Take for instance, the church in the village of Saneba. The church is made out of stalks of millet, and in their words it looks like a birds nest. The benches were made out of round, dead, tree trunks that would create an abdominal challenge for most of us to keep our balance on. When I walked in for a tour, which means stand in the middle of the 15×30 structure on the dirt floor and look around, there was no doubt, Jesus was in that birds nest. They gave us a little ‘worship snack’ for the little bit of time that we were in this village, and it was just delicious. The joy those people know with their voices, hands, and feet, is awe-inspiring.

Whenever I am feeling grumpy, or whiny, or synical about this beautiful thing called The Church I try and think about that birds nest.

Not that you would ever do this, but the next time you go to church and think:

1.My parking spot is too far away

2. The music is too loud

3. The Pastor just didn’t do it for me today

4. The line to check-in/pick-up my kids is too long

5. The coffee is too weak (I might support you on that one)

6. I couldn’t find a good seat

Remember that gathering for worship is not about making sure everything is perfectly according to your liking. It’s about taking what inspired, equipped, challenged, and messed you up, leaving that place and giving it away to others. Everything that our gatherings should actually accomplish, can be done in that birds nest.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

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So technically, I’m not moving to Africa, but my friend Joanna Gregg is. After traveling to Burkina Faso a couple of times, Joanna is following God’s current mission for her life to move there for one year and be a part of our team. Here’s a quick message from Joanna:

I have been involved in missions in one way or another since I was a little girl.  In the last few years my involvement in missions has been to go with West Ridge Church to Burkina Faso.  On my most recent trip I was asked to consider returning to Burkina for a year long internship.  My initial response was, “there is no way I can raise that kind of money”.  However, I agreed to pray about the internship possibility.  After returning home, I realized if it weren’t for the money I would go ahead and proceed with this opportunity.  I knew that if this is something God wanted, I couldn’t let the money stop me.  After much praying I decided to pursue the internship in Burkina Faso.  I plan to move to Burkina Faso in January and work with the Feild family for a year.  I am very excited about this opportunity and about all that God is going to do in and through me during this time.

We are so excited to have Joanna join us at the LAC Team Center in Burkina Faso. Joanna is going to be blogging her experience and will have something up very soon. If you would like to support Joanna, please use the button below. If you would like to contact her, use my contact form at the top of my website. I will make sure it gets to her.

Please pray that God would continue to provide and guide her steps. Gotta love it when someone is willing to step out with this kind of faith and boldness!

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

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Meeting my Compassion Child was an amazing experience. I can’t imagine a better way to spend $38 a month. Next time I’m bringing the boy some shoes.

The Pastor at the LAC (Agabuse) has as big a heart for Student discipleship as anyone I’ve ever met.

Dang, it’s hot!

After doing 26 wells in the first two years we have request for 124 more with ‘more on the road’ as our friends on the ground say. We have request from over 300 km away. That’s what credibility will do for you.

“You have no idea how many people will be converted from the digging of one well.” (Pastor Tomas, Central Church, Ougagadougou)

More than 500 people have trusted Christ in the last year from the animist people group we have adopted called, ‘The Pugli’. We hope to build churches in more than three dozen villages among this group

The men that pastor these bush villages are no joke. We can learn a lot from them about leadership, dedication, and expanding the kingdom.

Can’t help but wonder how much impact my African American friends in the states would have on these people.

500,000 people died in Burkina from a famine that happened less than 5 years ago. Why doesn’t anyone know about that?

I can’t believe how hot it is!

Every woman in the US should come build relationships and encourage women here. It would be empowering for both parties.

Looking forward to putting Tony Morgan’s books in French and seeing how these principles transfer over

Answered prayer is the first step in creating ministry strategy

Our friends in the bush just spent a month salary feeding our team three meals. That’s humbling.

Great test of friendship and the people you work with is traveling like this. It’s a little strange to me, but I still like all these people.

A frozen Tampico is the nectar of the gods

The more people come over here, the more impact we will have in Burkina and in our own families and churches.

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Over the course of several trips and lots of prayer and discussion we have come up with a strategy to help play a role in spreading the gospel to unreached people groups in this country. It’s bigger than one church or any one organization. I’ll talk through more our strategy in some upcoming post.

As all of our plans came together one very important component came to the foreground; we needed personnel on the ground to host teams and look after the strategy as it developed.

After a couple years of prayer and a lot of bold moves by West Ridge Leadership I am sitting here in Ouagadougou with Chris and Connie Feilds and their 5 kids. These kids are so excited to be in Africa they can’t stand it. The four year old keeps asking, ‘Where is the pool?’ Thankfully, the US Rec Center has one. Chris and Connie look like you’d expect after bringing 5 kids, all their luggage and a dog with them across 20 hours of travel.

There is more to this little plan of ours. I’m actually going to sleep in another part of the plan later tonight. More than anything each of you have a role to play that I will be explaining as well.

Follow our trip this week by visiting Brian’s website and Tony Morgan’s Site.

For now it is time for a little rest.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

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This may be more than just an exercise in marriage intervention. Many of you have come to me and said that it was actually a spouse that encouraged you to go on your first trip. Sometimes we have to give each other permission to take the time, or spend the money.

If you have a spouse that has talked about wanting to see the savannahs of Africa, the Amazon of Brazil, or the hidden treasure of Cuba, let’s make 2010 the year. God is allowing us to partner and do some amazing ministry in these countries; digging wells, building churches, and being a part of community transformation in these three countries. Whole tribal groups of people who have never heard the name of Jesus, are being told about Him first from West Ridge and our partners.

I would encourage you to sit down, talk about this together, and choose to make the investment of your family’s time. There is some money involved, but most of it you can raise through fundraising and networking. We will provide guidance in this. We are very interested in helping you see what God is doing in the world, and engaging His global kingdom.

Sign up by visiting www.westridge.com/global

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

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This Sunday he will be at West Ridge Church during our three services. He will share for just a couple of minutes in the service, which is not nearly enough to help capture all that is happening. For that reason, we are hosting a reception for Pete at 4:00 p.m. in the Discovery Room at West Ridge. It will be a ‘drop-in’, so come and go as you like. We will be wrap things up just before the 6:00 p.m. service.

If you have any interest in traveling to Africa with West Ridge with us you should come. Our confirmed trips are up on our website at www.westridge.com/global. If you have sponsored a child in Burkina through Compassion International you should come. All in all this is going to be a great afternoon hearing about what God is doing. It will expand your view of Him and just might expand your faith.

Pete has become a great friend to me and our church. I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to get to hear more.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

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