Wonderings and Wanderings

… or so I’ve been told – (and yes, it is a direct quote.) As a female pastor in a Baptist church, I am a rarity indeed.  When I was growing up, I did not consider going into ministry because I did not know any female ministers in the Baptist world.  I just accepted the common notion that, as a female, I would volunteer with the youth at a church, rock babies, collect money for missions or serve in some other volunteer capacity while men assumed the official roles of pastors.

Ten years ago when I first began serving as an associate pastor in a congregation, I was sensitive to the judgements of others regarding my “call”.  There was a great deal of judgement from other pastors and congregations who strongly opposed females in leadership.  I even had some friends who did not agree with obedience to my calling. What bothered me the most, though, were the comments directed to the youth in my ministry – that our church was unbiblical; that we were teaching evil; that we were all sinning because we allowed females to serve in pastoral roles (even though these other congregations had females in pastoral roles in every way BUT title.)  Comments to female youth in the ministries of these other churches who, when feeling a call to ministry, were told they were wrong.

We have attended several youth camps and events where I was the only female youth pastor. My youth either didn’t notice or if they did, they were perplexed.  They couldn’t imagine anything but a female youth pastor. For which I am thankful.  Thankful that the girls in my ministry over the years can listen to God’s call regardless of gender.  Thankful that the guys in my ministry over the years have seen the heart, gifting, and calling of a female pastor.

I came across this video today which really touched me and does an eloquent job of explaining what is loss in the evangelical church by the omission of the female voice from church leadership. Take a listen and leave your thoughts – even if you disagree.  But please keep your tone and words in the heart and nature of Christ.

Missing Half of What God Has to Say from Recycle Your Faith on Vimeo.

The true team - Dominicans, Haitians, and Americans (and a couple of Canadians thrown in.)

I returned Saturday evening after eight days in the Dominican Republic working with Servant’s Heart Ministries. I led a team of six others from our church.  It was an amazing week of ministry, of relationship-building, of warmth! (literally since it is snowy here and sunny there).

I love to travel, to immerse myself in other cultures, to meet the large family of God. I find joy in bringing a team along – especially newbies who remind me of the first-time awe and joy of a mission trip.

I’m grateful for the physical reminders of what daily life is like for the majority of the world.  Did you know that if you make $35,000/year, you are in the top 5% of the wealthiest individuals in the world? Rich is relative.  Riches are relative.  I’ve met more joyous and grateful individuals in my travels around the world then I do in my community here.   I’m not romanticizing third-world nations or pretending that everyone in these communities are just simply happy folks and pure of heart.  They are human and there are individuals in every community that are negative, opportunistic, greedy, and self-centered. Every community has them.

But there are so many who demonstrate joy, hope, and peace regardless of their wealth or possessions (or lack thereof.)

One of the things that continually impressed us during our week of service were the volunteers.  They came from the community (not all from the church) and they gave their time and their strength to the construction project.  We were amazed at their hard work.  We were humbled by the shoes they wore that were literally held together by threads.  We were challenged by their since of community – sharing what little they had with one another.  If someone brought a bowl of rice and beans for lunch, one would take a bite then pass the bowl to the next person.  No one took more than their share.  The same with water and with tasks on the site.

In our culture of individualism and self-reliance, we have much to learn from those cultures, who often out of necessity, developed a value for community and continue to protect and nurture that value. Working together, we accomplished an amazing week of work.  Working independently, we would have nothing to show for it.

….But I do know when I’ll be back again. (if things go according to plans which you never know.)

I head out early Friday morning with a team to the Dominican Republic. We will be working with our partners, Servant’s Heart Ministries, in Sosua, Dominican Republic.  We usually spend a week with them each June doing a mobile medical clinic.  However, we are coming this week to help begin construction of a permanent medical clinic at a location where we use to do a mobile clinic.  How exciting to see the community come together and provide for this great need. There is no care for thousands of people in these areas.  What little care there is they often cannot afford.

The clinic is being built onto a local church and it has been the pastor of this church that has dreamt this project and seen it into reality. To me, it is such a wonderful testimony to why the church is here.  Not just to tend to the spiritual needs but the physical needs as well.  Jesus modeled for us the need to meet physical needs – like hunger, thirst, and yes, healing – before someone is able to listen to truth that will heal the soul.

I will be posting updates from our trip on our church’s mission blog. Please feel free to check in each day and follow our progress throughout the week.

Today I was blessed to have the opportunity to preach at FBC-JC. I always enjoy the opportunity to share and the church family is always very gracious.  We are in a sermon series titled “Singing God Songs and Telling God Stories”.  We are basically working through various stories in the Bible and I was assigned the story of Cain of Abel.

Here is the link to the sermon if you wish to read it.

Since Tuesday afternoon, our hearts and thoughts have been held captive by the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti to its core. As stories are told and media is shared, we are seeing the awful reality of the death and destruction that is the reality now for the millions that call the area around Port au Prince home.

It is so heartbreaking to imagine what these men, women, and children are going through. It is unfathomable for most US citizens.

And it is just one more thing to happen to a country that has endured disaster after disaster and years of abject poverty.

Each evening as I head to bed  I think about the thousands that are still buried alive in the rubble and have yet to be found. People who, hurt or not, are in complete isolation and have been wondering for 50+ hours if anyone will find them or if they are slowly taking their last breaths in their personal tomb.

Each day I think of the family members who do not know what has happened to their loved ones. If they have perished or if they are still alive under the rubble.  I imagine someone who has received a miracle text from someone buried under levels of a building knowing that there is absolutely nothing they can do.

Each day I think of the humanitarian workers who have worked tirelessly in Haiti for years only to see everything devastated in a matter of minutes. I think of the Haitian, who against all odds, built themselves a life and a business and provided for their family and in mere seconds, they are back to ground zero.

In the days months ahead, may we continue our faithful and ceaseless prayers. May we be generous with our money.  And may we commit to staying the course with Haiti in the years of recovery to come.

Gracious, Emmanuel. Grant peace in the midst of the chaos and pain in Haiti. May Your light shine in all the darkness that covers this land.  Give miraculous strength to all relief workers, humanitarians, and volunteers.  Flood the Haitians with your love and comfort and may you soften our hearts and move us to action out of love for our brothers and sisters. Amen.

A couple of months ago I posted about seeing a man die on Oprah. Read about it here.

At the time, I could not find any video online of what I saw. As much as I tried to describe it to you, I was sadly aware that reading would fail to have the impact that seeing would have.

Thanks to my friend, Dani Walker, you now can see it too. Please watch it. We must watch it and we must share it with others. If it was our brother or our father or our friend, would we be silent?   If we are followers of Christ, then he was our brother and there are many others in our family that have met the same fate or will.

The video is from MSNBC’s Dateline and features actor Ben Affleck. Affleck traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to learn.  To see for himself.  To talk with people and to hear the stories.  And after hearing, he had to tell.

Ben Affleck’s Journey to the Congo – Part I (The video that was shown on Oprah is in this segment.)

Ben Affleck’s Journey to the Congo, Part II

When I was at the prison in Uganda visiting with the men, I had a few inmates ask me if I would send them certain items. I wasn’t surprised. I probably would do the same thing if I were in their shoes and had limited access to new items.  One man asked me to send him a guitar.  I was fairly confident that I would not be able to do that so I gave him my firm yet gentle regrets.

Two other individuals asked me for reading material.  One inmate, who actually serves as the “minister” for the gathering, ask for the publication “Our Daily Bread” – a devotional magazine.  I’m familiar with this publication and thought it would be fine to send and a good source of encouragement.

The other request, however, is my dilemma. An inmate asked me for a specific book and I had him write the title and author down for me so I would make sure to get it right. I made it all the way back with this little slip of paper and just last week, I finally got around to checking for it on Amazon, hoping it wasn’t an old book that perhaps is out of print now.  To my surprise, it is actually a best-seller.   The problem is that the book is written by the prosperity gospel guru, Joseph Prince. (gag, cough, gag) Thus, my dilemma.  I hate prosperity gospel.  There is nothing sound about prosperity gospel.  I think I’d rather send him the Left Behind series and believe me, that is not said easily.  The prosperity gospel is very popular in East Africa and it grieves me each time I think of it.  So much harm is done in the preaching that God wants to bless you with wealth, property, the perfect family, etc. for your righteous living. There is nothing biblical to support this claim yet millions believe it.  Millions send money to organizations like Prince’s.  Money they don’t have to send.

So, what do I do? Do I ignore this man’s one request?  Do I send him what I think he should have because I think what I believe is better?  Do I send him Prince’s book and trust the Spirit to be the Voice of discernment in his life? Do I send it believing there are a lot worse books he could be reading?  (A small list but yet maybe anything written by Ann Coulter or by me in the first grade.)

I’d welcome your thoughts and suggestions, friends.