David Oosterhouse

A couple of posters on Facebook think this is a problem. I responded with the following post:

"A Muslim young lady being exposed to loving Christians and thru them the love of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, where is the problem? Should we pull our missionaries out of Bangladesh be cause there are Muslims living there? If they are willing to come to us for a quality education why would we want to stop that? We should be thanking God for the opportunity and ask that the Holy Spirit work in this young lady's life and show her that Jesus is more that just a prophet."

We have been commanded to go into all the world to spread the good news. But if God brings them to us what are we supposed to do, ignore them, prevent them from attending "our" colleges? That doesn't seem to follow the spirit of the Great Commission.

"Given all the evidence against, why do you think many people cling to the idea that mental illness is the primary cause of violent acts?"

Because it is an easy and the government is lazy.  We will blame "crazy", oops - people with mental illness, make sure  doctors report anyone they suspect of having mental illness and quickly take away their rights.  Then they are surprised when violent crime doesn't go down and decide that we need more rights reducing laws.

The Twitter statement that brought me to read this article states - "There’s no doubt everyone accused of being greedy is in fact so,...".  REALLY!?!

Thanks to the leadership and encouragement of our worship leader Pam Rock and pastor John DeVries, the Mission Committee is recording Skype calls with our missionaries.  The recorded call is edited down in time to be shown during our Faith Promise offering, the last Sunday of every month.  It is great to remind the congregation where the money that they are contributing to Faith Promise is going.  So far the videos have been very well received.  A recorded call helps eliminate problems that can arise from unstable internet connections and missionaries being unavailable during the time we would like to hear from them.  Editing down a long conversation is a challenge!  So many topics and requests can be covered in a call.  One conversation was an hour and a quarter long.  This was edited down to a 8 minute video.  The videos have also been posted to youtube and we have a link from our church missionary page to the posted videos.  Not only is the video important to remind the congregation about the missionaries we support, what they are doing and their prayer requests, it is also a form of encouragement.  Missionaries face the same challenges that we all do in our daily lives, plus the added challenges that come from living in a foreign country.  Just knowing that their supporters know about these challenges and are praying for them as they face these challenges is an encouragement.  I would encourage everyone to give Skype a try, you won't be disappointed.

I was unable to participate in the original webinar.  Is is possible to request the materials that were discussed?  Thank you.

As an addition to the post, I want to thank our many supporters that have made these trips possible.  Our church, our families and our community have given generously to allow us to make these trips.  God has truly blessed us thru their generosity and the privilege of serving him, the Braunings and our brothers and sisters in the DR.

Lou,

First I want to thank you for your 35 years of service; I hope you are enjoying “retirement”. My father was a church planter in Ionia and a home missionary in downtown GR, I understand “retirement”.

Thank you for your open and honest critique that you posted. The team and I are not afraid of honest, informed challenges to our involvement in STM trips. We have been challenged from within our own church and by members of some of our own families. I believe that if we cannot answer the challenges, we shouldn’t be involved in these trips.

We go because there is a need, a need that has been communicated to us thru our contact family in the DR. At no time have we gone to participate in “make work”. The work project that we participate in is chosen by the church leadership in the DR. We always know well in advance where we are going and what we are going to be doing. We participate, we rarely start from nothing and have never completely finished a project. We are there to jump into the middle, help the local congregation for a week and let them finish the project.

From the first trip, Steve Brauning has provided orientation material that we study in advance. On top of that we have used a variety of video programs designed to instruct us in short term mission trips in general. To prepare for our 2011 trip we used the “Round Trip” video series. We were also encouraged to and did read and discuss the books “Foreign to Familiar” and “Serving with Eyes Wide Open…”. Steve and our ServeLink contact person encouraged us to study these books. Upon arriving in the DR, once we are settled, Steve holds orientation. Whether this is your first trip or seventh, there is always something new to learn about the culture and the CRC in the DR. Steve and his entire family are great resources when it comes to DR culture. They have always openly shared with us the good and the bad. We have been greatly blessed to know, support and work with them.

Thru our 7 trips, many members of our congregation have come to know the Brauning family as more than “the missionaries in the DR that we support”, they have become friends. Friends we look forward to seeing when they are in the states on home service. Friends we keep in contact with thru Facebook, email and Skype calls. Friends who know about our families and we know about theirs. Friends we love to visit, every other year in the DR, to support the work that they are doing. Friends we remember in our prayers every day.

There are other benefits that we have noticed. Our church, as a whole, is very excited about the support of all of our missionaries. Whenever a family is in the states on home service and have the time to visit, the congregation comes together to welcome them, encourage them and eat a meal with them. Our Faith Promise pledges have for many years continued to grow and the actual collections are always more than pledges. We have a vibrant, working Missions Committee. Many of the Missions Committee members have participated in DR trips or other STM trips. The Missions Committee has been asked to present a Sunday school class this year on missions, we will be using the “Plugged-in to Missions” program.

Valid questions have been raised concerning STM trips. We believe that we have honestly addressed and answered those questions. I hope that others will seriously consider the questions that you and others have raised. I hope that they will consider a long term commitment to a particular place. I hope that in all we do God’s holy name will be praised and that “not yet Christians” will come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. I love that we can have these discussions to build each other up and encourage others to honestly evaluate their STM plans.

Your brother in Christ,

Dave