After a few weeks of praying and asking questions, Ray and I have formulated a list of areas in which we need the most prayer support right now. For those who have partnered with us in prayer, please realize how vital you are to this journey, we can do nothing without the Lord's strength and the support of fellow believers in Christ. We hope that you will always know how we treasure your prayers, and how grateful we are for your faithfulness. These are our most pressing requests:
1. That God would fill the positions at Pillar Dumfries, VA that we have currently been occupying. Ray does sound support almost weekly, I play the piano/sing, and our older children help set up nursery, classrooms, and chairs for services every week. We have a generous eldership who have graciously "released" us from our ministry there as of the Jan. 2011. We are asking that the Lord will bring forward people to assume these areas of service, so that we may work with them over the next few weeks, and aide in a smooth transition.
2. Pray for the Pillar Church plant in Locust Grove,VA .We will be part of the core team involved in that church plant. This will be an enormous opportunity for us to learn and grow. Pray that the Lord will give our Pastor Johnathan Davis, his family, and the other elders working to train us wisdom in their instruction, and that we would have clarity in understanding what is being taught. Pray that we will be teachable, flexible, and that the Lord would use this time to show us "how it's done".
3. Pray that the Lord will reveal the country He intends to send us too, so that we may begin to learn the language. We have a little over two years at our disposal stateside and we have been told by other people who have gone overseas that learning the language and culture during this time is essential in making the transition smoother for our children, as well as enable us build relationships faster once we arrive in the country. We have some leanings at this point, but we are desperately seeking prayer that the Lord will narrow that down by January 2011, so that we may incorporate learning that language into our homeschool and daily life.
4. Lastly please pray for our family, this is a process we will go through together with our children. Pray that the Lord will show us many teachable moments for us as a family throughout the journey. Pray that we would never attempt to move in our own strength or wisdom, and that we would wait on the Lord's timing in all things. Pray that God would protect our family and give us each unselfish hearts.
Thank you for your prayers, it will forever be the most necessary part of our ministry. I would like to leave you with a verse,
"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. "
Philippians 1:3-5
Blessings,
Ray & Shannon Via
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
What does Living Sent mean?
So just what does "Living Sent" mean? It's the term Ray and I have coined to describe our bizarre situation for the next few years. We are still pulling in an American paycheck, living in the suburbs, Ray is working on his MID online, we are driving the proverbial van, and we look like the typical American family. But were not, our hearts have been radically changed by a God that sometimes asks for big changes in return. Ray and I have committed to moving overseas by 2013 and becoming church planters and facilitators for church planters. Well that doesn't sound so odd, you say? Well not until you hear this part, we are trusting God to use the talents He has blessed Ray with to finance the whole thing. So far so good, Ray's secular company is paying for his Masters in Divinity, how about that? We will be moving overseas, without going on deputation (other than prayer support), without the red tape of a mission board, and frankly without many pioneers to show the way.
It's not that we eschew traditional missions, we have dozens of friends on various continents serving as traditional missionaries. We were first presented with lay missions by a friend who has a similar career to Ray's, he moved his family to a muslim country to work for a paycheck and work for God at the same time. This country wanted this man's skills and tolerates his church planting efforts, in exchange for his expertise. It may seem strange to us today, but one of greatest missionaries that ever lived, the Apostle Paul was a tent-maker, but much like most first century Christianity, such practices have been abandoned by the church.
Which leaves us in a quandary of sorts. I can read books for pastors, pastor's wives, missionaries on deputation, missionaries on the field, but there is very little out there for people who have committed to the call and are in preparation mode, other than traditional deputation. We are actively learning church planting on the ground here in the suburbs of D.C.. For more than the next two years we will be learning at the feet of church planters, Ray will finish school, we will begin to learn a new language, and every decision we make takes into account that we are not going to be here long. We are living sent. When we think about furniture, we think what we could squeeze into an small house in the European block. When our second fridge died, we decided we might as well learn to live with one now. We are constantly thinking about everything through the lens of going instead of staying. Never has the realization been more real that heaven is our home and not earth. I feel like a nomad, I'm here but only in order to transition to be "there" and we are not even completely sure were "there" is.
Right now our orders from God are training orders to prepare ourselves to learn, we are on maneuvers if you will. We are calling this our academic mode, where your passion meets training and becomes something more than visionary chaos. We know that the Lord has given us a heart for the Slovak nations particularly. We also know that we would like to position ourselves to eventually work with a UPG (unreached people group). Many of the gypsy tribes spread across the European block are UPGs. The praise in all this uncertainty, is that this crazy peace that we have amidst all the unknowns serves as a confirmation that God is in control, and He will tell us our marching orders in His time. For right now we are in limbo, we are living sent......
It's not that we eschew traditional missions, we have dozens of friends on various continents serving as traditional missionaries. We were first presented with lay missions by a friend who has a similar career to Ray's, he moved his family to a muslim country to work for a paycheck and work for God at the same time. This country wanted this man's skills and tolerates his church planting efforts, in exchange for his expertise. It may seem strange to us today, but one of greatest missionaries that ever lived, the Apostle Paul was a tent-maker, but much like most first century Christianity, such practices have been abandoned by the church.
Which leaves us in a quandary of sorts. I can read books for pastors, pastor's wives, missionaries on deputation, missionaries on the field, but there is very little out there for people who have committed to the call and are in preparation mode, other than traditional deputation. We are actively learning church planting on the ground here in the suburbs of D.C.. For more than the next two years we will be learning at the feet of church planters, Ray will finish school, we will begin to learn a new language, and every decision we make takes into account that we are not going to be here long. We are living sent. When we think about furniture, we think what we could squeeze into an small house in the European block. When our second fridge died, we decided we might as well learn to live with one now. We are constantly thinking about everything through the lens of going instead of staying. Never has the realization been more real that heaven is our home and not earth. I feel like a nomad, I'm here but only in order to transition to be "there" and we are not even completely sure were "there" is.
Right now our orders from God are training orders to prepare ourselves to learn, we are on maneuvers if you will. We are calling this our academic mode, where your passion meets training and becomes something more than visionary chaos. We know that the Lord has given us a heart for the Slovak nations particularly. We also know that we would like to position ourselves to eventually work with a UPG (unreached people group). Many of the gypsy tribes spread across the European block are UPGs. The praise in all this uncertainty, is that this crazy peace that we have amidst all the unknowns serves as a confirmation that God is in control, and He will tell us our marching orders in His time. For right now we are in limbo, we are living sent......
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