posted by Ted on Jun 30

“What? You’re still here?”

I can’t tell you how often we’re asked this question. It probably should have been up here long ago, but it is a difficult question to answer. Initially, our goal was to leave July 31st. Today as I write this (June 29th) I’ve just posted the wonderful news that we’ve raised half of our support. As excited as we are, it seems pretty unlikely we’ll raise the other half in 1 month. It has taken us about six months to raise the first half, and so it would be fairly realistic to say we’ll probably leave in January. If that’s God’s will, then so be it. However, we’d like to see it happen faster, and goals are an important part of what drives us. So we’re now aiming to leave October 31st. That gives us four months to raise our remaining funds, get through prefield training and get to the field.

posted by Ted on Jun 29

On April 13th I posted “1/3” to mark the first major milestone in our support raising progress toward Europe. Today, I can barely contain my excitement as I get to announce that we’re half way there! This is a big moment, and the culmination of a tremendous amount of hardwork, not only ours, but also the work of many of you who have helped us, introducing us to friends, throwing parties for us and inviting us into your Sunday School classes and Bible Studies.

Brandy and I firmly believe that God is raising up our support team. Our struggle has been to find those individuals that he is raising up. We still have a long way to go, and it does grow steadily more difficult as we slowly step farther and farther from those with whom we are in close relationship, toward people we do not know. I have found that my biggest struggle is phone calls. I can barely bring myself to make them. Another missionary friend of ours described each phone call as a “mini death to self.” I really feel that.

I’d like to wrap this up with a few questions, if you are not supporting us, is God calling you to do so? Would you take a moment to pray and see? If we have not already done so, we would dearly love to meet with you, share a meal (on us), and tell you about what we’re doing. Many people who weren’t really interested have had the Lord speak to them while meeting with us. If you’re feeling a little nudge from the Lord, please take a moment, and leave us a comment below, or send us a note. We’d love to hear from you.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. They are working! Praise God!

posted by Britt on Jun 27

This is the sequel to Grasping-

Michael often tells me “Your eyes are sparkly.”

And I morn that I cannot reply,

“They reflect the joy of Jesus Christ in your eyes.”

In reality his eyes, just like all the others,

Reavel the stone prison

In which his love for God that longs to shine is

stobbornly smothered and neglected.

Sadly, still my precious friends refuse to quench

their thirst for Jesus.

The faith that would save their lives

And remake thier hearts of stone to those of

golden joy for Christ continues to be left

Un- toched in thier goblets of the spirit;

All the while scowling at the maiden who pours

it.

If only they would let free thier devestated

Love for God and nourish it to health

Then they too would burn with passion for him, just

as the maiden who offered them golden joy for thier spirits.

Jesus,

As I gaze on Kingly brightness,

May my face display your likeness,

Mirrored here may my life tell your Story,

Please,

Continue to have Faith in me,

LORD

posted by Ted on Jun 10

Did you know that between 1933 and 1967 the church had veto power over hollywood scripts? Prior to the motion picture ratings system, you could fairly safely take your child to the matinee without even knowing what movie you were going to see. The reason for this, is that both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches worked together to review, edit and approve scripts at the behest of hollywood. Unfortunately, when more resistance mounted to their edits in the late sixties, rather than persevere, both churches walked away. Now, nearly forty years later, we’ve reached a new low. Now religious content is viewed by the MPAA is dangerous for children. Unbelievable!
I don’t know a thing about this film, and have only read the article linked above, but I’m pretty staggered by the implications of this.

UPDATE: Here’s another article covering this. (Warning: the author uses some offensive language in the process of explaining the distinction between PG-13 and R ratings) The most interesting tidbit for me was this:

But here’s the interesting and somewhat ironic kicker: The movie was made by Provident Films, a Tennessee-based production company that specializes in faith-based entertainment and is owned by Sony. Yes, Sony. The same Sony that put out The Da Vinci Code. (The company is in the Christian film business via its Sony/BMG Music division.)

HT: Powerline

posted by Ted on Jun 4

If you have met with me in person, you’ve heard me detail why I believe Europe is the most strategic mission field on Earth. I think I make a pretty compelling case. If you haven’t met with me… Let’s do lunch. I came across this article today by Mark Steyn. He has often tackled religious considerations in Europe but I found this article particularly apropos, as he discusses what happens in a Europe that doesn’t believe in anything but is increasingly overwhelmed with Muslims. From the article:

As English and Belgian and Scandinavian cities Islamify, their inhabitants will face a choice between living as a minority and joining the majority: Not all but many will opt for the latter. At the very minimum, Islam … will seem environmentally appropriate. For many young men, it already provides the sense of identity that the vapid nullity of multiculturalism disdains to offer. As for the gals, I was startled in successive weeks to hear from both Dutch and English acquaintances that they’ve begun going out “covered”. The Dutch lady lives in a rough part of Amsterdam and says, when you’re on the street in Islamic garb, the Muslim men smile at you respectfully instead of jeering at you as an infidel whore. The English lady lives in a swank part of London but says pretty much the same thing. Both felt there was not just a physical but a psychological security in being dressed Muslim. They’re not “reverts”, but, at least for the purposes of padding the public space, they’re passing for Muslim in public.

Shortly after putting this together, I came across another unrelated but very interesting fact. The DaVinci Code (film) has just broken $500 million gross box office mark. What is interesting is that it’s making the vast majority of that sum in Europe. Why would secular humanists be so interested in a film which seeks to uncover the life of Christ (however erroneously)?

I am convinced that the Western European is no longer truly a secular humanist. He’s a seeker. That means, as Mark Steyn notes above, he may well become a Muslim, given the right social pressures. But far more importantly, it means he is seeking that something which is missing from his life. The best part is: we know the answer! Once again, it appears that this is an incredible moment to share the gospel with Europe. We hope you will pray about partnering with us, if you haven’t already.

posted by Brandy on Jun 3

   Today we had the opportunity as a family to “Walk for Life”.  It was the 19th annual fund-raising event our local pregnancy center hosted.  After our practice of walking forever at the Magic Kingdom we were able to put our feet to work for The Kingdom.  We were able to raise $500 for Life Network today, and that will go toward helping young women at every age plan for the unexpected and comfort those who have made poor choices.  It was a beautiful walk and well worth the sweat.

   Our pregnancy center is unique.  Life Network provides free pregnancy tests to girls and women of all ages.  We offer counseling to encourage them in the difficult decision they have to make.  For those who are undecided about what to do, we provide free ultrasounds, so they may meet their baby for the first time.  It is there to help the girls who choose to have their babies in many different ways.  But it is also there to help the girls who have chosen to end their pregnancy with the guilt and loss they experience afterward, with a bible study called, Bridges of Hope. Education for a Lifetime goes into our local schools (Middle school, High school and even the military bases) to teach abstinence until marriage. Life Network is there for the thousands of individuals, male and female, affected by our societies bombardment of “sex is good for everyone, anytime”.

   We are blessed in this country because of ministries like Life Network. I was shocked to discover while talking to the two missionaries that we were working with last summer (one who had lived in France and one in Germany, both for more than 10 years) that between the two of them they could only think of two pregnancy centers.  One in each country.  Some countries in Europe have a higher abortion rate then live birth rate.  In Russia they have 13 abortions for every 10 babies born.  It weighs on my heart a great deal.  I have no idea where God will put me, to do ministry for Him.  But I hope something I do can create a spark to bring something as awesome as Life Network to Europe. 

posted by Ted on Jun 2

Those of you who receive our prayer newsletter will have read this shortly before our departure:

We don’t have anything specific set up, but we are hoping it will provide an opportunity to share our mission with some people we rarely see. Please be in prayer that God will open doors.

I’m sure you were praying, but whatever God had up his sleeve, I didn’t catch it. We had a lovely time meeting with family and a few supporters, but I came away feeling as though we accomplished very little. As the wrap on a particularly slow month of support raising, I am feeling frustrated at best.
That isn’t to say God wasn’t there. We saw plenty of evidence of Him, in what has to have been one of the smoothest family trips we have ever taken. With the exception of a little trouble with our Hotel in Anaheim, all of our accomodations were exceptional in virtually any catagory –let alone the low budget catagory we were spending in. Our rental car was nice, and in an amazing accomodation, our hotel for the final night was located right next door to the rental agency, so we were able to clean and return the car without a lot of hopping around on shuttles or cab fare.
The only thing I can conclude is that God has something else in mind for us at this moment, something else he wants us to learn before we move on to the next step. Please be praying that we’ll get it quickly, so that we can continue our journey toward Europe.

posted by Ted on Jun 1

I owe you all an update on our trip. I’m not sure how far I will get on that this evening, but I wanted to take a few moments and hit our last two days. As many of you know, we got a rare opportunity to visit Disneyland. I had been there both as a kid, and during my college years at Westmont, but no one else in the family had ever gone.
It was really a tremendous amount of fun. Almost instantly apon our arrival, we were confronted with Disney employees almost dragging us to our VIP meeting with Mickey Mouse. The older kids (and I) enjoyed the rides, and Faith had a lot of fun getting the autographs of all the various disney characters. It sounds to me as though she got a particularly special treat when Ariel told her she had the best princess hair she had seen all day.