Life at MABTS

a glimpse into daily life at mid-america baptist seminary

Archive for November, 2009

Spiritual Formation

Nov 23

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God created us. He created us for relationship.

Relationship with others. Relationship with Him.

One of the most fundamental and profound truths I learned was from a book by Richard Foster called “Celebration of Discipline“.

In it he talks about the purpose of the disciplines (things like prayer, fasting, bible study, meditation, community, etc). All these things are a means to an end. Foster said that all those things aren’t the goal in and of themselves. Rather, they are a vehicle to carry us to our true purpose. What’s that purpose?

A deep, intimate relationship with God.

We can’t earn God’s love or presence in our lives. But, we do have to leave space for him. We have to put ourselves in a position in which he can act and speak into our lives. He generally won’t force himself on us. The disciplines are ways to place ourselves in a position to encounter the true and living God.

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Thanksgiving Tree

Nov 20

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We started the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree at the beginning of November a couple years ago. We call it the Thanksgiving Tree. We set out a basket full of index cards with yarn to hang them with. Every time we think of something we are thankful for we jot it down and hang it on the Thanksgiving Tree. Its starts out sparse and gradually becomes loaded with the fruit of gratefulness. Come on over. You can hang something on the tree!

[Thanksgiving Tree Archive: 2007, 2008]

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Caldo de Mariscos

Nov 18

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I work with Latinos in Memphis. For the past year I’ve been a part of the Nueva Vida congregation at Kirby Woods Baptist Church.

Over the past few months, God has taken my involvement with Latinos in a different direction. I’ll explain more about that on another day.

The picture above was taken at a birthday party for a two-year-old Mexican girl. I happened to be visiting a home just when the shindig was about to get going. Naturally, they asked me to stay. Latinos love to be together and celebrate. Since I had already built somewhat of a relationship with this home, they were excited I could take part.

That soup was good. Potatoes, cilantro, and several different types of seafood. They also had plates heaped with crablegs. Funny thing was they didn’t have any of those handy dandy crableg crackers that they give you at Red Lobster. It was man against crab leg.

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Scribble

Nov 17

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Organization. When you’re balancing, school, work, family, practical missions, and just life in general, it’s kind of important.

Here’s one way I try to stay on top of the game. I use a Moleskine Yearly Planner. I started using one last year and it worked great.

I keep up with appointments, write down ideas, voice prayers, jot down important information, and mark out to-do lists.

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el.libo.s

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Preparing

Nov 16

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Preparing for Dr. May’s Issues of Missiology mid-term.

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Gordon Fort

Nov 13

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Dr. Wilkes interviewed Dr. Gordon Fort of the International Mission Board via telephone in our Global Church Growth and Church Planting class.

Click here for a snippet of what he had to say.

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Happy Birthday Samuel!

Nov 11

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Flaw of the Excluded Middle

Nov 9

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A few weeks back I presented to my fellow classmates an issue that is faced by most cross-cultural workers: The Flaw of the Excluded Middle.

Problem: Westerners see the world as mechanistic. Things happen due to determinable processes. Kids get sick because of germs. Tires go flat because of nails. However, most of the world sees the world in a much more organic way. It’s not a matter of equal and opposite reactions, rather things relate to each other. Further, everything that happens in the natural realm is profoundly influenced by the spiritual realm (this is the excluded middle).

This is a huge problem. Consider the following dialogue.

Father: My child died because someone placed a curse on her!

Missionary: Your child died because she was bitten by a mosquito infected by malaria and she contracted it.

Father: Yes, she was bitten by a mosquito, but who sent the mosquito?

If the missionary continues to deny the presence of anything other than natural, empirical phenomena he and his message will be seen as irrelevant.

For more information, read Hiebert’s article.

You can also download the handout I prepared for the class here.

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John Charping

Nov 6

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John Charping is a doctoral student at MABTS. He spent some time with us in Global Church Growth explaining how he trained nationals on the mission field.


John Charping from Ryan Bush on Vimeo.

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Letting You Go Hungry

Nov 5

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Deuteronomy 8:2-3 says:

Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Apparently, the things we think are most important (like food, money, above average grades, job security, being successful, a healthy retirement, etc.), may not be all that important after all. Further, God is willing to let us go without these all-important things in order to focus us on what is important. Him.

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