A few weeks ago I was flipping through an old journal and stumbled across a page from July 2009 where a woman named Maggie had given me a prophecy that I would go on to write “something great”.  At the time I knew I didn’t mind writing, but it wasn’t something I had any sort of passion for, so it didn’t really make much sense to me. The funny part is, over the past few months I’ve had numerous ideas for articles I feel a tug on my soul to write. So, in light of that tugging, here’s a list of topics to be covered:

• Miracles, Healing, and Tongues: The Holy Spirit in the Church of Today.
  • If you’ve read Francis Chan’s book Forgotten God, you’ve got a good introduction to what I hope to hit on here. Matters of the Holy Spirit seem avoided and non-existent in some churches today. I’ll explore why this has happened and what the bible really says about it.
• When Helping Hurts: Misguided Missions of the Modern Church.
  • A book called When Helping Hurts was recommended to me a few years ago, and after reading it I was tremendously impacted. As a self-proclaimed missionary, how we go about doing “missions” is truly HUGE to me. I’ll explore in this article what the church is doing right and wrong as it applies to missions.
• Vacation Bible School: An Indoctrination of our Children?
  • I’ve been a part of VBS almost every year of my life in some way, shape or form, and I’ve never really thought twice about it. That is, until this year. I’ll explore the church’s approach to VBS from a biblical and practical perspective.
• Youth Ministry: One of the Biggest Ministries of the Church.
  • This will be one of the most controversial article I write, but I know it will open the eyes of many. We’re at a place in time where more kids are leaving the church when they become adults than are staying. Yet youth ministry is bigger than ever. What are we doing wrong?
• Christians and Alcohol: How to Get Yourself Disowned by the Righteous.
  • If the youth ministry article doesn’t piss you off, don’t have too much confidence in yourself. This might. I’ll share some of the experiences I’ve had surrounding the topic, the trouble it’s gotten me into, and what the bible says about it.
• Love Wins: My Reaction to the Latest Book by Rob Bell.
  • I wrote a short article several months ago about the reaction many Christians were having to Bell’s new book, many of which hadn’t even read it. I’ve since read the book and I’d like to share my thoughts.

Which of these would spark your interest the most? Why? Comment below!

I’ve been really burdened by all the heat Rob Bell has been taking over the past weeks about his new book. I read his book Velvet Elvis on our way to Nicaragua in December 2009 and it was hugely inspiring to me. I’ve heard about 20 sermons on podcast from Mars Hill Church (the church he pastors in Michigan) and heard very biblical teaching that was equally impactful. Now all of the sudden I see a lot of people making some really harsh accusations of him, and it has hit me pretty hard.

When the promo video for Bell’s new book Love Wins was released, I immediately saw a reaction that shocked me. He’s a heretic, false prophet, universalist said many. The book hadn’t even been released yet. How could one make such a statement about someone without even reading the book?

Now that the book has been released, many more have come out to say how heretical the content is. He’s been interviewed on ABC’s Good Morning America and on MSNBC. He seemed very well received on GMA, and in contrast, the MSNBC interview with Martin Bashir was hostile to say the least.

Here’s a link to the MSNBC Interview, which I will be sharing my thoughts on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg-qgmJ7nzA

On the disaster in Japan, Bashir probes bell to select one of two options: A) God is all powerful and doesn’t care about Japan, or B) God isn’t all powerful, and he does care about the people of Japan. That’s ridiculous. It’s neither. God is all-powerful, and God loves the people of Japan, and every person for that matter. To me, it’s like asking is the sum of 2 and 2… 3… or 5… They’re both equally wrong. For a good explanation of why a loving, all-powerful God would allow natural disasters, world hunger, and other widespread pain and suffering, look here: http://carm.org/why-there-evil-and-suffering-world

Bell clearly states in the interview that he is NOT a universalist. He also clearly states that how one “responds to Christ in this life” is tremendously relevant, not “irrelevant” or “immaterial” as Bashir asks.

I haven’t read the book (though I plan to as soon as I can), but apparently the majority of the issues people have with it is his take on the afterlife. More specifically, what happens to people in the afterlife. I am assuming, based on his response in the interview, that he has made an argument that “God will melt everyone’s heart eventually, some even [after death]” . I sincerely believe that along with Bell. Whether they’ll be spending eternity in eternal separation from God because of their response to Christ during their life on earth, I’m not sure. Bell causes me to question whether my belief in eternal damnation for non-believers is biblical. I’m not saying it isn’t, I’m saying I haven’t studied scripture and come to that conclusion on my own, its been taught to me in my lifetime as truth. I would venture to say if you are reading this, the same is true for you as well, not only on this issue, but many others.

Here’s the bottom line of my issue – I do believe the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ. I have chosen to follow him NOW, and believe that is what everyone should do. Whether it is possible to accept Christ after death and still spend eternity with the Father, I can’t say. I’m certainly not risking it. Is Bell a heretic or false prophet for saying it’s a possibility? I think not.

I believe that after death it is inevitable that everyone will turn to Jesus. It will be made unmistakably clear to them that he is real and is he only way to the Father. Whether they will be crying out to Him from the depths of hell for eternity, or be given the opportunity to turn to Him and escape, I’m not entirely sure. I surely wouldn’t recommend taking that chance.

Jesus spoke very firmly to the Pharisees who thought his teaching was blasphemous. I see a lot of people responding to Bell in the same way.

I’ll have to read the book to say for sure, but I highly doubt Bell has done anything more than raise questions and provide possible answers. I highly doubt he’s made the claim that he has come to understand those answers as absolute truth. The man is touching on controversial issues and it has made some people very uncomfortable. I’ve seen time and time again in my own life that when I ask tough questions.

In conclusion, I’m disappointed in the way the church has reacted to this. Most accusations are being made by people who haven’t read the book and have already made their mind up that Bell is a heretic and false prophet. Before you “amen” those people, I ask you to think twice. Read the book, study what scripture says, and then make your claims. If Bell is promoting a false teaching, scripture clearly says he will be held accountable for that. (James 3:1) Bear in mind, also, that as we quarrel among ourselves about issues like this and crucify one another for asking tough questions, nonbelievers are being more and more discouraged to be a part of such a hostile community.

Hey everybody!

Kelly and I are continuing to visit Nicaragua on a regular basis as missionaries with New Song Mission Nicaragua. As a creative way to raise money, this is one way we’ve come up with to fund our efforts.

I am offering VHS to DVD conversions for $5 each. The going rate at a place like Walgreen’s or CVS is around $15, so this is a spectacular deal. There are no minimums, and no fine print.

Let me know if you are interested!

Also available: MiniDV to DVD, 8mm to DVD, VHS-C to DVD, photo scanning, digital audio conversion (cassette, 8 track, etc), and more.

So, if you haven’t heard, I took a trip on a motorcycle. A long one. And it changed my life.

Coast to Coast For Christ. 10,017 miles in 62 days.

Check it out here: www.coasttocoastforchrist.com

Hello everyone,

I know it has been a little while since my last post. I apologize for not being better about getting updates out to you all. It’s hard to remember that a whole world of people out there exist when you get so caught up in ministry that’s going on around you all day every day.

The past few weeks have been great.

Me and Kelly at Mombacho

In the first few days of February Jim Bob got back from his time in Africa and the states, bringing along with him two other team members Lisa and Lindsay. We’ve been adjusting to our now 8 person team and getting to know each other a lot. Lisa, in her mid-twenties, came here on the World Race back in the Summer of 2008 and fell in love with the ministry here. She made the decision to come back and stay here long term, at least a year, but most likely longer. She is a teacher, and has an amazing gift with working with our youth here. Lindsay, 21, is from Charlotte, NC. She graduated from Campbell University in December, and is here with us for 6 months. Back in August 2009, Jim Bob spoke at a youth event in Indian Trail, NC, and she was there (so was I). Neither of us met her. She hadn’t met anyone involved in the mission prior to moving here for 6 months. She is a great girl with a huge heart for the Lord and an eagerness to know and serve him.

Kelly has connected well with all the girls, which has been great to see. I joke that her and Lindsay were separated at birth because they are so much alike both in their personality and appearance.

Having Jim Bob back here has been a breath of fresh air, not only for the mission, but especially for me personally. Since he’s moved here, he has spent more time with me than any other person (Summer 09 and now), and we’ve gotten really close. We both cut up and annoy the girls with our sarcastic humor, which they say they hate, but we know they wouldn’t know how to function without it. (Okay, maybe that’s a stretch…) I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have him around, mainly because he was away for the majority of our time here so far, but it has been great to reconnect with him. I’m sure we’ll continue to be great friends for years to come and annoy everyone around us with our sarcasm.

Steve and Kelly

Other than our long term team members, we’ve had some short term visitors as well. Steve and Kelly Thrift have spent most of February with us. They’re from a town called Willits in northern California, where Steve is a pastor at Agape Bible Church. Steve and Kelly began to feel a burden for Nicaragua, for whatever reason (God, duh), about 1.5-2 years ago. They’ve been praying for God’s direction on where to go. They looked up lots of ministries, but nothing seemed to click. Sooner or later, they came across the New Song website and instantly knew this was where God wanted to send them. They couldn’t have been more correct. They had such an impact on each and every one of our team members, and were such a blessing to all of us. It was so awesome to see God’s plan unfold in their being here with us.

Kelly and I both were sick earlier this week, which was quite an experience. On my extended stay in the summer of 2009 I had a serious ear infection for a few weeks, which was irritating and painful, but the 24hr stomach bug we seemed to have this time was a whole different rodeo. We were up getting sick for most of the night one night, and the following day we were extremely fatigued and exhausted. We recovered within 24hrs almost back to normal, and after a few days we got our appetites back. We weren’t sure of the cause, but we were surely glad to get through it.

Unfortunately we are still without power on the church property, where we live, in Candelaria. It has been a month now, and we’re currently using a small generator to power lights and fans (and computers ) at night so we can sleep comfortably. We’ve been blessed with some promising connections over the past week that we’re praying will lead to a solution soon. Please keep this in your prayers, as this is the biggest challenge our ministry is facing right now.

Linda just returned from a short trip to the states where an organization paid her way to have her come and be educated on how a bigger organization is run. She’s returneed to us full of ideas, so I am pretty excited to see what we can do. I’m also planning to revamp the entire website for New Song over my remaining time here, adding pictures and videos to make it more interactive, which should keep me pretty busy!

I think God has a lot more in store for us. Hard to believe our trip is already halfway over.

Until Next time,

Evan “Oso” Dixon

PS: Stay tuned for more information regarding a HUGE stateside project i’m planning to do when we return. For a teaser, check out this facebook event (if you have facebook): http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=297694357069

Not surprisingly, our first month here has been awesome. We’ve endured a lot over the past few weeks, but it truly feels like the Lord has been with us all the way, giving us no more than we can handle.

It’s hard to believe I just typed that, because to be completely honest, the past few days have felt like more than I could handle, but looking back, it wasn’t so bad. Our power went out during Saturday evening service on the 16th, and only returned for a short 1/2 day on the 23rd, just long enough to get us excited! We’ve talked about, as a team, how we know people are around the world without power everyday, that haven’t ever lived a day with that kind of luxury. Unfortunately, everything about our operation is centered around actually having electricity. That’s a little different than knowing you’re headed somewhere a little more indigenous. Our walls are made of concrete, roofs of tin, no insulation or protection from the heat.

We’ve been running a generator, which with gas at over $1 per metric liter, a little less than $4 per gallon, it has been costly. The story is, a transformer blew that runs our section of the village while someone was trying to illegally connect to it. The energy company is now saying they will not fix the problem until 80% of what their owed in unpaid electricity consumption is paid. That could take an eternity, or quite frankly, never even happened, so we’ve been working on other options. We’d really like to have solar power here, because it is sunny almost all the time and would help us be less dependent on the undependable system here. We’ve been in contact with a few people in the field, but don’t have any promising leads just yet. The problem with solar is that it is very expensive, not only to capture energy from the sun, but also to store it for when the sun isn’t shining (in batteries). This means costs (in the US) of about $10 per watt for the system. For a system equivalent to the power of our small generator, which produces 2400 watts, we would spend $24,000 in equipment. Our entire mission operates on just a few thousand dollars per month, so that would be nearly impossible, without someone wanting to use us as a test community for research (which we would GLADLY participate in!).

So, with all that said, our current plan is to commission the energy company, Enitel, to run our own private line to the church property, ensuring we have ample and stable power to our facility. This could be a long and costly process. Not only will it cost us up front for the equipment, but if this happens, our property will be metered (which it is not currently) meaning we’ll pay for every milliwatt of energy we use. Prices are ridiculous here, mainly because so few people actually pay for their power. We currently only pay the monthly minimum to the energy company because in over 6 years they’ve yet to put a meter on our property.

Electricity, to be honest, hasn’t hurt us that bad. For me, its made me really realize how dependent I am on it. I really wish I didn’t care. I wish I could sleep comfortably in 85 degrees, but I am just not programmed that way. Even the people in the village wonder how we sleep, which I guess is some bit of reassurance that I’m not completely nuts.

We’ve had much more happening. We’ve seen a lot of progress in our youth over the past few weeks. We’ve had a lot of issues with respect, which through God’s awesome power, most of which have been resolved. Jacob and I taught the youth bible study this Wednesday and I took my portion from a book I just finished called Who Stole My Church. The book is about a church going through the pains many churches, including mine back home, are enduring with trying to appeal to the generation of the 21st century. It says nothing about any third world country such as Nicaragua, but it was amazing how some of the same concepts apply. I taught on how, as a group, we have a choice about what kind of group we are. We can be the way God wants, or the way the enemy wants. We really felt like the kids connected, and though our service was help outside, in the dark, lit only by a Makita worklight, we thought it was a great sucess.

Just before our power went out, God sent us a man named Don. Don is from Oregon, and attended a church who’s pastor now lives here in Nicaragua, and he came down here to work with him. Don is a water purification expert, and it is amazing how God sent him to help us. After finishing with his planned projects, he came out to our property and installed the leftover filtration systems he had on all of our drinking water sources in the house and clinic. Now we don’t have to go buy water! We can actually drink straight from the tap! Something you take for granted, I know. Here we spend hundreds of dollars a year on purified water for drinking, but no longer!

Kelly and I have done especially well so far, together, on this trip. We’re in an environment pretty different from what we’re accustomed to, and with each other almost every waking hour. This could have been a death sentence for our relationship, but we really have grown closer and thrived more than ever. I am especially thankful for that. It’s a great feeling knowing we’ve made it a month, not only without killing each other, but enjoying one another, and thriving in our relationship and mission field together. It is great to feel more and more everyday that God truly has called us here for a purpose, both individually, and together, and that we’re both ready and willing to fulfill it. Life as missionaries will be a part of our future, and I am so glad we’ve been able to have this experience to know that we are cool with that, and excited about it! Throughout our time here we’ve both talked seriously about doing this more long term someday, and without this experience, we may never have known that or been open to it.

Tommy is back from the states, and Jim Bob, along with 2 other girls who will be serving with us long term, fly in tomorrow, weather permitting. We’re excited to have our whole FAMILY together.

We’ve met so many awesome people and been through so much this month we can do nothing but truly thank God.

Thank you for reading along, and I hope to share more with you again soon.

Evan “Oso” Dixon
Missionary to…wherever I am!
His will. His way. All for His kingdom.
evan@evandixon.com
704.765.1956 – office/international