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Issue 10 Let’s Fish. Bible Fellowship Churches sharing resources to evangelize the world. A place for the exchange of ideas on short term missions projects and local outreach. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." All responses can be sent to office@bfcbom.org Current and past issues can be found on the web at: www.bfcbom.org look in “Mission Events” then Let’s Fish
Greetings from Allentown! I one time say a pathetic sight. A man, certainly mentally challenged, decided to fish in the flooded streets of downtown Emmaus after a torrential rain. He stood there casting his bait into the street and reeling in his line. Please don’t bother to e-mail me to ask if he caught anything! Did he expect to? I really believe he did. That’s why the scene was so pathetic. Fishing where there was no fish!
Jesus calls us to be fishers of men. If you expect to have a catch, you must fish were there is fish! Seek out fertile fishing pools in your school, place of work, and neighborhood. Short term missions trips are about fishing. Life is about fishing! Did you “catch” a fish this week? Did you even try? Did you go fishing? "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Read the Trips in the works weekly. Many are added each week. Make sure to send us yours if it is not listed here!
3. New Opportunities for “longer” short term 5. Trips in the works (updated weekly) 6. Missions trip room available!
Now is the time to begin to plan for URBANA MISSIONS CONFERENCE. The Board of Missions and the Board of Youth and Young Adults will do everything possible to organize a Bible Fellowship delegation. If you are going to be a senior in high school the next school year or are a young adult interested in missions URBANA is a must! Videos and brochures are now available at the BOM office or on line at www.Urbana.org.
Four things you must begin to do.
Register. You can register for Urbana on line at URgana.org Recruit. Work with your church to get others to go. Plan. There is no doubt about it Urbana is expensive! If you register by August 31, the conference will cost you $415 ($560 if you are not a student). You will also have to plan on transportation costs. The BOM and the BY&Y will do what we can to provide convenient and inexpensive transportation. Here is why you should plan. IF you begin to save now, the whole conference including transportation is doable by setting aside $60/month. Every month you delay, it becomes harder to raise the money. Don’t forget your birthday and Christmas presents. When Uncle Johnny asks you what you want, ask for a donation to your Urbana fund! Connect. Keep in touch with me. I need to know ALL who plan to go in order to coordinate transportation. Let me know as soon as you decide to go since transportation will be on a first come first served bases.
Dear Mr.
Weller,
Dana, thanks for connecting us with "Let's Fish"—It has proved to be a success!
Dave Peters
Keep those letters rolling in!!!
3. New Opportunities for “longer” short term
One year mission opportunity available in Caracas, Venezuela! There is a need for houseparents to work with the children of TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) missionaries in Caracas for the 2003-2004 school year. The five or six students are the children of missionaries who live and work outside Caracas—some three hours, others 8 or 10 hours away)—but all attend the Academia Cristiana Internacional de Caracas (International Christian Academy of Caracas). They need a place to live and a couple to take care of them while they attend school. The mission already has a furnished house near the school. The mission has a van that is available to transport the students and houseparents. The mission has kids who need to be cared for. The only thing missing is loving, dedicated houseparents.
The school and the residence are located in a residential neighborhood on a hillside overlooking Caracas, a beautiful, cosmopolitan city of about 3 million people. If you would like more information about this opportunity, please call Dave Schlonecker at 610-965-2682 during working hours or 484-232-6593 in the evening.
From the Wimbles in Thailand,
Urgent, please pray with us for God to send us a woman who is a trained teacher and wants to come and live here with us at the vacation home and homeschool our boys for one year. We need someone who is looking for a great opportunity to experience the mission field for a short one-year term. We need them to be mature and able to cope with cross-cultural living, teaching, and be willing to fit in where ever needed. They would have to raise their own support, airfare, etc... Due to the visa situation they would have to travel by train to Malaysia for two days, every three months to renew their visa. This is common practice and not too stressful. Living here at the vacation home would give this person the opportunity to interact, on a daily basis, with missionaries from over 23 different countries who are working in over 17 different countries in South East Asia. It would give them a first hand look at what the mission field is all about. Please let us know if you know of anyone who would be appropriate for this ministry. We need the person to come this June/July 03 and to stay with us till we go on Home Assignment next June 2004. We have 5 sons and homeschool all year round. Our oldest two sons are almost completely independent learners. Caleb is 13 yrs. old and between 8th and 9th grade. Joshua is 12 yrs. old and in 7th. Daniel is 9 yrs. and in 3rd grade. Stephen is 7 yrs. and in 2nd grade. Jonathan is 4 yrs. and in 4 yr. kindergarten. Thanks for your prayers and help in finding just the right person. Please write us at <WimbleMark@omf.net> if you, or someone you know, are interested.
Here is an excellent website for music for your upcoming missions event. If you are going on a short term trip, here is the place to find a theme song, music for your church presentation, or simply to add to your collection:
http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert.fs/songs4.htm
5. Trips in the works (updated weekly) The Board of Missions is keeping statistics of all short term missionary trips (both by teams and individuals). Please let us know all the important information about your trip. WHO, WHAT, CHURCH, MISSIONARY, COUNTRY, and DATE. Contact: office@bfcbom.org To Date the following ministries being done by BFC’ers have been registered with Let’s Fish. Feb. 4-12 - Coopersburg and Blandon doing renovation work in Guadalupe. (See item 1 above) Feb.19-22 - Frances Sears to stay with the Lawrence children. Feb. 21-March 2 - Coopersburg Kenya Trip. March 14-24 LBC trip to Morocco including team members from BFC churches in Lebanon, Newark, York and Emmaus. (See item 7) March (Date not established) Cedar Crest work team to Newark N.J. with missionaries Toto Felecia Baran. April 11-26 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) May 14 - Aug. 6 Rachel Moyer (Coopersburg) with Kim Stengele, Tanzania May 10 One day ministry blitz through out the tri-state area as part of Emmaus Mission Conference. May 14-28 Cedar Crest & Quakertown Tanzania Trip Building Dispensary. Skilled builders may still be needed! May 23 June 6 Emmaus to The Fold (Hash) room available June 7-13 Paris Prayer Conference 2003 www.david.riddell@wanadoo.fr June 11 Rebecca Zubrick Costa Rica with Lillian Solt June 12-15 . Mt. Pocono trip to Blueberry Mountain (Slomas) June 21-28 Coopersburg trip to work with Bob & Donna Sloma at Blueberry Mountain Bible Camp along with Chris & Becki Merrick. June 26-28 Paradise at Lighthouse for VBS June 26-July 3 Emmaus to The Fold (Hash) room available July 4-18 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) July 5-12, Paradise team to Thompson, CT, to assist with VBS both at the church and at a nearby park. July date to be determined Cedar Crest to Morocco Work team and ministry. August 2-18 - Emmaus Ukraine Trip doing puppet shows, drama, music and coffee house ministry as well as a morning camp program with Push-the-Rock each morning. August 10-24 Cedar Crest trip to Pollocks Team of 25 for work and ministry Aug. 15-30 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) August 16-23 - Emmaus going to Wissinoming BFC for VBS and evangelistic puppet shows. August 22-24 - Walnutport BFC Weekend Block Party. Emmaus will be doing puppet shows and a Saturday block party. Sep. 26-Oct. 11 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) October date to be determined Cedar Crest to Kosovo Work and ministry. Nov. 7-22 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available)
6. Missions trip room available!
Dana, could we add the following:
Teens from Lehighton, Quakertown, and Blandon are planning to go to North Carolina to work with ReCreation Experiences, a ministry that repairs homes for disabled, elderly, and poverty stricken people. The dates are July 26-Aug 2 and the total cost is $400. A deposit of $75 is due April 11. We may be able to add team members after April 11 so drop us a line.
David Peters Grace Bible Fellowship Church Quakertown, PA
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Trips to the Fold (Tim and Barb Hash) May 23-June 6 AND June 26-July 3 need cooks, carpenters, painters, sewers, auto mechanic handymen & women. This is a major renovation project. You are needed! Contact Ed Wigfield at wigserve@fast.net.
Ten ways to ruin a short term mission trip
Believe it or not, it's possible to have a bad short-term missions experience. Usually, this has less to do with the situation or organization than it does with the short-termer's own attitudes and expectations.
To help you maximize your short-term experience, here's a checklist of what not to do!
1. Keep narrowly focused on spiritual activities. You want to win that country to Christ. So, focus on your loftiest expectations. Avoid doing such menial work as data entry, loading trucks, or working on buildings. Such things will only distract you from your primary task.
2. To tighten up your schedule, eliminate personal prayer and Bible study. Likely, you will be so rushed that you really won't have time anyway. Besides, can't you get all the spiritual food you need from church services and from group devotions?
3. Stay organized. Set goals before you go. Establish a detailed schedule. Do not deviate from that schedule. Refuse to accept delays, last-time changes, and impromptu visits and invitations. Those things will just keep you from getting things done for God.
4. Help the missionaries by pointing out their mistakes. Bring them up to date on what you've heard are the latest missions trends. Missionaries can sometimes be stubborn. So, you may need to enlist some support among the nationals for your views about how the mission should be running.
5. Get involved romantically with someone. Being away from family and friends make this the perfect time to get involved in a romantic relationship. While it may distract you slightly from the work, you will be able to expose national Christians to America's progressive dating customs.
6. Don't embarrass yourself by trying to pick up the local language. People are always saying that English is spoken all over the world. So, insist that those people use it with you.
7. Immediately begin pointing out your team members' faults. Time is short. It may be difficult for people to make the needed changes in their lives if you don't help them from the start. Especially focus your criticism on team leaders.
8. Make hygiene a top priority. Don't eat any of the local food. To be sure, you may miss some friendly opportunities with "the natives," but you'll avoid all those germs!
9. Keep your distance from team members who couldn't raise their full support. They may try to mooch off you. Don't give in. Letting them sweat out their finances will build their faith.
10. When you return home, castigate your home church and friends for their lack of commitment, for their weak prayers, and for their inadequate giving to missions. This may be one of the few times you will have their deferential respect; so make the most of it.
See you next week. Article and letter contributions are gladly accepted. Let us know what is happening in your life and in your church’s life. Next week we announce a new resource for all short-termers!
Most of all, Keep Fishing!
Dana
A cooperative effort of the churches of the BFC to win the world for Christ Your response is always welcome at: office@bfcbom.org 610 398-8776
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