Thoughts on the exclusivity of the Gospel in an age of tolerance

It is clear to most that we are living in the most tolerant age mankind has ever witnessed. The societal trends only give credence to the idea that extra freedoms and tolerance will only increase throughout the next century. It will therefore become more difficult for believers seeking to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ when the exclusiveness of His Gospel is a fundamental part of our belief. I believe that Jesus was God on Earth, sent from His Father to redeem a World fallen from the result of Sin. Jesus alone lived a perfect life worthy of communion with the Father, and by doing so He willingly took on the sins of all mankind so that, should we choose to place or faith and Hope in Him alone, we might become sons and heirs to the eternal Kingdom and live forever after within the Glory of the Father. The nomenclature of our Creeds speak to this exclusiveness. We declare in the Nicene Creed that we believe in "one God the Father" and "one Lord Jesus Christ...begotten, not made". There is no other object or being apart from God that is worthy of our praise and adoration, and believing that other means might save us from the penalty of our sins is complete folly. More than folly, it is damnable. Therefore, as the world becomes more unified in class and less exclusive, the importance of the exclusivity of the Gospel only becomes greater, and our calling as believers to spread the Gospel of our Savior becomes not diminished, but magnified as well.

UGANDA!! What whaaaaat

Hey everyone!

So I'm leaving to go to Uganda THIS afternoon! Its safe to safe that I am really pumped about the opportunity to see a new area of the world, visit a new continent, and all the other unknowns that await. It is going to be an awesome adventure which I look forward to sharing with all of yall. However, I am not sure about the accessibility of internet and from some of the things I've heard I should not be expecting to be able to log on.

So, as far as this blog goes, I promise if I have an opportunity I will give little updates along the way, but don't worry I have a plan. I am planning on journaling every day while in Uganda, so if I don't have many opportunities to update the blog over there, I will type up all of my journal entries here when I get back. Awesome right? So, please continue to keep me, Jonathan, and Steven in prayer as we fly out today until we return on the 28th. Thank you all so much for your support and making my trip possible!

Frustrations of Inadequacies

Today was the first day of classes for the Spring semester here at Clemson. I am a Junior, yet having been here two and a half years I find I am alone in this place. I have surrounded myself with many, many friends who I can hang out and laugh with but no one whom I can relate with or who really knows me. I feel stalled, lost, frustrated, and longing something (anything!) different.

This past summer changed me. It was not my conversion experience; that happened with Brooke on September 7, 2008. That long warm summer undoubtedly changed me and God's Grace gave my life a new direction. Still, last summer in Prague was like an awakening and I saw the Gospel of grace, freedom, brokenness, and forgiveness anew. My passion for missions was born and I keep finding that fire continually being stoked by God continuously. Yet perhaps it is that passion that contributes to my helpless feeling here. I made my bonds with my teammates that are closer and more meaningful than any other friendships I have ever had. I experienced real, tangible, beautiful Christian community. That is something I realize I have never found at Clemson. Unfortunately, it is not with a lack of trying. I attend RUF and am on the leadership team there. I have helped start Campus Outreach at Clemson and am involved in the inaugural Bible Study and group meetings. Yet for whatever reason true spiritual bonds cease to exist here like they did or Prague or I feel like I might have in Memphis. I cannot connect with most people from FCA or Younglife. they always try to seem like they are on a constant spiritual "mountain top" and, most likely because of my own sin and selfishness, it nauseates me. I feel like their emotions are a fraud. I believe that it is not how high you soar on the spiritual highs, but how straight you walk with Christ on the narrow road where life is tough and where you spend the vast majority of life. I admire their passion but I find myself wondering how much of their emotions are real.

Father God I pray that you would help me love these people. I pray that I would quit being selfish about my feelings and open my eyes to what it is you want me to do here. Give me patience. Patience enough to not feel stuck here. Patience and faith to believe in Your plan for my life. Humble me to give up control and help me stop fighting against Your plan. Father please, I pray, grant me a community of believers here whom I can rejoice with about You. Continue to fuel my passion to serve You in missons.

More updates

So when I was going through my recent post I realized that I left out some important stuff that I wanted to share with you all. July 21-24 our team left for a little town in Southern Moravia for our Sonship retreat. For those of you that aren't aware of what Sonship is, it's a Bible study written by World Harvest Missions that works on helping us seeing the ways in which we sin and realizing that even though we are Christians and saved by the grace of God, we still screw up all the time and the struggles don't go away. However, it also helps us see that even though we are sinful and have no hope of Redemption apart from Jesus, that we are still the adopted children of God and when he looks at us he doesn't see our sins and imperfection, but He sees Jesus' perfection. Those of you who have been through Sonship know that it is an intense study that can really break you down, but it is also extremely helpful and no matter how hard it is to realize how broken we are, it still paints a beautiful picture of Christ's love for us.

So anyways, we left on Wednesday the 21st and rode the train through Brno to the southeast corner of the Czech Republic. We stayed at a little hotel that we pretty much had to ourselves which was nice. Moravia is a region known for their wine, especially white wine, so the little town we stayed at was surrounded by vineyard covered hills which, to say the least, was not a bad place to spend a few days. The days were spent going through our Sonship lessons together and spending quiet time reading and writing in my journal.

While we were there we had a really fun night which I have been meaning to write about. Thursday night our group visited one of the wineries and the owner of the vineyard walked us through a wine tasting of ten different bottles. 7 were white and 3 were red. It was a really awesome experience that we shared together and we had a blast sitting in a little vineyard in Southern Moravia, halfway around the world drinking excellent wine at the place where it is made. After the we did the wine tasting and ate dinner, we all received a free bottle of our favorite wine to take home.

The past four weeks of my summer has been an incredible time of growth in my life, and again I apologize for not keeping you all updated enough. When I last posted here I had just arrived in Vienna for a 10 day stay working with the WHM team there. I'll begin now telling the events of that trip and my thoughts from it.

When we first arrived in Vienna, the team took us outside of the city to this beautiful vineyard/town in which Beethoven spent a large portion of his life. The scenery there was beautiful and we enjoyed getting to know the team and drinking some amazing wine. The next couple of days (Saturday and Sunday) were spent exploring the first district of the city and seeing the main sights, as well as making a trip to Schönbrunn Palace. This massive palace and garden was used as a hunting lode and retreat for the Hapsburg royalty and was also the sight where the 6 year old Mozart gave his first performance for the Queen. It was amazing to see so much History in one place and to stand in the place that Mozart performed. Early Sunday morning we arrived at the church plant, named New City Wien, and prepared everything for our church service. However, it was sobering to see that after we had spent so much time in preparation, not one person outside of our team showed up for service. I realized that everything we did was necessary but was frustrated with God for not bringing anyone. Yet after spending some time feuding, I realized that this was very typical of missions work in Central Europe, and that it often takes years to establish even a few relationships that produce fruit. Since that Sunday the Lord has really taught me about patience while I'm over here with Austrians, Czechs, and even with my teammates. Also, that Sunday happened to be July 4th so we all had a big American 4th of July party at the Hunter's apartment.

On Monday morning, our English camp began. The program ran from about 8 in the morning to 5 p.m. and we had around 35 kids from ages 4 to 12. We spend time doing games, crafts, music, and lessons with them in the mornings until noon when we would serve them lunch. All of our songs and lessons were centered around teaching them about Jesus and it was neat to hear some of the questions the children had. It was also a very interesting week considering none of the younger children, and only a few of the older kids, could speak English. So, basically, we had 35 German speaking kids running around our little church while only 2 of the leaders knew German and could tell them to stop. An interesting week to say the least. In the afternoons we would walk to a nearby park so the kids could run around for a couple hours, then we would return to the Church and watch a movie. In spite of the kids not knowing much English, it was still so much fun being around them and knowing they were enjoying being with the "cool new Americans" and some said. To be honest, I was not exciting about having to spend a large portion of my summer away from half my team and outside of Prague. I knew it would be fun to travel to another country, but the idea of running an English camp for a bunch of kids who didn't speak English seemed pointless to me. However, at the end of the camp Laura, Drew, and I were talking about what we could take from the camp and how we could apply stuff we learned there to our mission in Prague, and I was amazed about how much I would miss those kids and how attached I had grown to them. Being in Vienna was an exhausting experience but still it was an incredible time.

Since returning to Prague our team has had a lot of time to spend in areas where we have gifts and passions and to use them for the mission field. My roommate, Houston, and I along with the rest of the team have really done a good job of being intentional with our free time in the city and making every minute count. One of our passions and main areas which we have used in our work this summer is photography. Our team is blessed to have two freelance photographers already on it, Mark Stewart and Talitha Brauer, so it has been an amazing experience learning from and working with them. Houston and I assisted Mark with two photo shoots he has done in the past few weeks. One was for a marketing campaign at a huge gym called Holmes Place, and the other was for an football team (American Football) called the Prague Lions. The purpose of the second photo shoot was to help them get a sponsorship by Nike. Also, our team has been working on our own photography exhibit over the past month. In late June, we went out on the streets and asked a bunch of random people from all over the world this question: "Do you think true freedom is more likely to be found in singleness or in a relationship?" The answers we received were all extremely interesting and opened up opportunities for us to have conversations beyond the original question. After we talked with them, we had Talitha get them to express themselves for a photo we took of them that we would use during our exhibit. So over the past month we have been working on finalizing the photos and picking the ones with the best quotes and pictures. Finally, this past Thursday night, we had our opening exhibit at a coffee shop in downtown Prague where people could come and see the people and their responses and have their own opportunity to talk with us or answer the question. We had a good turn out and it was fun to hear everyone's reaction.

Another ministry I have worked with consistently is a group of ex-pats who play soccer every Monday night at a huge stadium. It is an incredible experience to be able to play while surrounded by stadium seats on all sides. It has been a lot of fun getting to know all the people out there and I have met a couple guys that I am hoping to have an opportunity to meet with outside of our games.

This past Monday the guys, along with two sisters from California who we met here, had an opportunity to visit Terezin Concentration Camp which is about 45 minutes outside of the city. This was not a death camp in the sense that Auschwitz or Dachau were, but instead it was used as an intense work camp for political prisoners, communists, artists, and of course, Jews. Of course this place was still filled with sobering atrocities around every corner, and 40,000 prisoners died in this camp alone. It was filled with tiny living areas, solitary confinement rooms, showers that got used once a year during the war, execution areas, and was all around just a miserable place to be. I have spent so much time studying history and specifically World War II so i definitely knew a lot of the Nazi tactics with these camps but it was still so unbelievably sobering to see the places where people were imprisoned and killed.

City Wien

For the next 8 days I will be living and working in Vienna, Austria with the World Harvest Mission team here. The team here is led by Brad and Stacey Hunter. Along with me are two members of my team: Laura, and Drew. All next week we will be hosting an English Camp run by the New City Wien Church which is the WHM church plant. Basically, we will be spending time with kids from Vienna and helping them with their English as well as playing games and just hanging out. It's been a long day so far so I will head to bed but I will give more information about what the next week will be like soon. In Christ,

Wade

After a full week

Hey Everyone,

First of all I want to apologize for not updating y'all or posting anything in a long time. This past week has been pretty crazy (we're told it was our craziest week of the summer) and I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and process the events. Today we have the afternoon off before church so I'm using it to let everyone know what's up and how things have been.

This is my 10th full day in the city and my experience already has been amazing, difficult, spiritually challenging, and so rewarding. One of the outreach organizations from the World Harvest team here is a church plant called Faith Community Church. It has about 80 or so regular attendees and is an English speaking church. We will be helping throughout the summer with Childrens Church and other outreach events that will be taking place there.

On Monday we has a meeting with a woman named Anna who helps run an after school organization for gypsy children called Teen Challenge. It is located in an area of the city where many underprivileged families live, and they help to provide a Christian environment where Roma kids can come and do crafts, games, music, and learn about the Gospel. We met with Anna to discuss how we would be helping Teen Challenge throughout the week. After our meeting, the group went to the outskirts of the city for a prayer walk at Riverside School. This school was founded about 15 years ago by a couple of British guys who were not happy with the education system. Since its founding, the school has grown to two campuses (Early Years Campus and Primary and High School Campus), and nearly 400 students. It is one of the most renowned schools in Prague and is the home to international kids whose parents work for big corporations and embassies. As a result, the children come from homes that practice different religions such as Hindu, Catholicism, Islam, Atheism, Far Eastern Religions, and Christianity. However, even though there is such a diversity of nationalities and religions among the children, the school is staffed entirely by teachers and board members who profess Christ as Lord. So it was really interesting to walk around the school with the teachers and learn how they are trying to spread the Gospel in the classroom, and to the parents outside of the classroom.

On Tuesday, we went to a park for Teen Challenge and hosted a day outside where the kids could play soccer, do crafts, get their faces painted, play music, and just have fun being outside with a bunch of American interns. In the evening we had our family night which is a weekly event where the team just gets together for dinner at our leader's (Mark and Joanna Stewart) house and just hang out and relax. Also, someone volunteers each week to share their testimony and this past week Joanna shared hers, and so did I. Over the years, one of the things I have deprived myself of is a solid group of Christian friends that I can share anything with and be prayed over by. It has been such a blessing to have that community and fellowship in the Word and I can definitely feel the growth that the Holy Spirit is working in me already.

Wednesday and Thursday were filled with prayer meetings, Czech language classes, and Teen Challenge. Because it was so busy and we were always going it was difficult to find some time to spend time in the word, pray, and think. But we have realized that patience is definitely something that we need prayer for, and that the Lord would fill us with His grace so we won't get frustrated when we are so busy. Still, this past week was our busiest because we had Teen Challenge every day. Also, on Thursday, I gave my first cross cultural testimony that had to be translated so that was definitely a neat experience. Friday we had a prayer walk in the morning in a suburb area of near the outskirts of the city, then we had Teen Challenge again that afternoon, and finished the day with our weekly Friday night prayer walk in Wenceslas Square.

Saturday was our first real day off which was so refreshing. Last night we all went down to the Old Town Square where they have this huge T-V screen set up where they play every World Cup Game. It was so much fun to sit in this square surrounded by old churches, towers, and statues that are hundreds and hundreds of years old watching the World Cup with thousands of other people. It would have been an even better experience if the U.S. had actually been able to pull off a victory.

Anyways, I have some prayer requests that I would ask y'all to keep in mind when you think about me over here. First of all, the living space in our apt. is really small and we all need patience with each other, so pray that Lord would calm us down when we get upset. Secondly, that I would not get discouraged by the fact that I am only here for two months, and that I would be able to build lasting relationships with Czech people just the same. Finally, that the temptations with women, drugs, and sex which are so freely offered and available in this city might not effect me and that the Lord would guard my heart and keep me from straying from His way. Many of you know my testimony so you know my past abuses in these areas and how it might be very difficult for me in some situations, so please be my prayer warriors for that. More to come in a few days! In Christ,

-Wade