West Texas Missioner

Friday, September 18, 2015

From ServLife International: "Childhood Restored"

ServLife International is a movement defined by values of God’s kingdom, not programs built around human efforts and activities. The reign and rule of God should be made apparent to every person on the planet, despite their religion, race or socioeconomic status. We believe that issues of justice are inseparable from the good news that Jesus Christ came to proclaim. ServLife exists to take the gospel of Christ and the hope of a better, more just, world to the lives of people we touch. This happens through individual contributions of time, creativity, resources and dreams.

ServLife Photo

Childhood Restored

At age six Deepa was cleaning and working for her family instead of attending school. Following her father’s tragic death in a road accident Deepa’s mother was left with few options and put her children to work, joining her at her job as a janitor. Deepa’s older brother refused to work and left the family to make his own way. Her mother decided to move away and make a fresh start at life. Many widows in her situation would leave the children to live on the street and fend for themselves, but fortunately for Deepa and her sisters, their mother brought them to a ServLife children’s home ...

• CLICK HERE to read the rest of this post from ServLife

From Adam Nevins
Executive Director
ServLife International Inc.

Join Our Mission

ServLife International propels reconciliation and justice by building global community to plant churches, care for children and fight poverty. Compelled by the message, life and love of Jesus Christ, we seek to care for the spiritual, physical, social, and economic areas of life in northern India and Nepal. Learn more about our latest news, featured stories, and how to get involved at servlife.org


Support a Pastor Our church planters spread the love of Christ in some of the most difficult environments in the world. • Support Them ...	Sponsor a Child For only $30 per month you can help give a child food, education, care and, most importantly, hope. • Sponsor Now ...	Fight Poverty The HOPE Fund, our micro-finance program, provides start-up funds for a small business, paving a way out of poverty for families in need. • Learn More ...

ServLife International, Inc.
P.O. Box 20596
Indianapolis, IN 46220
USA

In the News ... "Poverty Simulation in Odessa Hopes to Reveal Global Issue"

• Begins Friday, September 18 at 1st Baptist-Odessa

Staff Report
KOSA-TV

ODESSA, TEXAS - From September 18 through 21, people can come on a self-guided journey where they are immersed in the life of children from Ethiopia or the Dominican Republic in poverty ...

• read/watch the rest of this KOSA report

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Word from Uganda: Yes Lord ..."

Missionary teacher Natalie Rolfe writes, "'When He calls me, I will answer ... I'll be somewhere working for my Lord.' My call was Mbale, Uganda and that is where I have returned to serve for another year. Specifically, I am teaching phonics at Lulwanda Children's Home, an orphanage and school for 90 kids." Natalie also keeps an online journal of her service at the weblog, When He calls me, I will answer ...

Yes Lord ...

"Last January I was at a conference and the worship leader shared the Lord’s challenge to her. “Will you say ‘YES’ to the Lord, even before you know what the question is?” Because He is always good and always faithful, I have said a major “Yes, Lord” with hands surrendered and a heart open to what He has in store in this upcoming season of my life.

I will be going on a sabbatical for six months, departing Uganda October 3rd (and returning early April 2016) ..."

• read the rest of Natalie's post ...

• help raise funds for Natalie's mission ...

Monday, September 14, 2015

In the News ... "Religious leaders shared wealth of perspectives at Thursday's Interfaith Event"

MRT Photo by James Durbin

• Promote understanding, respect among faith groups

Trent Johnson, Reporter
Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS - Leaders from varied religions and denominations met to discuss a range of topics at Thursday’s fifth annual Interfaith Event held at the First Baptist Church.

Moderated by Russell Meyers, CEO of Midland Memorial Hospital, the event served as a think tank for leaders from different faiths, and allowed those in attendance to get a different perspective on a diverse range of issues including the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on same-sex marriage ...

• read the rest of this MRT report

Friday, September 11, 2015

From ServLife International: "Eager to Learn"

ServLife Photo

Eager to Learn

Sweltering heat couldn’t squelch the joy and excitement in west Nepal this July as 130 teachers from 11 schools gathered for a three-day Teacher Training Conference. ServLife partners with local schools to provide education for over 350 children in India and Nepal through our child sponsors. Teachers from these schools asked ServLife to improve their teaching skills by bringing U.S. teachers to help them, leading to the first conference in 2013 ...

• CLICK HERE to read the rest of this post from ServLife


Support a Pastor Our church planters spread the love of Christ in some of the most difficult environments in the world. • Support Them ...	Sponsor a Child For only $30 per month you can help give a child food, education, care and, most importantly, hope. • Sponsor Now ...	Fight Poverty The HOPE Fund, our micro-finance program, provides start-up funds for a small business, paving a way out of poverty for families in need. • Learn More ...

ServLife International, Inc.
P.O. Box 20596
Indianapolis, IN 46220
USA

FBR's Dave Eubank coming to Midland

The Free Burma Rangers (FBR) is a multi-ethnic humanitarian service movement. They bring help, hope and love to people in the war zones of Burma (Myanmar). Ethnic pro-democracy groups send teams to be trained, supplied and sent into the areas under attack to provide emergency assistance and human rights documentation. Together with other groups, the teams work to serve people in need.

First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas welcomes to the pulpit, this Sunday, Dave Eubank, Founder of Free Burma Rangers (FBR).

FBR has worked since 1997 bringing God's Kingdom to bear on the difficult situations ethnic groups in Burma are facing. They provide assistance in the form of basic necessities, health care and training. Recently they have also been able to work with some of the displaced people of Iraq. Dave's wife, Karen, and their three children, Sahale, Suu, and Peter, are also visiting this weekend.

Sunday, September 13 at 1st Presbyterian-Midland
Sanctuary: Dave Eubank, 8:15 and 11:00 a.m.
Scriptures: Psalm 77:16-20 and Luke 4:16-21
Sermon title: Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering?

WATCH 11:00 A.M. SANCTUARY WORSHIP LIVE AT WWW.FPCMID.ORG

In the News ... "Texas Tech professor mends fences between science and faith"

Courtesy Photo

• FREE lecture Sunday at Midland College

Trent Johnson, Reporter
Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS - Religion and science are sometimes at odd with each other on the societal plane of existence. Often times these two sects of life square off in television debates, magazine articles and books to refute one another’s findings. Constantly the two studies are at each other’s throats, but why?

That’s a question Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, atmospheric scientist and director of the Texas Tech Climate Science Center, ponders often. As the daughter of a teacher of faith and science, Hayhoe has been successful in marrying her religious beliefs with her scientific endeavors.

In advance of her Faith and Science in Harmony presentation at Midland College on Sunday, sponsored by St. Nicholas Episcopal and Midland Lutheran Church, we talked to the professor about global warming politics, how science and religion stem from the same place and the amount of hate mail she gets ...

• read the rest of this MRT report

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

WAW Wednesday: "... and they got it for peanuts!"

"The Word at Work is a ministry that mobilizes churches and individuals to answer God's call to minister to those in need," writes Rev. Tim Tam, Director of the Amarillo, Texas-based ministry. "Through our relationships, God reveals needs and opportunities for service. As we come along side the poor, new friendships develop and doors for ministry open. As we serve, God provides the resources to supply for the needs he reveals."

... and they got it for peanuts!

Hi Friends -

Healthy Peanuts & Healthy Partnership!

I recently wrote about the importance of holding to the "iron rule” in mission work i.e. Never do for others what they can do for themselves.

Here is an example of a healthy partnership between two churches, First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas and House of Praise Church of El Progresso Belize.

Both churches were putting their resources and their labor into finishing the floor and the walls of the new church building.

Then it came time to put on the roof. Generous team members from Midland wanted to see the project finished and could easily have written the check.

But wisdom prevailed. Rather than taking over ... the partnership continued. Midland agreed to match whatever El Progresso raised.

Taking stock of the local assets ... Though they could not match Midlands financial resources, they are truly hard-working farmers. So Midland also made them a loan to buy seed, which the church planted and now they'll be harvesting thousands of pounds of peanuts.

When the peanuts are sold they will be able to pay for their half of the roof and also repay the loan.

If I remember correctly they got their foundation by planting a field potatoes. And now they got the roof for peanuts. Yep, I said it again!

There is a time and place for charity, but if you move too quickly and apply it where it is not really needed, the locals lose their pride of accomplishment, the sense of ownership that comes with sweat, and the joy that comes from relationships and meaningful partnerships.

Good News

Solar project at the King's Home is nearing completion. Friday is the big day when we flip the switch on. Praying all goes well.

More Good News

Friday is also the day to pour the foundation for the Omega Church outreach building in Shawville. This will be a multipurpose building that facilitates a variety of ministries. Woman's shelter, kitchen for feeding program, sewing, computers, and music groups.

One More Thing ...

If you opened this looking for an opportunity to help, please click on the link below. Domestic Violence looms large in Belize and we need to support those who are trying to address the needs of women and children.

Mary Open Doors is one of our ministry partners and they can use your financial help to acquire a facility to be used as a shelter. Your contribution can grow on Bonus Day, September 16, when Global Giving will match all donations made!

• Follow this link to find out how

Blessings,

TT (Tim Tam) The Word at Work

ps: Our Ministry Associate team gathers school supplies, toys, and stuffed animals through out the year ... we've discovered blankets are an ongoing need as well, so please be saving them, too. Click here to learn more about becoming a TW@W Ministry Associate, or get in touch with Tim Hagen for more information!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Speaking from my own first-hand experience - working side-by-side with Tim, Kenny and our brothers and sisters in Belize - won't you give thoughtful, prayerful consideration to supporting the efforts of Tim, the Word At Work staff and their partners? Please please fill out this Commitment Card and return it to their office!

Also, remember that you can follow The Word At Work on their Facebook page!

Peanuts in Belize

Hi Belize Teams,

I just wanted to share this picture with you. It's Julio with the field of peanuts the church has planted to raise money to pay back the loan we gave them for the construction of the roof. It is really exciting to see the way we've been able to cooperate with them on this project. They expect that the proceeds from this crop of peanuts (hopefully about 4,000 lbs. of peanuts) will cover the total amount of the loan.

Peace,

Walter Thompson
Associate Pastor of Mission and Evangelism
First Presbyterian Church, Midland, Texas

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Word from Uganda: Simple Acts of Love"

Missionary teacher Natalie Rolfe writes, "'When He calls me, I will answer ... I'll be somewhere working for my Lord.' My call was Mbale, Uganda and that is where I have returned to serve for another year. Specifically, I am teaching phonics at Lulwanda Children's Home, an orphanage and school for 90 kids." Natalie also keeps an online journal of her service at the weblog, When He calls me, I will answer ...

Simple Acts of Love

" During first term I went for visitation day to St. Paul’s College to visit some of our secondary students who attend boarding school there. While we were all standing around chatting, I noticed there was a boy who was lingering around our van. After a few minutes, I looked up and smiled at him. He then came over and said, 'Auntie, do you remember me?' ..."

• read the rest of Natalie's post ...

• help raise funds for Natalie's mission ...

Monday, September 7, 2015

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On Death

“But,” said Eustace, looking at Aslan. “Hasn’t he—er—died?” “Yes,” said the Lion in a very quiet voice, almost (Jill thought) as if he were laughing. “He has died. Most people have, you know. Even I have. There are very few who haven’t.”

“Oh,” said Caspian. “I see what’s bothering you. You think I’m a ghost, or some nonsense. But don’t you see? I would be that if I appeared in Narnia now: because I don’t belong there any more. But one can’t be a ghost in one’s own country.”

• From The Silver Chair
• Compiled in Words to Live By

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

Today in the Mission Yearbook: September 7, 2015

MINUTE FOR MISSION: A SOCIAL CREED FOR THE 21st CENTURY - The young man with disabilities had just gotten a job. Not a great job, but one he could get to by public transport. His small city has an adequate social safety net, so he lives in a converted single-room-occupancy hotel with supervision on site. But this didn’t keep him from being beaten and robbed when he got off the bus one night.

The people at his church know him and advocate for him ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

There are three ways of taking the command to turn the other cheek. One is the Pacifist interpretation; it means what it says and imposes a duty of nonresistance on all men in all circumstances. Another is the minimising interpretation; it does not mean what it says but is merely an orientally hyperbolical way of saying that you should put up with a lot and be placable. Both you and I agree in rejecting this view. The conflict is therefore between the Pacifist interpretation and a third one which I am now going to propound. I think the text means exactly what it says, but with an understood reservation in favour of those obviously exceptional cases which every hearer would naturally assume to be exceptions without being told. . . . . That is, insofar as the only relevant factors in the case are an injury to me by my neighbour and a desire on my part to retaliate, then I hold that Christianity commands the absolute mortification of that desire. No quarter whatever is given to the voice within us which says, “He’s done it to me, so I’ll do the same to him.”

• From The Weight of Glory
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Today in the Mission Yearbook: September 6, 2015

MINUTE FOR MISSION: CHRISTIAN VOCATION - I guess what you need to decide,” I heard my potential employer saying over the phone, “is whether or not this is a calling?” Although I understood the question, I knew I couldn’t answer anytime soon.

When I was asked to be the chaplain of I was serving as the pastor of a small Presbyterian church in Cameron, North Carolina. The thought of moving away from friends, family, great restaurants, and picturesque lakes and parks—to the cornfields of central Illinois—seemed absurd. Also, I didn’t want to leave my church. But whenever I said no to this new opportunity, something kept surfacing to make me reconsider. Was this a call from God? ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

“Well,” said Aslan, “can you use a spade and a plough and raise food out of the earth?”

“Yes, sir, I could do a bit of that sort of work: being brought up to it, like.”

“Can you rule these creatures kindly and fairly, remembering that they are not slaves like the dumb beasts of the world you were born in, but Talking Beasts and free subjects?”

“I see that, sir,” replied the Cabby. “I’d try to do the square thing by them all.”

“And would you bring up your children and grandchildren to do the same?”

“It’d be up to me to try, sir. I’d do my best: wouldn’t we, Nellie?”

“And you wouldn’t have favorites either among your own children or among the other creatures, or let any hold another under or use it hardly?”

“I never could abide such goings on, sir, and that’s the truth. I’d give ’em what for if I caught ’em at it,” said the Cabby. (All through this conversation his voice was growing slower and richer. More like the country voice he must have had as a boy and less like the sharp, quick voice of a cockney.)

“And if enemies came against the land (for enemies will arise) and there was war, would you be the first in the charge and the last in the retreat?”

“Well, sir,” said the Cabby very slowly, “a chap don’t exactly know till he’s been tried. I dare say I might turn out ever such a soft ’un. Never did no fighting except with my fists. I’d try—that is, I ’ope I’d try—to do my bit.”

“Then,” said Aslan, “you will have done all that a King should do.”

• From The Magician's Nephew
• Compiled in A Year with Aslan

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Today in the Mission Yearbook: September 5, 2015

HEARTLAND PRESBYTERY, MISSOURI/KANSAS - The 100 congregations of Heartland Presbytery seek to bring good news in six languages each weekend. Heartland brings compassionate and prophetic discipleship to nine Kansas and 23 Missouri counties.

In 2014 the presbytery moved forward with a decade-long dream to redevelop the former sanctuary and mission buildings of Linwood Presbyterian Church. ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Friday, September 4, 2015

From ServLife International: "Sabbath"

Sabbath

I just returned from a week of vacation in Florida with my family. It was a wonderful time of rest and quality time together, and has me thinking about Sabbath. Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word sabat, which means “to rest or stop or cease from work.” God modeled it in the creation story, intertwined it throughout Old Testament law and even made it one of the Ten Commandments. Then Jesus comes along.

Jesus broke the rules, and violated the traditional practice of Sabbath more than once. Sometimes it was healing someone and sometimes it was just snacking on wheat while walking with his friends. This was the case in Mark 2, and when confronted by the Pharisees, Jesus makes an odd and revealing statement. “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. For this reason the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Jesus is slave to no law, and ironically is also the embodiment of the law. Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law. He embodies the heart behind it all, and offers himself to us all. Jesus is the law. Jesus is the Sabbath. Jesus is rest.

Hebrews 4 expands our understanding of Sabbath from one day a week to a way of life through Jesus. Jesus is the access and source of this rest, and he invites us to rest in Him as a way of life. Personally, I’d rather just have a rule to rest one day a week. Resting in Jesus every day, every minute, feels much more challenging. And yet way more desirable. I need Jesus. I need his rest. We need his rest.

ServLife’s leaders in India and Nepal understand this better than I do. They wrap their day in devotions, saturate it with prayer, cover it with worship and devote themselves to listening to Jesus in every moment. It is from this rest that they are able to work relentlessly to serve others. Sabbath marries service and gives birth to justice.

This rest and work and justice would not be possible without your partnership and investment. Thank you for helping to start churches in remote villages, for rescuing orphans and for empowering families on the brink of extreme poverty. You are bringing peace to pain and rest to chaos. Thank you.

May we experience true rest that can be found in Jesus alone. Amen. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.” – Jesus

Thank you,

Adam Nevins

From Adam Nevins
Executive Director
ServLife International Inc.

Join Our Mission

ServLife International propels reconciliation and justice by building global community to plant churches, care for children and fight poverty. Compelled by the message, life and love of Jesus Christ, we seek to care for the spiritual, physical, social, and economic areas of life in northern India and Nepal. Learn more about our latest news, featured stories, and how to get involved at servlife.org


Support a Pastor Our church planters spread the love of Christ in some of the most difficult environments in the world. • Support Them ...	Sponsor a Child For only $30 per month you can help give a child food, education, care and, most importantly, hope. • Sponsor Now ...	Fight Poverty The HOPE Fund, our micro-finance program, provides start-up funds for a small business, paving a way out of poverty for families in need. • Learn More ...

ServLife International, Inc.
P.O. Box 20596
Indianapolis, IN 46220
USA

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO MARY NEYLAN, whose husband has received job security: More on the graces accompanying the death of Charles Williams. Lewis asks if he can dedicate George MacDonald: An Anthology to her.

20 May 1945

I think what you say about ‘grief being better than estrangement’ is very true. I am sorry you should have had this grief. . . .

I also have become much acquainted with grief now through the death of my great friend Charles Williams, my friend of friends, the comforter of all our little set, the most angelic. The odd thing is that his death has made my faith ten times stronger than it was a week ago. And I find all that talk about ‘feeling he is closer to us than before’ isn’t just talk. It’s just what it does feel like—I can’t put it into words. One seems at moments to be living in a new world. Lots, lots of pain but not a particle of depression or resentment.

By the bye I’ve finished a selection from Geo. MacDonald (365 extracts) which will come out about Xmas: would you (or not) care to have it dedicated to you? I feel it is rather yours by right as you got more out of him than anyone else to whom I introduced his books. Just let me know.

And why should you assume I’m too occupied to see you? Friday mornings in term are bad, but alright in Vac: and Friday afternoons in both. I should like a visit (with a week’s notice) whenever you find one convenient.

Excuse this paper. It may be less blotched than yours but yours did at least begin life as a real piece of note paper! I’m so glad Dan has got his job made permanent. Blessings!

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Yours, Jack

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Today in the Mission Yearbook: September 4, 2015

PRESBYTERY OF GIDDINGS-LOVEJOY, MISSOURI/ILLINOIS - In 2012 two St. Louis–area PC(USA) congregations came together to help a group of Kenyans displaced to an arid region of their country. Eighteen tribes had been relocated there following violence in the Rift Valley northwest of Nairobi several years earlier. Women and children were walking as far as 20 miles to find water ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

On Death

On the one hand Death is the triumph of Satan, the punishment of the Fall, and the last enemy. Christ shed tears at the grave of Lazarus and sweated blood in Gethsemane: the Life of Lives that was in Him detested this penal obscenity not less than we do, but more. On the other hand, only he who loses his life will save it. We are baptised into the death of Christ, and it is the remedy for the Fall. Death is, in fact, what some modern people call “ambivalent.” It is Satan’s great weapon and also God’s great weapon: it is holy and unholy; our supreme disgrace and our only hope; the thing Christ came to conquer and the means by which He conquered.

Satan produced human Death. But when God created Man He gave him such a constitution that, if the highest part of it rebelled against Himself, it would be bound to lose control over the lower parts: i.e., in the long run to suffer Death. This provision may be regarded equally as a punitive sentence (“In the day ye eat of that fruit ye shall die”), as a mercy, and as a safety device. It is punishment because Death—that Death of which Martha says to Christ, “But . . . Sir . . . it’ll smell”—is horror and ignominy. (“I am not so much afraid of death as ashamed of it,” said Sir Thomas Browne.) It is mercy because by willing and humble surrender to it Man undoes his act of rebellion and makes even this depraved and monstrous mode of Death an instance of that higher and mystical Death which is eternally good and a necessary ingredient in the highest life. “The readiness is all”—not, of course, the merely heroic readiness but that of humility and self-renunciation. Our enemy, so welcomed, becomes our servant: bodily Death, the monster, becomes blessed spiritual Death to self, if the spirit so wills—or rather if it allows the Spirit of the willingly dying God so to will in it. It is a safety device because, once Man has fallen, natural immortality would be the one utterly hopeless destiny for him. Aided to the surrender that he must make by no external necessity of Death, free (if you call it freedom) to rivet faster and faster about himself through unending centuries the chains of his own pride and lust and of the nightmare civilisations which these build up in ever-increasing power and complication, he would progress from being merely a fallen man to being a fiend, possibly beyond all modes of redemption. This danger was averted. The sentence that those who ate of the forbidden fruit would be driven away from the Tree of Life was implicit in the composite nature with which Man was created. But to convert this penal death into the means of eternal life—to add to its negative and preventive function a positive and saving function—it was further necessary that death should be accepted. Humanity must embrace death freely, submit to it with total humility, drink it to the dregs, and so convert it into that mystical death which is the secret of life. But only a Man who did not need to have been a Man at all unless He had chosen, only one who served in our sad regiment as a volunteer, yet also one who was perfectly a Man, could perform this perfect dying; and thus (which way you put it is unimportant) either defeat Death or redeem it. He tasted death on behalf of all others. He is the representative “Die-er” of the universe: and for that very reason the Resurrection and the Life. Or conversely, because He truly lives, He truly dies, for that is the very pattern of reality. Because the higher can descend into the lower He who from all eternity has been incessantly plunging Himself in the blessed death of self-surrender to the Father can also most fully descend into the horrible and (for us) involuntary death of the body. Because Vicariousness is the very idiom of the reality He has created, His death can become ours. The whole Miracle, far from denying what we already know of reality, writes the comment which makes that crabbed text plain: or rather, proves itself to be the text on which Nature was only the commentary. In science we have been reading only the notes to a poem; in Christianity we find the poem itself.

• From Miracles
• Compiled in Words to Live By

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Today in the Mission Yearbook: September 3, 2015

SYNOD OF MID-AMERICA - W hen Rev. Eric T. Garbison and his colleagues at Cherith Brook (an intentional community in Kansas City) heard people on the streets say, “I need a place to shower and get clean,” they invited them in for a shower and a meal. When they were asked, “Can we throw in a load of laundry while we eat?” they knew a new opportunity to serve had presented itself. The “Shower House,” as their friends on the streets refer to Cherith Brook, has become a sanctuary of peace. When people come to clean their bodies, Rev. Garbison and his colleagues help them work to “clean” their spirits too ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.

• From The Problem of Pain
• Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Today in the Mission Yearbook: September 2, 2015

TAIWAN (continued) - I stood with an aboriginal church elder looking from the church door out across the high mountains. The aboriginals of Taiwan are Austronesian, and scholars think they have been in Taiwan for perhaps 10,000 years. Like native peoples around the globe, they are living on the margins in their own land ...

• CLICK HERE to read more.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

From Uganda, Dr. Greg Bartha: "Recent History of the Teso People"

Longtime Midland physician Dr, Greg Bartha describes himself as ... "Elderly physician embarks on a new journey in life serving God and the people of Uganda. My goal is to move from living a good life to living a great life." In addition to his long-term mission, working at a medical clinic in Uganda, he is also a contributor to the Formula Vita blog.

Recent History of the Teso People

Some of my efforts here in Uganda are focused on the Teso people. They live in the northeastern region of the country and have endured a lot of stress during the past few decades. The Karamojong people regularly raided this area and stole cattle from the Teso, which is their main source of wealth ...

• CLICK HERE to read the rest of Greg's post ...

C.S. Lewis Daily - Today's Reading

Presented by Bible Gateway

Today's Reading

TO MARGARET DENEKE: On the death of her husband, Paul Benecke, Lewis’s old history tutor and a Fellow at Magdalen College.

3 October 1944

It will give me great pleasure to come to lunch at one o’clock on Oct. 30th. I will not try to express my sympathy to Miss Benecke when we meet—such things are often merely embarrassing. You, I am sure, will not doubt that she has it.

The gap in College is terrible. Already (and yet it is only a few days) I have twice found myself setting aside a problem ‘to ask Benecke about it’ and then realised with a pang that there is no more of that. His image haunts every room in Magdalen. I hear his imagined voice again and again: so vividly, when crossing Magdalen bridge this morning, that I almost wondered if there were not some objective reality in the experience. I can hardly explain how his funeral affected me. I have heard that service read in that chapel so often for those who have not believed a word of it and who (had they been alive) would have mocked, that my feeling was almost one of relief. Here at last was a dead man not unworthy of the service. In some queer way it enormously strengthened my faith, and before we filed out of chapel I really felt (do not misunderstand me) a kind of joy—a feeling that all was well, just as well as it could be.

I count it among my great good fortunes to have known him. As far as human eyes can judge he was—is—a saint: but oh!, we still needed him here so very badly.

• From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
• Compiled in Yours, Jack

Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

Today in the Mission Yearbook: September 1, 2015

TAIWAN - n March 18, 2014, a group of several hundred university students occupied the Taiwan legislature in protest of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, which would open Taiwan’s service trade sector to mainland China and vice versa. Taiwan’s ruling party had pushed the legislation through for a vote without a clause-by-clause review or public hearings over the specifics, as had been agreed upon in 2013. Protesters feared that the agreement would profoundly damage Taiwan’s economy.

The Sunflower Movement took its name from the student’s use of the flower to symbolize the reach for light in opposition to secret, black-box political deals ...

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