It has been a while

Sorry that it has been so long since the last post.  There has been some exciting developments in my life that have kept me from staying current.  

First, our 4th child was born on Nov. 16th.  Mom and baby are doing great.

Second, I am in the process of updating the blog.  UnpavedJourney 2.o should be ready to roll out sometime next week.  check back.  I think you will like the changes and the upgrades.  We are adding video and audio podcasts, with an over all better presentation of what the mission church is going to be about.  

Please keep it in prayers.  Talk with you all soon from the new site next week.

travis

Update from Kelsey in India.

 

Hi everybody! I hope all of you are doing well! I’m having a crazy time over here, as usual. There are seriously times that I still get dizzy with the realization that I am actually in India. The most surreal, out-of-body moments are when I’m doing things like holding on for dear life in the back of our crazy jeep, or napping with a beautiful orphan in my arms, or yelling ridiculous things at an angry rickshaw driver after he chased me down the street because I didn’t pay him enough. Sometimes I have to sit back and ask myself, “Am I really here right now? And if I am, how the heck did I even get here?” It almost feels like I’ve been pulled around on a leash for the past year, because I can’t figure out how I possibly got here so fast, and I can’t remember how it happened. God is so crazy!

I have a lot to say in this letter since so much has happened, so be prepared.  Here goes…

This past Sunday, we stepped away from our normal routine and decided to go to another orphanage, Emmanuel, for church. We had never been there before, and we came to find that it was very different from Asha House and Asha Mission. For one thing, it was in the middle of a humongous field that seemed to be the perfect place for kids to run and play. Also, there are over 100 kids who currently live there! When we first stepped out of the van at the orphanage, we heard the beautiful sound of many children singing and worshipping to the beat of loud drums. The actual church service ended up lasting over three hours, and I was amazed that the kids sat patiently and respectfully the entire time. Afterwards, we were asked to teach Sunday school to all of the kids. So once again, we found ourselves in a situation where we had to pull a top-notch lesson out of our hats without having any preparation whatsoever. That tends to happen a lot over here. J We usually end up finding a Bible story to act out for them, and then we ask them questions about it and try to apply it to their lives. It seems to get easier every time we have to do it.

After church, we went outside to play with the kids. One little girl in particular really captured a piece of my heart. Her name was Regia, and I would guess that she was about five years old (not many of the kids there know their actual age). She did not have any hair because it had been shaved off to treat the boils that were eating away at her scalp. She didn’t speak any English, but we found other ways to have a good time. For a good while, she would just stand at the opposite end of the hallway, wait until I say “go”, and then run into my arms as fast as she could. She got a kick out of doing that over and over again. She and some of the other girls also had a really good time picking flowers and putting them into my hair. I ended up looking like a walking bouquet by the time they were done with me. J All in all, it was just a really good day. I really hope we get the opportunity to go back there again before we leave!

With regard to the leper colony, my team decided a few weeks ago that we needed to reevaluate our ministry with the kids there. We realized it was necessary the other day when we asked the kids if they knew who Jesus was, and not a single kid raised their hand. That was simply not OK; we had already spent many weeks doing VBS with them, but they were still confused about Jesus. That told us that we had been making things too difficult for them. We realized that the kids there are in a different situation than the kids at the orphanage; they don’t need to hear that David killed Goliath, at least not yet. They need to hear the simple truth that Jesus is their Savior and that he loves them! So, we decided to start back at square one and just explain the gospel from the very beginning. And somehow, I found myself being put in charge of the first two lessons that my ministry team was scheduled to do with the kids. No pressure, eh? We ended up finding out that standing up to teach the Gospel to 25 kids who don’t know much about Jesus is much harder than it sounds. Especially when you have to filter everything you say because you see out of the corner of your eye that there are shady Hindu men peeking over the colony wall, angry that you are trying to “change their religion”. The fact that we were in an uncomfortable, smelly area outside with flies swarming everywhere didn’t help either. It has really been challenging, but one little girl named Rebecca gave me a lot of hope the other day. After the first lesson, she came up to me and asked, “You Christian? Me, too!” A few minutes later, she saw that I had a Bible in my purse, and she said, “Psalm 91!” I was so shocked, not only because she knew about the Bible, but because that is my favorite Psalm, too! She asked me to sit down and read it to her, and that ended up giving me so much encouragement and hope for the kids at the colony. 

Please continue to pray that our team will have confidence and words to speak to the kids here, and that more of them will understand the message that we are trying to teach them!

The next three weeks are going to be jam-packed with work that we still need to do. We are now going to have six full days of ministry every week because we are going to try to visit Emmanuel and the slums more often. On top of all that, we have to plan a Christmas program that we are going to put on for both orphanages and the leper colony. We would all greatly appreciate prayers for the strength and perseverance to push through these last few weeks!

Thank you again for all of your prayers and support! God has continued to be faithful in revealing His plan to us day by day. I am amazed at how much he is working in all of our lives and in the lives of the people that we meet every day.

I’ll be home soon! I absolutely cannot wait to see all of you.

Love,

Kelsey

Everyone is Looking for a Savior

As the rhetoric dies down and we begin to move forward,  I am reflecting on some of the language that has been used about President-Elect Obama.  Toward the end of the campaign, the word savior seemed to come up more and more.  I heard an on the street interview with a woman that talked about how Obama was her savior and how he would take care of her.

At one of the rallies I listened to, Charlie Rangel was getting the crowd whipped into a frenzy with this montage:  ”Who is going to save you? Obama!  Who is going to save America? Obama! Who is going to save the world?  Obama!”

It hit me at that moment, we are all looking for a savior.  There is something deep in the human conscience that calls out a need for a savior.   Someone or something bigger than we are that will rescue us from the current despair and tragedy in our world.  Some hope to find salvation in their marriage or kids, some hope to find it in the goverment, and some hope to find it in the president.  The only problem with these so-called saviors is that time and time again, these institutions and people let us down.  Some will turn to the church to be their savior only to be let down again by an institution that seems to be as corrupt or even more corrupt than the government at times. 

What is someone to do?  Where should we go for a savior?  To whom should we look to save us?

I have found there is only one who is a true Savior.  It is in Him and Him alone that my hope and my trust rest.  I do not put my trust in a doctrine or the church.  I do not put trust in the goverment and those who are in charge.  And I sure as heck don’t put trust in myself.  I know myself all too well for that.  The one I follow and the one I seek is Jesus.  Not the Jesus you find on TV.  Not the Jesus that has been influenced by our Western thinking.  But the Jesus of the Bible, an ancient book that tells the story of a God who is in love with his broken creation and has to sacrifice a lot to fix it.  

If you are wrestling with who you look to for salvation, I invite you to open up the Bible and read it for yourself. Start in the New Testament (the last third of the Bible) with a book like Matthew, or John. See a man who took personal responsibility to help those who could not help themselves.  He did not wait for Rome to save the day.  He did not look to the established church to make the difference.  He took personal responsibility and did it himself.  So much so that when it was time to die for crimes he did not commit and for people who would never love him back, he did it without hesitation.

We are all looking for a Savior.  Be honest with yourself, who is yours?

To those on the Unpaved Journey

Travis

Leadership: Lessons from the sports field

Living in the Dallas area, you get a ton of sports news up here.  Not being a Cowboy fan, I have kind of enjoyed the melt down of late.  That being said, I also think that sports is a great place to learn about leadership and team dynamics. Unlike church leadership or even the leadership in the business world, the results of leadership, or the lack there of, on a sports team is lived out in the public eye in a very defined manner.  It is because of this that I love to look at leadership and the lessons learned on the sports field.

Back to Dallas and the hurting Cowboys.  The paper has been disecting the team and the fall they have experienced since they went 3-0 at the beginning of the season.  Everyone would agree that they have the talent and an owner who really wants to win.  So what are they missing?  What is the X-Factor that seems to be lacking and keeping them from being at the top of the NFC East?

Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News says this: “A leader commands the respect of his players or teammates by the way he carries himself.  He’s got charisma.  He’s comfortable in the role.  He answers for the team when the media comes looking instead of hanging out in the training rooms or ducking out back doors.  He doesn’t make excuses.  He calls out teammates or confronts them personally when necessary.  He doesn’t allow problems to fester.”  

Whether on the sports field or leading a church there are great insights here.  

 

• Respect: Lead and live in a way that demands respect
• Carry yourself as someone whom others will follow and are already following
• Know what is going on around you and be honest about it
• TAKE the heat when things go bad and GIVE credit when things go well
• Don’t always assume that things will just take care of themselves.  
• Most important: in public, protect the team.  In private, fight like hell to make each other better.

 

To those on the Unpaved Journey

Travis

On the Edge

Here is the link to a message I had the chance to give at Water’s Edge.

VIDEO 

The edge is God’s Playground.  When we stay away from the edge, we play on safe ground.  We tend to engage in actions that rely on our talents or our gifts. The tragedy of playing away from the edge is that at the end of the day, we tend to take the credit and limit what God can do. 

Ponder the story of David and the edge he stood on when facing Goliath.  There were many there who could have stepped out and faced the giant.  There were plenty who had the skills, the training, and the experience to do it but none of them did.  They stayed back on the safe ground, forgetting who this God is that they serve and follow.  But not David.  He ran to the edge with to see what would happen and see what God would do.  

The great part of this story is that though only one man ran to the edge, the whole body had a chance to cellebrate and take part in the victory.  That is one of the great things of being apart of the body.  Peter went to the edge and got out of the boat to walk on water.  But don’t forget, that all those around him got to see first hand how God provided.  Story after story in scripture is wrapped up in those who were on the edge and others who saw from the safe ground and ALL worshiped God for what HE did.

To those on the edge, know that God is doing amazing things through you.  Continue to share the story.  Continue to declare what God is doing and trusting in him so that the body of believers would be blessed.

So, weather you are wired to be on the edge or one to stay on safe ground, know that God is doing amazing things around us.  Eternity’s are being impacted. Lives are being changed.  People are being set free and new life is being breathed in.  To Jesus alone be all glory.

For those on the Unpaved Journey

Travis

For YOU

Another Great Video.  It stirred my wife and I.  We hope it is a blessing to you as well.

Video from Patrick.

Resistance Pt. 2

I was not planning on going there but I think I have to.  After further thinking on the resistance idea, I was struck by some of the ways that resistance comes into our lives.

Sometimes resistance may be to an idea, a vision, or a change that has to occur.  But other times, I think resistance comes to us as we are challenged to improve what we are currently doing.  That type of resistance would be called evaluation or criticism.  

Since my new call here at Water’s Edge, I have had many chances to speak and teach.  I have loved the chance to use my gifts in this way.  After the first sermon that I had delivered at W.E., Patrick(the Sr. Pastor) called and we had a great talk about things I did well and a few things I needed to work on.  I loved it.  I knew that he had a heart to make it the best that it could humanly be.  After the conversation I thanked him.  I told him how much I wish someone would have shared those insights with me 10 years ago.  I lamented the fact that I was 10 years behind where I should be in my skills as a speaker and a presenter. 

Why do I bring this up? I have observed that in many churches, we would rather slow down, even stop the growth/advancement of the kingdom because we are worried of how someone may feel if we challenged them and offered up evaluation.  I mean this with all my heart.  It is time that the church stop being so concerned with the feelings of those who lead and are a part of the body and start to take serious the mission at hand.  We have no other option but to do the best that we can and to help others do the best they can.  Turning a blind eye to incompetence, laziness, or misplaced skillset has to come to an end.  We have fallen in love with the path of least of resistance in fear that we may rock the boat or hurt someone’s feelings.

The message is too important to not bring our best.

To those on the Unpaved Journey.

Travis

Resistance

When we move to Frisco and started to train to plant churches, My wife and I saw it as a great chance to break some old habits and start some new ones.  We had a desire to get into better shape, but had never really prioritized it.  That was about to change.

Money is tight (as it is for everyone these days) but we saw not only a blessing to us physically to work-out, but a great chance to connect with those at the gym.  (note: This is easier said than done due to the fact that 98% of people wear headphones and no one likes to be approached by a guy who is a stranger.  We are working on plan B).

Anyway, I was riding the bike today and was hitting the toughest part of the ride.  I was sucking wind like a deer on opening weekend, and yelling at myself not to cheat and reduce the resistance.  I counted down the seconds till the resistance dropped 4 red dots, and I could slow my heart rate and start to breath again.

Once I gained my composure, I was struck by the fact that I hated all that resistance, I mean I hated it.  So, why didn’t I just stop the pain?  Why didn’t I do whatever I could to lower the resistance and have a nice easy ride?  Because I knew that it was during the resistance that I was truly improving and growing.  When the ride was easy and I was not sweating, I was not being stressed, challenged, or really growing.  I was simply doing what I knew I could do and doing it at the level I knew I could do it at.

When life is tough and you are experiencing resistance to the ministry that God has called you to, rejoice.  I will type it again, rejoice.  You are growing and God is changing you.   

Romans 5:3-5

“but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

To Those on the Unpaved Journey

Travis

Great Message for the Unpaved Jourey

The attached message was given by one of the pastors at Water’s Edge.  It was given at my instillation service.  I love the importance put on the heart of those on the Unpaved Journey.  It is not an option that you can enjoy from time to time.  It is a must, there is no other way to do it.

I hope the message speaks to you as much as it spoke to me.

Video

may we NEVER compromise on the Unpaved Journey.

Travis

What God Expects, God Enables.