Some cool new links of late:
www.nationmaster.com Loads and loads and loads of stats about countries. Very cool. 40 times as large as the CIA Worldfact book.
For example:
China has the most workers, so it's a good thing they've also got the most TV's.
Most Zambians don't live to see their 40th birthday.
I think I'll use this a lot...
www.pixelperfectdigital.com Free image archive.
youthmultimedia.blogspot.com I actually got the pixelperfectdigital link from this blog.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
GCC big picture
I didn't realize this, but GCC is turning 20 years old this year. I just got a little flyer in the mail talking about it and thought it would be some good points to give people an idea about the size of GCC:
- 1350 households
- 20% growth for six of the last eight years
- 30+ full or part time staff
- 500+ teenagers
- 500 children cared for by 300 volunteers
- 25 ministries to adults
- 14+ ministries available to people outside of GCC
- 8 missionaries directly from our body, 15+ overall
- 2004 operating budget of about $2.1M
Wow. Very cool. I dream that we continue to grow disciples and not programs.
- 1350 households
- 20% growth for six of the last eight years
- 30+ full or part time staff
- 500+ teenagers
- 500 children cared for by 300 volunteers
- 25 ministries to adults
- 14+ ministries available to people outside of GCC
- 8 missionaries directly from our body, 15+ overall
- 2004 operating budget of about $2.1M
Wow. Very cool. I dream that we continue to grow disciples and not programs.
Monday, June 28, 2004
II Peter 2
Another great study tonight, with our couples group.
II Peter 2
4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,[1] putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-- 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
If God can rescue the righteous, out of a culture that is dark, if God has a distinct purpose in the people of light being in a specific place for a specific time for a specific reason, if God can hold the unrighteous... this really spoke to me about attitude, perspective, intentionality in all facets of where God has uniquely and divinely placed us.
II Peter 2
4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,[1] putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-- 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
If God can rescue the righteous, out of a culture that is dark, if God has a distinct purpose in the people of light being in a specific place for a specific time for a specific reason, if God can hold the unrighteous... this really spoke to me about attitude, perspective, intentionality in all facets of where God has uniquely and divinely placed us.
Sunday, June 27, 2004
DC with Brits
Had some friends of friends come stay with us this weekend. They are British, we love British people. We did the DC tour with them on Saturday, O's game on Sunday.
For DC, we did:
- Capitol (outside only)
- Air and Space (they did planetarium and IMAX)
- White House (outside only)
- Monument (outside only)
- Vietnam Wall
- Lincoln
- Korean
- WW II
- Scuplture Garden
- Dinner at Union Station - Thunder Grill
Whew. Yeah. It was fun though and perfect weather. The new WWII is incredible.
For DC, we did:
- Capitol (outside only)
- Air and Space (they did planetarium and IMAX)
- White House (outside only)
- Monument (outside only)
- Vietnam Wall
- Lincoln
- Korean
- WW II
- Scuplture Garden
- Dinner at Union Station - Thunder Grill
Whew. Yeah. It was fun though and perfect weather. The new WWII is incredible.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
TMI Mustard Seed summary
Background
Teen Missions International has been in the business of preparing and sending students on summer mission trips all over the world since 1970. Based in Merritt Island Florida, students participate in a boot camp prior to leaving the country. This summer TMI sent out 1307 students with 294 team leaders.
In the summer of 2004, TMI started a 4-6 year old program focused on the basic message of salvation and hearing from missionaries from other countries. Having always been intrigued about TMI and thinking it would be really fun for my 6 year old daughter, we signed up.
Mustard Seed Boot Camp lasted 4 days and 3 nights and was co-located with other Boot Camps happening at the same time on Merritt Island. With the addition of the 4-6 year old program, TMI now has something for kids from 4 years old to high school. Mustard Seed is from 4-6 years old, with one or both parents attending. Peanuts is from 7-9 and is a week long, with no parents. PreTeen is from 10-13 and then the Teen program is above that from 14-21.
Leaders
There were four leaders for Mustard Seeds. Kathy was the overall director and Mustard Seeds was her vision. She also serves as the co-director of TMI overall. She brought her sister Barbara in to do music. Linda was a lady from the Finance department that was the leader of the 'Green' team. Cindy was the leader of the 'Red' team and was on a furlough of sorts from two years in Zambia. Her family (husband, two teenage sons and her) had spent two years doing AIDS Orphans Rescue in Zambia at the TMI base there. They had come back
to the States in April, met contacts to raise additional funds and were getting ready to lead a Zambia team through Boot Camp and taking them back to Zambia with them. At the end of the summer, the students would come back home, leaving Cindy and her husband there. (They are leaving their teenagers home this time)
By far, having a leader who had done cross cultural missions was a major advantage.
Schedule/Program
The schedule looked something like this:
06.30 - wake up (yeah...)
07.00 - breakfast
08.00 - program time
09.00 - the Obstacle Course (they had a mini one for the little kids)
10.00 - snack/craft
11.00 - program time
12.00 - cleanup
12.30 - lunch
01.30 - quiet time - on a big mat in the center of our program area, with everyone
02.30 - program time
04.00 - swim time - definitely the best time of the day
05.00 - cleanup
06.00 - dinner
07.00 - evening rally
08.00 - lights out
Program time consisted of a variety of things including music, missionary speakers and crafts. Music was done by one leader, most of the time teaching the kids new music from a CD and using hand motions. They really loved it. The music teacher also had an assortment of music instruments from different countries that she rotated among the kids. They loved that too.
TMI has a team called Missionaries to America, which is a group of young people that come to America for an extended period of time, do ministry here, go to Boot Camp and then return to their home countries. Mustard Seeds either heard from an individual MTA or a group of them a few times a day. Sometimes the MTAs would do a puppet show, music or a short talk.
Most of the program time centered on the colors of the wordless book. The kids learned memory verses for each color and then went off and did crafts based on the color and verse. Craft included a wooden cross with different things glued to it, putting together cloth swatches of the wordless book together (these were sent out with the high school teams when they went out) and other various crafts. The kids also decorated cookies that were used by Teen Missions for local ministry around the base, which included firehouses and nursing homes.
Participants
Two teams totaling about 25 Mustard Seeds and their parents.
11 families on our team from all over the country including Hawaii and California.
On our team:
7 homeschoolers
7 had prior TMI experiences
- 3 from siblings
- 4 from parents that had been team members/leaders
There were also two grandmothers that had come with their grandsons. They had lots of spunk.
Guidelines
Like its called Boot Camp is pretty tough. No shorts, no reading material other than the Bible, no electronic devices, no snacks, no electricity, no running water. You get a food tray and a bowl and a canteen and cup when you get there. At each meal, you walk up to the dining hall where they give you your food on your tray/bowl, you walk back to the area where you eat and when you are done, you go up to the washing area where you wash all that stuff. Washing entails 4 big bins in a line, the first one to rinse off particles of food, the second one to scrub with soap, the third to rinse off soap and the fourth one to sanitize. You are to eat all your food at every meal. There are outhouses and there are toilets and showers both with no running water. To go to the toilet, you pour a bucket of water down the bowl when you are finished. Used toilet paper goes into another bucket to be thrown away later. (I experienced similar bathroom conditions in the Dominican Republic in 1993). You could bucket shower as well. There was pool time every day as long as there were no thunderstorms. There was a 'rally' every evening, which was a worship and teaching time.
Older kids go through training during Boot Camp with both evangelistic skills such as sharing the Gospel, puppets, etc., as well as work project training such as bricklaying, pouring concrete, etc.
Does it Work?
I had the following questions going into the experience. First, does TMI work in getting kids to be mobilized for mission? Secondly, wouldnÂ?t we be growing kids better in having kids go through the experience with leaders that were connected to them via the local church and throughout the year? TMI does not allow local youth ministry leaders to come with their students. You can, of course, sign up to be a leader of a team. But coming along with a local ministry is not within their context. And finally, would you send your child back?
Since our team had 7 people that had previous TMI experiences, I did an informal survey with them. It was a good mix of people, from those that had been on teams in high school, those that had been on a team and came back as a leader, and those that had siblings go through TMI trips.
For the first question, I think the answer is yes, overall. I went in to the experience wondering how well Boot Camp prepared kids for mission. But I think the actual goal is to use Boot Camp for discipline. Getting kids excited for worldwide missions is probably more a function of the actual mission experience, after they leave Boot Camp. One of our parents who had led teams for 7 or 8 years talked about how a majority of her team members had gone on to be missionaries or in full time ministry. I donÂ?t believe that full time ministry is better than secular work, in fact, I think the compartmentalization is dangerous for the Church. However, I do believe that the observation shows a level of intentionality that is a healthy by product of people living a life on mission.
I spent a few minutes chatting with Bob Bland, the director and founder. I asked him to tell me the overall principle, after doing this for over 30 years. He stated to start something and stick to it. He also talked about I Cor 13 and the idea of putting away childish things when you become an adult. His take was that we all can decide when its time to grow up, and some people simply refuse to. Hopefully, Boot Camp is a time when people choose to grow.
For the second question, I got mixed responses. The big variable here is the local church. In some instances, parents had a great deal of mistrust towards their local church youth ministry. In that case, the question is really invalid. In other cases, parents could see the value in that kind of leadership. One parent did mention that releasing your child happens before you know it.
Thirdly, I would probably send my child back. If I sent my 6 year old back, it would be in a few years, like 8 or 9 for Peanuts. Also, I think 4 might be a little young for Mustard Seeds. We had some 4 year olds that just couldnÂ?t deal.
If a high schooler asked me what I thought of them going to TMI, I would encourage it, with the caveat that the year after, they come back and be a part of what their local church is doing for missions. I believe that we have to encourage kids to be in the context of what the local church is doing for missions whenever we can, because the local church is (or should be) the means by which the essential task gets done.
Teen Missions International has been in the business of preparing and sending students on summer mission trips all over the world since 1970. Based in Merritt Island Florida, students participate in a boot camp prior to leaving the country. This summer TMI sent out 1307 students with 294 team leaders.
In the summer of 2004, TMI started a 4-6 year old program focused on the basic message of salvation and hearing from missionaries from other countries. Having always been intrigued about TMI and thinking it would be really fun for my 6 year old daughter, we signed up.
Mustard Seed Boot Camp lasted 4 days and 3 nights and was co-located with other Boot Camps happening at the same time on Merritt Island. With the addition of the 4-6 year old program, TMI now has something for kids from 4 years old to high school. Mustard Seed is from 4-6 years old, with one or both parents attending. Peanuts is from 7-9 and is a week long, with no parents. PreTeen is from 10-13 and then the Teen program is above that from 14-21.
Leaders
There were four leaders for Mustard Seeds. Kathy was the overall director and Mustard Seeds was her vision. She also serves as the co-director of TMI overall. She brought her sister Barbara in to do music. Linda was a lady from the Finance department that was the leader of the 'Green' team. Cindy was the leader of the 'Red' team and was on a furlough of sorts from two years in Zambia. Her family (husband, two teenage sons and her) had spent two years doing AIDS Orphans Rescue in Zambia at the TMI base there. They had come back
to the States in April, met contacts to raise additional funds and were getting ready to lead a Zambia team through Boot Camp and taking them back to Zambia with them. At the end of the summer, the students would come back home, leaving Cindy and her husband there. (They are leaving their teenagers home this time)
By far, having a leader who had done cross cultural missions was a major advantage.
Schedule/Program
The schedule looked something like this:
06.30 - wake up (yeah...)
07.00 - breakfast
08.00 - program time
09.00 - the Obstacle Course (they had a mini one for the little kids)
10.00 - snack/craft
11.00 - program time
12.00 - cleanup
12.30 - lunch
01.30 - quiet time - on a big mat in the center of our program area, with everyone
02.30 - program time
04.00 - swim time - definitely the best time of the day
05.00 - cleanup
06.00 - dinner
07.00 - evening rally
08.00 - lights out
Program time consisted of a variety of things including music, missionary speakers and crafts. Music was done by one leader, most of the time teaching the kids new music from a CD and using hand motions. They really loved it. The music teacher also had an assortment of music instruments from different countries that she rotated among the kids. They loved that too.
TMI has a team called Missionaries to America, which is a group of young people that come to America for an extended period of time, do ministry here, go to Boot Camp and then return to their home countries. Mustard Seeds either heard from an individual MTA or a group of them a few times a day. Sometimes the MTAs would do a puppet show, music or a short talk.
Most of the program time centered on the colors of the wordless book. The kids learned memory verses for each color and then went off and did crafts based on the color and verse. Craft included a wooden cross with different things glued to it, putting together cloth swatches of the wordless book together (these were sent out with the high school teams when they went out) and other various crafts. The kids also decorated cookies that were used by Teen Missions for local ministry around the base, which included firehouses and nursing homes.
Participants
Two teams totaling about 25 Mustard Seeds and their parents.
11 families on our team from all over the country including Hawaii and California.
On our team:
7 homeschoolers
7 had prior TMI experiences
- 3 from siblings
- 4 from parents that had been team members/leaders
There were also two grandmothers that had come with their grandsons. They had lots of spunk.
Guidelines
Like its called Boot Camp is pretty tough. No shorts, no reading material other than the Bible, no electronic devices, no snacks, no electricity, no running water. You get a food tray and a bowl and a canteen and cup when you get there. At each meal, you walk up to the dining hall where they give you your food on your tray/bowl, you walk back to the area where you eat and when you are done, you go up to the washing area where you wash all that stuff. Washing entails 4 big bins in a line, the first one to rinse off particles of food, the second one to scrub with soap, the third to rinse off soap and the fourth one to sanitize. You are to eat all your food at every meal. There are outhouses and there are toilets and showers both with no running water. To go to the toilet, you pour a bucket of water down the bowl when you are finished. Used toilet paper goes into another bucket to be thrown away later. (I experienced similar bathroom conditions in the Dominican Republic in 1993). You could bucket shower as well. There was pool time every day as long as there were no thunderstorms. There was a 'rally' every evening, which was a worship and teaching time.
Older kids go through training during Boot Camp with both evangelistic skills such as sharing the Gospel, puppets, etc., as well as work project training such as bricklaying, pouring concrete, etc.
Does it Work?
I had the following questions going into the experience. First, does TMI work in getting kids to be mobilized for mission? Secondly, wouldnÂ?t we be growing kids better in having kids go through the experience with leaders that were connected to them via the local church and throughout the year? TMI does not allow local youth ministry leaders to come with their students. You can, of course, sign up to be a leader of a team. But coming along with a local ministry is not within their context. And finally, would you send your child back?
Since our team had 7 people that had previous TMI experiences, I did an informal survey with them. It was a good mix of people, from those that had been on teams in high school, those that had been on a team and came back as a leader, and those that had siblings go through TMI trips.
For the first question, I think the answer is yes, overall. I went in to the experience wondering how well Boot Camp prepared kids for mission. But I think the actual goal is to use Boot Camp for discipline. Getting kids excited for worldwide missions is probably more a function of the actual mission experience, after they leave Boot Camp. One of our parents who had led teams for 7 or 8 years talked about how a majority of her team members had gone on to be missionaries or in full time ministry. I donÂ?t believe that full time ministry is better than secular work, in fact, I think the compartmentalization is dangerous for the Church. However, I do believe that the observation shows a level of intentionality that is a healthy by product of people living a life on mission.
I spent a few minutes chatting with Bob Bland, the director and founder. I asked him to tell me the overall principle, after doing this for over 30 years. He stated to start something and stick to it. He also talked about I Cor 13 and the idea of putting away childish things when you become an adult. His take was that we all can decide when its time to grow up, and some people simply refuse to. Hopefully, Boot Camp is a time when people choose to grow.
For the second question, I got mixed responses. The big variable here is the local church. In some instances, parents had a great deal of mistrust towards their local church youth ministry. In that case, the question is really invalid. In other cases, parents could see the value in that kind of leadership. One parent did mention that releasing your child happens before you know it.
Thirdly, I would probably send my child back. If I sent my 6 year old back, it would be in a few years, like 8 or 9 for Peanuts. Also, I think 4 might be a little young for Mustard Seeds. We had some 4 year olds that just couldnÂ?t deal.
If a high schooler asked me what I thought of them going to TMI, I would encourage it, with the caveat that the year after, they come back and be a part of what their local church is doing for missions. I believe that we have to encourage kids to be in the context of what the local church is doing for missions whenever we can, because the local church is (or should be) the means by which the essential task gets done.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Mustard Seed - short summary
Here is a short summary/prayer followup letter that I sent out.
I am working on a more in depth follow up that I will post later this week...
Thanks for praying...
Hi All,
Thanks so much for praying for K and I for the past few days while we were at Boot Camp with Teen Missions. To give you a little background, Teen Missions has been in operation for about 30 years preparing and sending hundreds of high school students all over the world on missions trips every summer. I've been intrigued about it for a little while and when they offered a 4-6 year old program for the first time this summer,we thought we would go to experience it first hand.
Boot Camp pretty much describes it - no running water, no electricty,hot Florida heat, sleeping in tents, and mosquitos all the time (160 bites between the two of us). It was definitely a rough time for both of us, but we made it through. In the meantime, K had fun hearing from missionaries from other countries, making lots of crafts about sharing the Gospel story, and doing typical camp stuff, like pool time, story time
and evening 'rallys'.
It's a hard thing to put your child through some suffering deliberately. Most of the
time, K handled it well enough. But there were certainly times when the bugs, the heat, the Boot Camp rules, and the lack of sleep got to her, as it did with most of the kids there.
Needless to say, those things got to me too.
My hope is that as we both process through this experience, it would make us more compassionate towards the world, less tied to our material possessions and more eager to share Christ with those that don't know Him.
Once again, thanks for thinking and praying for us. We know that your prayers were vital to our experience there.
Love,
tony and k
I am working on a more in depth follow up that I will post later this week...
Thanks for praying...
Hi All,
Thanks so much for praying for K and I for the past few days while we were at Boot Camp with Teen Missions. To give you a little background, Teen Missions has been in operation for about 30 years preparing and sending hundreds of high school students all over the world on missions trips every summer. I've been intrigued about it for a little while and when they offered a 4-6 year old program for the first time this summer,we thought we would go to experience it first hand.
Boot Camp pretty much describes it - no running water, no electricty,hot Florida heat, sleeping in tents, and mosquitos all the time (160 bites between the two of us). It was definitely a rough time for both of us, but we made it through. In the meantime, K had fun hearing from missionaries from other countries, making lots of crafts about sharing the Gospel story, and doing typical camp stuff, like pool time, story time
and evening 'rallys'.
It's a hard thing to put your child through some suffering deliberately. Most of the
time, K handled it well enough. But there were certainly times when the bugs, the heat, the Boot Camp rules, and the lack of sleep got to her, as it did with most of the kids there.
Needless to say, those things got to me too.
My hope is that as we both process through this experience, it would make us more compassionate towards the world, less tied to our material possessions and more eager to share Christ with those that don't know Him.
Once again, thanks for thinking and praying for us. We know that your prayers were vital to our experience there.
Love,
tony and k
Monday, June 21, 2004
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Boot Camp until 6/22
Well readers... I will be on hiatus while I attend Mustard Seeds Boot Camp with K. I'm sure I'll have some pretty entertaining stories to tell when I get back. Until then...
Mission Mondays 6/14
Talk on Mission
Well in my spare time, I put together a quick talk about mission.
It's sort of getting some thoughts together for a sendoff kind of thing for the summer trips, I don't know if I will get the opportunity to really use it or not.
But I like doing this kind of thing.
I love to speak to students when I can, when it's the right venue and all. When someone asks you to speak, its a funny dynamic. Suddenly, you have total freedom to say what you want, and someone wants you to be able to do that. They've given you liberty to say what you want. It's funny like that.
Anyway, here are my very rough notes.
====
you are on mission
every person
the Bible is a cohesive picture of people on mission
the overall theme is consistent, people called into a bigger purpose
than themselves
1 Gen 12 -
your blessings are unique
God has designed you for a specific purpose
2 Acts 17
Paul was distressed by the idols in the city
Do we get distressed like that?
Do we greieve for our friends?
story - TP
are we distressed by how our friends live?
3 Matt28
God calls you
to make disciples
to make people thirst for God
teach them to walk with Him
its about knowing God's book, and hearing His voice
SPACE has got some momentum
I don't know if what we are doing is right or not
If we will be succsssful or not
But I believe this is accordign to the heart of God
He wants us to care for the poor
To engage our community
To so love the people that live here, that we strive to make a difference
Darwin awards - rocket
Do we generate skid marks?
Are we moving with God with that much energy and momentum?
Are you bored with your life?
Food fight - Glenn was on a specific purpose and mission
Are we on mission like that?
====
or something like that...
It's sort of getting some thoughts together for a sendoff kind of thing for the summer trips, I don't know if I will get the opportunity to really use it or not.
But I like doing this kind of thing.
I love to speak to students when I can, when it's the right venue and all. When someone asks you to speak, its a funny dynamic. Suddenly, you have total freedom to say what you want, and someone wants you to be able to do that. They've given you liberty to say what you want. It's funny like that.
Anyway, here are my very rough notes.
====
you are on mission
every person
the Bible is a cohesive picture of people on mission
the overall theme is consistent, people called into a bigger purpose
than themselves
1 Gen 12 -
your blessings are unique
God has designed you for a specific purpose
2 Acts 17
Paul was distressed by the idols in the city
Do we get distressed like that?
Do we greieve for our friends?
story - TP
are we distressed by how our friends live?
3 Matt28
God calls you
to make disciples
to make people thirst for God
teach them to walk with Him
its about knowing God's book, and hearing His voice
SPACE has got some momentum
I don't know if what we are doing is right or not
If we will be succsssful or not
But I believe this is accordign to the heart of God
He wants us to care for the poor
To engage our community
To so love the people that live here, that we strive to make a difference
Darwin awards - rocket
Do we generate skid marks?
Are we moving with God with that much energy and momentum?
Are you bored with your life?
Food fight - Glenn was on a specific purpose and mission
Are we on mission like that?
====
or something like that...
Sharing the Vision
Every few months, I drop in on the Missions Task Force at GCC. Most of the time, it's to update them on what is happening on the student side of the Body. It is usually a pretty fun time for me, as I get a few minutes to talk about SPACE and everyone there is really intersted. It's cool.
I went last night to give them an update, and thought, lucky blog reader, that you might like to see it too.
So here it is.
All in all, its kind of a God given dream and vision come true...
===
GCC Youth Ministries
SPACE summer missions
Trip Breakouts:
Light Company – 6th – 8th graders:
Service based weekend working at CMTS.
Car washing/detailing, general landscaping, cleaning projects.
Break the stereotype of a missionary.
6 students/6 leaders
Approx cost - $0
10th Grade
Center for Student Missions, Washington DC.
Immersion into the inner city while working with indigenous local ministries in Washington DC.
10 students/4 leaders
$5600
SPACEcrew (SPACE leader kids)
Urban Impact, NYC
Working with ministry focused on unreached people groups in NYC.
7 students/2 leaders
$3150
Support:
Total budget – approx $8750
Raised to date - $8893
163 financial and prayer partners
Team Preps:
- worship is the goal of missions
- developing a personal testimony
- team work – Myers Briggs Personality Test, the Hardy Personality
- team work – team initiatives
- culture – 3 speakers from GCC who lived in different cultures
Various Other Youth Min trips:
CS – LC leader – the Inner City Experience, the Dream Center, Tampa, FL – middle school inner city ministry
TC – CpR Leader – Ukraine, Mission to the World
Next Steps:
Sendoff – LC/CpR – 7/11
Prayer Cards
Mission Teams Party – 8/22
I went last night to give them an update, and thought, lucky blog reader, that you might like to see it too.
So here it is.
All in all, its kind of a God given dream and vision come true...
===
GCC Youth Ministries
SPACE summer missions
Trip Breakouts:
Light Company – 6th – 8th graders:
Service based weekend working at CMTS.
Car washing/detailing, general landscaping, cleaning projects.
Break the stereotype of a missionary.
6 students/6 leaders
Approx cost - $0
10th Grade
Center for Student Missions, Washington DC.
Immersion into the inner city while working with indigenous local ministries in Washington DC.
10 students/4 leaders
$5600
SPACEcrew (SPACE leader kids)
Urban Impact, NYC
Working with ministry focused on unreached people groups in NYC.
7 students/2 leaders
$3150
Support:
Total budget – approx $8750
Raised to date - $8893
163 financial and prayer partners
Team Preps:
- worship is the goal of missions
- developing a personal testimony
- team work – Myers Briggs Personality Test, the Hardy Personality
- team work – team initiatives
- culture – 3 speakers from GCC who lived in different cultures
Various Other Youth Min trips:
CS – LC leader – the Inner City Experience, the Dream Center, Tampa, FL – middle school inner city ministry
TC – CpR Leader – Ukraine, Mission to the World
Next Steps:
Sendoff – LC/CpR – 7/11
Prayer Cards
Mission Teams Party – 8/22
Monday, June 14, 2004
Harry Potter and your worldview
Marsh has a great post here about how he feels about Harry Potter and his kids' worldview. It resonates with me.
Mustard Seed Playlist
Like all 6 year olds, K is getting big into music. She wants her own CD walkman and the other day her grandparents took her shopping and they bought her a CD, her first CD that she has ever picked out... Scary....
It's scary because I think music has a profound influence on our culture. And at the age of 6, I think we as parents have to be super careful.
For Mustard Seeds, we are going to bring an MP3 player for the plane ride. And I got a double headphone jack. And, of course, I picked out our music. It's going to be fun to be able to listen to the same music...
Here are some of the tracks:
Ashton, Becker, Dente - Angels
Ashton, Becker, Dente - Song of Reconciliation
Ashton, Becker, Dente - No Other
Chris Tomlin - Enough
Chris Tomlin - Not to Us
FFH - Fly Away
Hillsongs - Angels
Hillsongs - Glory
Hillsongs Kids - Every Move I Make
Mosaic - Closer Than Breathing
Mosaic - If I Step
Mosaic - No One Above You
Mosaic - What You See
Mosaic - Invisible
Mosaic - I Live For You
Mosaic - Nothing is Better
Chris Tomlin / Crowder, David Band / Hall, Charlie Band - Famous One
Crowder, David Band / Hall, Charlie Band / Tomlin, Chris Band - Prepare the Way
Rebecca St James - Lamb of God
Rebecca St James - Blessed Be Your Name
Steven Curtis Chapman - Live Out Loud
Steven Curtis Chapman - Jesus Is Life
Steven Curtis Chapman - Magnificent Obsession
Third Day - Come Together
Bebo Norman / Caedmons Call / City On A Hill / Sing Alleluia - Holy Is Your Name
Newsboys - Joy
dc Talk - Between You and Me
dc Talk - Colored People
Keith Green - You are the One
PS - Funny thing, K is a huge Keith Green fan....
It's scary because I think music has a profound influence on our culture. And at the age of 6, I think we as parents have to be super careful.
For Mustard Seeds, we are going to bring an MP3 player for the plane ride. And I got a double headphone jack. And, of course, I picked out our music. It's going to be fun to be able to listen to the same music...
Here are some of the tracks:
Ashton, Becker, Dente - Angels
Ashton, Becker, Dente - Song of Reconciliation
Ashton, Becker, Dente - No Other
Chris Tomlin - Enough
Chris Tomlin - Not to Us
FFH - Fly Away
Hillsongs - Angels
Hillsongs - Glory
Hillsongs Kids - Every Move I Make
Mosaic - Closer Than Breathing
Mosaic - If I Step
Mosaic - No One Above You
Mosaic - What You See
Mosaic - Invisible
Mosaic - I Live For You
Mosaic - Nothing is Better
Chris Tomlin / Crowder, David Band / Hall, Charlie Band - Famous One
Crowder, David Band / Hall, Charlie Band / Tomlin, Chris Band - Prepare the Way
Rebecca St James - Lamb of God
Rebecca St James - Blessed Be Your Name
Steven Curtis Chapman - Live Out Loud
Steven Curtis Chapman - Jesus Is Life
Steven Curtis Chapman - Magnificent Obsession
Third Day - Come Together
Bebo Norman / Caedmons Call / City On A Hill / Sing Alleluia - Holy Is Your Name
Newsboys - Joy
dc Talk - Between You and Me
dc Talk - Colored People
Keith Green - You are the One
PS - Funny thing, K is a huge Keith Green fan....
High Impact Leader
Spent a little time poking around Christian Associates which is the mission agency the McNs are going to Italy with. They are seeking high impact leaders to plant high impact churches all throughout Europe. Here is their definition of a high impact leader:
* pursue a vital relationship with God over their lifetimes
* maintain a learning posture in all areas of life
* seek a biblical perspective on life and leadership
* cultivate personal integrity and authenticity
* develop healthy relationships with family, co-workers, and the community
* pursue their life purpose and calling
* develop dynamic mentoring relationships
* discover and develop their own giftedness as well as giftedness in others
How do you rate? Is there a low impact leader, and what would that look like?
* pursue a vital relationship with God over their lifetimes
* maintain a learning posture in all areas of life
* seek a biblical perspective on life and leadership
* cultivate personal integrity and authenticity
* develop healthy relationships with family, co-workers, and the community
* pursue their life purpose and calling
* develop dynamic mentoring relationships
* discover and develop their own giftedness as well as giftedness in others
How do you rate? Is there a low impact leader, and what would that look like?
Sunday, June 13, 2004
Laying Hands
This morning I got to be a part of the Mission Task Force/Elder team that prayed for and laid hands on the McNs. They leave Tuesday for Florence, Italy. It was an honor to be a part of that.
What I'm going to do about Origins
finally...
rough thoughts after a few weeks of processing thoughts and ideas from Origins...
and listening to some of McManus' messages...
Principle-Relevance to the culture is not optional
*-Shengs will engage culture via active watching of movies
*-we will have a line item in family budget for culture (movies, entertain, music, etc.)
*-SPACEcrew meetings might evolve from just launch planning to including ideas and concepts about being active in mission (this is hard to articulate)
Principle-every NT church had heresy and immorality because they had prebelievers involved in community
*-we will articulate that friends of students have an open invitation to every Launch
Principle-Mission is why the church exists
*-how many students can we get involved in Launches and Mission trips?
can we shoot for 50% within 3 years of starting SPACe?
Principle-Faith and safety are closer tied today than faith and risk.
If you have faith, you will be successful -> false principle.
*-what things are we attempting that can only fail unless God accomplishes (God accomplishes relationships, tasks, thoughts - SPACE involves relationships of people, getting tasks done, acting upon thoughts)
*-can we attempt things that can only fail unless God accomplishes them?
Principle-We need to live lives that are active in listening for God's voice and call.
*-are we spending time in God's word and listening for His audible voice?
Not only the leaders, but the people/students we lead.
Does the worldview we teach to students include this aspect of spiritual growth?
I'm not sure I'm totally done with this, but I think its a good start...
rough thoughts after a few weeks of processing thoughts and ideas from Origins...
and listening to some of McManus' messages...
Principle-Relevance to the culture is not optional
*-Shengs will engage culture via active watching of movies
*-we will have a line item in family budget for culture (movies, entertain, music, etc.)
*-SPACEcrew meetings might evolve from just launch planning to including ideas and concepts about being active in mission (this is hard to articulate)
Principle-every NT church had heresy and immorality because they had prebelievers involved in community
*-we will articulate that friends of students have an open invitation to every Launch
Principle-Mission is why the church exists
*-how many students can we get involved in Launches and Mission trips?
can we shoot for 50% within 3 years of starting SPACe?
Principle-Faith and safety are closer tied today than faith and risk.
If you have faith, you will be successful -> false principle.
*-what things are we attempting that can only fail unless God accomplishes (God accomplishes relationships, tasks, thoughts - SPACE involves relationships of people, getting tasks done, acting upon thoughts)
*-can we attempt things that can only fail unless God accomplishes them?
Principle-We need to live lives that are active in listening for God's voice and call.
*-are we spending time in God's word and listening for His audible voice?
Not only the leaders, but the people/students we lead.
Does the worldview we teach to students include this aspect of spiritual growth?
I'm not sure I'm totally done with this, but I think its a good start...
Friday, June 11, 2004
Who is the most important?
So at the K graduation, all the kids got their final books that they wrote. Volunteers in their classes typed their stories up, typeset them and bound them just like real books. It was cool. On the backpage, it had an About the Authors page.
One of the families we have gotten to know this year live in our neighborhood and work full time for the Church of God. They had pastored two churches previously and are now area directors for the denomination. They have two kids in Kindergarten, and one of them wrote, On his Authors page:
- S wants to be a pastor when he grows up.
- Jesus is the most important person in his family.
Wow. Those are quite the statements.
One of the families we have gotten to know this year live in our neighborhood and work full time for the Church of God. They had pastored two churches previously and are now area directors for the denomination. They have two kids in Kindergarten, and one of them wrote, On his Authors page:
- S wants to be a pastor when he grows up.
- Jesus is the most important person in his family.
Wow. Those are quite the statements.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
#1 finishing K
Well our first born graduated from Kindergarten today. I was in tears. Just kidding. Graduation was certainly easier than putting her on the school bus at the beginning of the year though... Anyway, it was fun... life moves on... your kids and my kids grow up... Jesus help us to take hold of the kingdom forcefully...
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