HeightstoDepths

One of the things I think I’ll try to do with this blog is just describe some of the things I’m involved with over here in Belfast.  TEC (Together Encounter Christ) is a university outreach similar to UCO (University Christian Outreach), the group back home I’ve worked with for the last five or six years.

One of my responsibilities this year is working on staff for TEC.  This looks a lot like my service back home in some ways but in others is quite different.  Fundamentally it’s the same mission: build a fervent discipleship environment where students can meet the Lord, set out on a road to lifelong radical discipleship, and share the good news they’ve found with those around them (modest goal, no). 

Perhaps that’s the most striking thing to me so far in being around TEC.  Here there is a completely different set of young people, completely different, and yet so much the same.  At root none of the differences are as important as the common relationship with Christ that UCO and TEC share.  The same Holy Spirit is calling young people to give their lives fully to God, and that looks very much the same here in Belfast and back home in Michigan.

Like back home TEC is ecumenical (made up of folks from different Christian traditions) and charismatic.  It is sponsored by Charis, a Sword of the Spirit community of families and singles here in Belfast. 

TEC has never really had much in the way of “staff”.  In the past one of the Servants of the Word here has had 10-15 hours a week to do a few things, coordinate with a volunteer or two, and lean on some of the students to do whatever needs doing.  Q (Dave Quintana) has been the brother doing that the last couple years.  He’ll continue in the same way, but now I’ve got a similar amount of time along with some other folks.  That means there is some more resource for TEC and an opportunity to do some things and grow that just haven’t been possible before.

The names here are different.  In TEC we have amongst the sisters a Maeve, Fiona, Maighread (pronounced ma-readt w/the slightest hint of g thrown in there somewhere), and Joelle (actually a Lebanese girl); on the guys side there is Patty, Georges (also Lebanese), and my favorite, Kieran (goes by Kier-so much of the time).  It’s great to finally meet someone who goes about using my middle name.  Speaking of names, TEC leads me to a bit of a quandary, specifically what to call a member of said organization.  I suppose the most common (boring) is TECer, but other possibilities include TECster, TECan (reminiscent a of an 80s video game), TECanian, TECiputian, and TECigander.  Let me know if you come up with others.

I’ll be doing a mix of things with TEC.  John and Fiona are two all stars heading up TECs outreach team and I’ll work with them closely.  I’ll be leading a small group of four guys and working with most of them one on one - encouraging them to take tangible steps in their relationship with Christ.  I’ll also be giving assorted talks and such.  I gave a talk at the TEC retreat a couple weekends ago on being committed and dedicated to each other.  I also gave a sharing about some of my own experience of coming into UCO and some of the obstacles we face in outreach.  Both seemed to go well.  Whatever chance you have to remember TEC in your prayers is really appreciated.

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9/9/06 or if you want to do it in the UK fashion, 9/9/06 (granted, it makes little difference given that it’s the ninth day of the ninth month). One week in, a good time for an update as to how things are going for me on the east side of the Atlantic. Life here over the past week had been quite a whirlwind. Meeting loads of people and trying to remember names and figure out how things work here has been a blast.

As many know I made a full commitment (for one year) to the Servants of the Word on Thursday the 31st and headed off the next day for Detroit airport and a nine-month jaunt across the pond. It’s truly amazing how quickly and relatively easily we can travel across such vast distances. I was reminded of this because it was a little more trouble for me then normal.

I got to Detroit Metro 1pm, four hours early because of getting a lift along with Martin (another brother in the Belfast house) who had an earlier flight. I was supposed to have a couple hours layover in Newark and then fly direct to Belfast. My flight was delayed close to two hours boarding, a half hour waiting for the captain to arrive, another hour on the runway, and forty five minutes in a holding pattern over Pennsylvania - meaning that by the time I got off the plane at 11:30 I’d long since missed my flight to Belfast. By about 1:30am I got a hotel room and settled into a rainy night in Newark care of hurricane Ernesto. I changed my flight around the next day, headed for London in the evening, spent a couple of dazed hours in Gatwick airport, and arrived to Belfast just under two days after I had gotten to Detroit Metro.

The amazing thing about the delays was the number of people I had a chance to meet. I met several missionaries standing in various lines, had breakfast on Sunday with a delightful family that was visiting India but lives only forty minutes away from me in Michigan and met three friendly university aged girls who I kept running into (on the shuttle, at the hotel, shuttle again, and at the airport). One of them is a lovely Pakistani girl named Sarah who is studying Law in London. I ended up sitting next to her on the flight to England. We had some really wonderful conversations about life, faith, and Jesus Christ. She’s a Muslim and was interested to hear about what Christians believe, and why in the world I’m becoming a monk. Definitely a “random” encounter I believe the Lord was behind. The trip *really* finished off right before dinner on Monday when my bags finally caught up with me.

So, transatlantic journey complete, I found myself in south Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland. The brotherhood house is a beautiful place a couple blocks from the main university (Queens). Just a five-minute walk away is the Queens Botanical Gardens (great for walks, runs, and I think naps - I’ve successfully negotiated the first two, and look to enact the later in short order). There are also a number of Irish pubs within a short walk, and as anyone who’s been to this beautiful island will say, the Guinness really is better. My bedroom is in the back on the second floor (that’s the third story for Americans). I share it with a Gapper (a fellow doing a year of service) from Minnesota named Peter.

I’m starting to get a lay of the land here. My main tasks will be working a quarter time with two of the lifelong brothers in the house, Martin and Bruce, supporting their work. The rest of my time I’ll work with TEC (Together Encounter Christ) and the crew of seven or eight Gappers. TEC is a university outreach quite similar to UCO that I’ve worked with back home since 2000. The Gap program consists of folks from all over the world who are doing some service/missionary work for a year.

Thursday through Friday we had an overnight retreat (called a residential in these parts) for Gapper training. We had the run of a beautiful home overlooking Strangford Lough (a tidal lake just a bit inland from the coast). Q, another one of the life long brothers here, and I along with Elaine Rob from the community gave a number of talks on prayer, meditation, and scripture study. The young folks were eager and willing to engage the material and grow in their relationship with the Lord. We also got a chance to visit the castle Ward overlooking the Lough, play some Frisbee golf, and have an extended discussion regarding the connection between tides and lunar phases. Surprisingly this last topic was of significantly more interest to the guys (each of us a self proclaimed expert on tidal dynamics) then it was to the ladies.

Yesterday evening and today has been the opening weekend for Charis community here in Belfast. Charis is the local Sword of the Spirit community that I’ll be living in the midst of this year. The weekend is a kick off for community life, on hiatus the last couple months of summer. I’ve had the chance to see quite a few old friends that have spent time in Michigan and meet a good number of community members. The folks are really hospitable; I’ve been welcomed with open arms by all.

OK, enough boring rambling. I’ll look to get some updates up here regularly, looking to concentrate on what the Lord’s doing and such. Please keep me in your prayers.

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