Three weeks in Central Asia with temperatures at minus 20, the lack of water, electricity, or milk on different days, continual police checks and stolen tires…these realities of life gave us heavy hearts for the folks who live and serve there. We were privileged to teach cross-cultural training and team strategizing for a great of young people from Asia, South and North America who were called by God to plant the church in this broken nation. These countries, bruised from the totalitarian regimes of the past, continue to experience declining quality of life causing many pastors and Christians (as well as others!) to have a strong desire to emigrate to the West, making it extremely challenging to plant the church of the future.

Central Asian Squirrel amazed us with his beauty...and assured us that God loves this land and these people.

Today John and I are out in Central Asia. By “chance”, through a mutual friend, we met a woman from Latin America and her husband who are doing student ministry. It fell into their laps…Through a friend of her daughter, Ann got to know a couple of Indian young women studying medicine in this CA country…and soon she found she was helping with food for their parties, then praying for and with them, then giving them advice and now she is known as “mom” to more than 50 Indian students. More than half of them are Hindu, but are looking for fellowship, a place to belong, and a caring, listening ear.

This sweet couple is pouring out their lives here. In our time together, they were hungry for training, resources, prayer, and encouragement. I wonder how many other unsung heroes are hidden away on the back side of God’s green earth, simply doing what God is putting into their hands, with love and faithfulness.

College of Student Ministry… Connect… Encounter… ImpactNow… regardless of what you call it, student ministry training is the event encapsulating the best of community, fellowship and God encounters every year. This year was no exception!

Students and European university pastors have been gathering the first two weeks of August for more than twenty years, preparing students and staff alike to transform their universities, cities and nations. The beautiful university campus in Gödöllö (Budapest), Hungary was the venue, where we…

• Reconstructed the “tower of Babel” with spaghetti, tape, string and a marshmallow
• Soaked up the collective wisdom and experience of colleagues such as: Kirk Priest, Mark Good and company, Shawn Galyen and many others in classes and workshops
• Walked through the prayer stations in a powerful God encounter
• Prayed for the nations and declared the Lord over our universities in the 17 languages represented at the conference—as well as prayer walked the University
• Laughed our way through the Bunte Abend [Talent Show]—a wonderful collection of talent reflecting our cultural diversity
• Planned for the coming year in Coaching Pods
• Squeezed in times of talking, laughter, sharing, praying and community bonding with every spare minute.

Next year will come soon—and then we will hear the stories of changed lives and enhanced student groups as a result of the wisdom, fellowship and prayer invested this year at our Student Ministry Training. I can’t wait!

The very campus we were on has no Christian witness that we are aware of reflecting the harvest fields of the universities that need workers, pray… come help us!

It was 6am when the music started… Kenny G on the saxophone… and I had to lay a moment and try to get my bearings. Where am I? In a city of an unnamed land that is controlled by communism! The music had me fooled, but within a few minutes the sound of hundreds, if not thousands of students doing calisthenics in teams and jogging around the large university square in chanting, coordinated groups of 50, was enough to get me out of bed to stand on the balcony and record this fascinating testimony to a totalitarian land.

In this land, where everything is strictly controlled, John and I realized what it must mean to live long term where your conversations are being listened to, and where every care must be taken not to use the subversive words: missionary, evangelism, discipleship, conversion, Jesus, God, etc., … John and I found ourselves whispering in our apartment as we read God’s Word in the mornings together.

Regardless of the restricted vocabulary, the Spirit continues to call students to himself, for the Spirit is not silenced by totalitarianism. Our colleagues are working to touch the hearts and lives of students, and through these students, this nation will be discipled!

Please pray especially for those who choose to follow, and pray for wisdom, resources, personnel, and passion for the team that is on the ground.

The 7th. National Consulation for Evangelism took place in Belo Horizonte, Brazil with 50-100 people in attendance. Jossy Soares is the leader of Pes Formosos [Beautiful Feet] the Assemblies of God university ministry. There were students, professors and staff from at least 13 cities as we convened on the Agricultural campus of the National University 24-16, March. The meetings were very interactive and lively with lots of warm smiles and wonderful weather. The many speakers included pastors, workers, professors as well as Josh and Mayra Renfro AGWM campus workers in Chile and Anita and John Koeshall from Europe.

Students For Christ Discipleship Traing Camps have started. SFC leaders have geared up for 43 three day camps before the end of May. I am leaving home for two camps. Uphold all camps in your prayers. One more SFC camp starts in Madhya Pradesh tomorrow, first ever in that North Indian state.

This coming June, Chi Alpha will kick off its fifth year of Little League Baseball in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. This program has proved to be an effective channel for building relationships, bridging the gap between cultures, and training athletes. Coaches strive to teach not only baseball but also the importance of discipline and team work. For the past four years, US and Central Asian Chi Alpha students have come together and partnered with the local church to bless the children of Kyrgyzstan.

Anticipation builds all year, and when summer arrives, the kids are ready. The two months of games fly by, and at the closing ceremony of one season, a countdown begins for the next.

“Will you come back next year?”

This seems to be the reoccurring question. And each year that Chi Alpha comes back, the children come back, bringing their friends and families along with them. There are now 10 teams and 3 divisions.

It has been an incredible journey so far, and we can only imagine what is in store for the rest of the way.

Click the title to watch the video. Thanks!

The truth can be painful. At times I honestly would like to avoid the truth. Avoidance can be much easier than confrontation. The story of Jesus is truth, and it can be painful. I want to be very truthful in my letter to you. I have discovered that sometimes, we in Chi Alpha are like electricity; we take the path of least resistance. In this edition of Expeditions we are focusing on telling His Story. In our present day pluralistic society it is often much more comfortable and definitely safer to remain in the avoidance camp when it comes to telling His story on our campuses. I have found the same to be true in our mission experiences.

Crystal and I began to develop student missions in Chi Alpha nearly 14 years ago. The early short term teams that went out were rugged, radical, and adventurous for the Kingdom of God. The requests for assignments from those early teams were in general, “Send us to the hard places where we can share Jesus with those who have never heard.” They wanted to go to the inconvenient lost. The cost wasn’t the primary factor; they were driven by need. And the barometer of need was not physical, it was spiritual. It was about evangelism.

There has been a shift in our team requests since then. Today our greatest requests are for orphanage, relief, and AIDS work as well as other service projects. We like inexpensive prepackaged trips that are easy to implement. Why this shift? I believe, and you won’t like this assessment, that it is because we have acquiesced to the tolerance message so prevalent on our campuses. It is much easier and definitely much more acceptable to go back to campus and tell your fellow students or the dean that you spent a portion of your summer serving orphans, feeding the poor, or working with AIDS victims. Don’t get me wrong, all of this is admirable and commendable. You will receive objections from almost no one. But, if you tell these same people that you spent your summer in the villages of Central Eurasia sharing the message of Jesus (His Story) you will be looked at in most circumstances with contempt.

Feeding the poor, working with orphans, building houses is not enough. We must tell them His Story.

It has been said, “preach the gospel and if necessary use words.” Then you better plan to use words, because it is necessary. Let’s once again be rugged, radical, and adventurous and tell His Story to the lost around the world.

from Ty and Cina

Cina and I arrived in Tokyo the night before the earthquake, March 10. We were there to speak for the National Chi Alpha Training Seminar (March 11-12) that missionary co-workers had organized with the Japan Assemblies of God National Youth Department.

As we found ourselves in the middle of this crisis together with our missionary and Japanese colleagues, we knew that God had us there in Japan to do more than just survive!

Last Thursday afternoon we took a bus to a hotel at Narita Airport so we could be nearby for our flight to Taiwan/Manila early Friday morning.  But, there we experienced yet another earthquake (5.8 magnitude) with an epicenter right under us at the airport with several of its own aftershocks.

We went down to the lobby, as the 8th floor was just too wobbly for our liking. We helped a couple of families down with young children. They headed out for the US on Friday, too, leaving primarily due to concerns over exposure to radiation and frayed nerves. We’re sure they were not believers. It’s such a different feeling when you know you are in the Lord’s care and your times are in his hands – regardless of what happens.

It’s sad to think that most of the world lives without this kind of hope and assurance when you know that there is more than enough hope to go around for everyone! Lord, help us get it out!!

Japan considers itself a secular society. Few identify themselves with one single religious tradition. To most, religion is a blend of certain Buddhist beliefs and Japan’s ancient Shinto tradition.  The practice of religion revolves mainly around major life events, particularly the death of a loved one.

Less than one percent of Japan’s 127 million practice Christianity. Most live their entire life without ever knowing a believer.

As the nation mourns the great loss of life brought on by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami of March 11, millions will be turning to their country’s religious traditions and rituals for death and burial. But with many bodies lost to the tsunami, Japanese will also have to face not being able to carry out these rituals that to them are of great importance.

It is believed that the living bear responsibility for the well being of the ancestors in the spirit world. After burial, Japanese commonly keep altars at home where they offer food and pay tribute to the dead.

Unlike Christianity, Judaism or Islam that tend to ask why when tragedy strikes, Buddhism and Shinto traditions do not look for a divine cause or message behind a disaster.  Their focus instead is on their individual behavior in reaction to the tragedy. But now the Japanese high value on “holding it all together” and responding properly is being stressed to the breaking point with the triple tragedies of the past week, compounded by continuous aftershocks, freezing temperatures, and the fear of increased exposure to nuclear radiation.

Ty and I had the God-given opportunity to be in Japan and experience the first week of the tragedies together with the Japanese people. On the day the earthquake and tsunami hit we were participating in a National Chi Alpha University Ministry Training conference sponsored by the JAG National Youth Department. OneHope has a university version of the Book of Hope with an accompanying conversational English textbook that is used by campus ministries and churches to engage with students.

The day after the quake we contacted another one of our OneHope partners in Tokyo, the youth ministry of Tokyo Baptist Church (TBC). Though this congregation is an English speaking international church serving the foreign community, God is using them to build relationships with Japanese through a variety of outreach efforts, including the use of the Book of Hope. Their youth ministry, led by Pastor Chris McCottry, is regularly seeing Japanese students make decisions to follow Jesus.

We contacted Pastor Chris 24 hours to see if we might somehow join together to take Jesus to the streets in the area surrounding their church where students commonly hang out.  He met with his youth leaders and came up with a plan. On Sunday afternoon we, and Amanda Fosburg (Chi Alpha MAPS worker from Oklahoma) joined their students for a time of sharing and praying together. We then headed out to the Shibuya train station area (Shibuya is a center for youth fashion and culture) where members of their youth band began singing with the help of an amplifier, guitar, and mic. The rest of us connected with the groups of students that passed by, giving out invitations to a youth gathering at the church and a literature piece that presented hope and peace in Jesus. Some Book of Hope was given to those interested to know more.