Church

One of the major parts of our mission trip to Nepal was to experience first-hand the work of Christians who are serving the children of Nepal. From start to finish, we were highly impressed with their work and the passion with which they did it.  While in Nepal, we mainly focused on the children's home piece of their work.  We would visit homes in various cities, meeting the house parents and children, and interacting with the children through songs, games, and more.  The kids were simply adorable. Each of the homes is staffed by Christian houseparents who assume responsibilities for the emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing of the kids.  With one or two kids, this is no small task -- much less with ten to fifteen kids.  It was a pleasure to interact with these Christian adults and to hear of their commitment to the kids, not to a job.…

The Great Commission is a challenge to all Christ-followers to reach those who have not been reached.  This could be across the street or across the world.  In missions lingo, an unreached people group is a group of people of whom only a small percentage are Christians (check out the Joshua Project for more details, maps, etc.). Nepal has over 31 million people; less than three percent (3%) are Christians of any affiliation.  Within Nepal, there are entire people groups without a single Christian in their midst.  This includes many village communities. Out of all the Christ-followers I met while in Nepal, only a handful were second generation Christians.  In other words, only a small number were born into a Christian family.  Most were first generation converts, often from a Hindu or Buddhist background.  This included most of the Nepali pastors I was privileged to meet. One of my favorite…

I'm about to eat a Snickers Bar.  Now, normally, I wouldn't go much out of my way to buy a Snickers Bar.  I'm not a candy-bar-kind-of-guy. But this Snickers Bar came attached to a note.  It read: "Dear Ken Hensley.  You are the best.  You have been the best for 3 years.  I hope I am coming back.  Genavasie." Genavasie is one of our campers at Opportunity Camp.  After she delivered the candy bar, she hung around and we talked for about 15 minutes.  We covered a range of topics: her brother (who came last year but is getting in trouble), her new foster home, and her mom.  We talked about the Bible stories I tell everyday in assembly.  She apologized for not being able to speak well; I told her she was doing fine. Her story breaks my heart.  Here is the short version: 12 years old. 9 years…

Before travelling to Nepal, I had done a fair amount of reading about the country -- both online and offline (also known as books for those of you weened on the Internet).  At a thrift store, I stumbled upon an old Frommer's Guide to Nepal, written back when Jimmy Carter and Conway Twitty were both at the top of their games.  Most of the businesses were likely out of business by the time we arrived, but the mountains still looked the same. Nepal is an interesting country for many different reasons. The natural landscape is incredible.  At home in Colorado we talk about climbing "14'ers", which means a mountain that is at least 14,000 feet tall.  In Nepal, that is called a hill.  The Himalayas routinely top 28,000 or 30,000 feet in height.  One of my favorite memories was taking an early morning drive while we were staying Pohkara to…

It's been about two weeks since I've posted something on this blog.  Rest assured, I've not been taking a long nap nor have I spent any time in jail.  No law-breaking or slacking for me.  Simply put, I've been busy. Hannah and I spent ten days in Nepal, along with other people from our church.  We were taking an exploratory trip to see what partnership opportunities might exist between Christians and Christian organizations in Nepal and our church.  I'll write more about my experiences in another post.  Needless to say, this occupied a fair amount of time. I'm writing this current post from a coffee shop in the booming metropolis of Felton, CA.  The coffee shop is called "White Raven", meaning you can find crystals and incense alongside lattes and cappuchinos.  It's also a place where you are likely to hear someone say, "That was groovy back in 1973" (like…