$44 Mission Trip

I need 50 people from ClearView to take a $44 mission trip in the next 2 weeks ... and you won't even have to leave home! I need you to take 100 envelopes and letters to stuff and stamp to help launch a church we are supporting in Hendersonville.

Ed Stetzer blessed us during my time of surgery and recovery. He is planting a church in Hendersonville, TN. Now we have the chance to walk alongside him as he did for us. The letters are to introduce the community to the new church he is planting. We will need to have them stuffed and stamped by the first week of December (something with eternal impact you can do while you watch football Thanksgiving day :-)).

I will go first. My family and I will do 100. Now I need only 49 more. We will have a sign up sheet Wed. night and Sunday. If you want to respond on facebook or at pastor@clearview.org I will get your name on the list.

Africa Update

Here is an update fresh from the field on our work in Africa. We have a friend on the field who recently visited with the group of people we (ClearView) has been working with. This is her description of that visit.

Early Monday morning, myself, the Hickmans (a volunteer couple that is here), and a translator headed out to visit ‘Chewy’ and the close-by village for now we will call the ‘New’ Village. We stopped in Segou to pick up our friend and translator Yac, and headed on out to the village. We arrived in ‘Chewy’ about 5pm, and did all of our greetings and then sat down with the chief to catch up. That night after dinner and baths, Yac, the chief, and another young man sat down and discussed how to study the Word. No one else gathered but later in the night (probably around 10:30-11p) the chief told Yac a man had come to hear stories because he had never heard them before. We looked at the man, who was now sleeping, and said we could tell him stories but he is sleeping. So, the chief woke him up. I told the story of the Demon Possessed Man, and we discussed it some. The next day we were able to discuss with a couple of the blvrs about why they had not been around very much... Jo and Rob. Jo had been very discouraged as one of the two that can actually read and teach. He did not feel he was getting the respect he thought he should get, and for Rob, we found out he is actually of a different background. He has been a blvr for awhile but with a different denom. He was wrshpng with the blvrs there but they were not accepting that he was from a different background, also he feels like there is no structure in the ch, which right now is actually all new blvrs who are still trying to figure out how to be blvrs. We were able to discuss with them some on what it means to be a blvr and encourage them that do not have to rely on others to be able to wrshp Father. After hearing the story of Abraham, Jo said it taught them to love their neighbor as themselves and to love their enemy, which I believe is something they are struggling with in the body of blvrs. The next day the Hickmans went to a market via horse cart with the chief and another man, while Yac and I stayed behind. That was the same day that the local Pas (also from another Denom.) came to visit. Yac stayed and visited with him, and the chief’s wife wanted me to go visit her friends and family with her, so that is what I did. That night we had another opportunity to story, so we told two David stories, and discussed them. There was some good discussion but they were all very tired. The last full day in the bush we decided to go visit the new blvrs in ‘New’ Village. We walked for about an hour before reaching the village and when we arrived the blvrs from ‘Chewy’ had already set up and starting wrshpng. They asked the new blvrs to stand up and 12 men did, after that Yac was able to tell the C2R story and asked if anyone wanted to follow. Five women came up and said they did, so we prayed with and for them, and then sang a few songs and were getting ready to leave when one women stood up and said there are more that want to follow but were afraid to come up. So, 4 more women came up and we did the same. When we stood up to leave the second time, some of the women wanted their babies given blvr names. So, we named them. The first girl that came, I was given the privilege of naming, so I did. Her name is Rachel, which is pronounced Rachelle in French. After this it was getting late, and we still had an hour walk back to ‘Chewy’ so we asked for the road and headed out. That night in ‘Chewy’ everyone went to bed early because of the traveling, and the next morning we headed back to Bamako.PRYR Request:New Blvrs in ‘New’Encouragement for the blvrs in ‘Chewy’Planting and Harvesting as the Rainy season is approaching

Africa Report

Six of us returned from our most recent trip into Africa. What a week. Many of you know I went to a village in West Africa this past October. On that trip, we baptized 19 new believers. With limited contact with the village, we have not known the strength of the believers we left behind. Well, the Holy Spirit has been at work big time. When we arrived this past week, we asked the believers what they had been doing with their new faith. They gather to worship and pray together and tell stories every Sunday. We asked if they would have a worship time Tuesday evening this week for us to be a part of.

Wow! Did they worship! They sang and danced for 4 hours ending some time after midnight. They have created some worship songs that include the stories we told from God's Word. They dance to all their worship music. It was an experience I will never forget as they did this under the moonlight that night.

They have begun to spread the word of God's love and desire for a relationship with people in other villages. We were asked if we would visit one of these villages with one of the believers from our village ("Chewy"). We did so as we left our first village. We brought greetings to the second village and told stories from God's Word. Five men responded that they would like to become Jesus followers.

I know the men that went with me will agree. This was another unforgettable trip. What a privilege to be used by God to make Him famous to the ends of the earth!

Prayer for Africa

I know many of you will be praying for the group that leaves for Africa this coming Saturday. Here are some specific ways you can be praying.

1. Safe flights and smooth passes through customs at all points
2. Safe travel to and from the villages with no vehicle problems (i.e. flat tires, engine problems, etc.)
3. Restful nights so our bodies can be replenished for each day of sharing in the village
4. That we know what to say in the village … questions to ask and stories to tell
5. Recall of stories memorized
6. Openness to the stories by others who have not yet chosen to follow Christ
7. That we will be open to and aware of the guidance of the Holy Spirit
8. That our driver and translators will be open to the stories about Christ (we just found out they are not believers)
9. That the believers we found in October will be strong in their faith and will bring new persons to the story telling times
10. That we begin to discover new villages of our people group
11. That we have no delays in travel coming back to the States.

China and Myanmar ... So What?

Sorry that I kind of left you hanging on the last post. We are back in Franklin safe and sound. My body landed Wednesday evening about 10:30. We were about an hour and a half late coming out of Chicago (surprise, surprise!). My mind is just now coming out of the fog of jet lag. All that to say, I'm back to posting more regularly.

I want to share something that God convicted me of as part of this trip to China. We were waiting the morning of May 12 to board our plane here in Nashville when I received a text message from my wife that there had a been a major earthquake in China. The typical thoughts went through my mind. Will we be able to continue with our trip? Would this hinder anything we had planned to accomplish on this trip? Was there damage in Beijing or Tiyuan? If so, would this inconvenience us in any way?

In other words, my thoughts (I hate to admit) were very self centered.

Upon arriving in Beijing and making it to our hotel of course all was well with the building and the room. The TV in the room could receive on a few channels ... most of which were 'state run' channels along with BBC news, and HBO and Cinemax (each of which showed 70's and 80's movies). Though I could not understand the audio on the state run channels, I could clearly understand the video footage I was watching. Twenty four hours a day for the next 10 days I could see the local footage of the aftermath of the 8.0 earthquake that devasted an area about 900 miles from where we were staying. And though I could not understand the audio language of the Chinese reporters, I could clearly see the pain and devastation in their eyes. Add to this the conversations we were having with the missionaries and our guides and the deep pain of what had was happening as a result of the natural disaster became evident.

Because of the my close physical proximity to this tragedy it was easy to empathize with the Chinese in their pain. It was easy to think about the loss of so many lives, the injuries to so many more, and the loss of homes for even countless more. Then it hit me one evening as I was looking through some teaching notes for the next day's teaching time I was to lead ... it had only been days before the cyclone had hit Myanmar. I had felt bad that this had happened. But had a really felt pain ... like the pain I was feeling for China? Not really.

But why? Was I really that cold hearted? Was I really that unconcerned? I think the reason is that it just seemed so far away. The cyclone hadn't really affected my life personally in any way. I've never been to Myanmar. In fact, I didn't even know Burma had changed its name to Myanmar. It wasn't that I didn't care about the people of Myanmar ... it's just that I didn't "HAVE TO" think about it, so I didn't. After all, gas prices are high, the stock market is dancing all over the place, my 401K is not doing so hot ... I have my own worries.

The problem with that is that about 130,000 in Myanmar had just stepped into eternity ... the majority of which had never heard the news that Jesus Christ was their only hope. Were my problems really all that important that I could just turn my back on this kind of loss of life? Wasn't I called to a mission? THE MISSION! ................................. All of us that claim a relationship with Christ have been called to The Mission ... The Mission to make disciples of all nations. That would include Myanmar, China, India, Thailand, France, Germany, Australia, ... you get the idea.

Where will the next natural disaster occur? Will we be caught sitting with our feet up focused on our interests of sports, success, wealth (if you live in America, you are wealthy!), education, big houses, nice cars, and other temporal things? If you are one that claims a relationship with Christ I want to challenge you (and this includes me as well), let's live for The Mission, give for the Mission, go for The Mission, and if necessary die for The Mission. Let's (again, this includes me) lay it all on the line for the call Christ has placed on our lives. No holds barred. No regrets when we stand before Him. No excuses. Natural disasters will happen.

6 You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these events are the beginning of birth pains.
Matt 24:6-8 (HCSB)

This time, let's get there with the gospel BEFORE countless lives go into eternity without knowing of Christ and the hope He brings. We cannot ... we must not ... be passive in this.

Belize Update 2

My last update was that only one person had gotten sick on the trip. Ooops! Actually, before it was all said and done, we had 6 or 7 of our 24 team members that caught some kind of stomach bug. Hard to tell whether it was something being passed around the team or something they ate. All seem to be doing well now. We all flew into Nashville between 11:00 pm and 12:00am last night on two different flights (one from Dallas and one from Miami). Only two pieces of luggage missing that I am aware of ... one for Jim Lackey and one for me.

The final two days went well. We hosted a men's dinner in San Juan Wednesday night with approximately 45 local men attending. That is a great turnout in that part of the world. I spoke from Ephesians (I know some of you are shocked) chapter 5 about the role of men and how they are to behave toward their wives. This is a great need in Belize. (It is also a great need in America come to think of it).

We spent the last night (Thursday night) in San Ignacio in a hotel (don't think Hilton here, but the shower had hot water!! ... something we had not had for a week). We had a final evening together with a great meal and a good night's sleep. The final evening after the meal was a time of sharing. Too much detail to go into here, but hearing each person share their one take-away was a blessing indeed.

I sensed God giving me a vision for ClearView missions' future while on this trip. We will have short term mission trips on all continents in a calendar year, every year. We will have someone from ClearView on short term missions 52 Sundays every year. This vision will be a reality within 5 years. More on this as God fleshes this out in our minds and hearts. We must take the gospel to the nations.

See you tomorrow ... it's Easter!

Pictures still to come ...

Belize Update

If you will look on the map to the right ... follow the east coast line south to Palencia ... look just a little left of Palencia and see Bear Creek ... we are located just a few miles north of Big Creek (also known as Independence).


It is Wednesday morning about 9:30. Eleven of the team are working on the construction site building a place that thousands of future mission teams from the US will be using to feed their teams. It is a 30' x 50' building with a kitchen and cook's quarters on one end and the eating area on the other end. Mark Baird is the man! He is the point man on the construction project. He has several capable helpers ... and then a few like Jim Lackey and myself (the day I worked construction) that just do what we are told (most of the time). A couple of the local pastors and a handful of lay people have also pitched in. I have always been amazed how much mission construction crews can get done in a short period of time. The building is really taking shape.

Thirteen of us are in the village of San Juan several miles from the construction site. Each morning there are 160+ younger childrean that attend school taught by our team. They are reviewing math and english. Sometimes the leaders from ClearView speak english and sometimes they speak through an interpreter. Fun to watch as we try to communicate.

In the afternoons in San Juan another 80+ older children attend the same school. Crazy thing is, this is the first week of a two week break from regular school for these children. They are voluntarily showing up to learn more during a break!! Imagine that in good old USA. Not gonna happen.

Vacation Bible School and worship services are held by the team each evening. Last night was the last night of VBS. I'm not sure how many children were attending, but well over 100 is a good conservative number. We have had probably as high as 30 adults attend worship. The most encouraging thing is that we have seen an increase of men attending each evening. Not something normal here. Through one on one conversations we have seen several locals pray to receive Christ. I don't know the total, but probably about 10 at this point. The school groups will present the gospel to all those attending today.

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to lead a time of training for some local pastors that are a part of the Belize Baptist Association. Many of the wives also attending. We had about 20 or so total attending. We simply looked at God's Word related to the call, character, and competencies of pastors.

Everyone on the team has really done well. As always on these trips, patience and flexibility are at the top of the list of requirements. There are always little surprises (good and challenging). But the "challenging" have really been very few and only minor. Judy Barnett has done a great job of planning and team preparation. We have only had one get a little sick. Melvin Mitchell (Judy's dad) had picked up a little bug or something. He is doing a little better today.

I hope to have some pictures to upload on a link soon. I don't have my camera and will be relying on others to provide the photography. But there are plenty of cameras among the team. So pictures will be forthcoming.




Can't wait to celebrate Easter with those of you at ClearView this coming Sunday!

Belize

This will most likely be my last blog before leaving with a group from ClearView for Belize. We are leaving Saturday morning (March 15) for 6 days on a mission trip. If I can find the right technology, I will be blogging while in Belize. However, if I cannot find my way onto the internet, I will catch you up when I return to Franklin.

In the mean time:

1. Pray for those on this trip. Pray for their safety and health.

2. Pray for the people to whom we will be ministering and sharing the gospel.

3. Pray for Easter services.