Thanksgiving

Here in the States, we're all back to work from our Thanksgiving break. With no classes, I was able to take most of the week off. I had planned to use the time off to finally do some overnight kayaking down on the coast. Apparently God had other plans. Although I had a nice paddle on the reservoir on Tuesday, shortly thereafter I managed to break (as best I can determine) a toe in a freak accident at home. So I reluctantly determined that I needed to stay close to home for a while. It's feeling much better now, as long as I'm careful how I walk/limp.

In the mean time, I was able to talk through a lot of ideas about the PrayerPaddle with Gary Smith on the Church Starting team of the Canadian National Baptist Convention. I also spent some time preparing customized maps of the coast, by combining topographic maps, satellite imagery, church locations, and tentative paddling route. Sometime this week I should be posting about volunteer opportunities for the PrayerPaddle on the "Bridge" website of the North American Mission Board. I have lots that I need to get done...

It was nice to spend Thanksgiving together at home for the first time in several years. We have much to be thankful for. Yet it's also sobering to remember how great the spiritual needs are. Someone said that Thanksgiving is the most frustrating day of the year for atheists because they can't figure out who to give thanks for. Perhaps even sadder is the huge proportion of Canadians and Americans who believe that God probably exists, but don't have the relationship with Him to be able to enjoy giving thanks to Him.

Volunteer Opportunities

Are you a Christian from outside the area of the PrayerPaddle?
The recommended time commitment is at least one week.

Are you a Christian living in the general area of the Prayer Paddle?
Flexible time commitments as short as a couple of hours are possible.

What you can do:
Prayer
· You can pray “on-site with insight” for revival.
· You can pray beforehand or at home for success of the PrayerPaddle.

Service
· You can assist with setting up, taking down, food preparation, and/or transportation for prayer and evangelistic meetings.
· You can assist with publicity: contacting churches, radio stations, newspapers; making flyers for posting.
· You can make sure that camping and food logistics of kayakers are taken care of.
· You can help with transport of volunteers who are arriving by air, rail, or bus.

Outreach
· You can share your testimony with unbelievers and with fellow Christians along the route of the PrayerPaddle.
· You can lead short devotions, preach evangelistic messages, share messages of encouragement with believers, etc.
· You can participate in dramatic witness through skits.
· You can distribute tracts or Bibles.

Specialized Contributions
· You can help provide music at prayer and evangelistic meetings.
· You can help with translation (both oral and written).
· You can paddle along, while praying for revival in the communities. (Requires suitable sea kayaking equipment, either your own or rented. Please discuss your capabilities and expectations.)
· You can help with uploading daily internet updates to the blog.
· You can retrieve daily weather, currents, and tide data from the internet for forecasting along the route. (We’ll tell you what information to get.)
· You can share any personal knowledge you may have of local currents, surf conditions, etc.

General
· You can encourage local believers and churches.
· You can develop relationships and explore future ministry opportunities in the region.
· You can provide hospitality for other volunteers.
· Host churches are needed for revival-oriented worship services on Sundays.
· You can donate money, food, or other supplies.

Success

I have written up a set of six questions that I think the "success" of next summer's PrayerPaddle should be measured against. Sort of a different way of articulating the goals of the ministry.

1) Were communities, churches, social institutions, households, and individuals along the coast prayed for specifically?
2) Were Christians in the region challenged and encouraged with the Great Commission to make disciples?
3) Were unbelievers challenged with the Gospel?
4) Were relationships established between locals (Christian or non-Christian) and external volunteers that can lead to future ministry partnerships and church starts?
5) Did people experience the love and unity of Christ across ethnic and denominational barriers?
6) Were new interdenominational prayer groups started in each county that the PrayerPaddle passed through?

Family Matters

One question that has come up occasionally is how my family will fit in with the PrayerPaddle. I admit that I haven't exactly figured out all the logistics yet and there's no way to know exactly how things will work out. But there are two main points that seem fairly clear.

Most of the time during the PrayerPaddle I my wife and kids will probably be in Bathurst, NB enjoying an extended visit with my wife's family. This will give them a chance to help out with the market garden, house painting, any medical problems, etc. (like we did this last summer). When I was figuring out the planned schedule, I was surprised that it worked out just right so that I will be passing through Bathurst just in time to spend Father's Day with my father-in-law.

Since I don't want to spend over a month away from my family, the hope is that they will be able to come help on-site with the PrayerPaddle a couple days each week, probably on the weekends. Hopefully that will give a reasonable balance. Of course, I also plan to stay in touch with them daily by cell phone.

A Few Busy Thoughts

We finished up a busy week of homecoming/revival, redoing my tenure application to address some concerns of the departmental committee, and our neighborhood fall festival. On Tuesday my oldest son, Jesse (age 6), made his public profession of faith. This week the church is doing a Halloween alternative event for the kids on Friday night, together with New Vineyard church. And I need to rush out now for a special meeting of Mission Mississippi...

Recently I was attending my university's Founder's Day assembly, and was reminded of the PrayerPaddle by the story of our "founder". Henry P. Jacobs was a slave who managed to learn how to read and write, and then used that knowledge in order to escape to Canada. After reaching the freedom of Canada, he became a Baptist minister. During the Reconstruction years after the Civil War, Mr. Jacobs and others became concerned about how newly emancipated blacks in Mississippi could be educated and trained for the ministry. Returning to Mississippi, he was chosen in 1869 as the first "permanent president" of the General Baptist Missionary Convention of Mississippi. He worked with the American Baptist mission board to establish in 1877 a seminary (Natchez Seminary) that was the precursor to what is now Jackson State University. So what does that have to do with the PrayerPaddle? Well, once again it appears that God has linked together Canada and Mississippi. The differences are huge of course between the PrayerPaddle and the task that God gave Mr. Jacobs. Yet the parallels are still compelling, in light of how completely unrelated Canada and Mississippi would appear to be.

Trying to Make the Transition

After turning in my tenure application, I thought I would find much more time to work on PrayerPaddle stuff. Instead, it seems that I’ve just ended up busy with other things. Right now I’m in the Atlanta airport on my way back from the National Weather Association meeting in Louisville, KY. Last week we made visits to the state fair with the kids and to help at the Pro-Life Mississippi booth. This week is also mid-term exams at JSU. And of course, we’re about to begin the homecoming/revival at our church this Sunday.

Last Saturday we took the whole family out to the reservoir to paddle around a bit. It was a little rougher than I'd expected, so Cynthia had some trouble controlling the inflatable kayak. But Nancy and the boys did pretty good in the canoe. Rebecca got a ride with me in the sea kayak. I also got to practice a few rolls for the first time in waves.

Finally, I’ve started trying to follow up individually by phone with key people about the PrayerPaddle. Also, I wrote up drafts last night of suggested activities for volunteers, a statement of doctrinal fundamentals, and questions of how the success of the PrayerPaddle will be gauged. These will be posted online soon, probably via the blog first.

Busy, Roll, Life

This last week has been pretty busy. Many of you probably saw the update letter that I sent out by email. Mainly, I'm in the home stretch now of getting my tenure package turned in. I have to turn in seven 4" thick binders of documentation to the committee on Wednesday. And then pray for a favorable review! Needless to say I still have work left to do on it. My schedule was made busier by having to teach applications of trigonometry to a class of physics and meteorology majors for the week. I also turned in a manuscript for peer-reviewed publication.

My kayak roll class went a lot smoother this time. I was able to roll about 15 times with no assistance or trouble, except for a couple times when I tried to do some different stuff. The failed attempts were when I tried on my off side, when I tried to roll with just my hands, and maybe once when I didn't use the nose clips (don't remember for sure). I also practiced rolling a few times with a really short whitewater kayak that someone else brought. Although I have yet to make the transition from rolling in a warm pool to rolling in a cold ocean, I'm confident enough now to continue practicing on my own. My problem for the remaining roll clinic session now is holding back the temptations of pride, when others are really struggling with rolling.

At church, we're gearing up to get everything in place for the revival. And the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil began on Wednesday. The goal is to have at least two people praying in hourly slots from 6 am to 6 pm in front of the abortion clinic. I was shocked at how little participation there was on the weekend. Including myself, there were only four people signed up today! For a city of 200,000 in the Bible Belt on a day when most people don't have to work and the weather was perfect, that's just plain incomprehensible to me. I will definitely agree that it is not the funnest way to spend an hour. But since when are we called only to do things that are fun? Some things are just the right thing to do, no matter how you feel about it or even whether you feel a calling toward it. Personally, going out there on a regular basis does not appeal to me, especially on the days when they're open for "business". But I believe that 40 Days for Life is an unusual opportunity for the church in Jackson to get serious about ending the scourge of abortion in our state. I couldn't help but wonder what came up that prevented so many Christians from being able to take a stand for life today. And I felt sorry for the boy whose mother brought him along while she worked her shift as security guard for the abortion clinic. (Lest you think I'm getting too self-righteous, I do admit that I've spent plenty of years on the sidelines myself, due to fear, forgetfulness, or distractions.)