What next? The big reveal

Where in the world is Indonesia?

The last six weeks have been crazy. But now I can tell you why! Here's what God has in store for us.

My dear friend (Martha Ming) passed along an opportunity over lunch in late March, and then her husband Mel shared it with W a few days later. My heart almost stopped when W paused and said, "You know, that may be a good fit for us." [He's never considered anything but NU teaching in decades.]

We're leaving Seattle to become Missionary Associates to Indonesia (initially for 2 years, but we plan a permanent move). Starting date is Summer 2014. We have a year of fundraising and preparation while W finishes out his teaching contract at Northwest U (2013-14). Then we're on our way.

Bandung

In brief: last fall, I heard the hint: "Get the TESOL certificate." I was thinking of the multicultural world of Seattle. However, I was so burned out after finishing the PhD that I just said, "Nope. No more paper. I'm done!Done!DONE!"

This spring I felt a renewed urgency to do TESOL [teaching English to speakers of other languages]. I asked W if NU had summer classes. They did. 4 weeks in a row. I signed up. After which this invitation arrived ...

Many of you have asked me -- some of you more than once :-) -- "Why are you getting a doctorate? Why a missions-focus? What kind of a job do you get with this?" OR more recently, "Now that you're done, what are you going to do with your degree?"

I had no idea. I only knew I was supposed to go to school, that the program was the right one, and that the outcome was God's business!

And here we are. In two weeks my TESOL courses are done. We'll attend Pre-Field Orientation in Missouri, then teach a month in Singapore, and come back for W's final year (his 28th!) at Northwest U. NU is so much a part of our DNA that it's weird to think of not being part of the campus. (Our kids are alums, as are we)

Our president (Joseph Castleberry) and W's colleagues are excited for us. We'll stay connected to NU and anticipate that its students and alums will join us to do God's work in Indonesia in coming years.

Please feel free to ask us any questions, and please support us financially and pray for us!

My heart's pounding. OF COURSE I'LL BE BLOGGING THE PROCESS!

Read more:
Today the NU provost sent the following announcement:
--------

Dear Friends,

I want to make you aware that Waldemar and Rosemarie Kowalski have accepted an assignment as Missionary Associates to Indonesia with Assemblies of God World Missions. This assignment is scheduled to begin after the end of the 2013-14 academic year. So after 28 years, this next will be Waldemar’s last as a full-time faculty member. 

Talk about mixed emotions! Waldemar has been an incredible force for good at NU. As the only instructor of our daytime Christian Thought course, Waldemar is the only faculty member from whom almost every traditional undergraduate takes a class. He has had a huge role in defining the NU experience for many generations of students. Similarly, Rosemarie has been involved at NU in a variety of ways over their time here, and recently completed a PhD in Intercultural Studies. We will miss them at NU.

On the other hand, we are pleased for Waldemar and Rosemarie—with their children (all NU alums) out of the house, it is exciting to take on a completely new challenge for the advancement of God’s kingdom. Their plan is to partner with NU alumnus Dave Kenney in planting an International English Service in Bandung, near Jakarta. Waldemar will continue to teach in various university and church settings, including as teaching pastor in the church plant.

They will attend Pre-Field Orientation in Springfield Missouri this June and then begin the process of raising their support. We will all have a chance to learn more details about their plans, but importantly, they hope to stay connected to NU by teaching online courses and by providing a place for NU students to have short-term mission experiences. 

We look forward to honoring Waldemar and Rosemarie over the coming year, both for their service to NU and for their example of being open to God’s direction.

Jim [Heugel]
------

*Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Psalm 115:1*Jesus said, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name.” Luke 11:2Moravian Prayer: O High and Holy One, we owe you love, adoration, and worship for your steadfast love and faithfulness. With Jesus’ help we will honor your name in every act, thought, and deed. Amen.

Lent Day 8: Thankful for renewal

Bleary-eyed, I stumbled into yesterday's obligations. When I woke at 2am, I thought I'd just go back to sleep in an hour or two. A few interruptions chased ideas into my head; I was still awake at 7:15.

Time to rise and shine - or maybe glow dimly.

Our daughter Kirsten came in early December for foot surgery and bone tests. Jono and I took her to the airport yesterday morning and she's arrived safely home in Austin. Thanks be to God. One thing done.

I wasn't sure I was up to the afternoon meeting of MRI - Missionary Renewal International. However, my fatigue subsided (and the cold I started to fight in the morning disappeared) when I got there. All I can say is: "People, I'm inspired!" by the work of this veteran team of missionary therapists, rescuing their own.

An MRI pastor-counselor told us about one young man. He's let them know he's ready to return to the field--after vowing never to go back. Mark's mission team had won an extraordinary number of converts (70,000 documented) and trained nationals for outreach in their first term. One day, on the way to preach with a group of nationals, their van was stopped at gunpoint. He was forced to watch the assailants beat his coworkers almost to death before the attackers disappeared. Mark came home devastated and throwing in the towel. "I can't go through that again!" Yet with MRI's help, he's going back with a renewed sense of calling and commissioning by God.

Mark's is one of many dramas being played out around the world, including among American pastors. MRI says, "Let's stop the attrition. Let's help missionaries and ministers return to fulfill their calling." Will you help? Click on the link for more information.

It costs an average of $250,000 to get a missionary through their acculturation, training, and first term. It costs MRI about $5000 to help restore hurting missionaries, facilitating healing so they return to the field after they suffer trauma, moral failure, or other breakdowns. Missionaries and ministers pay their expenses if they can. Otherwise, they depend on our help for a place to stay, transportation, and food.

"We send ordinary people as our missionaries to spread the Gospel on our behalf," MRI states. "They face similar and greater challenges than we do at home." It's worth spending our resources to keep experienced personnel rather than having to drop their ministry or train another missionary single or couple for the field.


All of us need renewal from time to time. Some of us need heroic intervention. But sometimes a kindly word, fervent prayers, or an unexpected gift is enough to sustain us through our darkest hours.

Would you encourage your pastor this week or in the next month? Pastoring is among the loneliest professions. (When our son felt called to ministry, we warned him to depend on God and reject idealism in youth ministry: "The senior pastor might not support you. The board will call you in for a scolding. The parents may become angry and fight you. The teens won't want to follow if they don't want to obey God. Are you sure of your calling and ready for whatever God has for you?" He said a firm yes--because God had called him.)

What has God called you to do? Are you in ministry? Do you have resources to send and support others? During Lent, a time when we recall Christ's sacrifice for us, consider giving an extraordinary gift from the next paycheck to MRI, your church, or your pastor. Thus God will encourage and renew them through you.

Read more:

*This is God, our God forever and ever. He will be our guide forever. Psalm 48:14

*Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Ephesians 6:10-18 NKJV

*Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23

Moravian Prayer: Faithful God, on this day, we are mindful of those who have gone before, who held fast to their hope. Like them, may we today walk forward unwavering, trusting in your guidance and faithfulness. Amen.

Lent Day 6: Thankful for mission

"I'm still shaking!" he pointed to the left, remembering the bullet hole in his car door. "I though he would kill me." Ken told us about how a gunman had walked up to his car, stalled in a Nairobi traffic jam. The shooter pointed a gun at him, demanded cash and valuables, and walked away between cars.

"Didn't anyone come to help?" we asked, sitting as a mission cohort in the safety of a classroom.

"No, everyone pretends they haven't seen anything. Foreigners are targets. The policeman ahead probably was in on it and stopped us so we could be robbed."

I've found a few quiet heroes like Ken over the past five years among a study group of men and women who risk their lives across culture. They learn languages, communication, and customs so they can tell others about Jesus, training nationals to preach and teach to their own people.

Today I'm in the classroom of an outstanding woman with tales of her own to tell. She and her husband will return full-time to the mission field this summer. Over the past four years, they finished their doctorates, carried a teaching load at a university, and traveled the world as missionary-trainers. There's nothing about them that would suggest heroic ministry yet their experience and records say otherwise.

I am so grateful that someone told my grandparents the Story. They told my parents, who told me. Someone - like Bev and Will who rank high among those I admire - risked their comfort and health to wrestle my tribe from our idolatry to the Living God.

Please pray with me today for such seemingly ordinary people, doing extraordinary things in the power of the Spirit. And if you have resources, don't delay. Consider sending $10, $25, $100 or more to someone in the directory at http://worldmissions.ag.org/. A new Family tribe will thank you for it.

Read more:

*Both men and women came, all whose hearts were willing. ... So the people of Israel—every man and woman who was eager to help in the work the Lord had given them through Moses—brought their gifts and gave them freely to the Lord. Exodus 35: 22, 29 NIV

*I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. Psalm 145:1-3   NIV

*Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Jonah 2:8 (NIV) 

*The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. 1 Timothy 6:10

Moravian Prayer: Lord God, we confess our weaknesses. We need your help to turn away from the idols we have created. May we always put our trust in you and worship you - the one true God. Amen.

The Light of life

Missionary women often wrote about converts who were "rescued from darkness," and "brought into the glorious light." The repetition of language is striking as I'm re-reading letters and updates sent by early Pentecostal women to their supporters and families.

It's highly unpopular today -- offensive even -- to refer to other religions as "dark" or their adherents as being "blinded by the Devil." Further, it's considered prejudicial to say they have "come to the light of Christ" upon becoming Christian believers. But missionaries in the early twentieth century had no such hang-ups or demands to be politically correct. They said what they believed, that those without Jesus were utterly without salvation or spiritual sight.

I've noticed a pattern in most denominations: there's no point in being a missionary when missionary language is "cleaned up," where thinking shifts from bringing good news to the desperate to adding Christian myths to people who already are doing pretty well, and when the desperation of sharing the gospel dissipates. There's good in serving as a social worker, psychologist, educator, or helper. 

But following a call as a missionary thrust into a harvest with apostolic fervor to "rescue the perishing" and share the light of the gospel of Christ? Nope. Those fanatics disappear into a milieu of denominational do-gooders. The Story becomes secondary or vanishes altogether.

I'm refreshed by reading the letters. Through their suffering, through their rejection by the people they love, through their hardships, and because of their stamina, the women ground me in reality. 

They show that no matter how culture changes, human nature stays the same. Our condition is blindness, lostness, corruption, and an inclination to wickedness.

Yet, Truth also remains. The need to share God's loving provision through Jesus Christ endures.

Whom will you tell the Story today? Who is desperately in need of Good News? 

Read more:

*You light a lamp for me. The LORD, my God, lights up my darkness. In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall. Psalm 18:28–29 NLT

*When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12 NIV