The current tide of compassion ministry is also a reaction to decades of gnosticism in the church; a false dichotomy of the spiritual and physical, sacred and the secular…kicked off by the backlash of fundamentalists towards liberal churches focused on humanitarian efforts, and a pessimistic eschatology that eagerly expected Jesus to return any minute, since the world appeared to be going to hell in a handbasket.  After years of Evangelicals treating humanitarian work as the carrot dangled as enticement to listen to a salvation message, we finally have some care for people’s physical well-being…albeit not with a good grasp of why, outside of a gut that says we should be all about compassion…after Chan and Platt and Stearns and Claiborne and (fill in the blank) have got us all bunched up.  With time will come a more thought-out understanding of the whole gospel as lived out by Jesus…the Gospel Of The Kingdom…a call to salvation and cultural transformation…helped by applying the lessons so often missed from an Old Testament blueprint called Israel (did we miss the fact that they started out in more dire circumstances leaving Egypt than any people group alive today?).   All of the vital components for spiritual, societal and economic progress…God centered progress…are right there.

Good Kingdom language has regenerated souls and renewed minds at the heart of it, which I believe can lead to cultural transformation for the glory of God. God so loved the world…yes, Jesus will return and renew this broken world…but God still so loves the world, and the world has physical humans living physical lives in it, needing spiritual rebirth, and a hand up in Kingdom living.

The nations still need to be discipled, starting with the church saturated ones that unfortunately got a “hole” gospel on accident…sometimes liberal dependency without salvation, often conservative salvation without the tools to think Biblically about life and possibilities.

My son Taylor in Haiti

I returned from 17 days in Haiti a few weeks ago, after being with our church team for the building of the house above, and then traveling to northern Haiti with our project manager to begin assessing a new partner.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get through everything we needed to do…there was such concern among the Haitians regarding the election announcement and what might happen (rumors of every government building in the country being leveled and an apparent run on machetes) that we decided to “skip town” for a few days and head to the Dominican Republic.  The border was only 30 minutes from our location, so that’s what we did.  I’ve been across that border twice before, but always in a vehicle…this time we went on foot, which was quite an experience, because it was market day (when both countries open the border for selling of products back and forth).  There is a new bridge for this, but we found out the hard way (by braving the chaos all the way across) that this bridge is NOT for immigration!  So, we had to go all the way back through the crowd and mayhem (with our Haitian wheel barrel “porter” carrying most of the bags) and over to a different crossing.  Once across, we jumped on a bus and spent a couple days 45 minutes north in a small fishing village called Monte Christi…a calm place with nice locals…apparently not much visited anymore because of the popularity of all inclusive resorts in that country…we had a hotel almost completely to ourselves.  Since neither my companion Paul or I speak any Spanish, it made our taxi rides (at 20 miles an hour…bad tire) and meal ordering real interesting.  But, we had a nice couple of days before hearing that “Sweet Micky” had won the election in Haiti, and there was no uprising, just celebration. 

One new discovery I made once we got back to Haiti was a beach fishing community just 30 minutes west of Terrier Rouge where we were staying.  They were living very lean, with houses made of thatched branches and pieces of whatever they could find…the main food was of course fish…and lobster (!!).  When you can’t put in on ice, you have to eat it.  I was struck by the irony of their gorgeous surrounding, including a supply of some of the most beautiful shells I have ever seen, in pieces in a pile…they eat the residents of the shells and just toss them aside…and here we were, probably and hour or two from Labadee, the private beach leased by Royal Carribean for tourists, where these shells would bring in much needed revenue.  Even though we didn’t make any future plans to work with this community (Paul still needs to go back and finish assessing the ministry we went there to visit in the first place), I haven’t stopped thinking about the possibilities… 

Once I returned to Utah, we were joined by three folks from the Canadian office for training.  We now have our own server up and running (thank you Ben!) and our Teams and Project Services people are trained!  Even though we still have some teams going out with help from the north, we have already begun the process for our first “wholly owned” team going to Guatemala this November.

Thanks to Kristie, Steve and Angela for getting us there!

Please pray for our staff that are raising support (Shawn, Dana, Christie, Jessica, Aaron and Angela) and are at varying points away from their targets.  Now that we have our systems in place and a schedule of church activity expanding, it is imperative that they be able to engage with HFL to the degree they have planned as soon as possible; some full time and some part.  I hope you will join me in interceding on their behalf, to see their support gaps shrink to nothing.

For the fame of Christ,

Mike

Christ followers do not feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the marginalized, stand up for the oppressed and seek justice, as carrots to dangle in front of the world to butter it up for a message…those things are the visible manifestation that the Kingdom of God is here now…a kingdom manifested through the radical love of Christ followers to transform the world….the eradication of needless suffering but also transformation in every aspect of life/work/culture…and the message of Christ is of course a crucial aspect of that kingdom activity, in word and deed.

Doing these things in obedience to the 2^nd great commandment as worship (and manifesting the 1^st one in the process) is even a greater concept when you realize you are BEING the Kingdom manifested! 

If we aren’t doing these things, what are we saying?  “Hey Jesus, thanks for joining me in MY kingdom…I’ll give you some airtime on my terms.” 

It also occurred to me that “let your kingdom come” was always something I understood as a prayer for “part two”….ie the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom in restored creation outlined in Revelation.  I think I was mistaken….Jesus said the kingdom is HERE.  I think another way to pray that is “let your kingdom penetrate my soul and be manifest through me”.

Mike

In case you haven’t heard, CONSUMED has been cancelled for Friday May 21st…we had a scheduling issue with our venue, but as soon as we have new details about the next event, they will be posted in here and in various places.

I returned this week from an HFLUSA facilitated Vision Trip with South Mountain Community Church (SMCC) in Kenya, with a significant sense of gratitude…so thankful for the team we took and the quality of our time.  Our primary goals were to see the results of the church’s financial involvement in various projects, interface with people on the ground (both ministry personnel and people at large) and explore new opportunities to partner with the Pastoral community in one of the poorest regions of the country.  The trip was also tied to relationships SMCC has forged with African Theological Seminary (ATS).  Our experiences will largely inform on SMCC’s future plans in Kenya.  Some moments worth mentioning;

We had asked for someone to arrange a meeting of Pastors from the region of Marafa so that we could discuss leadership and theological training…with expectations that there might be a handful of people, but when we arrived, we discovered there were around 80 Pastors and church leaders waiting for us!  Surprised and encouraged, we discussed future training opportunities for these men and women of God, who are hungry for education.

One of the highlights of the trip was our team taking a wheelchair to Semini, the 15 year old boy I mentioned in February that had never been to school.  His father was a bit overwhelmed by the gift, which we told him came with the love of Jesus.

We surveyed the area where a dorm for disabled boys is being built with funds SMCC attenders provided through The Advent Conspiracy fundraiser at Christmas.  We learned that to show they had “skin in the game”, parents of the disabled boys had dug  giant trenches around the peremeter for pre-foundation work and fittings…a feat they accomplished in ONE DAY!

It will be so nice to get this building finished, given that currently the boys are all sleeping in the girl’s dorm bathroom!

Some of our team members have children sponsored through World Vision in Marafa, whom we visited in the interior of the region.  Interestingly, we found out the father of Pastor Paul Robie’s sponsored child is also a Pastor.

We also met various business people who had benefited from micro-loans given through a World Vision program, which SMCC had funded a few years ago.  We were extremely impressed with the World Vision staff in Marafa, who excelled at hospitality.  Our favorite quote from them; “we are running about 45 minutes late on our schedule, but we thought it would be a good time for tea.”

Finally, after travelling north to Kitale we watched seminary graduation at ATS.  Pastor Paul gave the commencement speech and congratulated the graduates, looking a bit like someone you might see on a deck of cards!

Thanks to all who prayed for us while we were on this trip.  Aside from one bout of heatstroke the day after we arrived, no sickness, no major challenges and no drama…but plenty of good experiences to base future ministry on.  This was a trip for the books.

Prayer requests;

• For Kupenda, HFLUSA’s partner ministry serving the disabled in Kenya; for wisdom and resources as they work on strategies to staff and expand the work in Marafa.
• For our staff.  There are seven people in various stages of raising support and transitioning into full or part time ministry.  Your prayers for us as an organization are much appreciated!

For the fame of Jesus Christ,

Mike

All HFL staff raise their own support to serve North American churches and those overseas.  If you are interested in joining the Bells support team, please go here.

 Hungry For Life International is a Canadian Charity (#862048758RR0001) and a U.S. Non-profit (#30-0312349) © 2003-2010 Hungry For Life International. All Rights Reserved.

Ironically, I left that congregation and went to another (my own), where I was implementing “phase two”; the initial interest meeting for a trip this October.  Some of our current and future U.S. staff were in the room, and when I asked them to share how Haiti had affected them, the room got an earful of passion.  One individual is thinking about spending the entire month of October in Haiti this year, so that he can serve in the north and help facilitate HFL teams in the south!

Speaking of staff, I want to share this moment from the retreat we took to join HFL Canada a few months ago in British Columbia.  The trip consisted of current and future staff, some raising support and some volunteering, and a few spouses.

It was a great opportunity to explore the future for many, and solid confirmation for others that this is in fact the direction they want their lives to take…serving the church to change the world.

Please join us in ongoing prayer for these things;

• That the leadership of churches we have contacted would be moved to action with us. 
• For Dana Snyder, Shawn Glenn and Christie Morgan as they begin raising support.
• For discernment and divine appointments on the upcoming Vision trip that South Mountain Community Church is taking to Kenya
• For God to continue bringing strategic connections in personnel and partners to HFLUSA.

For the fame of Jesus Christ,

Mike

The following was written by Dave Blundell, HFL Executive Director.

So I wrote a book. Perfectly legitimate questions would be “Why did you think another book needed to be written?” and “In the world of commercialized Christianity, isn’t there more than enough stuff to ‘help’ me grow in my walk with Jesus and be more effective in the life I should live?”

For certain … my hesitancy to add more “stuff” to the shelves of bookstores, coffee tables, and Amazon’s website caused me to turn off my computer more than once. However, as a reader and a leader, I am tired of reading about how poor much of the world is and how poorly the Western Church is doing. (It’s pretty easy to get an audience by being constantly critical.) Instead, I want someone to paint a different picture. I want to read something that motivates me with the vision of a different, and possible, reality. I want something to move toward, not just away from. I want to read something transformational, not guilt-driven behavior modification. I want someone to help me be part of the solution, not just the problem. So … more than once, I picked up my computer again and kept writing.

The book that resulted is an extension of the message and mandate of the work of Hungry For Life International. With a passion and renewed purpose to expand our impact, this book is intended to simply compare and contrast what is, against what could be. Targeting the Western churches, but more specifically those who influence them, my purpose is to spark personal spiritual transformation that results in a different global social reality.

Writing a book makes you feel vulnerable (at least it did me), especially when the financial risk at least equals the emotional risk. Regardless of the commercial market metrics that will tell us whether or not this book has been “successful,” I will be thrilled to one day hear a story that, out of sheer boredom, some young person picked up a dusty copy from their parent’s shelf and was transformed by the truth that God’s glory and the injustice of needless suffering was far more important than their own comfort.

Click here to visit Dave’s blog and find information on purchasing the book Hungry For Life: A Vision of the Church That Would Transform the World.

www.consumedworship.org      

All HFL staff raise their own support to serve North American churches and those overseas.  If you are interested in joining the Bells support team, please go here.

 Hungry For Life International is a Canadian Charity (#862048758RR0001) and a U.S. Non-profit (#30-0312349) © 2003-2010 Hungry For Life International. All Rights Reserved.

Walking With God: How to Develop the Heart of A Servant (Mike Bell) from SMCC on Vimeo.

When we are evaluating how much we should give of our time or treasure…we often think in terms of how much is enough.  Those gifted with the spiritual gift of giving ask, “How much can I give?”.  The rest of us ask, “How much do I have to give?”  In other words, “What is the minimum I need to do to stay out of spiritual hot water?”  We look for some objective number or line or measure to tell us if we don’t need to feel guilty for not being more generous.

This requirement of rules to tell us if we are spiritually acceptable is old religion and not the stuff of Christ-following.  There is no place of enough.  There is no arriving in generosity if we are giving 10% or give more time then the next person.  There is no arriving in a place of grace where we can ever say we are doing enough; only a journey toward an ever increasing generosity.  I know this because no one will ever be as generous with their lives as was Christ.

Another Brennon Manning quote: “We have all experienced the sadness of a Christian life that is secure, well regulated, but basically impoverished.  We long, at least occasionally, for a generosity that would lift us above ourselves…It is natural to feel fear and insecurity when confronted with the radical demands of the Christian commitment.  But enveloped in the lived truth of God’s furious love, insecurity is swallowed up in the solidity of love, and anguish and fear give way to hope and desire.  The Christian becomes aware that God’s appeal for unlimited generosity from His people has been preceded from His side by a limitless love, a love so intent upon a response that He has empowered us to respond through the gift of His own Spirit.

How can I ever think I have given enough?