The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 21-24, 2016

Ironically enough, this week felt incredibly long despite being a four-day week.

Train & Multiply

I'm still making my way through the finalization checklist, but I'm about two-thirds done, so I'm definitely making progress. I'm wary of going too fast and missing something because I want to be done. Slow and steady wins the race!

We've been talking about the Student Activity Guide a lot this week. There are a lot of redundancies for translators, so we're trying to streamline the process. We've also done away with some of the terminology, like stages and levels. To that end, we decided to combine three review activities in the SAG into one, cutting total activities from 75 to 73. We've also decided to eliminate a booklet. It was focused on review, but it was right in the middle of the series, and the review was redundant to other booklets. So we're back to 63 booklets.

I added 21 new users to our list between training in Australia and training here. 21 new people will soon be receiving access to booklets so they can begin evangelism and church planting in their area. I love this part!

I'm also starting a new project with T&M. I'll have more on that next week.

Chapel

We had a really great chapel on Tuesday. President Bob Fetherlin spoke about the need for unity. You can listen to the message here: https://soundcloud.com/onemissionradio/envy-and-comparison-omschapel.

Today's chapel was about an event one of our missionaries attended at The Cove in the Carolinas last fall. Many leaders from Asia were brought together to learn about the need for multiplication.

Radio

Jason and I recorded two radio spots in anticipation of conference this summer. You can listen to those here: https://soundcloud.com/onemissionradio.

Other Projects

I had devotions again this week. I talked about 2 Peter 1:5-8. Not sure yet what I'm doing next week.

Foster and I put up a new display for the upstairs windows. They were looking a little bare.

Foster wanted to incorporate part of the lobby sculpture around the building, so he commissioned some shapes. This is what we ended up with. 

These will look really cool when it stops raining. Actually, they look really cool now, too. 

That's it. I'm sleeping in tomorrow. Have a blessed Easter weekend!

In Flanders Fields: Poems of the First World War Review

Poetry is something I discovered in college. Sure, I knew what poetry was before that. I even enjoyed a few. But I really started to understand and appreciate poetry when I took a Lit. class. Of course, my own efforts to craft poems have been dreadful. But I went to school with a lovely girl who writes poetry for a living.

While perusing the shelves at Half Price Books, I came across a series of books containing poetry from the major wars. Pretty much everyone knows "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. It's everywhere on Armistice Day. But there was a lot of poetry going on during WWI. The poems in this book were all written by soldiers who fought and died in the war. Most never saw their work published. All offer a unique view of the world. Some of them had an unbelievably bright outlook on life. Many were able to tap into a very dark window of the universe.

Poetry has the unique ability of speaking from the soul. I'm constantly amazed at people who are able to use the most innocuous of words to articulate their feelings. True, some poems still just make no sense to me. But others... I'd like to share some of my favorites from this book.

The Answer

by J.M. Langstaff

O the Tyrant Lord has drawn his sword,

And has flung the scabbard away.

He has said the word that loosed his horde

To ravage, destroy and slay.

'Then where are those who will dare oppose

The blast of my fury's flame?'

But a salty breeze swept across the seas,

And back the clear answer came:

'We have heard the boast of your mighty host,

And slaves will we ne'er become;

Let our deeds declare what our hearts will dare,

We come! We come! We come!'

The Unconquered Dead

by John McCrae

"defeated, with great loss."

Not we the conquered! Not to us the blame

Of them that flee, of them that basely yield;

Nor ours the shout of victory, the fame

Of them that vanquish in a stricken field.

That day of battle in the dusty heat

We lay and heard the bullets swish and sing

Like scythes amid the over-ripened wheat,

And we the harvest of their garnering.

Some yielded, No, not we! Not we, we swear

By these our wounds; this trench upon the hill

Where all the shell-strewn earth is seamed and bare,

Was ours to keep; and lo! we have it still.

We might have yielded, even we, but death

Came for our helper; like a sudden flood

The crashing darkness fell; our painful breath

We drew with gasps amid the choking blood.

The roar fell faint and farther off, and soon

Sank to a foolish humming in our ears,

Like crickets in the long, hot afternoon

Among the wheat fields of the olden years.

Before our eyes a boundless wall of red

Shout through by sudden streaks of jagged pain!

Then a slow-gathering darkness overhead

And rest came on us like a quiet rain.

Not we the conquered! Not to us the shame,

Who hold our earthen ramparts, nor shall cease

To hold them ever; victors we, who came

In that fierce moment to our honoured peace.

Mental Cases

by Wilfred Owen

Who are these? Why sit they here in twilight?
Wherefore rock they, purgatorial shadows,
Drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish,
Baring teeth that leer like skulls' tongues wicked?
Stroke on stroke of pain, — but what slow panic,
Gouged these chasms round their fretted sockets?
Ever from their hair and through their hand palms
Misery swelters. Surely we have perished

Sleeping, and walk hell; but who these hellish?

— These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished.

Memory fingers in their hair of murders,

Multitudinous murders they once witnessed.

Wading sloughs of flesh these helpless wander,

Treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter.

Always they must see these things and hear them,

Batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles,

Carnage incomparable and human squander

Rucked too thick for these men's extrication.

Therefore still their eyeballs shrink tormented

Back into their brains, because on their sense

Sunlight seems a bloodsmear; night comes blood-black;

Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh

— Thus their heads wear this hilarious, hideous,

Awful falseness of set-smiling corpses.

— Thus their hands are plucking at each other;

Picking at the rope-knouts of their scourging;

Snatching after us who smote them, brother,

Pawing us who dealt them war and madness.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 14-18, 2016

Talk about weird weeks. I'm feeling a little raw, so this may be quick and hopefully painless.

Train & Multiply

After spending very little time on Japanese last week, I knew I needed to maximize my time this week. I was able to get through a few booklets, but the world seemed to be conspiring against me.

We're also trying to get the app and language download program working. Clockwork it is not, however. Sometimes it seems like every time we change something in the code, the whole thing crashes. It's definitely using some different brain muscles.

We also presented an overview of T&M on Monday afternoon for the folks in OMS. A lot of people sort of know about what we do, but this was an opportunity to really dig in and see what the booklets are all about.

An example of the Generational Cycle

 and how T&M booklets fit into the process.

Chapel

No chapel on Tuesday. A former president, Dr. Wesley Duewel, passed away last week, and his funeral was Tuesday afternoon. The funeral was streamed live so that people who stayed in the office (which was about four of us) or people around the world could pay their respects.

Chapel on Thursday was a message from Steve Christner, our director of Missionary and Family Life. He spoke about the two lost sons - what most people know as the parable of the prodigal son. He pointed out that both sons were equally lost; the prodigal is just the most obvious. It was important to realize that we need to be on our guard against seeing our service as a duty that is to be endured instead of enjoyed.

Other Projects

On Wednesday, I was invited to join the Communications department for a retreat. We went through team dynamics using the Birkman, talked about future projects, and just generally had a great time.


And that's my week. There's been some stuff going on outside of work, but I can't really talk about it yet. Not sure if I ever will.

Anyway.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: March 7-11, 2016

This was an interesting week. Definitely out of the norm, but quite enjoyable. So let's get to it.

Other Projects

Straight to the outside stuff this week. I did some T&M, but didn't have a lot of time, as you'll see.

Every Monday, except for the second Monday of the month, most departments get together for prayer. It's a nice way to get centered and focused on the week ahead. This month, I'm leading devotions. On Monday, I talked about Joshua and how he walked to victory. We also sang along to the following.



They loved it.

After devos, I gave an orientation to InDesign to a coworker. It's fun when I can teach someone a new skill.

In the afternoon, Foster and I filmed a short video for Carolyn Knight. She's the head of the Light in Darkness ministry to help people get out of the sex industry. I like helping with A/V stuff every once in a while.

Grip-Birkman

The rest of the week was spent being trained to be a Grip-Birkman coach. The GB is a personality/spiritual gifts assessment. It's a great resource for individuals to discover their natural selves and the areas in which they are gifted. It's great for teams to figure out how to work in concert to be most effective.

So, I am now a certified Grip-Birkman coach. If you're interested in this resource, just contact me. :)

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 29-March 4, 2016

This is going up late for reasons that will become apparent at a later date. But here's what I did last week.

Train & Multiply

Finalization is taking a fair bit of time. It would be easy to gloss over it, but this needs to be thorough and meticulous. It's often the last opportunity to take a serious look at the booklets. I'm averaging about three books a day, but I get faster as I become more familiar with the list of things to look over. As long as I'm thorough, efficiency is desirable. The guys in Japan have been waiting long enough.

Chapel

It was a prayer rally week, so we took half the day on Wednesday to pray for various ministries and countries. I'm of two minds about prayer rally. And don't misread me. Prayer is great. But it's not a fix-it. I don't believe in the "If we pray, this will happen" mentality. If we pray, and God wills it, it will happen. It's a very important distinction. Also, when everyone is praying at once, my ears feel like they are filled with bees.

However, it's a good chance to hear what's going on around the world and what obstacles people are facing or the triumphs they've experienced.

Other Projects

I love the little side projects that people ask for help with. Sam asked me for help with a brochure, and then she asked me to find out how to change the icon picture so she'd know which Chrome button took her to Facebook. (Fun fact: I couldn't figure out how to do it in Windows 10. Does anyone know if this can be done? I used to be able to do that.)

Our radio ads were approved and sent out to 13 stations across the country. You can hear what we came up with here: https://soundcloud.com/onemissionradio. It's the first two on the page.

Orientation for new candidates was last week. This is different from CROSS-training, which is more in-depth. Orientation gets them acquainted with OMS nomenclature, finances, departments, etc. Carolyn asked me to help her with her talk on the history of Christian missions. She gives the info, and I write it on the timeline, sometimes with fun pictures. It's a creative way to illustrate where we've come from, and I enjoy doing it.

Conference

You might think the International Conference is a long way off, but for those of us planning it, time is in short supply. On Friday, a group of us went up to Indiana Wesleyan University to scout the rooms we're using and get a better idea of the technical stuff. It was incredibly helpful for me to see what space was available. I'm hoping this will help us better plan the event.

This week's entry might be late as well. You'll understand why.