Today is gonna be busy fun. So many things to sort for the mission teams! Each group needs t-shirts, lanyards, name tags, and a devotion booklet so that means I play on facebook while the missionaries work. Not really. I will probably be doing most of it cuz the girls are still asleep. booooo
Tonight we'll go out on the town with the Boss and crank that Red Lobster. We always go out to eat on the first night, and I got to pick where we're going cuz, well..not gonna lie.., Nadeine spoils me haha. Then tomorrow it's off to Hannibal for training til Thursday! whooo for 5 hour drives...
Last night was a lot of fun because we were all finally here together! I decided to have a share time where each missionary could just kinda express their feelings about the summer and what they hope to get out of it. I love hearing what's on their hearts and how they want to see the Lord move and work over the next 10 weeks, and even beyond that in their every day life. Something I stressed last night is that this 10 weeks doesn't make you special. It's not a sudden escape to Godliness. This is how we should live every single day that the Lord gives us breath. Being up here leading mission teams is just a way to incorporate our faith into our job, which happens to be a part of every day life. I hope these students will learn to be bold with that. When people ask them if they're vacationing in Branson I want their first thoughts to be "how can I redirect this into a spiritual conversation?" That should always be our focus. Yeah, it's uncomfortable. But who cares?! Would you rather be comfortable and not sew the seeds of Grace and truth? I want them to be stretched this summer to new heights and to a greater understanding of their identity in Christ.
This world is where we breathe, never let it be called home.
Jo_than
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Humble pie with fat-free meringue
Today I woke up bright and early at 7:15am after being awake til nearly 2:00am. I hate my internal clock sometimes. But it gave me a great opportunity to hit the pavement and get my daily mile in. I hope to regularly do this to maintain discipline in exercising and to let that discipline bleed over into the rest of my life.
But anyway, that's not what this post is about.
After I got done I had the overwhelming urge to pray. So I went in to each room in the house and lifted up that person. Steve O, Nadeine, Lauren, the house parents, Krystyna and myself. It was such a humbling, yet necessary, experience. If I want to be an affective leader this summer, I need to start it on my knees in prayer for those who I shall guide and direct. And as I prayed I felt the Lord laying things on my heart that needed to be lifted up on behalf of each person. It was one of the most incredibly humble feelings I have ever experienced. I think that will be par of my morning routine now, to pray for each person by walking to their door and voicing a prayer for them.
God is so good and has already taught me so many things in the few days I have been here. This is so much more than a job. The interactions I will have with believers and non believers will prove to be challenging and exciting. I am about to hit the resorts with our list of groups for them. One is owned by a Christian family and I don't think the other is. People are my passion and I pray that in the short time I have with the management today that the Lord will use me.
Thanks for reading and praying
JChambers
But anyway, that's not what this post is about.
After I got done I had the overwhelming urge to pray. So I went in to each room in the house and lifted up that person. Steve O, Nadeine, Lauren, the house parents, Krystyna and myself. It was such a humbling, yet necessary, experience. If I want to be an affective leader this summer, I need to start it on my knees in prayer for those who I shall guide and direct. And as I prayed I felt the Lord laying things on my heart that needed to be lifted up on behalf of each person. It was one of the most incredibly humble feelings I have ever experienced. I think that will be par of my morning routine now, to pray for each person by walking to their door and voicing a prayer for them.
God is so good and has already taught me so many things in the few days I have been here. This is so much more than a job. The interactions I will have with believers and non believers will prove to be challenging and exciting. I am about to hit the resorts with our list of groups for them. One is owned by a Christian family and I don't think the other is. People are my passion and I pray that in the short time I have with the management today that the Lord will use me.
Thanks for reading and praying
JChambers
Thursday, May 27, 2010
And so it begins
I'm about to start the best job ever for the fourth summer in a row. But this year is a little different. Actually, it's a lot different. I am pretty much in charge now. Nadeine is still the big boss, but as far as the mission house and the missionaries go, the responsibility is on me.
Overwhelming? A little.
Afraid? Slightly.
Confident? 110%
Here's a little back ground on what goes on during the summer here in Branson, MO.
Groups from all over the US come here to Branson for a week during the summer to participate in service through day camps and Bible clubs at resorts, Vacation Bible Schools at local churches, and various clean up and construction projects. They get the connection through Nadeine and the Tri County Baptist Association. The association also hires four college-age summer missionaries to serve for ten weeks and facilitate what the groups do in the Branson area. It is a wonderful experience for the missionary and the mission team as they serve along side each other. The missionary is also thrust into roles that will stretch them and hopefully help them grow in their walk with Christ. Many vacationers come to Branson for fun and relaxation but may not realize that this might be their appointed time to hear the good news of Jesus. We love living what we believe and our goal is to reach people with the Gospel as well as come away from the summer with a stronger urge to share our faith.
So that's what I have been doing up here the past four summers for those of you who thought I went on vacation. I absolutely love what I do and feel so blessed to have been able to serve for four consecutive years. What makes this year different for me is a whole new list of responsibilities. I will not be assigned to a particular mission team each week. Instead, I get to be partially in charge of all the groups every week! This means that making sure the missionaries are all on task is my responsibility as well. Paying the meals, paying the show tickets, backing up my missionaries, keeping things sane (and safe), helping with needs of the mission team, getting the mail, and any other logistical thing you can think of is what I get to take care of. This is not a complaint by any means. I am excited beyond comprehension at what I get to do this summer!!! Being able to serve in this capacity just overwhelms me with joy. Service is probably my greatest spiritual gift and I love to use it abundantly. I will also be tested in assertiveness and patience as I deal with issues that arise. It's a bit intimidating, but nothing I can't handle with the Lord by my side.
The missionaries get here this weekend and I'm super stoked!!! I have met all of them and they are all excellent young people with a passion to serve the Lord. I ask that you pray for them as they attempt to put up with me over the summer. Just kidding haha. We'll all do fine. Nadeine trusts and respects all of us and I feel that we won't lose that. This is going to be a life changing summer for all of us! I'll try and keep this updated rather often to let everyone know how it's going and how you can pray for us. We're open til midnight or later all summer long!
Pray for Krystyna, Lauren, Steve O, Nadeine and me as we begin our summer with three busy weeks at training, kids camp, and super summer.
Also pray that we will all get along and issues will be at a minimum and resolved quickly
Pray for our mission teams as they prepare to come, that they will be in the right mind-set and have everything ready to effectively minister to those around them
Pray for our house parents as they get ready to take a week out of their summer to come live with us and cook for us. We are SUPER grateful for them
Pray for Branson and all its vacationers that they will be safe and open to the message of Jesus.
Pray for me that the Lord will give me patience, strength, and wisdom as I take on a new leadership role this summer.
Thanks for reading! Keep it real, yo.
Jonathan
Overwhelming? A little.
Afraid? Slightly.
Confident? 110%
Here's a little back ground on what goes on during the summer here in Branson, MO.
Groups from all over the US come here to Branson for a week during the summer to participate in service through day camps and Bible clubs at resorts, Vacation Bible Schools at local churches, and various clean up and construction projects. They get the connection through Nadeine and the Tri County Baptist Association. The association also hires four college-age summer missionaries to serve for ten weeks and facilitate what the groups do in the Branson area. It is a wonderful experience for the missionary and the mission team as they serve along side each other. The missionary is also thrust into roles that will stretch them and hopefully help them grow in their walk with Christ. Many vacationers come to Branson for fun and relaxation but may not realize that this might be their appointed time to hear the good news of Jesus. We love living what we believe and our goal is to reach people with the Gospel as well as come away from the summer with a stronger urge to share our faith.
So that's what I have been doing up here the past four summers for those of you who thought I went on vacation. I absolutely love what I do and feel so blessed to have been able to serve for four consecutive years. What makes this year different for me is a whole new list of responsibilities. I will not be assigned to a particular mission team each week. Instead, I get to be partially in charge of all the groups every week! This means that making sure the missionaries are all on task is my responsibility as well. Paying the meals, paying the show tickets, backing up my missionaries, keeping things sane (and safe), helping with needs of the mission team, getting the mail, and any other logistical thing you can think of is what I get to take care of. This is not a complaint by any means. I am excited beyond comprehension at what I get to do this summer!!! Being able to serve in this capacity just overwhelms me with joy. Service is probably my greatest spiritual gift and I love to use it abundantly. I will also be tested in assertiveness and patience as I deal with issues that arise. It's a bit intimidating, but nothing I can't handle with the Lord by my side.
The missionaries get here this weekend and I'm super stoked!!! I have met all of them and they are all excellent young people with a passion to serve the Lord. I ask that you pray for them as they attempt to put up with me over the summer. Just kidding haha. We'll all do fine. Nadeine trusts and respects all of us and I feel that we won't lose that. This is going to be a life changing summer for all of us! I'll try and keep this updated rather often to let everyone know how it's going and how you can pray for us. We're open til midnight or later all summer long!
Pray for Krystyna, Lauren, Steve O, Nadeine and me as we begin our summer with three busy weeks at training, kids camp, and super summer.
Also pray that we will all get along and issues will be at a minimum and resolved quickly
Pray for our mission teams as they prepare to come, that they will be in the right mind-set and have everything ready to effectively minister to those around them
Pray for our house parents as they get ready to take a week out of their summer to come live with us and cook for us. We are SUPER grateful for them
Pray for Branson and all its vacationers that they will be safe and open to the message of Jesus.
Pray for me that the Lord will give me patience, strength, and wisdom as I take on a new leadership role this summer.
Thanks for reading! Keep it real, yo.
Jonathan
Friday, May 14, 2010
What could have been..
This feels like a deep topic for a first post but here it goes..
Yesterday I was taking my sister to Stillwater to get a free eye exam at Special Olympics and getting off at the exit I started to think back to the last days of high school and the plans to go to Oklahoma State with Virgil and Jason. I was taking courses at OSU-OKC for a semester, then worked for a semester, all the while having high hopes of making it in to OSU to major in Aviation an be a pilot like I have dreamed about since birth. I was so excited that all this was panning out and that I would be able to exercise my renewed spirit to serve the Lord. During the spring semester of 06 we all began visiting the campus and setting up housing arrangements, but OSU wouldn't accept me. I don't know why. My high school GPA was ok, my ACT was decent, and I was confident. But I couldn't even make it into the pre-college they have up there. I was devastated. I had no idea what to do for school, much less what to do with my life. I began looking around and nothing was of interest to me. I started looking at OBU and still wasn't that thrilled. I wanted to be a pilot, that's it. OBU has cross-cultural work degrees so I talked myself into applying and settling for that. I wasn't very optimistic because if I had been rejected by a public school, why would a private school take me? Well, for reasons still unknown to me, I was accepted and started here in the Fall of 06.
Being at OBU kinda rocked my world. I had never had to work this hard to get a grade in my life. High school was too easy for me, thus when I got here I had no work ethic. My grades were bad and I struggled to hang on for a couple years. In that time though I have met some amazing people who are now incredible friends. I was also able to finally leave the US and venture to India to serve the Lord on short term trips. Things were so incredible, yet I was struggling with keeping up in school. And on top of that my family couldn't afford to keep me here. So in the Fall of 08 I sat out a semester. It was probably the hardest, most gut-wrenching thing I have had to do in my life, but looking back on it I cannot be thankful enough that the Lord pulled me out of the game and taught me what it means and takes to become a better student and a better person.
I was able to return in the Spring of 09 and settled on a new major: Interdisciplinary in Cross-Cultural Ministry, Anthropology, and Worship Arts. It's going to take some extra time (more than I would like, actually) to get it done, but I love what I'm studying and I know it will be worth it.
Last Fall I had the opportunity to live in South East Asia for four months. Oh my goodness, what a life changing experience that was! I was really able to break out of any comfort zone I had remaining and really just get used to meeting new people from all over the world and doing whatever it takes to build eternal relationships. That semester set me back even further, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything.
Now I am back at OBU fighting to make the grades (which I have done this semester, PTL!!) and just keep going wherever life takes me. It makes me stop to think what could have been. When I was in Stillwater that alternate universe was playing out in my mind. Different friends, different life-goals, probably wouldn't have left the country, may have turned away from my walk with Christ... It kinda scared me for a minute. And it made me so thankful that through all my failures and upset plans, the Most High God is always in control. He doesn't just step in when things are bad, or when we send out a signal of distress. He is ALWAYS present in our lives working for the good. As I think about all the people who have come in and out of my life I can't be thankful enough for them and this hard path the Lord has brought me down. He is faithful in all He does and I don't deserve any of it. Why He chose to call me out and be His..I will never know. But I am eternally grateful. "What could have been" is of the devil. "What is going to be" is a promise from the Lord.
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:1-11
Yesterday I was taking my sister to Stillwater to get a free eye exam at Special Olympics and getting off at the exit I started to think back to the last days of high school and the plans to go to Oklahoma State with Virgil and Jason. I was taking courses at OSU-OKC for a semester, then worked for a semester, all the while having high hopes of making it in to OSU to major in Aviation an be a pilot like I have dreamed about since birth. I was so excited that all this was panning out and that I would be able to exercise my renewed spirit to serve the Lord. During the spring semester of 06 we all began visiting the campus and setting up housing arrangements, but OSU wouldn't accept me. I don't know why. My high school GPA was ok, my ACT was decent, and I was confident. But I couldn't even make it into the pre-college they have up there. I was devastated. I had no idea what to do for school, much less what to do with my life. I began looking around and nothing was of interest to me. I started looking at OBU and still wasn't that thrilled. I wanted to be a pilot, that's it. OBU has cross-cultural work degrees so I talked myself into applying and settling for that. I wasn't very optimistic because if I had been rejected by a public school, why would a private school take me? Well, for reasons still unknown to me, I was accepted and started here in the Fall of 06.
Being at OBU kinda rocked my world. I had never had to work this hard to get a grade in my life. High school was too easy for me, thus when I got here I had no work ethic. My grades were bad and I struggled to hang on for a couple years. In that time though I have met some amazing people who are now incredible friends. I was also able to finally leave the US and venture to India to serve the Lord on short term trips. Things were so incredible, yet I was struggling with keeping up in school. And on top of that my family couldn't afford to keep me here. So in the Fall of 08 I sat out a semester. It was probably the hardest, most gut-wrenching thing I have had to do in my life, but looking back on it I cannot be thankful enough that the Lord pulled me out of the game and taught me what it means and takes to become a better student and a better person.
I was able to return in the Spring of 09 and settled on a new major: Interdisciplinary in Cross-Cultural Ministry, Anthropology, and Worship Arts. It's going to take some extra time (more than I would like, actually) to get it done, but I love what I'm studying and I know it will be worth it.
Last Fall I had the opportunity to live in South East Asia for four months. Oh my goodness, what a life changing experience that was! I was really able to break out of any comfort zone I had remaining and really just get used to meeting new people from all over the world and doing whatever it takes to build eternal relationships. That semester set me back even further, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything.
Now I am back at OBU fighting to make the grades (which I have done this semester, PTL!!) and just keep going wherever life takes me. It makes me stop to think what could have been. When I was in Stillwater that alternate universe was playing out in my mind. Different friends, different life-goals, probably wouldn't have left the country, may have turned away from my walk with Christ... It kinda scared me for a minute. And it made me so thankful that through all my failures and upset plans, the Most High God is always in control. He doesn't just step in when things are bad, or when we send out a signal of distress. He is ALWAYS present in our lives working for the good. As I think about all the people who have come in and out of my life I can't be thankful enough for them and this hard path the Lord has brought me down. He is faithful in all He does and I don't deserve any of it. Why He chose to call me out and be His..I will never know. But I am eternally grateful. "What could have been" is of the devil. "What is going to be" is a promise from the Lord.
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:1-11
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