“We believe that we are the church, that is, we are a community of God’s people called and set apart for witness to the good news of Jesus Christ. We are blessed to be a blessing. As the Father has sent Christ, so Christ sends us. Jesus Christ has defined us as his witnesses where we are. We believe therefore that the Holy Spirit not only calls us but also enables and gifts us for that mission. Our task is to determine the particular focus and direction of our mission. We are to identify the charisms given by the Spirit for mission. We have the responsibility and the capacity, through the Holy Spirit, to shape ourselves for faithful witness. Our purpose defines our organizational structures...Read More →
Archive for June, 2008
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June 30, 2008
Guder and The Missional Church
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June 28, 2008
Final Zambia Reflections
I am finally back from Zambia after two weeks of spending time with Pastor George Palo of Harvest City Church in Ndola, Zambia. I have a ton in my head and I have to say that these two weeks will likely turnout to be a watershed moment for the lives of the Hiestands. You’ll have to be in church tomorrow to get my more complete reflections (or listen online when i post it) but here are some major themes/thoughts: Community Sunday night was awesome as we sat around the fire sharing stories with the men from Harvest City Church after studying the scriptures together, taking communion and praying for one another. They told some awesome stories about the community and life in the bush. From...Read More →
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June 24, 2008
Twitter Updates from Zambia on 2008-06-24
Will be on Zambian TV tomorrow. Weird. # Lots on my mind the last few days… too much to unload at once. Blog posts to follow after Friday when I get back. # We fly out of Lusaka, Zambia on Thursday morning for London. Overnight in London. London to NYC on Friday. 17 hours of flying. # Might try and see Wimbledon on Thursday # One more day of speaking twice then visiting an AIDS hospice tomorrow. Then off to cross the Atlantic. #
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June 23, 2008
Twitter Updates from Zambia on 2008-06-23
Is it possible to see what I have seen today and not change the way you live? #
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June 21, 2008
Twitter Updates from Zambia on 2008-06-21
Feeling the effects of the rolling black outs in Ndola. Have lost power twice today. # Preaching at a church in Zambia tomorrow morning. About 4am your time. Wake up and pray. # Bungee Jump Video: http://tinyurl.com/5u36hf #
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June 21, 2008
Zambia Update: Saturday, June 21, 2008
I am sitting in nice cosy guest house that we are in and just reflecting a bit on our last two days. Its been an encouraging and challenging two days as we have begun to meet with the Zambian people and specifically some of the church leaders. Last night Tom and I spoke at the leadership team meeting for George’s church, Harvest City Church. There were about 40 people there. Some were pastors and some were lay leaders. We spoke on the topic of leadership and creativity. As I wrote in my last blog post there is a challenge of having creativity as they seek to be witnesses to Jesus here in Zambia. This is mostly because the western missionaries brought with them a “correct”...Read More →
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June 20, 2008
Twitter Updates from Zambia on 2008-06-20
Pictures of the bungee jump being uploaded to flickr right now. Very slow connection so only a few might get up. # Tonight we’re talking about creativity and imagination in the church. A big need in the Zambian church. Then to an all night prayer meeting # Not sure which roads are worse. the ones here or the ones in New Jersey. # Missing my wife and kids like crazy. # Brittish Airways lost my friends’ luggage. He’s been wearing the same jeans for five days. Still waiting for the luggage # I can send tweets/texts from my cell phone for fifty cents each. That’s why I am updating as much as possible right now. # We need to figure out how to export some...Read More →
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June 20, 2008
Zambia Update: Friday Morning
I only have a limited amount of time here on the web. I have to buy it by the half hour and I’m trying to get as much done in this time as possible. But, not surprisingly, the web is so slow. So, I am going to brain dump as much as a I can here: I jumped off a bridge at Victoria Falls with a rubber band attached to my ankles. Pictures are on my flickr account. It was nuts. Video will be coming home with me. Google: Victoria Falls Bungee Jump and you’ll see what I did. We started this trip with two days of downtime with a trip to Victoria Falls (google this, it makes Niagara falls look like a kitchen sink...Read More →
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June 19, 2008
Twitter Updates from Zambia on 2008-06-19
I just jumped off a a really, really tall bridge with a rubberband attached to my ankles. Google victoria falls bungee jump. #
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June 18, 2008
Twitter Updates from Zambia on 2008-06-18
Schedule changed. Going to Livingstone, Zambia today and tomorrow. Then start teaching on Friday. # At an amazing hotel near Victoria Falls in Zambia. Work begins tomorrow. # Sitting around the deck at a beautiful hotel talking about the Zambian church. # Apparently my sermon Sunday will be recorded & will be on Zambian TV then rebroadcast all over sub-Saharan Africa. Uh. Thats intimidating. #
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June 18, 2008
Zamba Day 1-3: Sleep, Pot Holes, Victoria Falls
So, after about 36 hours of travel and maybe 2 hours of sleep, we arrived in Lusaka. Sleeping on the plane was harder than I thought so I ended up just watching movies. Five of them. So, I saw: Charlie Wilson’s War, Semi-Pro, Jumper, The Great Debaters, and one more that was apparently very forgettable. The only problem now is that I have used up all the decent movies on the way there and I don’t know what I am going to do on the way back. After we met up with Pastor George, we grabbed some breakfast and then quickly took a much needed five hour nap. So, the first day here (Tuesday) was pretty much a bust. We were supposed to start speaking...Read More →
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June 15, 2008
Waiting in JFK
So after a fantastic service at The Well this morning we’ve finally made it up to JFK airport in NYC. (If you weren’t at The Well today… go to our church website and listen to Gary’s sermon on Acts 19. It was fantastic. Definitely worth 29 minutes of your time. I was thinking today during our service that I am so happy to be able to say that I love the church family that we are leaving behind for the next two weeks. In fact, in a sense, The Well is coming with me because who I am is a result of all these people and I bring with me not only my passions but theirs as well. They were such an encouragement this morning...Read More →
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June 15, 2008
Zambia Interary
This is the tentative itinerary for our team while we are in Zambia so that you can pray more specifically while we are gone. I might be posting updates here on my blog during the trip if time and technology allows. In case you missed it, there are two main goals for the trip: The first is the immediate interaction with those we are speaking with and meeting. Obviously the goal here is that we can be an encouragement and begin many friendships that where we can learn from each other. A lot of our interaction will be in the areas of leadership development and pastoral encouragement. The second is that this trip would be another step towards a long-term partnership between The Well and...Read More →
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June 14, 2008
Zambia by the Numbers
It’s now just under 24 hours before me and two other pastors (my good friend Tom Ward is one of them) make the trek to JFK Airport and head for Zambia on British Airways. Here is a rundown of the next two weeks by the numbers: 3 – The number of people on our team that leaves Tomorrow. 7 – The number of hours it takes to get to London from JFK in NYC. 10 – The number of hours we will toll around London looking for a good English pub. 10 – The number of hours it takes to fly from London to Zambia. 13 – The number of times we will be speaking to pastors, college students and others during the trip. 10...Read More →
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June 12, 2008
Poll: New Specs – What Do You Think?
So, since I am going to Zambia I needed to get a new pair of glasses that weren’t held together buy duct tape. I wear contacts most of the time but really needed a backup just in case anything happens while I am there. So, I heard of 39dollarglasses.com and went ahead and picked out a frame. The catch with these cheap glasses is that you can’t really try on the frames before you order. So, its kind of a shot in the dark on some level. Of course, I went for a little bit of a more radical look for me so I really am interested in your thoughts on my new frames. My wife, Melanie, is in the “they might grow on me”...Read More →
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June 11, 2008
Envision 08 Conference Thoughts
I spent the last two and a half days in the sweltering heat at Princeton University / Seminary at the Envision 08 conference. This conference was described on their website as: “Envision ‘08 is about the power of the gospel to transform the public square. It’s about Jesus and justice, evangelical history and heritage, and practiced theology. It’s about the next one hundred years of the church and its impact on the common good.” I was pleasantly surprised at the conference. There was such a wide range of speakers and views shared but they were (relatively) hopeful and spent a lot of time trying to imagine a better future. I have been to enough conferences where there was simply deconstruction and this was refreshing. I...Read More →
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June 3, 2008
Zambian Food – MMM, MMM Good
If you are a regular reader you know that I head to Zambia in two weeks. One of the pastors I am going with noted the wikipedia entry has some good information about Zambia. An excerpt: “There are a lot of Zambian foods which are peculiar to Zambia such as inswa (flying ants), fyunkubala (caterpillars), Hopani (monitor lizards), Mbeba (mice), magande (giant toads) and Kolwe (monkey meat).” Wow. That sounds awesome! I can’t wait to try some giant toads mixed with some moniter lizards and then wash that down with some monkey meat…
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June 3, 2008
How Does the Church Engage the World? Build an Ark?
I grew up with two kinds of music in my household: 1950′s rock and roll from my dad and the Gaither Vocal Band from my church. I loved the Southern Gospel of the Gaithers as a kid. Honestly, its kinda nostalgic to listen to these days. But, I was reminded recently of this song by the Gaither’s called “Build and Ark.” I am not sure if you’ve ever heard of this song, but here are the lyrics (video is at the end of the post): Build an ark Head for the open water Save your sons and your daughters Build an ark Build an ark When the storm is ended You’ll know the world has been mended Build an ark I’m tired of all the...Read More →
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June 2, 2008
Our First NASCAR Event
Okay, its time to come clean to the world. I love NASCAR. In fact, Cole and I attended our first NASCAR event this weekend at Dover International Speedway. Now, you’ve got to understand, I didn’t intentionally become a NASCAR fan. It was an accident. I promise. Last year the animated movie Cars came out and it quickly became Cole’s favorite movie. We’ve watched it about 257 times since we first saw it in the theater. I’ll tell you what, that movie is a slippery slope if I’ve ever seen one. It started with the movie, moved to collecting the die cast cars then he would start stopping me at the race telecasts when I’d be flipping channels trying to find the Cubs game or something....Read More →
