Photos from Turkey

Photos: Miletus theater and old harbor now filled in.

 

Turkey to Thailand

We concluded our time in Izmir after three days of touring the seven cities of Revelation. It was so eye opening to walk through the ruins of these biblical cities. As a group, we read the letters from Jesus to each city, and it was amazing how each letter contained metaphors that corresponded to the local setting. The first recipients would have easily made the connections and would have gotten the message loud and clear. We felt so privileged to be able to visit these places and to consider our own lives in light of the messages in Revelation. Our last stop was in Miletus, where Paul met the elders of Ephesus in Acts 19. There is a large theater mostly restored and old streets. We saw where the harbor used to be where they accompanied Paul to the ship to sail away. I thought at the time that being there did not make the Bible more believable, but it did make it more accessible to my mind. We were looking at places that were described 2000 years ago and now we could picture the scene more accurately in our minds. I suspect people who visit Israel feel much the same way.

Turkey was a complete surprise for us. We had expected a topography much like the middle east and for the people to be clearly Muslim in dress, etc. Where we were was so different than that, so green and beautiful and the people seemed more European than Muslim. It is true that 99% of the country is Muslim, but our guide told us only about 20% are actually serious about their faith. But the cultural commitment is strong for Turks making it difficult for them to convert to Christianity. It is estimated that there are only 5,000 true believers in a nation of almost 80 million. There is no severe persecution but continuous vexing opposition, government rules, etc. 

We had our usual grueling flight on to Thailand on Wednesday night through Thursday. We arrived fully confused about our time. We had been 8 hours off our mountain time and now were five more off. Our bodies, and minds, are having a hard time figuring this out. It was spring weather in Turkey and now summer in Thailand. We had a couple of days to rest and then attended the Lahu national conference where I preached this morning. It was a wonderful experience with about 2,000 people attending the conference hosted by a village that probably usually has a few hundred residents. We were reminded again about the amazing work God is doing through his gospel throughout the world, often in far off places we can never dream of but actually have a chance to visit from time to time. It was wonderful to hear them singing hymns I grew up singing as a boy. What a blessing.

Tomorrow we start our last workshop with the men here. We are looking forward to our time together but also dread leaving, knowing we will not return anytime soon. We heard one story today that explains why we do what we do. One of our pastor trainees lives way up in a remote village without electricity. Our missionary friends visited in January and said that the men of the village gather at his house each night. They asked why. The pastor responded that they come to discuss his sermon every night. Before his training, the men had little interest in the Bible. Now they want to discuss it each night. He is teaching them some of the study principles we taught him. We are so blessed to be a part of this.

Al

Open Doors & Opposition

We are in Izmir, Turkey and it is a beautiful place. We are attending what ReachGlobal calls Lead Team. It is a meeting of the top leaders of the mission. About 75 people are here. This has been an especially important meeting in light of the tragic failure of our senior leader, who resigned this past August for moral failure. What we have learned is that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Many senior leaders in the national office have been living under a cloud of his inappropriate and hurtful leadership style for years. We were totally unaware of this, and think this failure was at least as bad as the moral one, and certainly hurtful to more people. So, this meeting has been a time of healing, refreshment, reassessment of who we are, and establishing what is centrally important. Our president Kevin Kompelien has been here participating and helping this process, and he is like a breath of fresh air. We are very encouraged by the direction and attitudes of all in attendance. As many of you may know, Edie and I have had a very tough 6 months, and were hoping this trip would be a time of revival, refreshment and renewal for us. It is turning out to be just that. We are so thankful to God for his continuing grace for all of us. 

We had been making great connections with other leaders in our regional divisions, and are very optimistic about the future of our partnership with them in training. The camaraderie that we have been seeking for years is developing in various areas, and new opportunities are being explored to train pastors in unexpected places. Again, we can only thank God.

The meetings are long and grueling in one sense with individual small meetings at the mealtimes so the days are long and exhausting, but in a good way. We had a break on Wednesday and travelled about an hour to Ephesus. It was amazing to walk the street that Paul must have walked, and see the ruins of this great city. We sat in the theater where the riot described in Acts 19 took place. One of our leaders gave a wonderful devotion about what we could learn from what the Bible says about this city. One key point that stuck with me was that in I Corinthians 16:8 Paul says, “I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost for a wide door for effective work has been opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” What a contrast that God has opened a wide door for effectiveness but still has allowed there to be much opposition. Can we reconcile that in our minds as we face obstacles in our lives? It is a helpful thing to think about concerning our walk with God and our service to Him. 

Al

We Are Well

Some of you may have heard that there was a bombing in Turkey this week as we are meeting for Lead Team. We wanted to assure you that we are fine. The bombing was in Ankara, the capital, which is hundreds of miles away. It was probably a Kurdish group responsible for the attack. It really poses no threat to us in Izmir or to Americans in general. Thanks for continuing to pray for us in our meetings, which have been very useful and encouraging so far.

Al

God At Work

I am in my last day here in Rwanda and I apologize for not writing in the blog sooner. It has been a good trip here and I have learned a lot. I feel that the men here were having a hard time with their presentations and it forced me to think carefully about some of the things we are teaching. I think I have come up with some ways to clarify and simplify the material to make it more effective, especially in the area of structure and the salvation story.  

Today I preached at the central church here for the EFC of Rwanda. Only about 35 adults were present. I guess they went through a tough split a couple of years ago and have not fully recovered. I was not feeling fully at the top of my game and I simply asked God to use me as he saw fit this day and I made myself available for his use. I preached on Matthew 15 and the woman that Jesus implies is a dog unworthy of the food designated for the children. It is a difficult passage but one with an amazing lesson. It says that God is not concerned that we come to him with some kind of outside credentials, he simply wants us to come believing in our hearts and seeking grace.  

The people were attentive as I preached. One woman in the crowd stood out to me. She seemed to be wearing a Muslim head covering. I was not sure because I do not know the culture that well. She seemed to join in well in the worship and singing so I concluded she must be a Christian. When I finished calling people to come to God simply in faith the pastor took over and finished the service. Evidently, he gave a call to salvation and this woman came forward and knelt before him. He prayed for her and the service ended. He said that she was indeed a Muslim and had decided that day to give her life to Jesus. She had been attending a sewing class conducted by the pastor’s wife for some time but had made no indication she wanted to become a Christian even though she was learning about it in the class. She came up to us later and said she wanted to be baptized soon and didn’t think she could ever go back to the mosque. This doesn’t happen every day, even here.  

Needless to say, I was overwhelmed with the blessing of the Lord that he was willing to use this tired American to help lead a Rwandan Muslim to the Lord. He is amazing.

Al