Dry and needing water

This week I would consider it dry. Dry for many reasons.

First of all it is hot but I like it hot so that is not much of a problem. Since it is very dry I have been warned to watch out for the black poisons snakes on campus. Those who know me well know I hate snakes. 

 Second it is dry because I think it is finally hit me that I am really here. A place where poverty is all around me and I am still in the United States. I have been trying o figure out how we can stop this problem but money is not the answer. God tells us to help the poor so I am trying. I have also realized this is how I am choosing to spend my summer and I cannot leave until August. I have been question myself wondering am I here for the right reasons? Am I putting my all in everything? Am I really showing God’s love? 

Third there have not been any mission teams in this week and there will not be and here next week either. This has given me a break to get some things I needed to get done but it makes things lonely too. I need people in my life because I get my energy from them. This week I have felt like I have not really given back to Perry County as much because I have been focusing on myself and not others in the community. I did though go back and help with crafts on Thursday and Friday and the kids where sad to see us leave but I have already seen them around the community and whenever they see us they say, “Hi arts and crafts people.” Which just brightens up your day.

Stars and Stripes and Scripture Forever

I remember proudly marching down the center aisle of the sanctuary carrying the heavy Stars and Stripes toward the altar as the choir, decorated in their red, white and blue, sang the words to “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” It was the Sunday evening before the 4^th of July, and I was the youth intern during my junior year of college. We had discussed all week at VBS God’s mission for us as Christians and celebrated the fact that we were Americans and God was invested in our work as a nation. This evening was the culmination of a week likely similar to that of many American churches as the summer calendar rushes toward that first week in July.

Over the next two weeks, churches from sea to shining sea will take time out of their worship gatherings – or perhaps, dedicate their entire worship – to celebrate our national freedom in commemoration of Independence Day. In appreciation for the freedom to gather for worship freely as Americans, we as Free and Faithful Baptists will celebrate our nation, its leaders, and its military by singing patriotic “hymns,” parading the flag, and sometimes even preaching on texts about God’s favor on His chosen nation. For most of us, this mixture of faith and nationalism seems quite natural – it is how we were raised and socially formed. We know that God shows favor on America and has a special purpose. We know American values are quite similar to our Christian values, and the more perceptive of us even see similar missional goals in the spread of Christian evangelism and American democracy overseas.

This is nothing new; this mixture of patriotism and religion is simply the context in which we live, work and worship. Scholars call it “civil religion” – a set of beliefs, symbols and rituals commemorating national prophets and martyrs, sacred events and sacred places, solemn rituals and symbols. From the words on our currency and proclaimed as our national motto, to the concluding petition that “God bless America” in the president’s speeches, to the veneration of important national heroes in “sacred” markers, it is wildly apparent that a different type of “religion” permeates all of public America. A recent Bible publication by a respected publisher even solidifies this civil theology in the “Word of God” – the American Patriot’s Bible. (Greg Boyd, among others, has blogged significantly about this project.) And for most of us, this religion neatly coincides with and complements our Christian faith.

General Assembly is a Family Reunion!

I’m so blessed with good friends. How about you? “Family” is sometimes an overused term, but we really are family as Fellowship Baptists. We celebrate with one another, we share ideas with one another, we worship with one another, sometimes we even fuss with one another. But, at the end of the day, we are family together.

As I head to Houston, my expectancy is high. I can’t wait to see what new family members I’ll meet, what familiar family will greet me, and what family I’ll miss this year. But, there’ll be smiles and hugs and slaps on the back…maybe even a chicken leg and some banana puddin!

My Fellowship family is special. You are a most gifted group of leaders and ministers and proclaimers and muscians. You are a most affirming group of new friends and old friends. You are family…and I am blessed. Can’t wait to see you in Houston!

Iran’s Struggle for Freedom – A Reformation?

Yesterday, while watching the news coverage of Iran’s street protests following the tumultuous and allegedly rigged election, I saw a haunting video.  A young woman named Neda was shot in the street by the state-controlled Basij militia while watching a protest.  She immediately fell to the ground and died quickly as her screaming father clung to her, his agonizing sobs of grief shattering the air.  In the few days since her death, the video of Neda’s last moments has spread virally all over Iran and the world.

Why We Do What We Do

Well now I have been in Perry County for almost 2 weeks. On Sunday we had three mission groups come in so therefore we spent Sunday preparing for our first real day at work. Once the groups arrived we helped them move in which meant other people were living on my floor. YEAH!!!!! 

On Monday in the morning I helped Monte Vista (one of the mission groups) with their VBS at a local church. I enjoyed watching a group who has been so faithful to Perry County for 9 years come in and really know what they were doing. They definitely set the bar. One thing that stood out to me the most was in VBS they would have children from the ages of 2 all the way up to 18. It took me a while to try and understand why 18 year olds would want to go to VBS. Throughout the week I discovered they truly loved VBS and the continual relationship they have built with Monte Vista since they have done this VBS for 5 years here and they have had the opportunity to watch these kids grow up. In Perry County there is not many opportunity or things for children to do anything so VBS is one of those ways. The first day there was 24 and by day four there were 70 kids. 

PermaNet Memories

The Student.Go Uganda team has been BUSY over the last few weeks and was without access to communication (and occasionally without power and water) until just the last several days. With just under a week remaining, our team will try and catch you up on our adventures over our remaining time in Uganda as well as when we return to the States. Thanks for all your prayers!

Join us in worship

The following post is by John Woods (johnspencerwoods@gmail.com), the minister of music at First Baptist Church of Hamilton, Texas. He has been working with General Assembly worship leader Randall Bradley of Baylor University’s Center for Christian Music Studies.  The Assembly is July 2-3 in Houston, Texas.

In just a few short weeks, people from all over the globe will join together to celebrate God’s work among and through the people of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. As we gather, we will have the privilege of worshipping together with our sisters and brothers in Christ. But what will worship look like for General Assembly? What should we expect as we meet to worship God alongside our neighbor?

As a part of the worship planning and leadership team for General Assembly, I’ve had the privilege of helping plan the worship services together with a team of musicians, poets, pastors, artists, and lay-people. I’m convinced that worship will be one of the highlights of our time together in Houston, setting the tone for the rest of General Assembly.

Touching Miami With Love

Intern Orientation week in Miami has been fun and exciting but also tiring for the whole team.  We have learned the ends and outs of TML’s ministry-all the paperwork that goes into organizing camp to making sure we have enough equipment such as tables and chairs for the kids to sit on at lunch. 

 We have also gotten to learn about the area of Miami that TML is located in called Overtown.  We learned how when Miami was first developed in the early 20th century Overtown was across railroad tracks outside of Miami proper in an area called “colored town”. Eventually over the railroad tracks and colored town ran together and the name became Overtown. 

We also held a carnival to get to know the kids in the area and were assisted by a mission team from St. Petersburg, FL.  The team came in and set up games and several children and their older family members came over to TML and played games and talked with us.  It was a lot of fun until part of the way through the carnival it started pouring down rain.  Fortunately we had a couple of tents set up and were all able to stay relatively dry under them.  

Much of this week is organization and getting to know the people on staff at TML.  We have also had an opportunity to eat at one of Overtown’s few businesses called People’s.  This restaurant serves “soul food” in large portions.  We all left full and content with our meal and the hospitality shown to us.  We look forward to the challenges that camp will bring as we start next week and ask your continued prayer for TML and the people of Overtown.

Katie got married!

In case you haven’t been to Facebook or Twitter this past week, you may have missed the fact that our youngest daughter got married this past week. We shared in a wonderful celebration. We shared with friends and family who overwhelmed us with love and affection.  The night was truly magical as we formed a community supporting this couple.

My wife, Gail, was the master planner. She had a notebook filled with details, contact numbers, the schedule, and a hundred other items related to the wedding. She was ready for any and all situations that might have arisen. In reality, everything went off without any problems.   Prior planning leads to perfect performance!

Today, I’m grateful for all who participated.  I walked Katie down the aisle and shared in the ceremony. In challenging them to be strong in their marriage, tears flowed down all our cheeks. Catcalls from the lake shore made us all laugh, especially the Tarzan yell! These are all memories that will help us celebrate for a lifetime.  We have pictures that captured the moments.  We had a wonderful time.

Seems to me that church should be like that!  Some should be taking pictures, some should be toasting the well-being of special people, some should be managing the details.  Imagine what church might be like if we all shared our vows to love, honor, and cherish on every Sunday.  Imagine what church would be like if we all celebrated the goodness of others.  Imagine what church would be like if we shared a Tarzan yell at the conclusion of each service.  Do you take this congregation, to have and to hold, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until God may separate you?  Just imagine what saying, “I do!”, might mean!

Prayer in the Atlanta Airport

Several weeks ago, in route to Santiago, Chile to lead a spiritual formation retreat for our Chilean Baptist partners, I felt compelled to pray.  All of the feelings consistent with leaving  family for a week, visiting a new culture, and traveling at 35k feet for 9 hours weighed heavily on my heart; what’s more, I deeply desired that God use my colleagues and me for transformation among our new friends. I had been praying scattered prayers for days, but now I felt the need to focus my prayers in one moment and place, to pause and pay attention to the presence of God at work in me.

My compulsion heightened as I walked closer and closer to the prayer chapel in the Atlanta airport. As the door came into view, I gave little consideration to the word “interfaith” just above the words “prayer chapel.”  Entering, I remembered how cramped the space seemed the last time I visited and thought for a moment about how this space could better stand apart as sacred (read Christian). Settling down in the last row of two chairs on the right side of the aisle, I removed an icon that I recently purchased in hopes of finding a center.