True discipleship and servant leadership. This was the theme of of the recent Church leadership conference for the C&MA churches in Mongolia. It was a fantastic (albeit unusually hot!) week of developing relationships with National Church Leaders. I also had the privilege of working with colleague Pieter Theron in taking some first steps toward equipping and training this generation of church leaders Mongolia. There is so much work to do here, and we have so far to go.
One of the highlights of the week was a footwashing that took place at the river. It was a practicum that came out of Pieter's teaching on servant leadership and John 13. It was really a beautiful thing to watch, as God's people here learned what really means to love and to serve. It reminded me of Michael Card's words - and it's my prayer that this church will learn them well:
The call is to community
The impoverished power that sets us all free
In humility we take the vow
And day after day, we take up the basin and the towel
Mongolia is usually not this hot. Daytime temps peaked at over 100F this week. However, once the sun went down, it quickly cooled off to the high 50's - which was such a relief. One evening we had a real Mongolian BBQ (Not Ghengis Grill!) -which involved these two goats:
This pot:
This fire:
It was actually quite good and enjoyed by all. Well, at least the meat part was quite good. The Mongolians really like something called "5-Organ Stew". This is a soup made with goat or sheep innards. Not the best thing I've personally ever tasted ... but folks enjoyed it none-the-less.
