Crises Require Innovation

 Crises Require Innovation

 https://www.facebook.com/kelly.e.allen.3

When severe crises appear, such as we are now experiencing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the resulting impact will produce various reactions in people's personal lives, and in the way businesses and ministries continue to function.

Baptist Press has published several articles reporting how local churches are using innovative ways to continue to minister to their people, http://www.bpnews.net/54511/drivein-worship-services-lead-to-new-opportunities.  I encountered just yesterday some guys who are doing an evangelistic crusade in western NC by utilizing an old drive-in movie theatre and a FM transmittor.  This resulted from the fact that one of the pastors was supposed to preach a series of revival services in a local church.  When that plan had to be cancelled, they innovated.  They reported that the response has been greater than they anticipated.  As the people sit in their cars and listen to the sermon, they have come up with new ways to say "Amen;" they blink the headlights of their car or honk their car horn.  You have to love "down home, country folks."

A family member of mine works for a local business which has been forced to change how they normally do business.  As of last week, they have over %60 of their workforce working from home.  After critiquing the effectiveness of this new setup, the leadership have come to realize that the efficiency of their employee's work has actually improved.  So one takeaway for them may prove to be that they no longer must depend on hiring only people who live locally.

For me this situation serves as a prime example of the fact that being forced to innovate in a response mode can actually lead to positive new developments.  However, those organizations which will ultimately benefit from forced innovation are those which have leaders who are open minded to change, and who seek to be the best prepared to respond to the needs of their customers/constituents in "normal" times.

One innovation CRM made prior to this Covid-19 crisis is supplying scripture in digital format, i.e. micro-SD cards load with audio New Testaments, projectors which are used to show the Jesus Film Project videos, and solar powered MP3 players.  All CRM short term teams have been forced to cancel or postpone their trips to work alongside CRM's field partners.  However, because past teams have carried out literally tens of thousands of dollars worth of digital resources, our field partner's work of widespread seed sowing, evangelism and discipleship is continuing on unabated.  So while we are stuck in the USA, we are being encouraged by the reports of partners who are seeing great results from the use of CRM supplied materials.

I placed just under the title of this blog post the link to Kelly Eaker Allen's Face Book page.  Kelly has made many trips to Uganda and Kenya with CRM.  She has become expert in telling all 42 stories of the first Story Cloth.  Kelly, Renee and other ladies of our home town have been leading Story Cloth seminars for local churches.  However, their most recent plan has been interrupted by the current crisis.  So Kelly has innovated.  Her children are helping her tell the stories from home, utilizing the Face Book Live feature.  Other folks will be involved in telling stories as well.  Thus, everyone who would have heard the stories told at the local Presbyterian Church can now view them via Kelly's page.  A big knock-on effect will be that even field partners living in places like Uganda and Sudan will be able to watch these FB Live feeds at their convenience.  So while her innovation was undertaken primarily for the benefit of one local church, the result may prove a blessing to people who live all around the world.

Go to Kelly's page when you have opportunity, and look for the posts containing the links to each day's story cloth performance.  The latest one was done by Jack Cox, the 15 year old son of Travis and Betsy Cox.  Just copy and paste the link provided at the top of this page into your browser.

David

Empty Shelves by Robin Hadaway

Empty Shelves

The below article was written by Dr. Robin Hadaway, a former IMB colleague.  It can be found online at: https://christianindex.org/empty-shelves2/    Brought back old memories.

It was 1984, and I was a new Southern Baptist missionary in the East African country of Tanzania. At the time, Tanzania was the second poorest country in the world. Chickens brought $20 each, and eggs were sold for $12.00 a dozen. Other staples disappeared from the market.
My wife Kathy and I, our 5 ½ -year-old daughter, Bethany, and our 2 ½ year old son, Seth were staying at the Baptist Guest House in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in the country. While looking at potential places of service, missionaries Jack and Dot Hull accompanied us on a tour around Tanzania. After hours of searching the streets of Dar es Salaam, Jack and I dumped a couple of cans of vegetables on the table and that was our meal.
After several hungry days at the Baptist Guest House, we flew to Mwanza where the missionaries were better prepared to host us. We stayed in the home of Gene and Jane Roach who provided us with food during our visit. After a five-day visit, we returned to our Swahili language school lessons in Kenya before moving permanently to Tanzania eight months later.
Actually, we were well prepared for our first three-year term in Tanzania – unless we were traveling. We had sold our car when we left the states, and with those funds and the assistance the Foreign Mission Board (now IMB) provides new missionaries, bought three years-worth of toilet paper, peanut butter, flour, sugar, corn meal, paper towels, napkins, beans, rice, Crisco, spices, hot sauce, jam, canned bacon, instant potatoes, canned vegetables, clothes, Christmas and birthday presents, tools, cleaning supplies, and sports equipment.
Al­though the only game I’d ever shot previously was a squirrel, in Tanzania Don Dolifka, Charles Orange and Gene Roach taught me how to hunt food for the table. Gene, who had worked as a butcher while in seminary, showed me how to field dress Wilde­beest, Topi, and Warthog.
We attempted to plant a garden, but more often than not, the monkeys and mongoose (or is it mongeese?) harvested our crops. Nonetheless, abundant African game, fish from Lake Victoria, and the supplies from our 20’ shipping container enabled our family to survive – even thrive – in the midst of poverty.
Now some of the Tanzania experience during the ‘80’s has come to America in the year 2020. Indeed, the USA is currently experiencing the shortages and disruptions that have been fairly normal in the developing world for generations. Here are some observations about our life in Tanzania.

1. First, we had the privilege of staying home with our children. Those were some of the best years of our lives. There were no car pools, ball games, or social calendar events to pull us away. Our children walked to school (dodging the occasional cobra) and to see their friends because none of us had a telephone. Often the electricity failed and our running water gave way to a drip, but we were seated together around our gas lamp in the evenings.
2. Second, the faith of the Tanzanian believers inspired me. They never complained. They accepted life as it was and were joyful in their faith. I heard one old Tanzanian man say, “electricity is good but it’s not necessary.” The believers in the three African countries where we lived and served are the finest I have met anywhere.
3. Third, the economic situation in Tanzania turned people toward the Gospel. Neigh­boring African countries were more prosperous but seemed less responsive to Christ. Missiologist Donald McGavran lists a number of receptivity factors that contribute to responsiveness to the Gospel. These include economic dislocation and disasters. According to McGavran, people in crisis are more attuned to spiritual matters.

There is a lot of fear out there. There is fear of the unknown – both due to the eco­nomic downturn and as a result of the Coronavirus.
I traveled with a team of 20 MBTS stu­dents to S. Asia, returning this past Monday (March 16). Upon reading of all the shortages in America, I brought back a suitcase full of toilet paper from South Asia.
Although we as be­lievers have con­cerns, we are not without hope. We can share this blessed hope with others, as many are more responsive to the Gospel right now. Let’s take advantage of these op­por­tun­i­ties. We may find ourselves without some of life’s provisions, even necessities, but we have He who supplies all.
In “A Survey of World Missions,” I write, “…globalization has increased the pos­sibility of another great plague sweeping the earth. The earth’s inter­de­pendency could spawn a global economic crisis to rival the Great Depression of the 1930’s.”
During the Depression era, Clare Booth Luce remarked, “Money can’t buy happiness but it can make you awful comfor­ta­ble while you’re being miserable.” We as Christians have a different perspective. Both our happi­ness and comfort come from the Lord.

Friend in My Old Age

Friend in My Old Age

This picture is of some South Sudanese church leaders holding solar powered MP3 players they received from Calvary Road Ministry (CRM).  The players were donated to CRM by In Touch with Charles Stanley.  Those players are loaded with audio NTs in English and local languages, along with 30 plus messages by Dr. Stanley.  The internal drive is also loaded with the whole OT in English.

Recently we received a testimony from Adam, a Sudanese church leader with whom CRM is in partnership.  He is currently living and ministering in Darfur, along with other Sudanese MBBs whom CRM enabled to return to their home area from Uganda where they have lived on refugee status.

Adam related that his father, who lives in a large IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp, has made his small dwelling available to other Darfurians as a place for gathering for prayers.  Before his father became a follower of Jesus, their prayers were offered according to Islamic custom and practice.  However, now their prayers are offered to the Father in the name of Jesus, and study of the Bible is also included when they gather.  Adam's dad owns an MP3 player, so they listen to the NT in Sudanese Arabic.  They are also taught Bible stories because Adam's 75 year old father has given of himself to learn the 42 stories illustrated on the first CRM produced Story Cloth.  He also owns a CRM supplied Engil-Sharif Bible,a diglot containing script in English and easy reading Arabic, from which he reads.

Recently, Adam's dad gave to one of his old friends an MP3 player to take home, so he could listen to the NT privately, and also encourage family members and friends to join him.  After a couple of days, he returned to the home of Adam's dad to give a report.  Adam's dad was not home, but because Adam was there, he gave his report to him.  Here is a loose quote of what he told Adam.

"As you know, I cannot read or write.  So as I have heard your father teach us the Bible, I have desired to study it for myself.  But how can I since I cannot read or write?  So I requested your father he loan me one of the players so I can listen to the Bible for myself.  I asked some others to join me so they could explain to me in the Fur language the Arabic words which I cannot understand.  So today I came to tell your father that I think this machine shall become a friend in my old age."

"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," Romans 10:17.  Those who support CRM in its ministry to people like Adam and his father, can rejoice in knowing that their investment has made it possible for people, who have had no access to the Bible or Bible teaching, to hear the Word through digital means, as well as from the mouths of people who have already chosen to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. 

May this man's testimony serve as a reminder to all Christians, especially during this time of isolation during the Covid-19 crisis, of how blessed they are to own a copy of God's Word.  May we also esteem the Bible to be our dearest "friend" and turn to it often to seek answers and solace during this challenging time.  May we also be ready and able to share with others what we know and learn, even as Adam's dad has turned his humble IDP camp dwelling into a Bible teaching center.

David

All These Things Are Against Me

In Genesis 42:36 we read these words of Jacob "...all these things are against me." (KJV).

They were spoken by Jacob after 9 of his sons returned to him from Egypt.  They had relayed the news to him that the Egyptian official who had sold them grain had accused them of being spies and demanded that they return to Egypt with their youngest brother to prove that they were not.  In order to insure their return, the official placed their brother Simeon in prison until they performed what he demanded.

The full statement by Jacob reads "you have bereaved me of my children; Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin..."  All Jacob can see at that moment is how he appears to be the victim of one unfortunate event after another.  He did not ask for any of these things to happen.  He had not written in his planning calendar "endure a 7 years famine, send 10 of my sons to Egypt for food and have them leave one son in prison, return and demand that I send them back with the only remaining son of my favorite wife, Rachel." 

However, what he cannot know at that very moment is that the official who made the demand is in fact his son Joseph.  He cannot imagine that Simeon is being well treated by his brother while in lock-up.  And he certainly cannot imagine that Joseph is second-in-command over all of Egypt, and that in sending Benjamin to Egypt, he will but set in motion a series of God ordained events that will result in the saving of his entire household from the effects of the famine.  Jacob also does not realize that he is on the threshold of initiating the events which will lead to the word of the Lord spoken to his grandfather Abraham when God made His covenant with him.  "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be slaves there..." (Genesis 15:13). 

No, at this moment, all Jacob can see is that nothing appears to be going his way.  He is about to descend into a time of depression from which only the ongoing effects of the famine will cause him to change his mind, and consent to sending Benjamin to Egypt.

This biblical story appears very pertinent to me today as I think about the special challenges presented to me, and those who will accompany me, in making short term trips to E. Africa in the months of March and April.  Planning an on-the-field training event with refugees and people living in Sudan already presents a number of special logistical challenges.  But now we have to also contend with the Covid-19 epidemic and all of its knock-on effects! 

Why Lord?  Jacob probably uttered those two words many times after his sons presented him with the quandry of sending them back with Benjamin.  God's answer is uttered by Joseph later on, "as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive..." (Genesis 50:20).  Yes, Jacob's merciful Lord was orchestrating all that was happening so that He might fulfill the covenant He made with Abraham.  While Jacob felt helpless, His sovereign Lord was still on His throne and fully in control.

Spurgeon wrote many years ago "It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King's vessels of honor are distinguished."

May the Lord grant His view of things to all of us who desire to take the Word of life to those walking in darkness, no matter what storms may be raging at the moment. 

David