The month of October started with a road trip on the east coast. The first few days were spent in North Carolina, visiting with  friends and a meeting with a mission agency that is considering their part in the Go Corps this year.  On Sunday the 4th, students from Biola and the University of Texas, Campus Ministers from the University of Texas, and mission agency representatives gathered outside of Atlanta at Operation Mobilization’s headquarters for a three day planning meeting where all worked together to further define what the Go Corps is going to look like this year. 

Go Corps Planning Team

The weekend was full of discussions related to the application forms, the process for which a student would apply, be accepted and then placed, the Go Corps marketing plan and more. Relationships between leaders in various mission agencies, churches and campuses began, and the vision of the Go Corps was advanced.  While much planning and decision making was accomplished, there is still much work to be done. Please pray for Paul as he continues to solidify the Go Corps pathway and begin the recruiting process for the first class of Goers.

The Original Chick-Fil-A in Hapeville, GA

On the last night of meetings, the whole crew went to the original Chick-Fil A in Atlanta.  Fun times were had as we chowed down on nuggets, handspun milkshakes, and waffle fries.  I never knew that Chick- Fil- A actually started as a sit down diner like restaurant.  These days you can choose to sit and be served or go to the counter for fast food service.  To save a buck on tipping, we  ended up doing the fast food option, but I hope to go back some time to experience diner style.

“There’s a big mobilization plan for the whole Mediterranean area. Pray about getting involved- these are some of the most unreached nations in the world!”

– George Verwer    Founder, Operation Mobilization

450 Million people live in the 21 modern countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
Christianity’s roots lie in the Mediterranean region, yet many do not know the story of Jesus Christ or who He is.

Imagine hundreds of people from all over the world coming together by the Mediterranean Sea for a week of worship, training, and teaching. Imagine these same people going out together in teams to reach the Mediterranean nations with the Gospel.

Conference – July 19-24, 2010
Transform 2010 will host thousands of people joining together in Rome, Italy for 5 days of teaching, worship, prayer, and training.

Outreach – 2 weeks or 6 weeks or “GAP” 1 year
Everyone will split up into teams and spread out into the countries surrounding the Mediterranean. Types of ministry teams will include sports, arts, immigrants, traveling teams, 24/7 prayer teams, and teams working alongside long-term missionaries.

For more information, click here.

Imagine:  Mission trips on board a huge ship! No prior ship experience necessary!

OM Ships International is the organization behind the ships Doulos and Logos Hope. The Ships Ministry began in 1970 as part of the global Christian training and outreach movement, OM International. Since then OM’s ships have visited over 500 different ports in over 150 countries and territories and welcomed 38 million visitors on board!

Our goal is to bring knowledge, help and hope to the people of the world. We do this by supplying vital literature resources, encouraging cross-cultural understanding, training young people for more effective life and service, providing needed relief, and sharing a message of hope in God.

The ships visit each port for several weeks each and open the gangways to hundreds and sometimes thousands of visitors each day. On average, over one million visitors have been welcomed onboard every year! The floating book fairs offer over 7,000 titles, providing many visitors their first-ever opportunity to purchase quality educational and Christian literature.

An international crew and staff of volunteers live and work on the ships. Teams from the ship go into surrounding areas to supply aid and community care. In each port, the ship’s crew joins local churches to bring hope and show love to people whatever their circumstance, culture or background.

More information is available here: OM Mission Ships

Or is it the other way round? The new OM International Facebook site was launched just two weeks ago and has already attracted 3,000 fans. The page has quickly become a reunion point for ex-OMers, who have found it an excellent means of keeping up with all that is happening across the incredibly diverse range of ministries. At the same time, details about upcoming short-term mission trips and prayer points for far-off countries featured on the site have also been attracting other visitors who are keen to learn more. All in all, it’s a great way of getting the word out about all God is doing through OM!

My good friend Willie Cuke (pastor) presided over the opening of Operation Mobilization’s new offices in Bridgetown, Barbados yesterday evening and about 2 dozen coleagues, associates and friends were there to witness the event. It’s good news for OM as Willie has long had a passion for overseas mission, good news for Barbados as this marks another avenue for the development of young people (“after 2 months on an OM ship they will never be the same again”) and it’s good news for Willie who, after a prolonged period of incapacitating ill health, is now restored and back in action. We rejoice with him in having taken over the helm of this organisation in Barbados.

Of course OM is well known for its book distribution – the arrival of the Logos in the island is a major educational and spiritual attraction – and this is likely to become more so as they begin in the near future to traverse the island in a purposely equipped book van… and, of course, samples were available for purchase on this occasion. I couldn’t resist one by Sarah ArthurWalking with Bilbo – but decided to safeguard my image (in danger of slipping with all this cycling stuff) by also getting ‘Father of Faith Missions – the Life and Times of Anthony Norris Groves’. I know you will humour my idosyncracies!

I have been reading this book, Women on The Edge by Deborah Meroff. It was first published by Authentic Media, as True Grit: Women Taking On the World, for God’s Sake. It is the story of women who have braved the odds to take the love of God to the frontier… to places that are war torn, riddled with hunger and diseases.

I’m only half way through, but I am awed and humbled by stories of women like Tammy Koh, who came from a broken home but still used her business degree and courage to serve God in the Himalayas. Or Pam Olson who with her husband, gave up everything to set up a relief mission in war torn Tajikistan. She went through bouts of dysnetery, urinary tract infections, skin allergies, bronchitis, hepatitis, gall stones, pneumonia and food poisoning but she still did not give up. She saw all the challenges as opportunities to trust God for his purposes to be worked out.

As a child, I knew of the Operation Mobilization ministry and of their ships. We had some missionaries on secondment to one of the ships (I can’t remember which). When the second ship was acquired, it was like a personal triumph for my family because we prayed and prayed for these brave people who were obeying the call of the Lord on their lives. Logos and Doulos have been part of my growing up life, as familiar to me as the on and off friends I made. So it is a wonderful thing to read about people like Joy Yorba who worked on Logos II; what this means is that my family probably prayed for her! It is an awe inspiring thought.

Deborah Meroff tells the stories which would have gone untold. I am grateful to her that we have this examples of these women to follow. There are a great many others that we probably would never read about, not unless there are other Deborah Meroffs out there, who take it upon themselves to tell the stories.

Women On the Edge or True Grit: Women Taking On the World, for God’s Sake, is a beautifully written book, complete with Vital Statistics of the countries these women worked in. It is worth every drop of ink it is written in.