Heavy Into (Conference) Production

Things are starting to ramp up for this year’s EFCC Conference heading to Edmonton from July 23rd to 26th. I have a bunch of pieces to work on, including new video presentations and area brochures. That is just to say that my plate is very full over the next few weeks and months, so blog posts here may be a little sporadic — though I’ll work hard to prevent them from becoming too sporadic.

Hey, if you’re part of an Evangelical Free Church in Canada, consider this your invite to attend the conference! You can see our Conference info by clicking here — you can even register! The theme is Advancing With Confident Hope, an appropriate choice as we look forward to welcoming a new President to office. (Ron is retiring, if you’re wondering.)

If you can make it, introduce yourself to the tall guy with the camera — I’ve been asked to be the ‘official photographer’. Sadly the position doesn’t come with a large font ‘OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER’ t-shirt. Yet.

Women’s Shelter Under Construction

One of our “a World of Hope” projects listed last year was the Mennonite Women’s Shelter which will offer protection for abused women and children. (To see how big a problem abuse is, take a look at this previous post.) In a society that offers no social safety net, this will give women an option.

Currently the land has been purchased, and construction has begun. A number of missionaries are involved in its progress. It’s great to tell the stories that God is writing — we’ll continue to keep you posted as this project develops.

If you feel a pull toward this important initiative, we are looking for people to make a personal contribution to the ministry (especially training and counseling) that is envisioned once the centre becomes operational.

Cheaper Credit Card Rates — Hurray!

I just got the announcement from our Finance department that our credit card rates for both VISA and MasterCard are being reduced, effective April 4th! Currently credit card donations cost us 2.35% of the transaction, but they will be going down to 1.80%, a substantial drop (approx 25% cheaper, if that helps).

While it may seem nominal, credit card donations are a growing trend at the EFCCM (which incidentally, is the reason we were given the lower rate), so over the course of time this will add up to a substantial saving.

If you would like to make a credit card donation toward the work of the EFCCM, you can visit this link to give directly. From there you can specific ministries or missionaries to direct your money to. As a recognised charity, we offer tax receipts to Canadians for any gift over $10!

News from our Bolivia Radio Station

The following is from Jake and Dororthy who are serving in Bolivia:

“February 16th was the Inauguration of the second Radio Trans Mundial Radio Station in Bolivia. Land was purchased June 24, 2005 for the San Julian Radio Station. The contract for building the tower took place on December 7, 2005 and was finished March 2006. Engineers from Montrose Pennsylvania came to help set up the radio. On June 16th 2006 RTM San Julian started broadcasting. It was great having the Saskatchewan team here for this grand opening. Two of them were Jake’s brothers, what a joy and special treat to have them come here.

“The purpose for RTM 105.1 FM is to serve the towns around San Julian and the communities in this eastern rural area. The main audience of RTM are farmers who speak mostly Quechua, some Aymara and also Guaraní. This radio station also reaches many more Mennonite colonies such as the Brechas, Núcleos, San Ramón, San Javier and even further.

“Up to now San Julian has been a repeater station from our Pailon Station. They are now raising money to buy a computer, so that they can start broadcasting from the San Julian Station live. They have $300 on hand. These are very poor people so they are thrilled at the amount they have been able to gather.”

Thanks are due to a huge group of people, including many of the EFCCM team in Bolivia, several people from North America and of course many of the Bolivian participants who made this celebration memorable.

Urgent Prayer Request (Updated)

Con and Leona serve in Ukraine, and Leona has recently experienced some serious health issues. The doctors in Ukraine have run a battery of tests, but still seem uncertain as to what the real problem is, or how to treat it, though it does seem to involve her heart. After navigating between the Ukrainian health system, and their insurance company, they have finally been given assurance that their health needs will be covered if they seek treatment in Canada. Leona is consulting a cardiologist to ensure that she will be able to make the trip.

Pray with us that God would intervene, and that they would be able to see His hand in this whole situation. Pray that she would be able to return to Canada safely, and that the medical staff here would be able to diagnose her situation quickly, and treat it effectively. We are grateful for the ministry years that Con and Leona have invested in Dnepro Bible Institute and Life Discipleship Training, and we are trusting God for several more!

Update: Leona has been given clearance to fly. She will leave Dnepro tomorrow (March 1st), and arrive in Edmonton very early on Sunday morning. She needs to see a specialist as soon as possible, so please continue to pray for the details to get worked out there. Sadly, at this time Con is not able to join her due to circumstances in Ukraine. This whole situation is of course hard on him, so pray for him too, that he would be able to stay connected with Leona and follow what’s happening from a distance.

Update: Leona made the arduous flight, and will undergoing testing in Calgary soon. The trip that was supposed to take 24hrs ended up taking 60hrs! But they were treated with compassion by airline and airport staff who made the process as comfortable as it could be for her. Continue to pray for a solution for her condition, and wisdom in the medical team that will be attending to her needs.

The Missionary as Culture Prophet

Missionaries are people who choose to change locales and seek out another culture to understand with the goal of effectively sharing truth. (I should say that neither of those need to incur extensive travel — these days it’s likely that your next-door neighbour would qualify.) As a kid I used to wonder a little bit about the need for us to be missionaries if there were already so many obviously Christian churches already present in our country of service. It has become apparent in retrospect that there was indeed a need. A deep one!

The cultural systems that had built up were detrimental to the growth of the church (and everything else). In some of the congregations I visited, whites and blacks were separated by the church’s centre aisle. This was at the historical point where being in the same worship service was a big concession to racial unity. From a Canadian perspective, that type of cultural division may be a hard concept to understand (then again, maybe not…). My parents could never break down those barriers — they would simply ignore them. As an example, my Dad would lead trips for the Bible College students he was teaching, and take them deep into the countryside where things like electricity and running water were distant dreams. He would eat what they ate, and drink tea made with water that came from sources he’d rather not think about. And those trips had a huge impact on both rural communities and the students who participated!

There are missionaries that continue to bridge those divides. But as a natural consequence of the process of missions, one of the biggest divides ends up being with ‘home’. Everything strange becomes familiar, and everything familiar becomes strange.

This is the risk and the reward of missions: your perspectives will be forever altered. For most this brings moments of bliss intermingled with moments of awkward insecurity. But ultimately, it’s good. The work of missionaries isn’t limited to a foreign country, with people you’ll never meet. It’s on your doorstep, or beside you on your pew. Or on the pulpit in front of you, trying to navigate between foreign experience and Canadian expectation to offer something relevant. Be ready: when God is in it, your mind and your heart are bound to bend!

Agua Viva Progress

Agua Viva’s ministry centre building project is something I’ve blogged about a time or two before and one specific part (light fixtures) was also something that was included in last year’s a A World of Hope. As you can see from these latest pics, progress is continuing strongly. A big thank you goes to Reg and Linda, and the myriad of people from Canada and Mexico that have made major contributions to this effort.

The heartfelt prayer of Greg and Shelli is that this facility will provide “a home to a healthy and growing church, a refuge for the needy (physically, emotionally and spiritually), a launching pad for many new churches in Hermosillo and northern Mexico and a training centre for disciples of Christ from multiple nations and cultures”. It’s a big vision, but then our God is a big God!

There are still several needs that this projects has, including access to municipal services (water and plumbing), though it has finally been connected to electricity (hurray!). Many of the finishing touches are still needed, including the adding the stucco surface, and installing doors and lights.

We are hoping that the building will be ready for service in May, but there are still a number of tasks that need to be completed before then. If you would like to join this effort, why not get in touch. There’s bound to be a way you can help!

Best Month Ever!

Statistically speaking, February broke new ground for the EFCCM’s official blog. We had exactly 700 hits for the month, which is great! Thank you to all of you who keep up with what’s happening on our blog, and are passing on word to others.

We’ll keep you up to date with what’s going on here, as long as we’re sure it’s working! I would personally love to see more interaction on here — if there’s anything you want to add or ask about, each post gives you the option for feedback.