On the Road: "Simple Superstars of East Africa"

I am thrilled to publicly announce one of the biggest trips thus far in the history of Trinity International -- "Simple Superstars of East Africa"!

Coming in November, a handful of Trinity teammates will be traveling to Ethiopia and Uganda with our dear friend, Wilbur Sargunaraj for what is sure to be an busy and fruitful several days of work.

The highlights and goals of our trip are as follows:

• To host 3-4 "Simple Superstar" community concerts feat. Wilbur Sargunaraj to bless children and families impacted by poverty, HIV/AIDS in both Ethiopia and Uganda.  Local leaders from our ministries Goh Bright Future and Endiro will help us facilitate this.  In most cases, these concerts will include free meals for members of the community.

• To investigate opportunities for potential international or local workers to "MoveIn" to needy communities as well as to secure part or full-time employment.  The need for more laborers in this mission field is critical and we hope this trip will enable us to develop concrete plans for mobilization.

• To record multiple short films and music videos which will highlight our East African children's work, raise awareness of the opportunities and challenges presented by global migration, and to honor some cool aspects of East African life and culture.  Films will be used specifically by our East African ministries (Goh Bright Future and Endiro) to raise awareness and to mobilize prayer and laborers.  The diaspora short film will be premiered at Manila 2015: Lausanne Global Forum on Diaspora Mission. 

• To study more carefully diaspora South Asian Hindu and Muslim populations especially in Uganda and opportunities to minister among them.

• To facilitate greater collaboration between our Ethiopian and Ugandan ministries in order to share best practices and resources.  We hope to see more church planting result in Uganda and more self-sustaining mission practices in Ethiopia.

Financial Needs for the Trip [GIVE NOW]:

We need to raise a large amount of money in a very short time in order to make this trip possible.  The team that is going will include myself along with teammates originally from India, Bhutan, Ethiopia and Uganda.  It will be a fantastic, multi-cultural team.  Here is a breakdown of the costs:

Air Travel (5 persons):      7300

Community Concerts:       2000

Lodging:                             500

Vehicle Rental:                   400

Sound mixing/recording:    Donated

Video recording/editings:   Donated

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Total:                                   $10,200

Raised thus far: 10.2% ($1050)

That is a large amount of money that we need to raise very quickly.  Please give your gift of support today.  We have well over a thousand people who follow our ministry, pray for us, and have been blessed by our work in the past.  If everyone gives even a very small amount, we will be well on our way.  Give now here!

[Note: Your gifts of support are made to Trinity International Baptist Mission a licensed 501c3 charity. Your donations are fully tax deductible and you will receive a giving record. Our online giving is secured by PayPal.]

Knowing the Migrant Savior

("Turn to Clear Vision", by C. Lorance)

I'm thinking about what it means to "know Christ".  

I think we (Western, evangelical types) tend to mean by this a kind of emotional and intellectual adherence to certain theological positions/statements.  Maybe even really loving those truths and singing songs about them and stuff like that.  But, the Incarnation and Crucifixion were more than mere theological realities ... they were lived experiences of Lord Jesus.  The migrations and the sufferings of the Savior are a part of who He is (kind of a big part) and I am wondering if "knowing" Him in these things is even possible for the perennially comfortable, albeit theologically orthodox crowd who has never known the loss of displacement, the pain of culture loss, and the agony of physical torment.  Is there a sense in which one who knows nothing of orthodox confessions of faith or acceptable theological systems may nevertheless "know" something of Jesus, and that quite intimately, because they too were a migrant and they too suffered?  

Look at the Crucified Foreigner, pierced and bleeding impossibly far from home.  Does he look more like a suburban evangelical shopping at the local Lifeway for just the right Jesus fish to stick on his late model Camry or rather like the Syrian Muslim woman who was survived rape, torture and an impossible trek through the desert to bring her children to the relative safety of a refugee camp in Jordan?  I'm not saying that she knows enough about the Savior.  I'm just saying that maybe we don't either.  I'm just saying that perhaps there needs to be a bit more give and take in mission than we tend to allow for -- that the objects of our proclamation may themselves have something important to proclaim about Christ which we ignore to our own peril.