chris and becka warner

I’ve been in Montana for a week now, and it’s great. I’m staying right on the edge of the mountains and 15 minutes walk from the lake…too bad I’ll be too busy to enjoy the swimming or hiking! I’m taking a TESOL course (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and it’s quite intense. The last week, we spent in morning and afternoon lectures. I really enjoy the style of our teachers and they’ve already given me loads of ideas for activities when I teach. Next week, I and the other 9 students in the course will begin teaching ourselves; it’s worth half of our grade! The school leaders have planned a school within a school, where we are asked to teach a free course in town for two hours every night.

Two other girls and I will be taking the beginners and it’s definitely going to be stretching. We have no idea what countries they may be from, so translation is out of the question. We’ll have to be creative in our teaching (lots of pictures and acting out words).The others will be teaching the elementary, intermediate and advanced levels. The evening course has been advertised in town (Kalispell) and they are expecting about 20 or so students to show up, maybe more. During this evening class, I will be assessed on everything that we have learned in our morning lectures. Please pray for my team members and I, that we do a good job teaching and build great relationships with the students; you can also pray for the students, that they will decide to come regularly and that they see Jesus in us. Last week, I met a guy from Cambodia who became a Christian through his English teacher. Now he’s preparing for ministry and wants to return and do the same thing in his country.

Personally, I am doing very well. I’m missing Chris and looking forward to seeing him again soon (in 10 days or so). The pregnancy has been very easy and am excited to meet the baby. I’ve been a little more tired than usual but growing a person is hard work! Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement.

The conference (see previous post) is going well; I’ve been sitting in on some of the sessions and they are for the most part interesting. Dad presented today; the title of his talk was “The Science and Management of Water as a Means for Integrating Ecologic, Economic and Human Health Priorities: Possible Strategies for Rwanda.” I guess I’m probably a little biased, but it seemed to be one of the better presentations. It was great to see Dad in his element. I’m not by any means an expert or even that well-informed on all the issues, but I’ve definitely come to the conclusion over the past year that the management and conservation of natural resources is inseperable from the process of development, economic stability, and the quality of life for the people of East Africa. I suppose that is true of every region in the world, but it all seems so much more obvious here. Water availability and sanitation, deforestation, eco-tourism, and climate change are issues that have a tangibly observable effect on the daily lives of the millions of people in this region. Yet it continually amazes me how the Christian churches in East Africa, which could potentially be a massive force of change, continue to be indifferent, ignorant, or antagonistic toward the importance of these issues. But I will save that rant for another day…

Finally some time to catch up on posting! I’m writing from beautiful Kigali, Rwanda. I took the bus from Bujumbura on Friday, and my dad arrived here on Saturday. He’s here as a keynote speaker for an international biodiversity/natural resources conference this week. We’ve been living the high life (well for me anyway); the conference is at a beautiful hotel in dowtown Kigali. We spent the day wandering around the city and drinking some mighty fine coffee.

I felt like my time in Burundi was productive, and once again it was sad to say good-bye to such wonderful friends. I was able to record a series of seven different teachings for the national radio station, and I got some really great feedback for the teaching we did at Philadelphia Church. The church continues to grow exponentially; they figure the building will be maxed out sometime in December and they will begin a new church in a different part of the city sometime in January. Their vision to plant two new churches a year is well on track. To be honest, it’s really not that difficult to grow numerically here, but what amazes me is the sense of community that they have developed within the church. They have decided to limit the size of each church to around 200-300, and focus on having Jesus-centered communities that impact the wider area through relationship rather than building up a mega-church where that type of community is more difficult. I can’t wait to see what will develop in the coming years; please keep praying for them if you think of it.

More soon….

I once owned a backpacking pack with the name Perseverance. The word was written in large black letters across the back as if it would help me hike longer and faster. I often entertained the word in my mind as I labored up a steep hill.

What exactly is perseverance and is it something that I’ve got? According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language it is: “persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.”In most applications, it is prized as a characteristic of highest quality causing people to achieve great feats while faced with tremendous pressure to quit. However, in the wrong case, it can be stubbornness, holding people to a path of hurt and self-destruction.

Jesus taught a lot about perseverance. He knew that those who decide to follow Him would be doing so with the greatest of opposition. His first disciples lost jobs, homes, family and suffered great persecution; most of them were imprisoned and martyred. He didn’t hide this from them either. He was clear that those who want to follow Him must “count the cost” and decide whether they are willing to pay such a price if it is required. He preached that floods will come and test every “house” and the house that is built upon the Rock will survive. However, those houses built upon a foundation of sand will be overwhelmed. Each person then, is encouraged to follow Christ with a clear picture that there will be hardship but that they can overcome in Christ. As we follow Him, God is developing perseverance in each of us.

As God is developing perseverance in my life, I realize that I have been naive about the cost of following Jesus. It is not a pathway to a happy, easy life. If anything, it is a life of identifying waves of opposition and running to meet them face on. At first, I believed that I was doing something wrong because things can be so hard. Now I see that everything I do is being tested by the enemy and the world. As I follow the teachings of Jesus, I have become convinced that He indeed is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As I follow His direction for my life, I have grown in tremendous ways, seen incredible blessing, and been hit hard with waves of opposition and discouragement. Sometimes, in my weakest moments, I’ve allowed the thought to linger, “There has to be something easier than this.” I laugh now when I think this. Maybe there is something easier, but it is no longer for me. I have burned every bridge of retreat and return. There is only one path for me.

Of course, I cannot make it on my own. I am also learning how much I need the strength of Jesus. It is not enough just to choose the right direction and stubbornly keep to it. The very strength to move forward comes from God. I daily need His wisdom to turn adversity into growth and discouragement into victory. It would be foolish to choose such a direction in life without the commitment of a loving Savior who says, “With man it is impossible, but nothing is impossible for God!” I cannot help but think about the disciples when they were confronted with some very difficult words from Jesus (you can read the story in John 6). Many people were leaving Him because it was too hard for them to accept; Jesus asks the 12 disciples “Are you going to leave too?” In spite of the real challenge they faced, they told Jesus, “You have the words of eternal life. Where else can we go?”

Today, I can persevere because I have no better option. I can persevere because I am convinced that Jesus is committed to my good and I am truly alive as I follow Him. I can overcome because He has overcome. I can face trials with joy because they cannot destroy me but only make me stronger and more like Christ. Something miraculous is birthed out of our perseverance through hard times. I could not say it more beautifully than Paul as he wrote, “…but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (NIV Romans 5:3-5)

I found myself caught up in quite a series of events this week, but before I tell the story, some background:

I’ve always felt that the main way I could contribute in Burundi was through teaching. Now, I am certainly not naive enough to believe that I have all the answers or even what I can give is what is most needed or relevant to address all the various issues and struggles in Burundi. For most of the two-plus years we’ve been focusing on Burundi, I’ve been keenly aware that, quite simply, some of the issues here are beyond my ability to address. Facing this fact has been a humbling experience, but more importantly, it’s provoked me on a journey of discovery and forced me to wrestle with some questions that I never would have faced had I not been in relationship with Burundi. The basis for this quest for understanding is my belief that somehow the solutions can be found in the person of Christ, both for me personally and for the nation of Burundi. I’ve posted on this before, but essentially I believe that the body of Christ is supposed to exemplify God’s kingdom on earth, and when the church is impotent to address the cries of a broken people, and even further, the church is plagued by the same issues as the rest of society, then it is strongly suggestive that something is fundamentally wrong with our understanding of who God is and what Christ has accomplished. In other words, what we believe has very tangible consequences in our lives. When we have wrong beliefs about who God is and how we relate to Him, it bears fruit in our lives; but when we know the truth, it brings freedom. Of course, we’re all “in process” in this journey of knowing the truth and relating to God. So all this is to say that my own spiritual journey and understanding of who Christ is and what He has done has been closely connected to my relationship with Burundi. As I’ve dialogued with this nation and tried to understand what God wants to do here, especially in the area of bringing understanding of who He is, it’s forced me to face some of my own internal struggles and find the solution in Christ. Of course, many people have influenced the direction of this process. It was our director in Australia, Kris Thomson, who challenged our team to “keep Jesus in the middle,” meaning look for Christ-centered solutions instead of becoming overwhelmed by the problems. He introduced us to many different theological influences (T.F. Torrance, Baxter Kruger, and many others), all of whom have deeply influenced my understanding of who Christ is and what He has done.

I guess I’m trying to say that what I teach here is personal; it’s not detached from my own relationship with God, and is in fact a communication of the freedom that God has brought me as I’ve grown in my understanding of who He is and what Christ has done. Of course, I am very much Continue Reading »