Last day of year/Urbana

It's over, and I have to admit I'm glad. I'm tired, but it's also one of the times when I'm "good tired." I'm glad to have connected with dozens of young men and women who are getting fired up to serve God--wherever and whenever. I think the enemy is taking a real hit this week...we shall see.

This morning, speaker Ajith Fernando finished up the all-week study of Ephesians, talking about that passage which goes over the full armor of God. He brought up an interesting point...that the enemy strikes where you're most vulnerable. If I strengthen in one area and neglect another, guess where the enemy is going to strike next? I want to take this seriously and begin 2007 in a way that honors God, rather than serving my own flesh. How that's going to happen tomorrow, as I wait all day for my plane, I'm not so certain. If you're reading this, I'd appreciate your prayers. I think I'm developing a fever tonight, and I don't wish to pass it on to others.

All for now--thanks for interceding.

Stretched but not forsaken,

Jeremy

2nd to last night

25 hours from right now, Urbana 2006 will come to its end, and I suspect many people will leave here having heard new things from God and excited about their futures working for Him. I think InterVarsity, the event's hosts, made a really good choice to move the event to a large conference center this year. Makes things much simpler, though it's likely more expensive.

Today, Urbana encouraged delegates to fast and pray, and I think many of them did. My organization's leaders, however, encouraged us to eat, so we would have enough strength for the afternoon's work. Glad I followed their advice. My legs are starting to wear down a bit from several hours of standing at a time. Still, it's always a blessing to meet new people who are searching for what God has planned next for them. I never presume to tell them all the answers, but I usually try to connect them with someone else who might help them better. For instance, I've run into 3 or 4 mechanical engineers so far who want to know how their skills might best be used in the Muslim world. I usually hand them off to my friends Carrie or Julie eventually, who have had experiences with Gap teams serving in N. Iraq.

Tonight, I decided to attend the main Urbna session and sit very close to the main stage...very, very loud choice. I enjoyed the worship lots. Even though I was close enough to see the speakers and singers' faces, I still usually looked at the big screen monitors. Heard Rick and Kay Warren address how delegates might best discern their calling...and it seemed really simplistic frankly. I heard nothing about waiting on the Lord, fasting, praying, seeking wise counsel. Instead, what I heard was mostly "Trust your feelings, go with what you enjoy, and look at your past to choose how God might use it. Or "Use common sense." I agree with some of it partially, but it seems like a good prescription for enabling people to stay fat in the U.S., too, rather than calling them to sacrifice what they enjoy for someOne infinitely greater...in my opinion. At the end, Warren talked about how he had gathered his six-service church together for the very first time this year--inside a gigantic stadium. He wanted the Urbana delegates to chant along with him a huge string of promises he'd written for the church (some of the vows(?!) directed to God, I think--what would Jesus say?). I stood up and chanted a little bit of it, but I couldn't keep going long because I knew I would never remember any of it, and I don't want to make empty promises. If I'm going to be judged by the words of my mouth, I need to be careful what I utter. I can't just repeat words on a screen and think God doesn't care if I don't do what I promise.

Overall, I'm enjoying this event...I'm still in much need of prayer on my last day of helping delegates through prayer, listening, and connecting. I praise God that the webcams are working pretty well, and the students seem to be enjoying connecting with folks overseas.

2nd Urbana entry

The last two days of meeting with students at Frontiers’ tent have been fruitful and exciting. At the same time, I’ve been having some more difficulty with back pain…but not unbearable. Standing up for several hours at a time can become quite wearying, but then I’ll meet some college student who has had Muslims on his heart for several years and just wants a little validation of his dream. I love to supply that mixed with prayer whenever possible. Probably my favorite part of the process is finding a Frontiers worker who’s serving alongside me who is doing the type of work the student has been training to do (and wants to know if it will be of any use in the Muslim world). Or I connect them with someone who’s been seving in the country they hope to reach. Either way it’s a success. Today, we got most of the kinks worked out of the webcam system, and more than a dozen students (maybe even 20?) talked with our workers overseas—some of whom stayed up late into the early morning hours for a chance to connect with potential new teammates.


It’s a blessing to be here, but I also feel my body beginning to wear out. I need rest, so I’m going to cut this short a bit.

First Urbana '06 entry

Today, I’m in downtown St. Louis, MO with 38 others from Frontiers – some from as far away as India and Malaysia. We’re getting our booth ready for Urbana ’06, which is attracting more than 21,000 college students and young people (delegates) for 5 days of worship, learning, and seeking out how God would have them bless the nations.

I’ve come here seeking to develop new relationships with people from across America who already feel called to reach Muslims or are just investigating the possibility. Already, I’m seeing God’s mercy at work. About 2.5 weeks ago, my back was in serious pain – to the point that I could barely walk. When I looked in the mirror, it appeared as if my hips were in one side of the room and my torso in the other. By God’s grace and with the help of a brace, I’m feeling well enough to participate.

Another blessing has been that Urbana is, for the first time, being held in a convention center of a major city, rather than a campus hours away from a major airport. This has saved our team so much time and energy. We’re using hotels for the first time as well, and the one I was booked to stay in became overfilled, so Urbana changed things at the last minute. I’m now staying half a block away from our exhibit, rather than half a mile. A huge blessing!

One other item of praise – past Urbana have been so overrun with students that exhibitors like myself were barely ever allowed to participate in the main sessions, where thousands of delegates worship together and learn from God’s Word. Most of the time, for space considerations, we were relegated to a lecture hall or gym, where we could watch what was going on via television. This year is different – we can take part in everything because the main event is taking place on an NFL football field. I’m very excited.

In the summer of 2005, in England, when Frontiers overseas workers and others were discussing what our exhibit should be, I found myself suggesting that we take advantage of the latest technology and allow Urbana delegates to interact live, one-on-one, with Frontiers workers overseas. The idea was accepted. Over the next four days, fourteen field workers from the Muslim world, will be available to answer students’ questions about what life is like in their various fields. We could sure use prayer as we seek to work out technical glitches to make this dream a reality. We’ve also set up a large, authentic Moroccan tent where students can watch a challenging video about the Muslim world and pray.

I’m excited about what God is going to do in the next few days, and I look forward to posting more praise reports and praise requests—maybe some photos, too! Thanks for your partnership through prayer!

Serving God by serving Katherine

Just want to write a little appreciation of my bride, Katherine Brett, who loves me enough to tell me when I'm wrong, who is beautiful without even trying, who knows me better than anyone else but still chooses to love me. She loves God with all her heart, and yet she loves other things, too, like the violin, Beethoven, our exchange student, Stephanie, sweet things, hosting parties, good books, and wearing new clothes. From the moment I saw her, I knew that I wanted to be near her. She has a smile that lights up any room she's in, and I'm very grateful God changed her heart to consider and love me. May the God who created Katherine grant her joy in her innermost being and grant me the grace to love her as He would.

Sobering Up

I feel like I need to acknowlege my lack of posting to this blog--have felt bad about it...so now I will put blogger guilt behind me and get to the main task at hand.
If you've been reading this for very long, you know that one of the ways I think God speaks to my heart is through movies. On my birthday, this last Tuesday, I saw something I'll never, ever forget--so stirring and shocking that I'm not sure I'd ever be ready to see it again. The film is Sophie Scholl, The Final Days, and it tells the true story of a 21-year-old German college student who followed the dictates of her conscience, along with her brother, to resist the Nazis and spread anti-war flyers around her campus. After she's caught, Sophie skillfully uses alibis to try and avoid punishment for herself and her family. She claims to be "apolitical." Watching her lie, I longed to see the Nazis believe her and set her free. I don't know that I've ever rooted so much for someone who's trying to escape through lies as I did watching this film. To me, it seemed like the right course of action in the face of such atrocity as the Nazi regime. In my business, I know that our workers are called into government offices at times--on occasion, they're asked point blank, "Are you missionaries?" This becomes more of an ethical problem if, when you're home, you refer to yourself and let others refer to you as a "missionary." Some people rationalize their answer of "No" with the belief that God has indeed called them to their country of ministry, and He wouldn't want their response to get in the way of His work. In the Muslim world, "missionary" is a loaded term--some think of them as Westerners who pay people to become Christians and divorce their culture, giving up their morality. When put into those terms, our workers may feel they're not lying by saying, "No,we're not missionaries." I'm not saying that all our workers respond the same way when faced with what seems to be a choice between lying and remaining on the field (or staying out of jail)--I'm just pointing out some of what I've heard goes on and hoping anyone who reads this will begin to wrestle with the issues of "How/when is it acceptable before God to resist an oppressive government official using lies?" and "What honors God the most?"
Anyway, back to the movie...When Sophie realizes "the jig is up," she finally confesses and ends up making a passionate defense for her actions against the Nazis, revealing her faith in a higher justice than her government currently provides and warning against the impending judgment her accusers will soon face. She acts as bravely in the face of death as I would hope that I would--if God ever allows me the privilege of suffering that way for His name.
Three days after seeing the film, I am still shaken and haunted by the moment of her death. By the look on her face as she realizes what's the Nazis are quickly going to do to destroy her body. It might last 10 seconds between the time she enters the room and sees the tool of exocution and her actual death. It's that fast, and I will never forget it as long as I live. Death is not clean, painless, and honorable--it's messy and humiliating, but God gave grace to Sophie (according to historical reports, not just the movie) to endure this final suffering before she met Him. When we stumbled out of the theatre, Katherine and I were both pretty upset. Later that day, I resolved in my heart to no longer take her to films in which "surprises" like that ending can come up and haunt her--I've needed to be a better protector of her heart for a long time, and it took a seemingly crystal clean movie like Sophie Scholl to show me that my ignorance when going into films or turning on the TV is no excuse. If I'm intending to show something to my wife, I need to know what it is I'm showing her, rather than leaving her at the mercy of entertainment producers and trying to point at them as if it's their fault. I've told Katherine that, as she's an adult, I think she should decide to see what she feels morally right about seeing. But when I take her to see something or flip on the telly while she's there, I believe God sees me as the responsible party for violating her heart. Hope that makes sense.

Results of The Rage

I showed up at The Rage--a Christian event where about 30 bands would play and 3-4,000 teens and young adults were expected to show up, have fun, ride roller coasters, play video games, and enjoy Christian punk, rock, hip hop, etc.

I quickly changed into a Pakistani outfit and hat, and I began carrying a sign saying, "Tell Me About Your Jesus". I began walking around, trying to make some eye contact and looking for someone willing to talk with me. The results were great, as mostly young men ran up to me and shared with me about Jesus. I would ask a few questions at times--sometimes I even called myself Mohammed--questions like, "So you believe that God had a son?" followed by "So you believe in two gods (or three gods)?" You believe that Jesus was God?" You believe that God died?"

It was very interesting to see how people would respond--mostly, it seemed to me that people, in their witnessing, were talking very fast. After talking a little while, I would let them know that I was actually a follower of Jesus working for Firestone. They were glad to hear it, and we would walk over to my booth, and I would share with them about what our org. does and give them additional info.

I had a friend there with me, and she wore a traditional burka with a full face covering--she had a different experience as people stared, pointed, and generally treated her badly. One of her signs read, "Does God care about me?" Later in the day, reflecting on how people had reacted, she broke down in tears, thinking about how Muslims must feel.

About 90 minutes into our sign-carrying, enough complaints had been made toward the event organizers that we were asked to stop using the signs--violated our booth agreement, they said--or leave. We chose to stay, and God was faithful to bring us more people who have a heart to reach Muslims.

I'm really glad I went and am now trying to think through how this experience should impact my future recruiting opportunities.

The Rage

I'll confess a weakness--I have a really difficult time dressing up to look like a Muslim, standing in front of a little work display, and trying to communicate with Christian churchgoers about the need for more workers overseas. Sometimes I catch myself feeling bitter about Christians' lack of concern (or my perception of it). But I wonder whether it's really me who's wrong? Instead of standing in front of a booth wearing a costume, maybe God expects me to do something else--like preach. Or pray on my face? Or invite people to come and have some tea? Any good salesman knows that you don't get new customers by simply standing inside your store and lighting up your sign. Advertising and good word-ofmouth is needed. Maybe a mailing with some coupons? When you start blaming the general public, that's right about the time you file for bankruptcy.

So this weekend I've got a plan to invade the Christian bubble of a huge, loud Christian rock event, which is taking place at a theme park. I'm planning to show up with some friends and poke at that bubble a little. I don't want to cause guilt--but I want them to see how rich they really are to have Jesus, to have heard about Jesus, to be in a public place where Jesus is being sung about quite loudly. In comparion to those who have never even heard His name once. That's what I hope to communicate--and I want some of them to come and worship at the upcoming Take My Life event--www.takemylife.org

If you read this, I hope you will pray, because, frankly, I'm a little scared, and I long to see God move in the hearts of many young people. And I'm going to do something for a couple days that I normally find pretty difficult. I pray that my heart will not grow hard and cold--even if some people do choose to ignore the need for Muslims to hear about Jesus.

"Well, I'm back."

I believe the subject line I wrote above is the last piece of dialogue Tolkien used for his Lord of the Rings Trilogy, as Sam returns to his Rosie after the last bit of adventure with Mr. Frodo. I had a rather extraordinary December, leaving Dec. 3 with 7 other men for relief work in Pakistan until our return to the U.S. Dec. 16th. It seemed longer than it was. I was so proud of my teammates, some of whom had never ventured overseas before. God used them in mighty ways, building relationships with devastated Muslims as they also built metal shelters. One of the guys, on a whim, had been studying the local language for the last year--he was able to put his skills to great use while he helped manage the base camp and distribution of materials. We went without showers for two weeks, endured various sicknesses, and ate what was put in front of us by Pakistanis (mostly chai, but also other dishes). Our God was faithful to keep us all safe and in good spirits for the duration, despite dealing with people who had lost everything and some who were looking to profit from this tragedy. What did I learn? I believe that God further confirmed my role as a sender/equipper of others, while He also gave me a heart for the local people, who desperately need Jesus. My passion is to send tons of Arizonans and New Mexicans to go change this part of the world, through God's Spirit living inside them. More tomorrow or maybe even tonight...