Apr 29
This is not a picture from the tv series LOST although it easily could be. No, this is actually what it’s like where my parents live in Papua New Guinea. Dad sent me this photo yesterday.
This is not a picture from the tv series LOST although it easily could be. No, this is actually what it’s like where my parents live in Papua New Guinea. Dad sent me this photo yesterday.
Apr 28
The Illo Friday theme this week is Under the Sea. Here’s my interpretation. A bit different and abstract which is why I like this one.
Apr 28
This week’s Photo Friday theme is ‘Famous’. The only famous sort of pictures I have is from when we went to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in 1998.
For all overseas people, this is our Prime Minister John Howard
Apr 26
It’s time for another insallment of Curried Missionary (How to encourage your missionary). Having finished the section called ‘Straight From the Horses Mouth’ (see part’s 9-12) I am now moving on to some deeper areas of spiritual encouragement including what to do with prayer letters, prayer meetings and spiritual warfare. In this section we’re looking at prayer letters.
Photo: Kris and Shelley Riggs, Southern Baptist Missionaries in Niger, West Africa
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12
“Spiritual Encouragement
What Do You Do With Prayer Letters?
It is true that some missionaries are better at writing informative, interesting prayer/news letters than others but nevertheless it is important that we put them to good use. What is the point of a prayer/news letter? To let those at home know what the missionary is doing and has been doing and to ask for prayer, giving specific prayer or praise points.
It is very important that a prayer/news letter is used the way it is intended, that you take the prayer points seriously and actually pray for them. Knowing that you are being prayed for is one of the most encouraging things. If you are the contact within your church for your missionary, the responsibility falls on your shoulders to get up and share (or put the points in the church bulletin) these prayer points with the congregation. These are active things we can do with prayer letters but there is more.
A prayer letter will hold for you a vast amount of information that are like little hints of what it is like for your missionary in their environment. From a prayer letter you should be able to tell the environment they are living in, the climate, the amount of contact with national people etc… Get used to ‘reading between the lines’ of a prayer letter. Be sensitive to the underlying needs of your missionary and not only pray for them in these areas but act upon them practically as well (refer to the section on practical encouragement).
When a new prayer letter arrives it is up to you whether or not you file away the previous one or throw it away but if you show an active interest in your missionary, a prayer letter should become like a new chapter to a book, something to look forward to.
PS. Paul is really our best example when it comes to prayer letters.”
Apr 24
Sunday was the final day of the Keswick Autumn convention. What a busy day that was as we went to church in the morning and then straight to Keswick! We didn’t leave there till around 10.30pm! Was it a productive weekend? Yes in some ways. The thing is, as a missions director, standing at a missions display you just never know who has come along and taken information off your table when you aren’t there. We know it was an important weekend because there was spiritual attack so we’ll see if we ever find out why.
It was nice to have a slow, stay home and take a breather day today (well, for me, poor Michael had a few SIM meetings still). Keziah was worn out and needed a bit of sleep catch up. She’s got two teeth poking through too so I think she feels a little tired from that.
Pic: This is what Keziah did do over the weekend fairly well!
Apr 22
Discouragement is something that can really eat away at me. I find that if I let it creep in, eventually I’m grumpy and snappy and pretty useless for ministry. I must admit that when our projector was stolen yesterday we decided that we wouldn’t let it affect us and we would get on with the task at hand. Hmmm, well it did affect me. I couldn’t get to sleep last night because I was thinking about who would have stolen the projector and wondering if they’re enjoying the SIM DVD that was in the bag. That made me tired this morning and a real grump. I’ve decided to start again tomorrow, put it aside and committ the whole thing to God and leave it there. Oh and we did get to speak to some people at the Convention today which was a bonus.
Photo: Michael standing at our display
Apr 21
Today we spent most of our time in preparation for the Keswick Autumn Convention and then attending it. We had three displays to set up this time as we’d promised to help out two other missions so we had to be there quite early. All went well and the meeting went well too.
This morning we found out that our digital projector has been stolen (the SIM one) and this was a real downer. We decided not to stress about it and reported it to the necessary people. We were able to borrow another projector from another mission and our display went off without a hitch. God is in control of all things including this so we aren’t letting it get in the way of ministry. Here’s a piccy of the display, you can see the projector on the right and the little tiny screen we set up on the left (it’s actually a blank artists canvas):
Also, this is a shot of the hall filled with people that looked so empty only days ago.
Apr 21
I must admit that this IF theme is one that really doesn’t suit me. I’ve searched high and low to find something that remotely connects with the theme and this is what I’ve come up with. This is an acrylic on paper and where is my ‘robotic’ connection. Um……..this may or may not look like………the cogs inside a robot (not that robots probably have cogs these days!). Oh well. Enjoy anyway! Apr 21
Photo Friday’s theme this week is ‘Golden’. This is canola growing near where we lived in the UK (Debenham, Suffolk)
Apr 19
If you’re in Perth and have a bit of free time this weekend why not head to the Keswick Autumn Convention. It’s starts this Friday night and there are three meetings on Saturday and three on Sunday. You can book into meals or bring your own food (there are BBQ’s on the site). The address is 59 Kelvin Rd Wattle Grove (ph: (08) 9453 6217). The speaker this time is Jonathan James, the International Executive Director of Asia Evangelistic Fellowship International .
Today I spent about 6 hours drawing up and painting a backdrop mural for the convention. Here’s a few shots of it:
