Back at the Crossroads – Preparing for students

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Crossroads Bookmark SingleIt is now Arrival Day! Thursday October 1st, our students will be here soon.

Bob n Carolyn

Bob & Carolyn Hopkins

Our second training week was spent with Bob and Carolyn, our school leaders, getting some Crossroads specific training and preparing for the students arrival. It is wonderful to be working alongside this couple. They have been leading Crossroads DTSs for 28 years, and they still have loads of joy and passion, energy and wisdom to share. We are truly blessed to be serving under their guidance and counsel and are thanking God for them daily.

We are meeting in a different classroom from the one we had last year, it wont be quite as tight. Our 34 adults will fit comfortably, even with their 19 children on occasion, though we will miss the beautiful ocean view. I’m not sure  how we will know it is Wednesday without being able to see the cruise ship. We spent some time at the end of last week cleaning the classroom: dusting, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning widows. Setting up and learning the audio video system; the name badges and room door tags are printed. The school, our students and staff have been prayed over each time we meet.

In the KitchenWe are completing Transition week: the week between quarters where staff get to do the jobs normally done by mission-builders and students on work duty. We spent most of Saturday helping in the kitchen, we worked two shifts in the dish-pit. That is Eric, one of our new friends, at the sink. We had a lot of fun, and met many more IMG_0340people, somehow working together is a great way to get to know one another. Then Monday was Campus Beautification Day. All staff are volunteered, at least strongly encouraged to volunteer, to prepare the campus for Arrival Day on Thursday. This summer had only a couple of mission builders to look after the grounds, so there were many, many weeds to be pulled, plants to be trimmed, dead foliage to be hauled and grass to be cut. All the common areas in and around the buildings, patios, laundry rooms, and hallways had to be swept, dusted and cleaned.

On Tuesday I had to take a Driving Test — I passed. 4e5cf7d4ccb9c59b6620a9c71944d51eSo now I can drive University of the Nations vehicles, 15 passenger vans mostly, some minivans and maybe a car or truck, once in a while. This will be helpful for picking up guest speakers from the airport and getting snack supplies from Costco, and transporting students to Walmart to get some supplies the first Saturday. We spent a few hours in corporate prayer meeting for the upcoming quarter. We began with worship, then Darlene Cunningham shared an encouraging message, which was followed by small group prayer, one on one prayer, Korean-style prayer and prayer led from the front – lots of prayer!! We need it.

Wednesday was spent cleaning rooms for the students, really each room could have used more time but we gave it all we’ve got.

DSC_0565Like the last time we were here most of our exercise is working and walking. We are averaging 25 – 30 kms per week on foot which includes ascending the campus’ many stairs at least twice a day. We have had less rain this week as well, so maybe the torrential downpours are over.

The US Canadian exchange rate is harsh. Each dollar we spend here is now costing us around CAD 1.40, along with some un-budgeted charges for staff activity cards and meals, everything is costing much more than last year. Still  very good value, we are so blessed!

I am thinking that I should start up the “Wildlife this Week” section again…

These guys were about 100mm (4″) long.

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Until next time, be blessed and be a blessing, A&G

PS You can leave a reply by clicking on the “Leave a Reply” link at the top of this post, we enjoy  your comments, thank you.

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Back at the Crossroads – Staff Training

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transformationI saw this cartoon during the week and LOL!

All too often I have I sat in meetings where this sentiment never actually made it out into the open but greatly influenced outcomes. Of course, we don’t need to go to church or be a Christian to understand that “a journey of transformation without requiring any real changes” is not possible. Neither is it Biblical.

We have a heard a lot about metanoia this week as we trained to be DTS staff. Metanoia is the Greek word for repent, be transformed of the mind, change the way you think. Merriam-Webster says it is “a transformative change of heart; especially :  a spiritual conversion.” The word is used 22 times in the New Testament. Jesus speaks of this kind of change several times, my favourite is in Luke 15:7 “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” In Romans 12:2 Paul says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” While metanoia is a transformative change, Paul speaks of transformation using the greek word metamorphoo, from which we get metamorphism, the process through which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. When we accept Christ we should look different.  Paul says “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” just as the caterpillar is recreated as a butterfly, transformed people should be very noticeably changed.

The DTS is a Discipleship Training School. A disciple is a follower of a teacher or mentor, in Christian terms it usually refers to a follower of Jesus. We can assume that disciples follow teachers because they are learners and want to learn more. Much of being staff at a DTS is about friendship, it is about sharing the journey. We will be walking alongside others who are heading to the same place; helping them along the way; lifting them up and encouraging them, acting as a guide along the path. A DTS is all about transformation, caterpillars becoming butterflies. We are privileged, and humbled, to be companions on this journey. (To our Cursillo friends, you may remember I have described DTS as a Cursillo weekend on steroids.)

So this week we learned a lot. We heard about the history of the University of the Nations (click to watch a 15 minute video), and the DTS curriculum; we reviewed the Belief Tree, which we learned about during Family Week last year. We learned about Cultivating an Atmosphere of Worship and Intercession; Small Groups; One to Ones; Leadership Skills; Learning Styles; Outreach Finance training; International Awareness and Cross Culture; Spiritual Authority of Leaders and Staff; Classroom Management and Speaker Introductions; How to deal with students from difficult backgrounds; and Outreach topics. All of this was bracketed with amazing worship and prayer, times of hearing God’s voice and sharing with others.

Crossroads Bookmark Single

Next week we train with Bob and Carolyn, our school leaders, on the specifics for the Crossroads School. We are still praying for more staff to join us, it is going to be a busy time for us, empowered by Holy Spirit!

On Thursday night at the weekly Community Worship the summer quarter teams were commissioned for their outreach phase by Loren Cunningham and other leaders and sent out to the nations. A new school, Apostello School of Frontier Missions sent out their first outreach teams to northern India, Turkey, and Nepal. Unlike a DTS, that goes out for 8-12 weeks, these teams are committed to a minimum 2 year outreach. There was great joy and heaven was celebrating with us.

It is so encouraging to see so many people already fired up for God getting their fires stoked! Ready to go out and make a difference in the world. Again we are impacted by the passion, hunger and wisdom all around us. Last week, the kitchen manager led one of the devotions, he spoke with great passion and quoted scripture all from his heart and that is so common here.

Be blessed and be a blessing, A&G

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…becoming a non-smoker

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Fourteen years ago, on 13th September 2001, I smoked my last cigarette. It is an interesting story that I have shared with individuals and some small groups over the years. In light of the anniversary I thought I would share it here too.

My mother caught me smoking my first cigarette when I was 7 years old. I had stolen it from her pack Guards-Cigarettesof Guards. My Mum, loving me and caring about my future , decided she would spoil any pleasure for good. She sat me down and made smoke a pack of 20 right then and there. Unfortunately, the plan back-fired as I became Weightsaddicted. From that time on I began to take another here and there, and by the time I was 10 I was stealing money to buy cigarettes to support a growing daily habit. I recall slipping out of school too often to make the trip to the railway station in Woodbridge where the clerk would break open a pack Players Weights and sell them individually to young smokers for two or three pennies. Looking back now, I am surprised at the risks I was prepared to take to satisfy this appetite.

When I left the army, at the end of 1984, we bought a house in Haverhill, Suffolk. I stopped smoking in the house for the benefit of my family, especially the children who were 9, 7 and 2, but the habit continued as I became an outdoor smoker.

James Ryle-200x300A few years after we moved to Canada we became involved with the Anglican church and in November 1994 I committed my life to following Jesus but continued smoking. Some folks are healed of addictions instantly, I wasn’t one of them, at least as far as smoking was concerned. Over the Family Day weekend in February 2000 we went to a conference called Christianity 5.0 with James Ryle at our church in Okotoks. During the conference he taught a simple but powerful prayer that I have never forgotten and still use on occasion. It went like this “Lord Jesus, do in me everything you need to do so that through me you can do everything you want to do, Amen.” Be careful, if you pray that prayer and mean it you will find it to be transformational.

James taught Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday. Monday was the Family Day holiday and as I headed outside to the deck, with my morning coffee in one hand, ready to light my first cigarette of the day I prayed that prayer again, “Lord Jesus, do in me everything you need to do so that through me you can do everything you want to do, Amen.” Now it may seem weird to you but I heard a voice that said, “I can’t do everything I want to do through you until you quit smoking.” Just like that, I was convicted. I believe this to be the work of Holy Spirit. I didn’t light the first cigarette that day or the next, I just quit smoking. Over the next few weeks I got closer to God than I had ever been. He was all-consuming, in fact, He became over-consuming. I found myself having trouble concentrating on the task at hand, at work, wherever and whenever, I kept thinking of God. After about 6 weeks, I had a strong urge to get my life back to normal and I stopped, bought cigarettes and smoked again. At some level I was disappointed with myself but at another I had some control back in my life which was good.

In November 2000 I was asked to lead a Men’s Cursillo weekend in Calgary the following year, I was quick to say yes as I had been waiting for the opportunity to serve in this role for some time. But shortly after, I began to get nudges in my spirit, “How can you lead men on a weekend when you are walking in disobedience?” This shocked me quite a bit, the Bible does not say “Thou shalt not smoke!” I would justify myself. But now the voice was right, I was walking in disobedience and I had been since April, when I had started smoking again. I knew I had to resolve this before leading the weekend and told God I would. Not wanting to miss the teaching opportunity (again justifying myself) I decided to put off the inevitable until the first team meeting which was scheduled for 15th September 2001. The plan was to share with the team, crush my last pack of smokes and get the guys to hold me accountable. Perfect!

9-11On 11th September 2011 the world changed. Hijacked airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York. Two days later on the evening of 13th September as I sat waiting for our Thursday Night Men to show up at the coffee shop I whiled away the time looking at the photographs all over the front page of a newspaper and heard that voice questioning me again: “When is an airplane coming through your window?” Holy Spirit convicted, or what!

That was the last day I smoked,13th September 2001, 2 days after 9/11. Lesson learned, never delay walking in obedience as you do not know when you will be called to give an account of all that you have done, good and bad. Delayed obedience is disobedience.

Be blessed and be a blessing, A