Nous avons un jour pour volant á Dakar!

It's true, we do have a date for flying to Dakar! October 25th marks the date of our departure, so 27 days and counting!

Today I read the story of how Solomon asked God for wisdom to govern Israel. (When I realized this was the same man who wrote Proverbs 1:7, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge", it put that verse in a whole new light for me.)

As October 25th approaches, I ask that you pray something similar to the following prayer that spins off Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 3.


Now, O LORD our God, You have given this team of Your servants this ministry, yet this team is young and new to these experiences, in many ways like little children, not yet knowing the ins and outs of this ministry or of life in Dakar. Your servants will be in the midst of Your Senegalese people whom You have chosen, a great and numerous people. So please give Your servants understanding minds to obey you and to discern between good and evil. But even more importantly, please give Your servants hearts to love Your people, for without such a gift, who is able to love adequately this (or any) great people of Yours? For it is only because You have first loved us in so mighty a way that we can have hope-- and indeed it is a great hope!-- to tackle this Your assignment for us. May you get much praise, Isa al-Masih, for Your indescribable gift of true life!

Messianic Rosh Hashanah Service

Last night, I attended a Rosh Hashanah service at Congregation Beth HaShem. The church meets in Durham on West Club Boulevard, the same site as the Summit Church West Club campus. Some friends from Cambridge Christian Fellowship at Duke invited me. We went to church at 6:45pm and did not leave until shortly before midnight due to a wonderful time of prayer and fellowship after the service.

The church was interesting and markedly different than my typical Protestant church experience. The differences were mainly in language [multiple prayers in Hebrew], custom [Jewish traditions], and liturgy, not in theology. The theology sounded evangelical to the core. I was curious to see how the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament would be used in the service. From what I gathered, the Hebrew Bible is understood prophetically to speak of Jesus and the redemption God would bring through Him.

I thought to blog about the service namely because my team and I will be entering into similar situations in the next year. No, we will not be attending Messianic Jewish services--but we will interact closely with Christian brothers and services who do not "do church" our way. In Galatians 1:6-9, Paul speaks in very direct terms the importance of not "perverting the Gospel of Christ" by either distorting, add to, or subtracting from the Gospel. I look forward to God exposing distortions in my understanding of the Gospel in Dakar through Christians brothers and sisters there.

Flooding and Health Risks in Dakar

The CNN story about recent torrential rainfall and the associated health risks in Dakar is linked here. The government and medical NGO's fear malaria and cholera outbreaks.

As you read this, please ask the Lord to protect the men and women of Senegal from the worst and thank Him that He is sovereign over all things; even things like sin, disaster, and tragedy will eventually be used of God to bring about redemption in the world.

Resources from training and other goodies

Hey everyone!

Here are some great resources for your walk with the Lord that were given to us at team training or that I stumbled across this summer.

Books:

The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross: Insights from an Arab Christian by Nabeel T. Jabbour.

-Jabbour's book teaches Western Christians to share Jesus in culturally sensitive ways with Muslims, particularly Middle Eastern Muslims. Although our campus is comprised dominantly by African Muslims, I expect Jabbour's book highly relevant to our ministry.

StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath.

-This book was given to team leaders at training. Rath's book is selling well in business circles. Very simple thesis: We would be more effective, happy, and productive if we spent time identifying and building our strengths as opposed to mitigating our weaknesses.

The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians by Sam Storms.

-Excellent devotional commentary on Colossians. Storms' commentary is not overly academic and is helpful for studying Colossians on a daily basis.

1 Samuel: Looking at the Heart by Dale Ralph Davis.

-Dr. Davis' Old Testament commentaries are very reliable and really break open the Word to help the Church see God more fully. I am a big fan of Davis' style: a little academic for some, but he is really a pastor at heart.

Music & Sermon Links:

-The band from team training was Page CXVI [Duke students might remember when they visited campus and played at Campus Crusade's large group in March]. Their rendition of "In Christ Alone" is excellent.

-British author and teacher Graham Cooke is a recent discovery, thanks to my friend and fellow Crusade staffer Craig Muckenhirn. I'm currently working through five sermons linked here.

-I came across a unique ministry about financial stewardship called Generous Giving last week. Generous Giving has several free resources. You can hear part of the Bill and Vonette Bright story, the founders of Campus Crusade, here. The Brights have an incredible testimony; Bill once won $1 Million as the recipient of the Templeton Prize and gave it all away.

Hope these resources are useful for you! Feel free to leave comment with other suggestions.