Missionary Hindsights

I recently saw a post on Facebook from a friend that gave me the idea for this post.

Young preacher…

How do you break a colt to harness? Hook it to an ol mule.

Think on this.

(Ben Jones – photo credit)

I have heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words; well I will try to keep it under that, but I do want to express my thought on the subject of internships and mentoring.

As the Apostle Paul said in 1Timothy 1:12-13 (KJV), “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” God seeks out faithful people and puts them in the ministry. It is not for everyone, nor does God call everyone to be a pastor, missionary, evangelist, etc. Every born again believer is however called to the ministry of reconciliation.

2Corinthians 5:18-19 (KJV) says, “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”

I want to make a distinction here and say that I believe there is a difference between this “ministry of reconciliation” and “the ministry.” There are many people who are called by God to go in the ministry, and they run from the call. There are those that have disqualified themselves from certain types of ministries, and there are those that want to serve the Lord, but they are limited to certain types of ministries. A call to the ministry is a call to prepare, and there are those that want to skip the preparation.

Mentorships and internships are a way to protect you from yourself. Bible colleges and Christian universities do a good job at training and teaching philosophies, doctrine, Biblical principles and methods of Bible study. What they cannot always teach are the practical applications of those principles and philosophies. For an example let’s look at driving a motorcycle. When I came to Haiti I bought a used motorcycle and set off to learn how to ride. Well after several crashes and many near misses, I can finally go through mud holes and cross through rivers like a pro. The fellow who taught me how to ride showed me the clutch, gear shift, accelerator, etc. What he could not show me was how to get all that to work together with the motion of my body. Bringing this together, a college can tell you your responsibility is to console a grieving family at the funeral home, but they cannot tell you what to say. That comes from something we call experience. Yes experiences can make you or break you. I have some good experiences, and I have a lot of bad experiences that I can draw from. That is where internships and mentoring become invaluable. There is no amount of money you can pay an institution to replace walking behind a pastor that has pastored for 30 plus years. I mean literally walking behind him into a hospital to visit someone at death’s door. First of all he knows his way around the maze of hallways, second he knows when to knock and when to walk on in. He can “read” the situation and knows when humor can lighten things and when to stay somber. Yes, mentoring and internships save you lots of embarrassments and prevent you from having to apologize too many times.

A normal time to intern or be mentored would be 2 to 5 years. Hold on and don’t close this article yet. I know what you are thinking, and I was there with you at one time. You might be thinking “people are dying and going to hell and I need to get out there and get going.” Well let me be frank. and I do not mean to sound irreverent, but the truth is people were dying and going to hell before you were born, and if Jesus tarries his coming, people will be dying and going to hell after you are dead and buried.

I have seen many missionaries, pastors, and evangelists that get out of college and “get going” and after a few months to a couple of years fall flat on their face because they “had no idea it was going to be like this.” I cannot count the number of missionaries that never made it through deputation. When we started out on deputation 10 years ago, there were 8 other missionaries (each from different boards and churches, both foreign and domestic missionaries) that we knew of that started on deputation around the same time as we did. Today we are the only family on the field out of all of us. It is all by the grace of God, but I think something had to do with the fact that I had some rough edges knocked off beforehand. Let me stop here and say that there are a large amount of missionaries, pastors, and evangelists that hit the road running after college without going through an internship or were not mentored for the suggested 2 to 5 years, and are still at it 10, 15, 25 years later. Yes, that is right, but I bet if you do some research, there was some older missionary, pastor, evangelist that helped them along away with advice or encouragement.

The truth is that no one gets there alone. Take advantage of the wisdom and experiences of a seasoned servant of the Lord.

Serving Jesus,

HGP3

I will do it tomorrow.  This is a huge danger.  Many people use this excuse to put off everything from paying bills to accepting Christ as their Savior.  I have fallen victim to that old thief of time before.  Missionaries have to constantly fight against procrastination.  It is so easy to do in a third world country where the only excuse you need for not doing something is to say, “I had a little problem.”  As long as I have been here in Haiti, I have never had anyone question me when I offered that excuse.  Paul states twice in the New Testament that we should be redeeming the time.  (Ephesians 5:16, Colossians 4:5)  Both times he refers to wisdom.  I think we can infer here that it is wise to redeem the time and not procrastinate.  I admit that my ADD brain has its advantages in being able to multitask; so bear with me if I jump from one thing to another.  I promise to tie it all together in the end.  Click here to read the first part of this article.

Take broad tasks and funnel them to days of the week or even a day of the month.  Funnel your monthly tasks to weekly tasks to daily tasks.  For example I know that I am going to have to do my expense report for the mission board before the 15^th of the month so I have that set aside on the first week day of the month.  Sometimes I work at it little bits throughout the day.  Another example is, I know that I am going to need a message for Sunday morning and a Bible study for Sunday afternoon, so by Thursday I want to have these done for Sunday.

Use A, B, C to prioritize your tasks.  A=Must get done today, B=Today if possible, C=Tomorrow if not today.  This has helped me in making and organizing my lists of things to do.  When I finish up early with my “A” tasks, I look at my list and move on along.  This also helps me not to get distracted or overwhelmed by the large amounts of stuff I need to do.

Don’t forget the ministry is the people.  We can get so caught up in doing things for the people we are called to that we do not reach them.  This really hit home when I got angry with a man that needed counsel to deal with a sin in his life.  I was busy preparing lessons for my seminary class, and the Holy Spirit rebuked me when I refused him an unscheduled meeting.  This can also apply to our families too.  I will have more to say about the family another day.

Just because there is a need doesn’t mean that you are the one to meet the need today.  In Haiti we are constantly surrounded by the needs.  I am not talking about “I need a new flat screen TV” type needs; I’m talking about “my kids and I haven’t eaten in two days” type of needs.  When we first came here to Haiti, we were bombarded by the abject poverty surrounding us.  Also the amount of guilt was nauseating thinking about the hungry people around us while we ate hot dogs.  It almost drove us into the ground financially trying to help the entire community.  We even put money on our credit card to help people out (not recommending that just confessing a lapse in judgment). Then when we were on furlough a friend told me that just because there is a need doesn’t mean we are the missionaries that are sent to meet that particular need.  People in need will drain you dry and take all your time before you realize it.

Don’t be afraid to say “no” and “no” doesn’t need an explanation.  I have learned that in this culture one needs to say, “I don’t have the possibility” and not just “I can’t.”  Learn how to politely say no in the culture you are called to and stick to your task at hand.

The most important thing in time management is your time with the Lord.  Do not scrimp here!  When we study Mary and Maratha in the book of Luke chapter 10 we see that Martha was busy serving and doing, but Jesus had to set her straight and said that Mary was doing what was important – at that time.  You see Jesus did not say that we do not need to clean up and cook and all that, but He was saying that we need to prioritize and that our first priority should be Him.

I said all that to say this, there are many systems and many tools out there to help you get organized.  Look them all over and find what works for you.  I have taken a little from this one and have added from that one and have finally found something that works for me but might drive you crazy.  We all look different, and we all function differently as well.  If getting organized looks like an impossible thing to do, find a system, buckle down and quote to yourself over and over John Paul Jones’ advice, “I have not yet begun to fight.”

Serving Jesus,

HGP3

When I started out in the ministry as an assistant pastor, back many moons ago, my pastor taught me a lot about time management.  One of the things I remember most is “your schedule is your boss.”  One of the pit falls that some missionaries fall into is that they are now their own boss and in many instances, they work from home/road.  That was one thing that I found was a challenge during our many miles we logged during deputation.  By the way, deputation is the process by which missionaries travel from church to church raising their support.  I never seemed to master the skill of keeping the calls going while on the road.  When you are staying in a different place each night, it is difficult to remember where you are much less who you need to call back and when.  So time management is a definite skill that you must master to be effective on the mission field.  I remember using my day planner each day (still do today) and keeping up with hourly appointments.  Sometimes meetings would be on the quarter hour.  I found that helpful when I was working two jobs and trying to get going on deputation.  Every minute was valuable to me.

Then comes a third world country with the famous Island Time.  That’s right nothing starts on time, and a precise time is “afternoon.”  Being a missionary takes those of us that are used to the minute by minute schedule and throws us into the slow paced island time mentality.  Poof!  We are supposed to instantly adjust.  Well some do, and some don’t.  A perfect example of this would be when I go to the bank to withdraw money and change it into the local currency.  I usually plan on two to three hours for this task.  (Thanks to an ereader app on my phone I can make use of this time and make it productive.)  Sometimes it can be a quick as 30 minutes, or I may have to come back another day because they decided not to open that day.  Therefore I cannot tell my wife that I will be back at a certain time because I don’t even know.

I have read several books on time management looking for ideas about how to make things work better, but I have yet to find the perfect secret answer.  So here is my secret answer: work by tasks not a schedule!  This seems simple, I know, but it works.  I increased my productivity and even relaxed – some.  For example, when I set my schedule for the week,  I do not schedule to work on translating materials from say 9am to 10:30am on Monday; instead I put that task for Monday before lunch.  So Monday morning, I work on translating materials and as incidentals come up, I put those in the mix.  Before this I was never getting to translating because during the time slot I had for it, people would stop by to see me, the generator would not crank, the water filter was messed up, etc., and before I knew it, there went my time to translate materials.  Another situation that arises in a third world country is that nothing happens on time.  When you have a meeting with someone here at say 10 that really means sometime before noon.

To wrap it all up, don’t get in a rush because in many countries you will just hurry up and wait.  Set tasks by the day and realize that you no longer work an 8 – 5 job.  I’ll have more to say about the practical applications on my next post.

Serving Jesus,

HGP3

When I was a new Christian, I remember going to camp meetings and revival services where the preacher would say, “I would rather burn out for Jesus than rust out for the devil.”  In over twenty years in the ministry I have seen and heard of many sad situations.  Some preachers burn out and quit or end up with a heart attack at age 43.  Others I have sadly seen end their ministry in a shipwreck of immorality.  At the same time of these discouragements, I have seen those that, as Paul said in 2Timothy 4:7 (KJV), “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: .”  There are those that are still in the fight.  An evangelist in his seventies, a pastor that has pastored the same church he planted 53 years ago, and many others are not only an encouragement to me but a challenge to keep going.  I believe these examples have neither burnt out for Jesus nor rusted out for Satan.  No, they chose another option – to burn a steady flame for Jesus.

A few years ago while we were on furlough, I met up with an evangelist friend as our schedules put us close together so that our families could fellowship for a couple of hours at a McDonalds.  We were talking about the different aspects of our ministries and sharing encouragements as well as some discouragements.  He said something to me that really put it all in prospective.  He said, “I am weary in the ministry but not weary of the ministry.”  Wow! Talk about hitting the nail on the head.  Here in Haiti the living conditions are rough.  The roads are rough.  The benches at the churches are rough. The heat is rough.  With all honesty I tell you that some Sunday mornings I have to force myself to get going.  Please don’t misunderstand, I am looking forward to “being” at church, but the getting there is what causes me to want to stay home.  If you have never visited Haiti before, keep your judgments to yourself.  Those who have been here can understand completely what I am getting at.  I am not begrudging the ministry but the travel and conditions that I minister in.

Life and ministry on the foreign mission field presents many challenges on so many different levels, and having a family raises the number of challenges exponentially.  It has been said that the first term is spent adapting and the second term is when the work starts.  I remember when we first arrived in Haiti.  We had to build our house, and we could only stay in the country for ninety days at a time before we had our permit to stay.  So we were in Haiti ninety days building a house, trying to learn the culture and language not to mention on the job training in construction.  At the end of ninety days we packed up and went back to the States to continue raising our support.  After ten weeks or so back to Haiti we went.  We did that for a year and then were able to apply for our permit to stay.  The big advantage we had was that we were going to work along veteran missionaries that were already established on the field.  With that advantage we were able to plant two churches in our first term.  So there are definite advantages to a team mentality.

How do you avoid burn out in the ministry?  There are many books and blogs on the subject, and I do not claim to be an expert on the subject.  All I can do is to tell you what I do.  First, let me explain the clinched fist syndrome as it was explained to me.  If you clinch your fist as long and as tight as you can, you will not be able to hold it forever like that.  Loosen it and relax it and then clinch it again.  To apply that to your life, constant activity can cause damage.  When I was working two jobs, I knew that if I had to go from my 8 hour job right to my next job for a 48 hour shift I might not get but a few hours of sleep in 72 hours; but that was ok because I could go home and sleep for a full 12 hours after that.  I could not keep up the few hours of sleep forever, but I could do it for three days.  The same thing applies here on the field.  When we prepare to go on furlough, we have to shut down the house and pack things up for a year.  I don’t care if I have to go to bed at 4am and get back up at 5am, because I know I have a 4 hour flight that I can get some sleep.  Here in Haiti we do not plan VBS back to back for the different churches over the whole summer.  We stagger them so we can have a few days of down time between each event.  So the first principle is to schedule down time.

The second principle is to have some accountability.  I cannot tell you how good it feels when a pastor friend of mine emails me and says, “I read your recent prayer letter and by all that you are doing, I have to ask if you are taking time for your wife and kids and for yourself?”  I could have gotten mad, but I realize his love and concern for me and my family and his desire for our ministry to burn faithfully for Jesus Christ.  My pastor contacts us on a weekly basis and keeps tabs on us in many different areas.  I appreciate this type of deep friendship and accountability.  Find someone you have respect for and ask them to ask the hard questions in order to keep you accountable for how you spend your time.

The third principle should probably have been mentioned first but then again the last one is the one that usually sticks with you.  Do not neglect your time with the Lord.   In a previous post (Time management on the Mission field part 2) I made mention of Mary and Martha, and Martha was busy working and not worshiping at the feet of Jesus.  I can’t tell you how many times I have to pull myself back from doing Christian things to actually being a Spirit-filled Christian.  Something I do is keep a journal in which write all kinds of things.  Mainly I keep it to keep track of things I get from the Word of God such as sermon ideas, life applications, family devotion ideas, etc.  I also use this as a type of graph.  If I see that I am not having much spiritual insight for a few days, I know it is time to switch some things up and spend more time with the Lord.  In a future post I will give some examples of how you can keep yourself spiritually “pumped up” while on the mission field.

I again admit that I am not an expert on this subject nor is this a complete list.  I plan to post more things in the future, but one goal of this blog is to keep the posts on the shorter side.  In conclusion don’t let the balance tip in the wrong direction and cause you to burn out before you really get started.  It is necessary to have someone on the outside looking in to help you recognize the danger signs of burn out in the ministry.

Serving Jesus,

HGP3

For years missionaries have been cramming all of their belongings in barrels and sealing them up until they reached some far away land. I know for me personally, it is like Christmas every time we travel back to the field and begin opening all of the boxes and barrels that we packed up to be sent back, especially when we purchase supplies a little at a time. Sometimes things are boxed, sealed, weighed and left sitting in boxes until the “great journey.” So what are the pros and cons of using barrels verses using boxes? I have used both and can say without a doubt that it depends on the situation. I bet you didn’t see that one coming.

When packing a container remember that you have a lot of space. I mean a lot of it. For example, on a 20 foot container you have approximately 20 feet of floor space, but remember it is all the way from the floor to the ceiling, and just under 8 feet from wall to wall. I will cover containers in another post, but for now let’s just say you have a lot of room to pack stuff. One mistake I made was not boxing everything up and that caused irregular sizes which means wasted space. That is a con to barrels; they are round and you have a lot of wasted space between each barrel. On the other hand boxes can fit side by side and corner to corner.

It is important to note that barrels come in many different sizes and types. There are airtight and breathable barrels. I made a mistake of shipping an airtight barrel on a plane. The air pressure caused it to collapse, and I had to drill a hole in the lid in order to equalize the pressure in order to get the lid off. So figure out what your needs are before you purchase. Some companies give away barrels but you have to clean them out. CAUTION is needed with barrels which contained toxic chemicals. Spend a few extra dollars to purchase other barrels. There are metal barrels, plastic barrels, and paper barrels. If using metal or paper barrels, put some type of moisture barrier inside to protect your belongings.

Boxes have more variables than barrels. It is interesting to note that what we call cardboard boxes are actually referred to as corrugated paper by those in the box manufacturing business. Most likely there is a box manufacturing company nearby, and if you buy in bulk direct you can get a great deal. We are fortunate to have a friend that works in a manufacturing company, and we are able to get misprints free! I don’t care if the print is crooked, it will ship just the same for me. Try to use the same size boxes to pack in your container. Avoid the temptation to get free boxes from stores because they are all different sizes and sometimes messy. Also they can be dirty and have bugs in them. The boxes will pack better is they are all the same size. You should be looking at trying to obtain 200 small boxes, 100 medium size boxes, and 50 large boxes. If these numbers threw you, then you have no idea how much you can pack in a 40 foot container. Why more small boxes than large ones? Try lifting a 3x2x2 ft. box filled with books. Not fun! Also, spend a little extra money to buy the good tape! Cheap tape comes off, and you will regret it. Learn to use a tape gun; it will make your life so much easier.

So which is better for you, boxes or barrels? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Will you be packing your stuff yourself?
If you are financially able you can pay a company to come in and pack everything up and put it in a container. Most of us are not like that, and we either do it ourselves or have church people helping out. So if you are packing things up you can take advantage of every little nook and cranny of each box or barrel. Barrels have a definite advantage when packing clothes, and books fit better in Boxes.

How will your stuff be shipped?
Containerized or by the box? If everything will go by the pound on a cargo airplane, then boxes can save you twenty or so pounds apiece.

How will your stuff be transported once it arrives on the field?
Once you arrive on the field will your stuff be transported in the back of several pick-up trucks in rainy weather – then barrels are the way to go. If your container will be dropped off at your front door – boxes are the way to go.

To pack all this in for you, I ask you this question, “Can you drive a car without a windshield?” Of course, but isn’t it much better to drive with a windshield? So whatever you decide, just remember what worked for the other missionary might work for you, but maybe there are other options for you as well. Do your homework, ask questions, and do what is best for you and your family.

Serving Jesus,
HGP3

What image comes to mind when you think of a “missionary.”  Is it someone in clothes that are ten years out of style?  Maybe it is a person with a wad of gospel tracts in his or her hand.  Perhaps you have the thought of a man standing next to a display board handing out prayer cards accompanied by a homely wife and stair-step children dressed in matching homemade outfits.

When I became a missionary, I had no clue what it was really all about when I “signed on the dotted line” (actually it was a solid line).  Bible collages and Christian universities do a great job at teaching doctrine and philosophy, but there is a whole other side to the missionary thing.  I had no idea that I would need to be a public relations coordinator, an accountant, a graphics art designer, a mechanic, a construction foreman, and the list goes on and on.  As a missionary I can tell you that I spend less time actually out there “spreading the gospel” than I do on the other activities of being a missionary.  Especially here in a third world country I spend 50 to 60 percent of my time trying to keep me and my family alive.

There have been countless new missionaries that have gone through a lot of time and money to get to the field only to be sucked into the black hole of the mission field and spit back out in their home country never to return again.  I encourage all prospective missionaries to take time to sit down with a mechanic friend and learn the basics.  You don’t want to be charged for changing the headlight fluid in your truck. (If you are wondering how to check the headlight fluid – stop reading this and go immediately to a mechanic friend, skip Google.)  Ask for a crash course in accounting from and accountant in your church.  Go to a construction site with a contractor friend and look around and ask questions.

In conclusion, we can all be an expert in one area or another, and “little sperts” in a lot of other areas.  Thomas Huxley said, (don’t agree with a lot of what he said but he had a point here) “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.”  I quote Benjamin Franklin, “If you fail to plan you are planning to fail.”

Serving Jesus,

HGP3