The Reconciliation of All Things

The Dawn of a New Year... As 2016 comes to a close we reflect back on what God has taught us this year in our ministry and family life. Hebrews 12:12 summarizes it well: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” This year has been a year of learning perseverance - joyfully pressing on with homeschooling and support raising; patiently waiting for injuries to heal; praying for ministry opportunities and grace for each day. In regards to ministry, I (Ben) did not travel as much this year due to low support, which meant a less active year in the advancement of our creation care initiative goals. My heart’s desire is to teach the church about the biblical stewardship of creation and I’ve spent countless hours praying for opportunities to share with the church in the US. My role at TEAM is very broad and I have been praying for others to join me in helping to organize trips and handle some of the detailed logistics. There are so many creation care needs around the...

Every email I receive around this time of year is either talking about the "#GivingTuesday" that is after Thanksgiving...or the Year End Giving. Honestly, it makes me sick to my stomach to write such an email to anyone I know--or even to those I don't know! Sure, we are missionaries, and we depend on the generosity and sacrificial giving of people to keep our ministry going, but I really struggle with this extra focus on the money! Here are a couple of reasons why: 1. We Christians are called to be generous people. We don't give because it's convenient, and we shouldn't give because we get a tax-deductible receipt. No, we give because we have been given so much in Christ! We can never repay the debt He payed for us on the cross. In fact, we are told by the Apostle Paul that our God will supply all our needs according to his glorious riches, which are found in Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:19). I cling to that each and every day being a missionary; God will pr...

A few weeks ago we went to Cades Cove, a beautiful spot in the Smoky Mountains that is encircled by the mountains. There are some beautiful views from within the cove, and many old cabins/homes are still there from when the park was created in the early 1900's. If you go this time of the year though when the leaves are turning, it can take you a few hours to circle around the cove b/c it's a one-way road and you are at the mercy of the person in front of you! If they stop to look at something or drive slowly, you just have to wait.  One of the many homes still standing. They just don't build 'em like they used to!  Fields behind an old Methodist Church and cemetery. This is a view up the mountainside. We drove straight across the cove (shortcut--kids were getting antsy!) and got this view! Becky and some of the kids saw the black bears wandering around--I had my eyes on the road (mostly, sometimes on the view). What a blessing to be so close to such a ...

As I've (Ben) written before, if anything is true, it belongs to God, so as Christians we do not have to fear it. I believe it is important that we don't forget that this is what drove those Christians who came before us to excel in what they did, to make the discoveries they did. They knew generations ago that this world was created by God and would obey His will, laws He had established during the creation of this world, of all things. In fact, all things are being reconciled to Him, through his Son, Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:18-20)...but not everyone accepts this reconciliation offered. Ok, on to Columbus and science! This article is from BreakPoint.org, you can read it or listen to it there too. Here is the link:  BreakPoint article: Columbus & Science lie   -Thank heavens that Columbus was able to convince the world that the earth was round. Except, as Chuck Colson explains in this classic BreakPoint commentary, Columbus didn’t have to convince ...

If you know about the drought in Southern Africa, you'll understand why Creation Care efforts (biblical environmental stewardship) are crucial today! We can reduce the effects of drought by biblically stewarding the environment, but until we can do it widely and have a larger impact, we continue our ministries of compassion in Zimbabwe and around the world. Click on the video below to learn more.

This post started as a clarification for myself and my ministry at TEAM, but it turns out it might be helpful for you to read as well. I hope it helps give a clearer understanding of the strategic role Creation Care/Environmental Missions plays in the growth of the Kingdom ( Mt. 16:18 ). God IS building His Church, and the gates of hell will NOT prevail against it! WHY: We believe caring for creation from a biblical perspective will restore people and their environment into flourishing, sustainable, Christ-centered communities. HOW: Driven by our belief, we work with communities at a grassroots level, developing culturally appropriate solutions with local stakeholders and resources. WHAT: We do this through a variety of projects and partnerships with churches, communities, and other effective NGO's. What do these projects look like? Some are quite simple, others are more technical, but they all have one thing in common: to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in a practical way t...

Of COURSE our God would create trees and forests to talk among themselves...why not?? Amazing discoveries science is making--I believe it just shows how creative God is, and how important it is that we understand our stewardship mandate!

Ezekiel 36:26 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Two weeks ago I was at our TEAM annual conference at Wheaton College, IL. I was able to spend time talking to Dave & Cheryl Jereb, missionaries who just returned from a two year commitment in Zimbabwe. Their vision was to provide sustainable food sources and job training for needy communities through aquaponics, a self-contained system for growing produce and fish. Take a look at a video they produced regarding their work:  I had challenged them and brainstormed with them last November when I was in Zimbabwe to connect the work they were doing with the gospel more directly-through evangelism & discipleship. How thrilled I was to hear last week that God had given them a breakthrough! This year has been the worst drought in 10 years in Zimbabwe—everyone’s farms are failing. The co...

We Christians have a challenge before us. It is not a new one, but it is one that still has not been resolved. It has to do with the term “Creation Care”. Most Christians over 40 years of age in conservative circles still feel a bit uncomfortable at the sound of this, thinking it means we are “green”, or “tree-huggers” in the liberal sense of these words, and that we are on a slippery slope. While I believe it is true that we all should be this as Christians from a biblical stewardship perspective, it is certainly not true that we are liberal—not in our theology, nor in our practice. So what is Creation Care after all? To answer this, we first need to go to Scripture and understand the spiritual, social, and physical environment of the biblical Hebrews. If we try to understand his or her mindset and way of life, we will see that they did not dichotomize between the spiritual and physical, the supernatural and natural. No, they were intertwined. In our Hellenized worldview where w...

“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord!” Psalm 96:11-12. I would love for you to learn a bit about “light pollution” and synchronous fireflies, one of God’s amazing creations! Their habitat is from Tennessee to Pennsylvania, but especially where we live near the Smoky Mountains, they are prevalent—most likely because of the moisture in the National Forest. Only a week ago, I stepped outside to take the garbage to the curb, and all the lights were out in our neighborhood. ****This is normal where we live—only a few out of 56 houses have any lights on outside their home at night. This makes for a VERY clear view of the stars at night.**** I then happened to glance at the trees in our yard—and I thought I saw Christmas lights! Yes, bright white lights flashing in a regular pattern, all over the yard! Wow! I had heard abo...

I’m in the airport packed and ready to head off to Brazil for my “little sister’s” wedding. She’s 21, loves Jesus, and is marrying Eric, a Brazilian who also loves Jesus. I’m thrilled to be going for the wedding. Unfortunately, again, Becky and the kids will be remaining in TN while I head off on this trip. We will appreciate your prayers for Becky with the kids, again, and for safe travels. We couldn’t do all this without your prayers. While in the São Paulo airport in Brazil awaiting my final flight connection, I’ll be meeting a new friend, the director of A Rocha Brazil , a Christian conservation organization (part of the larger A Rocha International) that does an excellent job teaching about and helping Christians and non-Christians alike carry out biblically mandated creation care efforts locally that are world renowned. Our conversation will be about how a church planting organization such as TEAM, who cares about stewarding God’s good creation for His glory, can partner wit...

These days have me thinking of worms. Yes, worms. Not the kind my kids want me to dig up and use for fishing, but the smaller kind, red wigglers, aka Eisenia fetida. They were actually brought to the US in the 17th century by European settlers, and are considered an invasive species. However, we are not likely to get rid of them--they are here to stay! Thewormfarm.net These little guys are very useful actually, as they feed quickly on decaying organic materials. I like them because of their superior work ethic and amazing gardening benefits. In fact, if you come visit us, I'll show you my "worm farm". It's in the laundry room downstairs, but you wouldn't know it if I didn't tell you. You see, they don't stink (if you do it right), and they eat half of their weight a day. So any scraps of food we need to throw away (well, non-processed foods, like carrot and potato skins, banana peels, strawberry tops, etc.), I just take downstairs and throw into my...

Flowers in the desert. View of Espiritu Santo Island, opposite Playa El Tecolote, La Paz, Mexico Have you ever read the book titled "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist", by Norm Geisler? A few weeks ago I was painting for some friends of ours (he hates painting, and I don't mind it--I use it as time for me to think). During this time I've been listening to the audiobook version of the above mentioned book. One of the things that repeatedly strikes me is that biblical faith is based upon truth and reason, just as Paul clearly states in Acts 26:25. On the other hand, atheists demonstrate a failure to assess the evidence correctly and come to the proper conclusions. This got me thinking how so often we Christians fall into this trap and do not assess information logically, with reason, as we are called to do in Scripture (see Isaiah 1:18), but instead fall back on traditions or false assumptions. However, our faith in our Creator is based up...

It's in the little things Last week I went off a planned day-trip to the mountains to spend some focused time in prayer and worship of our Creator and Savior, along with trying to do some planning for the year of ministry ahead of me. I was excited to go on a long hike to Abram's Falls in the Smoky Mountains, not too far from our house. However, going down into the valley area where the river is, on a one-way narrow road, it was blocked by construction vehicles. "What??" I thought. I talked to the park rangers and workers there, asking if I could even walk through--they said it was closed. A large tree had fallen the night before and broken up half of the paved road that allowed access to the trailhead. Honestly, I was quite depressed after this. I was really looking forward to this hike and subsequent swim at the cold waters of the falls, then some focused time of planning and prayer. I opted instead to drive back up to the top of the mountains and walk around an...