Mike’s Sea2sea Blog

One of the highlights of the summer for me this year was a friendship begun with a colleague in ministry from Paris, France. He attended a huge missions conference hosted by the Canadian Chinese Alliance churches (CCACA), held at Brock University from July 1st to 5th.

His name is Belkacem, and he does a couple of things in Paris: 1)pastors a French Chinese congregation, working with Dick Kaan, one of our C&MA International workers from Ottawa, and 2) leads an outreach to Arabic people in the Paris area (estimated 1.5 million). 

Belkacem’s a few years younger than myself, married with one child and another on the way. His story is quite amazing: he’s Algerian, Muslim background and came to Christ at 16 by hearing the gospel by radio. He later came to study in France and sensed God calling him to serve him full time. He made a connection with one of our people in Europe and ended up being partnered with Dick Kaan in Paris. He speaks Berber, Arabic, French and English. (And of course, he is discipling a community of 2nd generation Chinese young people, as part of the heart of a Chinese congregation in Europe!)

It turned out to be a lot of fun…he was with a delegation of 2G Chinese students and leaders. He and a few others came with me to escape to have a good coffee and see Niagra Falls. Under the Skylon tower, I was talking about the NBA in french and english (switching back and forth, if I recall – tres Canadien) with a chinese young adult, and talking with both he and Belkacem about cultural differences.

Yes, I have the coolest job in the world, OK, but let me get to the point. While it was cool to be with these people, worship with them, dialogue over tough questions in one of the conference panel discussions; what I still marvel at is the incredible potential we have (in Christ, in 2009) to enjoy new community….perhaps even participate in the creation of a new culture!

Was our community together European, or North African, or Chinese, or Irish Canadian? Yes it was. And it wasn’t that difficult. But though that is great on one level, perhaps the same level as the grandest dreams of the UN or CNN, that’s not what was groundbreaking. What is truly amazing is people from vastly different backgrounds who discover and enjoy a brand new culture because their common experience of having their lives turned upside down because of Jesus. What if people from diverse backgrounds love one another in that way provoked by the Spirit of the God whose plan it was to redeem the world through his son? Now that’s an apologetic of power for a world at war, full of ancient grievances and prejudice.

Yes, I have the most important job in the world as well! We all do: pressing toward one another in Christ across cultural boundaries.

GUEST BLOG: Dalton Holloway

I bought a Macbook Pro last week. A very big purchase. The nice packaging and the sleek design brought me back to Christmas Days’ of my youth: giddy and excited to put my new toy to use (no bubble wrap to pop though). But this circumstance is a little different. My view of my new computer isn’t one of consumption, then forget about it in a few months. There’s an understanding that work and projects done on this machine will help enlighten, encourage and strengthen those who are disciples of Jesus.

With this understanding, I prayed ‘Lord, let me use this Mac to give you glory’. Right now, my computer is pretty bare. No new programs, a very empty hard drive. As a recording engineer, this computer will be soon filled with music software programs and hundreds of sound files, ready to be spliced up and mixed. But there will also be a number of Gigs saved for God’s Kingdom. The makeup of God’s consecrated Gigabytes is yet to be determined. But whatever it will be, I’m ready for it.–
D.H.

(Dalton is a longtime friend from East Gate Alliance in Ottawa, and a part of the next wave of young people God is using to re-shape the church.)

(This Hezekiah story has been on my mind lately, so I recently wrote this for a family friend. I want to spend more time on this passage this fall).

My friend, I’d like to draw your attention to the story of a young king of Judah. His name is Hezekiah, and quite a bit is written about him. It says that he was 25 years old when he started as a king – that’s very young to lead people, or a government. He would have been surrounded by much older, more experienced people. And he grew up in a world where the previous ruler had rejected God in a severe and public way. In fact, the previous king actually broke some of the temple worship equipment into pieces, and shut the doors to the temple (the nicest one ever, the one Solomon built), so that no one could worship there, and finally set up little shrines to other gods (gods popular with neighbouring nations/empires)all over the capital city. When that king died, they didn’t even bury him with the other kings of Judah.

So Hezekiah shows up, and it’s obvious that someone taught him. Someone, maybe his mom, it doesn’t exactly say, trained him in the way of God. “In the very first month of the first year his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them.” And then, with the whole place no doubt still a mess, he called together the Levites (like worship leaders) and priests. At 25 years young, he got all those leaders together, and like a coach taking over a lousy football program, tells them things are going to be different from now on, and challenges them to do what God called them to do, and to “lead the people in worship and present offerings to him.” It’s a pretty stirring speech.

But the speech isn’t the main thing, friend. It’s the resolve – he marched in, and didn’t worry that others thought he was young, or that he was changing things. He took his place, and there’s a list of the actual names of the others who went to work with him. In 16 days, the people of that country were re-dedicating the Temple of the Lord, and worshipping with sacrifices and “cymbals, lyres, and harps”. You can read about the resolve of the whole country when they faced a massive invasion years later. (Hezekiah’s story starts in the 29th chapter of 2 Chronicles).

By following God he re-shaped the nation.

So – you’ve been trained, too. Like Timothy, a young man from Lystra in the earliest days of the church. Despite being raised in a corrupt world, this was God’s gift to you, and it will bless many others no doubt. Paul said to Timothy “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith and your purity. Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them.” So I challenge you to remain steadfastly committed to what you’ve learned. When you live it out:

It will re-shape the church!

I look forward to seeing your adventure unfold. Maybe I will be one of those older people you’ll need call out and challenge some day.

You better let me have it, don’t hold back a bit.

Much love and grace,

Mike

Before Jesus (as the 24-7 Prayer people say) “wrecked my life”, I longed for real community and couldn’t find it.

And now I’m sitting in an airport with a friend and colleague, reflecting on 4 days with an incredible group of  C&MA international workers, all home for about a year or so of ministry in Alliance churches in whatever part of Canada they are from.

I could, (and will later), write about all kinds of interesting  conversations: about new kinds of internships young people and university grads can be involved in (Guinea, Africa; Mexico City; or Papua in Southeast Asia), or more about Lois Belsey (see last blog), or about  the vision and passion of Jim Foster, as he finished out a very long stretch of meetings with his leadership team still clearly painting a picture of what WE are hoping to accomplish to glorify God. And that only scratches the surface.

What stands out most to me is relationships. At this meeting, my former Youth Pastor, Warren Reeve, and his wife were there, working with me and encouraging me. The international worker who God used to show me his great love for Mexico City – Paul Ens – was there, and we got to enjoy a late night meal. Gerald and Dorothy Hogenbirk, who first received me 17 years ago in their house in Yamassoukro, Cote D’Ivoire, are now shoulder to shoulder with me in church ministry, including time spent with young adults and students. Former professors from my Bible College days were there, colleagues now in ministry. And my co-workers continue to be inspiring people:  fellow DMC’s, Ric and Ruth Ann Gilbertson from Converge, our GM support team…..on and on, so many that share the greater passion of God’s redeeming plan for the world, and through Christ become like brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts.

Paul Ens (Mex. City) and Harold Priebe (frmr Regional Director for Sun, now DMC in BC)

When I gave in to Jesus as a teen years ago,  it was in large part because of the witness of my grandfather. He was pouring out his life, telling me stories as he grieved the passing of my grandma (far too early). It was a whole series of conversations, but as he talked about the people he worked with at our seminary and college, preparing the next generation of leaders…..well, it sounded too good to be true. He said, “You know, Michael, I could go anywhere in the world…..and there would somebody who could take me in.”

Little did I know this was an understatement.

No matter how many ways we can develop great relationships with others, what can top the privilege of worshiping with one another?

So this morning I’m standing and singing beside my colleague, Vince Vetro (DMC for the Central/West Ontario), surrounded by 40 or so of our C&MA international workers. The song “In Christ Alone” comes up, which sketches the life of Christ and what he did for each of us. Then Lois Belsey, our worker in Papua, New Guinea, squeezes in between us (so she could get a better glimpse of the screen). The verse comes up: “In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe….” and suddenly,  the incarnation:

is not only God’s great love for me, coming into the world to rescue broken, prodigal sinners like me

but also it’s the model by which our workers live their lives — like Lois, who lives and works with people in the deepest jungles of Papua, so that God’s great love for the people there can be demonstrated by someone “in the flesh”….

All of that went through my heart and mind in a split second, and I experienced a real sense of common purpose with Lois, Vince (who is just crazy with passion for the idea of seeing the next generation catch God’s heart for the world, and especially for young people to get out there with Lois on internships), and all of these fellow workers. This week, we’ll be discussing lot’s of important business about having strong bonds between international workers and people in Canadian churches. But what about the simple bond that comes just from worshiping together? I hope this happens over and over again for these workers as they travel around to our churches.

I wonder if a missionary has ever been invited as a special guest to a youth service or worship service, or mid-week group of some sort, like this: “We’d love just for you to worship with us, take communion with us.” I dare someone to do that — just love Jesus together with them as an honoured guest, and then pray for one another.

Try it and tell me how it goes.

There’s a great message I downloaded full of beautiful stories of the life and youth of Luis Palau. He gave it to the students at Liberty University during their missions week, last February (09 – “By All Means”). A couple of examples: man by the name of Rogers, in Argentina as a president of a division of an oil company, led Palau’s mom to Christ by visiting door to door (before Palau was born), then later his father, in a remarkable way, believed. Also, a great story is told about the stubborn determination and faith of Cameron Townsend, founder/leader of Wycliff Bible Translators, as he met with the minster of Education in Peru.

He also talks about my grandparents generation: ”I think in Latin America we got the best missionaries.” He says that it was just after World War 2, and the people who came lived very simply, and preached the gospel and the Bible was their guide.  Luis also makes great points about the need for new methods (shares frankly about how strategies have changed for his ministry in Portland), but as a word to the wise, reminds us that evangelism is social action.

I had coffee earlier this year with Arnold Cook (one of the later post war missionaries Luis Palau is talking about, and former C&MA president), and he made the same points to me. We do well to pay attention, listen respectfully, learning like desperate men and women all we can from those who have gone ahead, suffered, and have seen God do amazing things. Just the legacy of Palau’s ministry (all that God has done through him) proves their point.

We still can gain so much from the simplicity and faith of those mid-century pioneers. Who was this oil man named Rogers, what motivated him to show up at the Palau residence? Did God ever use the fruits of his efforts!

Enjoy! If you have the Itunes program, here’s the link for the message “By All Means”:  http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/liberty-public.1387048689.01886738730.1947541949?i=1859139625

Yesterday I found myself in “Cadence”, the weekly worship chapel of the Muskoka Woods Sports camp leaders. It occurs every Saturday, after most of the kids (700 or so) from the week prior have left, and before the next batch of eager children and youth arrive to enjoy every kind sport and skill development you can imagine. 

I was surrounded by 300 or so blue shirts (they are all in uniform on Saturdays), mostly young adults in their 20’s. Can you imagine  how tired these people must have been after leading cabins full of kids and youth, or instructing all day each day outside? And here was supposed to be this “sacred space”, where their leaders (John McCauley, president and Chris Evans, director) could encourage, teach, rebuke, and build up their hearts.

I’m reminded of a very similar situation I found myself in April – the last chapel before exam week at Ambrose University College in Calgary. Another (somewhat smaller) group of young adults, but again, with so much on their minds: final papers or exams, tickets home, rooms to pack up, jobs to find, etc. 

In both cases there was so much potential – an army of young people who need to see how God wants to use them to change the world, yet so much distraction and tiredness! In both cases, the worship team were their peers, singing these songs full of  radical words about surrender to Christ and transformation. Were they realizing the significance of this? At Ambrose I wanted to just get up and scream “do you realize how important you are in Christ’s plan? Are you aware of the blessing this particular period of your lives can be!?” I wanted to both thank and challenge the faculty, letting them know how badly we need Christ-formed leaders in our churches in Ontario. It wasn’t so much a desire to rebuke, but a shout of encouragement from the crowd of people in need of these students to launch out as leaders, affecting change all over Canada…. I wanted so badly for them to hear God’s rythm “thrumming in the mixture” (Berry); the unfolding plan to redeem the world through the church.

During the worship at Muskoka, they began to sing  “Hosanna” (Hillsong United) which has been a favourite of mine  for the past couple of years – an expression of sorts of the vision for which God is calling Michelle and I to work in hope:

“I see a generation,

rising up to take their place

with sefless faith, with selfless faith

I see a near revival,

stirring as we pray and seek

we’re on our knees, we’re on our knees”

At that point I was undone. I’m fairly sure with all the distractions facing them, the young people at Ambrose and those around me at Muskoka last Saturday didn’t fully appreciate the value and promise in those words….but I hope I’m wrong about that.  

The bridge in that song is a prayer:
“Break my heart for what breaks yours,

Everything I am for your Kingdom’s cause.

Show me how to love like you have loved me”

The task for us in the church is to appreciate the necessity and the urgency of the spiritual formation of this next wave of worshippers. Because when these young people pray this prayer in earnest, they re-shape the church.

Zwemer’s been on my mind, since a colleague sent me a short message from the Urbana archives – from the first Urbana ever – 1946, in Toronto! (http://www.urbana.org/articles/the-cross-in-christs-commission-1946) Interesting that one of the great missionaries to the Muslims was preaching here, and now it is a city with Muslims from all over the world.

Zwemer was a missionary pioneer who devoted his life to Muslim evangelism. Just today I looked up some things about him and found out he was a gifted writer, motivator and recuiter for missions and believed in the power of the printed word to make a difference in reaching Muslims for Christ. He lost his two young daughters to the rigors of living overseas (dysentery), and in his lifetime saw limited spiritual fruit in terms of new believers.

I recall having  coffee with my grandfather and one of his friends – a man who was an alumni of Nyack College ( the Alliance school in the U.S. founded by Simpson as Missionary Training Institute), I would guess from the late 1940’s or early 50’s. We were having a wonderful conversation about God’s heart for the world, the next generation, emerging church stuff, and in the midst of it he told me a story of a chapel service in which Zwemer spoke. Here’s my best recollection of the story:

Zwemer (who must have been old, nearing the end of his ministry) comes up aisle in a big overcoat. Just before taking the pulpit, he takes off the coat and plops it right onto the altar/chancellery thing (something fairly important in the chapel anyhow). It was kind of shocking. Then he proceeds to preach  on the story of Elijah and Elisha, and relates it to the great need for missionaries to the Muslim world. After the message he asks, something like “Who will take up the mantle?”. Then he leaves, back up the aisle, leaving the coat there. The person telling me the story said “The moment was electric.”

Honestly, I feel pretty small when reading about heroes like this. This guy created his own missions board when he was rejected as a young man. “Samuel never stopped writing” his wife said. 38 years of living in different Arabic countries like Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain and Egypt. Two young daugters are buried there. He worked constantly for churches and new pastors to see the need to reach Muslims for Christ – even dying of a heart attack in his eighties after preaching three times in one day for an Intervarsity group in New York.

On the other hand, his story is like many of ours. In a college chapel service, he heard the challenge of the many who are dying without having heard of Christ. A missionary from India came up with a large map and a metronome as an object lesson. As the metronome kept time, the students were told that for every “tick” another person perished without hearing about Jesus. Zwemer rushed forward to the call, a prompting that time has not changed – we know it well.

Are we really up for what he is calling us to? I guess, from what I’ve gathered about his writings, he would say that is not the most important question. He would call our attention instead to Christ, and if Christ is still sufficient, then all we need has been considered.

So there is the coat, still waiting for you and I and this next wave of missionaries.

(And if you are interested in learning more about Zwemer here’s a good start: http://www.ciu.edu/muslimstudies/samuelzwemer.html)

Being a suburban kid, I really have no personal connection to all the agricultural references in the Bible. Being in Saskatchewan, having family who still farmed, and spending one summer tree planting all helped me a bit, but I’ve never really had to “work the land”.

Until now.

I am officially a homeowner, with 10 x 10 plot of grass in the front, and about a 40 x 60 foot in the back. The ground is grey, hard and stony. Some grass is surviving, but competing with dandelions and clover. Other people have come by and visited, and they all had ideas for me. It all seemed so easy to them, such a minor thing. But I looked at this patchy stuff, especially this spring, and wondered “How on earth do people do this?”.

Then you go to the local big box stores to buy some dirt and seed. Beautiful pictures of lush green turf abound – you just buy this product, plant it, spread it, spray it, and look at what your lawn will do! Literally hundreds of different products and all kinds of tools for the work. So into my car goes the seed and dirt bags tattooed with golf-course images, shiny new rakes and garden tools.

All I can say is, it’s been slow. And while I’ve been working, I can’t help but see the parallels with my relationship with God. It just seems to me my soul is just like that lawn – it really doesn’t look like there’s much of a future for it. It just makes me want to quit – or have something develop quickly (like sod! Alas, it requires just as much prep work and is expensive, too!). I put in a little work on the lawn, and after seeding, watering and letting the sun do it’s work, I wake up the next day and it’s…..pretty much the same.

Now 6 or 8 weeks have passed and I’ve seen growth, and it’s starting to look better. So here’s what I’ve learned: that I want things right away. I am terribly impatient, and when my own labor does not produce anything the next day, I think it a failure! And that having all the resources in the world (selections of the best advice, seed, soil, and fertilizer money can buy) still does not change anything. The same goes for my expectations of the Christian life, or of any ministry I get involved in. I see so many in the younger generation experiencing the same thing: they want everything to be perfect right away, without much effort, without much anxiety – yet Jesus has given us a different model. He says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, starts very small. He says it’s like a farmer sowing seed, hitting all kinds of different soil. He says it’s like workers who work in a vineyard for their reward later, and it’s also like servants who are entrusted with resources, only to see what they will do with them while the master is away. Psalm 126 might be best little summary of the emotions of “working in hope”.

Growth at 1174 Tall Pine came from: unglamourous weeding, lifting and carrying soil around, and watering. It also came from outside help – thank you Mr. Weed company that arrated, fertilized and helped weed. And finally, it came from things I cannot control – the sun, the rain and the mysterious work of germination and roots. And for my own change as a human in relationship to God there’s the daily work of confession, service to others, and devoting time to prayer and scripture. There’s the outside help of my church, worshiping and learning together, as well as podcasts, sermons and articles from the internet. And finally, there’s the mysterious stuff that God promises to do in me, an actual process of regenerating growth – the presence of the Holy Spirit, and after a while – I’m changing.

As I’ve been working outside my house, I’ve found myself praying for grass to grow! Then I add a prayer, asking God to do the same with my life.

“…there’s a difference between telling people what to do and inciting a movement.”

I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s “Tribes”, and immediately applying it to my dream for Alliance churches:

 ”churches becoming like greenhouses for the next wave of leaders ready to serve and suffer for Christ, where God’s unfolding plan to reconcile the world to himself affects everything we do, and where churches are saying “Yes” to the fresh promptings of the Spirit. Young adults financially outgiving what their grandparents generation gave at their age….corporate prayer that’s strategic, passionate and persevering….new workers sent by churches that love them and their work and share the burden of seeing it accomplished.”

Godin says “The movement happens when people talk to one another, when ideas spread within the community, and most of all, when peer support leads people to do what they always knew was the right thing”.

He suggests that we are all leaders, or at least that we can lead from the grassroots, and that great leaders “create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate.”. He uses the Skype founder to illustrate: ” [he] understood that overthrowing the tyranny of the phone companies was too big a project for a small company, but if he could empower the tribe to do it themselves, to connect to one another and to spread the word, he would be able to incite a movement…..” He borrows from Gladwell, who notes that “… the fall of the Berlin Wall…involved much the same dynamic…..wasn’t the work of one hardworking activist. Instead it was the gradual but inexorable growth of the tribe, a loosely coordinated movement of activists…”

Kind of sounds a bit like God’s unfolding plan with the early church; small groups of people (a real mix) in living rooms spread across the Roman Empire! Honestly, Godin’s remarks don’t seem new, just a bit closer to New Testament history, not to mention an approach that seems more realistic in my world.

I don’t feel like a great leader, yet do feel like I’m made for great things – “on a quest for glory” says the poet/rapper Shad. Here’s where God’s grace meets his original creation! You and I, knowing we were meant for more, redeemed from the dictatorship of sin, filled with new power (that’s the Holy Spirit’s work in us), and grafted into a plan to change the world.

And what happens when people with this experience connect with one another, sharing ideas and specific goals? Una revolucion de Jesus!