The Queen City

The first major stop on my Home Assignment tour is Charlotte, North Carolina. I lived here for four years while attending Reformed Theological Seminary. It's by far the largest city that I've ever lived in. The greater Charlotte area has about the same population as the whole country of Namibia! Charlotte has about everything you could want in a city, tons of restaurants, artsy districts, great parks, professional sports, an amusement park, a hopping downtown, but plenty of suburbs for a smaller town family feel. I'll be here about three weeks visiting old friends, reconnecting with my old church, and doing some trainings and debriefing at the SIM head office.

NASCAR headquarters in Charlotte

Charlotte is also the headquarters for SIM USA

4th of July

July 4th is the day Americans celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and their birthday as a nation. Every town across the country has their own form of celebration. There are huge parades with old cars and floats and bands and military veterans and people throwing out candy to the kids. There a flags everywhere and backyard barbecues. And of course, the day always closes of with huge fireworks displays. I haven't been in the States for a 4th of July in four years so it's nice to celebrate with the hometown crowd again! Here's some pics and video to give you a little taste of the festivities...

Food trucks at the town celebration

The 2nd Regiment Band playing some patriotic tunes and pop hits

Big crowds turn out for the fireworks show

Sparklers to celebrate

And of course, the grand finale...

Cultural Adjustments

Travel back to the States for my Home Assignment was uneventful. I flew from Windhoek, to Johannesburg, to London, to Boston. Layovers provided some welcome hours to sleep stretched-out and lying down, and to use the free airport wifi. Overall my travel lasted about 31 hours bringing me back to the place that I had for so long called 'home'.

However, it didn't take long before I started running into cultural differences where I needed to readjust. Apparently the Red Sox had just played a baseball game in London the night before, so our plane was filled with Boston sports chatter and American accents. As soon as I walked out of the airport I was confronted with the humidity of a temperate summer. After loading my baggage into the trunk, I waited behind the car desperately trying to figure out which side was the passenger side so I wouldn't be embarrassed by going to the wrong door. The friend who picked me up from the airport, his kids had gotten tall and really grown up in the 3 years since I'd seen them last. After picking up my borrowed vehicle, I had to keep reminding myself that there is no clutch to push down and to stay on the right side of the road. Even just drinking a Coke today, I was reminded that they use different recipes for different regions, and I've grown used to the taste of southern African Coke.

It's funny the little things that we become so used to, that become such ingrained habits. Those are some of the things that make up our culture, the things we think and do "unthinkingly," as Dallas Willard says. Even when you are well-prepared and expecting them, some of those difference can still take you by surprise when they happen, like a simple sip of Coke. So that's the stage of reentry that I'm in at the moment.

Photo of the Day

Peaceful mornings on the lake

Home Assignment

Having been in Namibia for five years now, my second year term is finishing up and I'm about to return to the States for a 6-month home assignment (What is "Home Assignment"?). During that time I will be reconnecting with all those Stateside who have been participating in this ministry through prayer and financial support and sharing more about what God's been doing in Namibia. I'll be visiting churches to encourage them to be involved in God's mission in the world. And I'll get to spend some time for rest and spiritual refreshment.

I'll spend about three of those months investing back into my home church in New Hampshire. The rest of the time I'll be traveling around the east coast and northern mid-west area making visits along the way. If you're in any of those areas and would like to connect up or have me visit your church then please let me know!

One Day

This past weekend my church hosted their annual One Day youth camp. We had over 100 youth in attendance, plus many church members and young adults volunteering to help pull it off. I was helping out as part of the worship team. The theme for the day was HE>i (that is, "He is greater than I") and the main sessions looked at how God is greater than everything, greater than us, and greater than our mess ups. During our closing session 17 youth made decisions for Christ for the first time! Then in our worship jam session after that they sang so loud that the band couldn't even hear what we were playing in the monitors. 😂Check it out...

Along the River

Rundu is the second largest city in Namibia located along the Kavango River which makes up our northern border with Angola. This area of Namibia is one of the most diverse in terms of languages and people groups. One of those is the Hambukushu people living in villages spread along the river about 160km past Rundu. In one of these villages, SIM had a historic mission station that has since been handed over to the church. It was leaders of that church who invited me to come lead a weekend training seminar with their youth leaders.

It took the whole day to drive from Windhoek to Mbukushu, so that Friday evening we only had time for brief introductions. Since I arrived after dark, it was only the next morning when I could actually see where I was. The church plot is located right along the river, the rising sun glistening off the rippling water. It's a place where everything is green and the trees grow tall and the dry desert sinks into distant memory. There are a few old missionary houses on the plot. I was staying in one with another missionary, and the 20 or so youth leaders were all bunking in another. The church building is small but sufficient for the few from the surrounding village who attend.

Mornings were quite cool by the river, so we held our sessions outside where we could catch some warmth from the sun. We spent most of our time talking about why we do ministry with the youth, and how we need to be taking the gospel to the next generation. We also thought about their own circles of influence and who in their lives they need to be intentional about discipling.

The church building in Mbukushu

The youth workers of Mbukushu

Small group work at the training in Rundu

On Sunday afternoon I drove back to Rundu where I led some similar sessions on Monday and Tuesday evenings. We also had about 20 youth workers for these sessions, but they came from many different churches. It was a great display of unity as they are all working together to help the young people of that community grow up in Christ. We observed how our strategy is often inviting people to "come to church," yet Christ commissioned us to "go and tell." One of the cooler suggestions on how they can be "going to make disciples" was starting a ministry amongst juveniles in the local prison. I hope that, growing out of our time together, many ministries like that would be started amongst the youth in and around Rundu.

The Kehemu EBC church in Rundu

Sunset over the Kavango River