Christmas 2011

Our Christmas Letter is published! After several years not getting it done, Sharon thought we needed one this year. I guess she thought that two college graduations, two weddings, my 60th birthday and 20th work anniversary, and our church relocation was deserving of an update!

Enjoy! May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas as you reflect on our Saviors birth.

A Good Cause

What an awesome time we had at our Open House Celebration yesterday. Good times, good food, good friends combined with a good cause that seeks to share the Good News! Does it get any better than this!

Thank you Dennis, Girlie and Donald - for your passion and love for Christ and the people of Zimbabwe. Thanks for sharing your vision of purchasing a drilling rig and the community transformation that it can bring.

Thank you Jesus who has given me life and a purpose for living. He gives us good things for our enjoyment and so that we can share with others. I am truly rich!

Thank you to all who made generous gifts so that 7500 children can gave clean water. Thank you for your friendship and for caring about the things that God cares about. Thanks you for your gracious words of affirmation!

Thank you New Covenant, for taking a risk and hiring me as one of your pastors. My boys were 10, 7 and 3 when we moved to Cedar Rapids 20 years ago. Today they are all married, walking with God and serving His purposes.

Thank you Sharon, for loving me through the ups and downs of married and family life. It hasn't always been easy. Thank you for trusting God, for believing in me and for never giving up. Together, we make an awesome team!

Gifts for the Drilling Rig Project continue to come in. It's not too late to give. We will continue to receive donations through the end of the year.

You can give to this project online or by check. All gifts go directly to MCDF. MCDF is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization and is a New Covenant Kingdom Partner. And best of all, 100% of your gift goes to the Drilling Rig Project. There are no administrative or overhead fees! 

To Give Online

• Go to www.mcdforphans.org and click on the Donate link.
• On the Donate page click on the “Donate” button at the center of the page. If you don’t have a Pay Pal account, click the “Continue” link under the credit card logos.  
• Fill out the credit card information.  
• When you get to the payment confirmation page you will be asked for “Any Special Instructions?” Enter “Kim Pagel Rig Fund”.   

To Give by Check

• Checks should be made payable to MCD Orphans   
• Write “Kim Pagel Rig Fund” in the memo line. 
• Mail checks to Dennis Matangira, 670 Beaver Hollow CT SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52403

Eyes to See

I take so much of life for granted. Even though I'm working at raising funds for a drilling rig, I'm not sure I fully realize what clean water means for those who live in Zimbabwe. What started out as a birthday/anniversary celebration has turned into a battle of cosmic forces for the hearts and lives of thousands of orphans, children and families in Zimbabwe. 

I got this special prayer email today from Dennis Matangira. He and his family are praying for our Open House Celebration. You can read it for yourself.

This coming Sunday ranks high on God's calendar and ours. Kim Pagel, a good friend and Executive Pastor at Covenant Bible Church in Cedar Rapids hosts this special fund raiser for the purchase of a well drilling machine for Mushayamunda Christian Development Trust.

We are inviting family to prayer and fasting today for this event.

• Lord bring clarity of vision to Pastor Kim's friends so that they see the benefits of this rig the way God sees it.
• Jehovah God, let any and all impediments to attending this function be removed in Jesus' name.
• Lord protect our friends and helpers from satanic attacks that are meant to erode their ability to give and to stand with us.
• King Jesus, what comes to our mind, heart and spirit is how from nothing you fed over 5000 with 12 basketful of left overs. Let our cup run-over this weekend in Jesus' name.
• Holy Spirit, grant Pastor Kim all manner of wisdom as they arrange for this event.
• Let heavenly favor cover these plans from the West, the East, the North and the South.
• Let the devil's sworn design of poverty on all God's children be frustrated in Jesus' name.
• Spirit of the living God, we glorify the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for what you accomplished before the foundation of the earth and the manifestation thereof this weekend.
• Jehovah Jireh, our provider, we wait upon you now; have your way Father, in the strong name of Jesus to which all principalities should bow and surrender, now and forever. Amen.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

The people of Zimbabwe are calling out in prayer asking that you and I will see the benefits of this drilling rig the way God sees it. May we have eyes to see and hears to hear!

Be Generous

The Need: 15 schools and 7500 children in Zimbabwe don't have access to clean water which leads to disease, sickness and early death.

The Solution: Help Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation (MCDF) purchase a drilling rig so that they can provide clean water in Jesus name to these children and schools.

The Opportunity: I'm asking my friends to give generously so that we can purchase a drilling rig and fund one year of operation. This will provide for the drilling of 20 wells!

Every gift and every amount is important. Here is how some are helping fund this critical project:

• Give what you would receive for your next birthday. One friend is donating the $200 he expects to receive for his next birthday to the project.
• One friend is giving the $2000 he expects to receive as part of a small business that he runs.
• My dentist was impacted by what we are trying to do and has donate $1000.
• Another friend is making a sacrificial gift of $7000 - the average cost of drilling one well if you have to contract with a drilling company.

Whatever you are able to do, please help! Thank you for giving this project serious consideration. There are many things in the world that we have to accept and cannot change. This is not one of those things. Bringing clean water to 7500 children in Zimbabwe is something that we can do. Please be generous!

You can give to this project online or by check. All gifts go directly to MCDF. MCDF is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization and is a New Covenant Kingdom Partner. And best of all, 100% of your gift goes to the Drilling Rig Project. There are no administrative or overhead fees! 

To Give Online

• Go to www.mcdforphans.org and click on the Donate link.
• On the Donate page click on the “Donate” button at the center of the page. If you don’t have a Pay Pal account, click the “Continue” link under the credit card logos.  
• Fill out the credit card information.  
• When you get to the payment confirmation page you will be asked for “Any Special Instructions?” Enter “Kim Pagel Rig Fund”.   

To Give by Check

• Checks should be made payable to MCD Orphans   
• Write “Kim Pagel Rig Fund” in the memo line. 
• Mail checks to Dennis Matangira, 670 Beaver Hollow CT SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52403

Please Help!

By now you probably know that I celebrated two significant events this past summer – my 60th birthday and my 20th anniversary at New Covenant! As I thought and prayed about how I wanted to celebrate these two milestones, God gripped my heart with the overwhelming need for clean water.

Which brings me to today - I want to provide a drilling rig in Zimbabwe so that 15 schools that Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation (MCDF) ministers to can have clean drinking water. Schools, villages and entire families can be transformed by this project!

I’m asking you to consider giving a generous gift to the Zimbabwe Drilling Rig Project. My goal is to help MCDF raise $165,000 so that 7500 children can have clean drinking water. This total includes the first year of operating costs for the drilling rig and enough materials to drill 20 wells! A breakdown of the *total project budget is at the bottom of this post.

Why should you give to the Zimbabwe Drilling Rig Project?

• 7500 children in Zimbabwe will win. Most of these children are orphans. If we don’t help them, no one will! Schools will receive clean drinking water, families will be able to grow self-sustaining gardens, villages will be transformed, women and children will spend less time gathering water, churches will be planted and the gospel will be preached!

• MCDF will win. God has given this Christian ministry incredible favor with the village leaders and the government. This drilling rig will help MCDF drill more wells, plant more churches and to share Christ more effectively. Your gift enables MCDF to share the Good News and the good works of the Gospel with their own people.

• You will win! Giving to this important project will help you put your faith in action and store up treasure in heaven. James 1:19 says - "Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world." And if that’s not enough, I'm handing out a coupon for one free drink from the Main Street Café to each family who contributes to this project. Stop by the Open House Celebration on Sunday, October 30 from 3:00-5:00 to get your free drink.

You can give to this project online or by check. All gifts go directly to MCDF. MCDF is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization and is a New Covenant Kingdom Partner. And best of all, 100% of your gift goes to the Drilling Rig Project. There are no administrative or overhead fees! 

To Give Online

• Go to www.mcdforphans.org and click on the Donate link.
• On the Donate page click on the “Donate” button at the center of the page. If you don’t have a Pay Pal account, click the “Continue” link under the credit card logos.  
• Fill out the credit card information.  
• When you get to the payment confirmation page you will be asked for “Any Special Instructions?” Enter “Kim Pagel Rig Fund”.   

To Give by Check

• Checks should be made payable to MCD Orphans   
• Write “Kim Pagel Rig Fund” in the memo line. 
• Mail checks to Dennis Matangira, 670 Beaver Hollow CT SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52403

Thank you for giving this project serious consideration. There are many things in the world that we have to accept and cannot change. This is not one of those things. Bringing clean water to 7500 children in Zimbabwe is something that we can do.

This is something that we must do! Together, this is a God-sized vision that we can accomplish for His glory. Please help!

*Drilling Rig Project Budget

Drilling Rig Acquisition	$57,600
Rig Truck (used)	$20,000
Shipping drilling rig from USA	$12,000
Rig Maintenance	$5,000
Well Materials - 20 Wells	$66,000
Operations Management	$4,400
Total Project Cost	$165,000

Together We Can Do This!

These photos were taken by our New Covenant Zimbabwe Team. The Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation (MCDF) works with orphans and students in 20 different schools. 15 of these schools don't have wells or clean drinking water. Each school has an average of 500 students.

Imagine sending your child off to a school that didn't have clean drinking water or adequate sanitation. Many children, girls in particular, aren't even able to attend school as their water carrying duties take up a large part of their day.

To help celebrate my 60th birthday and 20th anniversary at New Covenant, I want to provide a drilling rig in Zimbabwe so that the 15 schools that MCDF ministers to can have clean drinking water. Together we can make a difference as we share the good works and the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Water given in the name of Jesus changes everything. Together we can make a difference in the lives of thousands of orphans and school children. Schools will receive fresh drinking water, families will be able to grow self-sustaining gardens, villages will be transformed, women and children will spend less time gathering water, churches will be planted and the gospel will be preached!

I hope you can join me on Sunday, October 30 for an Open House Celebration at New Covenant from 3:00-5:00 PM. This is an event for the entire family. Come and learn about the need for clean water, the African culture, enjoy some food and how you can get involved. Together, we can do this!

The Makazi Children Are Looking To Us

Just stop and think, whenever you or I want a glass of water, we go to the faucet or refrig and help ourselves. Or perhaps we grab a bottle of water or our favorite water bottle so we can drink on the go. And after we have all we want to drink, we use water to take a bath or shower, wash our hands, do laundry, run our dishwasher and flush our toilet.

You might be surprised to know that the average American uses 75-100 gallons of water a day! The average family of four uses 300-400 gallons – a day!

In Zimbabwe it’s much different. The average family of six uses 20 gallons! This entire amount has to be used for drinking, sanitation, washing clothes and personal hygiene.

So, imagine what life is like for a woman or young child in Zimbabwe. You wake in the morning and your job is to walk 45 – 90 minutes to the nearest watering hole to get water for your family. The walk to the water source isn’t too bad as your jerrycan or bucket is empty. You fill your five gallon container up with 40 pounds of water and begin the long trek home. Your neck is burning with pain by the time you return. And in the afternoon, you do it all over again. Day after day after day!

The tragedy is that, having spent so much time and effort in reaching a source of water, the water itself is dirty, polluted and a health hazard.

15 schools representing 7500 children, many of whom are orphans, are waiting for wells and clean drinking water in Zimbabwe. Let me tell you about one of these schools.

The school located the farthest from the MushayamundaChristian Development Foundation’s (MCDF) Christian Development Center is Makazi. I wrote about MCDF on this post. Pastor Solomon with MCDF travels to Makazi a couple times a month to teach Bible classes to around 500 children.

The short-term team from New Covenant visited the Makazi school a year ago. Although Makazi is just 20 miles away from MCDF’s home base, it takes 2 ½ to 3 hours by bus to get to the school. The school, once a British Settler’s home, sits on plateau in the middle of a huge valley.

Doug Forret, New Covenant short-term missions team leader, writes: “We could tell soon after we arrived that these kids hadn’t seen many white people. The smallest boy to the left in the picture is scared of me and his older brother is holding him so that he doesn’t run away. Once I turned the camera around and showed them their picture they decided I wasn’t so scary!”

The Makazi school doesn’t have a well, nor is there one even close by. The kids have to carry water from miles away and then lug it up the large hill to the school. 

This shouldn’t be! I want to provide a drilling rig for MCDF so that they can bring clean water and the message of Jesus Christ to thousands of children and to schools like the one in Makazi. The need is urgent. Together, we can make a difference.

I hope you will join me in giving generously to the Zimbabwe Drilling Rig Project. I will share more about this project and how you can give later this week. And don’t forget about the special Open House Celebration on Sunday, October 30 from 3:00-5:00! I hope to see your there.

Every Boy Needs A Buddy

For right or wrong, much of how I look at myself is through the roles I play. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ; a husband to one awesome woman; a father to four incredible boys; a father-in-law to three (soon to be four!) wonderful daughter-in-laws; a son to Bud Pagel; an adopted/surrogate grandfather to Annaclare, Annika and Allison; a Pastor to a growing church family; a friend....  You get the point!

Recently I have added one more role or title. Monday evening I went to the Metro Youth Football League fields to watch Deshawn play football. He's on a Wash 6th grade team. Deshawn and I have been Lunch Buddies through Big Brothers Big Sisters for the past two plus years.

It was a beautiful evening for football. It was just cool enough for a jacket, perfect football weather. The smell of fall leaves, the sound of parents cheering on their teams, and the glow of the lights breaking through the darkness to illuminate the fields created a memorable evening.

I arrived a little late and was trying to find the field Deshawn's team was playing on. In my search I came across one of Deshawn's friends, who immediately said, "Hey, you're Deshawn's Lunch Buddy!"

In that moment, something incredible happened that I wasn't prepared for - my heart filled with pride! I was honored to be known as Deshawn's "buddy."

I was the only person at the game Monday evening who was there to cheer on Deshawn. His teammates had parents, friends, aunts and uncles at the game to cheer them on. I got photos. Deshawn even scored a touchdown and made a solo tackle! I got to see it all!

Monday night brought back a lot of memories of watching my own sons play Metro football on those same fields. But I also reflected on my new title. I'm Deshawn's Lunch Buddy! It's a title that fills my heart with pride.

Every son needs a father. Every person needs a friend. Every team needs fans. Every boy needs a buddy!

All I Want Is A Drilling Rig!

I’m excited about the incredible opportunity I have to partner with Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation to order to bring clean drinking water to 7500 children in Zimbabwe! As you may know, I'm sponsoring the Drilling Rig Project in recognition of my 60th birthday and 20th anniversary at New Covenant.

15 schools and 100 villages have asked MCDF to drill wells for them in order to provide clean drinking water. But, because of MCDF’s limited financial resources, they are only able to dill one well every two years! At this rate, it would take 30 years for MCDF to drill wells for each of the 15 schools!

This isn’t acceptable! I want to provide a drilling rig for MCDF so that they can bring clean water and the message of Jesus Christ to thousands of children and hundreds of villages. The need is urgent. We can make a difference.

In order to accomplish this, we need to purchase a drilling rig so that we can get clean water to these schools as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Consider the following:

• The cost of drilling borehole wells in Zimbabwe has been volatile. Costs have ranged from $6000 to $12,000 per well, depending on inflation and the depth of the well.
• The water table is very deep and drillers normally have to go through granite to reach the water which increases the cost of drilling.
• By using their own drilling rig, MCDF can reduce the cost of drilling a well from $8000 to under $4000! This will allow them to drill more wells and provide more schools and villages with clean water.
• The contract drillers that MCDF have used in the past charge their fee whether or not they find water.
• The Drilling Rig Project is projected to have a one year payback!

Your generosity can bring clean drinking water to children, schools and entire villages. Schools will receive clean, fresh drinking water, families will be able to grow self-sustaining gardens, villages will be transformed, women and children will spend less time gathering water, churches will be planted and the gospel will be preached!

Who wouldn’t want to be part of something like this! Together, we can make a lasting impact on the country of Zimbabwe as we share the good works and the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Please pray about what God would have you do to help move this project to completion.

Zimbabwe Drilling Rig Project

Hit the square box icon on the bottom right of the newsletter to read it in full-screen mode.

Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation

To celebrate my 20th anniversary at New Covenant and my 60th birthday, I’m asking my friends to help finance a water drilling rig in Zimbabwe. I'm partnering with the Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation (MCDF) for this project.

In this update, I want to answer the question, “What is Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation and why am I partnering with them?”

• MCDF is a Christian ministry. MCDF is a Christian ministry that was begun by Dennis Matangira and his brothers Donald, Dereck, and Daniel. All four boys were born in Mushayamunda village in Zimbabwe, Africa. Missionaries to Zimbabwe shared the gospel and lead the family to faith in Christ.
• MCDF is a trusted ministry of two New Covenant members. Dennis and his brothers later came to the United States. Dennis and his wife Girlie, moved to Cedar Rapids in 2008 and attend New Covenant. In 2001 the four brothers formed the MCDF in honor of their late parents. Over the past 15 years Dennis and his brothers have worked to bring spiritual transformation to the villages of their homeland.
• MCDF is an indigenous ministry that seeks to equip the people of Zimbabwe to help themselves. The work of MCDF focuses on sharing the gospel with orphans and school children, providing clean water and self-sustaining gardens, caring for widows, planting churches, and leadership development. This ministry is led by Zimbabweans who minister to the people of Zimbabwe. 
• New Covenant supports the ministry of MCDF. MCDF is a New Covenant kingdom partner. Two short-term mission teams have traveled to Zimbabwe and partnered with MCDF. MCDF is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization. 
• God has given MCDF an open door to share the gospel through the school system and the drilling of wells. MCDF works with 10,000 children in 20 different schools. Many of these children are orphans. 15 of the schools do not have clean drinking water. A drilling rig will enable MCDF to provide clean water, community gardens, and to plant churches in or near each of these schools!

But don’t just take my word for it. Check out Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation online or better yet, talk in person to Dennis and Girlie Matangira. They would love to tell you about this unique opportunity and what God is doing in their country.

The need is urgent. Together, we can make a lasting impact on the country of Zimbabwe as we share the good works and the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

I hope you will join me in giving generously to the Zimbabwe Drilling Rig Project. I will share more about this project and how you can give at a later time. And don’t forget about the special Open House Celebration on Sunday, October 30 from 3:00-5:00!

Imagine Life Without Clean Drinking Water

These photos were taken by our New Covenant Zimbabwe Team last summer. The Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation (MCDF) works with orphans and students in 20 different schools. 15 of these schools don't have wells or clean drinking water. Each school has an average of 500 students. The photos above were taken by our team during the Vacation Bible School programs they conducted during their trip.

Imagine sending your child off to a school that didn't have clean drinking water or adequate sanitation. Many children, girls in particular, aren't even able to attend school as their water carrying duties take up a large part of their day. 

Water given in the name of Jesus changes everything. Sanitation, improved hygiene, community gardens, less illness, and the Gospel accompany community wells and clean water! I want to provide a drilling rig in Zimbabwe so that the 15 schools that MCDF ministers to can have clean drinking water. Together we can make a difference as we share the good works and the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

On Sunday, October 30 I am going to celebrate my 20th Anniversary and 60th Birthday with an Open House Celebration. Join me at New Covenant from 3:00-5:00 PM. This is an event for the entire family. Come and learn about the need for clean water, the African culture, enjoy some food and how you can get involved.

I will be sharing more information in the days to come including how you can give financially to the Zimbabwe Drilling Rig Project.

Clean Water Changes Everything

As I wrote in an earlier post, in recognition of my 20th anniversary at New Covenant and my 60th birthday, I’m asking my friends to join me on Sunday, October 30 between 3:00-5:00 PM in room 209 at New Covenant for an Open House Celebration!

To celebrate, I want to help finance a water drilling rig in Zimbabwe. I'm partnering with the Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation, a ministry sponsored by Dennis Matangira and his family. Dennis is from Zimbabwe and attends New Covenant.

MCDF works with 20 schools that represents over 10,000 children! Only five of these schools have a well and clean drinking water! This is not acceptable! The first priority will be to drill wells for the 15 schools that don't have accessibility to clean water.

Why clean water?

• Diseases from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.
• 90% of the 30,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are of children under five years old.
• 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in six people.
• Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking miles to the nearest source, which is unprotected and likely to make them sick.
• In Zimbabwe, the average woman or child walks three hours a day to get water.
• In 1998 Zimbabwe had an outbreak of cholera that devastated the country and shut down hospitals. The primary cause was unclean drinking water.
• Life expectancy at birth for males in Zimbabwe has dramatically declined since 1990 from 60 to 42 years, among the lowest in the world. The amount of time a Zimbabwean citizen is expected to live healthily from birth is 39 years.
• Water, when given in the name of Jesus, changes entire villages, impacts families and transforms lives!

Clean water changes everything! I hope you will join me in giving generously to the Zimbabwe Drilling Rig Project. I will share more about this project and how you can give at a later time.

Together, we can make a lasting impact on the country of Zimbabwe as we share the good works and the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Clean Water: The Facts

You probably came to this blog page because you want to learn more about the importance of clean drinking water. I encourage you to watch the story of Scott Harrison, the founder of charity: water. The video and photos are compelling. It is lengthy but well worth the watch!



This charity: water video below is also informative.


This video by Living Water International is also worth the watch.

Time To Celebrate!

This summer I celebrated two milestone events – my 20^th anniversary at New Covenant and my 60^th birthday! Wow, where has the time gone!

As I thought about what I wanted to do to celebrate God’s goodness and faithfulness to me and my family over the years, God began to lay the need for clean drinking water on my heart. I wrote about this journey on my previous post, Freely Give.

To help me celebrate, I’m asking my friends to join me on Sunday, October 30 between 3:00-5:00 PM in room 209 at New Covenant for an Open House Celebration.

This is an event for the entire family. Come and learn about the need for clean water, the African culture, enjoy some food and how you can get involved.

Instead of a gift or card, I only request your presence. And of course, if you are so inclined, I would value your participation in the Drilling Rig Project. I will share more about how to do this at a later time.

I hope you will be able to stop by, even if it’s only for a brief time. Together, we can make a lasting impact on the country of Zimbabwe as we share the good works and the good news of the gospel!

The Call: Everyone, Everywhere, Everything

I'm blogging some of my favorite quotes from The Call by Os Guinness. These come from chapter 4: Everyone, Everywhere, Everything.

Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service.

Here are four essential strands in the biblical notion of calling that we must always hold.

First, calling has a simple and straighforward meaning. Human beings call to each other, to God, and to animals. Animals too can call.

Second, calling has another important meaning in the Old Testament. To call means to name, and to name means to call into being or to make. Calling is not only a matter of being and doing what we are but also of becoming what we are not yet but are called by God to be. Thus name-calling is the fusion of being and becoming.

Third, calling gains a further characteristic meaning in the New Testament. It is almost a synonym for salvation. In this context, calling is overwhelmingly God's calling people to himself as followers of Christ. Just as God called Israel to him as his people, so Jesus called his disciples.

Fourth, calling has a vital, extended meaning in the New Testament that flowers more fully in the later history of the church. Thus in the New Testament, as Jesus calls his followers to himself, he also calls them to other things and tasks: to peace, to fellowship, to eternal life, to suffering, and to service. But deeper even than these particular things, discipleship, which implies "everyone, everywhere, and in everything," is the natural and rightful response to the lordship of Christ.

In short, calling in the Bible is a central and dynamic theme that becomes a metaphor for the life of faith itself. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be a "called one" and so to become "a follower of the Way."

The third and fourth strands of the meaning of calling are the basis for the vital distinction elaborated later in history between primary and secondary calling. Our primary calling as followers of Christ is by him, to him and for him. First and foremost we are called to Someone (God) not to something or to somewhere.

Our secondary calling, considering who God is as sovereign, is that everyone, everywhere, and in everything should think, speak, live, and act entirely for him.

This vital distinction between primary and secondary calling carries with it two challenges - first, to hold the two together and, second, to ensure that they are kept in the right order.

The truth of calling means that for followers of Christ, "everyone, everywhere, and in everything" lives the whole of life as a response to God's call. Yet this holistic character of calling has often been distorted to become a form of dualism that elevates the spiritual at the expense of the secular. This distortion may be called the Catholic distortion, because it rose in the Catholic ear and is the majority position in the Catholic tradition.

Protestant confusion about calling has led to the Protestant distortion that is even worse. This is the form of dualism in a secular direction that not only elevates the secular at the expense of the spiritual but also cuts it off from the spiritual altogether.

If all that a believer does grows out of faith and is done for the glory of God, then all dualistic distinctions are demolished. There is no higher/lower, sacred/secular, perfect/permitted, contemplative/active, or first class/second class. Calling is the premise of Christian existence itself. Calling means that everyone, everywhere, and in everything fulfills his or her (secondary) callings in response to God's (primary) calling.

"There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, 'This is mine! This belongs to me!'" Abraham Kuyper

The Call: The Haunting Question

I'm blogging some of my favorite quotes from The Call by Os Guinness. These come from chapter 3, The Haunting Question.

Part of our contemporary crisis of identity can be summed up by saying that modern people are haunted by an inescapable question of biography: Who am I?

Many of the categories people offer to explain or heal us today are too general.Who am I? Why am I alive? Being general, the categories never address us as individuals. At best our individuality is lost in the generality. At worst, it is contradicted and denied. All attempts to explain human individuality in general terms can be summed up as varieties of being "constrained to be."

A second and opposite position has equally obvious weaknesses - varies of "the courage of be." We can actually, we are told, "invent ourselves." The absurdity of this position is obvious to all but the rich, the strong, the wealthy, the young, and the fanatical. For one thing, even if we can do what we want, the question remains: What do we want? The near-omnipotence of our means of freedom doubles back to join hands with the near-emptiness of our ends. We do not have a purpose to match our technique. So ironically, we have the greatest capacity when we have the least clue what it is for.

The third perspective views individuality as a matter of being "constituted to be." From our very birth, we are told, we bear the seeds of our eventual character; we carry the script of our life stories.

Humanness is a response to God's calling. Responding to the call means rising to the challenge, but in conversation and in partnership - and in an intimate relationship between the called and the Caller.

Only when we respond to Christ and follow his call do we become our real selves and come to have personalities of our own. So when it comes to identity, modern people have things completely back to front: Professing to be unsure of God, they pretend to be sure of themselves. Followers of Christ put things the other way around: Unsure of ourselves, we are sure of God.

Freely Give

Twenty years ago today I began serving at New Covenant Bible Church as Pastor of Discipling Ministries. That was a long time ago! I had just turned 40. Ryan was entering 4th grade, Jason 2nd grade and Josh and Jon were three years old! I won't tell you how old Sharon was. She was young!

A lot of things have changed over the past 20 years. New Covenant is relocating to a new facility. All four of my boys have graduated from college. Three are married and Jon and Trista have a wedding date set for October 22.

To celebrate my 20 Anniversary, I want to help finance a drilling rig for Zimbabwe. You can read more about it here. $165,000 would purchase the rig and fund the drilling of 20 wells. We are partnering with the Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation. This is a ministry sponsored by Dennis Matangira and his family. Dennis is from Zimbabwe and attends New Covenant.

MCDF works with 20 schools that represents over 10,000 children! Only five of these schools have a well and clean drinking water! The first priority will be to drill wells for the 15 schools that don't have accessibility to clean water.

In addition, over 100 villages and other schools have contacted MCDF to help them drill wells so that they can have access to fresh water. Each well will be drilled and given in Jesus name. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the good works and the good news of the gospel.

God has been good to me and my family over the past 20 years. I'm thankful for His faithfulness and provision. During the next 20 years, if I'm fortunate enough to live that long, I want to give back to others who have less. I want to leverage all that God has given to me for the kingdom. I want to invest my finances, influence, skills and time into things that will have eternal value.

This fall, I want to provide clean drinking water for villages and schools in Zimbabwe. On Sunday, October 30 I will be hosting a party and gathering at New Covenant from 3:00-5:00 PM for those who would like to join me in making a financial contribution to this Well Drilling Project. Save the date! More information will be coming.

I hope you will join me in giving thanks to God for His many blessings. And I hope too that you will give generously so that others can have clean water in Jesus name. Freely we have received, let's freely give.

What If

Sharon and I met with Doug Forret, Don Purdy and Dennis Matangira this morning to talk about the dream we have of purchasing a drilling rig for Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation.

This is rough draft/sneak peak of what we are thinking and praying about. It's pretty crazy but we're asking God for $165,00 to fund this project so we can drill 20 wells a year and provide clean drinking water for villages and schools that go without.

This month I celebrate 20 years of service at New Covenant. I'm making plans to invite my friends to join me in helping make this dream a reality!

What if we could share what we have to give to those who go without? What if we could help empower villages in Zimbabwe to better care for their own? What if we could provide water for drinking, sanitation, gardening and hygiene? What if we could offer hope and help to entire schools and villages? What if we could do all this in the name of Jesus so that His kingdom and purposes are advanced? What if ....

Big Gulp

Watch the video above and then watch the one below that tells how it was made. Quite amazing! It's the world's largest stop-motion animation ever shot. All shot with a Nokia N8 phone.