Kelly and Connie’s Place

What in the world is Kelly doing in this photo? I’ll give you a hint. He is building something and it involves a tuna can and electronics. This is a hobby he picked up when he was 12 years old and it required passing a test to obtain a license. He let his license expire almost 30 years ago and he just recently decided to give it a try again.

The hobby is: Amateur (Ham) Radio operator, and he is building a “TT2”. What is a TT2? “The original TT2 was built in a tuna fish can and used two transistors, hence the name Tuna Tin 2.” It is a little transmitter capable of working clear across the continent.

This is how we are recuperating from eating too much, and enjoying the rest of our Thanksgiving weekend: Kelly is soldering resistors, diodes and other such components onto circuit boards and having fun.

As for me, I am doing 2 of my favorite things, getting a little sun and reading a good book. “Nothing Daunted” by Gloria Repp.

It’s a great biography of Isobel Miller. Written like a novel, it tells of her adventurous life & the challenges of pioneer living that she experienced as a missionary to China in the 1920’s. Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one!

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What lasts for 3 days, takes place only in the state of Florida, gathers a diverse crowd from other states, produces a network of contacts and resources, and focuses on God’s heart for the Nations? PIONEERS’ Church Partner Forum in Orlando.

Yes that is right! We’ve wrapped up another successful Church Partner Forum event on our campus at PIONEERS. Kelly and I are very pleased with how well the event was viewed by those in attendance.

We ask our guest to fill out an evaluation of the forum. Here is one of the questions and the answer we got:

What is your overall assessment of the value of this event?

“I was “so” close to burn-out you could smell the smoke…The rest, the hospitality, the care, the pampering, the HELPFUL focusing…it was all great- we’ll be back –you’ll have to ban me from the campus J !”

The weather was a bit “cool” but we did provide the sunshine that we had promised. We actually hit a night time low of 39 degrees while our guests were here, a record for this time of the year.

As for us, we are the most rested after one of these events than ever before. Why less stress and weariness? Our team has grown and matured to the point that the two of us, as leaders, could step back and watch them take on more of the program responsibilities and details. It was great! We were freed up to interact on a more relaxed scale with our guest, which was enjoyable and very satisfying .

As for our guest, they were very engaged and full of questions. It was encouraging for us to see their passion for missions expressed in a variety of ways. We had a very diverse group of churches represented. Here is a random example:

• A rural American Baptist Church (ABC) from Ohio with a congregation about 300 in size. (Sr. Pastor & Missions Pastor attended)
• An Independent Baptist Church of Virginia founded in 1913 with an attendance of about 750 today. (Global Missions Pastor attended)
• From Charlotte, NC a new church plant started in 2002 by 2 members of John Piper’s Bethlehem Baptist Church. These 70 faithful members already have 4 of their own sent out as missionaries. (Assoc. Pastor & 2 of their Missions Team attended)
• A First Presbyterian Church here in Florida, founded in 1876 by 11 members has grown to 4,800 today. (Executive Pastor attended)
• An Evangelical Free suburban church from the Twin Cities of MN with approx 3,000 members (Director of Global Ministries & his wife)
• Another Ohio church founded in 1985 by a team of Liberty University grads that now has 1800 attending (Missions Director attended)
• An independent 50 year old Fresno, CA church with about 4,000 people, they also have a Spanish language congregation and host a Farsi-speaking Persian church (Assoc. Pastor & wife attended)
• A Southern Baptist Church (SBC) from St Charles, MO with a ministry staff of 13 and a support staff 16 (Missions Director attended)
• And a Porter Ranch, CA church that became non-denominational as a result of a merger of a SBC and a Christian Church 10 years ago and now has 7000 members (2 Missions staff attended this year after their Pastor and Missions Director attended last year)
  

  Churches Sharing With Churches

On Wednesday & Thursday we have sessions that allow for a lot of interaction among the churches. As they share what works or doesn’t work for them in their church, they are networking, building relationships and helping one another with issues that matter to them.

It’s not all sitting and talking. There is free time factored in to allow everyone a chance to relax and soak in our Florida sun, shop at our craft store or tour our facilities if they choose.

Each of these churches are partners with us to send and support their missionaries on the field. So, the relationship doesn’t stop when they return to their respective churches. We will continue to work together in partnership for the sake of their workers on the field. PIONEERS has about 2500 active churches supporting our workers, so we keep pretty busy, and love every minute of it.

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…the mission season that is.

Our ACMC team has 4 conferences happening this month, one every weekend (MD/VA, NY/NJ, NE/CT & OH) . Attendance at two of them has been around 160 each, with the attendees coming from a whole host of churches in their areas. So, even though economy issues are being felt in our church communities (which has been reflected in a lower than usual attendance), we are excited to see that turn out was still good. Churches want to know “how” to do missions and do it better, so that they are effective and make a difference in a world that is hurting.

You may ask, “What do they do at these conferences?”

They usually open with a general session for a time of worship.

Then, an informative and inspiring message from the keynote speaker helps everyone to focus on the task at hand. Next, everyone chooses from a list of workshops to attend in the morning and afternoon.

There is a break for lunch which allows for some great fellowship.

And, there’s a breakout time for networking with other churches.

You may ask, “Why attend these conferences on missions?”

• To learn trends & issues in missions
• To gain new vision and perspective
• To be encouraged by movements of God throughout the world.
• To be re-invigorated for ministry
• To discover successful strategies used by other churches
• To learn practical, how-to ideas
• To meet people who can help you

And the list goes on…

At one of the conferences, Kelly will be leading a workshop on “Rapid Response Preparedness.”

He will be helping churches think through a variety of steps to put in place now, to be ready for the next tsunami or devastating earthquake. We all felt like we were caught “flat-footed” during the Indonesian Tsunami and Katrina. Here is where the old adage: “a stitch in time, saves nine” says it all.

Back in Orlando…

Twenty-eight new workers, plus their children, just finished the last of their missions training before heading to the field. Some are departing this next week, others within the next couple of months. Their excitement is high with anticipation. They have shared their stories with churches that will support their work. Their tickets are in their hands, and they have placed unnecessary possessions in long-term storage.

Now their thoughts have turned to: What will our home look like “over there”? Will I learn the language quickly? Will the people accept me, or like me. Will God really be able to use ME??? What will it all look like? Will our church back home remember to pray for us after we been gone for a while?

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