On A Mission In Transition...
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Fall Quarter 2010 Evangelism #1
Friday, December 10, 2010
A Testimony of Joy in 2010
In Spring 2010, I was going through a few weeks in which I was feeling really busy and just overwhelmed by all the stuff I had to do: going to some 12 hours/week of Yukai practices ("Spring Quarter madness"), keeping up with academics, several music performances at church: orchestra, men’s acapella, children’s choir, Youth Worship leading). As a result, I was becoming outwardly unpleasant to be around. During this spring quarter Spencer Sun was carrying on his annual spring FCBC men’s book club, which I was a part of, and we were going through Forgotten God by Francis Chan. At one of our weekly meetings, my unpleasantness was being evident, and so it was put on Spencer’s heart to specifically pray for me (even though I was initially taken aback by his offer) that my joy would be restored. During the next week, I was reading through the book of Philippians and was struck by Phil. 2:1-2, which says, “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose” (NASB). Paul’s joy came from God, but it was completed by others, by his fellow brothers and sisters in the church. By God’s sovereignty, in the chapter of Forgotten God that we were reading together that week, Francis Chan touched on that same point in Philippians. Referring more to Phil. 1, Chan notes that the only thing that kept Paul tied to life on earth, rather than immediately going to be in the presence of God, was the church. He stayed on the earth for their benefit because he had such a great love and passion for them. They were his joy. Upon considering these things, I realized that I had been somewhat distant from the church. Physically, I was still attending Sunday service and seeing people and talking with people, but I wasn’t receiving the deep sort of fellowship that Paul constantly longed to have with the church in his epistles. My accountability group had been failing to meet up regularly as we were all a bit overwhelmed by all of our demanding schedules. And so, in my busyness, even though part of my busyness was the hope of sharing the gospel with my nonchristian friends at school, I was falling apart because I neglected the foundational role that the church plays in supporting me and my evangelisms (Eph. 3:10). Reconnecting with my church did not instantly, practically happen, but somehow just understanding the role that they played and what exactly I was lacking – having that proper perspective – renewed my spirits. I think a lot of it was just being reminded that God is faithful as He spoke these things to me through His sovereignty. Even this partial restoration of my joy was apparent to Spencer as we met up again. But this was only the beginning of everything that God wanted to teach me about joy.
Summer and Jr. High Camp planning rolled in, and who would’ve guessed: our Jr. High Camp theme was “iov” AKA “incomplete joy”. I ended up on the devotions committee and paired up with Matt Louie to work on the Wednesday devotion about finding joy in others. Having to write a devotional on this topic forced us both to really dig into God’s Word and study it vicariously until we knew what it had to say about joy inside-out and could accurately relate it on paper to these junior high students. It was a blessing to work with Matt, study and discuss joy together, and put that devotional together. Then I headed off to India for missions (and he headed off to Thailand, also for missions) where I (and he) learned even more about joy. Experientially. We saw joy. On a couple of occasions in India I had the privilege of worshiping with the local Christian Indians. They spare no detail to praise the Lord. At the church service, they spontaneously sang out songs of praise with their strong voices. As one song would end and trail off, someone would just jump in and start a new song, and with clapping and enthusiasm, everyone else would quickly join in. As we celebrated with our national helpers and translators on our last day in India, they drummed and sang and danced like no tomorrow. There was so much joy in their voices and their faces and their bodies! They were undignified before the Lord! It was incredible!
Then came Jr. High Camp. Unexpectedly, the cabin of 8th grade guys (which I was counseling) was so loving towards one another and towards others. Every time I heard them pray for each other and express concern for each other, I was so encouraged. And especially as I saw their worship grow and expand and become more free and undignified throughout the course of the week, these guys became my joy. As awesome as it was to see older, seasoned Christian brothers and sisters whole-heartedly worshiping the Lord in India, it was even more amazing to see these younger, less mature Christians begin to trek along the path in that direction. But it still gets better! If there was one of my campers who was the exception to this super sweet, loving, concerned stereotype that I’ve been speaking of, it was Henry Wong. Henry was from Calexico, had a tough-guy exterior, and exclaimed profanities several times throughout the week. But by God’s grace he really opened up to Austin and me during our individual counseling times with him. He was able to speak freely about how difficult he found it to grow at FCBC Calexico and about his family divisions, especially because of church/God/Christianity. After Austin’s time with him, Austin especially developed a heart for Henry. After Thursday night’s Testimony Time, we were walking back to our cabin when Henry began tearing up a little. He wanted to share his testimony, but was afraid and intimidated. It would have been something new for him to have his faith and his spiritual walk exposed in this way. But Austin encouraged him to think of this Testimony Time at camp as practice. Here, he was amongst fellow brothers and sisters who love and who would love to hear what God was doing in his life that week. Later back at home, his testimony might not be so well received. The next morning, the Lord put an inkling in Austin’s heart to pull Henry aside and share the gospel with him. To my pleasure, he brought me along with him. While all the guys were having their private devotion times outside, Austin and I went up to Henry and began asking him questions about his faith and about the gospel. It seemed like there were many things he wasn’t sure about, so I shared the Bridge Illustration with him. He asked a good number of questions as we were going along, which told me that he was really paying attention and was hanging on every word. By the end of the illustration, his eyes were watery. His heart was convicted and he wanted to accept Jesus into his heart to be his Lord and Savior! So I gladly led him in the sinner’s prayer. Right afterwards, he asked for Austin and my contact information. I took that as a sign that he wanted to stay in contact and receive spiritual support from of us. He was serious about the decision he had just made and truly wanted it to change the way he lived. And this was possibly the single greatest joy of my life so far. Being used by God to lead someone to begin a new life in Him… it finally made my joy complete.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
India, Part 5: The Team, The Church
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
India, Part 4: The Opposition
Monday, August 16, 2010
India, Part 3: Make Disciples (not just converts)
"The law of the Lord is the daily bread of the true believer. And yet, in David's day, how small was the volume of inspiration, for they had scarcely anything save the first five books of Moses! How much more, then, should we prize the whole written Word which it is our privilege to have in all our houses! But, alas, what ill treatment is given to this angel from heaven! We are not all Berean searchers of the Scriptures. How few among us can lay claim to the benediction of the text! Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you -- Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God's Word? Do you make it the man of your right hand -- your best companion and hourly guide? If not, this blessing belongeth not to you."
Source: http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/tod/view.cgi?book=ps&chapter=001&verse=002