Family Services
During most Sunday services at our church here in Youghal, everyone stays together for the singing and prayer time, but during the sermon the babies go to creche (nursery) and the children go to kid's club. After the service we have tea, coffee and biscuits (cookies). There's no Sunday School at a separate time, like most churches in America would have. Once a month we have a "family service" where everyone stays in and the sermon time is geared for the whole family. This year we are using the family services to go through a time line of the Bible. Last week we talked about God's promises to Abraham, and at the end of March, Seth will be sharing about how God worked through all the unjust suffering of Joseph to bring salvation to His people. Kind of appropriate, seeing as that will be close to Easter when we celebrate Someone else who suffered unjustly to bring salvation to us!
Valentine's Goodies Yesterday we had several ladies at the house making loads of Valentine's Day goodies - everyone took a plate of the miniature works of art home, plus we have several plates left that we will be able give to friends and neighbors.
VisitorsSaturday night we had lots of new faces at youth club. Sunday we had new faces at church. Plus Grandma Lewis came to visit for the week! Life is good. New pictures are up in the gallery.
Speaking Of...
Every year, the Baptist churches in the Cork area have a joint missions conference. This year, Seth was asked to speak for the youth session. He talked about how it's people with a relationship with God who make the church the church, and how inviting others to have their own relationship with God sometimes means sending people to where those people are.
This morning was a family service at church and we got to help with it. We talked about the tower of Babel and how sin is us trying to make ourselves great and control our own lives, even though God is the One who is really great and really in control. Plus we had a great time singing "God is so good" in the many languages represented in our church.
Getting Closer
Our church had a meeting Sunday to talk about what we would include in our doctrinal statement and constitution. Lots to think about, but the meeting went very well and we are moving closer to becoming an "official" church. Pray for us - we want the foundation that is put down for our church to be something solid that will stand the test of time.
One Year!
One year ago today our plane landed in Ireland! Wow! We have certainly seen God's hand clearly in that time - in providing us with everything we needed (house, car, etc, etc, etc), in providing for the church, and in providing another healthy little member of the family! It has been a busy year, for sure!!
We are very happy here and after one year, I think we can say confidently that we are settled in! We really like living in Youghal. We are definitely still learning, but who ever learned everything in a year??
Weather
Some of you may be reading this from snow-covered wonderlands, but it's raining today in Youghal. Yesterday there was some snow on the ground when we woke up, but it didn't last long. Before the snow even showed up here in Youghal, the government had closed all the schools in Ireland until Thursday (the country was almost out of salt for the roads). Now that things have warmed up, they changed their minds and some schools have re-opened. Students are not happy.
It was cold. The pipes froze in the building we usually meet in for church, so there was no heat or water. We met in a house and had warm, close fellowship.
International
On Sunday our church had an international service where everyone from different parts of the world shared Christmas songs or traditions from their countries. Besides Ireland and America (Seth sang "Sweet Little Jesus Boy") we also got a taste of Christmas in Hungary, Romania, Zimbabwe, Armenia and Poland! Not bad for a little church in Youghal!
Yesterday evening a good friend of ours (who is also living abroad) flew in to visit for a few days. It's great to have an old friend here to celebrate New Years with us!
Christmas Happenings
'tis the season for lots of events! Last weekend the Ladies Christmas Dinner went very well, and was well attended. The youth girls ran the evening for the most part and did a great job on the program. The food was also excellent and everyone enjoyed themselves! On Sunday, our church had a carol service in the evening that was broadcast live on the local community radio station! This week we'll be caroling some more, going to Christmas parties, and our church has a service on Christmas Day.
Baptists
A teacher at the local Catholic secondary school asked our teammate Mervyn to present to a couple of classes what Baptists believe. Part of the curriculum for religion class is that the students hear from a different faith community. That happened this morning, and Seth went along to help make the technology work. It was fun!
Party Time
Today Seth and the boys are going to a party for kids 12 and under at church. This evening, our teammate will stay at the house while the boys sleep and Jess and Seth will go help with a youth Christmas dinner/party. Jess is making the turkey and stuffing, Seth is helping with the games. Should be good fun!!
Sunday
Yesterday after church we had a guy from the youth club for lunch, then he and Jess went with some other folks from church to sing at a retirement community in Youghal. After that, Seth went over to a teammate's house and spent some time with a couple of the youth guys - watching American football and playing wii. Busy day, but fun!
Calendars The boxes in the picture above are full of many thousands of Scripture calendars that will be given out across Ireland. Yesterday, Seth helped sort through them so that they would all make it to the churches and individuals that ordered them. He took a car-load back to Youghal, too!
This is a short video Seth made with a guy from youth club to illustrate a lesson on prayer. The point is that we know it's bad to treat our friends this way, but it's exactly how we tend to treat God a lot of times. Enjoy!
Prayer Meetings
Tuesday there was a joint prayer meeting for evangelical churches in County Cork. Yesterday our weekly church prayer meeting was in our front room. Today there was a prayer meeting for youth club leaders. Tomorrow there's a monthly prayer meeting for a group of churches. "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain..."
Laysin, Switzerland
Known as the "sunniest spot in Europe" because of it's location up in the Alps where it is usually above the clouds. Amazing views. If we had better internet access up here, we'd post the pictures, but you'll have to wait on that.
The All-Europe conference for CrossWorld is great - we are seeing friends we haven't seen in years, meeting "legends", taking in great messages, praying and playing games with wonderful people, and of course, hiking in the Alps. Seth also got to try his hand at curling (you know, like shuffleboard on the ice). It's really refreshing. Just breathing the air up here is refreshing!
The Voyage That Shook The World
Saturday night Seth was in Cork for a showing of "The Voyage That Shook The World" which is a documentary about Charles Darwin produced by Creation Ministries (out of England). After all, this is the "year of Darwin" because it's 200 years since he was born and 150 since he published his work. Hundreds of people were there to see the rug gently pulled out from under the old man. If you'd like to know more about it, click here.
Tomorrow we are headed to a short conference with the rest of our team and workers from around Ireland. Henry Blackaby, author of "Experiencing God", will be the main speaker. We're excited!
So Many Eatings
Daniel is getting used to his daddy saying things like: "I'm going to a meeting, I'll be back soon, I love you". In fact, he's so used to it, that now when he sees daddy putting on a coat or heading for the door he says "Daddy's going to a eating".
The fact is, he's right! Every meeting has food. Pretty much anytime anyone gets together there is food involved (and a cup of tea or coffee, of course). And it's yummy food, too!
David's Commitment Service
Sunday we had a special 'Commitment Service' for David. We as a family formally committed to doing everything we can to raise him (and Daniel!) up in the knowledge and love of God to the best of our ability, by the grace of God. The service was really special for us, and even more so because we not only had our church family there to celebrate with us, we also had some neighbors and friends from Youghal who came along as well! It was a beautiful day! Check the gallery for pictures!
Swimming in Tea
The National Ploughing Championships had a record crowd this year: over 200,000 people came over the three days of the event!! The Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland had a big tent there where we served tea and homemade goodies, gave away free CD's, balloon animals, Bibles and other literature, plus we had room for people to sit down and take a break from fighting their way through the crowds. On the walls of the tent there were 20 testimonies of farmers from around Ireland. It was amazing how open people were to talk about spiritual things once they had a seat and a cup of tea! We gave away over 2,400 cups of tea/coffee, piles and piles of gospel-goodies, and had a lot of great conversations. It was fun!
Ploughing Championships
Seth will be heading a few hours north today to help with an outreach at the National Ploughing Championships (yes, Ploughing, not Plowing). It may not be directly related to our work in Youghal, but it's a great way to make contact with people from rural communities that would normally be difficult to reach. The event is huge! You can see more about it on the official website: www.npa.ie
This and That
The last two days for Seth were full of meetings. Really, literally, full. We also had a quick visit from the lady in charge of missionary kid services at the home office, which was great, and today we're headed to Cork on the train! While we're there, we'll be going to the US Embassy to register David's birth and we'll also take some time to see a few of the sights.
In The News
Once again, Seth's picture made it into the local paper. Actually, twice this time - once from a community event for internationals in Youghal and once for the Medieval Fun Day. A couple of our teammates were also in the paper from the Medieval Day, and our teammates' son got a half-page full color photo in another paper! Anyone who picks up a paper will know our church was there!
Medieval Fun Day
Today was the rescheduled Medieval Fun Day! It was an adventure!
We had a picture booth based on the book of Kells, which is an ancient Irish manuscript of the four Gospels, with beautiful illustrations. People could get their photo in a Kells-style prop and put it into a Kells-style frame with excerpts from the book of Kells on it.
We had some trouble getting the power hooked up to our booth so we could print the pictures - finally about two hours after the event started, we got it. But it wasn't that big a deal, because there weren't many people around - it was raining too hard! The rain did let up a couple of times for a few minutes, though, so we did get to give out some frames and take some pictures. Let's just say it's a good thing the leftover frames can be used next year!
Postponed
It's not normal for rain to slow anyone down in Ireland (if it did, nothing would ever get done), but the weather forecast for today was so bad that they decided to postpone the Medieval Fun Day!
Here's a picture for you, though - it's a family portrait drawn by Daniel:
Busy Sunday
We are making a big push now to have everything ready for the weekend. We still have quite a few folks out of town, so a lot of us who are left are doing double-duty on church jobs. Thankfully we do have a special speaker coming, so that's taken care of. Sunday is also the Medieval Fun Day in Youghal, so that's another thing to get set up on an already busy morning. We appreciate your prayers!
Song and Dance
Our church meets in the building of a local traditional Irish music group called Ceolta Si. In the summer, they have shows twice a week that include traditional music, dance, stories, and an opportunity at the end for anyone in the crowd to participate. Seth went once, and was volunteered (by someone he had barely met) to sing at the end! He got out of it, but only by saying he would come back and do it another time. Last night was that time.
So what does an American sing at a traditional Irish music show?
Seth decided to sing "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" - not only is it written by an Irishman, but it has quite a story behind it. Good lyrics, too. Seth was introduced as a member of the Baptist church, got to share a bit of the story, and by the time he got to through the second verse of the song, some of the members of Ceolta Si were playing along! Jessica got to come along too - we took David (who slept the whole time!) and got a babysitter for Daniel.
Our House
Sure, it might be different than some American houses (see the last post), but it's a good to live in. This week we had neighbors in the living room (we call it the "front room") playing guitar and singing Irish songs. We also had a mid-week Bible study there. And today Jessica's friend Melissa and a friend of hers who are touring Ireland will be coming for a couple days. What a useful house!
Comings and Goings
A group of Christian soccer coaches from Northern Ireland have been here all week leading an evangelistic soccer camp here in Youghal. We had a decent turn out and even though it rained some, it has definitely turned out to be a good week. They are finishing up camp today and will head back to the North.
Yesterday, Jessica's dad, brother, and brother's girlfriend came to stay with us for a few days and meet David. It's great to see them!!
Saturday, most of our team is going away one place or another for most of August. That means we'll be responsible for church and an event coming up at the end of August. A lot of it is already planned, though, and we've got lots of help with the great folks at church. It's all good.
Church Website
Seth built a website for our church here in Youghal. It's not completely done, but it's close - you can find it at: www.youghalbaptist.ie
All the pictures on it (lighthouse, etc) are from Youghal, some are just edited a bit.
Medieval Radio
No, there is no such thing. But both will be in this post.
On Saturday we went to a "Medieval" festival at a nearby castle. It was fun - they had demonstrations of cooking, sword fights, jousting, falconry and other middle-ages kinds of things. But they also had WWII soldiers, Romans and belly dancers. Interesting. Oh, and the local radio station was there playing all kinds of things - we even heard some Shania Twain. So yes, evidently medieval and radio CAN go together.
But the main reason "Radio" is in the title of this post is because Seth's mom was interviewed on our teammate Mervyn's radio show last night on Community Radio Youghal. They talked mostly about her work with a crisis pregnancy center in Alabama. The show will not actually air until the 16th.
Weekend
Friday night we had a Christian band from Holland come and do a concert in Youghal. Several of the band members grew up as missionary kids in Peru, and some had spent significant time in Ireland before, so the style was quite a mix of Peruvian, Celtic and Dutch... and they sang in three languages as well (but provided translations so we could all understand the message). If that mix of styles sounds interesting to you, you can here samples of their music on www.combotrinity.nl About 100 people came to the concert, almost half of whom were not connected to our group of churches.
On Saturday Seth took the band to where they could catch a bus to their next show, and in the afternoon we drove over to Blarney Castle to meet up with a couple of Seth's friends from high school that are touring Europe and happened to be in the area!
Sunday the short term team from Texas did the service and afterward we had a barbecue. The Irish call outdoor grills 'barbecues', and if you cook anything on them you are having a barbecue - we had burgers and sausages that were sort of like hot dogs.
The picture is us with Nathan Jackson, Seth's friend from High School
Daniel's Birthday Party!
Yesterday we had eight of Daniel's friends over (plus parents and a few older siblings) and it was a beautiful day for a birthday party! Half the kids came from the church, and the others were friends from the area. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let them speak for themselves:
If that's not enough for you, there are a few more posted in the Gallery!
Camp, Flyers, and Magazines
Yesterday the second youth camp started, today Seth is putting up flyers around town announcing a concert with a Christian band from Holland on July 10th, and this week the short-termers from Texas who aren't helping with camp are distributing more evangelistic magazines. We've already had some positive responses to the magazines that were distributed last week, so that's encouraging!
this picture is from a quick visit we made to camp last week:
Life Opens Doors
Normal life can provide plenty of opportunities to get to know people. Yesterday we went to a birthday party for the three-year-old son of our teammates and there were some new friends from their neighborhood there. Tomorrow, Jessica is having one of our neighbors and a friend of hers over for tea and to meet David. Daniel will turn two on July 5th, so we're planning a party for him and it looks like it could be pretty big. July 4th may also be an opportunity to have some folks over and show them how American's use a barbecue grill. Hooray for life.
Sleep?
David has been doing very well, and even giving us more sleep than we expected to have. He certainly has his moments, but he has slept well at night and been awake in the day more than we thought possible. Of course, having Jessica's mom here to help means we get more sleep as well! Jess is recovering well - she's been on house arrest most of the time, but today she went to Bible study and got to show off the baby.
Yesterday, we had a short-term team from Texas come. They will be here for a month and will be helping with youth camp, children's Bible clubs and distribution of evangelistic magazines.
Drama
Seth has joined the Barnabas Players for their last week here, because one of them had to go home early (he was best man in a wedding). So, Seth learned the lines, etc, and so far he's been in about a dozen shows. The Players have been here almost three weeks and they have done over 50!
Seth, Mervyn and the Barnabas Players had a great trip to Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom, as opposed to the Republic of Ireland where we live). Seth was introduced at the missions conference for the organization Mervyn and Karen work with, and the Barnabas Players performed as well. Actually, they performed more than they thought they would - one time we stopped for lunch and they got a chance to do a skit about Jonah in the resturaunt! Seth got a little bit recorded so you could get a taste of it:
We were tourists for a little while and got to see some of Belfast and the Giant's Causeway - check the gallery for pictures!
Belfast
Today Seth is heading to Belfast in Northern Ireland for a couple of days with Mervyn and the Barnabas Players. They'll be going to a missions conference and doing some performances while in the North, but Seth is mostly along for the ride - to check out Belfast and see what churches are like up there. Check back in a few days and I'm sure there will be some good pictures!
Barnabas Players
On Wednesday night a drama group called the Barnabas Players flew in from Prairie Bible College in Canada. Two of the five team members are staying with us. They will be here until June 3rd, and will spend most of their days in area schools using drama to help the students focus on God. They can actually be very open in their use of the Bible because the schools in Ireland are not secular - they are almost all run by either the Catholic Church or the Church of Ireland (a branch of the Church of England/Anglican church). They are also offering all of the students a free copy of the gospel of John.
In other news, our printer broke down so we upgraded to an amazing machine that can print A3 size posters with no edges, which is a great feature for publicity - especially since most local events are primarily advertised through posters. Now if we can just find a spot big enough to put this thing...
Making Friends
We are very thankful that God is already giving us good friends here in Ireland. Yesterday one of our neighbors invited Jessica and Daniel over for some tea along with another friend of hers and her kids. We also had a family from church over for "tea" - a name often used for the evening meal, but not to be confused with the likes of Jessica's literal cup of tea earlier at the neighbor's. Anyway, Daniel had a great time running circles around the house with their kids while we had a great talk with the parents. Today we're having tea (dinner) with our teammates, who we are quickly becoming good friends with. It sure is nice to have friends.
People and Blasphemy
We may not have house guests anymore, but we're still around people most of the time, it seems. Everyday this week we've been with other people - sometimes at our place, sometimes at theirs or in town. As Seth types this, Jessica is downstairs with a bunch of teen girls watching a movie. He's never seen it, but it seems to have a pretty good soundtrack.
On a totally different note, here's an interesting article from the Irish Times. It's written by the Minister of Justice and talks about the difficulties in honoring the Irish constitutional requirement that blasphemy be punished. Click Here to read it.
Also, thank you for praying for Jessica's folks (see April 21 post). The insurance company is covering repairs and expenses for a furnished apartment while they wait. Friends from church have been a huge help and God is clearly working in the whole thing. Your prayers are definitely appreciated!
This video is from Easter Sunday, the first of our weekly services in Youghal. It's just a couple of clips to give you a taste - some music, part of a gospel presentation we gave, and a little bit from Mervyn, the Irish church planter we are working with.
EasterEaster is always a wonderful day for the church, but this Easter was especially significant for our church in Youghal - it marked the beginning of weekly services in Youghal! Pray that the church would be firmly planted and that God would open doors and shine brightly through His people!
Darwin
The movie Seth pre-screened yesterday is called "The Voyage that Shook the World". It's a documentary about Darwin produced because 2009 is the "year of Darwin" - the 200th anniversary of his birth and 150th anniversary of the publishing of "The Origin of the Species". Although the movie is produced by a Christian organization, it is not overtly Christian or creationist - it simply looks at Darwin's life and work in the light of modern science. Overall it is very well produced (although I thought it was a bit dry at times), and it treats Darwin fairly while at the same time casting real doubt on the validity of his conclusions. I think it will be a useful pre-evangelistic tool for Christians to use. It won't come out until June, but if you'd like to see a trailer, click here.
Dublin
Today Seth is going to Dublin with a couple of our teammates to see a pre-screening of a film that we may be using later for ministry in the area. If it's good, I'll let you know :) Since Seth hasn't been to Dublin yet, he's pretty happy about the opportunity to be there!
Jessica's friend and former college roommate came in from the States yesterday, and we are thrilled to get to spend time with her!
Company
Last week we had 15 people at the house and next week we'll have some more - plus we'll be going to some other folks houses as well. We love it!
We'll also have several visitors from the States in April (a friend and some family) so we're going to take the opportunity to act like tourists for a little while and get to know the area we're in. I'm sure we'll be posting pictures before too long!
Being American
We may be able to blend into an Irish crowd without too much trouble, but once we open our mouths there's no doubt about where we're from!
One lady heard me (Seth) talk and said: "where did you come from?" When I answered "America", she said "I knew that - what state?"
I also recently met some teens who'd been drinking and it wasn't long before they said "hey - you're from America!" which was quickly followed by: "are you a gangster?"
Usually, it's hard to tell exactly what people are thinking when they see (or hear) that we are American. Most folks are curious and tell us about relatives they have there or times they have visited. Others seem wary of us. The danger is that people could think that the message we present is American - something new and foreign - when in reality it came to Ireland first! Please pray for wisdom for us to be able to clearly communicate the good news without cultural differences becoming a barrier.
Birthday / Retreat
Jessica's birthday was Thursday, and we had some time in the morning to celebrate as a family. In the afternoon, we went to a birthday party for a girl a couple houses down from us who turned six. We had met them a couple of times before and she liked Daniel, plus her mom wanted us to be able to meet the other families in the neighborhood! It was great! We got to have some great conversations with several folks we hadn't met before, and got to know some others better.
After the party we drove to a beautiful little coastal town on the other side of Cork for a CrossWorld retreat. Our supervisor from headquarters came and all the missionaries with CrossWorld in Ireland were there as well. It was wonderful to spend time with all our teammates! The setting was fabulous, too! Check the gallery for photos!
Sick
Daniel has had a cold for a while and is just starting to feel better, but before he got over it he made sure to pass along the love to Mom and Dad. Dad also got a 24 virus (starting on his birthday!) that he doesn't seem to have passed along, and that's very good! In other words, we've been a regular sick ward this week, but praise the Lord everyone seems to be on the mend!
While Seth was recovering, Jessica went to youth group on Saturday and had a great time getting to know the youth! We also got to help out with creche (nursery) and powerpoint for church this morning, among other things. Thank you for your prayers!
Youth Club
On Saturday, Seth got to lead games for the youth club at the church in Midleton (the one that's planting the church in Youghal, where we are). It went well! The youth group is actually going to stay together even after the church in Youghal is planted, at least for most things. There are about 25 youth involved, so splitting the group at this point would mean small groups in both places. We're just glad to be able to help any way we can!
In The NewsSeth helped with a fundraiser for the local radio station (one of our teammates does a show on Sunday nights) and Seth's picture ended up in the local newspaper this week! Today we'll be putting posters up around town to advertise an event that the church is putting on called "Helping Hurting People". The speaker is John Stephenson, a strong Christian from Canada who lost his wife and daughter in a car accident in '93 and ended up writing a book called "From Tears to Triumph". That will be on March 5th, which just happens to be Seth's birthday!
We praise God that we have had opportunities to meet several of our neighbors as well. It seems like this neighborhood is going to be a great place to get to know people! We're probably also going to join the local gym and Jess is going to try out a Mum (I did not misspell that) and toddler club that several locals have recommended to us. They all say it's a great way to get to know people! Pray for us!
If you'd like to see the whole newspaper, it's online at www.youghalnews.ie
We Can Stay!
we went to see the immigration officer today in a nearby town and thanks to our teammates, we had no trouble being accepted. Our teammates already have a good relationship with the immigration officer for our area, so one of them came with us and once the officer knew we were with them, he barely even talked to us - but he gave us permission to stay! We'll have to re-apply every year, but that's just the way it goes. To celebrate, we ate at McDonald's. I know, I know, it's not a very "Irish" thing to do, but the milkshake was good, so hush.
Creche
Jessica got to keep the nursery at church today for the second time. It's not called "nursery", though - it's the "creche". Along the same lines, if someone is "nursing" a baby, that just means they are holding and loving the baby - not feeding it. So Seth can nurse babies now.
To give you a taste of our church here, last week the creche had children who spoke three different languages!
Car!Here's our new car! It's a 2001 Opel Zafira, with 7 seats and only 32,000 miles! It's also automatic, which is actually pretty rare around here. You can see in the window that the price is posted as €12,990 - can you believe we only paid €7,000?! The whole thing smells strongly of God's providence! We knew we wanted more seats, but the combination of that with an automatic is almost impossible to find here, especially for a reasonable price. God must have had this one marked out for us though, and He put the right people in our path so that we would find it. The car only has one previous owner - the president of GM in Ireland! Needless to say, it has a complete maintainence history :) God is good!!
Sunday
this morning we went to Midleton Evangelical Church, the church that is in the process of planting a new church in Youghal. The place was definitely crowded, with something like 75-80 folks there. Everyone was very nice to us, and most of the folks we met already know who we were and said they have been praying for us for some time! Right now we're in our apartment listening to one of our teammates host a program on the local Youghal radio station. It's an interesting story of God's providence about how he got the opportunity to do that - they actually asked him!
Our sea-view window gave us front row seats to some drama today as a rescue helicopter came through searching for something or somebody. Eventually they left, but I guess we'll have to ask around or get a paper later to find out what actually happened.
Plans change
we've had a couple of changes in plans recently:
Change 1: we thought we were set to rent a nice house in Youghal, but now the landlords are not sure that they want to rent it out at all. They had moved to the country, but it turns out things there are not what they expected and they are considering moving back to the house we were hoping to rent. They have not decided for sure yet, but since we don't have much time, we're looking elsewhere. Thank you for your prayers!
Change 2: the U.S. Social Security system just changed some requirements regarding folks who live overseas, and although it would still be possible to do a 4 year term up front and come back to the States for a year (what we were expecting to do), CrossWorld tells us that it would probably be better to come back for six months after 2 and 1/2 years in Ireland. We think that's fine - we'll get to see everyone on this side of the ocean sooner, and we won't be away from the work in Ireland for a whole year.
Open house in Alabama and Georgia on my mind!
yesterday afternoon we had a wonderful open house at Seth's folk's place. Almost 80 people came!! Seth's mom had plenty of food ready and God provided warm and dry weather so folks could sit on the porch - which was important because we were still almost shoulder-to-shoulder in the house for a while there! We are so thankful for such an encouraging send-off and for the chance to see so many friends before we leave!
for those of you in Georgia: we're going to swing through on our way back to Virginia, and we want to see you, too! We're going to camp out at Barns and Noble on Riverside Drive (in the Shops at River Crossing) from 6:30-8:00pm on Thursday. We'd love to see you if you can swing by!
Sunday
yesterday had plenty of variety. After a great service at church we went out to eat with Jessica's folks to celebrate her brother's birthday, and Daniel slept through the whole meal (which was great!). Then we went back to church to practice for a Christmas choir special, but we had to leave early because Jessica had a Girl's Night Out at our house. She has been doing these for years now with the girls from the youth group. They always have great food and good times, but more then that, they always make or do or plan something for others. Over the years they have done some really neat and elaborate projects, so last night was a chance to remember those and relive a few of their favorites. And the best news of all is that it looks like Girl's Night Out may continue after we're gone!
CrossWorld move
after months of consideration, the CrossWorld Board of Directors has decided to relocate the mission's headquarters to Kansas City, MO. The move should be completed by early 2010. Why?
1) CrossWorld will share a campus with another like-minded mission board, Avant Ministries. Although both missions will retain their unique identities, there will be some shared services such as information technology and finance - which will dramatically cut overhead costs for both mission agencies.
2) The shared campus will have more space for growth than the current CrossWorld campus. It will also have the facilities to host large groups (for training, conferences, etc) easily. CrossWorld will build a new office building, but will share the training facilities and guesthouse services with Avant. Here's a view of the campus from Google Maps:
milestone
the biggest news first: we're over 90% supported! That means that we'll be buying our plane tickets for Ireland soon - we'll let you know when we have the date nailed down!
we had a wonderful final week of training at CrossWorld headquarters. The other folks who were at training with us were people who started their journey with CrossWorld the same time we did at Candidate Orientation over two years ago! It was great to see them again!
the training itself was very helpful - we got tons of practical information about ministry, finances, and moving into another culture. We are so thankful to be part of a mission organization that works so hard to make sure we have everything we need to be ready to go and be effective in cross-culturally ministry!
tea and philly
Jessica put together a tea party for all the ladies (any age) at church last Saturday. She had lots of help from the youth group girls and a few other ladies. Basically, the youth girls put on a great party for all the other ladies at church - plus they made the older ladies verse cards to encourage them and the older ladies gave the younger girls encouraging notes as well. The idea was to try to put into practice the principles of Titus 2 concerning the relationship between older and younger women in the church. It was a blast!
In other news, we're in Philadelphia right now for our last week of missionary training. it's been great so far, and we really enjoyed being able to take the train up instead of strapping Daniel in a carseat all day!
there are pictures of the tea party and the train ride under the pictures tab.
teaching
Jessica got to teach a devotional for a baby shower she went to this weekend, and Seth got to sub for our Sunday School class. We are both crazy about teaching, so this was a good weekend for us :)
concert in Youghal
the "Youghal Baptist Community", which is the group we'll be working with, recently sponsored a concert in Youghal. click here to read more about it from the youghalonline website.
weekend
we had an eventful weekend. Seth's parents came into town with a group of five international graduate/post-graduate students on a weekend trip. We went hiking with them on Saturday, with Daniel in a baby backpack (it actually worked pretty well, thankfully). On Sunday Jessica had a house full of teen girls over to plan for an upcoming event that they are calling the "Generations Tea Party" where all the ladies at church will get together and serve each other in Titus 2 fashion. The girls are really excited about it, and so are we!
God at work
recently, we've gotten word from a couple of Seth's old co-workers that they are living for the Lord, involved in church and witnessing to friends and family members! wow! what an encouragement! it's just wonderful to get a peek at what God is doing, isn't it?
remaining training
we'll be going to CrossWorld headquarters in Philadelphia in mid-November for our final week of missionary training. We're actually going to ride the train there instead of driving, which is really exciting to us (if you've ever tried to keep a toddler in a car seat entertained for hours on end, you know why!)
Here's the main topics that we'll be covering while we're there:
conflict resolution, handling transitions, having realistic expectations, dealing with a crisis, working with a team in ministry - and the highly-important issue of how to fill out the right forms at the right times to work smoothly with the support team at headquarters.
progress and more controversy
We're happy to report that we've hit 78% of our monthly support! Thank you to our team members, both new and old, for being the means of God's provision for us!!
In other news, we've continued to be the subject of letters to the editor in our local weekly paper (see posts from July 9 and 17). The tally now is 4 negative and 2 supportive letters over three weeks. Definitely a new experience for us, as we're not used to causing public controversy. Maybe we need to get used to it, though?
We're Controversial
The recent article about us in the Fincastle Herald (see post from July 9th) has stirred a bit of local controversy. This weeks edition of the paper included two somewhat heated responses in the letters to the editor (one from the pastor of a local Presbyterian church). Unfortunately, the letters to the editor are not posted online, or I would show them to you. We have also received some interesting responses via email.
Evidently, we are going to Ireland to spread "self-righteous bigotry" by imposing our own "interpretation of Jesus' teachings" on people who are "already Christians".
We are thankful, though, for the opportunity to explain ourselves, our mission and the gospel of God's grace to those who emailed. We are also thankful for the opportunity to receive criticism for the sake of the gospel. It's good training for the misunderstandings I'm sure we'll receive in Ireland.
If you are reading this and don't know what we mean by the "gospel of God's grace" or have questions about why we consider Ireland to be spiritually needy, than I urge you to contact us and give us the opportunity to explain ourselves.
Daleville VBS
This week, God opened the door for us to help with another Vacation Bible School! This time it's at our Virginia home church, Daleville Baptist. Like we did at Southwood in Alabama, we get to present the missions project and this time the kids are raising money to help a church in Killarney, Ireland. We'll be paying for the printing of 5,000 cards that look like this:
and a team from another church in the States will be in Killarney soon to distribute them to the city of Killarney.
busy week in Ireland
This week is a busy one for our teammates in Ireland! There is a Sr. High camp going on that involves a lot of CrossWorld missionaries, backyard Bible clubs for kids, distribution of evangelistic magazines (called "4you", and also available on the internet), as well as various other ministries. I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers as they seek to spread the good news in Ireland!
Vacation Bible School
Today was the last day of VBS at Seth's home church, Southwood. We got to present the missions project, which was to help the church-plant in Youghal, Ireland (the one we'll be working with when we move there) buy a keyboard (as in, electric piano) to use for worship. So we've been there everyday this week, telling the kids about Ireland and what God is doing there! What fun!
and get this - today we found out that the kids raised over $1,600 for the keyboard!! WOW!!
halfway there...
We've learned a lot in the process of raising support.
First and foremost: God does it His way. We had plenty of ideas and expectations going in, but things have been completely different than we expected! That's not bad - we've just had to learn to trust Him only and be patient as He reveals His way.
2: support development is not about us. Sure, we need the money to live on, but the goal is joining God in what He's doing in Ireland.....
and here!
We've been amazed and humbled at the opportunities to serve the Lord and join what He is doing here in the States. We've seen over and over again how He has brought us to the right churches and individuals at the right times to accomplish His purpose for us and for them... it's a constant adventure, and we're loving it!
Finally, it's great to be part of a team. And we have a really great team!
our weekend
Friday-Saturday Seth helped with a Disciple Now weekend for a youth pastor friend in the area. He ended up being the group leader for the middle-school guys. Last night he slept for 11 hours. That means he's pretty much recovered except that he'll probably be sore for another day or two. Spiritually, the weekend was awesome - God showed up in a big way, and it was obvious that it was Him. How exciting to get to be a part of it!
Yesterday we drove down to Chase City, VA to speak at Salem United Methodist Church, where one of Jessica's long-time friends and her husband go. It was a great! The church building was beautiful, old, and little. The people were friendly, generous, encouraging - and a lot of them were little, too (there were tons of babies)! We are really enjoying watching God work and following His lead in this process of support-development!
Indiana, still
We are still thanking God that the sun came out here!
Wednesday we spoke at Kessler Krest Baptist in Indianapolis, which went well. We are really enjoying the opportunity to see different churches and meet new brothers and sisters in the Lord!
Yesterday we met with several students at Indiana Wesleyan University and had a great time talking about what God is doing in their lives and ours. It was nice to be able to walk around outside between meetings (refer to sentance #1). We also got to have dinner with a group from Grandma's church, which was great!
Daniel is doing very well with all the new places, people and experiences. He is generally happy to meet people and his favorite thing to do these days is walk around (with help from Mom or Dad). He has had a bit of trouble at night, but that's what coffee is for.
More from Indiana
It was cold and rainy when we got here, but the weather has gotten much better and we've been able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine with Grandma! Yesterday, we went to Taylor University and met with some students who were interested in Ireland and missions - we had a great time! Plus we got to spend some time looking around at Seth's parents alma mater!
Daniel, Easter, and St. Patrick
First, I have to tell you the five new things from Daniel:
1) He's got two new teeth (that's four total now) 2) He's playing peek-a-boo with no help from us 3) He's imitating a new clicking kind of sound 4) He's sleeping ten hours in a row... regularly! 5) He's crawling!!! Not far, yet, but forward motion is happening!
Easter was wonderful here! Check out our pictures for more on that!
Our St. Patrick Party on Saturday went really well! Thanks to everyone who came and extra-big-thanks to those who helped make it wonderful! Here's a couple of snapshots I just have to show you: yeah, we had a good time :)
If you didn't get to come to the party, but you'd still like to find out more about what we'll be doing in Ireland and how you can be part of it, just shoot us an email at seth.lewis@crossworld.org !
Pretty Princesses
Last night we helped with an event at church that the youth group girls put on for the younger girls at church to help them know what to look for in a guy. It was something Jessica had been wanting to do for months, and it turned out spectacularly, praise the Lord! The youth guys were involved too - taking the girls on a "date" to "Dalevilleinos" (in our church's fellowship hall) and being good examples of how guys should treat girls. We are so proud of how the youth group really stepped up and worked hard to make this a great time for the younger girls! After dinner, the guys and girls went seperate directions for the night, but everyone stayed up late (or, early, to be exact) so we're paying for that now... with interest, I think.
There are more pictures under the pictures/media tab, but here's a couple to give you a taste:
Friends
We've had lots of new folks join the church recently, which is really great, especially since some of them are close to our age! One of Seth's managers at Ruby Tuesday joined last Sunday with his family (he's not working there anymore, either), and we recently got to hang out with another new couple that is our age... we are excited and encouraged to have new friends who love the Lord!
Unexpected Opportunity
Seth got a call yesterday from a sick youth pastor friend asking him to fill in for youth group last night. Seth ended up leading almost the whole night of activities/teaching and got to present our vision for Ireland to the middle school group (about 25). It was lots of fun, but more than that, I think they were really getting the whole idea of why missions is important and what it means to plant churches. How exciting!
Translation
We have been going to a Chinese church this month as part of our month-long cultural case study on China (I suppose if you can learn Chinese culture, you can learn any culture?). Anyway, the church was incredibly welcoming and they asked us to share this Sunday about what we are going to be doing in Ireland! Our future missionary teammate, Bryce, gave the sermon and Seth gave a short testimony afterwards. Chalk it up as the first time Seth ever spoke through a translator!
The folks from church also took us out to a Chinese restuarant after the service. We thought we knew what Chinese food was from the restaurants in Virginia, but this food was TOTALLY different... Bryce got to try some chicken feet, and Seth liked the squid so much he had seconds. So the food was great, but the time we got to spend with these brothers and sisters in the Lord was even better!
Ministry Success
While it's very nice to be able to see measurable results like decisions made and church attendance, are these the kinds of goals that we are really after? Jessica and I have seen several examples of folks who made public decisions, came to church, tithed, and did all kinds of other good things... and then turned their back on all of it.
Why?
Part of the reason may be that a lot of what we do in ministry is aimed at changing behavior without ever really addressing the core issues of life. People can hold on to all kinds of destructive passions and sinful attitudes, but as long as they conform to our set of behaviors we don't usually even notice that anything is wrong until it's too late. Jesus wants our hearts - all our passion, all our desire, all our love - so why do we tend to measure our success by intellectual assent and ritual performance?
The Cultural "Onion"
We've been learning a lot about how cultures are like onions... they have layers. On the outside, there are behaviours that everyone can see, but those behaviours are shaped by what is underneath: Authority structures, social networks, experiences, and even deeper... the "core" - where values and beliefs are held that often cannot even be expressed, but that shape everything about who we are. While the behaviours may change quickly in response to changes in environment, new technologies, etc., the "core" of a culture usually takes generations to change significantly. What does that mean for us? We've got to target more than what people do - we've got to figure out why they do it and aim for bringing the light of the gospel into the core of people's hearts.
NOTE in reference to the post "Girly Angel Wings" from December... I have been informed by a good friend that there actually is a place in the Bible that talks about women who have wings - Zechariah 5:5-11. Although these women are in a vision and are not specifically identified as angels, some have argued that they are a kind of angel.
Languages
We've had a lot of full days with mostly classes and a few field trips, etc. One of the interesting things we've learned about is what they call the "12 Signal Systems" which is basically 12 languages that every culture uses to communicate. Of course, one is verbal, but there is also written, numeric, tactile, spacial, temporal, taste/smell, kinesics and more. Every culture uses all kinds of ways to communicate but most folks only really think about a couple of them. That's okay when you are in a culture you are familiar with, but once you get to a different one those unconscious "Signal Systems" can get you in big trouble! Even simple signals like a thumbs up can mean something very different in another culture. We've got some learning to do when we get to Ireland!
5k and pie
Jessica ran in a 5k race in Roanoke yesterday and did well - not as well as she had hoped, but she got a good time and proved that she's back in the game after her c-section. Right now (Sunday evening) she is at church with the youth girls throwing a progressive Thanksgiving dinner for the ladies of the church - and she did most of the cooking!
If someone asks you to pray... do it!
The other day at work a fellow server asked me (Seth) to pray for her because she was mad about something. I said okay, but promptly forgot in the midst of the dinner rush. Later, she said "you forgot - I can tell". At that point, I started praying like crazy for her - and later she came and said "Thank you, I feel a lot more peaceful and I know you've been praying for me". So, if someone asks you to pray - make sure you really do!
Church Model
Our church has basically followed Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven" model for several years now, but last Sunday our pastor presented a new direction that he would like us to go - he called it "Mission Driven". No, it's not a total emphasis on cross-cultural missions...
Rick Warren's Purpose Driven model uses five purposes (Evangelism, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry and Worship), which are taken from the Great Commission (go and make disciples...) and the Great Commandment (to love God with all your heart, soul strength and mind).
The Mission Driven model focuses on the basic command directed to the church: "Go and make disciples...". Instead of breaking that command down into Evangelism ("go and make disciples"), Fellowship ("baptizing them") and discipleship ("teaching them"), the Mission Driven model sees all of these things as aspects of the same command - to make disciples.
The key to the Mission Driven model is to define what a disciple is, then take all the ministries of the church and focus them on doing what it takes to help people become disciples.
So what is a disciple?
Luke 14:26-27; 33 show us that a disciple must make their relationship with Christ their first priority above anything else. John 15:5-8 shows us that a disciple should be self-feeding and should be bearing fruit that glorifies God. Matthew 4:19 shows us that disciples are "fishers of men" who should be actively sharing their faith. This list may not be complete, but it's a good start towards defining a standard of what it means to be a disciple - and what our goal is as we "go and make disciples".
This is still a work in progress - what do you think?
Life as it is
I had this idea that after school was over, life would be less hectic. Ha! We also had this idea that October would not be such a busy month. Ha! So things may not be quite what we expected, but they have been great in their own ways - we've had some great opportunities to see people this month that we hadn't seen in years. We've also had ministry opportunities this month - meeting with friends, neighbors and coworkers, preaching at church, leading worship for a youth camp... When God fills the days with His adventures, life is good.
Missions Emphasis Month
A couple years ago we planned our church's first "Missions Emphasis Month" in October. This year our church has done a great job of emphasizing missions - we had missionaries from Africa and India visit and speak (Seth will also be speaking on the 21st - if you're in the area feel free to come listen in!). At the end of the month we'll have a big "International Dinner" where everyone brings food from all over the world - lots of fun!
Opportunity Knocks
It's funny - now that we don't work for the church so much we've actually had a lot more opportunities to share the gospel! There are reasons, of course: one is Daniel - we never had so many opportunities to talk to our neighbors as we do now, and it's his fault! Another is that Seth is around a lot of new people at work while Jessica still keeps up with the folks from her old coffee shop job. We had a great ministry at the church, it's true, but if you want to reach lost people, you've got a much easier time of it in a secular workplace than any pastor at a church. For some reason, lost people just don't tend to hang out at church...
Girl's Night Out
Jessica had a bunch of girls from church over last night for a "Girl's Night Out". The girls had a great time making jewelry with beads, etc. However, most of the girls didn't actually keep anything for themselves - they made them for other people that they wanted to encourage and wrote notes to go along with their gifts! Needless to say, Jessica was very happy with the evening!
Mission: Ruby Tuesday
Seth has discovered that the restaurant business is a great mission field! On the application to work at Ruby Tuesday he put down that he was employed by Daleville Baptist Church and don't you know everyone in the restaurant knew it in a matter of days!
Once while Seth was hosting a lady came in... Seth: "welcome to Ruby Tuesday!" Lady: "are you Seth?" Seth: "um.. yes" Lady: "one of the other servers told me I should talk to you - I'm looking for God"
She proceeded to tell me her story about how she had quit drugs and smoking, was reading her Bible and "The Purpose Driven Life". We've had some good conversations since then, too (she's a part-time server) and she seems to really be changing (she was recently baptised, too)! It's not always that easy, though - sometimes they don't just walk in the door asking for God. But two days ago Seth got to give another server a ride home and the whole way back they got to talk about church, religions and God. Seth got the gospel in there at least three times :) Then yesterday Seth had a conversation with a former server (who's dad was a pastor):
Seth: "hi, how are you?" Former Server: "I'm still living in sin, but I'm trying to be nice" Seth: "it's not about being nice" Former Server: "I know, all the nice in the world isn't enough to get to heaven" Seth: "all the work's already been done!" Former Server: "yeah, and it's a darn shame to turn it down"
We didn't have a chance to talk longer, but maybe we will. Anyway, it's exciting to see the doors God opens at Ruby Tuesday!
Ministry Baby
It's amazing what babies do to people. There's just something about brand new tiny little helpless people that makes everything different when they are around. We've already mentioned how Daniel has helped open doors with our nieghbors. But he hasn't stopped there! Today he delighted a lady who just lost her husband of 60 years. Earlier this week a woman with brain cancer was thrilled to see him. And the list goes on! Every week at church he has a dozen grandmas ready to hold him at a moments notice. He may not have a clue, but Daniel has been spreading blessings wherever he goes!
Ordination Weekend
Seth was ordained this weekend and we have had the joy of having his mom and dad in town, too! They didn't just come for the ordination, of course - they came to meet Daniel! We had a great time spending time with them and Seth's aunt, uncle and cousins (who live in town) and Jessica's roomate from college, Melissa, who was also in town! Seth preached Sunday morning for Children's Sunday at our church (is it because he's childish? we don't know), and the ordination service was on Sunday evening. It was great.
Opening Doors
We've been praying for several of our neighbors for a long time, and it seems like some things are starting to happen! Most folks on the street know us because they see Jessica walking (and Daniel, and sometimes Seth). But now we seem to be moving beyond acquaintance level and actually making some friends - a couple of families have given us baby gifts and now another family wants to have us over for dinner! I think Daniel has a lot to do with their new interest in us, but I'm sure the brownies Jessica has been passing out didn't hurt anything, either! We're praying that God will continue to open these doors, because there are a lot of folks in our neighborhood who don't know Him!
Ordination Council
I (Seth) had my ordination council last night. That's where other pastors/deacons get together and grill you on your theology, etc, to make sure that you won't be teaching people heresy or living a lie while you're leading churches. I've been afraid of it for years, but it actually wasn't bad. Sure, there were some tough questions. But the focus was not on the tiny details of hotly debated theological issues - it was on the major issues - and how I live them out. I passed. I guess that means I'm orthodox. Anyway, it means that next Sunday night I'm going to get a new Bible, a piece of paper that says I'm officially "ordained" and people will pray for me. I think that's cool.
The Transition Begins
Wednesday night Jordan Jones (our soon-to-be-new-youth-pastor) taught youth group for the first time! He was great (no surprize) and it's exciting to think about what God will do through him in the lives of the students here at Daleville Baptist Church! This is Seth's last month on staff at the church, and Jordan is going to be here all month - please pray for a smooth transition of leadership this month and for wisdom for us as we seek to do everything we can to support Jordan without stepping on his toes!
