Tim's Capetown camera photos

 
 
 
 

Congress wrapup from Cape Town, South Africa

I'm so grateful to God for the opportunity to work as a radio broadcaster at the Cape Town 2010 Conference.  We are totally wiped out, but wrapped up the event this evening with about 5000 people sharing communion together with almost 200 nations represented!  It has been an overwhelming week – constant working, constant info, not the type of work I do that often (tons and tons of radio reports, interviews, etc.), technical issues…just very intense.  But what a unique opportunity, one very few have had and I doubt I'll have again.  We finished a couple of hours ago and right now all I want to do is go home and see my family!

Thank you for praying for me and for them (my family) while I have been here!  It has been such a help to me and I am very grateful.

Love, Tim

Thursday 21 Oct. in Cape Town

Today was a day off for the Congress, so I went on a little mission excursion to Lentegeur High School.  Celebrate Life has come in to mentor high schoolers and  teach them life skills.  They do not preach at the kids, as it is a public school, but the values they teach are bringing amazing changes!  The gang influences at the school have been driven out and the principal says this is the only teen mentoring program that has really worked there.  

We also visited the township from which Bishop Desmond Tutu led his marches to Cape Town against apartheid.  A mission there called Cross Roads has taught women how to run their own small business and make beaded crafts and other items.  It was the site of a horrible attack against refugees two years ago (around 10% of South Africans are refugees from other countries).  

These dear people live lives so different from mine it is hard to process, hard to understand.  Even after going there personally, it is still hard to grasp that this is a real situation with real danger and real shantys and real poverty.  But many of them will tell you that Jesus has given them hope, and that they are not "poor" in the way we think of it.  You may have heard the quote from Wess Stafford, the head of Compassion International, that poverty is not a lack of money -- it's a lack of hope. I didn't see a lot of wealth today, but I saw a lot of hope.

Tim

Cape Town 2010 the day before the Congress

Hello again from the Cape!

Today has been a long day -- a good day, but a long one.  Over 12 hours working so far, and still going!  But we knew it would be this way.  If you would like to pray for me, one request is that we would have enough editing suites for the broadcasters to get done the amount of work we would like to finish.  Also, that the suites would have editing programs that we know how to use, or can learn to use quickly.  This will help us immensely! 

One thing I am thankful for is uploading my first report for radio stations tonight!  It was a preview of the Cape Town Congress -- a look back at the past and excitement about everyone arriving from all these different countries this weekend.  I've never been at an event or been at one place that is so international...U.S., S. Africa, England, Scotland, Ireland, Guatemala, Costa Rica, India, Nigeria, Kenya, Burundi, South Korea, Canada, Ecuador, Bolivia, France, Taiwan, the list keeps getting bigger and those are just the people whose paths I've crossed!

Pray all goes well tomorrow as the conference opening ceremony is Sunday night!  and that we have a very efficient working environment to do all we can to serve God as we work at the congress.

Love, Tim

Friday night and scrambling

Hello friends!

We are still not set up in our designated communications work area, but we are managing fine in another room.  We still do not have our editing suites set up, but are praying as we wait!  Today I interviewed a pastor from Ghana, who is so excited about attending the conference!  He is also the head of Mission Africa in Ghana, which is an initiative started by the Lausanne Movement to promote missions activities at the local level.  Please pray for Pastor Samuel, that he will get out of the Congress all that he hopes for!

We are scrambling to get a preview broadcast report done tonight or tomorrow so it will be ready for stations even before the Congress begins.  Thank you for praying for stamina and that we are able to adjust to any twists and turns that come our way.

You're awesome!

Love, 

Tim

Cape Town 2010 media orientation and Billy Graham story

Hello everyone!

Well, I've been in Cape Town about a day and a half, and so much has happened!  Today was our communications team orientation -- it was great to meet so many working in TV, video, print, social media, etc. all for the Cape Town 2010 Congress.  The concern is, we have so much to work out as a radio team!  Just lots of details about how we will do our jobs, divide up work, have access to audio files and label files correctly so anyone in Communications can easily find them, etc.  Just a million details, and we all come from different places, countries and experiences.  If you are so inclined please pray for that!  The conference starts on Sunday afternoon and we need to have all of our ducks in a row by then.

I want to share with you a great story I heard at the orientation today, told by the Congress Director, Blair Carlson.  He has worked with the Billy Graham Association and told us a story about how you never know the audience God will give you with someone.  Rev. Graham was in northern England and asked to preach at the Sunday service for the royal family (I think at some castle or something).  There was about 60 or so people there, including the Queen and other family members and their staff.  Afterwards, there was some sort of gathering, and a reporter approached Rev. Graham.  With the Queen in earshot, he asked rather irreverently, "So, what's it like to speak in front of the Queen of England?"  Our Congress director said he was wondering how Rev. Graham would handle it.  

And Rev. Graham responded:

"Sir, I speak in front of the King of Kings every day."

I made it to Cape Town!

Dear praying friends,

I made it to Cape Town!  Tight connections made it very interesting, but 25 hours after leaving my house in Quito in arrived along with my co-worker, Duval Rueda.  Thank you so much for praying for safe travel!  It was fun, I actually read half of a book during the flights, and even got some sleep here and there, too.

Tomorrow is our media orientation day, and I need prayer to be able to clearly convey and fulfill what the conference needs me to do as far as radio broadcasts in English.  If there are problems or confusion, tomorrow (and Friday) are the days to deal with it, because delegates start arriving in town en masse on Saturday and the conference begins on Sunday.

You can also pray for:

--  Stamina:  we need good rest tonight (Weds. 13^th) to be able to beat the jet-lag and have the energy for the busy days ahead.  Thankfully we don't need to be anywhere early on Thursday!

-- Delegate visas:  many delegates, especially some from the Far East and Francophone Africa, may still be awaiting visas. Please pray they can get them in time for the congress, and that everyone scheduled to attend would arrive safely.

-- Safety during the conference:  certain parts of town at certain times of day are bad ideas; pray everyone can go back and forth from hotel to convention center and around the city without incident.

-- Pray that all the last-minute conference details get worked out and that God will be pleased with the conference!

-- Pray for Amy and the kids as they adjust while this conference is going on, too.

You can find out more about it at:  www.capetown2010.com

Thank you so much for praying!

Love, Tim