Bring on October!

Shannon is a young woman from FHC who graduated from high school this past fall.  As graduation came closer, she decided to take a gap year before starting college to spend some time in the mission field since she had always been drawn to mission work.  In answer to much prayer, God presented Shannon with an amazing opportunity in Lunsar, Sierra Leone.

Shannon left on July 4 for four months in Sierra Leone with the parents of another FHC member. This was a return trip for them, and they had spent the last three years gathering donated sewing machines and sewing supplies to set up a women’s vocational center. They had been praying that God would provide someone to accompany them on this trip.  Several people had shown interest, but no one would commit.  The opportunity was presented to Shannon on May 4 and, seeing God's fingerprints all over it, the decision was made. Shannon's purpose would be to connect with the children (her gift), and she has had many wonderful opportunities to do that.  

An excerpt from a recent email from Shannon follows:

In preparation for coming to Sierra Leone, I talked with Ms. Shae, a friend from church who has spent considerable time doing missions in Africa.  She warned me in advance that the first month is the “honeymoon stage,” quickly followed by the second month in which the newness of it all wears off and you ask yourself, “What did I get myself into?”  The third month, she explained, is when you really come to love where you are and what you’re doing, and when you can begin to see God’s hand at work.  In mulling it over, I summarized her advice like this:

         

Second is the worst;

First is the best;

Third is the one with the treasure chest.

Thank you, Ms. Shae, for your wise guidance – it is so true!  I spent the whole of July enthralled with Africa and feeling like quite the "important little missionary."  Right on cue, though, during the first week of August I had a meltdown which pretty much lasted the entire thirty days.  I hated the heat, I hated the spiders, and I hated the fatigue.  I missed my family, I missed my friends, and I missed home.  I was disappointed in myself, in God, and in some of the people I was working with. 

Now it is September.  I still don’t like the heat, the spiders, and the fatigue.  I still miss my family, my friends, and home.  I am still often frustrated with myself and with some of the people I’m working with.  But I am no longer disappointed in God.  He does not owe me an explanation (or anything else, for that matter).  He does not need me to help Him do His work (but He loves me enough to let me be blessed by helping Him, if I’m willing to obey).  He does not stand distant from my life, waiting for me to get it right (instead He wants to be my Life, wants me to trust Him to get it – and me – right). 

He is good, He is Life, He is Love, He is all I need.  Bring on October!

Technical Difficulties by Chad Hess

The past six weeks at the church have been very busy for me.  We have launched one home church in Clermont and two Worship Cafés at the Winter Park Hospital.  This is on top of the large amount of troubleshooting, technical problems, special events, and regular duties I have.  I have a Bible study with my AV leaders on some Saturday mornings, but this particular week I had several urgent matters that had to be dealt with first.  I decided to have another team member lead the Bible study since I was not sure if I would be able to make it or not.  As it turned out, I was able to join them late.

Our study was on Habakkuk, Chapter 3, and as we talked about the last few verses, I felt God speaking to me.  Habakkuk talks about praising and trusting God—even when things aren't going right.  It was exactly the message I needed to hear that morning, as I was so busy trying to figure out how to fix a multitude of problems.  And I almost missed it.

Life gets crazy.  We are all busy.  It’s very easy for our time with God to get squeezed out or pushed back.  That day I was reminded that it is precisely in those times that we need Him most.  God was waiting for me with precisely the message I needed to hear, if I would just stop and listen.

The following is a paraphrase I wrote that morning, substituting the technical problems I was dealing with at the time.  While the problems you face may be very different, the comfort that God is with us is true for everyone.

“Though the video feed doesn't work and the computer crashes, though the EQ is off and lightning fries the Cat5 cable, though the AV tech is MIA, and the show file gets erased, yet I will exult in the Lord. I will rejoice that God will save me, and I will have faith. He is my strength and my salvation.”  Habakkuk 3:17-18 CRV (Chad’s Revised Version)

Chad Hess

God Did by John Monday

Genesis 1

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,

    in the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them . . .

And then we messed things up.  This is not a corrective statement or some attempt at imposing guilt; this is just a simple truth. We messed things up.  Not one of us, not some of us, not some worse than others, but all of us, collectively and each of us individually.  Both by nature and by choice, we messed things up.  

Whether you’re an adherent of any of the world religions, a committed atheist, or somewhere on the broad spectrum in between: you don’t have to be terribly introspective to detect at least some truth in this.  Is there anyone who can gaze even for a second into their own heart without seeing something they wish wasn’t there? Something self-centered, something dishonest, something mean or cruel?  Something that would hurt another in order to advance ourselves?  If you can, then welcome to the human race—Really, welcome!

Now that we’ve welcomed each other, let’s set our judgment aside and look at another reality: we were all made in the image of God.  Not some of us—ALL of us. Again, you don’t need to be a God-follower to see some truth here either.  If you turn off the news and try just a little, can’t you see some good in people?  In yourself?  Can you see kindness? Sacrifice? Nobility?  Welcome to the image of God!

Can we put these things together and see that we are all broken reflections of the image of God.  Can we look at others and understand that the broken image of God is present in them just as it is in us? That if we let the broken image of God that’s in us shine, God can teach us something of himself through the person in front of us?  Can we refuse to look at the brokenness and start looking at the God image, at the good? 

Can we accept people as they are? Can we refuse to judge the brokenness of another? Can we be agents of redemption and reconciliation? Can we accept our common humanity?  Can we accept that God placed us here, all of us here, to live in community? Can we offer help, love, kindness, understanding, or support even before it’s earned? Even if it’s never earned? God did, giving us the power and the mandate to do the same.

Romans 5

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John Monday

There is Hope for the Seventh-day Adventist Church . . . If We Act Fast! by Andy McDonald

The Seventh-day Adventist denomination is the place of my spiritual heritage and current practice.  I am convinced that what our denomination brings to the table of the universal Body of Christ is of great value.  For instance, to name only two—what we call the “health message” and the doctrine of Sabbath offer revolutionary enriching value for every person on our globe.  We have so much in common with other Christians, all followers of Jesus, but our ego regarding our understanding of truth combined with our easy use of excluding language often block us from even getting a hearing.

To become the force for good that I believe God could use us to be—in order for there to be hope beyond the era of denominationalism—we must make some significant changes.

•  We must recognize ourselves as part of the universal body of Christ and not the whole body of Christ.  While we may teach that officially, too often, based on remnant theology, our orthopraxis is to act as if we alone make up the whole body.

•  We must restructure for efficiency because the use of resources is a moral issue. The simplest illustration is that, in 2011 in the world, the Seventh-day Adventist Statistical Report stated that there are:

26,859 Evangelistic and Pastoral Employees and

27,788 Administrative, Promotional, Office, and Miscellaneous Employees

These kinds of ratios are not sustainable.  These are astronomical administrative costs as part of our total giving.

•  We must remove inefficiency and duplication of services from our church governance structure.  We must see the local church as the top of the church structure and every other level of governance only existing at the local church’s will and for the local church’s benefit.  In the words of Charles Bradford, former President of the North American Division, “There is no church but the local church.” As a conference treasurer recently explained, all expenses are pushed to the end user (local church and school) while—although originally generated there—very limited resources (almost non-existent as discretionary dollars) find their way back to the local level.

•  We must adopt a new attitude: “The church is not to talk about itself.  It is to be lowly in mind, not proudly boasting of its power or seeking to advance its prestige. The church cannot save the world; but the Lord of the church can.  It is not the church for which Christians are to labor and spend their lives, but for the Lord of that church.  THE CHURCH CANNOT EXALT ITS LORD WHILE IT SEEKS TO EXALT ITSELF”- Ray Stedman, Body Life, p. 18. While we are part of an organization called the Seventh-day Adventist Church, we must not be about that organization.  We must be about lifting up Jesus and baptizing people in the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit—another thing we have in common with all Christians.

Other reforms are needed, but this would be a great start. I love the church and want to see it thrive, and it can and will as we live with integrity and lift up Jesus.

Andy McDonald