Slow Times, Fast Times

It can be interesting how things work out here. Either I am insanely busy, or everything stops and I have to find things to occupy my time. The past few weeks has been the latter. Most of the production team went to Hawaii a couple weeks ago to document a conference that they do every year. Although a great time, and very busy for the crew abroad, those of us left behind are left with little assigned work to do.
My responsibilities to the school are primarily to run the work duties after lunch, other than that I spend a little time trying to keep the computers up and running at the base. (Any of you who spend a lot of time with old windows computers can realize the potential challenge in that.)
In the down time, I’ve been spending a lot more time in prayer and studying the Bible. I am pretty sure that taking this downtime and using as a chance to rest in God has been one of the more rewarding in the past several months. Just in the past few days a few things I have been praying for have been answered.
Many of you that know me may have noticed that I am a pretty task oriented person when it comes to working. Others may have noticed that I am fairly analytically minded. I went to a High school focused on engineering; so machining, robotics and industrial programing. I use a lot of the same principles I learned for engineering and apply them to sound, in a lot of ways being able to see both the detail and design of the small and the large picture from design to conception is pretty prevalent in both fields. Albeit sound is much for fun to me.
The problem with the way my head works is that it is much easier for me to study the Word than it is to spend time in prayer. I’m not saying that studying the word a lot is bad, but prayer and letting the Holy Spirit of God work in your life is very important as well. Spending more time in prayer is allowing God to do things deep into my life. Its kind of hard to explain. I guess one way is I am allowing God to take the things I have read and take them from being head knowledge into things that are heart knowledge, something I live.
I am looking forward to staffing another DTS (Discipleship Training School) in January. We did some staff training this past week and it was really amazing. For one I was a little less ADD. I usually have trouble keeping focus if a meeting go over an hour, but I managed long days of training without much trouble.
Now one of the things we were encouraged to pray for is that we as leaders can operate more in the spirit, specifically pray for the prophetic. Pray the we can speak into these students lives and have them be God’s words to them, not our opinions.
Now, as said earlier, paying attention to the Holy Spirit is a challenge of mine, as it usually requires a good amount of a praying lifestyle. This is something I want to adapt more and more of, being able to listen to God’s leading in situations. If he has a word for someone then to say it. There are some people I have met in life where the best way to describe them is that their life flows in the things of God. Their personal walk with Jesus is close, they know is word and his leading and being with them for just a few minutes can really have an impact on you. This is a person I want to become, and that takes both knowing the word and being able to constantly be renewed in the Holy Spirit.
I originally meant for this update to go in a different direction, but I started to get pretty passionate about what I was writing so I just ran with it. May God bless you and keep you. May He continue to provide for you and grow you. May you continue to get to know Him in His greatness, holiness, love and power. May you discover what a beautiful thing it is to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

~J

New Arrivals

So here we are again. Since my last update consisted of very little in the way of the day-to-day going ons I will start off this update with a brief over of the past month or so.
The School of Video Production ended a little over a month ago and a couple of weeks ago several of the graduates of the school started here at MV as interns. Their first assignment as interns is to revamp and reedit a Public Service Announcement for human trafficking each of them did during their school as well as write and shoot a new PSA. I have gotten the privilege of helping the interns sort through and plan for anything sound related.
All of these projects will be made broadcast ready and will be launched on a website that Media Village has designed to provide free material to organizations fighting Human Trafficking.

http://newarrivals.co.za

The website is still in its early stages and will continue to be updated.
About a month and a half ago all of the production crew and students spent all day and all night shooting a PSA on Human Trafficking called “New Arrivals”. This is the one we budgeted with all the money we won from the Yogi-sip video competition.
This video will hold the theme for the website and also be made available free to organizations fighting Human Trafficking.
The School of Digital Photography is in full swing. As you may have guessed a sound guy isn’t in too much of a demand. I have however taken up the role of work duty manager and been helping students maintain the base. This is always a challenge for me as I have to sometimes play the bad-guy, which I am not a big fan of.
As far as the production crew goes, we have been working on several videos for Harvest Evangelism, sharing stories of what God has been doing in Thailand, Malaysia, Hawaii and some other places. We have also been doing work covering the coming of the Lausanne Congress in 2010. I have gotten an opportunity to meet and interview quite a few church and organization leaders and it has been really cool to hear them share their opinions.
I am really looking forward for the next few months working with the interns and with the school.
Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support.

I’ve added a few pictures, the big PSA shoot, and me chilling at the office.
God Bless
~J

What Causes Change?

Every now and then a person has one of those moments that really get them thinking. This happened to me the other week. One thing you will notice about Cape Town, or about South Africa in general are the amount of homeless around. Kalk Bay, where I live, is no exception. I can walk to the corner store, less than five minutes away, and be asked three times for money or food. As it is there are many days where I spend more money on food for someone on the street than on whatever snack I was planning to get. On one morning such as this I was walking back to Media Village with a nice new latte I had just gotten at my favorite coffee shop down the road. I had just given a pastry to Stanley, one of the guys on the street I have gotten to be friends with during my time out here. On the last few blocks from home I was approached by a kid, maybe ten or eleven asking for money. I had none left and he would not take no for an answer. So, after several blocks of me telling him I had absolutely no money and finally at the point of almost yelling at the kid I decided to just hand him my coffee.
A couple minutes later a thought passed through my head: As soon as his drink is done, the kid will go back to begging. Tomorrow the same thing. The guys I see on the street each day have the same story. They have survived for years without me around, many of them have been on the street for a majority of there lives. And whether I give them food or not will have little difference. So even though I am befriending some of them, and even though I am giving them food, I am having absolutely no lasting effect of any kind when it comes to changing these peoples lives for the better.
Jesus, when talking to the woman at the well touches on something similar when talking about living water. He tells the woman that he is the Messiah, the source of eternal life. Now aside from bringing people closer to Jesus, another thing we as christians need to focus on are needs here and now.
One thing anyone investing in anything wants to see some pay off. Personally it kills me to give away what little I can give and have it have no effect on helping others meet needs. So I have decided to put a part of what I would normally use to buy food for some of the guys on the street (not all of it mind you, cause I still like helping the guys out.) and start putting it aside and giving it to ministries that are focused on rehabilitation and empowering people to earn money. This way I can maximize what little money I have to have a greater effect.
Now the biggest reason I mention this is because as Christ followers we should be focused on bringing as much of the kingdom of God to earth as possible. One of the ways we can do this is to work at eliminating systemic poverty. I love how in Matthew 6 talks about “When you give to the needy” I love how he uses “when”, not “if”. An “if” is uncertain, when denotes expectation.
So we are expected to give, how can we do it wisely?

Things at Media Village are going well. As you may have noticed this update is out a good few weeks later than I intended. So most of the recent going ons I will post in the next update in a couple weeks.
To say the least I have been very busy. Been working most of my weekends since being back, which can be a bit tiring.
We started a new school on friday and I am in charge of work duties and helping with intercession on mondays. I really love working with schools so this should be a fun quarter.

God Bless,
~Jeff

There and Back Again

Well it doesn’t seem like it but I’ve been back in
South Africa for just over two weeks now. Thank you all so
much for your support. God definitely confirmed that He
wanted me back in SA. All of the funding I needed to get
back was raised AND I got back out here about 5 days
earlier than I planned. It was an amazing month and God
definitely pulled through. Big thanks to all the churches
and groups who let me talk with you and hang out, it war a
real blessing to be with you.

It was really nice seeing all my family and friends
when I got home. It is crazy what a person can miss in a
year, multiple weddings and multiple children I think were
the big ones.

As far as Media Village goes I have pretty much
been working since I landed in Cape Town. Here is the run
down of my first couple days back: Thursday, landed around
11 pm, got back to base and to bed around 12:30 in the
morning. Got up around 8, made some coffee and went on
a video shoot for the rest of the day. The video was about
communication for missionaries aiming to help them
communicate with supporters and churches better. It was a
rather difficult day for me as I was not over jet lag yet. So I
was fueled by caffeine most of that day.

Saturday was a little nice because I got to sleep in
and get over my jet lag. After lunch we worked on
recording russian translations for several of the Global day
of prayer projects.

The School of Video production is well under way
and I’ve gotten the chance on helping a few of the students
with learning sound and really understanding its
importance in video.

The video school is currently in its 8th week and
are shooting music videos this weekend which is really
exciting.

All of us at MV are currently preparing for a large
Human Trafficking video we are working. Shooting is next


One thing I shared a little bit about while I was
back in town that I wanted to share with you:

I’ve been to several countries in the past few years,
multiple churches in each place I’ve stayed, etc. One thing
I have seen God doing in almost every church is what I like
to call “The death of Sunday Christianity.” and what I men
is this: People are getting sick of their christian life existing
only on sunday.

Sunday christianity is one of the biggest killers of
awesome people and one of the biggest turn-offs of
christianity to non christians. And these are the people
who just go to church on sunday, and attend. People go to
church to feel good, to enjoy worship and hear a good
sermon, or just go because they feel guilty.

These are the people who get bored with churches,
who leave churches when they feel they aren’t getting and I
think are one of the biggest reasons churches are dying.
Well if you are one of these people (don’t worry, I used to
be one too) or happen to know one here is some
encouragement: Get involved. John 10:10b Jesus says that
he has come to give life to the full. So get involved, start
seeking God and actively serving God in some way. If you
start actively engaging in what God is doing then God will
actively engaging in your life.

God can do amazing things with your life if you let
him. And church will get much more exciting, and things
that bother you about your church will seem pretty petty
once God starts moving in your life.

Luckily I’ve seen a lot of churches noticing this
lately, and I thought I’d encourage you all a little bit.
Because we serve and awesome God who does amazing
things.
Until next month
God bless,



Jeff

May 2009

The past few weeks have been quite amazing. First off the radio school has started doing in-house broadcasting for a half hour over lunch and dinner. This is a great experience for them as it allows them to operate and run equipment live like the would be at a radio station. This is a great step for them and I am really enjoying the shows thus far. The radio school as a whole is going very well and I am looking forward how each of the students will be an impact to their communities and cities after they get out into the world.
The DTS (discipleship training school) just returned from spending six weeks in Uganda. It was really great to see them again and catch up with what happen over their outreach. I could see drastic changes in many of their lives after talking with them and closing the last week of their school. Ten of the twelve DTS students are going to be coming back at the end of June to attend the School of Video Production. I am really looking forward to seeing them all again.


The other week at my church small group we were going over miracles that Jesus performed in the book of John. We were looking in John 4:43-54 where Jesus heals an officials son. The official came to Jesus, expecting to take Jesus to his son to have him healed. Instead Jesus simply tells the man “You may go. Your son will live.” And when the man gets back home he finds that his son has been healed. Something there challenged me. Maybe it was the official's religion, maybe his culture, or maybe just the way he was used to interacting with people, but he expected Jesus to be physically present in the healing of his son. How often do I expect to feel God's presence or expect him to noticeably move? Doesn't God move all the time? Isn't he always working and moving and working in the world?
How many times I forget how awesome and creative and intricate God is. And I am thankful for his constant involvement in my life and in this world. I need to understand that God is always working, even when we don't feel his manifest presence.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayer. I will be visiting toledo here in a couple months and really look forward to seeing you all. I pray that God be continually active and blessing your lives.

Jeff

Last update I mentioned JusticeACTS in the lower
right corner of the page. This update I really want to focus
on that. For the world cup, it is estimated that anywhere
from 40,000 to 100,000 people will be trafficked into and
within South Africa specifically for sex.


Others trafficked end up as domestic workers or
wives. Some refugees have told of how a relative will go
into the hospital for a headache or some small problem and
end up dead. When they get the body back they find it has
been cup open in the stomach area. They’re organs are
being sold on the black market. Some of this stuff may
sound like it’s coming out of some crazy Sci-Fi book or
urban legend, but it is real and happening here in SA.

JusticeACTS is an organization who’s goal is to end
Trafficking here in South Africa. Other organizations
involved are IOM, ANEX CDW ( an NGO against child
domestic labor), Media Village and a bunch of other
organizations as well.

We plan on hitting this problem with the world cup
on multiple fronts: First is the prevention stage. This
involves things as simple as handing out flyers and
presenting a training program to teach at risk communities
how to identify risky situations, protect themselves, and
report suspected trafficking.

We are also working on a petition for parliament to
implement legislature against Human Trafficking. As of yet,
there is no law in SA against it and when caught people are
most often let go, and in many cases not even questioned.

Media Village is heading up the media campaign.
We have many scripts for PSA’s already written and are
working on funding. We already have clearance to show the
PSA’s on all the supporting and main screens during the
World Cup.

The second phase is victim assistance, JusticeACTS
is going to open a safe house by the time the world cup
starts next year. They are also opening a coffee house
designed to cater to street children and prostitutes in order
to have a contact point with those trafficked.

The third part of the plan is mobilization for the
world cup. YWAM will be bringing in 3500 volunteers for
the World Cup to do ministry. We will be training a portion
of them to deal specifically with human trafficking.

I know this sounded more like an advertisement for
a ministry than an update, but the opportunity to work in
this area is one of the main reasons I will be staying out
here for another year.

A couple weeks ago a couple of us from MV got to
work with ANEX CDW with a youth camp they were
hosting. It was a week long camp during the school
holidays and we were helping teach the kids, mostly high-
school aged, life skills, career advice, and encouragement.
And even though I was only able to help out a few hours
out of the day it was really amazing to get to work directly
with people and invest, if even for a few days, into their
future.

To get more information on JusticeACTS please
visit their web-site:


http://justiceacts.org




In other news things are going very well with the
radio school. I have been working mainly as technical
support along with some teaching along sound theory and
recording. Its really neat to see how far the students have
come with radio after only two and a half weeks. I am really
looking forward to the rest of the school. My only big
trouble so far is that I switched over from the DTS to the
Radio School with no down time and am starting to get a
little worn down. Luckily enough though I will be home for
a month in July and am really looking forward to a bit of a
break.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and
support. God is doing some amazing things out here and
we all get to be a part of it.




~Jeff

Why Not

One of the Joys of YWAM is that it seems no matter which YWAM base you go to your are going to meet people who know some friends of yours, its just something you come to expect. For example, a couple of weeks ago the DTS went to Worcester, SA to the base there. Aside from the base leader having spoken at my DTS in Denver, the speaker that week, from Argentina, had closely worked with our base leader from the Denver base many years ago.
The Worcester (pronounced “Wooster” to us Americans) base was very nice, it had more of a ‘typical’ YWAM feel to it. And by that I mean you could really tell that everything they did was specifically geared toward missions training or getting closer to God. Sometimes I think you can lose your focus on God when your stuck working with media, or technology, or work in general. It was nice just to go to a place where the feeling of the presence of God didn’t need to be sought after. He was just there, plain as day. I think it would be hard not encounter God in that place.
The week at Worcester was quite restful, it was the DTS’s last week of having a speaker before outreach prep week and then off to Uganda. Sadly though this week fell on the week I usually like to do my updates, so if you were thinking this update is a little late, you are right.
One thing of note that week I really wanted to bring up is a phrase that ended up becoming the unofficial theme of the week: “Why not?” or “¿Por que no?” since our speaker, Alejandro, was going through a translator. And what he meant by this phrase “Why not?” is that if you feel God telling or leading you to do something, if it does not go against what he says in the Bible, just say to yourself “Why not?” Or maybe it isn’t something you feel specifically ‘led’ to do but you just had an idea that you think might reach people or glorify God. Again, if it doesn’t go against what God says in his word, just say to yourself “Why not?” God can do amazing things if you just give him room to move.


As I type this letter, my right hand is absolutely covered in white paint. Back home I am used to working with latex paint, which can be washed off your hands with water. Well I had temporarily forgotten that I was working with oil based paint and went to go wash the brush of in the sink and squeezed the brush. I am painting an old bathroom next to one of our classrooms, the School of Radio Broadcasting starts on Friday and we are converting the bathroom into a small radio broadcasting room.
The DTS left on Monday morning to Kitwe in Southwest Uganda. I am both sad and happy to not be with them. Sad in that I really want to go to Uganda and happy because I get to work with the radio school and with a few other things that I am really excited about.
For one it is really awesome to be working with a school that actually requires some expertise on the subject I’ve spent the last few years studying. This in and of itself is an amazing testimony of how God knows the plans he has for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) When I was originally planning on coming to Africa I was sure that I would be laying down recording and music. Then I end up almost falling into a place that fits my talents and experience exactly.
I say this as an encouragement to anyone who is scared to follow God. God has better plans for you than you ever could. And I can guarantee that life is better following God than any other route imaginable.
The example of this blessing is that this week with the sound room, it is a challenge and exciting to be able to condition a room for sound, I know its nerdy, but its a new challenge for me. I am really looking forward to working with this school and what the next phase of my time in Media Village is bringing.

Thank you all so very much for your prayers and support. Things are definitely a little less stressful this past month, thank you all.
God Bless,

Prayer Requests:
The DTS is in their first week of being in Uganda, that God really blesses and they can adjust and reach the new culture.
That the School of Radio Broadcasting and School of Communication starts well.
That I can adjust to the new schedule, aside from the school I am working again with the production department and there are some other projects I really want to be involved with as well.

www.justiceacts.org
“An estimated 40,000 to 100,000 people will be trafficked into South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.”
This is an organization we at Media Village (and me personally) am heavily involved with. If you have any questions or want more information please contact me at: jeff@mediavillage.info


Jeff

Normality (February Update)

I had a rather interesting moment a couple weeks ago. Every week on friday we do an outreach with the DTS. The point of the outreach is to expose students to serving the community and to build relationships with people we’re serving. Well we started working with a day care center in one of the townships. The center has around a hundred kids there, all of them come from underprivileged families, at least twenty of the kids come from parents who are infected with HIV/AIDS. The center does not charge, they just round the kids up in the morning and bring them home in the afternoon. Their goal is to teach the kids basic social skills and educational skills enough to integrate them into primary school when they are old enough. They provide food and a safe environment for the kids as well.
Aside from playing with and getting to know these kids, we helped clear land and plant a garden in the back of the property. It has been a true blessing to work with these kids, I think I fell in love the minute I stepped foot on that place. I think kids have an ability to love unconditionally that we as adults need to learn from.
While we were working on the garden the kids were all getting assembled to head into the main building for nap time. While watching them all walk away I looked around and took in the view. This place is rugged and beautiful. Two small wooden sheds set as the classrooms and a cement house as the main building, the kids all gathering at the door to head inside. It looked like something off of a Worldvision booklet or an NGO website.
What got me the most about this was not the beauty, or the kids, what shook me was how normal this had become to me. I have been working with YWAM now for about seven months, film, sound, mercy ministry, whatever needed to be done that day I did. It doesn’t really occur to me that often that I am doing things that the world sees as uncommon. I don’t consider myself crazy involved with human rights or after some big important cause. All I am doing is what God is leading me to do, and right now that has me in South Africa.
This got me thinking; you do not have to be a missionary, or be working with a ministry to be doing things for God. You just have to follow God. You have just as much potential to reach people in the life you are living now. And here is the better news: You are better equipped to reach people in your area of influence than most “Missionaries”. Why is this, because you are where they are at. Students are very good at relating and communicating with students. A social worker is equipped to reach their fellow workers and the families and people they work for.
The world would be a very different place is people focused on living their faith and loving people right where they are at. In Acts 1:8 Jesus talks about us being witness in “Jerusalem, Samaria, and all the Earth.” He was speaking to the disciples, while they were in Jerusalem. Reaching to world for God starts here, starts where you are at, and then goes out farther and farther.

Life with the DTS has been going well. Its been very stretching organizing the outreaches and running the small group but it has definitely been going well. A new project we have started working with MV Productions is something called “Unashamedly Ethical” which will hopefully start pushing and encouraging businesses to be acting with full integrity. It is a project I am happy to have worked on, especially in the midst of a world recession where much of the catalyst was brought on by corruption and corporate kickbacks.
The team is beginning to gear up for the trip to Uganda. As of now I am unsure as to wether I will be able to go. I have also been given the option to help with the radio school starting as soon as the DTS leaves for Uganda, So I have been praying about what I should be doing next
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support, God Bless.

~Jeff


Prayer Requests

-Direction on wether or not to go on the Uganda outreach with the DTS team. Also for the finances for the trip if I do decide to go.

-The direction of the school, we have been learning and experiencing a lot. It is my prayer that things keep going well both relationally and spiritually even during the latter part of the lecture phase where things start getting a little more tiring.

-That I can continue to stretch and grow into the person that God is leading me to be.

-Finances in general, with the economic crunch support has gone down and I need to start raising more support. If anyone is interested please let me know.

- I’ve started talking to Graham and Di about coming out here for a second year and have been praying about that a lot lately.

Welcome to the new year, I hope your holidays were pleasant and that you all enjoyed your family and friends and that you got a chance to sit back and take in the significance of the time.
2009 is present, the holidays are over and the base here at media village is now alive and moving again. With the change in the year also comes a new direction for me here at Media Village.
I am now working with the DTS. (Discipleship Training School) We have twelve students, its been almost two weeks now, and the time has been both hectic and awesome.
With the new year comes a lot of new responsibility on my part. Aside from still working a bit with the production crew I am also in charge of: Work duties, co-leading the guys small group, and leading weekly outreaches.
In the two weeks since the school has started things have been non-stop. I now have a new appreciation for all the people who worked in my DTS. Working on a school is a huge demand of time and requires a great amount of giving of yourself.
I am really excited and already a little proud of the DTS. They are a great group of people really willing to grab ahold of all that God has for them in their five months of the school. Already I can see change in some of them and it’s only been a couple of weeks.
Growing as a leader is one big goal of mine during my time out here in Africa. I think there is a time in a persons walk where they need to decide wether they are just going to take part in something or step out and learn to lead in something so that they can eventually expand on that and use it to help further the cause of Christ. So although things are crazier and more challenging I am really looking forward to how God is going to use this time, both in my life and that in the lives of these students and the community of Kalk Bay.
Now with the turn of the new year and the new school, I am now working less with the production department than I used to. Now, I love doing audio, and sound, but my true heart of ministry is for discipleship. That being said I am perfectly happy laying down some of the technical aspect of Media Village and picking up a position where I get to disciple and speak into peoples lives.

One odd thing about working out here so far is that usually I don’t know what will be happening one week to the next. With the production crew we are usually told of a new film project maybe a week or two in advance, so I am typically rolling with the punches so to speak with my production schedule. With the DTS however, I now have the next five months pretty much set and scheduled, which brings me to my next announcement: I get to help lead the DTS outreach to western Uganda.
This is huge for me, one of the big projects in my Phase II school in Denver was on a town in northern Uganda, and I have been wanting to visit the country since at least that long. Secondly we will be doing more “traditional” missionary work. We will be staying in a hospital in western Uganda, fairly close to the Rwanda border. We will be doing everything from: working with the hospital, working with children’s ministries, to street ministry, to teaching in bible classes.
This is a great opportunity to go and do work for God in an area where we can really make a difference in the lives of the people. I will be sending a letter out soon explaining the trip a bit more.

Thank you all for your support and for your prayers, it really means so much to me. God Bless.

~J

Prayer Requests:
- That the DTS goes well and really has an impact on the students lives.
- That I can keep up with the increased pace of life out here with the school.
- That all the leaders of the DTS really reach out to God for strength and leading in the school.
- Finances, with the economy the way it is, things have gotten a little tighter out here as well. Also finances for the trip to Uganda.