To Know God and Make Him Known

_{“Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.” Ephesians 4:14}

::Read until the end for some exciting announcements!::

Aloha McCalls on Mission Community!

Mission Drift

I’ve spent much time thinking about ‘Mission Drift’. I’ve thought about how easy it is to drift off course without realizing it. It’s been so valuable, for me, to consistently and intentionally evaluate my life choices to see if I need to “course correct” as it pertains to my personal (and McCall Family) life purpose/calling.

It has also got me talking about it more often, with my staff, as it relates to School of Worship and YWAM Kona. I remember in the latter half of 2020 we held a 6ft distanced “DNA Conference” here in Kona (remember those days?). The purpose was to ‘reset and refocus.’ Our main focuses were on Jesus and His call to us as a mission (YWAM) and individually. It was a time to rehearse the words of the Lord; to remember our history so that we could remember where we came from, who we are, and where we are going.

It’s so important to remember the story God has been writing. To rehearse the words of the Lord over our lives and callings; personal and corporate. In doing so, we remember the covenant God made with us and we can renew our commitment to God’s ways over our own ways. If we don’t take time to stop, remember, and celebrate what God has done, is doing, and will do, we run the risk of getting off course. I’m thankful that at the DNA Conference, Darlene created a “Safeguards against Mission Drift” PDF for our community. I read it regularly and talk about it often with our staff.

Living in Kona, we hear all sorts of sailing examples to bring home a point. It’s such a simple and over used example, but a boat sailing from California to Hawaii would totally miss the Island of Hawaii if its trajectory was even only one click off. Really close doesn’t cut it in the long run. That’s Mission Drift. It starts so subtle that it’s unnoticeable until you’re really far down the line and asking the question how did this happen.

And so it is with our lives in Christ. If we are close to the narrow path but not on the narrow path, we won’t arrive where we thought we were going to arrive. In what ways do you need to re-calibrate? Bring your life, bare, before the Lord. Ask Him to search your heart and reveal any ways where you missed the mark or got off course. He’s so good, loving, and faithful to forgive, to restore, and to set you back on the right path. This daily practice will ensure that you live the life that is truly life and not ‘drift.’ It has brought me to places of repentance so many times. How joy-filled it has been to endure the divine discipline of my Heavenly Father. (Hebrews 12:7)

Paris

What a privilege it is to include our children in our missionary journeys. It isn’t lost on me the amazing opportunity God has allowed, for us, to model to our kids a life of obedience to God despite the cost.

The last week of May I was teaching in the School of Worship at YWAM Paris Connect. What a joy it was to give Moses an opportunity to practice partnership with God as well as watching his dream of seeing the Mona Lisa and the Eiffel Tower come true!

I do want to proclaim the faithfulness of God during this time. Many can attest to the fact that the moment we landed in France I basically lost my voice. Lecture mornings were 3 hrs each day with other evening teaching times as well. After each lecture session, I was completely exhausted.

It took all my strength to squeak out enough sound for me to talk. That week I was also scheduled to lead worship for ‘Ignite’ which is a unity worship event for local churches in Paris. I had already worked so hard to learn how to sing a handful of songs in French (it was an only french language worship time).

The day of the event I still had no voice, but by faith I stayed a part of the team on acoustic. They still gave me a mic in case God healed my voice. They had more faith than I did. At one point during this 2 hour event, we were on a spontaneous moment where my friend Nathalie was singing the lyrics;

O Dieu, tu sauves
O Dieu, tu guéris
O Dieu, tu restaures
Aujourd’hui encore, nous le croyons

I don’t speak french at all. But in the moment, I knew that the translation was:

O God you save
O God you heal
O God you restore
Even today we believe it!

God began to minister to me so personally. I prayed under my breath, God I believe you can do all those still today! I believe! I believe! Help me with my unbelief! In the moment something moved in my throat and I realized my vocal cords had been loosed and I could sing. I felt to declare this and I sang it as loud as I could!

In that moment, faith broke out in the room and it felt like the very presence of God entered in. It became more than just words but a cry of ‘Jesus we believe! Help us with our unbelief!’ I still can’t describe the time of prayer we went to out of that moment. However, I’m so grateful for a God who is ‘With Us,’ emmanuel, and not distant.

Eternity

So earlier this week, I woke up to a voice message on WhatsApp from a dear friend in Germany. He’s a main voice in the worship band called Outbreak Band. They are the biggest worship band in the German speaking world for context.

About a year ago he told me about one of their biggest songs called Ewigkeit (Eternity). He said they had always wanted to do an english version of it but never liked any of the translations that had come through until now. His question, “will you sing it for us? Will you listen to it and let us know if it’s something you’d be willing to carry for us?”

The moment I completed my first listen through, I knew I would do it. It resonated with something deep within me. I worked on the translation to make it better and once it was approved I recorded vocals for the song in my humble home studio (think smallest walk-in closet imaginable). Haven’t thought about it since.

Back to the voice message on WhatsApp…I found out that it was releasing on FRIDAY (July 4th)! I’m happy to tell you that I released a new song in collaboration with Outbreak Band called ‘Eternity.’ It’s out now and you can listen to it wherever you stream music! It’s a song about living life in light of Eternity.

Messenger By The Sea

Lastly, our family is excited to announce that Kai has been working on a mini-documentary with our friend and filmmaker Matt Lowry. Kai and I met Matt over a year ago on our missionary journey to Nairobi, Kenya.

If you remember, we were part of a team from Wichita, Kansas to lead a worship conference. The last day of the conference, Kai and I shared my speaking time. Kai sang a song he wrote and gave his testimony. Matt later told Kai that he was going to tell his story someday.

That day came and a few weeks ago we spent a week and a half filming all over the island. We truly believe God is going to use this to bring many into the family of God and others into a closer walk with Jesus. The mini-doc will be releasing at the end of summer. Please pray for this project, the post-production work, and the impact that God has for this film into the future. Click below to watch the trailer.

Thank You 🙌🏼

I simply wanted to say, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for standing with us in our missionary journeys. We recognize and understand that it’s not simply our family doing this thing called “missions” but all of us, together on one team, united to see the Kingdom of God advance across the earth. What an amazing privilege to partner with Jesus, as His body, to see his plans and purposes come to pass.

Final Remarks

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and may the Lord give you peace. Amen.  🙏

Grace and Peace be with you in Abundance,

-Chris, Lizzi, Kai, Laila, Rhema, Moses, and Zion ♥️-