Added Clarity

So, as this year has gone by, my plans and desires for Scotland have changed bit by bit. At first I wanted to go over permanently and preach the gospel with little to no plan or vision tied to that, then, after some research I found out the financial obligations of a missionary to Scotland and I posted those on this blog (roughly $800 a month for 5 years, at which point I could get a job and, Lord willing, support myself and others) What came next was a call from God to plant a church, and then a call to go in January. At every step The Lord has told me to stay with Calvary Motherwell and both that church and those people that make it up have been on my heart for the duration.

Rather than just haphazardly run around Scotland with no idea what I'm doing, I believe The Lord is telling me to get some training and structure (those of you who know me, KNOW that I am in need of some structure) and that is exactly what the "Gap Year" program, offered by Calvary Motherwell, is.

Below is a description of what the program entails and a contact in Motherwell in case you would like some more information from them.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Calvary Motherwell (Scotland) has designed a year of opportunity where there is the challenge to develop and be trained, hands-on, in ministry in a number of ways.

The term “Gap Year” refers to a time out of education, employment or perhaps on graduating from Bible College/Extension Campus.

We offer a well planned and structured programme that will include administration, youth work, evangelism, working with children, ministering in the community, and for those called to a specific area of ministry – pastoral, teaching, worship, - a very intense course, with practical opportunities, to prepare for effective ministry. For those who are unsure of their calling, the Gap Year will help them discover their calling.

DATES

The Gap Year programme will start in January 2011 and although the programme is designed for a one year (or longer) visit, we will accommodate shorter term visits.

ACCOMMODATION

Gap Year workers will be housed in rented accommodation in the Motherwell area with 3 or 4 people in each home. Male and female will be housed in separate accommodation. The accommodation will be fully furnished, clean and provide a comfortable standard of living. All utility charges – water, gas, electricity and local council tax – will be included in the Gap Year costs.

FOOD

During the week, lunch and dinner will be provided and taken at church and at the weekend prepared at the accommodation. Food costs are included in the overall cost.

TRANSPORT

A transportation pass – bus and train – will be issued to all participants, giving access to unlimited public transport. There is an excellent transportation system and the pass covers a large area of Scotland. Anyone wishing to locally purchase a car for travelling will do so at their own expense.

PRAYER

Naturally there will be a great emphasis on prayer, both personal and corporate. Without everything being bathed in prayer, the Gap Year programme becomes just that…another programme.

MINISTRY ACTIVITIES

These will include: evangelism, children’s ministry, youth work, Servanthood, worship, music ministry, media ministry, outreach (street, movie, coffee chop, bookstore, and sports), home fellowships and in general all ministries at Calvary Motherwell.

SPECIALISED TRAINING (Participants can choose what they feel most appropriate)

Missions; Homiletics; Worship; Church Planting; Music & Media; Comparative Religions and Cults, Evangelism. Other specific courses will be added as required.

WILDERNESS TRIPSOver the course of a year there will be two challenging and character building trips, both lasting one week. These will be the West Highland Way, a 95 mile walk through spectacular and rugged countryside along Loch Lomond and the other the St. Cuthbert’s Way, a 62 mile walk from Melrose in the Scottish Borders to the island of Lindisfarne in North West England. The cost of these trips is included in the overall costs.

All participants will be expected to attend ALL main church services and to support other specific ministries – men’s, women’s youth, home fellowships.

Each participant will have two days off each week on a rotational basis. Saturdays and Sundays are considered work days. Participants wanting to return home for Christmas, Thanksgiving etc will be allowed a 2 week vacation period.

Although we prefer participants to commit to a full one year programme, we would consider alternative durations for service.

ACCOUNTABILITY
There will be a strict policy of accountability to the leadership at Calvary Motherwell and we would expect at least a monthly report to be sent back to the home church and any supporters.

COST – FULLY INCLUSIVE*

The monthly cost will be $700.00 which covers

Accommodation

Food

Local Taxes

Immigration fees (but not Visa costs)

All local transportation except that of a personal nature

Two wilderness trips with accommodation and food

Local mission trips (e.g. 7 day Beach/Seaside Mission)

All training costs

Administrative costs

* should exchange rates between the US Dollar and Pound Sterling vary substantially, there will be a review of the monthly costs which could either raise or lower the monthly amount due.

Personal spending money is not included but we would not envisage there to be a necessity for anything over $100 per month.

Personal travel insurance is not included.

Travel to and from the United States is not included.

“You know you are truly in God’s will when a place on a map becomes a place in your heart.”

Further information and application form from Pastor David Simpson

office@calvarymotherwell.org

_______________________________________________________________________________________

As always,

prayer, encouragement, suggestions, and support are much appreciated

Warehouse Christian Ministries
9933 Business Park Drive
Sacramento, CA 95827
Note: For Andrew Myers

New stuff!!!!!!

First of all I would like to state emphatically that my title absolutely needed that many exclamation points on it, secondly I would like to say HI!


ok, so now that that is out of the way, here's some new stuff that God has been doing in this life He's given me.



I've been leading a weekly bible study at the Dion house (remedy house now?) anyways, it's been amazing and stretching, and I'm so stoked to be a part of it. We've been going through Hosea and are in the 4th chapter now, such a buff book, also, it's a book I've never taught through before so every week is like an adventure. :)



The Lord blessed me with an amazing opportunity to teach again at Remedy Elk Grove (an inter-denominational college group) and I got absolutely wrecked by it. I had everything all planned out and God was like, 'ummm, yeah, Andrew, I'm going to need you to change a few things and this thing I'm going to ask you to do, its going to be rough, but the real question is, do you fear Me?' (you'll understand if you hear the message)



below is the link to it if you feel so inclined
Its Podcast number 7


AND NOW THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!! or maybe well, probably, not.
The Scotland Update. :)
So I still feel called to go to Scotland as a missionary for my entire life, and that may or may not play out as a reality according to God's will, however, an opportunity to go and serve in Scotland for a year in January has come about and I am making every effort that I can think of to go so that, if He indeed wants me to go, I will be ready to go.


Pastor David (head pastor of Calvary Motherwell) is whom I've been speaking with and when I asked him for some specifics about what I would be doing there, he said:
"We have literally dozens of ideas for ministry that we'd like to implement over the next year or so...a completely revamped youth ministry, the coffee shop(s), thrift store, we'd like to purchase an old building to house a special outreach for youth, start a weekly movie night, a weekly "open mic" event in a coffee house setting, a drama group, development of using the arts, radio & other media development...

So there's plenty of opportunities.


And if the Lord leads you to go out and plant a church, we'll be right there beside you."


The idea that gets me the most excited is the coffee shop. Basically it would be a fully functioning coffee shop in a mall or other high traffic area where 3-4 or possibly more times a week we would have church services, possibly with the coffee shop open and functioning while we had church (I feel I should add here that I do feel called to plant a church in Scotland and this coffee shop may turn out to be exactly that). The reasoning for doing a coffee shop like this is that there are many people who feel very uncomfortable going to a church building and sitting in a pew and all that, however they are not so opposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.


This definitely requires some further explanation because church in Scotland is not like church in the States. Here you might find a traditional steeple building or perhaps a warehouse, an auditorium, or even church in a house. Rarely would you find pews in a church in the States, but in Scotland, church is incredibly traditional and almost always a steeple with pews (at least as far as I could tell from the various churches I visited). That's not to say traditional is bad, in fact I really love traditional services, it's how I was raised, but not everyone feels that way. So, there is an unreached people group in Scotland who are not opposed to the Gospel, but aren't interested in tradition, this people group is who the coffee shops are targeting and that is something I would love to be a part of.


I should say this also, the coffee shops are something I would love to do, it's what I plan on doing, but you know how God works, within His will, not our's. So, in reality, that's only a passion I have, not an absolute "this is what I will do", I'm open to whatever He will have me do and there seems to be plenty of opportunities available with Calvary Motherwell
as always, prayers, encouragement, guidance, and support are more than welcome if you so desire.


Warehouse Christian Ministries
9933 Business park drive
Sacramento, CA 95827
Note: for Andrew Myers

micro-teaching

This is what I will call a micro-version of a teaching I did quite some time ago, but it came up again on facebook, so yeah, here it is. :)


Proverbs 26:11
Like a dog that returns to its vomit
Is a fool who repeats his folly.

as you read that, your thoughts might be "EWWWWW... GROSS!!!!" or "That's DISGUSTING!!!" and I would not blame you, in fact, you're right sin is gross. If you reference psalm 14:1 and 53:1(THE fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.) it is the fool that says in his own heart that there is no God, and what is a fools folly except that which flows from his own foolishness, namely sin. As a dog will continue to eat his own vomit though good and clean food is available, so too will a fool return to his folly (sin), rather than turn (repent) and cling to God.

SO... next time sin looks tempting, remember, it's vomit, and mind you dogs usually vomit when they have either eaten their own fecal matter or they have eaten something incredibly rotten, so its vomited fecal matter and/or rotten refuse and God has something so much greater for you, a bountiful feast (Isaiah 25:6), a quiet stream(Psalm23:1-3), a place of refuge(Isaiah 4:2-6), and eternal, unparalleled, inseparable love(John 15 & Romans 8:29-39).

a feast, or vomit... righteousness, or sin.(Romans 6:16-18) Your decision displays your nature, what's yours?

Your Brother in Christ
~Andrew~

Numero dos

So, I know this is a blog about God's call on my life to Scotland, but for now, and probably in the future for that matter, it will include the various things that God is doing in my life to prepare me for that call and/or sustain me while I'm fulfilling it.

So, this summer has been intense, we lit the sky on fire to celebrate independence day and at the same time got to meet this really cool guy Tri and preach the gospel to him, then in the next couple days/weeks we talked to him and encouraged him and now were just kickin it with him, living it. :)

Had some large portions of drama with my room mates, but God was with those of us who were sinned against and we all grew through the experience.

Ohhh, and yet another person hates my guts because of my Theology rather than my personality, actions, or displayed relationship with God.

Also, this bit of information may seem vague and it's that way on purpose :), i had become almost content with working, occasionally witnessing, being an American bachelor, but do to a proverbial punch to the gut and broken board over the back of my head, I'm incredibly motivated to pursue with my whole heart the calling God has on my life. Instead of, rather lazily i might add, sitting back and waiting for God to hand me everything on a silver platter as He waits upon me, I'm taking my place as His servant and doing all that He calls me to do to make Scotland a reality for me.

I guess all of this is to say

1) I've learned more about relational evangilism

2) I've learned about church discipline and God's concern with Holiness

3) I've learned to love when I am hated, bless when I am cursed, and hold to truth no matter the cost

4) As I've already said, I've become all the more motivated to pursue God and His calling on this life which is rightfully His.

So... in case that wasn't enough to read, here's some more

The reality of my financial state is this, i cant work for pay for 5 years while i am in Scotland, I've been told by members of the Church in Scotland that i will need $800 a month to live there, so...

$800 * 12 = $9,600
$9600 * 5= $48,000

currently I'm at about $1600 with another $3500 pledged over the next 2 years.

so, I'm still in need of $42,900.

I'm not asking you to read this and pull out your check books and pledge your hard earned money to a cause you don't believe in or a person you hardly know, what I am asking is that you pray to God, ask Him if, when, and how much He would have you give and allow Him to guide you. If He doesn't tell you to give, please do not send me anything besides your prayers. The only reason i even put the numbers out there is to make the need known.

If He does call you to give, you can send a check to:
Warehouse Christian Ministries
9933 Business Park Drive
Sacramento, California 95827
Note: for Andrew Myers

My First Blog/Post

So, ummm, Hi anyone and everyone that may be reading, first of all, thank you so much for taking the time to read this Blog/Post, it means a lot to me. :)

Secondly, My name is Andrew Myers, but you probably already know that. I love Jesus (by Grace) though not perfectly (displaying my need for Grace) and daily I am changed more and more into His image (again, Grace). I love me some Grace.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/remedy-college-ministry-podcast/id371422584

^ up there, that's a teaching I did on grace, it's kind of a culmination of the central points of what I believe about grace... you might like it, you might not, I hope it blesses you either way. I gave it at Remedy, a college group in Elk Grove, CA.

Now i guess I'll get to the point here,
I believe God has called me to Scotland. The scripture Isaiah 52:10-13 is one of the many God has used to confirm this for me; have you ever had one of those moments when the Bible just speaks to you? I've had that experience more than once and in the last few years it has been primarily about leaving this country, and more recently, about going to Scotland.

I went for a sort of "scope out the land" mission this last February. What I found was a people very open to spirituality, even more so to Christianity in particular, but no one to tell them or show them the truth. Most "Christian" establishments have long since stopped being Christian and have become entirely religious establishments. Come in, do these things, give us your money, you'll go to heaven. It's a far cry from the new life the bible speaks of and the people of Scotland, honestly to my surprise, are longing for more. God has primed the hearts and awakened the souls of this people and He is sending His workers to them. I believe, by the grace of God, He has called me to be one of them.

Here are a few reasons why:

It was hard

I haven't been the same since

The very reason i went to Scotland (to minister to college students) is the exact need they have

since I've been back I've have a lot of doubts, all met and destroyed by scripture and prayer... it seems to me, if you have doubts and they get worse with scripture and prayer, then its not a good idea, however, if the opposite is true, God's probably telling you something.


so, in closing, here are a couple of technical notes,

1) I need a certificate of endorsement to get a missionary visa. Calvary motherwell is working on that now, please pray, they aren't easy to get.

2) I also need to be fully supported for the first 5 years there... laws in Scotland prohibit missionaries from working, but after 5 years you can get your "green card" and start working, then you can become a citizen the next year.

Prayer is so so so so so so important... it might seem strange, but I covet your prayers so much more than anything else. PLEASE PRAY!!!

if you want to know any more about the details you can contact me at andrew8668@hotmail.com and I'll fill you in

God bless
~Andrew~