discover many truths in God’s Word and I started to read the New Testament again with great joy and understanding. I joined with other believers to plant new churches in seven places by 1996 and as of 2008 we have grown to see churches planted in over 90 places as disciples continue to make disciples.

NOTE: Pastor Saran is a trainer and supervisor in his province for the One Prayer church planting initiative in Cambodia. There are still hundreds of unreached villages in his province without even a single believer. Pray that the Lord will bless them with an additional 25 – 30 new churches as they reach into these needy villages and that a church planting movement can begin that will spread to surrounding villages and provinces.

ONE Prayer Update: India

Crew!

Wanted to inlcude the next ONE Prayer update from Raj and our teams in India.  Enjoy! -sj

***********

Can a Woman Plant a Church in India?  Duh!....

India is one of the oldest civilized countries in the world, and has a rich cultural and linguistic heritage. In fact, some of the languages in India (including Tamil) are estimated to be more than 3,000 years old. However, despite its depth of tradition and culture, India continues to face the difficulty of regularly practiced traditional atrocities. One of these practices is called “Sati”. Satī is a funeral practice among some Hindu communities (now very rare and outlawed in modern India), in which a recently-widowed woman would be expected to throw herself alive onto her husband’s funeral pyre, thus dying with him in order to demonstrate that life would be unacceptable without his continued presence. This practice was condemned by William Carry and then by Indian reformers, but while it is openly denounced by Indian officials, it is still practiced in many remote villages throughout the country.

In addition, in recent centuries, and due in large part to the Dowry System (a price paid by a young woman’s family as a gift to her new husband), many families have undervalued their female children. This has paved way the regular practice of female infanticide because parents know at birth that they will be unable to care for the little girl, but will also be unable to raise a dowry to marry her when she is older. Because of this, when a female child is born, the mother or the relatives will simply kill the child. This practice continues today, and is an issue that many ONE Prayer church planters are being mobilized to engage as they plant churches in areas where infanticide rates are high.

Finally, the Indian people are divided by Caste System, which has existed in India for thousands of years. The Caste System creates a social heirarchy where certain individuals are granted greater worth than others, and thus entitled to varying levels of privilege, wealth, and even access to the gods within the Hindu pantheon. Within this Caste System, women are still regarded as “lower than men” and cannot sit or walk equally with them. They are the “oppressed among the oppressed”.

However, things started changing when the missionaries started coming to India. They taught people, protected them with laws, and helped them to succeed in life. Today in India, the Church is beginning to understand the importance of women getting involved in building the family, society, the Nation and even the Church in the light of fresh understanding from the Scripture. Many parts of our country allow women to do “evangelism” but not planting or pastoring. But in Tamilnadu, whereONE Prayer church planters are being trained, the Churches are more open and thus allow their daughters and sisters to get engaged in the ministry of the Church.

One such jewel is Pretha! She once wanted to end her life because of a tragedy that occurred in her life, but came to know the Lord through the ministry of a local Indian Church. Today, along with her, her parents have accepted Christ and are assisting her in the ministry. Her uncle, who is also a Pastor, now helps them in the planting process.

Due to recent violence and government reactions, as well as increasing legal stresses and persecution, the doors for Crusades, street preaching and tract distribution in many parts of our country are simply closed. But Pretha is following the “One to One” method of basic discipleship and small group Bible study that is seen in the Book of Acts. She hopes to baptize around 40 people in the beginning of next year. God is using her mightily among the poor people in the slum area where she works. She has a big heart for them, and ONE Prayer resources are ensuring that Pretha is well equipped for her task!

A New Leaf?

Okay, so i'm not big on Christmas.  In fact, every year at about November, i start getting an anxiety-feeling "bulge" of looming dread in the pit of my stomach that doesn't go away until sometime after the first of January.  Most of it's just "baggage" from a variety of experiences over the years, but a lot of it is that i just don't like the culture-wide "greed festing" that occurs as the result of the odd marriage of spirituality and materialism.  I actually heard a pastor one year tell the Jesus story blended with Santa Clause in such a way that it was really unclear by the end whether or not the kids should expect Jesus or Santa to barrell down their chimneys and deliver presents for Christmas morning.  Yeck!

Anyway, i'm trying to reform my ways.  Trying to change my perspective on things.  Trying to find a new way to infuse the time of year with meaning that doesn't relate to how much we can max out our credit cards on a pile of stuff no one will remember or care about in two months.  And now i'm asking for your help.  I'm betting that lots of you out there have traditions within your families or other relationships that really help you to see beauty in this season.  We're now formulating ours, and i'd love to hear your ideas.  What do you do?

About India...

I'm so grateful to have so many friends and family who, first of all, are aware of what we, as GCC, are attempting to do as we send teams regularly to India to support and bolster the work of indigenous Indian church planters, but second, are seeing all the havoc on television around Mumbai and wondering how this will affect us and our upcoming teams in December. As a result, i wanted to post here what i sent to all our India team members and their families. Hopefully, it will be helpful to you as well. -sj

***************

Dear December India Team Members and Friends!

By now, no doubt, you've heard about the tragic attacks and bombings going on in Bombay (Mumbai), India, pursuant to apparent Islamic terrorists targetting innocent Indian citizens and foreigners (if you haven't, please click here for update). As a result, i'm guessing that you probably have a variety of questions about the impact of this event on both a) our overall ministry in India, and b) our upcoming teams in December. While we are still gathering data and watching how events unfold along with the rest of the world, i wanted to drop you a quick line to give you some basic information that i hope will be helpful to you and to your support teams, families and friends as you field questions and attempt to direct your own prayers.

1) First of all, please let me state plainly and simply that we will never willingly drop a team of GCC members into a situation that is known to be overtly dangerous or hostile. While there is always a certain amount of risk associated with international travel of any kind, of course, we will monitor the situation in India closely for resolution, and will be paying attention to the US State Department for analysis about the relative safety of contiuing to travel to/from or operation within the country. If there is a genuine threat, if the US State Dept feels that travel to/from India is unadvisable, or we just don't have a good "feel" for our ability to maintain safety and security, we will simply cancel and/or reschedule our time there, and will keep everyone appraised of all necessary data along the way.

2) Also, be advised that the epicenter of this kind of terror is actually "far away" from where our teams typically operate. Think of what might happen if you saw terrorists attempting similar activities in New York, but you were planning on travelling to South Bend (the distance between the two is about the same as between Bombay and Chennai in Tamilnadu). While Bombay is a highly important city within India, and is a focal point for international attention, business, tourism and banking, it is some 700 miles from Tamilnadu, where we concentrate all of our work. In addition, Tamilnadu is nearly 100% Hindu, so there is a considerably higher degree of peace and tranquility than in much of the rest of the country where Hindu/Muslim conflicts occur regularly. Again, all of this to say not that we will ignore genuine international threats or concerns, but rather that what you are seeing on CNN is not necessarily indicative of what is going on in the rest of the country.

3) Next, our current airline tickets have us routing nowhere close to Bombay for any component of our travel to/from India. Most likely, we will either fly directly to Chennai (on the Southeast coast of the country), or to Chennai via Bangalore (in the South-Central part of the country) from our stop-over in Europe.

4) Finally, despite the above, please continue to pray diligently for India. As you have heard me say in your training DVD's, India is a country currently "in flux", trying to find its point of balance between the old ways and the new. In the last 10 years, it has attempted to bring itself out of the Stone Ages and into the light as a global super-power (economically, militarily, socially and governmentally), and the tension that occurs with that kind of seismic upheaval is always difficult, and sometimes (as in this case), violent and tragic. As you pray, please ask God that this horrific evil will result in a greater openness for those of us who are attempting to bring the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior into such Darkness, and that his Light and Love will triumph over the spirit of oppression and violence that is pervading India now.

I'm sure that what is above has most likely not answered all your questions, but hopefully, it has at least answered a few. Please feel free to contact your team leader first, or me directly for additional information if it would be helpful for you. Thanks, and we'll continue to give you more information as we have it.

All for One!

Jack Magruder
Director of Life Mission
Granger Community Church

Can Zombies Fly Planes?

When i was a kid, i thought i either wanted to be a fighter pilot or a US Navy SEAL.  While most of my friends could quote sports statistics, i could tell you the thrust-to-weight ratio of an F-18's GE404 engines, or the muzzle velocity of an HK MP-5 submachine gun.  And while i never pursued either of those courses of action, i have been seeing a debate in our culture that brings much of that same military imagery into sharp relief as a parallel metaphor.  Here's what i mean:

"Air Power vs. Ground Power" - It's ironic to me that when aircraft were first developed, everyone wrote off their military significance as trivial.  Confining them to reconnaissance and basic "anti-personnel" functions in WWI (literally a pilot of a bi-plane dropping a hand held bomb over the side as he flew low over a battle), most people never envisioned the awesome firepower of the fleets of B-17's that would dot the sky in WWII, or the fact that contemporary airpower is a "given" nowadays in that "whoever controlls the skies, controlls the war".   

But despite falling in love with our own birds of prey, any military strategist will tell you that while airpower is critical, you can't really "win" a war without eventually sending in ground forces.  You can soften,

 bludgeon or blast as many hard targets as you can see from the air, but eventually, the "real" battle happens person to person, room to room, inch by inch, acre by acre with men and women who are deployed in cavalry, infantry and support units in the mud, sweat and blood of even the most modern of warfare scenarios.  You can significantly help or cripple your ability to win a war through the use of airpower, but without ground forces, you'll never load the final tipping point to real victory.

I see the current debates raging about our government in much the same way.  People seem to be tearing themselves apart about our elections, the trajectory of our country, and its impact on our day to day lives.  I get that.  I get that our national leadership has HUGE play with where we go as a nation, and so don't think i'm being dismissive of that in what i say next.

But here's the reality that i see every day as we engage the most marginalized people in our community, or even in the ends of the earth in India for that matter.  Are you ready?  Here it is:

"No one's life is ultimately transformed by the government.  It's transformed by individual men and women who reach into the worlds of the lost and hurting and stand with them against whatever is preventing them from finding wholeness, freedom and the kind of Life that Jesus really intended for them."  I guess it's back to Air Power vs. Ground Power for me.  The Government is "Air Power".  It can leverage huge amounts of collective "firepower" against big problems identified in our culture, and it can either "hit them" or "miss them" with a variety of positive or ill effects.  But as a "Commander" of Ground Forces for the Kingdom here in a local church setting, i know that the real battle is ultimately not going to be won through that kind of Power.  Rather, it's going to be won by people like you and me working every day to gain inch by inch, home by home, person by person, family by family, life by life.

Once again, i know that there are smart zombies who fly planes (i.e. Christ followers who work in government), and God knows that we need them there.   But for me and my life, i'm going to stick to the ground. From my perspective, that's where the action seems the most intense, the change most possible and the results most visible for the Kingdom.  Charge! 

Of "17 Items" and Taking Over the World...

Okay, so i had a dream last night that my boss (Rob Wegner) came into work with a new personal program he was excited about called "17 Items".  Basically, he had decided to very deliberately sit down at his desk each morning and determine the 17 absolute highest priority items that he needed to do, write them down on a task list numbered 1 through 17, and then machine-gun them until finished.  If he finished the 17 early, he got to go home.  If it took him till midnight, he was going to doggedly keep at it until complete.  I remember, in my dream, being inspired by his radical and energetic committment to the idea until i looked over his shoulder at his first list and it said things like "put on shirt", "brush teeth", "close front door".  Still, after waking, i remember wondering what my own "17 items" list might look like, and told Rob about my dream first thing this morning when we both arrived at work.  We both laughed at the notion that i would dream such things, and then set about our days.  

I left my desk for a few minutes, however, and when i returned to my computer, this was on my screen...

Rob had been busy at my terminal.  And if you can't read it, it says:

17 Items

1. Try to take over the world
2. Repeat
3. Repeat
   
4. Repeat
   
5. Repeat
   
6. Repeat
   
7. Repeat
   
8. Repeat
   
9. Repeat
   
10. Repeat
    
11. Repeat
12. Repeat
    
13. Repeat
    
14. Repeat
    
15. Repeat
    
16. Repeat
    
17. Go to sleep

You may or may not be familiar with Warner Brothers 1990's animated characters "Pinky and the Brain", but they're two lab mice who sort of function as defacto mascots for us here in the Life Mission Department.  Each episode featuring them revolves around one central scheme and one central line of dialogue.  It goes something like Pinky asking Brain "What are we going to do tonight, Brain?" and Brain always replying, "The same thing we do every night, Pinky... try to take over the world!!!"  In no small way, we're trying every day here to "take over the world" for the Kingdom of God.  Often we have the same kind of "anvil on your head" failure that other cartoon characters experience, and we're always cognizant that in the scheme of things, we're not much more visible than a couple of lab mice working away daily at our central mission.  But some days... and with more and more hope, we are part of something that is growing.  And we're increasingly aware that we're not the only "Pinkies" and "Brains" out there.  There are hordes of them, in fact, working every day to do the same things we're trying to do in bringing "Up There to Down Here" in real and tangible ways.  I call them Smart Zombies.  Are you one?

When I Was Just a Wee Zombie...

This is me (yes, i had hair at one time) and my friend Paul Bengds at 15 and 16 years old, respectively.  We met in 1988 on our first short-term summer mission trip through Teen Missions, International.  During that time, we spent the better part of 80 days together winding through the canals and locks of England on canal boats and the hills of Scotland by bike as part of a 20 person team that included other teens from around the country and Canada.  Our mission?  Open air "street" evangelism in major port cities ranging from Birmingham (England's second largest city) to Glasgow. 

Paul and i actually returned to TMI the next year and spent three gruelling months in Papua New Guinea on a hospital construction team, and then i returned a year later on another team to Budapest, Hungary.  These trips set the tone for the passion for Mission that has continued to burn in me through the rest of my adult life, and as I look back at my developing years of adolescense and young adulthood, stand out like mountain peaks among the myriad other formative experiences.

One other note:  although Paul and i became such good friends that we continued to visit and write each other for nearly a decade after our initial foray into Missions together, somewhere over the last ten years, we eventually lost touch.  I figured we'd probably never reconnect until he found me on Facebook a couple of months ago, and we have been re-igniting old memories and contemporary stories about where God has taken us over the years.  I tell you... Facebook is a wonderful thing!

Other Eyes On Target...

I have a friend in India right now, leading a group of people through some of the major areas where the ministry he works for are doing the bulk of their service.   He is a man of incredible wisdom and experience, has served as a mentor for many of us on staff here at GCC, and has helped to plant more than 40,000 churches worldwide in the last 25 years.  His name is Ron (last name omitted for security's sake), and he has a way with words and a good photographic eye to boot.  So why am i telling you this?  Because he's actually blogging his current trip!  You won't want to miss it.  I loaded up today's posts and saw what he saw sitting at the banks of the Ganges River near the town of Varnasi.  You can get there by clicking here, or going to the following link:   http://tourindiaoctober08.blogspot.com/

Holy Overstimulation, Batman!

Okay, through a bizarre and sudden combination of Birthdays, in-store credits, accumulated coupons, killer sales and Gamespot's already extensive collection of $5 - 10 PS2 used games, we walked away this weekend from the little store with enough PS2 adventure and drama to last us for several lifetimes, and all for...well... pretty much next to nothing.  While most of these titles won't compare to the newest and greatest next gen platoforms (hey, we haven't even played HALO 1 yet... much less HALO 3...sorry), they are setting up to be some serious fun for us who still have yet to make the next gen leap and are still in the land of Playstation 2.  Here's the quick rundown on what we picked up and our initial reactions:

Over the Hedge:  Yes, Peri picked this one up.  Actually, it's pret

ty good, not too difficult for small munchkins, and features many of the voices of the original cast (Steve Carrell doesn't do Hammy's voice, alas, and i'm pretty sure Avril doesn't do Heather, but Bruce Willis does RJ and m

ost of the others seem consistent).  It blends all the wackiness of mind-controlled gophers and REALLY serious yard security systems with the fun personalities of

 the movie... if you liked the movie.

Avatar:  The Last Airbender:  As with Over the Hedge, if you like the Avatar animated series, you'll probably like the game.  My personal opinion is that it's a little too cumbersome and tedious to be really enjoyable, and 

hasn't received much play time from either kid, but when we get bored of the other titles, will probably be a good stand-by.  I hope.  

Marvel:  Ultimate Alliance:  Okay, this one is my biggest disappointment, actually.  I really liked the idea of being able to select my favorite heroes from various Marvel comic series, and i had read reviews that said that the

 gameplay was worthy of notice.  I found, however, that it's 

virtually the same as previously released X-Men series, and the gameplay is basically just lots and lots of repeated smashing of things.  Granted, if you were a superhero flying on an enemy airship miles above earth fighting legions of robotic minions, "smashing things" would probably be a good use of your time, but after a few minutes, it made me start wondering how long it could continue.

Star 

Wars Battlefront and Battlefront II:  Okay, now these games ROCK!  As far

 as first person shooters go, i haven't seen their equal (again, barring some of the newer next gen games, i'm sure).  And the great part is, you can choose from a variety of sides, functions and perspectives.  Need to take out a tank?  No problem, respawn as a rocket-equipped storm trooper.  Need to pilot that snow speeder?  No problem, respawn as a Rebel pilot.  Need to take down 30 s

uper battle droids?  No problem, play as the Jedi-Knight Mace Windu.  The controls are easy to use and master (very straight forward) and playing through historical campaigns reminisces nicely of the movies.  These are great games!!!   

Lego Batman:  THIS was the gem in the stash.  We have played at least one other LEGO version (Star Wars II) and found it funny, fun and pleasantly challenging enough to hold interest while not being impossible to play.  Batman was likewise no disappointment in the same vein, and we have all had great fun running across Gotham rooftops as the Dynamic Duo, or donning our bad-guy masks and parading through Arkham Assylum as Poison Ivy, Clayface, Joker and the like as well.  These games are brilliant blends of tongue-in-cheek fun and genuine g

ameplay, and i'd highly recommend them to anyone.  We'll be seeking LEGO Indiana Jones when we've had our fill of Batman!   

ONE Prayer Update: Cambodia

Crew!  Bob Craft (our ministry contact for Cambodia) sent this in.  Enjoy! -sj

**********

Cambodia was country divided by a civil war, a holocaust and then invaded by enemies from a neighboring country. There are far too many stories of war, of refugees and the sheer struggle to survive. But by the grace of God, some have managed to emerge from the pain with amazing testimonies to the love of God.

In 1983, Lim left Phnom Penh city to live in the Rithy Sen, and join the resistance army to fight against the army of the State of Cambodia government. He was commander of 30 soldiers in the resistance movement. He was a cruel person and dictator. He fought in many battles, there was even one time when he was surrounded by the State of Cambodia army, and was almost killed. He lay unconscious for about three days and three nights. And apart from battles with human enemies, he almost died from malaria.  He finally fled across the Thai border to a refugee camp. 

In 1985, he left the army, and lived in City Two, Rithy Sen refugee camp. He became a teacher at a small school in the refugee camp. He had four friends who were teachers, and one of them, Mr. Sothy, was a Christian. Mr. Sothy shared the good news of Jesus Christ with Lim saying that Jesus was the Savior and those who believed in Him would be saved from sins and have eternal life.  He shared about Christ three times, so Lim got very angry with him, and had some students tie Mr. Sothy up to a cross and tickle him, humiliating him by saying “if your God is true and living, let Him help you”. Mr. Sothy was very upset at this treatment, so finally Lim’s students let Mr. Sothy go. Lim had grown up like 90% of his Cambodian peers, he practiced Buddhism and Brahmanism in the tradition of his ancestors. He had no use for Christians and their foreign religion. 

In 1986, he moved to another refugee camp, and got into trouble when he broke the rules of the camp. The Thai soldiers who guarded this new camp always arrested those who broke the law in the K.I.D. camp, and moved them back to the camps nearer the border. Lim often hid himself from the Thai guards in a deep pit from which he could look to the outside only through a small hole. One Saturday in February of 1986, there was a big raid by Thai solders to arrest law breakers in the camps, so Lim and his friends got so frightened that they hid themselves in the pit for the whole night.  Early in the morning on Sunday, Lim heard a voice outside the pit through the small hole saying, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” It was the words of God speaking to him to seek God! He left the pit for another friend’s house and took a bath. There he met an English teacher named Chann who was going to church. Chann asked Lim to go to church with him (as he had asked once before) so Lim decided to go with him as he was curious to know about this God who could help humans and “give them rest”. At the church, he sat at the back corner of the meeting so that he could observe, but he criticized and cursed them in his heart. Despite the struggle going on in his heart and mind, he decided to read some small Christian booklets, and then finished reading the New Testament three times in one week! 

Each time he read the New Testament, it spoke deeper and deeper to his heart and life. Lim had come to put his trust in Jesus Christ and opened his life to the Holy Spirit of God. Lim became full of joy, and no longer feared being arrested by the soldiers. He studied the Word of God with the pastor and a group Christians. Lim immediately went out to share the Good News with other people. Many people listened to the words of God as Lim taught them as much as he knew.  Sometimes he felt like he had taught them correctly and sometimes he did not, so when he went back home, he studied even harder. He started going to share the Good News in the hospital and prison. In the villages, they had twenty five bible study groups and there were hundreds of people accepting Jesus Christ. Although Lim never studied at the Bible school, and never had a diploma, God has chosen him to serve Him in church planting ministry.  Lim has dedicated himself to establishing groups of believers in unreached areas of Batambang province. Lim is a leader and trainer in the One Prayer church planting initiative.

ONE Prayer Update: India

Crew!  Here's another ONE Prayer update.  This one is from India and from the mouth (erm...keyboard) of our brother Raj  about one of the ONE Prayer church planters in Tamilnadu! -sj

********

Brother Jeyapaul was born deaf to a poor Hindu family. As a result, he was not allowed to study beyond 4th grade. In order to survive, he found all sorts of odd-jobs serving in restaurants, agriculture and road work, all of which were paid on daily wage basis. Many times, he did not get any job.

Because of his low status and physical disability, no girl was willing to marry him. As a result, he married an orphan girl from the nearby state of Kerala. She was a professional witch, and each week, as many as 70 people would come to her to ask her to solve their various problems through her ability to manipulate evil spirits. Later, when Jeyapaul and his wife had a daughter, they found that she was born mute. Until at the age of six, she could not speak even a single word. At that time, Jeyapaul himself became sick and bed ridden. His wife tried to heal him using all her spiritist means, but every thing was in vain. It was also during this time that a group of Christians came to that village to do open air evangelism. When Jeyapaul and his family heard that Jesus can heal any sickness, they invited the Christians to pray for him. He was miraculously healed! Then after joining the local church, they began to pray for his daughter. Immediately she started speaking as well! After that, his wife decided to follow this powerful God, and as a family they started sharing their testimony, which brought many people to Christ.

When God called Jeyapaul to do His ministry, he sold all his tools at half rate in order to acquire a little initial capital for books and supplies. He approached different organization to get an opportunity to learn to pastor and plant churches, but all of them rejected him because he was not educated either in secular college or in seminary. He asked his wife to help him. He said he wanted to study the Bible and pray for3 years, so that he will know the word of God to teach others. His wife decided to help him, and by hiring herself out as a day laborer, was able to acquire about 75 cent per day for the work she did (all the while honoring God by giving a tithe of about 7 cents). One day, when he was praying, his daughter asked for a few cents to buy some toffee. Since he did not have the money, he was feeling so bad and asked God if he would help him to provide something kind and compassionate for his daughter. After he finished praying, his daughter came to him holding some sweets in her little hands. When he asked where she had acquired the candy, the little girl pointed to a raven perching on a branch nearby. The raven left, and then came back with more candy for the little girl. This continued for three days, during which time, Jeyapaul came across the passage in 1Kings 17 where Elijah was fed by ravens in the wilderness. He was so shocked that he began to call people to him, instructing them about this God who can feed his children, even from the mouths of the birds of the air. As a result, more than 27 people came to Christ during this period.

Later, the Lord directed Jeyapaul to go to a small village called Kodimangalam. This village has 4,000 houses. There are 28 temples and 32 priests serving in those temples. There are 4 Hindu spiritists (witch-doctors) functioning in this village. There are also 17 prostitutes living in the area. When he came to do ministry in this village, no one would provide him with a house. As a result, the first day, he had to sleep on the road with his wife’s old saree wrapped around him. The next day, he found a house for $3 rent per month. When he started sharing Christ, the head of the village man, Palanisamy, chased him out of the village. He was there out in the village for 12 days, without any food. Then one man from that village who opposes Palanisamy gave his cow shed. Jeyapaul started staying there and doing ministry, and while he continues to meet significant opposition, threats and persecution, God is doing great things in the village as he seeks to plant a church there, and also in a village nearby

When Jeyapaul heard that we are training Church planters, he rushed to us and begged to be allowed to participate in the training program. Through the ONE Prayer movement, we are so happy to say that Jeyapaul is being trained to do ministry more effectively, and that he is proceeding through the training curriculum with great enthusiasm. He told us recently, that “I am so thrilled [to be receiving this training] and now have confidence and tools that will help me to plant a Church with 1000 people in it some day!” 

ONE Prayer Update: China

See below for most recent post from China for the ONE Prayer network! -sj

**********

In July of 2004, the daughter of Victor Zhang became 

seriously ill. The doctors in the city where he lived told him that his daughter had only a few weeks left to live, and could offer no hope for her condition to improve.

Looking for ways to rescue his daughter, Victor decided to take her to Harbin, a larger city nearby, in the hope that the more sophisticated and famous hospitals and doctors would be able to help. These hopes were unrealized, however, when the doctors’ answers were the same in each instance: “sorry, but we cannot help.”

Eventually, a smaller hospital in the region agreed to try to

 help and treat his daughter’s illness, but the prognosis remained bleak in regard to their confidence that they would be able to do more than just try to keep her comfortable.

At that point, Victor and his family turned to Jesus for help, and began praying for his daughter as a result of his newfound faith. Quickly, his daughter began to show signs of improvement, and a month later she was even able to get up from her bed. As a result, many patients, relatives and even the doctors themselves began inquiring about the nature of the dramatic recovery, and that is when Victor started to preach Jesus Christ boldly to those in the hospital.

Even though the 

treatment for Victor’s daughter has continued for two more years at the hospital, groups of believers have steadily begun to meet under Victor’s leadership and pastoral care. In fact, Victor and his family eventually decided to stay in Harbin in order to be able to continue the church planting ministry God so specifically and directly laid upon their hearts.

Now, through the training and help provided through the ONE Prayer Network, Victor is planting churches in the neighborhood where his daughter’s hospital continues to operate, offering worship services at the hospital and helping those in residence there to find salvation for both body and soul through Jesus Christ.

“Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods! For who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who knows enough to be his counselor?” 
Rom. 11:33-34; (NLT)

“This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” John 11:4; (NIV)

ONE Prayer Update: Sudan

Crew!  Here's the latest update from Sudan for the ONE Prayer Network.  Enjoy! -sj

********

Twenty church planters and a lot

 of other people attended the training in eastern Sudan in September.  It is becoming harder and harder to limit the training only to the church planters enrolled in the year long program.  The objective is to take a cohort of new church planters through training that focuses on the skills needed for each stage of church planting, but as time goes on, more people hear about the sessions and just show up. 

Like Jesus model with his disciples, the twenty church planters have been sent out two by two after each training session.  At this session, all ten reported that they have started a ministry center.  The three largest have between 25 and 30 adults at regular worship services, all from mixed Muslim and animist backgrounds.

Each team of workers is related to a “mother” church which takes responsibility for the emerging new congregation.  The leaders of these churches met with the trainers and shared how they are encouraged to be “totally active” in the new churches.  (It is wonderful to see these leaders so energized by the success of their missionary teams.  Many “mother” churches have been in survival mode, convinced that they cannot reach Moslems.  Now with training and experience, the new groups are already talking about how to reach other villages and will bring plans and prayers to the December training session.)

I Should Have Been a Drill Sargeant...

I probably missed my calling as a US Marine Corps Drill Sergeant, but i make up for some of that through training our India Teams to get them ready for the field. One thing that we do that i find to be both fun and fairly unique is a combined set of "simulations" where team members prepare to see how they will do physically during their time in India. You see, on the field, they will experience travel fatigue, sleeping on dirt floors, excess of hundred degree heat, carting luggage over the proverbial river and through the woods, and all sorts of new and different things that will tax them physically, psychologically and spiritually. So... to get them ready for the experience, we design a weekend long simulation that looks like the following:

Friday Night - Sleep on your floor. No fair dragging your mattress onto the ground, but it doesn't matter whether you have carpet, hard wood or linoleum. The idea is that you will most likely be sleeping on the floor in India, so just changing your sleeping position and normal level of comfort will help you get a feel for what that will be like.

Saturday Morning - Wake up early and head to GCC to participate in 2nd Saturday. The idea is that you are dong something "active".

Saturday Afternoon/Evening - After finishing 2nd Saturday, we meet back at GCC, grab a quick bite to eat together, and then head to Potato Creek State Park with everyone's gear packed the way they're going to be taking it to India. At Potato Creek, the teams will hike (with their luggage) through Trail I for a distance over mud and trails of about 2.2 miles. It's not that big of a deal, but if you get tired of carrying your 26 lb makeup kit during that time, better to find out this side of the travel timeline than in India and having to toss it on the field. When finished, team members are dismissed to run home, get a quick shower, and head back to church, where we meet to sit together at the 5 pm worship service at GCC.

Saturday Night - Sleep on your floor...again. By this point, you should be a little sore from Friday night, plus good and tired from the day.

Sunday Morning - Wake up and see how you feel. Whether good or bad, it's probably a airly decent indicator as to how you're going to feel on an average day in India. Once you figure out how you're doing, send Jack an e-mail telling him such. If you're grouchy and sore, then you'll probably want to increase your physical fitness regimen before you go. If you're "just fine", don't get cocky, but be glad that you're on the right track.

The simulations are "required" and are not optional, and we are offering them for the December India Team window on three separate dates (each revolving around the Second Saturdays in October, November and December). For the October option, the following people participated (see picture above - left to right): Ron Twedt (Justice), Mike Ryan (Tech), Elaine Ryan (Construction), Ted Bryant (Justice), Jennifer Kukla (Water), Nancy Leist (Construction), Greg Schermier (Construction).