Six Drips from the Brook

Tonight at prayer we sought after names for the six people sent to minister with Michael and Joe Joe. The "Six Drips from the Brook" was the best we could come up with for tonight.

When I got home, I found this email from Tracy letting us all know a little more about the plans for the six drips to split up three by three. Please keep them in your prayers.

Our prayers tonight were that God would be glorified no matter who was ministering to who in Tanzania. I was excited, but not surprised to learn from Tracy's email that the whole team will be meeting with locals for discipleship and encouragement.

And remember, when assembled with other drips, a brook can become a river which can become a waterfall at the edge of a cliff.

Here's the day to day schedule:

• Tomorrow and Wednesday Evan, Josh, and I are going up into the mountains to teach Bible stories to children and play games with them and the girls are staying here in town to learn African things.
• Thursday we are prayerwalking.
• Friday we're going to Maasai land to prayerwalk and help start up a new ministry with local missionaries
• Saturday we relax
• Sunday we're going to a Maasai Church
• Monday we drive to Mngazi to do health teaching, watch Jesus film, AIDS video (This is easily the biggest day of our trip and really need prayer. This visit has been a long time coming for these people)
• Tuesday we will travel back from Mngazi.
• Wednesday we pack and visit town.
• Thursday we go on Safari.
• Friday we head back to Dar Es Salaam.

Prayer list for the mission trip to Africa

Paul Barth put together this list of things to pray for. Please keep the entire team in your prayers as they leave this afternoon at 2:30 PM.

• Safety
• Boldness
• Courage
• Humility
• That the Harringtons would be encouraged and blessed.
• Logistics and smooth travel
• That we don't get sick
• Strongholds to be broken
• Idols would be cast down
• That the light of the Gospel penetrates the hearts of those we minister to
• Group unity and cohesiveness
• Ears to hear the prompting of the Spirit and the discernment to follow Him

Travel Schedule this weekend:

• 15MAY LEXINGTON --> DETROIT 2:30P
• 15MAY DETROIT --> AMSTERDAM 7:10P
• 16MAY AMSTERDAM --> DAR ES SALAAM 10:20A
• 16MAY Arrive in Dar Es Salaam at 9:40P

Travel Schedule for the return trip:

• 30MAY DAR ES SALAAM --> AMSTERDAM 10:50P
• 31MAY AMSTERDAM --> DETROIT 8:30A
• 31MAY DETROIT --> LEXINGTON 1:10P

Members of the team:

• Paul Barth
• Evan Markert
• Erin Markert
• Tammy Markert
• Kim Hind
• Josh Covington

Church Marketing Sucks!

Hey guys! I thought this was a laugh considering all we've learned from this past week. I think this company is providing a very valuable service. So click the pic and check them out or go to
http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com

E-votional

"Take Up Your Cross"

Luke 9:23 "Then Jesus said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

I have pondered on this phrase for a while now. What does it mean to "take up your cross?" It has become a buzz phrase in conversation and a call of urgency in sermons but what is it? I am still not completely sure so pardon me while I ponder some more.

The most common answer that I think I have heard is "To take up your cross means that we need to die to ourselves daily." I would propose that this is as vague as "take up your cross." How do you die to yourself? What scriptures show me the way? I think there are none because you cannot die to yourself daily. The truth is that you have already died once, for all time, never to die again and it is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in and through you. To place a "die to yourself" requirement on the daily walk of a believer is to place a Christ sized sacrificial works based acceptance on that walk. It cannot be done and should not be tried.

So we are back to the beginning. If you read the whole section it makes a little more sense. It seems that the call to "take up your cross" maybe a call to salvation because it is followed by "whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but to lose his own soul." Still, how does "daily" fit into that?

I then received an email from an acquaintance that I think pulls the phrase back into right meaning:

• "the phrase concerning “taking up your cross” was idiomatic to identify with His rejection. It is not a verse dealing with salvation but it is dealing with discipleship and therefore to be a true disciple of Jesus one needs to identify with His rejection and be willing to be rejected himself and that is what it means to take up the cross and to do so daily and be willing to suffer rejection as He was rejected. Jesus was officially rejected by Israel’s leaders in Matthew 12 and therefore to be a true disciple you must identify yourself with that rejection and follow Him in spite of that rejection by the larger Jewish community."

Maybe we can blame it on our Western "what works for you is fine" culture, but I had never even considered rejection by family and or community as an issue. The more I thought about it though the more I realized how this is a huge factor. It was a huge issue with the international students we worked with in Hawaii, it is a huge issue with Jewish believers, it is an issue with my own extended family, and it is an issue with many people in our body concerning our community. Who wants to be rejected? That sucks. However the alternative, being ashamed of Jesus, sucks even more.

Dear Saint, we have nothing to be ashamed of. We only have a life to be amazed of. A story that is incredible. And a personal relationship with the God of the universe that is nothing short of incredibly, amazingly, outstandingly, beautifully wonderful. Enjoy Him.