Quote of the Week

As much or more than any theological concern, biblical teaching on end times should be approached with humility.
Matthew Dickerson
Christianity Today online
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/june/whogetsleftbehind.html

An Open Letter to Dove World Outreach Center

Dear Pastors Jones and Sapp,

Congratulations on the headlines you have created around the world this week. Not only did you burn a Koran but your actions led to the death of UN workers in Afghanistan, many of whom were not even Americans. May I ask what this has accomplished: has the Gospel been advanced amongst Muslims because there is one less Koran in the world? Are the Muslims of Gainesville beating down your door to know how they can be saved? It seems your actions were worse than futile, they were damaging to the work of the Gospel and to the lives of God’s servants. 

I am not denying the responsibility of the Taliban and Islamists who actually perpetrated the recent acts of murder and terror. There is no doubt that they will answer to God for this, and let’s hope they will also be held accountable by the legal authorities of their nation (if they can catch them).

But there is no doubt that your actions instigated this new wave of violence against Westerners in Central Asia. There is no doubt that you have placed at risk every American working in any capacity in the Muslim world. Worse, you have compromised the Gospel witness of thousands of Christian workers seeking to share the Love of Christ all over the Islamic World.

What right do you have before the Living God to jeopardize the work HE has called Christian men and women to do in HIS name for HIS glory? They may have chosen to risk their lives for the Gospel, but it is not your place to exacerbate that risk.

How can you justify putting such lives in peril in the name of Freedom of Speech, while God’s real servants and true believers put their lives on the line for the Gospel, and while your nation’s military serves in Harm’s Way in the Muslim World to protect that freedom?

Missionaries have enough work to do responding to the theological arguments of those who deny the deity of Christ, who believe the Bible has been changed, who do not believe Jesus died on the cross, and who argue for the superiority of Mohamed. But those conversations eventually lead to meaningful conversations on spiritual things and a sharing of the Gospel. Now, however, Christian workers have to waste time explaining why a church which supposedly believes what they do would commit such an egregious act, and convince people that they would never do the same. It takes a long time to build trust with a Muslim and you may have cancelled the work of years for some missionaries.

I examined your church’s website to see the extent of your missions outreach, especially your outreach to Muslims. And I found nothing. How can a church which has the name “World Outreach” in its name have no world missionary program? How can “an apostolic church with a world vision” which is so concerned about the evils of Islam be doing nothing about that evil in the manner prescribed by Jesus: “Go ye and make disciples of all nations”???

On the home front, what is Dove World Outreach Center doing to reach the 1,500 Muslim residents of Gainesville? Is there any campus outreach to the 600 Muslim students at UF? Have your members been trained to reach out to their Muslim neighbors in ways that are respectful, culturally appropriate and pleasing to the Lord, not alienating?

Have either of you, Pastor Sapp or Pastor Jones, ever had a normal conversation with a Muslim? Guess what: they are people like you and me, with many of the same concerns: how to make ends meet, raising their children to be men and women of faith and morality, whether their team will make it to the Series. Evangelical Christians often have more common ground with observant Muslims than with our American neighbors, who may be only nominal Christians or practice no religion at all. Instead of a hostile approach focusing on differences, why not try to “love your neighbor,” and extend hospitality and friendship to them? Through such relationships, you will eventually have the opportunity to discuss your religious differences in an atmosphere of trust.

There is no way to undo this pointless, egregious act. But you can move forward by first repenting before the Lord Jesus Christ for your damage to the work of the Gospel, and then apologizing and seeking forgiveness of those whom you offended, making it clear that the Lord whom you claim to serve would never have acted in such a manner. Finally, you can focus the efforts of your church from now on to reaching your neighbors and the world with the Gospel of our Loving Lord and Savior, who gave his life for sinners, of whom you and I are chief.

Sincerely yours,

Jennifer A. Bowers

2010 by the Numbers

What we did in 2010: by the numbers

Our organization has had various ways of keeping track of how we spend our time, and this year we were asked for "metrics," which they will presumably publish somewhere to show everyone how effective UWM is. We were slow to gather these numbers, but when finished, we were pretty impressed (I'll try not to break my arm patting myself on the back!).

Some of the items below we did not send to the Mission (I think you'll figure out which ones), but I hope you enjoy the list overall: 

1: woman of the Soninké tribe discipled through weekly Bible studies and baptism preparation. (Jennifer)
1: Christian FM-radio station launched by a Malian Christian NGO with help from UWM (we have provided facilities and electricity, and helped them to find equipment); they currently broadcast about 18 hrs/day.
1: semester served on board of Dakar Academy. (Jennifer)
1: son graduated from Dakar Academy, with honors, and launched into the World. (Benjamin)

2: graduate classes completed for education degree. (Jennifer)
2: new missionaries recruited for MALI, in a seconding agreement with WEC, to reach the Moors. (Andrew & Mary)
2: evangelism and medical teams to the Moors (about 15 participants all told, to 8 villages altogether).

5: meetings of the Malian Assoc. of Evangelicals attended by Jim, where he is serving on the Committee of Reconciliation to head off a split in the organization.

6: men taught in Bambara language Bible school (in partnership with Norwegian Lutheran Mission).

10: meetings with the local Christian school committee.
10: ESL teachers observed and trained in Bamako during 2 weeks in January. (Jennifer)
15: meetings in churches last summer (where  we were featured at the Missions Night of the annual conference of the Church of Christ (Holiness), in St. Louis.) 

22: visits to disciple new Fulani believer in Kayes (who came to Christ through the "Common Ground" method of evangelism). (Jim)

26.5: years of service in Mali.
27: women trained in leadership seminars (in partnership with Marcie Harris). (Jennifer)
28: years married to same spouse!

35: Christian Fulani leaders hosted in JCMWA* annual conference in Kayes for one week
30: visits to Fulani villages for outreach and supervision of the well project in Duduya. (Jim)
40: meetings with the Kayes Pastors' Cooperative for prayer and planning of joint evangelistic events. (Jim)
49: shows of original Star Trek watched!

52: beggars helped on our front porch by prayer, food, Bible reading, cash, work, clothing, loans, empathy, medicine, counsel, etc.
75: friendship evangelism visits among mostly Fulani friends, often playing Bible story cassettes or mp3 players like the Megavoice, and drinking lots of strong, sweet green tea. (Jim)

150: radio broadcasts in the Fulani & Moor languages (on 2 different stations).

168: cards & letters sent by Snail mail, not counting Christmas cards. (mostly Jennifer)

175: dollars paid to the MVA of MD as a fine over an insurance disagreement about our car (they wanted over $3000 and this was the compromise we reached!!!)

12,000: miles traveled June-August in the USA & Canada to facilitate partnerships, raise funds, promote ministry, and keep in touch with supporters including many visits with churches and dear friends.

*JCMWA: Joint Christian Ministry in West Africa, a network of ministries to the Fulani to which we belong.

YET ANOTHER TRAVEL TALE

Greetings from Dakar! Our journey started Friday the 3rd, when we were deposited at the airport at 3pm by Tim Haley of Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, MD: thanks for the ride, Tim!

We didn't have a long wait and boarded well before 5pm (departure time was 5.40), but then... we waited. We were informed that the computer which controls the fuel gauge and fuel distribution on the plane was malfunctioning and would have to be fixed. They had already moved out from the terminal and eventually had to taxi back in to another bay. They rebooted the computer involved, then all the computers, then they "rebooted" the whole airplane, i.e., they turned off everything for about 10 minutes. While we waited we found our friend Julie Adamson (whom we had somehow missed in the departure lounge) and enjoyed chatting with her. The a/c was running onboard, so we were not uncomfortable, but we had nothing to eat or drink except water during the 6 hour wait. For some reason, they did not activate the entertainment system either. Finally, around the time they got it fixed (or "came up with a fix" I should say, b/c they never did fix that computer and actually did a work-around), they decided to serve us dinner while refueling at 10.30pm, so we took off after 11. Then all went well and we arrived as scheduled in exactly 8 hours. Hurricane Earl presented no problems whatsoever, although they flew due south a bit further than usual before heading across the Atlantic, just in case.

One thing I want to mention is that the passengers were all very gracious while waiting. We were all frustrated, but no one got nasty or mean or gave the crew a hard time.

It's more humid here than even in Baltimore, but the temperature is about the same. We'll live. We are enjoying the hospitality of Alex & Amet DaSylvio-Fall. It was great to worship at Dakar Academy today with Danielle, Susanna, and many other friends. Lord willing, we will head to Kayes on Wednesday or Thursday in our own car.

Thanks for your prayers and good thoughts as we travel!

Puppy Love

I’ve come to understand why they take pets to visit people in nursing homes, and why people who own pets live longer than those who don’t. Yes, I’ve been struck by Puppy Love.

We’ve always had cats around the house and in general I still prefer cats. They take care of themselves, they are very clean and they don’t slobber. I do hate the litter box, but that’s a small thing. The one thing I could wish is that they were more affectionate. We’ve had the occasional friendly cat, but for the most part ours have been typically aloof. I’ve heard all the suggestions and claims that the earlier a cat is handled, the friendlier it will be and can tell you scientifically and empirically: it ain’t so! We have had some mother cats who had twice or even thrice annual litters, and with four children in the house, you better believe they were handled almost from Day One. But our percentage of affectionate felines is no higher, and perhaps much lower, than anyone else’s. Sigh.

I’m pretty picky about dogs, on the other hand. For me to like a dog, it has to be small to medium sized (no miniatures, please), short-haired, and clean around the mouth so it doesn’t have spittle on its chops all the time! I would prefer a breed which gets along with cats (not a hunter) and is quiet.

We got Chester, a 3y.o. dachshund, from homegoing missionaries about a year and a half ago. He is small, short-haired, and does not drool (check, check, check). But dachshunds are hunting dogs, so he has chased off all our cats. And he does bark a lot.

But I can live with that because he is so affectionate and cuddly and cute! He came into our Empty Nest and filled my mother’s heart with joy. Corny, I know, but besides being away at boarding school, college and work most of the time, my children are at an age when they don’t like to hug much. It’s just not their Love Language… but it’s mine and I miss it terribly! So Chester is filling that hole in my heart. He’s poorly trained and disobedient, and before we had him neutered he ran off all the time, but he has calmed down a lot since then, and will do almost anything for a cookie.

Quote of the Week... about LOST

A funny summary from the "815 Sentences About LOST" blog by a critic who has never watched the show:

 

“As both “Lost” the series as well as 815 Sentences About Lost draws to a close, it may seem blasphemous that someone who has never seen a single, solitary episode of “Lost” would write an entry attempting to briefly summarize the plot of “Lost” for this website, but that is exactly what I intend to do. Following a plane crash, a bunch of strangers find themselves stranded on a mysterious desert island. Among the stranded are Matthew Fox, some dude named “Sawyer,” that serial killer guy who stalked Lindsay Dole on “The Practice,” that Asian guy who played the Wolfram and Hart lawyer on “Angel” who eventually got turned into a zombie and Gunn chopped his head off (spoiler alert!), that other guy who sold Larry David pot one time on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and a bunch of other people. Pretty soon the castaways discover that they’re not alone on the island, which is also inhabited by another mysterious group of people called “The Others” as well as a monster. So the plot turns into something along the lines of “Lord of the Flies,” only with grown up people instead of psychotic children and, of course, the monster. There is also some conspiracy of how all the castaways ended up on the island, which is mostly revealed via flashbacks filled with really obscure and annoying clues and number references which “Lost” fans can discuss with other “Lost” fans on internet message boards. I don’t know, it all sounds like something of a headache if you ask me, although I’m sure I’ll probably watch the whole thing on DVD some day. Anyway, if you asked me to predict what’s going to happen on the series finale of “Lost,” my guess is that it all turns out to be an intricately wound sequence of events which takes place in some autistic kid’s snow globe. The end.”

 

- Despite never having seen a single episode of “Lost,” Stacey Nosek fancies herself a pop culture writer. She spends her days in West Philadelphia and writes for Pajiba and Litelysalted.

Quote of the Week

We are violently propelled into the world with blood and pain and few of us will die with the dignity for which we hope and for which some pray. Whether we choose to think of life as an impending happiness broken only by inevitable grief and disappointments, or as the proverbial vale of tears with brief interludes of joy, the pain will come, except to those few whose deadened sensibilities made them apparently impervious to either joy or sorrow.

PD James, The Private Patient

What do you think?