Success

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about success. Am I a successful Missionary? Am I a successful Christian? Do I feel like I succeeded today on Campus? How can I be more Successful?

All of these questions are constantly circling my head and I would be really surprised if questions like this weren’t on your mind too. We want to be successful. I don’t think there is really anything wrong with that. After all, who wants to be a failure?

A problem with wanting to be successful is that things tend to not go as expected. Students won’t show up to meetings, the power goes out at the most inopportune times, there may be bad weather, or things just get out of hand. There is nothing more frustrating then having a great plan and seeing it all “go to waste” because of circumstances beyond our control.

There is a problem with this. Failure Kills Vision. That’s probably pretty obvious, but nevertheless it’s true. We don’t see the results we expected and we give up on our vision. We assume that we must have misunderstood God’s calling on our lives, or that we must have done something wrong.

I think the problem lies in how we define success. I have started thinking about this idea a lot and have come to a conclusion. We define it wrong.

We assume that Success is seeing our vision come to fruition, the way we envisioned it, in the time frame we thought it would take. Believing this only sets us up for failure.

I think, instead, we should redefine success as Remaining faithful to the process God has laid out for you. Rather than judging my success on the things that I can see, we should define success based on trusting that God is at work and that by trusting and following him, He will bring his plans to completion.

I believe fully that God called me to do ministry here in Senegal. I think God has shown me this through a lot of different signs along the way, including the support He brought in.

My vision for coming to Senegal was to share the Gospel with a Nation of people who don’t know Christ, to see a student led movement begin at our University, and to see National student leaders rise up and take over the ministry. In short, I want to see Dakar, Senegal become a place where people know Christ and worship God.

If I were to look at the last 5 months and judge our success based on my goal, I’d say we are pretty big failures. The ministry here isn’t close to being what we envision.

BUT! God called us here anyways. He calls us to preach the gospel, and to share the love of Christ with students, in spite of what we think is happening here. By taking a chance on God and trusting him for the results we are already a success. Faithfullness = Success.

Noah was a success the day he started building the Arc, Moses was a success when he finally approached Pharaoh and told him for the first time to let the Israelites go, David was a success when he decided he couldn’t allow Goliath to demean the Name of God, and you are a success when you step away from inactivity and pursue the vision God has placed on your heart.

Unfortunately we often don’t make the distinction between success and the rewards of our success. We think we are failures if we don’t see rewards of our success.

This just reminds me of the fact that there are a lot of things going on in the world behind the scenes that we don’t know about. God is constantly working to bring the world to salvation.

That pumps me up! Our job is to trust God and leave the results up to him! How relieving is that!?

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”

God calls us according to our purpose. He has you where you are for a reason. And He wants you to trust him with the vision He has given you.

Rather than focusing on what is around you, focus on what is before you.

Expect God’s intervention, hold fast to what you know about His character, and give it your best. Everything else is up to God: your success is defined by your faithfulness.

Pamoja

Coming up in a couple weeks, our team will be helping with a Campus pour Christ conference in the Ivory Coast called "Pamoja". Pamoja means "together" in Swahili; it is a conference designed to equip students from all over Africa to launch spiritual movements on their university campuses.

Please take some time to pray for this conference; it really is a huge opportunity to accelerate the spread of the gospel in Africa. Pray for the travel and financial needs of the students coming, and pray for their hearts to be spiritually prepared. Finally, pray that Christ would be clearly and evidently exalted in Pamoja-- that's the central thing.

Thank you so much!

Thanksgiving outreach

Hi everyone,

We are hosting students for dinner and watching "The Passion" movie on Wednesday night. It is part of Thanksgiving celebration and an attempt to explain to students why Christians are thankful. Please pray for Mbagnick, Antoine, Sophie, Hadji and Hadji. These are some of our closest friends in country. I love staying that we are friends because the Lord is really building in us love for the students to whom we minister. Our team grows increasingly affectionate for our students the longer we remain in-country. Our team wants this group of students to understand the Jesus loves them not because of their goodness, but in spite of their sin. He died to receive worship from and give new life to our students. If I might ask, please ask that the Holy Spirit would open hearts to start a relationship with Him for the first time on Wednesday evening.

Finally, my grandfather's funeral is Wednesday in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Some of you knew my grandfather. My family and I appreciate the continued outpouring of prayer and sympathy. Thank you so much for your support. For my family, the children and grandchildren, especially my younger cousins Skyler, Garrett, Randell, and Angelina. I've been praying that the Lord would minister to the hurting in my family in a special way.

campus ministry and culture

Our team is getting established in our routines of campus ministry. We are finding there is much to learn! Meeting with students in Senegal is much different than meeting with students in America-- an easygoing sense of time and loose planning here replace the hurried pace and tight scheduling of the United States. Students here have also been generally more outgoing and willing to lend a helping hand.

We are also learning just how tied Islam is to the culture and way of life here. Many Senegalese people pride themselves on the apparent inter-religious harmony here, and there is a certain degree of religious freedom here. However, it seems to me that in many cases, orthopraxy, as dictated by the religious leaders, shrouds spiritual truth.

Please pray that the Holy Spirit would enable our team to speak words that, instead of being persuasive or wise, are full of the Spirit's power (1 Corinthians 2:4), so that these students can hear and receive God's truth.

Being Still

Psalm 46 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at the break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolation he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

Today as we talked with Pascal and his wife about the ministry situation in Senegal, I was pretty disheartened. There is so much work that needs to be done in this culture in order to show the Senegalese people who God is and how He loves them. The task is overwhelming when looking at it through my own eyes. Pascal shared with us about the growing influence of Islamic Middle Eastern nations in Senegal. In an attempt to promote the more fundamentalist Islamic religion, these nations are sending aid to Senegal in the form of orphanages, schools, and providing scholarships to students. Pascal explained how these nations are extremely strategic about seeking to expand their influence here, placing their followers in prominent positions so as to gain leadership. But as I read this passage tonight, I was reminded of the supremacy of Christ. He WILL be exalted among the nations. He WILL be exalted in the earth. Sometimes I need to remember to be still, and know that God is God. Nothing can thwart His plan to bring glory to Himself as the nations come to know Him. He loves the Senegalese people and desires for them to know and walk with Him. He is more than capable of accomplishing His plan and I am excited to be but a small part of it.

Initial impressions

Hello everyone!

After arriving in Dakar on Monday, our team is slowly adjusting to Senegal. Actually, we are not-so-slowly adjusting in some important ways [heat, language, time zone] thanks to the hospitality of our campus minister and two of his students.

In no necessary other, here are some early impression from the city:

1) Dakar is really hot. I'm not kidding. It is almost November and as a Pennsylvania boy, I'm ready for winter jackets and hot chocolate. The sun is unrelenting, but if you get close enough to the ocean, there is a nice breeze.

2) There are more young children begging in the streets near campus than I anticipated. As an American, this is very new. As a Christian, it is disturbing. Most of the children work for local political/religious "leaders" who profit from the children's begging.

3) Senegalese food is good. I've yet to have a bad meal. Mainly egg-based products and breads for breakfast, sandwiches/panini for lunch, and chicken or beef dishes for dinner.

4) The US dollar goes a long way in Senegal. The purchasing power of our dollar should appreciate further as the US economy moves out of recession in the next six month or year.

5) English is more widely understood than I anticipated. That said, we cannot live here without learning French. Right now, we are getting by on the French skills of Ryan, Ashley, and Dayton. Christy and I are learning [more rapidly than I expected---thanks Rosetta Stone and shout out to Bubba Heisler].

6) Our hotel is cheap by western standards [roughly $26/person/night], but expensive relative to anticipated monthly rent. Two weeks of living in a hotel chews through a month's rent; hence our desire to finalize an apartment or apartments soon!

Airport!

As I write this, I think Dayton just landed at Dulles Airport. The rest of us trickle in throughout the afternoon. I arrived the latest at roughly 3:45pm. We leave for Dakar shortly thereafter at 6pm.

On another note, we have some leads on housing in Dakar. Nothing definitive yet, but some real possibilities! Thank you for your prayers on this. I am greatly relieved of anxiety on the matter and trying to rest in confidence in the Lord.