The Final Countdown!

When I woke up this morning the calendar on my computer said "1 Day Until Graduation"! Can you believe that?

God called us to missions long before we started working through the IMB application process, but we were too stubborn to respond to his call. Around 27 months ago Kellye and I were sitting in our dining room in Middleburg, Florida when we surrendered to this call and now we are a little more than 24 hours away from our IMB Commissioning Service. Twenty-four hours after that, we will be on a bus headed for Washington DC where we will get on an airplane and travel half-way around the world to our new apartment and new life in Moscow, Russia. I don't mind telling you that it is a little more than we can comprehend. And yes, we are excited, scared, nervous, thrilled...all of the emotions that you could possibly think of!

So, I will try to bring you up to date, give you a glimpse of the near future.

Friday night we had a wonderful dinner with friends. Two of the very sweet, and very brave, JourneyGirls volunteered to babysit all of the kids so our group of friends could have a nice dinner together. We went to a Brazilian restaurant where they served all-you-can-eat shish-k-bobs with at least 7 different kinds of meats. All-you-can-eat-meat-on-a-stick...need I say more??

Yesterday and today are our final classes. They are being taught by Dr. Tom Elliff and while we are very busy and need every waking second to finish packing, I am really excited about hearing him teach again. He is one of my all-time favorite pastor/teachers and I enjoy every second we get to sit under him. In addition, he is a great guy and I have enjoyed the one-on-one time that I have gotten to spend with him.

Kellye's parents arrived yesterday afternoon and the whole family was excited to see them! They had the opportunity to attend our De-mapping Ceremony last night, which was a moving time. The first weekend we arrived here we held a Mapping Ceremony where we each placed our photos on a huge map over the city where we will serve and shared prayer requests for the time while we were at FPO. This symbolized the future and was a daily reminder that in the days to come our group would be scattered among the nations to share the Gospel. Last night, as a symbol that the future was here, we each removed our photos and shared prayer requests for as we go. Ours was that we would be a light to the people of Moscow as we live and work every day. And, that God would use the media pieces that I will produce to recruit new missionaries for the work in Russia. Please join us in that prayer. We were also each given a Bible in the language of the country where we will be serving. There was something about seeing God's word written in my new language that made me weep. I know that is something that we will treasure for many years to come and pray that it is something that will be passed to my children and grandchildren as they are commissioned for missionary service.

We also had a brief OBU Alumni get together last night. There are close to a dozen of us here at FPO (including IMB staff). Did you know that no other school in the world sends as many people to the mission field through the IMB than OBU does?

Today will be a busy day for us. We have class from 9 to 3, the kids have an Open House at their school from 3 to 5. Of course, there is dinner in the cafeteria (boy, will I miss that when we are gone) from 5 to 6 and then tonight at 7 we will travel to a Baptist church down the road where we will hold a baptism service for John-John and his friend Laini. My parents, brother and sister-in-law, and aunt will arrive for the festivities this afternoon. Kellye's two sisters will also arrive this afternoon. And, of course, we will spend half the night packing, and re-packing our suitcases trying to get each of them under the weight limits. How is it that we have more stuff now than when we got here two months ago? I just don't understand!

Tomorrow morning our families will have a meeting with some IMB folks while we
have rehearsal for our commissioning. As a member of the AV Team, I have produced a 7-minute video for the service. That has been fun and I pray that our visitors can get a taste for what we have experienced during our time here. The service is at 11am and is followed by a reception. And, then the goodbyes will begin. We have made such dear friends, brothers and sisters while here these past eight weeks. It will be hard to say goodbye. Most of our friends serve in our region, so we will see each other at least once a year. But, after you have been living with one another day in and day out for two months, we share a special bond. I know that most of these people will be life-long friends and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to serve alongside of them. (Marc wept.)

Our flight is scheduled for 4:30pm on Wednesday and we will arrive in Moscow at 1:30pm local time on Thursday afternoon. We probably won't have Internet access for around a week, so communication from us may be spotty until we get settled and adjusted.

So, there it is. Pray for our family this week. Pray extra hard. It will be fun, exciting, sad, and scary. But the word that best describes the week is "obedience." Around a year ago Don Thompson slapped me on the shoulder and said to me, "Son, are you sure this is what you want to do?" At the time I answered, "No, but it is what God has called me to do." That answer is as true today as it was a year ago. There are days I wake up and just don't want to go. There are days when I just want my house and my old life back. And yet, most days I cannot wait to live in the largest city in Europe. The fact of the matter is this: it really does not matter how I feel. What matters is that our family is being obedient to the call that God has placed on our lives. I can tell you that there is no greater satisfaction that that. So, are you doing today what God has called you to? Are you being obedient to the things that He has for your life? Only you can answer that question. But, let me tell you that the God of the universe has your name written on the palm of His hand and that He has big plans for your life. They may not be to cross the ocean to tell people about Him. He may just want you to cross the street. Whatever He has called you to, won't you be obedient?

See you from Moscow!

Blessings,
Marc

Do you really know?

Do you know what it is to be Southern Baptist? Do you know what the Cooperative Program is or what Journeymen do? Have you ever read The Baptist Faith and Message?

Don't be surprised if you answer "no" to these questions.

In the days to come I will talk more about these things in my blog, but for now please take the time to complete the poll in the right-hand column of this page. In the meantime, if you did answer "no" to any of these questions take the time to find out the answers.

All of the polls close on October 1, so cast your vote before then. I will discuss the results later that week.

Have a blessed week and know that you are loved and prayed for.

Blessings,
Marc

Pray with our "Mission Friends"

Have you ever wanted to pray for missionaries, but not known how? Don't feel like you are alone. For most of my life I felt the same way. It is easy to pray "God bless the missionaries" and leave it at that. And, I am sure that God hears those prayers. However, I want to challenge you to go deeper than that. So, how do you pray for our missionaries? I am glad you asked. :-)

~ First, if you want to pray for missionaries in general you can go to the prayer section of the IMB website.
If you click on the SUBSCRIPTIONS button then you can subscribe to email updates that share prayer requests for missionaries.

~ If you would like to find specific prayer requests posted by missionaries then you can go to this special section of the IMB Website.

~ If you would like to pray specifically for missionaries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), where Kellye and I serve, then you can go to the CEE Website.
On the upper right-hand side of the screen are some links that will lead you in prayer for our CEE missionaries. These change regularly, so make sure you visit often.

~ And, if you would like pray specifically for our family and our missionary friends we would love to have you as prayer partners. I am adding electronic copies of the prayer cards of some of our friends. There are more. One of the things you can do is download and print these prayer cards and post them on your refrigerator as a reminder to pray for specific families. Clicking on each of the images will bring up a larger version of the card that you can then print.

One last thing. Living a missionary life is not always an easy life to live. No pitty party and no feeling sorry for myself here, just simply stating the facts. So, if you take time to pray for any of these folks, grab their email addresses off their cards and send them a brief note of encouragement letting them know that you prayed for them that day. I cannot tell you what an encouragement that will be to them.

Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer. You are on the front lines of battle each and every time you pray.

Blessings,
Marc

Chickens, fish, pies and more...the FPO adventure continues!

Well, I guess you can tell from my numerous posts tonight that it has been a pretty busy week around here. (Aren't they all?) So, I will try to catch you up on some of the details of the week.

Terri Tarleton left for Moscow last weekend. She has become a dear friend to the whole family, but especially to Kellye and the children. They are counting the days until they see her again. As a matter of fact, tonight at supper John-John asked where Aunt Terri had gone and when he realized that she was not coming back to ILC he started to cry. Just another reason for getting to Russia as soon as possible.

We had a great time watching Gator football on the big screen on Saturday. (No, I have not abandoned my Sooners.) As many of you know, Kellye earned her graduate degree from the University of Florida so I have decided to take a Biblical approach to being a Gator fan. Matthew 6:21 says "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So, I figure that UF has quite a bit of my treasure, they can have a piece of my heart on a Saturday afternoon. (Although I am praying for an OU/UF national championship game!)

Tonight was chicken killing night. Yes, you read that right. Each week we have extra curricular classes on specialized skills that people need to survive on the field. One week it was learning to drive standard transmission. We tried not to take the kids on our walks that week! Earlier this month Kellye took a class on how to cut hair and how to cook from scratch. So this tonight our friend "M" , who is going to the far East of Russia, taught a class on how to kill and prepare chicken and fish for our brothers and sisters who will be living in areas without a neighborhood Piggly Wiggly! I didn't attend the class, but I did go next door to sample some of the food afterwards!

And speaking of food, a special friend mailed us a couple of pies this week! Wow, what a treat that was. You may remember from one of Kellye's blogs that we don't often get desert around here, so when they came in the mail yesterday it was like Christmas had come early. We had one of our quad-mates pick up some ice cream on his way through Wal-Mart and we had a feast! It was wonderful. A special thank you to JW, our special friend for sending the pies!

Today has been my writing day. I have been taking a seminary class at the same time as FPO, so tonight I found a hidden spot on campus and wrote for about four hours. I only have two more papers to write and hope to finish them tomorrow. Then I start working on the closing video for our commissioning ceremony. I am honored to have the opportunity to produce this video and it will be fun to work on.

I have also been trying to work on my Russian language skills. Ed has been helping me learn a few phrases and I have also been trying to learn my testimony in Russian. I am going to see one of the barbers in town tomorrow who immegrated from Moscow about 12 years ago. Ed spent some time with him today and he said he would be willing to help me with my Russian, so I am pretty excited about that.

Friday, tomorrow, is our final immunization day. I think we are each scheduled for three shots a piece. John is a trooper. The boy feels no pain and actually looks forward to shot day. Hannah, on the other hand, starts crying every time we pass by the clinic just because she is thinking about getting her shots.

And melancholy started to set in this week. We are a mere 11 days away from graduation and while we are excited and ready to pack our things and head to the field we are starting to feel a little sad about leaving this place. (Kellye has just finished a cross-stitch plaque that reads "Quad Sweet Quad.") As you have heard us mention several times, we have made wonderful friends here. They are dear, sweet brothers and sisters with whom we will be life-long friends. So, while we are happy about approaching our final week of FPO, we are sad that this intimate time of friendship and fellowship is coming to an end. It has been said that a missionary's life is filled with goodbyes. And, so far, that has been true. I hope that in the months and years to come that the relationships we have forged over the past two months will stand the test of time and that we will have opportunities to spend time together again soon.

And speaking of goodbyes, remember that Kellye and I love each and every one of you and miss you very much. We appreciate your prayers, cards and emails and thinking about you makes us smile.

Blessings,
Marc

That's It!!

"That's It!"
Remember the scene from Charlie Brown Christmas when Schroeder finally plunks out the 11 note tune to Jingle Bells? Lucy, finally recognizing the tune, jumps up and shouts at the top of her lungs, "That's It!"

I can't tell you how many times God has spoken to me and while the tune sounds familiar, it does not really connect. And, because I am a pretty stubborn man, God eventually winds up pounding out a few simple notes so that I will finally get the idea. Does that ever happen to you? Does God ever have to, in frustration, pound it out for you? If you haven't guessed it by now, I had that kind of revelation this week. I was sitting in class, needing another 3 Musketeers bar to keep me going before we broke for lunch and I heard God speak. Yeah, it was the voice of the speaker, but the message was just for me.

But let me back up a little bit before I tell you what God said. As most of you know my job assignment while on the mission field is as the Russia Media Coordinator. Now, if you have ever looked at a map of Russia you realize that is a pretty daunting task. It is a pretty big country. As a matter of a fact, there are more people living in Moscow than there are in the entire Czech Republic. So, that is my job assignment. However, as a missionaries we all have one deep and burning desire...to lead lost people to saving faith in Jesus Christ. During these past seven weeks our "missionary handbook" has been the book of Acts. Each day in our small groups we have studied and discussed Acts as we have watched the Apostle Paul travel from place to place, witnessing to the lost and planting churches. As you can imagine, Paul is the missionary's hero. He is who we all want to be when we grow up. And, he is the standard that we all feel that we will never be able to live up to. Well, seven weeks of comparing yourself to the Apostle Paul can give you kind of an inferiority complex. It can even make you doubt whether you are up to the task. And, let me tell you, it can even make you convinced that God has made His first cosmic mistake by calling you to the mission field!

So there I was...sitting in this session in need of a sugar fix that was still about 20 minutes away when God spoke to me. "I have chosen you to be Luke to tell Paul's story." I almost stood up and shouted, "That's It!" just like Lucy. I hope that I have the opportunity to lead many, many Russians to the Lord. I hope that areas where I visit and witness will one day have handfuls of vibrant New Testament churches. But, if when I retire from the mission field and that has not happened it will be alright with me. Why? Because God has called me to be Luke so that I can tell Paul's story. Maybe when I retire there will be scores of missionaries all over Russia who remember seeing their city or people group for the very first time on a television screen in their home church. Maybe one day, just as we read Luke's account of Paul's missionary journeys, there will be new missionaries at ILC who will learn about the work of missionaries in Russia by watching media pieces that I have created. That is my prayer.

Do you ever have moments when you feel like God is speaking directly to you? I hope so. I hope you are listening for God's direction in your life. I hope that as you are reading God's word, or listening to his word being preached that you will hear a clear and direct word from God that is special for you. You may be in the car alone. Or, you may be in a church service surrounded by hundreds of people. God does have a plan for your life. I pray that He gives you clear direction. And I also pray that you act on what you hear.

Blessings,
Marc

Are you willing to be the bait for Jesus?

We have been spending the past week studying about the persecuted church. Frankly, this was one of the topics that I was not really looking forward to. However, it has turned out to be one of the most meaningful sessions that we have had.

So, here is the question of the week..."Are you willing to be the bait for Jesus?" Are you willing to dangle yourself in the waters of the lost? Are you willing for a lost world to cause you suffering all so you can bring a lost person to The Fisher of Men? That is a hard question. We, as Americans, do not like suffering. Heck, we don't even like the idea of suffering, let alone suffering for Jesus. But all over the world there are those who are so sold-out in their faith that they don't mind being the bait. Now let's face it. I don't think anybody around the world gets up in the mornings hoping to suffer for their faith. If they do, then there is something wrong with them. However, that is not the question. The question is...when suffering comes what will you do with that? To whom will you look for your strength? Are you willing to stand up and openly proclaim your faith in Jesus Christ to those who taunt you, or do you shrink away from the opportunity? Only you can answer these questions for yourself. However, let me say this...I was not looking forward to hearing about persecuted Christians and frankly, I hope it is not my lot in life to be one of them. But given the opportunity to be the bait for Jesus or be just another worm in the ground...put me on the hook!

One of the most startling thing that we heard this week was that we should stop praying for persecution to end in other parts of the world. That was a hard statement to digest. But the sentiment is that the persecuted church is the growing church. So, join me in praying. Let us not pray that persecution of Christians around the world ends, but that their suffering would lead to Kingdom growth. Stop praying for missionaries and start praying with missionaries. And while you are praying, ask yourself this...what would happen in your church...your community...your state...your nation if Christians were forced to stand up under real suffering? How much more rapidly would we reach others for Christ?

So ask yourself...are you willing to be the bait? I am.

See you on the hook!

Blessings,
Marc

Photo Day!

I thought that you might want to see some of the photos from our time here at FPO. I hope you enjoy.

The first set of photos are from our trip to Washington DC on Friday. This was a photo of our family with the Lewis family and one of the journeymen from our house church on the Capitol steps. Next is Kellye and I with Kellye's cousin, Rachel, who lives and works in DC. The helicopter is "Marine One", the president's personal helicopter. We were outside of the Washington Monument when it flew by and landed on the White House lawn. The photo of the girls was taken at the Washington Monument.

Next you will see some photos from ILC. The first was taken at our "Hannah Montana Party" we hosted for the teenagers. Next is John-John at the playground during a water balloon fight. The girls with the guitar are "Top Rockers for Jesus." The photo of SB was taken at a picnic for our region on Labor Day and the last picture is of "Grandpa Raymond" at the Top Rockers concert.

We hope you enjoyed these. We will try to upload some more in the future.

Blessings,
Marc

Mission Friends, Security Training & Visas

You may have noticed that it has been awhile since Kellye and I posted last. Training here at FPO has come to a steady boil and even our spare time is filled with activity as we come closer to finishing our training. Today's posting will be brief because it is nearly 11 pm and we have a "field trip" to Washington DC tomorrow. More about that in a bit.

Please notice that I have added a list of our "Mission Friends" (older Southern Baptists will get that play on words) and their blog sites. If you get a chance, please take the time to read the posts from these other IMB missionaries. All of them have become dear friends and they have a heart for the Lord and a passion for reaching the lost. If you enjoy their blogs, send them a quick email of encouragement to let them know that you are reading and that you linked to their blogs from our site. I cannot tell you what one brief email from "the outside world" will do for our missionaries. I am honored to be called their friend and colleague.

Last week was one of the busiest we have had yet. We spent the week in "Security Training." I am not at liberty to give you much information about what we did and why, but know that the IMB takes our safety very seriously and takes many, many precautions to make sure that we are properly trained for any contingency while we are on the field. Again, your Lottie Moon and Cooperative Program dollars hard at work.

Many of you know that we planned to leave for Russia the day after our training here at ILC was complete. While we would like to think that is still the plan, a delay in our visa application process has forced us to make alternative plans. The staff here at ILC has been wonderful and they are providing us with a place to live and three meals a day for the time we will have to stay here beyond our training. At this point in time we do not know when we will leave for the field. It may be as early as the 7th, but it may be as late as the 21st of October. So, with all that being said, please pray for God's will to be done as it relates to our travel visas. We are trusting that God has a plan and a purpose for the delay and we are praying that He reveals that plan to us through this process.

And finally, we (all 250 of us missionaries and our families) will be spending tomorrow on a "field trip" to Washington DC for the purpose of engaging people from other ethnic people groups. We had hoped to visit a Russian restaurant for lunch, but found out that they are only open for supper. We will probably visit the Russian Embassy as well as the embassies of other countries in Central & Eastern Europe. Our goal is to meet people and hopefully have the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Please pray that our time in our nation's capital is fruitful as we seek to witness to the lost.

Well, morning comes very early here at ILC, so I better be off to bed. Know that Kellye and I covet your prayers and miss each of you.

Blessings,
Marc

PS- The wonderful ladies that work in the ILC kitchen have agreed to give me a big pot so I can make a pot of chili for our friends this weekend. BOOMER SOONER!

What is FPO Really Like?

I am not sure it is possible to describe for you what life is like here at the International Learning Center. It would be easy for us to write every day about the things that we did or the topics that we studied and that would give you a glimpse of what life was like here. But to know what Field Personnel Orientation is really like you would have to experience it. So, I am going to try my best to describe what it is really like to live here.

ILC is located outside of Richmond, VA on what used to be a sprawling farm. We are surrounded by a small pond, woods and fields filled with cows. It is hot here. Dang hot. And that comes from somebody who has lived in Florida for the past 10 years! Though, I must admit, this week has been cooler. The high today was only in the low 90s. All 400 of us (kids included) live together in a closed community. While some people have cars and it is possible to borrow one of the ILC vans, we are encouraged to stay on campus with the exceptions of nights and weekends. While visitors are allowed, they are not permitted to stay overnight. What this means is that in the short time we have been here we have all inherited an "instant family." The kids call the adults "Aunt" and "Uncle" and while we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, living communally makes you pretty dang close! In many ways the atmosphere here reminds me a lot of college with the major difference being that we have people here from newborns to senior citizens.

Tonight I spent several hours with my friend "R". He is a retired firefighter from one of the states whose football teams got beat this past weekend and he has a love for witnessing to people about Jesus like few that I have ever met. He will be serving in the Central & Eastern Europe region, the same as Kellye and I. "R" and I spent the evening in the great room of my quad working on his computer. As we were finishing with his computer (and the plate of cookies that Kellye fixed for us) we were joined by "M" who is going to one of the countries that we do not talk about out loud. "M" is a recent college graduate and is serving as a Journeyman. He and I love to tell stories, play cards and laugh together and he has become an adopted member of our family. Anyway, it is nearly 11pm here and we just finished socializing for the night.

Speaking of adopted family members, we have also "adopted" several of the JourneyGirls (recent college graduates) who have befriended Sarah Beth. In actuality, we see very little of our children. Tonight John-John played video games with the older boys in the quad across the sidewalk. Hannah spent the evening with her group of friends in the quad two doors down and Sarah Beth went to Wal-Mart with the JourneyGirls. But the thing about communal living is that tomorrow all of the kids may wind up here at our quad with all of their friends. (More about that in a bit.) We all know each others' kids and we look out for all of them. It very much reminds me of the quote, "It takes a village to raise a child." We really are more like a small village than we are anything else. And even our village is made up of smaller parts. The two main buildings on campus are the cafeteria and the Global Center. Both are located relatively in the middle of campus. Those of us on one side of the campus tend to fellowship with one another in the evenings while the other side of campus tends to do the same.

Recreation also brings us together as a family. We do not have televisions in our quads and consequently most evenings are spent fellowshipping with each other or watching the kids on the playground. Each evening some folks get together for basketball, football or soccer. Others go for walks around campus or up to the main road and back, but usually we are all engaged in some kind of group activity. It is not uncommon for a Phase-10 game to break out in the great room of our quad. Last night after church we had about 20 people in our quad telling stories and eating goodies while in the quad across from us there were about 30 children (ages 5 to 15) having a fellowship of their own. For an extrovert like me, this life is not bad and I never get tired of hanging out with people, telling stories and laughing and crying together. But for an introvert like Kellye this life is starting to wear a little thin as we enter our fifth week of training.

Oh, and I didn't even mention cafeteria food. While we are grateful that Southern Baptists have provided us with three meals a day, eating together in the cafeteria day in and day out can become a chore in and of itself. In fact, this weekend several of us "escaped" to town and had lunch at Pizza Hut. mmmmmmmmmmmm Even I will admit that the food has been pretty good while we have been here. But "leftover weekends" can be a little much for me. Example: This weekend we had leftover turkey and gravy. Which would have been fine, but we didn't have turkey this past week. :-(

I am sure that Kellye will write more about this and post a few photos of her own, but tonight Hannah and her friends entertained us with a concert from their musical group, "Top Rockers." There were about 35 people (adults and children) who showed up for their concert in the neighboring quad. They sang and danced, played guitar and even got both "M" and "R" to get up and dance with them! It was much fun and Kellye will describe more about the night in her posting.

I hope that gives you a little bit more of an idea of what life here is like. For the most part we enjoy it, but after four weeks here we are all eager to complete our training and get to the field.
Orientation continues to go well and we have what will be an emotionally exhausting 6-day week ahead of us. (We didn't get off today for Labor Day because that is "an American holiday" and we have classes from 8-5 this Saturday.)

We love each of you and miss you already. Thanks for reading.

Blessings,
Marc