Well, writing those posts was quite an experience, but I know it was worth it and that's why I plugged on. It meant writing a lot, reading my journal a whole lot and looking at over 1300 pictures. If you read all of these posts, let me know, I owe you a gift or something. The narrative of our trip on this blog was just a representation of what happened - of course, a trip like this contains so many more details. Also, the narrative would be somewhat useless without my own debriefing, so here it is. Keep in mind, these are thoughts directed at me, not you. But if they spur on your thinking, thats awesome.
The Standard StuffPhoto: G and me.
You know the standard stuff. I don't want to minimize these ideas, because they are important, although sometimes a bit cliched. But important enough to state:
- How great the team was. [Well we did hand pick them so we had big expectations and they rose to just about all of them.]
- Hoping that we - our community of faith - has used this trip as a small piece in the discipleship of some precious students, not just a one shot mission experience that serves only itself.
- There are not many families like the Nens, nor the other families we have worked with, that can leave the comforts of their own culture to risk, serve and bless people and communities in a vastly different culture. After the first three days, I found myself muttering, "I could never live here." They are almost another kind of species.
And over the past few years, every family we have partnered with has said, in effect, "We are honored that you would think of coming here." These families give up a lot and in my conversations with them, they always say how privileged they feel to be doing what they are doing. They are giving life to receive life.
- That students all around the world have pretty much the same concerns. Besides relationships, their future and right from wrong, they all want to live significant, impactful lives.
Ok, now on to the more weighty stuff.
The Church [big C]I know I've used these two quotes at least a few times on this blog before. But they capture the essence of what I'm thinking.
"But she will live on. She is indestructible. When she dies in one part of the world, she explodes in another. She's global. She's universal. She's everywhere. And while she's fragile, she's going to endure. In every generation there will be those who see her beauty and give their lives to see her shine. Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against her. That's strong language. And its true. She will continue to roll across the ages, serving and giving and connecting people with God and each other. And people will abuse her and manipulate her and try to control her, but they'll pass on. And she will keep going." - Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis
"Church leaders invest too much time answering this question: how do we keep new followers from falling away from the church? Church leaders should instead ask: how do we develop people who MUST? Having a sense of "must-ness" is not about social conformity [ i.e. reinforcing acceptable patterns of going to worship services, giving money to the church, attending a small group, etc]. "Must-ness" comes from an internal motivation inspired by a Jesus like understanding of God's activity in the world.
He calls his followers of both the first and twenty-first centuries to give their lives with him to something greater than themselves. When any person hears Jesus' call and recognizes the intrinsic beauty of what Jesus is doing, he will run with red-hot passion and join swords with anyone and everyone who hears as he does."- Alex McManus
The Church in Cameroon that we were witness to is amazing. It is filled with leaders that MUST. Therefore, it will be indestructible. Though the Church may be fragile, we met many men and women that will give everything they have, have already given everything, and will continue to give whatever the costs in order that the Church may shine. No building, no budget, no location, no social conformity - no matter. And what happens when these types of people rub elbows with students? Multiplication of more of the same. There is a new culture being birthed in Yaounde. My prediction - in the second most corrupt nation of the world, the Church will shine.
This means we should take good notes from a movement of Jesus followers that relies not on the material nor the programmatic, but on bands of friends that sacrificially give in order to build deep relationships so that students are reached and so that Christ's bride - the Church - shines on.
Sense of Community"Stark notes that there were at least two great plagues in the first three centuries (160 and 250 AD) that actually were instrumental in the nascent church's incredible growth rate, which he estimates at 40% per decade. When the plagues came, those who were able fled the city but not the Christians. They stayed and ministered to the sick and dying--Christians and non-Christians alike. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, writing of how believers responded to the plague of 250 observes:
'Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead. The best of brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning height commendation so that death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.'" - Eric Swanson
This description of community sounds like what we experienced, especially the sacrificial part. The people we met in Cameroon gave a lot. Not only material and tangible things, although they certainly did that. Our host families were extremely giving and gracious, cooking the meals [which included special preparation for Americans - and the average Cameroonian meal takes at least a few hours to prepare], opening up their homes and giving some incredibly thoughtful gifts to some of our students. But more than all of those things, they opened their hearts and considered us family.
Family and community are intertwined ideas in Cameroon. Many of our friends lived very close to family and if not, they made visiting a priority, no matter the difficulty of transportation. Every host family had some sort of family time every evening, whether it be songs and dancing, a short Bible study or prayer time. I observed a great deal of gratefulness among the families we got to know - grateful for a relationship with the Creator and grateful for how God has blessed them.
Cause creates community and maybe this is a glimpse of the intersection between a family that is called to meet the world deepest needs - a supreme cause - and the weight of that responsibility. In other words, I suspect that the families we became friends with know that their existence on Earth isn't just for themselves - and they teach that to their kids. They teach it to their kids in how they act, how they care for their families and how they worship and have fun as a family. Not only are they committed to each other because that is what family means, but they are tied together with a common and significant cause.
This means that my idea of community and family is too small. There is much more to unpack here, but the essence is that I need to move our family to some habits of community that relate to getting to know our neighbors better and deeper, to model a concern and priority for our neighbors AND family and to continually challenge the concepts of how our family interacts with the world.
My [I mean, Jesus'] LeadersPhoto: the ladies of the team, and female leaders NLind [second from left],
ESunde [third from left in front] and
LB [fourth from left in the back.]
"The best leaders are not those who win the most followers, but those who create other leaders." - Neil Cole
75% of this leader team was made of students from the ministry, now turned into leaders. I would like to think I had a little bit to do with their development - the Developer strength showing up again. On a long term scale, I feel like I, or we as a family, have invested a lot in three of them. One of them was in D's 03 dteam, and the two others came up through SPACE in high school right when it first started. Nonetheless, all four leaders, and these three in particular made me really proud. There were many times during the trip where I just sat back and paused, instead of jumping right in, watching them shape, mold and challenge - all with the end goal of creating leaders from our team of students. Seeing them develop was, and will continue to be, one of the most exciting aspects of my life - exciting because I know they will go on and do much, much more than I am ever capable of, whether SPACE is the context or not. These are the leaders that are creating other leaders.
This means that investing in leaders must be done not with followers in mind, but with future leaders in mind. One of the first goals of SPACE was about preparation of others and this means that the preparation goal - now moreso than ever - must be at the forefront of everything we are doing. And SPACE isn't the only context where this leadership idea must be applied.
Empowering MeI've dealt with a slight undercurrent of low self confidence for most of my adult life. If you have read Wild at Heart, you could think of it as my wound. It certainly has had an affect on all elements of my life from career to fatherhood to ministry. But this trip, oh man, this trip empowered me. Not only was it one of the most riskiest endeavors I have attempted, but besides fatherhood, it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Difficult because of the differences in culture, difficult because I was a bit sick at the end, difficult because it was a ton of travel. But heck - I was in charge of a team of 12, going to three different continents, 6000 miles, and a pygmy village, I spent an afternoon crossing Paris by myself. I was in freaking Africa for a week. We all came back alive and no one was hurt. We all had a great time. And all of us contributed to something much bigger than just ourselves.
This means that when it comes to the abilities that God has given me and the calling that God has on my life, I should not back off with the thought of, "God could never use me." If anything, I should be saying, "God, what a life you have given me - let's go together for even more."
Engaging Students for the World's SakeI'm just as convinced now as when SPACE started that we are on the right track. Just like last summer's team to Brasil, we did it right. A local, indigenous connection. Partnering with a family we knew and that knew us - both who we were and where we came from. A simple, easily-reproducible strategy for follow up. A hand picked team of students that gave of themselves to total strangers and walked away with friends for life. A leader team that knows how urgent the world's needs are and that we cannot, and should not, do it ourselves.
When it comes to multiplying students to engage culture, to serve out of themselves, to be embarrassed because they don't understand the language, to learn to be leaders - all of it is because the world is desperately waiting. And someone better go.
So this means, the more trips we can do the right way, the more students we can engage within the right framework of our must-have goals, a simple process and top-notch leaders, the more the better [and not necessarily within SPACE all the time.] It also means we should continue to do our homework and press the boundaries of conventional thinking on what makes a good missions trip. And, when we have done that homework, when the planets line up, when our top-quality, sacrificial leaders sign up and go for broke; we will see human history be marked, our friends and family will witness centuries - not decades - be transformed, we will see the multiplication of students and leaders that catalyze individuals, families, communities and nations. And that's the logical outpouring of having God's word in our hearts.
Congrats to all of you out there that started your first day of school today - Kindergarteners all the way to college kids. May this year be an incredible year as you impact your friends on the way to changing the world.
Our church services this morning heard about all of the summer mission teams that went out from GCC this summer. It was a lot of fun. All in all, GCC had seven teams this summer, five of them were student teams.
Thursday July 27, Day 2
Well, writing those posts was quite an experience, but I know it was worth it and that's why I plugged on. It meant writing a lot, reading my journal a whole lot and looking at over 1300 pictures. If you read all of these posts, let me know, I owe you a gift or something. The narrative of our trip on this blog was just a representation of what happened - of course, a trip like this contains so many more details. Also, the narrative would be somewhat useless without my own debriefing, so here it is. Keep in mind, these are thoughts directed at me, not you. But if they spur on your thinking, thats awesome.
The Standard Stuff
My [I mean, Jesus'] Leaders
Engaging Students for the World's Sake
We landed in Paris early this morning. A good flight out of Cameroon, mostly ontime. Our bags also made it here with us - 12 people with 23 bags. Amazing. Our hotel is great, we arrive via the airport shuttle around 10am and our 3 rooms are ready. The weather is a bit overcast, but shortly clears up and ends up being an absolutely gorgeous day here.
As if a week in Africa wasn't enough of an adventure, I'm having one of my own this afternoon. I'm almost 40 years old. I live a life of predictability. No one else on earth knows exactly where I am right now. I am traversing through one of the worlds greatest cities and I don't know a bit of the language here. I love it.
The team has been having a debriefing and reentry discussion for the past three hours. From all accounts, it has been intense. The environment for it has been great - a neutral location, not at home and not near our ministry locations; a beautiful day; no distractions of family, work or school; and the venue being right underneath the Eiffel Tower. Perfect.
Hard to believe that our time here in Cameroon is coming to an end. It has seemed like both forever and just yesterday since we arrived. This morning is spent doing some more souvenir shopping in the market area. Part of our team also splits off to tour a local medical clinic. Medical clinics are more the norm here for routine medical issues rather than hospitals. 
We have a big lunch at the Nens - sloppy joes. We depart for the airport in the late afternoon and work our way through the interesting process of leaving the country. First, there is the tax that we have to pay on every piece of wood that we have purchased. The tax is also higher on ebony carvings. Then we pay our exit tax - a fee required from everyone who is leaving the country. Thirdly, we go through all the security checkpoints, having our carry on and checked luggage scanned. We then check in at the airlines and get our boarding passes. During this whole time, which takes about an hour, there is a whole entourage of Cameroonians who have come to see us off. Many of them get dressed up and a few of them give some of our team some very thoughtful gifts, including some wood carvings, necklaces, and such. Once again, we are overwhelemed with their kindness and sacrifice. We are evidence for a local custom that states "visitors are full-fledged members of the Cameroon family." So very true. Finally, we return to the main terminal area where we say our goodbyes, and head up the stairs to the gate. 
This morning is a light one with not much responsibility for us. All of our team meets with our hosts at a local vocational/tech school for a quick tour and for G to meet the principal and introduce us to him. Our visit serves for G to follow up on a potential lead with this school for a possible partnership in the future - something like running an English camp with the students of the school and maybe paving the way for hosting future visiting teams to make that happen.
Right after the small groups, all of us meet at the Nav center. For my group, it's a short walk from Karlls. All of the Nav team is also there and we have a little send off/thank you party to close our week here. The whole Nav team is there, even some people that are not based here in Yaounde.
After our time there, ADress, CHayes and I go to Ptrs house, along with BB and GM, for dinner. BB and GM have lived there all week and have invited us so we can get a sense for a real Cameroonian home and meal. Dinner is potatoes, rice, beets, cole slaw and rooster. After dinner, we spend a little time with the extended family and their kids singing various praise songs and watching the kids dance. Apparently, every night is family night like this. 
Our team has spent a restful night in their host homes. I think all of us feel that slight sense of home away from home since we came back from camp. We all meet at the Nens in the morning and have a great time for our team. Team time includes talking about John 1 - the idea of Jesus and John the Baptist being sent. Sent away from home, sent to initiate, serve and give a message, sent into the unknown. Even after camp, with almost half of our trip over, the text frames our purposes here. One of the things we must instill in the next generation is that the Church is on the move. God's very idea of the Church is one that is mobile, not in the physical sense, but in the sense of movement and momentum - the Church is called to the very people that are not part of it yet. Many times, that requires being sent out and away from what we know. And for our team, it means 6000 miles by plane, 300 miles by bus, 10 miles by canoe, all in 7 days.
The shopping experience is also wild. Bartering is expected here and our team has fun doing that with our local hosts helping out. The exchange rate is 500 Central African Francs to $1 American dollar. A nice African button-down shirt cost 7000 CAFs ($14), and an official Cameroonian soccer jersey cost just under 3000 CAFs ($6). In other words, buying stuff is cheap. Since buying stuff is cheap, many of us felt a bit awkward about really bartering. Some of our hosts told us we paid way too much for some items, even though the difference meant very little in terms of American money. Part of the market area also includes a whole set of tailors, seamstresses and shoe cobblers. 
Most of you know I'm kind of nosy. I like to refer to it as inquisitive - call it what you will. So imagine what a time I had living at the Nens and getting to ask them questions of all manners at the most random times during our trip. Listed below are some of the questions I asked them. Some of the answers might be summarized a bit.
We close and depart camp early this afternoon. It's been a really fun time and the Cameroonian kids seem to think so too, by their request for pictures with us, getting our email info and having us sign these Frisbees we brought from the States. Frisbees were a new thing for them here. It's another fortunately uneventful trip home, except NLind's suitor, who after repeatedly trying to get her phone number, jots his down and throws it at her through the window.
Although the camp was definitely a fantastic experience, it is only a piece of the overall ministry strategy, significant for our time here but by no means the only piece. Camp was a flashpoint of momentum - there was a ton of work that went into taking initiative, building relationships, camp invitations even before camp started. G and his team have already put into place followup for using that momentum - three small groups that meet in neighborhood proximity around town. Take note - these are the first high school small groups that meet in Yaounde for the Navigators - ever, possibly for any student ministry ever. In terms of our team, and SPACE as a whole, the strategy in Yaounde fits perfectly. A local, indigenous team on the ground. A long term plan. An immediate followup.
It's being shortsighted to consider our team's impact only on these 37 students. I don't think its too audacious to consider all of Yaounde being changed because 37 kids started to live big lives, intent on serving others and impacting their country. Given enough time, all of Yaounde and all of Cameroon.
Today is our last full day of camp as we leave for Yaounde tomorrow afternoon. We've told our team repeatedly to not squander our time here and to continue pouring into their new friends as much as they can. They are doing a great job of just that. This morning, EllyK and TriciaB talk about their spiritual disciples - how they journal, read the Bible and spend time with God. A basic goal of the camp is that some of these students understand a little bit better on how to have some base spiritual disciplines. Of course, EllyK and TriciaB do a great job. They naturally tell their stories and the other students listen intently. EllyK's blond hair helps. Two to watch in the future.
Typical breakfast is some kind of baguette with peanut butter or chocolate spread. This culture is one that is not stressed out about time. In fact, time is more or less a suggestion. It is more important to make an appearance than to actually be punctual. I wrote before about the handshake between men. Women are greeted by two or three kisses to the cheek, alternating sides. So, a kiss on the left cheek, than right, than left again. It's cool. There is an underlying religious element to Cameroonians, many go to church but are not serious about Jesus. They may know the Bible very well, but may not be very serious about it. Kids don't have inherent value in the culture - that's why there really isn't much for them to do. Every story in Cameroonian fashion must have a moral to it. The idea of Seinfeld - a show about nothing - makes no sense. Music is huge, Cameroonians love to sing. Cameroon is the 2nd most corrupt nation in the world. It is also the 2nd most stable country in Africa. Many non-government organizations - charity and relief and development organizations - have their African headquarters here in Cameroon.
One question that must be asked is whether this trip has been worth the expense. Our overall costs were roughly $30,000 - the bulk of that due to airfare. With a team of twelve and spending 11 days in-country, that works out to a burn rate of about $200 per day per person. Granted the longer you stay, since the costs in-country are so low, the better your value. Is running this kind of camp, building these relationships and encouraging our missionary family worth $200 a day? Missions is not untouchable - it is unrealistic to say that as long as it is missions, it is inherently good and valid. Each trip needs to be critically assessed to make sure that the investment is wise. One of the best ways to do hedge our bets regarding our investment is to work with missionaries that we know and trust - ones that also know us. Another great way is to put the experience together in partnership - knowing what talents and gifts each party or team bring to the experience. Finally, we make sure that our hosts know at the beginning of the conversation that they can decline to host a team if it doesn't work for their ministry in the significant context or time.
