Our Trip to South Texas
We recently returned to Denton after spending 3 weeks visiting friends, family, and supporters in the Houston area, particularly in El Campo. We had a great, encouraging time! While there, we took a weekend trip to Corpus Christi with Matt's parents; we got to spend time with Aunt Syl; Matt preached one Sunday at First Christian Church of El Campo; we had a great time visiting with and updating our supporters about our plans and preparations for Austria; and Liz got to eat crawfish for the first time (something she can check off her list and be done with).
We are praising God that He has now brought in 75% of the monthly support that we need. We are so thankful for everyone who has decided to give more and for the new supporters that have joined our team! Now, we are praying for God to provide 10 more people to commit to giving $100 monthly and 13 more people at $50 monthly to bring us up to 100%. Please pray along with us for this!
We are also in the process of figuring out some logistics of living in Austria. We have been talking over plans with our field director in Vienna regularly and have even done a little "apartment hunting" on an Austrian real estate website. We are motivated to get to Vienna because God is "the hope of all the ends of the earth" (Psalm 65:5), and because He is worthy or worshipers everywhere (Rev 5:9-10). Yet, it is a challenge to consistently trust God's plan for us in the midst of ever-changing human plans and circumstances. Please pray that we would grow in trusting God daily to guide us and to provide for us in every single detail.
Our time line:
April 13-May 1: trip to Missouri May: Denton Bible church-wide missions conference June: missionary training time June 13: tentative leave date for Vienna July: leading group of college students from Denton Bible on a mission trip to Austria and Slovakia (continue to pray for God's wisdom for us in leading this team, for His guidance in each student's life, and for His plans to be accomplished during our trip).
Posted March 30, 2009 by Matt.
Only six months to go!
We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year. Liz and I (Matt) had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas in my hometown of El Campo, TX. Liz had fun experiencing all of the Eck family Christmas traditions and we both had a wonderful, relaxing time for our first Christmas. After Christmas we took a road trip to South Carolina to see the last of our roommates from Russia get married. We had a great time reconnecting with many of the missionaries that we both new from Russia.
Now Liz and I are back in Denton and hitting the ground running. We have a leave date for Austria (June 20th), so we only have 6 months left and about 30% more support to raise. What's more, we've been asked to lead a group of college students on a short-term trip on our way over to Austria. All of that to say, we are getting very focused on our support raising and preparations to go back on the field.
For all of you prayer warriors out there, we have praise and a couple of prayer requests. First of all, we are thankful for God's provision and that we finally have no deficit in our ministry account! Please keep praying that we will be able to build enough of a surplus to cover all of the one-time costs associated with moving overseas. Also, please pray that we get the rest of our support raised early so we can focus more on our preparations to leave. This will be especially important if we are able to lead the college trip. Finally, Liz will undergo minor out patient surgery tomorrow (1/09/09). It is simply a precautionary procedure to remove benign cervical polyp, but pray that everything would go well and that she would be able to recover well this weekend. Thank you all so much for praying!
Posted January 8, 2009 by Matt.
Reflections on Cross-cultural Ministry
It seems that summer is quickly coming to an end. In August, Liz and I took a trip to South Texas to visit family, friends and supporters. Earlier, Liz's folks came down from Missouri to visit us here in Denton for the 4th of July. Though fall has not officially started, the seasonal rains have come to Denton and kids are starting to go back to school. In fact, Liz and I also feel like we're back to school. Our Church's Missions Training Institute (MTI) is in its second week. MTI began about seven years ago when Denton Bible Church decided to start sending its own missionaries out for international service. MTI is a three-semester program that seeks to prepare missionaries spiritually, intellectually, and culturally by offering classroom teaching by seminary-trained church staff. Missionaries are also developed ministerially by practical ministry participation as well as one-on-one discipleship with staff and leaders of our church. Liz and I will both be sitting in on some classes. One of the classes, Cultural Anthropology, has really helped me to process what I have learned during my first four-year term on the field.
I have to admit that participating in a cultural anthropology class is difficult for me right now. This may be a surprise considering that I just finished my first term of cross-cultural ministry. I have found, however, that in processing my first term I sense a deep feeling of guilt and embarrassment when I think about enculturation. I think that I may have had false expectations going into my first term about what that should look like. I remember thinking that the goal of enculturation was to "become" Russian, or as much like a Russian as I could. Now, I'm not so sure that being transformed into another culture should have been my goal. I don't know that I have come to any conclusions, but I can say that both reading and class time so far have been invaluable in helping me to process my feelings. I hope to gain a better understanding of what exactly enculturation is and how to accomplish this as a missionary.
As I sat in lecture, we discussed the idea of the two "ditches" that we should avoid on the road of cross-cultural ministry. The first ditch is the mistake of thinking that learning to live in our host culture is not necessary. It's the ditch that
In class, we were asked to come up with a definition of culture. I don't know that I have one yet, but I do know that it is largely wrapped up in our identity. While living in a different culture, our own identity is often challenged, bumped and bruised. So there are times when we must go against our own identity in order to minister to people. In other words, we are to obey the command Christ gives us in Mark 8:34-"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." That is where I believe the true work of the missionary lies and why I'm not sure that "becoming a native" in the host culture is best way to look at enculturation. For the Christian, denying self is probably a better description of enculturation. That takes both grace and obedience so that we don't fall in either ditch.
Liz and are very grateful for your friendship, prayers, and support! Please be praying for our time in MTI, the growth of our marriage, and for our financial support-raising process. We currently have about 60% of our necessary monthly pledges that make it possible for us to live and do ministry overseas, however our overall account balance is still in the negative, so please keep praying for that. We hope to visit with many of you while we're in Missouri from September 28-November 1!
Posted September 11, 2008 by Matt.
03-14-2008 Embracing Change
12-03-2007 Here There and Everywhere
10-17-2007 a little announcemt...
08-17-2007 Picking up where they left off...
02-17-2007 Winter Logistics
11-20-2006 Off the bench
09-30-2006 Bureaucracy and the Darkside of Being Relational
08-23-2006 Who says summer is slow?
05-29-2006 Now that things have settled down...
03-27-2006 Spring?
01-20-2006 Greetings from panet Hoth
01-13-2006 Krysha Leadership
12-09-2005 Happy Holidays
11-02-2005 First Things First
10-08-2005 Back in the C.S.I.
09-02-2005 Apartment Found!
07-29-2005 Refugee Ministry
06-25-2005 Porridge for Brains
06-11-2005 Side Trip
05-28-2005 Winding Down
05-18-2005 They Say it's Your Birthday
03-10-2005 Pancakes
01-29-2005 Fellowship
01-16-2005 Holidays
11-29-2004 Culture Project
11-02-2004 Time Flies
08-28-2004 Second Year
08-12-2004 Back to School
07-18-2004 Summer Trip II
07-05-2004 Summer Misssions Trip
06-26-2004 July Activities
06-14-2004 Pilgrimage
05-02-2004 Social Projects
03-27-2004 Bill's Visit
03-01-2004 Moscow Trip
