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Ecclesia, Africa and Best Western Breakfasts
I’m sitting in the Best Western in Richmond, VA at the continental breakfast bar area. It’s been about 7 minutes since I had one of their breakfast sandwiches and things are already getting interesting in my stomach… but I guess that’s a story for another time…
I’m here with Tom Ward of East Point Community Church in Deleware and George Palo of Harvest City Church in Ndola, Zambia. We’re meeting with some guys from our network, Ecclesia …
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Why Community is so Important to Mission
So, I’m almost on two weeks since I got back from Zambia. I feel like I was pretty prepared for the “missions trip high” (for lack of better way to describe it). I’ve done this before and like most people I usually crash spritually and revert to my old self within two weeks.
I’m coming down off my cloud a bit but I’m happy to say that we have not moved away from the direction we sense …
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Are You Rioting with the Suburban Mob?
Okay, its been about a half a week since I’ve been back from Zambia. I’ve not done much deep writing around the trip because there is so much in my head that I am just trying to sort it all out. Sunday morning, I preached a mess of a sermon that I am hoping made sense. I really tried to share my heart and what God is doing with Melanie and I since I’ve returned. The sermon …
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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 … -
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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 … -
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 …
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Is the Bible “Missional?”
In about three weeks I head to Zambia. I’ll be spending two weeks there working with Pastor George Palo of Harvest City Church. I’ve known George for about a year now and I’m really excited to see his country and see in person all the people and stories that he’s shared.
One of the things that is most exciting to me is George’s heart for mission. It was not too far into a recent conversation that I realized that he really …
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African Friends and Money Matters: 1-5
As I stated recently, I am reading the book African Friends and Money Matters in preparation for my trip to Zambia. This book is broken up into 90 general observations about the differences between African and Western cultures. The author appropriately states that these are general observations and, like in any culture, there are exceptions to them. I am basically going to try and read about 5 of these observations every day or so until I leave. …
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Westerners in Africa, The Challenge
Since I am heading to Zambia in June this year I’ve been trying to do some reading and education about the challenge of westerners living and working in Africa. This challenge was made clear to my by my dad who spend about 10 years serving in sub-Saharan Africa as a representative of larger worldwide missions agency. We didn’t live there or anything but he did travel there a lot when I was a kid. He basically spent …
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Information about Zambia
Some Facts About Zambia:
64% of the population living on $1 or less a day,
Unemployment rates hover at more than seventy percent
30,000 children being born HIV-positive each year
Of the population of 11 million, almost 10% or orphaned street kids.The price of being peace makers
I was shocked to hear that Zambia is one of the few countries in the world to never go to War. Pastor George told me that when the country was founded it was founded … -
Zambia or Bust
After a few weeks of praying and processing, I’ve accepted the invitation to head to Zambia, Africa to spend two weeks working with my good friend George Palo (a pastor from Ndola, Zambia).
George will be leading me and two other pastors as we visit his country and meet and encourage the pastors there and see first hand the desperate poverty of this beautiful country. We are hopeful that this trip will begin a long-term relationship between the …
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Zambia 2008 Trip Itinerary
Tuesday, June 17
Arrival and rest
Evening tour of Lusaka (prayer for the Street Kids)Wednesday, June 18
Speaking at Lusaka Leadership Conference - 4-hour bus ride to Livingstone in the eveningThursday, June 19
Speaking at Livingstone Leadership Conference
Late afternoon tour of Victoria Falls
4-hour bus ride to Lusaka in the eveningFriday, June 20
Flight to Ndola (or 4-hour bus ride)
Evening of ministry and speaking with Harvest City Church’s Leadership TeamSaturday, June 21
Speaking at Ndola Leadership Conference
Spend the night at Nsobe Game Camp
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Apparently I am now friends with myself on facebook. I live in Canada too eh.