on september 1, Alison, my wife, and i will head north to Nashville to head south on a plane on september 2 for our first missions experience in Guyana, South America.
Alison was moved to attend this first excursion the moment she saw the map and announcement in our sanctuary. the Lord honored her heart's desire and provided for her favor to obtain time out of school, time off of work, and a bonus from her boss that nearly covered the expense of the trip.
keli and i have received gifts and encouragment from friends and family all throughout the states. we were blessed last night with a call from a group of friends who said they would cover the balance!
now it's time for vaccinations and waiting on Uncle Sam to send our passports on time.
the focus of our trip will be one of discovery, relationship building, some preaching or leadership training, and beginning to search for a suitable location to build a church plant in memory of my grandparents in the near future.
this is an exciting time
the vision of our church has been "to touch the world for Christ" -- it was the vision long before we were there. we came with the hope of giving new "feet" to that vision in the form of a ministry strategy from Micah 6:8, serve, love, pray. as we do these three things in relationships across the street, inside the sanctuary or around the world, we'll bring God glory and touch the world for Christ
the church has actively supported missions in the past, and had many trips. but lately it has lost relationship with those projects. we want to renew the relationships with the projects we support.
i've told our congregation that we can't touch the world for Christ is we're not out touching the world. it's my hope and our vision that in the near future, we're touching the world in relationships to serve, love, and pray for and with a group of churches on every continent.
as my friends at www.servelife.org say, "the goal: GOD's GLORY among all nations"
4 comments:
Here's a fun fact about Guayana: Venezuela thinks it owns about half the country. All maps of Venezuela show a "Zona de Reclamación" (Reclamation Zone) on them that includes like half of Guyana. I always thought it reminded me of the parable Nathan told David about the man stealing the sheep...here's Venezuela trying to take land they don't even want, land that shares virtually no culutral identity with Venezuela, and take this land away from a tiny, seemingly insignificant country. I don't know whether Guyana has paid any attention or not, but I just thought you'd like to know...
i've not heard about this "Zona" before, but what may seem to be insigificant as far as the geography is quite significant in terms of lumber, bauxite and diamond mines, as well as some gold deposits and one of the most marketable natural wonders of South America in the highest waterfalls in the world. i do know that there were several skirmishes after Guyana's independence regarding border disputes -- so maybe this is the Venezuelan's version of "if the south won the war..." :)
It is my understanding that Venezuela isn't in the best of hands either. We heard from the Mondragons(CHOG missionaries) who are finishing up their post there, that the President of Venezuela was mentored by Castro, Super!?!
Hi there, I greet you in the presious name of Jesus Christ our soon coming king. Guyana is one of the most beautiful places on God's earth. As chairman of the General Assembly of the Churches of God in Guyana I extend a warm welcome to you to come and make a deposit of your time and talents and even your treasures.
I meet Ken for the first time at the North American Convention of the churches of God. Immediately there was a conncetion that was unbelieveable but God does work wonders to perform when we least expect it. His desire to come to Guyana was very ecouraging.
Ken's coming to Guyana will indeed open his heart, mind and spirit to something that will last his life time.
I encourage that not only that you support his efforts financially but that you will join him in coming to our beautiful country and have fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ in this part of His vine yard.
Lots of fellowship, fun, friendship, food and love await you (all).
Once again come to Guyana!
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