May 1, 2005
Hey Everyone,
What a year it's already been!
By the time you receive this I'll have already made 11 trips out of Omaha and have spoken over 50 times so far in 2006. Though it's already been a demanding year, Phileena and I feel your prayers supporting and sustaining us. And we'll need them as the rest of the year unfolds. We still have international trips planned to Bolivia, Sierra Leone and possibly Nigeria, Romania, Malaysia, and possibly Peru.
I wanted to write this month to update you on a highlight from 2006. In late-March and early-April WMF held it's 4th ever Field Forum.
As many of you already know, Word Made Flesh was registered and incorporated in the fall of 1991. We experienced a sort of “hard reset” in the fall of 1996 when I became the International Executive Director. Before 1996, WMF had very little internal support structure. Over the past 10 years we have figuratively “stumbled forward” as we set out to organize and structure the movement in order to accomplish the vision to which we had committed. Thankfully, in our stumble, we often landed in the gracious arms of God. He allowed us to make mistakes that we could learn from rather than ones that would smother us with the fallout of their consequences.
Through the years, the “stumble” has become a dance that we're now very familiar, and for that matter comfortable, with. However, as graceful as we've made the stumble look, we have actually taken the time along the way to firm our footing a bit to prevent as much unnecessary stumbling as possible.
This year we chose Unawatuna, just south of Galle, in southern Sri Lanka, as the setting to continue the conversation on firming up our footing. On the southern coast of Sri Lanka, 27 of the core WMF leaders from 9 nations, 5 continents, and representing 8 nationalities met to discuss the emerging needs within all of the WMF communities.
The group represented more than 200 years of WMF experience and more than 200 board members, full-time and part-time staff members, interns, Servant Team members, and volunteers serving within the embrace of WMF worldwide. Though our prayers were uttered in English, Krio, Nepali, Romanian, Spanish, and Tamil, our voices were united.
As the Field Forum we discussed our collective needs for a restless structure, focused boards, and dependable leaders. Over the course of 5 days we had 19 meetings and made tremendous progress in seeing an internal support structure established that will make our community healthy, supported, and sustainable. Overall, the sense of the meetings was hopeful and positive. We all left refreshed and having established a deeper sense of continuity and community. I trust that now, more than ever, we are poised to continue growing deeper as a community which will continue to allow us to grow broader.
Fortunately, on our way to the forum, we were able to visit friends in Singapore and the children's homes in south India. The enclosed pictures are from that visit. There is an image of Phileena holding Sounder, one of Prabha's cousins. As we celebrated a reunion with Prabha's family we were heartbroken to discover that Indu Mathi, one of her older sisters, had recently lost her first baby. Just days before we said our goodbyes to Prabha and her family we were further devastated when their father died. Thankfully, literally minutes before his death, Phileena and I were able to pray for him. We still are grieving for the suffering Prabha's family has been through this year.
The other image is of me walking some of the girls home after they were dropped off by the city bus on their way back from school. It was great being with the children and spending time in the homes. Sadly, Suryakala, an 8 year old who has already lost her father and her mother to AIDS, is very sick and doesn't seem to be getting better. I pray that by the time you receive this letter she will be recovering and I plead with you to hold her close to God's heart in prayer.
Again we can't thank you enough for your kindness and continued support of the vocational calling that Phileena and I share. Many of you have been more than friends as you've assumed the roles and responsibilities of family to us. Thank you for loving us so well and believing in us.
Our prayers are with you and we always love hearing from you so do please keep in touch.
Take it slow, keep it simple, and bless God.
Peace,
Chris and Phileena