H.E.A.R.T. - Missions Awareness Venture 10/08

The H..E.A.R.T. (Hunger Education And Resources Training) Institute is a unique interdenominational training center designed to prepare people to serve effectively in the Third World. In addition to practical and technical skills, participants acquire problem solving and coping skills that will enable them to adapt more readily to the challenges they will face overseas. Relief and development skills are acquired through "hands-on" experience as well as classroom training. Students and visiting groups spend time in a simulated third world village located in sub tropical Florida south of Lake Wales, adjacent to Warner Southern College. This is the only accredited facility of its type in the Untied States. (http://heartvillage.org/ & http://www.warner.edu/heart/)

For a H..E.A.R.T. Missions Awareness Venture starting Friday evening October 17-19, 2008, I joined with a devoted group from St. Petersburg Calvary Chapel (http://www.ccstpete.com/) who are passionate about missions and fulfilling the Great Commission. I appreciate the way they welcomed me into their group.

During a December 2007 tour of the village, it was mentioned that my assistance with H.E.A.R.T.’s library would be appreciated. With the county library where I currently work full-time closed on Fridays and desiring to “BLOOM WHERE PLANTED” this weekend, I went to H.E.A.R.T. Friday morning to see how I could be of service. I was asked to assign numbers to hand written card catalog cards, process, and shelf a box of books and file the cards, plus prepare another stack of books completely.

A challenge here was in using Library of Congress classifications since I have used only the Dewey Decimal subject classification system during 7 years in public schools, 14 years in county public library, and in setting up the West African Bible Institute library. LC numbers were secured by going online to worldcat.org at college library one mile away and original cataloging for three items by WSC librarian Cheryl H. Many thanks to Cheryl and also to three efficient volunteers from Calvary Chapel for book shelving and card catalog filing.

I was asked to look at the library and suggest improvements. I have made some recommendations for making the H.E.A.R.T. library more user-friendly. I plan to return to implement shelf subject labeling and process more books (hopefully next time doing catalog cards via computer). I find it very rewarding to combine my degrees and experience in library science and religious education, especially when the end goal is to undergird ministry and service training.

Missions Awareness Venture schedule included sessions:
- Village Orientation and Tour
- Group Dynamics and Community Living
- Problem Solving and Conflict Resolution
- Bonding with Nationals
- Concepts of Learning New Languages
- Mission Video
- Sunday morning worship at Haitian Church in Avon Park
- Morning and Afternoon Labs - Teams 1, 2, 3 rotating
~Animals (feeding goats and rabbits) ~ Garden
~Nutrition (preparing meals from scratch)
- After Meal Clean Up - Teams 1, 2, 3 rotating: ~Maintenance ~Dishes & Dining Room ~Outdoors

Personal reactions: I was relieved and delighted to discover that cold goat's milk is absolutely delicious...relieved since I do not remember seeing any cows in Cote d'Ivoire, but many goats. I got to feed the goats and even learned how to milk one.

We had curried rabbit for one meal...a emotionally challenging experience for me at first. I had to block out thoughts of my beloved dwarf "Peter Rabbit" back home the last 13+ years, remind myself that eating wild rabbits and other small game was part of my family's diet from Dad's hunting as I grew up. It was tasty (a tad tougher than chicken) and a good source of protein I'm told.

No electricity in the cabins; flashlights a must... thank God for an almost full moon! The "squatty potties" took some getting used to (but far superior to old fashioned outhouses experienced in past years). I was pleasantly shocked by how warm the solar-heated water was in shower house cubicle. Starting the weekend with an accumulated sleep deficit from several significant deadlines the previous week did not help my normal very poor sense of direction...but I finally basically got the hang of which path in woods led to what building...no signs in village and no map received.

I was on Team #3 who made breakfast Saturday morning...juicing oranges, dried cherry muffins and baked oatmeal. It reminded me of helping Kay Critser cook from scratch in Cote d'Ivoire...homemade tortillas for tacos, pizza, biscuits (I added garlic powder & something that resembled cheese to imitate 'Red Lobster').

Great learning weekend with a great bunch of brothers and sisters in Christ. Practical, helpful information. Inspiring testimonies of God's provision. What a blessing!

Florida ChoG Ministries Annual Mtg. 10/08

I was grateful for the opportunity to attend the ANNUAL STATE MEETING on Thursday, October 16, 2008 @ Orlando First Church of God. Keynote speaker was Jim Griffith; Denver, Colorado Author, Consultant, Congregational/ Pastor Coach (GriffithCoaching.com) on the topic "Common Mistakes that Pastor's Make and How to Avoid Them!" - relevant also for church leaders and missionaries.

Directly across the church foyer from my Côte d’Ivoire mission display was Dr. Steven Masood with his “Jesus to Muslims” (http://jesustomuslims.org/) display. Dr. Steven Masood (http://www.stevenmasood.org/) is an ex Muslim with more than two decades of experience of a Christian approach in Islam and outreach to Muslims.

A surprise blessing Thursday came from Dr. Masood in the form of DVD recordings of two presentation series at Village View Community Church in Summerfield, FL:

“A Christian Response to Muslims”
1: Islam and Post 9/11 USA. 2: Why are there 2 faces of Islam? 3: What do Muslims believe and practice? 4: Key Islamic Beliefs in comparison to Christianity. 5 How to respond to Spiritual questions Muslims ask. 6: Key Bridge points in ministering to Muslims.

“The Role of Women in Islam” - What the Qur’an and Muhammad say about the rights and responsibilities of Muslim women.

These DVD’s will be a valuable training in preparation for ministry in a country that has more Muslims than Christians: Muslim 38.6%, Christian 32.8% (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/iv.html). At the end of my October 2007 Ivory Coast Christian Education seminar, I asked participants what needs/questions they would like addressed in the future. One issue raised by several teachers was how to reach out to and communicate with parents of Muslim children attending their church.
The second DVD will be helpful toward gaining greater cultural understanding in anticipation of joining with missionaries LeAnn Sellers and Kay Critser in women’s ministry conferences.

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I also thank God for the generosity last year of Dr. Lestor Fleenor in the gift of his book, God Almighty!: His Word for Christians, Jews, And Moslems. (Available from Amazon.com and Christianbook.com.) It was my privilege to visit with Dr. Fleenor and his wife several days last year in West Africa and receive encouragement in missions from them.

Fifty-five to 60 percent of the world's population believe in a Supreme Power of the universe & refer to him either as Almighty God, Elohim Kabeer (in Hebrew), or Allah Akbar (in Arabic). These adherents from the three monotheistic world religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) are addressed in this book & asked to not only consider the concepts behind God's name but also to take a hard look at the practical implications of these concepts for their personal lives today. Makes an excellent small group study text with discussion questions at the end each chapter.