We go to an Experience

Compassion Experience, Fashion Fair Mall, Fresno, California

I really need to get my passport renewed. Not that I have any place to go right now, but if something should come up, I’d like to be ready. Still, I didn’t need it to go to the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, and Uganda earlier this month. For that, we only had to go to the Fashion Fair mall’s parking lot.

Compassion International, a charity that allows people to sponsor poor children in other nations, hosted the four day event. Through this multi-media, immersive presentation, people to take a virtual tour of the life of a child in another part of the world. Compassion sends specially equipped trailers throughout the country to raise awareness of the needs of children in impoverished portions of the world. This trailer was open for Fresno-area people to visit from Friday through Monday.

We went to with our niece, Sarah, on Sunday after church. As we went inside, we had to choose the appropriate line: one for people who had signed up online ahead of time, and the other for dropins like us who hadn’t wanted to commit to a time. When it was our turn, we were asked if we had a preference for which experience we’d prefer; we said would take whichever had space available (each experience takes about twenty minutes). A minute or two later, we were sent on the Jonathan path to hear the story of a boy from the Dominican Republic.

On the provided iPod and earphones, we heard a child actor give a first person account of his life. As directed, we went from room to room, starting with the narrator's childhood home. We learned about his growing up, and about how a Compassion Center had been instrumental in his education, his health, and his survival. We learned that this care was made possible financially by a donor in another country. In the final room, the voice of the real Jonathan, now grown, took over for the actor. He told about his current productive life and about how much he owes to the people who gave to him through Compassion.

You know how in an amusement park ride, the ride ends in the gift shop? With The Compassion Experience, you  where end up in a room where you have the opportunity to sponsor a child, choosing from children from a number of countries.

One wall has a large map showing the countries where Compassion cares for children. (One country without Compassion’s work right now is India -- not because there aren’t still many children in great need in that nation, but because the current government of India has closed the country to outside aid.) We were there on the third day, and we were told that of the 150 children up for sponsorship that weekend, only about 50 remained.  

We made a second visit on Monday and took the two other tours, the story of Olivia in Uganda and the story of Kiwi in the Philippines (there are a number of other stories, too, but these three were available in Fresno this time). As we were getting ready to leave, we saw a group of students and teachers who we assume were visiting for a social studies or world geography class.

On our second visit, we noticed that some people working in the trailer were wearing blue shirts and some were wearing green shirts. We learned that the blue shirts (such as Scott, who talked to us in the sponsorship room) are local volunteers. The green shirts are people who work for Compassion and tour with The Compassion Experience (we met workers from Kentucky and Texas who’d been on the road, they said, for four or five months so far this year). This may not have been (strictly speaking) a church service, but many churches (and church people) support this and similar ministries. We wanted to make sure you were aware of this good thing.

Your Turn

We were surprised how connected we felt with the children profiled in the Compassion Experience, just by walking through three rooms, hearing a story, and learning how a relatively small donation could literally change a child’s life for the better, providing education, medical care, and a chance to meet Jesus. Technology can help us communicate and understand each other: how can it be harnessed for the good of these children?

There are many other organizations that have child sponsorship programs: World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, and Save the Children are well-known. Last year, we visited the annual leadership meeting for Global Fingerprints. An acquaintance involved with their work recently posed this question for those who already sponsor a child with any organization: “What would allow you to feel more involved with your child?”

What suggestions do you have for allowing caring people to become more connected with those -- especially children -- they want to help?

Mosaic Ministries, Toledo, Ohio

As the tuition prices of major universities continue to spiral upward, the good news is that Baby U is still free. In fact, people are paid to attend, with such incentives as diapers, formula, clothes, books, and gift cards. I assure you, BU is a real place, unlike PU, which is not.

When our children were young, we told them that all we knew about parenting we’d learned from Parents University. If we did anything wrong as parents, it was obvious that Old PU was to blame. Occasionally, we let it slip that our grades at PU weren’t the best and perhaps one of us didn’t actually complete our course of study. Our kids now say they knew we were joking, but back in the day I think they might have bought into it.

Amusing stories from our past aside, Baby University is real. It is an outreach of Mosaic Ministries in south Toledo, Ohio, with the goal of educating new parents and parents-soon-to-be in life skills, child rearing strategies, nutrition, and other important topics and skills. Mosaic ministers with the very poor local residents, many of whom have never had or witnessed examples of good parenting.

Low income children enter school with many disadvantages. Studies show they are behind middle class students in learning development by sixty percent, a margin that is difficult, if not impossible, ever to overcome. Baby U tries to encourage parents to bridge that gap with such simple steps as reading to their children for as little as 15 minutes a day.

Baby University is the beginning of Mosaic’s “Transformation Pipeline” for kids and adults. Mosaic has begun a partnership with the Toledo Day Nursery, one of the nation’s oldest preschool entities (established in 1871). Soon there will be preschool classes on the Mosaic grounds. Another important ministry for kids is the Beauty Project that teaches pre-teen and young teen girls that they are more than their outward appearance. For others, the ministry also helps people obtain their GEDs, and this fall there will be a class on finances for adults.

But if all Mosiac did was provide educational opportunities, that wouldn’t be nearly enough for the director of the ministry, Pastor David Kaiser or for his wife, Kelly, who’s the director of Baby University. Their primary mission is to see a spiritual transformation of the community through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so worship and Bible study are vital ministries of Mosaic.

We were able to attend both a Tuesday night 5:30 worship service and the 5:00 pm Sunday worship service. Both services are followed by meals and a grocery distribution. Some people certainly come for the food, but some certainly did not. One young woman explicitly said, “I didn’t come for groceries.”

Pastor David asked, “Did you just come for Jesus?”.

“Yes,” she said with a smile.

The Tuesday night worship was conducted by folks from a nearby Methodist church. Sunday’s service was conducted by long time friends of the ministry. Though Mosaic is under the auspices of the Southern Baptist Church, many different denominations contribute to the ministry. The current building was purchased by Presbyterians. We talked with the pastor of a Lutheran church who had sent volunteers. The ministry has a broad base of community support.

On Tuesday nights, there is a Bible study following worship and the meal. Men and women meet for separate studies, and I (Dean) I went to the men’s study, where we talked about the importance of studying God’s Word. (Chris, the leader of the study said we need to “put our heads in God’s washing machine, the Bible”.)  

Mindy was impressed with the transparency of the women in her study who mentioned God at work while asking for prayer in difficult situations. One woman said, “God is freaking awesome.”

Tuesday and Sunday aren’t the only times food is available; breakfast and dinner are served throughout the week at Mosaic (or at another church, Vision, down the street, which several people mentioned attending as well). Mindy and I were there for a few meals, occasionally serving and sometimes just eating. There were parents with kids as well as couples and single men and women. Friends greeted each other and joked together. I chatted with one man who told me about his work landscaping during the summer and fall. I asked what he does in the winter, and he said he would do snow removal once winter gets started. A friend of his came and sat with us. (I was impressed when the friends exchanged an examination of each other’s arms, apparently to check for track marks. For people struggling with addiction as for the rest of us, that kind of mutual accountability is important.)

There are certainly struggles unique to this kind of ministry, and I talked with Pastor David about some of these. David had had a career in business before he took over this ministry (then called Western Avenue Ministries) in 2007. Previously, Pastor Don Bethan and his wife, Betty, had ministered to their community through the Western Avenue Baptist Church. When David came in, it became an independent ministry.

“This ministry isn’t for everybody. For instance, there was a five year old student that was sent out for testing for ADD. The results came back that the kid had STDs instead. If that doesn’t really upset you, Christ probably hasn’t called you to this ministry. But if upsets you so much that you can’t come back to work the next day… This ministry probably isn’t for you either.”

On Saturday afternoon, I went with Pastor David and representatives from a number of different churches in the area for a prayer walk through one of Toledo’s more notorious public housing complexes. I was told that one wouldn’t want to venture there alone or at night. We brought a cooler with bottles of water for residents and Otter Pops for kids. We would stop and chat with folks walking or sitting on their front steps. We offered to pray for people, and many accepted the offer.

I talked with a woman named Renita. She recognized David from attending a session of Baby University. I asked her what she had learned at Baby U. She said she learned it’s possible “to have a foundation for raising kids.” She said most people around her didn’t, but she wanted that for her kids.

I told Kelly about the conversation and she was glad to hear it. “Though I’d rather have heard she was reading to her children fifteen minutes a day.”

In this kind of work, it seems change comes slowly. But with God’s grace, it does come.

Statistics

Tuesday evening

Service Length: 24 minutes

Sermon Length: 9 minutes

Visitor Treatment: no distinction between visitors and regulars; we were greeted by name because we were expected.

Our Rough Count: 53

Probable Ushers' Count: no ushers (and we didn't hear how many got groceries or dinner)

Snacks: chicken, potato salad, roll and butter, water, Hawaiian punch (and a bag of groceries for those who wanted it)

Musicians: acoustic guitar (man), vocals (2 women), percussion box (man)

Songs: "As the Deer Panteth for the Water"

"Bind us Together"

"Get Down"

Miles to church: 327 miles

Miles from start: 35,761

Total 2016 Miles: 35,465

Church website: http://wamteam.org/

Sunday evening

Service Length: 58 minutes

Sermon Length: 22 minutes

Visitor Treatment: This time, they let Dean talk.

Followup by Tuesday Morning: We had dinner with David and Kelly after church, then breakfast the next morning, with some email correspondence about this post.

Our Rough Count: 55, with as many as 30 waiting in the hall

Probable Ushers' Count: 92 people signed in (some were individuals, and some were couples or families)

Snacks: again, dinner was served with groceries for those who wanted them

Musicians: acoustic guitar (man)

Songs: "Your Grace Finds me"

"Here I am to Worship"

"How He Loves"

"Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone"

Miles to church: 5

Miles from Start: 36,034

Total 2016 Miles: 35,738

Church website: http://babyutoledo.com/

Healdsburg Seventh Day Adventist Church

Mindy and I have gone to church the vast majority of Sundays in our lives; so much so that it throws off our mental calendars for the week when we don't go. Prior to last weekend, we had a different challenge to the aforementioned mental calendars: remembering to go to church on Saturday morning.

The Seventh Day Adventist denomination has been meeting on Saturdays for a year plus a century and a half. It's one of their founding beliefs, that Christians should meet on the Sabbath as dictated by one of the Ten Commandments and Jesus' practice on earth. Traditionally, most other Christians meet for worship on Sunday in honor of the Resurrection.

There's something to be said for placing a Scriptural basis over a traditional basis for a practice. Upon entering the church, we were greeted by several people with a handshake and "Happy Sabbath."

We knew before we came (the church's website calendar told us) that this would not be their standard service, but instead was the Christmas program. The sanctuary was quite full and the service opened with the Healdsburg Brass. (When we attended Healdsburg Community Church the Healdsburg Brass often opened Easter services.)

We sang a number of Christmas Carols from the hymnal. I was very happy that among the carols was "Now is Born the Divine Christ Child," a song that I usually hear sung in French. (Really, how many songs refer to an oboe, let alone the musette?)

 The program had "Praise Songs / Holy Land Band" but instead there was piano or guitar accompaniment to carols from the Adventist Hymnal. My guess would be that the Holy Land Band usually leads choruses, but things change at Christmas. Many churches we've attended no longer keep their hymnals out, if they even have them. I shared a hymnal with a couple of little girls whose mother had a seat behind us. We were surrounded by a number of small children which made Mindy and me happy, and Mindy noticed a ziploc bag of activities one family had picked up at the back of the church.

There was a dedication of a baby that apparently came all the way from Australia for the event (accompanied by his parents). His mother had grown up in the church and a large contingent of the family came forward, a number of them also having come from Australia.

A number of children came forward for the "Children's Story" which advocated the virtues of being nice over being naughty. After the main offering, children were sent off to collect dollar bills for the local Adventist schools.

There was no sermon for the morning (which made me a little sad because I was looking forward to hearing my friend and the church's pastor, Dan Martella), the message coming through the Christmas Program performed by the Cloverdale Adventist School, "A Christmas to Believe In." The kids did a great job, pulling off the humor and the music, including several solos. The Church Choir and the Men's Chorus provided some of the music in the program as well. From something the woman sitting next to Mindy mentioned, we got the impression that this group performs a Christmas program at the church each year.

After the program, there were a couple of other special musical numbers, a string quartet and a solo. Much happy socializing took place at the service's conclusion. (Apparently, again according to the church website, on the first Sunday of the month there is a 9 am breakfast, followed by 9:45 Bible Study, worship at 11:00 am and then lunch. So fellowship opportunities would seem plentiful.)

It was a good time of worship and worth the challenge to our daily equilibrium.

Statistics:

Service Length: 1 hour 25 minutes

Christmas program time: 35 minutes

Visitor Treatment: Greeted at the door; no "friendship pad" or other way to register attendance (that we noticed)

Our Rough Count: 200

Probable Ushers' Count: 225

Snacks: none

Songs: What Child is This?

            Now is Born the Divine Christ Child

            Silent Night (five verses)

           --Dean