"A little slice of heaven . . ."

What a thrill it has been to spend nearly three months here on the island of Maui.  It's hard to believe that in nearly ten days we will be leaving, as our 3-month assignment will have been completed.  There have been so many possible things to share about in our blog that it's been difficult to keep a balance between what we've experienced in our travels about the island during our free time, and the incredible stories, relationships and transformations that have been happening within this conference center.

One of the men's team-building exercise games, the first day after arriving.  They needed to devise a way, with pieces of rope and a small plastic pail, to transport the water contents from one pail to another one about 35 yards away.  They could not set foot inside the white plastic pipe circle around the receiving pail.  Two teams of 30 men each competed in this.  Some emerged as leaders, some workers, some cheerleaders, etc.  :)
CLICK on photo below:

One expression I have both used myself, and heard from others is—this experience, is in many respects, a “little slice of heaven”.   I truly believe that outside of the reading of the book of Revelations, what comprises our weeks’ activities are a foretaste of just that!  Here’s what I mean. 

Just looking purely at the physical surroundings of the island of Maui.  The incredible natural beauty of creation—the shorelines, the underwater beauty of marine life, the majestic volcanic mountain of Haleakala, the lush tropical flora and fauna, the power of the surf, the sweet aromas of many of the tropical flowers, the beautiful Hawaiian melodies and accompanying, expressive, swaying hula dances is one facet. 

The constant interaction we have among the 20-30 volunteers builds fast bonds of friendship, accountability and encouragement.  Monday to Friday we spend 30 minutes of inspirational sharing together as volunteers.  We vary the days between inductive Bible study, personal life stories, prayer and praise.  We hear of God’s faithfulness in our personal by bringing us through deaths of spouses, surviving cancer, concern for wayward children, forefathers being saved from the ravages of war to create a lasting legacy.  Amidst the tremendous diversity and years of experiences we feel quickly unified by one Spirit and one motivation to be servants in God’s Kingdom work here right now. 

And then there is the beautiful international tapestry of participants coming together from all over the globe, for one purpose—to learn more effective ways to communicate the gospel.   It’s amazing to see that in just 2 or 3 days after arriving there is a lot of close communicating and sharing and embracing of one another going on.  The other day one of the men said that he counted 96 different times during that week he had been involved in some sort of small prayer cell activity!  These were with varied groups of individuals, throughout the day, as part of focus response sharing after lecturers, etc.   Even though a practical use and understanding of the English language is a requirement, to see so many diverse cultures and mother-tongues, styles of music and expression come together in one place, especially as we praise God together it seems to fit the picture of Revelation 7:9-10--

⁹ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Although the 60 men from 25 different nations started their month-long evangelism training conference 3 weeks ago I have not taken time to highlight any of their activities.  The 25-day conference is a rigorous, 6-days a week 12-hours a day schedule for the participants.  The faculty are all non-western presenters who, themselves,  have at one time completed this same training.   They are brought in from their respective countries of residence for a week or two for the several sessions series of the curriculum they are presenting, and then return to their places of employment or service. 

One of the reasons why the training of H.I. is so effective is that the faculty are not full time, “professional” trainers or lecturers.  Rather they, themselves, are on a daily basis “fleshing out” the very principles of living out the Gospel message that they are advocating.  And H.I. is constantly screening the “best of the best” of the graduates, based on their effectiveness in the marketplace, and inviting some of them to return as adjunct instructors for this ongoing program.

Although we as volunteers do not get an opportunity to sit in on any of these daily participants’ sessions (we are busy doing the janitorial, maintenance, and housekeeping duties we volunteered for) We do interact with them during our evening dinners together and Sundays, which are free days for both volunteers and participants.  There is, however, one event which the volunteers get to attend with the entire group of participants, and that is the Global Forum, multimedia reports given by regions, based on the geographical proximity and religious challenges of each of the countries represented at each conference.  These are very powerfully presented by the participants of that region.  A different region is featured each day for 5 days and lasts about 1 ¼ hours.  The participants of that region decide and plan together how there will introduce their individual countries to the group—population, tourist attractions, economy, religions, how and when in history Christianity was introduced to that country, what are the challenges to evangelism today.  This information is shared through creative use of multi-media, dramatic skits, etc.  At the end, there is a powerful time of prayer and laying on of hands by the other non-presenting participants of that day.  We have ALL become much more aware of what our brothers and sisters of the global church are faced with and how we can more specifically and effectively pray for and encourage them as we walk with them.

This has gotten a little longer than I had intended but I wanted to give a fair representation of how rich our time has been as we daily go about our duties here at the center, and not just the external exploration of this beautiful island and its people.

Summary information shared by one of the specific regions in the Global Forums

Effective use of "breakout discussion" groups to help appropriate principles taught in larger sessions

A skit depicting a witch doctor's approach to a client's problem 

After a region's global forum presentation, that group receive special prayers from the rest of the group

An example of regional information shared

This video below includes examples of the wonderful singing by the men; first clip from a worship service inside the auditorium, the second piece was an impromptu songfest after our regular, Friday night, pool-side dinner time together.