Tony's Entry Step 2 - The first battles of the war

I am now fully committed to going to Africa as Tim and Chrissy have bought the plane tickets and the team is in place! I have begun getting shots, my passport, etc...I am excited, yet now the reality of it all is hitting me. Over the last 6 months as I prayed, thought and wrestled with the decision to go, my main apprehension has been the Camp Daniel Team and all the needed prep time for putting on four weeks of summer camp and hosting well over 500 people during those weeks. I know I have set myself up for a grueling summer... We head to Minnesota to work at a camp for people for disabilities for a week at the end of May. I fly to Chicago from there to go to a 3 day family wedding and two days after that leave for Kenya. Ten days after getting home we start of 4 weeks of camp interrupted by a week of hosting a missions group of 30 coming from Chicago to stay and work here on the grounds with us. it will be a hard 9 week run to say the least. It has forced me already,to change, to get organized and get well ahead of things I usually do not!

Since I have known Tim, we have talked often of the reality of how we find ourselves attacked as we work where God is working. We both have faced the reality of ministry, and the obstacles that come in stepping out in faith. I have extreme faith in his leadership, as God's hand is on him and he is battle scarred because of it! Please pray for him as the one marching in the front bears the brunt of the attack.

I know that the devil will attack our ministry and the Camp Daniel Team, to try and interrupt this time of growth God has for us. In fact, it really began hitting us six months ago as I even began praying about going. Our Camp Daniel team has encountered hard issues, we have struggled, and been stretched. I have faced things as a leader I did not think I could get through. Yet,one thing I have learned through 15 years of ministry is that very often the harder the fight, the bigger the blessing, the more we encounter road blocks, the greater our growth will be on the other side.

As Tim and Mike took us through our Kenya Team Meeting yesterday, God confirmed in my heart that He is working and that I am on the right path. They spoke about the battle we will encounter, the obstacles that will come. Scott wrote a devotional that was handed out on the armor of God, for our preparation for this battle. I began reading it last night and finished this morning. It struck me how, really, the trip has already begun for us, as the battle has started, going on the trip is just part of this campaign.

At this moment I am torn, as my flesh does not want to face the fight at hand. The bad voice inside says, " It would surely have been easier for everyone if you had not have decided to do this!" But my heart says "bring it on" So I will follow what I know is right in my heart, growing closer to God, depending more on Him, and lifting the cross he has given a little higher, so I can follow Him.

So as you read this I ask for your prayer for our team, but most importantly for Tim, Chrissy, and Mike as they lead us in this battle. There are over 20 people right now who have jumped out of the foxhole and are charging the enemy behind them, many of them young, and taking a step onto the battle field for the first time. So if you see some battle worn soldiers in the halls of LHC, stop them, pray and offer encouragement, because we are in the midst of the war!

Tony's Entry: Step One

I am going to blog regularly here about my experience from the now till the end of the Kenya trip. Hopefully others from our team will also. I hope to live out the process here so others can see the value of the trip, and want to go in the future. My plan is to take this trip believing it is a journey taken in simple steps, which is my normal way of operating. I probably will agonize over each step and celebrate as God lights the path and allows me to take another step. I will blog as each step is taken.

Step 1

I have made the commitment to go to Kenya on the LHC Missions trip 2010. I believe this trip will be eye opening and filled with opportunities for growth for me and the rest of the team. I expect to be stretched and face things on this trip that will be hard and move my relationship with God forward. I do have fears, mostly for what I am leaving behind. I feel the weight of responsibility leading Camp Daniel. June is a very busy month, preparing for our camps. I do not want to let our staff down, nor do I want to give any less than my best for our campers because of this trip. I have spent much time in prayer and thought, and believe the growth I will experience on this trip will outweigh the issues it will create. I know it puts a huge burden on my wife and everyone else preparing for the summer, I am already praying for God's help in this daily. I go with my wife's blessing, she came to me expressing that she feels this is what I should do, that was the first answer to prayer and the first step of this trip.

I don't find the financial end of the trip to be a hinderance, but finances have never been an issue in my work for God. We give what God wants of us in our daily lives and so I know God will bless me when He sees our need, to do His work. I know I do not have the finances, I also know that almost everyone I have relationship with, supports our ministry at Camp Daniel in some way. I cannot write them letters asking for more help, so I look forward to how God will make this possible, believing He wants me to go. It is a lot of money to raise, I do struggle at times if it is best served being spending money in this way. But it becomes a non issue if I am not striking out on my own to raise it and am relying on God to provide it, if this is what He wants me to do.

I ask for your prayer to have courage to walk into places that God wants me to go, to see what He wants me to see and grow closer to him to be more effective in His work. I ask for your prayer for the entire team, as a trip like this can truly affect our entire church as people come home better prepared to serve God at LHC.