Kelly and Connie’s Place

The other day, Kelly stepped outside our front door and there in front of him were 4 Florida ringneck snakes in this little bunch as you see in the photo. Look at those colors, aren’t they striking?!!

4 Central Florida Ringneck Snakes

We love these little guys, and they ARE little. Actually they are about the size of a #2 pencil, which is a ringneck’s typical size. The average adult size is 6-10 inches. They have a skinny black body with a bright orange or yellow neck ring. The belly is a captivating bright orange, yellow or red as seen above.

Here You See The Neck Rings As The 4 Snacks Disband

HABITAT:

Typically, they live in mulch and leaves under shrubs and feed on small lizards, earthworms, and slugs. They are as harmless as an earthworm with a mouth and teeth so small they couldn’t hurt anyone if they did bite them.

4 Ringneck Snakes Retreat Into Their Habitat

Kelly and I are constantly reminded of God’s handy work in creation by the beauty we see daily living here in Florida. It’s great to have this type of forum to share it with you. Come and visit us in Orlando and you can enjoy it all first hand.

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HOW OLD IS TOO OLD IN MISSIONS

Is the age “67” too old? Actually, we like to leave that one up to God. I mean, who are we to question God’s calling? All we have to do is discern:

• if they really heard from God
• are they missionary material
• if their values and vision fit those of PIONEERS
• can we help them fulfill their call

Last week, Aug 2-8, we had 25 new missionary candidates go through a week of orientation on our Orlando campus. This is our fourth group for the year. And yes, we had a young lady who was 67 yrs young. I have to say she has more energy than Kelly and I put together, and her passion for God was outstanding. In reality, the real record setting age was a young fellow who was just 18. His vision is to serve one year on the field before he returns to the US to start his college studies.

You’ve heard the age range: here are a few more statistics: 25 candidates - 11 singles (5 females & 6 males) and 7 couples. They came from the following states: CA, CO, DE, FL, IA, LA, MD, OH, TX, SC, TN, and WA. And, where do they want to serve? There were 7 who aren’t clear yet as to where God will have them serve, and the rest indicated: Vietnam, Thailand, India & and at least 5 other security sensitive countries that are best left unmentioned.

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Am I serious? Is my church missing? No, I’m talking about a GREAT book that I just finished reading. It struck a chord with me because it deals with an issue that has crept into many of our beloved congregations today. It could be a growing sentiment in your church.

Is there a chance you are hearing similar comments from your congregation, from those who are older, 50’s and up, whose life is closely tied into church? Are they struggling with relinquishing control and influence to: “change” and the “younger generation”?

Who Stole My Church is authored by a talented writer and pastor of 47+ yrs, Gordon MacDonald. It’s a captivating narrative that places the reader right in the middle of these church people’s lives. Even though they are fictional characters, you could very well find each one of them sitting in your church, only their name would be different. I thought this comment from MacDonald was very revealing about what he was about to share: “The specific reason for this meeting came out of an organizational meltdown that our membership had experienced in a congregational business meeting the week before…”

Tipping Point

Did he say “organizational meltdown”? He was describing what one would call a “tipping point” for this fictional church. They were on the brink of change or no change. (If you are from the two older generations you have probably heard similar comments, or maybe uttered them yourself, under your breath of course.) What are some of the comments this pastor was hearing? “The music is too loud and I miss singing the old hymns.” “Can’t we sing those songs without having to stand all the time?” “Why don’t more young people join the choir?” And for some churches, “I miss the choir, now all we have is a ‘praise band’ with 5 people standing up front. We can’t sing harmony to these new songs, and I wish we would go back to using the organ.”

Reinventing Church

We’ve all witnessed these changes to some degree over the past 10-20 years and made adjustments (we thought). Some we’ve liked, others were more difficult. Changes like; not wearing a suit and tie, replacement of pews with individual chairs, abandoning the midweek prayer service, placing coffee kiosks in the church lobby, or bulletins replaced with overhead power-points. Here’s a big one, changing the name of the church. But honestly, are these the things that make a church, …a church?

4 Generations:

The book is not just for the builders and boomers. All generations can grasp a better understanding of each other as we; ‘find a way to move gracefully into the 21^st century.’ If not, as MacDonald says: “Any church that has not turned its face toward the younger generation will simply cease to exist. We’re not talking decades—we’re talking just a few years.”

Anyway, I couldn’t put the book down. And last Sunday, we gave a copy of the book to our pastor and are recommending it to other pastors. We’ve seen give and take among the generations within our church, and that is very encouraging. Not that we’ve got it all figured out, but walking in love and submission is a major part of seeing God’s hand at work in His body.

If you’re wondering, here are the categories for the 4 generations: Builders (born before 1946), Boomers (1946-1964), Busters (1965-1983), & Bridgers (1984-2002) sometimes called Mosaics. Give the book a try, and happy reading. (Oh yeah, next time you see one of those bridgers at church with a tattoo and a couple of piercings in their eyebrow…give ‘em a hug! They could be your somebody’s grandchild, yours maybe?)

A great follow up to this book is “One Church Four Generations” Understanding and reaching all ages in your church, by Gary L. McIntosh.

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We had 111 Edgers this summer going out in 3 phases, or tracks. Our second Edge group came through Orlando this week on their way home? So what is an “Edger”?

>>Definition? The Edge, a short-term ministry of PIONEERS. Focus: mobilizing and mentoring this generation to passionately follow Jesus and discover their role in the Great Commission.

>>Who Goes? College age >>How Long? 4 to 6 weeks

>>What Happens? They get a close-up view of what career church-planting is all about.

>>How? They work and learn alongside our career church-planters and live among people whose culture is dominated by spiritual darkness.

What’s the Program?

1) >> They go on teams of other Edgers: can be 3 or 20+ young people on an Edge team

2) >>Orientation: 4 days before departure, they have cross-cultural ministry training & team building

3) >>Debrief: Return to America via Orlando to process their summer experiences…

I debriefed 2 young ladies this week. Chelsea was on a team who served in Greece working with kids camps. She worked as a life-guard. One of her high spots? A group of Afghanistan Refugees came through the camp for 2 weeks, and Chelsea got to teach the women how to swim. No, they don’t wear bathing suits; they swam in their regular clothing, headdress and all.

I also debriefed with Catlin on how her summer went. She was on a team of 4 serving in Croatia; building relationships through English classes and children’s clubs.

Candid shot of Croatia team sitting on front row.

(Photo Below) Our Orlando Team welcomed this Edge Group of several teams back to the US by providing a party atmosphere to help celebrate a successful summer.

Welcome Home Party & Debrief

(2 Photos Below) Part of the debriefing process is giving a team report about their trip. This African team is sharing what they experienced on their trip through their native dress, song and overhead power-point photos.

Sharing African Song and Dance

African Team Report with Overhead Photos

(Photo Below) This team of 4 went to a sensitive area that will be left un-named. Their focus: Ethnographic Research: the study of a culture; their social structure & behavior. Their task was to research and producing video footage and materials to enhance missions awareness for this remote forgotten area of East Asia.

DO THEY GET ANY YOUNGER THAN THAT?

Yes! The week, before the Edgers came through (college age), Gettysburg Bible Church sent their ‘Senior High School’ Youth Group down from Pennsylvania for a week stay on our campus to learn about missions. Here are 2 photos of Kelly sharing about our work.

Kelly Shares with Senior High School Youth Group

Kelly Uses Humor With the Youth Group

Look close at the photo above and you will see Kelly is using “humor” to explain his point. His co-workers joked that the comic strip he choose, “Blondie,” really dated him with these young people. Hey, Blondie and Dagwood are timeless!

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We’re very proud of our oldest granddaughter who turned 14 this year. Summer was nominated by her teachers to be a participant in the NJLC (Junior National Leadership Conference). To be nominated, students must show academic excellence, extracurricular or civic involvement and leadership potential.

Our granddaughter, Summer (2007)

The NJLC is a leadership conference for middle school students that allows them to focus on a certain field of study, learn about it, meet professionals in that field, and explore career possibilities.

The career conference our granddaughter chose to attend was called “Discover CSI: Forensic Science”. She flew by herself and spent 10 days in Washington DC, experienced dorm life on a university campus and had a whole array of experiences. She got to see Capital Hill, the Library of Congress, went to Union Station, the National Mall, the Smithsonian Museum & more.

Her team’s assignment was to solve the kidnapping of a 9 year old child. They attended various lectures and workshops on things like leadership, crime scene processing & how to interview witnesses.

Her review went something like this:

Some of the lectures were boring, they had to take notes, wear “professional” dress most of the time, and her team of 6 guys & 6 girls was not the greatest. They were easily sidetracked, couldn’t agree on things and they talked over each other. She was sure they would have nothing completed in time for the Inquest where they were to give a speech espousing their theories on ‘who did it’. (Hopefully this part got better.)

Her teammates were from CO, CT, OK, HI, CA, MI & etc. She really liked her roommate who was from New Jersey (Summer is from California). One night the two of them stayed up late talking and only got 30 minutes of sleep. They skipped breakfast the next day (which was allowed), but found it hard to stay awake during lectures. She liked her team leader whom they called TL, the food was not too bad, and the weather was hot & humid. They had a dance, a talent show night, and went shopping at a local mall for souvenirs.

With several people to buy for back home, her shopping list for souvenirs was quite long. She got 2 shirts, a bag that said ‘Love’ and one with a ‘Peace Sign,’ a cup holder that said ‘Got Evidence,’ 2 key chains saying: ‘Got Evidence’ & ‘I Love DC’, and a bear dressed as a policeman and one dressed like a criminal.

THANK YOU!

The trip is over now, and she made it home in time to go to her youth group meeting at church. Now I’m waiting to see some pictures and hear…’the rest of the story’. Summer had to raise quite a bit of money to go on this trip. Her mother says she did a lot of babysitting and other jobs to earn some of that money. The rest of the money came from family and friends. Kelly and I would like to say THANK YOU, to all of you who were able to contribute toward her trip.

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Pre-Wedding

A few months ago, my niece and nephew approached Kelly and I about performing the ceremonies of each of their weddings. Trad’s big day was set for July 4^th. It would be held against a lush green background at Sculley’s Golf Course, run by his parents (my sister & her husband).

My Nehew Waits For His Bride

Shari’s special day would be the next day, July 5^th, with a picturesque garden setting at Hermitage Country Club in Nashville.

This worked for us; 2 weddings, one trip, a chance to visit with family followed by a little R & R. The only pre-requisite we set for the 2 couples was that they get pre-martial counseling. Shari and her guy ran into a scheduling conflict, so Kelly and I ended up meeting with them weekly for 6 sessions.

How did we do that, you ask, all the way from Orlando? Simple! This is the 21^st century. In the midst of work and travel, we were able to schedule in counseling sessions—live, over the internet, using a webcam. There were reading assignments, homework and great discussions. It was not our first choice, but it was workable.

Two Weddings

We feel so blessed after spending a great week with family in Jackson. My 2 brothers and my sister (on the right-who live in Jackson), and my brother from California standing next to me on the left; we all gathered with my parents for the festivities.

My sister hosted 2 bridesmaids luncheons in her home to honor each of the brides, one being her new daughter-in-law, Gretchen. I loved the cold strawberry soup that she served.

We had two supper nice wedding ceremonies, with great weather and excellent family time. PHOTOS BELOW: 1st picture Kelly performing Trad & Gretchen’s ceremony, 2nd picture is Kelly performing Shari & Gavin’s ceremony.

Following the 4^th of July wedding ceremony, the bride & groom (my nephew) provided a spectacular fireworks display for the guest.

The next day we headed to Nashville for the 2^nd wedding. The groom’s family came from as far away as Canada and Ireland, what a treat! (Next 2 photos: 1st Trad & Gretchen then Shari & Gavin, both now happily married.)

Below is a photo of all the Harmons who were present. Unfortunately, our 2 sons in Tulsa were not able to attend. But, they were in Jackson with all of us last year for my parent’s big 80th Birthday bash.

And A Vacation

With the weddings over, Kelly and I began our R & R vacation time in earnest. Monday evening my 3 brothers treated us all to a Harmon tradition of fried potatoes with fluffy biscuits smothered and covered with creamy sausage and gravy. All cholesterol and fat were left out…yeah, right!

Close Up of Some Great Fried Potatoes

How often do you see a kitchen full of men?! (Photo Below) Not often in the Harmon household, …unless biscuits and gravy are on the menu.

Three Are Cooking & Two Encourage Them

Tuesday we enjoyed a gourmet dinner at my oldest brother’s home. His wife Edith out did herself with a special dish called, zucchini boat creamed corn soufflé. WOW!

Edith is not only a great gourmet cook, but she is also an accomplished artist working in pastels. (Photo: Edith is sitting in front of one of paintings. See more of her work by clicking here.)

A Very Talented Sister-in-Law

She gives art lessons in her home studio and invited me to join a session. It’s been 20 years since I last approached a blank canvas, and I’ve never tried pastels. But Edith is very convincing, and I had a blast giving it a try. (Photo below of my first pastel. I have named it: “Three Chairs in Pastels”. How’s that for original?)

And what did Kelly do for fun once he changed into more comfortable clothes and could kick back?

Kelly With One of the Wedding Guests

He enjoyed his day out, browsing through Gander Mountain outdoor store and Best Buy. He thought he was in heaven. We’re back in Orlando now, and Monday we head back to the office all rested and ready to go.

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Tuesday evening, July1, the ACMC team meetings were winding down. (See previous posting for that story.) It was late (7:00 PM) as Kelly and I returned home for the evening to pack for our trip the next day to Tennessee. Our flight on Wednesday was early afternoon, giving us ample time to have breakfast with the team and still see them off for their flights home.

Imagine our surprise that evening when our phone rang and I heard a familiar voice say, “Ibu Connie, ini Ibu Hanna.” Two of our best friends from Indonesia, Ardian & Hanna were here in Orlando, with their son Ken, for a 4-day convention.

In spite of their having just arrived and being tired from a “long” trip, they came that evening to visit with us. What a joy to catch up on their news and reminisce over old times. The last time we saw them was on our last day in Indonesia in 2004. They had come to say goodbye as Kelly and I moved back to the US due to Kelly’s health (photo below).

Ardian and Hanna are one of the godliest couples we know, and they have 3 great kids. We were friends, neighbors and co-workers in the ministry. They were always there for us when we needed them, most notably was the time during our first year in Indonesia. It was Sept. of 1994. Kelly had some serious chest pain, but thought he was ok. He wasn’t. Kelly had experienced a heart attack and Ardian was instrumental in helping save his life by talking him into going to the hospital.

Their son Ken, graduated this year from Ohio State. During his junior year, Ken stayed over at our house, here in Orlando, while doing an internship at Disney World. Their 2 daughters also attended OSU, with the oldest graduating from there 3 years ago. Jessica married this summer and Janet will be back in the US this fall to continue her schooling.

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Once again we had “the gang” in for their quarterly, planning meeting. (I posted a group photo of this growing team on our blog back in April.)

The good news is: we’re still growing. We have added another couple to our ranks and I’d like to introduce them to you. Please meet Danny and Judy Armstrong from South Carolina (photo below). Kelly and I first met this couple when we both were serving in SE Asia. We are blessed to have them join the ACMC team.

The team arrived Sunday evening, June 29^th for 2 ½ days of meetings. We all left Wednesday afternoon; each of them to their respective homes, and Kelly & I to Jackson, TN to visit my family.

A Side Note: Frank wasn’t able to be with us for this meeting. He lives in Alaska and is still raising his support. Meanwhile, he watches his budget and plans his trips accordingly. He was with us in Dallas for the Perspectives Conference just a couple of weeks earlier.

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OK, sorry for not updating the blog recently, but as you will see…we have been racking up the travel miles again…

OUR CHURCH PARTNERSHIPS TEAM COMES TOGETHER June 1-6

From June 1 through the 6^th we had 24 new missionary candidates on our Orlando campus going through our 3^rd orientation for the year. This is why our entire team for Church Partnerships (CP-team) was present in Orlando during that week.

(Top-Left) Kelly, Denny Spitters, Tom Kelly, Greg Fletcher, Mike Jochum, Doug Bastian (Bottom-Left) Connie, Nancy Spitters, Patty Bastian

Denny & Nancy live in Orlando but are from Michigan & they cover several mid-western states, Tom & Mike and their respective families live in Philadelphia and they cover the states in the northeast and others, Greg & his family live in Virginia and he covers that area, and then Doug & Patty live in Colorado Springs and cover the Rocky Mountain & Plains states, the other states are divided up among all of us.

With 5 new team members, it was a great time to hold a vision casting meeting. So, when we were not meeting and interviewing new candidates, we were meeting together as a team (see photo). It was a great time to train the “newbies” and get us all on the same page. In the photo below, Kelly is bringing everyone up to par on technical resources that we can use to serve churches more efficiently.

Now that Kelly is a VP, he has been able to turn immediate CP-team leadership over to his assistant, Denny Spitters. Denny is doing a great job and has helped free up some of Kelly’s time needed to oversee all 5 teams.

OFF TO SACRAMENTO June 5-8

With our team in Denny’s capable hands we left Orlando on the 5^th to fly to Sacramento, CA to attend the “Harvest Gathering.” This was a 2-day conference for churches throughout Northern & Central California. First Baptist Church of Elk Grove hosted the conference with about 400 believers participating. Two of our California ACMC team members were a part of the conference. Ken was responsible for all book & resource sales at the event, and Larry was a presenter for several workshops.

Both were a big success and book sales totaled close to $4000. (Photo above, as you can see the book tables were very popular.)

Kelly gave Ken logistical help with the book sales, and we also represented PIONEERS with a display booth. (Photo: Kelly talks with a young man who is interested in missions and learning more about PIONEERS.)

NEXT STOP DENVER June 8-11

From Sacramento we flew to our Denver office on Sunday to see how our teams were doing. Our office lease there will expire at the end of the year so we looked at office space in 3 different locations. One office was particularly interesting so we will take the next steps to see if it is a good fit for our teams. Tuesday was a day of meeting with all three team leaders. Pray for wisdom and God’s leading as we look for just the right office space for our Denver teams.

ON TO DALLAS June 11-15

Wednesday we were off to Dallas for the Perspectives National Conference. Most of you have probably never heard of Perspectives. www.perspecitves.org

‘Perspectives on the World Christian Movement’ is a dynamic, 15 week course (college credited), about God’s heart for the nations. Classes are held in local churches with trained instructors teaching on the Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic perspectives of missions. The course is for anyone who wants a closer walk with the Lord and to see where, how and why they can play a part in the biggest thing God is doing….and has ever done!

The people who run the classes are called coordinators and there were more than 400 coordinators attending this 4 day conference, going to workshops and seminars to sharpen their skills.

(Photo on the top is one side of the room showing half the crowd, and the 2nd photo is the other half of the room.)

Once again, Ken, from our ACMC team was asked to set up a book store and we were there to lend our logistical support. This time, sales were close to $20,000…a very productive weekend. (Photo below: Kelly helping Ken with book buyers.)

While Kelly helped in the book store, I helped one of our Orlando Team members, Laurie Nevius at the PIONEERS booth. (See photo below) We had a great time talking to people about an upcoming PIONEERS event called: ‘Story 08′. (More about it later.)

BACK HOME IN ORLANDO Jun 15

We returned home Jun 15^th, Sunday evening at 11:30. Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted but pleased with how well the trip went.

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Kelly and I just spent all of last week (May 12-16) in Albuquerque for our first ever, off-site Church Partner Forum. (We usually hold these forums in Orlando at our Pioneers campus.) The exciting part of this event was that none of the 8 churches who attended had any previous connections with Pioneers! It was a great opportunity to open the door for the possibility of future partnerships.

We took 3 of our team members with us and co-hosted this event with another agency called: You can learn more about this group at www.1615.org . They coach churches on how to design their missions programs to fit the DNA of their church.

One highlight of our trip was seeing New Mexico’s state bird – a real “Roadrunner” scooting across the parking lot at our hotel. Kelly captured a photo of one on his cell phone and maybe he will add his picture to the blog. Here’s a link to Kelly’s photo! This is the same bird that was made popular in Wile E. Coyote’s Warner Bros. cartoons. (Credit for photo above: Photo: and no it did not go beep-beep www.birdwatchersdigest.com/)

Roadrunner Facts: Roadrunner is the state bird of NM. They prefer walking or running, attaining speeds up to 17 mph. hour; and are quick enough to catch and eat rattlesnakes.

Description: The roadrunner has a long, graduated tail carried at an upward angle, long stout legs and a distinctive head crest.

Albuquerque Facts: Dry, dry, dry is my description. Officially, the climate is classified as arid (defined as: a severe lack of available water). That’s an understatement! The city was founded in 1706 and is named after a Spanish village Alburquerque (extra “r”) and a “family name” from Spain and Portugal. Living at sea level in Orlando, this view of the mountains is breathtaking. (See photo above)

The red area on map above shows where Albuquerque is located in NM. Population: 534,089 (2008); Elevation (at airport) is 5,352 feet (1,631 m) above sea level.

(Hot Air Balloon photo © Cindy Petrehn photo)

The Rio Grande (photo left) flows through the city north to south. (3 Albuquerque photos come from “wikipedia.org” ) A Striking Site: On a previous trip we got to see a view like this of the hot air balloons. A popular attraction in early Oct. is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

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