Friday, December 28, 2018

Can you make a donation to DOC for my birthday?


Dear Family and Friends,

Each year on my birthday I typically draw attention to a matter that has captured my heart and ask for you to donate.   This year I’m asking for you to help us get DOC (Diaspora Outreach Community) off the ground.   We’ve been very candid and I’m going to be even more candid.


Let me start with basic missionary theology.   It’s called incarnational ministry.   The predominant text it comes from is John 20:21 where our Lord says, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  Missionary theologians interpret this text to mean that the Son of God left all glory in heaven. He came to earth to live in human flesh.   He learned all the pain and suffering of this earth.   That perfected Him for His death to atone for our sins.   In a similar way, those who leave their homes as missionaries must take on the pain and suffering of their host community.  They must live amid the people they serve, experience their experiences, and be perfected.

In many ways, our family has had that journey.   Our return to American has been humbling.   Our past success, degrees, skill set, and connections have had little value to most American decision makers we have known.  We’ve had to start at the bottom when we are old.   Our bodies have failings of our age.   We’ve at times worked 4 jobs.   We’ve been greatly disappointed.  We’ve had times in the past where we couldn’t pay all our bills for months upon months.   We’ve been threatened.   For a time, we were on food stamps.   We’ve at times been humiliated and degraded. 

  In the contemporary American Church, there is no longer a scarlet letter of “A” for adultery.  Now, the American Church’s scarlet letter is the” P” for poverty.  If you wear a P the American Church will rarely give you credibility and at best sees you as a prop or a project.

In one of our dark seasons in America, Jana in her studies found a Harvard Business School paper on the phenomena of “Food Stamp Entrepreneurs” (https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50692.)    It was well reviewed and picked up by leading magazines (https://harvardmagazine.com/2016/07/food-stamp-entrepreneurs, https://www.inc.com/kimberly-weisul/the-surprising-connection-between-welfare-and-entrepreneurship.html, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/welfare-makes-america-more-entrepreneurial/388598/, https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2014/09/02/food-stamp-entrepreneurs-how-public-assistance-enables-business-bootstrapping/#18d94e7f2579.)  It made us laugh.   It gave us an intellectual tool to find hope and to be gracious to the American Church.   Food Stamp Entrepreneurs are those who after working many dead-end jobs realize their only hope for middle-class viability is to start something.   They are poor.   They have no significant credit.   They have no significant savings.   What they have is a good idea, initiative, and hard work.   They take in every program they can find to get viable.   They are fed by food stamps and food banks.  They get medical care through Medicaid and cheap clinics.   They find programs to help with utility bills, school expenses, and any other need they can imagine or find.   Then with the savings to their limited budget by the programs they invest into their idea.   Many Food Stamp Entrepreneurs are immigrants.   As time goes along, they have the typical immigrant success that outpaces the native-born Americans.  Everyone in the family pulls together.   The kids stay out of trouble.   The kids have success in most matters.   Their family stays strong and goes to church.   Some of my successful immigrant friends have been Food Stamp Entrepreneurs.

As we try to get DOC off the ground that is also our path.   Theologically, it is the path of incarnational ministry.    

Yes, we could try to keep working 3 to 4 dead end jobs.  Yes, we could keep hoping that some mythical church or organization will rescue us.   Yes, we could keep hoping that one of the mythical entities would see the Diaspora we see and act.   Yet, as business writers tell us repeatedly, we must take in the reality and then find hope.   Our hope is in the Lord’s return.   He uses the humble to prepare the path.


Our hopes for DOC are the agendas of Diaspora communities we know.   We are not working our own agenda.   

In order to get DOC off the ground, we need resources to do things like pay our phone bill, car expenses, internet, legal fees, etc.  We don’t need help with food, housing, or medical care.   We do need help with the extra expenses that come with having a disabled child.   If you want to make a donation that will matter now is the time.   If you want to support a ministry that truly is immigrant-focused, immigrant-led, and a well-researched model of immigrant success DOC is a great option.  

If you would like to contribute towards DOC for my birthday, simply write a check to Cornerstone Christian Church and put Diaspora Outreach Community in the memo.   Send the check to 

Cornerstone Christian Church
312 Geneva Road
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

Asante sana.   Webale nyo.   Murakoze cyane.   Thank you very much.

Dave

Thursday, August 9, 2018

We're grandparents! Hoo yee!


Dear Family and Friends,

At the beginning of 2018 we entered into an exhausting season.   When we counted what we were doing it was four distinct ministry jobs.  First, we were serving with East African Diaspora as missionaries to America.   Second, we were house parents for single mothers at Jubilee Village.   Third, we were attempting to start a new church called Nations’ Chapel in Carol Stream, Illinois.  Fourth, we were interim pastoring at Lighthouse Fellowship in Huntley, Illinois.   Our sleep was frequently interrupted.   The cultural contexts of each required great adaptation. It was difficult to culturally shift quickly from one to another.   Yet, each one represented an area of the American experience for which we deeply loved and felt God had called us to.  Also, each one provided a portion of the resources we needed to pay our family bills.   We needed God to do the sifting and get us back on a Sabbath rhythm cared for by His providence.

The sifting has happened.   We’ll share some more details in the next month as it gets even more clear.   However, this month we want to share the best news that has come.   The Lord gave us a break when our children and grandchildren needed attention.    

We’re now grandparents.    Our oldest daughter, Sophia; and her husband, Matt Cardillo welcomed their daughter, Peniel Angelica Cardillo into the world on Wednesday, July 18.   Her name sounds like, “Penny L.”   They are calling her Penny for short.    Her name comes from the story of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32.    After the wrestling Jacob (heel grabber) becomes Israel (struggled with God.)    The place where the wrestling match happened is named Peniel (Face of God.)   Israel declares, “For I have seen God face to face and I have been delivered.”

When we see Penny, we see her move her hands in a thoughtful way as Dave’s mom did.    She is attentive to make eye contact and will even look at books.   Her mouth looks like Sophia’s.   The rest of her face looks like Matt minus his beard.   Some remark that she looks like Jana and ponders matters as Dave.     When we close our eyes, we see her.

Matt and Sophia have pushed against many presuppositions of our American contemporary culture.   Shortly after their wedding in July 2015 they moved to Rwanda as missionaries serving at Kigali International Community School (KICS.)   They didn’t seek to advance their career and stability.    After two years they returned to the USA.   They live in Philadelphia near Matt’s family in New Jersey.   Matt drives a truck for Sysco and is preparing to take his MCAT.    They live simply.   Sophia stayed home during her pregnancy in preparation.    They are one of the first of their peers to have children.   In many ways, Matt and Sophia are living out old fashioned values of an American experience generations before themselves.   As such they must wrestle with God and men.    Penny shows the face of God.  We trust that she will be a blessed child who will bless many in return.  

Dave, Jana, and Timothy started traveling to Philadelphia as Sophia went into labor.  We arrived on Thursday, July 19 to see her.   We stayed through the weekend and helped out the best we could.    We shopped for them, cooked, and gave a break or two so Matt and Sophia could rest.


While in Philadelphia we were able to on Saturday, July 21 visit our old missionary colleagues, Bryan and Holly Hixson, and their daughter, Grace.   The Hixsons have recently left Rwanda.   Holly is teaching science at Cairn University (a Christian liberal arts school.)   It was so good to connect with them.  We trust the students and faculty at Cairn will be blessed by the Hixson’s presence.

As the weekend closed Jana flew back to Chicago for our Jubilee Village responsibilities.  Dave and Timothy began driving.   Timothy had his Paralympic Junior Nationals in Fort Wayne, Indiana from Wednesday, July 24 to Friday, July 27.    

Unfortunately, all of the travel was very hard on Timothy.   His cerebral palsy affects sensations and digestion.    He has head aches when he’s in the car.  He sleeps to get through the pain.    The travel made eating on schedule difficult.   It also made eating the right healthy combinations of food problematic.    By the time we reached Fort Wayne the week of travel had left Timothy quite sick.

Timothy was barely able to gather his strength for the long jump on Wednesday, July 24.   All who watched were shocked that a kid who was in so much pain gathered his available strength to make 4 of the 6 jumps.   He won his classification among all competitors under the age of 23 at just the age of 15.   There is no doubt, God has made him talented.   Nor is there any doubt that Timothy works very hard.

We were curious how he would do in the 200 meters on Thursday and the 100 meters on Friday.  His previous times in those events were just fractions away from making the “emerging” category in which he goes into the international data base.    Yet, by Thursday the pain was too much.   Timothy and Dave decided to call it quits and returned home to Carol Stream.   Timothy spent about 5 days resting and recovering.    We’re now back to the routine of consistent nutrition, exercise, and rest.   We wait in hope for other opportunities.

In many ways through this wrestling we do see the face of God.   In fact, it is in that wrestling in which He is the closest to us and we are the most dependent upon Him.

Having biological grandchildren has reminded us of our spiritual grandchildren for which we are very thankful.   God’s grace allowed us to initiate and shepherd movements in Uganda and Rwanda.    Those movements now have people scattered throughout North America and Europe.   We’ve realized that as our biological family is no longer in a single location, so our spiritual family also is scattered.   To be a good grandparent we must structure our lives to live regionally and internationally.   We’re pondering how that is the call of God.   Please keep our family in your prayers.

Mungu akubariki (May God bless you,)

Dave and Jana 

P.S. Contributions may be sent to:

Ignite Church Planting
P.O. Box 189
Schererville, IN 46375 

Online contributions can be made at http://www.ignitechurchplanting.com/donate.html
By clicking the "Donate" button you will be taken to a secure site where you can give your donation.  Select "Giving Type" and designate your gift for "Nations Chapel."

Monday, July 16, 2018

Setting the Table for Social Media Conversations


We will be making some adjustments in coming months.   We anticipate those adjustments will see more blogging, writing, and social media usage.

 We’ve had some express concern about our social media use not being appropriate for pastors.   We’ve also had many affirm our social media usage.  We thought we should give a little clarity.



We see that God has given us a treasure to steward on social media.  We’re not celebrities but we do have many friends and those who follow our postings.   We’ve lived in diverse settings that very quickly became quite intimate due to their intensity.   Social media has given us a way to bring our diverse worlds together in conversation.  In many ways it has made us more authentic.   For instance, we don’t have one missionary face when “we’re on the field,” and another missionary face when “we’re reporting to donors.”   It’s all together.

If you’re looking at social media and asking the question, “What would Jesus do?”   We at this point don’t have a good answer.  However, if you are looking at social media and asking, “What would the Apostle Paul do?” please pull up a chair.   We think he’d be a blogging, facebooking, and tweeting missionary.   We think the same thing about Exilic prophets like Ezekiel or Daniel.   We’ll try to live out that presupposition as best we can.  


A few times we’ve gone through our friends list and counted categories.  Yet, much of the following is an educated guess. 
  
I have over 4,000 friends on Facebook.   About half of them are of African descent.   Probably about 30% are European-Americans.

Probably about 20% are from other nations.   Of the 20% most of them are those we met in global cities such as embassy personnel, development workers, international business people, and academics.   At least 1,000 of my friends are African immigrants to Europe or North America.  My friends are educated.   Many of them I’ve met in academic settings.   I’d guess 75% have a bachelor’s degree.   I’d bet at least 20% have graduate degrees.  Most are believers in Jesus’ resurrection.   I’d guess that number is around 85%.   Yet, there are some who don’t believe in Jesus’ resurrection.   Some of them are followers of the Muslim faith.   A few are Jewish.   


For some who follow me the conversations on social media are an exposure to a world that is completely new.    The general tone will be thoughtful people representing the Global Church.  You’ll notice we’re discussing frequently North America as a mission field.   At times that will be enticing.   At times that will be offensive as you’ll discover the Global Church’s appraisal of the North American Church.   

If you’re struggling to understand what’s happening think of the conversation as the types of ones  you’d find around a kitchen table with the above people.  You’ll see some intimacy and candor that is out of the ordinary.   Please take the time to listen well.   Occasionally, we introduce people to one another.   We like all of you and hope you will like one another.  


In my home we deal daily with issues of race, immigration, poverty, and disability.   Just as you’ll see photos of births, weddings, parties, athletic and academic accomplishments you’ll read stories of us processing painful parts of the American experience.  You’ll notice we rarely have the TV going at our kitchen table.   We tend to only have it on for sporting events and generally just turn it off when the news and commentaries are on.   You’ll notice lots of reading of newspapers, magazines, blogs, books, and Bibles happen; and they get quoted frequently.   You’ll notice we read pretty diverse sources and have few partisan affiliations.   You may want to think of the conversations as ones you’d have in the morning in a large extended family.   Some times the conversations will be quite pointed.   Yet, we’ll try our best to be kind and gracious.   

We’ll on occasion delete comments if we find them abusive.  

 I’ve 12 times blocked someone so it does happen but is rare.   You’ll get blocked if you try to manipulate the conversation to take people’s money, or are unkind to children or parents.  Basically, you’re in the home of an old man who still runs a few miles in the morning.    I expect you to be good to your neighbors.

Pull up a chair.  Grab a cup of coffee.   What’s up?   What have you read lately?   What are you thinking?   Murakaza neza.   Karibuni sana.   We hope you feel welcome.