Today's sermon message was, "It is ok to fail, it is not ok to not try." This is an idea found all over scripture and it usually comes in the vein of trusting God. This is not an easy lifestyle. In our "Be Prepared" lifestyle often we deem preparation as the need to have all the ducks in a row before heading out.
I (Kevin) happen to like the Boy Scouts' motto "Be Prepared." I find it quite prudent.
That said, living this pre-missionary life teaches us a lot about Be Prepared AND Trust God philosophies of living. They need not be mutually exclusive ideas, but they need not be synonymous either.
How are we being prepared? I think for both of us, the opportunity to be spiritually ready is the number one. We have been able to devote so much to spiritual development and learning. We are preparing by learning the culture and language in which we are to minister to. We are preparing by building a support team around us as we go (we don't want our ministry to be an island). The majority of these things we can control.
But there are many things outside of our control that we've really learned to have to trust God for. We have had to trust God for a living situation - provided; we have had to trust God to continually confirm this calling - confirmed; we have had to trust God with incredible support and encouragement - provided; we have had to trust God to lead us to a ministering church - done.
And as we prepare and trust God we are set out to try. What happens if we fail? Thankfully we have the family, friends and church to support us. They are our safety net and our launchers into the grand sky of missions.
So often the amount of things that people have to trust God for is so difficult they don't try. We want to thank all of you for your encouragment and your safety net that allows us to both Be Prepared and Trust God.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Duty of Minister/Missionary
I (Kevin) am in a class called Personal Transformation. It has been an amazing class, full of learning. We are currently reading a book about the anatomy of the brain and how its design for relationships is what spurs transformation.
This has great implications for ministers and missionaries. We have three brains that process data, and though they are interconnected, they work autonomously as well. While our culture often praises the Neo-cortex for its cognitive ability, it is the limbic brain that actually forms long-lasting transformation through emotional understanding.
What does this mean? It means for ministers that we can preach doctrine (statements) until we are blue in the face, but without the positive emotional attachment (please do not read emotionalism) to faith, doctrine has very little impact. That means the minister and missionary must share life in relationship with the people they minister to. Our limbic brains formulate emotional bonds almost telepathically, and these emotional bonds, while influenced by doctrine (statements) are formed through relationship.
The book talks about the "therapist" as one who must enter into the sphere of the patient, that it is limbic restructuring that provides emotional healing. This model works for formal therapy or for ministry. The minister/missionary must be willing to enter into life with the one being ministered to. This in evitably means that the minister/missionary will be the one ministered to as well, because there will be a mutual limbic exchange.
We learned through an anthropological exercise while I was in Portland, that positive limbic resonance cannot happen where superiority is involved. An easy example is ministering to (read "with") a homeless person, while not as a homeless person. Superiority makes it easy to minister to a homeless person, but horrible to be ministered to BY a homeless person. However eliminating this dichotomy and entering into a learning relationship allows then for actual, mutual ministry to take place.
When we take a look over our scripture we find God who makes statements (10 Commandments) but really enters into a transformative process with the people. He walks with Adam and Eve; he speaks directly to the Patriarchs; he comes as a cloud and pillar of fire to the wandering Israelites; he is encapsulated in the arc of the covenant. God makes himself known through the prophets and the angels.
In the New Testament God appeals to the limbic brains he created in us by becoming human, actually walking with us, not in a method of superiority, but in service. While we like to think of Jesus as the suffering servant, he allowed himself to be ministered to also. There was a mutual exchange limbically. He then left us the Spirit, who has relationship with us not in such an imperical knowledge (5 senses), but we can recognize the Spirit by our trust and experience.
Christ also gave us the equipped disciples to be physical representations of him. They made disciples and so forth and so on. We are part of the limbic resonance that effects transformation within our Christian community and without.
If the Church is to be an effective body effecting transformation, and a superiority complex effects limbic resonance between people, how then must the church view itself?
This has great implications for ministers and missionaries. We have three brains that process data, and though they are interconnected, they work autonomously as well. While our culture often praises the Neo-cortex for its cognitive ability, it is the limbic brain that actually forms long-lasting transformation through emotional understanding.
What does this mean? It means for ministers that we can preach doctrine (statements) until we are blue in the face, but without the positive emotional attachment (please do not read emotionalism) to faith, doctrine has very little impact. That means the minister and missionary must share life in relationship with the people they minister to. Our limbic brains formulate emotional bonds almost telepathically, and these emotional bonds, while influenced by doctrine (statements) are formed through relationship.
The book talks about the "therapist" as one who must enter into the sphere of the patient, that it is limbic restructuring that provides emotional healing. This model works for formal therapy or for ministry. The minister/missionary must be willing to enter into life with the one being ministered to. This in evitably means that the minister/missionary will be the one ministered to as well, because there will be a mutual limbic exchange.
We learned through an anthropological exercise while I was in Portland, that positive limbic resonance cannot happen where superiority is involved. An easy example is ministering to (read "with") a homeless person, while not as a homeless person. Superiority makes it easy to minister to a homeless person, but horrible to be ministered to BY a homeless person. However eliminating this dichotomy and entering into a learning relationship allows then for actual, mutual ministry to take place.
When we take a look over our scripture we find God who makes statements (10 Commandments) but really enters into a transformative process with the people. He walks with Adam and Eve; he speaks directly to the Patriarchs; he comes as a cloud and pillar of fire to the wandering Israelites; he is encapsulated in the arc of the covenant. God makes himself known through the prophets and the angels.
In the New Testament God appeals to the limbic brains he created in us by becoming human, actually walking with us, not in a method of superiority, but in service. While we like to think of Jesus as the suffering servant, he allowed himself to be ministered to also. There was a mutual exchange limbically. He then left us the Spirit, who has relationship with us not in such an imperical knowledge (5 senses), but we can recognize the Spirit by our trust and experience.
Christ also gave us the equipped disciples to be physical representations of him. They made disciples and so forth and so on. We are part of the limbic resonance that effects transformation within our Christian community and without.
If the Church is to be an effective body effecting transformation, and a superiority complex effects limbic resonance between people, how then must the church view itself?
Speaking at Church
Yesterday was such a blessing for our ministry and motivation. We had the opportunity to share at both services of our church in Oroville. Despite the change in time (which had us exhausted) there was a great turnout to the early service and a good one to the later service. It was great to be able to share with our home congregation who we are, what God has called us to and how they could partner. It was an honor to be able to share what God was doing with Free Methodists in Spain.
Most people seemed staggered by the statistics about faith in Spain. As is popularly believed, Spain is a Catholic nation, so very rooted in faith. What is staggering is that less than 20% of Catholics are faithful attenders. The Protestant church is about 0.4% of the entire population in the country, and atheism is on the rise. The fact that Spain is part of the 10/40 window is not common knowledge, nor the fact that it is one of the countries where the Gospel is shared the least in the world and the least in the Latin world.
Part of our heart for Spain is to see faith on the rise, this is the general hope for any missionary. We are excited that many from our home church will be praying for us and joining us on this mission to witness Jesus Christ.
Most people seemed staggered by the statistics about faith in Spain. As is popularly believed, Spain is a Catholic nation, so very rooted in faith. What is staggering is that less than 20% of Catholics are faithful attenders. The Protestant church is about 0.4% of the entire population in the country, and atheism is on the rise. The fact that Spain is part of the 10/40 window is not common knowledge, nor the fact that it is one of the countries where the Gospel is shared the least in the world and the least in the Latin world.
Part of our heart for Spain is to see faith on the rise, this is the general hope for any missionary. We are excited that many from our home church will be praying for us and joining us on this mission to witness Jesus Christ.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Support us for FREE!
So maybe you have been thinking about supporting us, but for whatever reason just don't have the funds to do so. Well, now we have a new option for support which costs you nothing more than a second of your time. :)
Everyone uses Google to search the internet, right? Well now there is another option through Yahoo, called the BenefitBar, which every time you use 10 cents will be donated to LAM on our behalf.
This is how it works:
1. You think to yourself, "hmm, self, I need to look up how to make chocolate chip cookies."
2. You then type in "chocolate chip cookies" (or whatever else you might want to look up) into the BenefitBar search engine.
3. When the search results show up you then have to click on one of the sponsored links.
* How do you know which are the sponsored links? The sponsored links are usually the first
ones listed and are highlighted in blue.
4. Once you have clicked on the sponsored link ten cents is automatically deposited into our account.
* What if I don't want to go to any of the sponsored links? Often the sponsored links are not
the most helpful ones, however you don't have to stay on that link for us to receive our ten
cents. If you don't find it helpful, simply go back to the search engine after the page has
loaded and click on the link that actually is helpful for you.
5. Can I donate more than 10 cents per day? YES! Each time you use the BenefitBar and click on a sponsored link we receive money.
How does it all add up?
Our goal for the month of March is to reach $200. This means that, starting tomorrow (March 7th), if 20 people use the BenefitBar 4x a day, by April 1st we will have reached our March goal of $200.
Will you commit to support us through the BenefitBar? If you are interested in downloading this search engine, please follow the instructions below. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail us: booksatterlee@gmail.com
Kevin & Leah Book-Satterlee and Fund-it BenefitBar Join Forces!
We are excited to announce that you can now financially support our organization without taking a dime out of your pocket…the dime comes from Yahoo! There is no cost to our organization and no cost to you. You can help us raise funds without writing a check or buying and selling products or spending any additional time. Thanks to our new relationship with Fund-it BenefitBar, we receive ten cents each time you click on a sponsored link when you search through our new customized toolbar. No purchases are necessary.
Fund-it has created a customized toolbar for our organization; you simply download it to your Internet browser and do all of your searches through the Yahoo! search engine. As an added benefit, our custom toolbar includes additional helpful links. There are no pop ups, spyware or adware; your privacy is protected and it will not replace your existing toolbars. The download process takes less then a minute and the toolbar is un-intrusive.
Please take a few minutes to go to http://www.funditbenefitbar.com/2715 and simply download our toolbar and help us meet our financial needs.
Thank you so much for your continued support.
* P.S. If you would like to make a financial contribution you can do so by directly donating through our LAM sponsorship page: https://www.lam.org/donate/missionary.php?misid=760616.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. We would love to hear from you so please drop us a line!
Everyone uses Google to search the internet, right? Well now there is another option through Yahoo, called the BenefitBar, which every time you use 10 cents will be donated to LAM on our behalf.
This is how it works:
1. You think to yourself, "hmm, self, I need to look up how to make chocolate chip cookies."
2. You then type in "chocolate chip cookies" (or whatever else you might want to look up) into the BenefitBar search engine.
3. When the search results show up you then have to click on one of the sponsored links.
* How do you know which are the sponsored links? The sponsored links are usually the first
ones listed and are highlighted in blue.
4. Once you have clicked on the sponsored link ten cents is automatically deposited into our account.
* What if I don't want to go to any of the sponsored links? Often the sponsored links are not
the most helpful ones, however you don't have to stay on that link for us to receive our ten
cents. If you don't find it helpful, simply go back to the search engine after the page has
loaded and click on the link that actually is helpful for you.
5. Can I donate more than 10 cents per day? YES! Each time you use the BenefitBar and click on a sponsored link we receive money.
How does it all add up?
Our goal for the month of March is to reach $200. This means that, starting tomorrow (March 7th), if 20 people use the BenefitBar 4x a day, by April 1st we will have reached our March goal of $200.
Will you commit to support us through the BenefitBar? If you are interested in downloading this search engine, please follow the instructions below. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail us: booksatterlee@gmail.com
Kevin & Leah Book-Satterlee and Fund-it BenefitBar Join Forces!
We are excited to announce that you can now financially support our organization without taking a dime out of your pocket…the dime comes from Yahoo! There is no cost to our organization and no cost to you. You can help us raise funds without writing a check or buying and selling products or spending any additional time. Thanks to our new relationship with Fund-it BenefitBar, we receive ten cents each time you click on a sponsored link when you search through our new customized toolbar. No purchases are necessary.
Fund-it has created a customized toolbar for our organization; you simply download it to your Internet browser and do all of your searches through the Yahoo! search engine. As an added benefit, our custom toolbar includes additional helpful links. There are no pop ups, spyware or adware; your privacy is protected and it will not replace your existing toolbars. The download process takes less then a minute and the toolbar is un-intrusive.
Please take a few minutes to go to http://www.funditbenefitbar.com/2715 and simply download our toolbar and help us meet our financial needs.
Thank you so much for your continued support.
* P.S. If you would like to make a financial contribution you can do so by directly donating through our LAM sponsorship page: https://www.lam.org/donate/missionary.php?misid=760616.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. We would love to hear from you so please drop us a line!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Church for the Church-Scarred
On Sunday, I (Kevin) went to a church that's slogan was "church for the church-scarred". Boy what an unruly bunch of misfits. I was forced to think about what it means to be church-scarred - maimed by attending a community of believers who sometimes bring in their own stuff into the Kingdom of God.
I was struck by the love and peace in God that these "punks" had and expressed in church. While the experience was nothing like I'd ever experienced before, the genuine love of God was so powerful that I even wrote a poem entitled (Watch Out! - When Misfits are Freed).
As we return from Spain, Leah and I have dialogued greatly about being disciples in a country where the majority of the people are church-scarred. This experience then was very impacting for me. I was reminded that there are people who have been church-scarred and though they do not agree with the status quo church, they want and desire a passionate relationship with Jesus. These are people who have been burned by the church, but STILL make an ardent intent on pursuing and forming community surrounded by the freedom, love and redemption of Jesus.
If then there are people here, then God is stirring in the hearts of misfits in Spain. There are going to be people, not seekers, but ardent intentors of relationship with Jesus and his community. Though these people may be scarred by the church, they will congregate out of all seriousness to worship in community.
One of the most exciting things about this perspective gained while at this church is that God has followers intent on loving him and feeling his love and redemption. As one going into ministry, nothing can be a more joyful thing to here. There are people now, serious, and intent misfits, who want the peace of Christ that the church that scarred them forgot. BUT, by the grace of God, they have desire of community, and they will not let it rest without being a part of the Gospel community.
This church in Portland was a renegade bunch on the fringe of Evangelicalism, complete with twenty hair-colors, cussing in and outside of the church and some wild worship tempered by the sheer weight of the love of Jesus Christ. It is a place where those scarred by the church have come. Thinking about ministry then in a country full of church-scarred people, maybe we will have to think a great deal differently about who it is that will be congregating with great intent around the love of Jesus Christ.
If the church of Spain become a country-wide church of misfits, I will thank God for the opportunity to commune with misfits around the great and powerful peace and freedom in the love of Jesus Christ.
I was struck by the love and peace in God that these "punks" had and expressed in church. While the experience was nothing like I'd ever experienced before, the genuine love of God was so powerful that I even wrote a poem entitled (Watch Out! - When Misfits are Freed).
As we return from Spain, Leah and I have dialogued greatly about being disciples in a country where the majority of the people are church-scarred. This experience then was very impacting for me. I was reminded that there are people who have been church-scarred and though they do not agree with the status quo church, they want and desire a passionate relationship with Jesus. These are people who have been burned by the church, but STILL make an ardent intent on pursuing and forming community surrounded by the freedom, love and redemption of Jesus.
If then there are people here, then God is stirring in the hearts of misfits in Spain. There are going to be people, not seekers, but ardent intentors of relationship with Jesus and his community. Though these people may be scarred by the church, they will congregate out of all seriousness to worship in community.
One of the most exciting things about this perspective gained while at this church is that God has followers intent on loving him and feeling his love and redemption. As one going into ministry, nothing can be a more joyful thing to here. There are people now, serious, and intent misfits, who want the peace of Christ that the church that scarred them forgot. BUT, by the grace of God, they have desire of community, and they will not let it rest without being a part of the Gospel community.
This church in Portland was a renegade bunch on the fringe of Evangelicalism, complete with twenty hair-colors, cussing in and outside of the church and some wild worship tempered by the sheer weight of the love of Jesus Christ. It is a place where those scarred by the church have come. Thinking about ministry then in a country full of church-scarred people, maybe we will have to think a great deal differently about who it is that will be congregating with great intent around the love of Jesus Christ.
If the church of Spain become a country-wide church of misfits, I will thank God for the opportunity to commune with misfits around the great and powerful peace and freedom in the love of Jesus Christ.
A Whole Lot of Learning
I, Kevin, have been up in Portland (and am still missing Leah as I am still in the beautiful Northwest), attending classes for my Master of Arts of Ministerial Leadership. I have been learning a lot while here, both in and outside of class, but to give some perspective on all the lectures I've been in and the intensity:
October - George Fox Seminary 50 hours in one week
December - Madrid 20 hours in four days IN SPANISH
January - Miami 80+ hours in ten days
February - George Fox Seminary 50 hours in one week
Books I've read that are notable:
Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
Prayer - Richard Foster
Spirituality of the Road - David Bosch
Compassion - Henri Nouwen (and others)
While in preparation for Spain, Leah and I have been thrown into the roll of students. As with any preparation for any venture, one must study and be a student of the new venture. Having been students now for some time now, it is a great reality that God wants his people to be life-long learners as we serve him. Consequently, most of what we study as life-long learners is not something that is new, but a deepening or stretching of what we have already studied.
October - George Fox Seminary 50 hours in one week
December - Madrid 20 hours in four days IN SPANISH
January - Miami 80+ hours in ten days
February - George Fox Seminary 50 hours in one week
Books I've read that are notable:
Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
Prayer - Richard Foster
Spirituality of the Road - David Bosch
Compassion - Henri Nouwen (and others)
While in preparation for Spain, Leah and I have been thrown into the roll of students. As with any preparation for any venture, one must study and be a student of the new venture. Having been students now for some time now, it is a great reality that God wants his people to be life-long learners as we serve him. Consequently, most of what we study as life-long learners is not something that is new, but a deepening or stretching of what we have already studied.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Happy Valentine's Day!
Jeremiah 31:2-4 (New International Version)
2 This is what the LORD says:
"The people who survive the sword
will find favor in the desert;
I will come to give rest to Israel."
3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
4 I will build you up again
and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.
Again you will take up your tambourines
and go out to dance with the joyful.
I don't know how this Valentine's day finds you, happy, sad, feeling loved or un-loved. Wherever you are I want to remind you that there is a Father God who loves you with an everlasting love. He loves us first, before we even begin to love him. He forms us in our mother's womb and sees deep into our lives into those places where no one else has access. He redeems us and gives us peace and meaning even within life's most violent storms. He longs to hold you in his arms and to give you a sense of belonging and purpose. He is the author of love and the only one who can perfectly love you. I encourage you to open your heart to him and remember him wherever you are, in your emptiness or fulness, for he is waiting patiently for you. Happy Valentine's Day!
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