Trusting God at 80mph

Posted on November 20, 2014 by derikdavis

Understanding the title before you begin to read the rest of this post is most important. Picture me, frozen in time, gripping the handle tightly as my driver friend (insert favorite NASCAR joke here) races through the rainy, very slick roads of a small town in an Eastern European country, with a determined look on his face which speaks to his desire to make it to his intended destination—a church he pastors, or otherwise scrape the paint off the next vehicle ahead. I’m convinced this guy is passionate about seeing souls coming into the kingdom of God, based not on the attention he gives to the road, but rather the passion in his heart for the people of Hirbovat, Moldova.

Faithfully serving and teaching those gathered on a cold Sunday morning, where there are no padded pews or ladies who persist on having the thermostat adjusted (there is no thermostat here). The temperature is just fine, thank you. A warm 45 degrees Fahrenheit. The sermon comes with a dose of bundled up worshippers who sing with breath-you-can-see joy after walking fifteen minutes over mud, bumps, potholes; enduring splashes from passing vehicles and nosey loose pets. Such people are grateful for a space to call their own, although this is the second time they have moved, and are moving for a third very soon.

What is behind the passion of this pastor and the commitment of such people as these? It is, simply and profoundly put, trust. A trust in a faithful God who asks for reckless abandon to all who would come and follow him, no matter the cost. God will see us through. Through the sanctifying work of Christ, God will see us through. Trust that shows faith and courage when the power from a single power cord stretched to the limit goes out and the worshippers continue, not missing a beat. Trust that points to the power of prayer as family members come to Christ, and needs are met, proving God cares for his children.

Trust that even at speeds that feel like 80mph to me, are echoed by laughter and proclamation of a pastor who says, “I LOVE working for God”! To the God who owns the silver and the gold, everything is His, He proves himself faithful to this young pastor.

The same can be said of others who have come before this pastor, fervently working to plant a church that plants churches. Having moved multiple times and to multiple locations, there are many in Filadelfia Church who desire to see everyone in Aneni Noi come to faith and repentance in Christ Jesus. From young women being discipled, the widow’s needs being met, the student’s questions being patiently answered, orphans being rescued, to passionate missions teams eager to lock arms from across the ocean, this church stands on the front lines in the spread of the gospel.

Heart for the Community and Beyond

Posted on July 31, 2014 by derikdavis

Sitting in a home drinking hot tea and eating chocolates in a country in Eastern Europe defies the regular fare that one’s mind often wanders to when thinking of being on mission for God. Yet the family we are with is much like my own; the mom is a teacher, the dad wants his son to do well in school, and they want to make interior improvements to their living space. We sit and visit for a while, nervously speaking our own language while hearing translation into another, hoping the family feels and sees the intent of compassion in our hearts. They certainly do, as truth is shared and prayers and hugs are warmly exchanged, and going away from the home doesn’t feel like it’s the last time we will see this family. In the evening we respond to an invitation to visit the mother’s school where she teaches and her son attends. The father also teaches history there. Walking along the not so busy street in the cool of the evening reminds me of a much slower time back home. We are not in a rush to get anywhere. Taking in laughs at life and how our paths have met, our friends we are with are so dear to us. This is the mission trip I’m on. It seems so familiar, not because of my previous times here, but a kindred spirit is shared among our team and our Moldovan counterparts. We both love the people here. We want them to see Jesus as he really is. There is a larger story here beyond the number of people that have come to know Jesus. Jesus is the point of it all for sure, but within the context of the lives of the people he chooses to touch, a beautiful tale of joys and celebrations found in the love of God and prayers answered through faith are a normal occurrence at the church we are partnering with for the week. We love Filadelfia church and its people. They love their community so much. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be here among friends. My prayer is that what we have done here together, will have lasting impact in the lives of those surrounding Biserica Filadelfia for years to come.

The Youth Camp Experience Is Alive and Well

Posted on June 26, 2014 by derikdavis

Camp is always a great opportunity for students and leaders alike to engage their hearts towards a heightened focus on all things faith based and relationship driven. With excellent speakers and a solid worship experience, E-Camps delivers all this and more for many student ministries including ours.

Camp recreation included relay type games on the beach, by different groupings of teams. We were the Blue Cowboys (insert cowboy yell here). Stuart Hall challenged our hearts during each session through a fresh look at how we apply 1 Timothy 4:12.

Our group benefitted from this camp experience and are coming back to the normal routine of life refreshed, challenged, and encouraged to live life with the label God gives every believer through a relationship with Christ.

The Challenge of Being In The World and Not of It

Posted on June 10, 2014 by derikdavis

The recent shootings on the campuses of Seattle Pacific University and Reynolds High School are indeed a tragedy and a reminder to us all that life is precious and also temporary on this earth. We hug our children a little tighter, thank God for their safety and presence with us, and continue about our lives.

As I heard the news reports come in bit by bit, the media began a typical play by play of tragedies that we are becoming all too familiar with. Finding out incoming new details quicker than the next guy can become a pursuit with an easy search on social media. But at the heart of the tragedy are lost lives, broken hearts and communities reeling with grief and questions that often go unanswered or are given answers unsuitable to the ones asking. The armchair philosophers chime in quickly (and oftentimes should) on the ills of such things as gun violence, lack of safety in the schools, or the nature of broken families impacted by divorce, mental illness, lack of a moral compass, or any number of fill in the blank crises that many students shoulder daily.

If you want to go down the gun violence path, blaming the guns isn’t going to help. You can find research that points to an increase in gun ownership and a decrease in gun violence if you like. But that’s not the point of this post. My point is simply this: The world we live in is the world that Jesus called us to be in, as his followers. We are to not shrink back and go hide in a hole until Jesus comes back. Tragedies will happen. Our students and people in general need the light of Christ in their lives. We are the light of the world, a city on a hill.

I love the public school system because in large measure it’s where the greatest mission field of students is. You can make the argument for homeschooling and private schooling and I’ll sit down with you and agree with you whole-heartedly over a cup of coffee. I’ve chosen to send my child (who is a believer) to public school because I believe that I should practice what I preach, and teach him the same. I volunteer at the public school; I visit the lunches at public school. I go to students’ events and games. I’ve volunteered at the private school and visited lunches there also, simply to be amongst the students God has placed in our community. My wife and I have even attempted homeschooling with our son, going to the homeschool convention, with an armload of curriculum to boot. It’s the call of Jesus on my life to be in the world and not of it that beckons me to be among those who need Jesus, no matter where that takes me.

When tragedy happens, don’t make the mistake of throwing the baby out with the bath water. There are a lot of teachers and administrators and students in the public school system that needs the church to be salt and light with them.

Pray for the victims and families of these senseless tragedies. Pray for the perpetrators too. Thank a teacher, principal, or parent. Encourage them in their role in the public sector. Follow Jesus’ command to be in and not of in John 17:14-19 or as someone put it better, not of, but sent into.

Would You Pray This Prayer Today With Me?

Posted on April 2, 2014 by derikdavis

A prayer for every student in New Hanover County:

To those who know Jesus, may you be empowered by the Spirit of God at work within you to speak the love of Jesus with boldness to those God brings to you.

To those who are struggling with Jesus, may your heart be changed by the grace of God and wonderful work of his purpose in you.

Those who don’t yet know Jesus, may God bring you to himself and may God use the witness of Jesus in other students to lead you to the truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Well This Is A First…An Unexpected Journey

Posted on March 15, 2014 by derikdavis

God has afforded me the incredible opportunity to work with amazing people and incredible students. I’ve laughed with students and celebrated with them on the mountain top experiences, and I’ve cried with families and students in the depths of darkness and despair. I have gone from admiring the student who was confidently aware of God’s plan for their life and well on their way to fleshing out that plan in the strength of Christ, to seeing confused, often dazed glances of students who asked “why” during life’s tragedies and wondered whether the next minute of life would bring heartache or doubt.

In all these times, God’s sovereign hand has been at work. His guiding hand, his greatness, his providential expanse of working out that which He has set out to accomplish. We have been able to share in such a journey. As the people who love God, we have, by the mercy and grace of God, been able to experience the awe and wonder of God in life’s joys and pains.

It’d be great if every youth ministry story had a happy ending; a crescendo to well laid out plans and prayed over experiences. Most stories that are shared in youth ministry circles do have such endings. But how many times do you hear of a story in which the goal wasn’t achieved? I’ve got one for you, and it’s taken awhile to sort through. Being in youth ministry awhile, a sort of familiarity sets in to otherwise new experiences for those who’ve never been. The calendaring, communicating of times, dates, costs, transportation, food, speakers, devotions, schedules, leaders, –what’s needed for a youth event to become more than just a trip, but an experience for a teen to encounter Christ in a new and fresh way. Disclaimer: trips aren’t youth ministry, and youth ministry isn’t just trips, but you’ll find the two working in tandem quite often.

Plans were made for a staple event in student ministry – the Christian Music Concert. There are lots of options out there. The goals? To expose students to the positive message and example of Christian artists as an alternative to today’s cultural offerings in music, to expose students to moments of worship, to encourage the spiritual formation of student-mentor relationships with leaders ready to engage and love on students, and to have fun while doing it!

In short, our bus broke down. Bus break-downs just happen. Tires blow, engines over heat, a myriad of things can happen. In our case, a serpentine belt snapped. That’s simply the backdrop of a greater story. A group of students and adults excited and ready to rock out for Jesus and set under some great teaching—suddenly plans were put on hold. No Plan B. Calls were made to people who could help, but challenges arise quickly when you’re far away from home. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. The bus simply broke down. We moved everyone away from the highway, and then minutes later, a van just pulled over and offered to help us.

It was exactly what we needed. We climbed in the van, so thankful to God for these kind people, and drove to a pretty cool tourist spot along I-95, and regrouped our plans. Our bus driver stayed behind to attempt to make repairs, and as time went on, it was becoming more apparent that we might not make the concert. Social media confirmed our fears when a sellout crowd packed the arena we were headed to. So we became tourists. We hung out in the burger joint, played cards and waited. As the minutes turned into hours, we soon discovered the kindness of a patrol officer helping our driver get parts. Three trips to an auto parts store, and our bus was working again! Thanks to some mechanical prowess by our driver, we were able to go back home in about two hours after the breakdown. In fifteen years of ministry, I had never cancelled an event due to a break down–maybe on the journey back home or even to a destination, but never before a destination. There were hopes of salvaging the last hour of the concert if the bus had been fixed at a certain time. But that didn’t happen.

The kindness of two men and a van at just the right time, the patience of some great adult leaders, the mechanical skill of our driver, the generosity of a patrol officer, and some wonderful time for bonding experiences playing cards and eating tacos and spicy ginger ale proved to be a movement of God’s grace upon a youth group wanting to go to a concert. And even the drummer from the Newsboys liked our photo of us hangin out in the burger joint on Instagram before they went on to play! The mood was happy on the way back home. We had missed a concert, but we had seen a greater concert put on by a God who cares about his creation deeply.

Would You Consider Praying and Partnering With Me In My Fundraising For Moldova 2014?

Posted on February 5, 2014 by derikdavis

North Carolina Baptists have made the clarion call to mobilize churches within their state to partner with the Moldovan Baptist Union to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through strategic partnerships over the next three years.

The Need Is indeed Great According to the Joshua Project, the population of Moldova numbers close to 96.7 percent non-evangelical. The primary religion is Orthodox, equaling 73 percent of the population. Within the Baptist community, the Union of Christian Evangelical Baptist Churches of Moldova is the largest Baptist body, with 490 churches and mission points divided into nine regions.

We are partnering with Pastor Igor Seremet of Baptist Biserica Filidelfia and are so excited to be sending a team to Moldova consisting of high school, college, adult, and senior adults. This is the second year of a three year partnership to Moldova and this is a wonderful opportunity to help a church that seeks to have a local impact with a global reach.

The Southside team continues effort in raising funds The second trip for the team will cost approximately $2,500 per member. Several fundraisers are scheduled including a BBQ, a Yard Sale, Candy sales, and generous support from family and friends like YOU! If you received a support letter last year from me, you will be getting one soon in the mail. If not, I’d love you to join me this year! Read on to learn how you can help! Thank you!

We will be ministering in Anenii Noi, Moldova, and surrounding villages. On this trip, we will be involved in several different ministries: working with children in rural and urban neighborhoods, assisting a local church plant in Moldova through neighborhood VBS (Vacation Bible School). We will also be offering an English as a Second Language Course (ESL) that focuses on basic English using the Bible. During the week we will be visiting nearby homes and distributing bags of food as a way of opening a door to share the gospel and communicate God’s love through the local church in Moldova there, Filadelphia Baptist Church. Please pray for our team as they travel and prepare in 2014!

For those of you who have supported this ministry in the past, thank you so much! A church 5,000 miles away is so grateful for your help, though you may have never met. I’m also grateful for your faithfulness in praying and sending me via your support. Without you I could not do it.

My dream is to take my entire family with me to Moldova. I am planning on offsetting their cost as much as possible. Your help in sending me will also help my wife and my son experience a missions trip for the first time. I’m so humbled for the opportunity to serve God with my entire family should He see fit to provide that opportunity! It will be a teachable moment that will deeply impact all of our hearts as we grow closer to God’s heart for the nations.

The specific ways that you can be a part of my experience are through prayer and financial support. Pray that the people in the villages of Moldova we come in contact with will feel God’s love through us and that we will make an impact in their lives. Pray also for Pastor Igor and Filadelphia Baptist Church that they would continue to see fruit from the many teams partnering with them. Also, pray for the many needs of Moldova that I have expressed above. I need to raise $2,500.00 by my deadline, June 1st, 2014. If you feel led to give, no amount is too small and is greatly appreciated!  Please make a check out to Southside Baptist Church, and put “Moldova-Derik” in the memo to sponsor my goal specifically or just “Moldova” to sponsor our team. Mail to Southside Baptist Church 3320 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC 28412. If you can’t give at this time, please pray for our team’s efforts. Thank you so much for taking time to read and please continue to pray for us and our team! God Bless you , Derik

Where Are The Men Of The Church? They’re Right Here!

Posted on September 14, 2013 by derikdavis

Today was an exciting day! Our church hosted a men’s breakfast where the men of our church could come together for fellowship and camaraderie. We spoke of wonderful ideas of getting our men more involved in the life of church and just being together as men in general. Men’s lack of participation in church has become a global reality. It’s not just a phenomenon in the United States or Western Culture. Check out some statistics at a blog called Church for Men. Just one statistic from the site states, “More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only one out of six attend church on a given Sunday. The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church.” You can find out more by clicking the link Church For Men. So what do we do to get men back in to church? The answer is not an easy one, nor a simple one.

For decades the church has gradually become more attractive to women than men because church has more women than men. Rather than being a balance, church has become in many men’s minds something for the kids and the wives to go to. Men don’t like chick flicks typically or shopping may not be at the top of their list. Church has become shoved into this category for many men. Why? Maybe it’s that men think that they’ll be asked to “share” or “open up”. Maybe its they feel church is too predictable or safe. We have a lot of ground to cover for sure.

At our men’s breakfast this morning the men were engaged, they were spirited in wanting to get together and help our community, to get together and do stuff guys like to do: like the outdoors, like rebuilding broken homes and even broken families, preparing meals for those in prison, taking risks—things that Men connect with. I’m not saying women don’t connect with these issues, but by and large, men love the adventure! Men love the challenge! Men, as John Eldredge says in his book, are “Wild at Heart”!

Prayers for Anenii Noi

Posted on August 1, 2013 by derikdavis

The face of a child lighting up when receiving love is one of the greatest images burned into my heart during my time while on a missions trip in Moldova. The humble prayers of an elderly couple genuinely committing their lives to follow Christ for the first time perhaps after years of living to please God on their own also loom large in my mind. The reality is that many come to Christ before the age of 18. Seeing such a sweet moment of grace before my eyes excites me and reminds me of the hope available to every man, no matter their age or phase of life. To see a team of joyful Christ-followers serve in one accord for the purpose of spreading the good news of Christ, after much planning, many meetings, lots of prayer, fundraising, and more prayer reminds me of the attitude of the first Christians as they began a fledgling church in Jerusalem after the coming of the Holy Spirit. Every person on the team has a story to tell. So many lives touched. so many hearts of ours broken and melded with the hearts of Moldova.

The Church of Filadelfia in Anenii Noi proclaims the love of Christ to those in their context, unselfishly, and with much sacrifice. With vision of reaching the souls of a community steeped in tradition, Pastor Igor Seremet leads a faithful flock to seeing God do great things in their midst like caring for the poor through a food bag delivery ministry, reaching the teens through a weekly teen worship service, reaching those who don’t speak their language by providing interpretation in their services and even having the vision to develop several mission points within their community, along with a currently newly planted church in Herbovitz, that is pastored by a missionary whom Filadelfia has trained and sponsored and sent out. My eyes are wide open to the people of Aneeni Noi and the faithful gathered at Filadelfia. Pray for Igor, his wife Mariana, their children Teo, Marco, and two other kids of who’s names I didn’t get. Pray for their church, that God would continue to do great things in their midst, as well as the many churches in the United States who are sending many teams their way to come along side them for the work of the kingdom. Pray for Pastor Igor, that he may continue to be strengthened and encouraged in his ministry. Pray for Pavel and his wife Lydia, and their toyoung son Alberto, who are courageously leading the teen ministry at Filadelifa. Pray for others like Tatiana and Dianka, who are also vested in spreading the hope of Christ to those who need him.

Food Bags For Anenii Noi and Other Thoughts

Posted on July 27, 2013 by derikdavis

Moldova is a country of opposites. Like many developing countries, there are the haves and the have nots. But it’s not about what you have for me in being there, but more so a way of defining pursuits. There are many pursuits here. Some pursue a future dream that someday may be the new Moldova. Some pursue basic provision in working odd jobs and selling wares in the open air market. Still others pursue attempts to numb the pain of the greyness of life in a country that’s been put on pause.

Still, Moldova is a country poised for change. The lives of its people have a destiny many do not realize. We are here for destiny. The destination of others, more importantly, the final destination. Many think they have it wrapped in identity with a building or a family heritage. But others are beginning to realize destiny in an entirely new light.

For one hundred believers in Anenii Noi, their destiny is above. Their hope is to spread the love of Jesus in many ways. Through one on one conversations, through the delivery of food bags, through creative outreaches, women’s conferences, teen programs, and the hope of even more, Filadelfia Baptist Church is leading the way in spreading the gospel to this community. Pray for them. Pray for our team and another team with us from Gainesville, Georgia that God would do amazing things here.

Just a Few Thoughts…

Personal Thoughts from My Wandering Mind