justin j mack

every genre, every five chapters

one of my professors (fuller seminary) challenged our class to look at any 5 consecutive chapters in each genre within the Bible and see if there was ever a time when God was not at work reconciling the world back into a relationship.  i could not find one.  there seems to be no limit to his passion for the entire world.  every person, in every culture, in every generation.

it is pretty amazing to see how God works through some of the most unlikely individuals, groups and situations. it is a mystery, because he doesn't seem to always work through the most holy, the most devoted, the most 'christian'.  

and he doesn't just work through missionaries and leaders.  he doesn't just work through the educated and wealthy.  he somehow, someway works through every person, in every culture, in every generation. 

global team arizona

in march, a small team of rockstars traveled to tuba city, arizona to help build a church on the navajo reservation.  we partnered with the local assemblies of god church and my dad church out of phoenix, arizona. great work global team arizona!!

 

09 global teams

check out and download all the 09 global team opportunities

huge thanks to the rcv design team.

soap 365

one of the best personal devotional methods i've ever used is a simple tool called soap 365.  click on the link, read about it and give it a try.

if you are looking for a great resource that can help you better understand scripture, check out "how to read the bible for all its worth" by fee and stuart (zondervan 2003)

taking it one step further, jared lutz and i are going to be co-leading an rvc small group that discuss the different observations and applications from others that are participating in soap 365.

congrats tara

on january 6, 2009, tara mack, my wife,  was sworn in as the youngest and in my humble opinion, the cutest minnesota state representative.

having lived in the community she now represents since she was 2 years old, it's pretty amazing to think about the awesome privilege and honor to be 1 of 134 to represent a state of 5.1 million with some very significant challenges ahead. 

with incredible family support, a great education from apple valley high school and the university of minnesota, a solid faith in jesus christ and an above average husband (looking forward to the feedback comments about that last part), there is little doubt in my mind that she is going to do a excellent job.    

love you and proud of you tara!!

 

rvc service small groups

with the help of our outreach director, lisa engelking, this past semester rvc had over a dozen different organized service small groups.  these groups used their time and resources to serve our community at elderly homes, inner-city ministries, food programs, homeless shelters, parkcleanups, and so many other creative ways. 

i was encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response we have had to the groups but what has most inspired me is to hear about our connection groups and growth groups also taking servanthood seriously.  many of our groups are hearing about needs in our community and creatively responding.

here are a few photos from one of those groups that inspire me, 20somethings painting day at naomi women's shelter.

       

global team peru report

in october, rvc sent an incredible group of guys to an amazon river village to help build a small church.  our team partnered with the local peruvian church who worked tirelessly day after day.  on the final night, literally minutes before dark, they hammered the last nail and finished what they gone to do.  great work guys!!

              

its much more than 50 cents

i was at panera studying for a class i'm taking this fall when an elderly couple sat down at the table next to me with two bagels, two cups of coffee and two newspapers.  apparently they had mistakenly each picked up a newspaper but had just paid for one paper and intended to share.  i watched the elderly gentleman, without hesitation, struggle to get up and slowly walk back to the register, wait in line and pay 50 cents for the extra paper. 

what an amazing lesson about integrity.  no matter how great or little the cost, it's everything and you never know when someone is watching!!

       

youtube. global team swaziland

if you have 9minutes and 35seconds and want to see part of what theswaziland team saw, take a look at this youtube video.  maybe it is just a me thing but i had that i'm-not-going-to-cry-because-i'm-at-work-and-my-co-workers-would-totally-make-fun-of-me thing going on several times while watching the video. 

thanks to paul holte for putting this video together.

global team swaziland report

it is always difficult to put 2 weeks into a few short paragraphs and a few pictures but this one is going to be a little extra hard.

the team was simply amazing!!(rachel, stephan, krista, erin, jackie, colleen, julie, chris, adam, kathy, kat, jamie, schyler, debra and me)  the unity and loveon our team was very clear from beginning to end.  i could not have been more proud of the way they represented rvc and jesus christ wherever we went.

we helped repaint the murray camp care point we worked at all week.  we did a little gardening, taught bible clubs for the kids and had some discipleship time for the cooks.  we helped serve several hundred kids each day, had a dance party and tried to play a little soccer with the kids.  but most of all... we just loved the kids like crazy!!

children's cup and our host missionaries, jacci and jordan are some of the best anywhere in the world!! 

our safari encounters were also quite impressive!!