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Ashley Beckford: Go With The Flow

November 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Hello…I’m Ashley Beckford.  This past October, I got the amazing opportunity to go on a mission’s trip to Africa; specifically to Zimbabwe and South Africa to lead worship for women’s conferences. I absolutely loved my small team of seven, and surprisingly, we all got along so well. You would think that seven women, moving and breathing and living together for three weeks would be a disaster… cat fights and all. But despite our very different personalities, we developed a love for each other.

It was so apparent that each person on the team was divinely appointed. While I led worship for the events, the other ladies gave their testimony or shared God’s word through a message. Every event was different, and every audience was unique. We went from doing a conference under a grass hut in the middle of nowhere to a nice church with sound, lighting, and video. We went from having our messages translated to not needing translation; poverty to riches; lively and charismatic worship to conservative and inward worship. The list goes on. The diversity in our events was a blessing and a challenge. It was wonderful to experience so many different cultures and ways of life, but challenging because we were never quite acclimated to one place. We had to “read” the crowd in a moment, and our theme became “go with the flow”.

Our conferences and events focused on the topic of brokenness. It was really intriguing to experience the brokenness in Africa. Not only was there an abundance of it, but their brokenness was very similar to the brokenness in America. The ladies we ministered to were going through the same issues we go through… relationship and marriage issues, money and job issues, health and infertility issues, etc.  I discovered brokenness is universal.

Despite our initial fear of American women not relating to the women of Africa, every song, testimony, and personal hardship fit right into their world. We visited many broken and hopeless places, but surprisingly the people were so joyful. In fact, I have never experienced people so full of joy like I did in Africa. It really challenged me and forced me to ask some hard questions. Why don’t I have joy like they do? How can they be so happy when they live under such impoverished conditions?

After much processing, I realized that their lack of distractions and material things made it easier to keep their eyes on their true joy: JESUS. Jesus was all they had. Jesus was the one they looked forward to. Jesus was the beginning and end of their day. Jesus was all they needed and Jesus was the source of their joy. I was so inspired by this joy and have since been challenged to fix my eyes on Jesus despite all of the distractions and material things we have here in America.  The Africans looked at us as rich Americans, but they were the rich ones.

It was such a blessing to go on this trip.  Despite the actual effort it took to get there (raising money and many hours of travel), I would do it again in a heartbeat. I am so thankful for what I learned and I will never forget the people and experiences. I went there to bless others, but ultimately, I am the one that was blessed. My eyes are much wider and my heart much bigger.

Thank you Ashley!  Please check out Ashley’s blog at ashleybeckford.wordpress.com

 

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Women In The Mission Field

November 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Photo By Steven O’Sullivan

You might recall on May 12, 2012 that I had a guest blogger by the name of  Shanda Oakley.  She wrote about an all-woman team of short-term missionaries preparing to head over to Zimbabwe and South Africa.  The blog was entitled “A Pause On The Path” after Shanda’s own blog site. In fact, some of you were so moved by the blog that you donated to their cause.  Well they are back and they are excited.

I have asked one of the team members to be my guest blogger and share their experience with us this Friday, November 16th. The guest blogger is Ashley Beckford and I am truly excited about having Ashley join us.  Ashley grew up with my youngest daughter.  My wife and I still remember her occasionally coming over to the house and talking about the different sporting activities she was involved in during her school years.

Fast forward 15 years and we find Ashley married to a talented musician and the two of them share their home with the family dog named Oreo.  Ashley is a devout woman of God and is an accomplished professional musician in her own right.  She is a singer and songwriter and has been leading worship for Christ’s Church of the Valley (CCV) for the past seven years.

In addition, Mrs. Beckford has been a part of several worship-recording projects with CCV’s songwriting community known as Valley Worship.  The Valley worship projects include “CCV Live 2010” and a self-titled CD known as “Valley Worship”.  She is now working on her first debut solo album, “Heart After You”, which will be released early in 2013.

 Please join me this Friday as we read how a group of women left the comfort of their homes in America and ventured off with one main resource…faith.

 

 

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200-Foot Cross

May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Branson Missouri has been selected to become the recipient of a 200-foot cross.  The developer, Kerry Brown, said he hopes the cross will become a national icon in the likes of the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge.  The funds to build the cross will primarily come from donations, with the idea that the cross will always be free to visitors and anyone can come and worship at any time.

As soon as Mr. Brown received the zoning approval, the fund raising campaign began.  Brown is hoping to raise $5 million and have the project completed by the end of 2013.  He also stated that he has had very little opposition to his project but believes that will change as the money continues to come in and the time draws closer to completion.

The motivating factor behind this project stems back to Kerry Brown’s father having a dream.  His father’s vision came to him twenty years ago to build a 7-foot cross at this location.  Brown says once he caught the vision, he saw it as his mission to erect the largest cross anyone has ever seen.

With Mr. Brown having a legal background, I’m certain he is keenly aware of the challenges he will soon be facing.  My unsolicited advice to him comes from Proverbs Chapter 16, Verse 9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs is steps.” 

 

 

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A Pause On The Path

May 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Please enjoy today’s blog by Shanda Oakley -

Memories of my childhood include: sitting under a tree while my father preached at a village church, having a mud hut for a play house, and seeing wild animals from my car window.

One can never underestimate the power of parental influence.  I grew up to missionary parents in Africa and my heart has never strayed from the desire to serve God and teach others about Him.  Naturally, I am passionate for world missions and especially love the people of Africa.

In October, I will be leading a group of women to Zimbabwe and South Africa for three weeks.  Our mission will concentrate on the women.  Our prayer is that not only will some be led to the Lord, but all will be left feeling closer to God and have a stronger desire to serve Him and make a difference in their homes, churches and communities.

Through worship, testimonies and teaching God’s Word, we will be conducting three conferences as well as holding meetings and doing service projects during the week.

Our team of women is from Christ Church of the Valley in San Dimas, CA.  If you are close by, we would like to invite you to our “Concert Under The Stars” fundraiser on May 18, 2012 from 7-9pm.  One of our team members will be performing and there will be a fancy desert buffet as well as some incredible raffles.  The cost is $20.00.  Please consider joining us. For further details about our trip or for ways you can help us send the Gospel message to Africa, please visit:

 http://www.facebook.com/events/162198850560533/

 Check out Shanda Oakley’s blog by clicking on the link entitled “A Pause On The Path” under my “Blogroll” category. 

 Thanks for sharing with us Shanda; we are looking forward to hearing how God used the team after your return.

 Rick Mayhew

 

 

 

 

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Prison Overcrowding: A Global Issue

April 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Prison overcrowding is a global issue.  No one seems to have the answer as to what to do while the criminal element continues to rise; yet the economy prevents most governments from expanding or redeveloping the current holding facilities.  The overcrowding is so harsh in South Africa that government officials have announced that they will be releasing approximately 14,600 prison inmates.

Although the news article indicates that the hard criminals will not be a part of this release effort, I believe there is a safety and wellbeing concern among the surrounding communities.  Think there is a need for missionaries in South Africa?  I do and so do some of my friends. In fact, there will be a small contingency of women heading across the ocean to South Africa and Zimbabwe this summer on a short-term mission project.  They will be bringing the hope and love of Jesus Christ to women in need in areas both populated and under-developed.

In the Bible, the book of Mark, Chapter 16, Verse 15 describes Jesus giving this commandment to His disciples, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’”  If you would, please join me in praying for these dedicated followers of Jesus Christ as they venture into the world in an attempt to be obedient to the commandment of their Lord and Savior.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/04/28/safrica-to-release-35000-from-crowded-prisons/

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Mission Impossible

February 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I saw a billboard advertisement for the recently released Mission Impossible movie.  The strange thing is that this one title started my mind wondering.  I thought about how ironic the title is because, although the theme is “mission impossible”, the characters in the movie always seem to be able to make the “impossible”, possible.  Then I changed mental gears and started thinking about the short-term mission trips that I have been on.  There were times in each of these trips that some or all aspects of the mission seemed impossible, yet through God, they became possible.

Most of the people that I know that have been on short-term mission trips usually go through some type of withdrawal after they return home.  I’ve come to the conclusion that this occurs because while we are on these journeys, we are forced to rely completely on God.  That does not happen back home.  Here in the United States, we have abundance.  Even if we are not rolling in money, we usually have much more than those we left behind in some foreign country. 

My point is, when we are in true need, we completely turn to God and accept whatever His will is for our life.  No place is this more apparent than in a foreign country where a short-term missionary may not speak the language of the land and yet that person is being asked to be a light for Christ.  This is where the difference lies between the movie and real life.  In the movie, the mission is “top secret”.  In real life, we are to shine the light of Jesus like a lighthouse.  Consequently, we come away from our mission experience feeling as though God truly did use us in a manner that may have made a difference in the Kingdom of God for a few people.

So, while driving in my truck thinking about the movie advertisement, I was reminded that we don’t have to be on a mission trip in some foreign country to make ourselves completely available for God to use.  We just need to get the right mind set.  First we need to focus on the things above.  Then we need to look at our hometowns, work places, and the different social activities we participate in as our mission field.  I know this is not a new concept for most of you, but how many of you have truly dropped to your knees and asked God to show you the way to reach people…like you would do if you were in a foreign land?  If Tom Cruz can make an impossible mission, possible…why can’t we? 

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