The Eudaimonia Blog

Stewarding Vocational Power, Amy Sherman

2012-01-28T22:03:00.001-06:00

I've been working through this new book by Amy Sherman called Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good. Needless to say, I have been blessed immensely. I believe the book is a great gift to the Church to get us to think intentionally about what it means to "steward vocational power," as Sherman likes to say. Think about the following: 1) your knowledge and expertise; 2) your platform/voice; 3) your networks; 4) your influence; 5) position; 6) skills and 7) reputation/fame God has given each of us. How have these "gifts" been given us for service to His Kingdom and for the sake of the common good? Sherman builds her book on a robust theological vision and gets us to think intentionally about the beauty of Proverbs 11:10, "When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices." Well, there will be more to say on Sherman's book as I will be writing a review of the book for the Washington Institute (http://www.washingtoninst.org/) in their March newsletter. But here's a small sample from Sherman's book:

As church leaders look out at their flocks, they see many individuals blessed with education, privilege, opportunities and influence. These congregants have much to offer. Some need to be challenged to direct their considerable talents toward the common good, overcoming inclinations toward comfort and affluence. Others are eager to help others but may need to grow in sensitivity in managing their power in the midst of people with less power.

Hopefully, as a result of being inspired and going through intentional discovery processes that have enabled them to clarify the unique talents God has given them to share, many congregants will be itching to get out there and do something. Before unleashing this energy, however, church leaders should work hard to strengthen their members’ “inner self” so that their service in the world truly brings God glory and genuinely helps their neighbors. Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good, p. 140

More on Beer (this time as Vocation)

2012-01-28T15:03:00.000-06:00

A while back I ran a post on the goodness of beer. I recently was pointed to this blogpost by a new Doctor of Ministry program co-participant, Nathan Tutor. Nathan is planting a PCA church in cooperation with the Acts 29 Network in Nashville, TN. Here's a general description of Nathan's heart and ministry: http://harvestnashville.com/#/welcome/pastors-page.

The blogpost is found here: http://www.westernconservatory.org/article/2011/05/alcohol-movies-and-other-toxins and tells the story of Arthur Guinness. It describes both how Guinness saw his work as a brewer to be a calling as well as saw the redemptive possibilities of taking items used by the fallen structures and peoples of this world and turning them for good. Here's an excerpt from the post:

(Arthur) Guinness had a vision for creating something much better than common beer. Writes one Irish author, “You can still get it on the National Health Service prescribed to you when you're pregnant because it's so good for you. My wife drank it throughout her first pregnancy. Guinness is exported from Ireland as a food because it is so full of minerals and natural trace elements. It has incredible qualities to it. So Guinness made men a drink that was good for them. He was an entrepreneur and, believe it or not, people started buying it and drinking it. And now it's the national drink of Ireland. Irish men don't go and drink much whiskey; they go and drink Guinness. And its almost impossible to get drunk on Guinness because its so heavy, so full of iron that you feel so full you can't drink more than a couple of pints. It has a fairly low alcohol level.”

The BBC reported a few years ago that Guinness can be beneficial to the heart. Researchers found that "'antioxidant compounds' in the Guinness, similar to those found in certain fruits and vegetables, are responsible for health benefits because they slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the artery walls.”

…It is reported that the Guinness family quietly poured much of their profit into Protestant missions activity around the world in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today the brewery, in the same location, using the same Irish water source and Irish barley, brings in some two billion pounds per year.

Can we take a lesson from the legacy of Arthur Guinness? Here is a man who took initiative to wean an addicted population away from poison by modifying and using an alcoholic beverage to do it. He changed the culture with faith, initiative, creativity and vision, combining the arts and sciences of brewing.

A Spouse, Like Relating to God

2012-01-24T09:27:00.001-06:00

“Being married to someone of the opposite sex is scary, risky, unknowable and full, because it causes me to relate to someone who makes requests of me that I don’t often understand, someone who asks much of me. Relating to my spouse is a lot like relating to God” (something a dear brother shared this last week).

Garber Prayer for Vocations and Occupations

2012-01-21T16:32:00.000-06:00

"God of heaven and earth, we pray for your kingdom to come, for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Teach us to see our vocations and occupations as woven into your work in the world this week. For mothers at home who care for children, for those whose labor forms our common life in this city, the nation, and the world, for those who serve the marketplace of ideas and commerce, for those whose creative gifts nourish us all, for those whose callings take them into the academy, for those who long for employment that satisfies their souls and serves you, for each one we pray, asking for your great mercy. Give us eyes to see that our work is holy to you, O Lord, even as our worship this day is holy to you. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen."

Here's Steven Garber's longer article: Finding Our Way to Great Work, Even in Politics

Airports, Nice Cars, Motherhood and Other Misc.

2012-01-20T22:10:00.000-06:00

So I've been in Washington DC this week working on my Doctor of Ministry program with Covenant Seminary. The degree program revolves around how faith influences vocation which in turn influences culture, that vocation is very much integral to the Mission of God in the world. I arrived in DC last Monday and was in DC through Friday. Today my flight got delayed because of snowstorms in Chicago, so I am rerouted to Denver, with the plan to get into Lincoln late tonight, instead of at 6pm when I was supposed to arrive :-(. I guess I'll kiss the kiddos on the head tonight while they are sleeping and see them in the morning. Well, so I have some time on my hands sitting here in the Denver airport, and I suppose I need to start somewhere by sharing with you an embarrassment of riches I have obtained this week. Where do I begin? I've got the Porsche, the Jaguar, the Ferrari and the Aston Martin. Which one would you like to drive first? Where should we start??? Hmmm...

So here were some of our conversation partners for the week.... Let's begin with Kate Harris' encouraging and thoughtful article on how she understands Motherhood as well as other parts of the fabric of her makeup to define "calling" in her life: Motherhood as Vocation . We'll just refer to her article as "the Porsche": would mothers everywhere be encouraged. Harris gives a beautiful G.K. Chesterton quote by asking, "how can it be a small career to teach one's children about the universe?" However, Harris' article doesn't simply stop there but also enters a kind of tension where Harris states unapologetically that she was also "made to engage certain work and relationships that necessitate time away from my child." There is a wonderful tension Harris brings to mothers, to identify with them and to leave room for the questions they might have about the world and their place of belonging in it.

Well, so here's the Jaguar... I met a dear Korean brother who grew up in Latin America and currently works for the World Bank in DC. Kwang Kim very much believes that working with lending and financing to help build infrastructure in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world is a "calling" from God. Also, Kwang feels a compelling call to seek North Korea's renewal: he prays monthly with a group of DC Korean believers for that end. Kwang describes his work with the World Bank in language that doesn't sound too far off from how evangelicals often think of "missionaries"; brother sends out a prayer letter every month. Kwang says that whenever people are praying for him, his work with the WB goes well and when they are not, it doesn't go that well, that the prayers of God's people are that tangible as he engages governments and peoples to seek their flourishing (if this is new stuff to you as a Christian, read Jer. 29 sometime regarding "seeking the peace and prosperity of the city" and meditate on what Jeremiah is saying to the Israelites exiled in Babylon). Take a look at this wonderful article by Kwang: Reflections on the Meaning of a Good Life .

Are you ready to take the Ferrari for a spin? For eight years, Todd Deatherage was the head of Condolezza Rice's foreign policy think tank, under the second Bush administration. More recently, brother Deatherage has given his life to working towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians. In this article, he talks about his Palestinian Christian friend Daoud who has a sign at the entrance of his property, "We Refuse to Be Enemies": Justice, Love and True Grit.

As if that weren't enough? You haven't even seen the lines on the Aston Martin yet (check it out in the picture above). Are you kidding me? Amy Sherman recently came out with her book Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good. You can find her book here at her website: http://www.vocationalstewardship.org/ . Where do I even begin to tell you what a gift to the Kingdom this dear sister is. With a heart for mercy and justice, Dr. Sherman lives in an urban neighborhood and gets us to think about: 1) blooming where you are planted by strategically stewarding your current job; 2) donating your vocational skills as a volunteer; 3) launching a new social enterprise and 4) participating in a targeted initiative of our congregation aimed at transforming a particular community or solving a specific social problem (I haven't read the book yet but borrow this from Tom Nelson's "Work Matters" website at http://workmattersbook.com/). Sherman makes the case that the two themes that seem to have been missing for a long time among evangelical Christians, though are integral to the very nature of the Gospel itself, are the themes of: 1) vocation and 2) justice. Of course the times are ripe and stirring for the enlargement of our understanding of the Gospel through ferreting out these themes now. Go ahead, take the Aston Martin for a spin, ... really, don't worry about it, .... go ahead and enjoy: Reconnecting Work and Church.

Alright, we are going to park the sweet rides for now, but the Doctor of Ministry program I'm a part of (also known as a D.Min.- great degree program name for a pastor, eh? If you are concerned, you probably don't want to know that I live on Diablo Dr. and wear Mephisto shoes too), is offered by Covenant Theological Seminary in partnership with The Washington Institute: program mentors are Donald Guthrie of the former and Steven Garber of the latter. Garber's book The Fabric of Faithfulness has been one of the more significant books for me in my 22-year journey as a pilgrim, and Guthrie is a stud. Brother, where have you been the last 18 years since I've been doing ministry in the local church? It's as if I've never learned to communicate and teach effectively until now.

Well, I am a blessed man. The Porsche, the Jaguar, the Ferrari and the Aston Martin are only the start of my collection acquired this week, but enjoy those for now.

How Africa Shaped The Christian Mind, by Oden

2012-01-12T20:28:00.002-06:00

How was Christianity introduced to Africa? In his book How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity, Thomas Oden argues against the common notion that Christianity was a modern introduction to Africa as a result of Anglo-European colonization. In fact, Oden pushes hard against the notion by saying that the Ango-European world actually is greatly indebted to Africa for its contributions early on helping shape a general ecumenical consensus to what authentic Christianity now is recognized as being, a time-tested, Holy-Spirit-led consensus over time that shapes the very essence of what orthodox belief in fact is ("Mere Christianity" as C.S. Lewis so famously put it). In fact, Oden would say much of the very seedbed of not just Western Christianity, but global Christianity, is greatly indebted to Africa as well:

A demeaning prejudice has crept into historical lore…. The more provincial, the more truly African? The more cosmopolitan, the less African? We do not want to go there. If so, the African continent cannot embrace as its own even Didymus the Blind or the great Desert Mother Sarah or the Tall Brothers of Wadi al-Natrun. Even more ludicrous is the claim that the African continenet cannot include Thebian-born Pachomius or Numidian-born Optatus.

Whether Tertullian and Cyprian and Augustine learned everything from Rome can easily be answered on the basis of impartial textual analysis. These Africans were being seriously read in Rome during their lifetimes when they were living in Africa because they were teaching in a way pertinent and useful to Rome and the awakening wider European ethos. Among the most decisive things Augustine personally learned in Italy, according to his own Confessions (8.6.14), was the impact made upon him from hearing from Pontitianus of the holy life of Antony of the African desert, written by the African patriarch Athanasius.

Look at a map of Egypt and review the geographical range of pastoral responsibility of Athanasius. It was the whole of the lower delta and the middle Nile valley with diocesan responsibilities reaching beyond the first cataracts, with their widely varied subcultures and languages. His responsibility was not just with the Alexandrians who spoke Greek. In any case the ethnographic evidence shows that a large proportion of Alexandrians were themselves Egyptian ethnics, many of whom doubtless spoke several languages (Syriac, proto-Arabic, Aramiac, Nilotic variants, etc.) in order to deal with commercial realities in that greatest of international port cities.

Antony of the desert lived most of his hundred-plus years (c. 251-356!) in a very remote part of the far eastern desert of Egypt, many days journey from any Greek-speaking city. It is inexact to simply identify Antony as an Alexandrian without remembering the mountain cave where he founded anchorite monasticism. Athanasius spent long periods of time in the Egyptian desert, in hiding or in forced exile. Only seated prejudices can blithely charge that these great leaders were not genuinely African.

Almost every turn in African Christian history is misjudged if it lives by the premise that Europeans have a natural advantage built into their intellectual DNA. This bungled premise misread the significance of the inland African struggles of Coptic Christianity for centuries following the Arab conquest. The stereotype also misjudges the dept of the encounter of early African Christianity with indigenous Punic and Berber cultures. It misreads the relation of Christianity to the Nilotic-speaking traditional African religion in the southern part of the Nile, which extends all the way to present day Sudan and Uganda. It considers as negligible the subtle dialectical forms of cultural interaction between Christianity and African cultures that occurred gradually over centuries of shared hazards and mutual learning.

There is an enduring pre-Christian traditional African religious past in the North of Africa during the entire first Christian millennium: Pharaonic, proto-Nubian, Libyan, Capsian and Ghanian, reaching far back into African prehistory. It remains indigeneously African even while being militarily forced to adapt to multiple colonial coercions. Early Christianity had to deal with these deeply engrained traditional African cultures in the isolated villages of the Maghreb and Nile, not only with Greco-Roman civic religion. It was the strength of that traditional African religion transformed by Christianity that stood up to idolatrous Roman civic religion. How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind, pp. 62-66

Oden's book is a fascinating read, especially to get us to read Holy Scripture through an "African lens." Here are a few tidbits for consideration that Oden gives to us: a) Jesus and his family flee to Africa before being "called out of Egypt"; b) Simon of Cyrene (Libya) carries Jesus' Cross; c) The Ethiopian Eunuch, treasurer to Queen Candace of Ethiopia, on his return to Africa, converts to Christianity (Acts 8); d) Mark, a cousin of Barnabas, accompanies Barnabas to Antioch (Acts 12:25) and back to Cyprus (Acts 15:39), all cities accessible to seafaring Jewish merchants from ports of Africa: Berenice, Pelusium, Alexandria and Carthage.

Africa has always been a "major player" in recognizing the work of the Spirit and giving voice to the heart of Biblical orthodoxy early on where found. Might it be that we have it backwards when we assume that it is those of us in the West who have brought the Gospel to Africa when in fact much of how the Gospel has come to us has been through Africa? Food for thought, definitely.

Friends, Memories and Elusive Does

2012-01-07T17:36:00.000-06:00

I just returned from a 2.5 day deer hunting trip with my good friend Dirk Grenemeier. I had never been hunting before but wanted to go with Dirk for a number of reasons- I knew it was important to Dirk because he had gone with his father-in-law Bill Morse for a number of years before Bill passed away a year ago this last October. Dirk had gone out some last year on his own to Bill's cabin and because Dirk has been a good friend to me for a long time and because Bill was as well, I wanted to go. It was a great time being in God's glorious creation as well as learning how to shoot a high-powered rifle. For the days that we sat looking for deer, we didn't see any, subsequently didn't get a shot on one but the experience was so much more whether getting up early, watching the sun rise, enjoying the goodness of God's creation,... friendship, solitude, meeting the locals out in the Hordville, NE area or enjoying good meals and conversation together. In fact, I've posted to the right on my blog a picture of the sun rising Friday morning- that morning as well as this morning took my breath away. Also, in this post is another picture I took of the moon over Bill's cabin. Bill is part of the great cloud of witnesses spoken of at the beginning of the Hebrews 12 and a brother who now reigns with Christ. We sought to honor Bill's memory these last few days but also know that there is much time we anticipate together in a glorious future as well. In the meantime, we miss Bill but continue to enjoy some of the things he enjoyed. Oh, and by the way, you know how I said we didn't see any deer as we sat out in the cold and waited Thursday and Friday evening as well as Friday and Saturday morning? Well, driving back home this morning, we saw no less than 12 does (Dirk and I had doe permits), 11 that ran in front of our vehicle and one that got spooked and ran back the other way. Are you kidding me? No deer sightings for 2.5 days and all of a sudden as we are packed up, guns stowed away, leaving Bill's property,... 12 deers! I guess they got the best of us this trip. I actually overheard them saying to one another in their native deer language "suckers!" as they so gracefully ran across Nebraska fields.

The Hip-Hop Church, by Smith and Jackson

2012-01-02T10:29:00.000-06:00

My friend Harry Riggs once said, "books choose you." So recently I was reading James Cone's book The Spirituals and the Blues and a book that is on my list to read next is Thomas Oden's How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity. Well, "in between" reads, an old friend of mine who came to Christ in the late 90s and who was a Hip-Hop DJ for a number of years passed on this book The Hip-Hop Church . I was intrigued, especially given the titles that I was working on, and had a sense that this book had chosen me. I'm about halfway through currently, but I've found myself extremely enlightened to Hip-Hop culture and some of its redeeming benefits. In much of the book Smith and Jackson describe the influence of Hip-Hop not only among black kids and not only among black and white urban kids, but among a huge percentage of youth in general. How often have I seen the middle-class white kid listening to rap and wearing FUBU attire, baggy pants, etc.? This caught my attention to think intentionally about not only my 14-year-old foster son who is African-American and also from the "hood" of Lincoln (as much as there might be a hood in Lincoln) but also of the middle-class kids I've been around over the years. What is it about Hip-Hop through rap that has such a powerful influence among youth?

Well, Smith and Jackson pull no punches going after both the black church and white church and church in general for making certain assumptions about Hip-Hop by simply labeling the music "worldly" and withdrawing from it as a result. The authors challenge the Church to study the music of Hip-Hop much like Paul intently studied the cultural forms of Athens in Acts 17. They challenge us to approach the Hip-Hop world as a missionary might approach a foreign country and culture by seeking to contextualize the message of Christ:

…hip-hop is more than the art of rap; it began to meet core needs of a generation before the generation could articulate the needs they had. Some needs in the lives of the urban African-American community, in fact, are being met only by hip-hop

However, this has not been recognized by many in the Euro-American evangelical community. Thus very few in that community honestly seek to reach this culture or see any redeeming value in hip-hop, let alone any way to use it for the kingdom. This is the tension about Christendom and hip-hop: most Euro-American evangelicals are so separate from “the world” that they don’t really know what issues urban people are facing.

Hip-hop, in fact calls attention to the failures of government, schools, police, preachers and churches, bringing them to light while shaming them at the same time.

Now I am not saying that all rap artists and their music are all righteous. There are serious contradictions within hip-hop and in their messages, lifestyles and overall representations of the culture. These artists need to be held accountable in some ways regarding the content of their raps and its impact in the lives of the most impressionable students they influence.

Still, when people from the dominant culture or a dominant-culture mindset are dissing rap music and hip-hop culture as if they had no redeeming value, in essence they’re saying that those who hip-hop’s messages are coming from, and those they are being sent to, have no redeeming value either.

You yourself may see hip-hop as an unredeemable hindrance to the kingdom. I ask you to open your mind to the truth that God created all things to give him glory but that people who are separated from God take these good things and just mess them up. However, when these things are touched again by God, the content changes; the vessel may remain the same but its content has changed. Isaiah acknowledged that he was “a man of unclean lips” and came from a “people of unclean lips,” but when God touched his mouth he was cleansed. And when God asked, “Who will go for us?” he said, “Send me!” (see Isaiah 6:5-8). Similarly, I come from the hip-hop culture, a people of unclean lips, and I am unclean…. The Hip-Hop Church, p. 81

While this portion of the book speaks to "people of power," Smith and Jackson also have some harsh critiques of the black church as well, that much of their own church has lost connection with the everyday struggles of people, have fallen into an excessive materialism and are filled with hypocritical people and messages. They make the case for how many people in the black church have lost touch with Christ and also have been very defective in teaching and discipling people:

When Boquintella gets pregnant, suddenly the church is all in an uproar. But when did the church talk about sex and help her and others understand sexual pressure and provide a way of escape in order that she could live a sexually pure life?... The church that does not help students to comprehend the life, death and life again of Jesus Christ in a very real and practical way is part of the problem rather than the solution. What an indictment on the church that we have the power of God through his Son Jesus Christ yet fall short…

The lack of teaching (in the African-American Church) about a Christ who understands our needs, who was tempted yet didn’t sin, and who overcame the obstacles we face with authority and power creates a separation between us and God, who understands all that we face. The void of teaching that this Christ was incarnational will continue to keep hope away from those who are seeking to understand God. Tupac sought to express this in his cut “Black Jesuz.” He talks about how this Jesuz hurts like thugs hurt and hangs out with those involved in illegal activity. Even the change of z replacing s is his attempt to help others see Jesus as incarnational. This Jesus is a saint who is not worshiped behind closed doors in the building of a church but is worshiped every day on the block. Tupac’s cut screams out that we need to see, hear and realize that God has not forgotten us, that he cares and understands yet has a better way if we trust him. People who are too busy criticizing Tupac and hip-hop will not see the value in using this as a bridge with someone who is looking for clarity about Jesus. The Hip-Hop Church, pp. 122-24

So this book is the furthest thing from angry black men railing against white people. As we've said at Grace Chapel before, Smith and Jackson very much appear to be "equal opportunity offenders." But the basis of much of the book is that: a) the Church doesn't speak honestly to the struggles, hardships and difficulties of life, especially life in the hood; b) Hip-Hop does; c) the Church has gotten distracted on many points of its mission; d) so the Church has become "separatist" from cultural forms in many ways and e) is also hypocritical as well. As a result, the Church is generally removed from and disinterested in hip-hop culture to its own detriment.

So the challenge Smith and Jackson present is this:

We need to approach hip-hoppers with an awareness that hip-hop is marked by a distinct consciousness and a desire to discuss spiritual issues and to bring this culture to a better place. We must come not with Euro-evangelical prejudgment but with an open heart and mind to bring to hip-hop culture a better, clearer understanding of what it means to be a follower of Christ. Actually the strongest testimony we can have in the hip-hop culture is not what we say but what we do and how we do it.

“Refuse the awful temptation to scale down your dreams to the level of the event which is your immediate experience.” This call by Howard Thurman aptly expresses our challenge as Christ followers as we seek to create connections with those of this generation whose dreams of a better life are bigger than the temptation to get pregnant, smoke weed or join a gang. Hip-hop through rap makes this connect, even if it can’t fulfill its promise. When will we wake up and flip the script? The Hip-Hop Church, p. 128

What Good Beer I Have (so said Martin Luther)

2011-12-27T23:00:00.000-06:00

When I first came to Christ and became a part of the Church back in 1990, I was perplexed with some inconsistencies that I found to be true about many Evangelical Christians. Joel Barker in his book Paradigm Shift has noted that it is almost always someone coming from the "outside" of a movement or an organization that has the clearest insight into the problems, blindspots, inconsistencies, etc. of that organization. Well, I was an 18-year-old coming from outside the Church and there were certain things I observed that many folks inside the Church didn't seem to get. An obvious sticking point for me was on the beverage use of alcohol. Most Christians I met at the time (this was in 1990) simply said "drinking is bad." I understood that using a fake i.d. was bad and that underage drinking was bad and even early on that drunkenness was bad, but nowhere could I find in the Bible that drinking alcoholic beverages in and of itself was bad. In fact, every time I came across wine in the Scriptures, it seemed to be described in a very positive way, as a "good gift from God" that "gladdens the heart of man" (see Psalm 104:15). Also, I have never heard an evangelical teacher teach on Proverbs 31:6,7, "Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more" (direct NIV quote). While I can't imagine the Proverb is endorsing drinking as a way of numbing one's heart to the real problems of life (as fallen man often uses alcohol for), what is strongly implied in the verse is that "wine" and "beer" are blessings that warm the heart (again, see the Psalm 104 verse referenced above) and that it is actually a matter of justice that kings and rulers should "remember the oppressed" by sharing the riches of God's blessings with those less fortunate. Of course, rich and poor alike abuse and overuse God's good gifts. We do this with food (gluttony), sex (adultery and other illicit uses) and even through the idolatry of family (Luke 14:26,27) and riches (Matt. 19:22) that keep some from the Kingdom. Idolatry is always bad. But really, no Christian dares to said, "family is bad" de facto or "food is bad" de facto or that "sex is always bad" de facto. But how often have we said, "beer and wine are bad" de facto? Why do we call bad that which God calls good?

Well, within a couple of years of my conversion to Christ, I became introduced to a Reformed understanding of Scripture. The Reformed confession, The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), speaks very clearly about how "Christian Liberty" is to function in the Christian life. Gal. 5:1 says that "it's for freedom that Christ has set us free." And the WCF Chapter 20, Sec. 2 says this:

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in anything, contrary to his Word; or beside it, if matters of faith, or worship. So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience: and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also.

Do you see what the penners of the WCF were saying? God is the Lord of conscience and men's consciences must not be bound by: a) anything that is against Scripture or b) anything that might be "beside" Scripture. In other words, we must not bind men's consciences to anything that is "anti-Biblical" or "extra-Biblical." I sense that Evangelicals have often gotten "a" but lost sight of "b," that to bind men's consciences to extra-Biblical teachings can be just as damaging as requiring them to follow anti-Biblical teachings. What is the teaching, "wine and beer are always bad"? Here's the answer: extra-Biblical teaching!

Well, there's a long and tortured history regarding why it is that evangelical Christians stood so strongly against alcohol consumption of any kind, and they were in large part due to the social reforms of the 2nd Great Awakening and revivalistic and conservative Christianity's alignment with Prohibition all the way through the 1920s (in 1918, what would become the failed experiment of Prohibition, became codified into law). As Richard Lovelace comments, these changes that worked towards the "reforming of society" seemed logical at the time but were "not necessarily biblical" (see my previous blogpost here).

Lovelace even states that in the history of the Church, huge tendencies towards such legalistic tendencies resulted from a doctrinal loss, where the Church lost sight of the glorious Reformation (and Scriptural) doctrine of "Justification by Faith" and began teaching instead "Justification by Sanctification" (also see this previous post: Partial Disenculturation).

So what was it that I could see as an "outsider to Christianity" up until the point of my conversion? I could see that many Christians stood strongly against alcohol consumption of any kind, sometimes using the "my body is a temple" argument but then didn't have any problem with over-eating or gossip or general mean-spiritedness or other sin patterns. What was that all about? Well, Rose Marie Miller once said that legalism and lawlessness are really two sides of the same coin, living life in one own's strength (according to the "flesh" as the Bible describes). And what you often see is people vacillating from irreligious living to getting "religion." But their lives never seem to change and be transformed on a foundational level. Why not? Because as Miller says, "flesh cannot control flesh." So we go from trying "really hard" to saying "forget it" as far as the "righteous life of Christ goes." Why? Because the Christian life cannot be lived in one's own strength; instead, must be empowered by the power of the Spirit or "living by the Spirit" as Paul says (Gal. 5:16). Evangelicals have often sought to make the Gospel about moral reform while non-Evangelicals have had a tendency to say, "I don't need God," but either way whether religious or irreligious, life has been sought in autonomy from the risen Christ, and I know God has so much more for us. The inconsistencies in the Church were at times palpable. I was reminded early on that the Apostle Peter was right, that "judgment must begin with the household of God" (1Pet 4:17). How many Christians are empowered by "life in the Spirit" and manifest the peaceable fruits of Christ (Gal. 5:22)? How many Christians know and love the Word, so that their "arguments" come from the very lifeblood of Scripture itself rather than are merely cultural ones? How many Christians know what they believe about Scripture's teachings on these matters and are rooted deeply in the power of the Word and what it says, not necessarily what cultural movements among Christians have said? Did you know that the Bible says "beer is good"?

Tanya and I started Grace Chapel when we were 29-year-olds. We are both now forty. When I was younger, I wasn't always sure if I said things in order to get a rise out of people or because the Holy Spirit had led me to say them. I've always sought to submit my preaching to the leading of the Holy Spirit, but as a young man, how do you know? How much of my preaching was about Mike Hsu vs. being about Christ? I remember I said in a sermon when I was 29, that "when I drink Bud Lite, I do it to the glory of God." Here's the thing, I don't like Bud Lite that much because it is bad beer, but my point was that "eating and drinking" serve one primary purpose in life and that purpose is "for the glory of God" (1Cor. 10:31). If I think it's OK with God to drink Bud Lite (which I do), well then I have one option and that's to do it for the glory of God. I remember an older lady got right up at that point in the sermon and walked out of the doors never to return to Grace Chapel again. That shakes a preacher, especially a young preacher. Well, I'm a little older and wiser these days, and I've often reflected on what I said that day, and I continue to be glad I said it, because the Church needs to grapple with the life that Christ has for us in the Spirit and in submission to His Word. The Lord is indeed the Lord of conscience, and I'm so glad He leads us in His power and by His Spirit.

Here's the thing: I like beer. In fact, I've had the pleasure the last two nights of making "black and tans" for my dad and me (above, I've posted a picture of one of them). I've made two different types- last night I made one with Guinness on top and Hoegaarden on the bottom (delicious) and tonight with Guinness on top and Bass on the bottom (really good too). Dad and I have enjoyed the fellowship and laughter and beer has been a blessing. For that I give God thanks. I've not yet read this book, but I've heard great things about it. It's a serious book called The Search for God and Guinness published by Christian publisher Thomas Nelson, and I hear it's a great book. As Douglas Wilson has said, "Put this book in a frosty glass and enjoy":

One final note, I've taught some about the question of the "weaker brother" spoken of in 1Cor. 8. I have a brochure at Grace Chapel called "Christian Liberty" and unfortunately haven't made it into the 21st century yet by putting it on an electronic file. But basically, I find Scripture to have a kind of flexibility to addressing sin issues in a person's life, based on precisely what those sin issues are. So for example, Paul says to the Galatians that "if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you" (Gal. 5:2). Why does he say that? Well, Paul says that because the Galatians struggled with legalism and making circumcision a part of the "salvation equation," adding the Jewish works of the law to their justification. But also notice that Paul is very comfortable circumcising Timothy for the sake of the Gospel's movement among a Jewish people (Acts 16:3). Was Paul contradicting himself? The answer was "no" but rather using his Christian liberty to help the Gospel's movement into peoples' lives. The Corinthians struggled with lawlessness, so abstinence from certain practices of eating meat sacrificed to idols made a lot of sense among other believers who had come out of such normative pagan-associated practices and might be tempted to turn back to such an empty way of life. It would be a bit like a Christian choosing to abstain from a beer when having dinner with a good brother who had a history of alcoholism. However, in other cases where alcohol abstention is thought to be the lot of the "righteous" and "religious" (where legalism instead of lawlessness is the shape of sin), it might make sense to expose such legalism by "having a glass of wine in the Spirit" and displaying the life of freedom purchased for us by Christ. In fact, didn't Jesus Himself do this in the midst of the Pharisees, to the point of receiving much criticism from them (Matt. 11:19)? Well, this is a long post about beer, so just like my wonderful 22 oz. glass of black and tan I enjoyed with dad this evening,... I'm finished.

Christmas for the Affluent and Wife of My Youth

2011-12-27T16:45:00.002-06:00

Tanya, kids are I are in Topeka celebrating Christmas with my family. So there have been some traditions set over the years as a "pastor's family" for us. For one, we are always in Lincoln Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so often it is the case that we travel to Topeka Dec. 26th and do the "Hsu Christmas" then. We've been here in Topeka since yesterday. Another tradition that is a bit more recent came out of the "Advent Conspiracy" we've encouraged people to do at Grace Chapel. The idea is to seek and give loved ones the gift of "presence" as well as presents and at times in lieu of presents. We began asking the question a few years back, what do you give parents who really don't "need" anything? Well, we came up with the idea that since mom and dad have lived in the same house since 1975, have never had a garage sale and are looking at retirement soon (and possibly downsizing at some point), that we would begin "taking things away from them" for Christmas every year. So each year we take a room of their rather large house and go to town on the room clearing out closets, taking many things to the local mission, yet others to the garbage, yet others things after a brief evaluation are kept and then organized. Mom and dad (and my sister Cassandra) enjoy the time spent together digging through each room, making decisions together as to what to keep, what to give away and what to throw out. I think this gift of "presence" is really meaningful to them. I figured this is a way to do "Christmas for the affluent."

Another thing that has been super-fun is going through my "old room" and digging through old college pictures, letters, etc. Tanya and I met when we were sixteen and so now have known each other for over twenty-four years. Here I found an old college picture- I'm going to date the picture somewhere around 1992 (when we were both 21-year-olds). The picture made me think of this Scripture:

Proverbs 5:18- May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

The Spirituals and the Blues, by James H. Cone

2011-12-21T20:55:00.000-06:00

Throughout this year, I've been writing a lot about a kind of dualism we've seemed to embrace as American Evangelicals. Whether N.T. Wright describing how somewhere along the lines we turned the hope of the Gospel into an exclusively "heavenly hope," rather than emphasized the broader vision of the Bible that teaches us our ultimate home is the reunion of heaven and earth (think of the Lord's Prayer or the earthiness of the vision of the New Heavens and Earth at the end of the Bible in Revelation, its similarities with the original Garden paradise in Gen. 1&2). Andy Crouch shared with us how losing sight of the "earthiness" of our hope, we've lost sight of what meaningful "culture-making" is. Lesslie Newbigin pinned the blame for separating the heavenly from the earthly on the Enlightenment Project of the 17th and 18th centuries that began measuring purpose not so much by a deeper "telos," but rather by that which was measurable, by Newtonian physics built on basic laws of "cause and effect." What is "fact" is observable and measurable, but what is "value" is left to private judgment. The "facts" and "values" divide resulted coming out of the Enlightenment and much of evangelical Christianity acquiesced by emphasizing a less rational, more spiritualized, hope, rather than integrating a vision of life to include both the material as well as the spiritual, the heavenly with the earthly. A while back, William Placher spoke of the medieval tendency to see a self-imposed kind of asceticism as describing the "spiritually heroic" and that monastic life, rather than "ordinary life," began to represent those truly with a "vocation," i.e. calling from God.

Well, in James Cone's fascinating book The Spiritual and the Blues, Cone distinguishes between "Blues" and "Spirituals" in that the former tended to be located outside the Church while the latter tended to be within. The Blues that would later turn to Jazz spoke of the hope for beauty and love without "another worldly" hope while the Spirituals later turn to Gospel music gave an eschatological hope taking advantage of "pilgrim" and "sojourner" language to sustain a suffering and enslaved people.

As Cone writes:

The hope of the blues is grounded in the historical reality of the black experience. The blues express a belief that one day things will not be like what they are today. This is why buses, railways, and trains are important images in the blues. Each symbolizes motion and the possibility of leaving the harsh reality of an oppressive environment. “Ef ah kin jes grab me a handfulla freight train- ah’ll be set.” The blues emphasize movement, the possibility of changing the present reality of suffering. p. 124

While the Spirituals tended to place their hope in an eschatological future instead, in a heavenly hope, nonetheless as Cone writes, both the Spirituals and the Blues "partake of the same black experience in the United States" (p. 129). I found these observations fascinating.

What is more, along with Wright, Newbigin, Crouch and others, so Cone takes his stab at the source of the problematic bifurcation between heaven and earth, the earthly and the spiritual, and he does so through the lens of power and sex. Cone makes a point that white evangelicals have tended to make "sex" a bad thing, while the music of the blues have tended to make central "joy, love, and sex.... hugging, kissing and feeling" (p. 114). I had to pause for a second and try this on for size. I've now been a Christian (and an evangelical one at that) for nearly 22-years. I've always been taught that sex is a beautiful thing in the right context, but there was also the sense when I first came into Christianity in 1990 that the Church was trying to right a ship that had emphasized for far too long the prudishness of Victorian values. Sex was good, but... qualify, qualify, qualify, ... and "whatever you do, don't listen to that terrible rap music!" In other words, it seemed that my evangelical past had once upon a time had a hard time affirming the goodness of sex, let alone even talking about it without blushing. Where did this come from? Well, Cone argues that it comes from people of power who have never had to grapple on a foundational level with the "exchange" of beautiful physicality in the midst of predominantly oppressive physicality. Again, listen to Cone here:

People cannot love physically and spiritually (the two cannot be separated!) until they have been up against the edge of life, experiencing the hurt and pain of existence. They (people of power, “white oppressors” as Cone calls them) cannot appreciate the feel and touch of life nor express the beauty of giving themselves to each other in community, in love, and in sex until they know and experience the brokenness of existence as disclosed in human oppression. People who have not been oppressed physically cannot know the power inherent in bodily expressions of love. That is why white Western culture makes a sharp distinction between the spirit and the body, the divine and the human, the sacred and the secular. White oppressors do not know how to come to terms with the essential spiritual function of the human body. But for black people the body is sacred, and they know how to use it in the expression of love. p. 114

Even as I write Cone's paragraph, I find it pushing my evangelical sensibilities and making me defensive. Really, I can't go "all the way" with Cone (sorry about the sexual play on words there), because I do think those who have not been oppressed can know the sacredness of the body, in fact to know it is to come more fully into understanding the hope of the Gospel that has at its center the resurrection of the body and the honoring of the human nature (as Paul says, "sown in dishonor, raised in glory, sown in weakness, raised in power- 1 Cor. 15:43). To know its sacredness is to know more fully what it means to be human, most fully His as we were intended to be. To know its sacredness is to emphasize some of the evangelical church's emphases on uniting only with a spouse in marriage, since the Gospel itself is brought to bear more fully on our lives as husband loves wife as Christ loves the Church and wife honors husband, indeed "submits herself to him" as to the Lord. So I can't entirely make such a blanket statement with Cone regarding the inability of "people of power" to understand the sacredness of the body, at least without emphasizing nuance or complexity to the issue at hand; ... however, that being said, I think I see what he is getting at and believe I need to listen. There is less shame and bashfulness about bodily subject matters where beauty is involved regarding the body, especially among a people who have primarily known mistreatment, oppression and violence done against the body. I hate to do the comparison game because sin is sin and God hates it all, but let me go ahead and do it for a second since we evangelical Christians ourselves are guilty of separating "sin categories" whether intentionally or unintentionally, so here goes... what is worse, sex outside of marriage or a general disregard for the poor? Actually Ezekiel 16:49 answers this question in part when Ezekiel speaks of the "sin of Sodom"... which was??? Take a guess! You might say, "immorality!" However, Ezekiel's answer was "injustice!"... "She (Sodom) and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."

The point here isn't to say that one sin is "better" than another but to give pause to the ways in which our particular "class" perspective as American Evangelical Christians has influenced and framed much of our thinking on Scripture and how we define the "good life in Christ." Unfortunately, there are bifurcations everywhere, the splitting up of that which ought not be split up, whether heaven and earth, the spiritual or the material, the professional religious people vs. those with ordinary jobs or the split between talking about spiritual matters but not that of the body.

Sex is good! Can I say that without blushing? Or without a million qualifiers? There are qualifiers, of course, but why be so sheepish about the subject matter? If my 14-year-old foster son wants to ask me what I mean, I think he will. Darius chuckled the other day when I told him sex sets off "pleasure centers" in your brain called endorphins and that food, drink and even drugs tap into a similar part of the brain, that there is a reason all these things "feel good." I told him that's why we have to be careful to partake (or delay or refuse participation) in such things in ways that will give us the life God wants for us ultimately, long-term, not just "in the moment." But he was still giggling because I a pastor said the "S" word. I know he's talking about it with his buddies. I know the rap songs he listens to speaks of sex. Why not talk about SEX in ways consistent with the beautiful portrait given us in Scripture? Why hide or blush or say, "shouldn't talk about it"? The human heart knows better, as do Cone's "people," as does my teenage foster son. Cone gives us interesting food for thought, at the very least.

Quick Update

2011-12-14T08:34:00.000-06:00

Hi Friends,

I haven't been blogging much as of late. I had a busy November helping to prepare a team of twenty-six people to go to Haiti. We were in Haiti from Nov. 12th-19th. Then I returned to step right into the season of Advent, one of the fuller seasons for a pastor. By the way, I'm always struck by the Christmas themes this time of year of God coming to the lowly, the downcast and the disenfranchised. As Jesus calls the naked, the friendless, hungry, thirsty and destitute in Matt. 25, "my brothers and sisters." I think Advent has so much to teach us about these themes of the One who though rich became poor for our sakes (2Cor. 8:9). That's a short way of saying, Advent has been awesome so far. Also, since the end of October, I've been rehabbing an ankle that was pretty severely sprained. I haven't been playing basketball since late October :-( , something I like to do a couple of times a week when I'm healthy.

Well, I've been doing some reading, mainly on Haiti, Travesty in Haiti by Timothy Swartz which is a hard look at much of the corruption in Haiti, including the problems with many of the charitable organizations and the utilization of orphans to raise money. Also, I recently finished The Uses of Haiti by Paul Farmer, another "hard look," this time a very critical evaluation of the history of US Policy towards Haiti. Farmer is a trusted source, but his critique of our government's alliance with the Haitian elite and general disregard for the welfare of the peasant population in Haiti, is far from flattering. I actually cannot recommend either of these books unless you have a sincere interest in doing long-term work in a place like Haiti. These are neither books for pleasure reading nor to "check off the list." After completing both or either book, I think one is compelled to a kind of moral obligation to "do something": just a fair warning!

Finally, I just started a book that will probably come across as a snoozer to many of you: Qualitative Research, by Sharran Merriam. It is both an expensive book as well as a technical book. I'm reading it because it describes the type of research I will be pursuing the next few years for my Doctor of Ministry program. Believe it or not, call me a nerd, but I'm enjoying it.

Blessings,

Mike

And the Note on the Backside

2011-11-24T09:59:00.001-06:00

I'm thankful today :-)

7-Yr.-Old Isaac's Thanksgiving Card

2011-11-24T09:59:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving Today!

A Letter from Our Haitian RN Friend Marise to Gene Summerlin, Regarding Our Team

2011-11-21T12:30:00.001-06:00

Dear Gene,

Hope that you had a safe trip back home. It's been a pleasure and a blessing meeting you and serving with you.

I did not have time to address the team, so on behalf of my haitian brothers/sisters, would you please express our thanks/gratitude to them at your post trip meeting.

I want to thank them for treating us with respect and dignity, always doing the right thing, taking the needed approach to ensure the right treatment, and maintaining their privacy.

There was never any rush to care for any patient, every child/infant was carried and cuddled, tears dried, noses wiped. There was so much love felt.

These were delivered day or night by all the members of the team, no one was ever too tired to deliver what was needed to help.

I saw every member of the team as God's several parts separated but equal working together to unite all those parts into one whole with the ultimate goal to reach his kingdom where there'll be no pain/suffering/distinction/the haves and the have nots, because what we do for them we really do for God.

I heard them saying that they saw Jesus and hope in those faces. It's awesome and so true because Jesus does not wear 3 piece suit and live in mansions.

I saw so much humility and compassion and love for us and it was sincere.

Please thank them for us and convey this message to them.

May God continue to bless us, guide us.

May we never forget that all that we are and all that we have comes from God, so when we give to others, and do for others we're really giving back to God.

Thank you again,

Marise

Just Landed in Omaha!

2011-11-19T20:01:00.000-06:00

Picture of Tanya Hsu, Bob Caldwell, Kristine Fry, Sara Parkening, an uncooperative Jesse Anderson (instructions were to smile:-)), Keith and Katie Miller

Bob Caldwell Leaving Plane in Dallas

2011-11-19T15:55:00.000-06:00

Just Landed in Dallas

2011-11-19T15:45:00.001-06:00

Everyone's doing well!

Husker Game in FLL Airport

2011-11-19T12:06:00.000-06:00

Even as we wait for our flight to Dallas, Christine Schuele, Kristine Fry, Elijah Knight and Gene Summerlin are catching the game on Gene's phone.

Welcome to the US Jerry!

2011-11-19T11:13:00.000-06:00

At Customs in FLL

2011-11-19T10:55:00.000-06:00

Jesse Anderson, Kathleen Smith, Christine Schuele

Just Landed in FLL

2011-11-19T10:36:00.001-06:00

Just landed in Ft. Lauderdale, were able to be with 13yr-old Jerry on his first plane flight to the States. Also, Carrie Davidson is on this flight and will turn around and go to the Dominican Republic (on the same island as Haiti) to visit a friend who is teaching in the DR. Frank and Karen Maiorana live in Tallahassee so will stay in FLL with Jerry for the weekend and then attend Pastor Brian Kelso's church on Sunday. Brian is the director of GCA. So the team is still together for a little while longer!

Boarding Plane

2011-11-19T08:24:00.000-06:00

Craig Moore, Elijah Knight, Gus Hustad

Ultimate Uno in the PaP Airport

2011-11-19T07:23:00.000-06:00

Clockwise starting from left: Jami Pickering, Carrie Davidson, Christine Schuele, Jerry Oscar, Brett Martin, Kristine Fry, Jesse Anderson

Jerry Going "Home" with Frank and Karen!

2011-11-19T06:59:00.000-06:00

Are you kidding me? Praise God. Jerry will still spend the school year in Mirebalais but has a 5-yr visa to go back and forth between here and there. This culminate a 3 1/2 yr. journey that has sometimes been very difficult, to say the least. Amazing. Praise God!

Jane Vander Broek Getting Passport Checked

2011-11-19T06:40:00.000-06:00

At Counter of AA at PaP Airport

2011-11-19T06:34:00.000-06:00

Some Reflections on Yesterday as We Leave

2011-11-19T06:33:00.001-06:00

Yesterday started off with a lot of drama as we were eating breakfast. Our Haitian-American RN friend Marise ran through the dining area saying, "Someone is bleeding! Someone is bleeding!" So RN Deb Knight popped up to go down to the temporary tent clinic we worked out of on the property site. In Haiti, it's hard to know when to "react" to a "crisis" vs. when a situation is simply another difficult but fairly "normative" in Haiti. Frank and I, followed Deb who came back up to the GH looking for supplies. Some of our clinicians (specifically our RNs) prepared to work as well. Well learning that a boy outside the Guest House had been hit by a tap-tap and seeing that some of the Haitians seemed to be truly shaken, I came and grabbed Dr. Al Halls who grabbed a pair of gloves. By the time we got down to the site, the boy was being rushed to the local hospital. It turns out he has 4 teeth knocked out and some lacerations and later came to our clinic for some meds as well as liquid food as eating seemed to be a difficulty for him. However, it looked like he was going to be OK- I took a picture of the boy and posted it yesterday.

Well, we got going in our makeshift tent clinic only to see right off the bat a 22-day-old baby who was struggling with breathing. Dr. Al gave her a nebulizer treatment but she really needed to get to the local hospital so he sent her. We are still waiting to hear what happened to the baby. My wife Tanya and Christine Schuele who were caring for this child were amazing. I wear big sunglasses in Haiti because: 1) it's bright I the Caribbean sun but also because 2) I will sometimes have moments I can't hold it together, so prefer crying under the cover of shade; this was one of those moments. In fact, there are many pictures I choose not to post because they are far too sacred in my mind; this was one of the those situations. I choose to have this baby captured in my heart, rather than on film. I chose to cry out to God rather than point and click in that holy moment.

But then the day seemed to "smooth out" out a bit and we ended up seeing well over 200 patients, our "biggest" day by far. It was a good day. In the evening we debriefed and shared. Many thoughts were shared, mainly how amazing the Haitian people are, their thankfulness, patience and kindness. And then a lot of sharing went on regarding the amazing way in which our team worked together, loving one another well and collaborating to care for people. Dr. Halls said, "this week reminds me of why I got into medicine in the first place." Dr. Keith Miller shared as to how this was a new but amazing experience for him, to directly care for such people. I shared how much I admired each team member for their work and contribution. Gene Summerlin shared from Isaiah 53 about how Jesus himself was "rejected and despised by men" and then I was able to share from the end of Revelation about the healing of the nations is promised us and the Haitians. Also, opportunities to partner with GCA and future follow-up meetings upon returning from Haiti were talked about as absolutely crucial, that in some ways the post-trip meetings are even more important than the pre-trip meetings.

Well, so we're here at the PaP airport waiting to go home. I'm looking forward to seeing my kids but I have to say, what an amazing group and what an amazing time.

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow!

In Line at PaP Airport

2011-11-19T05:55:00.000-06:00

Unloading Bags in PaP

2011-11-19T05:50:00.000-06:00

Left Guest House at 5am this morning.

Construction Workers on Clinic

2011-11-18T14:19:00.000-06:00

We learned a few years ago that there isn't much benefit to bringing people to do construction here. Why? Because we take jobs away from locals if we do. Whereas American doctors provide a level of care for patients that few Haitian doctors are able to provide at this point, at the same time, Haitian construction workers have a skill set and knowledge of building in Haiti that American construction workers are unable to match. I guess "partnership" is the key word here. As a friend of mine said to me a few years ago, in the Church, "we should be helping people to do what they do best and freeing them to do so."

Outside the Clinic

2011-11-18T14:07:00.000-06:00

In this area where cinder blocks are piled for construction, eventually will be a garden "waiting area" as patients wait to see the "doktes."

Construction of Pharmacy, View from Inside

2011-11-18T14:04:00.000-06:00

Medical Clinic Construction Underway!

2011-11-18T14:03:00.000-06:00

In partnership with friends of Great Commission Alliance (GCA) and friends of Grace Chapel of Lincoln, NE, we have partnered together to raise $96k of the needed $106k for construction costs for a community medical clinic on the GCA property. Here is a picture of the pharmacy portion of the clinic that is being constructed first; it will be air-conditioned. These are exciting times!

In addition to closing the gap on the construction costs, we are seeking to raise another $30k for outfitting the clinic as well as associated expenses with funding the clinic on the back-end (maintenance, utilities and ongoing expenses to run the clinic once it is up). If you are interested in partnering with us financially, please let Grace Chapel's Haiti Ministries Coordinator Gene Summerlin know at gene@gracepca.com . Blessings and thanks!

Clarification

2011-11-18T12:42:00.001-06:00

To clarify the last post, the American doctor is not charging for the procedure but there are costs associated with transportation as well as hospital stay. It's a great deal for the child and his mother; we'll find the funds needed.

Also, we did see the girl with the skin condition again- she is looking much improved after five days- praise God! The docs are very encouraged.

Bev Celebrating with Marise

2011-11-18T12:35:00.000-06:00

On Monday we met this despairing mother since her little boy has a uretha that is not connected to his penis. His urine comes out at the base of his penis, above the testicles. Today we found an American doctor who is willing and able to perform the necessary procedure in Feb, for $375 dollars! Here Bev and Marise are celebrating. The mom has a smile on her face, something that was absent on Monday when we first saw her. Hallelujah.

Tanya Hsu with a Snuggle Bug of a Kid

2011-11-18T11:44:00.000-06:00

Dr. Al Halls Consulting with Patient, Translator Novak Present

2011-11-18T11:40:00.000-06:00

Dr. Keith Miller Doing an Exam

2011-11-18T11:39:00.000-06:00

Dr. Gus Hustad Doing Exam

2011-11-18T11:38:00.000-06:00

Have I Introduced You to Samuel?

2011-11-18T10:53:00.000-06:00

I can't remember if I sent this, but this is Samuel.

Boy Andilou with "Cool" Glasses

2011-11-18T10:51:00.000-06:00

RN Carol Agate Giving OTCs to Kiddos

2011-11-18T10:50:00.000-06:00

RNs Christine Schuele and Carrie Davidson Checking Kids, Lambert Translating

2011-11-18T10:49:00.000-06:00

Kristine Fry, Tanya Hsu and Jane Vander Broek Taking Heights and Weights of School Children

2011-11-18T10:48:00.000-06:00

Injured Young Man

2011-11-18T09:58:00.000-06:00

Before clinic, a panic hit our quiet morning as we learned this young boy was hit by a tap-tap. We sent him to the local hospital- he had lost 4 teeth and had some lacerations but it looks like he is going to be OK.

Pharmacy in Full Swing

2011-11-18T09:19:00.000-06:00

Pharmacists Bob Caldwell, Katie Miller, Tech Jami Pickering and Pharmacist Craig Moore at Work

Jesse Anderson and Brett Martin Working on a UA at Lab

2011-11-18T09:06:00.000-06:00

UAs, Hemoglobin, Glucose, Pregnancy Tests Here

Carrie Rush Team Photographer

2011-11-18T08:58:00.000-06:00

In addition to being amazing with the kids, Carrie is one of our team photographers (along with Bev Braun)

Poor Dan

2011-11-18T08:54:00.000-06:00

Dan Sayer is always doing crowd control or "guarding" certain entrances to the clinic, so I felt bad that my pictures of Dan are always "just Dan" on his own. Out of sympathy for Dan's "alone" pictures and fearful that we give the impression that Dan has no friends, I decided to take a picture of me and Dan! :-). In all seriousness, we all love Dan as he has been such a remarkable blessing. Of course he did comment the picture on whole is off center with me being in the "center," implying that's where I most like to be in pictures. Hey, in my defense, it's not easy taking pictures of yourself!

Andrew Hustad Taking Blood Pressure

2011-11-18T08:43:00.000-06:00

Entrance of Clinic

2011-11-18T08:42:00.000-06:00

Crowd control guy Rob Hemmer discussing some things with Pharmacist Katie Miller. Haitian-American RN Marise working with patient.

Waiting Area as Patients Await Docs

2011-11-18T08:36:00.000-06:00

Intake Table

2011-11-18T08:31:00.000-06:00

Deb Knight with Translator Anthony and Elijah Knight receiving patients; Gene Summerlin is taking vitals

Haitians Packed Out for Clinic

2011-11-18T08:30:00.000-06:00

It's going to be a full day with many people to see.

School's in Session

2011-11-18T08:25:00.000-06:00

As we get going, here is the school on the GCA property. Our docs will see the kiddos a little later.

Preparing for Last Day of Clinic and Thoughts

2011-11-18T06:30:00.000-06:00

It's been a tough but rewarding week in so many ways. In Haiti, we grieve as we work because so many things are unfixable in the near term. But also we are changed because God is at work here and these people are remarkable people in so many ways. The problems run so deep, yet the hope of the Gospel runs even deeper. Our devotional last night was on Col. 1:15-20 where we are told that Jesus is the "firstborn over creation." What this means is not that Jesus was "born" at some point in the past, for He was "begotten, not made" as the ancient creed goes. Rather the phrase means that he is "pre-eminent" over all of creation, i.e. "the first among many." John 1 says that "He was with God in the beginning," indeed "was God." What this means is that Jesus is the Creator and just as He made all things, so now He promises to make all things new again. And the Col. 1 passage tells us that because of the Cross, all things (whether in heaven or on earth) have been (and will be) reconciled. So Jesus has "saved" us certainly but also He is committed to feeding, clothing, and restoring everything else that is broken as a result of the curse of sin on this world as well. We and the Haitians do have hope; in fact, our hope runs deeper than the problems in Haiti or the United States. This isn't always easy to believe because the problems here are so "in your face," but it's true. Praise God it's true, so we work, grieve, rejoice in these people and above all HOPE.

On the medical side of things, we learn a little bit more each time we come. While Grace Chapel has oversight over GCA's medical arm, there is a huge learning process regarding how to best treat people here in Haiti. We've only been here in Mirebalais since early 2010 and the actual physical clinic is only now being built. However, Dr. Keith Miller and I had a very insightful conversation last night about finding what literature exists regarding providing meaningful medical care in greatly impoverished places like Haiti. You see, we can't just carbon copy medical practices in the US and reproduce them here in Haiti: one simple example, when you take Ibuprofen back home, what is a fairly regular piece of advice? Here it is, "don't take it on an empty stomach." But what if EVERYONE'S stomach in a place is likely "empty" most of the time? And what about where hydration is questionable at best? If there is inadequate food and water in a place, while well-intentioned, how many of our meds that we prescribe stand to be more harmful than helpful? To what extent might the kidneys get pummeled (that's a technical medical term you know? :-)), despite putting medication in the hands of people meant to help them?

In Kidder's book Mountains Beyond Mountains on Dr. Paul Farmer, Kidder documents how Farmer became an "international player" on the stage of world health. Farmer was finding TB flourishing and doing the worst kind of destruction in impoverished areas that had actually received minimal levels of medical treatment from outside groups. So there was a minimal, substandard level of treatment in those areas rather than NO treatment and TB became nearly untreatable in those regions that had received help. What was that all about? Well, what Farmer found was MDR TB (Multi-Drug Resistant TB) had ravaged regions where people had received medication for their sickness, but had not received the proper follow-up or accountability, where there was no viable medical infrastructure to communicate to the patient the absolute importance of following through with the entire treatment program from beginning to end, that taking the medicine, but then NOT to complete the treatment schedule, could prove more harmful than beneficial in the long-run (wow,... that was a long sentence). Bottomline; in those regions, NO treatment would have been better than some.

These are not easy questions but we have to ask them in an ongoing fashion, that we might actually do more good than harm; I know this is how Jesus wants us to treat the Haitians, in a way consistent with their dignity, their "honor and glory," as Psalm 8 says. So we're asking these kinds of questions and continue to need much prayer. Please pray with us.

Today we are back here at the Guest House site doing clinic where we did on Monday. We are hoping to see a young girl again that we saw on Monday, with a skin condition. Also, we plan on treating the GCA school kids as well. This is the case on Monday where we consulted our dermatologist friend in Lincoln, Geoff Basler.

Pray that we would finish strong today, that God would uphold us as we are tired emotionally. Also pray that God would be glorified and the Haitians blessed. Thank you friends. God bless.

Translators, Jerry (center of pic) and Tou Tou (far right in red)

2011-11-17T13:54:00.000-06:00

Team Leaders Gene and Mike

2011-11-17T13:51:00.000-06:00

Look closely at the name tags!

Madame Pastor Thanks Team as We Complete Clinic

2011-11-17T13:40:00.000-06:00

Pastor Jean's wife thanks the team as we finish at Dufailly. Her husband is taking the little boy we saw with the heart murmur on Monday, to PaP to try and get an ecco.

Drs. Gus Hustad and Keith Miller Helping a Baby

2011-11-17T13:34:00.000-06:00

This baby has been vomiting as of late.

Gene Summerlin Giving Child a Worming Pill

2011-11-17T13:33:00.000-06:00

Gene and Child

2011-11-17T13:26:00.000-06:00

Tanya Hsu and Baby

2011-11-17T12:56:00.000-06:00

Maradona, Jerry Oscar and Translator Lambert

2011-11-17T12:39:00.001-06:00

Dr. Al Halls, Translator Novak and Child Patient

2011-11-17T12:39:00.000-06:00

Dr. Gus Hustad, Translator Bijou and Patient

2011-11-17T12:38:00.000-06:00

Waiting to See Docs

2011-11-17T12:35:00.000-06:00

RN Deb Knight, Translator Jhonny and Patient

2011-11-17T12:34:00.001-06:00

RN Carrie Davidson and Translator Ricardo

2011-11-17T12:34:00.000-06:00

Carla and Baby

2011-11-17T12:33:00.000-06:00

Kristine Fry Playing with Child

2011-11-17T11:46:00.000-06:00

Dan Sayer Keeping the Turkeys and Chickens Out of the Clinic

2011-11-17T10:20:00.000-06:00

Kids in Patient Area

2011-11-17T10:08:00.000-06:00

Clinicians in One Area

2011-11-17T09:53:00.000-06:00

Here at Dufailly, our clinicians are all in one area. Each location has a different set-up, so there is an evaluating each time of how to do patient waiting, intake, triage, consulting with a doc, lab, pharmacy with runners walking patients through and a perimeter being monitored.

On another note, found a decent place in a cornfield nearby to use the restroom recently! Victory given the concern blogged about earlier this morning. The cornfield has a little cover.

Jane Vander Broek Making Medical Records

2011-11-17T09:33:00.000-06:00

Drs. Al Halls, Gus Hustad and RN Kathleen Smith Prepping

2011-11-17T09:30:00.000-06:00

Better Music than Most Doctor Offices Back Home

2011-11-17T09:28:00.000-06:00

The current track, "Amazing Grace" in Creole

Patients Patiently Waiting at Dufailly

2011-11-17T09:26:00.000-06:00

Are these people amazing or what? The contrast with our impatience back home, with processes such as seeing a doctor, is hard to ignore.

At the Peligre Dam, Before Heading to Dufailly

2011-11-17T08:52:00.000-06:00

The dam supplies power to PaP as well as Mirebalais, so that we now have a constant power source (hydroelectric) unlike was the case when we were in southern Haiti. However, Paul Farmer as documented in Kidder's book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, doesn't speak well of its building, given the people it displaced.

Getting Ready for Dufailly

2011-11-17T07:48:00.000-06:00

Clinic Day 4 and Some Reflections on Yesterday

2011-11-17T05:49:00.001-06:00

I mentioned that there were a lot of tears yesterday. Did something out-of-the ordinary happen yesterday? No, just Haiti. The problems of Haiti are so deep and complex that inevitably we quickly reach the end of ourselves and realize that there are many things we cannot fix. For example, how does a doc prescribe medication for a person when the more foundational question is that many have very little to eat? For someone in the noble profession that seeks to address pain and sickness, what happens when the final consult is that "there is nothing I can do for you"? For the noble-hearted, the grief of watching suffering, so badly wanting to relieve it but then being unable to do so can be unbearable....

But, we don't lose heart. Last night we did a group devotional out of 2Cor 4 and in that passage the Apostle Paul says that we always carry in our bodies the death of Christ so that His life might be revealed in us (2Cor. 4:10). The point was that often in America we seek to insulate ourselves from pain and suffering, pushing it out of our lives. Yet it still finds us and for those who have the eyes to see, it actually proves to be present everywhere (even in Lincoln, NE). And many things are not fixable. What the passage says is that the death of Christ will always be in us, the "burden" of suffering in other words. Why? "...so that grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God." Christ is coming to make all things new (Rev. 21:5) but in the meantime we wait with patience for the fulfillment of that promise. We suffer and we grieve and we step into those places where much heartache exists, knowing that much is not to be fixed, but to be "carried in our bodies,"... and shared.

Why the many tears yesterday? Haiti. Haiti makes you grieve, not without hope, but with genuine heartache and sorrow, "for we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body" (2Cor. 4:11).

Today we go to the Dufailly orphanage. The space will be tight and we may have difficulty finding an adequate space to "relieve ourselves" when needed. Being in the Caribbean heat, I find myself needing to drink a ton to stay hydrated; also, I don't go to the restroom as often because of the way the heat makes it so that I absorb rather than pass fluids. So you're often calculating the balance between taking in enough liquid and wondering if you will have a place to "go" (especially the women). No one has gotten dehydrated so far: praise God. We're always reminding people to "drink." But it's uncomfortable seeking to work well when you have to use the bathroom but are unsure if you will be able to find a place to do so. Sorry if this is a bit raw for you but we're in Haiti and it is what it is. There's a prayer request in there somewhere but I'll let you work out the wording of that prayer before the Lord. Pray for us today. Thank you.

Thank you for your all your prayers so far friends. God is good. All the time, God is good.

Jerry's Visa!

2011-11-16T15:08:00.000-06:00

So we received Jerry's Visa and were expecting a six-month Visa with the need to renew at that point. We're not exactly sure what happened, if it was a mistake or a typo, but they gave him a 5-yr. Visa! Are you kidding me? For those of you who know how much Frank and Karen Maiorana have been through these last three years, Hallelujah is really all that can be said!

Haiti Often Takes My Breath Away

2011-11-16T14:41:00.000-06:00

Finished at S'Eau Deus

2011-11-16T14:28:00.000-06:00

This was a tough day, lots of difficult situations and a lot of tears. Thanks for your prayers as this was the day we were expecting yesterday. Now we head back to the Guest House. Everyone did a great job- grateful for this team.

Carla Pisel-Nixon and a 25lb Haitian Baby

2011-11-16T12:33:00.000-06:00

Haitian Lady Getting Clean Water at Natural Spring

2011-11-16T11:45:00.000-06:00

Frank tells me that "S'Eau Deus" means "Land of Clean Water"

Marise Doing Intake

2011-11-16T10:39:00.000-06:00

Dr. Paul Raymond Consulting with Pharmacists

2011-11-16T10:27:00.000-06:00

Francke's Wife Karen Maiorana Holding Baby

2011-11-16T10:24:00.000-06:00

Dr. Birthday Boy Miller Consulting Patient

2011-11-16T10:22:00.000-06:00

Al Halls and Kathleen Smith Taking Care of a Patient, Translator Novak Helping

2011-11-16T10:03:00.000-06:00

Kathleen Smith and Translator Peterson Discussing the Day

2011-11-16T09:57:00.000-06:00

S'Eau Deus Orphans Waiting for Care

2011-11-16T09:56:00.000-06:00

Little Man Having a Drink

2011-11-16T09:46:00.000-06:00

Bev Braun and Tanya Hsu Taking Heights and Weights

2011-11-16T09:41:00.000-06:00

"I'm Fine"

2011-11-16T09:39:00.000-06:00

This kid was getting ants in his pants as the translator asked how he was doing and he asserted "I'm Fine!" Dr. Gus' diagnosis? "He's Right!"

Dan Sayer and the Fence He Built

2011-11-16T09:21:00.000-06:00

Don't see it? Look closely at Dan's feet; it's an excellent perimeter to maintain crowd control.

Jane Vander Broek and Andrew Hustad Studying Creole

2011-11-16T09:15:00.000-06:00

Andrew tells me, "Soleye means shoes"

Carrie Rush, a "Runner" Taking Little Guy to Get Weighed

2011-11-16T09:05:00.000-06:00