New Wine, New Wineskins

We have received job offers from another country (in order to protect our identity, we’ll call it “Aydun” on the blog – it’s an East Asian country with small Christian and Muslim populations).  We will be flying out next week.  Although not what we had in mind and not where we had felt God calling [...]

Cross-posted on Consuming Jesus. Back in May of this past year, I posted on Facebook and wrote, “A sobering, disturbing, significant article. While gentrification is a complex reality, we must work diligently to partner with vulnerable communities so that they are not displaced/replaced.”  The article itself begins with the words, “Portland, already the whitest major [...]

By this time, I thought I’d be in Dunya by now.  After a number of delays, it turns out that we have been denied a visa and no longer have jobs.  Our would-be employers want us but are out of options, and so we find ourselves scrambling for employment elsewhere with loan payments looming.  My [...]

As I briefly stated in the previous entry, one of my hopes for the trip is to simply create friendships.  I believe when friendships emerge across hostile boundaries, like the current boundaries between the American church and Muslims, the kingdom of God is present, however hidden.  Even if not a single person “accepts the gospel,” [...]

In a few weeks I will be flying overseas and beginning a new season of life.  This new season will bring with it many challenges: learning a new language, performing a job that I’m not exactly ready for, and the predictably unpredictable minefield that is adapting to a new culture.  New surrounding religion, new social [...]