Australia and Montana- GO!

Summer in SoCal is kicking off, and with it two Knott Avenue Global Outreach (GO!) Teams committed to making a lasting difference throughout the world.

GO! Australia will be in Brisbane June 26-July 11. We'll again partner with our own Daun Slauson and the Ann Street Church of Christ, working with them as they reach those in their world. Our team includes Luke Hamagiwa, Josh Carman, Leslee Marvin, Lianna Cabrera, Mike Carman, and (in insets) Alexis Alvarado and Dan Stanton.

GO! Montana- Larry and Joyce Clasen, Kelly and Judy Kappen,  Lynn Ramirez, Carol Hall, and John and Connie Bergsto (not pictured)- will be in Kalispell, MT June 26-July 6, working at the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) base there. This training center is led by Jeff and Kristi Wilke from KACC. The team will be busy with projects  from office help to construction needs.

These teams need your prayers, as the experiences they'll encounter are not simply of the physical realm.  Without sounding too esoteric, we need to remember that we wage a battle of a spiritual nature.  That means that no matter what we're involved with, there are spiritual overtones and constructs that take us from the natural to the supernatural. Our conversations, relationships and opportunities all have spiritual overtones and ramifications that may resound into eternity.  So please pray for each of these team members as they give themselves for a cause so much greater than they.

Brisbane

Pray for them as they travel, serve, connect and pour themselves out for the glory of our Lord. Pray for divine appointments with people who need the hope and that Jesus brings. Pray for team unity and a spirit of oneness. Pray for their families who will carry on here in their absence. 

Remember also that you can check this blog site periodically for updates (at least for the Australia team!) as a way to keep you more closely connected with what's going on.  Better yet, you can subscribe to this blog (it's on the right of this screen and it's free!) so that when we do post, that update will come to you automagically!  Thanks for your prayers and concern for our teams...and as we go, will you also be aware of your call to go to wherever your world or field might be today so that you can make a world of difference?

After all, we really are all in this together!

Canada, Eh! Some Final Thoughts

I've spent the better part of this seek reflecting on out team's recent time in Toronto.  We had opportunity to see and do much, meet many, and learn so many things.  Friends here at home have asked us about the trip and those experiences that stood out to us. I want to take a moment to list a few of those highlights (although my list may differ slightly from what my teammates might say!):

• The ethnic and cultural diversity was overwhelming.  We learned that 55% of Canadians are now born outside of Canada.  In a gathering of some local Christian church pastors, five of the eight were non-Canadian born!  The Churchill Meadows Christian Church, a congregation of more than 600 with whom we partner, has more than 46 ethnic or people groups represented!

• This diversity provides great opportunity for the gospel.  We met with a young Polish church and its leadership, and spent a day in Little Portugal, distributing information for a new Brazilian church plant.  

• We visited Hindu and Buddhist temples, and a mosque.  The time at the mosque was especially engaging, as we spent time with a young imam named Munir.  He explained tenets of Islam with us and was extremely open and gracious as we discussed differences between our faiths.  There were times he admitted he had no answer to some of our questions, and we parted ways agreeing to continue seeking truth, wherever it might be found.  Please pray for him, that he will truly find the truth about God and the need for a relationship with Jesus.

• People throughout Toronto (properly called "Torontonians," we discovered!) were extremely nice to us, in every situation.  They received us politely as we distributed information about the church house-to-house, they helped us whenever we approached them with a need, and they were patient with us at every turn.  I asked the Canadian sitting next to me on the flight back to LA if every one in Toronto was so nice, and he replied, "Oh, there are many cities in the country where people are far nicer than those in Toronto!"  If that's true, I want to visit those cities!

• Canada has great spiritual need.  The culture has become increasingly secular in the last years, with little tolerance for Christianity.  The increasing immigration means a huge influx in other faiths, and a great deal of favor and latitude have been afforded them.  But standing for Christ has become more unpopular and difficult for individuals and groups.  There's more need for new churches now than ever!  We know that church planting is the most effective evangelism that can be done, and now is the time for contextually-relevant expressions of the church, meeting the needs of and hopes of this generation.

• We can make a difference in Canada!  Churches and individuals like us can impact and influence the spiritual landscape of those to the north of us.  Our partnership encourages and strengthens our brothers and sisters there.  Our involvement can help open new works and extend the influence of God's kingdom beyond our front doors.

Jim Tune, senior pastor of CMCC and president of Impact Canada, told us that it's understandable that we funnel resources and attention to the farthest points of the world.  And it's easy to overlook those who may be closest to us, assuming that they have all they need to understand the truth about God.  But with declining spirituality and burgeoning immigration, Canada, though a first-world nation economically, is a third-world nation spiritually (Jim's words).  And that a Canadian soul  dying without Jesus faces the same eternal consequences as a person in India, China, Japan or anywhere else who dies without knowing Him.


Thanks to those of you who prayed for us while we were away- but please don't stop your prayers!  Keep praying for your brothers and sisters at Churchill Meadows, for the churches in Toronto and beyond, for Impact Canada as it continues to plant churches throughout the country, and for God to be glorified among the Canadian people.  And in case you're interested, we're already talking about returning next year.  Pray about it...and the possibility of your place on the team with us.

Take a Look- GO! Team Canada

We made it safely back to Los Angeles late Sunday evening, after a tremendous worship experience with Churchill Meadows Christian Church. I'll write more on that in the next post.  But for now, a few pics of some of our great experiences...

Shop in Little Portugal (urban Toronto)

Jerry (church member) and Jose (Brazilian church planter)

GO! Canada Team ready for action

Jose and Mike with Brazilian flag

Mary in her groove with Caribbean singers at cultural festival

Pastor Gregory of Polish church plant

Cory and Floyd, Prez and VP of Voice of the Martyrs, Canada (Floyd is a CMCC elder!)

CN Tower, tallest North American building, and we were up there!

Ann, Liz and Mary taking a breather

Liz enjoying the TImbits (Canadian donut holes from Tim Horton's)

CMCC worship team led by Tim Kolb (center)

Taking Toronto- KACC GO! Team

The trip is just past the halfway mark, and we are brimming with information, insight, challenge and blessing here in Toronto.

Our time with the Churchill Meadow Church has been remarkable. This is a congregation begun 10 years ago in the home of Jim and Claudia Tune. They had been meeting in schools as they purchased property toward an edge of the city of Mississauga. In fact, in 2006, Shane Womack (KACC senior pastor) and I stood in that empty field with Jim and Claudia and prayed for God to demonstrate his power and direction for this group as they desired to build a facility that would move God's kingdom work forward. Two months ago the church moved into its new campus on this site, and they are going full throttle, trying to "lay down track in front of a moving train," as Jim put it. I'm blessed that KACC has partnered with this work and is able to contribute in multiple ways to its development and success.

We've been on the move the last few days as well. We're working daily to place door hangers announcing upcoming events in adjacent communities to the church.

The last two days we've hung more than 1,000 flyers, and been able to speak with people along the way. We met with a group of Christian Church pastors yesterday, and were challenged in hearing their stories of struggle and success in their communities. Of the eight men present, five were NOT Canadian-born! So much diversity and opportunity here.

Today we visited a local mosque, where Edmund (CMCC's admin pastor) has a good relationship with a young imam, Munir. He was extremely gracious as he shared the tenets of Islam with us, fed us and tried to make us feel a bit more comfortable than we may have appeared at first. As our conversation progressed, we were able to ask more pointed questions, clarify differences (as well as similarities), and share the Gospel with him. He seemed surprised at some of the things we did and didn't believe, and was vulnerable enough to tell us when he didn't have answers to certain questions. We ended on a positive note, as we encouraged him to seek truth (and he us). And I got his email address, so I can keep in touch...which I will!

There's a spiritual battle taking place in this great nation, something greater than we realize. Our brothers and sisters need our prayers, our partnership and our willingness to step out and become part of the battle in some measurable way. Peoples' lives hang in the balance and we have opportunity to come alongside those committed here and stand with them in the fight. Will you pray for Impact Canada (www.impactcanada.org), for the Churchill Meadows church, for the Tunes and other workers here? Will you consider coming on a short-term trip to serve and encouage those who live out this challenge each day? And will you commit to becoming more of a world Christian, looking beyond your own yard to the harvest field before you?

"Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest!'" -Jesus