I hope to continue posting some Catalyst thoughts over the next few days. Things have been insane upon my return to the cold, winter-y Midwest from the warm, summer-y ATL.
While I am playing catch-up and working on some more Catalyst thoughts, allow me to direct your attention to a post that I just wrote for a new campus ministry blog called, “The Heart of Campus Ministry.”
My post is entitled “Reverse Missionary Work” and I have been meaning to share some of those thoughts here.
In about 5 hours, I will be leaving with 12 others from the Christian Campus House and heading to Tulsa, OK for the annual National Missionary Convention. Never heard of it? I’m not surprised. It’s pretty huge in the Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ circles. Been goin’ on something like 60 years.
No mega-church speakers. No famous authors. Just ordinary folks who have labored, some of them for decades, in remote areas of the world sharing the Gospel of Christ. Last year, I met one guy who had been a missionary for 40+ years and was excited because he was consistently seeing 6 people interested in a “house church.” Amazing.
I hope to blog through the convention a bit, but I can’t promise anything. Not sure what internet connections will be available. However, I definitely will be Twitter-ing throughout the entire weekend. You can follow me on Twitter here.
Here is the short version of a long story:
I was scheduled to take 6 students with me to Haiti in a little more than 3 weeks. If you haven’t been paying attention to the news, Haiti is experiencing a bit of civil unrest. The State Department has encouraged all Americans not to travel INTO Haiti and for Americans already there to get OUT of Haiti. The Embassy is not fully functional. After much prayer and wisdom-seeking, I have decided not to lead our group into Haiti.
Here is the thing: I have 6 willing students (and myself) who have a week off and non-refundable plane tickets. But, we have nowhere to go! It’s an awesome problem to have!
And here is where you come in:
Do you have recommendations for us of people or organizations who could use our help on such short notice? I will consider all suggestions.
The dates of our trip would be May 9-16/17. Please, post a comment or email me at: mynameisbrandon [at] gmail.com
Thanks!
Over the last weekend, I had the pleasure of going to Cincinnati, OH with several of our students to the National Missionary Convention.
There were a few things about the conference that I loved:
First of all, at most conferences, the people you see and hear from are the mega-guys. If you aren’t leading a church of 1,000+, or if you haven’t written a book in the last year, or if you aren’t the expert in some field, then you don’t get to share. With this conference, it’s not all that uncommon to hear from somebody who has spent the last 10 years living in a grass hut in a village, trying to share the gospel with 10 people. That’s cool.
Another thing I love is seeing what God is doing all over the world. There were 650+ booths with missionaries sharing what God is doing in their neck of the woods. I got to meet the missionaries that we will be working with when we go to Haiti in May. I got to meet the missionaries that we sent $1,000+ to for the constructing of a clean water well in Central India. I met a missionary who is mobilizing college students to serve in the closed area of Northern Africa. Also cool.
Along with all of these people, I love seeing friends I have made all over the country. Got to visit with some of my favorite campus ministers, missionaries, and others serving in the trenches.
The one other thing I loved about the trip was the trip itself. 12+ hours to and from Cincinnati, trapped in the van with our students, provides for some great conversations and memories.
The conference, in and of itself, was fair…the speakers were fine and the sessions were just OK (I think I picked a few lemons). But all of these other things made the trip worth it…and I am sure we will do it again next year.
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