We are stateside!

I can hardly believe it’s been long enough, but here we are on our first home assignment. We have now been in the US for almost two weeks; jet lag is gone and we are beginning to get our feet under us. We started out in Oklahoma… Bethany, Oklahoma, to be exact and this was the perfect place to start. Our first Sunday we spoke at Lake Overholser Church of the Nazarene which is pastored by none other than Pastor Rick Green. Pastor Rick was our Senior Pastor in Brookings, Oregon and he and his family are like family to us. It was so good to get to see them. His kids, who were teens when when we met, are all grown up and have careers, families, and kids of their own. Our kids, who were babies, are either in, soon to be in, or graduating from college. We are all a bit grayer, but they are still the wonderful people who mentored, ministered with, and supported us.

I can honestly say it feels great to be back in America. Everyone speaks English; we don’t feel like giants; the air is clean; we can drink water from the tap or water fountain (they actually have water fountains here); everything is so spacious; it’s not weird when you make eye contact with strangers or speak to them. People aren’t just polite, they are friendly. I understand what’s going on around me. I get the nuances, the facial expressions, the body language, the jokes. It’s so… easy.

And yet… it’s not. We drive by church after church (I think there is literally one on every block in Bethany, OK) and it’s nice to see churches rather than wats. It’s nice not to stand out while for praying for a meal. It’s all very nice. The churches are very nice. Very Nice. Stained glass windows, monuments and plaques dedicated to those who’ve given money or served faithfully for a long time. Enormous buildings used for preschools, multiple Sunday school classrooms, Bible studies, small groups, recovery ministries… all great stuff. Lots of stuff.

It’s hard not to compare. When we moved to Thailand, we did a lot of comparing there was a lot of , “well that’s different!” And we expected that. What I didn’t I expect was to experience it in reverse, especially when it comes to the Church. I didn’t expect to see and be so struck by the contrast between the churches here and the churches there. We walked into a kids Sunday school room that was larger than the open air “room” where we taught 65 people in Cambodia, larger than most of the places where our churches meet. We learned of remodeling projects and building projects, money poured into the facilities, sanctuaries with countless seats, multiple services to suit various worship preferences, church plants started by multiple families… it’s all very good, very nice.

In Southeast Asia, the churches that do have buildings usually have one room. If there is more than one, the rest is probably living quarters. Most churches meet in someone’s home which is encouraged because before the church becomes too big, we hope and pray another church or two are birthed from that house church. The idea of quarreling over what songs or what style of song to sing is odd and completely foreign. They are thrilled that their young people are willing to get up and worship. The adults applaud the more modern songs and the kids learn the old hymns. The kids dance to worship music and it’s a joy to watch. Tithing and giving are expected and accountability is public (I’ll share that in another post). Giving thanks and testimony are a regular part of worship. And a Building is often a burden rather than a blessing.

During the next 2 months we will be sharing in a lot of nice buildings to a lot of wonderful people. We will be telling about what God is doing with small things… few people, almost no money, little education, and mustard seed faith. We will share these things in the hopes that our brothers and sisters here in these lovely churches will catch a vision to offer God everything they have, to be obedient, and join us.

The differences between the U.S. and Southeast Asia are vast, but our God is the same here and there. He still works through small things and large things. Through the humble obedient heart, He is still glorified.