Medellín Photos

Today I went on a little mini-tour of Medellín with a short-term team visiting from Northwest Nazarene University. Here are a few photos...

View of city from seminary

They close off some car lanes every Sunday morning to allow bikers unimpeded access.

Baptist church I visited where a lot of professors from the seminary attend.

Medellín River in bottom of valley.

Typical food for Medellín, the "bandeja paisa."

One of many sculptures by Fernando Botero.

In downtown.

View while starting up the Metrocable gondola.

View further up the Metrocable.

Bottom station of the Metrocable.

First days in Medellín

This past Wednesday I arrived in Medellín, Colombia! Apart from a delay on my second flight and a few extra questions at customs given my large quantity of luggage, everything went smoothly. Since I arrived, I have kept busy meeting with people who head different seminary departments, helping me get a sense of how things work here and where to go for different needs. Today I attended two classes at the Saturday morning Bible institute on campus to get a better sense for what those classes are like. One class was on contemporary challenges and focused today on the church's response to poverty and abuse of power. Another was on the Old Testament prophets and discussed eschatology. I'll be meeting with the head of this program on Monday and hopefully get a better idea of where I can fit in teaching there.

My first impressions of the seminary have been quite positive, and everyone has been very welcoming. One thing that has especially stood out has been how much the school here is proactively seeking to train more teachers and flexibly meet the needs of the church here. Many of the teachers for the Saturday Bible institute are seminary grads who were given opportunities to use their training to teach others. Today I sat in on a class with a student in his final semester who is also being trained to teach and who hopes to do a master's degree in the future.

Tomorrow I'll go on a city tour with a short-term mission team from Idaho which will help for getting to know the area. I barely know any of the city yet and have yet to experiment with public transit, so that will be a project for the coming week.

Church Commissioning

I am leaving for Colombia in one week, and this past Sunday my home church in Kalispell formally commissioned me for missionary service. This involved the congregation making a number of commitments to me and I to the congregation. The church body at Faith Lutheran Church (AFLC) committed to the following as my sending church:

• To recognize the Lord's call and commissioning of me to missionary service.
• To pray for me and the ministry at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia on a regular basis.
• To faithfully give financial and material support as agreed upon in congregational decisions to assist the work to which the Holy Spirit has called me.

I, in turn, accepted and acknowledged my responsibility and privilege to carry on this ministry by making the following commitments:

• To teach Scripture as the "inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God, without error in the original languages" and to uphold all other doctrines expressed in the faith statements of the United World Mission and the Biblical Seminary of Colombia.
• To pray for and keep regular communication with the Faith Church community, especially its leadership, keeping them updated on the progress of ministry and the main areas of prayer concern that I face.
• To seek the counsel of the leadership of Faith Church for major ministry decisions or changes as I seek to discern God's will for my life and ministry.
• To be faithful in prayer and the study of the Scriptures, to labor in love and loyalty with my fellow workers in the building up of the Church of Christ universal, and to walk worthy of my high calling in word and deed.

Marc Rold, as the president of the church council, concluded the commissioning by praying for me to send me out. This service was a great blessing and encouragement, and I am humbled to serve in Colombia as an extension of the ministry of Faith Church. Most are not called to "go" cross-culturally in missions, but it's awesome to see this vision for being part of what God is doing globally catch on and to know I have a supportive community standing behind me (among many, many others supporting in prayer in Kalispell and across the country!).

Thank you to the Faith Church community for all you have done to make this ministry possible!

Marc praying for me during the commissioning

Serving cake after the service

Leaving May 13!

Three weeks from today I begin life in Colombia. After about seven months of preparation, it's hard to believe I'm finally nearing departure. While I'm sad to leave Montana right before the weather gets great for hiking, I am filled with anticipation for what God will do in and through me (and, more importantly, the whole Biblical Seminary of Colombia community!) over the next three years as I teach. I am also deeply grateful to the many people partnering with me through prayer and finances to make this ministry possible. I truly am humbled at the outpouring of support I have seen as I have shared about this ministry over the past seven months.

For those who have known me for a long time, you know that teaching in Colombia is the fulfillment of what I've been dreaming of doing for the last ten years, though with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Since college I have felt called toward being a bridge person who can help connect two worlds that often have little to do with each other: the church and the academy. While I love academic work, my heart is not to perpetuate academia for its own sake, but to take the insights of scholarship and make them accessible for the church so as to see people more firmly rooted in the gospel and more fully equipped to participate in God's mission in the world. If theological education doesn't lead to a deeper passion for the gospel and commitment to the ministry of the local church, it has lost its way.

Many aspects of what life and ministry will look like await to be seen. I will continue to send out my monthly newsletter updates with stories from ministry and prayer needs, but I hope to use this blog to help you get a better idea of where I'm serving, to see what life is like in Colombia, and to hear thoughts as I wrestle with cultural adaptation, teaching, and theology. Much of the day in, day out work of teaching is not glamorous, blog-worthy material: long hours spent reading books, pulling together ideas, and trying to find ways to stimulate discussion and critical thinking. I make no promises to a blog full of one profound insight after another, but I hope this can be a place to get a fuller glimpse into what God is doing in me and what he is doing in Colombia for his glory.