Preparing for a lifetime of ministry...

Many people have asked me questions in the last few days since returning from 5 weeks of New Staff Training Sunday.

"Where have you been?" "How was it?" "Did they make you drink strange juice or take a Red Pill?" and my personal favorite, "Wait, you were gone?"

But the most important question was "Why were you there?" At a surfa

ce level I normally say that I was there because I have been called to reach the world for Jesus and be a bridge for those who are hurting and suffering the effects of sin to find grace, forgiveness and life. At an even shallower surface level, I might say, "because it was in Daytona and it's January and I have a low tolerance for cold weather...I don't even like ice cream that is slightly too cold (I'm looking at you, Baskin Robbins!)."

The real reason I was down there was to "prepare for a lifetime of ministry." I dont think it hit me until now that I'm in this for the long haul. I know God has called me to reach cultures that are not my own. I know that he is currently equipping me mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually for that task, too. But I dont think it was until I was commissioned as a real "missionary" last Sunday that it sunk in.

I had to stand up and recite something that I can't recall now, but I know was meaningful and even made me stop joking around with the 7 others at my dinner table (and some other good friends at other tables via text message) for several minutes and contemplate what the Lord is doing to me and in me.

The keynote speaker was an elderly man who had been on staff with Campus Crusade since the Reformation. He had thin white hair and had been battling cancer for several years. He talked to Vonette Bright (Crusade's founder's wife and local celebrity, pictured above) as if they were platonically involved, in the way people in retirement homes are. But beyond that, and through him leaning too far away from the microphone, he inspired me that students in the world are so lost, need hope in Jesus, and that they are worth enduring hardship for.

He told stories of becoming the first Asian director in the 70's. Again, he was very white and old. He talked of hardships with cultural differences and yet, because of his faith in stepping into discomfort, Crusade is now being used mightily to reach the most open parts of the world spiritually.

I was reminded of the last movie I saw, The Book of Eli. Like Denzel, this man told stories from a deep faith and deep experiences with God. He knew his life was ending soon. Yet he also knew that his purpose was not in vain and neither was his work. He had lived a good life and was enjoying the nostalgia of God's faithfulness. He talked as to inspire us, though told stories as if we were his grandchildren, sitting on his lap, listening to tales of war.

And now, he was content for the Lord to take him any day.

"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have have kept the faith."

I pray that one day I can stand in front of a group of ignorant, uber-texting, unsanctified kids and speak like that man did of Jesus' power in his faith. I hope that my lifetime will be as rich and I will have stories that will make people wonder if I'm making them up, or if I just have taken my meds in a while. I yearn for the lifetime of ministry highs and lows that I am only beginning now.

-D

Update from New Staff Training

For the last 3 weeks I've been at New Staff Training, both taking classes and seeking to find a clearer calling about where I should request to be placed for my ministry assignment for the next few years. I've also gotten a lot of time in being active on the beach (even though its really cold most days, surprisingly... one day was actually colder than it was in Vancouver) and connecting with other people here like me, who have been called to reach the world's college students and are about to be scattered throughout a largely unbelieving (sometimes, misunderstanding) world.

Our classes (Christian Theology and Bible Study Methods) have challenged me to live in a more Biblical way, not through a series of correlating rituals, but by recognizing what every passage in the Bible says about 1) man's fallen condition and inability to save himself and 2) God's role in redemption as a completion of man's fallen condition.

The classes have been great and, in many ways, are the biggest thing causing my faith to stretch at the moment. There are some lectures I think are lame, mainly ones about the end times and ones about calvinism/armenianism, but all in all, they've been a great source of encouragement to me. I feel like Bodie from The Wire, having grown up around "the game," knowing many of the basic concepts about it, but when you get taken under a kingpin's wing, like a Stringer Bell...well... you just take off. No longer a dope boy, not quite the big boss. More like a Lieutenant, somewhere in between.

Anyways, I've got about 2 weeks left here and am both really enjoying my time here with everyone and hopeful to get back to NC soon!

Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

-Daniel

The New Year in the Big Apple (sort of)

I was so glad to get back in the saddle recently after a couple months of being burdened (in my own mind at least) by raising support almost excusively with Bridges Int'l! I've also been working at a restaurant part time to have some extra income (I wont tell you which one, but it is closed on Sundays and has been a great job for flexible hours and the people are fun... Also their mascot is a cow.). However, getting to go to the Vision Conference in New York City was just a great treat for me to see 300+ international students come to hear the Gospel for the first time or to hear it again if they had already become Christians.

The only disappointing thing is that, much like the Giants and Jets, we resided under false pretenses in New Brunswick, NJ, so it felt more like we were hanging, not with Broadway Joe, P Diddy, and Jay-Z, but instead with Jon Bon Jovi and Snooki, The Situation and the cast of Jersey Shore. It was still great though.

I spent lots of time on the Chinese Track, helping with seminars, etc, especially as the Audio Visual guy. It was a hard, but good time for me, as I am very technologically challenged, but taught me a lot and really made me take the posture of a behind-the-scenes servant, something I'm not accustomed to or particularly fond of.

Anyways, there are lots of stories, but one I will share. It reminded me of why I love working with international students and the great opportunity we have to share the Gospel with the nations here in the US.

Right before New Years, we had a NYE party in New Jersey (No hassle of Times Square for us!). Of course, there was a talent show (a staple of any foreign student party), the Electric Slide, the limbo, and a Conga line.

Then the music changed.

It was some song I had never heard, with tones of the Arabic world. It was catchy, but none of us knew how to dance to it. Except for 2 guys.

One was from Iraq. He was a UNC visiting scholar and will have tons of influence in his home country someday.

The other, from Afghanistan, a nation undergoing radical political transformation.

They began to dance, twirling their hands in a way that only Middle Eastern guys can artfully do without looking effeminate. Everyone circled around as the excitement, intrigue and amazement mounted. They danced for several more minutes until another song came on. Then the thought came to me:

"Where else in the world would two future leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan be able to hear the Gospel repeatedly for an entire week? To have their questions on faith answered? To seek truth in a non-Muslim context?"

I couldn't think of another place on the whole earth.

And that is why this job is so fulfilling in the spiritual realms.

Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men

I havent blogged in a while so I'm just going to repaste some thoughts about Christmas from my community group's topic page on The City... Christmas laziness at its finest...

So this season has gotten me in the Christmas spirit more than most. After not really experiencing an American Christmas the last two years, I found that I really dont complain as much about the commercialism that I used to talk about all the time. In fact, I was that guy who was always quick to point out that Jesus’ birthday was probably in April, not December and that the only reason Christmas happens now is because early Christians wanted something to compete with the pagan traditions surrounding the Winter solstice. Even the tree and the lights are pagan.

But thankfully, I’m not the Debbie Downer I used to be. One thing that has struck me recently is the phrase above, “peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” It’s a very happy thing for the angels to say to the characters in the Nativity story. So happy in fact that while I was watching my usual Thursday night comedy tv show lineup, that was really the only positive thing people had to say about the Christmas holiday. For the most part it was very PC, relativistic, humanistic, etc. but these shows did like this peace on earth line.

What the first meaning would indicate would be that the angels are telling these Jewish peasants and foreign kings is that “Hey, there’s a King coming and he wants to make everyone on earth get along, so quit squabbling with each other, AIGHT?!” But the more I look at this passage, the less this makes sense. Jesus even at one time says “Do not think that I came to bring peace. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Mat. 10:34.

Especially because the angels are the ones speaking here. They spend all their time singing around the throne of God when they arent being sent on missions by God to defeat demons or give revelation to mankind. You have to think that they are more concerned about the cosmic things than people being nice to each other ie. the enmity between God and man, not the wars between man and man.

Other contextual clues point to this as well, that “peace on earth” means peace between God and man. Christ was born for something greater than Reformation of our lives, like Tyler said yesterday. He came for more than self-improvement. (There is a great line from Fight Club about that, but its a little vulgar, so I wont use it). I love this though. He came to create a cosmic peace, defeat a cosmic separation, and give us cosmic victory over our sin. Anything less would lead to “the world’s lamest Lion’s Club” (paraphrasing Tyler). Anyways, if ya’ll have thoughts on Christmas that have struck you amidst the season of busyness and shopping, post away!

Boys Who Shave

The last few days have been pretty great for me from a "living the single life" standpoint. There have been obvious moments in life where I've thought to myself, "Man, you have it good. None of your married friends have the ability or freedom to go to a bar to watch the Panthers game or stay up late watching South Park reruns. Those poor suckers. They don't know what they're missing out on."

Seriously, though. It was great to be around other bachelors, at a bar, watching sports, not worrying about anyone else. Even though now all of my friends from high school (the believers that is) are engaged or married, the single life is still something I enjoy, despite the necessity of having divergent lives. In a way, it seems the way God intended it. Live life through your 20's. See the world. Activate your adrenal glands doing things that would make good stories later. Watch South Park Marathons until 3am.

I am probably insecure about being single about 50% of the time, but the other half of the time, it really does feel pretty freeing. A way that God lets us guys forget for a split second that we still have to wait for his marriage plan way longer than we want. There are just times you experience in bachelorhood in your mid-twenties that seem to make you feel like you're actually in those budweiser commercials with all the good-looking young professionals laughing at some off-camera tomfoolery, enjoying life and freedom while their friends are at home changing diapers, watching the Home and Garden Channel.

But then I heard a sermon (not even a sermon, just a sound bite, as I had it on in the background while watching tv) from Mark Driscoll.

"You are boys who can shave."

I know he has an audience there in Seattle that he was really preaching to. But it seemed very convicting to me while I was in the middle of snickering at the Coors Lite commercial on tv, realizing I hadn't actually shaved in a few days.

Outwardly guys can appear as men and act like boys was his point I guess.

He went on talking about "Delayed Adolescence." He said that back in Jesus' time there wasn't such thing as "adolescence" much less, the delayed type. It was something that we post-Renaissance humanists made up to make money for companies in need. Like retirement or engagement rings or the Moon landing.

Back then, girls (like Mary) would get married at 12 and so would the boys. It didn't matter that they couldn't shave or drink or stay up late eating Matzah with their friends. They were men at that age. They took on the responsibilities I avoid and that was that. They were "producers" not "consumers." They worked and provided for others. They didn't waste time playing video games or mooching off their buddies.

A lot of what Driscoll kept saying didn't so much apply to me I don't think, but that was something that thankfully got me thinking. "I can do all the things that define men, but am I acting like one?" I'm not particularly neat or organized. I can change my own oil and shave and play fantasy football for money legally, but am I capable of doing the responsible things that men can?

I started looking around my room in despair. Then I looked at the inside of my car. Even worse.

My freshman year at UNC one of my Bible study leaders started going on and on with an endless story from his life. He was talking about living selfishly in relation to David living in Ziklag while on the run from Saul. He wasn't really able to do anything, to move the plot of his life story along very far. But being prepared in our Ziklags, he said, was just as important as growth on the throne when we're the boss. It was a good reminder of how I should be focused on becoming a person with character and a strong core now so that I won't have to flesh out that sin later with someone else.

So all of these deep revelations led me to do the most obvious thing to me. Make my bed every day. Seriously, I'm not kidding. I'm gonna start doing it every day. Yes, I know that I've argued with my parents since I was 5 at the merits of doing something that will just get undone in a matter of hours, but I'm starting now. Here's a picture to prove it to you. Hopefully this thing catches on and it turns my life around.

-D

Worshiping at the Stadiums and in the Mancaves...

Recently, as some of you may know, I've had to take a step back from campus life and my role with Bridges International. It's just a temporary thing (hopefully!), and once my support gets back to a healthy role, I'll be chomping at the bit to get back to the calling that I am sure God has given me for the time being, of sharing the Gospel among the brilliant minds of international students/faculty at UNC.

But one of the the positives (yes there are SOME positives to going back to raising support!) has been that I'm a lot more aware of how I spend my time and can reassess which parts are worthwhile to the kingdom and which are frivolous and wasteful. Essentially which are worshiping Christ in his glory and which are worshiping some kind of American cultural idol and its "glory."

It started a while back, my thoughts about what I worship with my time and emotional energy when I was having trouble really feeling God's presence when I would read the Bible. Then last night it was rekindled. My roommates and I found something on tv that we all found interesting around midnight: Mel Gibson's directed, Apocalypto. For those who have never seen it, I cant recommend it in good conscious (much like The Wire, its too graphic, but EXTREMELY interesting and well written), but just as a summary, its the story of native tribes in the Mayan region of Mexico dealing with tribal warfare due to the presence of white settlers from Europe coming. The hero's village is attacked by the Mayans, his friends killed or enslaved, the women and children raped or left behind defenseless before the men are taken to the capital city of the Mayans to be sacrificed to the Sun god.

It's a ridiculous display of gore, even for Mel Gibson, who of course was the weirdo who made the Passion of the Christ and Braveheart and We Were Soldiers so bloody. The scene that made me think took place as Jaguar Paw (the main character) and his friends are taken up to the top of a tall pyramid to be sacrificed, stabbed, "de-hearted" then beheaded. As he is taken and put on the altar, all of us watching couldnt help but squirm and hope that somehow the gore would take a respite. All of the crowds of Mayans are in a tizzy waiting in anticipation as the priest raises his knife. A little chubby boy (probably the son of the king) sits up top watching and smiling in his sheltered, aristocratic upbringing, calloused to the fact that a man is about to be savagely killed to honor a god that doesn't exist.

That's when I was convicted.

I remember Mark Driscoll telling Nightline recently his idea that if a person from antiquity were to travel in time and stand before the massive buildings and stadiums in America, he would say something to the effect of "what kind of religious ceremony is going on inside? It is surely a majestic building built to appease a god of great following." The Dean Dome, Trump Towers, and especially now that it's football season, Kenan and Soldier Field become places of worship, even if I'm not there in person, I can still worship through the power of HD and DirecTV. Ok, maybe not at Kenan, there must not be a very powerful god there, but I digress.

The point is, I realize that I may only watch football on tv or in person twice a week, but it consumes my thoughts far more often than Jesus' life, death and resurrection. It consumes me more than Heaven and the promise of eternal joy. It consumes my thoughts more than almost anything at times (maybe my reputation before others and girls could make a case for the #1 spot). I really enjoy the camaraderie and even friendship with believers and unbelievers alike through football and sports, but when I wake up eagerly seeing which waiver requests my fantasy team won, its a little much. When I dream about losing and winning games I dont play in, its a little much.

So I'm going to prayerfully cutback the time I spend on football, trying to treat it like other addictive vices like beer is to the alcoholic, like credit cards are to the shopaholic, like really fast internet without accountability is to the sex addict, trying to avoid the situations where I can sit in front of a TV for hours or reading articles forever about who is the next hot pickup.

Hopefully, like Jaguar Paw, I can miraculously escape the death of the sacrificing altar and retreat home to the rightness of being at home with the Lord and his will for my worship.

Implications of Colossians 2:8 for tonight

"See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty conceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, AND NOT ACCORDING TO CHRIST" -Paul, Colossians 2:8

Tonight, as many of you well-connected to the UNC-Chapel Hill Religious Studies department know, is the day of Dr. Ehrman's latest debate calendar. This time it will center on the question, "God and the Problem of Suffering." He's debating a guy from the Veritas Forum, a high-thinking Christian apologetics group headed by Ravi Zacharias, who is probably also very smart and well suited for this style of talking.

I've been to one other debate by Dr. Ehrman held at Southeastern Seminary loosely about the Da Vinci Code and its legitimacy. (Actually I've been to another when I took his class, but it was just him debating himself. For a few minutes he'd make a point, then put on a cowboy hat and overcoat and make an opposing point. Kinda funny, he looked just like a bearded Indiana Jones when he'd make counterpoints). Things like this really interested me in the past because it would basically validate my skepticisms or beliefs depending on the outcome of the debate. It was an easier way to think and process deep, confusing spiritual things.

But now, I really worry and pray against the "philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition" that will be stated so convincingly tonight. When I was an upperclassmen, I prayed that the freshmen in my small group Bible study group wouldn't even take his class, because intellectually, it wouldn't be a fair fight. An 18 year old with basic Case for Christ level knowledge can't stand against a guy who has written more books than most 18 year olds have read.

I think that apologetics training is great and necessary so that we can give a defense at all times like Peter says. I also believe the Gospel is rational and historical. Of course we can see easily how "philosophy and empty deceit" can describe Ehrman's position as contrary to Christ and God's word, but sometimes our own ideas of how to justify the Gospel are also just philosophy. We rely more on our God-philosophy, based in human traditions that we are just more familiar with, than we rely on God's presence in our hearts and lives ultimately making it according to Christ.

Tyler Jones from Vintage spoke Sunday about these Biblical issues and made the case that was so true in my life as an intellectually struggling Freshmen in Ehrman's class that on the road to Emmaus, Jesus says that believing the Scriptures is a matter of the mind, yes, AND ALSO THE HEART. If your heart is not engaged along with your mind in the text, then you cannot have faith from God, because He desires us to be wholehearted in this belief, not just on paper. And I agree and think that most people who struggle to accept the Bible as authentic or reliable have primarily obstructions in their hearts more than head knowledge that is too difficult to reconcile.

I'm about to go meet in Lenoir hopefully with some International students who are interested in philosophy or ethics and who might be stimulated to a relationship with God through thinking out realities of life and the ethical code written on all our hearts. Many Chinese especially have never thought through linearly the wisdom and folly of a lingering Buddhist/Agnostic worldview and there could really be some breakthroughs tonight in some hearts! Pray with me that some will come to the free debate in Memorial Hall (holding almost 2000 people and is sold out!). Also pray that none of us will be taken captive by anything but Christ's real presence in our hearts!