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Compassion Teaser

April 2, 2008 in Compassion, Friends, God, Ministry, Student Life 0

Taylor cut this video together from the footage we shot in the Philippines.  It features Rafonzel and Meishel, two of the LDP graduates we were able to hang out with.  This isn’t what we’ll be showing at camp this summer, but I think it’s pretty cool. Plus, if this is as good as it is with being so simple, I’m really looking forward to when we make the actual edits that we’ll be showing. I pray God uses them to get a lot of children sponsored.

Remember, if you don’t currently sponsor a child you can click on the link to the right, and feel free to share this video and let other people know about the opportunity to sponsor. Plus, there’s a link to Compassion’s blog in my blogroll.

Scrutiny and Responsibility

April 1, 2008 in Books, Ministry, Student Life, Writing 1

I just wrote a sentence and then immediately erased it. Let me explain why. First, here is the sentence:

“I want to have a wider audience.”

That statement is prideful, narrow-minded, short-sighted and ridiculous. Here’s why. I work for a great organization. God has chosen to bless Student Life and its ministry for many years. Even in moments of trials for us or where we might wonder if we have any idea where we are going or what we are doing, God has been faithful to continue us as a tool to further His kingdom. We will host something like maybe 80,000 students total at our events this year (I’m actually not real sure what the estimate is) and then we have a few thousand churches using our Bible study. We, as a general, non-written rule, don’t really like to talk about numbers outside the walls of our building, but here’s why I mention them. I have been personally blessed to have the opportunity to have my hands in almost everything we do around here. For that reason, I have a pretty big audience.

So, what do I mean when I almost make a statement like “I want to have a wider audience.” I mean a few different things, some of them noble, some of them not.

1. I want to have a more diverse audience. Our audience is almost chiefly from the United States. It is also largely made up of upper middle class, suburban, white kids. I have complained about that before, but I have found that to be fruitless. There’s nothing wrong with that fact. There are just times that I hope to be able to expand that scope.

2. I want my current audience to grow. I want to be able to reach more people, pure and simple. You question whether my motives for wanting that are all good, but I assure you most of them are.

3. The vast majority of “my” current audience has no idea who I am. So, when I say “I want to have a wider audience,” I mean that I want to have an audience that recognizes what I have to say. Now, some of my motives for wanting that are certainly prideful, but others are not. I believe God has purposed some messages in me to deliver. I want to be a good steward of that.

4. I want to have an audience that is more easily connected. The audience at Student Life is made up of youth groups. Members of youth groups are connected to other members of their particular group yet are rarely connected to members of other youth groups, at least not in very meaningful ways with regards to the content we present. However, people who all like John Piper or Brennan Manning or Passion or Hillsong United inherently have something in common that unites them to each other. They speak a common language and often do so. For some reason, that is not as readily apparent in our current audience. It might be true amongst some of the youth ministers and even fewer of the students, but it is definitely the exception and not the rule.

5. I want to have an audience that’s not so Baptist. I carry a lot of baggage about the Baptists (the Southern flavor), and some of it I should just get over. But, man, I get tired of all the Baptist stuff. Other denominations certainly don’t have their act together either, and I’m definitely not favoring one over another. What I do want, I guess, is a more equal opportunity audience where groups are challenging each other rather than one frame of thought dominating the conversation. Within Student Life I think we have that at times. Our audience just doesn’t always reflect that.

So, I want to have a wider audience but I also recognize that’s a ridiculous thing to say. However, in order to begin trying to accomplish that and to just present new challenges to myself and broaden my horizons a little bit, I’ve written a book. I should say Student Life has been gracious enough to allow me to write a book they will publish. It’s a small devotional book, part of a line we’re going to start producing called 31 Verses Every Student Should Know About… Mine is on the Way, our camp theme, and, incidentally, what the movement of Christ was initially called in the book of Acts.

This isn’t the type of book I always dreamt and envisioned myself writing, but it’s a start. And I’ve actually really enjoyed doing it. And I’m kinda proud of it.

And, yes, my name will be on it, which means I’ll get some credit (though I certainly don’t deserve all of it). For this reason, I recognize that I am opening myself up to more scrutiny. People want certain things out of their outspoken Christian brethren. In fact, many times, they can demand perfection. Now, you all know that I am certainly anything but perfect. However, I want to accept this responsibility, the responsibility of trying to reach a wider audience. I want to embark on this next stage of my life (because for some reason I feel like this is somewhat of a turning point for me; whether or not I’m correct is yet to be seen) and live up to as many expectations as I can.

For this reason I will no longer use symbols like “@#$%” to express my frustration or the words they stand for unless absolutely necessary, and then, I will probably delete them out of guilt, like I have done below.

The Philippine Chronicles, 7

March 18, 2008 in Christianity, Compassion, Conviction, Ministry, Student Life, Travel, Uncategorized 1

If you read yesterday’s post and missed the Balut video, that’s because I had trouble uploading it, but it’s there now. So, be sure to check it out.

Today was our last day to really see any of the Compassion stuff. As I mentioned, we had a lot of filming left to do. Well, we rock-n-rolled and, despite the torrential downpour we experienced at one point, we made it happen.

To start the day we headed to yet another Compassion project, and this one was, of course, fantastic. We were greeted again by some of the children. The hung homemade ribbon necklaces around our necks and escorted us individually to seats for a program. The little girl who escorted me wasn’t much for conversation, but she was super-cute.

If you remember, this is one of the first visits Davao has ever had from Compassion advocated, so they really pulled out all the stops. There were a lot of greetings, a number of musical performances and a chance to build and paint the wall of a classroom, which our fearless event directors were more than gracious to undertake.

This was our first day to spend with Rafonselle, the one LDP student who has already been granted a visa for the summer. So we spent a good bit of time filming her with some of the children. I told her that we just wanted some shots of her talking to them or singing with them or playing with them or whatever really. She was awesome. She jumped right in, and you could definitely tell that she knew what it was like to be where they are now, and she looks at them differently than we do. No pity. No worry. No appreciation. No Fancy. She looks at them with hope.

After lunch we drove out to the middle of nowhere through some beautiful country. We haven’t seen much of rural Philippines, but we did today and there were moments where it could really be breathtaking. Our destination was some rice fields where we were planning on shooting Rafonselle’s interview. Through a lot of waiting for motorcycles to pass, we were able to get most of it done, until it started sprinkling. I should mention that before this occurred our van driver realized one of the tires was flat and left us out there to go take care of it. Roger was convinced that it would pass after a little while. It didn’t. Right as the bottom dropped out, our heroic chauffer comes bounding down the road to rescue us. We ditched the rest and came back to the hotel. Luckily we were able to finish it there.

With regards to Rafonselle, let me just say that our students this summer are in for a treat. She gets it. She really wants to meet Chris Tomlin, but as Taylor has said more than once, ol’ Tomlin “should be so lucky to get to meet her.”

After dinner tonight (we had pizza; can you believe it?) we spent a good bit of time just kinda debriefing our week. So, I feel like I might share a bit of it here.

In transferring posts from my old Xanga to this blog, I found one I had written a few years ago basically whining about how frustrated I was that my current ministry was to middle-class, suburban, white American kids. This made me think about how there was some moment during the last year-and-a-half that I just made a decision that I was no longer going to feel guilty about that. If God has proved anything throughout history and in my own life, it’s that He knows exactly what He’s doing. He’s not just making it up as he goes along. So, while I believe that He is big enough to handle me questioning Him, I can certainly try to realize when those questions and complaints are purely selfish in nature. My post about ministering to middle-class, suburban, white American kids was/is selfish. So, what has that led to?

Callie and I were talking earlier this week about what we do in response to everything we’re seeing. I said that one of the things I’ve realized is that there’s only so much I can do. That might sound simple, but for many of us I think it can actually be somewhat profound. It was for me. Here’s why…

There are a lot of problems in the world, a lot of injustices. As a Christian I have a responsibility to do something about this. It is incumbent upon me to give to the poor, care for the sick, feed the hungry, provide for the needy, make disciples of the world, care for widows and orphans, and basically, look after the “least-of-these.” But you know what? I don’t bear the burden of giving to every poor person, caring for every sick person, feeding all the hungry, providing for everyone in need, making sure every person hears the Gospel, caring for every widow and every orphan and ensuring that anyone who might be considered “the least of these” is looked after. Because that’s your responsibility too. We share that. If I tried to make a difference in the world by giving to every relief organization I come in contact with, going on every mission trip I hear about, promoting every awareness video or event, reading every book on how to heal the world’s ills, and jumping on every social-justice bandwagon that comes my way, I would utterly, miserably, and completely fail. So, what do I do?

I become obedient to that which God calls me, and I get other people on board as much as possible to fill in the gaps. This for me is what it means to be an advocate.

This past year I received an email from Compassion saying they were looking for more people for their advocates network. Now, I already do a lot with and for Compassion, but it’s all through Student Life, which, though a ministry, is also my job. So, I became an advocate to be a part of something outside of my work. It’s something I really believe in and something that works. That advocacy for me leads to action, as I hope it will for others. Advocacy is about action, not awareness. If I constantly talk to people about Compassion, but it never leads to them sponsoring, then what am I doing?

The other thing my refutation of guilt has lead to is a new and different outlook on what I experience overseas in developing countries. I don’t feel a lot of pity anymore. I actually feel a great deal of respect. This makes me uneasy because it seems such an unnatural reaction to seeing what we see on these types of trips or in the squatter camps of South Africa, but that makes me feel like it might be right. The Kingdom of God is unnatural. In fact, it’s supernatural in the purest sense of the word. God has such great affection for these people, for all people, and when I can catch just a glimmer of that, it changes the way I can relate to other people completely. I can be a voice for them, and when that voice, the way I tell their story, comes from a place of respect rather than pity or guilt, I believe it is more honoring to them and to the work that God is accomplishing in their lives.

Lastly, my decision has changed the way I feel about those middle-class, suburban, white American kids. They’re a product of their culture just like these Compassion children are. Neither are at fault for where they find themselves. For whatever reason that’s just where they are. So I can’t get upset with them. I can’t fault them. I have to be just as patient and compassionate with them as I would be with others.

I live for the moment that a student gets it. This is my purpose in life. God manifests that purpose in me in a variety of ways, and being an advocate and sponsor with Compassion is just one of them. I look forward to a lifetime of discovering all the others.

Tomorrow we visit a market to… well, you know… shop (nothing like finishing what I just wrote and then typing that sentence to test my resolve to not feel guilty). We then fly back to Manila for a final meal with some of the Compassion country staff before catching a few hours of sleep and then flying Japan for 24 hours in Tokyo and then back to the ‘Ham by way of Detroit.

Not sure if this will be the last post before then or not. If it is, I’ll be sure to post any more reactions I might have once I get back in the U.S. Until then…

Thanks to all of you who read this for journeying along with us.

Signing off…

C U L8r

March 10, 2008 in Compassion, Ministry, Student Life, Travel 0

So, in a little less than 12 hours I’ll board a plane here in Birmingham with my ultimate destination being Manila, Philippines.  Taylor, Eric and I are headed over with the event staff and Ben from Compassion to shoot some videos of the LDP students that will be traveling with our teams this summer serving as advocates for children living in poverty.  I’ll try to post here as much as possible to keep any of you that are interested up to date.

It’s pretty overwhelming.  Going on these trips always is.  Going to a new country can be overwhelming.  Seeing poverty like we don’t experience here in the States is overwhelming.  The humility that God wants to use you to do something about that poverty can be overwhelming.  Plus, I feel like I’m leaving a lot behind undone and unfinished.  That’s overwhelming.

But I refuse to whine about it.

I look forward to what’s about to happen to me.  I look forward to when I will look back on this past month and these two weeks and see all the ways I missed how the Lord was moving.  I look forward to getting back and being able to share all my stories.

But as I look forward, I will also be committed to the present, to the nowness of what’s going on.  I will make the most of every opportunity and live in the moment.

Just so long as everyone else in the moment isn’t driving me bonkers.

I’ll see ya’ when I see ya’!

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