Thursday, December 31, 2015

3 Ways

Only 7 days left until we land in Honduras and we are so excited and a little frazzled to say the least.  I am trying to fit all the homeschool materials for 3 kids and clothing for 5 people in 10 pieces of checked luggage but keep each piece less than 50 pounds.  A challenge that I am certainly up for, but I feel like I am taking it down to the wire!

These last few weeks we have had many people ask how they can be a part of this ministry and I love to share with them the 3 ways they too can be a part of missions, including our mission, BMDMI.


1. Pray-  The most important thing ANYONE can do about ANYTHING is to pray!  God answers prayer.  We are living testaments to His answer to prayer.  We are keenly aware that God uses the prayers of His people to draw others closer to Him and we want to encourage all of our friends and family to keep not just our family in your prayers, but also our fellow missionaries, the people we are ministering to, and our immediate family as we are away from them.  Your prayers make our ministry happen, so please pray for us regularly as we too will pray for all of our friends and family as well.



2. Give- Your giving allows this ministry to happen. We cannot share the gospel with others in Honduras without our financial partners. Lottie Moon once said, "Why should we not ... instead of the paltry offerings we make, do something that will prove that we are really in earnest in claiming to be followers of him who, though he was rich, for our sake became poor?" Every donation made to our ministry comes straight to us. We are currently at 95% of our needed goal to be fully funded. Will you prayerfully consider helping us reach 100%? Just follow the instructions to the right of this page for more information on how you can partner with us financially in this ministry to reach Honduras for Christ!

3. Go- One of the things we love most about being a part of BMDMI is that we work with teams. Every year almost 3,000 volunteers travel to Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal and Guatemala through BMDMI teams to serve an average of 140,000 people in our clinics and hospital; dispense more than 500,000 bags of medicine; distribute 30,000 Bibles; and rejoice with more than 10,000 people deciding to follow Christ. The Team Ministry is life-changing for the volunteers as well, providing them an opportunity to put their faith in action and see up close the difficult lives that many less fortunate people live.  If you are interested in taking a short-term mission trip, why not contact us today and see where you can plug in to be a part of missions?  I promise your life will never be the same!


So here are the 3 ways you too can be a part of missions.  We hope that this inspires you in the New Year to step out of your comfort zone and let God lead you where He has a place just for you to serve Him.  We love you all and consider it a joy to serve God together to Preach and Heal!

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Serpents and Doves


Recently a friend of mine asked Ken and me a very thought provoking question.  She wanted to know "Since Jesus always preached non-violence, how Christians are to protect ourselves and our religion against a violent, ruthless aggressor such as ISIS?"  It was a very good question that I felt was worth sharing here as well as the reply given by Ken.

"Your question is one of some complexity, and should really be answered both with respect to our response as Americans and our response as Christians.  They are not necessarily the same. First, let me address the question from the American perspective. Our government bears the constitutional mandate to protect our sovereign borders as well as defend its citizens from attacks, both domestic and foreign. While being vilified in the press and abroad, Trump's call to halt Muslim immigration is both constitutional and prudent. While not a fan of Trump, this moratorium is the only real option we have until we can get a handle on the known subversives entering our country. It has both statutory and historical precedent, with too many of each to list here. These measures are not being sought out of fear or prejudice, but rather common sense and responsible security measures. Obama's (et. al.) attempts to claim otherwise either show a sore lack of historical and legal knowledge, or worse, are tantamount to aiding and abetting the enemy. While we have always rightly been a shelter of refuge for the oppressed and war-torn nations, not every situation calls for a wholesale rolling out of the welcome mat. I believe we could both protect American citizens and more effectively help provide relief for fleeing refugees over there rather than within our own country. Refugee status is just that anyway. Its goal is not long-term immigration, but rather protection from the current situation. The large number of Muslim men of fighting age fleeing the area creates great concern from a historical perspective as well. A lesser known tenet of Islam is conquering by immigration (called Al-Hijra). Couple that with ISIS's admission of using the Syrian refugee crisis as a way to infiltrate the West with ready and well-trained operatives, and any lesser measures seem patently foolhardy. Other presidential candidates have called for varying degrees of this policy, though without the blanket application called for by Trump. This follows suit with their attempt to distance themselves from the massive deportation of generally illegal aliens Trump has espoused as well. In my opinion, we should seek to work with allies to create a "safe space" within the Arab world for these refugees, before deciding to bring them, if at all, to America. We do not want to become another Sweden, as it is clear that refugees do not move halfway around the world to assimilate into their host country's culture, and all that implies. http://www.glennbeck.com/2015/12/08/is-sweden-on-the-brink-of-losing-its-culture/

Now to the cause for my desire to respond in particular. The question of defending our religion (faith) is a great one from my perspective as a minister of the Gospel.
My heart breaks for those who are facing the atrocities and downright demonic wrath of ISIS and their sympathizers. They are constantly in my prayers. I plead for God to protect them, to grant them justice, and give them a chance to hear the Gospel of hope, to know that they have a Maker who not only loves them dearly, but wants them to truly know Him. Not only that, but the Bible tells us to pray for our enemies, a uniquely Christian teaching (Matthew 5:43-45). Hatred is never the answer for cruelty and savagery, even if it required much dying to self to do so. I find my heart filling with rage when I hear of these things being done in the name of their god, but I must realize that in the spiritual realm, the real enemy is not ISIS, al-Queda, Hamas, Boko Haram, nor any of the other countless Islamist groups committing these atrocities. The real enemy is, has always been, and always will be till God deals with him, Satan. Their religion, their god, is a counterfeit of true God-worship, and is the handiwork of the Great Deceiver. Satan has always used counterfeits to deceive and damn those he seeks to destroy. His lies started in the Garden of Eden, and continue to this day. If he can bring out hate in us, he has won. He has managed to neutralize us in our tracks and destroy our witness before men. This is some of his easiest work. The most striking difference between Christianity and other religions is the way our God relates to us. Every other religion seeks to reach God through good works and piety, with its adherents never knowing with any degree of confidence if their efforts are good enough to make the grade. Islam even goes so far as to teach that the only sure path to paradise is through martyrdom. With that kind of hopelessness, it is little wonder that so many choose to punch their eternal card in that manner. Theirs truly is a cult of death.

On the other hand, our devotion to Christ is based entirely on what He has already done for us, and in our place, before we could ever begin to seek Him. Though we may be forced to die for our faith rather than deny Him, he does not call us to seek our salvation through death. Instead, He is the one who died for us. Think how foreign that must sound to a Muslim steeped in a warped sense of mercy and justice, where such scandalous love is divorced from the equation. It is dangerous to believe that our religions serve the same God. They are two very different beings when you study their natures. All of that being said, I do not believe we need to defend our religion in the standard sense of the word. God needs no defending, but rather obedience, obedience to His Word in accordance with the love He has already shown us, guaranteeing His disciples a life that no man can really take away.

 As a Christian, I carry a gun for self-defense and defense of my home and family. I take prudent measures to protect and watch over them as well as my possessions. There is no conflict with Scripture in that. While I am quick to share my faith with anyone who would listen, I do not seek to offend or provoke anyone. I know that my God goes before me and guides me in this, and no amount of witnessing or preaching would come to any good without the Holy Spirit speaking into the heart of the listener first. I am not that good at persuasion, nor would I want to be. I am confident that God is in total control of history, and all will be for His glory. For centuries Christians have sought to reach the lost around the world with the Gospel, placing their own safety and comfort second to the necessity to see people not die without eternal hope. Now, many Christians have championed a mass migration of refugees into the U.S. in the name of spreading the Gospel, having the lost literally coming to us in droves. As a missionary I can see how that would be desirous. However, I think that it is an oversimplification of matters, and pushes the Church's responsibilities onto the government, much like sending your kids off to Sunday School to learn about Jesus because we cannot model our lives as disciples for our children and teach them ourselves. Besides, Muslim immigrants to our shores are not wowed by our nation's piety and devotion to Christ, but rather appalled by our disregard for them. We are called the Great Satan not because of our churches and houses of worship, but rather our open embrace of all manner of evil and immorality. Having them come see that for themselves is no recipe for spiritual revival. The Church's (Christians') roles and the government's roles are not at all the same. While governments must protect their citizens, Christians should be willing to put their Lord and Savior above all else. What we are seeing in these arguments is a confusing of the two. One day I may find myself like those Syrian Christians, right here in my own country, forced to deny my Savior or face death, or worse, watch my family die before my eyes for refusing to do so. If that day comes, I pray that both I and my family hold the convictions and a closeness with the Holy Spirit necessary to see it through. But until then, I see no need to swing wide the gate to the henhouse when there is another way. I find the ease at which this administration tries to do just that quite scary. Whether we are willing to admit it or not, we are at war with a vicious and conniving enemy, and we have to see it for what it is. We must act accordingly, or perish by our own misguided sense of political correctness. All of these words with regard to the role of Christians could be summed up in Jesus' own words in Matthew 10:7-22.  Be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.