OMP

...gordon-conwell has a great program called "overseas missions practicum"...utilizing key partnerships around the world, the seminary sends out 40+ students and nearly 20 faculty on 4-8 week missions projects around the world....key projects include ethnographic research and church planting among the shan people of cambodia, theological education in latin america and africa, church planting in morocco, relief work in asia and africa....

...God has really blessed the OMP program in terms of its participation and impact in the seminary...praise God, as a result, pastors, teachers, counselors, and academicians are graduating with far more global awareness and passion for world missions than ever before...

...this morning we attended the "omp chapel," where students share their summer experiences with the seminary community....hands down, this is the best chapel of the year and it always moves me to greater love for God and deeper desire to see His truth and love extend to the ends of the earth...there are so many students from all over the world and they worship and pray in their own tongues, like brontis and his beautiful family from mexico...

...and godly and gifted servants from mongolia and s-korea...

....this chapel always reminds me of the expansive love of God for the nations

...after the chapel service, we reunited with mentors who have placed their loving stamps upon us, such as doug birdsall, the president of asian access and the director of the missions ctr @ gordon-conwell...

....sure, a mentor can also be a tor-mentor (as doug likes to say), but we thank God for the wonderful mentors He's brought into our lives...doug and his wife, jeanie, served in japan w/ asian access for 2+ decades (can u guess how we hooked up w/ asian access?) and for 4 yrs they really loved us and invested in us thru word and deed...

....below i'm enjoying chatting with two of my heroes, doug and dr. todd johnson (not only is he the expert on quantitative christianity as the co-editor of the world christian encyclopedia (oxford univ press), he is just an all-around cool guy...

...between the two of us, claire and i took all but one of dr. tennent's classes and spent time with him and his wonderful and humble wife...claire jokingly says she earned a master's degree in tennentology...we're not the only ones...there's lots of tennentites out there on the mission fields of the world...we love ya dr. t!!!

editor's note: we apologize to the readers for having too many pics of bobby and not one of claire, who took them w/ ease and skill...we'll try to fix this problem.