Christ's Resurrection and the Mission of the Church

A short note on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Mission of the Church: As we celebrate His resurrection, we must keep in mind that without the Resurrection our efforts of proclaiming the Good News will be totally void. The Mission of the Church is to announce the full Gospel without any compromise. The message of the Kingdom is only effective when the Church faithfully declares that Jesus Christ is alive. He is risen indeed!

Back on the Saddle...

Hi Everybody! Me again...

After two years from my last posting, I have decided to go back to this blogging thing. I love writing and I need some discipline for it. So, I hope I will try to be more consistent with my writing again. Nothing fancy, of course! I am a simple guy and maybe I really shouldn't be writing anything anyway; but I hope I will have something relevant to share with you. Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the States and I am just relaxing, watching a Law & Order marathon and reviewing a lot of pictures I have taken in the past years. It's been fun so far, believe me. For now, I just wanted to reappear in the blog world, that's all! Have a blessed Thanksgiving and long weekend! Shalom! Ehud.

Another Trip to Russia

Neiva and I spent three weeks in Tyumen, Russia, teaching at the Tyumen Bible College. It was a great experience for both of us and we enjoyed every minute of it. Neiva taught a course on Systematic Theology, the Doctrine of God, and I taught a course on Biblical and Theological Orientation, covering the major points of Systematic Theology, starting with a short prolegomenon and providing an overview on each area of it. We also spent two days in Moscow doing some sightseeing and celebrating our 25th anniversary (at least part of the celebration, since our anniversary is on December 10). In Moscow, we visited the Kremlin, the Red Square, GUM, and the Pushkin Museum. Besides that, we also had a great time visiting with many friends in Tyumen, savoring some good food and also enjoying good fellowship.

We felt the presence of the Lord in our enterprise. Besides teaching at the College, we also ministered to different people, I preached in two churches, Neiva taught at the Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church, where I served as a consultant last year. We thank the Lord for the precious people He put us in contact there. In a very clear way, we noticed how deeply the Word of God was speaking to the students and to other brothers and sisters. It was a delight for us to be able to share the Scripture with them. We pray that the Word will continue to bring transformation in Russia through those students of ours who so diligently are seeking the will of God for their lives.

The Day I Lost My Appetite

I have a good appetite. Since I was a kid, I have learned to eat almost anything that is put on the table. With very few exceptions, I have tried all kinds of different foods around the world, including very unusual meats when I worked in the Amazon: snakes, monkeys, alligators, and turtles, among the many other options. I love eating, but I don’t like eating alone; a meal requires a strong sense of fellowship in my personal dictionary. But there was a day that I lost my appetite even though I had one of the most exquisite and delicious dishes in front of me. It happened in Mozambique.

A colleague of mine invited me to have lunch together by the Indian Ocean, at one of Maputo’s beautiful spots. The restaurant was very good, lots of people, it was on a Saturday. We chose a table in a patio outside; it was a beautiful and warm day, an invitation to step out of the place and go for a long walk on the beach. A perfect day after a long week of teaching at a new graduate school in town. Different people were surrounding us; I was able to hear different sounds: Portuguese, Afrikaans, French, German and English; with few exceptions, most of the people in that patio were Caucasian. By the description, the restaurant was for the middle-upper class type of consumer.

On the other side of a light green fence, there was a certain number of men and women working hard, trying to sell us some of their craft; all kinds of different craft: wooden carved maps of Africa, jewel boxes, paintings, and so forth. They were silent and orderly; not a word came out of their mouths. But their silence spoke louder than any possible loud speaker, should we have found one in the place. The expression on their faces and eyes had such an impact that they did not have to say a word: they were just there, working to make their little money and thus help their families. I asked my colleague about them, she told me little about their fortune; all she could say is that the restaurant owners allowed them to do that without disturbing the patrons. My heart started hurting, a sense of compassion invaded my soul. My next question was: can I invite at least one of them to seat at this table with us and share a meal together? The answer, obviously, was “No.”

Suddenly my eyes locked with one of those men’s. The resemblance in his eyes came to me as a shocking wave of sadness mixed with resignation. His eyes were black as the night, but had a different kind of brightness; it was like the deep reflection of a shining black star. But at the same time, I could almost read the center of his soul; there was both a physical and a spiritual hunger inside that young man. My heart sunk as if I had drowned in the greenish waters of the ocean behind him. Up to this day, I cannot forget that eye contact; I wish I had the opportunity to visit with him and help him a little bit. After we left the restaurant, I tried to find him outside but he seemed to have gone already.

I lost my appetite! The food was excellent, a special Portuguese Cod dish; one of my favorite meals. But I lost the desire to eat it. I cried inside when I was saying grace; I did not deserve that meal. Like a robot, I ate that now tasteless food. Now I continue to pray for that day when we’ll all be made one. As Bono put it so eloquently, “I believe in the kingdom come, then all the colors will bleed into one.” Although my colleague and I were having a fellowship meal that Saturday, I wish that fellowship was extended to those who were at the other side of the fence. Actually, I dream of that glorious day!

Mission on the Way

The work of mission is a great adventure: it is done as we go, it is a mission on the way. We may find ups and downs; different turns and twists, but at the same time, we know we are walking a path that the Lord has prepared for us. We look back and see that somehow everything makes sense.

In my last trip to Brazil I heard from a fellow pastor that we should train missionaries, not missiologists. Granted, what he was trying to tell me is that there has been a tendency of preparing more theoreticians over the pressing need of equipping men and women to be practitioners of mission. I understand that, from his starting point; but, at the same time, I must suggest that we need missionaries who are trained missiologists, but also missiologists who are seasoned missionaries. There is no way of separating both. Over the years, a similar idea has been applied for many when preparing pastors, for example. There are those who say that we should prepare pastors, not theologians. Big mistake! A pastor is in his or her very basic function a theologian. The problem is, should we have pastors who are good theologians, or should we continue to have theology illiterate pastors? The problem stems from the old mistrustful attitude against either theological or missiological training.

I believe that mission, being done on the way, requires a healthy balance between theory and practice, between missiology and mission practice, between theology and ministry; in other words, between Word and Deed. As we go forward with the work of mission, we are also writing our own theological or missiological compendia. In fact, the study of mission (i.e., Missiology or Science of Mission) came into being because of the growing practice of mission by the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. As new problems and challenges were coming to surface, the missioners had the pressing need to find Scriptural answers for those needs. A good example of this is the first missiological conference that we have knowledge of: the meeting of Jerusalem, as we read in Acts 15. It was the practice of the Church that called for the theologizing behind that practice; thus, the letter that was sent to the churches then was the first missiological document that we have in the Bible.

The moment we no longer see the presence of mission theoreticians walking the same road as the missioner, we stop having good missionary practice. The same happens with the pastoral work in the Church. The missionary road requires both the theoretician and the practitioner. Conversely, the moment we, mission theoreticians, cease learning from those who are practicing the work of cross-cultural evangelization, we become blind to the realities of the vision of God for the salvation of the world.

Long Time No See!

It has been a long time since I last wrote to you. Suddenly I got too busy to do so, but also I was not able to access the Internet as frequently as I first thought. But I want to let you know that I had a wonderful time in Tyumen, Siberia. It was a great blessing in many ways: I was blessed with a great roommate, Jeff; he is a man of God, with a deep dedication to the Lord Jesus and to the ministry in Russia. I learned a lot from him and he was a great help for me with his Russian and knowledge of the city. Also, I had the blessing of serving a wonderful Church with so many brothers and sisters I will never forget. The hardest part of everything was to say "Good Bye" to them. I must say that I left my heart in Tyumen. I pray I will be able to return there in the future.

Perhaps the key element of my stay in Tyumen was to realize how big the opportunity for sharing the Gospel in Russia really is. The people are wonderful, they are thirsty for the Gospel and the Harvest is indeed ready. This reminds me of Jesus Christ telling His disciples that the harvest is ready and that we must pray for more laborers (Mt. 9:36-38). I just ask you to catch the Eyes of Jesus and see what needs to be done in that Great Nation.

I had a good time coming back to Lewiston. I flew from Moscow to Frankfurt and then to Detroit, where I spent three days. There I had the privilege of meeting with several people and give reports on my stay in Tyumen. Then I got home Saturday evening, landing in Spokane, Wash. Neiva was there to pick me up; we celebrated her birthday at a nice Mexican Restaurant in town and then drove down to Lewiston. Now, I am trying to catch up on a zillion things, including our tax return... I hope I will be done with it by mid next week, Lord willing.

My next step: Maputo, Mozambique. I will leave for Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 25 and, to Maputo on April 27. I will be teaching a course on Biblical Theology of Integral Mission at a new Graduate School that seeks the training of pastors and seminary professors, equipping them to better serve on other Seminaries and Bible Colleges in Mozambique. This will be my first time in Africa.

I continue to covet your prayers for me, my family, and our ministry in Lewiston and around the world.

Hasta la vista!

End of the Month News

For most of the new Russian friends here, Tyumen has not had a warm winter like this in many years; the weather has been nice, around 30-32 most of the time. Most of them do not remember a January this “hot” in a long time. I am enjoying it very much; but there is a possibility it will get really cold in just a few days. Well, I am just prepared for that too, I guess. I remember our first winter in Calgary, back in December 1996 – January 1997: we had an average of –37 for about five weeks in a row; that was cold, I tell you!

The down side for me, at least, is that I fell twice while walking on the streets. The last one was Sunday on my way to a meeting in the evening; I did not see a black ice spot on the walkway and fell on my back. I was afraid I had broken my left arm, but it didn’t; however, I am experiencing pain in my arm as well as in my neck. I am thankful that the pain is going away (even so slowly) but now I am feeling much better.

The ministry here is doing fine; I am enjoying every minute of it. The members of the Church are very nice people and, of course, much nicer to me, especially because of the language barrier. I can see how precious this Church is in the eyes of our Lord; I am glad of being part of its life even so for such a short time. Please continue to pray for us. We need your prayers and I know how important it is to have you backing us up here.

On the social side of things, I had the privilege of going to the Tyumen Philharmonic Theatre a couple of weeks ago; it was a very good experience indeed. The show was around Christian music, mostly J. S. Bach. I enjoyed a lot. Last Saturday we went to the circus in town: Tyumen has a permanent circus building and we went to see a Chinese troupe; it was amazing to see them perform incredible acrobatic features!

Hasta la vista!