Tag Archive - Missions

Here Goes Something…

February 9, 2007 in Mission with 14 Comments

Well, I shared this with the staff a couple of weeks ago and I guess now is as good a time as any to share it with you. No, I am not about to reveal some long hidden alternative lifestyle. Ease up!

I am feeling led to start a “community garden”. I know it sounds crazy; at least it does to me. I have always been good at killing plants, chopping down trees and whacking out bushes, but me trying to actually grow something that is edible is another story altogether.

I have been asking God to give me a creative way to reach out to my neighbors and the marginalized in a unique way where I could show His love to others. No strings attached, I just want to give and care because He gave and He cared. I began feeling, thinking, and praying about this dumb idea that would not go away. I tried for a few weeks not to blame God for these crazy thoughts that kept running through my mind about a “raised bed vegetable garden”. Where was this idea coming from and how did it get in my head? Had we been watching too much HGTV or “Outdoor Landscapes”? The more I thought and prayed, the more the Lord confirmed to me that I needed to seriously move on this thing.

I told Amy what I was thinking and she didn’t fall over laughing, so I inched out a little more. I told Rodney K. and he had actually built a planter and raised “crops” last year. So, I ventured out and told the staff in a meeting a couple of weeks back, and here I am going public today. This is going to get interesting and funny. I will keep you posted.

Jordan to Brazil

January 5, 2007 in Family, Mission with 14 Comments

My daughter (12yrs.) is going to Sao Paulo, Brazil this summer on a mission trip. This will be here second trip to Brazil. She has fallen in love with the people, the country and missions in general. It has been fascinating to watch. I am so thankful that God has placed within her heart a desire to serve others.


We have explained that she must raise her support for this trip. The cost of the trip is around a $1000.00 (airfare, VISA, food, lodging, and supplies on the field). She accomplished this on her previous trip and we were so proud of her. This year she has chosen to design a T-Shirt to sell that will promote missions to Brazil. If you would like to support her endeavor and further the cause of missions in the Sao Paulo area you can purchase a shirt for $15.00, shipping is $5.00. Give me a call, email, or comment and we can get you one.

Whatever you do please pray for the favela people of Sao Paulo and for Jordan as she prepares for her trip this summer.

Idol Worship

October 13, 2006 in Influence, Mission with 2 Comments


While we were in India I had the opportunity to see some very unique forms of idol worship. It is not the first time I had seen this type of display and probably will not be the last. We happened to be there during one of their biggest festivals. In the city we were working there were 300 temporary “official” worship sites erected out of bamboo and colored cloth. The temples were very elaborate and if you didn’t realize it you would think they were real. They were really a veiled attempted at a building. Inside each of these temples were around 5-6 newly made replicas of gods the Hindu people worship.

We arrived on the final night of the festival, by design. We hurriedly drove to the Ganges River to watch the people bring their idols to the river to dump. This is not a “getting rid” of the idols forever, just “baptizing” them into the holiest river in the country. All day, all night and into the next day thousands of people would gather at the Ganges to “baptize” the nearly 3000 idols into the river.

I have often thought about how the Hindus literally have figurine idols they worship and offer sacrifices to each day and in many instances by the hour. We in the USA think we are exempt from idol worship, because we may not have figurines on our mantles or shelves. I know there are some pagan religions that do have these “gods” in America, but by in large that is not the majority of us. But, we do have little “gods” all around us that vie for our attention daily. They drag us away or distract us from worshipping the one, true, living God. What are some of those potential “idols” that you see around us in the USA?

India Pictures are Up

October 10, 2006 in Mission, Photos with 2 Comments


Go to Kyle’s Photos in the Links sidebar and click. This will take you to my Flikr page and then open the India 10/06 set. You will be able to see some of the photos. Thanks for your interest, many have asked about seeing the images.

Servant Leadership

October 10, 2006 in Influence with 0 Comments


During our recent trip to S. Asia our team was teaching on Spiritual Leadership. We were teaching on the area of servant leadership and one of the leaders from our group wanted to utilize Jesus’ example of foot washing in the Scripture as a teaching illustration. I was a little skeptical and concerned about attempting to wash feet in the Indian culture. I wasn’t sure of the cultural ramifications and whether it would be offensive to the participants. We asked our host about leading the group in this illustration of scripture and he told us everything would be fine.

After one of the team members had taught on Jesus’ example we then began to wash the feet of the participants. The men we were teaching were very overwhelmed by this act. As we washed the feet of the men we prayed that God would empower them to teach and preach boldly and to serve their villages and families as Jesus would want. They began to cry and to express prayers to the Lord. When we had finished washing the feet of the men they immediately had us to sit and then clamored to wash our feet and pray for us as fellow believers.

The next day the Indian ladies involved in the women’s seminar asked to participate in the washing of feet. Their husbands had shared with them what had happened during our time of teaching and ministering and the ladies wanted to experience this also. While our ladies were demonstrating the servant aspect of foot washing the Indian ladies began to feel the weight of someone serving them. This was extraordinarily humbling for the ladies of the seminar. This is a culture where the women have no position other than what the men allow. The women of the culture in many cases are the servants to the men. So to have an American lady stoop to serve them was very overwhelming at that moment. They began to cry uncontrollably as their feet were washed individually. Some even illustrating Peter in the scripture, “you can not wash my feet.”

Finally, when all of the ladies had experienced this as individuals they rushed to wash the feet of our ladies. Each Indian lady wanted to wash the feet of our 2 American ladies. After washing their feet, many of the Indian ladies would kiss the feet of the women team members. This was a very overwhelming experience needless to say for our ladies. We talked and began to digest what had happened and realized another scripture had been illustrated. When the woman who had been forgiven much, anointed Jesus’ feet with ointment, kissed his feet and dried them with her hair.

This servant act of Jesus with His disciples was a powerful teaching moment in the day that Jesus first demonstrated it to His followers and still is today as we participated with the Indians of S. Asia. I am praying for a movement of servant leaders in S. Asia and in Smyrna, TN.

There are many more exciting and memorable moments from our trip that hopefully I will be able to post about in the coming days.

Pictures will be up in a few days on my Flikr site.
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