The Camel, Everest & Budapest

What does a camel, Mount Everest and Budapest have to do with one another? Not much unless you live a crazy life like mine. Here's how the three intersected on my journey.

Several weeks ago I was contacted by Dr. Gerald Harris of the Christian Index regarding my thoughts on church planting movements (CPM). Dr. Harris was wrote an article for the GA Baptist newspaper on that subject (see below - Friday, May 25, 2007), but the topic of one particular CPM among Asian Muslims came up and the somewhat controversial approach to enter into evangelistic conversations that is being used there. As you might imagine, sharing with Muslims is an intimidating task. One author named Kevin Greeson has worked with Muslims for years and several years ago wrote a book called "The Camel Training Manual" which trains people to enter into evangelistic conversations with Muslims by using a "bridge" composed of a few verses from the Qur'an, the Islamic religious text. Because of my experience in sharing the Gospel with Muslims over the last 8 years, Dr. Harris decided to quote me again in the current issue featuring the way that I use an adaptation of the Camel Method as a pre-evangelistic bridge that then allows me to go on and explain the Gospel using the only authoritative Scriptures - the Bible. You can read that article by clicking here:
Is Camel Method leading thirsty world to oasis of truth?

So what's the deal with Mt. Everest? Yes I am the "South Asia Strategy Coordinator" for e3 Partners Ministries. And yes, Mt. Everest is in Nepal, which is a part of South Asia. And yes, I have been to Nepal. In fact, last week my family and I traveled all the way to Everest on an expedition and got stranded about half way up. It was quite scary being up there so high not knowing how we'd get down. Now I know you're thinking that I must be crazy taking my kids up on Everest, but I actually learned that families ascend the mountain every single day . . . in Orlando, FL at Disney's Animal Kingdom! After waiting over an hour in the sweltering heat at the base of "Everest", Cat and I started the ascent with our three kids in tow only to get stranded on the highest part of the roller coaster. Caleb was quite disappointed as we sat there waiting to be rescued. Overall, however we had a blast spending a week at the beach and a few days at Disney. It was a much-needed vacation where I unplugged and unwound so that I could truly enjoy the wonderful family that God has blessed me with.

So what about Budapest? Well, that's where I'm headed this Sunday for a week to participate in the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization planning meetings. Lausanne is the world's largest inter-denominational gathering of missionaries and Christian leaders meeting to coordinate efforts that focus on the completion of the Great Commission. I have been honored with the privilege of serving on the "Young Leaders" planning team (though I appreciate the designation, at 38 years old I wonder when I'll ever have to drop the qualification 'Young'???). Please pray for me on this journey that I would be able to focus, learn, and contribute and that the outcome would be Christ-exalting.

So that's how camels, Everest and Budapest converge through Robinson family adventures. So I'll close for now with a great family photo from our vacation. Thanks for blessing us with your prayers and friendship. (click to enlarge)