October 2012

The Aaron and Hur Prayer Team

Purpose

The Prayer Team is to serve as the power tool to hold up Basque ministry people in prayer. Exodus 17:8-13 describes a battle between the children of Israel and the Philistines in which Moses was instructed to sit over the battlefield with his arms raised. When his arms were pointed upwards to heaven, the Israelites would win, when he lowered his arms to earth, the Israelites would begin to lose. Aaron and Hur served as Moses’ support team, to keep his arms raised upwards to God, the source of strength and help.

The Prayer Team is structured with this concept in mind. The Bible clearly teaches that “the battle is the Lord’s” (I Samuel 17:47, II Chronicles 20:15-17, Zechariah 4:6,Romans 8:31, 37). In that sense, the battle is a spiritual one between the forces of heaven and the forces of evil. Our Basque ministry people are like Moses, called to preside over the battle and point men towards Jesus Christ who is the only source of help and hope. The Prayer Team is like Aaron and Hur, committed to support them in practical ways so they may raise up God’s standard in their area of ministry to the Basque.

Objective

The Prayer Team is to attempt to fulfill the following to the glory of God along with the help of the Basque Leadership Team.
Select one person to be the coordinator for the Prayer Team. This person should be designated as the Prayer Coordinator on the Basque Leadership Team.
Select seven or more members to form the Prayer Team for the duration of the year. Each member of the Prayer Team is to select a day of the week on which they will pray for the Basque mission team and those involved in the ministry to the Basque. This will insure that Basque Ministry people are consistently held up in their area of ministry to the Basque.
The Prayer Team should begin meeting together regularly on a monthly basis.
The Prayer Team coordinator should convene the monthly prayer times and serve as the communication link between the Basque Leadership Team and the Prayer Team throughout the year.
The Prayer Coordinator and Prayer Team members should find replacements if it is necessary to leave the team so there is no weakness in the Prayer Team’s ministry.
The Prayer Team coordinator should serve as a liaison to the greater church body with special prayer requests, praises, needs, etc. Prayer requests and praises should also be called into the church office or communicated to the Home Base Congregation in the appropriate manner.

Activities must promote English

Whole Family, Members of a Family, intern or American Koadrilla

The principle in all activities is to keep English as the spoken language. For that reason, there always must be Americans at any activity. These native English speakers are willing to interject themselves into a Basque, Spanish, French speaking circle to encourage English. It is out of respect and relationship that the kids will switch languages.

Sometimes activities are whole family activities. As such, they need to be highly structured to include from the oldest to the youngest and to keep the family together as a unit. Examples of this are the Welcome Dinner and the Basque Dinner. Whole family activities are an important part of the summer experience but take a lot of thought.

Sometimes an activity is not appropriate for the whole family. In that case, we always include those parts of the family who can participate. An example would be a trip to Seattle; we believe a trip like this would be appropriate for all kids in a family who could do extensive walking. Another example might be a slumber party – any same sex teens from the family should be made welcome. If an activity is appropriate for a member of a family, that member should come knowing people want them to feel a part of what is happening.

Sometimes an activity is more appropriate for just teens and not all families have teens. In this case, we include the Intern or American Koadrilla (see American koadrilla) who are at all activities but in this type of activity they take a leading role. Examples of this would be a trip to a Drive-In? movie; late night bowling or a game night in someone’s home.

How to find successful families?

Successful families defined

A successful family is one that understands the call and executes it under the Lordship of Christ. Some successful families make a fantastic connection with its Basque child. Some successful families never make the connection. The success of a family is not determined by the connection made with the child. A successful family believes that this experience is God’s will and faithfully experiences all that He offers in that call.

Successful families have similar gifts

As believers God blesses us all with gifts to use in ministering to the world. The gifts and family characteristics that work best in this program are:

Flexibility: the ability to go with the flow; the ability to listen to different opinions; the ability to accept a broad range of people.
Hospitality: by this we do not mean the ability to entertain but the ability to invite others in and make them feel welcome.
Missional: by this we mean families accept that what they are doing is part of a greater whole. They are not participating in an independent one-time getting to know someone from another culture but are desirous of seeing their faith work out in the summer relationship with the Basque student.

Successful families cannot be categorized

Do not let economic status, family status or theology limit your choices.
Families do not necessarily have kids. Some of the best families we have had have been grandparents or childless.
Families do not have to have teens. While teens can be a great asset if they understand the mission, if they don’t or are uncomfortable participating, it makes for a long month. Often the best “at-home” kids are elementary age as the Basque student feels comfortable socially and linguistically and someone from another place fascinates the elementary age student.

Also, empty-nest couples, especially with young adult children or extended family, work well.

Families do not have to have all the bells and whistles. A Basque kid needs a family that has a place in their heart for him or her. They need a bed in a room that can be shared; they don’t need a swimming pool, a vacation house or to be escorted in a fancy car.
Families are theologically defined by the following: unity on the essentials (there is a God; Christ is the son of god who died and was resurrected for the sins of individuals) freedom on the non-essentials (how to baptize, how to worship etc) and love over all.