Hold the Rope

I was recently talking with a mentor of mine, sharing with him about my mission adventure.  As our conversation was coming to a close, He ran into his office rummaged around and after several minutes returned with one foot length of white rope.  Handing me the rope, he must have seen the confusion on my face and began this story.

    “There once was a young missionary who left for a foreign field full of excitement, energy, and enthusiasm.  He told his church, friends and family that he couldn’t wait to come back and tell them all about the lives that were going to be changed. 

     Things didn’t go according to that plan for the young missionary.  Several years later he returned to the church that had sent him off.  He returned broken, a failure. His faith and love had been replaced by bitterness and resentment. In secret he snuck into the prayer and sat in the back unnoticed.  He remained there silently until one member of the prayer circle invited their “new guest” to share.

    Dejected but feeling spiteful the man stood and told his story.  He explained how his early ambitions had been blocked first one way and then another till eventually he lost all desire to minister.  He told of the human depravity and hatred that many had targeted at him.  These trials had beaten him so badly that he gave up on the mission, the church, the faith, and God.  Finally he close with this accusation, “You don’t know me, even now after hearing what has happened you don’t realize that I was your missionary.  When you sent me out, you said, ‘We’ll be praying for you.  We’ll hold our end of the rope and lift you up to the God.’ You dropped the rope.”

    My mentor looked me in the eye and handed me the rope.  “You go in God’s grace, and by God’s grace we will hold the rope.  You hold onto us and we’ll hold onto you.”   

    Interestingly enough, I was sharing this story with another friend and she resonated with it so much because of what God had been teaching her that she offered to write a post about it.  View what God has been teaching her here.                   

    My last post spoke of the chaos I feel I am going into, but it is supporters like him who give me confidence.  

    I know that I am held up by many with bowed heads and folded hands. If you would like to join that team and help hold the rope, send me an email or comment on this post.

NewsLetter - May 8

Courtesy of Kriss Szkurlatowski

Let's Get Things Started

    I know it's been a while but I wanted to let you know about some exciting new things that have been happening in my life. God’s been doing so much in my life it's hard to know where to begin. I’ve been working as a Freelance Video Producer for the past couple of years but business has slowed in the past several months.  It’s given me the time to see how God has been preparing me for a new project.  I’m not sure if we ever talked about this, but I’ve always been interested in telling stories about what God is doing through missions around the world. About a year ago, I started playing with the idea of producing Videos in Africa that will engage the local US church in His work there. I began exploring the idea on the side and seeing what opportunities there were for me to do that.

Telling the story...

      Since February, that idea has formed into a reality.  Working with the mission organization World Venture, I’ve been able to plan a trip, really a 2 Year Project, to produce Mission Videos in the 15 different African Countries they are working in.  Specifically, I’m going to be traveling from country to country to tell the story of what God is doing through the missionaries and local churches; but also to visually explain the work that needs to be done.  I hope to show the opportunities that exist for people to be involved in that work. The big picture dream is that through these videos and by using social networking outlets that the people will be challenged by God's work and realize that they can be involved in it.  I believe that as we become engaged in mission work and service, that God will use each of us to impact change not only in the lives of those we serve but also in our own lives. That’s been my experience and I’m excited to be able to create this opportunity for you.  

Building a team...

The next step in making this Video Project happen is building a team and support network. That's you. Having a solid team to support me is key to the success of this project.  I would love to have you be part of it.  Right now I need people who will give both one time financial gifts as well as commit to giving on a monthly basis throughout the project. If you would like to do that please follow the links provided on the side column.  I am also building a network of prayer supporters, those committed to seriously, and consistently praying on my behalf.  Besides these two there are wide variety of other ways that you can be involved. In the coming months I'll be sending you more information about those opportunities. Regardless of how you choose to be involved I would love to connect with you face to face and share some of those opportunities with you as well as share more details about the project.  Please let me know if you'd like to get together and we can arrange a time to connect.  Thank you for your time and for considering how you can be part of this amazing opportunity.  I am exited to see what God will do through this.