Cousin in Law's Mission trip to Bosnia
Proud of my 1st cousin on Momma's side, the Jordan's, Anne Jordan Bearden's son in law Scott Ford and his call to ministry. He is a CBF staffer in Conyers, Georgia; a graduate of Mcaffee Seminary in Atlanta, and has been active with www.passportcamps.org .
His wife, my blood cousin, Dixie, homeschooled, JSU grad is Divinity School student as well and in line to follow her husband to Ordination to preach the gospel. She plays the piano almost as good as My Momma did--insert smilie emoticon here.
Great people. My Momma and those gone before are smiling in Heaven with Pride.
Dear Friends,
I traveled to Bosnia-Herzegovina on November 30 - today, December 7, no 8 now, actually. I preached once and taught a three-day Christian Education course for Bosnian ministry students. Here are some recounts of my trip.
RETURNING HOMEWell... it's 12:12 a.m. late on Friday night (e.s.t.), and I'm still flying! I started out this morning a little before 5 a.m. in Sarajevo (when it was 11 p.m. yesterday in Atlanta), and the trip from my first to my last airport looks like it's going to be 25 hours?! It was supposed to be closer to 15 hours, but this morning's fog in Sarajevo delayed all flights for quite some time. So instead of flying from Sarajevo to Milan and Milan to Atlanta, I flew from Sarajevo to Munich, Munich to JFK, caught a cab from JFK to LaGuardia airport (both in New York), and now I'm flying from LaGuardia to Atlanta. I had hoped to be at ATL by 3:30 p.m., which would have allowed me to go home and see my girls! But it I will have to wait until the morning. Such a sad story, eh?
TEACHING
The students of the ministry school in Sarajevo were great! Zoran is a young man, 33, full of enthusiasm, a teacher of dance, and a person very interested in worship and worship music; he is involved with a Vineyard Church in central Bosnia. Goran is already serving as pastor of a Roma (or Gypsy) church in Sarajevo, and he's considering how God will use him in a new phase of ministry. Dejan is a student at the ministry school who is also working on a degree in Sociology at the local university, and he works with the youth group of the Kairos Center church in Sarajevo. Mario is a 27 year old elder in his church in central Bosnia, and he's involved with his church in many ways. Rugitsa, church member of the Kairos Center church, attended some of our seminars, as she is auditing the class; she actually participated in some classes three years ago when I taught, so I was glad to offer some new material since last time! Four of us guys stayed at the Kairos Center, as others lived nearby, and we played table tennis for two nights so much that my legs were sore! The entire class ate lunch together each day, which was a wonderful time of fellowship, and those of us at the Kairos Center shared other meals together.
FYODOR
Fyodor Raychynets was my host, good friend, and translator throughout my time in Sarajevo. He is in charge of the school, setting the curricula, teaching, grading, and inviting outside guest teachers. Before teaching in Sarajevo, I traveled to Tuzla and stayed with Fyodor's family for a couple of days while I adjusted to the time change. I was delighted to see Fyodor's wife, Oksana, and children, Arthur and Lisa. I also preached at the Baptist Church in Tuzla, where Fyodor pastors and Oksana leads worship with a guitar. Fyodor is Ukranian and Oksana is Croatian. They are and their children are a wonderful family!
OTHER FRIENDS
There were several other people who I got to see during my stay. Tamara is a Serbian who felt called by God to serve at the Kairos Center where she lives in Sarajevo and ministers with the church and Kairos ministries. She took good care of me and the other guys who stayed at the center during the seminars. Interestingly, I met several missionaries at the Sarajevo airport on my last day there. Jennifer, a college student from Colorado, was ending her month long stay with Suzie, a veteran missionary of 4-years from Germany. After first running into Suzie and Jennifer, their friend Rienhold came to the airport to visit; he is also from Germany and he and Suzie serve with the Roma people of Sarajevo, which led me to realize that all of these folks knew Goran and Zoran who were in my classes. A while later, Rob and Paul, pastor and associate pastor of a Vineyard Church in England, visited with the four others of us stranded in the airport for 7.5 hours. So the extreme delay this morning passed by much quicker with new acquaintances to pass the time. It was an interesting group! I am also thankful for seeing an old friend, Tomislav, who pastors in Sarajevo. Tomislav, Fyodor, and I enjoyed one night of fellowship this week at the National Restaurant, a local Bosnian favorite.
HOME
I am home now! As I now type, it's 2:08 a.m. on Friday, December 8. Many thanks to Michael Bryan for giving me a ride home in the wee hours. I was supposed to land around 11:20 but didn't arrive until 1 a.m. or a little later. Michael was very kind to wait on me and save me from a huge cab fare. I had planned to catch Marta all the way to Stonecrest Mall, but nothing really went as planned today... except I am very glad to home safely!
PROOFREADING
Could it be overrated?! I could "save draft" and send this later, but I will trust that you all will forgive any errors or omissions above. I need to get some sleep! And I want to spend tomorrow with my three girls. But first, thank you all who prayed for my safety and well-being this past week. It was a memorable and educational time for me on several levels. The more I get to know people of other cultures and life situations, the larger this world feels, and God seems all the more mysterious and powerful and bigger than I am able to comprehend, which is in an odd way comforting. Rather than being overwhelmed or frustrated, there are moments when I find comfort and much hope in this reality.
Peace be with you,
Scott
R. Scott Ford
Minister of Education & Youth
Haven Fellowship Church
2240 Smyrna Road SW
Conyers, GA 30094
His wife, my blood cousin, Dixie, homeschooled, JSU grad is Divinity School student as well and in line to follow her husband to Ordination to preach the gospel. She plays the piano almost as good as My Momma did--insert smilie emoticon here.
Great people. My Momma and those gone before are smiling in Heaven with Pride.
Dear Friends,
I traveled to Bosnia-Herzegovina on November 30 - today, December 7, no 8 now, actually. I preached once and taught a three-day Christian Education course for Bosnian ministry students. Here are some recounts of my trip.
RETURNING HOMEWell... it's 12:12 a.m. late on Friday night (e.s.t.), and I'm still flying! I started out this morning a little before 5 a.m. in Sarajevo (when it was 11 p.m. yesterday in Atlanta), and the trip from my first to my last airport looks like it's going to be 25 hours?! It was supposed to be closer to 15 hours, but this morning's fog in Sarajevo delayed all flights for quite some time. So instead of flying from Sarajevo to Milan and Milan to Atlanta, I flew from Sarajevo to Munich, Munich to JFK, caught a cab from JFK to LaGuardia airport (both in New York), and now I'm flying from LaGuardia to Atlanta. I had hoped to be at ATL by 3:30 p.m., which would have allowed me to go home and see my girls! But it I will have to wait until the morning. Such a sad story, eh?
TEACHING
The students of the ministry school in Sarajevo were great! Zoran is a young man, 33, full of enthusiasm, a teacher of dance, and a person very interested in worship and worship music; he is involved with a Vineyard Church in central Bosnia. Goran is already serving as pastor of a Roma (or Gypsy) church in Sarajevo, and he's considering how God will use him in a new phase of ministry. Dejan is a student at the ministry school who is also working on a degree in Sociology at the local university, and he works with the youth group of the Kairos Center church in Sarajevo. Mario is a 27 year old elder in his church in central Bosnia, and he's involved with his church in many ways. Rugitsa, church member of the Kairos Center church, attended some of our seminars, as she is auditing the class; she actually participated in some classes three years ago when I taught, so I was glad to offer some new material since last time! Four of us guys stayed at the Kairos Center, as others lived nearby, and we played table tennis for two nights so much that my legs were sore! The entire class ate lunch together each day, which was a wonderful time of fellowship, and those of us at the Kairos Center shared other meals together.
FYODOR
Fyodor Raychynets was my host, good friend, and translator throughout my time in Sarajevo. He is in charge of the school, setting the curricula, teaching, grading, and inviting outside guest teachers. Before teaching in Sarajevo, I traveled to Tuzla and stayed with Fyodor's family for a couple of days while I adjusted to the time change. I was delighted to see Fyodor's wife, Oksana, and children, Arthur and Lisa. I also preached at the Baptist Church in Tuzla, where Fyodor pastors and Oksana leads worship with a guitar. Fyodor is Ukranian and Oksana is Croatian. They are and their children are a wonderful family!
OTHER FRIENDS
There were several other people who I got to see during my stay. Tamara is a Serbian who felt called by God to serve at the Kairos Center where she lives in Sarajevo and ministers with the church and Kairos ministries. She took good care of me and the other guys who stayed at the center during the seminars. Interestingly, I met several missionaries at the Sarajevo airport on my last day there. Jennifer, a college student from Colorado, was ending her month long stay with Suzie, a veteran missionary of 4-years from Germany. After first running into Suzie and Jennifer, their friend Rienhold came to the airport to visit; he is also from Germany and he and Suzie serve with the Roma people of Sarajevo, which led me to realize that all of these folks knew Goran and Zoran who were in my classes. A while later, Rob and Paul, pastor and associate pastor of a Vineyard Church in England, visited with the four others of us stranded in the airport for 7.5 hours. So the extreme delay this morning passed by much quicker with new acquaintances to pass the time. It was an interesting group! I am also thankful for seeing an old friend, Tomislav, who pastors in Sarajevo. Tomislav, Fyodor, and I enjoyed one night of fellowship this week at the National Restaurant, a local Bosnian favorite.
HOME
I am home now! As I now type, it's 2:08 a.m. on Friday, December 8. Many thanks to Michael Bryan for giving me a ride home in the wee hours. I was supposed to land around 11:20 but didn't arrive until 1 a.m. or a little later. Michael was very kind to wait on me and save me from a huge cab fare. I had planned to catch Marta all the way to Stonecrest Mall, but nothing really went as planned today... except I am very glad to home safely!
PROOFREADING
Could it be overrated?! I could "save draft" and send this later, but I will trust that you all will forgive any errors or omissions above. I need to get some sleep! And I want to spend tomorrow with my three girls. But first, thank you all who prayed for my safety and well-being this past week. It was a memorable and educational time for me on several levels. The more I get to know people of other cultures and life situations, the larger this world feels, and God seems all the more mysterious and powerful and bigger than I am able to comprehend, which is in an odd way comforting. Rather than being overwhelmed or frustrated, there are moments when I find comfort and much hope in this reality.
Peace be with you,
Scott
R. Scott Ford
Minister of Education & Youth
Haven Fellowship Church
2240 Smyrna Road SW
Conyers, GA 30094
posted by foxofbama | 12:31 PM
2 Comments:
Lori's link to post soon
cbfofsc.org
have you missionaries no shame? save yourselves before you try to "save" others. you're all high and mighty until your preachers come out as homosexuals, child abusers, etc. try for quality not quantity.
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