It's been far too long since I last posted, but lately things have just been so hectic! My days and weeks fly by. Lately, I've been getting rather bogged down with some pretty silly (to say the least) 'homework' and despite the bulk of it being due all on one day (how lame!), this Wednesday, I'm praying I will get a nice break for the rest of the week, at least until next week.
Though I've been so busy with work and just life in general, I try to remind myself daily as to why I'm here: to grow deeper in a relationship with Him and prepare for my destiny. However at times I feel I'm not able to spend as much time as I want with the Lord because of my ridiculous schedule, but I know this is only preparing me for life after college and teaching me to better manage my time.
Last week I found out I received another scholarship! I started school down here with a remaining balance of roughly $3000 and was unsure as to where the money was going to come from. Although God had told me last year that He would fully provide for my college expenses, one gets a little nervous when you're 4 weeks into school and still owe $3000 with no payment plan set up or loan taken out to cover the balance. The scholarship I received last week was from a scholarship organization that had sent me a rejection letter back in July. They wrote me last week to tell me that additional funds had become available and that I had been reconsidered and selected to receive the scholarship, which was $3000. I love how God works, even though in our eyes it seems late or ill-timed, it's always on His time which is always on time.
Last year during my senior year in high school, I applied to nearly 50 scholarships. I heard back from about 15 of them, 12 of them telling me I was not selected. The rest, I never heard from. Oddly enough, I kept every rejection letter as a way of reminding myself of what God promised - that He would provide fully. As I sat in my Missionary Life & Work class last week, Dr. Prevette was discussing connecting with churches and their members and fundraising in general. As I sat there listening to him tell experiences he had gone through as a full-time missionary in raising support among churches and how often many churches would never reply to his calls or how he would be denied financial support, the Lord took my mind back to the folder of rejection letters I had sitting in my desk in my room and whispered to me: As I'm providing for you, I'm teaching you to learn to press on in the face of rejection so that you will not put your trust in getting financial support from churches, but instead put your trust in Me who will provide all your needs. After that realization, I thanked the Lord for all those rejection letters as they were a way of preparing me to trust in the Lord to provide for me as I move to the mission field and ask for financial support from back home.
I thank God for all my supporters and support base who pray for me, think about me, and financially support me when I go overseas. They are an integral part of my ministry and without their support, I know I would not be where I am today. I pray that they would continue to remain open to how the Lord leads and that in turn they would be greatly blessed.
Have a blessed week in the Lord.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
What a week!
Lately, life has been a blur. The weeks seem to pass like days, and the days like hours. This week, instead of going to the regular chapel in Bush Chapel, I went to an alternative chapel called Tyrannus Hall which is located in the new Graves building in a lecture hall. I really enjoy going to this intense Bible study; a different Religion Department Professor will speak for an entire week on a specific passage or principle in the Bible. I love delving deeper into what I've already read and seeing sybolisms or other meanings I hadn't thought of. It's like peeling an onion - you can just take it for it's outer worth and leave it like that and still enjoy it as an onion, or you can continue to peel back the layers and learn more and more. No matter the layer you're on, the Word of God is always so amazing.
I want to talk on one thing that has perturbed me this week: the average Christian's view of economics. All week everyone on campus has been talking about the 'greatest economic crash since the Great Depression' that took place over last weekend. Firstly, the majority of these people talking about it don't understand what happened or why it happened. This crisis has been building for the past year now in the housing market. Families took out Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM) to buy houses they couldn't afford. Then after a year when the interest rate on the loan went up, they couldn't pay back the loan and had to sell short or get foreclosed on. The banks who owned all these loans sold them to major insurance companies like AIG, Lehman Bros, Merrill Lynch, etc. Thus, when this massive group of people couldn't pay back the loan to the bank, the problem stemmed all the way up to the top and caused this housing bubble to burst. Economists predicted months ago that this would happen. Granted, in the history of the U.S. housing market, never have homes depreciated in value so much at such a rate and in looking at the numbers it very well may have been the greatest crash on Wall St. since the GD, HOWEVER (and there's always a however), that's certainly NOT cause for panic. Firstly, this is a free market; this is the beauty of capitalism! Any regular market has its ups and downs, obviously some higher than others, that's natural. Secondly, turn off the sensationalized media! The only way they sell papers is by blowing up the problem greater than what it truly is; this is true in the vast majority of all news stories. Instead of getting your information from the news, ask an expert, perhaps an economics professor or someone that can clearly explain the situation without bias. Thirdly, the world is not coming to an end merely because a major financial institution is having problems. People keep screaming, "It's the end times!". It's been the "end times" for the past 2,000 years! No man knows when Christ will return, so stop worrying about it and putting fear into others and do the last order Christ gave us: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19)
I want to talk on one thing that has perturbed me this week: the average Christian's view of economics. All week everyone on campus has been talking about the 'greatest economic crash since the Great Depression' that took place over last weekend. Firstly, the majority of these people talking about it don't understand what happened or why it happened. This crisis has been building for the past year now in the housing market. Families took out Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM) to buy houses they couldn't afford. Then after a year when the interest rate on the loan went up, they couldn't pay back the loan and had to sell short or get foreclosed on. The banks who owned all these loans sold them to major insurance companies like AIG, Lehman Bros, Merrill Lynch, etc. Thus, when this massive group of people couldn't pay back the loan to the bank, the problem stemmed all the way up to the top and caused this housing bubble to burst. Economists predicted months ago that this would happen. Granted, in the history of the U.S. housing market, never have homes depreciated in value so much at such a rate and in looking at the numbers it very well may have been the greatest crash on Wall St. since the GD, HOWEVER (and there's always a however), that's certainly NOT cause for panic. Firstly, this is a free market; this is the beauty of capitalism! Any regular market has its ups and downs, obviously some higher than others, that's natural. Secondly, turn off the sensationalized media! The only way they sell papers is by blowing up the problem greater than what it truly is; this is true in the vast majority of all news stories. Instead of getting your information from the news, ask an expert, perhaps an economics professor or someone that can clearly explain the situation without bias. Thirdly, the world is not coming to an end merely because a major financial institution is having problems. People keep screaming, "It's the end times!". It's been the "end times" for the past 2,000 years! No man knows when Christ will return, so stop worrying about it and putting fear into others and do the last order Christ gave us: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19)
Anyway today I had an awesome English class. For those of you who don't know, I sit on the FIRST row. It's rather difficult to sit on the first row of an English class at 7am, but I think that is what helps keep me awake at times. Being here in Florida, I often like to remove my flip flops (only in sanitary areas though!) and I did so for this class, resting one foot on top of the other on one of my flip flops. We were assigned a reading to annotate in class and so I started reading. Then my professor, Mrs. Crutchfield, asked to see my Bible. I had no idea why, it was strange because she had just been reading out of her own Bible sitting on her desk! She looked up a verse and handed my Bible back to me, pointed at a verse and said that as she looked down at my feet, God reminded her of a verse He had given her for me; she said He had kept reminding her and that He would't let her forget. I sat down in my chair and read the verse she had pointed to. The verse was Isaiah 52:7; it says:
"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"
After reading it, I was unsure as to what to say. After class, she stopped me and said "God has great plans for your life, He's going to use you in great ways." So you know, I have not yet told her anything about my trips to Africa or AHM. I was just speechless after it all. In thinking on it, this was God's way of encouraging me to press on and reminding me of what lay ahead. As I continue to press foward, the path ahead seems to grow more difficult. Have you ever just thought on such things as fate? Destiny? Purpose? I think a lot about destiny, it's something that's always floating around up there. Where am I going? What am I becoming? What will I do? Though I already have a good idea on the next step in my life, anything past that is a mystery. Whatever it is, I look forward to it with full anticipation that I will conquer it victoriously.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Reflections on a Revolution
Of the four books I am to read for my Missionary Life and Work class, I am currently focusing on one in particular. It is The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st-Century Church by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. I’m primarily focusing on this book because I have a 3 page critique about it due in around 2 weeks; and you certainly can’t write a critique on a book you haven’t read. Anyway, this book is basically stating that the current state of the Western church is insufficient in meeting the needs (all aspects) of today’s culture/society. They have gone through the history of Christianity and identified “wrong turns” and have picked apart the Christendom era as the essential reason for the church being the way it is: a time in history (particularly in Europe) in which Christianity became infused into the culture/way of living and thus became a mindset in living life and not a relationship with Christ. It makes sense. Then they identified the 3 core flaws of today’s church: that it’s attractional, dualistic, and hierarchial. In chapter 3 there was one particular quote that really stuck out to me; it went as follows: “The way forward is not to tinker with its [the church’s] external features (i.e. worship service times, preaching times, seating capacity, etc.) but to rebirth a new movement on different ground.” I agree to a degree.
The way forward for the Church is certainly not to revamp the building structure or sing more contemporary worship songs. No, the way forward is a fundamental change in the DNA of the church. Western churches (in general) have become far too complacent with reaching others for Christ, in being a light in the community, and in ministering to the spiritual needs of today’s society. We can see in the general population just how unpopular church is becoming. Why? Because the church cannot relate with those not in the church. I believe Jesus identified with all types of persons, both “religious and non-religious”, and was able to confront both about their relationship with God in such a way that they understood. That’s what the Western church needs to be able to do.
The 3 fundamental flaws presented in the book were interesting yet accurate. Firstly they say the church has become “attractional”, taking a “come-to-us stance” which of course is unbiblical. Secondly, the church has become dualistic: “We talk routinely about the ‘world out there’. What else can that mean other than that we, the church people, are ‘in here’?” (Good point). Thirdly, the church is hierarchial, “…deeply indebted to what we see as an overly religious, bureaucratic, top-down model of leadership, as opposed to one that is more structured around grassroots agendas.” I agree with them that hierarchial leadership can hinder goals of an organization and can impose bureaucracy; our governmental system is the perfect example. I believe it can happen in ‘religious organizations’ also, however, I split ways with the authors when they present a solution to this problem. They focus on a radical revolution and in a round-about way suggest the church return to how it was in Acts, to almost an underground movement. They call on the Western church to literally break into factionalized “sub-communities” (Christians own coffee shops, shoe stores, etc.) and slowly infiltrate the community for Christ by building relationships with the locals. It’s as if they don’t want to ‘step on toes’ by not openly sharing their faith. I fully understand the importance of LIVING a Christ-centered life, but there comes a point where actions only go so far and you must TELL them about salvation and how Christ died and was resurrected for them. Anyway, obviously that’s just a few of the thoughts I have on the book. Now I have to go write a 3-page critique.
In an e-mail I sent out last week to my support base, I talked about ‘divisions’ within the body here at Southeastern by exploring a few of the arguments that commonly occur on campus. Though this happens (and I’m sure it happens on any Christian campus in the nation) it in no way hinders a conducive academic or spiritual environment. In fact, the Southeastern campus in no way stifles growth. It is a wonderful environment that has stimulated so much growth within me even just in this past month.
Anyway, here is a quote that I found inspirational from an incredible man. I often have to remind myself of this “principle” as I frequently find myself sharing my dreams/visions with others, only to have them criticized or belittled.
You can have anything you want -- if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.- Abraham Lincoln
The way forward for the Church is certainly not to revamp the building structure or sing more contemporary worship songs. No, the way forward is a fundamental change in the DNA of the church. Western churches (in general) have become far too complacent with reaching others for Christ, in being a light in the community, and in ministering to the spiritual needs of today’s society. We can see in the general population just how unpopular church is becoming. Why? Because the church cannot relate with those not in the church. I believe Jesus identified with all types of persons, both “religious and non-religious”, and was able to confront both about their relationship with God in such a way that they understood. That’s what the Western church needs to be able to do.
The 3 fundamental flaws presented in the book were interesting yet accurate. Firstly they say the church has become “attractional”, taking a “come-to-us stance” which of course is unbiblical. Secondly, the church has become dualistic: “We talk routinely about the ‘world out there’. What else can that mean other than that we, the church people, are ‘in here’?” (Good point). Thirdly, the church is hierarchial, “…deeply indebted to what we see as an overly religious, bureaucratic, top-down model of leadership, as opposed to one that is more structured around grassroots agendas.” I agree with them that hierarchial leadership can hinder goals of an organization and can impose bureaucracy; our governmental system is the perfect example. I believe it can happen in ‘religious organizations’ also, however, I split ways with the authors when they present a solution to this problem. They focus on a radical revolution and in a round-about way suggest the church return to how it was in Acts, to almost an underground movement. They call on the Western church to literally break into factionalized “sub-communities” (Christians own coffee shops, shoe stores, etc.) and slowly infiltrate the community for Christ by building relationships with the locals. It’s as if they don’t want to ‘step on toes’ by not openly sharing their faith. I fully understand the importance of LIVING a Christ-centered life, but there comes a point where actions only go so far and you must TELL them about salvation and how Christ died and was resurrected for them. Anyway, obviously that’s just a few of the thoughts I have on the book. Now I have to go write a 3-page critique.
In an e-mail I sent out last week to my support base, I talked about ‘divisions’ within the body here at Southeastern by exploring a few of the arguments that commonly occur on campus. Though this happens (and I’m sure it happens on any Christian campus in the nation) it in no way hinders a conducive academic or spiritual environment. In fact, the Southeastern campus in no way stifles growth. It is a wonderful environment that has stimulated so much growth within me even just in this past month.
Anyway, here is a quote that I found inspirational from an incredible man. I often have to remind myself of this “principle” as I frequently find myself sharing my dreams/visions with others, only to have them criticized or belittled.
You can have anything you want -- if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.- Abraham Lincoln
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Class Blog
For one of my classes (Christ, Culture and the University) I have to write 12 blogs over the semester as a pass/fail requirement. So, I figured I could include the blogs (with the mandatory question) into my personal blog.
~If you could be anyone alive or dead who would you wish to be - who (besides Jesus) do you most admire?~
The above question would normally cause most people to take a moment to ponder a genuine response. Yet, when I first read the question, several (2-3) individuals immediately came to my mind. Although several different individuals came to mind, all have similar characteristics. Each lives their Christian faith on a daily basis, strong men of faith, and are great men of God. They directly or indirectly influence my life and play a role in shaping my faith. However, of the men that came to mind that I most admire, I feel Smith Wigglesworth is most worthy of the title "Most Admired".
Smith Wigglesworth, often referred to as ‘the Apostle of Faith,’ was one of the pioneers of the Pentecostal revival that occurred a century ago.Without human refinement and education he was able to tap into the infinite resources of God to bring divine grace to multitudes.
Thousands came to Christian faith in his meetings, hundreds were healed of serious illnesses and diseases as supernatural signs followed his ministry. [source: http://www.smithwigglesworth.com/]
Thousands came to Christian faith in his meetings, hundreds were healed of serious illnesses and diseases as supernatural signs followed his ministry. [source: http://www.smithwigglesworth.com/]
The above statement from the official Smith Wigglesworth website is a general but accurate summary of Mr. Wigglesworth. He was such an amazing man and has both direct and indirect influences on today's Pentecostal movement. As a high school freshman, I attended a weekly LIFE Group for high school guys through my youth group. In the 8 months I spent in this group, we did an in-depth study of the life and works of Smith Wigglesworth. What an intriguing man! Even just his life (minus his ministry) shows just how close a relationship he had with God. He was such a strong man of faith and that is certainly something I admire about him.
His ministry brought millions to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and healed and set free just a many. One story in particular that I remember from my LIFE group was this: One day as Smith Wigglesworth was walking down the street in front of a funeral home, God spoke to him and told him to go inside. He listened to God and walked in, walking to the back room where a corpse laid on a table awaiting final preparation for the funeral (the mortician had stepped out of the room). God told him to bring the body back to life. So he stood the corpse up in a corner of the room and commanded life back into the body. Immediately the corpse came back to life. Then, the mortician walked back into the room. MAN I would have loved to have seen his face when he saw Wigglesworth with his resurrected client!
This is just one story of thousands. Wigglesworth's audacity and ability to hear and listen to God are just a few things that make him so admirable to me. His international ministry nearly a century ago (in my opinion) is the foundation of today's Pentecostal movement around the globe. His spiritual repercussions will never be known in full until we get to heaven. Setting his ministry aside, to me his most admirable quality (and reason for why I would want "to be" him) his just the simple fact of his deep relationship and connection with God. He had such a deep understanding and connection with God, it just blows my mind to even think that it's humanly possible. And yet I'm positive that even Wigglesworth's relationship with God only begins to scratch the surface of what we as humans can even begin to comprehend about the maker of the Universe. WOW! It just blows my mind away, that even the spiritually strongest person known to mankind merely knows the "basics" of God.
Smith Wigglesworth is certainly the one (aside from Jesus, of course) to model one's Christian walk after. I look forward to having that deep a connection with God in my life. Mr. Wigglesworth is truly one to aspire to as a Christian. In some way, I like to think I'm on the path to living a life like that of Wigglesworth; through my trips and workings in Uganda/East Africa I have seen fruitful harvests in salvation (approximately 10,000+ direct salvations in the past 5 years), thousands healed of every disease (from lameness to HIV/AIDS), and the setting free of captives (from sin to demonic possession). Granted, I only play a small part in these things and certainly don't have as deep a relationship with God as Wigglesworth, but I still like to think I'm on my way. In all things though, I pray God would continually have His way with my life and that I would always give Him the glory. Smith Wigglesworth is one of a handful of humans who I try to model my life after.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Core Essentials
This past week has flown by! Over the weekend, my roommate's parents were in town and took me out to lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. On Sunday, they invited me to go to church with them. So out of politeness, I went with them to First Presbyterian Church.
Disclaimer: I feel I need to be more "open-minded" about other denominations in the sense that since I intend on becoming a full-time missionary, I'm sure I will be asked to speak at a number of different denominations. However, I have no intention of regularly attending/becoming a member of a church that is not Spirit-filled.
Anyway, today in chapel we had a guest speaker because Dr. Rutland was out-of-town. One of the religion professors, Dr. Bill Hackett, spoke today on getting back to the basics. He spoke from Mark 12:28-31 and how Jesus talked about the 2 greatest commandments: to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and also to love our neighbor. Our heart, soul, mind, and strength are our basic components. He of course went into depth about this topic, which I don't want to do, but he was able to put it in such a way that I could so easily relate to.
My classes are going well. I am really enjoying my Missionary Life and Work class. The focus of this class is on the practical applications of preparing and living abroad as a missionary. I have, in my opinion, an excessive amount of work in this class (essays, journal entries, book readings, research papers, and practical projects) however, it's all about being a missionary so I fully enjoy the work (just not the work load!). As oddly as it is, I took several classes in high school that required a lot more from me than a few of my classes this semester. There's a few that I even feel are a breeze this semester. Nevertheless, I'm still focusing on doing ALL homework in all my classes. I've met lots of people and have made some very good friends and many good contacts; lots of International Business Majors (always good to know!) and many Pastoral Leadership Majors. All essential to building a missionary network.
Thanks for all your prayers and support. I look forward to hearing from you and how you're doing.
In Him,
Jesse
Disclaimer: I feel I need to be more "open-minded" about other denominations in the sense that since I intend on becoming a full-time missionary, I'm sure I will be asked to speak at a number of different denominations. However, I have no intention of regularly attending/becoming a member of a church that is not Spirit-filled.
Anyway, today in chapel we had a guest speaker because Dr. Rutland was out-of-town. One of the religion professors, Dr. Bill Hackett, spoke today on getting back to the basics. He spoke from Mark 12:28-31 and how Jesus talked about the 2 greatest commandments: to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and also to love our neighbor. Our heart, soul, mind, and strength are our basic components. He of course went into depth about this topic, which I don't want to do, but he was able to put it in such a way that I could so easily relate to.
My classes are going well. I am really enjoying my Missionary Life and Work class. The focus of this class is on the practical applications of preparing and living abroad as a missionary. I have, in my opinion, an excessive amount of work in this class (essays, journal entries, book readings, research papers, and practical projects) however, it's all about being a missionary so I fully enjoy the work (just not the work load!). As oddly as it is, I took several classes in high school that required a lot more from me than a few of my classes this semester. There's a few that I even feel are a breeze this semester. Nevertheless, I'm still focusing on doing ALL homework in all my classes. I've met lots of people and have made some very good friends and many good contacts; lots of International Business Majors (always good to know!) and many Pastoral Leadership Majors. All essential to building a missionary network.
Thanks for all your prayers and support. I look forward to hearing from you and how you're doing.
In Him,
Jesse
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