ONE Prayer Field Report: China

One Prayer China Update from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

Hey, friends! We'll be loading this field report to the ONE Prayer site pretty quickly, but i wanted to go ahead and put it up here as well. Enjoy!

ONE Prayer Field Report: India (Part 3)

One Prayer India Update Segment 3 from BXFilms on Vimeo.

ONE Prayer Field Report: India (Part 2)

One Prayer India Update Segment 2 from BXFilms on Vimeo.

ONE Prayer Field Report: India (Part 1)

One Prayer India Update Segment 1 from BXFilms on Vimeo.

Water and Light...

Last week, i had the privilege to baptizing a gentleman named Kassi. Kassi is the village elder for the small community of Irula with whom we have the great opportunity to partner near the town of Kalavai in Southern India. This was not only a tremendous event in Kassi's life, but for the life of the village as a whole since Kassi holds so much influence within it.

To illustrate, Kassi is the gentleman who, on one of my last trips to his village, said with great passion to me as we prepared to leave, "You know... the word 'Irula' actually means 'People of Darkness'. And for many hundreds of years, we have been People of Darkness. We have had no Hope. But now, that is no longer the case. Rather, since Pastor Sam (the indigenous church planter with whom we work), the teams from Life Mission, and GCC have begun to come and to help us... well... NOW, we are the People of Light! The Darkness is fading away, and the Light is coming!"

Indeed, the Light is coming... and Kassi is a part of it as it illuminates this small community of the truly "least of the least" in Indian culture. We are privileged to be part of that transformation with him, and look forward to seeing how we can continue to partner with them to bring Up There Down Here!

ONE Prayer Field Report: India (Opener)

While in India this past week, we had the chance to do another Field Report for the ONE Prayer network in addition to accompanying 30 people from Granger Community Church. Like the series of videos from Cambodia in previous posts, the video above serves as an "opener" for the India series. I'll post those as soon as they are up.

Upcoming India Team: Commissioning Service

GCC March 2010 India Team Trip Commissioning from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

Last week, we had the opportunity to commission our current India Team in a fun and unique way. As this round of teams from GCC will feature a Creative Arts element, we had both a celebratory concert for families and supporters that also served as a sort of "dress rehearsal" for the team. The service was attended by about 100 friends and family, and we enjoyed a time of worship, Communion and fun! See the video excerpt above for a quick glimpse.

ONE Prayer Field Report: India (Rock Fort)

One Prayer India Update - ROCK FORT from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

One of the significant privileges of both my life and my job is getting to hang out regularly with D. Rajendran (or "The Raj", as we affectionately refer to him). He runs all the field ops, church planter training programs and administrative infrastructure for Life Mission International in Southern India, and i consider him to be one of my greatest friends as well. As you watch the video above, i hope you're struck (as i am regularly) at the aggressiveness and fruitfulness of our Indian brothers and sisters as they go to the quite literal "ends of the earth" to not only engage people through planting local churches, but their everyday lives as well through real world needs on the ground in the communities in which they operate.

2nd Saturday: Books!

2nd Saturday Books for India from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

In addition to the Crocs packed at Feed the Children during this past 2nd Saturday, GCC teams also had the opportunity to prepare and sort loads of children's books that we will also be hand-carrying to India. These books are provided through partnership with Better World Books (a company that sells used books online, is based here in Michiana, and is an exceptionally socially transparent organization), and will help significantly with our Conversational English teams in India.

"But why English language books, Jack? I mean...don't these kids speak Tamil?", you might ask. Well, yes, they speak Tamil, but in India, in order to have a shot at a better life, engage in commerce or trade, or attend good schools, you need to be able to speak English. Why? Well, in the case of the latter, all the classes at top universities are offered in English. You see, although the national language in India is Hindi, the language for all practical, technical and commercial transactions is English. Want to succeed in the emerging Indian global powerhouse? Gotta speak English. These books will help.

2nd Saturday: Crocs!

2nd Saturday Crocks from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

Hey! At 2nd Saturday this past weekend, we had the opportunity to add to our normal activities of packing food and personal care boxes a chance to pack pairs of Crocs shoes at Feed the Children. These Crocs will be hand-carried by GCC India teams in a couple of weeks to the places where we are working on the ground, and will be integrated into the Health and Hygiene curriculum deployed during that time-frame.

ONE Prayer Field Report: Episode IV

Here is the next installment of our ONE Prayer field reports from Cambodia. Pretty exciting stuff!

The Greatest Invention in the History of EVER!

See this tiny black box? Want to know what it is? It's a new "Proclaimer" and is supplied by our new friends at Faith Comes by Hearing. What does it do? Why, it plays dramatized (depending on the language and region) the Bible in audio-book format in hundreds of languages around the world. And it's completely self-contained! It has a combined solar-cell on the back plus a hand-crank on the side to supply solar/manual power for the unit almost indefinitely, and a series of very simple buttons (power, play/pause, book, chapter, volume) for operation.

Why am i so geeked about this? I mean... you can buy the Bible on MP3 for your iPod right? What's with all the "self contained solar" stuff? Well, many of us can purchase the Bible for our iPods, but most of the rest of the world still cannot. In fact, most of the rest of the world (particularly the places where GCC and the ONE Prayer network are focusing) not only do not have iPods, but even if they did, they couldn't power, charge or use them. In addition, even with print Bibles, the bulk of the populations couldn't read them because the literacy rate is so low. The only solution for places like those is a self-contained, self-powered audio version of the Scripture that can be played even when the local church planter and pastor are not there to read the text to/for them. And THIS is IT!!!

We'll be field-testing these little beauties over the next three months to see how they roll in some of the rural and remote communities where we are working, and i'll relay feedback as we see how they do!

Haiti: "Jesus is Here"

If you've been breathing and conscious at all in the last two weeks, you've probably been glued to the television and Internet News about the horror that is happening in Haiti and is the result of a 7.5 earthquake off its coast that has left the already beleaguered nation in even more of a state of crisis.

So have we.

As a result, more than $20,000 from GCC families has been collected over the last two weeks, and will be going to supply direct aid, rescue and relief to Haitian families through our dear friends and valued partners at World Relief. Why World Relief? Well, many know that our typical MO is to resource networks of indigenous churches whenever we do anything anywhere in the world, and that the center for our focus as a local church is in Southern India. However, we resource those networks often through coordination with well-defined partner agencies, often who have global networks of their own and are capable of specializing in particular areas or geographies. In relation to disaster relief, World Relief is among the world's top agencies, and they understand the call and design to resource indigenous local churches the same way that we do. In Haiti in particular, they have been working for the better part of 18 years to build relationships with hundreds of national churches, and so, now that there is a need for immediate action and infrastructure, are strategically positioned to deliver aid through grass-roots networks of Haitian pastors and partners on the ground.

You can hear what our Senior Pastor, Mark Beeson, has to say about this by clicking here, but i wanted to tell you a quick story from our field partners operating in the region. It's about the picture that you see here.

"On yesterday’s conference call, Stephan shared a story about a pregnant woman named Thamar whose legs were crushed when a building fell on her during the quake. She survived, found her way to a hospital where her leg was casted, and gave birth to a baby boy in the aftermath of the earthquake. She named him Jesula, 'Jesus is here'"

Indeed, Jesus is here. Even in Haiti. Even right now. In fact, from my perspective, "Jesus is here" most when the People of God show up and do what they are called to do in the places of greatest need and greatest darkness. "Jesus is here" when Thamar and Jesula receive food, water, shelter and medical attention because people like World Relief reach into the darkness of tragedy to be Light and Healing. In short, i guess, "Jesus is here" when we, as His people, "are here"... or "there", wherever "there" may be.

I'm pleased to join you in answering that call to "be" wherever "there" may be, wherever you may serve and in whatever capacity it may be in the Kingdom.

Pink Isn't Really My Color, But...

If you walked through our area here at the Life Mission Department at Granger Community Church, you'd see stacks upon stacks of backpacks (like the one featured here) sitting throughout it. Now, as much as i'd like to tell you that "there's something i've been meaning to tell you... i'm REALLY a closet Hello Kitty fan!", that's really just not the case.

Rather, for the last several months, the All Stars (children's) ministry and families from Granger Community Church have been bringing in a stockpile of backpacks and school supplies for our teams travelling to India in March of 2010 to take with them.

Each one of these backpacks contains the following:

* 4 sheets of construction paper

* 1 spiral notebook

* 1 folder

* 1 chalk

* 4 colored pencils

* 1 package of M&M's

* 1 package of crayons

* 1 glue

* 1 ruler

* 1 scissors

* 1 package of markers

* 40 pencils

* 2 large (hand held) erasers + pencil top erasers

* 2 pens

* 1 small chalk board

* 1 coloring book

* 1 Beanie Baby stuffed animal

* 1 pencil sharpener

* 3 glue sticks

These packs will be distributed to children in the Kalavai Irula Community in India who are now attending school for the first time EVER in the life of their village and community, and we are thrilled at the opportunity to provide a link for the children in our community to serve and partner with the children of our Indian brothers and sisters overseas! We'll also be taking more things along with us, and i'll post more about that in subsequent posts.

ONE Payer Field Report: Episode III

Tale of Two Kingdoms Part 2 from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

Here is the next episode from our Field Report to India and Cambodia for the ONE Prayer network. Stay tuned for the next episode, where we begin to unfold the tremendous work that is going on through ONE Prayer planters and church networks in this nation!

Me and My Friend, Rajasuri!

I had the privilege to meet my friend Rajasuri several months ago when visiting our partnerships in the Kalavai Irula Colony. She's my daughter's age, and i connected with her quickly because i saw Peri when i looked into Rajasuri's eyes! I'm so pleased to be able to tell her story here! Enjoy!

ONE Payer Field Report: Episode II

Tale of Two Kingdoms - Part 1 from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

Here's the second of our ONE Prayer Field Reports from India and Cambodia last month. Once again, Gene Ort has done a fantastic job blending fantastic footage that he took of Angkor Wat with great music to form the first of a two part story that we wanted to tell of "A Tale of Two Kingdoms".

ONE Prayer Field Report: Opener

One Prayer Update Episode 1 from Gene Ort on Vimeo.

I had the privilege of travelling with Mr. Gene Ort for two weeks as we visited India and Cambodia to put together the field reports for the ONE Prayer network for both of those countries, and what is above is the "opener" for the series of video shorts that he has put together since returning. In addition to being a world class friend, you will notice quickly that Gene is also a world class videographer and photographer as everything that you see here is original footage from our trip. I'm telling you that because you'll probably wonder if we sniped the footage from National Geographic or something... but nope... all from Gene's hand and handiwork. He even sourced the score from music he tapped through his business (GMP Productions). I'll be posting additional video shorts as we get them, but wanted to put the first one here!

Not In Kansas Anymore, Toto!

Okay, we woke up this morning with steel grey skies and a light drizzle. No biggie... no danger, but apparently, there has been a cyclone brewing just off the coast of Chennai that was spewing tropical air toward us that might prevent our shooting outdoor video footage if it didn't let up. But we set out anyway toward a series of three villages near the city of Vellavedu in the hopes of doing some ground survey and recon for community development initiatives, and figured we would take our chances with the weather.

We got to the first village (which i will talk about more after this post) and did just fine for about the first 3 hours, but then the rain started coming.... and coming... and coming. We managed to finish up there, and moved to dryer spots for lunch, and then decided to wait till the rain let up before we tried village #2. It's now 7 pm, and still coming down forcefully at intermittent junctures, so we're going to change plans tomorrow and head to Kalavai a day earlier, with a goal of stopping back by Vellavedu on the way back to Chennai before we head to Cambodia. You can pray that we don't get rained out there too, particularly as filming in muddy slush is no more fun for Gene Ort than it is for me to talk in it. More later!

BACK... in India...

So... Gene Ort and i set out on a 3 year mission to explore strange new life and new civilizations... to boldly go where no one has gone before! Cue the silly 70's theme music.

Okay, so we're not going to be gone for 3 years (whoof, thank goodness! I'd die from Wife-withdrawal), and considering how often we come to India, it's not exactly a "new" civilization (especially when you consider that Indian culture itself has been around for about 6 millenia), but we're here to do some pretty fantastic stuff, and so i'll be blogging about it over the next couple of days as we go. Here's the quick itinerary:

India
* We're going to be doing field and survey work for the March, 2010, India teams, and also spending some time doing preliminary recon on another village where we might start community development initiatives in 2011 or 2012. We'll start just outside of Chennai, work our way down to Kalavai, then back up to Trichy, and finally back to Chennai, where we'll stage for our next leg of the trip.

Cambodia
* That's right! On the back end of India, Gene and i will be popping over to Cambodia to do our field visit for our friends at the ONE Prayer network. We'll join Bob Craft (coordinated through our associates at Bible League Canada), Vibol Uong and Setha Say (with the National Cambodian Church Planters Network) in the north end of the country (with a walk through the Angkor Wat temple complex), and then on to the South to visit the Killing Fields and see mature churches planted through the first cycle of the ONE Prayer planter training process.

AND... the most excellent Michelle Wegner will be uploading our Cambodia stuff (because it has to do with ONE Prayer) to oneprayer.com if you'd like to follow along there starting on Dec 10th.

Assessment Thus Far...

This is Elijah's quick assessment of India before collapsing into bed for the evening. 

Flowers and Friends!

We landed in Chennai and were promptly met by good friends!  Featured here are Life Mission International (LMI) staff members Anand and Prema (aka "The General").  Anand runs all of the administrative, logistical and financial components of LMI, and has been a good friend since 2005 when we first met in Kanyakumari on a Tsunami rebuilding project where we partnered with our good friends at The Bible Leauge and Habitat for Humanity.  

Prema is the wife of D. Rajendran, our Director for LMI (who had pastoral responsibilities in Trichy and was unable to join us until Sunday night), and a formidible and phenomenal force for Jesus herself in Southern India.  Anyone who knows Prema simply knows here as "The General".  Though slight in appearance and warm in expression, Prema is a powerhouse of action and strength.  

We were greeted with warm hugs and fresh flower lai's, a symbol of Indian hospitality, and then promptly headed to the hotel for a decent, though short, night's sleep. 

No... Actually, It's Nothing Like Real Indian Food...

In my humble opinion, British Airways has the best airline food for the trek between Chicago and India, and it was Elijah's first try at airline food since he was just a little guy and we were on our way to visit my parents somewhere that required flight.  

And to his credit, he dug right in to red-bean dahl, yellow rice, curried veggies and rice yogurt when the attendant put it in front of him on our London/Chennai leg.  To his great delight (and surprise), he loved it!  

Only thing is, the freeze-dried, instant-warmed stuff that made it to his plate actually tastes NOTHING like the delectible delicacies he'll experience once we hit tarmack in India.  But at least it was a good start.  Better to have him love the Indian food on the plane and then be absolutely sent into an orbit of ecstacy when he tastes the real thing, than to assume that the airline food is actually representative of Indian cuisine and write it off altogether.

Good to Go!

Our neighbor took this quick shot of us loading up our Toyota Matrix to head to Chicago.  Elijah is sporting his new Star Wars Clone Trooper ball cap, which we are ABSOLUTELY certain will have tremendous cross-cultural value, Sami is comfortable and snuggly for the long trip, and i... of course... am dressed in my standard loadout plus warmer shirt.  We're prepped!  What you can't see, however, is enough video equipment and other gear to film "Out of Africa".  Poor Matrix... she's gonna need some suspension work after this trip.  

Zombies in Space: T-minus...

In about 48 hours, 3 of the 4 Magruders (me, Sami and Elijah) will be on our way to Chicago to begin our next adventure.  We'll be spending about 10 days in the three countries of India, Cambodia and Thailand, and we'll be posting here to this blog (as well as Twitterlinking) as much and as often as is possible along the way.  The following is a rough schedule of what we're going to be doing and how we're going to be serving our brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God on the other side of the world:

India

*  April 3 - 5 - Travel to India/Acclimate

*  April 6 - 7 - Train latest batch of 50 church planters in final module of PDC (401).  Graduation and commissioning ceremony to follow training.

* April 8 - Travel to Phnom Phen, Cambodia

Cambodia

* April 8 - Arrive in Pnom Phen, Cambodia, meet National Cambodia Church Network staff and church planters (they are ONE Prayer network partners)

* April 9 - 10 - Travel to remote rural villages to film and survey ONE Prayer planter work going on there.

* April 11 - Additional filming in Phnom Phen for ONE Prayer, plus visit of Royal Palace and infamous Killing Fields.

Thailand

* April 12 - Easter!!!  We'll, i've never been overseas during Easter, so this will be a first.  We only have about 9 hours in Bangkok to just hang out, and I'm not sure what we'll be able to see or do in that timeframe, or how tired we'll be, but we're ABSOLUTELY going to try to enjoy some authentic Thai food since our whole family digs it!  If we're lucky, the real stuff might be as good as Noodle Alley in Mishawaka :- ):  Either way, though, we'll be celebrating in our hearts with everyone here back in the back in the US as we remember the signficance of the day as the first glimpse of the Kingdom of God in this world!  Happy Easter!

We get back on Monday, April 13th, and will be glad to reconnect with the Peri-berry then!  We're already pretty sure we're going to go through some significant withdrawal in not having her vibrant little light in our world while away, but we're already set up to Skype and web-cam, and are sure she will be having fun with her grandparents while we are away.

Elijah will be posting as well while travelling, so stay tuned as i'll be excited to show you his first impressions of the things he sees "from a kid's point of view".  

9 Minutes!

During my time in Sudan, I enjoyed the laid-back, joyful lifestyle of the Sudanese people, so my last few minutes in Sudan were certainly the most eventful.  We were saying our "good-byes" to the church planters and new friends on the dirt runway, as the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) flight was landing to pick us up.  Right after the plane landed, the pilot hurried out of the plane and urged us to board the plane immediately.  She briefly explained that she heard "reports of gunfire in the area" and "was barely able to land the plane!"  We cut our goodbyes short, boarded quickly, and prayed for safety. 

After an otherwise uneventful flight back to Uganda, we overheard our pilot describe the incident by stating, "I was only on the ground nine minutes!"  That's right, from touchdown to take-off, including loading up the plane with our bags and ourselves, we were off the ground in nine minutes.  We made it out safely, and when we arrived in Uganda, I telephoned the church plant trainer back in Sudan who assured me that they were also safe. 

This whole event showed me how clearly God poured His grace out over us and the church planters during this time.  It also clearly shows some of the dangers that the church planters experience, as they spread the Gospel in Sudan.  Please remember them and their growing congregations in prayer.

I hope you take the time to watch the videos from Sudan on the website.  You can see a glimpse of what I saw in Sudan and see God’s movement there. 

Grace and blessings to you,

Brad

 

"Rough, but Good!"

I spent only four days in Sudan, but those four days will forever impact my life.  Conditions in Sudan are unlike any that I have seen before, due to the previous war and extreme poverty.  We traveled down war-torn, dirt roads that were jagged, and some made for a very rough ride.  During one journey, we were forced to carefully drive on a carved path because of the danger of land-mines.  These hazards, along with no electricity, no running water, malaria, malnutrition, and even death due to lack of healthcare are common perils that the Southern Sudanese people face daily. 

Over the four days that I was there, though, I wrapped myself in the lives of the Sudanese people and witnessed that in spite of the conditions there, our brothers and sisters had a true joy.  Alongside them in my time there, I experienced this joy, laughter, true worship, reverent prayer, brokenness for the lost, heartache for the oppressed, and thankfulness.  You see, the Southern Sudanese people are rejoicing in the midst of suffering, because they are experiencing God through church planting and ministry.  All the harsh conditions do not prohibit the Grace of God from being poured out on them.  Yes, God is moving in Sudan!  Please pray that He continues to breathe life and pour out His grace upon the Sudanese people! 

"Hi... I'm Brad!"

My name is Brad McElya.  I've done medical missions in a variety of capacities and now live in India with my wife, who works for a Christian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).  I was approached by my friends at Entermission to survey the work going on in Sudan through the ONE Prayer movement.  So, on March 15, 2009, I traveled to Uganda and then on to Southern Sudan for ONE Prayer.  I praise and thank God for the amazing opportunity I had to travel there and gain a larger vision of the Universal Church!  Our brothers and sisters in Sudan welcomed and embraced me with the love of Jesus Christ, blessing me abundantly.  

ONE Prayer: Brad McElya... "Contract Shooter"!

I want to introduce you to my friend Brad McElya!  He's a great guy, and husband to another great friend (Jill Ulrich/McElya)!  They both live in India, and work with bonded slave laborers and the Indian legal system.  They're amazing people, and it's a privilege to know and love them.

But the reason i want to introduce you to Brad is that he recently spent about 10 days in Sudan to gather necessary recon and reporting on the ONE Prayer work going on in that country.  His job was largely to photograph, record, report on that work, as well as train someone else to do the same for both this current cycle of ONE Prayer, as well as ONE Prayer '09/'10.  I think that Brad had a great experience in Sudan, and, as a result, what follows are 3 quick posts that i thought you would find interesting.  

Yeah... I Can TOTALLY Score You an Autograph!

I know cool people.  Seriously.  One of them is my friend Kem Meyer, our Director of Communications here at GCC and newly published author of her book titled "Less Clutter/Less Noise".  I've had the privilege of watching and getting to know Kem for years now, and can honestly say that if she's talking, you should probably be writing it down.  Now, however, she's done you the favor of writing it down for you, and you can get the benefit of her collected wisdom in one convenient package (you can click here to get your copy through Amazon!).