Forward re: Discipleship resource

From the desktop of Bob Edwards, Global Missions Director for Church of God Ministries, comes this message in our weekly update...
"New stuff. It is coming at us even when we don’t know what it’s all about. Take this symbol below for example:

It’s called a QR code (Quick Response code), and you see it increasingly in magazine advertising, in markets, and believe it or not even on billboards. (For a thorough explanation go to www.wikipedia.org and poke in “QR code.”) Although it was developed for tracking the process of manufacturing automobiles, it is in greater use today popping up in all kind of places. If you own a smart phone you can download a QR Reader for free. When the code is scanned with your QR Reader it will take you to the web site of the creator of this particular code.

Try this one above. When you do you are going to like what you find. It takes you to the <nextstepdiscipleship.org> web site. This particular web site was developed by a group of concerned church leaders who are passionate about evangelism and discipleship. They believe that evangelism is the first step that must be followed by spiritual growth in the new believer. It moves hand in hand with our Focus 40 emphasis of leading 25,000 persons worldwide to a salvation experience.

The question was asked, “So when they come to the Lord, what next?” For this generation of tech savvy, smart phone and tablet carrying individuals, it meant discipleship through media that they understand and that makes sense to them. When you lead a person to the Lord, what are the next steps? Well, this is one great possible resource. While you are still on your knees in praying with them have a card in your pocket and give them this QR code: 

Three ways to get there.

Actually there are three ways to access this great discipling material.

• The QR code
• Going to the web site itself: www.nextstepdiscipleship.org
• You will find that the site includes a short intro video, a lesson and a downloadable exercise that speaks to growth in the Lord.

• or (now this is really cool) through texting the following (US ONLY???):
• Text: NEXT
• To: 96362

If they sign on to the text messages, they will automatically receive daily text messages for the next 10 days. Give it a try.

**Scripture

Then Jesus came to them and said,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and

make disciples of all nations…” Matt.28.18-19

**African Proverb

“Cattle are as good as the pasture in which they graze.” Ethiopian proverb"

Egyptian View of American Presidential Election

As we have traveled, we have been amazed at how well-informed, interested, and down-right opinionated many international citizens are about American politics.  Honestly, we have never really followed politics very closely for a number of reasons: one, we know several that do and they often give us a pretty good set of headlines to follow; and two, we are often too involved with people and addressing their own change issues to spend too much time worrying about what is or might happen in the larger political realm.

We have since moved to Cairo, which is in the midst of their own political transformation--trying to keep up with what is or isn't happening here is a real challenge.  Meanwhile, apparently, many Egyptians have also been distracted away from what is happening in America, according to an interesting article on CNN.com today.  Click here to read this article.

The article has several interesting statements, but what is ironic is that the interest in the new political process and work of the newly elected parliament seems to be becoming as distant from the ordinary citizen of Cairo as we are to America.  Occasionally, we will hear someone speak of what is or isn't happening, but more than anything, we hear requests for prayers for divine intervention and work in whatever is happening.  Many Egyptians that we speak to want this all to end and get back to the light-hearted, fun-loving, and welcoming Egypt that seems now to be a distant memory in the light of the chaos, need, and uncertainty that is the backdrop of trying to continue "business as usual".

There are many active voices--the problem is that there is so many active voices that it becomes like white noise, static.  Everyone has an idea and a cause, and many are good and with noble intent--but the ones offering these are not the ones that have been elected.  So while everyone not elected seems to be offering plans of action, there isn't real certainty of any action by the elected.  Almost unanimously, no one wants the military to continue to rule, and though there is a newly announced process and dates for the presidential election, there doesn't yet seem to be consensus leading candidates or any compelling visions encouraging the populace.

And so, Egypt continues to wait, and apparently their own political waiting has led them to lose interest in America's political process.

Arabic Unit 1 Day 1

In Kindergarden, way back in the day (1978), I was invited to an experimental program to introduce foreign language at an early age.  The language was Spanish, and though there were many age-appropriate activities, I don't think I retained a lick of the brief introduction.

In 7th grade, the age of "Back to the Future" and "Miami Vice", I had the opportunity to take three languages over the course of 18 weeks: German, French, and Spanish.  Then, choosing one, I would continue for another year and a half before High School.  My dad strongly encouraged me to take Spanish--but in my mind, there were two things wrong with that: one, as i argued with my dad, "When am I ever going to use Spanish?" (-- allow the irony of that to settle in for a minute...vision, as for any middle school student, was not yet my strong suit).  And, two, the teacher was awful; seriously, in 6 weeks, I barely learned the numbers and couldn't say the alphabet.  To this day, I can only count to 10, and wouldn't know how to begin the alphabet--but I can tell you countless stories about her mother in Chicago. :(

On the other hand, the German teacher was effective, but boring.  I only had 6 weeks in the 7th grade, ages ago, but last fall in Berlin, I could remember and apply some of the pronunciation.  But, I didn't choose German--I should have, but I didn't.

Yes, I chose the dying language of French (apologies to the Parisians and those in Quebec).  Why?  One, because the French teacher was fun and oddly cool for someone so old.  And two, I had dreams of going to Paris and seeing Europe.  And three, perhaps the greatest reason for a middle school student, all the cool kids were going to take French.  I continued in French, even hosting a French foreign exchange student for one summer, until my junior year of high school--that's when my multiple school transitions from Indiana to Alabama to Louisiana, and lack of application caught up with me as I was simply too far behind my 4th High School's French class to catch up.

Since then, learning to effectively and concisely communicate in English has been my focus as i prepared for and served in Ministry. (Note, I really didn't have to take a language in college because I went the Biblical Greek route, in which the spoken language was not the focus).

Until today, in Cairo--Welcome to learning Arabic.

Though we have been very slowly picking up words and phrases in our nearly 2 months in Cairo, we are now applying ourselves to language classes where we are simultaneously attempting to learn how to converse, write, and hopefully read Arabic.  

Honestly, we really covered a lot for a first day--and without a lot of practice, I'm likely to forget a lot!  I had quite a slow start as we quickly transitioned from a brief English greeting to greetings in Arabic with repetitions.  One of the challenges for me is that I am a visual learner--I learn best when I can see things in relation to each other and begin attributing abstract concepts to visual representations.  And, at this point, all of Arabic is abstract--the letters, the sounds and the connection between them are all unknown variables to me.

Fortunately, we have a really good teacher--she used a lot of hand gesturing to help us catch the differences in accents visually as well as orally; she used the marker board and various colored markers to demonstrate different words and accents; she gave us flash cards to write and use as we practiced with each other; and she was light-hearted and fun rather than harsh in her correction.

And like the benefit we had in sharing a major in college, Keli and I have a built in study partner 7 days a week.  We also have the benefit of applying the language in a living laboratory, and have the added benefit of many patient and encouraging native speakers ready to help us as we stumble through.  So when the locals laugh at us, we can go to someone from the CCF and find out what we said wrong.

So, continue to pray for us to gain a gift in this new tongue--and for patience, encouragement, and diligence along the way.  Thanks!