“Do you swear to commit to the booth, the whole booth and nothing but the booth, so help you God?” – Pastor Graham King

Someone had to say “Yes” and Someone had to say “No”

When Pastor Graham said he was not going to run the booth with Paul this year, there arose an interesting opportunity for me and Lisa.  Like many things that happen in the AV/IT department at the church, the idea of a Malawi booth was thrown out in passing around a freshly brewed espresso made with Paul’s Salvatore Espresso machine and made from expertly chosen Costa Rican medium roasted coffee beans.  We laughed, there was no way I could run a booth with Paul and run the AV side of the biggest event of our calendar year, the Greater Grace International Convention.  A few days later it came up again.  Paul still wanted to do a booth, and he still needed a cause.  He asked Lisa and me to pray about being the cause.  We prayed and both said, “Yes.”  The process was about listening to God, not to reason.  I know it was the same for Paul who asked the question and for Pastor Graham who had to answer, “No.”

Faithfulness

It was so great to see God being faithful to us in real time!  He brought people right when we needed them; maybe it was even for one small task, but it was what we needed.  He brought people for much bigger parts, even for whole days, and we needed them just as much.  He brought people from around the corner and some from around the world.  We had a small booth, but something bigger than all of us was taking place.

Can you imagine?

Paul cooked every piece of chicken. Roelof and Carla played musical chairs with frozen blocks of chicken for 2 weeks.  Ben Hooker revolutionized the crepe ordering system.  He and his wife flew several thousands of miles to help us.   Rachael was on crowd control, cash box, and crepe orders all at the same time.  Tina did everything, Leena cut veggies, Barbara sold chicken and sang in church in the same night.  Grace did whatever was needed, Jeremy and Pop showed up when we were ready to collapse.  Our Mommas, Sliva and Watson, were amazing helpers and supporters.  Evan jumped in when we needed him.  The Nye kids were always willing to lend a hand.  Pastor Graham came out of retirement and gave us a shift on the cash box.  And, finally, my amazing wife Lisa lived in the booth for 6 days, and she managed to do it all with such grace.

When we needed someone to make crepes, Pastor Chris and Julie Arman were up for the task.  Julie, being French, fit right in, although I don’t think she ever made 392 crepes in one week.  Pastor Chris was his usual self, I hope, beating two knives together to attract attention to our booth and keeping everyone light hearted and having fun.  If team Malawi can survive convention week in a 10′ by 10′ booth, then we should do just fine on the field.

In all of this the AV department had a mountain of a job to do the convention week.  Sebastien and Cody and our amazing crew of volunteers carried the load.  What amazing friends.

Thanks Paul Nye and everyone who lent us a hand or lent us their entire selves.  Together we served over 1500 plates of food.  Where else can you feed the hungry masses and send missionaries to Africa with a little plate of chicken and a crepe for dessert?

Photos