There is something about the few days following camp that are rough.  Maybe it is my body trying to remember life pre-craziness without constant sunburn and non-stop outdoor activity or maybe it was five hours of sleep every night.  Maybe it is the absence of matching outfits.  But I think the real issue is the let down of “real” life after meeting God face to face.  I have been to camp every summer since seventh grade and I’m now in nineteenth grade (grad school).  Several of those summers I have accumulated up to 8 camps.  I’m no pro but I’d say I’ve been to well over 50 camps.  So I have tasted the struggle of returning to the way things were many times.  For those that have not attended camp what I’m describing is “the camp high”.  You spend 5 days completely focused on the Lord, communing with him on a higher level in a deeper way than you have done the months before.  You truly taste and see the goodness of the Lord in a tangible way.  You wake up hungry to read His Word.  You worship without concern.  You get to see the church act and live as it should be.  Camp might be the closest glimpse of heaven one will get.  But the problem is this: it only lasts a week.  I have spent many post-camp weeks of my life trying to regain the fervor I felt at camp.  Many years I did what probably most of us do, I assumed that the camp high was just that- an experience that left you wanting and disappointed in the end.  But the truth is that the feelings felt at camp is how life is meant to be lived.  In Christ, we have been given a life abundant. It is not mundane.  It is good.   We are made to commune with God and know Him in tangible ways.  I think one of the main issues is that we stop engaging with God as we did at camp.  For those who have struggled with the post camp casualty of your passion for the Lord, I want to offer a few words of encouragement.

ONE: Remember.
We all have sung the line “Here I raise my Ebenezer” but don’t really know what we’re singing.  An ebenezer is a marker of remembrance that the Israelites set-up to remember the victory that God gave them over the Philistines.  They knew that it would not take long for future generations of Israelites to forgot the work God did among their people.  So they set up a stone marker to remember (1 Samuel 7:12).  We must do the same.  When you find yourself dry spiritually remember the good things that God has done.  Remember the decisions you made and the victories won at camp.  We cannot forget the goodness of God.

TWO: Don’t stop.
There is no greater picture of a spiritual high than that of Pentecost.  In Acts 2, we see that the followers of Christ felt the weight of God’s glory like never before in history.  I cannot possibly fathom their experience.  But what did they do in response to God’s great working in their lives?  This is what Acts 2:42-47 says,

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.  44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.  45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,  47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

They continued to do what they were doing.  Don’t stop worshipping, reading, listening, or fellowshipping (hanging with believers).  Build on the foundation laid.

THREE: Go.
The great commission begins with worship and ends with going.

Matthew 28:16-20: “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.  17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.  18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We see this same thing in Isaiah 6.  There is a visitation from the Lord and what is the prophets first response, “here am I, send me”.  We must to the same.  If we always receive and never give we are nothing but clogged up could-have-been vessels that are of no use to God’s kingdom.  We must go.  Be obedient to what God calls you to do.  Be a proactive preacher of Grace to your circles of influence.

You’re relationship with the Lord is worth fighting for.  Paul says it best in the book of Philippians:

Phil. 3:7     But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Phil. 3:12     Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Phil. 3:15     All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.  16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Phil. 3:17     Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.  18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.  20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,  21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Now, we wake up in the morn and head back to Camp Cherokee to hang with the high school students.  I think I might be intimidated, though.  I need new jokes.

But for more important matters: Isaac Banner Dodd was born on May 14th, 2010 (his great great grandmas birthday) weighing in at 8 lbs 1.6 oz and 21 inches long.  It was the most incredible and beautiful day of our lives.  Carlie delivered Banner completely naturally!  He is handsome and healthy with a full head of hair! After 3 1/2 weeks of life with him, Carlie and I have both learned of a love not yet discovered.

Our baby journey began with a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom of the orphanage in Mongolia last September.  The night that we found out we were pregnant I began to pray that God would use him mightily for His kingdom (yes, I just assumed he’d be a boy).  I prayed that he would be a missionary- in lifestyle not necessarily in occupation.  It was on our Air China flight back that I saw the word banner in the inflight magazine.  I thought that would be a cool name.  I actually met a man in Nashville last year named Banner and loved it.  The Song of Solomon verse “His banner over me is love” was the first thing that came to my mind.  But when I further looked into it, there were tons of references to “God lifting up a banner among the nations” in Scripture.  That was my prayer the night we found out we were pregnant.  So his name was born: Banner!

The name Isaac was decided about 6 years ago.  I first fell in love with Carlie the summer after I graduated high school.  I was in the process of recording my first album with my then-band Poormans Glory.  I wrote the last song on the album for Carlie- At The Altar.  It was a song based on the story of Abraham placing Isaac on the altar and offering him to God.  So fast forward 3 years.  Carlie and I just broke up after about a year together and me in the process of ring-shopping.  I found myself in a familiar place, offering up my relationship with Carlie up to God.  I wrote in my journal that if God brought us back together I would name our first son Isaac as a sign of remembrance that it was God who did the work of reconciliation.  I never shared this with Carlie until the day we found out we were having a boy.

We are so grateful to all of our friends and family for celebrating with us!  Please pray for our new little family as we all get adjusted to new life.

I am not quite sure how to write this blog because this is a heartbreaking thing to share.  The two children’s homes that Beggartown has been helping to support in Mongolia and Nicaragua are dangerously close to closing their doors due to a lack of funding.  WEGO, the ministry that runs the two homes, is based out of Cocoa Beach, FL and has been hit hard by the downturning economy and the ending of many NASA jobs.  Currently, WEGO is receiving less than half the needed money that is takes to run both homes per month.  As I have previously shared and personally experienced, these two orphanages are homes to incredible kids.  Shutting them down would be to break apart a family.  Even more, as Carlie and I saw for a month last Fall, these homes offer the hope of Christ and His Gospel to kids who would otherwise not hear it.

Carlie and I are less than a week away from the due date of our first born son!!!! (We found at that we were pregnant with him at the Mongolian home). And I feel an overwhelming desire to provide for him and love him so abundantly .  We must join together to be the fathers and mothers of these beautiful children as if they were our own and do what it takes to take care of them.

The need is great right now!  Without any additional funding the homes will close.  I plead with you to ask God to direct how you might be able to financially give to this need.  I would challenge and encourage you to give a one time donation or monthly donation to WEGO through the rest of this year.  And as always, all the of our merchandise sales are going to support the homes.  We all know that there is only so much each of us can do but ask the Lord what your part might be.  Please email me, zach@beggartown.org, with any questions or for a specific list of needs.

You can send your tax-deductible donation to us here or directly to WEGO at this address:

PO Box 320735
Cocoa Beach, Florida 32932

I think I am just now caught up on the sleep I lost this weekend after our time with the students from First Baptist Church of Pascagoula, MS.  Unlike the deer that the car in front of us hit on our drive down, we had an awesome weekend!  I really love going back to places we’ve already been and catching up with familiar faces.  The weekend was focused on putting Christ first and speaker Adam Robinson did a great job practically hashing that out.  I was so grateful to have some great guys- Scott Picard, Chad Martin, and Michael Stephens-  to lead with me this weekend!  We also led worship for big church on Sunday morning. I have been humbled both years at the generosity of the church towards our mission.

As of this weekend, Beggartown has ventured into the coffee business.  WEGO, the ministry that runs all of the orphanages we talk about, has started selling coffee from Nicaragua to help support the children’s home there.  My brother has actually joined up with WEGO to help them brew up some coffee business (sorry for the unfunny pun- I must still be tired).  The whole coffee production is not only helping to support the kids in Nicaragua but also the workers and farmers there as well.  This is such a practical way for us all to give to the work of God’s kingdom in Nicaragua, buy coffee.  Go to necoffee.org for more info and to purchase a pound or ten.

Here are just a few websites where you can help:

helpforhaiti.com
handsandfeetproject.org
compassion.com/helphaiti

God Has Come to Us

2 new technological updates for you.

#1: STORE
I just changed the way our online store is working. We are now using google checkout- which is better for you and for me. To celebrate our new store we have a 50% off coupon available through the rest of the year! Just enter in btownchristmas in the coupon code section at checkout.  We’ve added the “Bombs of Love” t-shirt online as well.  We are also using google to accept donations.  Remember all proceeds are going directly to the orphanages we are supporting in Mongolia and Nicaragua and soon in Uganda.  So buy ten of everything!  Order soon and we’ll get it to you for Christmas!

#2: TWITTER
Thanks to an unsolicited sign-up by a youth pastor I will not name from FBC Cleveland named Derek Simpson, I’m now on twitter.  You can keep up-to-date with all of the Beggartown updates and a smattering of other things by following us at twitter.com/zachdodd.

It’s funny how I felt when I opened our storage unit.  I didn’t want the stuff.  We’ve lived without it for over half a year and never had a need for it (except the time I had to dig through it to find our coats for Mongolia.)  I kept telling the very generous guys who helped us move that we really could care less what they broke or stole from us.  Good lesson relearned: we don’t need a lot to live.

This last month or so we found ourselves over the romance of rent-free and home-free living.  Being houseless is kind of like buying a new toy.  It’s awesome at first, then you’re done with just as fast as you got it.  But I’ve been thinking a lot about the kids at the orphanage.  A good deal of them (pre-children’s home) we’re tossed around from family to family, house to house, and agency to agency.  Yeah, Carlie and I chose to be nomads.  But these children didn’t.  They’re just kids.  Before they found themselves in their now home, they had no sense of consistency or belonging.  What a helpless feeling!  I want to invest my life making sure these kids and kids like them have a home- a place to call their own.

So, we’re now in Franklin, TN on a street called Ambiance Way.  You’re more than welcome to come stay with us because chances are we have recently stayed with you.

Mongolia Newsletter

We have been excited about this weekend for awhile because it was our first event to be a part of post Mongolia.  Our trip up from our new home of Franklin, TN to Michigan was less than pretty.  Most of the trip consisted of Carlie…how do I say this?…spreading the curse of morning sickness all over the shoulder of several highways.  But we finally made it and Carlie said the struggle of the journey was worth the destination.  There was a little humor in our trip up north to Owosso.  One reason that we made our home in the Nashville area was because when we drove from Louisville to the different Beggartown events we would ALWAYS drive through Nashville to get there.  So we finally set up home in Nashville and the first event we had while living there took us straight through Louisville.  Take a moment to soak in the irony.  

Carlie and I said that this was one of the most practical conferences we have been a part of.  The church was equipped for God’s Kingdom through talking about missional living.  Randy Nabors was the bringer of the Word for the weekend.  His words and testimony were tools placed in the hands of the church.  Randy is the pastor at New City Fellowship in Chattanooga, TN.  New City Fellowship is a force in community outreach that uses very practical ministries to show the love of Christ.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was being able to show a slideshow of some of our pictures from Mongolia during one of the songs.  During the first two and half years of Beggartown I have talked a lot about the orphanages that we are helping to support.  But this is the first time that I get to really talk about them and tell stories about the kids by name.   

Please be in Prayer for the people and leadership of Community Church that they may take what was shown to us this weekend and further their reach in their local community for Christ

I can’t tell you how much Baatraa, Azaa, and the kids excitement for our baby meant to us.  They were constantly praying for our new life and for Carlie.  She began to get pretty sick soon after we found out.  Zaya actually said that a few days before we told them that she had a dream that Carlie was very excited about something.  After she woke up she thought that Carlie might be pregnant.  It was also pretty funny that Erica, the driver and guards 6-month year old girl, peed on me the first week we were there.  They told me that in Mongolia that means that I will soon get pregnant, not Carlie, but me.  And a week later, we’re pregnant.  

I just got a message from Baatraa that said the kids have been missing us.  I think we miss them more.  Carlie and I have so much to share about our time in Mongolia…and we will.   But for now I thought it would be good to let everyone know that we’re back… with a baby.  After a few days of rest in Omaha, Carlie and I have made our way to Franklin/Nashville, TN, our new home. We now step into a new phase of life and with a lot of vision for Beggartown.  Please be praying for Carlie as she has been very nauseous during this first trimester.  It has been a rough couple of days for her.  Please pray that we will find a great place to live near our families.  I would also appreciate it if you could pray for me to find a good part-time job as well.   Please continue your prayers for the orphanage in Mongolia, for Baatraa and Azaa, and all of our sweet kids there.

The first pic is from our 2nd test (a chinese one) at a clinic in Gachuurt and the rest are from our last day:

Carlie was craving Pizza Hut the entire time in Mongolia.  The Beijing airport had one but it was closed due to construction.  Oh, irony.

This was a very special week.  The highlight, and I think of the trip, was Odka and Zaya’s birthday party last Wednesday night.  It was Odka’s actual birthday and we did all we could to make it special because it was the first birthday that he celebrated at his new home.  (Today is Zaya’s birthday!) There was a giant smile on his face the entire evening.  Carlie and I cooked a fine American meal of chicken, roasted potatoes, salad, and a homemade cake.  I was put in charge of the chicken, which I was very nervous about because I’m no chef.  Purchasing it was actually a very eye-opening experience.  The kids very rarely eat chicken because it is very expensive, so we were told.  To buy enough chicken to feed fifteen people, with food to spare, was only $16.  Dinner only cost us maybe $20 and it was a special meal they never get to eat.  It really put things into perspective for us.  The money that you/we give really does go a long way.  Our evening was full of laughter, dancing, and singing Britney Spears songs.  After dinner and presents Carlie and I gave everyone a Beggartown t-shirt.  It was a great night that we will not soon forget. 

On Sunday I shared from Mark 12: 28-31.  I talked about the importance of loving God with everything inside of us.  I was incredibly impressed with the answers given when I asked what it means to love the Lord with our hearts, souls, minds, and strength.  Bimba gave a great response to what it practically means to love the Lord with our souls: to worship.  I am not sure if I could have come up with that one myself.  It is pretty amazing to see the understanding that these kids have of the Lord even though their government does not allow them to attend a Christian church- a definite testament to Baatraa and Azaa. 

I must also tell you how sweet these kids are.  The other day I got a few handfuls of potatoes to peel for Carlie.  As I began the peeling process it was pretty obvious that I had no idea what I was doing.  Burnee, Tsengel, and Dulguun promptly took over my potato peeling post.  They shedded those spud skins in just a few moments and then washed them for me.  No one asked them to help me, they just did it.  I felt so loved and blessed to be served by these sweet girls. 

We were able to finish harvesting this week!  Please be in prayer that we will be able to sell a good deal of these vegetables.  Also, please continue to pray for the kids in school.  They are working and studying very hard.  This last week their school got a new principal.  Burnee and Tsengel will be having ear surgery this month to patch several holes in their ears.  Pray for effective and perfect procedures and that they may be comforted during it.  Please continue to pray for Azaa’s sister who has recently been diagnosed with Leukemia.  This has been a very hard thing for her entire family.  But praise God that she received Christ into her life last week when Baatraa and Azaa went to visit her!!

…I also ate horse and drank fermented mare’s milk this week.  

We have now been in Mongolia for 20 days. Each one has come with its own story and memory. Although our time here has been relatively short thus far I find it hard to remember what “life” was like before. Maybe it’s the jetlag but I think it is because I just feel comfortable here. It kind of feels like we’ve been seamlessly intertwined into the everyday comings and goings of this children’s home/farm/chess training facility. I like that our presence here does not seem like an incredibly big deal. They have made us feel like we are just a part of the group (the part that looks completely different and that doesn’t understand it when you talk to them). Carlie and I see more and more everyday why we are here and why we get to experience this experience. We are here for us, we are here for the kids, and I hope that we are also here for you: to give you a little glimpse into how God is working and breathing His life into an orphanage in Mongolia. I hope that we both get see that helping and giving money to places like this is more than charity or giving to a cause, it helps real people with names, faces, and dreams.

This last week has been fun. I just want to tell you about yesterday, Sunday. All of the kids (minus Khurlee and Toya) and staff loaded up into the van and drove to a forest to collect wood for the winter. Luckily for me, Baatraa doesn’t really know how to drive a manual and the normal driver was driving his wood collecting truck. So…I got to drive the van. I decided not to ask if that was legal because I think I already knew the answer. It was kind of like 4×4ing with a vanload of kids. Actually, that is exactly what it was like. The roads here are very tiny and dusty roller coasters. So once we arrived at the forest we chopped and dragged and piled and loaded already fallen trees into the back of Bodom’s truck. After our first load we had lunch. I normally would not take the time to tell you about each meal but this one was special. It was the insides of a goat: intestines, kidney, stomach, liver, and heart. Azaa graciously told us before we left what we we’re having so we brought rice and peanut butter (not eaten together). But I did try a small portion of intestine filled with blood. It actually did not taste bad but I wanted to keep it in my stomach so one bite was enough. This is where the day got fun. We started on our second load of trees when Baatraa said it was time to go. Apparently, the police stopped Bodom as he was taking our first load back to the house because of the wood. We were given permission by our next-door neighbor Forrest Ranger to cut the wood but the police did not believe him. So we had to leave our second load and head home. Baatraa had to drive since the police were making their rounds. And of course with the way the day was going, we got a flat tire from the sharp rocks in the road. As we were changing it the police pulled up and Azaa told Carlie and I to leave. She later told us that the very corrupt police would charge them a lot of money for bringing Americans into the forest (although they had permission). So Sunday afternoon was fun: four-wheeling, goat intestines, flat tire, and hiding from the police.

We had a great worship service on Sunday night. I talked about trusting God out of Proverbs 3:5-6. I think that everything I was trying to say was clearly communicated. They got a real kick as I had Odka do a trust fall (stand up on a chair and to fall back, trusting I would catch him, which I did!) I said that I would not let Odka get hurt because I cared for him and loved him and how much more should God be trusted even more than me because that is how he feels about us.

We have a busy week ahead of us harvesting potatoes and chopping up all the wood that is now finally in our possession. We will be celebrating Zaya and Odka’s birthdays this week so Carlie and I are going into town tomorrow to buy some presents, cake mix, and chicken (a rare treat in Mongolia).

Please be in prayer for all of the kids as they are getting back into the routine of school. Be praying for Odka as he has been having very bad stomachaches and this will be his first birthday celebrated at the orphanage. Pray also for Burnee and Tsingel. They both have holes in the ears that will require surgery soon. Carlie and I will also probably be making a trip this week to visit Azaa’s sister who has leukemia. Please pray for her complete healing and peace. We also got a new caretaker today (the Forest Rangers wife). Please pray that she might be a great fit with the kids. And pray that every child and worker may know and trust God’s love this week!

I’m trying to think how I can cram all that has happened this week into a few paragraphs. Most of this last week was filled with Carlie and I acting like we knew what we were doing: Carlie teaching English, me teaching piano, helping to tear down a ger, and us both farming. We spent several days harvesting potatoes and carrots. I have spent a good bit of my life outdoors and in no way do I consider myself a city boy, but I have never pulled anything out of the ground that is edible. It was a real beautiful thing to be a part of. The proceeds of these organic vegetables help support the orphanage. We all worked hard cautiously digging and pulling and getting burnt by the sun. The kids had a competition to see who could dig up the largest potato. Technically I think I won because I pulled it out of the ground but the trophy went to Dulguun because it was her row of potatoes that I was digging up. I got so upset that I threw all the potatoes at the sun and turned them into a sky full of french fries- which were actually quite delicious. OK- that last part is not completely true. But seriously, I have never felt more rewarded in my labor. These dirt stains on my hands are a reminder that I should be more prone to help and to serve my friends.

And that is one of the greatest things I will take from our time living at this orphanage in Mongolia. These kids have never felt like orphans or charity cases but friends. We have not come to do some great project for them but to simply join alongside of them in there everyday lives: at the dinner table, on the soccer field (which I’ve been told by the kids to tone it down some), in the fields, getting slaughtered by twelve-year-old Bimba in chess every time we’ve played but once, and so on. I truly love each and every one of them as a friend and I think that is how it should be.

One of the highlights for the week was on Sunday. To celebrate all of the kids hard work and their starting of school on Tuesday (yesterday), we went to Terelj National Park. It is a beautiful vast open land whose rock formations mirrored The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. We all had a great day together. The Mongolian government does not allow the orphanage to take its kids to a Christian Church. They say we should not force religion on them although it is quite OK for them to be taken to a Buddhist Temple. So we have Church ourselves at the orphanage, or as we did this Sunday, in a beautiful National Park. I spoke on Colossians 3:17 and talked about the importance of giving thanks to God through every area of our lives. I think it was good for them to hear that picking potatoes and doing their homework can be just as God honoring as saying a prayer or singing a worship song. One of my favorite parts of the day was when I asked the kids following my “sermon” what song they wanted to sing. Odka shouted, “Jonah!” There is a song I wrote about Jonah that he makes me sing 4 or 5 times in a row everyday. He almost has it memorized. It’s not exactly a worship song so we opted for “God Is So Good” in English and in Mongolian. But it really meant a lot to me that he would be so enthusiastic to sing one of my songs.

Yesterday was a great day for the kids but a rough one for me. The night before the power was out so I didn’t really get a good look at the rice I scooped out of the pot. It was a traditional Mongolian meal- rice with goat milk (it literally comes from the goats that the orphanage owns next door). I spent all day in bed and the bathroom. Not fun. I was most upset because I missed most of the kids first day of school. All the kids dressed up in nice collared shirts and ties. They were so good looking. Carlie made them pancakes in the morning and lasagna for dinner. It was a real treat, I hear. Yes, I missed my only chance at American meals in two weeks. Oh yeah, Carlie, Baatraa, Tseteg and I went in to town on Monday to get Tseteg ready for College. We took her to chicken restaurant to celebrate. We also got to buy a pressure cooker and a keyboard for the orphanage.

Please be in prayer that we might make a good profit on all of the vegetables, for the kids exams and homework, and for better luck in the health department. We are certain that we have already been helped, encouraged, and strengthen a great deal from your prayers.