Wandering Priest » My Life

Seven Friends

Doug — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 19:10:50 +0000

This week marked our annual Mission Agency Leaders retreat. We met near Henryville, IN and saw the scenes of destruction from the recent tornado that hit down there. Many of the volunteers stayed at the retreat center where we stayed, and it was good to see those wanting to make a difference. Most of them were church groups. Have you ever noticed how often it is the Christians who respond with rapidity and staying power to disasters, poverty, lack of clean water, and hunger? And how little those who continually harp against Christianity contribute to such needs?

The seven of us who gathered for the non-agenda event included Laura Clancy (New Mission Systems Intl), Rick Jett (International Disaster Emergency Services), Doug Lucas (Team Expansion), Greg Pruett (Pioneer Bible Translators), Mike Schrage (Good News Productions Intl), Tony Twist (TCM International), and me (CMF International). We began our get together hearing from Bob Russell, former minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, speaking to us about transitions and responding to our questions about the state of Christianity with his usual humble demeanor.

We really have no agenda other than encouraging one another, praying together, and sharing what is happening in our organizations. I noted that we laughed more at this retreat than any other one we have had. Not because the subjects were funny, but because the trust level between us has lowered our defenses and we just enjoy being together.

I was thrilled to hear of what each of these organizations is doing to advance the Kingdom of God. The next time we’ll be together is at the North American Christian Convention in Orlando, FL. Come and see us there!

Recent Events

Doug — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:06:22 +0000

The International Society for Urban Mission (ISUM) has been formed. At a meeting in Bangkok in January, thirty people pledged themselves to the formation of this society for the sake of the urban poor. The society will publish a journal, New Urban Mission, with the first number to be available at the end of the year. In January 2013 there will be a conference in Thailand co-sponsored by ISUM, Urban Neighbors of Hope, and the Micah Challenge network. I was thrilled to be a part of this gathering and am anxious to participate in the conference next year. Hopefully joining me in attendance will be Wallace and Mary Kamau who work with the urban poor in Nairobi, Kenya.

Stephen Burris, research missiologist for CMF International, and I have collaborated as co-editors on a book that has been completed and sent to the publisher. River of Life: An Introduction to Mission should be available by summer in time for the fall term of 2012. It is being published by Wipf and Stock. In addition, two of the Alan R. Tippett series I have been editing should also be published in the next few months. The Jesus Documents: An Anthropologist Looks at the Gospels is the first book, and Ways of the People: A Reader in Missionary Anthropology will be the second. Seeing these books, and several others written (but unpublished) by my mentor come into print has been a dream of mine (and several others) now for 25 years. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Tippett’s birth, and next year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of his passing to glory. So, curl up by a warm fire and do some reading!

Birding in the Arabuko Sokoke forest areas

Doug — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:52:54 +0000

I was fortunate to be able to travel to both Thailand and Kenya in the first two months of the year. In each area I managed a little time to do some birding, and used a local guide each time. If one really wants to see and identify the birds, using a local guide is very important for one who is not that familiar with the birds. At the Arabuko Sokoke forest, we were guided by the birding legend, David Ngala. There is no doubt that the 64 lifers I got would have been a fraction of that number had not David been there. (The same can be said about the 63 lifers I got in Thailand at the Doi Inthanon National Park).

I won’t bore you with a list of the birds I saw, but will mention some of the favorites: Amani sunbird, crab plover, Sokoke scops-owl, and Sokoke pipit. We took a side tour on the way to Malindi from Nairobi to the Taita Hills where we were able to see two of three endemics, the Taita thrush and the Taita white-eye. The one we missed was the Taita apalis.

My friends, Keith, Jesse and Jonathan, were great company. We stayed at a place on the beach, but to Robyn’s disgust (she was in cold, cold Indiana) I did not even put my toe in the ocean. No indeed, this was a birding trip, not a restful stay at the beach!

A Birthday to Remember

Doug — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 21:29:58 +0000

Here are some ways that might indicate that: 1) I have been working too hard; 2) my life is a tad out of balance; 3) I have to be one of the most boring individuals in the world.

1. I visited the Indianapolis Children’s Museum today. Our group of four were all in our 50s and 60s. People stared at us because we had no kids in tow. I have lived in Indianapolis for 16.5 years, and this was the first time I have ever been to the ICM. That is a travesty to this wonderful museum!

2. Last night I did something that I have sort of half-heartedly scratched my head at for years. In downtown Indianapolis it is possible to go on a horse-carriage for a half an hour tour around the center of town. You put the gloves and stocking caps on because it is cold outside, and you cover yourself with a blanket, provided by the Blue Ribbon Carriage Company. We were celebrating Robyn’s birthday, and this was SOMETHING SHE HAD WANTED TO DO FOR YEARS!! Duh, Doug.

3. So, we are sitting in the children’s museum — we were only there two hours — and I was reading something on my phone. Linda Brock and Robyn and Garry were standing there, ready to go to the next site, and Linda pipes, “We’re ready to go Doug, when you are done working.” Actually, I was, AND I SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN!

We have a wonderful city in Indianapolis; all sorts of workers were out getting the city ready for the Superbowl on February 5. It really was time to take it all in, because when the real Superbowl festivities for the public are ready to go, I’ll probably just be working away.

Thanks Garry and Linda, Aaron and Andrea, Nicole and Greg for making Robyn’s birthday so special.

Snowy Owl

Doug — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:32:21 +0000

Every few years, often when the lemming population is sparce, the Snowy Owl makes a foray southward from its home in the Arctic. It goes searching for food and has been spotted in places as far away as Alabama and Georgia. It’s journey is called irruptive, and birders often wait to see unusual visitors from the north.

The Snowy Owl is the heaviest of all the owls, weighing in at four pounds, compared with just over three pounds for the Great Horned owl. The wingspan of the Snowy Owl is five feet!

About ten days ago a Snowy Owl was spotted at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport, formerly known at the Mt. Comfort airport. I have birded at the airport before; in fact I got my first view of the Upland sandpiper at this airport. I learned of the bird at the airport on Sunday evening, so by Monday morning I was there, in the rain. Nobody else was, and I did not see the owl. But I went back in the afternoon and was able to see it. The next day I was there again, and the owl was sitting on a nearby building. Twice in the next several days I went again, and yesterday (Saturday) the owl was sitting in a field and I was able to get the other photograph.

Here is what John Stott wrote about the Snowy Owl when he finally got the opportunity to see one. “How can I capture in words the excitement of sitting in a hide, or blind, for hour after hour only a few yards from the bird of my dreams?! . . . It was a fantastic experience to eavesdrop on the domestic life of this majestic but elusive bird. She stared at me (although of course she could not see me), and I stared back. I could even watch mosquitos crawling on her feathered face until she blinked and shook her head vigorously to dislodge them. One of her eight white eggs had hatched, and another followed two days later.” (taken from The Birds Our Teachers: Biblical Lessons from a Lifelong Bird-watcher, page 32).

The Snowy owl—a great Christmas present to be sure.

Guest blog

Dan Leinbaugh — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:23:22 +0000

Guest blog entry from my wife, Robyn: http://occministers.wordpress.com/ .

What I Talked About

Dan Leinbaugh — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 12:25:59 +0000

So, what did I talk about at the Winema Week of Missions? I was asked to focus on Africa for one adult session, and on current CMF ministries for another. I decided to use David Letterman’s Top Ten list for the Africa talk. I spoke about politics, health, education, and the status of Christianity. For the CMF talk I made a whirlwind tour of positive things that are happening in our ministries. I mentioned aquaponics and had a biology professor from a university tell me that she wants her students to become involved, which made my day. It will be fun to follow up on that.

What, you ask, is aquaponics? It is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. (That sounds like a joke, but it really is true). Aquaculture refers to raising fish in small ponds; and hydroponics is raising plants in water. In aquaponics you combine the two, with the fish supplying the fertilizer needed by the plants. As a result you can harvest both fish and plants from the same pond. It is just like a real life pond, only the plants are things like tomatoes and spinach rather than weeds. We are experimenting with aquaponics in both Thailand and Kenya.

For the children and youth, I showed the movie, One in a Million, which went over quite well. Robyn was with me for several days of the conference and she spoke at the bonfire one evening. The theme of the conference was “To the Ends of the Earth.”

Failure to Launch

Doug — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:23:42 +0000

Due to a “failure to launch,” there have been no blog entries for over a month. Not that I did not write some entries, but due to a computer problem that is not yet worked out, nothing I entered stayed, if you can follow that. So let me back up and try again (for the fifth time) this entry.

I was in Oregon the first week of August for the Winema Week of Missions, an annual gathering of hundreds of people on the beautiful Oregon coast. The weather was spectacular, with people saying “the best in twenty years” for the conference. The conference is for the entire family, with the whole week dedicated to missions. Five missionary speakers and one Bible lecturer constitute the program. Each speaker talks with various groups (children, youth, adults) about seven times during the week.

Those participating this year (besides me) were Bible lecturer Mark Moore (Ozark Christian College); Marsha Miles (Pioneer Bible Translators); Steven Carpenter (CMF missionary to Mexico); Rick Jett (International Disaster Emergency Services); and Doug Lucas (Team Expansion).

I went out a few days early to see my folks and to go salmon fishing. The ocean was not Pacific and boating was not allowed. So I went to central Oregon to do a little birding with my friend Terry O’Casey. I was able to get a couple of lifers – the gray jay and the pinyon jay. We were east and north of Lapine, driving all over looking for the pinyon jay, only to be told (thank you, friend) by another birder we happened across that the pinyon jays were right outside of his house in Bend. We drove to where he directed us, and sure enough, got the noisy bird.

After the Week of Missions, I stopped on the way to my aunt and uncle’s house at the Tualatin National Wildlife Refuge where I picked up a third lifer, the Vaux’s swift. The bird is common; I just had not been in the right place at the right time. This bird roosts in chimneys by the thousands. In fact, this last week I got an email from my cousin in Oregon about hundreds of these swifts roosting in their chimney in Woodburn, Oregon.

This week Robyn is in California for a family wedding, leaving me a confirmed bachelor. She gets home and then two days later I leave for a trip to Kenya.

Philadelphia Church Visit

Doug — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:29:07 +0000

This past Sunday Robyn and I attended the church our daughter and son-in-law (Nicole and Greg) are attending in Philadelphia. The church is called “Christ Church” and it is right down in the historical section of town (think Liberty Bell, Constitution, etc.). The church was established in 1695, and the current building was completed in 1744!

Here are some quotes from the back of the bulletin about the church: “Often referred to as ‘the Nation’s Church,’ or ‘the Patriot’s Church,’ Christ Church was frequently visited in the Revolutionary era by members of the Continental Congresses, Washington’s troops, and the Constitutional Convention.” “Seven signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried in the groups, and it has counted as its members Benjamin Franklin … Betsy Ross … Andrew Hamilton … and George Washington.” Wow!

After all of these years, the Word continues to be proclaimed from these premises. We enjoyed participating in the Lord’s Supper in a high church environment.

ASM Meeting

Doug — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:00:04 +0000

This past week-end I participated in the annual American Society of Missiology meeting. This was the 39th meeting of the ASM, which was founded to promote the discipline of missiology. Its charter called for a meeting where mission agencies, missionaries, and mission professors could get together to promote their causes, fellowship, and learn from one another. Over the years the audience has been primarily (almost totally, one could say) mission professors.

The president for this conference this year was Dr. Rob Gallagher, a friend who teaches at Wheaton College. The theme of the conference was Mission Spirituality. I was blessed by the presentations and came away wanting to deepen my own spiritual life. We had Rob speak at our Mission Trainer’s Forum at the National Missionary Convention last year. Leading worship for the conference were Rob and Shannon Maupin. Rob is a missions professor from Lincoln Christian University.

Of special interest to me is a three year undertaking of the ASM to talk about the future of the academic discipline of missiology. It was noted that many chairs of missiology in European universities have been closed down, and that it is almost impossible to get a degree in missiology in American universities. If one desires a degree in missiology these days, one goes to a seminary. Getting a teaching position in the field is difficult because there are more qualified people than there are positions! So, the discussion on the future is needed. One thing is for sure: The Lord continues to want His Creation to honor him, so the task is ongoing.

I enjoyed the chance to see folks I only see every few years, and to meet some people whose books and articles I have read over the years. Kip Lines, former CMF missionary in Kenya and completing his Ph.D. was there, my colleague Darrell Whitemann (going back to Fuller’s School of World Mission, 1975) was there, and it was great to spend some time with each of them. My roommate for the conference was a long term missionary to India now working with the US Center for World Missions in Pasadena. He told me he was well aware of the Tippett series I am working on, and he also informed me that Vol. 1 of the Donald McGavran biography is soon to come out (written by Vernon Middleton).

This is the third ASM meeting I have attended in the sixteen years I have been living in Indianapolis. Maybe I need to go more often.