Ecclesiastes 7:10 – Don’t long for “the good old day.” This is not wise.
As the Baby Boomers entered adulthood in the 1960s, they began questioning the values of the generations that preceded them. Bob Dylan’s 1964 song, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ was a wake up call that the Boomers held different values than their parents. This transition of beliefs and questioning haven’t stopped and every 15 to 20 years since the 60s young adults have had different world views.
As Meridian Avenue moves forward with our goal to make disciples it is necessary to rethink our approach to interacting with Millennial and Generation Z aged people. Most of us at MABC were born in what is now referred to as either the Silent Generation or as Baby Boomers. Our experiences and expectations do not reflect well with the more recent generations. Times are different, the ways of thinking are different and how people relate to their world has changed.
Jolene Erlacher was the keynote speaker for this year’s ABCCR Annual Gathering. Erlacher, a professor at North Carolina University, was raised in Mexico where her parents were missionaries. She has a passion to see future generations thrive as individuals and contribute to healthy families. She is also in interested in helping schools, churches and mission agencies understand, equip and empower the new generation of leaders.
Below is a link to a 40 minute YouTube Podcast where Jolene Erlacher is interviewed by ABWE (Association of Baptist World Evangelism) International. It is particularly focused on reaching out to Generation Z (born between 1996-2010) and how to relate to them. I encourage you to grab something to drink and listen to what Erlacher has to say.
Proverbs 19:17 – Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.
During our Meridian Avenue special business meeting on September 25th I mentioned the concept of micro-loans as a mission outreach to help fund a micro business. Not at that moment having sufficient time to give a proper introduction to the micro-loan ministry, I shall attempt to do so now.
A microloan is a small loan to begin or to re energize a small business. Micro business loans are often granted without requiring collateral and are at a very low interest rate. The concept isn’t specifically a ministry concept; a great number of micro-loans are available for a wide number of business needs in several countries. This writing is concerned only with micro-loans that are mission oriented.
I was in El Salvador when I first heard of a micro-loan being used as a means to raise people out of poverty. While our mission team was visiting with the Federation of Baptist Churches, El Salvador, we were told that micro-loans were being used to help the impoverished to start a small business. One member of our host church had received a small loan, as seed money, to purchase the necessary supplies to begin a candle making business.
On a later trip, while in Nicaragua, our mission team was introduced to a representative of a Nicaraguan micro-loan organization. He had brought several items that had been made by micro-loan recipients to show us and was hopeful that we might purchase them. The items he brought included a number of small paintings and a number of women’s leather purses.
The purses had a success story that the representative shared. A few women of a rural Nicaraguan community had approached the organization about applying for a micro-loan to begin a leather purse business. The organization approached the community as a whole and explained how they would provide the seed money at a very low interest and would also work with the community to help market the products that they produce. Several of the women of the community were interested but the men thought that making purses was ‘women’s work’.
The women produced some very nice leather purses and the lending organization was able to find a buyer for their products. The lending organization returned to the community and again held a community wide meeting. When all had gathered, the lending organization made a considerable effort of praising the women purse makers for their work and then presented each of the women with their share of the money earned. It is worth mentioning that the women, having received their earnings, collectively held more money than had ever been held at any previous time in that community.
The small leather business was transformational. The men quickly began producing leather crafts alongside the women and the sales of their products increased capital in the entire community. The increased capital began to generate spin off businesses. Small stores began appearing to provide household products and other items that were previously unaffordable to those in the community. Over time the entire community prospered.
Here are some 2020 statistics about the impact that Mentors International have posted on their website about the microloans they have made. (Link to their website found further below.)
90% of their loans were to women. (I was once told that women have a better record of repayment of the micro-loans.)
Mentors International has experienced a 96% repayment rate.
The average annual income for the person receiving their micro-loan was an increase of 157%.
The average loan size that Mentors International has provided is $132.
The average cost of helping an individual reach self reliance is $137.
This is a link that speaks of an ABC International Ministries project to create microloans for Hatian women. I am pleased that this project is funded 100%.
Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Recently I have had the pleasure to speak with Roger and Jody Will. The Will’s live in the community of Lost Springs, KS. Roger and Jody have had a working farm for many years, along with their full time jobs.
In 2016 they felt God was calling them into mission work. They spent a good year praying and meditating on God’s word, making sure they were hearing him correctly. In 2017 they met with Glen and Rita Chapman (now retired IM missionaries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo working in Kikongo). They learned that there was a need for their skills in Kikongo and this started the ball rolling toward their mission work. In 2017 they attended the Hear the Call conference at Green Lake, WI. While there they also met with Reverend Dr. Charles Jones, the ABC International Ministries Area Director for Europe and Liberia. They knew that there was a chance they may not be able to go to the Congo due to civil unrest so they were also checking on the possibility of a plan B.
As one door closed, another opened, and in January 2018 they traveled to Liberia, Africa. They discovered the realities that followed what we sometimes heard about only in the short news reports that we received here in the U.S.A. Liberia had struggled through back to back civil wars and was then struck hard by an Ebola outbreak. The ravages of war, famine caused by war and disease had nearly eliminated an entire generation killing most of the people who had agricultural experience. When Roger and Jody arrived in one Liberia’s agricultural areas they found that the people working the farms had book knowledge but lacked the hands-on experience that was lost when that generation was lost.
To illustrate, Jody told me that when the Liberians were attempting to catch a cow they would simply chase the animal around until it grew tired and they could get a rope around it. Roger assisted them in building fences and cattle enclosures where cattle could be herded into and confined. He also taught them how to neuter bull calves and boar hogs to improve the meat quality. They worked with the Liberians to provide better nutrition for their livestock, based upon local resources, as well as how to vaccinate their livestock.
As they near their retirement they felt that they are being called back to Liberia. Roger and Jody are planning to return to Liberia where they will again work with Rick’s Institute and also to possibly partner with two other Baptist schools. One is the Lott Carey Baptist School and the other is the Baptist Seminary. Both schools are starting agricultural programs and it is their hope that these schools will also find a need for their service. They plan to depart for Liberia sometime in January and hope to spend 60 days in Liberia this trip. The ABCCR distributed an email earlier this month about their planned trip.
When I spoke with the Will’s earlier this week I learned that they are still seeking financial assistance for their trip. It seems fitting that I share this with you during the time that our church is collecting World Missions Offering, a special offering that helps so many around the world. Unfortunately, none of the WMO will assist Roger and Jody as they are volunteer missionaries.
If anyone would like to contribute to Roger and Jody Will’s efforts to help the people in Liberia, a fund has been established with the First Baptist Church, 201 E. Hawley St., Herington, KS 67449. In the memo field write Liberia Mission Trip.
Philippians 2:13, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
I didn’t want to go! I was perfectly happy supporting others but I simply didn’t want to be included in a short-term mission team going outside of the U.S.; God didn’t see things my way.
In October of 1998, the eye of Hurricane Mitch sat stationary off the eastern coast of Nicaragua and Honduras for five days. The winds and rain created havoc and unimaginable rainfall. We were told that La Pimienta had experienced fifty-four inches of rain over those five days.
American Baptist Churches – International Ministries began looking for short-term mission teams to travel to Nicaragua to assist with the recovery efforts in the communities that our mission partner, Provadenic (1), served. Teams departed the U.S. to help rebuild these communities almost monthly for nearly three years. I had three times listened to people speak of this need but I remained unpersuaded; locked in my stubbornness.
In February of 2000 the men of First Baptist Church, Valley Center, KS gathered for a prayer breakfast. David Grisham drove from El Dorado, KS to be our guest speaker. David had been a member of the very first relief team to travel to Nicaragua only weeks after the hurricane.
As Grisham concluded his talk about the ongoing hurricane recovery efforts he told us that the mission team that was to visit Nicaragua in April had fallen apart. As no group of volunteers had come forward to fill the vacancy he challenged those of us who were gathered to do so. As he stated his challenge I felt that he was looking directly at me.
I left the men’s breakfast feeling resolute that I would not be going to Nicaragua. By 9:00 the following morning, a Sunday, God’s hand had moved events and people to make it clear that I would indeed go to Nicaragua. It was also clear that I would need to organize the team of volunteers; which did not yet exist.
On Monday morning I phoned Pastor Robert to discuss how this change of mind had occurred. As we were speaking I felt a need to say, “… and I think that I am to ask you to come with me.” Robert was quiet for a few moments before saying that he would need to discuss it with his wife; Robert and Debra both joined our mission team.
As Wednesday evening’s Bible Study dismissed Pastor Robert asked if I had considered asking another church attendee, David, to join us. I had indeed but had dismissed the idea because I didn’t think the family’s finances would allow it. Wilma Engle then joined us and asked if we had thought about asking David to join us. We agreed that, no matter what we might think, if the Lord had put David into the thoughts of the three of us, we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss asking David.
The following morning David was asked if he would like to be a member of the team. He replied that he would but he was concerned about the expenses. It was little surprise that a sizable check arrived in the mail the following day to help with our team’s expenses.
Only nine weeks after the challenge was made to our church, Pastor Robert, Debra, David and I found ourselves in Nicaragua with five others who joined our short-term mission team. Our team had participants from Valley Center, El Dorado, Augusta as well as from California and Rhode Island.
As told in part one of this three part series, we arrived in La Pimienta near the end of the dry season. To bathe we wore our swimsuits and walked several hundred yards to the swimming hole at the Rio Queso (Cheese River).
As we did our best to wash, while wearing bathing suits, we noticed that children would gather on the boulders that lined one side of the river. We thought this curious until one of our members suggested that previous mission teams may have played with the children while they were at the river. Finished with our lathering and rinsing, he let out a whoop and made a huge arm swing to encourage the children to join us. With huge smiles upon their faces they began peeling down to their underwear; the older girls leaving their upper body covered.
As the children began jumping into the water Debra pulled two pool splash balls out of her backpack. The balls began sailing through the air as a couple of the men cupped their hands and began tossing kids into the air; laughing merrily as they splash back into the water. Each day following the number of children at the river would increase.
Beginning on our second day of fun with the kids, David exited the river and calmly dried himself off before walking towards the clinic where we slept. On the third evening, following his second departure, I asked him why he retreated when the children came into the water.
As David began to answer, there was a catch in his voice. In a few moments he began by saying that it was difficult for him to remain. He was missing his four young children so badly that it actually hurt to hear the children’s laughing, cheerful voices.
Sometime during our trip something unexpected had come upon David. It was without question that he loved his family but he had never expressed such open endearment towards them before. A new depth of feeling was evolving in David’s life.
Our story now fast forwards to our exiting the aircraft on our trip home. David moved quickly up the jet way where he dropped his carry on luggage and wrapped his arms around his wife and swung her around. He impatiently asked her where the kids were and Kim replied that she had left them in his mother’s care for the evening. David told her that they needed to collect the kids and spend time together as a family.
Over the next couple of months Kim would often ask, “What did you do to my husband in Nicaragua?” I would always reply that I hadn’t done a thing but that God had.
David was a changed man and his family very much knew that he had changed. But life isn’t fair and only four months after our trip to La Pimienta, David passed away. It was only four months but it was an incredible four months for Kim and their children to be with David.
Not all short-term mission trips have such stories. However, all short-term mission trips are an event where God is actively at work. Things happen while on these trips, often very subtle things but they are signs of God moving in people’s lives.
My first journey to Nicaragua was in obedience to God’s will. Following mission trips were an opportunity to see what God would do during those trips.
There are many opportunities to see God at work; we don’t have to go to Nicaragua to see his work. All too often we overlook His subtle touch as he moves in the background arranging things according to his own good will.
I believe that we are experiencing such a time at Meridian Avenue right now. We are returning to His purpose as we emphasize making disciples. The emphasis isn’t new; it is as old as the Christian faith. I ask that you watch with me and look for the ways that God will work in the background as we seek disciples for Christ.
(1) In 2006 the ABC-IM mission partner in Nicaragua moved from Provadenic to AMOS Health and Hope.
Isaiah 65:20a – “Never more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days.”
Last week I wrote about a 2000 short-term mission trip to La Pimienta, Nicaragua. La Pimienta was a recovering disaster area having suffered the onslaught of Hurricane Mitch.
During our time at La Pimienta we met two people who were in their early fifties but met no one older. Had we not been told their age we would have thought they were much older by their furrowed features. There were a good number of adults in the community but the majority was under the age of forty. There were teenagers but children well outnumbered the adults we met.
Childhood in La Pimienta is immensely unlike childhood in the United States. Before the morning’s first light we would hear girls talking as they gathered at the well to fetch water for the day. Filling a plastic five gallon bucket nearly full, weighing nearly 35 pounds, they balanced the bucket upon their head to transport it home. Younger girls would carry a lesser amount of water and we once saw a preschooler, following her older sister, balancing a near-full coffee can upon her head.
Girls often had a younger sibling perched upon their hip; freeing their mothers to perform their daily task.
After the morning sun rose above the hills boys would appear with machetes in hand. They were gathering the day’s firewood.
Once water and firewood were collected, and a fire was set ablaze, the mothers would go about the business of making breakfast. The slap, slap, slap of women’s hands patting out fresh tortillas was a common sound in the mornings.
In time the school children would appear in their uniforms. Boys wore dark blue slacks, girls dark blue skirts, and both were wearing white shirts; the colors of their national flag. They would trudge towards the Rio Queso (Cheese River) then trek north along its bank to where their community existed prior to the hurricane’s flooding. Their old school was still in use despite sections of two walls having been damaged. (a) School convened only during the morning hours.
The days passed and on Friday afternoon we returned to Managua. Dr. Gustavo Parajón, one of our ABC-International Ministries missionaries in Nicaragua at the time, joined us for lunch the following day. We learned a great amount thanks to our time with him.
Provadenic (b) was invited to begin their medical care for the community of La Pimienta nearly ten years before our arrival. Prior to Provadenic’s intervention, death of children under the age of five and of women dying during childbirth commonly occurred.
With Provadenic’s aid, La Pimienta selected a member of their community to be trained to treat common injuries and ailments and also to monitor a woman’s pregnancy, childbirth and both the mother and child after delivery. Regularly scheduled monitoring of the children through age five helped to discover any issue that required a doctor’s intervention. Provadenic also began working with the community to develop improved waste disposal and to improve hygiene.
Before Provadenic’s support far too many died early and life expectancy was far too short. Provadenic’s support meant that fewer mothers died giving birth and that their children had an improved chance of survival. The improvements in sanitation and hygiene further improved life expectancy.
Dr. Parajón expected the children of La Pimienta to live into their seventies and eighties; all because they had a better start in life than previous generations.
Our 2000 trip to La Pimienta was an opportunity to see some of the impact that our mission dollars can accomplish. The ministry that Dr. Parajón worked with treated the physical body, and at the same time, shared the word of Jesus that spiritual healing may also occur.
In September Meridian Avenue promotes the World Mission Offering. WMO is an invitation for each of us to support ministries that help many around the world and to share the love of God to all.
(a) The new school construction was nearing completion while we were there.
(b) Provadenic was the predecessor ministry of AMOS Health and Hope. AMOS Health and Hope began their ministry during the spring of 2006.
