The Weekly Wrap-Up: June 20-24, 2022

It is a beautiful day in the United States of America. Blue skies, singing birds, fewer babies being murdered... Indeed, a beautiful day. 

It's been another week of people around here. Both the Global and U.S. Boards met this week, and we also had the installation of the new president on Wednesday. I was a little more involved in things than I was last week, but we'll get to that.

In honor of Father's Day, I led team devotions on Genesis 22 Monday. You know, the one where God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. It's an interesting passage. 

Sarah and I worked on a project we're rolling out next week. That makes it sound more impressive than it actually is, but I'm trying to be annoying and mysterious. 

I've been going through old production logs for our projects this week. Yes, we keep a log of everything we find in a booklet that we needed to change or might be an issue in other booklets. One of my team is working on new templates for us to use, fixing previous issues. It's interesting going through the logs and seeing what is common to languages and what isn't. Glyph languages tend to bring up certain issues that we don't see in Latin languages, for example. 

Anyway, when I wasn't doing that, I was working on my next prayer letter. I waited a little longer than I normally would because I knew big things were coming this month. So that should be in the mail in the next couple of weeks. 

I also had a big meeting this week with some friends from South Asia. It looks like we'll be starting two new language projects stemming from that meeting, which is super exciting! I'm not sure yet if I can tell you what those languages are as there could be some security issues. So let's just say our cousins will be heavily involved and leave it at that.

So, the big thing this week was the installation of Jeffry Max Edwards as the 11th President of One Mission Society. Jeff will be the third president I've served under. I don't know a lot about him other than  that he and his wife Laura served in Brazil for many years and returned to serve at HQ a few years ago. It's a critical junction in the history of OMS, I think. We're dealing with the same things everyone else is - high inflation, fewer donors, more restrictions on evangelism, social pressure, etc. I know everyone here will appreciate your prayers for the future of ministry here and elsewhere. 

I watched the service from on high as I helped with streaming and video.
(Also, don't the flags look great? I chose which ones were displayed and helped arrange them.)

Good friends.

The new president with his family.

I think this will be another recovery weekend for me. There have been lots of early mornings and late nights this week. Sleep sounds lovely. I hope you get everything you need out of this weekend, too.

Bye!

The Weekly Wrap-Up: October 7-11, 2019

So, how did the International Festival go?

By all accounts, I'd say it actually went really well! We had about 700 people there, we didn't run out of food, and I think pretty much all of the attendees had fun in some way. We had bounce houses, food trucks, a photo booth, international games, a dunk tank (more on that later), and probably a bunch of other things I knew nothing about.

Many months ago, when this was being planned, I signed up to work two shifts. I signed up to help with setup from 9-11, and then I signed up to help with games from 1:30-4. The event was scheduled for 11-4. I also recruited my parents to help out in the morning because they are lovely people.

In reality, we showed up for setup at 7, which was good because there was no way to get everything ready in two hours. You try inflating four (maybe) bounce houses, put out tables, set up tents and signs and games, etc. in two hours. I bounced around for a while on various projects until my parents and I got placed in charge of the dunk tank. It arrived at 9, and if you're ever in charge of a dunk tank, two hours is not enough time to fill it using just a hose. Also, you'll be stuck with cold water. So we carted hot water from the kitchen to the tank five or six times.

And then we just kinda never left. I didn't want to leave my parents alone with the dunk tank (especially when they didn't know the people who would be in it - not me, never, no way no how). So I stayed. And then I stayed some more, because we didn't have anyone else to cover it for the afternoon shift.

I'm sure the games were nice.

Anyway, I did leave at 4, because by then, I couldn't really move anymore. I cuddled a cat and then made her sit on the floor because her eight-pound body was leaving bruises on my legs. (Probably not, but it felt like it.) So it was good. And look! I made the paper!

I could have been holding a bull all afternoon. No, thanks. Sarah did a great job.

Anyway, we theoretically had flex time we could have taken this week, but because I'm a good employee, I did not take any. Also, we have a huge project we're trying to make headway on with T&M, so it was not a good time for it.

We're getting there! 65 and 66 are just about done, and the next step is to start assembling volumes. These will have several booklets and other VCP curriculum all in one file that can be printed and bound. I think we'll end up with four volumes for each language - English, French, Swahili, Chichewa, and Amharic. But most of that is a long way down the road. For now, I need to make sure the new booklets are as good as they can get.

But I'm also still doing U and B books. One more group was published this week! I even managed to change all of the back pages and republish previous groups.

Let's see, random stuff from this week... I think our staff briefing was the briefest brief that ever briefed. We were there less than 40 minutes! It's unheard of, truly. But it was nice. And then I gave an impromptu tour to some donors because I happened to be at the front desk and Patty said, "Jessica will take you around!" So I said, "Sure."

I am great with the extemporization.

So that's my week! Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, I did actually write a prayer letter, too. So you can look for that to be mailed out next week.

Au revoir, mes amis!

Lettie Cowman: A Retrospective

So there's this story about Punt.

Punt was a trading partner of Ancient Egypt. Egyptians would travel to Punt, Puntites would travel to Egypt - they loved each other. Egyptian writings described everything about Punt - its beauty (they called it God's Land), the awesome trading (bitumen, copper, naptha), and their peaceful nature (they were totally down with Hatshepsut's reign).

The only thing they didn't describe was where it was located.

Why would they need to draw a map? Everyone knew where Punt was. The trip was relatively easy, and they were such great friends.

So nowhere (that we've found) did anyone write down directions to Punt. No maps. No GPS. Just vague descriptions of things seen along the way.

Punt could literally be just about anywhere in the map below.

There's speculation that Punt is actually referred to as Put in the Bible, Put being the third son of Ham, of course, and the Bible being less than accommodating in making sure everything is spelled exactly the same (I'm looking at you Kings and Chronicles!). Punt is also called Ta netjer, the "Land of the God."

Not that any of that is important.

Why am I talking about an ancient land that hardly anyone knows existed?

BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND OUT LETTIE COWMAN'S ACTUAL FIRST NAME.

I have been researching Lettie for a few months now, in anticipation of the luncheon with Board wives a few weeks ago. And in every book I read, Lettie is introduced as either Mrs. Cowman, Mrs. Charles Cowman, L.B. Cowman, or Lettie Cowman.

I suppose Lettie could actually be her name. But that seems unlikely. It feels like a nickname to me. And I have this vague memory of seeing her full name somewhere. I even had a dream about it that convinced me I knew what her name was, though I was very clearly wrong.

I'm going to keep searching, though not feverishly. More like, as I live, if I see something related to Lettie, I'll inquire discreetly.

The internet is no help on this, btw. Considering OMS wrote her Wikipedia page, if it ain't there, it's safe to say we have no idea.

Anyway, I really just started this post so I could talk about a particular book I read about Lettie Burd. It's called The Vision Lives, and it was written by B.H. Pearson. Pearson was quite a significant figure in OMS history, but he wasn't part of the big families, so hardly anyone knows who he is anymore. (Sad, but true. For family names, look at the street names around OMS.) (I could be wrong here. I just don't ever hear his name. Maybe I'm talking to the wrong people.)

I think I can fairly say that this book has changed my life. I am different now that I've read this book. I've known the Cowman story since I came to OMS. We're pretty decent at the indoctrination stuff. Every new missionary has to read a book (No Guarantee But God) about the founders. So I knew the basics.

But Lettie's story tends to stop for people after Charles dies. And that's horrible, because she lived another 35ish years after her husband died. I could make an argument that she did more after Charles died than she did before.

And I think that's why I was so moved by this book. It felt like her story really started with the writing of Streams in the Desert.

(It didn't. The story of how she met Charles, how long she waited to marry him, their life before Chicago, her conversion and subsequent chivying of Charles, their call to missions, their life in Japan - all great and important tales that tell you a lot about Lettie. But I didn't feel like I knew her until after Streams.)

Have you read Streams in the Desert? I have to admit, I have not read it entirely. But I have read parts of it, and I know the story behind it. In fact, there's a book called The Story Behind Streams in the Desert. You should read that, too. (Incidentally, do you know which verse the book title comes from? You'll get brownie points.)

But in case you don't, here's the gist. Charles and Lettie spent about 15ish years in Japan before he fell ill. Like, seriously ill. They were pretty sure he was going to die. So the Cowmans returned to the U.S. They set up shop in California, continuing to run the Oriental Missionary Society.

And Charles never got better. For six years, he suffered tremendous pain, having numerous heart attacks or strokes (going by the description). Lettie continued taking care of him, doing her duty as his wife.

Lettie called this time her Gethsemane. That was the first thing that really stood out to me. We really only get a small picture of what the garden of Gethsemane was like for Jesus. But we do know it was bad. Extremely emotionally distressing, to the point where he was probably sweating blood. He knew he was about to die, and in the most undignified way possible. For Lettie to compare this time of waiting and watching to Gethsemane is very telling to me.

During this time, Lettie did whatever she could to preserve hope. She always believed that God would heal Charles, and she latched onto pretty much anything that seemed to offer some kind of respite. Nearly anything, because she always compared it to Scripture, and if it didn't stand up, she discarded it like yesterday's fish. Over six years, she had a ton of poems, sayings, and wisdom from many sources. These things form the spine of Streams.

Eventually, of course, Charles died. Lettie finished compiling her book and published it.

And then she started to live. 

(Again, probably not politically correct to say that. It just seems like people treat her as an extension of Charles before died. Which shouldn't surprise me. #womenareproperty #imreallynotafeminist #justannoyedatnotbeingtreatedlikeaseparateentitycapableofthinkingformyself )

Seriously, though, the chapter after Charles' death starts like this: "Mrs. Cowman begins to realize how entirely Charles had filled her life." Lettie was 54. Young by some standards, old by most. She writes a book about Charles' life (Missionary Warrior - another good read) and promotes the mission.

Then, at 58, she becomes president of the Oriental Missionary Society. This is huge, guys. She's a woman in 1928, and she's presiding over a multi-national mission. She is the third such president, and she lasts almost longer than the first two combined.

I wish I could describe everything she does in this period. But the book does that, and I'm not writing a book, though you may think so by now. She goes to China, despite the threat from Japan. She goes to a conference in Swansea, Wales. It's here that she feels a call to the rest of the world, not just the Orient. From Swansea, to Finland, by way of a stormy sea. From Finland to Estonia. Estonia to Sweden. Back to England. France. Palestine. Egypt. She meets the young King Farouk. She gives him a beautifully bound copy of the Gospels. Greece (without a visa). Back to England, where her visit with Farouk has engendered an invitation from the exiled Emperor of Ethiopia, Hailie Selassie.

Guys. If you don't know the name Hailie Selassie, you need to stop reading right now and go do some research.

Fascinating doesn't quite cover it.

Selassie's daughter offers to translate Streams. The Emperor and Mrs. Cowman are apparently quite intrigued by one another. Lettie offers a prophetic word (which came true).

Finally, Lettie returned to L.A. But only for a spell, because shortly thereafter, she heads to Cuba. Keep in mind that she's also running a mission, writing books, and contending with a pending world war during all of this.

She returns to Japan for a few weeks in 1939. The Japanese have already invaded China at this point, but it doesn't matter because there are still plenty of people who need Jesus.

In 1941, at the age of 71, Lettie goes to Mexico. Her trip has nothing whatsoever to do with OMS. But people are hungry for the Word, and Lettie places an order for 100,000 Gospels without knowing where she'll get the money. Sure enough, the exact amount comes in over a weekend.

The Colombia field opens. Lettie inexplicably sends the entire Streams revenue to the field with little more than a prompting in prayer. The money purchases the land where the seminary in Medellin will be built.

Colombia becomes Lettie's last trip as president of OMS. She tenders her resignation in 1949 at the age of 79.

Despite going blind, she continues to entertain guests and write columns. She dies on Easter Sunday in 1960.

She had such an incredibly full life. During a time when most people think about retiring, she was just starting some of the most difficult chapters.

But what is almost more fascinating to me are the things that are not said.

Charles and Lettie Cowman never had children. Any mention of children, in fact, is conspicuously absent. Granted, the topic wasn't really one you brought up in polite conversation at that time. But I'm curious. Was it a conscious decision? Was she not capable of having children biologically? Was adoption ever discussed? We can really only speculate.

How exactly did Lettie manage to run a mission society based heavily in Asia during a world war? This is touched on a little, but my understanding of the text is that missionaries had a great deal of autonomy at this point. Communications weren't exactly the greatest, so decisions often had to be made in the field before being sent to a Board for approval.

Speaking of the Board, how did they feel about so much of their work being supported by hope and a prayer? The book mentions countless times where finances or resources were in desperately short supply, yet Lettie forged ahead, trust that God would provide. Granted, He often did. But it must have been nerve wracking to trust so completely in something with no reassurance of success.

Finally, and possibly most curious, what exactly happened when Lettie resigned as president? There's a story that goes around, and I only know bits and pieces of it. Some people say she was forced out. Some people say that she needed to be forced out. The book only says that she felt the future of the mission should be in younger hands. Oddly, though, she requested that the book ministry (most of which came from her) and the crusades form a separate corporation. If you've ever wondered, there is a reason that Streams is published now by Zondervan. I believe the publishing entity of OMS was purchased by them at some point over the years. So the organization she founded purchases copies of her book from Amazon just like everyone else.

I'll likely never know for sure in this life the answers to these questions. And that's okay. I can still be inspired by her. I still admire her devotion to God and to her husband. I admire her adventurous spirit, her kindness to all she met, her desire to reach everyone with the Gospel. I love her humility, her grace, and her peace in the midst of Gethsemane.

Lettie, whatever your first name was, thanks for being so cool.

The Missionary Question

Sweet butter crumpets.

There's a link under there, in case you were wondering. Please, take a few moments to read that post, and then come on back, because I have a few things to say.

...

I assume you've read it. Depending on your background, you probably had a few different reactions to it. Believe me, I've heard them all. I'm interested in your thoughts.

But I'm going to focus on my own experiences with this for a few minutes. Possibly longer. There's a lot rolling around in my head right now. I'm going to get very personal. I intend to share some things that I don't usually because they may not fit in with your idea of what a missionary should think or say. It's not that I've never felt these things before. It's just that I've always felt the need to censor myself on certain things. There's a voice in my head that is always reminding me, "If people really knew you'd thought these things, if people knew these things had happened, if people really knew... They'd never support you."

So we're going to test that out.

Do you know the #1 question I get asked when I share in churches? It doesn't matter if it's before or after I've spoken. I will inevitably get this question: So where are you going?

Short answer: I'm not. I'm a missionary who lives in the U.S.

Long answer: Why do I have to be going somewhere? I'm going to Greenwood, Indiana, where I live. Does that count? There's a whole building there full of people who have both gone and not gone to places other than the United States. We have the same goals as people who have "gone" somewhere. Or do you want to know about the short-term trips I've been on? I can make them sound like they were longer. More involved. Can I skip this question and talk about the people who use the materials I create? They live in places like Peru and India. In fact, they've lived in Peru and India their entire lives. Why does the work they do in their home country count for more than the work I do in my home country?

Except I can't say that. It's antagonistic. I can't tell people I work behind-the-scenes because that is apparently code for "not a real missionary." I catch myself distinguishing between homeland missionaries and field missionaries. Field missionaries come here all the time and thank us for the work we do in supporting them. And I appreciate that. I just don't know a lot of other people who do.

Field missionaries go to churches and tell dynamic stories about all the people they've led to Christ. I go to churches and tell people about the field missionaries who led people to Christ using the materials I created on my computer. Somehow, being just that little bit removed from the action makes what I do less than.

I try to make up for it. I tell people less about how I spend my time and more about the impact T&M has on countries around the world. Have I been to these countries? Some of them, sure. But mainly as an observer. Sometimes as a trainer. For some, it's been years and had nothing to do with OMS. And I haven't been out of this country since 2013. That hurts my soul.

I can't talk about how I miss my family. My parents live two hours away. I have regular(ish) phone contact with my sisters. What is there to miss? I can't say that I missed my grandmother's funeral because of work. Because I was dealing with some pretty serious problems with my job. That I was about to not have a job, and I had interviews and meetings, and it didn't matter that I was still in the States - I couldn't make it happen. (In fact, it might have been easier to go if I'd been out of the country. I know. It's weird, but true.)

I have family that doesn't support what I do. I have family that doesn't really know what I do. I have family that doesn't like it when I ask for money. I also have family that supports me unconditionally. It runs the gamut.

All of this runs through my head every time I write a prayer letter or plan a supporter event or go speak in churches. I try to guess what people are thinking when they hear me. I'm trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but all too often, that seems to me to be people who really don't know what I do, don't care, and don't really believe that what I do counts as missionary work.

I'm sorry about that. I'll try to think better of you.

But I also have to stop making excuses for myself. I have to stop thinking of myself as less than.

I am a missionary.

I was called by God to this position and this place.

I'm good at what I do.

My job is vital in this ministry.

My salary comes through donations made by people who either believe in me or in this ministry.

I can't force people into either category. They have to follow God's leading (or not) to support me.

Side note: I made a deal with God when I first became a missionary. You can argue the theology of that all you want, but I felt like God was telling me that it was okay to put out a fleece. (Personally, I think Gideon was mostly a chump. But he followed through on what the fleece was telling him to do. And I can do no less.)

My fleece was pretty simple. As long as there were funds in my account, I would stay with OMS. That was my sign that God wanted me to stick around. Simple, right?

Twice now I have been miraculously kept in the OMS family. The first time, my account was $10,000 in deficit. Seems like a pretty obvious sign of being released, right? I didn't just give up. I spent a summer doing fundraising. I gave it my all. And I raised slightly more than it cost to travel that summer. I was ready to go. I didn't want to. But a deal's a deal. But then I got a job offer from someone at OMS to help set up a new project. I literally left OMS on Friday and started back the following Tuesday (it was Labor Day weekend).

I knew I had a job for at least 8 months. That stretched to 11. And then for a month, I had no job. I was ready to leave OMS at that point. I wanted to. But I didn't feel like God was releasing me. And I kept showing him my rapidly emptying bank account. We had a deal! But God sent me to ECC.

True, I get a stipend from ECC. They needed someone to fill this position, and they needed that person right away. But I knew going in that the stipend would only last so long. It'll be gone soon. And to stay at OMS, I have to make up the difference.

Slightly less than half of my monthly requirements come in through donations right now. The rest will come from a small cushion in my support account. That's what I'm trying to raise when I speak at churches.

Whew. I wasn't sure I was going to make it back around to my original point.

This is all stuff I don't tell people. I don't know if people even want to know these things. I don't mind people knowing. But it feels like I'm trying to guilt people into giving. Please help the poor missionary! Yet it's the reality of being a missionary. We don't do this job to be rich. But being not poor would be nice, too.

Look, it's no secret that 'going somewhere' ups your missionary cred. And believe me, if I was called to serve in another country, I'd go. I have no doubt I'd get a lot of new supporters. But I'm called to be here. Do I believe God will provide? Yes. But I'm also human. I worry. I have doubts. I think about the magical formula of what will make people interested in giving to support my ministry. I downplay the nine hours I spend on my computer every day working with InDesign files (and agonizing over blog posts). I mention the possibility of trips to Israel and the Philippines as evidence that I'm actually going to do something as a missionary.

You know, I use that verse the article mentioned a lot when I speak in churches. Romans 12 and I are like this. I try to be subtle in pointing out that I'm just as much of a missionary as those guys with pictures of cute children and huts in Africa.

I may look different.

But I'm exactly what God called me to be.

Would you like to support my ministry with OMS? You can follow this link for handy-dandy online giving. Or you can leave a comment for more information.

You can also hear more of my particular brand of wit and wisdom May 21 at OMS in Greenwood, Indiana. I'll be giving an up close and personal view of what my missionary journey looks like. You can comment or email for more info on that, too.  

The Ultimate Conference Post

So.

Been a while.

Instead of posting multiple times during conference, I'm going to cover the highlights in one post. I do this as both a report and as an encouragement to entice you to join us at the next OMS conference. We had amazing opportunities, and it saddens me that more people weren't there to take advantage of them and to really rejoice in what God is doing around the world.

Nous le faisons.

I actually went up to conference, held at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, earlier than most. As I was part of the planning team, stage dec team, Illuminate Experience team, etc., I went up on Wednesday to help get things set up.

People really have no idea how much work goes into conference. They can guess, but I guarantee they won't even come close. No matter how much prep you do before the event, at least 20 things will change when you actually get there, so you also have to be prepared to deviate from the original plan. I don't know how many times I ended up saying, "At this point, I'll take what I can get." Not to imply that the conference services staff at IWU were not prepared - there's just no way to keep track of everything.

Anyway.

The first job is always to unload the big moving truck. We packed it up on Tuesday. We have to hire a moving truck because we have a lot of rooms and events with a lot of stuff populating them. All of our stage decoration, the flags for the ceremony, nursery items, prayer room items, the IR items, signs - you name it, it ends up on the truck. 

For pretty much all of the rest of Wednesday, we worked on the stage. Foster had a really great idea to use furnace filters to make pillars. They were incredibly awesome. We've been painting them for the last three months, and then we had to tape them, and then we had to assemble them. Then place them. Then put lights in them. Then mirrors on top. Then take the mirrors off because they were too heavy. We changed our original idea slightly, but the whole stage presentation was incredibly awesome. And when I say all of the rest of Wednesday, I mean we got to our rooms around 11:30.

 

 And then we had to turn around and use most of Thursday to set up the Illuminate Experience. This was something brand new for OMS. Typically, we do a display room, so each region has a display with what is happening in their countries, or we highlight the funding project for conference, or something similar. But it always ends up being a pretty static room. This year, we wanted something more interactive. Thus, the Illuminate Experience was born.

We divided the room into three sections. The first section had our book tables and our photo opportunities. I was in charge of the photo ops with Lori. We came up with some pretty fun ideas, if I do say so myself. We had the SHNE letters so that people could be the 'I' and let everyone know that they were letting their light shine. We had a group option with the posterboard messages. And we had an Instagram sign. I was quite pleased.

The second room was also a lot of fun. Well, fun in the sense that it was meant to convey the reality that is the darkness in the world around us. I didn't get good pictures of everything, but you'll get the idea. On one side, we had a wall of news articles and photographs that reminded people of everything evil happening in the world today. Interspersed were Scripture verses about overcoming darkness. In the opposite corner, we had a station set up for people to write notes to missionaries, Christians, students, and others living in situations where they confront darkness every day. Then we had a light bright-esque board set up for people to light up places they were praying for, countries they served in or visited, and various other questions we asked. The effect was very cool.

In the very middle of the room, however, was the piece de resistance. Our maintenance guys built a maze of darkness. It was literally a dark maze that then took you to photographs of people still living in darkness, without the knowledge of a Savior. The quote at the end of the maze really hit home for me the urgency of the Great Commission and the dedication of missionaries to penetrate the darkness with the light of the Gospel.

Around the outside of the maze, we asked questions about how people could shine the light in their own lives. It was a very cool effect. 

The last section of the room gave people a chance to really understand how OMS is shining a light. Our Mobi team had a place to talk about opportunities to serve. We had a 'multiplication cage' of sorts. 

The first night, people put a paper in to symbolize themselves. 

The next night, they put in five more pieces of paper to symbolize the five people they would reach. 

The final night, we put in 25 pieces of paper to symbolize each person those five people would reach. It was a great word picture for multiplication.

We also had a place to talk about Train & Multiply, since multiplication is what we're all about. 

There was also food. Food is important.

Conference officially kicked off Thursday night. 

                      

    

First up was the flag ceremony, of which I was in charge. 

I was very proud of my flag bearers!

The Hunter Smith Band led worship throughout conference. Hunter Smith was a pro football player, but he also leads worship at his church, and he has a band. And their song "Indiana Moon" was chosen as the bicentennial anthem for Indiana. 

OMS President Bob Fetherlin gave the keynote address about the one billion vision. This is truly a God-sized goal, and we need all the help we can get from you and other partners in order to see this happen. 

I'll just give a few highlights from the rest of conference as there really was too much to cover completely. Dr. David Garrison joined us to talk about Muslim movements to Christ. The numbers are awe-inspiring. God is really on the move in the house of Islam. 

  We had a 5k to raise funds for our literacy program. I'm proud to say I completed all 3.1 miles!

 

 I also participated in the Great Adventure, which was a bit like 'Amazing Race' on TV. We didn't win, but we had fun! Turns out I have excellent rhythm. I was able to figure out a traditional Filipino dance. Ask me about it sometime.

On the last day, I got to help out with the children's program. Somehow, that was the day we had to sing on stage. Did I know the songs? No. Did I know the motions? No. But I can fake it with the best of them! #watermelonwatermelon

And that was pretty much it for conference. Like I said, there are so many other things that happened, it's hard to list them all here. Again, you should really consider joining us in 2018. 

So on Sunday afternoon, I went home and...

Wait, what?

I didn't go home?

Nope! Because after the OMS conference, I attended the Every Community for Christ WorldWide Coordinator's Seminar. Also at IWU in Marion. 

I had less to do for this one. Mostly behind the scenes stuff, taking photos and video, whatever needed to be done. I was there for another 4.5 days. 

Again, David Garrison was there to give us more information about the church planting movements happening around the world. He gave us a lot of encouragement and a lot of things to think about. Yes, the Church is moving forward in a lot of places. But it's being wiped out in others. 

We had participants from more than 30 countries and ministries partnering with ECC. Many of them are using Train & Multiply. A few are in security risk countries. Many more couldn't join us because they couldn't get visas. 

At the end of the conference, each ministry team created an action plan for the next ten years. They included a number that was their best estimate for how many people they thought they could give one significant opportunity to hear, understand, and respond to the Gospel in the next ten years. I counted them all up. That number is below. 

We have a lot of work ahead of us. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 15-19, 2016

Train & Multiply

Honestly, there hasn't been much to do with T&M this week. I finished as much as I know how to do, so anything beyond the usual inquiries and training requests, I'm in a holding pattern. Gotta wait for more training.

One cool thing this week is that I fielded a request for training from two people in Brazil. They are a thousand miles apart, so chances are they won't be able to attend the same training event. One speaks English, but the other only speaks Portuguese. Through the marvels of technology, I was able to have a conversation in Portuguese. Google Translate may not be perfect, but it gets the job done.

Funding

I spent most of Monday stuffing and mailing my latest prayer letter. I'm hoping to connect with as many people as possible in the next few months. I'm super excited about everything we've got planned for the coming year.

Chapel

On Tuesday we heard from a missionary who wrote an autobiography. We have a lot of missionaries who do that. They aren't as widely known as a lot of missionary stories, but they are always interesting. You can find more books here.

Yesterday, we heard from David and Marty. They were missionaries in Japan for years and now work at HQ. They traveled back to Japan last fall for a visit. We're desperately in need of missionaries to Japan as most of our current missionaries are getting older. Japan is where OMS began, so we have a unique bond with the people.

One thing Marty shared with us is a project some of the women have started in order to gain employment after losing everything in the tsunami. You can find more at nozomiproject.com and megumiproject.myshopify.com.

Other Projects

Every year, ECC puts out an Annual Report detailing the projects of the previous year. I've been helping our graphic designer find photos.

And of course, we're also working on conference. Part of that involves creating radio advertisements to air on local channels. I've been working on a few variations - 30 seconds, 60 seconds, etc.

One big thing for conference was doing inventory on one of our basement storage areas to see what we can use for display purposes. There was a ton of stuff down there that probably hasn't seen the light of day in years. Case in point:

Super gross down there, but I managed to throw some things away, so that was soothing. 

Also, it was super windy today. 

That's all for now. Have a great weekend. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 8-12, 2016

Train & Multiply

Woohoo! I've finished checking Japanese! You know, we joked last year that we've probably read the English books around 6-10 times each. That's millions of words. I'm well on my way to that with Japanese. I've looked through the first 34 booklets and the SAG (Student Activity Guide) about four times now. I'm sure there will be many more.

One thing I'm especially proud of this week is that I was able to help facilitate a new T&M training in Australia. We live in a world where a man in Sydney, Australia, can contact someone in Greenwood, Indiana, who can put him in touch with someone in Taiwan, all in the space of a week. We've wanted to expand our training for months, so this is very exciting.

Chapel

So we start with something that isn't really chapel, but happens in the same place. On the second Monday of each month, we have a staff briefing. This is a time for each department to tell everyone else all the pertinent stuff that they are working on. Sometimes it's interesting, sometimes not so much. It's all good information, but on occasion, people forget that it's supposed to be a briefing.

CROSS-training finished this week, so we heard from the last few trainees. One is Colombian and will be working in HQ for a few months, two are headed to Taiwan, two to Ecuador, and one will be a CMF (church multiplication facilitator) in Africa. Our Mobi team does an amazing job of recruiting new missionaries for a wide variety of positions.

CROSS-training

Speaking of CT, it is usually the purview of HR and the training team. A few others introduce the various departments, but I get to play exactly one role. On the day they discuss spiritual warfare, I bring in my sword collection. I get to show off a little and then I talk about a couple knives I picked up from Sierra Leone. Spiritual warfare isn't a game.

Other Projects

We're gearing up for OMS International Conference this summer. Remember?

Anyway, I've been involved in planning the "Interactive Missions Experience" room. (We're working on the name.) I had a couple meetings this week so everyone could update each other on our respective progress. I think it's going to be a good program. You all should consider coming.

That's it for this week. Busy weekend ahead. Pray for me.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 1-5, 2016

Ha! Y'all thought I'd forget, didn't you? No? Just me? Seems fair.

Let's do this.

Train & Multiply

I continued working on Japanese. Weird things happen when you transfer text from one file into another. For example, we use the symbol { in transfiles to signify that the following text comes from Scripture. When the file transfers to InDesign, the { is supposed to become a little book symbol.

Emphasis on "supposed to."

Sometimes, it becomes a little box instead. And because Japanese uses characters that sometimes look like a box, we have to find the places where the system fails and change the boxes to books.

It's a little tedious.

Chapel

We had a prayer rally this week. The emphasis was on waiting on the Lord. It was a good opportunity to remember that rest is actually a promise from God. We also had a special recognition chapel today to celebrate 25 years of service by Rachel Coleman, part of our theological team.

Other Projects

Last week, I forgot to tell you about the radio project I worked on. It's been a while since I worked on One Mission Minutes. It was nice to start recording again. Jason Campbell and I cowrote a spot about a new ministry center in Hungary. If you'd like to hear more of our radio spots, visit oms.media.

I also wrote a first draft of my next prayer letter. As a preview, I'm looking for opportunities to visit you guys or have you all come to OMS to learn more about the ministry. I often call OMS the best little mission agency that no one's ever heard of. It would be great to spread the word about what we do here.

Finally, I got back to my roots with an editing project today. We're trying to raise money to get as many leaders from our church planting teams to conference this summer as possible. To do that, we need grants. I make them sound pretty.

There are a dozen things that come up throughout the week that may take anywhere from five to fifteen minutes. These consultations can take a variety of forms. There are a few Mac users in the building, so the rest of us kinda form a user's group to help each other out. There are a lot of situations like that, and while each short projects/questions may only take five minutes, they can add up.


Next week will be a fun one. Lots of stuff going on. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: January 25-29, 2016

Way back when, I started this blog to keep people updated on my ministry. Of course, at the time, I was still funding. My ministry description was also a lot different.

Since then, I have occasionally used this blog to talk about my ministry. More often, I use it to sort out my thoughts, give book reviews, or just generally angst about things.

So, to keep with the spirit of what I set out to do, in the full knowledge that most of my ministry involves me sitting at a computer manipulating files, I'm going to start a weekly review of ministry-type things. I may, on occasion, address a specific ministry thing on another day. But, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I will do a Weekly Wrap-Up every Friday, telling you what I worked on in a given week. I'm counting on you to remind me of this next Friday. (And maybe come up with a better name for it.)

Train & Multiply

This was actually a fairly busy week for me. I've been working on the Japanese translation of Train & Multiply, whilst learning the ins and outs of the process. On Wednesday, I learned how to transfer new text from what we call a transfile (translation file) into the InDesign booklet file. This part is actually done pretty quickly. We run a script, Bob's your uncle, everything that the translator changed is now inserted into its proper space in the master file.

Of course, text comes in all shapes and sizes. So my next job was a) to make sure everything that should have transferred did, and b) to make sure there's enough space for all of that text. For example, here's a sentence in English:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Here's the same sentence in Hindi (another language we're working on):

तेज, भूरी लोमडी आलसी कुत्ते के उपर कूद गई।
As you can see, character spacing changes from one language to another. So what fit in a space before may not when you change the language. I have to check the files to make sure we don't have overset text. And I have to do this in 34 booklets (just level one for Japanese) with varying page numbers.

I also keep up correspondence with people interested in using T&M. Every week, we have between 5 and 20 requests for sample material or training. The sample material is easy - they can download it off the website. Training is a little harder to coordinate. We will have two training events in the U.S. this year, but not everyone can make it to Greenwood, Indiana. One individual needs training in Australia and Myanmar, so I'm trying to figure out the logistics, who will be in the area, that sort of thing.

I also keep up the T&M Facebook page. It can be a little tough finding material to post. Once people get the materials, we don't often hear from them very often. That's another things we're working to change.

Finally, we're trying to organize our files. We use Google docs, a website called Trello, and our own shared drive. We don't want to get into the middle of 27 new language projects and realize we have no idea where all of the files are. I like Trello - it's a good organizational tool. But it can be difficult to keep track of the thousands of files we end up with for each individual language project.

Chapel

Every week, we have chapel on Tuesdays and Thursdays, except for the first week of the month when we do a half day of prayer on Wednesday. CROSS-training started again this week, so we've been hearing from our trainees in chapel. I always like hearing their stories. There's a lot more diversity than you might expect from a small midwestern mission agency.

This week, we heard from EunJin and KyoungMin, a Korean couple serving at HQ for a few months. They serve as liasons to the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church, which OMS helped found 109 years ago, and the Korean Evangelical Church of America, which branched from the KEHC and is headquartered in California. (Fun fact: if you encounter a denomination overseas that ends in EHC, it was probably started by the KEHC.) We also heard from Michelle, a Brit going to Mozambique; Heather, who works in HR/Mobi; and Lora, who joined because she married the OMS Kids director.

Other Projects

Every so often, someone will pop into my office to ask me to work on something with or for them. This week, that person has been Foster, and the project was the art installation in the lobby. He wanted to do something different instead of the normal lobby stuff, so he took apart the tree he made for Christmas (probably on my Facebook somewhere) and made art. I've been helping him fill in some missing pieces.

Here's how it started:

Last week, we put up the word "Illuminate" with LED lights underneath. This week, we filled in the shapes with the purple. 

Today, we put the verse on the window. 

All of this serves as an advertisement/reminder about the International Conference this summer in Marion, Indiana, an event to which you are all invited and to which you should all come. 

Bonus

Occasionally, I need to do something that engages a different part of my brain. Or I just need to walk. This week, my distraction was found upstairs in the Development department. Dynamic Women in Missions created a Scrabble board, so Sarah and I took a few minutes to play a game. Of sorts. We don't actually play. We just pick out letters and make words. Like Bananagrams, I guess. This was one of our better efforts:

I hope you enjoyed that snippet of my week! See you on the flip side...

Five Years. Really?

(The following is a speech I will give, am giving, gave - depending on when you read this - at my five-year recognition chapel at OMS. If you'd rather hear it, I'm sure I'll post a link to it somewhere. There's a ton more I could talk about after five years, and I probably will in the blog soon. For now, enjoy.)

All right. Here we go.

I've been struggling with what to say on this, the fifth plus a bit anniversary of my time at OMS, ever since Kathy told me about it back in August. 

Okay, if you know me, you know that's not entirely accurate. I've been freaking out about it ever since I learned we do this kind of thing at OMS.

So, about five years. 

I've asked quite a few people what I should talk about today. Some were helpful. Some were not. I credit Foster Pilcher with the idea of writing a blog post and just reading that. So I did. Incidentally, if you'd like to read along, this posted about ten minutes ago. becausehislovecompelsus.blogspot.com

Five years ago, I started working here. But the journey really started about seven and a half years ago when I traveled to Sierra Leone, West Africa. On that trip, as I looked out over the city of Freetown, I felt that God was telling me that my future would involve missions of some kind. Six months later, I was interviewing with OMS.

I'll be honest. It took me a while to figure this place out. Y'all are holiness people, and as a rule, you're a little more touchy-feely than I'm used to. I also come from a denomination that historically has had a fairly narrow definition of the word 'missionary.' There are some people who do not consider what we do in HQ to be missionary work. That's something I've had to overcome both personally and professionally. 

So, two years. That's what I promised God. I'll do this mission thing for two years, and then I'll move on to The Plan. If you're not following along, The Plan is capitalized. I like Plans. I like routine, I like knowing what the next thing is. My Birkman is quite clear on this. 

So imagine my surprise when I reached the end of that two years and thought, "You know, I think I could do another year." You're smiling, but this was by no means a sure thing. 

Before we get to that, though, there are two things I need to highlight about those two years, and they actually happened within months of each other. First, I traveled to Thailand and South Asia in April 2011. Mike Dragon said last week that the first thing they do when you visit South Asia is break your heart. And he's right. I honestly didn't know how to deal with that trip. So I did the worst thing possible and shut down. I still have trouble talking about it. 

Then, in June of 2011, still not quite recovered, I went to Poland. And yes, I went for ministry purposes, but I want to talk about the day I spent in Auschwitz and Birkenau. 

I'm a history major. No matter what else I do in this life, I will always identify as a historian. And I had a lot of head knowledge about the Holocaust before this trip. I knew the numbers, I had seen the photos, I heard eyewitness accounts. 

But now I was walking where it happened. I saw the barracks designed for horses that instead housed hundreds of people. I saw desperate words scrawled on the walls of death chambers. I saw rooms of suitcases, shoes, and human hair stolen from millions of people. 

Needless to say, it was pretty impactful.

I came away from those trips with three things made abundantly clear. 

1. Satan is very real. 

2. It is a lot easier to serve evil than it is to do good.

3. We have hope. 

That last one may seem a little incongruous with the others. And it may seem hard to come away from a place like Auschwitz feeling hopeful. Even South Asia might seem like a stretch.

But for as difficult as a place like South Asia is, the Gospel is advancing. One of the things I vividly recall is standing on the shore watching dozens of people be baptized. It's a pretty incredible sight, made all the more remarkable when you know that persecution is not just a buzzword for these people. It's a reality. When I got off the plane in the capital, there was a notable oppression of spirit. I could almost feel the enemy working. But that just means he's scared. Satan doesn't have to work hard when he knows he's in control of a place.

Which brings us to Auschwitz. People talk about that place as though they can almost hear the cries of victims. And it is admittedly creepy to walk through the gas chambers. But mostly, I felt empty. I felt like I was seeing the pinnacle of evil. Like Satan had gotten things started and then let humanity take over, and this is what they achieved.

But I was talking about hope. And as we know from history, the Allies won. People realized what they were capable of. And for a little while, people pursued righteousness. Auschwitz now stands as a memorial and as a symbol of things that should never happen again.

Okay, so I sometimes go off on these rants on my blog. I apologize.

Let's go back to that third year. I finally felt like I was fitting in, or at least my brand of crazy was appreciated. So naturally, things started going wrong. I was in a pretty severe depression for several months. And I need to address this because we don't talk about depression much in Christian circles. I understand that. I don't really want to talk about it myself. But I talked to a counselor at my church about it, and she very nicely handed me a pamphlet that said my depression was a sign that I probably had a secret sin or that I wasn't close enough to Jesus. I'm here to tell you that the only reason I made it through is because I was desperately clinging to Jesus. He gave me hope that I would get out of the valley. And I eventually did.

I was pretty sure I'd be leaving OMS after three years, which was extremely disappointing. I felt like I was becoming the best version of myself here, and I didn't know how that would translate in the wider world. My Plan had changed, and I didn't like that.

But then I was offered a beacon of hope. A chance to stay for one more year. I'm not going to lie. It was a hard year. I was frustrated. I felt like I was losing whatever perspective I'd gained. So when the year was up, I was finally ready to leave. I had begged God for two more years. And now I was begging to move on.

It really looked like it was going to happen, too. My contract was up, I'd applied elsewhere, and yet every time I went to pack up my things, I'd hit a wall. It felt wrong.

And then ECC came calling. And I knew God was telling me to stay. I would officially be at OMS for a full five years. It's been a long road. I don't know how you guys focus on just one thing that happened. Five years is a long time.

But if I had to narrow it down to one lesson, that lesson would be hope. I'm a pretty cynical person. I will pretty much always see the worst-case scenario. But I have also become a hopeful person. And the source of my hope is and always will be Jesus Christ. I have been redeemed, and that gives me hope for the rest of the world. If even one third of the people we reach with our one billion opportunity gives their life to Jesus, can you imagine what that would do to the world?

I don't know where I will be five years from now. I'd love to be back up here, sharing my special brand of eccentricity and failing to concentrate on just one thing about the next five years. But wherever I am, I hope that I'm bringing hope to others. That's my new Plan.

Before I leave, I want to publicly thank a few people for getting me through the last five years. To my parents, for your unwavering support and for letting me cry on your shoulders, thank you. To my sisters, who gave me their own special brand of encouragement, thanks, I guess. To Lori McFall, for being a second mom, a sister, and a best friend rolled into one, thank you. To Sam Downey, for being a port in a stormy sea, thank you. To all of you, for sharing in my journey, thank you. And to God, for giving me exactly what I need when I need it, whether I like it or not, thank you. 

A Random Tuesday

How do my days usually progress? I'll tell you. Or at least, I'll tell you about today.

My alarm went off at 6:40. I'd been having this weird dream about a hotel by a river and trying to find someone who owed me $4.

I hit snooze. There's no excuse for being up at 6:40.

Nine minutes later, I figure I'm obligated to get up. First thing I do is check my phone for the overnight happenings. A few news alerts and a text from Arika, asking way too deep a philosophical question for 6:49 in the morning. But I answer, and it makes sense to my brain, so good enough.

I don't wash my hair on Tuesdays. It gives me a little extra time for morning ablutions, and also morning devotions. Sarah Young makes her usual frightening amount of sense. I hang out at the kitchen table and ponder life's mysteries.

It's 7:50. Getting dressed might be important. I have to wear blue today. Normally, a few of us in ECC will try to match. I get a text every morning. But my matchy buddies are in South Africa this week. I still have to wear blue. We're filming today.

I get to work about 8:03. First thing is to fire up the computer. While it's coming up, I check the ECC box in the mailroom. Nothing. Then a pen and new post-its from central supply.

I check my email. Two Gmail accounts and the main Office 365. Naturally, 365 isn't working. Shocking. Reload. Nothing has come into the T&M account, and it's mostly junk everywhere else. I check Facebook. I'm friends with T&M partners and people who are traveling. Things are going well. I schedule a post on the T&M page.

It's 8:55. Time for chapel. There's usually coffee and hot chocolate for people to get before or after. I don't usually like hot drinks, but as the weather cools, you can see me with a hot chocolate.

Today's chapel speaker is Graham Houghton. Graham has been in India for 50 years, and he always has great stories. And a very unique way of telling them. He retired once. It didn't take. He's 78 and ministering in North India. There are encouraging things happening, but there is also a great deal of darkness.

Chapel normally lasts until 9:30 or 9:40. Graham finishes at 9:55. We still have announcements and introductions. We pray for a missionary leaving for Hungary tomorrow.

10:05. Back in the office. I do a bit of cleaning up and then start working on my article for Outreach magazine. It's about the history of prayer at OMS.

10:45. Time to do a bit of walking. Since we started the wellness program, I've been endeavoring to get at least 10,000 steps every day. It's also not good to sit for too long. I have a route through the building, starting by going through Communications. Lori and Susan are talking about the magazine. I chat with Beth for a minute. Then upstairs. There are a lot of people out. But there are muffins at the front desk. Score.

Back downstairs. 11:00. More research for the article. I've copied articles and notices from old Missionary Standard archives. I'm only up to 1946. Sometimes I forget OMS has been around more than 100 years. Not today.

11:40. I check my phone and see that I have a voicemail. There is pretty much no service in the basement, so I never hear my phone ring. I just randomly have messages. It's Arby's. I did a survey this weekend, and they have follow-up questions. But when I call back, there's no answer.

12:10. Time for lunch. But first - oh look, Arby's called again. Free food! I've never been so happy to have undercooked chicken. (Okay, I wasn't that happy. But Arby's is cool for following up.)

12:18. NOW I can go to lunch.

We have an hour for lunch. I used 20 minutes of it to walk. That gets me to about 5,500 steps on the day. I'm ahead of schedule.

The fare today is chicken salad. It's cheap and easy to make, which pretty much describes most of what I eat. I'm spending any extra money I have on fruits and veggies. They're healthy, you know.

1:20. Back at work. Foster has been in, judging by the ladder in the middle of my office. We'll use it in a few minutes when we start filming.

We're doing a top secret project for the OMS Christmas party. It's been a lot of fun (and a lot of work), but the secrecy has probably been the most fun. People keep asking what we're doing. We maintain the cone of silence.

It took about eight takes for me to be happy with today's segment. By the time we finished, it was time to welcome the myriad of superheroes, knights, and various and sundry costumed (or not) children so they could extort candy from the hardworking folks of OMS.

I'm kidding, it was adorable. We do this every year. OMS kids come around to the marked offices and receive candy or treats or whatever. It's a safe way to trick or treat, and though it's a bit early, it is a nice thing we do.

It does kinda disrupt the workflow, though.

I spent some time looking up a word for the #WeirdWordoftheWeek segment I do on Facebook. It's a silly little thing, but it's fun for me. This week's word is carminative.

Onward and upward. With infrequent visitors, I continued working, this time on the ECC blog posts for the OMS website.

Around 4:10, I take another gallivant around the office. I get sidetracked in Communications (which happens frequently) to talk about ramen and the filming for tomorrow (separate issues). Then I continue, stopping to compare everyone's offerings. Lots of good stuff this year. Oh, to be a kid again.

Back to the office and work at 4:35.

5:10. Time to go home.

Immediately, I get ready for my long walk. This has become a staple of my day. It finishes up the rest of my 10,000 steps and gets the kinks out. Usually lasting anywhere from 30-50 minutes, today's is about 35, putting me well over my goal.

Dinner is frozen pizza and grapes. Highly nutritious. I watch an episode of Air Crash Investigation while I'm waiting. It's the one with the pilot who gets sucked outside of the airplane and is only held inside by flight stewards. It's a really fascinating series, and there are a ton of episodes on YouTube. I wouldn't recommend watching too many in a row or right before a trip. Very interesting stuff, though. And the pilot lived!

The show turns out to be a little too interesting. I watch at least six more episodes while playing mahjong.

And now it's 10:45. I've been dinking around on Facebook for 30 minutes. Not a very productive evening. But it was a relaxing evening. Just what I needed.

And that's a random Tuesday.