Lars Rood kept telling me, “You need to meet Phil and Amy, you’ll love them.” Lars even took the first step and set up a dinner where we could all get together. He was right.
It’s not hard making friends with them. In fact, our hearts beat for the same types of stuff in life. Justice, Jesus, adventure, family, and a good taco. The big difference between Phil and myself is that Phil is doing a lot of the stuff I only dream about. In other words, he’s brave while I’m a wuss with a keyboard and a camera.
Steps of Justice
Last month, when Phil was gracious enough to take me to Tijuana for a day, he showed me something he was just about to launch. It was this very visual and powerful 30 day prayer journal he is calling Steps of Justice.
Let me encourage you. If you hear about injustice in the world, whether in San Diego county or your neighborhood or on television in far away places, and you wonder how you can get involved… this is a great little resource. Allow Phil to take you on a journey, show you some of what he’s seen, and allow the Spirit to challenge you along the way.
Here’s the pitch
Phil is giving this thing away. You can go to the site and download a free version right now. He’s a little too nice if you ask me. Phil and Amy are full time missionaries, they have poured their lives into this little resource, at the very least pay $5 to download the high resolution version. Better yet, order some hard copies for $6 for your small group or youth group. It’d be a great encouragement to them.
Jean Michelle and Mark Oestriecher – May 27th, 2010
For the last couple of days I’ve been captivated by the stories flowing from my friends on a trip to Port-au-Prince. A group of church leaders is there to launch a partnership program which will pair an American church with a Haitian church. (Follow the team | Give to the program)
This all sprung out of our trip in February. As we travelled around the city we connected with various community leaders and discovered they were all pastors. The church is the only surviving and functional piece of infrastructure in Port-au-Prince right now. Don’t even get me started about the relief/aid organizations.
So Seth Barnes asked if we could meet with some pastors to hear what their needs were. A few hundred pastors representing more than 1000 churches showed up! Realizing God had just unleashed something on this relatively small NGO– Adventures in Missions went back home and talked to their board about what to do. The result was something they are calling the “Church Partnership Program.” Essentially, they are setting up Haitian leaders to form a simple relationship between an existing Haitian church and an American church.
$95 per day
In Haiti, $95 per day is all that is needed to fund the Son of God orphanage. Staff, housing, food, school, clothing, everything… for 125 children.
very soon after arriving in the courtyard of the orphanage/school, jean michelle took my hand. he has a bright smile and a sparkle in his eyes. when i backed up to a ledge he was sitting on, he put his arms around my neck; and for the next hour, he was either on my back, or holding my hand. over and over, he said to me, in broken english: my name is john michael, your name is marko.
jean michelle wrote his name for me on a scrap of paper (he wrote “jhon michil”), gave it to me, and asked me to remember him.
i asked one of our wonderful translators, john, to help me out, and had a little chat with jean michelle. his parents were both killed in the earthquake in january, and he was living on the street when pastor max found him 3 days ago. now he’s in a community of love, and getting an education.
but he’s still hungry. and he still sleeps on a rug, outside, in a courtyard, with 125 other kids, every night.
I can’t speak for you. But this tugs my heart big time. $95 a day feeds 124 other kids like him. It makes me want to consider adoption. It makes me think of the things I spend $95 on all the time. I makes me think that I completely suck as budgeting. It makes me feel guilt and ashamed that I’ve blown that on dinner before. Or that I will blow it again on dinner in full knowledge that I could be helping so many.
But more than anything it’s a call to action. I can’t sit here in knowledge of that and do nothing.
As I mentioned last week, I spent Friday in Mexico with Phil Cunningham of YWAM. We had a fun time meeting some people for coffee and talking about life, touring the YWAM Baja base, grabbing an amazing taco in Rosarito, and getting a glimpse of the vision they have for reaching Baja for Christ.
I live about 30 minutes from the Tijuana border. And I’m ashamed to admit that the last time I crossed the border into Mexico was 2003. Kristen and the kids have never been. (In fairness, the five years that we lived in Romeo, a mere 45 minutes from Canada, we crossed the border three times.)
The Tijuana/San Diego border sees an average of 300,000 people moving between countries daily. Considering San Diego has 1.2 million residents and Tijuana has 1.5 million… you’re talking a lot of people who cross one way or the other each day.
Two Types of San Diego Residents
There are really two types of San Diego residents when it comes to TJ. There are those who go often and those who never go. The average San Diego resident who doesn’t go has a visceral reaction when you mention going to Tijuana. Almost universally you’ll hear people say “Don’t go to TJ. It’s dangerous.” It’s a mantra I’ve had drilled into me since moving here and its had the intended result– I’d never gone to TJ since moving here!
Likewise the news media on the U.S. side does its best to reinforce this concept that TJ is super dangerous. Drugs, human trafficking, gang violence, murders. While it’s true that those are serious issues the end result is that there is an increasing fear of our neighbors to the south building up.
As if any city of 1.5 million in the United States didn’t have drugs, human trafficking, gang violence, or murders?
Fear vs. Reality
YWAM guest housing near Rosarito.
Now that I’ve been there I can affirm that not much has changed in Tijuana since my last visit in 2003. If anything, crossing the border both ways is a little simpler. Just like any border crossing around the globe there are procedures. You pull up, show some ID, answer some questions, and hope you don’t get waved in to an inspection lane.
If you’ve never been to a developing nation– or only been to a resort city in a developing nation– than Tijuana will come across as dirty and disorganized. In truth, TJ isn’t unlike many major metropolitans in the United States. There are nice areas and there are nasty areas. There are places where you are likely to get robbed and there are places you can relax. Being that Mexico is a developing nation and Tijuana is a fast-growing city it is no surprise that there are many parts of TJ which are slummy and could use some help. I’m not going to say that Tijuana is an awesome place to visit but I do want to point out that its a typical big city in a developing nation.
But if you watch the news, particularly conservative news, all of the Mexican border areas are filled with people who want to brutally murder Americans on site. Burned in our consciousness are all the Dateline NBC shows, Geraldo standing at the border and saying beheading as many times between commercials as possible, and documentaries showing us how people are being brutally murdered. Let’s remind ourselves of a simple fact… if you aren’t in a gang or not buying drugs or not soliciting a prostitute, you are unlikely to get caught up in anything having to do with drugs, gangs, or prostitution.
The news media, particularly the conservative news media, is well-aware that scaring people leads to good ratings. (Which translates to ad revenue) So it pays well to scare you away from Mexico. And it is working. Big time.
Here’s a little fact for you to think about. Killing innocent Americans is bad business for a drug cartel. With a little street smarts and a good dose of common sense I don’t think there is any reason to avoid going to Mexico altogether. (Obviously, there are plenty of places to avoid after dark! But you’d avoid those same types of places in any city in America.)
Mission trips to Mexico
I think the thing that shocked me the most during my day in TJ was to learn how Christians have stopped coming to Mexico to do missions. Participation is down 50%-75% in recent years.
And why? All of the agencies will tell you the same thing: People are afraid of traveling to Mexico.
I saw this same phenomenon on my Facebook status the other day. Had I posted that I was going out for a taco with my friend Phil, no one would have thought much of it. But because I said I was going to TJ… lots of people were praying for my safety. Now, I appreciate the prayers. But this reveals the fear factor.
What’s changing?
I couldn’t help but go down there, see the ministry locations, and hear the news that people aren’t helping as much anymore without being touched.
What’s changing first is my behavior. I know I can’t do a lot but I know that I can both raise awareness of ministry opportunities in TJ as well as make time to go and participate in small ways. Maybe that will mean finding a place to plug in as a family? Or a community group? Or inviting friends to go down to check out ministry stuff? I’m not sure on the exact details yet… but I do know that I can’t serve in Jerusalem and Judea without thinking about the Samaria next door.
OK, dear blog reader. It’s time you and I do something to change the world together.
Back in February I shared my trip to Port-au-Prince with you. You saw my joys, sorrows, giggles, and heart-longings. And since that trip I’ve had a strong, STRONG desire to go back. Opportunities have come and gone with the circumstances never quite right.
This is right. This exactly fulfills the vision I had for this trip as our van lumbered out of Port-au-Prince for the day-long drive back to the Dominican Republic to return home in February.
Some details:
July 19-25, 2010
Cost is $390 + travel to Port-au-Prince (seems like the flight is about $800 from San Diego, maybe more or less where you live.)
The maximum size of the team is 20. I’d like to know who is going by mid-May.
The team is open to anyone 21+… whether you know me from church, my work at Youth Specialties, or are a blog reader.
This is an adult trip– which means we’ll be a team when we’re together, but it’s not quite the same as a youth group trip!
Just like my first trip, this is being put together by Adventures in Missions. I know the team there and some of the people we’ll be working alongside.
Kristen is going with me. Though it’s not a “couples” trip this may be an amazing opportunity for a ministry couple to go and do ministry together.
Ideally, you have a heart for serving the Haitian church and have been praying for God to open an opportunity for you to go.
If you are thinking of leading a team in 2011 and want to go on a preview trip, this is perfect for that.
I don’t know 1000% what we’ll be doing every day of our trip. (That will become more clear later) At this point I can only guarantee you that we’ll be doing some type of earthquake relief and working through a local Haitian pastor.
Again, because of the nature of the team this trip is limited to only 20 team members. So if you are interested, it’d be good to contact me right away.
To serve the Haitian church. Each day of our trip was spent meeting with local pastors, meeting their people, and assessing/serving their needs. As I wrote about on the YS blog, “Jesus is the one feeding the people in Haiti.” As I documented over and over again, I was able to help be the hands and feet of Jesus– even though I have no special skills for disaster relief. God used my inability to show off his abilities.
To mobilize you. Let’s face it, now that the film crews are rolling out of Port-au-Prince you are starting to forget about the need. While the disaster of January 12th fades into your memory banks, distracted by the Winter Olympics and testimony of Toyota’s president— 750,000 people are living in the open with no shelter, no regular source of food, and no clean water. They desperately need people like you to come to their aid.
You witnessed my trip. I laid bare my anxieties and fears as I prepared. I documented my every day of the journey. And you’ve seen that I’m just a regular guy who went to Haiti to be the hands and feet of Jesus– and I came back safe and sound.
I wasn’t traumatized. I wasn’t under-utilized. I wasn’t in harms way. I wasn’t in the way of “professionals.” And the place certainly isn’t crawling with American relief organizations or morbid tourists.
Am I saying that God is calling every person to go to Haiti to serve? Of course not.
But I am reminding many of my readers what they already know: If the Holy Spirit is prompting you to go, and you are finding reason not to go… you may need to toss aside those excuses and lean into what God is calling you to do!
Find an organization and go. Soon. The need is getting greater, not less.
I’ve been on a lot of missions trips. But never one that was three dimensional before.
The three dimensions of the Haiti trip:
Going and experiencing for myself.
Using Twitter and Facebook to tell stories live, sharing pictures and videos with thousands around the world.
Watching the experience change my friends while they participate in the trip from their living rooms, offices, and cars.
Here’s how this scenario played out over and over again.
We would load up the team van and head to a destination. Whether it was a meeting of pastors, a prayer meeting where thousands spontaneously had shown up, or walking around a devastated community and meeting people effected by the earthquake.
All of a sudden, my iPhone became a powerful ministry tool.
I would post on Twitter a simple message.
And instantly, my friends were engaged in what we were doing.
As free moments were available, often times while walking or driving from one place to another I was able to update my Facebook status or post a tweet so that people could continue to pray for what we were doing… and more importantly join in the story of what God was doing.
It’s important to note that this wasn’t a distraction from what I was doing on the ground. I was deeply engaged in the moment. But as free we walked from one place to the next or as we drove, I was able to utilize that otherwise down time as ministry time. Doing these things didn’t distract, they amplified what we were doing.
Thanks to the power of Twitter retweets and hastags, there were now hundreds of people engaged in our ministry, watching every step of our journey. People gave us advice. Sent us links. Added our efforts to databases and websites. Encouraged us. On and on. This was missions far different from what is documented in Acts, when reports from missionaries trickled in from letters!
As the need for more specific prayer arose, I was able to update these friends… who were now looking for ways to pray for our team.
Read the updates from bottom to top, in sequential order
At this point in our day, I was in hog heaven. This was the convergence of all of my favorite things. I was engaged in social action as we advocated for people. I was engaged in social media as my cloud community prayed and sought solutions for the problems I was experiencing on the ground. And I was engaged as a pastor as we prayed and worked with people in the camp.
And social media was also documenting a miracle. (and my getting punk’d by Marko!)
Little did I know that the three dimensional missions we were doing had taken on legs of its own. My friend Tash was updating her radio audience in Auckland, New Zealand with my Twitter updates so people could pray. Tons of people retweeted and added commentary . Literally, people around the world were following this story and about to see God do something amazing.
Using $2000 we had raised on Twitter the night before. We were able to go to the only supermarket in Port-au-Prince and buy nearly all of the rice, beans, and baby food they had. (The money was given one day, utilized the next!)
While hundreds of people back home participated in our journey, we were able to continue pressing into what God was doing.
I don’t think this is somehow the beginning of a new age of missions engagement, but I do know that for our team this was a powerful way to tell stories as we went and amplify/report on what God was doing.
As a fellow youth worker, I know thousands feel compelled to respond to the humanitarian need in Haiti. But the concerns of safety and appropriateness will over-power the prompting of the Holy Spirit to take a team for most. (This is a faith issue, but that’s another blog post.)
It’s my hope that this new variety of missions will embolden many more to pray for Haiti, give to NGOs doing good work on the ground, and go to Haiti to see for themselves what God is doing.
Each year I’m shocked that few Christians latch onto Saint Patrick‘s Day as a holiday to celebrate international missions. I think it comes from few people knowing Patrick’s story. They have heard the lore that he scared the snakes out of Ireland but forget the facts. Patrick (of Wales) was trafficked as a boy to Ireland to work for a rich person. Later, he left Ireland and returned home. Through a series of events Patrick became convinced that his life’s mission was to return to the place of his captivity and set spiritual captives free. For the rest of his life he worked tirelessly to establish Christianity on the island. Through some inginuity and fancy friends Patrick was eventually able to help start 500 churches across the once resistant land. As time would tell, Ireland would become the place which “protected” Christianity during the Dark Ages. Luck of the Irish or providence of God? I chose providence!
While drunks everywhere salute St. Patrick as the god of Guinness I celebrate him as the example of all believers to chase wildly the call of following Christ wherever you are lead.
With that in mind, here are the missionaries I’ve been lifting up in prayer today. These are the heroes in my life who willingly accept the crazy challenge of changing the world.
– Dan & Barb Evans. My former youth pastor and his wife run a hospitality house for military personnel in Alaska.
– Eric & Michelle Stapleton. Kristen and I have been friends with them since college. They spend their days translating the Bible in a remote area of the island nation of Vanuatu.
Of course, the staff of our church are all missionaries. (They raise support as they plant this church.) Today I’m praying for Stephen & Bradford Phelan, Edgardo & Elizabeth Avila, Christine Brinn, Chris and Anastasia Brewster, and the whole team at World Impact who have joined forces with Harbor.
Each year I’m shocked that few Christians latch onto