I’m not saying all this to complain…though I wouldn’t mind having all my toenails. I see it, rather, as a mark of being a part of the work that my wife and I have prepared for for a long time.

What you need to know is that many people here simply don’t wear shoes, and if they do, 9 times out of 10 they wear flip-flops. So, as missionaries who want to relate to the people they minister to, it would just be impractical to sport the newest Nike styling as we hang out with our bare-footed friends…and super hot.   Read the NTM article>>> Missionary Feet       

Pray for Mission Ministry Short Term Trips

Acts 1:8-UBC Sends Local and Global-Philemon 6

 Please be in prayer for these 2 teams in preparation for their upcoming trips.

 Kenya Team: Jim Korn, Jerry Rebert, Dennis Unglesbee and Jay Bubel

April 1-12 

• 4 Day Pastor Conference Co-teaching many of the same pastors as last year with the Eleventh Hour Ministry
• Attending Easter Service in Nairobi at our supported pastor evangelist’s church
• 2 day leadership training with Eleventh Hour Ministry

Pray for the pastors attending the conference from all over NE Kenya who are reaching the least reached and unreached. 

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” – Psalm 46:10

“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,” Philippians 1:29

Tohono O ‘odham Team: Denise Velte, Sheila Ramsey and Dana Weaver

These three ladies were invited back to serve and encourage Disciple-maker Sherrie Dodson April 27-May 2

• Weekend-sharing life with Sherrie-rekindling relationships built with the women they met last year.  Projects for children.
• 2 days with Sherrie on the job as counselor at the tribe’s Behavioral Health Department
• Wrap up time planning how UBC can serve and encourage Sherrie, the TO Nation and the community of Sells in the future.

 ”The vision is that we will carry the Good News – the Gospel – the “Ske:g Ha’icu A:gidag” (the O’odham phrase for Good News) from village to village (Luke 9:6) to prepare a people prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:17) all in response to the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).”

Are what we consider blessings in America actually from God or the wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing?

Have you noticed that a common reaction to a short-term mission trip is for the participants to express something like, “I now have more of an appreciation for what God has given me.” This is expressed in many different ways, but the essence is the same. We come away being especially aware, appreciative, and thankful for all the “blessings” that God has given us. Normally we are referring to things like cars, washing machines, dryers, easy access to water and electricity, a nice home, bountiful food, and so on. As time goes on and I consider the depths of God, His activity in our lives, and the condition of the world—I find myself questioning this sentiment more and more. Are what we consider blessings in America actually from God or the wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing?

The other day I saw a post on Facebook from someone currently on a short-term mission trip. He was relating a sad story about some boys he encountered and posed this question to those following him back home: “the question is not why God allows suffering but rather the question is why God has blessed Americans with all we have and we spend it on candy corn and ignore those who suffer?” Now that is a good question, but I wonder if the presupposition is all wrong. What if all of us have a faulty presupposition? What if all of our “blessings” aren’t really from God? If you have traveled internationally and spent significant time with followers of Jesus from impoverished countries, think back on your experiences with them. Now who seems like the blessed one? That is always a dilemma that comes up for short-term missionaries. We recognize impoverished believers have a joy and contentment beyond our own, we see a commitment to serving Jesus that we wish we had, and we recognize it is because they don’t have the “stuff” that gets in the way of following Jesus. Yet we go home and try to figure out how to get all of our “stuff” over to them!

So how do we view the world? How do we view our abundance in relation to the poverty-stricken world around us? What are our responsibilities? These are hard questions! I once heard someone say, “taking a vow of poverty is easy…you just say ‘no’. But stewardship is hard.” What do we do with this life God has given us?

 

Recently I was in Haiti, and I saw a girl who was probably eight or ten years old pumping water out of a community well. She had probably five or six buckets she was filling and she was working hard! She was pumping that handle with everything she had. And it took her quite a long time to fill up all those containers. I thought about how easily I turn on my faucet and have an endless supply of good, clean, safe, healthy water—even here in the Tucson desert!

 

As I watched her while we were sitting in terrible traffic, I realized this was really hard work. But, you know, there’s nothing wrong with hard work! In fact, we would probably be better off as a society if we had to work a little harder! Yet, there is nothing wrong with having to walk out and pump water and bring it back to the house. Most of our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents did the same thing. But what does this girl in Haiti lose by having to work so hard to survive? The answer is availability. What could we gain by all of our technology and “blessings?” The answer is availability! Our standard of living and ease of survival should make us more available to God and give us more time to spend loving God and serving others. But that isn’t what has happened for most of us is it? We have filled our “extra” time with things with no eternal consequence such as TV and internet addictions, self-absorbed hobbies, and even substituted carting our children around to activities for actually loving and teaching our own children! 

 

Are what we call “blessings” really blessings from God? For the first time in my life I really don’t know. But whether they are or they aren’t a question still remains about our “blessings.” To borrow the words of the famous Dr. Phil, “How’s that workin’ for ya?” The question restated is this, “are all the things you consider blessings helping you follow Jesus or are they obstacles? If your answer is obstacles, then make a change! Start changing the way you view the world! Start changing the way you view your purpose. Start changing the way you view your “blessings.” Instead of being something that blesses you, turn them into something that blesses others!

Tory Ruark- Short-term Missions Director for DELTA Ministries International

UBC Missions Team’s Annual Retreat

UBC Missions Team Annual Retreat

Retreat: a period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study.

 The UBC Missions Team is inviting you to retreat from the daily hustle and bustle and come join us on Saturday November 5, 2011 to hear how God is using His people to make His glory known around the world. We will pray for local serving, short term missions and our missionaries. We will meditate on Acts:1:8 and Matt 28. We will study, through hearing about what God is doing here and abroad.

 The day:  Sign in begins at 8 a.m. followed by Worship at 8:30

With your group (and a passport) you will travel to 3 ‘destinations’ : Africa, Appalachia, and Arizona, to hear the trip reports from 2011 short term mission trips. The 4^th stop is a tour of UBC Local Outreaches, did you know there are serving opportunities from Union Bridge to Westminster, to Baltimore and Appalachia? The Missions Team takes a Serve Local, Go Global approach to world missions believing that sharing Christ begins at home, our communities and reaching the nations.

Pastor Steve will serve children of attendees grades 1-5 with a children’s missions program.

After everyone has completed their missions tour everyone will gather back in the multi-purpose room for closing statements, then lunch will be served.

It’s all FREE! Sign up at the kiosk on Sunday!

The title of this year’s Retreat is: Passport to Missions-Where is God Sending You?

To Preach Where Christ Has Not Been Named

“The apostle Paul had a holy ambition – to preach the gospel to peoples who had never heard. He ached to proclaim Jesus where he had not yet been named. So today, missionaries cross cultures, learn languages, and pour out their lives in word and deed to break through thousands of years of darkness and the reign of Satan over a people who do not know the King of kings and the Savior of the world. Missionaries go to, and minister among, peoples who otherwise have little to no access to the saving news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

 

And since Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples of all nations is still in effect – and since there are thousands of peoples today who have never heard of him – every church should pray that God would not only make all of us evangelists among our own people, but also that he would raise up from among us missionaries to take the gospel where it has never gone before.” John Piper

Come~Hear~Serve~Go…Missions at UBC

Come out, enjoy fellowship and dessert with Myriam and Miguel Garroni Wednesday September 7 from 7-8p.m. in the multi-purpose room at UBC. Here about their life and years of ministry in Uruguay. As a bonus-their son-in-law Tito will share the ministry he and his family have serving in Argentina.

 Serving Local and Going Global,

Your Missions Team at UBC

“Finish the Mission: For the Joy of All Peoples.” Desiring God 2011 National Conference

A missional community is a family of missionary servants who make disciples who make disciples.

Family

First of all, a missional community is a group of believers who live and experience life together like a family. They see God as their Father because of their faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ and the new regeneration brought about by the Holy Spirit. This means they have and know of a divine love that leads them to love one another as brothers and sisters. They treat one another as children of God deeply loved by the Father in everything — sharing their money, time, resources, needs, hurts, successes, etc. They know each other well. This knowledge includes knowing each other’s stories and having familiarity with one another’s strengths and struggles in regards to belief in the gospel and it’s application to all of life (John 1:11-13; Romans 12:10-16; Ephesians 5:1-2).

Missionaries

God’s family is also sent like the Son by the Spirit to proclaim the good news of the kingdom — the gospel — and fulfill the commission of Jesus. A missional community is more than a Bible study or a small group that cares for other believers. A missional community is made up of Spirit-led and Spirit-filled people who radically reorient their lives together for the mission of making disciples of a particular people and place where there is a gospel gap (no consistent gospel witness). This means people’s schedule, resources and decisions are now collectively built around reaching people together (Matthew 3:16-4:1; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; 13:2).

Servants

Jesus is Lord and we are his Servants. A missional community serves those around them as though they are serving Jesus. In doing so, they give a foretaste of what life will be like under the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. Living as servants to the King who serve others as he served presents a tangible witness to Jesus’ kingdom and the power of the gospel to change lives. A missional community serves in such a way that it demands a Gospel explanation — lives that cannot be explained in any other way than by the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus (Matthew 20:25-28; John 13:1-17; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Peter 2:16).

Disciples

We are all learners of Jesus our rabbi who has given us his Spirit to teach us all that is true about Jesus and enable us to live out his commands. Jesus commanded us to make disciples who believe the gospel, are established in a new identity and are able to obey all of his commands (Matthew 28:19-20).

The missional community is the best context in which this can happen. Disciples are made and developed:

1. through life on life, where there is visibility and accessibility
2. in community, where they can practice the one anothers, and
3. on mission where they learn how to proclaim the gospel and make disciples.

Jeff Vanderstelt is a pastor at Soma Communities, an Acts 29 church in Tacoma, WA. He coaches and trains church planters, serves on the Board of Acts 29, and leads the Soma movement in vision and teaching.

Thank you for sharing your comments. All comments are moderated for content. Comments that fail to acknowledge God or Jesus with “caps” will not be posted. In addition any posts containing foul language or blasphemy of any form will not be posted.-UBC Missions

Why We Can’t Call Everyone a Missionary

A testimony from a  Missionary:

“This is the cost,” she says to me with tears brimming. Sitting on my couch, with legs curled under her…coffee in hand, she says confidently, “…and this is part of the cost, isn’t it?” The cost-benefit ratio of following God’s lead and moving overseas is complex and varied. Are there benefits? Absolutely! We can count abundant benefits to our family, our marriage, our kids and our spiritual lives. There are many, many benefits to living a life of service overseas. But, are there costs? Of course. Yes, absolutely. There are painful, daily, humiliating and difficult costs on our lives. I think, that said, there is a cost to any God-following obedience. …taking up our cross, He calls it in Scripture. There is always a cost to following Christ. The cross…although it brings innumerable benefits…is painful and heavy. The costs of moving out of your home culture to serve alongside the Good Shepherd, though, are unique. And, these costs are heavy.

“This is the cost,” she says half smiling—half ready to cry. My heart knows exactly what she is saying…I get it. And, I say, Yes! …Yes, I say as my eyes now brim with tears, too.

…missing your sister’s wedding. …missing your niece’s birth. …receiving an email (not a call) about your mother’s health. …having your young child ask you again, “Now, who is that person?… What is his name?” And, he is referring to your brother, his uncle. …missing those in-between years when nephews grow from babies to boys…boys to men. …missing that graduation, that 40th birthday party and the Thanksgiving dinner. …being forgotten. Or instead, being so deeply missed that you are the source of someone’s pain. Which is better? …raising kids that are not “normal.” And, they know it. …not having that youth group, that Grandma’s mentoring, or that Christian soul friend for a young budding daughter. …not having that booming, beautiful, vibrant worship service each week. …having to choose which state-side family crisis is worth the price of an international flight…and having to go on your own, because tickets for the others are too expensive. …not having a primary care doctor that knows you, has known your medical history or even your name. …not helping with your dear friends wedding shower, or attending her dad’s funeral. … missing it. …not being there. …not having.

“This is the cost,” she says to me. And, I hear her heart. And, I can only agree. I nod. And, I smile with small tears brimming. “Yes, this is the cost.” Is it worth it? …What a crazy, silly question, we both know. Even with brimming tears we know—of course it is worth it! We hardly have to ask each other the question.

We know what He has asked of us. And, we know His will is for His glory and our best. We know the benefits. We know our Good Father and His blessings. So, of course it is worth it!

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). The benefits most definitely outweigh the cost. Always. Where else are we to go?! But, there is a cost. And, there is a cross. And, we must carry it. And, yes, this is the cost.

Insightful New Book Challenges Western Church to Learn from Suffering Believers

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Carl Moeller, CEO of Open Doors USA, spoke to The Christian Post during the Evangelical Press Association conference this past week in Lisle, Ill., about his new book, The Privilege of Persecution.

Moeller talked about the biggest misconception Americans have about the persecuted, and how persecuted Christians can overcome the question of why a loving God would allow suffering, among other topics.

CP: What is the biggest misconception Americans have about the persecuted church?

Moeller: I think the biggest misconception is that there is an us and them. The persecuted Christians where I have interacted with them immediately assume that we should be praying for them and with them. They are praying for us, we should be praying for them, that we are one body.

Our assumption here in America is that we are here and they are there. It is an “us and them” mentality. The persecuted don’t have that. They are grateful when we come from the United States and Europe to minister and be with them. But their assumption is of course, we are brothers and sisters.

CP: How would a persecuted Christian answer the question – how can a loving God allow suffering?

Moeller: Again, generally, persecuted Christians don’t struggle as much with the question of suffering and think it is a blessing. There are always instances where people do leave the faith and do suffer emotional trauma and have to struggle through years of recovery. Even the great testimonies of we cite in the book, those believers went through years of recovery from , for instance, 20 years of solidarity confinement.

But that is not to say that they don’t understand a fundamental principle of the kingdom, which is God uses the suffering of His church to be a witness to the reality of the Gospel.

I think we often overlook the fact that, first of all, the word witness in Greek is martyr. Second of all, we overlook the fact that Jesus himself said if I be lifted up I will draw all men to me. What was he lifted up on? A cross. His suffering was made public. His suffering and ability to endure it until the end drew people to question, what manner of man is this?

I think when a watching world – whether it is a communist world, a Muslim world, or Hindu world – watches Christian suffering in a way I don’t have a formula for, the Holy Spirit uses that to generate those seeking questions. What is this that enables you to stand strong in your faith?

So I think if I am to inject myself into the mindset of a persecuted believer, I think they understand that integral to the witness of Jesus Christ in that culture has got to be the suffering of Jesus Christ. One more thing is the Apostle Paul says, “I fill up the measure of Christ’s suffering.” For a good evangelical, you can ask yourself what does he mean, does it mean he adds something through his suffering to the work of Christ? That is not at all what he is saying. He is saying that all of these people here in this city never say Jesus on the cross, never met Jesus. But when they see me suffering and when I say I’m suffering for him or because I follow him then they can understand the sacrifice that Jesus made and follow.

CP: You mentioned in the book that the persecuted church has a lot of compassion on the West. Why?

Moeller: There are a lot of paradoxes when you talk about the persecuted. The Bible says when I am weak, then I am strong. These paradoxes are inherent in the Christian Gospel. I was with one pastor in China and his grandchildren and my children, who were younger at the time, were there. And he said, “Carl, I pray for them.” I asked why. He said, “Because your kids and my grandkids will face temptation far greater than persecution. Persecution narrows your focus, refines your belief, and makes it a very clear choice. Affluence clouds the issues and makes it much harder to hear the voice of Christ in the midst of all that and it’s very difficult for them. I pray for them because of what they are going to face in the future.”

I think that is a paradox, when you realize that with all our stuff we are not closer to Christ. In fact, we are probably farther from it and that is why they are blessed according to Scriptures and why they have the privilege of praying for us as well.

CP: There is a story in the book about Brother Andrew (founder of Open Doors) speaking at an Islamic seminary about Jesus and giving the imam a New Testament. Can you give details on that event? How did Brother Andrew manage to get such an audience?

Moeller: It is interesting. We were speaking earlier about his style of approach. He is not going to seek the headlines of the newspaper and in so doing that opens up many opportunities to those who would be quite sensitive to that.

That story comes from 2009 when he had the invitation from Shahbaz Bhatti of Pakistan to go to a radical Islamic madrassa. It is actually very funny. The minister asked Andrew if he would like to go to one of the madrassa and speak to them. And Andrew said, “Yes I would.” “Well good, I’ll take you to a model madrassa right here in Islamabad.” “No, no, no. I want to go to the most radical one in the country.” Of course that’s Andrew and how he approaches things.

So they basically got on a helicopter and flew to Peshawar and went to the seminary where reputedly many of the Talibans were trained. It is well known to the Pakistan authorities that it is a radical madrassa.

But when he came there he found politeness and a reception of openness. Similarly, when Andrew and I had the opportunity in 2007 to share the good news of Jesus with the founder of Islamic jihad, we were given a very positive reception and a positive response to the Gospel. Brother Andrew’s nature is so unassuming and disarming and clear. They (Muslims) revere that book (New Testament) so much more than we do in America. He (imam) literally took that copy of the New Testament, kissed it and held it reverently because you would never just toss the Bible or put it on your seat. We were later able to deliver many more Bibles through that madrassa.

Again, we often don’t realize just how open people who are opposed to our faith are to hearing a polite yet uncompromising presentation of the Gospel.

CP: You write that many Americans see offering tithe as an investment on blessings. How do persecuted Christians differ in their view of tithe?

Moeller: I think this is one of the most crucial applications in this book to American culture. It’s this whole concept of generosity, stewardship, and what is blessing. I am candidly disgusted by so many American preachers who are unabashed in their distortion of the Gospel when they talk about material blessings and investments. They say if you plant your seed of $100 in the ground, meaning giving it to them, then God will bless you and you are not wrong to seek material things because God wants that for you. I just step back and go, “Really?”

Brother Andrew has this great quote, “If you can’t preach it everywhere then it shouldn’t be preached anywhere.” That doesn’t mean that the same sermon shouldn’t have cultural application, but if the truth of the Gospel can’t be seen in the poorest of the poor then how can you preach it?

When you go to some of these African nations that have been influenced by the prosperity gospel mentality, you see incredible, awful distortions of the message. Pastors are living in beautiful, big homes, Mercedes-Benz cars and their congregation is living in utter desperate poverty. It becomes a value system for the congregation on how well their pastor lives while they all live poorly.

I look back at that and go, “Wow. That is not the message of Jesus.” Jesus has a very different definition of blessing and this is where the concept of generosity and stewardship comes in. The persecuted church doesn’t measure out their tenth tithe. They give liberally, they give all.

There are a couple of stories that I didn’t get to include in the book. One took place in Mexico when I was visiting a pastor that we work with. After we gave a message at his church, he took my group back to his home where he offered us dinner. Chickens were running around and it was just a ramshackle place right off the side of the church which was also a small building that was very rural and in a very oppressed part of Mexico.

It was a nice chicken and rice soup dinner with Fanta sodas. Ten of us were eating and I leaned over to our translator and asked, “How much did this cost?” About 200 pesos or $20. That might not seem like a lot to a lot of people reading the book. They spent $10 on the book and $20 for meals for ten people seems pretty good, except when you realize that the pastor made $30 a month for a salary.

The concept of bringing strangers into your home and giving them a meal that costs two-thirds of your pay, how would we view that? We might take someone out to lunch after church if they are a missionary or visiting pastor, but we wouldn’t dream about throwing them a party that costs two-thirds of our monthly pay. We couldn’t live like that, but yet that is the way that the persecuted church lives.

So their view of giving is much different. As there is more wealth, like we’re seeing in China, many are saying that they don’t want to be just receivers but givers as well. I think it stems from the idea that when God blesses abundantly, He gives them the grace to share abundantly as well.

CP: What do you mean by your equation that the global church equals the persecuted church?

Moeller: It is inevitable, in everyone’s life, that wherever we attempt in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring the good news of Jesus Christ it experiences resistance. It happens in our life when we share to neighbors or friends or to family members who are opposed to the Gospel. Wherever the Gospel is expanded, that is the global church and the global south, it is going forth in the context of another spiritual power that is there. It could be communism, atheism, or Hinduism, or Islam or Buddhism. Wherever the Gospel is going forward, it isn’t going unopposed because there is already a spiritual power in that area.

That is why the equation is everywhere the church is there will be persecution.

CP: How can we pray for the persecuted church?

Moeller: Number one, pray with them that they would stand strong. Almost every conversation I have with a persecuted Christian centers on this: “Don’t pray that we would be removed. Pray that we would be strong.”

I think it is our natural tendency as Americans to want to alleviate suffering. If they are facing death or torture, let’s get them out of there. But the truth is that most of the Christians I meet in the persecuted church have no desire to leave their country. They have a desire to stand strong so they can be a witness to their country. They love their country and their culture and they don’t want to be foreigners in some other country even if they are safe physically. So that is the biggest prayer they ask from us. So they ask that they would be strengthened.

Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter

http://www.opendoorsusa.org/   http://www.facebook.com/#!/opendoorsfans

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Finding Love in all the Right Places…Great Commission Missions-online…

When you go to GreatCommission2020.com you will be watching live as visitors come to websites, indicate decisions for Christ, and request follow-up. When you scroll down to the bottom of the page (greatcommission2020.com) click on visuals. You can see the comments that are made. These comments and those who make decisions are monitored by people working with Global Media Outreach, when the visitors fill out the information fields, they receive answers, guidance, and discipleship starts.

People all around the world are internet savvy, curious, lonely and searching. Searching for love, acceptance, answers to their problems. Global Media Outreach has many websites designed for people searching all sorts of subjects with a simple google search.  These sights are designed to lead the visitor to the One answer they need for all the questions of life. Jesus Christ. Check out the sight. Check out the stats. Watch live-where in the world decisions to follow Christ are happening.

Soulsurfer.com-(yes Bethany Hamilton’s web )

Jesus2020.com

truelove.Godlife.com

greatcom.org

4stepstoGod.com

looktoJesus.com

finance.Godlife.com

m.truelove.Godlife.com

m.marriage.Godlife.com

Godlovesrussia.com

marriageandGod.com