Week #8 @ MDP

I can’t impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule, so proclaim the Message with intensity; keep on your watch. Challenge, warn, and urge your people. Don’t ever quit. Just keep it simple. You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant. II Timothy 4:1-5 The MESSAGE

This was our final week of MDP (here we are with our mentor's, the Farmers). If we summed this week up in one word it would be “team.” Monday we completed our workshop on personality profiles, and spiritual gifts by bringing in the aspect of team roles and discovering where our natural bents work well in a team situation. This was new and helpful information and we got to see it play out in the rest of our week. We formed teams and through various workshops laid out a plan for a church plant. It was so encouraging and exciting to see all the information we had collected over the last two months come together in a practical hands on way. God really showed us (Joel & Amanda), the hearts the trainees have for the places God has called them to. We are so thankful for our time here and the friendships we have formed. God has blessed our family in many many ways. We have been reminded of this once again as we just shared a service with the MDP group celebrating and reviewing our time together and sharing in the Lord’s supper.

Our family is doing well, gearing up to head back to Wyoming. We plan to leave early Saturday morning and make a few stops along the way. Please keep us in prayer as we travel that we would make it back to LaGrange before the baby is born, and have wisdom in our plans. Thank you for all the interest you’ve shown in our lives. We appreciate your feedback and encouragement. We will continue to keep you updated in the happenings of our lives. Our time here has been so wonderful, and we give Glory to God for allowing us to be here.

Week #7 @ MDP

I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome. Your burning anger has passed over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. They have surrounded me like water all day long; They have encompassed me altogether. You have removed lover and friend far from me; My acquaintances are in darkness. Psalm 88:15-18

This text describes many Native Youth. What a sobering thought, yet we know how greatly God cares for people who are afflicted. That’s why He has called our family to share His love with First Nation’s (Native American) people. It only takes a quick history lesson to begin to understand why there is so much hurt amongst First Nations people. There are many differences in various tribes of First Nations peoples. Our facilitator this week shared that in his people long before the Europeans came to this land, a prophet spoke of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins he offered. The sad part is instead of hearing the pure gospel message from the bearers of Christianity; Satan used the government and empty ritualistic religion to hide the truth. Many of the First Nation’s people introduction to Christianity was to be ripped away from their families as children and taught how to act like a European, being told that who they were and there culture were heathen and therefore must be changed.

What a far cry from the grace and redemption offered in Christ. It is said that among Canadian First Nation’s only 8% of individuals have been touched by the gospel and that after 50 years of mission work! What an uphill battle to overcome the evil inflicted on aboriginal people in the name of Christ. What can we do to make a difference? Something that was stressed this week and throughout MDP has been the importance of keeping our cups full. How easy it is to get caught up in ministry and forget to fellowship with the Lord. Yet if we are not being filled with the life of Christ how can we give to others? And what is it others need? The truth of the gospel given with the unconditional love of Christ, when we are in Him we can give to those around us.

Let’s look at one more passage of scripture. “And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” Acts 17:26-27 This text reminds us that God is sovereign. He has not forgotten about First Nation’s peoples. He knows their pain and longs to heal.

Thanks for all the love and support you show our family. We are doing well. The ladies blessed us this week with a surprise baby shower; the time is drawing close to when we can all meet this precious babe (July 12th)! We are so thankful for the time here at MDP, its gone by fast and soon we will be moving on. God is so amazing! Praise to Him for His Great Work!!

Week #6 @ MDP

The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. II Timothy 2:2

This week at MDP we got down to some “nitty and gritty” things with the church. There is almost too much information to put into a blog, so we will give some basics. We spent the first three days talking about the indigenous church. Indigenous is being defined as “having originated in and being produced, growing, living, or occurring naturally in a particular region or environment”. Those are the type of churches that the world needs, equipped with indigenous leaders. If you are a person that goes to church, more than likely, your church is formed on indigenous principals. In which we spent much time in detail talking about. We talked also of other things such as contextualization meaning “the capacity to respond meaningfully to the gospel within the framework of one’s own situation”. This is so very important. All people need to be able to hear the gospel in a way that is relevant to their culture. I’d like to share a quote form a man named Dwight Smith, he says this about the church:

The church exists to glorify God by equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, with the result that every man, woman, and child has the opportunity to hear and understand the gospel and accept or reject Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and that every member becomes actively involved in the completion of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) in foreign lands.

The last two days of the week we spent learning about practical evangelism & discipleship in a native culture. We talked about the II Timothy 2:2 (the verse at the top of this article) principal, and how important that is in the discipleship process. Then we talked about some basic principals for Biblical Church Development as taken from the book of Acts.

It was all wonderful information that we will have to continue to process in the days & months ahead. Especially as we work as a team within the culture we are heading into.

Thanks so much for your prayers, notes of encouragement during this time in our lives. We are so blessed to be here and are thankful for the leadership of MDP, for the quality program that this is.

Week #5 @ MDP

This past week has been trails week! For Joel that meant eight nights and nine days away from any civilization, mainly canoeing and camping, and being stretched in different areas. He returns this evening so we will have to wait to hear more from him.

Abigail and I had a little different week, but we had some stretching as well. Our group of 4 moms and 12 children (there is one family with seven) spent the week doing mini-trails. Monday was rock-wall climbing day, (Abigail and I didn’t climb). Wednesday morning we all packed up the needed items and went camping. We had a blast, doing some canoeing, cooking over the fire, and just enjoying the beautiful sounds of loons and the full moon. Abigail was a trooper, her favorite attraction was the dirt and rocks, and of course the marshmallows. All the fresh air tired us out so once we got unpacked on Thursday we pretty much took it easy. Friday we did an obstacle course, and then took time to prepare for the rest of groups return. The biggest challenge of the week was for the moms. We were responsible along with the MDP staff to cook and clean up all the meals. It definitely added a bit of business to our schedule, in fact some of the other activities planed for the week, didn’t get accomplished. We were all sure glad to see our cook return last night. In some ways I think this has been the most tiring of all weeks, but we sure made some great memories and became a closer group.

By the way a little side story, our new friends here at MDP with seven children had to leave us this week, right after we had set up camp. They are from Canoe Lake Reserve (north of here) and got a call that the husband’s father had a heart-attack. He was taken to Saskatoon to the hospital, and the wife and children had to pick up the husband from out of the “Trails” and then travel to be with their family. He is scheduled for a by-pass surgery this wednesday. Please pray that He will come to know the Savior.

Today we are celebrating Abigail’s second birthday, which of course is hard to believe. We are so blessed to be her parents. Thanks to all of you for the love you give to each of us. We appreciate you!

Week #5 @ MDP Pictures

Just a few pictures of Abigail in her favorite attraction!