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The Mapes A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of traveling to Cebu, Philippines, where I was able to visit with some old friends, Chris and Cathee Mapes. Cathee was our Filipina host and guide in 2004 when Emily and I joined with a team of midwifes and medical doctors to love [...]  Same conference; different day than the story... Yesterday and today I have been sharing some stories from last week’s Asia Summit about the Coming Age breaking into this Present Evil Age. They are stories of God’s physical, emotional, and spiritual provisions to which we give thanks and praise to the Lord Most High. These are not the only stories out of that week – nor are they ‘special’ in the sense that they are rare or unique. They are stories God loving His kids.
Story Two: God at WorkWe were supposed to hear from a panel on culturally relevant mission last Thursday evening as part the Summit’s focus on the Vineyard’s Five Values. God, though, had other plans – leading to a night of worship and prayer. At one point during this impromptu worship session, the session emcee asked if anyone had a word to share from the Lord. Some folks came forward with different pray topics and what not…ok…truth be told, I don’t know what they said as I was too busy thinking about kidneys. Continue reading Stories of the Coming Age Breaking into This Age (Part 2 of 2)
Along those lines I want to share with you a couple of stories from last week’s Asia Summit about the Coming Age breaking into this Present Evil Age. As will see over the next two days, these are stories of God’s physical, emotional, and spiritual provisions. Story One: Gray FeathersThere were four of us standing in a circle praying for unity and tribal reconciliation among the Filipino followers of Jesus. As my companions prayed, my eyes slowly closed and there out of the darkness stood a grey feather off to the right side of my vision. Looking closer I saw that the feather was sticking out of a red headband… Still not sure what was happening, I asked the Lord what I was seeing. As did I did so, the red color of the headband moved up towards the feather – turning it red before becoming a dense red cloud blocking all sight. Continue reading Stories of the Coming Age Breaking into This Age (Part 1 of 2) The last few days have been crazy!!! Just about every spare minute was used talking to people, building relationships, and networking with folks from 15 different nations. Worshiping the Lord with these guys and gals gives one a picture of heaven – the nations rejoicing and praising the King Most High! The focus of the conference as been the Vineyard Values – with each of the main sessions tackling one of the five core values of the Vineyard. Phil Strout, the new Vineyard USA National Director, spoke Tuesday night about the Kingdom of God and following the King. Wednesday morning saw a panel of speakers from various nations talk about and answer questions concerning being a reconciling community. That evening a lady from the Philippines spoke about compassionate ministry using stories from her life and the people in her church. We ‘played’ Thursday morning with folks going swimming, shopping, or sleeping. But that evening we were right back at it with a session on culturally relevant mission. Or we were suppose to have a panel talking about that… God had other plans as we spend the evening worshiping, praying for each other, and basically experiencing the presences of God. Courtesy of Wikipedia I’m sitting in an airport today waiting for my plane to load…. Not much is happening other then that… just waiting… In a little bit I will be boarding a plane for Seoul, South Korea, and then to Cebu, Philippines for the Asia Summit. It should be a good time [...] Map Courtesy of Wikipedia Two weeks ago I had no plans for leaving Idaho, let alone for going out of the country… yet, I can now announce that I am headed to the Southeast Vineyard Asia Summit in Cebu, Philippines in ten days (Nov 11-19th). It is a good things I keep a [...]  Glen Eyrie Castle Conference Center - Picture by Christie Costello Here are some personal highlights from this year’s Vineyard USA Mission Leaders Meeting: South America Meeting – All the partnership leaders working in South America got together last week with the goal of networking and seeing how we can help each other love the people of South America. I personally made some good contacts in the meeting which, Lord willing, will help me encourage and bless the Vineyard Church in Paraguay. As an added bonus, one of the national leaders of the Brazilian Vineyard Churches attended the meeting and shared about the move of God throughout Brazil (they have over 20 churches and 40 church plants!). She also encouraged us to keep communicating with each other as networking and trust can take a long time. On a lighter note, this meeting was rudely interruptive by a black bear who wondered past the conference room’s windows – causing chaos as everyone scrambled for their cameras! Yearly Reflection – One that that came out last week as we talked to friends was the joy in our voices. Last year during the MLM conference, we were pretty beat up and wore out… Being so close to everything, we had forgotten the amazing things that Jesus had done in our lives over this past year. Chatting with friends and catching up with them provided an outlet that brought God’s blessings to the forefront of our minds and hearts. Thank you Lord!! Worship – It was wonderful! No instruments to play; no chairs to set up – nothing to do at all but worship the Lord and dance with my son. Refreshing waves of pure water. Picture by Christie Costello Last week we had the honor of attending the 2010 Vineyard USA Mission Leadership Meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado. To me, this is THE meeting within the Vineyard Movement – bar none. Why? Because the Mission Leadership Meeting (MLM) brings together those within the Movement who are playing on [...] It is no secret that I am a bibliophilia (i.e. a lover of books). It is a strange thing as I used to hate books – that is until 4th grade when my brother and his best friend turned me onto Louis L’Amour. The rest, they say, is history. Recently a friend was asked what where the top 10 influential books in his life – a task that proved to be very difficult. So much so that he decided to limit himself to 22 books. Today I have decided to follow his example and list the top ten most influential books in my life (and yes, I have kept my list to 10). The Short List (i.e. this is my running list of books that have had the most impact on my life) 1) “From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya : A Biographical History of Christian Missions” by Ruth Tucker (1989)
2) “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” by John Foxe (1563)
3) “Breakthrough: Discovering the Kingdom” by Derek Morphew (1991)
Or it could be Fred’s personal story of 25-plus years of church planting in Mexico. What it turned out to be was a serious book about the fit-falls of cross culture ministry as well as a commentary on the changing winds in international ministry. The first half the book is a brief look at the history of modern missions’ strategy. Fred, whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, addresses some of the assumption new missionaries bring to the foreign mission field. Assumptions like assuming that the Apostle Paul’s evangelism strategy is the ONLY way to ministry to people because it is the “one” in the Bible… or assumptions based upon books written by scholars who had NO practical on-the-ground missionary experience. Continue reading The Dumb Gringo by Fred Collom |
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