Archive for October, 2005

Prayer

Tuesday, October 25th, 2005

Yesterday we sent out a clarion call for a week of fasting and prayer for God’s direction on our ministry at Bethany.  As a recap, we’re asking the Lord:

 

·        Should we continue with our original land development plans, i.e. selling up to 20 acres on the east side of our campus?

·         Or, in light of information that’s come to us about the high value of our land, should we, after that value is confirmed, seek to sell the entire campus and move our missions training and sending operation to the 115,000 sq ft facility on 20 acres near Duluth which has been offered as a gift to Bethany. This facility could be renovated and customized, and be ready to house BCOM, GO100, Bethany International Ministries with accommodations for students and staff, possibly allowing us to move by mid-Summer of 2006.

·         Or, should we seek to sell the entire campus and acquire property/facilities in the Twin Cities Metro possibly acquiring cheaper land where we can build anew similar to Bethany’s move from Blaisedale Ave. to Auto Club Road in 1948. This option would take more time so may not be complete by the time a developer would be ready to take over our present campus.

·         Or is there another option which we have yet to discover?

 

  • How can whatever option we are led to further strengthen Bethany International to better accomplish our God given mission? We are seeking to be the faithful stewards of all the assets he has given us.

 

Yesterday we sent out information about two ways to provide feedback as you individually and corporately are listening for what the Lord may be saying at this time.  We do want to make a clarification that if you use the website, the information comes to us anonymously, but if you use the email address, it is not anonymous.  It is always helpful for us to put names to the comments that come in, but we do welcome anonymous submissions as well.

 

Here are excerpts from a few postings that have come in during the first 24 hours:

 

  • The parable of the vine and the branches…Bethany is being pruned to bring forth greater fruitfulness for God’s Kingdom
  • I don’t feel right in moving in haste–i.e. 6 to 9 months.  I don’t think a hurry up decision is something I would be comfortable with.
  • I very much appreciate your including the entire organization prior to making a major decision, particularly the call to prayer and fasting. I shared during the associates meeting from Joshua 1:9 and the heart of the text was the Lord’s command to Joshua to not fear nor be dismayed but to be strong and courageous.  Why?  Not because Joshua had all the specific details but because the Lord was with him "wherever" he went.  It seems that calling can sometimes be location specific but this does not always appear to be the case.  Dan Brokke put it well when he exhorted us to focus more on the renewing of our hearts rather than the possibility of a move.  When this happens I believe Joshua 1:8 will manifest in that, "…then you (we) will make your way prosperous and then you will have success."  It’s interesting to note that it doesn’t say God will make us prosperous/successful but we will do it.  I suspect that this is indicative of God providing an increase of wisdom for the situation at hand.  I believe the fact that you have called us to prayer and fasting is evidence of a primary focus upon renewal of hearts that can hear from the Lord.  Thank you for this leadership!!!

 

Thank you for being in prayer and for listening to the Lord with us during this very important week!

 

Dave Hicks and the Leadership Team

 

 

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BCOM

Monday, October 24th, 2005

Subject: A call for the Bethany family to fast and pray

To: All Bethany

From: Dave Hicks, the BI Board, and the BI L-team

October 24, 2005

 

A Call to Fasting and Prayer for the Future of Bethany

 

This past weekend we have had the Bethany International Board on campus and want to take this opportunity to put out an appeal to all of Bethany to pray and seek the Lord.

 

We are in very unique times and are seeking the Lord for guidance so that Bethany is prepared in the years to come to continue to fulfill its vision and purpose.

 

In the Board meeting we focused on our situation as an organization. This past year we have sought to reduce costs and increase income.  Many of us have put so much into this process and we are very thankful to all of you who have so willingly sacrificed to make Bethany’s future healthier.

 

We’ve seen real benefits from consolidating our campus – synergies with BCOM, BIM and GO100, as well as real reduction in costs.

 

While we’ve been working to balance our budget, we’ve seen so much of God’s grace around the world, both through the fruit in the work of our own missionaries and also through the establishment of the GO100 schools around the world.  We are seeing hundreds of international missionaries trained on a yearly basis and sent out to disciple the world’s least-reached.

 

On the operational side, we had identified land on our campus that is not needed for strategic ministry and could be developed and sold to create an endowment for our ministries.  With our land development plans, we were well on the way towards developing a balanced budget for Bethany for the first time in several years.

 

This has been an incredible past three weeks.  We’ve received amazing communications on three fronts, two positive and one negative.  We want to tell you about these and ask you to seek the Lord about their implications.

 

The negative development is that our negotiations with our property developers have come to a point where their offer is now 50% less than what we had expected it to be.

We have worked for a couple of years to get definition on our property development plans on the east side of our campus.  Now we have come to a place where we feel we need to evaluate how we go forward with this.

 

Positively, one of the very good friends of this ministry, an attorney who does many land deals as a regular part of his professional life, has come to us with a key piece of information.  He has been in dialog with other professionals who tell us that if we were to sell the entire 63 acres we would receive up to twice the appraised value of the land.  Just three years ago we received a very healthy appraisal, and several months ago when we had the property reappraised we heard that the property could be worth substantially more than that first amount!  We have not yet had an offer at twice the appraised value, but we expect to get some sort of validation in the near future as to the worth of the property.

 

The second piece of key information is that one of Bethany’s major donors has acquired a piece of property that was formerly a nursing home with about 115,000 square feet of building space and at least 20 acres of available land.  He is offering this land as a potential donation to Bethany if we would like to accept it.  The only downside is that this land is not in the Twin Cities – it is eight miles south of Duluth on Interstate 35.  It is a gorgeous piece of property situated on a hill, with marvelous views of forest for miles in three directions.  This property would fit our needs, though the building would need some renovation, which the donor may also help us with.

 

If we were to move to Duluth, we could actually make the move rather quickly, likely being in the new facility as early as 6-9 months from now.

 

The BI Board has been meeting this past weekend and is trying to process these three pieces of information.  The Board has concluded that we do not have enough information and we do not yet have definitive guidance from the Lord in what direction we are to proceed.

 

We wonder, in all of this, whether God is putting a challenge before us that will cause us to respond in a radical way to his call before us.  Bethany is a Great Commission organization, and we exist to delight God’s heart and extend his kingdom by training and sending servant leaders to disciple the world’s least reached peoples.  We need to ensure that whatever way that Bethany is organized, it is positioned in a way that ensures that we can carry out our vision in the most effective way possible.

 

This is not just about finances.  This is about opportunity.  One of the greatest opportunities that our leadership and the Board see is the opportunity to reconnect with the values that the founders of Bethany developed in the early days of the Fellowship.  We need to re-embrace the core values: vibrant community, servant hood, the message of the cross, a deeper life, and missions.  This is something we are seeking to do, whether we move or not!

 

When we think of the word “Bethany” we all tend to think of this land and this place.  But Bethany is not primarily about the property; it is about the people, the values, and the mission of Bethany.  Where we carry that out is important, but the place we reside can never be the most important element.  The important element is not a piece of dirt, but an embracing of God and his purposes for us.

 

Should we continue with our present property development plans?  Should we sell our entire campus and accept our donor’s offer of land south of Duluth?  Should we sell our entire campus and look for land/facilities elsewhere (urban or rural in the Twin Cities area) where we could put up purpose-built facilities to assist us in our Great Commission purposes?

 

We don’t know yet.

 

As the Board has met this past weekend, two stories from the scriptures have come to us with special relevance: first, the mistake that Joshua and the Israelites made by not inquiring of God when the Gibeonites came to deceive them into believing that they were not people of the land.  We do not want to make that mistake.  Secondly, when King David told the prophet Nathan that he wanted to build a house for God, Nathan initially said, “Do whatever God has put within your heart.”  But then the more specific word came through Nathan that it was to be Solomon who would build the temple.  We want to ensure that God has every opportunity to specifically speak his word to us, to guide us definitively into the path that he has laid out for us.

 

Dave Hicks, the Board, and the L-team have initiated a week of prayer and fasting to seek God’s guidance. We believe that the Lord can speak through our entire worldwide community, and so we are engaging every corner of the Bethany world in this process of seeking the Lord.

 

Please be in prayer and communicate to us anything that you feel the Lord speaks to you about via one of the following:

            website: https://secure.bethanyinternational.org/feedback/

            anonymous email feedback@bethanyinternational.org

            or dave.hicks@bethanyinternational.org

 

May God give us all direction as we turn to Him during this time of fasting and prayer.

 

 

 

Dave Hicks, Bethany International CEO

The Bethany International Board

The Bethany International L-team

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Good News

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!! He has answered our prayers! Thank you so much for praying! I talked to my dad after 4 pm today and he was at the Salay’s (co-translators). He said it really wasn’t that bad. One of his cellmates was considering reconciling with the Lord. The other cellmate was open to conversation about God and salvation. My dad is going to stop by the hospital to reaffirm the injured man that my dad wants to help him, that is why he stayed at the accident site. My parents also have to stop by Pelileo to sign some papers. From there they will be on their way to Shell tonight. Larry & Ivan who helped with this whole situation, have also graciously said they will help get the truck out. It is still impounded so we can be together as a family until Jer & I leave on Monday morning. Thank you all for your prayers! There will still be court cases and paper work, etc. that can be prayed for. But all things considered the Lord has been really good to us!

Anne

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Release

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

Hey All

This is it my dad is getting out probably at 2:30

Mike

Praise the Lord 

 

Hi,

My mom just called from Ambato. They have all the paper work done from Banos. They just didn’t make it back to Ambato before lunch ( which is until 2:30). So after lunch the "chief police" will sign and then my dad will be let out. There is a truck load of Salasacans to meet him :) they are already there waiting to see him out. How sweet!! Thank you for praying. I’ll email again to let you know he is out for sure.

Anne

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Thank You

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

Hey Everyone

Thank you very much for your prayers and praise God that the man got saved and that is now a part of God’s Kingdom. Well I am a whole lot less nervous and stressed out now that I have heard the good news from my sister.

Mike 

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Update on Prayer

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005
Hi friends & family,
 
This is Anne, continuing the updates.  I’m not sure where my mom left off……My mom was able to bus up to Pelileo to see my dad last night.  She brought him dry clothes & food.  She wasn’t able to stay long because it was after hours.  She stayed in Salasaca at the translation center, there is a bed & bathroom & kitchen & phone there.
 
In the morning (Tues), my dad was transferred to the jail in Ambato because the police in Pelileo decided he hadn’t gotten paper work done fast enough (Monday).  This is not true, there were 4 people working on it all day, but the notaries were not working on Monday.  The man who was injured used to work for the police, so they are mostly on his side.  The move to Ambato jail is a set back.  This is a more premanent place and "crimanals go here".  My mom thinks it could be 20 days before my dad is released.
 
The other set back is that more paper work was completed today with a lawyer but the wife of the injured man was not willing to sign.  My dad will for sure stay in jail until they come to an agreement.  That is like there security deposit that he will pay.  So you can pray that she will change her mind.  The expectations keep changing, they are wanting more & more money for "unemployment" from my parents.  At first she suggested 3 months now it’s 10 months but she wouldn’t sign.
 
I’ve been told all this second hand so….all I really know is that we need prayers and God is in control.  This is all very unfair but the Lord works all things for good for those who trust in him.
 
The good news is that many Salasacans have visited my dad and brought him food.  This may open their hearts to helping with the bible translation and supporting my parents.  They have had a lot of resistance lately.
 
More good news is that my dad and our whole family has visited a friend who was in this jail previously many, many times.  So my dad is very familiar with the place, rules, how the system works, and the "culture" there.
 
The best news is that it sounds like the man is not going to loose his leg.  He will get metal put in to hold the bones together and he should be recooperated in 6-8 months.
 
For now I will be communicating for my mom and helping David with is routine.  We are on our way to pick him up from school.
 
Thank you for your prayers,
 
Anne

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Prayer

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

 Kris is my mom and Shedd is my dad. Anne is my sister, Jerry is my Brother – in – law and Mara my Neice and David my little brother.

Please pray for Shedd.

Last night (SUNDAY) he was in a car accident before midnight after
having passed Pelileo and before getting to Pingue. (Note: This is the
road from Quito to Shell, the section between Ambato and Baños)

Three cars were parked on the left pointing uphill with their bright
lights on. He was blinded. He was only about a car-length away from a
truck parked perpendicular into his lane, when he saw the truck & the
man changing its tire. He slammed on the brakes, but hit the man and
severely damaged our vehicle.

The injured man was taken to Ambato to receive medical attention. Anne
said that it looked like his leg was broken in one place above the knee
and in a few places below the knee. He was bleeding quite a bit.
Because of the cold drizzle, they tried to hold a tarp over him to
prevent him from getting even more chilled.

Shedd was going to be held overnight in Pelileo, either in the Jefatura
de Transito from where he called me or from the jail. He said he would
be released after settling the matter with the man’s wife. Shedd had
talked to her by the time he called me; she suggested that they pay for
damages to their vehicle, we pay for damages to our vehicle and three
months of wages while her husband is out of work.

Shedd had been to Quito to pick up our son-in-law at the airport. From
the scene of the accident Jer, Anne, and the baby came down to Shell on
bus and to our house with Rick L.

Jer and Anne related that although they were all very badly shaken up
emotionally, none of them was hurt and that Shedd was quite calm, all
things considered. They think that the car is probably totalled.

This morning when David wakes up and discovers that Shedd isn’t here, I
think I’ll tell him something very basic, such as – Our car was in an
accident, and Dad stayed in Pelileo with the car. After school I will
share more details as I feel he needs them. I want him to have as
normal a day at school as possible.

Depending on what I hear from Shedd this morning, I am strongly
considering going to Pelileo to help in any way I can. Jer & Anne are
willing and capable to help David here at home.

Thank you for praying for the injured man, Shedd, and David.

Kris

P.S. Although we don’t  know many people in Pelileo, Dr. Manuel
Caizabanda, a long-time Salasaca friend, is the mayor. Who knows … he
may be in his position for such a time as this.

MONDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE

Dear pray-ers,

The injured man’s vascular system in his leg seems intact, so the
doctors in Ambato are trying to repair the bone breaks with plates,
rods, and screws. They expect him to be in a cast for quite a while
with full recovery taking 6-8 months.

Larry Salay and his Ambato friend Ivan (producer of Quinola) called at
about 2 PM after finishing the visit with the lawyer and the man’s
wife. In the Acto we are being held responsible to pay all hospital
expenses and rehabilitation plus lost wages.

Before leaving Ambato, Larry and Ivan planned to find a notary public
to go with them and the man’s wife to Pelileo where the notary can
witness the signatures of Shedd and the wife. From there they (L &
I) will have to submit the papers (police report & notarized legal
document) in Baños at the Fiscal. Larry said it would take a miracle to
get Shedd out of jail today.

I don’t know more about the condition of our truck nor about the
reimbursement from SMASH.

A few of Shedd’s Salasaca friends have visited or brought food. I
haven’t heard directly from him since the middle of the night, but
Larry said he was doing fine. He’s in a cell with two traffic
violaters. Susan Salay sent a blanket and a Bible. Shedd said he didn’t
need me to come if he were going to get released today. I may go up
tonight or first thing in the morning unless he is miraculously
released.

Thank you for praying.
Kris

Hi,

Lloyd Rogers stopped to visit Shedd on his way down to Shell. He
expects Shedd to be in jail another two days.

The things still needed are:
a statement from the doctor about the man’s condition & expected length
of recovery
a new more complete Acto, including that we would pay therapy for no
longer than 10 months.
the notarized signatures (Ambato notaries don’t work on Mondays,
evidently)
a declaration by a judge

Lloyd says the car is not totalled, but needs a new radiator, new
windshield and body work on the front end – a few thousand dollars
total.

Our SMASH policy includes $10,000 liability which will likely cover the
medical costs, physical therapy, and other costs related to the injured
man for ten months.

I am leaving Shell as soon as I get packed up. Shedd is still in his
clothes & shoes from last night. I just found out they got quite wet in
the rain.

The police station didn’t allow me to talk with Shedd by phone because
they say the phone isn’t close to where the "detenidos" are.

Thanks again for praying,
Kris

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Camping Trip

Wednesday, October 12th, 2005

    Well this last weekend I went on a all guys camping trip up in the St. Croix State Park. Three of us left friday morning and set up camp. We got fire wood and everything. And you would not believe what happened. The Clancy’s (another couple from Bethany College of Mission) showed up at the same camp site and we stood there just surprised for a little while because they found us and we had not even know they were coming. But then the rest of the guys arrived at around 9:45 i thing it was already dark so they unpacked there stuff and we ate hot dogs the first night we where there. The next morning we had eggs with cheese on soft shell tacos.

    A few of us started throwing this axe/hatchet (it is not as small as a hatchet up not as big as an axe, you can see it if you go to my pictures and go to the Camping Trip one). And Shane and I threw it a lot more buy the end we had this game where we would name the trees one, two, and three and we would walk a way from them and at a preelected distance (or the line in the dirt) we would yell/tell the other person witch tree to hit buy saying one in the mide section, or two in the head, or three in the knees. So Shane and I had a lot of fun throwing the axe. We got pretty good if I do say so myself.

Then for lunch we had Hot Dogs again, and then inbetween lunch and dinner Shane and I had some more fun with the axe. For supper though we had steak and that was very good. Then four of us left because we had to be back sunday for church and so we had good fellowship on the way home to Bloomington, MN.

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Photos

Tuesday, October 11th, 2005

Well everyone I have pictures now on my site. So you can come and see what I am up to. I have added quiet a few so have at it.

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Coming Alone

Monday, October 3rd, 2005

Well the site is coming along it gets better as the days go on. I think it looks okay. Well I am enjoying class I am being taught by Toni Hedrick on the Book of Acts. well I better go I have lot of stuff to do.

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