vox lead team: alan seaborn

I'm Home

2008-06-18T08:27:00.001+02:00

Sorry I didn't get to posting this right away. I made it back safely and I'm pretty worn out. I slept late today and was basically tired from when I woke up until now. I think this jet lag may take longer to get over than I'd hoped. Anyway, if you see me and get a chance, come say hi...I'd love to talk.

Tomorrow

2008-06-14T23:55:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow at 8:15 PM, my plane will be heading out from Johannesburg. I'll have a five and a half layover in London before departing for Chicago. I'll be back in the US at 2 on Monday afternoon. I'm going to the church in Soweto that's become my home church to say all of my goodbyes there and it's a really strange feeling. It hasn't hit me yet that I'm really leaving. I'm guessing it won't until I'm sitting on the plane. At any rate, I'll post sometime on Monday night to let you know I made it safely. Beyond that, if you're looking for new updates, come talk to me or give me a call or shoot me an email because I doubt I'll have much else to blog about that will be reasonably interesting.

Goodbyes

2008-06-12T00:43:00.002+02:00

I'm spending time this week packing my stuff up, picking up the last-minute purchases and saying good-bye to all of my friends here. It's great getting around and seeing my friends, but it definitely is difficult to say goodbye. I'm hoping to be back as soon as possible even if it's just for a week or so, but leaving is still difficult. These are people that I've grown close to and it's really weird to think that it's quite possible that I may never see some of them again. I know that part of that is the nature of the work I'm doing, but it's not something I'm particularly happy about. I love the idea that's so prevalent here that you build a friendship with people that you work with.

Have You Ever...

2008-06-09T23:21:00.003+02:00

Have you ever driven by a large, angry mob of people? I had that experience today. The municipal workers in our town and a few of the surrounding areas are on strike right now, so there are some roads that have garbage strewn all over the place and the towns just look bad in general. Well, today, for a change of pace, a groups of probably 150-200 of the striking workers gathered in front of a building (which I assume was a city office building) in the town of Benoni. But, they weren't content to just stand around and hold their signs. They instead opted to block off three lanes of a four lane one way road through town. Then, they threw garbage into the one lane they weren't totally blocking in order to get their point across. Because I needed to get through to where I was going, I decided to drive through the "garbage lane". This did not please these workers.
When I say these folks were upset, I think I'm probably understating things. Some people were holding signs...others were holding ten foot long two by fours which they waved menacingly at any car stupid enough to try to drive through their barricade. Like I said, I needed to get through this little gathering, so I slowed down a little and headed to the far right to try to maneuver through the people and the garbage. As I passed the group, I got a few threatening gestures and too many threatening looks to count, but I made it without incident. Here's hoping they get what they want before too long...

Vacation

2008-06-08T21:19:00.002+02:00

I realized that I forgot to post about the fact that I'd be gone for most of this week. I'm haven't posted, but it isn't laziness, I was just away from my computer since Tuesday night. I went with the Kings to a place on the coast called Durban. It was sort of like Miami. A nice, warm city on the beach - and the architecture even looked similar. We spent a few days there before heading in the mountains for Ethan's soccer tournament. He had games yesterday and today and we arrived home around 5 this afternoon. It was a great vacation and I'm grateful that I got to see those parts of South Africa before I leave. By the way, I'm flying home next Sunday night. See you soon.

Training, Part 2

2008-06-02T20:21:00.002+02:00

Yesterday afternoon, I went back to Hope of Glory, the church in Wattville that is helping out with some of the follow-up from our event in a nearby school. We spent time working on preparing a Bible Study lesson for a small group setting. We focused primarily on observing the passage and we broke up into small groups to dissect the words in the passage and to pick out the key phrases. Then, we got back together in a big group and shared our observations. After we had done this, I challenged them to come up with some practical applications. I pointed out that studying for the sake of studying wasn't doing us a whole lot of good if we didn't apply what we learned.
At this point, I looked down at my phone and realized that I was already 15 minutes late to help get things set up for a going away party for myself and the Kehrers. We had some friends over to the seminary that's down the road from us and had a great time hanging out and having good food with good friends. As much as I'm looking forward to being home with my family and friends, it's definitely going to be hard to leave my close friends here.

Loose Ends

2008-05-27T23:32:00.004+02:00

Today was all about going over the things that still need to be taken care of before I leave in a few weeks. From phone calls to meetings to proposals that need to be submitted. But, the definite highlight of my day was labeling and inventorying the sound system that we purchased for Youth United events. This consisted of recording the model and serial numbers of all the individual items as well as the purchase price and date of purchase. In case anybody missed it, that was sarcasm. I didn't especially enjoy doing this, but it is something that is necessary...I guess. We're preparing to store the entire sound system in the back room of a local business run by a friend from a church near us. He has generously offered to let us store the equipment there because we know that if it's left in most other places, a mic will get borrowed and then a few cables here and there and before you know it, you go to use your equipment and you're missing a few vital pieces and you're sunk. So, to avoid that situation and to ensure that we have all items inventoried for insurance purposes, today was "labeling day".

Happy Memorial Day

2008-05-26T22:47:00.002+02:00

I hope the extended weekend gave everybody as much of a chance to relax as it did for me. Today, we had some friends who work at the U.S. Embassy over for brunch. They hung out for a while and then I went out for dinner with my good friend Navy, his wife Zodwa, and their two kids - Lushamo and Luse. Enjoy spending this time with friends and family!

Training, Part 1

2008-05-24T20:01:00.002+02:00

After going to an under-9s soccer game this morning, I came back home and began to prepare for part 1 of a leadership/Bible study training session for this afternoon. At the time, I was not aware that it would be only part 1, but there was something else scheduled that cut our time short, so we'll finish up next Sunday afternoon. Despite the event being shorter than preferred, it went incredibly well. Around 11 or 12 people showed up, which was beyond my wildest dreams. They were all excited about leading a small group and had great questions and feedback that they offered as we spoke about leadership topics. I'll keep you posted on part 2. Tomorrow, I'll continue making the rounds to try to get to all the churches I need to visit in my last few weeks here.

Xenophobia

2008-05-21T19:44:00.007+02:00

It means fear of foreigners, and it's quite a big deal around South Africa as of late. South Africans are feeling like the Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Malawians, Zambians, Somalians, Swazis, Ethiopians, etc are stealing jobs and are causing crimes. So, throughout various townships, there are people going door-to-door and attacking anybody who is not a South African. This violence is not affecting white non-South Africans as the violence is isolated to the townships and black African immigrants are being attacked, robbed, and even killed simply for moving to a new country to try to better their lives. I'm really at a loss for words. I'm devastated and I'm heartbroken for what's going on. We have developed a number of relationships with "foreigners" whose lives are now in danger. One good friend of mine had three people killed on his street before he was able to flee to safety with his family. Please join us in praying for understanding and compassion to sweep across this country and that these senseless acts of violence would come to an end. I want to reiterate - we are not in any danger, but a number of our friends are. Please pray.

Here's a broad overview of what's happening, and if you poke around here, you'll find a number of articles. This site is providing updated news headlines in real time.

Forgive Me

2008-05-20T00:53:00.002+02:00

There has been plenty going on to blog about, but once you get out of the habit, it's pretty hard to get back into it. Anyway, we've now got both our sound guy and our event coordinator committed to working with us for the 5 upcoming events over the course of the next year. We're still at 4 of 5 South African churches and the meeting with the fifth is on Thursday. We've spoken to 3 Stateside churches about the possibility of bringing a team sometime over the next year, and I'm tentatively planning on bringing a group of people from IWU over Spring Break. We're making great headway on everything that's covered in our "exit strategy" to ensure that Youth United will keep going strong. I'm pumped about the progress and I'm excited to see what's in store for the future of Youth United.

4 out of 5 ain't bad...

2008-05-12T22:19:00.003+02:00

Planning is moving along well for the 5 Youth United events this coming year. We've confirmed with 4 of the 5 South African churches we're hoping to work with and the meeting with the fifth is on Friday. The next step will be working to find teams/churches in the States who would be interested in coming to South Africa for a week or so to work with the churches here on these Youth United events.
Usually I'm the kind of guy who would be thinking of this stuff the last week before it was time for me to leave, so it's been a huge blessing to have nearly a month and a half to prepare things so that the transition is seamless.

Looking Ahead

2008-05-06T21:14:00.003+02:00

We're continuing to get a clearer picture of what the next month and a half looks like. As of now, the plan is to work to schedule 5 Youth United events between July '08 and July '09. We've got two of the churches we were brainstorming about on board and we'll contact the others within the week. So, the next couple of weeks will be meetings and discussions about the details, but the main stuff is agreed upon (or will be soon...). I'm feeling like we're in a really good place and I'm so thankful for Brian's insight into this process and his ability to look ahead to my transitioning out. I'm terrible at thinking ahead to things like that, so I'm very grateful for his leadership during this time.

Good News

2008-05-05T22:27:00.002+02:00

Today was a great day. I think some things are falling into place and I'm really excited about that. I talked to a youth leader in Wattville about helping us out with some follow-up in one of the high schools we were in and she was all about it. We have a meeting next week Saturday to do some training for the kids - and the best part is that the standout kids in her youth group that will be helping out go to this high school. I'm waiting until this happens to begin celebrating fully, but I'm really pumped about it for now. I think we've also got a good lead on another high school's follow up as well. I'll post more on that when I know more.

Crazy

2008-05-03T19:31:00.004+02:00

This past week has been a little bit crazy. I don't particularly want to get into rehashing all of the details, but there was a time when we were under the impression that my life and/or my physical well-being was potentially in danger. For those who knew about the ordeal and were praying, I want to thank you. I really don't know how to characterize events at this point and I'm still trying to work through things and figure out what was going on and so forth. As we move forward and seek to learn from this event, we're working on holding a little tighter to some of our safety guidelines - particularly traveling together and doing our best to be out and about sparingly after dark. I guess that's all I've got. I apologize to those who may read this and just be dying to know exactly what went down, but suffice it to say, I'm fine and I plan to stay that way.

Follow Up

2008-04-24T09:04:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, we spent the day working on figuring out how to best follow up on these students who are looking to get into small groups. Some of the kids indicated that they wanted to go to church this Sunday, so we called them yesterday, but with no luck. None of the kids picked up their phones, so we're back to the beginning there. We also found out that there is currently a Bible study program going on in the school and we're looking to get the kids hooked into that.

Youth United Event

2008-04-23T18:41:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, we had a Youth United event at a place called J.E. Malepe Secondary School. It's located in a township called Tsakane. I would say that yesterday was the best event we've had yet. The principal introduced us and got the kids to quiet down and actually sit down before we started things. Also, in another change, I spoke first. Normally, we open with games like Name That Tune. But, we've found that music gets the kids all riled up, so we decided to try the message before the games. I think it was a combination of the principal's discipline and the message before the music, but whatever it was, the kids were very attentive. Of course, with over 1,000 kids jammed in a tiny courtyard there will be some who aren't interested, but the vast majority were listening and connecting with me as I spoke. It was so awesome to see people taking this seriously. After we finished, we had over 80 kids come and sign up to be a part of a small group. That blew me away. I'm so thrilled that God showed up in a major way yesterday!

Not Quite There Yet

2008-04-16T19:56:00.002+02:00

I am feeling a ton better, but I'm still not quite back. I'm still just weak enough that I feel like doing too much would just be setting myself up to be back in bed for longer. So, for now, that's why you're not hearing much of anything from me - I'm not doing much of anything.

It's Bronchitis

2008-04-11T17:25:00.001+02:00

I've been feeling bad since Monday morning. It started with what felt like a sinus infection and on Wednesday night, I was left with a hacking cough. Well, I finally got it checked out this morning after four days of hoping I could sleep it off. Turns out you can sleep off bronchitis.

Elevation

2008-04-05T21:12:00.003+02:00

The team from Central's youth group arrived yesterday. The plan was scheduled to arrive at 4:30 PM, but arrived at 11:30 PM instead. We got them back to the Seminary and arrived home around 2:30. Today, we slept in a little and got started at 9. Needless to say, I'm thrilled they're here, but I'm also exhausted. Once I catch up on a little sleep, I'll do my best to post more info.

Car Trouble

2008-04-02T16:39:00.002+02:00

This week, I learned what an alternator is...the hard way. On Friday night, I was stuck on the side of the road ten minutes of highway driving away from home with a dead battery on my cell phone. Somebody stopped and after unsuccessfully trying to give me a jump, decided he would just tow me home. By now it's close to 10:30 and South Africa isn't the safest place to be stopping to pick up hitchhikers. Despite this, Renier insists on towing me back to my house where he helped me push the car into the garage. From there, we got to talking and found out that we both work with youth. He's a youth leader at his church and he's looking to get the kids in the youth group involved in ministry. How awesome is that! We decided to part ways (it's now around 11:45pm) and call each other to set up a time to connect. Well, tonight, he's going to come pick me up and take me to his youth meeting to talk to the youth about what we're doing and to invite them to come and join us. The timing could not be any better because a team of students is arriving Friday from Central Wesleyan. We're looking to connect with these students while that team is here and do some ministry together. I'm continually blown away by how God works. (also, $40 later and one full day of work later, the car is back up and running)

Hunting Art

2008-03-25T21:37:00.002+02:00

Well, Vox is holding an art auction in Holland towards the end of April, so we've been spending some time on and off for the past couple of months working to compile some pieces to sell. We've been able to get around 30 pieces donated so far and we're still going. We're making a final push this week so that we can send all of the stuff home with the team coming in from Central Wesleyan in two weeks. I'll be spending a good chunk of tomorrow and Thursday going around to galleries around Joburg and asking people to donate to help us raise money for projects here. I don't particularly enjoy asking people for giveaways, but so far people have been unbelievably willing, so I'm hoping that spirit keeps showing up.

Mom's Home

2008-03-16T22:15:00.002+02:00

I talked to my Mom yesterday night as she arrived in the airport. It was awesome having her here and letting her get a chance to see what's going on and what the heck I'm talking about most of the time. It was helpful for her to be able to piece some things together and hopefully if anybody reading this has any questions, she can help you out with those. Anyway, I spent today with the couple of people we had in from a church in Washington D.C. called Crosscurrent. We went to the Soweto Vineyard Church and we had the chance to interact after the message with most everybody in the church because it was cold (around 50) and rainy outside, so everybody was a little reluctant to leave. It was awesome to get to hang around and chat even longer than usual.

Some Good News and Some Bad News

2008-03-12T21:20:00.002+02:00

I'm really starting to get bad at posting here regularly. I'm going to do my best to get a handle on that soon. First of all, it's been great having my Mom here. We've been tagging along with the team and checking out some of the things Vox is involved in, but we also took a day to go to Kruger National Park and we saw some cool animals. So, that's the good news.
However, the bad news is this: the Youth United event we had scheduled for today fell through. The students are spending this week taking midterms before their month-long break starts. So, unfortunately, the team in here didn't get a chance to see what these events are like. I'm definitely disappointed about that, but we were able to reschedule, so it's not like the school is missing out on an event, but we won't have this team around to help out and they won't get the chance to see one.

Student's Perspective

2008-03-07T00:34:00.002+02:00

Laura and I had a meeting this afternoon with a girl named Rifiloe. She's a student at Progress High School in Soweto - the location of our last Youth United event. She's an incredibly sharp girl who wants to figure out a way to get involved with what we're doing and she took some time this afternoon to sit down with us and let us know what the event was like from a student's perspective. She had a lot of great things to say, but two of the points she made really jumped out at me. First of all, she said that around half of the kids didn't understand what was being said. Despite the fact that all classes are taught in English and all textbooks are in English, some students feel that learning English makes them "snobby". Others are not strong in English despite their efforts, so it's hard for them to keep up with a message in real time. So, for the next event, we're looking to find a translator so that kids can hear the message in either Zulu or Sotho (the two main languages around Joburg). The second point she made was about having music and giveaways at the beginning of the event. For us, it makes sense to put that stuff at the beginning because it's designed to be attention-getting and to allow kids to get involved in the program. However, Rifiloe said that once the kids get all riled up or after they receive a giveaway, their attention is actually lost. So, we were trying to get their attention with games, music and giveaways, but she's saying that we're actually setting ourselves up for failure by doing that. We're planning to switch things up for the next event and see if what she's saying will put us on the right track. The next event in Wednesday the 12th, so I'll let you know then.

Great News!

2008-03-04T21:48:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, Laura and I visited three high schools in a township called Tsakane with a friend of ours who pastors in that area. All three want us to come and do something with them! One event is scheduled for next Wednesday. One is scheduled for April and one in May. I'm really excited to see how God will use those events and would appreciate your prayers in anticipation of the events for the lives that will be touched. We're also working on follow-up from our previous two high school events. Tomorrow, we'll be visiting one of the schools and inviting kids to get involved in small groups.

Planning out the week

2008-02-25T22:06:00.002+02:00

I spent today working to figure out the best way to fit everything into this week. The thing is that I have about three days worth of meetings that need to all fit into this week and I'm not sure how to make that happen with everybody's busy schedules. Well, we're waiting to hear back from a local high school tomorrow and that will determine how everything works out. I also spent some time this afternoon working to refine the message that I'm sharing at all of these events. Just doing some tweaking and tightening where it's necessary. Nothing major, just working to make the communication as clear as possible. That will probably keep me busy until I decide I'm done; there's always room for improvements!

Catch up

2008-02-22T22:57:00.002+02:00

Since returning from the extended weekend in Cape Town on Monday night, I've stayed really busy getting back on my feet from the teams we've had in and from the two huge youth events we held in just over a week. I think I'm mostly caught up now. I had a great meeting this afternoon with a pastor up the road from one of the high schools we were in. He wants to help out with follow up. So, now we have thee churches looking to get involved with the follow up in that one high school. I'm thinking we could use one more church's involvement, but I'll let you know what happens.

Youth United

2008-02-14T17:30:00.002+02:00

Our Youth United event in Soweto was this afternoon at 1PM. Like I said yesterday, there are 1,400 people who attend this school. I'm terrible at judging numbers, but there were a whole ton of kids there. The trio we had lined up to sing fell through at the last minute, but I've heard before that the show must go on. We started off with Name That Tune and The Dating Game to get the kids involved and they absolutely loved it. From there, we moved to the message. This crowd was significantly more attentive than last week's, which I'm thankful for. Kids were challenged to commit to abstinence and I encouraged them by telling them that despite the pressures associated with Valentine's Day, there are hundreds of people their own age around Johannesburg who have made the same commitment. You won't hear from me for a few days; Paul and I are taking an extended weekend in Cape Town. I hope to return with some pictures to post on here.

Still Around

2008-02-13T21:25:00.001+02:00

Since I last posted, we took a couple of days off to relax and get re-energized after spending the better part of two weeks on the go with the teams that were here. So, Sunday and Monday were laid back days. Paul and I went to a Sunday night service in order to catch up on some much needed sleep. Yesterday and today were spent in preparation for a Youth United event at a school in Soweto tomorrow afternoon. We're expecting around 1,400 kids again, which is awesome. Please be in prayer that lives will be changed by and intersection with Christ.

Soweto Tour

2008-02-08T01:28:00.001+02:00

Today, we went on a tour of the township of Soweto with the teams. Soweto is a township of over 4 million people and it's also currently the third most popular tourist destination in South Africa. It has so much history that is tied to the fall of Apartheid and it has a great feel and culture to it. In Soweto, there is the only road in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners have lived. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela lived on the same street in a "neighborhood" called Orlando West. We visited Mandela's house today as well as a church that was instrumental in giving the youth a place to meet as they planned their next moves against the Apartheid government. The tour is something I've done a few times before, but it's always a helpful reminder for me and I always enjoy it.

Recap

2008-02-06T23:56:00.000+02:00

This afternoon, we were in Ephes Mamkeli High School in the township of Wattville. There were around 1,400 students in attendance, which was awesome. The issue was that for some reason, the sound system was only reaching about halfway back through the room. So, all of the kids in the back were talking and messing around the whole time, which obviously made communication difficult. Despite these setbacks, the front half of the room was attentive and responsive as we did the event. We had some games in the beginning and then the band played a few songs before I spoke for a little bit. I wound up tag-teaming it with an area pastor because the kids in the back were listening to him a little better. I felt good about things even though I'm disappointed that we weren't able to have as sweet of an event as we could have, but it's okay. I learned a few things and well over 500 kids heard the Gospel and the call to abstinence.

Youth United

2008-02-05T20:53:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow we're doing a Youth United event in a local high school for what we're told will be around 1,000 students. We've been finalizing some last minute details today and I think we're close to all set for the afternoon tomorrow. Please be in prayer for the day and for young people to be open to making decisions that will change their lives. Pray that people would come to know Christ tomorrow.

Home Based Care

2008-01-31T21:01:00.000+02:00

This morning, we took Annagail to Zenzele Counseling Project in Finetown. We spent the morning doing home based care visits with the caregivers there. We broke into groups and my group visited 5 or 6 homes of people who were sick and hurting. We visited a middle-aged man who was HIV positive and also had TB. We visited a woman who was paralyzed from the waist down. We visited a young boy who had cerebral palsy and couldn't speak or walk. We also visited a woman who had recently had successful surgery to remove a tumor in her stomach. With all of the severe cases we saw today, it was nice to see a success story. But, even in the tough situations, we were able to pray with the patients and we were able to talk to them and love on them, which was awesome. In the afternoon, we worked to set up the sound system and get things ready for the concert at the Youth United event next Wednesday.

Day One

2008-01-30T21:10:00.000+02:00

Annagail arrived last night with no complications in the airport or anywhere else. The traveling went really smoothly. We took them back from the airport and got them situated at the seminary and talked for about a half hour about what to expect and just some basic things they would need to know for their time here and then we sent them to bed.
This morning was a little earlier than they would have preferred with breakfast at 7:15, but they managed. We had group devotions and then headed out to King's Hope, a care center in the township of Oleivenhoutbosh. We spent about two hours there taking a tour of the place and getting an idea of what they're doing in the community and how they're helping people who are sick and dying. We spent some time praying with the patients in the hospice and we toured the clinic that is currently under construction on their property.
From there, we headed to an orphanage that houses 46 kids called Phahella that is run by an amazing woman named Grace. She's gone through a lot for the sake of the kids in her care, even losing her husband because he couldn't handle the strain of all of the kids being everywhere. But, through it all, Grace has kept a great attitude and God has truly blessed her ministry. The band played a few songs for the kids and then we hung out with them for about an hour before we had to head home. Today was the beginning of an overview for the team of what South Africa looks like.

Finalizing

2008-01-29T00:09:00.000+02:00

Well, Annagail arrives tomorrow, so today was all about finalizing the schedule and thinking through any last minute details. Annagail is a band from the Holland area that will be joining us here in South Africa from tomorrow until Saturday, February 9. They will be playing at our Youth United event in the local high school and they will also be playing at various churches and care centers throughout their time here. I'm really looking forward to having them here and I'm excited to see how God uses them and how He challenges them and changes their lives.

Gotta Love the Power Outages

2008-01-24T21:50:00.000+02:00

Well, this morning, I found out that the little caulk job on the leaky parts of the car was mostly successful. I say mostly because it stopped about 90% of the water that would have gotten into the car yesterday, so there's still some work to be done. After this slightly encouraging finding, our team headed up to Pretoria for a meeting with the director of World Mission Center to hear from him about what they're doing. Their organization exists to help train ministers and then send them out to plant churches. They've developed a great system that involves sending their curriculum (in DVD format) out to churches all over the world so that they can put members of their congregation through the 6 month course. Their goal is to reach 1,000,000 people in hopes that a minimum of 10% of them wind up going out and planting churches. It was inspiring to see the hearts of the employees and to hear the stories of how God's using them.
From this presentation, I drove Paul to the computer training class that he's teaching. Through November and December, he was teaching a class-full of the future teachers of the class. Today was the second session for the public training. We got there a couple of minutes late, but that was really the least of our issues. The main problem was that there was no power in the area. So, we waited around for about an hour talking with the students and hoping for the power to return, but we had no luck. Today's lesson has been moved to Tuesday; hopefully this will be the last time class is cancelled on account of power.

Airport Run and Some

2008-01-23T21:44:00.000+02:00

This morning, I picked Laura up from the airport. She just got back from Cape Town after spending 5 days with the Spring Arbor Team that was here a week or so ago. After we got back from the airport, I was out running errands with Paul in order to finalize some things for the first public computer training coarse this afternoon. He was needing an XP disk in order to get the computers all set for this afternoon. Then, this afternoon, I was working on the car. Water has been leaking into the trunk lately through the top of the back windshield and through one of the brake-lights. The car has been smelling a little strange for a couple of weeks and I didn't know exactly what the deal was until I opened the trunk yesterday and smelled the wet carpet. So, I've been working to take the carpet out and clean and dry it and fix the leaks. Fixing stuff isn't something that I'm particularly good at, but I think I was able to make things happen this afternoon. Right now, it's 10 at night and it's raining pretty hard and the car is outside, so I guess we'll find out if today's little project was a success or a failure.

Making it Happen

2008-01-22T21:07:00.000+02:00

Today was basically a follow-up day for yesterday's meetings. I made a bunch of phone calls and secured nearly every piece of equipment that the band will need when they arrive next week. I felt really good about having that stuff taken care of (or nearly taken care of). I also worked on getting a report on the youth event last Saturday sent out to the leadership and those involved. I don't think I've posted the numbers here yet, but we had 62 people commit to abstinence and 51 people give their lives to Christ and 60 made recommitments. Those numbers are a little hard to interpret considering that a number of people indicated that they had made a first-time commitment and a recommitment as well. However, what I do know for sure is that many young people made life-changing commitments!

Meetings

2008-01-22T00:41:00.000+02:00

This morning, we had a team meeting to give and update on where we are in our various areas of ministry. We spent a good bit of time praying for our families back at home and praying for each other. It was a great morning and I really appreciated the fresh take on giving updates on what's happening back at home and taking time as a team to lift up one another's families. From there, we caught up on what's happening and we talked about the incoming teams that will be here over the next two weeks. Next Tuesday, a band arrives that Laura and I will be taking around and involving in Youth United stuff. Also, a team is coming from WJQ and they'll be doing an audio and video update at the end of each day. The audio snippets will actually be broadcast daily while they're here, so that will really allow us the chance to expose more people to what's going on and to what God's doing.
After our meeting, I spent a good chunk of the afternoon working with Molly on getting the team's schedule in place. Organization isn't one of my strong suits, so it was really helpful to have her input and advice as we pieced together what would be important to cover with a team. I'm feeling really good about where the schedule is right now - and there's a whole week before the team comes! That's unusually far in advance for me to be prepared, and it feels really good.

Great News

2008-01-17T21:16:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, Laura and Lazarus and I went into a couple of local high schools and tried to set up meetings with their principals and/or vice principals. We decided that if we hold our Youth United events in the schools instead of in different locations around the community, then we're reaching a ton of kids that wouldn't have come otherwise. Well, we had these two conversations and so far, we got one school that is fully on board with the idea of having us come and the other school is running the idea by their board. There are a minimum of 1,000 kids between those two schools, so I'm really excited about the possibilities of going there an talking to kids about making healthy choices, about abstinence, and about Christ. It's so cool that we can freely talk about these things in public schools around here, and that schools are excited to have us come. Yesterday was a great day with some great news coming and hopefully some more great news on the way.

Back At It

2008-01-15T20:46:00.001+02:00

This morning, Laura and I had a meeting with Lazarus, a pastor from a church up the road. We were planning an event with him in a park right outside of the township of Wattville, but we're beginning to re-evaluate the way we do these events because of the fact that we have been putting in so much work on advertising and not too many people have been showing up. In light of that fact, we're looking into taking the exact same event and doing it in a school assembly. We have the names and numbers of the three area schools and we're working to get appointments scheduled with all of their principals. Because it's perfectly okay to talk about Christ in schools around here and because administrators know how desperate the need is for youth to have a fighting chance in the war against HIV/AIDS, we don't really think it will be much of an issue to get into the schools with the message that we have hope in the face of HIV because of Christ. We will continue to talk about making healthy choices and about abstinence. I'm excited to see what comes of this and I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Youth Rally

2008-01-12T21:41:00.000+02:00

We had a Youth United event this morning in the township of Soweto. It went really well after we got started. It took a while for people to filter in, but we ended up with around 100 kids, which was pretty exciting. We were hoping for more because we went and advertised at 4 different high schools on Thursday. We probably talked to around 1,000 kids, so we had hoped to have around 300 or so come out today, but it's all good. As we were getting started, the power went out, so our new sound system really didn't get much of a test. We went on without the power, so the music group we had come in actually did an acapella performance. I spoke today about making choices and called the youth the commitments to abstinence and to living for Christ. I don't know the exact numbers right now, but a number of people responded with commitments to both. God was definitely at work today and it was fun to be a part of it. However, I don't feel like I've had a break in about the past two weeks, so if you don't hear from me for a couple of days again, know it's because I'm taking it easy. Thanks for all of your prayers.

Catchup

2008-01-08T23:54:00.000+02:00

Here's a quick update of what I've been up to lately with the team from Spring Arbor. On Sunday, we went to a couple of different churches rather than descend on one church with a group of 20 some people. I actually went to the church that is hosting our Youth United event on Saturday, but I met up with the team after lunch. From there, we took them to the Apartheid Museum. On Monday, we did a tour of Soweto with Mpho, a pastor friend of ours. He showed us around the township and spoke in depth about political and other issues facing those in the communities. I never leave a conversation with Mpho without learning something new. He's an absolute fountain of information, so it's great to have teams come by and hang out with him. Then, today, we took the team to a game park and drove around looking for animals for a while. We saw a lion, hyaena, a few rhinos, giraffes and elephants, so it was a good day. My vehicle also almost got kicked out of the park for having our door open in order to get a better picture of a lion, but that's a story for a different day...

Spring Arbor's Here

2008-01-05T22:42:00.000+02:00

Early on Friday morning, Spring Arbor's team arrived and I've spent most of my time with them since. We did home care visits yesterday to give them a bit of an introduction to the reality of what the country is dealing with and what we're aiming our efforts at. We spent a good chunk of time doing that and then we let the team go for the night after dinner so they could try to get onto their new sleeping schedule. Today, we went to the hospice that Paul and I went to on Christmas and we went around and prayed for the patients. It was awesome because the team is made up of 17 people, so all of the patients were able to get some real personal attention. From there, we went out and did a prayer walk in a township where we're holding a Youth United rally in February. It was a great experience and I think that the team really got a taste of what a township is all about. There were people all over the place and the community was really active. We walked through and prayed for the event and for the community and it was a great afternoon. On a different note, it's been great to be surrounded by people that are in the same phase of life that I'm in. I didn't really realize how much I missed the company of so many people my own age until the team arrived and I got to hang out with them.

Prayer Meeting

2008-01-03T21:57:00.000+02:00

Today, I went to a prayer meeting in Soweto in preparation for the Youth United rally we will be holding there next Saturday. We gathered and spent time praying that many young people would come to the event and that they would be impacted by God's love and by the call to abstinence. We prayed that many young people would come to know Christ and would commit to staying sexually pure until marriage. We prayed that the Devil would not gain victory in the lives of anyone in the community and that nobody would be blinded from the truth by his lies any longer. After the prayer meeting, I found out that tomorrow night from 8-Midnight, the church has organized a prayer time. They're encouraging people, wherever they are, to join in prayer in anticipation of this event. That's 1-4 EST and I'd love to invite anybody who's reading this to join with all of us in prayer during that time.

Back At It

2007-12-31T19:36:00.000+02:00

Well, not everybody around here is back in the swing of things again since Christmas, but we are. We have a team coming in on Friday morning, so we're working to finalize the itinerary and make sure all of the little details are covered. I will be a bit more involved with this team and I'm really excited about that. They will be joining us in preparing for a couple of different Youth United events. We'll be going door-to-door with invitations in Pimville and we'll be doing a prayer walk through Wattville. I'm pumped to see how God uses the team and how He speaks into their lives like He spoke into mine while I was here last year on a short-term trip. Please join us in prayer for the team's safety and spiritual development as they join us in ministry here. Also, please pray for these upcoming events. Pray that God would bless our advertising and planning efforts and that people would meet Him at these events.

Christmas Day

2007-12-26T20:50:00.000+02:00

I know this is a day late, but Merry Christmas! For Christmas day, Paul and I went to an Aids Hospice and spent the morning with the patients there. A pastor friend of ours is a counselor there, so we went around with her and handed out little gift packages she had put together. They were really simple (a couple of bananas, an apple, a few cookies, candy, and juice), but people were really appreciative and just getting something for Christmas seemed to make their day. We didn't see any family members that were there visiting, witch was really hard on us. However, some of the patients had gone home for the holidays to spend time with their families. From there, we headed home and had brunch with Jason, Molly, Bridget (Molly's sister) and Cheryl (her friend) to celebrate for the day. It was a different Christmas than any that I have had before, but it was incredible!

Pre-Rally Prep

2007-12-18T21:50:00.000+02:00

Yesterday and today have been spent working to make the upcoming rallies really sweet. I'm not good with details, so I'm usually not a good production person, but Brian and Laura are good at that stuff, so we're working together. Yesterday we laid out a general overview of the events and we brainstormed ideas that would fit well into the event. We're also going to be working to identify local businesses that we will approach to ask about donations to use as giveaways for the events. We've got a list of possible games to play for prizes and they will all lead up to The Dating Game, which will be played right before the message. It fits in nicely with the topic of HIV prevention through right choices, so it's really exciting. I'm also carving out time during the day to work on a message. I'm doing tons of research on HIV to be 100% sure that all of my facts are right and up to date. I'm also researching how other people present similar ideas in different parts of the world. I've been reading a ton of material relating to HIV and abstinence and I'll keep on reading as long as I keep on coming across new stuff. Now I'm glad that we have a few weeks that are quiet for the Holidays so that I can devote most (if not all) of my time to working through all of this material.

Coming to America

2007-12-16T00:56:00.000+02:00

Today the Takas family left to head back home. If you know them, make sure to say hi. If you don't know them, you'll probably have a chance to meet them sooner or later. Mike will be touring around to different churches with a table set up to explain what exactly Vox is doing and how people can get involved. If you see that booth or table set up at your church, make sure to stop by and meet him. This time is strange for those of us staying here. The house has two empty rooms. The car just sits in the backyard. The warmth the Takas family brought to the house is missing. But at the same time, what they're doing back in the States continues to enable to projects here to keep on going. So, it's a bit of a bittersweet feeling.

Working on a Message

2007-12-13T00:10:00.000+02:00

I spent all of today working on the message that I will be giving on abstinence in February. I know it's a long way away still, but it was good for me to get a start now because I had some free time today. I mainly did research and was looking at what other people had shared in their abstinence messages. At dinnertime, our whole team grilled out and spent some time celebrating the Takas family. They're returning to the States on Saturday and will be working on things from that side. So, we had a meal and then went around and read Scripture over them and encouraged and prayed for them. It's disappointing that they won't be here with us anymore, the work they will be doing in the States is vital if the projects here are to continue.

The Search for a Sound System

2007-12-11T21:44:00.000+02:00

A good portion of yesterday and today has been spent in search of a P.A. System to use at our Youth United events. Because Laura and I didn't feel great about our knowledge of that stuff, Brian came along with us. We've had a good time driving all over the place in search of the best deal. Now we've visited three places and gotten quotes of four or five systems, so it's getting close to time to pull the trigger. The thing that makes it tough is that we're working with a pretty limited budget and we're looking to get good quality equipment...and we all know how that shuffle goes. I think we have a pretty good idea of where to go from here, but we'll see what happens - I think we'll buy something in the next couple of weeks.

Let Down

2007-12-08T21:36:00.000+02:00

This morning was a major disappointment. After Laura and I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday advertising for the event today, nobody showed up. We hung 100 posters and talked to many people who said they were going to come...and then nobody came at all. I don't know what the deal is, but it's really disappointing. I think part of the issue is that unless Laura and I were there with the people hosting the event, they didn't do anything in preparation for it. They didn't think of how to make the event the best it could be, they didn't advertise and they didn't even get stuff set up for our visit in order to get things prepared for what we had planned on doing that day. This event was their baby and it was really something that I viewed as us doing "on the side" as a way to help them, and then it flops like this with little effort put in by them. I'm having a hard time with that, but after I sleep on it, I'm sure I'll be just fine...

Advertising

2007-12-05T21:02:00.000+02:00

Today Laura and I went and hung some posters with the organizers of the event on Saturday. We had numerous other plans to implement for the marketing today, but the hand-out flyers hadn't been printed, the posters hadn't been hung, we couldn't get access to the megaphone (which is a surprisingly effective way to communicate in townships) and the dance team that was going to walk with us and perform didn't show up. Overall, it's a little disappointing, but it was honestly like I expected things to go. Despite the fact that so many things fell through, it was a great day. We hung a ton of posters and we're also heading back that way tomorrow to hopefully follow up on the things that didn't happen today. I'll let you know how that goes.

Internet Outage

2007-12-04T22:14:00.000+02:00

Well, it was about a week back when we had the twenty four hour power outage. Today was the end of our twenty four hour internet outage. Turns out that our whole city was without access, so we (the Kings, Paul, Laura and I) drove out of town to a coffee shop to get things done. While this was obviously not an ideal situation, we were able to get the necessary things taken care of. And when we got home, our internet connection was back up and running. It's amazing how much I've always taken stuff like power and internet access for granted. When I woke up on the day without power and this morning and realized that we didn't have power/internet access, I hardly knew what to do with myself. That's a sad place to be, but that's where I find myself right now.

A Team Comes to Town

2007-12-02T15:58:00.000+02:00

Late Thursday night, a three member team arrived to spend a week with us. The team is made up on two people from Watermark Church in Grand Haven (Steve Deur and Sherri Tamburello - a Vox board member) as well as Dave Deur (a pastor from Central). On Friday, they all went with the Takas family, Laura and I to an event in Katlehong organized by the Student Christian Organization in that community. It was set up to be an end of the school year/calendar year with music, drama, speakers and other forms of entertainment. It was a fundraiser and a chance for the youth to celebrate and relax after the semester. Unfortunately, the attendance was not quite what they were hoping for. They were hoping for 200 or more and there were probably around 50 at the time we left. I'm sure more people showed up as the night wore on, but it was too bad that more people didn't show up to hang out and celebrate while the money went to a good cause. Then on Saturday, the Kings, the Kehrers, Laura, Paul and I went to a concert in Joburg put on by the Nelson Mandela Foundation. 46664 (the name of the event) featured 10-12 South African artists as well as 8-10 international artists. It was fun to just relax for a while and enjoy ourselves. The strange name comes from Nelson Mandela's time in prison. He was prisoner #466 in '64, so the event was named after that. Some of the international artists were: Corrine Baily Rae, Live, Ludacris, The Goo Goo Dolls, Annie Lennox. Also, Mandel showed up and gave a five or ten minute speech (which was 5 minutes of speaking with 5 minutes of applause). Overall, it was an awesome event. On a slightly different note, I got my phone back from a pickpocket who snatched it. I just called him out on it and said I wanted it back and he gave it to me, so that was a good thing...

Computer Training

2007-11-30T00:53:00.000+02:00

This afternoon I took Paul to the church in Katlehong where he is doing his computer training. It was the fifth class today, so the students woked on typing up a letter. They worked on things like changing text to bold, italicized, underlined, and double spaced. By the end of the course, they will be trained in word processing programs as well as spreadsheets. It was fun for me to see the class today because it's such a practical way to do training and it's easy to see how being trained in these skills could lead to a job in the future. The five people going through the class right now will actually be the ones teaching it in the future, so it will be fully self-sustaining.

Deja Vu

2007-11-28T21:07:00.000+02:00

Our meeting today took us out past the spot on the highway where we broke down last week. I'll admit that even thought it's irrational, I felt a lot better about the state of the car after we passed the location of the breakdown. Despite the concerns about the car, the meeting went really well. We drove into town and had some posters printed up in order to advertise the event on December 8. Laura and I are headed back there two days next week to do some door-to-door advertising with flyers. We really want to pack the place out and let as many people hear this message as possible. Pray that God would prepare the hearts of those He wants to change.

Power Outage

2007-11-28T00:59:00.000+02:00

Our power came on tonight around 6 PM. It's been off since yesterday around 3 PM. So, obviously it's been a little rough getting anything done around here. This morning, everybody living at the house went over to a nearby coffee shop in order to charge our computers and use the internet. It was quite a sight to see with all of the laptops and the kids hanging out with us as we tried to get as much done as possible. After hanging out there for four or so hours, Paul and I decided that we'd try one last time to work on the car before going into a mechanic. It was just a bolt that was at a weird angle, so we gave it a shot. About fifteen minutes into it, we got it! We were so proud of ourselves because we're clueless when it comes to mechanics of any kind and we managed to avoid paying an arm and a leg at some garage for tightening a bolt. Some of you may read this and not be too impressed, but let me tell you, you really should be. So now the car is completely fixed and the power is back on. Life is good.

A Bit of Car Trouble

2007-11-23T22:20:00.000+02:00

Wednesday was when it all started. Laura and I were traveling home from a meeting and the car lurched on the highway. We were going 120 kph (~75 mph), so I figured I should pull over and see what the deal was. It wasn't until we had come to a stop that I realized that the car had actually shut off. So, here we are on the side of the road, 45 minutes away from home. The car would start, but it would only run for a few seconds before it would die again. So I called home to see if there were any suggestions from people who actually know about cars (I have no clue). They threw out some ideas and said that they'd come our way if we couldn't get it going. So, we walked about a quarter mile up the road to a gas station to see if they had anything to treat bad gas (just in case that was the issue). They didn't have much selection, so we walked back out to the car. By this time, Mike and Brian were about to head out to rescue us. All in all, Laura and I sat on the side of the road with a broken down car for about an hour and a half. In that time, around 20 police cars passed us and not one of them gave us a second glance. After what seemed like an eternity, Brian and Mike showed up. They tinkered around for a bit and then we decided to head to Midas. The mechanic at Midas was itching for an adventure, so he followed us out to the car and he was able to get it to start up and stay running! I was pumped. Until we got 10 miles down the road - the car died again on the highway. We mimicked what the mechanic did and got it started again. Then, about five minutes from home, it died again. By this time, we had figured out that the mechanic found a quick fix, but he hadn't addressed the actual problem. Eventually, we figured out that the issue was a loose fuel pump. Then we found out that a bolt was missing and the whole pump had been rattling around for who knows how long.
So, today, Brian and I went out to run a few errands and we picked up a new pump from a spare shop. We spent the afternoon installing it and changing the oil. There's one screw that we can't get in (the same one that caused this problem by being absent), so we're working on finding somebody with the right tool to get it in. We ran by a few garages around 5:30, but everything was closed, so it will have to wait. In the meantime, the car is running just fine, but we're looking to get things figured out for the long run instead of another quick fix that leaves me stranded on the side of the highway. I learned a good bit about what's under the hood on a car today. It's pitiful how little I knew before, but I'm getting there.

Planning

2007-11-19T23:33:00.000+02:00

Today was filled with it. I started off by working on agreements and checklists to use for future Youth United events so that both the host church and our team know what to expect from one another. These documents will be huge as we move forward on the dates we have set aside for rallies. I took a break from this planning and had a meeting with a pastor right down the road from us. He was so excited to think about how we could work together and when I mentioned the idea of doing a rally, he was all about it. He's already got some of the plans going in his mind and it's really exciting for me to see how passionate he is and how much he truly loves the youth that he works with. I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into the joy that he had as he worked to lead people into an intimate relationship with Christ. He's the kind of guy that I love working with and I'm really looking forward to what God will do through him.

Home Again

2007-11-18T01:04:00.000+02:00

Well, we made it back from Swaziland tonight. I made the decision that instead of calling it Swaziland, I only refer to it as "The Kingdom". As crazy as this may sound, that's the first country that I've ever been in that is ruled by an absolute monarch. He's a good king (and the source of countless jokes coming from our team - most of the "Coming to America" variety). We had a great time and we got to experience a much different living situation. Living near Joburg is like living near any big city in the States - Chicago, Detroit, etc. But life in The Kingdom is much different. It's a very spread out country of around 1.3 million people, most of them living on farms. There are plenty of dirt roads, people are much more likely to live in huts, and it was around 100 degrees the first day we got there. We hung out with the Cox family. Rick Cox is the director of most of Africa for Global Partners, so it was really great to meet him and spend some time with him and with his family. We spent most of the time going around getting a feel for the country, but we also got to swim twice since it was so hot. This trip was more relaxing than work-related, but at the same time, we saw a lot and learned a lot in preparation for Vox to have missionaries in every country in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Better Meeting

2007-11-13T22:21:00.000+02:00

This morning, I was a part of a follow-up meeting to a conversation that got started last week. At the time, the start of the conversation did not go very well, so I wasn't looking forward to today because I was afraid it would be more of the same. However, things went much better than I ever would have anticipated. I was expecting the tension in the room to be fairly high, but things really couldn't have gone much better. We talked about where to go from here and i think the partnership agreement will really go a long way in making any and all future partnerships a success.
Then, I spent the afternoon working to finish up little things here and there because we will be in Swaziland for the rest of the week. There is a conversation going on with our team about whether or not to go further north into Mozambique in order to get all the way up the the Indian Ocean. I think that would be a riot, but it costs something like $70 per car to get across the border (both ways), so it's a little pricey. If we don't go, that will be what stops us. I'll let you know what we did when we get back since I won't be bringing my computer with me to Swaziland.

I'm Here

2007-11-13T09:32:00.001+02:00

I apologize for the lack of posting recently. There just hasn't been much noteworthy going on recently. I've spent the past week working on a number of office-related things. After the meetings I posted about last Wednesday, I've been working on drafting up a partnership agreement for future endeavors in order to clearly lay out expectations and (hopefully) to help avoid snags and roadblocks along the way. I've also been working on some timelines and basic overviews of the Youth United events so that everybody knows exactly what the goal is. All this to say, sorry I didn't post for nearly a week, I'll get on that shortly. Ironically, our whole team is leaving tomorrow for Swaziland (the country just northeast of us) and we'll be gone until Friday. So, I won't be posting for a few days, but now I actually have a reasonable explanation...

Follow Up

2007-11-07T21:18:00.001+02:00

This morning was filled with office work, but this afternoon was a follow up meeting with the leaders of the Moral Regeneration event a couple of Saturdays ago. We got some things worked out with the budget and how finances were allocated. We also talked in depth about advertising and about how to get the people there that we were hoping to reach. We're going to be going into the schools, working with a pastor who works with at-risk youth, and doing some door to door advertising to get things rolling. We're maxed out at around 80-90 people, so I'm figuring this advertising strategy will reach at least that many. We're praying that God would bring people in. The event's not for a couple of weeks, so we have some time to get on things.

Youth United Numbers

2007-11-07T09:31:00.000+02:00

We just finalized the numbers from the Youth United event on Saturday. Here they are:

31 made either first time commitments or re-commitments (the wording was awkward, we're fixing is so that next time it isn't confusing)
27 committed to abstinence
14 want to join a small group

These numbers were really encouraging to me when I found them out, so I thought I'd throw them up here for everybody to see.

Office

2007-11-06T20:28:00.000+02:00

Today and yesterday was spent debriefing on our time on Saturday and planning on how to improve. Brian, Laura, and I came up with a ton of good stuff that we'd like to implement in the future, so I spent some of today working on that. Also, we're working to get some momentum going Stateside for Vox, so I sent out a bunch of emails to youth pastors and leaders in our team's sphere of influence. I'm excited to see how we can get different youth groups working together with us and see how God will use those partnerships!

Update

2007-11-04T13:36:00.000+02:00

Since getting sick last Sunday night, I've spent most of my time in bed trying to get rested up in hopes of feeling better. On Friday, I was starting to feel a little better, but there was some stuff that had to be done last minute in preparation for a youth event on Saturday morning. Unwise as it may have been, I was out driving all over the place on Friday getting some stuff finalized. Then on Saturday, I went to the event, but I wasn't feeling well the entire time. I spent some of the time laying down (exciting, huh?) and I just didn't have energy in general.
Overall, this event was pretty well-planned, but the advertising left something to be desired again. Since I was sick the whole week leading up to it, there wasn't much at all I could do to help out with that, but next time, that's one of my priorities. Anyway, we had around 90 people show up and at the end of the event, somebody came forward to give their life to Christ. So that was awesome!
Now, it's Sunday afternoon and I'm back in bed trying to get fully recovered. It's so frustrating because I've been sick so long I feel like I need to be back at it, but when I try, I just get even more sick. It's a fine line...and I hate it.

Sorry

2007-10-29T18:20:00.000+02:00

I haven't posted a couple of days because I started feeling bad last night and I've been in bed all day. I'm still not feeling better - but it's going around the house, so I suppose it was sooner or later. I'm a little stressed because we have a Youth United event on Saturday and there are still a good many things to get done before then. I'm trying to speed up my recovery time by sleeping a ton - I think I slept for around 13 hours last night. But so far, it's not working. I can't afford to be sick right now, but I'm not so convinced this will be a quicky - I haven't felt this bad in a long time.

Roller Coaster

2007-10-27T22:40:00.002+02:00

I say that today was a roller coaster because I started off very down because of the morning and then things went from bad to really awesome. This morning, Laura and I drove up to Oleivenhoutbosh at 9:30 for a youth event. We weren't scheduled to do anything, we just had to show up. We arrived an hour and a half before the event was scheduled to begin in order to take care of any last minute details. Turns out that there wasn't much to get to, so we hung out and talked with the other people helping out with the event. However, as the time for the event came and went, we found out that the advertising side of things had been all but neglected. We didn't start until about two hours late, and even then, we only had 25 people. I left very disappointed, but we'll get things figured out for next time I hope.
From there, the day got significantly better. Laura and I drove to a church in Mamelodi that we've been developing a relationship with. They asked me to speak at a huge youth event they had planned. They were expecting around 1,000 young people because the main attraction was a gospel/mainstream act named Kobela. I was scheduled to speak on abstinance right before he got up to do his thing, so there were quite a few people. I'm terrible at guessing numbers, but Laura and I were figuring there were around 750 people there at the time we arrived. I spoke on abstinance and choices. I spoke about the hope we have in Christ - not just for a future Heaven, but for redemption and salvation right now. To be honest, I felt like I rambled a bit and some of my thoughts didn't feel fully connected up there. I was comfortable and confident, but I just didn't feel like things were flowing along well for me. Anyway, in spite of me, God showed up in a major way. As I wound down the message, I gave an altar call and around 75 people came forward to receive Christ as their Savior! I still can't believe it, but Laura was taking pictures and there sure are a gob of kids down front. I don't have the pictures now, but I'll try to post them tomorrow. It was awesome. God was at work in that place and it was undeniable!

All Over

2007-10-26T00:17:00.000+02:00

Yesterday and today were two full, busy days. I got a lot accomplished, but I was running all over to do it. Yesterday, Laura and I went to downtown Joburg to give the okay on the shirts we're getting printed up for the Youth United rallies. From there, we headed to King's Hope to have a meeting about an event on Saturday. From there, we drove to Randburg to pick up some stuff from the Silver Ring Thing headquarters. From there, we drove around trying to get a good video shot of downtown Joburg for the video I wrote about the other day.
Today was all about shooting video and getting ready for the event on Saturday. Paul, Laura, Brian, and I drove up to King's Hope and interviewed Magdel (the director) about what God was doing. She did a great job and she even pointed us in the direction of a family who was moving from a shack to an RDP home today. We filmed a bit of the process and it was clear that God was at work! After filming there, we drove into town to buy some food for the event coming up on Saturday. Then, we went back to the church and filmed my section of the video. It was actually really fun. It was the first time I'd done that, so I didn't know what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Please join us in praying that God would be at work in preparation for Saturday.

Office Bound

2007-10-23T21:32:00.000+02:00

Today was an all day in the office day. I spent a ton of time working on and sending out emails, planning for the Youth United event coming up next Saturday, and just doing the general maintainence work on the to-do list. I don't exactly enjoy days like today, but I did get a lot accomplished. Also, with Laura here to work on the administrative side, I'm able to focus on more of the things that I enjoy. And at the same time, she enjoyes the administration. It's awesome! Aside from the grid of office work, I'm excited about how God is already working the preparation for the Youth United event coming up November 3rd. This week, we're all working on filming a video to shoot back to the States with an update on what God is doing and it's coming along nicely. Filming for my spot is on Thursday, so I'm looking forward to that too.

Kruger Tallies and More

2007-10-20T21:01:00.000+02:00

Here are the tallies of the significant animals we saw at Kruger in a day-by-day breakdown: (as you look through these, just so you're aware, a large number of people go and don't see leopards and lions and other cool animals)
Day 1
Buffalo - 7
Crocodile - 10
Elephant - 21
Giraffe - 7
Rhino - 7
Warthog - 9
Wildebeast - 3
Zebra - 8

Day 2
Buffalo - 1
Elephant - 20
Giraffe - 16
Hippo - 3
Hyena - 1
Leopard - 2
Lion - 6
Rhino - 6
Warthog - 7
Zebra - 9

Day 3
Baboon - 10
Buffalo - 2
Crocodile - 12
Elephant - 15
Giraffe - 11
Hippo - ~25
Hyena - 8
Leopard - 1
Lion - 4
Ostrich - 2
Rhino - 1
Warthog - 8
Wild Dogs - 7 (wild dogs are a big deal, don't ask me why...)
Wildebeast - 10
Zebra - 9

Here are a few of the better shots we got of these animals...

a black rhino

a rather bold elephant

here's the big poppa...

a lioness eating a giraffe

a leopard, which is probably the coolest animal I have ever seen

Then, today, I had the Leadership Training Session for the churches that will be involved in the Youth United rallies. I found out about this yesterday - I thought it was in two weeks. So I spent a major part of the day yesterday working on this material and I was worried the presentation might suffer as a result. I can only give you my perspective, but I thought things went well. I probably talked for close to 3 and a half hours this morning and afternoon, so I'm pretty shot energy wise, but things went well. I said what I wanted to say and I think people were receptive. I think people learned about leadership and Bible study and we were able to get some details hammered out for the rallies.

Back From Kruger

2007-10-20T00:28:00.000+02:00

The last three days were awesome! We spent today recovering from a complete lack of sleep - the park opens at 5:30 every morning, so we were up early every day. However, we saw tons of animals. I don't have the tally in front of me right now, I'll post it tomorrow (hopefully along with some pictures). But, we saw three leopards and we saw one pride of 6 lions and another two lions eating a giraffe carcass. We saw tons of elephants and giraffe and a few heyenas. I'll post the numbers tomorrow like I said.
However, this relaxing day had a wrench thrown into it when I found out that I'm doing a leadership training session tomorrow at 10. That in an of itself wouldn't be a big deal. What made it a big deal is that I had this event in my mind as being on November 3, so I wasn't at all mentally prepared for it. I also didn't have all of the material in order for this event. Because I thought I had two more weeks, I was planning on working on it piece by piece, but today I wound up sitting down for a number of hours and pounding some things out. I'm hoping that I don't seem totally unprepared tomorrow...

One Last Hurrah

2007-10-15T21:56:00.000+02:00

Today was one of those last-day-before-vacation workdays where you're really productive because you know you have a ton to finish up before heading out. Tomorrow, we're heading out the Kruger National Park - which is basically a safari where you drive your own car. We're all really looking forward to it. But at the same time, there's a distinct possibility that we won't see one animal over the whole three day trip. Here's hoping that's not the case. I'll let you know.

Preaching

2007-10-14T22:16:00.000+02:00

This morning I preached at the Soweto Vineyard Church that I attended camp with. I was asked to speak about how to reach the youth of the community, so I spoke about authentic love. I was fully mentally prepared to speak with an interpreter, but when I actually got into the spot where that was happening, I found out that it throws me off a bit. It's really hard to gain momentum with the message when you can only say a sentence or less at a time. Other than the fact that I went through a translator (which they always do...the service is usually in English and is translated into Zulu), I felt that things went really well. I said what I beleieve God laid on my heart for this morning and that's what's important.

A Crazy Meeting

2007-10-11T23:39:00.000+02:00

This morning Paul, Laura, and I went with Doctor to meet with a church about 15 minutes away. There was some miscommunication on what exactly this meeting was all about. The pastors we met with thought it was about one thing, Doctor thought it was about something else, and I honestly didn't know what it was going to be about. After I gave an overview of Vox and the work we're doing, the pastor stopped me and said that he wasn't prepared for this meeting because he thought we were there for something else. There was an event planned by an organization associated with the church that the church knew nothing about and he thought we were there to talk about that.
Once the confusion settled, we were able to have a great conversation and the pastor is looking forward to working with us in the future. A meeting that I wasn't sure about turned into a great meeting. The pastor asked many questions that highlighted some of our core values and it was clear that we are thinking on the same wavelength when it comes to ministry.

Misc.

2007-10-10T22:51:00.000+02:00

Today was spent compiling to-do lists for the near future, getting money from the ATM to pay for the Silver Ring Thing, dropping the money off, and more paperwork as the day drew to a close. Paul, Laura, and I went to King's Hope together to drop off the money and to give Paul a chance to look at the computer center that he will be working in and doing training in. The visit was productive and it helped him to get a better feel for exactly what he's going to be doing in the future. Also, Magdel was glad to finally have the money. I felt so bad that it took us so long to get it to her. It wasn't anybody's fault, but somtimes things just take some time. Regardless, it was a relief for me to be done with that aspect of things.

Back to Work

2007-10-09T22:00:00.000+02:00

We took Monday off after a very long weekend with the conference and getting everybody to and from the event (on Saturday, I drove 45 minutes one way to pick some people up and drop them off...) But today, we're back at it again. I spent all day working on material for training leaders in leadership, Bible study, and small group dynamics/leading. It was a productive day and I'll probably be working on very similar stuff tomorrow. This week is not too busy with meetings and stuff, so that's nice. Really, the next big thing on the calendar for me is preaching at Soweto Vineyard Church on Sunday. This week will be nice to get some office/organizational work finished up before getting back at it.

Conference Again

2007-10-06T22:00:00.000+02:00

We spent all day at the conference again, but I loved it. It's a long and draining day, but it was definitely worth it. I'm learning a ton and I'd like to make these summits an annual event that I attend...we'll at least once I'm hired at a church and they're paying. The Willow Creek Leadership Conference in the States is $200! Here it's the equivilent to around $50, which is doable for me, but $200 is a little steep.

Willow Creek Leadership Conference

2007-10-05T21:16:00.000+02:00

Vox hosted over 50 local pastors at the Willow Creek Leadership Conference today. It's a two day event with the best eight presenters from the conference that was held last month in the States. Everybody who we brought really seemed to enjoy it and they all seemed to be learning a ton from the different presenters. I know I learned a ton. At this point in my life, I feel like this is an important thing for me to be learning about leadership so that I can avoid some of the pitfalls that I otherwise would have walked right into.
After the conference, we took the pastors back to the Seminary and hosted a dinner for them. Then, we had a short presentation about Vox United - what we're doing and what we'd like to do - and we offered to help the churches. People were very positive about everything and many seemed to really be hungry for help as they move forward in ministry. It was a great day.

Home Affairs, Again

2007-10-04T23:08:00.000+02:00

We went to the Home Affairs office again today to try to get our Visa situation taken care of. After another three hours there today, we finally got our Temporary Residency Work Permits. In an earlier post I said these would last us for 33 years, but I was wrong, they're only good for three years...oops. I feel pretty dumb about that big of a misunderstanding, but what can you do? So that was a huge answer to prayer. Also, Paul Hontz arrived today and he'll be with us for the next six months. I'm pumped to have him here. Not only because he's a good friend and he's another single guy my age, but because he will really contribute a whole lot to our team and to what we have the ability to accomplish.

Follow Up

2007-10-03T22:29:00.000+02:00

Laura and I headed to Oleivenhoutbosh today to have a follow-up meeting for the Silver Ring Thing. While only 5 of the fifteen or so we expected actually showed up, it was still a good meeting. We got the stats from the Silver Ring Thing people, but we found out they only count people over the age of 13. According to this measurement, there were 355 people who attended - 200 of whom (which??) made a commitment to abstainance. 47 people recommitted their lives to Christ and 59 people gave their lives to Jesus for the first time! I'm continually blown away that God allows us to join Him in His work and I'm humbled by the fact that He does so. He was definitely at work this past week!
After discussing the stats, we covered the budget, and we also talked about what went well, what didn't go well, and how we can improve for next time. This part of the conversation went much better than I had anticipated. People were very open and honest and everybody learned from the mistakes we had made, but we found joy in the fact that despite our imperfections, God still moved mightily. As I said, not everybody was there and I wish we had all been present and were given a chance to give input, but those of us who made it had some great stuff to share and to learn.

Home Based Care Visits

2007-10-02T21:02:00.000+02:00

This morning, our whole team went the Zenzele and went with their caregivers to visit people who were too sick to get out to be taken care of. My group visited six different shacks and we were out for around three hours. We tagged along with the caregivers, so we would wait while they gave the patients food and medicine. After that, we prayed over them. It was a great thing for us to go and do this as a team. If home based care visits don't remind us why we're doing what we're doing, then I don't know what would. We prayed for a ten year old boy with cerebral palsey, a woman paralyzed from the waist down, a man recovering from a stroke, a woman with swelling in her entire body, a guy with an STD that was causing him pain and swelling. Also, because people don't want to speak of HIV, we aren't sure who was positive and who wasn't. However, it's probably safe to assume that at least three or four of the people we visited were suffering from full-blown AIDS. It was an emotionally draining morning, but it was a necessary reminder of the urgency of the ministry we're doing.

Meetings All Day

2007-10-01T20:56:00.000+02:00

Today was filled with meetings. Productive and very helpful meetings, but not very exciting meetings to talk about.
So, due to public outcry about the lack of pictures on this blog and thanks to Laura's arrival with her camera, here's a picture from the Silver Ring Thing on Friday night. Thanks for being patient.

About Last Night

2007-09-29T21:37:00.000+02:00

I found out this morning that 29 people made the decision to begin a relationship with Christ! That was obviously great news. I also found out that around 100 made a commitment to abstinance. God was definitely at work in a through this event. The team was great and fun to be around and God is using them mightily. Despite some of the frustrations due to a lack of proper advertising, yesterday was a great reminder to everybody involved that at the end of the day, the only thing that makes an eternal difference is the fact that people find Jesus. Thanks for your prayers as this event was organized and as it took place. Without them I truly believe it would not have been as much of a success.

The Final Event

2007-09-28T23:00:00.000+02:00

Today was a long but great day. I'm so tired right now, so I'll give more detail tomorrow, but the closing event went well. This was the best attended event and everybody was really into the show and the energy was awesome. More to come tomorrow.

One Out of Two

2007-09-27T22:18:00.000+02:00

Today, there was only one event for the Silver Ring Thing. The morning event went on as scheduled, but the evening event was rained out. It was a downpour and 99% of the people coming would have been walking a minimum of half a mile, so the decision was made to cancel the event. At first, I wasn't happy with the decision, but when the time came for the event, it was obvious that nobody would have been walking around outside. Again this morning, people made decisions to follow Jesus. I don't know how many, but I'm pumped that so many people are entering the Kingdom! It's awesome. That's why these events were planned. Attendance has been lower than we hoped, but that stuff is secondary to people coming to know Jesus. I know we need more attendees so that more people are exposed to the message and we're working on it. But for now, we're celebrating the victories.

The First Event

2007-09-26T23:45:00.000+02:00

This morning, Laura and I attended the first event of the Silver Ring Thing. We got there around an hour before it was scheduled to start and we helped with some final preparations and registration. Other than that, the Silver Ring Thing team pretty much handled everything. The show itself was a lot of fun. They do a good job of getting the crowd involved and handling a very serious topic in a way that is not at all off-putting. I don't know numbers on how many people were there or what kind of commitments people made, but I'll know at some point down the line and I'll make sure to post that information here. However, without knowing any numbers or anything, I would say that things went great. People seemed to connect with the message and I think they will help spread the word about the remaining rallies to thier friends. Thanks for your prayers. Please keep praying as we have two more days.

Final Preparations

2007-09-25T21:27:00.001+02:00

Today Laura and I headed to King's Hope for some last-minute stuff that needed to get done. When we got there, we ended up meeting for about an hour and a half to nail down some final details for the Silver Ring Thing tomorrow. We covered quite a few things (some of which I was under the impression had already been taken care of - but I was wrong). There are still a few things that need to be finished up before tomorrow morning, but nothing major. As long as people show up and they find Jesus, the rest of the stuff is minor. Please pray with us that the people who need to hear this message will attend and that the Holy Spirit will be at work in their lives. Pray that people will be in Heaven someday as a result of them hearning about Jesus at these events.

Orientation

2007-09-24T23:16:00.000+02:00

Today was all about helping Laura get acclimated to life in South Africa and to get her up to speed with what's going on with Youth Ministry. She's jumping right into things and we've got a busy two weeks coming up. The Silver Ring Thing starts Wednesday, so we're excited about that and next week is just about as busy as this one. Also, this evening, the Kings, Kehrers, Laura, and I sat down and began planning a trip to Kruger National Park. If you don't know what that it, it's a wildlife preserve and it's one of the definite go-to spots in South Africa.

A Full Day

2007-09-22T22:37:00.000+02:00

Especially for a day off! This morning started with the institution of mandatory weekend cleaning. Everybody has to pitch in one and a half hours on Friday or Saturday doing work around the house. I know it may seem like we should have been doing this all along - and we probably should have - but I'm used to dorm life, so a little dust here and a disorganized pile of stuff there really doesn't bother me like it should. Anyway, from cleaning, we had a conference call with the board to keep them updated with what's going on and give them a chance to speak into new project ideas as well as existing projects. The time we spent on the phone with them was invaluable - they had some great ideas and we really benefited from getting a different perspective on some things that are going on. From the call, we went to the Seminary for a cookout in honor of Laura's arrival. We fired up the grill and got a huge bonfire going and celebrated. It was a great day, but I'm definitely not used to doing so much on a day-off.

Laura's Here

2007-09-22T00:47:00.000+02:00

Laura arrived today at around 5 and I'm really excited to have somebody here to work with me on youth stuff. I'm looking forward to working with her and I know that she has many strengths that will fill in the holes left by my weaknesses.

A Bit of a Letdown

2007-09-20T21:11:00.000+02:00

Today, I went up to Oleivenhoutbosh to finalize some stuff for the Silver Ring Thing, which starts next Wednesday. These meetings usually have between 10 and 15 people in attendance. Today, counting me, there were three. We still had a productive meeting and some really encouraging things have happened in the planning process, but only three of us were there to share in the celebration of God's provision. While I was disappointed about the turnout and I hope this isn't a sign of things to come, I still am excited about how God's working and moving to get this event going. I would really appreciate your prayers as we continue with the last-minute prep stuff that still has to take place.

Freedom

2007-09-19T21:28:00.000+02:00

I'm thoroughly enjoying the freedom that comes with having an extra car. This morning, I was able to run out and have a meeting with one of the youth pastors in the area. We just sat and talked about his dreams for the youth in his community. We didn't even have a specific agenda for the meeting, we just talked about any ministry-related item that was on our mind. It was a great meeting and I'm so glad to have the ability to do things like this from now on. From the meeting, I ran to meet up with the guy we bought the car from because he's taking care of the registration for us. I dropped off some additional paperwork and headed back home. But, on the way, I decided that I'd be more productive at a coffee shop. I was in need of a change of scenery, so I dropped in for a couple of hours. Let me tell you, the scene change made a huge difference. I was invigorated (at least as invigorated as I can imagine being) to do some little things I had on the docket as well as take care of a project proposal and some stuff that's tentatively slated to go on the website. Today was a good day. I'm enjoying having an additional car around here.

Details and Tyres

2007-09-18T23:29:00.000+02:00

This morning was very productive for me. I sat down and hammered out details here and there for a few hours and took care of most of the things on my plate for the next few days. That was a great feeling since sometimes the little stuff can start to get a bit overwhelming. After getting so much done, I was sick of looking at a computer screen, so I headed out to get some new tyres (South Africa uses the European spelling...don't ask). I got a set of brand new Pirelli Tyres, which I don't honestly know anything about - but I've heard the name before, for around $150 after having the wheels balanced and aligned. I'm not a gearhead by any means, but I know that I got a great deal on a brand new set of 4 tyres.

Back at It

2007-09-17T21:23:00.000+02:00

Today, I was feeling better and attended a meeting concerning the Silver Ring Thing, which is an abstinance event, that will be held in Oleivenhoutbosh. This starts on next Wednesday and runs through Friday. We're hoping to reach 1,200 kids with the message of abstinance and ultimately, the hope of Jesus. Planning went great today as we worked through the budget and cut the proposed budget by over 85% to get it down into the affordable range. Some of the cuts were easy because the budget was extravagant to begin with in some places, butin other placs, we had to get creative. However, we got into the proper price range without cutting any corners, so I was pumped. I spent this entire afternoon at the meeting and driving out to get the fliers for advertising. This event is really exciting because we got the ball rolling on the idea of doing a huge youth event in the community, and people jumped on board and are making it happen. This is exactly what we hoped and prayed would happen because we didn't want to be the "Wise Americans" coming in with all the plans and the know-how, but we want to empower local leaders to reach their communities in their own ways - which is exactly what's happening!

I'm Sick

2007-09-12T17:42:00.000+02:00

I'll probably spend the next couple of days sleeping it off, so if you don't hear from me, you'll know why. Besides the sickness, today was a good day. I took care of some more stuff with the car this morning (returning the brakepads we didn't use, getting a new headlight, and shopping for some new tires). By the way, tires are exceptionally cheap here. I can get a brand new set of tires for R 1,000 - which is roughly $150. So, I took care of the car stuff this morning and then this afternoon I worked on some day-to-day phonecalls and stuff like that, but I found myself zoning out as I looked at the computer screen. So, I just got back from renting some movies so that I have something to do while I'm stuck in bed.

Visas and More

2007-09-11T21:27:00.001+02:00

This morning I went with the Kings and Kehrers to the Home Affairs office. We spent about two hours there (one and a half of those in line). We went in trying to get a temporary residence Visa, which would allow us to come and go as we please for three years. However, the guy behind the counter decided to pull some strings and work the system a bit and give us 33 year Volunteer Visas. What an answer to prayer! He set us up big time and we left Home Affairs in high spirits. From there, Brian and I took the car to a company that does insurance inspections prior to the insurance company providing the policy. They checked over the car and said they would insure it for everything except theft because we didn't have an Immobilizer installed in the car. But the good news is that this company does installations, so we purchased and had an Immobilizer installed. Just so everyone knows, an Immobilizer is a little slot that you have to stick a USB flash drive looking thing into in order to get the car to start. Since the car I bought is the #2 most stolen car in this country and since carjacking is a fairly routine occurance around here, we went with the Immobilizer. So, at the end of our time there, we had the car covered with comprehensive insurance for ~ $37 per month. They also set the idle higher and got me an antenna all for less than $150. So that was awesome. From there, we headed to Midas to get the equipment to change the oil and the brakepads. After an afternoon working on the car (I mainly just watched since I'm not gifted in any aspect of repairs or mechanics), we got it running much better (according to the other guys - I don't have a clue on that stuff...).

Picked Up the Car

2007-09-10T22:26:00.000+02:00

Tonight, Brian drove me to meet the guy that we bought the car from. We picked it up and I drove it home and it ran great. I don't know anything about cars, but Brian, Mike, and Jason do. They all looked at it and were really impressed with how good of condition it was in for such a low price. We're praising God for leading us to a quality, reliable car that was in the budget (which was a low budget) so that we can continue to get around in order to keep doing the ministry He has called us to. Tomorrow, we're heading to the Home Affairs (think Secretary of State, but less orgainized) and we're going to be trying to get our Visa situation straightened out because as of the 21st of this month without these Visas, we're in the country illegally. Please pray taht we'll be able to get things figured out. We went the first week we were here and we were told to come back closer to the temporary Visa expiration date because coming in so soon was a little bit suspicious. So, we're heading back in.