Here’s all the posts of the 2008 Croatia Mission Project.

I’m Finally Here
More Travel Tales
The Basilica and Neptune Temple
Nekkidity, Easter Europe Style
Ultimate Adriatic Frisbee
Wheels Are Gone
Thursday, July 10
ATV’s and the Feeding of the 5,000
Pula and the Ruins
Croatia, July 13
Croatia, July 14
From Croatia To Hungary
Croatia: Trying To Get Home
What God Did To My Heart Through Croatia

A mission trip or camp experience is very different for the leaders of the trip. Often times the details of the trip, the stress of keeping everyone safe, the hassle of being “the point person” for every decision can get so overwhelming that you end up missing what God is doing. We don’t mean for this happen. In fact, we’ll try very hard for it NOT to happen. But sometimes it does.

That didn’t happen this trip for me mainly because I was traveling alone.

The other danger is to get complacent. It starts with actually believing what is in the brochure with your name on it – “Come listen to this guy from the states because you know he has it all figured out.” Part of that MAY be true – you may bring something or a message that needs to be heard. But it is equally true that God has you there to still listen and be molded by Him.

My biggest fear has been to lapse into this latter category, getting complacent with where I am, and all of a sudden one morning I realize that I haven’t talked or heard from God in a long time. That’s what a Pharisee is. Not some evil doing jerk, but a person who honestly loves God but has honestly quit hearing God and is still doing the same old things.

This trip was God’s wake up call to me.

The Big Ideas

Just do it, figure it out later
A missionary that had been kicked out of his country said this to me in response to my question of what he was going to do next. Great answer. “God’s wired me to tell these people about Jesus and disciple them. That’s what I’m going to do and we’ll figure out the rest of it later.”

There’s nothing wrong with a strategic plan as long as it moves you. I’ll take my unorganized mess over your organized theory any day.

How I Graded Out: F
The last two years I’ve spent more time planning than doing. I could give you a ton of reasons why but then I’d just undermine the whole point.

Level of vulnerability = depth of ministry
Teams that have high vulnerability see God do great things. Teams that don’t reach a certain level of work and plateau. Missionaries constantly came back to this reality over every other obstacle they face. I thought they’d talk about the falling dollar, the communist way of life, the difficulty of language and culture. Those are real obstacles as well but the one that hindered them the most was this one.

How I Graded Out: C
I didn’t know what to do with this one. On one hand, I’m pretty vulnerable to a fault. On the other hand, it’s hard to be vulnerable when you are too busy being strategic and smart. When I got back to the states, I got to sit down with my youth team and walk through this. It was embarrassing, humbling, and worth it. What amazes me about this whole process is that there was nothing “new” that I learned but rather a reminder of God what real ministry is.

Worship = trading what you have for whatever Jesus has.
This particle night rattled my cage pretty hard. We’re sitting around talking about the whole lack of vulnerability and all the possible reasons why this happens.

I leave that conversation to teach students on John 9 – the man born blind. The first three verses cut me to my heart. The disciples see the problem of the blind man and start asking how this happened, who is at fault. In other words – they start making a list of all the possible reasons why this happened. Jesus rebuked them for asking the wrong question and in the process missing the bigger question of “what can God do through this situation.”

In the course of 45 minutes God had spoken clearly. Trying to figure out the reasons is asking the wrong question. Focus instead on what God could do through this. That’s the punchline of the rest of the story – are you at a place where you are willing to trade whatever you have for whatever Jesus has. The blind man traded his dignity for sight. To put another man’s spit on your face was the ultimate insult.

How I Graded Out: F
The truth of the matter is that there is comfort and security with a plan, with a process. Here’s where God really drilled me. On the surface, our student ministry looks good. If you look at the process of the last 20 months, there is much to celebrate. Moving from 2 to 30 some odd students, a couple of retreats, couple of ski trips, starting Life Groups. Lots of changes with little stress or drama.

But at the core – and I have to own this – I wasn’t willing to trade that process for whatever Jesus had. I wanted the security and the plan more than I wanted to follow Jesus. Maybe it’s not that black and white. Maybe I was following Jesus as best I could in the context I was in. Maybe I followed Him a majority of the time but not all of the time.

Maybe all those things are true but as I came home trying to figure out what to do next in student ministry, I was faced with the real decision – do the next step in your plan OR trade whatever you have for whatever Jesus has. It’s a sinking feeling having to go to your volunteer team and your boss and say – “Ummm….hey…let’s punt everything we did last year and instead do this.”

“The Job” is following a Person, not a location.
Spend two weeks with people who have left their country, family, and friends to follow Jesus and you’ll get humbled pretty quick. Every missionary has almost the same exact story:

“How did you get Africa?” (Because all missionaries are in Africa….)

“I got on a plane and it landed here.”

In other words, we left and came here because this is where Jesus was leading.

I was in a church where a terrible split happened and many people got hurt. In the middle of that conflict the phrase was said “I love it here, I want to die here, this is where I want to finish my ministry career.” Great sentiment (maybe) that had some painful consequences.

As pastors – we don’t get to make that call. We can feel that way – content with where we are – but our job is following Jesus, not a location. And He gets to determine when and where and how we finish.

How I Graded Out: F
I love Parker. I love Colorado. I love my church. But I had to make a phone call when I got back to the states. A few months before I left for Croatia, I had said the exact words to a buddy of mine asking me to pray about a ministry opportunity somewhere else. I never really prayed about it because how in the world could Jesus want me to leave Denver???

No, I’m not leaving nor am I looking but it was a heart check from God. Would I? Would I follow him even if it meant leaving my beloved city and church? Would I follow Him even if it meant leaving the ministry all together? Was I more in love with my job and vocation than I was following Jesus?

I didn’t like the answer.

One more post to go to wrap stuff up…

On the docket was sailboating and parasailing.  Both got cancelled due to the high winds.  Instead we beat the snot out of each other on paddle boats in the middle of the Adriatic Sea.  The hotel next to us had this cool little water play set…that big mountain in the middle is about 20 feet in the air. I was about to tackle it but they charge something ridiculous to use it.

Of course when you are in a foreign country – the money is all relative. When I pay for something here – their dollar is called “kuna” – I feel like I’m using monopoly money and singing “Akuna Matata.” Stupid American thing, I guess. The pic below this one is your typical coast on the Adriatic sea.

Evening session
I think it was the best so far.

We started by asking the questions – how do you see yourself?  What is home?  Are you an American in Croatia/Slovakia/Fill In The Blank or a Fill In The Blank that happens to have American citzenship?

What was interesting in the answers was this – just like American teens – they don’t really feel like they fit anywhere except with other teens. Culture plays a HUGE role in determining their identity – what is cool, what isn’t, what to wear, what to listen to.

What in your culture do you love?  What is hard to embrace in your culture given your relationship with Jesus?

National pride came up quite a bit.  All of these European countries have LOADS of it.  It is both great and terrible.

We then shifted to John 9 where Jesus spits on the ground to make mud to put on the blind guy’s face.

I stole Erwin McManus’ line when he spoke about this story – “The guy is blind….not deaf.”

Would you allow someone to spit on the ground to make mudballs to put on your eyes?  Would a Jew allow someone to put their spit on them?  Mud on them?

Most of us answered ‘no.’ Wasn’t because we lacked faith as much as we were too proud to let someone put their saliva on us. It’s insulting to our dignity. The only way what Jesus did was NOT insulting? If He was really God and really formed us from dust to start with. And unless we can see at the end of this exercise. So why in the world would a hearing, blind man allow Jesus to do this?

He’s trading his dignity, his identity for whatever Jesus has.  That’s the key to dealing with culture.  Are you willing to trade whatever dignity or identity you have for whatever Jesus has?  You may get to keep some of it. You may not. We don’t get to make that call…He does. He may demand some of it to be cut off.

But do you love and want Jesus that much?

It’s one question we all have to answer for ourselves – parents can’t make it for us. Even if they moved us halfway around the globe for Him.

Second, apparently the parents of the teen had a pow-wow over the afternoon and were starting to implement curfews for the students. After a week of being able to run around where they wanted to go when they wanted to do it, the reigns were being pulled in.

Thirdly, this was the start of their 2nd week here. There are a couple of, well…I wouldn’t call it dating, wouldn’t call ‘em flings but let’s just say there are some students who are EXTREMELY interested in each other and the distraction factor is getting higher every day.

You pick up some tricks along the way working with students in terms of recapturing or refocusing your group. As a younger youth pastor, I made a lot of bonehead, arrogant, hurtful mistakes. I’d call down a student or two, shaming them to listen. I’d get them quiet but missed their hearts. It always took more work afterwards to rebuild that relationship.

But even the best of the best have nights where you know there isn’t a thing you can do to stop the train wreck. It’s just going to happen. At that point, put down your agenda and pick up some popcorn and watch it unfold. You’ll learn something but hopefully you’ll learn it without having to make everyone in the room angry.

Here we are in this room, 7 different conversations going on and I did that. I mentally checked out and just started watching. One student is building a house of cards on the table in the middle. Two other students are arguing whether verse 4 of chapter 5 is inspired or not because the earliest manuscripts didn’t have it. Another couple is trying to figure out what they are going to do after our session. Another is bummed about have to work childcare in the morning.

I’ve watched this unfold with some of my volunteer leaders before and I’d smile at them while shrugging. “You know…some nights it’s like this. Shake it off, try it again next time.” But it was me in the room instead. So I just sat there – arguing with myself.

You should throw the hammer down.

Maybe I traveled halfway around the globe to learn from them.

I don’t know how long this went on. But after a few minutes, it was observed that I wasn’t really participating in the festivities. And then “IT” happened. Instead of a wreck, the train seemed to find another set of rails that I didn’t even knew existed. We were going to have a couple of hard turns and lurches but maybe the disaster could be avoided.

It started with the two guys who were arguing over the validity of John 5:4. They asked me for my opinion. A chance to shift the conversation…”it’s not important what we think about John 5:4 if we don’t know what the bigger story is that God is writing here. If we can’t see the bigger story, the details are worthless.”

Smart people, religious people are good at this. It’s called straining out the gnat, swallowing the camel. You’re figuring out what is in the microscope without first figuring out what is in the telescope. Molecular biology is as only good as it connects to the whole.

The two guys sort of get it, they start pushing back, another student joins in, then another. Some more pushing.

“Don’t equate details with deepness. Deep doesn’t mean mature.”

“The details” are what makes people think we are smarter than what we really are and it’s completely possible to miss God totally in the process. Exhibit A: The Pharisees. It’s not deep. It’s not mature. Jesus called it spiritual blindness.

The story in John 5 – the “deep, mature” people were concerned that a guy who hadn’t walked in 38 years was carrying his mat on the Sabbath.

We finally got there – unpacking the scripture but it was returning to my room later that I had the real epiphany. There was a moment when I could have really tried to take it over and I didn’t. And that was okay because that meant I had absolutely nothing to do with that whole session. Nothing.

Sometimes the hardest decision leaders have to make is the decision to do nothing and just let it play out. It’s a hard decision because it’s easy to critique and second-guess from the outside looking in and leaders hate having their decisions second-guessed.

It would have been okay if it had completely crashed. Wouldn’t have been the end of the world. I’m glad it didn’t but God is big enough to handle my failures anyway.

You go to the beach and hope for the best.

I was preparing myself for the experience by interviewing the missionaries here.

“Do you every get used to it? You know, does it ever just become part of the landscape, no big deal?”

He looked at me funny. “I don’t think it’s like you think it is. It’s…well…I don’t know if I can explain.”

So with that cryptic advise, I plowed forward.

After 72 hours…I now understand what he meant.

There is no way to explain without offending somebody. So I apologize in advance here.

I thought it would be easy to spot the nekkidness and just avoid it. Doesn’t work that way. The first nude woman I saw was topless but…I didn’t realize it was a woman. She looked like a he in a speedo with man-boobs.

Is that more insulting to the man or the woman? Not sure. Most of the men here wear speedos, walk funny, smoke, are hairless, and when they lay out on the beach, they cover their heads with a towel. They make American Metro-Sexuals look outright rugged and cowboyish.

The women were bikin bottoms, smoke, hairless, and cover their heads when they lay out.

It’s hard to tell the difference and if you stare too long to figure it out – it creates a scene.

Plus, there is another factor at work. There are some very large women here. And seeing them topless has created some images that need to be exorcised out of mind. I can’t imagine the permanent damage they are doing to their children.

The women that you think would be nude are all in tasteful bikinis. I’ve seen one thong but by that point, I was so scared to look around because of the other scenarios, I didn’t pay much attention.

I am picking up some Croatian though. “Naturist” is the word for nudists. So if you see a sign that says “natural beach”, it doesn’t mean what you think.

Just thought you’d like to know.