I had a small part in flood relief in Thailand. You can have a small part also. Many small parts can make a huge difference.

Several of our Thai staff have flooded homes and submerged cars. I heard yesterday of 5 flooded homes and 7 submerged cars. Yet these staff are engaging every day in helping others. They deliver drinking water. They distribute food. They help carry evacuees’ belongings to safety.

Kay and I ask you to help the helpers.

Help replace household goods. Help replace cars. Help the helpers as they help the suffering.

Pray.

Give.

Share this link. Go to the bottom of the page and share on Facebook. Click the Like button. Tweet it to your friends.

Let’s Help the helpers.

This morning, I read Matthew 10. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

I reflected on the life I have found by losing my own ambitions and plans.

I am a 5th generation native-born Texan. My great-great grandfather was born in the Wylie area of Collin County, Texas in 1853. His father had moved from Tennessee.

I am a 4th generation product of Mesquite, Texas. My great-grandfather Sam Seabourn moved to Mesquite. I graduated from the same Mesquite High School that my mother and father did. I married my high school sweetheart, also a 4th generation product of Mesquite, whose parents also graduated from Mesquite High School.

Until leaving for college, I had only lived in two houses and both were on the same piece of land. Kay had lived in one house on two pieces of land (her dad jacked up their house and moved it when their land was turned into a shopping center).

To say we have anything but deep roots in one place is a shallow statement.

But 40 years ago, in September 1971, when I was a junior at Texas A&M University, the God of the universe re-invaded my life. He reminded me that he had a call on my life. He reminded me that he wanted me to follow him with everything I am.

And that began an amazing journey that continues to this day.

The journey led us out of the engineering and school teacher roles we were preparing for, and into the role of a cross-cultural ambassador of the King of Kings, called a missionary. That began a journey that led us to leave our Texas roots for Nigeria where we lived for 15 years. That has led us through 6 passports filled with visas and stamps from 33 countries on 4 continents.

It started when a fellow Aggie student stopped by the Law Hall dorm room I shared with roommate Steve. It was a hot, humid September afternoon in the Brazos valley. As we sat on my bottom bunk and the springs squeaked every time I uncomfortably shifted, Frank shared the gospel with me using the Four Spiritual Laws. I told him I had accepted Christ as a young person through the influence of my parents and my church. Then Frank asked me, “So, if you were to die today, are you sure you would go to heaven.” I must have given him a somewhat acceptable answer, but also a somewhat confused one. My ongoing struggle with areas of sin robbed me of confidence that I was right with God.

Without missing a beat, Frank asked me “Would you like to make the wonderful discovery of the Spirit-Filled life?” We shifted into Campus Crusade’s famous blue book. As Frank walked me through these basics of the Christian life, for the very first time in my life I understood that following God was a step of faith. I understood there were Christians who lived by their own strength and Christians who lived by the Sprit’s strength. I understood spiritual breathing, how to deal with the sin in my life and how to see the life of Jesus flow through me by the power of his Spirit.

I still remember the visual image of that afternoon. My dorm room had a closet. A naked light bulb hung from a cord. As Frank shared the truths of the Spirit-filled Christian life, it was just like walking into my dark closet and switching on the light. Illumination. I could see. Everything made sense. God had prepared a path for an abundant, joyful life as his child. That afternoon, for the first of many times in my life, I invited the Holy Spirit to fill me with his overflowing presence.

Frank met with me weekly for follow-up Bible study. With his encouragement, I joined a Leadership Training class. I joined Frank in going door-to-door talking to other students about Jesus. I wrote letters to Kay, by then my fiance, explaining what I was learning. She, too, began walking daily in the power of the Spirit.

I was hooked by seeing my life transform, by seeing Kay’s life transform, and seeing the lives students change right before my eyes.

Now, 40 years after that September afternoon, I cannot imagine a different life. I wanted a job as an engineer in a big company. I wanted a vacation home. I wanted my own airplane. God wanted me to represent him to people in need. God wanted me to use the technical abilities he had given to help millions of people hear about his love through the Jesus film, through the internet, through mobile phones.

I am amazed that God uprooted a 5th generation Texas boy from a small suburb of Dallas and has given me such a privileged life. It all started on a September afternoon in 1971 in a dorm room when I asked the Holy Spirit to fill me with his power.

And I am eternally grateful.

I’m sitting in Tokyo’s Narita airport as I write this. The last time I was here was March 11th and Kay was with me. And together, we experienced the massive earthquake. (Click here to read the story again.). Thousands died. Over 4,000 are still missing. Extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. Significant accidents at nuclear power stations.

But there is more to the story. So, on this revisit to Tokyo, I’ll share some of the amazing things that God and His people have seen happen.

In the days following the tsunami, a team of 8 Japanese Campus Crusade for Christ staff and students went to Tohoku to help. Tohoku is a region in Japan where the gospel is slow in spreading. It is an area where they do not want to accept Christian volunteers. They shun off the volunteer efforts from churches too. A member of the team wrote:

Despite these obstacles, and through the prayers of many, we are thankful we were able to have this opportunity to be close to them, cry and laugh together with them and encourage them. And, of course, all these are possible because dedicated leaders and the Kesennuma Bible Baptist Church members have been sowing seeds in this neighborhood, which resulted in good relationships built up.

Those whom we have met told us to come again. For people in Tohoku to say, “please come again”, they are not saying it to be polite, they really meant what they say. To be able to earn the trust of people in “closed” Tohoku in just 4 days is only by the grace and the work of GOD. The local pastor was overjoyed and said that he has more families to visit from now onwards.

When I visited and helped the last house during this trip, I asked if I could pray for blessing for this household. The elderly lady said, “Yes. Thank you.” She kept saying thank you repeatedly. With tears, she said, “Just when I felt I was going to go under…” When we were cleaning her house, she acted strong. But I felt that she had been pushing down her feelings of pain and distress. We were able to give her daughter a copy of the Manga Search (manga Knowing God Personally booklet).

A little later, another team worked in a nearby area. They were able to store supplies at the local church. A team member reported:

A house owner whose house had been cleaned by an earlier team heard about the supplies at the local church and went to pick some. One of our team members helped her carry the stuff back home.

The home owner was so thankful for the help from the earlier team and kept talking about it with tears in her eyes. Our team member took the opportunity to say, “God loves you, and has kept you alive and provided help for you. When I face difficult times, God helps, encourages and comforts me. Through a simple prayer, you can invite God into your heart. Would you like to pray a prayer to invite Him in?“ The home owner said, “Yes” and they prayed together!

When the earlier team heard this good news, we all shed tears of joy. The Lord has opened doors in mysterious ways and sent us there in His exquisite timing. As we witness the work of His hands, we can’t keep from praising Him.

Our amazing God uses all things to draw people to himself. Do we view everything as opportunities to tell people of God’s love?

We were taxiing to the end of the runway, maybe 5 minutes before full power would be applied and we would soon take off. Then it began to feel like we were driving over rough construction. The huge 747 bounced up and down, the wings flapped. It wasn’t nearly as bad as some mid-air turbulence I’ve experienced.

But we were not in the air! There is not supposed to be turbulence on the ground!

I kept thinking, “They don’t let multi-million dollar aircraft drive over runway construction! What is going on?” Then the plane stopped forward progress, but the bouncing and shaking continued. “What is going on?” The pilot later told us that he thought it was some unusual buffeting by the wind.

Then the pilot came over the loudspeaker and said, “Folks, we’re having an earthquake. We’re going to sit right here for a while. I’ve been flying 31 years and there is nothing in the manual about what to do when you are trying to take off during an earthquake!”

A few minutes later, the pilot announced, “Folks, the control tower has been abandoned. There is no ground control. We are not going to move the plane. We’ll just sit here a while.” A while stretched to almost 4 hours. Aftershocks occurred frequently each hour. Some were gentle, and some were almost as strong as the original earthquake. The pilot announced, “The terminal has been abandoned. Even if we returned to the gate, there is no ground personnel to operate the jetway. And you don’t want to be in the terminal during these aftershocks.”

Kay and I thought, “We’re safer here in the airplane. We are far from any buildings. This aircraft has excellent shock absorbers. We have 12 hours of fuel to push this aircraft from Tokyo to Detroit, so we have many hours of auxiliary engine to power the air conditioning and lights. We have comfortable seats. There is food on board. We are in the best place to wait out the aftermath of this earthquake.”

People around us were using their mobile phones to check news reports. We were keeping up with the increasing magnitude of the reported quake (first 6.6, then 8.1, then 8.9, and now 9.1). We heard about the tsunami hitting the east coast of Japan and the tsunami warnings across the Pacific.

Our mobile phones on the T-Mobile system (GSM system) do not work on Japan’s cellular system. But I remembered that Kay and I each have an Amazon Kindle with 3G world cellphone service for downloading books. And there is a very rudimentary web browser included. So, we fired up our Kindles. Kay posted on Facebook. I posted on Twitter and Facebook. I sent emails to family and friends keeping people updated. And Kindles have a tremendous battery life. Others’ mobile phones began to run out of battery, but our Kindles kept on working.

About the 4 hour point, the pilot told us that we had been ordered back to the gate. We would deplane. The airport was closed and all flights were cancelled. We would go to hotels and wait until flights resumed.

It was very disappointing. I knew there were thousands of passengers in the terminal. Hotels were overloaded. Aftershocks were still happening so it was not clear where we would stay. It looked like we would be in Tokyo for days while the aftermath was sorted out and passengers could depart.

The pilot decided to keep us on the plane for a while. He had been told that there was no space in the “safe area” to put additional passengers. He wisely decided to feed us dinner since it was unclear when we might eat again.

As we finished dinner, the pilot said that both Delta and the airport authorities had decided to allow the planes with boarded passengers to go ahead and depart. Kay and I thought that was an excellent idea. So did the other 500 passengers on our 747-400! He instructed the cabin crew to quickly stow the food carts, we refueled, and he took off before anyone could change their mind!

There was never any panic in the plane. Actually, it was more like the atmosphere at a casual gathering of friends. The Delta pilot did an excellent job of keeping us informed. Even when there was nothing new to announce, he spoke several times each hour keeping us informed. He spent time walking up and down the aisles meeting with passengers, chatting about possibilities. I have sent Delta a letter of commendation for the actions of the pilot and flight crew to make the most of the situation.

It wasn’t really until we landed in Detroit and saw the devastation on the airport monitors that we truly realized the magnitude of destruction. The text-only news reports on our Kindles told us the story, but the videos gave us the emotional impact of the destruction.

Kay and I are so thankful for many who prayed for us. We were less than 5 minutes from departure. If the earthquake had been 5 minutes later, we would have been in the air and not affected. But, if the earthquake had been 3 minutes later, we would have been racing down the runway at 180 miles per hour with the ground bucking up and down. I have no idea what would have happened, but none of the scenarios sound exciting to me as a passenger!

Several have written that they were awakened early on Friday morning and could not go back to sleep. Two told us that their visits to the internet alerted them to the earthquake and they began praying. We were among the many recipients of those prayers.

We thank all of you for your care, for your prayer, for your concern.

Our thoughts remain with the hundreds of thousands in Japan whose lives have been tremendously affected by these disasters and the continuing potential of a nuclear disaster also. The God of the universe is aware of every tear, of every heartache, not just from those who believe, but from pre-believers also. Our prayer is for their comfort, for their peace. But most of all, our prayer is for the Buddhist nation of Japan to experience the explosion of church growth that often follows a time of intense natural disaster. Mission Frontiers reports that 40% of church-planting breakthroughs among Muslim people groups followed some kind of natural disaster. (click here for the article) May it be true in Buddhist Japan also.

“How do you brand God?”, she asked. Janell is a marketing professor. She explained that she and a colleague have been exploring that question.

We were just beginning our take-off roll in Detroit on my flight home from Nairobi, Kenya. We had done the usual “What do you do?” and my explanation that I am a missionary helping people consider what it might be like to know God prompted her branding question.

I must admit that I’ve never begun a conversation about the gospel in quite this fashion.

I asked her how she felt God should be branded. She suggested several ideas about crucifixes and other things.

I suggested that she might explore how God wants to be branded. God says that his brand is seen in his people. His brand is the transformed lives of those who truly follow him. Lives of peace, lives of joy, lives of purpose, lives of self-sacrifice for others.

God says “by their fruits you shall know them.” He says, “By this all men will know that you are my followers, if you love one another.”

Janell is very curious. It was a very engaging conversation. She asked very good questions. The airplane was still taking off and climbing. “I need to get a pen and paper. I want to write these ideas down.”, she said. As soon as we reach 10,000 feet and we were released from seatbelts, she grabbed pen and paper from the overhead bin and we continued.

“If this is how God is branded, how does your organization engage with this brand?”

I explained our vision statement, “Building movements of true followers everywhere so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus.” Wanting to keep the conversation personal rather than purely academic, I continued, “That is why we are having this conversation. You are talking to someone who truly follows Jesus. So this conversation is living out God’s brand. I’m helping you understand what it might be like to know God personally.”

“What is your organizational process to engage this branding?”

I explained the seven basic measurements that we use to evaluate our progress. Although this is typically “insider information”, it seemed appropriate to include in our conversation. She wrote notes as I briefly explained:

• Exposures to the gospel
• Indicated decisions to accept the gospel (which Janell called “behavioral intention”)
• Membership in a growth group to grow in understanding
• Membership in a movement group to engage in helping others understand
• Mobilizing and leading a group
• The 6th and 7th are similar measures external to the organization or internal to the organization: Committing to a lifetime of engaging in helping everyone know someone who truly follows Jesus. Sometimes by joining the staff of the organization. Most frequently by living as a true follower of Jesus in the business or professional workplace.

“This sounds like Amway.”

I was amazed that she made the connection. I responded, “DeVos was a follower of Jesus. He took this discipleship and multiplication process which has been used around the world for two thousand years, and incorporated it into a business model. He saw a good model and built a business on it.”

“So, how does someone become a member? What are your membership requirements?”

We were looking at her notes of these 7 measurements. “The first two measures include the gospel. Gospel is an older English word for “good news”. As people understand how God loves them and what he has done for them, it is good news. So perhaps the best way to help you understand the membership process is to briefly list the key points of the gospel. There are four of them.”

So right there in our aluminum tube at 35,000 feet, she took notes about the “membership process”:

• God loves you and has a purpose in life for you that is full of joy and fulfillment and meaning.
• We cannot experience God’s love and purpose because we have sinned, and we are separated from God. (This led into quite a discussion about “original sin” and are babies evil.)
• Jesus Christ is God’s way of overcoming this separation. It is borne out of his nature and his love. (This led to a fascinating conversation about “exclusivity claims” among religions.)
• Each of us must personally accept God’s invitation to engage with him through Jesus’ substitution to overcome our sin and hence our separation.

There were many other threads to this conversation.

“Hasn’t science moved us beyond much need for a spiritual explanation for everything?”

I used our current situation: If airplanes had existed in the past, perhaps people would have explained flight as “angels get underneath the wings and lift them up.” But we know that modern flight is based on principles of science. Differences in pressure create lift on the wings. Heating causes gases to expand in the engines. Newton tells us that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Lift and propulsion move the airplane up and forward.

But my question is: Who created these scientific laws? How did they come into existence so that we could discover them and employ them to travel from Detroit to Orlando? They appear to be the product of some intelligence which designed them to work in productive ways for our benefit.

“I think I’m more of a Stephen Hawking type when understanding science.”

I told her of Dr. Fritz Schaefer, nominated 5 times for the Nobel prize. Dr Schaefer explained his perspective on science in a U.S. News and World Report article in 1991, “The significance and joy in my science comes in the occasional moments of discovering something new and saying to myself, ‘So that’s how God did it!’ My goal is to understand a little corner of God’s plan.” Dr. Schaefer has lectured on “Stephen Hawking, the Big Bang, and God.”

Janell shared more of her spiritual background. I sense that she knows about God, but more in the Stephen Hawking agnostic or deist approach. And God wants her to know him personally, as the forgiver of sins through Jesus and as the source of fulfillment and joy and purpose in life.

We exchanged business cards. I emailed two websites and she has responded thanking me for the conversation and the websites:

• EveryStudent.com. A safe place to ask questions about life and what it might be like to know God.
• Stephen Hawking, the Big Bang, and God, a lecture by Dr. Fritz Schaefer.

It was a fascinating conversation. God’s Spirit gave words to say and thoughts to share. I would never have imagined how a conversation on branding God could lead to an explanation of the gospel and ongoing exchange of emails.

You’ve probably been following the rescue of the Chilean miners. I want to tell you the story behind the story. Most of the world will not know this story until we’re gathered around the banquet feast in heaven. I love it when true followers of Jesus embrace the opportunities he gives.

If you have watched the news, most of the miners are wearing a t-shirt with the logo from the Chilean flag. The t-shirts were a gift from Campus Crusade for Christ Chile. Over the last couple of weeks, they received MP3 players with the audio version of the JESUS Film and the Bible in audio format.

CNN carried the story. Here is a link.

The Boston Globe website has dramatic photos. Here is a link.

There is more behind the story. Here is the note from our national director, Christian Maureira:

Probably you are watching on TV the rescue of the miners and also maybe you noticed a T Shirt they are wearing. All those T Shirts are a gift from Campus Crusade for Christ Chile. In the front you can read “Gracias Señor, Thank You Lord” and on the back; the Psalm 95:4 “Porque en su mano están las profundidades de la tierra, y las alturas de los montes son suyas” “In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.”

Also, on one sleeve we put The Jesus Film Project image, and on the other sleeve Cruzada Estudiantil y Profesional para Cristo (CCC) image.

The idea was to glorify our Lord with all this and also to express our love and concern for them by giving them the JESUS Film audio and portions of the Bible in audio through the MP3s.

They received many gifts but they decided to wear our T Shirts and we praise God for this.

I am writing you in order you can be informed because the Chilean TV says that 1,000,000,000 of people in this moment are watching the rescue.

Blessings from Chile,

Jesus is my inspiration.

Christian Maureira, National Director, CCC Chile

And there is even more to the story. From a previous message from our National Director Christian Maureira. It is a bit long, but oh so glorifying to God who planted an idea into Christian’s soul and a plan unfolded that brings glory to God in front of the eyes of 1 billion people.

Hello team and friends! I want to share with you about the last two very intense weeks as we have worked on the project to take the Word of God and the JESUS audio version to the mine, but it has really be worth the effort as it is food for the soul. This long history of the miners that is now passing 2 months has been without doubt the longest survival experience for people trapped underground.

This all started on the 5th of August when the San Jose mine collapsed because of the exploration in the mine. The news was not good as it was only 6 months after we had experience the very large earthquake and tsunami. With a population less than other countries in the world problems like this seem much closer to you and much more like it is part of your own family.

After two weeks without news from the miners we could only think the worst. The government had made every effort, but it was reasonable to think that the miners were lost, above all considering the distance where they were located, some 700 meters (2014 feet) deep with a difficult future to be rescued. But God had other plans and 2 days later (the 17th day), contact with them was made. Obviously we were all very happy and we celebrated the miracle that all were alive.

As Campus Crusade, God guided us to think about how we could help these men and this was how we took the iniative to contact some churches in the North, leaders and authorities about sending the JESUS audio into the mine. It wasn’t easy in the beginning because of some apathy in the Christian leadership and a lack of a sense of urgency, together with the restrictive control of the rescue team but, God in His sovereignty provided that we were able to gain contact with the
daughter and the brother of one of the three Christians that were trapped there.

During several weeks, I was in contact with them, and I explored the possibility of sending them audio material. Finally, I traveled to the mine with 33 MP3’s containing the JESUS audio version and an ample portion of the Bible. I was there for 2 days and we sent the MP3’s through each family members that were there.

Jose Samuel, my contact in the mine (father of Hettiz and brother of Gaston) is an extraordinary man who has really surprised me. The psychologists that are giving help from the surface have recognized that he has been a tremendous emotional and spiritual support for the rest of his co-workers.

He sent me a letter that grabbed my attention for his incredible clarity of thought. For example, some parts of the letter are:

• “I want to express my appreciation for this great blessing for me and my co-workers, it will be very good our edification” (He is talking about the MP3’s)
• “I am well because Christ lives in me”
• “We have prayer services at 12 a.m. and 6 p.m.”
• “I ask all of you for pray not only for us here, but for all the lost people in the world”
• At the end of the letter he signed off with Psalm 95:4 “In his hand are the depths of the earth, and mountain peaks belong to him”.

This is a very motivating story, lets continue to pray for the salvation of these souls. Thanks for being part of this.

Christian Maureira, ND CCC CHILE

What a story! What a God!

As I put my things into the overhead bin, I noticed that my seatmate was playing with a new Apple iPad. So, I thought, this is the person assigned by God through the Delta Airlines seat assignment system. This is my next opportunity to be someone who truly follows Jesus.

As I settled in my seat, I commented on his iPad. He was swishing and tapping his way through app after app after app. He was thoroughly engrossed and having a lot of fun.

After takeoff, he started flipping through apps again. He had just bought the iPad a few days earlier. He had purchased internet time on the GoGo in-flight internet system that Delta offers on many flights. So as we jetted toward Orlando, he was all over the internet using his new iPad.

As our conversation progressed, I learned more about him. He had a new job after many months of unemployment. He was changing careers and doing job training in Orlando for his new job. He was a follower of Jesus.

Still engaged with his iPad, so I asked him if we could become friends on Facebook. I told him there was something I would like to show him on my Facebook page. So right there somewhere over southern Georgia, he requested to be a friend on Facebook. Using his iPad on my Facebook account, I accepted his friend request.

Then we looked at the tab on my profile called Grow. We explored several articles about growing in your relationship with Jesus.

Being Facebook friends, I can now keep up with him, we could exchange messages, I could pray for him as he updated his status. We exchanged messages a few times. One time, I wrote:

Luke,

I am praying for you as you grow into your new job. Please continue to send these updates as you have opportunity. You are welcome to read my blog at http://seabourn.org where I share things from my own personal journey.

I am asking my friends to pray that I will be “the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing”. [2 Corinthians 2:15]. Would you join me in praying this into my life? Please send me any specific things I can be praying for you, Luke.

Blessings, Keith

He responded:

Hey Keith,

I think that is an amazing prayer to ask for. I really like asking to be an aroma for Christ. Never thought of it quite that way. I can definitely testify that God has given you that! I will definitely check out your blog… Thanks for praying for me. I really appreciate the prayers. Please pray that God will give me strength, and confidence to go down the path he put me on.

Luke

So, we’re on a journey together which began on StartingWithGod.com living in my Facebook page. The journey started about 30,000 feet over southern Georgia on an iPad between Facebook friends. It continues in Facebook messages and email exchanges.

Why not add the Grow:: StartingWithGod app to your Facebook page? It’s easy. It’s free. Here’s how:

http://mediaforministry.org/932/facebook-starting-with-god-app/.

While you’re adding tabs, why not add the God? evangelistic tab to your profile also? Here’s how: http://www.everystudent.info/fb/facebook4.html.

You never know when might have an opportunity to help everyone know someone who truly follows Jesus using your Facebook page.

Things that happened on our recent trip in Southeast Asia:

“Kay, wake up. There are ants in our bed.” At 4 am. I felt crawling and itching. I thought I must be developing a rash. No rash, just ants!

Grammy Kay bumped Abby off a baggage cart when they hit a bump exiting a moving walkway. Abby was unhurt and jumped up laughing. (Grammy says I must use bumped not dumped for her escapade!)

Grandad Keith dumped Abby and two of her friends off a baggage cart when it became unbalanced and turned over. All were unhurt and laughing. (Do you think Abby wonders about grandparents now? What do Daniel and Michelle’s new team friends think about their parents?)

8 bags of household possessions for Daniel and Michelle were heavily packed. Thai Airways only charged them $90 for 500 pounds rather than the expected $1500. Amazing answer to prayers.

Daniel and Michelle received their visa to Thailand just a few days before moving there, after weeks of trying. Amazing answer.

Life continues to be an amazing adventure walking with the Lord every day.

Does social media work? How can social media be harnessed for the Great Commission?

I just read an amazing story from two weeks ago.

November 9th: Jon Acuff, a copy writer in an IT department in Atlanta, explains how it began here in this original blogpost. God led him to start a project to raise $30,000 by 31 December for a kindergarten in Vietnam.

November 9th: Abraham Piper interviewed Jon as the project started here in this blog post.

November 9th (15 hours later): Jon Acuff blogs how the project has reached $24,000 on the first day.

November 10th: Jon Acuff explains how $30,000 for a kindergarten school in Vietnam was fully funded in 18 hours.