Manila Monthly: A Praying Community October 2018 It’s been just over a month and a half now since I arrived back in the Philippines after two months in the US over the summer. The transition back has been great.

Manila Monthly: From Everywhere to Everyone September 2018 As I grow into my role as an international missionary serving with Companion With the Poor (CWTP) and International Ministries (IM), I continue to see more and more that God's mission is from everywhere to everyone! Over the last two months I have been back in the United States. My time has been divided between sharing about my ministry with CWTP and IM (along with five of our CWTP Filipino missionaries), spending time with my family (including celebrating my mom’s 60th birthday), and having a follow-up surgery to remove the hardware/rods from my back that were put in last year after my accident. By God’s grace, the surgery and the other parts of my trip went well and I am planning to head back to the Philippines this coming September! Here are some highlights from my last two months...

Manila Monthly: Looking for the Person of Peace

Manila Monthly: Looking for the Person of Peace  June 2018 "If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you."  - Luke 10:6 Hello again from Manila. I’d like to share a story this month about one of the people of peace in the community that I am serving named Alex.

Manila Monthly: Back on My Feet

Manila Monthly: Back on My Feet March 2018 It has been six months now since I returned to the Philippines, and by God’s grace, I have survived the transition back! The month of February involved a whirlwind of ministry responsibilities and trips (see below), but the Lord gave me enough strength to endure the extra load, and launch me into March where things have finally slowed down a bit, and allowed me to settle back into my normal ministry roles here as part of Companion With the Poor.

Manila Monthly: Learning to Pick Ourselves Up

August 14, 2017

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, 

will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." 

- Philippians 4:7


Alfred Pennyworth: Took quite a fall, didn’t we, Master Bruce?


Thomas Wayne: And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.


As most of you know by now, I too had a fall nearly four months ago. But instead of falling into an old well with bats, I fell down a mountain with sharp rocks and a semi-dried up waterfall. This fall resulted in a crushed fracture in my heel, a burst fracture in my L1 vertebrae, and numerous cuts and scrapes.


I've written about much of my journey on Facebook, so I won't repeat myself here, but I want to use this Manila Monthly update to highlight and thank the people who have been significant in my recovery up to this point (I still have a good 1-3 months of intentional recovery with physical therapy and then likely another 1-2 years after that of building back strength and stability).

Manila Monthly: A Filipina Debut, A Savings Cooperative, and Social Work Students

September 16, 2016

As with my first two months here in June and July, this past August has been another full month of ministry, church visits, and discernment as I continue to settle back into my role with Companion With the Poor. In addition to a one week trip to Thailand to fellowship and pray with 30 other Global missionaries with International Ministries (one of my partner organizations in the US), and more work on the book Journeying With the Poor, I was also able to visit another 15 churches with my team as part of our survey of our 40 CWTP churches. For my reflection this month, I want to share three experiences that jumped out to me during our church visits.

Manila Monthly: Creating a Rhythm of Work, Prayer, Rest, and Play

July 11, 2016

I have been here now in the Philippines for just over a month and a half. It has been a great journey so far, and in many ways is a continuation of my work in the Philippines in 2012 and 2013, and even my work back in the States in Chicago, Kansas City, Springfield, and Los Angeles. I am excited to be back and settling into a new rhythm.

Manila Monthly: Returning to Manila!

June 1, 2016

I arrived in Manila just a week ago! It has been quite the journey over the past year as I’ve prepared for the possibility of being back here in the Philippines, or even staying in the US to do some development and fundraising work for Companion With the Poor. After two discernment trips last September, and this past January, it seemed best for me to be back here in the Philippines for another two years, to continue journeying with Companion With the Poor to plant holistic churches in the slums and educate transformational leaders at the grassroots, bachelors, masters, and doctorate level. It really is great to be back!

Indifference & Desiring the Will of God

Recently, I have been using a book by Larry Warner called Journey with Jesus: Discovering the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius for my quiet times and daily devotions. I am now a few months into the exercises, and have had the chance to pray and meditate on topics including love, service, praise, creation, etc. This weeks lessons are dealing with a new topic that I have not studied much, though I have come to learn during my missionary journeys in Grand Rapids, Chicago, Los Angeles, Manila, and now Kansas City - Indifference. The following is a segment of the introduction to Indifference, followed by some scriptures and daily examen questions. Let us continue to journey with Jesus, invite others along on our journeys, and find ways to accompany and help others along on theirs.

Living Letters: Called to be 'letters' of Christ

Amidst being 'over my head' in my dissertation, I wanted to share this as an encouragement to everyone who may not have the gift or time to write a book, let alone a simple article or paper. Remember that our actions and thoughts and words form a story and that 'every day is a blank page waiting to be written.'

This comes from a devotional in Daily Bread by Dennis Fisher, was read by dad at our last family Thanksgiving celebration, and marks my 101st blog post here at Exchanging Hope!

Be encouraged this day!

Knowing Where to Tinker: A Systems Thinking Approach

Love this story about 'knowing where to tinker'. Especially as related to systems thinking and how we should be engaging our cities. Thought of this story while talking with a pastor of a new church in Washington, D.C. called the District Church. Praying that God gives this pastor, and all of us engaged in building the Kingdom of God in our cities, wisdom, patience, and persistence, as "God works in us to will and to act according to His good purposes." (Phil 2:13)

"If Ever There Was a Country"

As I reflect over my last two and a half years, from Chicago to LA to Manila, I think about how far I have come, and yet how far I have left to go. This leg of my journey has brought me at times great sorrow and at others great joy, as well as many new friends, many of whom have become like family. Though not a perfect representation, and written over fifty years ago (though in a time not too different from our world today), this poem by Thomas Merton gives me hope to continue down the road less traveled, not necessarily as a monk in a countryside monastery, but as a sojourner in a foreign land...seeking a country where all men and women give their lives to the "one activity which is the beatitude of heaven."

Spiritual Warfare, Pregnancy, and Hunger

[Written October 15, 2013]

Magandang gabi (good evening) from Manila! After experiencing so many stories and encounters of faith over the last few months, I figured it is now a good time to share one with you all, as a way to catch you up a bit on my journey and life here in Manila!

A Faith Trip to India

I am hesitant to post two times in one day. Especially since it has been almost four months since I last published on this blog, or sent a ministry update to my partners in ministry.

But, in some ways, this, and the last post, are my weak attempts at speaking again, or breaking the silence that has been ongoing over the last four months. That is, as my last post describes, after a month of finishing our last area, two months of waiting for our next, and now two weeks into our new area of ministry.

Here though, I want to describe another area of ministry that God has put on my and our community's (Mission Ministries Philippines) heart in the last few months. A trip to India.

He Has Not Forgotten Us

In affliction, then, we do not know what it is right to pray for. Because affliction is difficult, troublesome, and against the grain for us, weak as we are, we do what every human would do. We pray that it may be taken away from us. However, if he does not take it away, we must not imagine that he has forgotten us. In this way, power shines forth more perfectly in weakness.

-Augustine

In Luke 24:29 Jesus looks over his disciples before going up into heaven and tells them to "stay in the city until (they) have been clothed with power from on high." This command to "stay" or to "wait" however comes only a few verses after Luke tells us that Jesus "opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures" (v. 45). After seeing, hearing and understanding the most amazing news that they, and the rest of humanity, had ever heard, they were told to wait. To stay together in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Why the Rich Need the Poor

In the passing days, weeks, and months, my compassion and heart for the poor, and subsequently the nations, has seemed to grow tenfold. Sleepless nights, daily commutes, and restless thoughts have become friends with my current Jerusalem (Manila), Samaria (Iloilo), and the Ends of the Earth (India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Burma). I have come to realize that Jesus’ comfort of rest to the weary and heavy laden applies to more than just physical exhaustion, but also includes emotional, spiritual, and social unrest. But that His Rest does extend to the whole person, so amidst our persecutions and suffering, we can have Peace. A Peace that surpasses understanding. 

You Don't Have to Live Like That!

So not sure the best place to share these thoughts, but felt this might be one appropriate place. Especially since I haven’t written here for a while.

These thoughts (I'll try to keep it brief) come on the morning of an election day here in the Philippines, a day many, including the community I live in put their hope in politicians who promise to make life a little easier and provide seemingly much needed relief to hurting people and struggling communities (my own community hopeful that after six months without electricity we might actually again be able to use the electric fan, cell-phone charger, or light bulb to read and see each other at night).

The Privilege of Ministry and Mission!

The following is an incredible encouragement for all of us doing God's work, especially those of us working on the margins and with the marginalized, and those of us caring for the sick, poor, and outcast. This word from Brother K.P. Yohannan has come to me personally during another transition, as I prepare to move out to a relocation community on the outskirts of Metro-Manila, to seek Christ more fully, and to learn how to better partner with Mission Ministries Philippines, a similar native missionary organization to Gospel For Asia (Yohannan's ministry in India and other parts of Asia).

The Truth about Preaching and Missional Orders: Viv Grigg and the New Friars

Viv Grigg

Bessenecker writes, "In 1999, while I was engaged in a master’s program in international development, I began praying about how I might become invested in a movement to incarnate the gospel among the poor, like the Franciscans had done. I wondered what such a movement would look like in the twenty-first century. It was about that time that I first learned about Viv Grigg. A young New Zealander who had moved to the Philippines, he was a picture of the modern-day Franciscan to me, and I was captivated by his example. In his twenties he was working as a missionary at a Bible school in Manila, helping to establish a middle-class church. But Viv was possessed by a kind of emptiness—a soulful unrest. “My life was unfulfilled,” he writes in a biographical work called Companion to the Poor. “The philosopher within me found no answers to the search for meaning; the artist found no fulfillment in the search for perfection and ultimate truth; the leader had not found the center of destiny and purpose towards which to lead others. All three voices told me I still was far from the place of God’s call." (78)

The Truth about Preaching and Missional Orders: Anna and the Moravians

Part two of "The Truth about Missional Orders." Again, the quotes and stories come from Scott Bessenecker's book, The New Friars. I think you'll really like this next group, the Moravians, and their fearless leader, Anna! For sure this is the work of God and not any man or woman!