During our time with each of our sending churches, one of the tasks we undertook was to put together a mission support team. You may be thinking that must have been a little awkward, since the point is mostly to support…us. It’s natural enough that we need support, but putting it together ourselves is something else, partly because it’s hard to know what a support team should do and partly because it’s strange to ask people to be actively thinking about what we might need or even want. The short of it is that we were in a position, in terms of time and energy, to kick-start such a support system, which everyone agreed was beneficial for the longevity of our missionary service.
A Sendoff Celebration
It is hard to believe that we have been through our second and final send-off Sunday. I remember thinking how the six months had flown Tyler. I can say the same exact thing for Tullahoma. We have enjoyed our time with Cedar Lane immensely. They welcomed and encouraged our dream from the day we arrived and the past six months has been a wonderful time of preparation for the work we are about to begin.
Family Talk: Greg Muse
Hello from Tullahoma, Tennessee. My name is Greg Muse, and I have been asked by the elders at Cedar Lane to be the point of contact for teamAREQUIPA. When asked if I would fulfill this position for Cedar Lane, I took on this task without much hesitation after some discussion with my wife, Andrea. However, there was something fundamentally flawed in my thinking, because I looked at it from the viewpoint of a independent job versus joining a team. Simply put, my knowledge of missions was limited. However it has been expanded by a wonderful summer series of classes, Wednesday night/Sunday morning discussions, and several books that have allowed God to do a “Stretch Armstrong” on me regarding missions and kingdom living.
Meet Our Support Team from Cedar Lane
We came to Tullahoma with intentions of recruiting a Peru Mission support team, as we did in Tyler. We consulted with our primary contact at Cedar Lane and invited those he suggested to participate in this team. Our recruiting meeting with them went well and we now have several young couples actively working to keep our relationship with Cedar Lane strong and to provide support to us as we prepare for and experience the field work itself. We didn't expect that it would turn out to be a team of our peers.
Our Summer So Far
We have had wonderful opportunities to interact with the Cedar Lane family this summer. One large project, the planning of the summer combined adult series on missions, was spearheaded by Kyle and Greg. They have recruited several other speakers to address various topics, and will each have a few chances to speak themselves. The hope is that we will take a good look at the realities of American mission work and the thinking behind it in order to move purposefully to a better understanding and participation in God’s work around the world and next door.