The Church at Its Best

Most nights I go to bed listening to either CNN or FoxNews. Ann says that's not good for me to listen to arguing before bed. I had a dream that I argued with a pediatrician about anti-depressant drugs and Ann said it was because I had been listening to Larry King and Hanity's America....hmmm. Last night I had to wake up our dog Rudy, because he was crying in his sleep, obviously to much "Dog Whisperer".

My excuse for watching the shows is to get a pulse on what's going on in the world. This morning I read a more comforting perspective on the pulse of my world when I read II Peter 1:3,4 that says, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
Here are some key phrases for me:

"EVERYTHING WE NEED FOR LIFE AND GODLINESS"
"PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVINE NATURE"
"ESCAPE CORRUPTION"

If I read this backwards it says "escape to participate and have everything I need for life and godliness." Everything, participate, escape....

This past week in Guatemala 37 adults joined Mission Discovery in Guatemala for a week of "participating" with God in his divine nature. They played games with children, delivered food to the needy, put roofs on houses, and honed their Spanish language skills each morning before heading out for the work day. It was the church at-its-best, with multiple denominations, styles of worship, and regions of the U.S. all in one place serving, laughing, and allowing God to touch the deep places of their hearts by going where He would go. Serving among the poorest of the poor.

God is doing a great work in the world and He invites us to participate with Him in that work. While the world's leaders struggle to find a government that works, we know that, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness."

Maury Buchanan

Mission Discovery Testamonials

Mission Discovey Testamonials from Michael on Vimeo.

Mission Discovery Moves Projects From Reynosa to Hidalgo and Cameron Counties, Texas

In the last two months violence has escalated in the border cities of Reynosa, and Juarez. The U.S. State Department reports that, “some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades.” While we have watched closely the media coverage of the last few days, we have also made contact with our sources on the ground in Reynosa, Juarez, Mexico and McAllen, Texas to measure current events in Mexico as they relate to the safety of our upcoming spring and summer short term mission projects.

After calls to contacts on Thursday and Friday in these regions a meeting was called on Saturday with the Executive Team of Mission Discovery to report the data from these contacts along with current warnings from the U.S. State Department. It was the unanimous decision of the Mission Discovery Executive Team to:
1) Move all of our teams scheduled to serve in Reynosa, Mexico to service projects that will now be relocated to the U.S. side of the border in Hidalgo and Cameron Counties, Texas. Hidalgo County, only 15 minutes from our camp, is the 22nd poorest county in the U.S. Cameron County is number 60. Teams will lead Vacation Bible School, evening “Jesus Film” outreaches in partnership with local churches and serve in vital community service projects such as building play grounds, renovation of homes of the poor, installing ramps for the disabled in partnerships with the cities of LaFera, Weslaco, Pharr, and McAllen.
2) Continue our work in Reynosa from this side of the border by sharing in building a complete home per week to be loaded and shipped with hand written notes, and household supplies to communicate that we will continue to remember the poor of Reynosa.

Mission Discovery has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the kinds of projects we are offering in Hildalgo and Cameron Counties. We have been invited to serve in these counties for many years, and consider this God’s direction, confident that every student and adult volunteer will walk away at the end of their week having seen our Great God do His awesome work! In conversations with the Hidalgo County Commission, they indicate that no one has ever offered to help the poor in their county in a service project of this scope and volume. They are excited about your arrival!

In every project location there are unforeseen dangers that teams may encounter. That is true with any international travel. However, the dangers to teams in Reynosa and Juarez, Mexico are evident to our Executive Team and it was these dangers that lead to our decision.

We will hold two conference calls on Thursday to explain our decision, explain the project changes and answer questions. One is scheduled for 10:00 AM Central Time and for those not able to call at that time the call will be repeated at 2:00 PM Central time that same day.

I deeply respect the decision-making ability of the Executive Team. Their travels to investigate potential Mission Discovery project locations have taken them to some of the most dangerous locations on the earth, where Mission Discovery teams would never travel, and give them a wealth of knowledge in evaluating project locations that provide a vital, and safe environments for serving with middle school and high school students.

In 1991 Mission Discovery began a partnership with pastors, missionaries and the Mayors of the cities of Reynosa and Rio Bravo, Mexico. Over 1300 homes have been built in Reynosa and Rio Bravo alone and many have responded to the Good News of Jesus presented by Mission Discovery adult, and student teams.

Our prayers go out to our partners in Mexico, Myrna Gomez President of Mission Discovery Mexico, summer staff members Valente and Grace Sobrevila and Juarez ministry partner, Carlos Galaviz. We also lift those who were to be the beneficiaries of the work of Mission Discovery in Reynosa and Juarez and ask that God would meet their needs for shelter and a quick end to the violence that troubles not only the nation of Mexico but also the small neighborhoods that many of you have served over the years.

In addition to building a house per week in the U.S. to be shipped to Mexico, an idea has surfaced to collect money from team members to bless the 70 of those families in Mexico who would have received homes. Each family would be given 50 pounds of rice and 50 pounds of beans to say in a small way that, “we are here, and we have not forgotten.” We would deliver the rice and beans in July or when conditions were safe to do so.

One piece of good news is that there has been no rise in violence in Tecate, Mexico. Mission Discovery projects will continue in Tecate. The only safety related change decided by the Executive Team for Tecate was to keep Mission Discovery’s day off event in Tecate rather than traveling to Rosarito Beach.

May God bless you in the communication of this information to your leadership and teams willing to serve God in Mexico with Mission Discovery.

Slowing Down

Ashaye Williams is 10 years old and she stopped me in my tracks.

She is HOLD the Children un-sponsored child number 21. I took this picture of Ashaye the first week of January at Victory Christian Fellowship School, one of Mission Discovery’s HOLD the Children pre-schools. For those of you who may not know, Mission Discovery has a child sponsorship ministry in Jamaica and Haiti that allow over 350 children to receive a school uniform, a hot meal daily and of course an education.

When Ashaye’s teacher brought her in for her picture Mrs. Brown said, “She is 21.” To which I responded, “Ok.” To which Ashaye responded, “I’m not 21….I’m 10.”

I looked at Mrs. Brown, we smiled at each other, I put down the camera, sat in the floor and introduced myself to Ashaye. What followed was a conversation about how much she liked school, her favorite subjects, how pretty she looked today for her picture and how cool it was to be 10. I remember becoming 10. It was the first year in my life where there were two numbers to describe my age…a 1 and zero. It was somewhat of a big deal, and it sounded to me that Ashaye felt the same.

Rich Rohde, the Director of HOLD the Children, knows every child and his or her story. I was just to be a photographer that day, but was stopped by 10 year old and reminded that everyone has a story. It was a pleasure to get to know Ashaye. The encounter reminded me that over 350 children in our program have sponsors who know them deeply, how to pray for them and their families.

I’m now looking for the next long encounter….the next great story!

Back Stage at the Grand Ole Opry---A Look Into the Workings of Mission Discovery

Bringing a team on a Mission Discovery project is loaded with benefits. But the one that may go unnoticed. Every day there are 11 of us full-time staff here at Mission Discovery along with our 9 partner field workers, working to make your week the best possible experience for your team. From ordering building supplies to knowing where the nearest emergency facilities are. From having a backup plan in the event of rain to having extra water on hand with a team accidentally spills the 10 gallons on their site at 8 am that morning. No detail goes without deep consideration.

When I was a youth leader at Hendersonville Chapel in Hendersonville, TN and the years I was on Youth for Christ staff here in Nashville, TN, I did the planning for most of the mission trips planned. The two most memorable projects were in Belize, Central America and in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. In Belize, I assisted YFC director Bill McDowell with construction and outreach projects through an arm of YFC called Project Serve. We built a classroom at a Salvation Army church and lead a youth outreach at the civic auditorium there in Belize. I'll never forget the long lists of details for preparing for that project, then implementing it on the ground in Belize City. I think that Bill and I always felt like were were playing catch-up. Hopefully none of the participants noticed, but it had to be evident that we were in over our heads on the construction project and yet felt prepared when over one thousand showed up for the youth event at the civic center.

In contrast, Honduras afforded me the opportunity to take Bill's role as a leader of the project near San Pedro Sula in a community known as Higito. The team of adults was much different than the team of high school students I'd been with in Belize City, Belize. The adults were actually more childlike (kind word for childish) in there performance often seeking some kind of impossible creature comfort during the work day. Questions like, "Can you pick me up a Diet Dr. Pepper when you go into town?" "I forgot my Sholes Ice Pack...will you be passing a pharmacy to pick me up another?" Needless you say this community had never heard of the word "Diet" most of the community lived on $1 a day. I don't think Higito, Honduras was on the Dr. Pepper marketing team planning board!

Still here at Mission Discovery we find that each project brings unique challenges and rewards. Challenges that range from a simple supply need to team personality issues. But just like those projects I led as a youth pastor years ago, each day something falls apart on a short term experience. The good thing about Mission Discovery leading a project is that the youth leader no longer has to concern himself/herself with what's falling apart, we have it under control. The youth leader is free instead to focus on the team's experience, ministry and know that there is a plan to make "this day" successful.

I was recently back stage at the Grand Ole Opry at the invitation of Nora Lee Allen, a backup singer for the Opry. The beauty of the Grand Ole Opry is that it is actually a live radio show. In other words there is an audience, but it was never meant for television. So what you get is a stage with no curtain. The audience can see back stage. While the performer, Vince Gill, was on stage there were all kinds of things going on back stage. Everyones function back stage was making it possible for Vince to sing his hear out and prepare for the next act, Diamond Rio.

We believe strongly that your team is the next "act" to perform so to speak on the mission field. Our responsibility as Mission Discovery staff is to work "back stage" to open the door of opportunity for you and your group to communicate God's love through simple and complex acts of service and to prepare you to effectively hear the hearts of some of the neediest people in the world. I believe in your ability to be used by God to impact the world and see it change before your eyes as children and adults trust Christ. I also believe in the abilities of the poor to reach into your heart and draw you closer to Him.

This October I will be "back stage" in Montego Bay, Jamaica with a team of 40 adults from all over the U.S. and England. They will serve the poorest of the poor on the not-so-beaten-paths of Montego Bay sharing God's love wherever they go. Would you join me? How could you say no?

Top 10 Reasons to Take you Team on a Short Term Mission Trip

Pictured here atop a Mission Discovery Mexico house (top right of picture) is Bob Carol, an elder at Heritage Christian Church

"Maury, I'm having a meeting with the Elders of my church and I'm talking to them about why we want to go to Mexico this year with Mission Discovery for our short term mission trip. Got any help for me?" It really only happens a hand full if times during a year but enough to cause me to write out what I'd love to spend time telling a group of church leaders about the value of short term mission trips for teenagers and adults alike.

My experience may be unique, but most of my meetings with church leadership about youth short term missions as a young church staff finally led to the price of the mission trip I wanted to do internationally and then to a comment like, "Maury, can't you accomplish the same thing locally for less money?" That question positively shaped my thinking in a list I call "Top 10 Reasons to Take Your Team on a Short Term Mission Trip".

Honestly the question irritated me but also challenged whether I had really thought deeply enough about the "Why" of leading my youth on a short term mission project.

If you are a youth leader, establish a ministry plan that includes within its structure a plan to experience God! A a component of that plan is a short term mission experience that has levels of service. Some group leaders have a plan to offer a local, regional, and international project within the time frame of a students involvment in youth group. When the leadership of your church and parents know that an international project to the "Congo" for example, is a part of an ongoing educational/growth experience they are more likely to be on-board. Same is true for those who work with adults. This top 10 list gathered over these last 22 years might be of help:

10. Short term mission project support the overall mission of the church by involving the congregation/youth as "world Christians".
9. Teams who return from short term mission trips report that that seem to have received more than they gave. Some have even reported to us at Mission Discovery that they felt that the price they paid was much to low for the experience they received. Wow!
8. They return with a new understanding of the journey of the poor.
7. Most short term mission trips take people out of their zone of comfort. This added pressure brings great opportunities for change in one's relationship with God and can provide a "new" persective on life back home.
6. Participants learn by experience just how unique God's work is in other lands and tend to return home talking about their experiences with God.
6. Mission Discovery short term mission projects focus on areas of the world where we have been invited to serve alongside long term ministries. These ministries have invited teams because they know their value and consider them vital to their ongoing work of spreading God's love.
5. Short term mission trips involve more than just the participant. They involve the whole family even though the rest of them may not go on the journey! Each friend or family member participates either in pray or financial partnership in the project. Whole churches have attached themselves to participants in short term mission projects and benefit from the results.
4. Pre trip training for mission trips not only provide a participant with skills for the project, but for life as well. Mission Discovery teams learn to tell the story of what God is doing in a 5 minute presentation. That training is beneficial for a lifetime not just for the short term mission trip.
3. We place value on higher education and are willing to invest our time and dollars in that education. Consider the average price of a short term mission experience being about $500 U.S. The return on that investment is lifelong.
2. Teams learn the difference between the God of their culture and the God of this world.
1. Because the scripture encourages us to go to witness the works of God in Jerusalem, Judia, Samaria and the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8

Remember, when your you are able to explain clearly how your mission trip fits in the larger picture of the churches plan for mobilizing people to serve God, it becomes not a matter of will the project happen but when! Once church leadership sees you are only fulfilling "their" vision they can only say "yes!"