We have been listening to the following sermon by Brad Buser, a New Tribes missionary to New Guinea delivered at Cornerstone Community Church (no relationship to Cornerstone Hospital in Honduras) out of Simi Valley California. It is a very powerful message on our call as the church to fulfill the great commission. We highly recommend taking about 50 minutes and listening to it. If you have Apple itunes, a video podcast of the sermon can be downloaded off of the itunes website (type in Cornerstone or Francis Chan). JDB
http://www.cornerstonesimi.com/Resources/sermons/index.taf?_function=play&uid=271&_UserReference=42C9284D46EB73349F21927B3F1D43DC27AE
Saturday, January 28, 2006
End of the Spear
On January 20th, the movie "End of the Spear" was released. It is a movie based on the true story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian, and Ed McCully and their missionary quest to reach the Waodani Indians of Ecuador back in 1956. Their earthly mission ended when they were speared to death on the beach by the Waodani. But their efforts were not in vain, as the Waodani came to Christ in the years to come through the widows of two of the men slain on that day in 1956. This excellent movie faithfully retells the story through the perspective of the Waodani. At no time did I feel that the movie had a "cheesy church basement (i.e. Left Behind)" or "Billy Graham special" feel to it.
I bring up this movie for two reasons. First, as stated previously, I think that it is an excellent movie and highly recommend it. Second, the reviews in secular publications were very enlightening into the view of missions by the world.
The most enlightening comments came from the review published in the Rockford Register Star. This review called the missionaries' zeal reckless and irresponsible as they left to reach the Waodani. How could they think of leaving their wives and children behind? The review also called them arrogant to think that the Waodani needed the gospel; in essence saying how could they think that their religion was any better, or any more true than that which the Waodani had been following for centuries? I believe that this is a general "outsider's" view on missions in our world today- acts of arrogance and often times irresponsibility to change cultures that are "doing fine on their own". The author of this review was equally appalled at the decision of the dead mens' relatives to take the children into the jungle to live with those who speared them by stating "where are the folks from Child Protective Services when you need them."
I really began to think after reading the review, that this is what many will be thinking and saying as Danielle and I prepare to leave for the mission field. As we share with coworkers, classmates, neighbors, and others; their reaction may be that of arrogance and irresponsibility on our parts. Yet, we will not have to stand before our coworkers, classmates, or neighbors in the end to give an account of our lives, but rather to Christ (2 Cor 5:10) for our obedience to Him in our responsibility in fulfilling the great commission (Matt 28), and whether we picked up our cross and followed Him daily as instructed in Luke 9:23.
I am thankful for this movie because it has given me a "heads up" into future conversations with those who won't understand why we must go.
I bring up this movie for two reasons. First, as stated previously, I think that it is an excellent movie and highly recommend it. Second, the reviews in secular publications were very enlightening into the view of missions by the world.
The most enlightening comments came from the review published in the Rockford Register Star. This review called the missionaries' zeal reckless and irresponsible as they left to reach the Waodani. How could they think of leaving their wives and children behind? The review also called them arrogant to think that the Waodani needed the gospel; in essence saying how could they think that their religion was any better, or any more true than that which the Waodani had been following for centuries? I believe that this is a general "outsider's" view on missions in our world today- acts of arrogance and often times irresponsibility to change cultures that are "doing fine on their own". The author of this review was equally appalled at the decision of the dead mens' relatives to take the children into the jungle to live with those who speared them by stating "where are the folks from Child Protective Services when you need them."
I really began to think after reading the review, that this is what many will be thinking and saying as Danielle and I prepare to leave for the mission field. As we share with coworkers, classmates, neighbors, and others; their reaction may be that of arrogance and irresponsibility on our parts. Yet, we will not have to stand before our coworkers, classmates, or neighbors in the end to give an account of our lives, but rather to Christ (2 Cor 5:10) for our obedience to Him in our responsibility in fulfilling the great commission (Matt 28), and whether we picked up our cross and followed Him daily as instructed in Luke 9:23.
I am thankful for this movie because it has given me a "heads up" into future conversations with those who won't understand why we must go.
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose"
Jim Elliot
JDB
Monday, January 23, 2006
Plane Tickets Purchased
As an update, I recently purchased our tickets for our return trip to Honduras in March. It was purchased after much prayer and an answer to many prayers. On the day that I planned on buying the tickets I found out to my dismay that tickets jumped in price by over $250 each. The only "cheap" airfare was at a very inconvenient time on an airline that has come to be known as "Take A Chance Airlines". However, after a couple days of prayer, the tickets dropped to a lower price than I originally saw with much better departure/arrival times. Thank you for all of you who prayed for this; especially my Junior High small group guys! JDB
Sunday, January 22, 2006
A start of a new blog
I just thought that I would try setting up a blog (web log) as a part of the website to help keep everyone informed of our prepartions for the mission field. I guess all we can do is see if it works or not.
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