The Seabourns

Stories

Does social media work?

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Does social media work? How can social media be harnessed for the Great Commission?

I just read an amazing story from two weeks ago.

November 9th: Jon Acuff, a copy writer in an IT department in Atlanta, explains how it began here in this original blogpost. God led him to start a project to raise $30,000 by 31 December for a kindergarten in Vietnam.

November 9th: Abraham Piper interviewed Jon as the project started here in this blog post.

November 9th (15 hours later): Jon Acuff blogs how the project has reached $24,000 on the first day.

November 10th: Jon Acuff explains how $30,000 for a kindergarten school in Vietnam was fully funded in 18 hours.

Rwanda internet

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Got this today from a friend visiting Rwanda. She had not expected to have any kind of internet connection so she did not plan on participating in a conference call today. Life is changing, around the world!

This place in Rwanda has wireless internet!!!  I have no idea how widely they have it at the hotel, for example, I don’t know if it reaches my room.  I’m in the meeting room at the moment.  This is amazing. The “shower” in my room is one where you have to stand in a bucket. That is, adding a shower to the room was an afterthought. It does have an instant hot water heater in the showerhead, but it didn’t work this morning. So, a bucket shower with a water heater that doesn’t work but with newly installed wireless access point!

Eastern Europe. There are no wrong numbers…

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The phone rings. “Hello. Who’s there? Who is this? I hear you, why won’t you answer me? If you don’t speak, I’ll hang up the phone.”

No one will speak when our staff member answers. He hears breathing. But since the other person will not say anything, he hangs up the phone.

Later, the phone rings again. “Hello. Who is this? Are you calling me or ringing a wrong number?” No answer. So he hangs up again.

The third time, someone finally speaks. In a timid voice, the caller says, “This is Helena. I’m 17 years old. I’ve been asking God to help me. I want to know more about God. I decided to call the number that was in my mind and see if God will answer me and help me.”

What is the likelihood that a seeker could dial a random number and be connected to one of our staff who is attending a training to learn how to share his faith with others? When the God who created the universe (and who created telephone systems) is sovereign, it is a certainty that he will connect someone seeking him with someone who knows how to lead the seeker to him.

So, the staff did what he had been trained to do. He said, “Have you heard of the Four Spiritual Laws? Law One says that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life…”

And Helena invites Christ into her life.

The next day, the phone rings again. “Hello. This is Alex. I’m a friend of Helena’s. Can you tell me what you told her?” After hearing “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life…”, Alex says “This is something I must think about and we will talk more.”

Days later, the phone rings again. “Hello. This is Andrey. I’m a friend of Alex’s. Can you tell me what you told Alex?”

A few weeks later, the phone rings again. “Hello. I am the father of Helena. Please tell me what you told her. Can you tell me some churches in my city?” After hearing the Four Spiritual Laws, Helena’s father received Christ into his life.

Remember the story I wrote recently about our expatriate staff having to leave a country? Well, this story is happening in the same country! Amazing to see what our God can do.

This story reminds me of Chris Tomlin’s How Great is Our God:

How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all who sing
How great, How great
Is our God.

Sam and Kochumol

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Sam Varghese, of Bangalore, India, was our host. One of the amazing things about being part of a global mission organization is getting to know co-workers around the world.

Sam, Kochumol, and familyA special treat was to meet Sam’s family, wife Kochumol, and children Toby and Tony.

Sam and Kochumol are Indian and we are American. We are separated by culture and upbringing, but we share a common “culture” of bringing glory to God by introducing people to Jesus Christ. We understand and teach the basics of knowing Jesus and growing as His followers. Although we have little in common from a world perspective, we have much in common from a Kingdom perspective.

Kochumol and Sam ride their motorbikes to campus for ministry. When they speak out of their passions to see others know Christ, Kay and I resonate with them. We all serve in leadership roles, but our greatest passion is that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus.

Improving security for our associates

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Improving securityA very special opportunity presented itself while we were in Thailand. We helped our associates from the country where 41 were recently imprisoned. We talked about improving their security to help prevent any more of our associates from being sent to prison. We talked about email security, website security, and notebook computer security. We identified steps for them to take. It is a privilege to help protect our associates through helping with security precautions. These are very special people who risk much as they serve God. I am humbled to sit beside them and advise them on security issues. Please continue to pray for the 41 and their families.