Boydston.Global

Fall trip to Guam and Micronesia

2016-09-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Speaking in chapel on the Guam campus

In spite of being sick most of the time, I consider my fall trip to Guam and Micronesia to be a major success. I met with all of my students (except one who was preoccupied with his wife's labor pain and the birth of their baby) and some potential students both on Guam and Pohnpei. These people live in some of the most isolated and beautiful spots on the planet. But as the world turns, islanders are some of the most invisible and powerless of all people.

So, I consider that my discipling-from-a distance teaching relationship with islanders is significant from God's perspective. It is a major privilege to serve Christ in this way. Thank you all for your support, encouragement, and patience.

I've been serving through Pacific Islands University since 2005 -- including the three years that Cheryl and I lived on Guam. Much of what I do these days is through online interaction. That's why my periodic face-to-face trips are so important. About 25% of my working hours are given over to this ministry. This semester I'm teaching three online classes -- spiritual formation, church planting, and the grad level evangelism and discipleship.

All the German and American faculty and staff are missionaries who raise their own support to live on or travel to the Islands. So, I'm not paid by the school. But I rely on the generosity of friends from around the world who channel gifts through MasterPiece Church. If you contribute to the church for this work, please make sure that you clearly designate it "Guam Fund." Thank you for helping to make this important work happen.

11 Practical Ps of Street Level Ministry

2014-11-19T13:43:00.002-07:00

Per request, this is the “executive summary” of my talk at the Pacific Islands University Equipping for Ministry Conference held in Barrigada, Guam, November 6-8, 2014. I was asked to talk about “taking theology to the streets.” This talk was given during three sessions that included a lot of discussion and interaction.

11 Practical Ps of Street Level Ministry

“Executive Summary”

The people on the streets are those who literally or figuratively are on the margins of society -- often those who are homeless, abused, enslaved, jobless, and hungry.

If we start by serving the rich we only end up serving the poor in token ways. We never get to serve the streets in a significant life changing Jesus-transforming way. We need to start in the right place.

#1. Patient Persistence
Think of your congregation as a crock pot slow cooking with lots of local ingredients. Sometimes the Holy Spirit quick cooks the church but crock pot meals are more normal -- if not more healthy for the long-term. This is not just true for the ministries but also for the vision of the congregation. Don't expect that you're going to create some kind of instant vision. If we are open to it God will over time reveal his vision for us.

I’ve come to the conclusion after 30 years of pastoral ministry that -- the faster you go and the harder you have to press, the less of significance you accomplish.

The tortoise always wins the race.

#2. People Over Programs
Programs are good but only if they build relationships.

The homeless are often not so much looking for food as they are for food and someone to eat with them.

Somewhere along the way we’ve picked the idea that ministry occurs primarily through programs sponsored by a congregation or a parachurch organization.

We haven’t intentional said that. But the very existence and prevalence of the programs inadvertently tend to communicate that ministry occurs primarily through a well organized program with a supportive staff and budget line. But I’d suggest that ministry is primarily about relationships and sometimes we add programs to support the relational ministry. Success is measured through life change rather than our ability to sustain programs.

We can actually minister to people without waiting for a committee or a staff member to develop programming

#3 Peculiarity
When we are not taking all cues from the culture we will be different -- unique -- outstanding -- peculiar. Embrace that!

Peculiarity by itself is no guarantee of impact -- but there is no significant impact without peculiarity.

And as church leaders God is calling you to model peculiarity for the church -- as a matter of fact -- that’s how you become real leaders. You don’t even need an official position or title to exercise leadership in this way.

As a Christian leader you need to model the idea of peculiarity -- to see where God might take it.

90% of leadership is modeling what you want people to do
4% is explaining it
4% is holding their hands while they do it
2% is filling out any required paperwork along the way

#4. Puny
Be willing to start and go small. Ministry can start with an individual or a small group of people.

Jesus didn't pop from Mary full grown -- or even fully mature -- or fully aware. The incarnation is characterized by a small beginning.

#5. Pathetic
Start on the margins. Jesus started his public ministry with pathetic marginalized people. He did not go right to Jerusalem and the powerful. Be willing to embrace pathetic people.

Following Jesus means that you will have pathetic broken messy people in your life. And sometimes the level of brokenness and dysfunction in the lives of people is overwhelming. If you are a disciple of Jesus -- following him -- you will acquire a serious kind streak -- which means a heart for those literally and figuratively on the street -- the pathetics.

#6. Problems
We’ve come to expect that our primary calling is to eliminate the problems in life. But Jesus gravitated toward the problems rather than running from them. If we are following him we will, too.

Quit thinking that there is something wrong with your church just because it is full of problems that make you uncomfortable.

If you’re going to church thinking that you’re going to get away from the problems in life you’re not following Jesus. You are not a disciple -- at least at that point.

The world is broken and full of problems -- of messiness. And if you are a neat freak you will spend an inordinate amount of time trying to keep everything neat and tiddy.

Now, I’m not saying that we’re called to be the source of problems -- although that might be true when you consider the economy of God’s kingdom -- but at the very least we shouldn't be surprised by the problematic nature of ministry -- the messiness in our lives -- in our churches.

We’re not just called to embrace people with problems but we have to realize that doing so will create problems. IOW, if you've got these kinds of problems you’re doing something right -- at least from a kingdom perspective.

#7. Personal Peace
We need to find a sweet spot where we are leading without angst. Once we realize we have nothing to prove we can relax and embrace God’s call. The fact is that I don’t feel very successful most of the time. That’s okay because I don’t operate on the premise that success will feed me. I have to function out of a different space in my life. And I’d suggest that it’s about a personal peace -- knowledge -- trust that God is at work -- no matter what. I’m just going along for the ride. So I’ve set out to live an intentionally unhurried peaceful life.

#8. Partnerships
God is already at work fulfilling his purposes and we are partnering up with him.

To minister at this level we have to be willing to partner with other people and groups. It’s okay if we don’t fly OUR church flag over everything we do.

In this changing era we’re going to have to work together, creating financial partnerships, to fund ministry.

#9. Poor
I’m not poor in the overall scheme of things but I’m not rich relative to my colleagues and many of the people in the community. There are advantages to being relatively poor. You better identify with those on the margins and you trust God more for daily bread.

Being poor also means living without status or recognition.

#10. Provision
In his grace God always provides in one way or another. We need to relax in this truth. I’ve come to see it as a part of the adventure. I live in anticipation -- with eagerness to see how God will provide.

#11. Purpose
Love God, love neighbors, make disciples. This needs to be understood holistically. It is our call. And when we know our call we move forward confidently.

Spiritual Formation and Online Learning

2014-09-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

Good discussion. Too often this topic gravitates into the either/or category. Could it be that online learning could actually facilitate more embodied face-to-face interaction? How do we do that on a large scale? Or does it work best on a small scale?

I struggle with this because I teach spiritual formation classes online. I'm fortunate, though, because my classes are so small that I can give students a lot more personal attention -- at least if they allow it. I also travel to the Pacific Islands University campus on Guam to hang-out and have face-to-face conversations. The last time I was on campus I had a student from a previous semester seek me out just to continue a discussion we had started online months before. The online and the face-to-face worked together.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have the resources to travel to all the places where my students live. I'd need to go to Indonesia, Palau, and Micronesia -- in addition to Guam. But I'm currently scheming a way to get to Indonesia. I'll be in Guam again in November.

I've also been trying to recruit and form groups of students from immigrant church leaders in the US to do the South African Theological Seminary online programs. I'd function as an outside tutor and mentor for the groups. So far, though, I've been unsuccessful in getting the groups off the starting block. But it's still a goal.

Ministry with the South Sudanese

2014-08-09T22:18:00.002-07:00

Since we left Turlock in 2006 I've done a good job of avoiding funeral detail. But Mary Nyayual Dhor, the deaconess in our South Sudanese partner congregation in Phoenix, died last week. And the lay pastor was pretty insistent that I officiate at her service. Well, just before the service began this afternoon, Elder Peter Lual, a prominent Presbyterian pastor showed up. He had driven over from San Diego. So the lay pastor and I adjusted the service some and included him. And it still flowed well.

When working cross culturally, flexibility is name of the game. I've actually come to enjoy that aspect of ministry -- a lot. And through it I got to meet Peter -- a great man. (Peter and I took this picture at the cemetery).

During the committal service Pastor Peter suggested that we ask a visiting Episcopal priest to sing a song in his Dinka language. (Peter, like most everyone in our South Sudanese congregation is Neur.) And the Neur people responded to the music with enthusiasm. What a great moment of Christian hospitality. If we put these guys in charge, the Dinka-Neur conflict that has torn apart South Sudan would quickly become history. Could it be that a broader hope is born from a funeral? I mean, we were talking a lot about resurrection.

New seminary degree program

2014-07-15T16:16:00.003-07:00

The MABTS is one of the best programs we've come up with at PIU. It's designed around the needs of actual students with whom we already have relationships. And while it is rigorous, it is also highly relational and built on numerous mentoring relationships. That is, there is a lot of individual attention.

Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary is the graduate school of Pacific Islands University, headquartered on Guam. Prior to Arizona I was full time at the university and helped launch the seminary. I still teach online and through in person intensive classroom courses for PIU. My goal is to be on campus for a couple of weeks each semester.

Teaching at PIU is still one of the most fulfilling things I do and I want to thank everyone, including MasterPiece Church, who helps us financially so that I can continue to do this missionary work. This week we received a major gift that will cover the cost of my air travel to Guam in November -- a definite answer to prayer.

This fall I'll be teaching the Spiritual Foundations for Ministry class and an independent study theological readings class for the seminary. In November I'll be on campus in Guam for a few weeks to meet with individual students for spiritual direction/coaching consultations and to hold some classroom sessions.

Dave Owen, president of PIU, writes about the new degree on his blog:

This Fall 2014, PIU will be launching a NEW MA program. The Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies will offer a more in-depth course of study that focuses on, at the student's discretion, either Church Ministry (Pastoral, Christian Education, Missions) or Biblical Scholarship.

This program will provide theologically, exegetically and practically trained male and female leadership (we want to train couples together for ministry) to the churches of the Pacific Rim, including pastors, Bible translators, biblical counselors, and missionaries to the unreached people groups of Asia, who are trained in a relational, mentoring, practical environment that will serve as the model for future ministry.

Future plans for this program include an emphasis in Counseling and another in Bible Translation. PIU provides an affordable seminary option for islander students (tuition at the same rate as the undergraduate program) and a place where those who plan to do their ministry in a cross-cultural, missionary context can already be doing missions while they are training.

Church Planting Movements

2014-01-30T08:12:00.002-07:00

So well done -- simple, concise, and challenging explaination of CPMs. ~ via Chuck Huckaby

Guam trip

2013-05-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

I have just returned to Phoenix from a 12-day trip to Guam. It was great to hang out with so many PIU faculty, staff, and students. That was probably the most important thing I did. But I also had a wrap-up session with the Evangelism and Discipleship class that I taught online this spring for the Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary (the graduate seminary of PIU). And then I filled in as the PIU graduation speaker since the original speaker had to cancel. I played some uke for them and then I talked about Proverbs 4:13.
“Hold on to instruction;
don’t slack off;
protect it,
for it is your life.”
The Pacific Daily News story about graduation can be found here.

There are just so many exciting things happening through Pacific Islands University these days. It was really encouraging to be on island and on campus.

South Sudan Covenant Church in Phoenix

2013-02-26T14:50:00.002-07:00

The South Sudan Covenant Church in Phoenix, for whom I (Brad) am the church planting coach, has a new video. I believe that it was all filmed last Sunday evening. I happened to have been there and you might see me in the video. I'm the one with the white hair. I'm very proud of them.

Soong Chan-Rah lecture @ Fuller Seminary

2012-11-16T19:46:00.002-07:00

The Next Evangelicalism: Appreciating the Multicultural Church
from Fuller Seminary on Vimeo.

Our favorite

2012-11-01T09:59:00.002-07:00

New PIU module

2012-01-16T19:26:00.001-07:00

I am super pleased to be teaching the World Religions class online for PIU this semester. In the past I've taught the classroom version. And I've also led a few students through the content using individualized instruction. This time, however, I am formatting it as an online individualized instruction module.

This means that I am developing the content in such a way that even if there is only one student interested in doing the work he or she can take the class. PIU is small and course offerings each semester are limited. Often there are students who need a particular class but it isn't offered because there aren't enough students on campus who need it (or there is no one on campus available to teach it).

I've been teaching the spiritual formation class (a freshman level class) this way for a couple of years. World Religions is a fourth year class. I'm hoping to develop an ongoing series on new online modules that individual students can take as needed. They can even be offered every semester.

Most of the PIU students are Micronesians. Micronesians are highly group oriented people. This means that on a whole they would much prefer to sit in a classroom with each other. That is the experience they most enjoy. Ironically, though, in my experience of teaching both in the classroom and online, students seem to master the material better in an individualized online system. I think it has to do with the fact that they don't have to live up to the strong social expectations of the group. That is, they are freer to express what they think without worrying that they are offending someone. And they are less able to hide in the group.

It is a struggle for some to develop the discipline to work alone -- and to have to write so much. But most will rise to the occasion.

Fire

2011-11-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

I'm very sad to see that the Hindustani Covenant Church in Pune, India has lost their building to fire. ~ link

10 minutes and you know about China

2011-10-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

via Beth Bilynskyj

CWR partnering with Habitat for Humanity in Haiti

2011-09-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

Progress

2011-09-23T08:56:00.001-07:00

These are good trends -- five of the nine students in the spiritual formation class this semester have very recently become Christians. And none of the five were even raised in a "Christian environment." In other words, everything is new -- vocabulary, ideas, the Bible...

I love it! Those who know that they know nothing are often the most open to instruction.

Three of the nine students are in Yap, FSM. They do their class assignments on computers housed in the building pictured above. The building was destroyed by Typhoon Sudai in 2004. But a team from Gateway Bible Church in Santa Cruz, California spearheaded the rebuilding effort -- an effort that took several years (as resources and workers were available). It reopened in the spring of 2010.

Charity Sam, a PIU grad, and one of our former students on the Guam campus, is coordinating the Yap center. (And I might add, is doing an outstanding job.) Her husband, Jonathan Sam, also a PIU grad, and at one time the leader of a discipleship group in which I was involved as adviser, teaches high school at Yap High School.

Haiti

2011-09-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

We're huge fans of the approach to relief and development taken by Covenant World Relief and Covenant World Mission. This is an update on the situation in Haiti sent by Dave Mark this morning. David and Wendy Mark are the regional coordinators for Covenant World Mission work in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This August 21-26, I (Dave) visited Haiti with David Husby and Chrissy Parmerlee of Covenant World Relief, Covenant missionary Tammi Biggs (tammi.biggs@covchurch.org) and SouthEast Conference Superintendent, Robert Owens. This trip continued our efforts to sort out our best responses and mission direction in Haiti.

Here are some of the critical issues.

1) Haiti has thousands of NGOs (relief agencies) and vast numbers of denominational, non-denominational and independent missions present in the country. So how do we figure out with whom we should work as primary partners and whom should we recommend to Covenant people and churches who want to serve?

2) The default model for doing ministry in Haiti has more than a century of history. In it, typically, a strong, capable leader develops a set of ministries - usually a church, a clinic, a school and/or an orphanage but does so in a highly independent way. Each of these leaders, rather like "lone rangers" tends to seek and find some supporting church or churches in the US to serve as "patrons" for their ministry. By and large, these are hard working and gifted individuals who serve others with great passion. Their system of working, however, tends to isolate them from cooperation with other Haitian ministries. Some may jealously guard their donor sources and routinely belittle the efforts of others. This makes sense to them because they do not want to lose their limited donor support to neighboring ministries. This historic system also tends to promote a kind of dependency state in which donors may overly control vision and outcomes. The leaders are then accountable to their donors more than to their own constituents - which is not a healthy way to be. While change is neither easy nor automatic, Covenant World Mission does want to work to encourage cooperation and locally shared ownership of vision, goals and ministry practices. We also want to do this in ways that do not discourage the heart passion of these independent leaders. They are simply working with an inherited and common style of ministry.

3) While we will continue to relate in positive ways with many independent folk, we have also tried to discover ministries that exemplify "best practices." For example, it could be said that "relief is easy and development is hard." To provide emergency aid in a disaster like the great earthquake required enormous effort, but it still boiled down to bringing in goods and services and distributing them in some kind of orderly fashion. It really is a lot harder to help people develop sustainable means of providing for themselves, particularly when infrastructures are damaged (like no roads between farms and markets, irrigation systems are damaged and the like.)

4) Last, though not last in priority, we want to encourage mission that is well balanced. We believe that "God wants lost people found" and "God wants hurting people helped" as Covenant President Gary Walter put it. So we are anxious to serve together with people who are committed to bringing people to new life in Christ, forming them into communities of faith and to critical response to the physical or material needs of their situations.

So, here's where we are so far... We continue to work to network and encourage the initiatives of local US Covenant churches that serve in Haiti. Most are connected with some local Haitian ministry or independent US based ministry that vary a great deal in size and focus of ministry. We think these ministries can be strengthened by awareness and interaction with other Covenant ministries in Haiti, as well.

We continue to engage closely with Covenant World Relief and its partners. CWR Director David Husby, as a former World Mission Regional Coordinator, has a deep understanding of how we do things and has made good use of that knowledge in building stronger cooperative efforts between CWR and CWM. Our relationship with Covenant World Relief has always been strong and fruitful, but David's specific background as a missionary leader has brought it even closer.

Here's a quick look at some of what we visited: Pictured below is a well built by one of our primary partners, World Relief International. The hand pump that makes the well work was designed and developed by the Hindustani Covenant Church of India, another of our partners in world mission.

This is a photo of a new clinic in Haiti's largest slum. It is run by another of our primary partners, Medical Teams International. MTI is doing well in developing sustainable health care systems in Haiti.

The man pictured on the left, below, is Jean Thomas, his wife, Joy, is seated at the head of the table. The others are David Husby, Robert Owens, Tammi Biggs and Chrissy Parmerlee. Jean Thomas leads an exciting and excellent ministry in Fond des Blancs, Haiti. This wide ranging and very effective ministry has been intentionally designed on the principles developed by John M. Perkins. Jean and Joy learned those principles under Perkin's tutelage at Voice of Calvary Ministries in Jackson, Mississippi. We believe that Jean and Joy Thomas' ministry can serve us as an effective model for mission in Haiti and as an excellent partner in mission. We highly recommend Jean's book (written with Lon Fendall and with a forward by John Perkins), At Home with the Poor. Barclay Press, 2003.

We were pleased to see how Habitat for Humanity works to build homes in Haiti. (The Haiti Director of Habitat for Humanity is a Covenant Church member.) Habitat provides the materials and technical direction, but Haitian people build their own homes. This retains their dignity and provides them with an appropriate pride of ownership. All of the Habitat homes that we saw were well kept up and personally decorated by their owners.

We hope this serves you as a good report on our progress toward effective mission in Haiti.

Next stop, Colombia and Ecuador followed by Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

Please pray for us as we travel and meet with missionaries and the leaders of churches and ministries.

As you may know, we are now 65 years old and probably should not do this forever. So, please pray that Covenant World Mission will have God's wisdom in finding people to replace us. We are anxious to see excellent leadership for the next generation, for the Glory of God and our Neighbors' Good.

Spiritual formation class

2011-09-19T13:41:00.002-07:00

This semester, fall 2011, I'm teaching my spiritual formation class online to nine Pacific Islands University students. All but one are Micronesians (and the one American in the class was actually born in Palau). Three of the students are in Yap and the other six are on Guam.

It's a good group and I am definitely enjoying them.

We not only work on the disciplines that help us train for spiritual development, but we also work on writing skills in this freshman-level class. Since all of the interaction in this class is by email it is a great opportunity to coach students in English writing.

I'm also working on putting my World Religions class online. That is coming slowly but it will eventually be available as a self-paced senior-level class.

Because of the way that PIU is structured and the way that students move through the curriculum we're probably going to need more of these flexible, available-every-semester classes. I taught the spiritual formation class to one student during the summer. And in the spring there were six students in my PIU church planting class. In the fall of 2010 I taught Spiritual Formation, an independent study in World Religions, and did internship supervision -- all from my computer in Arizona.

We have smaller classes with a lot of one-on-one interaction. And it sure doesn't hurt that the students are becoming internet savvy in the process.

PIU Promotional Video

2011-09-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hafa Adai and greetings from Phoenix

2010-08-02T07:44:00.001-07:00

We sent this out to our email list yesterday.

It's been awhile since we've updated the people on this list and it dawned on us this afternoon that it would be a good idea to ask you all to pray for us as we're entering into the formal launch phase of our new congregation.

Cheryl and I are now living in Laveen, a "village" within the city of Phoenix, Arizona. We have been working with several families and intend to launch MasterPiece Church on 10-10-10 (October 10, 2010). There are lots of loose end details that need to come together before then -- equipment, assignments, etc. We also need to be connecting with new people -- people who are open to what God is going to do through this church.

Please pray for a great openness and enthusiasm for God's word.

The church website is at: http://MasterPieceChurch.org

After months and months of filling out job applications Cheryl found a part-time job that she really enjoys. She is working in the office of a trucking company whose only customer is a mattress manufacturer.

Brad has been working about 30 hours per week on the new church plant. In addition he continues to teach the spiritual formation class for Pacific Islands University. Teaching online is different than face-to-face interaction but it is fruitful. The students in the spring semester were all living on Guam and in Palau. The Palauans, all enrolled in PIU Bible degree programs, had been waiting for a long time for the class but the school had been unable to offer it onsite in Palau.

The students in the summer class all live on Guam and have been highly motivated. That semester will be wrapping up in the next few weeks. Brad has also been asked to teach the same class again in the fall and is looking forward to that. So, the work we began to do on Guam and in Micronesia continues.

We were excited that the Voices of Micronesia tour stopped here in July. It was so good to be with PIU friends and students again. We were able to host a group at our home and two other families from our church plant helped us with housing.

Our children continue to do well. Kirk still works for AT&T Interactive in Glendale, California. Betsy graduated from UC Berkeley in May and will begin graduate work in genetics at UC San Francisco starting next month. Both Kirk and Betsy will be traveling to South Korea in a week to visit Kent before he completes his English teaching contract at Chinju National University of Education in Jinju.

Kent's next English teaching gig is at the new Pyongyang University of Science and Technology which is opening its doors in North Korea this fall. This school is being started by evangelical Christians from South Korea and the US and will have an international faculty. Obviously, this is a sensitive area of the world and we would appreciate your prayers for Kent and all those who be going there later this month.

There is a Wikipedia article about them at: http://goo.gl/bIP1. Also, Dr David Kim, the vice president of the university, gave a "TechTalk" for Google employees that has been posted online -- http://goo.gl/f6my. The school's website is http://pust.kr. This is all very exciting -- but also very venturesome. We appreciate your prayers.

Thank you, again, for your support and friendship -- especially this fall as there are so many new endeavors in the works.

Blessings!
Brad & Cheryl Boydston

COMMUNICATION

• Brad's phone number is 602-903-5085

• Cheryl's phone number is 602-820-8948

• Skype us -- BradBoydston or seespleez

• Address: PO Box 1113, Laveen AZ 85339-1113

• Email us -- brad@boydston.us or cheryl@boydston.us

• Pacific Islands University -- http://piu.edu

• Cheryl's music -- http://CaminoMercedMusic.com

• Brad's website/blog -- http://BradBoydston.com -- updated almost daily

• MasterPiece Church -- http://MasterPieceChurch.org

ABOUT THIS EMAIL
Hafa Adai is Chamorro for hello. You are receiving this email because you are a friend or associate of Brad and Cheryl Boydston. If you would prefer to receive Hafa Adai at a different address, email Brad at brad@boydston.us.

Hafa adai from AZ!

2009-10-15T20:51:00.002-07:00

This is the e-note sent to our supporters this evening

- - - - -

Warm greetings from Phoenix, where we're thankful for the 92° fall
weather. People start to come alive here as summer wanes and things
cool off.

We want to update you on our progress -- transitioning from ministry
in the Western Pacific to ministry in the Phoenix area. So much has
happened! Mostly, though, we want to thank you all again for your
faithful support during our three years on Guam. Some of you have even
been able to continue helping us catch up on the expenses incurred
while we were serving as Covenant project missionaries.

Here is the latest:

• Even though we are no longer on Guam we are still connected with
Pacific Islands University (formerly Pacific Islands Bible College)
and enthusiastic about the ministry there. The office seems to contact
Cheryl almost every week with questions about accounts and procedures.
Brad will be teaching a PIU class through online distance education
this spring. The current plan is that he will be teaching Spiritual
Formation for groups of students at the extension sites in Chuuk and
Palau -- and perhaps a few from the Guam campus will join the class.

• We purchased a house in Laveen, a village within the city of
Phoenix. It's on the southwest side of the city right up against South
Mountain and the Estrella Mountains. It's a great house but we were
able to get it because of the distressed market. The previous owners
had walked away from it -- taking with them the light fixtures, shower
heads, closet rods, kitchen appliances, and kitchen sink. During the
two years in which it sat empty thieves stole the air conditioning
unit for the copper tubing. So, we've had our work cut out for us
putting things back together. But it's starting to look good and feel
comfortable.

• We had our second VP (vision and prayer) gathering for MasterPiece
Church last Sunday evening. We're really very excited about two
families who prayed for an opportunity to start a new Evangelical
Covenant Church in the Laveen area. Even though we are starting from
scratch -- so to speak -- having families of this caliber instills
confidence and hope. Because everyone was busy inviting friends and
neighbors we had 18 people at the second gathering!

• Laveen is an interesting village -- formerly a farm community, the
suburban sprawl rapidly expanded into the area about seven years ago.
But the population is more urban in character. Most of our neighbors
are African-American and/or Hispanic. We'd definitely like to see
MasterPiece Church take on a multi-cultural character. A few weeks ago
Brad got to talking in the market with a Chamorro man from Guam and
discovered that there are many islanders living in the area, too. We
think that there are between 25,000 - 30,000 people living in Laveen
(it's so chaotic with the rapid growth and then the foreclosure crisis
that no one has an accurate count right now). There are only eight
churches here, six of which are so new that they're meeting in
schools.

• Daisy Ho arrived from California yesterday. We met Daisy on Guam
when she was the pastor of Guam United Methodist Church. She is
relocating to the area to help with our church plant and will serve a
Pastoral Residency in Church Planting with Brad. She is hoping to
learn the ins and outs of new church development so she can eventually
plant a church on her own. Daisy is originally from Hong Kong and
should be able to help us build some bridges with the Asian community,
too. She is staying with us while she house hunts.

• Please pray for us. Our third VP gathering is scheduled for Sunday
evening October 25th.

• Also, continue to pray for our job hunts. Cheryl has put in dozens
of applications for an office job but nothing has panned out, yet.
Since we are doing this church plant as a bi-vocational ministry Brad
has been looking for part-time work, too. None of the online college
teaching positions for which he has applied have yet landed him a job.
We are grateful that the Pacific Southwest Conference has jumped in
and offered to pay for our health insurance. That helps a lot.

• This morning the orthopedic surgeon put a bright pink(!) cast on
Cheryl's left wrist. (Check Brad's blog for a picture) She fell about two

weeks ago and broke it. Up to this point it has been in a splint and

it seems to be healing well.

So, we thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support. While
this transition hasn't been easy we've never felt alone or overly
anxious. The Department of World Mission has been great! The church
planting leadership team from the Pacific Southwest Conference has
been very supportive. Our colleagues from Guam have continued to stay
in close touch. And you, all of you who have supported us over the
past four years, have gone above and beyond the call of duty in so
many ways. God has blessed us through you and we hope we can be a
blessing to many because of you.

Keep in touch!

Brad & Cheryl Boydston

--
B R A D & C H E R Y L B O Y D S T O N
• Brad's email: brad@boydston.us
• Cheryl's email: cheryl@boydston.us
• Brad's blog: www.boydston.us
• MasterPiece Church web: MasterPieceChurch.org
• Cheryl's music: CaminoMercedMusic.com
• Brad's phone # is 602-903-5085.
• Cheryl's phone # is 602-820-8948
• Our mailing address -- PO Box 1113, Laveen, AZ 85339-1113 USA

Update on our plans and situation

2009-07-26T22:25:00.001-07:00

We sent the following out to our mailing list this evening.

- - - - - - - -

26 July 2009

Dear friends,

We are blessed! We returned to the States from Guam about 6 weeks ago and have been busy connecting with friends and family since then. This is what we mean by blessed -- so many friends -- so much family. And you all have been asking so many good question around the theme: "What exactly are you up to next?"

That's the point of this letter -- to try to answer some of the great questions that people have been asking.

Where are you living?
We spent a couple weeks with Brad's brother Gary and his wife Joy in Tempe. We traveled to the Pacific Northwest for the annual meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church and to visit family. Then we spent two weeks with Brad's parents in Mesa. We're currently condo-sitting for a few weeks at Jeff and Mary Johnson's newly refurbished place in Fountain Hills.

We've been bidding on houses in the Laveen area and hope to become homeowners again soon. However, most of the real estate in the area is "distressed." This means that buying is more complicated and protracted than what we we're used to. We are confident that something will come together but are asking prayer that it will be sooner rather than later. We're quite ready to give up our nomadic lifestyle. :-)

You're going to start a new church where?
Laveen is a "village" in Phoenix. It's on the south side of the city -- bordering South Mountain, the Estrella Mountains, and the Gila River Indian Reservation.

Why did you choose Laveen?
There are many reasons that we've settled on Laveen. We really like the area -- the mix of people from so many different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, "the buzz," the obvious potential with so few existing churches in a developing area. There are also a couple of families living in Laveen who are a part of Hope Covenant Church in Chandler. They've been praying that God would bring church planters to the area.

Laveen is a part of Phoenix which, because of so much recently-built housing, has experienced great financial stress. People are open and looking for some anchors in their lives. It is interesting, too, that even with the economic slowdown new homes are still under construction. Phoenix itself, in spite of the lay-offs and financial chaos, added 50,000 new people last year. It is the fifth largest metro area in the US with 5 million people.

We are very fortunate to have lots of connections and relationships in the greater Phoenix area. Brad's brother and sister-in-law live about 30 minutes drive to the east of Laveen in Tempe. His parents live about 45 minutes east in Mesa. We have friends living north, south, east, and west. Proximity to so many friends is important to us.

Is this a Covenant church plant?
Yes -- with the blessing of the Pacific Southwest Conference and with the encouragement of other Covenant pastors in the area. However, because of the economic downturn there are currently no conference funds available to add this new church to the list of conference-supported plants. Financial support is a possibility for the future but for now we are going to be self-funded missionaries. Once we get situated in Laveen Cheryl will look for a local job. Brad is already looking for some part-time adjunct teaching.

What is your time frame?
The tentative plan is to spend the rest of the summer looking for a place to live and getting settled. Once the dust settles in the fall we'll try to get together with people who live in Laveen for some vision-development gatherings. In the spring of 2010 Brad would like to have regular gatherings of the launch team, develop community, and to begin some all-church outreach and service projects. Hopefully we can start regular worship services in the fall of 2010. This is a fairly relaxed time frame to accommodate our "bi-vocational" approach.

How can I help?
Move to Laveen to help us form the launch team! Seriously! We also need people willing to pray for us and the community. And since there are no conference funds available at this time we need to raise all of the start-up money for the church. Financial contributions from individuals and churches would go a long way at this point. Checks can be made out to "MasterPiece Church" and sent to PO Box 1113, Laveen AZ 85339-1113.

Where did the name MasterPiece Church come from?
Ephesians 2:10 in the New Living Translation of the Bible says, "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." The point is that the church is the premier work of God -- the "masterpiece" -- created for the purpose of carrying out his plans in the world.

What do you hear from Guam?
Pacific Islands Bible College is now Pacific Islands University. They're gearing up for the fall semester which will begin at the end of August. This is a time of change at the school -- but it is good for the students and the institution. We do miss our Guam friends, students, and church fellowship and are looking forward to island visitors once we get situated. Fortunately, we're able to keep in touch through Facebook and email.

We want to thank you all for your ongoing prayer and support. We are indeed blessed to be "surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses" and find joy in you and your faith.

Blessings!

Brad & Cheryl Boydston

Address:
MasterPiece Church
PO Box 1113
Laveen AZ 85339-1113

Phone:
602-903-5085

Email:
brad@boydston.us
cheryl@boydston.us

Web:
http://boydston.us
http://facebook.com/BradBoydston
http://twitter.com/boydston
http://CaminoMercedMusic.com
http://MasterPieceChurch.org (coming soon)

Hafa adai from Arizona!

2009-07-16T22:02:00.002-07:00

Hafa adai from Arizona! Here is a quick update on the transition from ministry in the Western Pacific to ministry in the Phoenix area.

• The cargo container with our household goods arrived from Guam and everything is in storage in Arizona until we find a place to live.

• We traveled to the Pacific Northwest at the end of June to attend the annual meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church. On "the way home" we stopped and saw Cheryl's brother's family in Nelson, BC, Brad's brother's family in Blanchard, ID, and Brad's uncle and aunt in Boise, ID. While in Arizona we have stayed with Brad's other brother and family in Tempe, AZ, and with Brad's parents in Mesa, AZ. Next, we're borrowing a condo in Fountain Hills, AZ for a few weeks.

• At the encouragement of the Covenant Church leadership we've begun to focus our church planting efforts in Laveen, which is a village in the south part of Phoenix. The tentative name of the congregation will be MasterPiece Church. We'll pass along more information about that as it becomes available.

• We've been bidding on houses in Laveen but up to this point none of our offers have been accepted. Please pray for an open door.

• Our Arizona phone number is 602-903-5085.

• We now have a PO box.
Our mailing address is:
PO Box 1113
Laveen, AZ 85339

• We're grateful for all who are continuing to provide financial support this summer as we transition back into Stateside ministry. We are still dependent on this funding during the transition.

• We really miss our colleagues, students, and friends on Guam. We're looking forward to hosting visitors once we get established in Phoenix. We expect to continue involvement with PIBC in the future -- teaching occasional classes online or as onsite intensives. By the way, on July 1st PIBC became PIU -- Pacific Islands University. As a small university the school will be better able to meet the needs of the people and churches in the islands.

SUPPORT INFORMATION

The address for sending support is:

PM Support for Boydstons
Department of World Mission
Evangelical Covenant Church
5101 N Francisco Ave
Chicago IL 60625-3676 USA

Transition progress

2009-07-15T17:18:00.001-07:00

We traded in our Guam driving licenses this afternoon. That means no more engaging conversations with store clerks and bank tellers explaining what they are -- or who we are. The new Arizona licenses expire on our 65th birthdays.

With the license application we also registered to vote. (I'm expecting the first jury summons next week.)

The Post Office in Laveen called today to tell us that they had a PO box available. So now we (and the church) can be reached at PO Box 1113, Laveen AZ 85339.

Yesterday we looked at another batch of foreclosures and short-sale houses (almost all houses on the market here are foreclosures or short-sales -- no normal ordinary sales). We still haven't heard anything about the house we bid on three days ago. We're now preparing to bid on a HUD house.

We did manage to squeeze in a movie this morning. We were the only ones in the theater for the 9:30 a.m. showing of UP! Like everyone else we loved it.

Latest on the situation in Thailand

2009-06-13T11:35:00.001-07:00

More from Melissa:

Just wanted to send a quick update....

Erten is still in the hospital but will be coming home tomorrow. He will need to have the hand cleaned each day of the week for a week. I am told he is in good spirits but when we went to visit he was tired and seemed sad. Kalvin (our other leader ) is staying with him. We will be excited to have him back tomorrow.

Some good news is that the medical bills will only be in the neighborhood of $1200 which we have. It may leave us a bit short at the end but we are trusting that God will provide for our needs.

Another good news is that the doctor believes the surgery was successful and Erten will eventually have full use of his hand.

Please continue to pray for God's provision and protection.

Also pray for some Thailand Campus Crusade staff in the south park of Thailand. A van with about 7 - 8 people had an accident and are now in the hospital.

These things are not positive but have put us in a position where we are forced to rely on God... and we know that He is good. We are all thankful to be here.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Blessings,
Melissa

PIBC student hospitalized in Thailand

2009-06-12T23:51:00.004-07:00

Melissa Heck, the PIBC dean of women, who is a part of the Thai mission team this summer sent this emergency email a few hours ago.

Although it is hard for us to understand exactly what happened one of our team members, Erten, walked into a glass door and it shattered severing the tendons in his hand and severing two veins. He was rushed to the hospital where he needed surgery to repair his hand.

He is in the hospital recovering --- should be okay but is in a lot of pain.

Please pray for Erten's recovery.
Please pray for the medical expenses to be covered some how.
Pray for God's protection over the rest of the team.
Pray for God's wisdom and discernment in the ministry. The spiritual battle here is fierce.

Thanks.... Melissa

Erten is the guy in the yellow shirt in the picture. He helped us pack our container last week before we moved.