Man Up

The next 'Guerreiros' Program will be this afternoon, and God has been speaking to me a lot about this week's theme. I will be discussing Biblical manhood and what it means to be a man. In this age, I feel like there are few men assuming the roles that God has for them. And especially here in the community, the idea of what a man is seems to be very skewed. The world around us teaches many falsehoods of manhood - whether it is to be overly domineering, abusive, obsessed with sports, zealously climbing the business ladder, or complacently surrendering the inborn drive and responsibility to lead.

R.C. Sproul Jr. called out men saying " I'm not sure whether our men in the church wear skirts because we worship a god in a skirt, or whether we worship a skirt-wearing god because the men in the church are so weak." (http://www.cbmw.org/Resources/Articles/Off-with-the-Skirt-on-with-the-Pants)

In all areas of life, God has called men to step up. Whether in the Church or the family, God has given roles for men to take on. According to the article 'Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood' manhood is described as follows: (http://cdn.desiringgod.org/pdf/books_bbmw/bbmw.pdf)

At the heart of mature masculinity is a sense of benevolent responsibility to
lead, provide for, and protect women in ways appropriate to
a man's differing relationships.

To Lead. Protect. Provide.

All of these have spiritual value, for the perfect example of all of them is found in the life of Jesus. For the body of Christ is to submit to him, yet even with his authority and responsibility to lead, Jesus led by humility. Seeking the best interest of the Church, he protected her from death through His sacrifice, and provided all that she needs, 'so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:27)'

As Pastor Mark Driscoll said, masculinity is not looking at femininity and doing everything the opposite. It is not choosing to avoid any signs of weakness, or choosing to rule without mercy.

Thomas Bjerkholt wrote, "It is this we find in perfect balance in Jesus. He is the Lion of Judah. He is the Lamb. He grasps the whip and clears out the temple court. He cries at the grave of Lazarus. He had the courage to reprimand the Pharisees and the scribes. He dared to show weakness when the trial was at its hardest—in Gethsemane. We see that love and strength, tenderness and firmness, mercy and truth are in perfect balance in him. Therefore Jesus is in a special way the true model for all men." (http://www.cbmw.org/Resources/Articles/The-Mature-Man)

May we as men be empowered to live as God intends!

'Dem Bones

The first 'Guerreiros' (Warriors) Program went down this past Saturday. And it really felt like it went down- downhill. It was pretty hectic, 23 boys showed up for it, which initially seemed like a real blessing and cool opportunity. But difficulties were pretty rampant throughout the program.

I have been reflecting on that afternoon a lot lately, and too often I get down on things like this where my big visions of how things will be turn out quite differently.

While praying today, God directed me to Ezekiel 37 and He really spoke to me.

It starts: 'The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley, it was full of bones.'

"Drew, I brought you here, I have been guiding this whole process of bringing you here."
And it has been to the middle of a valley, full of bones. Bones of alcoholism, drugs, violence, abuse, complacent belief in God. Praise God that there are indeed signs of vibrant life in believers here, but one cannot ignore the mountain of bones towering out of the valley.

'And there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold they were very dry.'

I believe that I am more gifted in discipling believers than evangelizing, but it seems like it is a place of a multitude of very dry bones. And I feel inadequate with this task.

'Son of man, can these bones live?'

That was the kicker. "Drew, do you believe I can transform this place? These people?"

'O LORD God, You know. '

'Then He said to me, 'Prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live... you shall know that I am the LORD.'

When we are discouraged, we must remember who it is that stands behind us and is sending us to spread the word of His gospel.

'So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army (Guerrerios).'

Will God cause breath to enter the bones and raise up this great army of Guerreiros in this community? O LORD God, You know. And that is enough for me to continue.

Guerreiros

The next three Saturdays I will be leading a group for boys in the community here on the theme of warriors. Too often I believe that the church has feminized the gospel and emasculated the radical and powerful words of Jesus and the truth that God is a mighty warrior.

From the beginning of God's involvement with mankind, He has had warriors carrying the banner of His name. Men who have forsaken the ways of the world and have set their eyes on their eternal homeland. 'Heroes' of the faith who "through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight." (Hebrews 11:33,34)

What a difference it would make if young men in this community activated passive, complacent belief for active, heroic faith. If God would have warriors in and from this community raised up for His glory.

Please pray:
God would be bringing the boys He desires to this program
Wisdom with teaching
Open hearts and true, living faith to take root

Tres Coisas

I realized that I have less than 30 days here at Casa Luzeiro in Brasil, and I thought some reflection would be good as I enter the final month.

The first thought that stood out was that it isn't what I do that God desires foremost. He desires me and my heart and who I am. The actions will flow out of who I am.
Just because I have followed God here doesn't result in me being in a perpetual state of obedience and pleasing Him. I still need Him, and seemingly, need Him even more than ever because of being in intensive ministry. It can be easy for me to be impatient, selfish, prideful, and these diseases can manifest themselves just as easily here as in 'normal' life.

The next thing that ties in with that thought is that 'normal' life doesn't have to be normal. Because our God is not a normal Being, He shatters any box we can try to put Him in and so our daily lives can and should be reflecting His activity in, through, and around us.

Third thing is that I have seemingly lost importance on the practice of prayer. I have sectioned that off to prayer times, and many times they are scheduled when I have little energy to even think straight. I need to be in continual prayer as Paul wrote.

As I continue here, I desire to be abiding more in Christ and letting Him shine through me, rather than who I naturally am blocking or diffusing His light.

With Davidson and Marcelo
After speaking in a church

Idol Factory

At the center of me is a deep well of self-centeredness, and within that well is my idol factory which is busy producing idols in the image of me. Little Drew idols are produced at every hour of the day. Some days the quota is low, other days the workers need to put in overtime to keep up with the demand. These idols are then placed on podiums in my heart - the place that controls my will, desires, and emotion.

So often my decisions are then made in accordance to what would please these 'gods.' And then my feelings are a direct result of if the gods' appetite for worship and glory has been satiated.

These gods demand my time be given to please them. Even the gifts I have received from the true God are required by them for their purposes and pleasure. Worst of all, they crave my motivations when I pursue acts of love.

Fortunately, I know Someone who makes a business of demolishing such factories. The problem is, whenever I take my eyes off His business card, a new factory begins construction. That's why I need Him in the construction zone that is my heart, every day - every moment. Do work Jesus.

Holy Love

A trend in the church today is to highlight the love of God and ministries center around that message of the love, grace, and mercy that God offers. This is a refreshing thing for people to attempt to see through the lens of God - seeing people the way that God sees them. It is very true that God loves people, that He loves the lost, the drugdealer, the prostitute, the sinner. I believe that it would be accepted to say that the anthem verse of Christianity today is John 3:16, and the banner that the church today is carrying is the message that 'God is love.'

But one potential flaw with this seemingly singular focus is that we are using selective vision when looking through the lens of God, and missing the complete picture. It may be good to take a step back and have a look at the way we see God. For a healthy perspective of God can lead us into deeper truth and life with Him, but if flawed, or incomplete, can draw us away into worshiping and touting a god of our own making. A.W. Tozer said that "the most important thing is what one thinks about when one thinks about God."

Obviously the best source for a right perspective is His Word. A theme that seems to rise above all others is that of the Holiness of God. Holiness is defined as being set apart. The Bible reveals that God is perfectly set apart from us, that He is not man, but an Almighty, Holy Creator. God's Holiness is directly connected with every aspect of His character: His Righteousness, His Justice, His Wrath, and His Love.

Even when looking through the Bible, it can be easy to see things one dimensionally. Take for example the story of Noah. It can be easy to focus so much on the sparing of mankind and the rainbow as symbol of God's goodness and promises, that we can almost skip by the humbling truth that God was so disgusted by the sin of mankind that He "determined to make an end of all flesh." (Genesis 6:13)

First and foremost, God is Holy. And He loves us with a Holy Love. The most complete picture of that is the cross where the Holiness of God demanded punishment for our sins, and in His love He gave His only Son (John 3:16) to take our place on the cross. There Jesus received the full wrath of the Holy Father, so that we may be made right with God through faith and repentance. When the Holiness of God is more understood, it makes the love of God so much more powerful, penetrating, and humbling.

How then should we share the Gospel (Good News)? As said by many evangelists, there is no Good News without bad news. While it may be common and easy to just speak on God's love and His desire for relationship, it takes boldness to get into the gritty truths that at the moment, without the atonement of Christ's work on the cross on your behalf, you are considered by God to be an enemy of Him. And you are under His coming wrath, because of your sin, which is a vile offense to the Holy God. As Jonathan Edwards said, you are like a spider held over the fire. Just as that spider faces sure destruction if he is not rescued, a sinner faces sure and certain judgment and punishment if he is not redeemed. But the Good News is this: "God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God." (Romans 5:8,9)

That is love - Holy Love.

Weekly Schedule

Here are some updates on what I am involved with here at the Lighthouse so you can get a better taste of what it is that I'm doing here. These are the structured times that I am scheduled for and then there are also other times such as ministering in the community and building relationships, weekend programs, etc.

The Children's Group I am helping with (the leaders are Melina from Brazil and Jo from New Zealand) started on February 14^th, and I am starting to build relationships with those children and continuing to work on my Portuguese through those times. That group meets each Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 2-4:30, as they have school in the morning. (Schools here run throughout the day, but because of a low number of teachers, the students go for half days, at least that is my understanding of it) The group is for 6-8 year olds and we have around ten children that come. The group time is split into three periods, which has included a variety of activities such as Bible stories, singing, puppet shows, arts and crafts, geography lessons, games, and free play at the playground.

Please pray for that group that I will have energy as I usually feel drained after those times and that God will empower me to be able to pour myself with that group and see each child the way God does. Please pray that relationships of trust will be built with the children, and pray especially for one boy, Joao Victor, who hasn't come the last three times and is often seen roaming around the streets here.

On Wednesday mornings, I help out with a school group that comes to the Lighthouse. It is called an 'Escola Integrada' or integrated school. Their slogan is 'Belo Horizonte is a classroom' and their education philosophy is to allow the children to learn through experience and it is very activity and experience based. The school comes with a younger group Wednesday morning and an older group in the afternoon. Each large group is split into three groups when they arrive, and I help out with Maarten, Eleanor, and Andreia's group. This time also is split into three periods, and in the two times we have met we have had icebreaker activities, name tag designing, games, free play, and Bible study time. Each group has a teacher/monitor with them and ours is Bruno, who is probably in his late twenties-early thirties. It is exciting to have the school groups at the Lighthouse where we are able to show the gospel through our words and our actions, and it is a great time of building relationships with the kids and the teachers/monitors as well to further cement the Kingdom's presence here in Cafezal.

Please pray for those times that we would clearly present the gospel through our words and actions and that we would have opportunities to go deeper with the relationships even though we meet only once a week. And please pray for the teachers/monitors that they would experience God through their time at the Lighthouse and relationships would be built with them to encourage them and point them to Christ.

I am also helping with an English class that happens on Monday nights at 7 o'clock here at the Lighthouse. Jo from New Zealand is teaching the class to interested members of the community and I am her assistant. That has been interesting in seeing the desire of the people (many middle aged women) to learn English. It really flies in the face of stereotypes of impoverished people not caring about empowering themselves with education and being lazy. For many in the class probably have very long days for not much pay, and then they come to this class which is very taxing and difficult on their minds. I believe that it shows that poverty can so easily come about because of a lack of opportunities, and that it becomes a vicious cycle of the impoverished then not having opportunities.

Please pray for that class, that Jo would have energy and creativity with the lesson plans and that the class would be a blessing to the residents here and that God would use the relationships through that class to bring His Kingdom here.

Thank you for your prayers! May God bless you and be revealing more and more of His glory in and through your lives.

Community Tension

The atmosphere in Cafezal has been tense the past few days as there was conflict Friday night between police and the residents. Two people were killed, whom the community is claiming were innocent and not connected with the drug traffickers. The community was outraged at this violence and two buses were burned that night (The buses that transport the residents of the slum here into the city areas). A helicopter has been circling the slum ever since then, monitoring the situation. The buses were shut down, which causes a large transportation problem for the residents here as many are unable to find ways to get to work. One lady we talked to said she had no way to get to the hospital for a check up after a recent surgery.

Sunday night, two more buses were burned and now many police have arrived in Cafezal, which is not a good sign as usually the police do not have a presence here. There are a lot of criticisms of the police here in the ways they do things or don't do things. It has been said that this is a large power struggle between the drug lords and the police, but the victims are by and large the citizens of this community.

Please pray for this situation that God's righteousness and justice would flow here and not that of man, and that God's Kingdom would come in this place and that God would use the darkness here for good.

Cafezal, Belo Horizonte, Brasil

I have been in Brazil for 11 days now, and it has been a time filled with many adventures, relationships, and lessons from God.

Adventures: Climbing some mountains, jungle creek walk, door to door evangelism, floorball (floor hockey), night walk in community, house visits, firefighting, peeling and cutting dozens of potatoes, eating cheese and sweet corn ice cream, and helping with a roller skating kids' program.

Relationships: I have made lots of new friends in meeting my brothers and sisters in Christ here. I have five roommates: 4 Brazilian and 1 Swiss, who are involved in the YWAM DTS program here at the base.

Lessons: Two big lessons have stood out so far for me: Having a servant heart and releasing all fears in my life.

The verse Philippians 2:3 stood out the first morning after arriving, “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others more significant than yourselves.” I have been meditating on that verse throughout the day as I seek to allow Christ to reign more and more in my life. In past ministry involvement, I have been so easily distracted by wanting to be liked and appreciated and noticed for my work, but God has been speaking to me about what He desires in ministry. He desires me to be faithful and ministering with a humble, servant heart, so that when people encounter me, they don't just see me, but they see the Living God within me and through me.

God also impressed on my heart His desire for me to let go of all fears in my life. Friday night February 4^th I wrote: “I was looking down on the city and just taking in that i was looking down on literally a few million people, and it occurred to me that my fears were getting in the way of my faith. I am freaked out by big cities and I have already felt that since being here, when we drove here the first night thru the city, and today on the bus in the main part of the city I was pretty intimidated.
Then I remembered another thing that David (one of the team leaders) had said in the session he led about perfect love casting out fear. And I was just making an inventory of things that cause fear in my life such as big cities, stepping out sometimes for Christ especially with peers, or a mild fear of death or trials.
And I realized that I wasn't letting God into those areas completely because He is love, perfect love, and He casts out all fear. So I was praying over those things and asking Him to cast out the fears that I have and asking Him to make me fearless. Then right after that, a couple bats flew by right in front of my face and were circling around me, literally within inches. and I tensed up and then smiled as it seemed that God was already throwing this at me as starter material so I sat there, slowly relaxing as they circled me and then once I felt pretty much completely calm, they left.”

I am excited to see what else God has in store in these upcoming weeks.

'Be Strong and Courageous'

Wrapping up the back story: Needless to say, the internship details continued to come together and I was accepted to join the Lighthouse staff in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for three months.

I am currently in Denver en route to Brazil and am getting renewed with a sense of excitement for this trip. Last night I was feeling pretty jittery and anxious, and then today I just felt like I was in a trance and it didn't really sink in that I was going to be on my way to Brazil.

Before I left my house today, I found a pendant from a Hungarian friend that had this verse:

'Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.'
Joshua 1:9

I wanted that to stick with me, so I tied it onto my backpack before heading out. While sitting in the Omaha airport, I was still having this trance-like feeling and I took out a note that Anna had written me for that day which included the same verse that was on the pendant.

I really felt God hitting me with that reminder, challenge, and promise and I began to lose that feeling of cloudiness and begin to gain excitement and a sense of courage for what lies ahead.

I was reminded that God has called me to Brazil, therefore I have no need to fear because I am in His will and the Creator of the universe is with me and preparing the way for me.

Thanks everyone for your prayers today, I have really felt their power!

Brazil Leadings (Parte Cinco)

The encouragement of others in seeking backup plans for internship continued and seemed to cloud my thinking a little. Then in the same week I met with ministry workers involved in each of the two spots that logically made sense for me to pursue and I passed through the week without discussing backup plans with either ministries, which I believe was a test that God desired me to pass with faith.

On November 18, 2010 I wrote:

The week of internship temptations seems to have passed by without me caving in. God really gave me strength, trust, and inner peace with Brazil. Today, while discussing my potential internship in Brazil, I was advised that I can pursue backup plans while still being open and pursuing the main internship that I feel God leading me into. After leaving that meeting, I was uncertain about how to move forward. I went to work right after that (afterschool program) and during reading time one of the kids put an alphabet book in front of me to read, and the very first thing my eyes saw was 'B is for Brazil.'

I believe that God is clearly leading me to Brazil and for me to pursue other options, even as backups, would be adultery of trust and faith. The only peace I have had is with singularly pursuing interning in Brazil, even though I have fears and hesitations with seeing myself there.

God is continuing to teach me to trust in Him and His glorious plans. If I can prove faithful with this, it could allow for God to lead me into even greater things for His kingdom and His glory.

Brazil Leadings (Parte Quatro)

As the internship deadline drew close, I was still waiting for a decision from YWAM and being somewhat barraged about pursuing backup plans.

On November 15, 2010, I wrote:

"Last weekend, Elias and I went to Chicago to visit some friends and see a 116 Clique concert. The pastor of the church we went to was teaching on Mark 6:45-52 where Jesus walks on water. He addressed something that had never jumped out before. It says that 'he (Jesus) made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side' while he went off to pray. A storm arose and it says that 'he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them.'

Jesus sent them into a storm that they couldn't get out of. They still persevered and painfully made headway. Sometimes we have to painfully make headway with what we feel God leading us into and wait for Him to act.

That sermon was very encouraging and it seemed confirming that I need to continue on making headway with Brazil as I feel that is what God has directed me to.

Brazil Leadings (Parte Três)

Continued from previous journal entry:

"In the meantime, I still didn't have any word from the organization I was hoping to intern with. Then that Saturday night, I came across a prayer letter I had written about the previous summer's Brazil trip. I read through it and and received a surge of excitement as I saw that I mentioned the possibility of doing some street work with YWAM while I was in Brazil. I looked up YWAM and saw they had a sizeable ministry in Belo Horizonte (the same city I would be in with the other organization) and I noticed that they accept volunteers for one to three month terms. I emailed them and heard back very quickly, and things began to progress with the application progress.

I sincerely believe God is leading me there. It is quickly approaching the internship finalization deadline and I am trusting God will deliver in a big way. It's in God's hands now, and there's no better place."

Brazil Leadings (Parte Duas)

"Thursday night October 14th. God spoke to me at BASIC (a large group worship gathering at UNI). The songs were about trusting and not fearing, two big things with me right now. I went in trying to keep my heart and mind open for anything God might want to communicate to me. The speaker shared a story about running the Chicago Marathon and how he hadn't adequately trained for it and had to walk the last ten miles. I felt God was telling me to get back to work on studying Portuguese for I would be in Brazil and God doesn't want me to have to walk it, but rather 'run with endurance the race set before me.' The night ended with the song 'Solution' by Hillsong United, which had been kind of the anthem for me going to Brazil in the summer, a song God really used last year to move my heart in that direction."

Only You can mend the broken heart
And cause the blind to see
Erase complete the sinners past
And set the captives free
Only You can take the widows cry
And cause her heart to sing
Be a Father to the fatherless
Our Savior and our King
We will be Your hands, we will be Your feet
We will run this race
In the darkest place, we will be Your light
We will be Your light

-Solution, Hillsong United

Brazil Leadings (Parte Uma)

As I prepare to leave for Brazil in less than a week, I am revisiting some journal entries that I had written in the past months in regards to God leading me to Brazil. I will post some of these entries in the next few days leading up to the trip to help give a glimpse of what God has been doing in my heart leading up to this ministry.

This time in Brazil will also be the culmination of my time at the University of Northern Iowa and it is classified as an internship where I will receive the final credits for graduation. Because of this, I had deadlines and requirements for my internship site and that proved to be a very faith building exercise for me.

The Backstory: In summer of 2010 I arrived in Brazil to serve with a ministry, but I wasn't allowed to enter the country after arriving in São Paulo because of a lack of proper documentation. I felt that I would be returning and the one picture I had of Brazil that stuck with me was that of looking out the airplane window and seeing a favela (slum).

While pursuing setting up an internship this past fall, I made much effort in being connected to the organization I was going to be with that summer. No doors were opening with that and I was beginning to get anxious as months had passed with no positive communication from their end.

On October 4^th, 2010 I wrote,

“I am beginning to start double guessing on plans for spring internship. It has been trying and frustrating that I haven't been emailed and it has been over a month now. I also have seemed to have lost drive in studying Portuguese. I just want to know that I am step with God's leading and I keep 'yo-yo'ing.'

God, if You want me with that organization this spring, give me confirmation. If not, close that door and show me the open door You want me to enter. I want to rely on You fully for the selection, I put my trust in You.”

The frustrations continued the next day when I was unable to reach the organization by phone, with a recorded message saying the number was invalid even though I had reached them before by that number. I then began having increased thoughts of pursuing backup internship possibilities and two main ministries stood out to me: the camp I had worked at the past four summers and the highschool youth group I had served with the past three school years.

Then on that night of October 5^th, while praying in a prairie reserve at UNI, I was seeking God as to an answer to what God had prepared for me for the spring.

“I then saw two planes in the night sky which appeared to be very close and appeared to be flying in the same direction. But after a little while I could see that they had gradually different angles of travel and began to veer away from each other, ultimately ending up in very different directions.

I felt God was telling me the importance of being faithful to the task He has given and the will He has for me. For all too easily, I could begin to ever so slightly take control and begin veering off. Starting with the decisions I make now, it could shape the rest of my life. But rather, I want God to be the sole shaper of my days.

Like the apostle Paul, I want my life to be summed up/explained by just saying 'by the will of God.' Not by my will, or anyone else's, but only 'by the will of God.'

This trusting is a scary place as the world says to forsake these 'foolish' ideas and think logically. And also every last ounce of me fights for something more clear, something I can grab a hold of and feel more secure in, instead of all these unknowns of what/where God is planning for me.

God, take the reins. Lead me to Your arms of peace, comfort, and rest. Show me more of You, that I may learn to trust You more.”