Global Outreach 360 Degrees

Evangelical Tourism - Thought Provoking

Go360 is changing its international outreach strategy. I found this six-part documentary that captures the problem with the traditional short-term mission trip.

We are moving to a more wholistic approach, still going but teaching local doctors instead of treating local people. We want to transform the community in a way that is sustainable through training leaders to lead combined with a church planting strategy. Stay tuned for more on this six-part series and Go360’s direction.

 

 

EQUIP Leadership Conference, Pleebo, Liberia

Our trip to Liberia was without a doubt the most challenging but also the most exciting and rewarding of all my trips. Click Here for more info on Liberia. Our purpose was for Pastor Gary Serago, Pastor James Nyemah,  and myself to hold a John Maxwell’s EQUIP Leadership Conference for 500 pastors from churches all over Liberia. The count came in at close to 700. The conference was held in Pleebo, Liberia. Pastor James arranged everything from the Liberian side and delivered more than we were expecting. Pastor James estimates that we could have as many as 2000 if we had the facilities. One thing I was impressed with was that the Liberian Pastors paid to attend. This did not pay for the total cost of the conference but it is a step in the right direction. We started packing planning to get five people packed into a four person vehicle, but it meant that we would have to hold our luggage on our laps for 28 hours. There are no hospitals or rescue operations on this road. If one of us gets sick it means more than 28 hours. Thank God there was another vehicle available for hire. That relieved the luggage on our laps but we still had the 28 hour trip to look forward to after just making a 26 hour trip to get here. When you are faced with this kind of challenge you really have to believe in the “Law of Victory”. Plus, we are going to teach leadership principles to hundreds, so how could we as leaders accept anything less than success. We had to take on a “warrior mentality” or we would be defeated from the start. Your attitude is crucial once you find yourself in a situation like this. You can choose flight or fight.  Bring it on… The roads were absolutely terrible. I have traveled bad roads all over the world with some of the worst in India and Thailand but nothing compared to the road from Monrovia to Pleebo. There were many times I would have bet that sections of the road were impassable. We stopped only for side-of-the-road bathroom breaks and for one, four-hour sleep break for our drivers.  We slept in the car. Mosquitos were bad so the first thing on our return trip to Monrovia was to find malaria medicine, which you can’t find in the states just in case one or both of us came down with malaria. Food was another challenge. We could not eat the food or drink the water. Well, we could have but we did not want to pay the price. For eight days we ate protein bars, jerky, and nuts. I did eat some bananas. I was surprised that the diet we had worked out fine. We bought enough bottled water in Monrovia to last us, so we were good on clean water. So on Friday Day 3, we arrived in Pleebo, a bit beat up but we made it. Gary had some neck problems about twelve hours into the trip but 600 mg of ibuprofen seemed to manage the pain. It’s interesting how you adjust to your situation however we both felt like we had just completed some kind of reality show contest.                                                            THIS WAS THE GOOD PART     I NAMED THIS BRIDGE, "FAITH" PLEEBO,LIBERIA   Upon arriving we immediately made our way directly to the conference hall where hundreds of pastors were waiting for us. One thing you have to realize is that African worship services can go on for hours so even though we were 3 hours late they simply used that time for worship. The mayor of Pleebo greeted us and after a warm reception we made our way to the guesthouse for a quick shower. Our guesthouse had no running water and no electric except at night when they fired up the generator. You took bucket showers by dumping a bucket of kind of brown but cold water over your head while you stood in a sort of bathtub thing. Oh, and there were no towels but we were able to come up with a hand towel that we used all week. We had about 30 minutes before it was time for the first of six sessions. By this time a sudden burst of energy kicked in and we were ready to go.   TOWN HALL, OUR CONFERENCE CENTER   As we walked into the conference center you would have thought that Elvis had just entered the building. The first session went well. Africans like to participate with the speaker. The audience participation is something I need to work on but Gary is very good at interacting with the audience in fact, he is a natural. After the session we had a worship service and met with a few pastors before heading to the guesthouse for sleep. There was no problem going to sleep. On Saturday Day 4, we started after breakfast at about 9:00am. Of course breakfast for the two Americans consisted of, some jerky,  a hand full of nuts, a protein bar and some water. I finished up Session 2 and Gary delivered Session 3.

After lunch Gary finished Session 4 and it was time for dinner and yes, more worship service. Worship services started at 6:30 and finished  around 9:30. Off to bed and rest to get ready for Day 5 to finish the conference. Pastor James finished the last two sessions and did an outstanding job. Worship services started at 6:30 but this time it went until 11:00pm. It was long day but these people never lost their passion and energy as they sat through the training and the worship services.     Our trip back was nothing less than God intervening.  I had met Kendall Kauffeldt, Country Director for Samaritan’s Purse when we arrived. He had given me his number  in case we get into trouble.  Rest assured I hung on to it. I decided to call him to try and talk him into sending a helicopter for us as I was not looking forward to the 28 hour ride back followed by a 20+ hour flight home with layovers assuming everything went perfect. Doing this much traveling in one week made me feel a little uncomfortable, as I was not sure just how much this our bodies could take. God must have been with us because very rarely do they ever use the helicopter for transport for anything short of an emergency. It would be like calling an ambulance to take you to the airport. As I made my request    Mr. Kauffeldt said, “let me see what I can do”. The next day when I called back it was a go.  Plan A was for us to make our way to Fish Town, which was about 3 hours away. We would be extracted on Tuesday morning. I was thrilled. I thanked God. We finished our closing sessions and the mayor presented us with the key to the city and each of us received a full African dress. There is little doubt that the conference was a huge success. More than just the numbers was the excitement, appreciation, and hope that you could clearly see in the pastor’s faces. Never have I seen such faith as theirs. We left Pleebo on Tuesday morning Day 7. Plan A was to take the helicopter. But my short time in Liberia taught me to always have a Plan B and Plan C. Plan B was for the drivers to wait and make sure we actually took off. If anything happened we still had a small chance to make the drive to Monrovia in time for our flight back to the states, but it was a small chance. Plan C was to miss our flight and wait until possibly next week for another flight out.       But we were in God’s favor most likely from the prayers of family, friends, and of course, the hundreds of pastors that had recently become part of our extended family. The chopper arrived and took us back to Monrovia. From there we caught our flights, all on time or ahead of schedule and we arrived home safely on Thursday Day 9.

GARY'S NEW FRIEND I TOOK THIS SHOT EARLY IN THE MORNING ON OUR LAST DAY. IT IS A SUNRISE, NOT A SUNSET. MY PRAYER IS THAT LIBERIA IS RISING AND NOT SETTING                         THESE ARE THEIR GAS STATIONS         LOCAL CHILDREN   I SAT NEXT TO PILOT AND FILMED THIS AS WE TOOK OFF.. CHECK THIS OUT We will return in six months to continue the training. Plans will begin in January for a May return trip. Here will be the next action steps. Arrange a Skype meeting with the Liberian Country Director, Kendall Kauffeldt. Purpose: To discuss the possibility of transport round-trip two more times. Once in May and again in December 2012 to complete the Leadership Series. Arrange a meeting with the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Purpose: To discuss a country-wide strategy to bring Leadership training throughout Liberia Arrange a meeting with John Maxwell’s Equip’s Country Director to sync-up strategy and plans for the country of Liberia. Purpose to connect and leverage the key decision makers for the three strategic partners; Samaritan’s Purse, Liberia Government, and Equip. Work a schedule to complete the remaining 5 conferences in more trips using the below schedule: Day 1 – Saturday Leave Phoenix Day  2 Sunday Arrive Monrovia Day 3 Monday Chopper Pickup Night Worship Service and Pre-Registration (CCV Team not present) Day 4 – Tuesday – NOTEBOOK 2 Welcome 8:30 Session One 9:00-10:15 – Spkr 1 Session Two 10:30 – 11:45 – Spkr 2 Lunch Session Three 1:30- 2:45 – Spkr 3 Session Four 3:00 – 4:15  - Spkr 1 Dinner Session Five 6:00- 7:15 – Spkr 2 Session Six 7:30 – 8:45 -  Spkr 3 Day 5  - Wednesday  – NOTEBOOK 3 Session One 9:00-10:15 – Spkr 1 Session Two 10:30 – 11:45 – Spkr 2 Lunch Session Three 1:30- 2:45 – Spkr 3 Session Four 3:00 – 4:15  - Spkr 1 Dinner Session Five 6:00- 7:15 – Spkr 2 Session Six 7:30 – 8:45 -  Spkr 3 Day 6 –Thursday  – NOTEBOOK 4 Session One 9:00-10:15 – Spkr 1 Session Two 10:30 – 11:45 – Spkr 2 Lunch Session Three 1:30- 2:45 – Spkr 3 Session Four 3:00 – 4:15  - Spkr 1 Dinner Session Five 6:00- 7:15 – Spkr 2 Session Six 7:30 – 8:45 -  Spkr 3

In summary, I am excited to complete our work in Liberia. The people are so eager to learn and have such a gracious heart and we can learn so much from them. I look forward to returning to complete the work God started in Pleebo. We have learned how to solve many logistical problems so the next trip should go much smoother.

Reaching Out to "India's Shining"

			India is a country of 1.2 billion. It is greatly divided in to poor and rich classes. Let's call them 'Suffering India' and 'Shining India. Most of the evangelistic efforts have been done among the 'Suffering India' only and none for 'Shining India'. David and Sheelah Lall are long time missionaries born and raised in India. Their focus in 2012 is to reach out to  'Shining India'. As a first step they have started working among the 'privileged youth'. A Youth Center is opened in Chandigarh, a major business city in  North India. These young people are either students in the professional colleges or new entrepreneurs. These definitely are the future leaders of India. We want to reach them while they are young, train them to be Christian leaders. A great start has been establishing a weekly youth-friendly worship service. Their next step is to start Business English and Leadership Development classes involving Christian teachers and businessmen from India and United States. This will not only reach the ‘Shining India’ but also empower the today’s privileged youth, which in turn will strengthen the Kingdom. Check out the video… Not much different from youth groups here in the US.

 

 

Perseverance.....

I met Barb Garcia when we were youth coaches at a Halloween party. She spiked her hair and the kids loved it. Spiked hair in 1985 was a big deal. Little did we know that spiked hair in 2011 is not even noticed.

The story really begins about 18 years ago. At the time Barb Garcia, a single woman from CCV, went to Guinea West Africa with her colleague, Yolanda Shimada.  They were two white girls, moving to a remote primitive village in a third world country.  Please understand, there was no running water.  There was very little electricity [sometime there was electricity, sometimes there wasn't] these two women didn't speak the language of the people they were going to live with and the language wasn't written so there was nothing for them to "study".  Two white women in black Africa, alone.  In a remote village.  Get the picture?

Over time, the girls learned the language and began working on translating.  They were working with a team of people and so the work began to make some good progress.  The book of Ruth was the first completed project.  Nationals were hired to assist in the translation work.  Soon the nationals became good friends with the girls and other translation workers. 

Well, the entire Bible is now complete.  It took 18 years to do it.  Plenty of hard work.  More tears than anyone can measure.  A lot of sacrifice and personal pain too.  Some of the pain was physical; some of it was emotional, and even spiritual.  Every time a book of the Bible was about to go to print, everything went wrong.  The printer broke down.  Electricity was cut off.  Manuscripts were damaged or lost.  People would not get along.  The enemy clearly did not want the Word of God translated and printed for people to read.  But our God is greater and the Bible has been translated.  Just think, it started without any written language. . . . and now the  Bible is written in both the roman alphabet and the Arabic alphabet.  Amazing!.

They have invested 18 years of their life in this tiny third world country.  They have given up hot water, constant electricity, comfort foods, friends, family, and a comfortable lazy way of living to take Jesus to a very dark culture.  While 18 years seems like a long time to us, to the Father it is less than a day. Barb and her family know more about being "ALL IN" than most of us ever will.  We thank God daily for folks like Barb and her family who are going into the world and making disciples. 

Life is not fair but God is good all the time

I need that reminder often. I understand that God is good all the time because I know that there is a plan bigger than what we can see and after all, we are all mature Christians, all rock solid in our faith, right? Oh how we wish that was true. Even if we could grasp that, what about or kids? Are they able to understand and accept that life is not fair but God is good all the time?

I thank God that my good friend Gary has taught his family to understand that life is not fair but that God is good all the time. Gary’s wife Jen has a terminal illness. Doctors say nothing can be done. That’s hard news for all of us who know Gary and his family but imagine how their two daughters Spencer and Sydney process that news.  It’s been a journey for the Gillespie’s. But 13 year old Sydney understands that God is good all the time even though the time right now is hard. Sydney is still able to muster enough love to help others in her situation.

I don’t need to explain. Check out this Channel 5 report.

   

Better News But Not Over Yet for Yusuf Naderkhani

White House press secretary Jay Carney says 32-year-old Yusuf Naderkhani, who turned to Christianity when he was 19, has done nothing more than stay devoted to his faith. Carney says Iran's attempt to force him to renounce that faith "crosses all bounds of decency" and breaches Iran's international obligations. The pastor was convicted of apostasy in 2010.

His lawyer says he's appeared before an appeals court over the past four days and expects a ruling on a possible acquittal by week's end.

 

 

 

 

 

Christian Persecution - Consider it Joy

I came across the below news feed and I can’t help but to wonder what I would do. I’d like to think that I would be as brave as Yusuf Naderkhani but then I know myself well enough that I would be thinking about things like, God has more work for me, and how wrong it would be if I could not provide for my family. Following God’s Word no matter the consequence is common among Christians in those parts of the world where Christians are persecuted. CCV's ministry partners at TCM who train pastors from Eastern Europe hear about their persecution first hand. Those of us who have had a chance to go on a mission trip to Austria and work with TCM have also sat with these pastors and heard their stories of their imprisonment and beatings. Some of these pastors hide God’s Word in their hearts and heads because it is illegal or unavailable in any other format. Then, when the time is right, God has enabled them to recall it.

Pray for Yusuf Naderkhani. As of this writing he has less than 12 hours to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ or be killed.

 

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to allgenerously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:2–5)

CCV Prison Ministry Reaching Out

Last year CCV started a prison ministry by joining forces with Life Changing Prison Ministry. Today CCV has well over 100 volunteers reaching men, women, and youth who are incarcerated in city, county, and state prison and detention systems. I received the this letter from CCV members, Rick and Janice  Wappel. Rick and Janice got involved in the CCV Prison Ministry about 6 months ago. I am so encouraged to see how God is using them because they were bold enough to step out and go “All In”.  Please take time to pray for them and their ministry as you read their letter.			Dear Friends and Family,   Just a note to say thanks for all your prayers, encouragement, and genuine interest you have shown over the past several months as I have have stepped out in faith trusting God to lead and guide me as I minister at the 4th Ave jail in Phx. AZ. I am now conducting 8 services a week with approximately 20-22 men in each service. I also mentor a number of men (one on one) on a consistent basis. I find myself waking up early every day with great excitement and can hardly wait to get to the jail to give God's Word to the inmates. I am amazed at the hunger and interest I see among the men who want to learn more about God's forgiveness and to understand His Word. I start each service with a word of prayer asking God to open their hearts and minds so that can they might understand His mighty love for them. We then go into a time of worship with music videos which men thoroughly enjoy and embrace. Many of the men have never heard or experienced God's Word and it has been exciting for me to be God's messenger of His love and grace. Every week I challenge the men to memorize scriptures that I have quoted to them and to my amazement a number of them have now memorized well over 50 verses! It is so exciting and rewarding to hear them stand up and quote verses in front of other inmates. My prayer is that God's Word truly changes and transforms them into a vessel that He can use so that they do not return to their life of sin and their families would also experience God's transforming and saving power. Recently, a group of men ask if they could "rap a song" during one of our morning services. I didn't know what to expect as they walked up front but received such a blessing as they began to tap out a song of praise to God thanking Him that He had answered their prayers by sending Rick to preach to them and teach them how to walk with God. I had tears running down my cheeks as I listened to the words of this talented group rapping from their hearts. I found myself understanding them even more as the men so freely gave me a snap shot of their wounded hearts. This past month, I have been leading the men through the book of John teaching them about forgiveness, love, salvation, and how God wants them to be part of His great family. Many of the men are receiving Jesus for the first time and are asking to be baptized and requesting Bibles so they can study in their pods. Please remember to pray for these men to stay strong in their faith as they are released back into society or sent to other prisons where we do not have access to encourage them. Pray they will understand the great commission and will boldly share the Good News to others. Pray they will not grumble under persecution from their peers and family members. Many of them will not have jobs when they return home and this can cause them to become discouraged. Pray they will seek God and remain strong and that God will send other Christians along their side. Pray for Janice and I as we continue to seek God's Face for His will in our lives. Pray I have physical stamina to not only preach but as I continue to operate my business of 40 years on my off hours from the jail ministry. I am very thankful that our son Vance has stepped up and helped with many of the electronic jobs that have come in. My prayer is, that one day soon Vance can take over the business and release me to work full time in God's great vineyard. God Bess each and every one of you! In His Love, Rick and Janice Wappel

 

 

 

William Carey... A Missionary Who Transformed a Nation

 

I recently came across an article from Mission Frontiers, a news publication from the U.S. Center for World Missions. The article is about William Carey. His “Wholistic” approach to missions is right in line with our direction.

When Englishman William Carey (1761–1834) arrived in India in 1793, it marked a major milestone in the history of Christian missions and in the history of India. Carey established the Serampore Mission, the first modern Protestant mission in the non-English-speaking world, near Calcutta on January 10, 1800. From this base, he labored for nearly a quarter century to spread the gospel throughout the land. In the end his triumph was spectacular. Through his unfailing love for the people of India and his relentless campaign against “the spiritual forces of evil” (Eph. 6:12), India was literally transformed. Asian historian Hugh Tinker summarizes Carey’s impact on India this way: “And so in Serampore, on the banks of the river Hooghly, the principal elements of modern South Asia—the press, the university, social consciousness—all came to light.”…… Read More about William Carey.