Providence

Today we were at Providence Bible College and Seminary. It has been a long and exciting day representing World Team and interacting with students interested in local and global missions. I'm learning a lot about mobilization and am being introduced to an amazing community of missionary reps from all over Canada. It's so great that we'll basically be spending the next 3 days together and building gospel centred partnerships. It was a long 12 hour day and so I'm a little fried so I won't say much, but will give you a few highlights:

• two amazing chapel times including worship, prayer and extremely inspirational messages from George Verwer the founder of Operation Mobilization. I am really encouraged by Mr. Verwer's vulnerability, honesty, and genuine love of Jesus Christ. I'm looking forward to hearing him speak at MissionFest this weekend. If you want to read an amazing testimony check out this link: http://www.om.org/history.html

• interacting with some really interesting students from all walks of life at the mission booths, during the workshops, and at the "market place" windup party afterwards. The Market Place was an idea of introducing different cultures to the students in the context of a Market Place where they can purchase different goods and services with the "fun money" they received from each missions rep that they visited throughout the day. I'm telling you, hanging out with all these students makes me miss my college days.

• My colleague, Jake ran a workshop topic on the Unborn: Protected or Exploited? Here's the summary: This workshop engages the participants through an interactive discussion on the underlying motives driving the very people that have absolute power over the unborn - their potential mothers. After this workshop, attendees re-enter everyday life with the challenge to consider what steps to take to reflect a missional approach to the plight of the unborn and their protectors/aggressors.

• an amazing, free, all you can eat lunch and supper in the cafeteria

Well, there's a lot more I could say, but I thought that I would just leave you with a couple of quotes that I wrote down from George Verwer today. I hope I didn't butcher them too much, I was trying to get them down and so hopefully they contain the basic truths he conveyed. Enjoy!

"If you don't understand that God works within a culture then I dare say that you won't understand how God has been working in the last few thousand years."


"In your evangelism make sure you give the other person equal time to speak... and you should also do the same thing in your marriage."


"Whatever the Lord has given you, pass it on... [be a disciple maker]"


"[In our Christian lives] there needs to be a marriage between proclamation and social concern and action."


"Sometimes failure can be the back door to success."