The summer after my freshman year in college, I taught conversational English in Japan. Whenever I would travel with my host family in their compact car, I was ushered to the front seat. Kiyoko (Mom) and her long-legged, teenage son and daughter would sit in the back.
One day I said, “Kiyoko, let me ride in the back and you sit up front.” Kiyoko said, “No, Mari-San! You have hips like mountains.”
Shaping up…
Acrostics are handy little tools… if you can remember what the letters stand for! In his teaching series, “Shaped for Serving God”, Rick Warren asked the question, “What is your SHAPE?” According to Warren, there are five things to consider: Spiritual gifts (serving, teaching, mercy, prophecy, etc.), Heart (desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, etc.) Abilities (natural talents) Personality, and Experiences.
Recently I was chatting with a friend who wrote that she has a new job. “I create visualizations of data for (company name).” She added, “I’m a geek! I’m really enjoying the job and the people”.
It made me think of another friend, a bookkeeper who was helping in our finance department in Burkina Faso. One Saturday morning I asked her what she was doing for fun on her day off. She said, “I’m going into the office. I just LOVE crunching numbers.”
“Crunching numbers” and “Visualizing data”… NOT on my list of dream jobs. Either one would make me run for the hills, but I am thankful for those who find joy in these things, and are using their particular SHAPE to honor God and serve others.
The one who got away… or did he?
The day after Thanksgiving, 2021, I lay in bed, chatting online with Kember, who spent a year in Burkina Faso in 2008. My thoughts turned to another Wycliffe member I was asked to mentor, long-distance, in 2010, who was working as an Ethnoarts specialist in the Central African Republic.
“I wonder how Neil and his family are doing?” I mused, before rolling out of my warm cocoon. I opened my emails and there, sandwiched between a flurry of junk mail, was an update from Neil.
In 2013, Neil Zubot and I boarded an 8-seater MAF plan (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) and headed to Isiro, a city of 180,000 located in the middle of the vast, green Congolese jungle. We were going there to teach an EthnoArts seminar; Arts for a Better Future.
The first morning, thirty-two musicians, composers, dramatists, and dancers from the Northeastern forested region of Congo filled the church with their powerful, joy-filled voices, blended together in the rich harmonies the Congolese are known for. A taste of Heaven!
The goal of our time together was to come alongside the participants and help them process how they might use their creative gifts to communicate the life-giving Truths of the Word in their communities.
One participant described it this way, “It’s as if you have established a foundation and when you return to your countries, we can now put up the walls and add the finishing touches of the work.”
Imagine a reality where all cultures are using all of their gifts to worship, obey, and enjoy God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
- Brian Schrag
Communicating Local Arts Together *
I love team teaching, especially when the gifts and interests of the team members are complimentary. The first day Neil taught a session on “Meditating the Word of God.” As a musician, composer, and accomplished jazz trumpet player, Neil drew from his personal journey and shared how plumbing Scripture is the starting place for creativity.
Neil is also a whiz at all things technical: recording techniques, computing, sound editing and equipment. His combination of musicianship, media knowledge and his servant heart were invaluable. During all the breaks, while I was catching my breath, Neil was interacting with individual participants, listening, encouraging and helping them in practical ways.
At the end of the two weeks, we flew back to Bunia where we had a couple of days to rest and evaluate the seminar. During our discussions, Neil shared that he was considering a slightly different direction. He wanted to work more directly with translated Scriptures to make them accessible to people.
So what is Neil doing now? Among other things (from the Thanksgiving update) Neil is working on Bible apps for phones including films of the life of Jesus and other apps such as “99 Names of God”. He is regularly adding new features, fixing bugs, and making the apps more user friendly. In the future, he will be teaching ‘app building courses’ to students wanting to see the Bible make an impact in their communities. Just last year, downloads from the Bible Apps he has created went from 16,500 to 43,000. Wahoo!
Neil is using his SHAPE to give people access to the transforming, Living Word.
I look forward to the next chapter in the journey. I’m excited about new opportunities with Wycliffe to teach, train and mentor others at CEWA (Center for Excellence in World Arts) in Dallas.
I think of those mentors in my own life; Rosetta, my first music teacher, Heather my spiritual mentor my first years in Burkina, and many others along the way, who helped me discover something of God’s purpose for my life. Coming alongside others in this way is part of my SHAPE.
So what is your Shape? Who are some of the teachers, coaches, or mentors in your life who have impacted you in a special way?
Master Designer, Creator and Shaper, thank you for drawing us to Yourself, for it is in You that we find our Rest, our Joy and our Purpose. In You we discover the freedom to bless others through the marvelously unique ways you have shaped us.
* Creating Local Arts Together: A Manual to Help Communities Reach Their Kingdom Goals, by Brian Schrag (Author), James Krabill (Editor).
Great message.
Thanks Vicki 😁
Oh, Kember and Neil! Fellow Canadian ethnoartists I love to hang out with!! Praying for many more wonderful mentorship opportunities and relationships for you, Mary. May our paths cross again as well! <3
That’s right. I hadn’t really thought about the fact that Kember and Neil are both Canadians. I like Canadians. Yes – looking forward to our paths crossing again.
So fantastic! Thanks for sharing your life and experiences. I am excited for my shape!
Yes! I am too – looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for you and the Kingdom!