"Can't This Wait Until We get to the Mission Field?"

Ok. So there's some things that you would expect to experience on the mission field, right? Things like different foods, a language barrier, cultural differences, a possible change in climate, a lack of comfortable things, snakes and my personal favorite... insects! For some reason the whole insect thing bothers me more than any of those other things. Is that weird? Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a wuss. I'm a man's man. I love God, the UFC, football, and I'm married to the hottest woman on the planet. I'm no pansy, really. But for some reason insects (especially spiders) have really freaked me out here lately. Now I'm not "jumping up on chairs screaming for help while I hold up the hem of my skirt" freaked-out. It's more like a healthy "why are you crawling around me and bothering me inside my house" freaked-out. It just seems like the insect population has increased and they've all moved into my yard and into my house. It's seems like within the last week I've seen every insect you could imagine. There's been giant mosquito's in our kitchen, we killed a scorpion crawling in the hallway, last night I pulled 2 ticks off Robert with tweezers, and I killed a huge army ant that attacked me while I was laying in bed last night too! Yesterday MJ and I were eating in her car and she yelled, "watch out" as she pushed me forward in the driver's seat. There was a big spider crawling on the headrest of my seat. It was huge! When I grabbed it with a napkin to kill it, it was actually hard to smash it was so big. It was like trying to smash a small mammal. Where did this thing even come from?! As I was leaving the house the other night I looked back and noticed a huge pile of sawdust next to the front door (see picture above). As I looked closer I saw a small hole with sawdust pouring out of it. It was one of those carpenter bees drilling a massive hole in the door frame of my home! Seriously?

We were in Brazil a few weeks ago and saw tons of insects. No big deal. We were in the jungle so that's to be expected, right? And in the back of my mind I've been preparing myself for the fact that me and bugs are going to be commonplace. We'll be peacefully co-habitating together... once I move to Brazil. But not now!

So can't the bugs wait to attack until I get to Brazil? Please? That's not asking a lot is it?

I'm reading David Platt's new book "Radical Together" that came out last week. It's a very encouraging book for anyone who is feeling a passion for missions. And it's also a very challenging book for anyone who is a Christ Follower who doesn't have a passion for missions. I'll probably post something about it later. But in the book he really emphasizes the fact that getting the Gospel to the nations is "all" of our responsibilities and not just a "select few." It's all of our responsibility. And something happened the other day that really blessed me. I got a text message from a friend of ours on Saturday. In it, he said, "that his son was selling books and pictures at a yard sale because he wanted to send MJ and I money to help us with our move to the mission field in Brazil. He'll never know how much that encouraged us. To know that this little boy wanted to help with missions... wow. What a blessing. Thanks Parker! Thanks for understanding that missions is something we all should take part in and the Kingdom of God is going to be expanded because of you, little buddy.

So, that's about it for today. I've got to go to Home Depot and buy some insecticide and get rid of all the insects that have invaded our home, because I'm not living with insects... until we get to Brazil, that is.

Love Ya,

Jim

It's Easy to Miss the Point

Ok. So today is good Friday and this is the first one in 10 years that I haven't been on the pastoral staff of a church. It's weird. Because usually around this time of year I'm in meetings planning for the "busiest church day of the year." Whether it's planning a Community Easter Eggstravaganza (Easter Carnival), sitting in creative meetings helping brainstorm the Easter program, helping with dramas, editing video, putting together invite cards, making sure ushers, greeters and parking lot volunteers are scheduled, locating all our chairs for overflow seating and the list goes on and on. But not this year.

The reason I'm even thinking about this is because I just finished reading my 2nd or 3rd email from different ministries that were wanting to help me reach all the extra people that are going to be coming through the doors of my church. One of the emails was wanting to show me how to retain them and get them to come back. Strategies... Plans... Programs. That's been my life for the last decade. But this year I get to attend a service with my family as a participant and not a programmer. I actually get to sit back and just soak-in all the worship, the message, the "real reason" for this time of year. Jesus.

As Christ Followers, this is the time of year that should be a celebration. A time of remembrance of what God did through the blood of His son for us. But I think as church leaders we've viewed this time of year as a time to reach people who normally won't come to church any other time of the year. And by focusing solely on that part, we've missed the opportunity to celebrate "personally" the fact that we have relationship with God because of the cross of Christ. It's like we've put more emphasis on the "reaching the extra people in our pews" that we've neglected the personal part of Easter... the part where we personally take time to reflect and worship God with our families for what He did for us.

I know I'm not the only one who's guilty of this either. All of my friends are on church staffs and we talk. This is such an important time of year for us and we need to capitalize on reaching people that won't come to church any other time of the year. We do. But not at the expense of our own personal experience with God. I don't know where the balance is and how to achieve it. I just know that something has to be different. I think, because of wanting to reach the masses, I've missed out on the personal side of Easter.

I'm very passionate about the local church. I want her to grow and thrive. I want to see the local church retain the masses that will be coming through her doors over the next 3 days. I want to see people's lives changed because of the Spirit of God that will be present within her 4 walls. I want all of this. But, even more than that, my prayer for me and my family (and for you) this Easter season is this... "that with all our planning and preparation we won't miss the point and that we'll have a personal encounter with Jesus this weekend." Because it's all about Him, right? All praise be to Jesus.

Feliz Páscoa,

Jim

Great I Am

The Great I Am click HERE for video

Love this new worship song by New Life Worship. God truly is the "Great I AM" for all of our circumstances! Hope you like it and that it encourages you today. (This song is available in itunes)

Love Ya,

Jim

Into Thin Air

We're going through a period in our walk with Christ that is different than anything we've ever done before. We're having to trust Him more than ever before. We're having to rely totally on Him and His provision, guidance and direction. Now, don't get me wrong, we've trusted God and relied on Him in the past. But it's like we always had a back-up plan just in case. (Don't judge me because you've done the same thing.) We always knew that we could always fall back on ______ if for some reason He didn't move the way we were anticipating. But not this time. This time it's different. This time it's like that part in that Indiana Jones movie where Indy (that's short for Indiana Jones for all you non-movie-watchers) had to take a step out into thin air just trusting that the walkway was there even though he couldn't see it. This time, this step, it's definitely into the unknown for us. But it's not scary though. It's weird because it's actually comforting. It's comforting to know that what we're doing is 100% Him and zero% us.

I've got a tendency to be controlling (I used to call it organized, lol!) and I always wanted to have things mapped-out perfectly. But God has been changing my thinking on this subject lately. I think when we have everything planned-out perfectly we miss a lot of what God has planned for our lives. I don't think He wants us to know every step that He has for us all the time. Because when we know what each step in our future is it causes us to not have to trust in Him. Now I know all my friends who are planners just shut me off. But think about it. Think about all the services we've had where they were so planned out that the Holy Spirit couldn't move if He wanted to because there was no time in the schedule. Or think about all the events we've planned and executed that were accomplished solely on our abilities and talents. It's crazy and I'm ready for a change. I want to be like Abraham in Genesis 12 where God told him to go to a land that He would show him (later) and he packed-up all his stuff and went. Without knowing all the details Abraham just trusted God.

I know that planning is important. And I know that preparation is necessary but at some point we've got to trust Him. At some point in our lives we've got to get to the point where if He doesn't show-up and He doesn't move we can't go on because we'll fail. The time for our family is now. We believe we heard Him (that's the most important thing, we heard His call to our family, not yours) and we're stepping out in faith... into thin air. But let me ask you a question, "How many areas in your life can you say that about?" Where are you having to trust Him. This isn't exclusive to just the Dunn Family. It's not like we're the only ones He's called to walk by faith. He's called all of us to a walk that is built on trust, obedience and faith. And when it all depends on Him, there's no other alternative but success for our lives and more importantly for the Kingdom.

So, if He's asked you to trust Him, just do it. Step out into thin air. He waiting there for you.

Love Ya,

Jim

A Picture Can Be Deceiving

First of all let me say, "Sorry!" I'm very sorry for not blogging the entire trip. To say we were busy would be an understatement. I literally had zero downtime to write anything. We were averaging about 5-6hrs of sleep each night and we were constantly on the go. The fact that there was no Internet connection where we were staying in the jungle didn't help either. So please forgive me. The only thing I had time to do was post ministry pics to my facebook page (at a local truck stop) so that the parents and friends of the students could see what we were doing.

Now, back to the blog title. To look at pictures that anyone takes on a mission trip can be deceiving. Let me explain. When we take pictures on a mission trip it's usually of smiling children (like the one above) or of ministry while it's taking place. But the thing that the picture doesn't show is the "back-story" to the subject in the photo. For instance, in all the ministry photos we posted from our trip ( here's my link http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000179768897) you can't tell how hectic it was trying to set-up all our equipment. You couldn't see how difficult it was just getting to each location because of the horrible road conditions and the weather. You couldn't see the spiritual warfare that was going on as we faced resistance from the enemy at every turn. As a matter of fact one of my friends, who wasn't on the trip, told me that it looked like the places we ministered in were nicer that last year, which they weren't! So to that I say this, "pictures are deceiving." If you look at the picture that's at the top of this post the little boy looks happy, safe, secure, right? But that's where you're wrong. We met this little boy in the park at Villa Zumbi. A very poor part of Curitiba, Brazil where, barring a miracle of God, his future isn't very bright. Just a day or so earlier 8 people were shot and killed due to gang related violence that erupted right there in this little villa. As a matter of fact on the same day that I took this picture, about an hour later, I was staring down the barrel of an Uzi (machine gun) as the Federal Police rolled by pointing their weapons at me and my wife. So to think that just because the pictures look great doesn't mean the surroundings or the people are great. (Don't get me wrong... the ministry in Brazil this time was awesome. We literally ministered the Gospel to thousands of teenagers in the local schools. It was amazing.) But here's where this post relates to you and me. As we live our everyday lives, we come in contact with people every day. If we were to "take a picture" of the people that we come in contact with chances are they would look just like this little boy. Happy, safe, secure. When in all actuality most people we encounter are completely the opposite. Most people are stressed-out, fearful, depressed and lonely. So to not engage with these people would be wrong. We miss opportunities to share the Gospel every day because we take these "mental pictures" of people that look OK on the outside when they're actually hurting on the inside. The only way to find out who's hurting is to engage and actually be a part of peoples lives. In our culture this is very difficult because we're too busy. In our culture we've evolved into a people who stay behind locked doors with our shades drawn, hoping nobody comes by our little safe homes. But as Christ Followers we can't be that way. We need to "do life" with people and make a conscientious effort to find out how they're really doing spiritually, emotionally, mentally. And by sharing Jesus and the Gospel with them, we can do our part in making sure that not only does their "picture" look good but their lives are good because we introduced them to Jesus. So step outside of your comfort zone and engage in someones life today. You won't regret it.

Please pray for us. Our last Sunday at Hope and Life is Sunday. It's been an amazing 9 years there and we're excited about what God has next!

Love Ya,

Jim