Sunday School Training

Part of my role working at Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary involves going out into the community to serve the local churches. This past weekend I was invited to train a group of Sunday School teachers from the Uniting Reformed Church. There were a few experienced ladies who had taught Sunday School for years, but most of them were young people very new to the job.

After a short encouragement about why we do children's ministry, we spent most of our time considering the differences between behavior modification and heart transformation. Then we went through a number of typical children's Bible stories and discussed how we could teach this story for heart transformation and not just behavior modification. It was quite a stimulating conversation which many of the teachers said they enjoyed and benefited from. I pray that the training will have positive and fruitful outcomes in their Sunday School students this year!

Photo of the Day

I found this Black-faced Weaver building his new home

and took way too many pics, but I think I like this one the best.

Welcome Back!

When I arrived back in Namibia I hit the ground running attending Staff Training at NETS the very next day. Fighting through the jet lag, I learned more about how to write a good syllabus, how to use creativity in my courses, and was reminded to keep my courses gospel-centered.

Learning about Syllabi at NETS Staff Training Week.

NETS staff enjoying some lunch together during
Staff Training Week.

The following week students arrived back on campus for the 2017 academic year. We kicked off with two days of Student Orientation. This is designed to help new students get acquainted with the campus and how we do things around NETS. It also helps returning students to ease back into the school routine and helps everyone to feel welcomed and part of the family.

Students making a music video for a group activity
during Student Orientation.

New first year students doing group work in class.

Then classes started back up and we're off and running. This semester I'll be teaching a Preaching course to the 2nd and 3rd year students. We'll focus on organizing a sermon around one big idea, developing a clear outline, and applying that idea to the congregation's specific context. I'm looking forward to a great semester!

The Long Awaited Journey

After a 6-month long home assignment and more visits and speaking engagements than I can count, it was time to go back to Namibia. I crammed two suitcases full of all my possessions, new purchases, and some donated items I’d been given along the way. I had an afternoon flight so it gave me all morning to finish packing and weighing my bags and wrapping up all the last minute details.

My first flight was just a little jump up to NYC, then next was the long leg of the itinerary: 12 hours from New York to Doha, Qatar. I managed to catch a few hours of sleep on that flight, along with a few new movies. We landed in Doha around 6pm, but my next flight wouldn’t leave again until 3am. So because I had a 9 hour layover, Qatar Airways put me up in a hotel for free. As we were waiting in the long line to get a hotel voucher, I struck up a conversation with a young, Pakistani guy who was headed back to the States for his second semester at George Washington University. We both feared we would spend our entire layover waiting in that line, but we were eventually helped, so I wished him well and went on to find my hotel.

Doha skyline at night

My hotel in Doha

I was booked at a fancy, upscale place in the city which meant catching a shuttle for the 20-minute drive from the airport to the hotel. Now well after dark, the gorgeously lit skyline grew progressively bigger in the window as we approached. I was given a room on the ninth floor which offered a nice view of some of the high-rises, but the bay beyond looked black in the night. By the time I got there, I only had about 2 and a half hours, but it was still enough time to catch a shower and a nap before I would need to head back to the airport. As I’m sure you can imagine, that bed was far more comfortable than an airplane seat!

My hotel room in Doha

9th floor view from my hotel room in Doha

I got the wake-up call at 11:30pm to catch the midnight shuttle back to the airport. The 3am flight to Windhoek was only half-full so I moved up to where there were three empty seats and had the whole row to myself. It was nice to put up the armrests and lay down to sleep. Not as comfortable as the hotel bed, but better than sleeping sitting up.

Finally back in Windhoek, they managed to lose one of my bags (no surprise there!), but fortunately it showed up within 3 days. Now comes the process of reacclimating back into this once familiar culture. It’s like when you wake up from a super intense dream and it takes you a few moments to remember what is real life. Experiences here are like long forgotten memories being drawn back to the surface. But I’m sure it won’t last long, and once again it will just feel . . . normal.

Merry Christmas!

My parents used to tell me that ever since I was a little kid I've always been enamored with lights. Well, true to form, this holiday season I hit up three different tree lightings! And another thing I love is the music! Even though it's not socially acceptable, I confess I've been listening to Christmas music since after Halloween. ;) So here's a little video of my fun, festive holiday season filled with lights and lots of Christmas music. I hope it helps everybody get in the holiday spirit! Merry Christmas!!

New York City

A friend of mine from Namibia has always wanted to visit the Big Apple, so he planned his trip to coincide with my drive south so that I could meet up with him there. I spent three days with him exploring the sights of the city. Since both of us are photographers, needless to say many photos were taken. Here are a few of my favorites, but you can see more on my Flickr page here. (Click on any photo to enlarge)

Lower Manhattan behind Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Holiday Train Show at the NYC Botanical Gardens

Holiday Train Show at the NYC Botanical Gardens

St. John's Cathedral and the Peace Fountain

Waiting to cross 

New York Public Library

Bryant Park Tree Lighting SKATE-tacular 

Bryant Park Tree Lighting SKATE-tacular

Gutenberg Bible 

Grand Central Terminal

Panorama of Lower Manhattan at night

Personal Retreat

The words silence and solitude seem so quaint and antique in today's fast-paced, activity-driven, tech-saturated world. But for a small segment of spiritual seekers, silence and solitude have long been a centering discipline to quiet our own inner monologue and make ourselves available to hear from God. This past week, I set aside three days to do just that.

The Wixson Ministry Cabin at Camp Sentinel

I had heard about the Wixson Ministry Cabin at Camp Sentinel, a place for full-time Christian workers to get away for rest and refreshment, so I booked it out for 3 nights. I arrived Tuesday afternoon to find that I would be the only one there that week. No campers, no church groups, just me and the small camp staff on 600 acres of beautiful New Hampshire forest.

It's a small two-bedroom log cabin with a large kitchen-dining-living space. Out back is a lovely porch, lawn and fire pit with a view out over Dan Hole Pond (which is really more the size of a small lake). The trail down to the lake opens up to a beach which would have been great for a swim were it not late November. But it did make a lovely place to tie up my hammock and lounge for a while looking out over the lake with the mountains in the background.

The dining/living room area at the cabin

I left my computer at home and put my phone on airplane mode. I didn't even ask for the wifi password. There would be no contact with the outside world. I brought only my Bible and one book as my "guide" for the week. It was the book The Gift of Being Yourself by Dr. David Benner, recommended by one of my pastor friends. It's a short book, only 100 pages or so, perfect for a 3 day retreat. If it were any longer, I would've found myself spending more time reading and less time digesting, evaluating, and applying. His goal was to help the reader know himself better, and therefore know God better. It's a very helpful little book and I definitely recommend it.

Having no agenda or plan or activities to do, I found the hours crept by. I'm so used to being active, that it felt a little weird just sitting there. But just sitting on the couch, trying to quiet my mind, intentionally trying to recognize the presence of God already with me was incredibly helpful. You don't have to go away on a retreat to experience the presence of God. He's with you all the time. He's everywhere. And, as a Christian, He lives inside you. But sometimes we need to get away on a retreat to quiet ourselves enough to recognize that Presence that has been there all along.

Sun rising on the mountains across Dan Hole Pond at Camp Sentinel (click to enlarge)