The Invitation

Beautifully written by my beautiful wife Staci...

"The Invitation

Long and wordy, as always...

Several of my FB friends began the year discussing a "Word of the Year". This is a word they wanted to live out intentionally in 2016. Because I like words, (shocker) I entertained the idea. The word "invitation" lingered on that scary periphery of my mind and I kept brushing it off. That is silly. It doesn't mean anything. Am I getting invited to a bunch of things because they had better be tropical vacations. And if not? Heck to the no. No time for invites.

Yet, I couldn't brush it off. It kept playing in my mind.

Invitation.

Once in January I came upon a Bible verse I had never noticed. "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. " Hebrews 13:2 I showed it to Jason. Have you seen this? That's really crazy, huh?

This verse I had never remembered reading appeared in different places twice more in January. "Invitation"

I began to study hospitality a bit. I can organize a funeral dinner in a flash and have always been certain hospitality is a gift I have. I mean, I can bake cookies for people, right? I serve? But biblical hospitality is actually very different. The word is translated from Greek into two words meaning "one who loves strangers/immigrants like you would your own brother." Now. You all know my brother, right?

And then, I often see this verse shared, but it also began jumping out at me over and over...
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in," Matthew 25:35 There's that radical hospitality again, inviting people and showing hospitality to the stranger.

BUT....
I am a loner. If it's too loud in the house (and it is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT OF THE TIME) I escape to my room and get away. I run errands alone. We moved away from suburbia so I could work in my flowers without the threat of someone coming to chat. (No joke) I fight this on the daily. Call it social anxiety, introversion, selfishness -whatever. It is most certainly uninviting and inhospitable.

Maybe this alone time is an excuse to not let others know the cracks in me or our home. The places where I am weak. The places we fail as a family. Our sarcastic tones with each other. Our arguments. My dinner failures where I end up mad at the whole crew. My closets which hide a multitude of things. I have zero interest in inviting people into that mess, let alone a stranger and treating them like my brother. (Who easily gets into our pantry, into our fridge, and under my skin.)

There are a million reasons not to invite anyone anywhere near it at all. Because, it is a mess. Yet, we did it once. And let me tell you, every dirty closet, every crack in our family foundation was exposed. We were not equipped or educated. We simply did this small invite and had NO idea. We had to rely on God to sustain us and patch up the holes, fill in the cracks, and smooth out the rough edges. Oh yes, that "stranger" benefited from our invite, but we benefited so much more by being refined as we learned to love a hot-wiring-house-climbing- toaster-disassembling-stranger as a son.

So, I'm back to inviting. I'm forcing myself to take one of our kids to the grocery, to help me make a meal, to come into our room for a chat. My selfish self wants to say, "I need my me time." But, I'm overriding that by saying, "God, show me whom to invite. Show me whom to love as a brother. Show me the kid today that needs my time. Show me the stranger that needs my messy family and I will say yes. I am willing to go through that painful refining process again to be better. I will do the inviting, God, you bring the angels."

And he has..."

Bible Training Center Update

I wanted to post an update for those of you following the Bible Training Center in Mekelle, Ethiopia.

In September, we honored 22 students that graduated with Diplomas and another 40 students that earned Certificates. As of today we have 60 students enrolled at the campus in Mekelle. The students are at different levels – pursuing Certificates, Diplomas and Bachelor Degrees through the International School of Ministry. Additionally, our first satellite program is up and running with 50 students enrolled at the prison. How awesome is that?

The Bible Training Center

We rented the three of the available retail spaces on the first floor of the building to an IT school. The rent that they pay will help pay for utilities and other ongoing expenses.

However, there is always a need for additional funding.

When we purchased the facility, the Tigrinya Evangelical Churches Fellowship, the governing body for the school, committed to raising around $17,000 to pay realtor fees and government taxes which come due at the end of this year. I’ve always felt like this was a stretch goal considering that most Ethiopians live on the equivalent of a couple of hundred dollars per month. I didn’t want to doubt God’s ability to clear the path and help them make this happen; however, we’re getting down to crunch time with some of this money coming due fairly soon and I would prefer we not put them in a position of taking out a loan.

Besides paying off the realtor and the government taxes, we also would like to raise funds for a library books and furniture at the school.

We need funds to jumpstart some of the satellite/extension locations in neighboring cities. We’ve had several requests to start new locations but the lack of money and teachers has prohibited this from happening. One of the opportunities involves setting up schools at one of four Eritrean and Sudanese refugee camps in Northern Ethiopia. These camps are home to over 100,000 refugees.

I would like to help them by knocking out the remaining balance for the realtor and taxes and allowing them to focus on running the school, building the extension program and making disciples for Christ. I would like to call upon many of you that have or considered financially contributing to do so to help take away this burden. We have so much more by way of financial resources.

On another note, I’m also working on referring American Pastors/Instructors to Dr. John to line up opportunities to travel and teach at the school. If you have anyone that you would like to refer, please let me know.

I appreciate all of the support, prayer and contributions that have made this school come to life. It has been incredible to be part of God’s plan for building the kingdom in Northern Ethiopia.

Checks can be made to:

New Life Christian Fellowship
MEMO: Ethiopia Bible School

Mailing Address:
New Life Christian Fellowship
2237 E Reid Rd
Grand Blanc, MI 49439

www.harvestinethiopia.com/donate