Training conference update

We had a long and packed teaching day on Wednesday, but we managed to finish up all our lessons on both radio broadcast and journalism. I even came up with a 15-minute impromptu lesson on photography basics.

We threw a lot at them, but they stayed engaged all the way through, asked excellent questions in each section, and even put together three 60-second radio spots with the radio broadcasting equipment. The group is smart and savvy about this stuff.

Their homework was to interview one another and get notes to each write one story by the end of the week. Then we’ll critique and help polish them up and our hope is to have 18 stories ready for publication in July.

This morning morning they’ll do one more radio practice session, finish up their interviews and begin writing. In the afternoon they’re going to begin working as a team on their overall field communication strategy, starting to tie together all the skills and techniques we introduced this week so far.  It’s really neat to see all the individuals beginning to think and work together in teams and to exhibit a growing sense of ownership over what their field will do.

We’ve mostly stayed inside the conference center this week, so while it’s warm and humid, there are fans blowing and it’s really not bad. I probably won’t really go outside much until Friday, when we need to move to another location, and when the conference ends at lunch.

I am happy to report that I have had a high energy level, not a single migraine or even the hint of a headache, and no major tummy problems. The food is delicious. While meal times are far more spread out than I’m accustomed to, with my routine 3-small-meals-and-3-snacks eating schedule, it’s not a problem.

At the end of the day today, the group took about 10 minutes to pray for our families and friends and our home city, Colorado Springs. I was really touched by their impassioned prayers in four different languages on behalf of the city, the firefighters, those who have already lost homes, those who may be experiencing fear or distress at being evacuated, and for our families’ safety, as well as Andrew’s and my peace of mind as we are so far away from what is happening. They also prayed for the Christian ministries affected, since Compassionate International – which is near the evacuation area – is well known and has strong impact in India.

Friday afternoon we may get to visit a leper colony that Mahatma Ghandi founded in this city. And hopefully Saturday morning we’ll get to see a bit more of the city before we head on to our next stop.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support. It’s such an encouragement to me, and I believe you are part of what we’re doing here through your prayers.

First report from India communications conference

Hi everyone,
I'm taking some down time at the India Field communications conference today to give you all an update on what's going on so far.

I arrived without any travel problems on a direct, eight-hour flight from Zurich to Mumbai (Bombay) on Saturday night. Here we are 4 1/2 hours later than Switzerland, and 11.5 hours ahead of Central Standard Time.

Dolphy Biswas, the India Field communications coordinator, was there to pick me up. Brian Utter, a volunteer missionary with World Mission Broadcast, based out of Olivet Nazarene University, did not arrive as scheduled that evening. His flight from Chicago to Newark was delayed due to a technical problem and when he finally got to Newark 10 hours later there was a severe thunderstorm and also a fire at air traffic control that delayed things further and he missed his flight to Mumbai. They could not get him on a flight for 24 hours.

That left Dolphy and I in Mumbai, a city of 20 million people, for an unplanned free day. She was kind enough to give me a tour of this coastal city on the western side of India. The city is very modern and growing more so. There is immense wealth in Mumbai, as well as poverty. We passed a 25-story highrise that is actually the house of one four-member family; the man is the owner of the Reliance Group. The sixth floor is an indoor pool. There were high-end stores selling recognizable brand names like Levi

Anyway, we saw the main tourist stops, including the Victoria train station, Gateway of India, the Marine Drive, the Sea Link bridge and a famous mosque. I really enjoyed getting a feel for one of India's most famous cities and a first taste of the flavorful culture.

It wasn't as hot as I had expected and weather forecasts had predicted. The monsoon rains are late in much of India, including Mumbai, and the rain is what cools down the 100+ (F) weather. The rains came briefly and intermittently and so it was nice.

Brian made it in last night, not too much the worse for wear after a night in the Newark airport. He brought three backpack radio studios with him, as the field hopes to launch radio broadcasts in five major languages, and he plans to provide training not only on how to use the equipment but how to accomplish field and district goals for reaching people with radio.

Today we flew from Mumbai to Nagpur, which is in the center of the country. Nagpur is a developing city, with a population of 2.4 million. We are meeting in a small Christian conference center that we have to ourselves.

Everyone who is going to make it has arrived. Eight people did not get reservations on the trains and were unable to come. So we have 14 here. We started the orientation and introduction this afternoon and broke the participants into groups of three to talk about what their hopes and objectives are for being here and what they hope to accomplish as a result of what they've learned.

Thank you for your prayers for this time. It is really important to us that the group here will take the subject matter seriously, that they will develop dreams and visions for what God can do through them in communications in their districts and in the field, and how they can begin to make their voice and stories known more widely in our global church family. And we pray that we can be a resource to equip them to do achieve those visions.

-- Gina

How summer is shaping up

Things are moving along in lots of ways for us as summer begins.

• Andrew and I are both taking up side projects to raise extra money for when we need to start paying for Andrew's tuition at NTC Manchester, and for my hoped-for German-language classes this fall. My project is a missionary book for children about a school in Lebanon where children are learning how to put Christ's love and forgiveness into action in their relationships with people from other religious backgrounds. Andrew is writing a section for Living Mission, a mission education curriculum used in many Nazarene churches. Both of our projects are due this fall and will take up a lot of our spare time this summer. It looks like we'll also start babysitting twice a month in September for a moms group who need childcare, and possibly for a friend, as well. These odd jobs will also help us stretch our dollars, as our Mission Corps account right now is empty. I continue to enter photography contests and investigate freelance travel writing to earn a little extra, as well.
• I am just a week away from leaving for India. I have all my shots now, and my plane ticket. I am starting to purchase things for my trip, like snack food, some basic medicines, wet wipes and things like that. I am also putting the finishing touches on the curriculum for the writer's conference. After starting to write this in September, I CANNOT WAIT to be finished with it and see how it works in a real training setting. I am also very excited to meet all the great people there and to see and experience a culture I've only heard good things about from others.
• I have an appointment with a neurologist in the middle of July regarding my continuing battle with chronic migraines. I would appreciate prayers that this specialist can finally get to the bottom -- if there is an identifiable cause -- of this problem so that I can prevent migraines much more often. After five years of reading about migraines, talking to many others who have them, cutting out many of my favorite foods, trying homeopathic remedies, drinking more water, taking lots of expensive multi-vitamins and supplements, regulating my sleep patterns, limiting stress, doing deep breathing exercises, exercising regularly, trying a variety of painkillers and now two preventive daily medications since last fall, I am still getting migraines anywhere from one every two weeks to 2 and 3 in one week, in addition to regular headaches. I would appreciate prayers also that this will not be a big problem while I am in India.
• Two trips that we were trying to plan for capturing powerful stories on video have fallen through this summer. I am trusting in God's timing for these and hope we can reschedule them later in the year.
• Two interns are joining the communications team June 19 through mid August. This is great timing for us, as Laine and I are busy with trips to India and Tiki is taking a break from communications work to study the German language through an intensive, 8-hour a day program. It will be great to have them on board, continuing our story writing and publishing throughout the summer.
• The campus that was formerly European Nazarene College is alive again with students and faculty from MidAmerica Nazarene University. Most arrived late last week and are coming and going throughout the summer in a cultural immersion experience that will take them around Western Europe. Another set of students are anticipated to arrive this fall for a semester of on-campus studies. It will be interesting to have them around and be our neighbors!

I think that's all the big news. We always love to hear from you as well. Feel free to drop us a line when you can! And if you did not see our May newsletter, let us know and we'll be happy to send it to you.

Thank you again for all your support and prayers and encouragement. You are a critical part of our lives and ministry here through your quick emails, whispered prayers, Skype calls, donations and care packages. Thanks for joining us in the adventure.

The Engage team is growing

Some of you who have been following me for a while know that I've been praying a lot for God to send more people to help carry the load of Engage magazine. For a long time, it has been me and a missionary in Kenya named Amy who do most of the work of gathering content and publishing it on the website day to day. Amy focuses her story-gathering on the Africa Region, but also contributes lots of interesting and creative ideas to improve the publication as a whole. She has been a huge asset.

I have been praying for more help with the load we've been carrying. Some of you were praying with me. Well, God is answering.

A few months ago, a young woman named Mandie, living in Kansas, answered our ad seeking a volunteer assistant editor. She is devoting herself part-time -- without pay -- to write articles, manage and streamline our production flow, and to post and edit stories in the Engage system. I'm so thrilled that her heart for missions is leading her to give so generously of her skills and talents in journalism and storytelling!

Just a few weeks ago, another person answered our advertisement seeking someone with skill in designing PowerPoint presentations. Sondra, who is a local NMI president in Pennsylvania, is joining the team as a volunteer dedicated to producing quality PowerPoint presentations based on stories in Engage. We will make them available to people who want to share in their church or small group a powerful and compelling story from a fully-assembled, pre-packaged presentation with accompanying script.

It's exciting to see how God is bringing the right people to fill a very great need.

Right now we are advertising for another part-time volunteer editor who is a native Spanish speaker. Ever since we launched Engage in 2009, we have wanted to incorporate other languages. We want to find someone who will be able to translate existing articles into Spanish, but also to be a reporter who can conduct interviews and research and write quality articles in Spanish. Keep praying with us for this door to open for making our awesome publication more widely available in other languages.

Thanks again for all your support in helping to carry our needs to God in prayer.

Prayer for provision

With Andrew starting up master's studies this fall in order to be considered as a PhD candidate with Nazarene Theological College in 2013, we have some additional expenses that we have not had to plan for until now. Additionally, Gina would like to continue German language studies this fall. Costs for language study range between 350 and 500 euros ($440 to $629) depending on which track she would take.

We keep meeting Nazarenes from different countries who had no way to pay for their training or education, but trusted God to make a way, and He always did. These stories encourage us that He can and will provide for what we need, as well.

Please pray with us for God to provide for these new needs in His perfect way and timing.

New village pipeline

Just as a matter of interest, a new, more economical heating pipeline is being installed in our entire village of Büsingen. This is the first whole village in the country (maybe in Europe, I don't know) to switch over to this heating system. Currently, it is a natural gas system. However, the cost of natural gas continues to increase, while burning wood is cheaper.

The village will buy firewood from elsewhere in Germany (which is heavily forested) and the heat generated from burning this wood will be pumped through the pipes to every home and business in the village.

The changeover is quite messy, though. I imagine we will have some growing pains for a while.

Next to the European Conference Center's (formerly EuNC) main building.

This used to be the sidewalk in front of the campus.

Sidewalk looking the other way through the village.

In front of what was originally EuNC's administration building, classrooms and dining hall.

Re-Defining My Role

My activity level changed abruptly following the students' departure and campus closure last June. For the first six months, I maintained contact with several of the students via e-mail, Facebook, and Skype. I also began shifting toward increasing my involvement in our local church by organizing/leading a number of worship services, as well as preaching a couple of times. I devoted a fair share of time toward thoughtfully, prayerfully, and actively considering with Gina what our next steps would be.

It became clear that now was the time to seriously pursue further education at the Ph.D. level, so with the full support of EuNC leadership, I devoted time to investigating numerous programs, studying for the GRE (which I took twice in Geneva), and completing the application process. By the end of January this year, all of that was complete and I returned to making the bulk of my time available to EuNC. However, there has not been a great deal of regular activity to keep busy every hour of each day. During the last five months, I've taught a couple of online directed studies in Church History I and spent most of my time developing Church History II. I've also kept busy supporting Gina in her role; as my activity decreased, hers seemed to increase. There has been plenty to do, but there was also time to rest, reflect, and enjoy the increased amount of time and mental space to devote to personal study and spiritual formation.

I'm proud of my inherited work ethic. But an important lesson I had to learn is that my value did not come from being busy, performing my job well, high-powered networking, or what anybody else thought of me - contrary to a great deal of what Western culture drills into our very souls so that the church is often indistinct from society in that regard. I had to learn in a more everyday, practical sense what our Protestant doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith really means: that my value did not depend on my efforts or image; that God's love for me, His ability to speak to me, and His ability to work in the lives of others through me are just as strong and present when I have very little to do as well as when my schedule is full of even God-centered activity. In short, that I had nothing to prove.

I was recently reminded of Luke 12, which mentions the ravens God feeds and the flowers God clothes. Creation is valuable to God, simply because He is the Creator. He did not create out of any need, but out of love. Even the mere fact of its existence is not something on which to base its value, because (by definition) God created everything out of love before it existed! If a rock can just sit there and be valuable to its Creator, how much more valuable to Him are we - living, breathing, growing, moving creatures whose chief uniqueness is in bearing our Creator's very image and likeness? While it is certainly no excuse for being lazy, it is a huge relief to know that I matter to God simply being who I am apart from any talent, achievement or recognition.

That may sound like this volunteer missionary with a master's level theological education is re-taking Basic Christianity 101. Personally, I think it would do all of us good to get a reminder of such basic concepts as grace and forgiveness, regardless of how many letters are behind our names or what kind of work we do. So while I've generally found ways of keeping busy during this season of decreased activity, I've learned or re-learned some important lessons, however basic they may be. Western society does a poor job of listening, but the Gospel remains relevant and vital even for developed, enlightened cultures like ours, and the church still needs to hear and respond as well as proclaim it. I'm thankful it has worked its way deeper into my own heart over the past few months.

I do have a number of things to look forward to this summer and fall. I've just begun taking a course with other EuNC instructors in developing and teaching online courses. While this may seem redundant since I taught myself on the job a couple of years ago and am more familiar with this method, it's important that each instructor is on the same page and applying the same standards. This course will run through the beginning of June. I will also be teaching Church History II as an online course toward the end of August, and will spend a fair amount of time this summer completing the development of that material. There's a possibility that I may be mentoring one of the young guys who has visited our church recently: he mentioned the idea yesterday, and I quietly leapt at the opportunity by expressing interest and passing him my contact information. I will begin pre-doctoral level study through Nazarene Theological College (Manchester, UK) this fall, and will spend time over the summer introducing myself to Latin -which will be one of two languages I will need in my research subject. I've joined a small prayer team at church, and may be preaching again in October. There are several other potential areas of involvement opening up around the same time, and I will carefully consider each one where the need is apparent and my gifts are able to address it.

It's good to be busy, and it's good to rest. There's certainly a time for both. I'm looking forward to having more to do, and waking up in the morning with a bit more on my schedule during the day. But I'm glad to know that I don't need any of it in order to prove to God that I'm important or valuable.

This is also PURE coincidence, but I suddenly remembered that it was 17 years ago today that I responded to the Gospel for the first time. I did not exactly pray the traditional "sinner's prayer," but I have never entirely forgotten a little request I made that night: "Show me this Christian life I've learned about since I was a kid is actually real, and that Christ actually does make a difference in someone's life. Show me that it's not just stories, or some creative way of trying make us be better people." I couldn't have known what I was really asking (and risking), but neither have I ever regretted it. The Gospel is true, Christ does indeed make a profound difference, and there is definitely so very much more to it than mere moral improvement with a religious basis.

- Andrew