The Goen’s are always looking for ways to make family memories. I believe memories are gift from God. In times or hardship and heartache great memories are often the things that help us make it through to the other side of our difficult situation.
On December 31, 1999 my family put together a time capsule that contained pictures, tracings of our children’s feet and hands, prices of the day and a letter detailing what our family was involved with at the time. I wish we could take credit for this idea, but in reality we probably read about it in a magazine. We did follow through with the idea though by sealing the tube and writing on the capsule “do not open until 2010.” Our children were 9 months old, 3 years old and 5 years old at the time we assembled our little offering of memories. For the first couple of years our kids begged to open the time capsule around the new year and we would refuse to give in to the desire. My wife eventually put the capsule out of sight and away so we would not run across it often. The whole “out of sight and out of mind” phenomenon took over. In fact we actually forgot about the capsule until our recent move when we ran across it and realized this is the year we get to open our surprise.
All of us had forgotten the articles we inserted into the tube so the opening was accompanied with anticipation. Last week after our Sunday lunch we opened the time capsule and laughed extremely hard at the little objects we carefully shoved into the tube. We remembered old stories about that particular time in our lives and couldn’t believe how time had flown. After a few minutes the kids gathered everything up and started toward the trash can to throw away ten years of memories. Amy and I both yelled “Stop!” The little pieces of paper where full of memories we couldn’t part with as easily as they could.
Our kids are wanting to create another time capsule, but not for ten years from now, maybe three to five years from now. I am thankful this little memory maker has meant something to them like it did for Amy and me. Get started creating memories with your family.
Over the past several years God has re-arranged everything at LifePoint to focus on sending leaders out to reach the nations for His glory. In the last four or five years we have mobilized around 500 people on short-term mission opportunities around the world. We have watched God call a families to South Asia, South America and West Africa. Today, LifePoint is in the process of sending two church planting teams to live long-term in other parts of the world. One of those teams will plant in Thailand and the other will plant in Belgium.
Well, this brings us to Friday July 10th. On this particular day our church will have the privilege of sending a short term team to Brazil, we are sending our Thailand team on a discovery trip, we are sending the Schroder’s to West Africa and some of our staff team will be in Memphis meeting with the senior leadership of the International Mission Board about new methods for partnership. No one can say LifePoint isn’t committed to seeing God’s glory spread throughout the nations.
Please pray for our church specifically on July 10th. Pray for God’s will to be done in each of these endeavors as we mobilize for the sake of God’s kingdom.
It was sometime near the end of the summer in 2007 that I first began to take notice that Belgium was crossing my radar a lot. At first it seemed like a coincidence the number of times this country kept popping up and then I remembered, “I don’t believe in coincidences.” I asked the Lord, “Are you trying to get my attention?”
There have been other times when I began to recognize God was doing something different in my life and in those times I began to journal and listen. By listening I mean that I read the Word each morning with eyes that were open more to what God might be trying to reveal. I held this stirring close and didn’t reveal it to anyone at that time. I am a person that waits, seeks, listens, and looks for confirmation before talking. I don’t mean to be closed, I just process different than others.
In October of 2007, our pastor, Pat Hood called our staff team together to tell us it was time for our local body to come together to fast and pray. The last Sacred Gathering we had at LifePoint was in March of 2004 and was a pivotal point in the life of the church. God used that time of seeking to launch the church into His global mission around the world. It was an incredible time together with around nine (9) people called to vocational mission service. When Pat told us this would be coming I continued to journal and seek wisdom from God on what He was doing in my life concerning the country of Belgium.
I really didn’t know much about Belgium…waffles, chocolate, capital of the European Union, and N.A.T.O. headquarters were located in this small country in West Europe. But as to it’s actual location I had to find a map and get my bearings straight.
In March of 2008 on the Sunday the Sacred Gathering was to begin Pat asked all the ministry staff to meet in his office to pray together before the start of the evening gathering time. As we meet Pat told us he expected great things from the Lord and that we needed to be ready for what God was going to do that week. He asked each of us to put our “Yes” on the table before the Lord. Whatever the Lord wanted of us as a body we needed to be ready to obey and as leaders of the church we needed to go first. That evening I laid my “Yes” on the altar before God and said whatever went on that week and however He spoke I was saying yes.
At the end of the three (3) days of prayer and fasting as a body God once again showed us clearly as a church that we were to be about His global plan of mission. His mission had to be the life blood of the church. It was after the Sacred Gathering that I had my first meeting with Pat to talk with Him about how God was stirring in my heart about Belgium.
It was from the end of the summer in 2007 through March of 2008 that God was molding and shaping me (not that He has stopped). It was through His Word, through prayer, and through my personal study of mission training that He made my heart more soft to His working. It seemed like each week Pat was preaching something that applied directly to what God was doing in my heart and my life. The messages weren’t centered on missions necessarily, but God used what Pat was teaching to speak very clearly to keep walking and moving in the direction He was leading.
Belgium is a mix of old culture, old traditions, old buildings, and new international people, new government entities, and new religious thoughts in a small country the size of Maryland.
This little country is home to over 10 million people, with 90% of the population living in urban areas. Many of the estimates that I have read say less then 1% of the population are evangelical Christians (submitted life to Jesus). This holds true for most of Western Europe.
The largest religious bloc is the Catholic Church, though few practice the faith or attend and type of religious service. Every city and town has empty Catholic churches littering the landscape. They are now housing pubs, condos, museums, and whatever a creative mind can place in a huge gothic structure. There may be a very small group of people gathering for a Catholic mass in one of the church buildings, but they are elderly grandparents at best.
Many of the people we met on our recent trip to Belgium told us that the “church” was old, cold, lifeless, dying, and didn’t matter to them. Most of the college students we spoke with had not attend a church other than for a wedding or a funeral. Church has no meaning, purpose or value to their lives. But, everyone was very open to discussing religion, God, and other faith questions.
The Church had lost all influence within the culture, but people are still open and ready to talk about spiritual things.
A friend (Steven Bush) of ours meet us for a family photo session a few weeks back. We have the finished product and we are pumped about how things turned out.
Bush and his wife Maris are adopting a child and he (Bush) is using his creativity to raise money for the adoption. It was a lot of fun for us as a family. We haven’t had pictures made in years.
Scroll down to the flickr box on the bottom right-hand side and click to see more.
Some our team preparing the food for lunch. A stew mix of sweet potato greens, assorted meats, rice, spices, and vegetables.
While the ladies prepared and cooked lunch, the men proceeded as normal (any country) we sat around and played checkers. The rules were a little different than here in the States.
A photo of some school children we met on a visit to a school in the city we lived in for a week. Very orderly and uniformed, 80-100 kids per classroom. Two sessions of school each day because there is not enough room for everyone.
By contrast, the village kids are free wheelin’ (as we would say in East Texas). Very little education of the formal kind.
Many of the people we met on our recent trip to Belgium told us that the “church” was old, cold, lifeless, dying, and didn’t matter to them. Most of the college students we spoke with had not attend a church other than for a wedding or a funeral. Church has no meaning, purpose or value to their lives. But, everyone was very open to discussing religion, God, and other faith questions.
