Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Leading Wayland Students on Mission to the Balkans
Wayland group prepares for mission in Macedonia
Release Date: April 18, 2008
PLAINVIEW – In preparation for a two-week mission trip to Macedonia and the region, a group of Wayland Baptist University students is collecting clothing and other items to be distributed in a village on their trip.
The group, headed by Dr. Rick Shaw, director of the WBU Missions Center and assistant professor of religion, will leave May 29 for the area, traveling first to Macedonia, then to Kosovo, then taking in some sights in Greece. Supplies will be delivered to Konjare e Mesme, an Albanian/Bosnian village in Macedonia. The group is collecting gently used children’s clothing and small toys as well as over-the-counter pain relief medications, such as ibuprofen, in sealed packages.
Many of the locations to be visited on the trip are places where Shaw and wife Martha served as missionaries, and the group will be working with many of the pastors and churches he planted while on the field. He is excited to take the next step in the missions journey – taking his own charges to meet those converts.
“It makes me feel kind of like Paul, you know,” he laughed. “My dream is to offer students cross-cultural missions experiences, for our religion majors as well as any students who would like to do that.”
The trip to Macedonia, Shaw said, will do just that as students are exposed first-hand to Muslim people in their own native settings. It’s an experience he said most Wayland students have never had.
“They have very little experience with Muslims, and even a little fear and anxiety about them,” he said. “They’ll come back changed people, for sure.”
That exposure is what interested Melanie Vasquez, a WBU sophomore from Hobbs, N.M., in the trip. A religion major with an interest in missions, Vasquez has participated in missions experiences inside and outside the U.S. But this trip will be different.
“What interested me is the Muslim people,” she said. “I see the need for people to reach out to the Muslim people. A lot of Christians are afraid of them and don’t want to approach them, but God loves all people and we need to reach them too.”
While overseas, the group of seven will be participating in several different activities. Junior Kevin Burrow will be preaching and leading a sports camp in the same Macedonian village; Vasquez, sophomore Khrystyne Eckerd and junior Amber Hamilton will be helping teach English as a Second Language in Macedonia and Kosovo and giving their testimonies at an all-Balkan women’s conference. Other young men, senior Micah Evans and sophomore Taylor Phillips, will be preaching and helping lead in several areas. The group will also be speaking, singing and doing drama in churches around the region, all in Macedonian.
“We’ve been meeting for two weeks for language lessons and Bible study in preparation for the trip, and they are doing very well,” Shaw said. “Some of them have had other languages and are picking it up very quickly.”
The training sessions will continue until the group leaves on May 29. They are set to return June 14. The group plans to take two large suitcases, with one for their personal items and another full of clothing and supplies for the Macedonians.
Shaw said besides hard work in Macedonia and Kosovo, he has planned some tourist attractions for the students, including visits to Thessalonica and Philippi in Greece, touring many of the sites covered in Paul’s missionary journeys in the Bible. The group will worship near the pool where Lydia was baptized, an experience Shaw said is almost surreal.
“These places really make the Bible real to people,” he said.
Shaw will also be leading a group of students, along with two groups from area churches, to Kenya in July. Groups from First Baptist Church Matador and FBC Plainview will join the trip at different intervals, with the charge of building an 8-foot stone security fence around one of the churches in a ghetto neighborhood. The church has constantly been vandalized. The group from Matador, which consists of several contractors, will begin the project and the group of Plainview will hopefully complete the fence. The groups and students will also be working with another church that houses and orphanage for children whose parents have died from aids.
Anyone wishing to donate items for the trip may contact Shaw at 291-1162 or give items to one of the participating students. Anything received that won’t fit on the trip will be donated to local benevolence organizations.
Release Date: April 18, 2008
PLAINVIEW – In preparation for a two-week mission trip to Macedonia and the region, a group of Wayland Baptist University students is collecting clothing and other items to be distributed in a village on their trip.
The group, headed by Dr. Rick Shaw, director of the WBU Missions Center and assistant professor of religion, will leave May 29 for the area, traveling first to Macedonia, then to Kosovo, then taking in some sights in Greece. Supplies will be delivered to Konjare e Mesme, an Albanian/Bosnian village in Macedonia. The group is collecting gently used children’s clothing and small toys as well as over-the-counter pain relief medications, such as ibuprofen, in sealed packages.
Many of the locations to be visited on the trip are places where Shaw and wife Martha served as missionaries, and the group will be working with many of the pastors and churches he planted while on the field. He is excited to take the next step in the missions journey – taking his own charges to meet those converts.
“It makes me feel kind of like Paul, you know,” he laughed. “My dream is to offer students cross-cultural missions experiences, for our religion majors as well as any students who would like to do that.”
The trip to Macedonia, Shaw said, will do just that as students are exposed first-hand to Muslim people in their own native settings. It’s an experience he said most Wayland students have never had.
“They have very little experience with Muslims, and even a little fear and anxiety about them,” he said. “They’ll come back changed people, for sure.”
That exposure is what interested Melanie Vasquez, a WBU sophomore from Hobbs, N.M., in the trip. A religion major with an interest in missions, Vasquez has participated in missions experiences inside and outside the U.S. But this trip will be different.
“What interested me is the Muslim people,” she said. “I see the need for people to reach out to the Muslim people. A lot of Christians are afraid of them and don’t want to approach them, but God loves all people and we need to reach them too.”
While overseas, the group of seven will be participating in several different activities. Junior Kevin Burrow will be preaching and leading a sports camp in the same Macedonian village; Vasquez, sophomore Khrystyne Eckerd and junior Amber Hamilton will be helping teach English as a Second Language in Macedonia and Kosovo and giving their testimonies at an all-Balkan women’s conference. Other young men, senior Micah Evans and sophomore Taylor Phillips, will be preaching and helping lead in several areas. The group will also be speaking, singing and doing drama in churches around the region, all in Macedonian.
“We’ve been meeting for two weeks for language lessons and Bible study in preparation for the trip, and they are doing very well,” Shaw said. “Some of them have had other languages and are picking it up very quickly.”
The training sessions will continue until the group leaves on May 29. They are set to return June 14. The group plans to take two large suitcases, with one for their personal items and another full of clothing and supplies for the Macedonians.
Shaw said besides hard work in Macedonia and Kosovo, he has planned some tourist attractions for the students, including visits to Thessalonica and Philippi in Greece, touring many of the sites covered in Paul’s missionary journeys in the Bible. The group will worship near the pool where Lydia was baptized, an experience Shaw said is almost surreal.
“These places really make the Bible real to people,” he said.
Shaw will also be leading a group of students, along with two groups from area churches, to Kenya in July. Groups from First Baptist Church Matador and FBC Plainview will join the trip at different intervals, with the charge of building an 8-foot stone security fence around one of the churches in a ghetto neighborhood. The church has constantly been vandalized. The group from Matador, which consists of several contractors, will begin the project and the group of Plainview will hopefully complete the fence. The groups and students will also be working with another church that houses and orphanage for children whose parents have died from aids.
Anyone wishing to donate items for the trip may contact Shaw at 291-1162 or give items to one of the participating students. Anything received that won’t fit on the trip will be donated to local benevolence organizations.
New Mission Action Group "Apostolos" Formed at Wayland Baptist University
Apostolos student group focusing on local mission
Release Date: April 18, 2008
PLAINVIEW – Born from a request of the student body, the Department of Religion and the Mission Center at Wayland Baptist University has formed a new student group whose sole mission is mission. Apostolos, meaning “one who is sent out,” consists of students whose interest is to transform Wayland into a body of believers who truly work to meet the needs of the community.
The group will hold its first formal meeting at 6 p.m. on April 28 in the University Center Room 211 on the Wayland campus. This forum will include leaders within the community and they will discuss research that the group has compiled over the last few weeks.
Apostolos was formed under the auspices of one of the four main rolls of the Mission Center. According to Dr. Shaw one of the Mission Center directives is to focus on the needs of the community.
“There have been many attempts and ministries by special groups such as BSM, which does fabulous work, and different departments do a lot of great things, but our focus is the get Wayland as a whole body to minister to this community and this area,” Shaw said.
To that end, Apostolos has hit the ground running. The group chose 24 students to serve as leaders. Each of the 24 student leaders was asked to interview a community leader, including leaders within the Plainview Independent School District, law enforcement official, leaders with the literacy council, crisis pregnancy center, the serenity house, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, religious leaders from various denominations and more. Through the course of these interviews, the group was looking for the major area of need within the community. After reading through all the interviews and research, the group has determined that at-risk youth are the most pressing need facing our community. At the forum on April 28, the group will discuss ideas on how to minister to this target group.
Release Date: April 18, 2008
PLAINVIEW – Born from a request of the student body, the Department of Religion and the Mission Center at Wayland Baptist University has formed a new student group whose sole mission is mission. Apostolos, meaning “one who is sent out,” consists of students whose interest is to transform Wayland into a body of believers who truly work to meet the needs of the community.
The group will hold its first formal meeting at 6 p.m. on April 28 in the University Center Room 211 on the Wayland campus. This forum will include leaders within the community and they will discuss research that the group has compiled over the last few weeks.
Apostolos was formed under the auspices of one of the four main rolls of the Mission Center. According to Dr. Shaw one of the Mission Center directives is to focus on the needs of the community.
“There have been many attempts and ministries by special groups such as BSM, which does fabulous work, and different departments do a lot of great things, but our focus is the get Wayland as a whole body to minister to this community and this area,” Shaw said.
To that end, Apostolos has hit the ground running. The group chose 24 students to serve as leaders. Each of the 24 student leaders was asked to interview a community leader, including leaders within the Plainview Independent School District, law enforcement official, leaders with the literacy council, crisis pregnancy center, the serenity house, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, religious leaders from various denominations and more. Through the course of these interviews, the group was looking for the major area of need within the community. After reading through all the interviews and research, the group has determined that at-risk youth are the most pressing need facing our community. At the forum on April 28, the group will discuss ideas on how to minister to this target group.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Macedonian Mission, May 29 - June 14
I am in Silver City, New Mexico, at First Baptist Church, meeting with two of our Balkan Mission Volunteers, Duane Gray and David Enigren. We are preparing to do projects in Konjare e Mesme, Macedonia. We will be teaching English classes, doing village public health, building a library, and conducting a sports camp.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Kenya Journal #7: The End of the Mission
Today is the last day of this Kenya mission. I have scheduled this day very full, cognizant of all of the mental, spiritual, and emotional processing I will have to do upon my return to the USA . The needs of Kenyans press upon me, and I pray that I have wisely chosen those concerns and issues which are of most significance.
Gwadhimu Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) Red Cross Camp, Limuru Town
As the Director of Wayland Baptist University’s Kenya Program, I have decided to ask our Wayland Kenya students to participate in a hands-on mission project at the IDP camp nearest the campus of Kenya Baptist Theological College . These students have been selected because they are either Baptist leaders already, or because they demonstrate potential leadership skills for the work of the Kingdom of God in this vast nation. Dr Ashley, Linus Kirimi, and I have already been to the camp twice, seeking approval for our students’ mission, and ascertaining the most pressing presenting needs of these individuals.
Luke Loetscher, WBU Plainview senior, has organized a joint chapel service, Plainview-Kenya, for the evening ( Kenya time) of Wednesday, January 30th. I have asked two of our students, Franciska Makusu and Gerishom Kadiri, to tell their stories to the students, faculty, administration, and staff of WBU, plus others from the wider Plainview community. I have asked Harun Miatu to lead all of our students in a time of prayer. Don Ashley and Charles Mbugua, WBU Kenya’s IT manager, work diligently to make this combined chapel service work, from the side of technology. I consider the message that will communicate most effectively and relevantly to American university students.
Although there are numerous minor technological glitches, the chapel service proceeds. The Wayland Plainview community donates more than $3000 to the persons residing at the Red Cross camp in Limuru Town . I receive reports from those present in Harral Memorial Auditorium in Plainview that although there were some problems with the video feed, the American students were more settled and attentive than in times past. Dr Vaugh Ross, the man who established this degree program in Kenya , and now chair of the Division of Math and Sciences, sends me a message that he has never felt the Holy Spirit be so present as during the “Kenya Chapel.”
I plan to buy food, bedding, and women’s personal items for the 650 people present in the camp. Mbugua, Don, and I head to the storefront shops in Limuru to negotiate the purchase of these items. Charles, a native Kenyan Kikuyu, is an expert bargainer, wrangling back and forth with shop owners, in a strange mix of Swahili, Kikuyu, and English. As a price is distilled from the almost polemical bouts, Charles addresses me in English, with shop owners waiting impatiently for a sale. The prices and quantities seem reasonable to me, and payment is made. We head for the open air market, where we negotiate the purchase of whole kernel maize, beans, flour, and sugar—all staples of a Kenyan diet.
We head back to our campus, and find our students waiting for us, eager to engage in mission. We pray together, asking the LORD to guide and bless our words, our actions, and our movements. This is a first for these students; none can remember serving the needs of IDP’s before. I notice anxiety, hesitancy—what will they confront in the camp?
We arrive at the Gwadhimu Red Cross Camp, and much to our dismay, the numbers of persons now seeking refuge at the camp has swelled to over 4000, according to the head chaplain, Daniel Kenyua. Our students enter the gate, and turn to each other, asking, “Is this our country?” “Are these Kenyan people?” I encourage them to engage these other Kenyans in conversation, to listen to their stories, to counsel, and to be the presence of Christ. After a bit of encouragement, the students scatter.
I find a man eating from a metal plate of white rice and sukumawiki, a native Kenyan collard green-type dish. He eats with his hands, eagerly downing the plateful of food. One of the Kenyan student pastors, Japheth Wekesa Wetoto, trails along beside me. I ask Japheth to translate for me. Almost relieved, the young man agrees.
The man is Joseph, a Kikuyu from the town of Narok . 55 years old, with one wife and three children, Joseph looks tired, thin, and without hope. Born and raised a Kikuyu in the Maasai majority city, Joseph’s home and shop have been burned in an act of ethnic cleansing. The family has been here at Gwadhimu Red Cross Camp for more than one week. Joseph instructs me that the men in the camp sleep in one area; the women and children sleep in another. In this way, many problems are averted. The Kikuyu man is thankful for the good food provided in the camp, and that his family is safe and secure here.
In my foolish naiveté, I ask Joseph, “When do you anticipate returning to your city?”
“How can I return?” Joseph asks me through the translator Japheth. “My wife, my children, and I have been threatened with our lives if we ever return to Narok. “My house and my shop are gone.” “I have a large debt for my shop and all the goods I wanted to sell.” “All I have ever known is that town.”
“Where will you go?” I query.
Another man passes by the large group that has gathered around us, and hears my question.
“Only God knows,” he shouts.
I ask Joseph through Japheth, “May I pray for you?” The bloodshot eyes look at me before the answer is given, “Yes, please.” I pause for a moment, not sure how to pray. The man waits, expectantly. He grabs my hands, and pulls me toward him. I sense the Spirit guide me as I ask the Triune God to comfort this man, to provide for his family, and to give him hope.
http://richardandmarthashaw.blogspot.com
Worship and Evangelization at Gwadhimu
Our Wayland Kenya students gather to lead a time of worship and evangelization at the center of the Gwadhimu Camp. Lively singing, clapping, and movement attract many of the residents. I notice the distraught faces of many men and women as they gather, standing. The energy of the blaring music and boisterous community seems to transform expressions of hopelessness into a respite of joy, if only for a brief time.
The children throng around Don Ashley and me. They feel our arms and hands, pulling the hair on our arms. I look quizzically at Francis Midega, one of our student pastors standing next to me. “They have never seen a muzungu up close,” Francis explains. “They want to see if you are human, like they.” I am intrigued by what the student pastor has told me. I realize that Don and I are the only white faces among 4000 beautiful black ones, and for a moment, I am caught up in a sense of euphoric worship and community, as hundreds of Kenyans sing, clap, and move around me. I look up, gaze at the blue sky above me, and am engulfed by emotion. Perhaps this is what it will be like, standing before the throne of Jesus, with peoples of all nations and all tongues praising God.
Harun Miatu, a passionate preacher, delivers a brief, but powerful sermon. As he finishes, several persons move to the front of the human circle. I watch as this tall, lanky, mustachioed Kenyan embraces them, and prays.
At the close of the worship service and evangelization, Charles Mbugua, who is leading this event, tells the children that the white men have candy for all of them. Don and I are mobbed by hundreds of children (and some adults) reaching out for “sweets,” as the British say.
The End of the Mission
After the students, Don, and I have distributed the food, the mattresses, blankets, medications, and candy, we gather, and head back to campus. This mission is nearing the end, as our return flights are only hours away. Don and I will return to places and lives of material abundance, blessed beyond measure, far more than we will ever deserve. In 36 hours, we will rejoin our wives and children, and return to the comforts and accoutrements of American life (the Super Bowl is only two days away!) We will leave these precious souls behind, many, like Joseph, having nowhere to turn, and nowhere to go. Their possessions and livelihoods now gone, they are clueless as to what to do.
But, as I have discovered among Albanians and Bosnians, who, like these Kenyans, have lost it all, God has graced people with a tremendous will and strength to survive. National crises impact individual lives at the most intimate level, but the resilience of the human spirit is most often stronger. It has been my privilege to walk among these God-fearing people, if even for three short weeks, and I come away far better for it. My humble prayer is that they do to.
I appreciate your every prayer and thought.
Christ’s power and peace
Rick
Gwadhimu Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) Red Cross Camp, Limuru Town
As the Director of Wayland Baptist University’s Kenya Program, I have decided to ask our Wayland Kenya students to participate in a hands-on mission project at the IDP camp nearest the campus of Kenya Baptist Theological College . These students have been selected because they are either Baptist leaders already, or because they demonstrate potential leadership skills for the work of the Kingdom of God in this vast nation. Dr Ashley, Linus Kirimi, and I have already been to the camp twice, seeking approval for our students’ mission, and ascertaining the most pressing presenting needs of these individuals.
Luke Loetscher, WBU Plainview senior, has organized a joint chapel service, Plainview-Kenya, for the evening ( Kenya time) of Wednesday, January 30th. I have asked two of our students, Franciska Makusu and Gerishom Kadiri, to tell their stories to the students, faculty, administration, and staff of WBU, plus others from the wider Plainview community. I have asked Harun Miatu to lead all of our students in a time of prayer. Don Ashley and Charles Mbugua, WBU Kenya’s IT manager, work diligently to make this combined chapel service work, from the side of technology. I consider the message that will communicate most effectively and relevantly to American university students.
Although there are numerous minor technological glitches, the chapel service proceeds. The Wayland Plainview community donates more than $3000 to the persons residing at the Red Cross camp in Limuru Town . I receive reports from those present in Harral Memorial Auditorium in Plainview that although there were some problems with the video feed, the American students were more settled and attentive than in times past. Dr Vaugh Ross, the man who established this degree program in Kenya , and now chair of the Division of Math and Sciences, sends me a message that he has never felt the Holy Spirit be so present as during the “Kenya Chapel.”
I plan to buy food, bedding, and women’s personal items for the 650 people present in the camp. Mbugua, Don, and I head to the storefront shops in Limuru to negotiate the purchase of these items. Charles, a native Kenyan Kikuyu, is an expert bargainer, wrangling back and forth with shop owners, in a strange mix of Swahili, Kikuyu, and English. As a price is distilled from the almost polemical bouts, Charles addresses me in English, with shop owners waiting impatiently for a sale. The prices and quantities seem reasonable to me, and payment is made. We head for the open air market, where we negotiate the purchase of whole kernel maize, beans, flour, and sugar—all staples of a Kenyan diet.
We head back to our campus, and find our students waiting for us, eager to engage in mission. We pray together, asking the LORD to guide and bless our words, our actions, and our movements. This is a first for these students; none can remember serving the needs of IDP’s before. I notice anxiety, hesitancy—what will they confront in the camp?
We arrive at the Gwadhimu Red Cross Camp, and much to our dismay, the numbers of persons now seeking refuge at the camp has swelled to over 4000, according to the head chaplain, Daniel Kenyua. Our students enter the gate, and turn to each other, asking, “Is this our country?” “Are these Kenyan people?” I encourage them to engage these other Kenyans in conversation, to listen to their stories, to counsel, and to be the presence of Christ. After a bit of encouragement, the students scatter.
I find a man eating from a metal plate of white rice and sukumawiki, a native Kenyan collard green-type dish. He eats with his hands, eagerly downing the plateful of food. One of the Kenyan student pastors, Japheth Wekesa Wetoto, trails along beside me. I ask Japheth to translate for me. Almost relieved, the young man agrees.
The man is Joseph, a Kikuyu from the town of Narok . 55 years old, with one wife and three children, Joseph looks tired, thin, and without hope. Born and raised a Kikuyu in the Maasai majority city, Joseph’s home and shop have been burned in an act of ethnic cleansing. The family has been here at Gwadhimu Red Cross Camp for more than one week. Joseph instructs me that the men in the camp sleep in one area; the women and children sleep in another. In this way, many problems are averted. The Kikuyu man is thankful for the good food provided in the camp, and that his family is safe and secure here.
In my foolish naiveté, I ask Joseph, “When do you anticipate returning to your city?”
“How can I return?” Joseph asks me through the translator Japheth. “My wife, my children, and I have been threatened with our lives if we ever return to Narok. “My house and my shop are gone.” “I have a large debt for my shop and all the goods I wanted to sell.” “All I have ever known is that town.”
“Where will you go?” I query.
Another man passes by the large group that has gathered around us, and hears my question.
“Only God knows,” he shouts.
I ask Joseph through Japheth, “May I pray for you?” The bloodshot eyes look at me before the answer is given, “Yes, please.” I pause for a moment, not sure how to pray. The man waits, expectantly. He grabs my hands, and pulls me toward him. I sense the Spirit guide me as I ask the Triune God to comfort this man, to provide for his family, and to give him hope.
http://richardandmarthashaw.blogspot.com
Worship and Evangelization at Gwadhimu
Our Wayland Kenya students gather to lead a time of worship and evangelization at the center of the Gwadhimu Camp. Lively singing, clapping, and movement attract many of the residents. I notice the distraught faces of many men and women as they gather, standing. The energy of the blaring music and boisterous community seems to transform expressions of hopelessness into a respite of joy, if only for a brief time.
The children throng around Don Ashley and me. They feel our arms and hands, pulling the hair on our arms. I look quizzically at Francis Midega, one of our student pastors standing next to me. “They have never seen a muzungu up close,” Francis explains. “They want to see if you are human, like they.” I am intrigued by what the student pastor has told me. I realize that Don and I are the only white faces among 4000 beautiful black ones, and for a moment, I am caught up in a sense of euphoric worship and community, as hundreds of Kenyans sing, clap, and move around me. I look up, gaze at the blue sky above me, and am engulfed by emotion. Perhaps this is what it will be like, standing before the throne of Jesus, with peoples of all nations and all tongues praising God.
Harun Miatu, a passionate preacher, delivers a brief, but powerful sermon. As he finishes, several persons move to the front of the human circle. I watch as this tall, lanky, mustachioed Kenyan embraces them, and prays.
At the close of the worship service and evangelization, Charles Mbugua, who is leading this event, tells the children that the white men have candy for all of them. Don and I are mobbed by hundreds of children (and some adults) reaching out for “sweets,” as the British say.
The End of the Mission
After the students, Don, and I have distributed the food, the mattresses, blankets, medications, and candy, we gather, and head back to campus. This mission is nearing the end, as our return flights are only hours away. Don and I will return to places and lives of material abundance, blessed beyond measure, far more than we will ever deserve. In 36 hours, we will rejoin our wives and children, and return to the comforts and accoutrements of American life (the Super Bowl is only two days away!) We will leave these precious souls behind, many, like Joseph, having nowhere to turn, and nowhere to go. Their possessions and livelihoods now gone, they are clueless as to what to do.
But, as I have discovered among Albanians and Bosnians, who, like these Kenyans, have lost it all, God has graced people with a tremendous will and strength to survive. National crises impact individual lives at the most intimate level, but the resilience of the human spirit is most often stronger. It has been my privilege to walk among these God-fearing people, if even for three short weeks, and I come away far better for it. My humble prayer is that they do to.
I appreciate your every prayer and thought.
Christ’s power and peace
Rick
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