Learning to surf

I’m back! What an adventure it has been 3 weeks in the USA. I had experienced some amazing things and have plenty of stories to tell. This particular reflection however is from the end of my trip. On my way back from the USA I stopped in at Hawaii for a couple of days to fulfill a life long dream of surfing in Hawaii.
It was the off season for surfing so the waves all over were small to flat. My usual board of choice is a bodyboard but due to the small surf conditions I decided to hire an 11 foot longboard at Waikiki and go for a little stand up surfing. You need to understand that for a bodyboarder to revert to a surfboard requires a huge amount of humility.
So here I was sitting on a board that was not necessarily my wave surfing tool of choice, in unfamiliar territory, in a strange country with locals and tourist alike who were strangers to me. My usual experience of surfing is that it is a loners sport, you battle for every wave and once you claim it there’s no sharing it, and whatever you do don’t make a fool of yourself, you’re out there to impress. So the first wave I get, I stand up and find there are a dozen others sharing the wave with me, then what do I do, I get the wobbles and fall off, oh great, just made a fool of myself. Much to my surprise no-one seemed to care or really notice, in fact the atmosphere out there was friendly, encouraging and had a real community feel about it. My next wave I rode a long way with 2 locals on boards either side of me encouraging me to ‘walk the plank’ and ‘hang 10’. In this strange and foreign zone I encountered an atmosphere of encouragement and friendly community, not an ounce of possessiveness or ridicule.
We still have so much to learn from Polynesian cultures and the like, from their expression of hospitality to the way they embrace the stranger. If only our ancestors of the Christian faith could have appreciated such approaches to mission.
Often when it comes to the missional expression of the church, we prefer to encounter the world out there on our own terms, imposing our own culture and using the methods we are comfortable with. I wonder how much more receptive to the Gospel message people may be if we were more willing to become learners rather than experts, if we were prepared to be fools for God, prepared to be taken by the hand by a ‘local’ of which ever context we find ourselves in, learn new methods and use new tools.
An encounter with my new Hawaiian surfer buddies certainly impacted my outlook on mission and what it means to embrace the stranger. May we be willing to be learners.

Shalom
Mark

My last 10 days in the USA

Well, here I am in Sydney airport, scabbing some free internet from the Qantas Club hotspot. Sorry i haven't posted much while I was abroad. This was partly due to a very busy schedule but if it wasn't for that it was the dodgy wireless internet connections always dropping out, but hey, what can you expect for free? However, while I was online I got addicted to my myspace, it's like a whole new world opened up for me and I was like a little kid with a new toy so check it out if you get a chance www.myspace.com/markriessen

What an amazing time I had in the USA, 20 days all up. shortly after my last post we ended our official leadership tour and i went my own way for another week in the USA. I had an absolutely amazing experience the night we parted but I'll save that story for a seperate post when i have more time and my laptop battery isn't nearly flat.

I stayed a night in LA then headed up to Seattle for 3 days to catch up with friends. I met with an old friend from Camp Counsellors USA (haven't seen him in 11 years). Then I stayed with some old friends I journeyed through my final year of college with. I was so appreciative of the hospitality from Doug and Kathy Dornhecker and am forever grateful. I was able to be there for some significant moments in their life. One church they took me to was an 'open and affirming' church. In other words, the majority of the congregation were made up of those who 'don't fit', gay & lesbian couples and singles, homeless, mentally ill. I was speaking there that day, I found it to be the most welcoming and embracing church I came across in USA.

For my last couple of days I fulfilled a life long dream and went to Hawaii. I stayed on the main island of Oahu in the Waikiki resport area. I hire a big mal both days and went surfing at Waikiki. On one day I hired a car and drove to the north shore where I saw Wiamea Bay, dabbled my feet in the water at Pipline and went body surfing at Sunset. I couldn't believe how flat the surf was here, but then again I was warned it was the off season.

What an amazing 3 week adventure. I have so much more to blog particularly from my learnings as a result of leadership 21. However I must leave it there or I'll miss my plane. Stay tuned, I will reflect some more. Pictures will be on myspace (yeah sorry Chris I love it)

Shalom
Mark

USA update

Hi everyone,

Just so you know I've been playing around with Myspace. i have a site but it's pretty basic at the moment. What you can find on my space however is pics from my experiences of LA and Las Vegas. Arizona pics are coming.

Go to www.myspace.com/markriessen I'll still be blogging here but am playing with the myspace thong for pics, youtube and music. My myspace blog will be the same as this one.

If there's anyone out there who can give me myspace tips I would really appreciate it. Please post your helps and ideas in the comments.

Cheers
Mark

10 days in the USA

Well for those who are interested, I'm finally finding time to update the blog. I don't have long so I'll give a brief update of where I've been and where I'm going. Really keen to post some reflections however on the leadership, ministry and ecclesiological models I've been exposed to and reflected upon. The real challenge will be the processing and contextualizing, then composing the imagination that continues to develop as I consider vision and direction in my context of ministry back home.

I've been in the USA for the last 10 days with 17 other ministers from Churches of Christ in Australia. Many may ask 'why USA?' which I admit has also been my question. Why on earth would ministers from from Australia want to travel to the other side of the globe to be inspired by churches and ministries in a completely different culture and context. Now on day 10 of the trip my reflection is, 'is has been worth travelling to the other side of the world for the experience and the conversations.

Anyway, more on that later, here's a basic run down of where I've been and where I'm going from here before heading back home.

We arrived in LA Thursday week ago. We spent 5 days there checking out churches and talking with the pastors. Some of the facilities and conversations were mind boggling. Of course we couldn't visit LA and stay right next to Disneyland and not take a look, so we squeezed that in. Then we drove to Las Vegas for 2 days and checked out 2 amazing ministries. While in Las Vegas we 'walked the strip'. What an experience that was, those casinos are monstrosities. It was so hot in Las Vegas, even at night. Then we moved onto Flagstaff, Arizona for 2 days, checked out another church. Went to the Grand canyon for half a day, hard to really explain a site like that. This morning we woke up to a blanket of snow over everything. What a contract to Las Vegas, and it's not even that far away. We wound our way through the mountains to check another church on our way to Phoenix. It snowed while we were standing in the church car park. I'm now in Phoenix and back into shorts and t-shirt. It's hot here. We're only a few hundred miles from Vegas and the fluctuations in weather have been amazing.

We'll be in Phoenix for 5 days checking out churches and more conversations before driving back to LA where the tour ends. On Friday I fly to Seattle to catch up with friends for the weekend. Touring a couple more ministries while there and speaking at a friends church. Sunday night following I fly back to LA then the next morning to Hawaii for some relax time. I'm hoping to fulfill a life long dream by standing on the beach of Pipeline. i don't care what the surf is like, I just want to go there. Then I'll look around for a wave I can handle and fulfill another dream to surf in Hawaii. I have 2 days there then i fly back home.

I look forward to seeing all back in Oz soon.

Shalom
Mark