How our lives are changing in 2014

We are doing well. Lois is recovering well from her chemo and radiation and is back to work. Our spirits are good. It helps to have grandkids!

As for my work, as a missionary with Latin America Mission (LAM), I continue to serve Latin American leaders as they serve Christ and care for people, in many parts of the world.  LAM recently merged with United World Mission (UWM). The new mission is global in scope and, because of the entrance of LAM, the majority of UWM looks at the world from Latin America.  Many on the staff are Latin Americans themselves.  UWM carries on LAM’s commitment to do what we do with Latin Americans, and to follow their visions for ministry, because we believe that God is using Latin Americans for the good of the world and for the advance of the gospel.

Personally, this merger means a lot more work for me.  But it is work that I think that all these years of experiences with the growth the the church in Latin American and the growth of the missions commitment of Latin American evangelicals has prepared me to do. I am on the Integration Team that is working on aligning the two missions. This team is led by two of us, who were strategy advisors to the respective presidents of the two missions. We report to John Bernard, President of the new UWM. My main task is to introduce UWM to the more than 80 partner ministries scattered throughout Latin America with whom LAM had partnership arrangements. This means that over the next year I will make sure that the leaders of these ministries, in most of the countries in Latin America, receive a personal visit from me and Alex Araujo my co-leader in this project, or other representatives of LAM and UWM.

Undoubtedly, in the future, I will have a role for envisioning how this newly united ministry builds on the foundation that was laid in our separate histories. The stories are complementary. That is we each bring something the other needs, and together we are more than 350 missionaries, working in 40 countries.  If you count in the partnerships, particularly with Latin Americans, we are in many more than 40 countries, sharing the gospel of God’s blessing to all peoples, and we do it in both words and deeds. We have projects with children at risk, against human trafficking, church planting, leadership development, etc. In all cases, our real specialty is supporting the multiplication of churches, agencies and grass-roots leaders who do these things. More and more the work that gets done is supported locally, which means it is becoming more sustainable.

Thirty-six (36) years ago we were sent as a young childless couple of idealistic missionaries to Brazil.  We have learned a lot in these years and count it a privilege to still be involved.  We owe a great debt to our friends and supporters for sending us on this journey, and to those who faithfully continue to make it possible.   We love to find ways to pay back that debt, especially as we recognize how the increasingly multi-cultural reality of the USA continues to call us to deepen and broaden our understanding of the mission we are called to live out as followers of Christ.  We want to do what we can to help new generations think about how they will be faithful to that mission, too.

Me, the WEA and the Mission Commission

I work on the Leadership Team of the Mission Commission (MC) of the WEA — World Evangelical Alliance.  This is not a role I ever thought I would have, particularly given my perspective as a “critical insider” in the evangelical movement.  But I have been doing this, now, for about 2 years, part time.  I spend my time serving the rest of the MC team by focusing on strategies for communications and resourcing the work of the MC.  So it involves a lot of meetings and not a whole lot of the kinds of things that most of us would link to service in the way of Jesus.   My work in MC does not directly involve me in service to people in need, public speaking, or trying to get other people to follow Christ.   Sometimes that causes an identity crisis for me:  why not do something more directly engaged with the real problems of real people?   I deal with that crisis in two ways:  first, by engaging in my local community here through other things I do and, second, by understanding the full cycle of what the MC means.

For me, being in the MC is a unique vantage point from which to see how the world is changing. The most exciting changes are the ones that are fruit of the work of the Spirit of God.  The Spirit takes Jesus’ followers from everywhere and engages them in the lives of people they might otherwise avoid, and then calls both to adopt His love for “the other” as the basis for their way of living.  My friend, Paul McKaughan, from when I went to Brazil as a college student has said about the MC, “There is no more geographically or culturally diverse group of leaders than the Mission Commission of the WEA. This is a place where 2/3’world leaders help each other and interface with us in the West.”  It’s true.

Last week I was in Sweden for a small meeting of what we call network leaders.  A hugely diverse group of people from around the world shared a common table and tried to hear from God through each others’ lives during three days.

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As for what the MC means, I think this text, though rather long, captures some of it:

The Mission Commission (MC) is an intergenerational global community of mission leaders who aim to inspire, advocate and strengthen thousands of practitioners of God’s mission agenda around the world.

The 250 Mission Commission Associates (MCA’s)–leaders from 85 national movements who send and support 300,000+ missionaries from evangelical churches in over 100 countries–include mission leaders from both new old and new sending contexts.

Three basic strategic considerations guide  the MC Leadership Team,

  1. The gospel moves forward based on relationships.
  2. MCA’s catalyze national, regional and global mission movements and networks.
  3. The resulting new missions resources are for the global church.

Thus, when we gather as reflective practitioners in dependence upon the Spirit we address crucial mission issues, together–through research, gatherings, and cooperative projects–and for application to concrete ministry contexts.

The relation of MC to WEA

According to its 1951 charter from WEA, the MC should “promote closer coordination and cooperation between missionary societies in different countries where greatly needed.”  It was to be a fellowship, a missionary subset of the churches, denominations and national alliances affiliated with the WEA.

The southward shift in global Christianity made coordination and cooperation between existing missionary societies seem almost provincial.

New missions movements led by reflective-practitioners of mission are the source of new experiences and understandings of Biblical mission from diverse cultural contexts. They are resolving practical challenges for doing “mission from the margins” that are quite unlike the ones faced by missionary societies that grew out of the strong economic and geopolitical position European and American evangelicalism!

Rather than being a subset of the WEA, the MC seeks to mobilize leadership for the entire constituency of the WEA to engage in mission.  The MC attempts reflect the Spirit’s commitments to mission beyond the WEA constituency.

A difficult year

This last year was one of the most difficult in our lives.   Just a year ago , I was flying home from Brazil, from one of the most rewarding trips I had ever taken.  The trip combined a creative ministry experiment that was successful, and a very precious and deeply meaningful day with a long time friend.  But, when I got home, it was just in time to rush to Southern California where Lois picked me up at the airport and we went to the hospital to say good-bye to her mother who passed away a day later.  Today is a year since her passing.

Actually, the difficult year has been about 19 months long.  In that time, both Lois’ mom and my own passed away.  We are both orphans now.

As if the loss of her Mom was not enough, just a few weeks later, the doctors discovered Lois had cancer.  So during this past year we spent a lot of time going to doctors.  Lois suffered through treatments that were unimaginably difficult, and she did it with much grace and determination.  I did my best to make sure she got all the love and support she needed to get through, including canceling all my travel.  We pretty much stayed home.  We didn’t send Christmas cards or anything.

Lois’ treatment is over and she is slowly regaining her strength and growing back her hair.  Life is moving back towards normal.

Tomorrow will be my first trip away, since I got home from Brazil.  I will be gone for 10 days to Sweden, as part of my responsibilities with the MIssion Commission of th World Evangelical Alliance.

A blessed year, too!

A big joy was that our grandson, Logan, was born on my Mom’s birthday, just a few months after her passing.  He is a happy boy and is a reminder of the cycle of life and the renewal of generations.

Also, the mission I work for, Latin America Mission, has been going through a deep struggle financially for the last several years.  During the last 3 or 4 months of Lois’ treatment, when I had to just watch from the sidelines, things were looking rather grim, and God brought along another mission agency that knows and appreciates LAM’s legacy.  More importantly, United World Mission (UWM) wants to develop it and grow it.    In the last few weeks the Boards of the two organizations have agreed to bringing LAM into the UWM organization (they like to say UWM “family”, which says a lot).  The integration of the two will get started in the last three months of 2013 and into 2014.    I am very grateful for this.

Finally, our daughter, Emily, who lives in New Zealand is expecting a baby any day now.  We have plans to go visit her once the baby is born.

My comments at Mom’s Memorial

This is an attempt to sum up the meaning of my Mom’s life.  During those last few days that she was with us, I began to think about these verses from I John that help unlock the meaning of my Mom’s life.
Do not love the world, or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world–the desires of he flesh, the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions–is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
You all knew my Mom.
1.  Mom was an influencer.
  • The people that she prayed for.
  • The people she taught the Bible  =  At Bible Study fellowship.
  • The people with whom she argued.
  • The people for whom she made things.
  • The people she introduced to each other.

2.  Mom created beauty.  

  • That beauty did not come without a price:  Dumptser diving!  You may hear about the indignity of it from my sisters or me, but the fact was that so much of the beauty she was able to create was made with things that other people threw away.  How did she do that.
  • It wasn’t just things.  It was experiences.  She was good at creating special and memorable experiences.
    • Picnics on the lawn.
    • Party themes.
    • Her Christmas cards weren’t cards.  They were an experience!
  • Creative gifts
3.  Mom gave herself to her family!
  • As a mom, she took us many places — museums, parks, friends.
  • She presided over well-planned, fun birthday parties.  Pin the tail on the donkey, spaceship cakes, etc.
  • She made us a part of her ministry to High School and college kids.  They were always in our home.  They were our friends, too.
  • She let me, as a 16 year old, go to boarding school in Guatemala, a country that was moving into what would become a brutal civil war.
  • She was an incredible grandmother, creating memories, and providing a place where our kids could come, from Brazil or Guatemala and find a place that was familiar and safe.
So here we are today, “celebrating” the life of Pat Halls, even though her life has ended.  We are all richer because of her life, but poorer today because she is no longer with us.  We are celebrating the memory of her life and mourning her passing.
Before I go on with trying to figure out for myself the meaning of the memories we are celebrating, I think it is important to think about her passing.  One cannot avoid the awful reality that both she and my dad, the love of her life, though deserving of honor and respect, were disrespected by the effects of Parkinson’s Disease.  They were taken from us little by little until finally they were gone and in a very undignified way.  The effects of the disease was so evil, and it stole so much from them–things they earned and treasured and deserved , that had it been possible to name someone who had taken so much from them, we could have had that person locked up!  Parkinson’s is a terrible scourge and it seems unfair that they both had to go through it.
One of the amazing things about my Mom was the way she faced her Parkinson’s and the indignity of it all.  She hoped for a day when she would be all put back together and incorruptible, this time.  More importantly, she applied her magic to the people around her.  She was conscious that God kept her in the Health Center at Plymouth Village, precisely for the people around her–and she tried to live that way.  It must have been frustrating though because toward the end it became more difficult for her to add beauty to the place–perhaps because they didn’t let her near the dumpster.  She must have done the right thing with her family, because her family was always coming to spend time with her.
The defining characteristic of her life, was really not any of these things.  The things I have told you about are just a few of the ways she got into our lives. What shaped all of us, through her influence, was rooted her undying (and that is an interesting word to use at a memorial service!), her undying love of God and of the Bible.
Her commitments to God were more than simply something for her.  It would not work to say:  she had her commitments and passions, and I have mine.  Her love and commitment to God, and to the Bible as the Word of God, produced what she produced in our lives.  The result of her commitment to God is that meaningfulness of our own lives was increased.  For her, the important, and lasting impact of her life on us was not about her, but about Him!    
 
So, lets go back to those verses, this time in my own words:
Don’t love the world or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, they don’t love the Father (that is God).
The problem with the world is that it is made up of the things you want, the things you want to acquire, and that excitement that comes when you get them.  If you want the world, you are not wanting the Father, and the problem is that the world is passing away, along with the things you desire.
BUT whoever orients their life around what God wants goes on forever.  
Mom redirected her desires, her acquisitions, her excitement and her pride to God.
We all know that it’s not like she didn’t enjoy this world! Life for her was fun. There were lots of fun things to do and she did them.  Things were to be appreciated. Her home was something she took pride in.   But this world was not where she found her hand-hold.  It was not what she grabbed onto.
What Mom wanted, and what Mom got was something lasting, not something that will die, and disappear.  She wanted God.  She did what she did so that she and we would get something that won’t pass away.
In this, she was more than simply a good example of a godly person.  She engaged with each of us to give us something lasting.
You could tell that her love of God was greater than her love of the world in these last years.  She loved it when we read the Bible with her, and sang hymns with her.    That’s why, even when her mind was not working well, she often would turn to me and ask me how I was doing with God, how you were doing with God, and whether each of us was grabbing onto what really matters, what lasts, what does not pass away.
The impact of her life is measured in the answers to her prayers. She prayed quietly for many people.  Some of us were lucky enough to notice how her prayers were answered in their lives.  The impact of her life was in the people that she helped reorient their own lives around God and around the Bible.  That is why, in these last few weeks, when people who knew her and mentioned her commitment to God, she would smile and glow. She would wake up and get more lucid.   What got her going was when you and me would see God and choose to value Him above things we might want, buy or take pride in.
I want to tell you a story.  Just about two years ago, we got that dreaded phone call, “It’s time to come if you still want to see Mom alive.” So the four kids and others rushed to her side.  And she was not doing well.  She couldn’t talk to us, and seemed to be going downhill fast.  We sang hymns, read scripture, all the things that brought joy to Dad.  But she was pretty unresponsive, as I recall.  As we wondered what to do, we asked other people more experienced in the process of the end of life.  They suggested we gather and pray for Mom, thank God for her life, say our good-byes and generally let her know that things would be OK.   That we would carry on without her and that she had done her work well.
So we went to her room and each of us prayed for her, through tears.  It is important for you to know that she hadn’t spoken to us for a couple of days.  When the last of us had prayed, she sat up in bed and said, “I want to pray, too!”   And she prayed for each of us.  She told stories about us, and encouraged us to keep close to God.  And she lived another 2 years!
That afternoon we sang with her.  Not hymns.  We sang “These boots are made for walking!”
She was more than simply a good example of a godly person.  She engaged with each of us to give us something lasting.
Her love of God and commitment to Him is why everyone of us in this room has anything to say about her–that’s one important way that she goes on forever.  It’s not simply that we can envision her in heaven.  The Bible doesn’t actually say some of the things we try to imagine about her today–being reunited to Dad, no more wheelchair–etc.  We imagine those things based on the hope of resurrection.
But we don’t have to imagine what we can see:  the permanence of her life is visible to us in the effects of her life on each of us.  What we got from her that is of value came to us through her love of God and her commitment to Him–as we were drawn to permanence by the things she did:  influence, beauty, family and friends and Jesus Christ
What she constantly wanted us to recognize is that our lives can go in one of two directions.   We can pass away along with the world, or we can latch onto God and last, as He does.  She didn’t just give us an example, but actively involved herself in giving us the only thing that will last–love for God.
This celebration is not about her passing, but about the world’s passing.

Brazil Trip

I leave tonight for Brazil.   I would appreciate you accompanying me with your prayers.

I am going to introduce a broad spectrum of church leaders there to the President of LAM and to two Board Members.  We are going to listen and to ask about the role of a 100 year old mission that was born to evangelize Latin America.  


What is our role in a Latin America that, increasingly is evangelizing the World?  


Brazil is a good place to explore this.  I have felt carried along by the Spirit and by the experiences and relations that God has given me since the first time Lake sent me to Brazil in 1970 and then as a new missionary couple in 1977. There is a pay off for having been at this so long.


The reason we are taking this trip is to better see a) the work that God has been doing in Brasil, b) the way the advance of the gospel in Brazil is producing leaders and c) what the mission of evangelicals in Brazil means for the world we live in.
We are motivated by these three purposes:

1.  We understand that the Sports events of 2014 and 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, will implicate the gospel in Brasil in several ways–it will give continuity to the process by which Brazilian evangelicals think about (and act)  more and more intentionally in relation to the world outside of Brasil.  One of  the things that the world might possibly learn about Brazil will be how extensive has been the move of God in Brazil and some of the impressive commitments His people have made (or maybe they won’t see it!) for improving the world we live in.  As a mission agency, in LAMwe are involved, in a small way, in the initiative of Brazilian evangelicals along these lines.  We are participating in a small way by providing personnel to the “Campaign against child and teen sexual tourism in Brazil” project.  Our perspective is international and, traditionally, this has meant international from the perspective of the North toward Latin America.  Now, it is meaning, increasingly, together with Latin America toward the rest of the world.  We want to follow the events related to 2014/16 as they unfold with the participation of Brazilian evangelicals so that we can better understand how God will open the world up to the Brazilian church and the Brazilian church to the world, and come to know whether we have a role to fulfill in that. 

2.  LAM was born, and has served, for nearly 100 years in a flow from North to South.  The gospel was in the North and the need was in the South.  Now things are not that way, and part of the development of a new reality is tied up in the developments in Brazil.  We are wanting to re-orient ourselves to continue to follow in the Lord’s footsteps as he leads us forward.  I am hoping that this trip, with LAM leaders, will help us capture a better idea of what God is doing in Brazil, the place of evangelicals in what He is doing, and take note of the level/quality of leaders that have been produced by this move of God.  We want to understand how these new realities will lead LAM to be different in the future.
3.  The role of Brazil in Latin America.  Brazil has never been a major area of efforts by LAM.  But with each day that goes by, the evangelicals of Brazil are participating more in the gospel in the rest of Latin America.  At times with the same kind of imperialism as the US, and at other times as companions, some times receiving from Spanish speaking Latin America, sometimes sending, and sometimes working side by side.  We understand that Brazil, and the leadership of Brazilians, has something to do with our future, and we are trying to understand what role Brazilians play in it.

Mom went to be with her Lord.

I am an orphan!  That’s kind of a tough thought to incorporate into my being, especially within a month of turning 60.  It’s like life is already getting short.  Just when it was getting fun.

I am an orphan because on February 27 my Mom joined my Dad in death.  Having followed Jesus as His disciples, they passed on to us the hope that they would also follow Jesus in his resurrection.  But we are sad they are gone, devastated by the way bodies wear out and finally quit on us.   Beyond just looking forward to eventual resurrection, we also want to live like they did.  I cannot believe all the stories of how my mom inspired people to live close to God, to be creative, and to enjoy life.  Even better are the stories of how she loved and prayed for people around her, all the time, and with great effect.  I think I am only now becoming aware of the extent of the impact of her prayers.  Her life goes on because in the lives of the rest of us, in life, her prayers and actions were a constant in our lives.  That’s why I like this picture of her with Parker and Angela.

My sisters and I invite you to celebrate her life with us in Redlands, CA on March 24.

Christmas Greetings

The birth of Jesus is about promises God kept.

God continues to keep His promises to provide a way out for people, like each of us, who have trouble keeping ours.
Humankind is in kind of a mess right now, but God keeps on fulfilling His promises.
During this year, we have seen him keep promises to our family, and we look expectantly to him to see how He will make good on his promise to bless all of mankind.
May Christmas be a time in which you see God at work, actively fulfilling promises to do good to all those who need and depend on Him.
Tim & Lois
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
Greetings from New Zealand where we are visiting Emily and Erlo right now.

2011 Family News at Christmas

Lois and I are in New Zealand for Christmas.  We will spend Christmas with our daughter Emily who lives in Auckland.

Emily met Erlo Jones when they were both teaching English in Korea, and they got married this last April in Koh Samui, Thailand.

Erlo is a Kiwi (a New Zealand citizen, born in South Africa), and they both found jobs here in New Zealand.  Our first few days here with them have been a wonderful time for us to learn about their lives, and to discover some of the beauty of this lovely country.  We will spend Christmas with them, and with Erlo’s parents in Rotorua.

Before we left, we celebrated Christmas with our daughter Angela, son-in-law Shaun and little Parker.  They live close by in San Jose, California and we enjoy visiting them regularly and getting grandparent time with Parker.

We will miss spending Christmas with Marian, this year.  She will be coming to California from Madison, WI, where she is working on her dissertation, but we will only catch one day with her.   She leaves just one day after we get home.

But we did have a great time with her at Thanksgiving.  Some friends loaned us their cabin in Arnold, CA, for us to spend a week with the family.  Lois’ mom, Eleanore Holderman, joined us for the whole week.
Tim’s mom, Pat Halls, continues living at Plymouth Village in Redlands, CA.  He gets down to visit her every month or so.  Just before we left for New Zealand he went there to deliver a gift that Lois made, and that made her very happy!

One more very important thing.  We celebrated 35 years of marriage this last summer, with a visit to Montana.  In addition to Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, we visited four universities in Montana.

We are grateful for God’s incredible and abundant generosity and mercy toward us.

And we are grateful to all of you who are part of our lives and for your prayers and support.

WEA Mission Commission conducts 11th Global Consultation

The first two weeks of November I was in Germany.  Take a look at the pictures on my Facebook site.  I really enjoyed spending time with colleagues, and long-time friends from various parts of the world.  I also enjoyed thinking with them and others about the way God works in our world, and how he gets some people to live for the good of the World, and encourage people to follow Jesus.

Perhaps I will get a moment to blog about that.  But I didn’t want to put off any longer what I could have done in this last week or so:  give you the press release from the consultation.

Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011
Subject: WEA Mission Commission conducts 11th Global Consultation
News Release
November 18, 2011
The Mission Commission of the WEA, conducted its 11th Global Consultation, from November 6 to 11, with 203 mission practitioners from 42 countries at Schönblick Conference Center near Stuttgart, Germany.  The theme, God’s Disturbing Mission, emphasized the developing complexity and diversity in the practice of global mission today.  At the same time it recognized that mission belongs to God (Missio Dei).  The thought that God himself might be behind disturbances in the mission agenda proved to be an invitation to seek God, read His word, strengthen relationships across diversity, and bow in worship
The reality of constantly renewing leadership was enacted as younger leaders led the Consultation from the platform.  Their perspective drew attention to what is next.  Speakers from India, Lithuania, Russia, Brazil, USA, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Kenya, S. Korea, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the UK took part, reflecting the broad range of global perspectives.
Table groups met all week to discuss, pray and commit to paths of obedience as God spoke a fresh to move forward in mission. Afternoon “post-it” sessions identified and focused on shared concerns and explored ways of cooperation in mission practice.  The event ended around the Lord’s Table, an enactment of the global missional community gathered by Jesus from every nation, generation by generation, and sent out as the fruit of His sacrifice.  
Certain themes emerged: the challenge of developing adequate mission practice in and from contexts of complexity, uncertainty and change; and the reality of multiple approaches to mission and its practice.  
A palpable sense of mutuality and interdependence reminded all that any redefinition of ourselves and our mission must take place in a context of discipleship–of following Christ together.
The consultation was designed to shape the future of the MC itself.  The MC is governed by the Global Leadership Council (GLC), formed from its constituency.  Peter Tarantal of South Africa was elected as the new Chair. The GLC will meet in May 2012 and consider implications from the consultation for what comes next. Whatever the outcome, the consultation stands as a reminder that mission depends on God’s initiative and that he will use new and old senders to shape the future of Christian mission.  Bertil Ekström, Executive Director of the MC, looks to the future in this way: “We are on a journey together.”  
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The WEA Mission Commission responds to the needs of national and regional mission movements around the globe. For the past 24 years, the MC has dedicated its energies to strengthening these continental and national entities, and promoting movements in nations that currently are not a significant part taking the Gospel from every nation to every nation. The MC is the only global platform that serves this important function.
The WEA is the most comprehensive and representative Evangelical body in the world today.  Established in 1846, the WEA is a movement of growing influence in the early 21st century by equipping, connecting and speaking on behalf of its global constituency.  WEA serves 129 national evangelical alliances, hundreds of associate member alliances, totaling over 600 million evangelical Christians, uniting all to transform the nations.