Goings on

Emergent Convention:

” . . . after 3 days of being at Emergent. Tired, energized, my brain hurts, encouraged, confused and excited.” Lead Crapper (Rob) on InsignificantCrap.com

– Jen Lemen (surprise blogger from last years emergent convention) is at it again, along with other bloggers. the convention is finishing up today.

Also:

– Prodigal Kiwi has some thoughts on – Watership Down and forming community. Not bad, but i am more in the mood for ants, not rabbits.

Turning a Mac mini into a DJ is interesting but mine will be a VJ machine.

– JonnyBaker invited me to speak at a meeting in Birmingham at a meeting to determine and strengthen a training course for emerging church ministry – RE:Source. his name came up a few times toady in Basel as we discussed worship.

– We all watched the movie “Saved” last night. Exaggeration, yes, but still painful to watch because of those elements of truth – the cheesy church stuff was hard to watch. Not a great movie. But interesting to watch.

– A friend from Orkney is flying down to Switzerland to drive back with me. Thanks James. I might be buying an old beat up van to use for parts, since i am the only one in UK with a MB100D van.

Emails from all kinds of people;

Barry Taylor – who is one of the coolest Jesus followers i have met, is coming up to Aberdeen.

Noel Richards – who is postponing his BIG BERLIN BASH for another year (he was telling me about it back in 1998)

Joel Vestal who is desperate for prayer and buying oxen for Sudanese pastors. (Read on to get his whole email)

Thats about it.

Letter from Joel Vestal,

Friends,

My heart is extremely heavy and my mind is filled with too many encounters and conversations these past few weeks to convey in this email. Since I last got an email out to you, I have taken two different trips from Thailand. One was to the Sudan refugee communities in Uganda. We kicked off our ServLife library for refugee pastors and church leaders, officially donated oxen to support 50 Sudan pastors with a means to support themselves, and explored how ServLife can intervene in the Darfur region of western Sudan, the world’s worst current humanitarian crises. I so desperately want to go there but simply do not have the time but hope to send some of our local field staff. I am just coming back from Kathmandu, Nepal. I met a team from Pathways church; Denver – To minister to the children and landscape our new facility for our children’s home. “We cannot go into the streets because the police will shoot us” Salome said after being sent home from school in Kathmandu yesterday. The King of Nepal dissolved the gov’t, sacked the prime minister and officially dissolved democracy in Nepal yesterday. In an attempt to keep people from organizing and talking to each other, he shut down all phone lines, cell phone communications, and the airport. I was scheduled out on a flight back to Thailand the day this happened. My plane left Bangkok and turned around in the air and headed back to Bangkok. I could not call Elise and inform her of what was happening – It was indeed one of the most frustrating moments of my life, knowing my wife had no idea what was happening to me and the stress she is already under with having a difficult pregnancy. I am on a plane now and was able to use the satellite phone to inform her. Much uncertainty is ahead of what will actually happen in Nepal now. The King announced the constitutional freedoms to be suspended in Nepal: freedom of press, speech, and expressions, the freedom to assemble peacefully, the right to privacy – Possible riots and protests are possible. This will have an impact on the church in Nepal that is less than 2%. Please do pray.

So much momentum and favor is unfolding with our ministry in southern Thailand. An area that has been very unresponsive to the gospel and very few churches exist is the area we are working. The “sprint” is over and the “marathon” is merely beginning in the aid and help to the victims. A few brief highlights of what is unfolding:

1. Mobilizing Thai believers to distribute relief items to victims and pray for them. Reports have been given that long hours of counseling and prayer are happening and many Thai people are trusting in Jesus and want to come to a home fellowship to learn more. ServLife is providing the resources to allow the relief efforts to be significant

2. Looking to get a multiple purpose house:

A new church to begin meeting and praying at this house

Possible children’s home – We do not know if this can happen, although we are taking some steps to try and see it happen. We ask for you to pray. There are over 400 plus orphans documented in Thailand and it could be more. The gov’t is intervening and fears people who will exploit children. The process will be slow and cumbersome to possibly care for any children in this situation.

Guest house for Volunteers – We are working on getting people who want to help and organizing ways for them to help

Relief Office for Victims to come to for assistance – Small business loans to be distributed and aid in building houses for people. Estimated cost to build a house is $2,500

3. Organize “Hope Rallies” – We are working with local Thai people to co-host Hope Rallies in the refugee camps. The rally will consist of skits, music, program for children, and basic/simple gospel presentations. It will be led by Thai people with possible foreign guests. We believe many seeds can be planted during this season and show the Thai

Several New Short videos on our web site for you to look at:

NEW SERVLIFE SHORT FILM: Christmas Day at ServLife India 2004: A Day of Dancing, Singing, & Food: 4min 38sec [56k (modem) <http://servlife.org/video/04christmas_56k.wmv> ] [DSL/Cable <http://servlife.org/video/Christmasday_300k.wmv> ]
NEW SERVLIFE SHORT FILM: First ServLife Pastor’s Training in India Nov 04: 4 min 17 sec[56k (modem) <http://servlife.org/video/coleaders_56k.wmv> ] [DSL/Cable <http://servlife.org/video/coleader_300k.wmv> ]
OR

Follow this link: http://servlife.org/pneuma.html

Also, continue to visit my blog to keep informed on what is going on. http://zaydsdad.typepad.com/

I leave you with this thought, “Is not one of our problems today that we have separated ourselves from the wounded and the suffering? We have too much time to discuss and theorize and have lost the yearning for God which comes when we are faced with the sufferings of people” Jean Vanier

Serving the suffering,

Joel Vestal

Online Journal/Blog:

http://zaydsdad.typepad.com/