When and What?

Life is a trip. God has put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation. To see how the whole story began click here. It seems that the most common two questions I'm hearing now are, "When are you going?" and "What will you be doing?" I expect to be able to arrive in Albuquerque, NM, in order to meet my pastor and friend, Terry Matthews at the airport there sometime in the last two weeks of May. The exact date has not yet been set. Terry will fly out to help me get my feet on the ground. He has been there many times by now and understands much that I will have to learn. I'll meet him at the airport in Albuquerque and we will travel together the rest of the way to Shiprock. I'm sure that he will be a great help to me and I really appreciate the fact that he is willing to give up some of his valuable time in order to be with me. The time available to get to know each other better and have one-on-one conversation is a big plus for me too. I actually expect to leave 5 or 6 days prior to our planned meeting. The drive doesn't take that long, but I want to be able to see a little something of this country as I travel. Some part of the time, I'll travel off I40 and on what little remains of the old Route 66, the Mother Road. That appeals to the romantic in me. I'll post the actual departure date and expected arrival once the date is set. Just exactly what I will be doing is not tightly defined at this time. Rodney Aist, the Director of FCNAM, has drawn up an eight-point job description for me. Each point defines an area of hoped for impact, but until I begin my service, it is difficult to say where we will be most successful. I use the 'we' there to describe the team of Rodney and me. In football terms, Rodney is going to be the player / coach, plan the offense and defense, and call the plays. With his guidance, I'll try to be successful blocking, tackling, and running the ball. Yeah, it is hard to imagine this chunky body carrying a ball, so it is a good thing that I won't really have to run very often. Briefly, here are the eight points defined in the job description: 1) Advocacy Program - Work with the director in developing the initial phases of a ministry advocacy program, i.e., advocating for the Navajos and helping them to advocate for themselves. 2) Men's Ministry - Work with the Shiprock UMC pastor to strengthen the men's programs of the church. 3) Local Missions - Explore possibilities of engaging with the church's local missions program. 4) Congregational Development - Become familiar with the curriculum of the Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations and implement its language in the work with FCNAM. 5) Mission Team Program - Work with the Cove church (35 miles away) to develop the congregation's summer mission team program for 2010. 6) Navajo Undergraduate Program - Research and document undergraduate education available for our member congregations. 7) Promotion and Development - As determined by the Director, engage with various local promotional and developmental projects. Liaise with the Western NC Conference and the W-S District in developing ministry support. 8) Administration and Supervision - Needed administrative work as defined by the Director. As you can see, the scope of these areas is wide and exciting with many opportunities for His service. They are areas that are very open-ended and the work on them and the impact from them may well outlast me by years. At least that is my hope and prayer. I hope that this answers, at least somewhat, the two questions I mentioned at first. As always, I ask for your prayers. I know that God will never fail me. I would like for you to pray that I will have the strength and skills not to fail God.