Touring Day

Today we toured some of the country regions. We went to a couple of markets. Saw a Taiwanese traditional parade. It was really hot and humid today. I am pretty sure I got dehydration as I felt sick later in the afternoon but I got a ton of water in me and felt a lot better. Last night I had a lot of trouble sleeping so hopefully when I go to bed tonight I can sleep better. When we got back in the evening we toured a couple of spots where they are dreaming about putting their future church. A couple of the buildings were outside of this park where a missions team hosted an outreach party. Inside the park there were a bunch of teenagers tripping on drugs. It was really sad to see them that way but gave me a passion to see this church planted and these people redeemed.

Here are some pictures from today:

Me walking a parade at one of the markets we visited:


Beggar laying in the middle of a market
One of the buildings they would put the church in:

The 101

Today we walked the Ximen Ding district in Taipei. It was an awesome experience seeing all the different things. We visited to Dao temples and they were very depressing. Basically people offer up prayers to the "gods" that their dead ancestors will have a good day. If they don't then they think they will have a bad day. Kind of simplified but the basic concept is it is a religion run on fear and sadness. There really is no hope. It is great that there is a group of people that are living here looking to bring hope to these people. The primary "in" to people's lives here is teaching them English. I met a few different people here who were learning English and their text was the Bible. Cool Stuff. In fact we hung out with about 5-6 different people today just because they wanted to try and speak English to us. What a great opportunity of influence that American's can have in this culture. There is immediate respect and honor given to those who speak English.

The Ximen Ding district is actually built over an ancient burial ground so by the older generation the district is looked down upon. But there are thousands and thousands of young people who hang out there. Everyone is friendly and willing to carry on a conversation with you. This will be a great place to take a team to help them start a church here. It is very relational ministry here and very powerful.


We visited the 101 which was the tallest building in the world until Dubai built one taller in September. We walked out on the observatory deck which was awesome. We had great food at the base of the building and even took home the chop sticks:)


Here are some pics:

Some people who are on the trip: Chris (live in missionary), Erik (colorado), ryan (portland), Me, Jason (National Office), Epong (works the store)



The 101 Building
Some people we hung out with in the Ximen Ding(Eric, Ryan, Dave, girl, Jason, Eric, Me)


Ximen Ding at Night(Somewhat similar to Times Square though not as big)

Me In Front of the Ximen Ding

Taiwan

I traveled to Taiwan today and it was amazing. The traveling was long and tiring but we are here. We haven't even started and what they are doing here is awesome. They are creating marketplace venues to connect with people and start a church. Right now they own a clothing store and are looking to open a burger joint with the intent of starting a church. That is awesome. As soon as we got here we took a bunch of college students out for ice cream at like 1am. It was cool to meet some Taiwanese young adults. I learned my chinese name is Mashow. Cool stuff.

I will be here for 5 more days learning about the missions work God is doing in Taiwan and how we can be a part.

Today

I feel like I am wasting it somewhat. Spending a lot of time on the computer just looking through facebook and twitter. Joshua is sleeping. I am thinking that I will go out and take him on a walk. It is tough taking your day off when Kelly is working. It would be really nice to spend one day just hanging with her all day and doing nothing church related. Pretty much everyday is a day where church is involved in our relationship. Friday is the only day I am doing nothing with the church and she is at work. Someday that will change. Hopefully there will come a day where we can afford for her to stay at home on Friday's. I have a plan.


I am going to write a book someday. Maybe I should start that today.

Leadership

I have been thinking a lot about leadership and what that looks like in the church. Partly because I am teaching on it this Sunday. I am looking for simple ways to communicate to people what we want. I thought let me look at how Jesus developed leaders. Then I decided to study the life of Peter and how Jesus developed him.

1. Jesus Called Him (Luke 5:1-11)
2. Jesus Dealt with Character (Mark 1:35:example;All of Jesus' teachings)
3. Jesus Healed Him (John 21)
4. Jesus Released Him to Go (John 21:15-17; Matthew 28:19-20)

As we train up our leaders we are going to look at three aspects.

1. Character
2. Healing
3. Practical


All three relate directly with how Jesus built leaders. As we look at how to build the Church what better way is there to learn how to develop leaders?

Serving at Princeton Junction Train Station

Yesterday our community group went to the Princeton Junction Train Station at 6pm. We had 128 bottles of water that we handed out. It was an awesome time just to sit back and serve. Yeah people in the Princeton area aren't in need of water but just the act of giving someone something to brighten their day WAS an act of service. So many people (128 in fact) accepted the bottles of water with a smile. There were many people who asked us why we were doing it. We simply said something to the nature of "we just want to bless you after a long day at work." People loved what we were doing it was awesome. One guy was sitting off by himself and I asked him if he wanted water and he thanked me and said, "I really needed this today, Thanks." I don't know what was going on with him on that day but I couldn't help but think about what could be going on in his life. Maybe he lost his job, money, a relationship, got yelled at, in trouble, or whatever. But the simply act of giving away something, showing God's love in a practical way, lifted the spirits of someone who needed it.

How can I take that concept and practice it everyday?

We are going to continue handing out water bottles every Wednesday at 6pm at Princeton Junction Train Station on the South side of the tracks. Feel free to join us.

Immerse

I haven't been on for while. In blogger world that is bad but I have been extremely busy with life. Since I last wrote my son Joshua was born and for those of you who have young children that is all I need to say. We have had missions trips, vacations, VBS, and many other fun summer things.

It is amazing as we head toward the fall. Immerse has a lot of momentum. We had over 50 people sign up this past weekend look for information about Immerse at our tables and another 50 people sign the connection cards in the sanctuary about being involved. It is safe to say that people who are young adults are excited about Immerse. We are looking forward to launching a new season this Sunday. If anyone is actually still reading this. I hope you can make it. This Sunday starting at 5pm in the Sanctuary.

See you there!