Summer Project Updates! [2 of 2]

As promised here are the other 3 summer project updates (see below for the first three updates I posted earlier this week).


Uruguay
This year marked our first time sending longer-term missionaries to Montevideo, Uruguay (called a Stint Team, who stay for 1-2 years). Our summer project has shared the gospel 152 times and 21 of those students have indicated decisions for Christ! Check out their blog for photos and stories.

• Pray for the follow-up of these new believers, and that the team would continue to press on during the last 2 weeks in Montevideo.

France
For many summers, we've launched and grown movements in cities all around France. This summer is the first try at launching a movement in the 6th district of Paris. In week 3 they saw 2 french students come to Christ - which is incredible! Check out their blog for photos and stories.

• Pray that the team of 20 staff and students would continue to be bold witnesses of Christ as they talk with french students on campus.

East Asia
Just like in France, we've sent teams to multiple cities all over this large communist country in Eastern Asia. This summer, we headed west-- very west-- in an effort to take the gospel to new places. The team will spend their last 10 days on the western edge of this country before heading home.

• Pray for wisdom for wisdom and insight for the long-term team in western East Asia as they consider how best to get the gospel to new cities with future teams.

Summer Project Updates! [1 of 2]

We're already halfway through our 6 week summer mission projects. Here are some quick updates from three of our partnerships. I'll post updates from the other 3 projects later this week, so stop on back for more. Praise God for what he's done, and pray he will continue to use our teams to launch and build movements around the world!

"4th Journey"
Even in this secure location in the Middle East, we are using a new Internet strategy to unearth students who are interested in learning about spirituality. They have lots of hits on their website and facebook groups, but now comes to task of figuring out how to follow up with people. There has been some protesting going on and general unrest from people, but the team is doing well.

• Pray for boldness for the team to keep stepping out in faith in this land with hard soil.

Ghana
This project is only about 4 weeks long, so this team will actually come home next week. They were schedule to stay in a small university town in central Ghana (in West Africa), but have since changed courses and moved to the capital city, Accra. They also have shown the Jesus Film in villages around the country. Katie, the project director, shares some great photos and stories on her blog.

• Pray that this large team of 29 students would be able to find students to minister to and that they would be united as a team despite various difficulties and challenges.

Australia
Every summer, our teams discover that the land down under is full of international students! They rely on our bread and butter to do ministry:  one-on-one conversations. Using a variety of Cru ministry tools, they have initiated 250+ spiritual conversations and 88 conversations that included a Gospel presentation. At least 5 students have made decisions for Christ. All of these conversations happened with students from over 33 different countries!

• Pray that these new believers would grow deep roots, and that they'd make connections with other believers who can help them grow.

My prayer for this summer has been that students would encounter other students who would ultimately trust in "...God our Savior: the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas..." -Psalm 65

Don't expect too much from Archaeology.

Last week I think my favorite Old Testament Survey lecture involved learning what archaeology is, why it's important, and learning what it can and cannot do for believers.

Archaeology is the recovery and study of human history through the study of physical remains and material culture. We can use it to learn about Biblical events/history, and the culture of the people who lived in different time periods.

 
One example of the benefit of studying archaeology is learning about the remains of altars used throughout Israel in Biblical times.

When we think about altars, we probably think about our church altar (especially if we grew up in a traditional protestant church). We probably don't think about the different types of altars mentioned in the Old Testament that were significant to Israelite worship. But archaeology helps us get rid of our cultural concepts and replace them with the true, ancient near east concepts.

One example is what was called the "Horned Altar," mentioned in Exodus 27:2 and Leviticus 4:34. Discovery of these altars gives us a picture of what they look like, (shown above).

Archaeology corroborates historical accounts and the reliability of the Biblical record. But archaeology cannot prove the theology of the Bible. We know these altars existed as we have physical proof. But the discovery of the altars does not prove the theology behind sacrifices or worship done using altars.

Just a small example, but an important one, in realizing what archaeology can and can't do for us.

Old Testament Revelations

I'm only about 20% of the way through my Old Testament Survey online class and I'm blown away by how little I know about the Bible. It's incredible learning about the structure and details of Old Testament writings. There's so much to learn! Here are a few highlights so far from the first few lectures:

• Discovering several new figures of speech that I didn't know existed, but are present in many different parts of the OT (for example:  merism. Never heard of it? Me neither).
  
• Learning all the names of festivals, along with their purposes and timelines
  
• Finally) understanding the geography of Israel, and why the topography and climate is important in knowing God's purposes for and plans for the Israelites

I am astounded (and usually overwhelmed) at the detail in OT writings, like instructions for constructing the Tabernacle, or how to properly prepare a sacrifice. But it's all included for a purpose. So easily I get lost in the details, but I think this class is going to ground me in understanding the bigger picture, while simultaneously equipping me to dig deeper and not just glance over the details.
Much more to share in the coming days!