GLOBAL NOTES

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This past week, I talked to some missionaries who had to leave the field (due to Coronavirus) and go back to their country of origin.  This is how I would phrase how they feel: After a long flight, in a non-commercial plane, we handed over our passports as we went...

Last month Connie and I hit the 6-year mark of our move to the USA after 26 years in Kenya. We are nearing the end of the formula for transition back to home culture; for every four years living in another country, it takes one year to adjust upon return. In this...

Planting a new church can be done in so many ways. Some start from scratch, others start with a few hundred on opening day. The variety of meeting places is in the thousands. They all meet a purpose for a season. Some stay as just one church, others reproduce...

A parent asked this past weekend about the March student trip to Guatemala, and how the current situation with coronavirus would affect it. Excellent question. Below is my response: Thanks for asking. Teresa and I have been watching coronavirus shortly after it...

We have a team of 5 men returning from India today. Look for a few guest posts in the coming weeks from them. Many of you know that Africa captured my heart long ago. In the last few years, India has captured my intrigue. The intrigue of India unfolds every time I...

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit...

Instead of a new year’s resolution, I recently moved to “a word for the year.” This has given me a central point to focus my thoughts, prayers, study and decisions. In 2018 my word was clarity. In 2019 it was discipline. This year it’s FAITH. I’m talking about faith...

I wrote last week about Justice (link here) and mentioned that we are focusing in India and Guatemala with IJM (www.ijm.org). They are advocating for vulnerable children. Another way we engage with advocacy for children is through child sponsorship. More than an...

One of my favorite things to do is talk to people about the stirring of their heart toward missions. Back in 2015, Connie and I started meeting with a small group of people who all felt this stirring, to serve overseas for one year or more. All who were in that first...

Today is the somber anniversary of 9/11. Many remembrances are occurring around the country and around the world. I don’t remember what I was doing on that fateful day in 2001, but I do know I was in Nairobi. When news broke of who was behind it, I was reminded of the...

This month marks two work anniversaries. 5 years for me on staff at Connection Pointe, and for Teresa…. 27!! We enjoy what we do, leading our church’s involvement in God’s Kingdom work all around the world. While I am one who likes to reflect on the past, I would like...

A group of us were recently reading Scripture together, and we came across a verse that included weapons of war: But from then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. (Nehemiah 4:16a, NLT) When we...

POWER I began thinking about power several years ago, when I realized I had it. I was a respected minority, with resources, position and education that gave me access to people and places that the majority didn’t have. When I understood the capability of that power, I...

One of the best things about my role at Connection Pointe is the relationship I have built with our global partners. They are Rock stars, every one of them. For those who were in our services this past weekend, you heard from one of them – Paul. Yesterday I had a...

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. (John 13:1a) Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. (John 13:3) For...

This weekend begins Project: Classroom, an annual summer feature at Connection Pointe. We have the privilege to bless teachers with resources that would not be covered in their regular budget. By focusing our attention on the teachers, they are better equipped to make...

“We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.” (Luke 24:21) Hopes can be dashed, just like these men. Their most recent report was that of an empty tomb and they couldn’t make sense of it. Turns out they were...

Summer is the busiest time for Global Impact at Connection Pointe. Six global partners will be on campus! Two teams are going to Africa! If you spot one of our global partners during weekend services, introduce yourself and thank them for their ministry. Remember to...

After Peter cut off Malchus’s ear in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told Peter to stop fighting: Put away your sword. Those who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send...

One of the things we are working to improve at Connection Pointe is our care for missionaries. We have written guidelines for sending people into cross-cultural missions service, but have few written guidelines to sustain them on the field and receive them back....

This past weekend our pastor John Dickerson spoke on raising the next generation, encouraging us as parents (and grandparents) to teach our children the ways of the Lord and to live a life that demonstrates those ways. He spoke from Psalm 112: Praise the Lord! How...

Our world was aghast this week when Notre Dame in Paris was heavily damaged in a fire. Many people have posted pictures of past visits, thankful they could see it before this happened. Our own family was there in 1992, when we visited friends in France. Already, there...

We are in the midst of 4 Connection Pointe teams going out between Feb 20 – Apr 20 India Turkey Roseland (Ms Pearl) Kenya All of these places have significant challenges of poverty, with several having the added test of persecution because of being a Christian. But...

We returned from India March 3. Great trip. Always good to be with believers on their turf in their home country. Always inspiring and humbling to hear their stories. As expected, my teaching on theology of suffering paled in comparison to the suffering we learned...

God provides the will and supplies for going well through suffering. Have you ever wondered how you would handle a persecutor threatening your life, or a time of deep despair when all hope was lost? I have. I do not know how I would respond, but I know there are...

Principles from Be Still, My Soul In preparing to share about suffering, I’ve been reading Be Still, My Soul and learning how other followers of Jesus view suffering. Here’s what they said: Suffering is not something to avoid. God can use suffering. See what He did...

As my wife and I sorted through our thoughts in this dark time, we reached an understanding that suffering is a normal part of the Christian life.  In fact, Jesus himself suffered… when he was tempted (Heb 2:18) he learned obedience from what he suffered (Heb 5:8) he...

I leave next week for India with Drew and Aaron. I was asked to prepare a teaching on the Theology of Suffering to share with the leaders there. I wanted you to have it too as a way to remember us in prayer. This is the first of 4 posts on what I have prepared. Thirty...

I wanted to make you aware of three trips this year that are eager to have more people. All are to Africa, a place near and dear to my heart! All are places we sponsor children. All are longhaul flights, but the people at the other end make it all worthwhile. Kenya -...

Return On Investment. There seems to be a whole science that helps a person investing money to receive the best possible return in profit. Just about any of us (including me) want our money to grow so there’s more of it. I think of our first house purchase in 2015 as...

In Romans 5 and 6 the word death/die/died/dead appears 27 times. That could make quite a depressing read without the context. In those two chapters we read over and over of death’s relationship to sin, but also to life and hope. For example: Sin brought death – 5:12...

Diwali was celebrated yesterday in India. It is a festival of lights, as important to Hindu, Sikh and Jain as Christmas is to Christians. Diwali is a time to celebrate light overcoming darkness, good over evil. Sound familiar? As followers of Christ, this sounds very...

Many of you had the chance to visit with John and Peris Keshe on their first trip ever to America. John and Peris are our beloved Connection Pointe partners from Kenya, where they oversee an organization they founded that provides support for vulnerable Maasai girls...

Connection Pointe has supported two works in South America for decades. Bruce and Alice Higham work with the Ayore, Bruce E and Cindy Higham, Nathan and Noah work with the Maco. (Bruce E is the son of Bruce and Alice.) On Saturday October 20, the Living Room was...

This week, we have two trips in progress: Guatemala – led by Jeff Lovell and Eric Peak. This team is doing a Vacation Bible School, and several of the trip members are (once again) spending time with their sponsored child. Connection Pointe member Neely McLoed is...

Our church is currently in a series called Hope of Nations. We are being prepared to live out our faith in America as it races fully towards a post-Christian, post-truth society. We’ve been told that western Europe is ahead of the USA in having this kind of...

I have a collection of Bibles at my desk that are in different languages. They serve as a constant reminder that God speaks to people in their heart language, and He wants to meet us all on a heart level. On Oct 20 at 6:30 pm, we will have two families visiting us who...

“The graveyard of missions has become the vineyard of the Lord.” -Victor John Victor John was referring to north India, where the growth of the church has reached millions in the last twenty years. Before that, very few new believers had come to Christ in spite of...

Telling stories is a universal practice and one of the best ways to share something meaningful and memorable. YOUR STORY… Over the next couple weeks, I want to encourage all of you who sponsor children to tell us your stories. Whether you have visited them or not,...

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10) In some ways this verse is an extension of Matthew 5:6 that speaks of a hunger and thirst for righteousness that only God can satisfy.  We can’t become...

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (Mt 5:7) When Connie and I visited Egypt for our 30th anniversary in 2011, the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East were just beginning. Mass cancellations by tourists left Connie and I very noticeable...

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Mt 5:5) This is the most difficult beatitude blessing for me to understand. First of all, who says meek anymore? I don’t think it just means humble, as one translation puts it. I’ve also heard gentle as a...

I’ve been quiet the last few weeks because of a life event. A new family member was born! Connie and I went to Seattle to meet this little one, born March 26. Connie was in the room at the birth while I posted myself in the hallway by the sign, “For safety of staff...

One of the biggest challenges I have as the global impact director at our church is keeping everyone digitally informed of what our global partners are doing in parts of the world that are hostile to our Christian faith. I would love to tell you more, have you pray...

When I read Romans 2:17-29, Paul is telling the Jewish followers of Christ that they are not living believable lives. Born to Jewish parents and circumcised, they are relying on their Jewishness as the more important credential versus a heart that is right with God...

Giving of gifts at Christmas is common around the world. Food is even more common at Christmas, but done in a variety of ways. For example, we slaughtered a cow and had 250 people over for Christmas Eve lunch in 1991. The chai servers carried around 5-gallon buckets...

As we gather with others this Thursday to thank God for our blessings, it brings to my mind a curiosity of how global this concept of Thanksgiving might be. A google search revealed a commonality of harvest and being thankful, but whom to thank was varied: Thanks to...