Will you partner with us?

Are you, or have you raised any children? We are right now raising six of them in our home. What a blessing it is to have this responsibility. One of the things that we try to teach them is to obey the first time. Obedience is one of the goals that we all have as parents. Did you know that God also wants us to obey Him as His children? Recently God has asked our family to obey Him with a very challenging request. God has asked us to move to Zambia, Africa and to join Him in a very exciting missions ministry called GOSPELINK. We have said YES!!!

Gospelink is a missions organization that was established for the purpose of advancing the gospel throughout the world. However their means of doing this is different than most. They feel this can best be accomplished by assisting national preachers who are actively involved in evangelism, discipleship and church planting. Through prayer and financial assistance national preachers are empowered, their evangelistic outreach is enhanced and their church planting efforts are accelerated. You can learn more about this ministry by checking out the website at www.gospelink.org.

Our role with Gospelink will be to help further develop one of their newest ministry endeavors. This is the establishment of an international Bible college in Zambia, Africa for over 500 students per year. This college is needed so that more men can be trained to be pastors of the growing church in this land. It is very common for one pastor to be leading three to four churches. This leaves very little time for discipleship and thus many churches in Africa are very shallow spiritually. It is also common to see men leading churches who have had no formal Bible training whatsoever. The goal of this Bible college is to strengthen the church in Africa.

The Bible college campus is situated in a rural setting on over 300 acres of land. Gospelink has asked our family to join them in spearheading the agricultural development of this campus. Each student that comes to this college will need to earn his way through school by working the land for his own food but also learning how to get the best yield from the land so that some of the produce could be sold to help pay for his tuition. The land at the college has unlimited potential but there is a need to teach irrigation skills, fertilizer techniques and also the importance of rotating crops. The work is challenging as most farming in Zambia is still done completely by hand with very little help from machines. There will be students on the campus year-round, so there will also be a need for food all year long. When farm work is at a slower pace, we will help with ongoing construction, landscaping projects, and equipping of pastors.

What’s most exciting to our family about this ministry opportunity is the relationships that will be built with the hundreds of pastors and their families that will be sent out to be missionaries. They will leave equipped to meet the spiritual needs and the physical needs of local villagers through the biblical skills and agricultural skills learned at the Bible college. We know that thousands will respond to the gospel through the graduates of this school. We are excited to be a part of that.

So where are we at right now? Recently the Elder Board at our home church approved us for their “Transition to Ministry” program. For the next nine months we will be working towards being equipped to superbly serve in our roles at the Bible college. There are three areas we will study: Zambia (such as adjusting to life in a new culture, dealing with isolation, marriage and family issues); the agriculture operation (researching farming in Africa); and equipping 1000 pastors (even though our main focus is agriculture, Brian will be having an impact on hundreds of pastors over the years and wants to have some knowledge in various aspects of a pastors role and ministry to impact them in whatever way he can).

Now we are asking you to pray about joining us in this adventure of obedience. We need people like you to pray for and financially support our ministry with Gospelink. We sold our herd of milking cows in May of 2007 and we are living by faith that God will meet our needs through His church. If you would like to become one of our financial and prayer partners with Gospelink we would greatly appreciate it. To do that all you need to do is fill out the response form and mail it to us. We are in need of monthly support for this transition period and while in Zambia. We will also need funds for our outgoing costs as outlined below. We believe our finances are such that we will not need to begin receiving support until January of 2008. At that point we will use monthly support to pay for living expenses, training materials and programs for our transition plan. Any support not utilized during this time will be saved and used to help cover outgoing costs when we are ready to leave (these costs in moving overseas include: a home, a vehicle, airfare for a family of 8, and other miscellaneous start up costs such as passports, insurance, and work permits).

Enclosed you will also find a needs list. We plan to ship a sea container to Zambia that will have personal items, household items and fixtures, and equipment needed for the Bible college. We have selected a target date of moving to Zambia in May of 2008. In order for this to happen, this sea container needs to leave here in early January 2008. It should arrive in April, which will allow for time to finish building the house before the whole family gets there. We would ask you to please pray about any items you would be willing to donate or any funds to purchase items. The cost of the container, shipping, and taxes will be approximately $30,000. We have already started collecting items and are being blessed by the generosity of God’s people!

We are also in need of a prayer team beginning right now; we are praying for 100 committed partners to pray for us regularly.

If you have any questions that you would like to ask me, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me. I will look forward to hearing from you! May God bless you as you serve the King of Kings! If you have a bible study group we could share with, we’d love that as well. Perhaps you think this is something your church mission board could get behind. If you can provide us with a name, we will gladly make the contact to see if we can set up a meeting.

We thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and trust that you will prayerfully consider what God may have you do in regards to our ministry with Gospelink.


Serving God in Obedience,


Brian & Kelly Jo Kallevig
Cybil, Mariah, Greta, Hailey, Joseph, Myron

BUSY!

Just a simple request (ha!)

Things are feeling crazy. We are trying to get our support letters out by the middle of this week. Brian is also milking for a someone for 9 days starting Tuesday. He has his bible study, I have 2 bible studies, the kids have their co-op this week, one doctor's appointment and 3 dentists...
I keep thinking we just need to get through this week-but it's really not going to get that much better after that! Then it will just be the next thing. Please pray that we don't get too busy to remember God, why we are doing this. Also that we don't neglect the kids and school.
You can also pray for a miraculous outpouring of God's people who will be willing to partner with us in prayer and financial support-monthly and upfront costs. Pray that God will do that work and we won't try to do it all on our own.
Brian is also sharing for the next three weeks in a different Sunday school class each week. Pray that they will see his heart in what we will be doing. Two of the missionary couples our church supports are here/have been here. We have already had meetings with one of them and are going to try meet with the other. So missions is really up front and in the face of our church body.
There is so much to do; and for those who know me well-I love that!! But I want to be sure we are doing the right thing; not just anything to get crossed off the list.

I could go on and on; please pray as the Lord leads you!

More Conformations and answers to Prayers

1) Our worship pastor is in the Congo on a missions trip, which helps our cause by putting Africa on the radar of the leadership of the church.
2) God providing income through various part time jobs, so there is still time to get the other work (the plan) done.
3) The elder board voting unanimously to place us in the Transition to Ministry program. No red Flags from them.
4) The continued sense of peace that we are on Gods path and that He is preparing the way.
5) God continues to show us areas that we need to work on to experience growth.
6) The continued spiritual warfare that has been taking place in our home. Clearly a conformation we are on the right path.


Prayer requests:
1) Our work permit papers are going to be going in, pray that it moves through the proper channels smoothly and quickly.
2) For continued patience with the process, the kids, and the “Plan”.
3) That we do not get caught up with everything and forget where our focus is to be, that is prayer and study of the Word and reaching people here with the love of Christ.
4) We’re preparing to send out our support letters, for people to prayerfully consider how God would have them involved and that they would be obedient to His leading.
5) For continued perseverance in our studies, (Acts course, Daniel and Breaking Free Bible studies).
6) For our extended family as this is a difficult time of processing and acceptance. Pray for Gods’ peace and comfort in this transition time.
7) Logistics! What to plan for, pack for, what to buy here, what to buy there. The planning and preparation of building a house on the college site.

The Great Ommission

One part of our plan is to journal each week and answer two questions. What‘s the most important thing I learned this week? How will this make me more effective in Zambia?

Question one: when I look at the plan it doesn’t look like all that much but combine it with everything else in life and it becomes a lot. Learning to prioritize and plan. Having to say no to some things and remain focused on others. One thing to focus on is this Acts course I’m going through. Be willing to except that I’m not all that smart academically and that’s okay, but to get everything you can out of it and if that’s only 50% that’s better than nothing. That is a hard thing for me to accept, I know but I have to get out of it what God wants to teach me.

I’ve also been reading Steve Saint’s book The Great Omission. As I have been reading I’ve been jotting a few notes on what has been sticking out to me, here it is:

One thought I’ve had that just become clear to me is that if, or when, God calls me/us out of the IBC/Zambia He will have already chosen and raised someone else up to take my place. If the past is any indicator of the future, this is but another step. I must be diligent in my training and teaching and aware of the Spirit’s leading in this area.

Another thing that is going to be difficult is seeing something that needs to be done, having the means, the knowhow, the desire… and knowing that I shouldn’t-knowing that the nationals are the ones to do it. There’s a balance of that. There are probably going to be some things that will have to get done. But they may not get done to my standards. You don’t want dependency-you want interdependency.

Uneducated is not the same as ignorant.
Romans 12:3-5 (NIV) For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

As missionaries our purpose is NOT to change someone’s culture, but to offer people an opportunity to adopt a new life with new values and new attitudes. We all/should change when we become followers of Christ.

Zookeeper Approach-keep outsiders and natives as they are
Cloner’s Approach-if they want to do the things we do, then they will have to be like us.

The technology must be appropriate for the people who are going to use it.
Simpler is better (usable and maintainable, and AFFORDABLE to the nationals)

The Great Commission is not a spectator sport, there or here. It is more a relay race.

Safety is not the ultimate objective as Christians or living a long life. Our objective is to obey God and to fulfill His plan for us.
John 14:15 (NIV) "If you love me, you will obey what I command".

I’ll be learning as much as I’ll be teaching.

The next part of the book is about money and $ issues.
Questions to ask yourself: “Do you work to live or do you live to work” there’s a BIG difference. “How much is enough” is your mindset: that “too little” is what I make, “enough” is more than I make. And “too much” never happens. Money is like medicine—it becomes a poison if it is received in excess.

What can often be a difficult thought: You cannot allow good endeavors {humanitarian efforts} to get in the way of spreading the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is believe, repent, and be saved. {John 3:16} These other things can and one could argue should be done along side of the Great Commission. But it should never take its place. Meeting people’s felt needs {hunger} is an effective way of opening doors to the Gospel, but don’t forget the Gospel.

There are three primary areas that a new body of believers has to develop before they can be weaned from the supporting “milk” provided by outsiders. At the point of weaning they should be able:
1) Lead others to Christ {self-propagating} the nationals in Zambia are very good at this.
2) Organize and police their own affairs {self-governing} the need training in this area, I believe this is where discipleship training would greatly help.
3) Support their own ministry {self-supporting} this is the area that is the most difficult, understandably when you’re dealing with a nation where unemployment is from 70 -80%. People feel they don’t have anything ($) to give (tithe), when all they have to do is get more creative.

Questions to periodically ask yourself in missions:
1) Is my mission method working as well as it should?
2) Do I have the right approach?
3) Am I even on the right road?
We must not forget to do God’s will- we must do it His way (follow His pattern).

God has laid out a pattern in the gospel of Acts for us to follow. The forms may vary but the functions should remain the same.

The first and most important (and where everything with God should begin) is PRAYER! Seeking Him in all things and listening and being obedient to the Holy Spirit leading.

Photos

I am horrible at putting up photos-just never think to do it. If we didn't have super-slow dial-up, i'd post all 5 pictures in the process...

Here are our cuties in some outfits we got for them at the Acres of Hope Festival of Hope we went to in August.

SO HERE'S THE TRANSITION PLAN

(This is a bible one of the gentleman had at the church Brian and the team helped plant when they were in Zambia)

There are three key areas we will be working on to Superbly Serve in Zambia:

1. Zambia-adjusting to life in a new culture, dealing with isolation, marriage and family issues

2. Agriculture Operations-there will be ongoing research for the agriculture operation: irrigation, soil conditions, crops

3. Equipping 1000 Pastors-training (Brian in particular) to have an impact on the equipping of the 1000 pastors that this school will instruct

Each week we will journal:
1) What is the most important thing I learned this week?
2) How will this make me more effective in Zambia?

Here are some of the resources we plan to use:

Systematic Theology- Wayne Grudem
10 Keys to Unlocking the Bible- Colin Smith
Bible Software
BILD-Acts Course, Leaders and the Early Church, Interpreting the Word
First Principles Series
Tough Questions about God, Faith, & Life: Answers to Difficult Questions Teens Ask-C. Colson
Knowing God-J. I. Packer
Elders and Leaders- Gene Getz
African Friends and Money Matters-
Village Medical Manual-Mary Vanderkooi
Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer
Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
Sense and Nonsense about Prayer by Lehman Strauss
The Prayer Life by Andrew Murray
Daring To Draw Near by John White
The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard
The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen

AND NOW...YOUR TURN

So now you have read Brian’s story, and mine. Now it is your turn to tell yours. There is freedom found in Christ, and there is freedom in speaking the truth out loud! Boldly! We invite you to use the comment section to share your story with us. We don’t care how boring you think it is, or how where you are from (geographically and spiritually), we don’t care how detailed you go! But we encourage you to shine the Light of Christ!
Now, I know that there are people from 7 different countries and 62 different cities that have read this blog at least once. So we should see at least a few stories! We hope we have encouraged you by sharing our faith journeys, now we humbly ask you to encourage us (that includes all who may read this blog).
If you are uncomfortable sharing your story online, but are willing to share it with us, you can click the “EMAIL THE KALLEVIGS” link and send it to our personal email and it won’t be published.