September 15, 2010
Taylors in Arkansas, circa 1988
Then—as in twenty years ago—and today—as in 2010.
It was exactly twenty years ago this week that Yvonne and I (plus a Stephanie, then 14 years) drove to Austin, Texas from Russellville, Arkansas, from under 20K people to almost 1 million, from near-rural to cosmopolitan city, from the perimeter to a center. Christine had already arrived in January, 1990 and David was studying a year at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. We drove, I the largest U-Haul truck plus their largest trailer, and Yvonne our old Suburban loaded to gills. My faithful front-seat companion was a large ficus plant.
Three three just prior to leaving Arkansas
(An extended parenthesis. Actually, I really should [but I am not going to do it right now] go back twenty five years ago when we landed in Houston, after six weeks in Europe (where Christine and David had spent a longer time as exchange students in Austria). Yvonne and I had invested seventeen years of our lives in Guatemala, primarily teaching at SETECA, but also church planting, building relationships with dear Latin American friends, seeing some come to Christ and enter into transforming discipleship, witnessing the birth of all 3 kids there, and their years until terminal departure: Christine at 15, David at 13 and Stephanie at 9, Yvonne at a remarkable 39 and I all of 44. And then the sovereign Spirit of God led us away from our beloved Guatemala to a distant, cold nation, north of Chicago. And there we find many more stories, but after a year teaching at TEDS we moved to AR. Long story!)
Father and Son off to Kenya, 1989
Our first year in the Austin area, we actually lived close to Bastrop, thanks to some friends who allowed us to house-sit while we sorted out life, housing, church, friends, school (for Stephanie). It was a hard first year out there in our little house on the prairie and I so admire Stephanie, who went to four different schools in four semesters—Arkansas, University of Nebraska correspondence, Bastrop, then McCallum in Austin. Christine was now in Plan II at UT, and David had been accepted into Plan II.
Spiritually, Yvonne and I were battling for our lives, and she had entered a 2 ½ year dark night of the soul (ending in Fall, 1992). I found myself in a two-year desert wasteland after a bruising season of ministry in an AR local church, still grieving over the combined loss of Latin America, teaching and pastoral gifting—all three hits in a short span of time. But I exulted in the global panoramas into which I was growing, and I loved my work with the Mission Commission of World Evangelical Alliance. Mid 1991 we moved to Austin, to our new home, a holy place of peace, where again the kids lived with us, thus reducing university expenses.
The Guatemala side of our family room
In terms of spiritual community, we invested a 5-year season at Westlake Bible Church, at first because Stephanie had found some peer friends there. Then Yvonne and I were asked to take over a struggling college ministry. It became the College Plus group, and God powerfully met us there.
A sacramental corner of our home
This young and passionate group of students and young adults breathed their own life into ours and we breathed ours into them. Worship, community, Austin-based ministry, mission, transformational discipleship….these were the hallmarks of the CP group. Then the Spirit released from that assignment to the next one.
Austin, memories of Guatemala, circa 1993
This same Spirit led us on to Hope Chapel for eleven years, another long story of God’s grace. We learned, grew, served, engaged in local and global mission from that base. We drank deeply of the well of the Spirit of God. I went to the school of prayer and worship. In the darkest hour of our lives, the Hope friends loved us, prayed for us and invested in us.
Christine and Cliff were married there. David served there for 8 years as Arts Pastor. Yvonne and I gave direction and life to a church-based mission vision and program—regretfully short-lived because of major leadership changes.
The Hope Lenten Exhibit 1
They were good, strong, valuable 11 years.
Again the Spirit moved us on pilgrimage, now to Christ Church Anglican, a worshipping community, strong in God’s Word, passion about ministry in and from Austin to the world, committed to community, a new set of friends. And into a new kind of worship for me—liturgical and sacramental, worship and Word, Spirit and community, mission local and global, new friends.
Hope Chapel, an art gallery, The 14 Stations
The power of symbol, Lent, waiting
Our praying pastor, Rev. Cliff Warner
Never in my wildest dreams did I suspect that I would be invited by the Lord into the historic, huge, global Anglican communion, but it happened there. On April 18, 2010 I was confirmed as an Anglican, so thankful to be part of an Austin church that is under the spiritual authority of the Anglican church of Rwanda. What an irony of mission history!
Praying for and blessing a new confirmee
Blessed by a godly Bishop Jones, evangelist, pastor, church planter
The Body of Christ, broken for us
We are grateful to be there, members of this young church with a heart to impact the city of Austin and from here spiraling out to the world—with our first supported servants in Israel (with Arab Christians) and Uganda (leadership training and missions).
The Twohey Four
The Warner Six
The Taylor II Two....plus by faith
Spiritual Director and Emerging Sage, Taylor I Two
And the story goes on. With gratitude to the Great Three in One.
The missional spiral—my global community; my local community
August 29, 2010
This month has significantly juxtaposed my two worlds—the local and the global, hence the “glocal”.
Early August found me in England on a very specific assignment (with a lovely sidebar in Cambridge along with my colleague, Matt Fries, in a visit with our delightful friends, Rupert and Liz Charkham).
Rupert and Liz
I have written earlier about this trip in the previous posting. The Global Roundtable was facilitated by the Mission Commission and quietly held at All Nations campus north of London. The group of 40 from 17 nations met for 4 days to listen to each other (as we told our stories) and to the Spirit, to pray, and only then to begin considering some of the challenges of ministry in partnership as we engage the future. It was a remarkable time, building strong relationships based on vulnerability and ask the empowering presence of the Spirit to anoint us anew. It was my privilege to bring the first Bible reading, on the subject of “Being renamed” by the Lord for a new work. It came from my own experience, but clearly from Scripture (many re-namings there!) and from a sermon my son, David, preached at Hope Chapel earlier this year.
These women and men are my “faith, tribe, clan, family” for we share unique features core to the Christian faith, but we have all been globalized by God’s historic mission on earth. The staff team in particular are a family to me, and though we may differ strongly in many ways, we are family at the end of the day.
Global servants at work
Prayer and shared life marked the week. The UK days ended with the MC staff meeting to deal with some key issues as a team and ministry.
Global servants interceding
Friends and colleagues: Reuben Ezemadu (Nigeria) with Peter Tarantal (South Africa)
The All Nations Global Roundtable
It was great to share this time with Matt Fries, who attended the Roundtable on his own rights, as a growing global servant and also one who leads a small family foundation. We laughed together, prayed together, visited pubs (The Pickeral Inn, where C.S. Lewis had his pints with his colleagues), spent personal time with our hosts, the Charkhams, and walked all over Cambridge centre…followed by the week at All Nations.
You gotta hand it to those musicians--but is he shy?
Matt in memory of C.S. Lewis
I returned home August 16, grateful but frankly exhausted, struggling with a digestive problem (what, from the UK also!!!???) and jet lag. But it is always good to come home—to have a place called home; to return to my beloved wife of over 43 years with whom I am privileged to serve the living Christ—locally and globally.
Then this past Wednesday my local community (a portion of it) met in my home for the last of 6 nights of meeting together. This group of 13 men mean so much to me. I started this kind of “community of men” last year, and I invite about a dozen Christ Church (our church in Austin, (http://www.christchurch-austin.org/) younger (a flex term) men to my home for 6 extended evenings—to tell our stories and pray for each other; to read and mull over Henri Nouwen’s book, “The Return of the Prodigal” and to conclude meditating over Rembrandt’s painting (probably his last painting before his death) of the same title. God met us in powerful ways. This summer my very good friend, Dr. Tim Harstad, shared the leadership with me.
The Eucharist at Christ Church
We wound up the summer community with final sharing (three impressions of the book; two take-homes from our sessions; one “this I shall do”). Tim shared from his excellent paper on transformational discipleship; Yvonne spoke on the “spiritual journey” and then played the piano—one of the first times she has played for a group in recent years. We ended the evening late (the last person leaving after 11 PM) but are profoundly grateful to God for the privilege of using our lives and our home for this purpose.
The Fourteen at our home (minus one on honeymoon)
My local spiritual community is Christ Church, an Evangelical Anglican church. Yvonne and I are so thankful to be part of this growing congregation—we have seen it grow in 4 years from about 50 to over 300. We see people with no faith come to faith; others with dormant faith come alive; others seeking something sacramental, liturgical, historic and huge (related to the global Evangelical Anglicans). And missiologically, the great blessing and irony is that we are under the spiritual leadership of the Anglican bishops of Rwanda. What a privilege!
Saturday evening Yvonne and I met with our church “Encore” group, the elders of our congregation–by age. We shared life and food together, we talked about our future as a group and prayed. And today we worshipped in the fullness of the sense–rooted in Scripture, empowered by the Spirit, led into community and service. All part of that local, grounded fellowship known as our local church.
The icing on the cake came with the personal commitments of this week—meeting Monday for a few hours with the missions pastor of a large Dallas church who needed wisdom in his challenging task; talking with the father (and grandfather) of some future missionaries headed to Africa who is frankly struggling with their decision; sharing life (and Chinese food) with my dear friend, Tom Sánchez, missions pastor of a supporting church; Thursday AM (too early) with my local accountability group (deep friends in life and ministry) with two peers; lunching with a couple headed into long-term missions; and today having lunch with another long-term friend and member of our support team. And countless emails and some very thoughtful telephone calls.
This is part of the mentoring call of God upon my life—at a local level.
And in between, I finished my editorial work on the marvelous new issue of Connections: the Journal of the WEA Mission Commission, www.weaconnections.com focusing on the vital subject of Arts in Mission. See this web site (to order a bunch of copies) for the beautiful cover and superb content—from both Global South and North. I am so thankful for the incredible investment by my gifted co-editors, Robin Harris (OM arts and ICE, the International Council of Ethnodoxologists– http://www.worldofworship.org/) and John Franklin (Imago, Canada, http://www.imago-arts.on.ca/about/about.html).
This is part of the writing call of God upon my life—at a global level
We are praying for significant sales and distribution of this unique journal. We are printing 1000 copies for the South Africa Lausanne Congress on world evangelization. John leads a seminar on arts in mission and I shall join him for those sessions. I am also on the congress staff as a result of my role on the international selection committee.
I so thank God for the way this month has integrated my two worlds—the local and the global—the “glocal”. It is a high honor to serve both realms—in a marvelous missional spiral.
Cross-cultural Last Supper
Reflections on writing
August 3, 2010
As I mentioned in an earlier posting, the Spirit’s “re-naming” of me started last November at the international ETHNE (http://www.ethne.net/) network gatherings in Bogotá, Colombia. One night during that consultation—celebrated in both Spanish and English—I sensed the Spirit’s whisperings: “Your life is changing… and your strong role will be to mentor and write”. The next day, the word was. “This change will begin in your 70th year…and you are in it already.”
Back home I dialogued with Yvonne about these two words, and then early in January as I put the 2010 itinerary together it became clear that, for the first time in 24 years, my commitments were about 50% of the “normal” travel for the previous 23 years. Yvonne challenged me to be quiet for a season, to listen to the Spirit, and to ponder what I was hearing. The confirmation came the following week as I dialogued with five international colleagues, sharing the calendar changes, and all five said something like, “Bill, your life is changing…..and you must mentor and write.”
So let me talk about writing right now.
I wrote in the first posting on this blog that I wanted to address some of these issues:
I want to reflect on both the inner and out landscape of life and ministry; about wisdom lessons; about the long journey towards God; about the seasons of a man’s life; about spiritual formation; about prophetic words for mission and the church; about the fullness of our Lord’s transforming commissions and commandments; about some of the controversial issues of mission; about younger and older leaders; about leadership transitions; about parenting and grand-parenting; about life in the latter stages of the Great Race; about finishing well; about authentic partnership in the global Gospel Cause; about what it means to listen, truly, to international voices of the people of God.
And this is the way things are unfolding………….
Last year, IV Press released Global Mission Handbook: A Guide for Crosscultural Service, IVP, 2009, which Steve Hoke and I co-authored. It was a massive re-design and re-write of our earlier book, Send Me! Your Journey to the Nations, (some 36,000 copies sold and still offered by William Carey Library). We designed it to answer the cluster of questions form those who sense some direct leading (‘calling”?) into longer-term cross-cultural service, or for those who have taken the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course, or those who have attended an Urbana Student Mission Convention, or others who have a sense of leading-call into mission.
While there are many events, inspirational and motivational books out on missions, there is very little to bridge the gap, to help people prepare adequately, get to the field, persevere and finish well, regardless of geography or ministry.
The handbook is out and first major sales have taken place. Steve and I are now the ones doing most of the promotion, and actually, through my MC network of relationships we helped sell the first 3,500 copies.
Some gracious reviews have just come out, such as the one in Evangelical Mission Quarterly by our colleague, Dr. Doug McConnell of Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies. We are looking for significant new sales paths to open, especially future missionaries, mission-minded churches, missionary training programs and mission agencies.
It is such great news to hear how my young South African friend, Adriaan Adams, is using the book in their ministry, Focus Team Leadership Training, with university students on the path to cross-cultural mission.
http://www.ftlt.org/ And the event I speak at this October in Pretoria,
http://itickets.co.za/events/246160/Pretoria_/Revelation_Outcry.html
A batch of newer writing projects have come my way. They include:
First, a chapter entitled “Ethics and Accountability in the Mission Community” for the book on a similar title published by the Evangelical Missiological Society. This is the “second generation” product of a plenary I had given in September 2009 to North American mission leaders in Orlando, FL.
Second, editorial work to produce the marvelous, special “double-issue” of Connections on “Arts in Mission” that will be released in August. This is a stellar production; the cover is beautiful; the content is unique and powerful and global.
Third, both writing and editorial work on the major new book on Mission in Contexts of Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom, co-edited with Dr. Tonica van der Meer of Brazil and Reg Reimer, Canadian expert on persecution in SE Asia. Some may remember the Connections issue on this subject. This book is a massive project, with 85 articles by writers from 26 nations, and we plan to translate it into 7 languages. Some of the articles are now commissioned. I have just completed the final table of contents (after 15 different drafts). We hope to release it in Spring of 2011.
Fourth, writing a series of articles this year for three journals (Mission Frontiers, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Evangelical Mission Quarterly). Additionally, last week I completed a unique challenge, to translate David Ruíz’s (our Guatemalan long-term friend and MC staff colleague) closing plenary address for Lausanne (Cape Town, October, 2010). He wrote and will deliver his talk on partnership in Spanish but needed an official English version. My work serves as the basis for the translation into the other major congress languages. It frankly was a huge task!!
So the writing has taken off and requires much discipline, a focused mind, and a much better production schedule than is my norm.
Meanwhile I am in the UK from August 6-17, primarily participating in a “Global Mission Roundtable” held at historic All Nations Christian College just between London and Cambridge. Under Dr. Bertil Ekstrom’s leadership, the MC is facilitating this unique gathering of some 40 leaders of global mission task forces and networks, missional churches, national and regional mission movements, and a few others. We gather to listen to the Spirit and to each other, to sense the direction of the Spirit as we grapple with some key global mission issues, and as we discern now we can best cooperate into the future.
More on that later and some near-future postings that take a look at mentoring.
Reflections on writing
Mulling over how to write something at a candlelight meal at Magdalene College, Cambridge
August 3, 2010
As I mentioned in an earlier posting, the Spirit’s “re-naming” of me started last November at the international ETHNE (http://www.ethne.net/) network gatherings in Bogotá, Colombia. One night during that consultation—celebrated in both Spanish and English—I sensed the Spirit’s whisperings: “Your life is changing… and your strong role will be to mentor and write”. The next day, the word was. “This change will begin in your 70th year…and you are in it already.”
Back home I dialogued with Yvonne about these two words, and then early in January as I put the 2010 itinerary together it became clear that, for the first time in 24 years, my commitments were about 50% of the “normal” travel for the previous 23 years. Yvonne challenged me to be quiet for a season, to listen to the Spirit, and to ponder what I was hearing. The confirmation came the following week as I dialogued with five international colleagues, sharing the calendar changes, and all five said something like, “Bill, your life is changing…..and you must mentor and write.”
So let me talk about writing right now.
IVP book signing at Urbana student mission convention, December 2009
I wrote in the first posting on this blog that I wanted to address some of these issues:
I want to reflect on both the inner and out landscape of life and ministry; about wisdom lessons; about the long journey towards God; about the seasons of a man’s life; about spiritual formation; about prophetic words for mission and the church; about the fullness of our Lord’s transforming commissions and commandments; about some of the controversial issues of mission; about younger and older leaders; about leadership transitions; about parenting and grand-parenting; about life in the latter stages of the Great Race; about finishing well; about authentic partnership in the global Gospel Cause; about what it means to listen, truly, to international voices of the people of God.
And this is the way things are unfolding………….
Last year, IV Press released Global Mission Handbook: A Guide for Crosscultural Service, IVP, 2009, which Steve Hoke and I co-authored. It was a massive re-design and re-write of our earlier book, Send Me! Your Journey to the Nations, (some 36,000 copies sold and still offered by William Carey Library). We designed it to answer the cluster of questions form those who sense some direct leading (‘calling”?) into longer-term cross-cultural service, or for those who have taken the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course, or those who have attended an Urbana Student Mission Convention, or others who have a sense of leading-call into mission.
While there are many events, inspirational and motivational books out on missions, there is very little to bridge the gap, to help people prepare adequately, get to the field, persevere and finish well, regardless of geography or ministry.
The handbook is out and first major sales have taken place. Steve and I are now the ones doing most of the promotion, and actually, through my MC network of relationships we helped sell the first 3,500 copies.
Some gracious reviews have just come out, such as the one in Evangelical Mission Quarterly by our colleague, Dr. Doug McConnell of Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies. We are looking for significant new sales paths to open, especially future missionaries, mission-minded churches, missionary training programs and mission agencies.
It is such great news to hear how my young South African friend, Adriaan Adams, is using the book in their ministry, Focus Team Leadership Training (http://www.ftlt.org/), with university students on the path to cross-cultural mission.
And the event I speak at this October in Pretoria,
http://itickets.co.za/events/246160/Pretoria_/Revelation_Outcry.html
A batch of newer writing projects have come my way. They include:
First, a chapter entitled “Ethics and Accountability in the Mission Community” for the book on a similar title published by the Evangelical Missiological Society. This is the “second generation” product of a plenary I had given in September 2009 to North American mission leaders in Orlando, FL.
Second, editorial work to produce the marvelous, special “double-issue” of Connections on “Arts in Mission” that will be released in August.
It is finished, "Crucifixion series", Sandra Bowden
This is a stellar production; the cover is beautiful; the content is unique and powerful and global.
Third, both writing and editorial work on the major new book on Mission in Contexts of Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom, co-edited with Dr. Tonica van der Meer of Brazil and Reg Reimer, Canadian expert on persecution in SE Asia. Some may remember the Connections issue on this subject. This book is a massive project, with 85 articles by writers from 26 nations, and we plan to translate it into 7 languages. Some of the articles are now commissioned. I have just completed the final table of contents (after 15 different drafts). We hope to release it in Spring of 2011.
Mission in contexts of suffering, persecution and martyrdom
Fourth, writing a series of articles this year for three journals (Mission Frontiers, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Evangelical Mission Quarterly). Additionally, last week I completed a unique challenge, to translate David Ruíz’s (our Guatemalan long-term friend and MC staff colleague) closing plenary address for Lausanne (Cape Town, October, 2010). He wrote and will deliver his talk on partnership in Spanish but needed an official English version. My work serves as the basis for the translation into the other major congress languages. It frankly was a huge task!!
So the writing has taken off and requires much discipline, a focused mind, and a much better production schedule than is my norm.
Meanwhile I am in the UK from August 6-17, primarily participating in a “Global Mission Roundtable” held at historic All Nations Christian College just between London and Cambridge.
ANCC "Manor House" former Buxton residence
Yvonne and me at ANCC some years ago
My younger colleague and friend, Matt Fries, travels with me again, and we shall spend the weekend first in Cambridge, staying with Liz and Rupert Charkham. Rupert is vicar of the great Holy Trinity Cambridge Anglican church (http://www.htcambridge.org.uk/history.htm) where Charles Simeon served from 1782-1936. The church dates from the 800’s. It has been my privilege to speak in that church and I was surrounded by godly women and men who so impacted their nation, and the world through “The Cambridge Seven”
With Liz and Rupert in front of historic HT Cambridge
Mission history at HT Cambridge
Under Dr. Bertil Ekstrom’s leadership, the MC is facilitating this unique gathering of some 40 leaders of global mission task forces and networks, missional churches, national and regional mission movements, and a few others. We gather to listen to the Spirit and to each other, to sense the direction of the Spirit as we grapple with some key global mission issues, and as we discern now we can best cooperate into the future.
A last item on cross-cultural art, thanks to my friend Howard Morrison who pointed me to this web site. Enjoy and ponder….for you will see more of this marvelous series.
African Jesus healing, Vie de Jésus Mafa
More on that later and some near-future postings that take a look at mentoring.
July 20, 2010
Some years ago I circulated a piece of cross-cultural humor to my colleagues around the world. Generally humor is culture bound, and I’ve had too many cases in Latin America of having to translate mono-lingual speaker, either from English to Spanish or vice-versa. Then the primary speaker tells a joke that does not translate to the other culture. I finally handled one such case with these words, “Our brother is telling a very funny story in English, but it does not translate funny in Spanish. However, when he finishes I want all of you to laugh heartily.” They did, and it was a marvelous case of communication-translation. The English speaker had no idea what I had done……until much later (I think I told him).
So a few years ago I sent out truly a cross-cultural piece of funny stuff, but one dear Asian colleague wrote back, saying, “We are engaged in difficult ministry with seculars and Buddhists, and there is no time to waste laughing.” Wow! Then, more recently, just as that truly global event, the glorious World Cup started, I sent out something else that I thought partially funny and certainly serious–as soccer should be. But it landed “out there” just as a wave of persecution hit a certain country, and one of my colleagues (this one from USA) wrote a very terse note saying that World Cup stuff was of no significance in light of the suffering church. Yes, he was right, but I wanted to say, “Hey dude! Lighten up.” I didn’t, and it did make me pray more….both for believers in that country, and for my friends rooting for their national teams!
Those South Africans know how to celebrate a great World Cup
Celebrate, South Africa!!
So here are some samples of humor. Cut me some slack and just relax.
The first a fictional “parable”, “contextualization” without Biblical text, but it’s just magnificent. A third-culture friend in Australia gave it to me years ago. I have used it, but only in Biblically literate contexts. Why? Because in some places people might think it was true, the Bible is rather strange, and this is the way it happened……… It didn’t. But it can preach well, and as you build up speed towards the end, the better.
“So my favorite parable is about the good Samaritan. You see, there was this dude who had to go from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and on the way he fell among thieves, and the thorns grew up around him and choked the poor man, who didn’t have any money. But lo and behold, along came the Queen of Sheba, who gave him, that’s right, gave him, a 1000 talents of gold and a hundred changes of raiment! And he got a chariot and drove furiously. As he was speeding along under a big sycamore tree, his hair got caught on a branch and left him hanging from it. And he hung there many days and many nights, and ravens brought him food to eat and water to drink. Then one night, while he was hanging there asleep, his wife Delilah came along and cut off his hair and the poor man fell on stony ground. And it began to rain, and it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and he hid himself in a cave until the rain stopped. But when he left the cave he met a wife who said, “Come and have tea with me.” But he said, “No, I can’t. I have married a wife and cannot come.” So the man went out into the highways and byways and compelled the passers-by to come into tea. He went on until he came to Jerusalem. When he got there, he saw Queen Jezebel sitting high up in the window, and he cried out, “Throw her down” and they threw her down. Again he cried, “Throw her down some more”. And they threw her down 70 times 70 and of the remains they picked up twelve baskets. Not then I ask you all this: Whose wife do you think she’ll be in the resurrection?”
Preach it, as I have, even in a theological seminary. Honest!
The second is simply about Texas, thanks to my younger daughter, Stephanie, and David, my son, and his blog. The Texana information comes from her and the photo from his blog. Ah, Texas. And our family spent the first week of June on a Texas Longhorn ranch two hours from our home, and we have the photos to show for it.
The growing clan (minus Cliff who had to leave early)
Texas BBQ
Bill amongst the Texas Longhorn herd
Those horns are serious stuff
Skye Warner, Papa and the beautiful Grey
This is a must read for all Texans, used-to-be Texans, adopted Texans or wanna-be Texans,
Texas Air One
JUST TEXAS
Pep , Texas 79353
Smiley , Texas 78159
Paradise , Texas 76073
Rainbow , Texas 76077
Sweet Home , Texas 77987
Comfort , Texas 78013
Friendship, Texas 76530
Love the Sun?
Sun City , Texas 78628
Sunrise , Texas 76661
Sunset, Texas 76270
Sundown, Texas 79372
Sunray , Texas 79086
Sunny Side , Texas 77423
Want something to eat?
Bacon , Texas 76301
Noodle , Texas 79536
Oatmeal , Texas 78605
Turkey , Texas 79261
Trout , Texas 75789
Sugar Land , Texas 77479
Salty, Texas 76567
Rice , Texas 75155
Pearland , Texas 77581
Orange , Texas 77630
And top it off with:
Sweetwater , Texas 79556
Why travel to other cities? Texas has them all!
Detroit , Texas 75436
Cleveland , Texas 75436
Colorado City , Texas 79512
Denver City , Texas 79323
Klondike , Texas 75448
Nevada , Texas 75173
Memphis , Texas 79245
Miami , Texas 79059
Boston , Texas 75570
Santa Fe , Texas 77517
Tennessee Colony , Texas 75861
Reno , Texas 75462
Pasadena , Texas 77506
Columbus , Texas 78934
Feel like traveling outside the country?
Athens , Texas 75751
Canadian, Texas 79014
China , Texas 77613
Egypt , Texas 77436
Ireland , Texas 76538
Italy , Texas 76538
Turkey , Texas 79261
London , Texas 76854
New London , Texas 75682
Paris , Texas 75460
Palestine , Texas 75801
No need to travel to Washington D.C.
Whitehouse , Texas 75791
We even have a city named after our planet!
Earth , Texas 79031
We have a city named after our state
Texas City , Texas 77590
Exhausted?
Energy , Texas 76452
Cold?
Blanket , Texas 76432
Winters, Texas
Like to read about History?
Santa Anna , Texas
Goliad , Texas
Alamo , Texas
Gun Barrel City , Texas
Robert Lee , Texas
Need Office Supplies?
Staples, Texas 78670
Want to go into outer space?
Venus , Texas 76084
Mars , Texas 79062
You guesse d it.. It’s on the state line.
Texline , Texas 79087
For the kids...
Kermit , Texas 79745
Elmo , Texas 75118
Nemo , Texas 76070
Tarzan , Texas 79783
Winnie , Texas 77665
Sylvester , Texas 79560
Other city names in Texas , to make you smile………
Frognot , Texas 75424
Bigfoot , Texas 78005
Hogeye , Texas 75423
Cactus , Texas 79013
Notrees , Texas 79759
Best, Texas 76932
Veribest , Texas 76886
Kickapoo , Texas 75763
Dime Box , Texas 77853
Old Dime Box , Texas 77853
Telephone , Texas 75488
Telegraph , Texas 76883
Whiteface , Texas 79379
Twitty, Texas 79079
And our favorites. ..
Cut n Shoot, Texas
Gun Barrell City , Texas
Hoop And Holler, Texas
Ding Dong, Texas and, of course,
Muleshoe , Texas
Cowboy’s Ten Commandments
Posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie, Texas
(1) Just one God.
(2) Honor yer Ma & Pa.
(3) No telling tales or gossipin’.
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
(5) Put nothin’ before God.
(6) No foolin’ around with another fellow’s gal.
(7) No killin’.
(8) Watch yer mouth.
(9) Don’t take what ain’t yers.
(10) Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff.
Y’all git all that?
The third is a rather bizarre report in, of all places, the Wall Street Journal, “Evangelicals Try Stand-Up”. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111704575355310076497490.html
So take a breath, relax, smile, and send me your own samples of cross-cultural humor. If we are created in God’s image, does that mean that humor comes from him? Certainly so! Just consider some of the strange, even funny things we find in creation. Like you……….and me, and a few other pieces of flora and fauna, including the amoeba.
Which leads me to another story about illness in strange places, but not now.
Bill–gently laughing
Richard Tiplady has endorsed your work on LinkedIn as Global Ambassador at World Evangelical Alliance.
Dear Bill,
| “As a guide, mentor and support to younger and emerging leaders, Bill Taylor is almost without peer. His example, his desire to “finish well”, and his willingness to listen and engage, all point to a person who believes in others and is willing to serve them, helping them to grow in Christ and become all that God wants them to be.” |
A month ago I posted from Guatemala the second entry on this journal. I had finished a marvelous week at Seminario Teológico Centroamericano (SETECA) of relationships, friendships renewed and strengthened, global mission engagement, speaking, networking, growing, learning, exulting in the mature Latin mission movement……………and the delight of doing this all in Spanish–my preferred public speaking language (How is it that English is driven by the “indicative” but Spanish by the “subjunctive”? Ah a rich, nuanced linguistic difference).
El "profe" in his SETECA office, circa 1982
Wednesday of that week I had made a sobering pastoral visit to a dear friend, former student at SETECA, Elsa Ramírez de Aguilar. For many years Elsa had served on the staff and faculty at SETECA. Hers is a complex story, but last year she was “relieved” of her work and plunged into the uncertainty of life in her fifties, a single mother with four young adult kids. Days later the doctors diagnosed a virulent cancer that decimated her dreams, her life, her future. I visited her in the public cancer hospital of Guatemala, a challenge in itself and light years away from private hospitals. My friend and colleague, David Ruíz, accompanied me…he’s a great pastor…and I knew he would strengthen me also. Most visitors were given 2 minutes, but her kids told us, “Stay as long as you wish.” We were there 20 minutes. It was a delight to see her and to talk with her. She so alert, keen, God-focused as only death does to us, aware of the very shortness of her life. We laughed, we shared life together. We prayed. We wept openly. Then we said goodbye. I knew this would be the last time I would see her this side of the Great True World. And two weeks later she slipped into eternity, permanently changing her address.
I flew home thanking God for Elsa, and praying for her kids. What would happen. She passed. They now grapple with the reality of life without this anchor woman.
But two weeks to the day of her funeral, my dear friend, another former student, Jaime Rodríguez, having just gotten some cash from an ATM in Guatemala City, was assaulted, robbed, shot, and killed. His brother in law, Ruben Guevara, another former student, was injured but lived.
As Oscar Arias, another dear friend on the faculty at SETECA, said to me: “The Jaime situation was brutal, another painful case which is now our daily bread in this land of contrasts. Blood flows through the streets of this city and drains into the gutters that drink the fruit, amongst other things, of corruption and impunity. The same, frustration and sadness upon sadness.”
Jaime, a leader in missionary training for Latins, leaves his dear widow, Arely (whose first husband died of cancer at a very young age), another former student (who had written her thesis for me, entitled “The church’s ministry to the widow”) and two young adult kids, both married. But who will provide for her?
Sadness upon sadness.
SETECA soccer team, July, 1975, with our "reina", Elsa, and the wee future soccer player, W. David O. Taylor, age 3
So I then found this photograph amongst the Taylor Visual Archives. It’s the SETECA soccer team, July, 1975. Yep, on the left is the dashing young profe, Guillermo Taylor, and a blond kid, or David circa age 3. Others in the picture. Our “queen”, center first row, none other than Elsa herself; second row, fifth from the right, Jaime himself. The goalie, in white, Jere, Elsa’z estranged husband. All former students. All 35 years ago.
Some weeks ago I could have gazed at the photo and laughed with joy. Today I weep. I shall laugh some day. But not today.
And then, last week, Guatemala was hit by a volcanic eruption. Pacaya explodes, just 15 miles south of where our family used to live in Guatemala. Ash covers the world and brings life to a halt. The international airport is slammed shut. As if that were not enough, the first tropical storm, Agatha, hits from the Pacific side, saturating this beautiful, mountainous nation, creating floods, sweeping communities into death.
No flights on AA out of Guatemala
Destruction--yet 7 years from now fantastic coffee. What?
The Boston Globe provides a graphic report, called “A rough week for Guatemala”,
Waiting for the triumph of Christus Victor, our Champion, and the defeat of all evil.
Mother of all Guatemalan sinkholes
Since we founded our journal in 2002, it has been my privilege to serve as editor. This is a huge challenge with unmeasured hours of mental, writing, correspondence, editing, graphics, promotion and sales work. And it has challenged me beyond my known capacities. We see it as a writers global roundtable–a place and a space where women and men in global mission leadership can address key issues of mission concern. Each issue is thematic, and here are some of the recent ones
1. Mission in contexts of suffering,violence, persecution
2. Contextualization revisited
Spirituality and Mission
3. Spirituality and mission
4. 
Business as mission
5. China
Go on line to see this for yourself, http://www.weaconnections.com/
We are very excited to produce a unique Arts in Mission “double issue”, 90 pages of full color, with a much larger print run, ready for release at the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization this October in Cape Town, South Africa. The incredible work of John Franklin (Canada) and Robin Harris (US) has made this possible. Keep your eyes open, and go ahead and plan to purchase a large number for distribution and use.
Global Mission Handbook: A Guide for Crosscultural Service
Steve Hoke and I have created a unique practical guide to prepare our longer-term crosscultural servants. This one-of-a-kind handbook orients these prospective partners to the journey ahead, with a strong, initial focus on spiritual formation. Each chapter provides mental road maps and tools for preparation, taking the first steps, arriving and thriving in another culture. Biblical and experiential insights from over fifty other intercultural resource people highlight the heart issues as well as hands-on ministry topics.
We trace the process to find actual placement with a sending church or mission agency, asking the key questions that one should be raising along the way. Previously published as Send Me! Your Journey to the Nations, this handbook has been completely revised and significantly expanded to be even more comprehensive and useful.
Steve and I are convinced that Global Mission Handbook is an indispensable guide for following God’s call into global, cross-cultural service. It’s the only handbook on the Christian market to help prospective workers navigate the topography between their “now” and future long-term crosscultural servanthood.
May 18, 2010
This stream came on line earlier this month.
From this quiet Antigua B&B I see, hear, smell some of those unique elements of this ancient city, this marvelous country.
Antigua street feast--ya gotta trust the cook
Church bells and fireworks combined with the fragrance of fried “platanos” (plantains); the lichens on the old roof tiles have seen so much history; in the distance over the roof of the ruins of the Capuchinas church and convent (established in 1728) I catch a glimpse of the twin volcanic peaks of Acatenango and Fuego—the latter living up to its name, “fire”. The truly discerning ones know the role that volcanic ash plays to produce Guatemala’s primo coffee (the best goes to Japan!).
I wrote just after an intense and enriching week of relationships, prayer, and speaking at the 5th World Mission Conference of the Seminario Teológico Centroamericano in Guatemala City—where Yvonne and I were based for the first 17 years of our global mission ministry.
A slight body twist to make a key Spanish point.........
It is always a gift to return to our beloved Guatemala, rich in memory and people, believers and churches, foods and smells, holidays and hard work, the nation and culture where our kids were born, the site of first ministry—growing family, teaching, mentoring, making art (Yvonne as a classical pianist and her pre-evangelistic concerts) and church planting—where together she and I served; the educational gift for our kids at the Austrian Institute of Guatemala.
SETECA Chapel
I am overwhelmed with memories. Tears flow, primarily of gratitude, but we cannot reverse history. They come because I really no longer fit here any more.
I have been privileged to be part of all five of SETECA’s mission conferences—the first two as director, the last three as plenary speaker. On this occasion I spoke on: “The Mission of God in the Pentateuch”, and “Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom”. My workshops were on missionary training. Over 600 people were registered, including the entire seminary student body, administration and faculty, as well as many from Guatemala and other countries.
Classic Valdir at work: But do you really see????
It was a high honor to deepen my personal friendship with my beloved friend, Dr. Valdir Steuernagel of Brazil, now serving with World Vision. He is one of the people who’s impact has been profound on my life, by his life, his perspective, his gifts, his passions, his unique speaking method (crazy and marvelous and too much like my own—people say) and the unprecedented richness of his Bible and missiological teaching. We both grieve that we live so far from each other.
Carlos Madrigal and I roomed in the same house for a week. He and his wife and kids have served for 25 years in Turkey. Nobody has more insight into Turkey than he. Nobody has done a more thorough job of church planting, apologetics and even public TV debate than Carlos. Our relationship is on solid growing ground and I look forward to his seminal contribution to the book we are working on (see further on).
MC Colleague David Ruíz, my Guatemalan friend over some 35 years
And my beloved friend of many decades, Guatemalan MC colleague, pastor and writer, servant and missiologist, David Ruíz. We have spent long times together this week talking, laughing, praying, strategizing. He is also my Prime Mac Computer Global Wizard! Yesterday en route to Antigua we dropped by his house to visit his beloved wife, Dora Amalia, and their three adult kids. Our love for each other is rich and mutual.
This mission conference is one of many components that underscore the growing maturity of the Latin American movement: by the major themes and speakers invited to address them; by the Latin Mission Fair with such a diverse representation of groups and people; by the discussion on how to grow the necessary Latin American mission structures for effective global mission (mission-minded churches, training programs, sending agencies, support teams and member care….amongst others); by the reports from Latin field missionaries—from Morocco, Senegal, Spain, Iraq, India, Turkey and other locations.
Married and very much truly in love--Yvonne and Bill
I am ensconced in this old house to write, alone, quietly, without commitments, alone and in quietness. Yvonne allowed me to stay extra days but only if I returned with two completed writing projects. I do need help as I write: to conquer initial inertia and writers block, to grow in my conviction that I have substantive topics to write on, simply to WRITE, and to meet the deadlines.
A final story from the mission conference: Friday morning as I finished a seminar, a middle-aged woman of humble background and speech asked me to bless her. Literally she asked me to “pass on an unction from the Spirit”. When I queried who she was, she said she was a returning missionary. When I asked from where, she simply said, “Senegal…after three years of work”. I was deeply moved, laid hands on her head, waited, and prayed into her life that request. She wept, and so did I.
Such is the Latin American mission movement. No longer emerging, it has emerged; not dependent on ideas or funds from the USA, it is self-funded and self-motivated. Yes, of course, by our Triune God on mission: the Father sends the Son, the Son the Spirit, the Spirit prepares the way for both Father and Son, the Father and Son reveal themselves through the empowering person and presence of the Spirit. This is our Great Mission Community and Team.
Now back home, some thoughts and calls to the Father:
- That God would give both Yvonne and me wisdom and strength to discern which invitations—locally or those that require travel—to accept. This is not easy. I never accept an invitation before asking Yvonne’s wisdom, and waiting at least two days before responding.
- That God would manifest His glory and power through our home church in Austin, Christ Church Anglican. It is a delight to worship, learn, create community, see the Spirit alive and at work. We long to see people come to radical relationship with Jesus.
- That I, Bill, would know how to walk into my new future of identity (I sense that the Lord is “re-naming” me) and ministry as mentor and writer. While I continue to travel and speak, these engagements must be made with great guidance from the Lord.
- That with the heavy, early 2010 travel season over, that I would be able to focus on my writing assignments. My friend, Jon Bonk, editor of The International Bulletin of Missionary Research has asked me for an essay “My Pilgrimage in Mission”, my first of an autobiographical focus. The next MC book project is huge: Mission in Contexts of Suffering, Violence, Persecution and Martyrdom, co-edited with Tonica van der Meer of Brazil and Reg Reimer of Canada.
- That at this stage of the Great Marathon I would walk-run in holiness and growing dependence on the Spirit of God; that I would receive fresh eyes to read and discern Scripture; that I would know how to mentor younger men from my church, and globally.
Bill—gazing across those old tile roofs over to the volcanoes now shrouded in rain clouds.
