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Welcome To Moes!

October 20, 2010 in Burkina Faso, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

You need to put this in your Dave Ramsey Envelope for eating out this weekend! Previously, I wrote about our friend Joanna Gregg who has decided to move to Burkina Faso in West Africa.  You can read more about Joanna here! We are partnered with Pastors and Leaders in that country to dig wells, build churches, build and expand schools, feed the hungry, and more. We are about to launch a web presence you can connect to very soon.

Joanna is hoping to move in January and is raising funds to help make that happen. The Moes on Dallas Hwy in Marietta is being very generous. This Sunday, October 24th, they are giving 35% of their proceeds to ‘Engage Burkina’ and Joanna’s efforts. They really want her out of the country!

You need to mention Engage Burkina and Joanna Gregg when you check out on Sunday. And GO BIG! This is your Sunday to go all out with ‘Joey Bag O Doughnuts’ or load up a ‘Homewrecker’.

We hope this place packs out!

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

Jesus In A Birds Nest

August 24, 2010 in Africa, Burkina Faso, Global Outreach with 0 Comments

Over the last couple of years we have taken the opportunity to partner with Pastors and Leaders in Burkina Faso to build churches. They actually do most of the building while we are not there. They provide the bricks and mortar (literally), and our teams help provide the capital and the labor on steel supports and tin for the roof. What I love about the Burkinabe people is that they don’t wait on us to get the job done.

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

I’m Moving To Africa

August 11, 2010 in Africa, Burkina Faso with 0 Comments

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


Things I couldn’t tweet from Burkina Faso

February 6, 2010 in Africa, Burkina Faso, Global Outreach with 0 Comments

Internet access was not as easy this time around in Burkina Faso. That meant less tweets. I take lots of notes on these trips, so if I could tweet as often as I do in the US here are some things I would have shared.

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.

Time For Some Execution

January 26, 2010 in Africa, Burkina Faso, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

A couple of years ago I came to West Africa for the first time. Pastor Brian Bloye and the elders at West Ridge Church had said that it is time for our church to play a role in God’s work on this continent. Through a family connection of a missionary on the field we ended up in a country called Burkina Faso in a part of the world called, ‘The Sahel’ (Sub-Saharan Africa).

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

Merry Christmas, Now Get Out

December 21, 2009 in Africa, Burkina Faso, Global Outreach, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

A few weeks ago I wrote an announcement to try and draw attention to the Global Trips we are planning at West Ridge. In tongue and cheek fashion I gave a recommendation that you send your spouse oversees as a way of saving your marriage. Evidently, I was right on as several of you have talked with me about giving Global Trips to your spouse for Christmas.

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

Like Never Before

November 30, 2009 in Burkina Faso, Community Outreach, Cuba, West Ridge Church with 0 Comments

So I’m 33 years old. I look younger, which doesn’t really have any advantages at this point. I’ve been a part or a church staff for 12 years, and have been around ministry for a long time. I’ve had the opportunity to be around great leaders and great ministry, but I have never seen it quite like this.

Over the last 10 years we have thought that people are more open to receiving the kindness of God, like September 11th or the financial collapse last year. But sitting at my desk with my view of the world this season is one like never before. Maybe it’s the flood relief we have all been involved in for NW Atlanta, maybe it’s the unemployment rate, I’m not sure. Every day at West Ridge we see families who have lost everything financially, emotionally, spiritually and physically, and they are coming to the church for help. There is no longer a high level of cynicism when we go out into our community. There is an extraordinary amount of people ready to listen to what God has for their life.

This is only possible when Christ-followers get involved and invite other friends from the community to do that as well. I can’t put a finger on what is happening, but I plan to share how we are leveraging this season to expand the kingdom.

Here are a couple of examples of what we have coming in the days ahead.

  • We will provide food and toys for over 1500 families at Christmas including 400+ families impacted by recent flooding
  • We will serve four-five dozen special needs families with a strategically placed Christmas respite event
  • We will send a family to Africa to continue to help us engage Burkina Faso in the areas of water and education
  • We will begin to unveil some of the rebuilding work that we and other churches have been called into for flood victims around NW Atlanta

I hope you will join with us in this. I think we are on the edge of seeing lives, communities, and countries transformed like never before.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

It’s Time You Meet Pete

October 21, 2009 in Africa, Burkina Faso with 0 Comments

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to meet a Missionary in Burkina Faso by the name of Pete Brokopp. God has given this man a ton of influence in this West African country. He has opened several doors for our ministry there.

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

Everything we own belongs to God

September 3, 2009 in Burkina Faso, Global Outreach with 0 Comments

I’m publishing a note from our friends Larry and Karen Wolters in Burkina Faso. Several of you at West Ridge Church have stayed in or eaten meals in this house in Ougadougou. What happens when historic rains comes to one of the driest places on the globe? Have a read and a look.

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands”.

When our family made the move to Burkina Faso, we left behind our lives that were full of “things”. These “things” were objects that we could certainly live without. As a matter of fact a bit of embarrassment fell upon us as we saw all of the “things” we put out in our yard sales as we sold everything except that which could fit into the 20 ft container we were shipping to Burkina Faso. It was a reality check for us all. When we arrived here in Burkina we made a conscious decision to not accumulate “things” and lead a simpler lifestyle. One Christmas Abby received three new pairs of flip flops and upon receiving them; she had to surrender three old pairs of shoes to give away. Every year we clean out all of our cupboards to make sure that we are not accumulating “things” again. We seek not to have too much and not to become too attached to what we have. Yesterday, when we woke up to the rains falling, this whole idea of attaching ourselves to “things” resurfaced. As the water entered our house, all I could think about were the “things” we had that would possibly get ruined. As Micah and I ran throughout the house frantically blocking entrances with towels, the tears fell. At one moment Micah grabbed me, and said “Mom everything is going to be ok”. He put his arms around me, and cried out to God to help us, to give us wisdom, and to calm our souls. God answered and friends came to help us to bail out and to further protect our home. Our night guard stayed to help. His home was possibly flooding, and his wife was home alone, but he would not leave us. When things appeared to be under control at our house we went over to the C&MA office across the road, and found that it was at least a couple of feet underwater. Office equipment, supplies, files, all ruined. Hours of work lay ahead of us. The tears just kept falling as I continued to focus inwardly. It was a long day, and not one I would care to relive. Today, God humbled me, and helped me to regain my focus as the news of the numerous tragedies surfaced. There are people that have nothing more than the shirts on their backs. I became ashamed for fretting over “things”. There is a feeling in my stomach that I wish would just go away. God is working in me and I am thankful for His help. Thanks for listening…… I needed to vent. Please remember that the needs here are abounding. Your prayers are needed.

Karen

Here’s a link to their facebook pictures…~Paul    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8534281&id=775495363#/photo.php?pid=8534282&id=775495363

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