Transition.... Again

Seems like transition is just a way of life these days. After we finally completed our 2-year transition from Ecuador to Indiana, the tech center, now called SonSet Solutions, decided to make a transition of its own. I talked about that in the last post. What this means for us is that I am heavily involved in communicating the change and helping our staff communicate the change both internally and externally. Here are some of the things that I have been involved in recently.

SonSet Solutions Web Page

We recently launched a new web site for SonSet Solutions. I am overseeing much of the content that goes on this web site as well as working with a team that decides things like layout, structure, etc. You can see the site by clicking on SonSetSolutions.org. I am also doing a lot of the posting on our Facebook page, which you can follow at Facebook.com/HCJBTech as well as our Twitter feed Twitter.com/HCJBTech. These are all important tools for telling others about the ministry we do.

Whenever a change like this occurs there is a mountain of communication tools, letterheads, forms, etc that also need to change. So our small communications/media team has been invovled in designing the new logo, creating new letterhead, new e-mail addresses and signature blocks, new brochures, new office badges, new signs for the street and doors, new shirts and coffee mugs, and the list keeps growing. I even wrote an official press release for the first time ever.

Practical Gifts Campaign Photo

We did get some time to create a new video a week or so ago. We are in the midst of a fund raising campaign for SonSet Solutions which will help us with some important startup costs as we become our own, independent 501(c)(3) organization. In addtion, SonSet Solutions does a Practical Gifts Campaign every year to raise money for tools and equipment that we use in ministry, but this year is different.... Find out why by watching our video. Click on ...  Practical Gifts Campaign.

I have been having a great time using my skills and experience to help us during this transition. By the end of the year we hope to be mostly through the transition and I will begin to concentrate on video production again. I already have some things brewing on the back burner.

Doug

The Name Game...

So, how are you doing with the name game so far? Let's review.... HCJB Global became Reach Beyond last January. Ruth and I then became missionaries with Reach Beyond, but we moved to Indiana to work with the HCJB Global Technology Center (no, the Tech Center didn't change their name) in their Nikkel Media Works studios. Are you keeping up? Well, now I have another one to throw at you...

The HCJB Global Technology Center has now changed its name to SonSet Solutions.

SonSet Solutions was also granted permission to separate themselves from Reach Beyond and become their own independent, non-profit 501(C)(3) organization. Although separate, the two organizations will maintain close ties. So where does that leave Ruth and I? We are now Reach Beyond missionaries serving in the Nikkel Media Works studios of SonSet Solutions. See that wasn't so hard now, was it?

Yes, the decision was made this week and announced to our staff today (Friday). And then the www.sonsetsolutions.org web site was launched. I have been working on the web site pretty much exclusively for the last several weeks. This is the first time that the tech center has had their own web site, even though we have beed in existence for some 28 years. You can read about our history on the web page. Next I will be involved in "getting the word out". Since SonSet Solutions doesn't have a "marketing" area yet, my team and I have decided that media should pick up that role until we can get someone in-house to help us. Do you know of any missionaries with a marketing background?

There are a number of things that lay ahead of us. We need to let people know that Reach Beyond has given a generous matching grant to help us get started with some of the startup funding that will be required to get us off on the right foot. It is much like setting up your first apartment.... all those little things you took for granted at Mom and Dad's house. So we need to start producing printed material, some short videos, social media strategies, letterhead and business cards, etc etc.

We are excited about this change and are anxious to get started on some of the new initiatives. If you want to help us get started, you can donate to SonSet Solutions to help with their startup funds (see the web page for more info). You can also pray for us as we work on these new communication and media tools. I don't really have a lot of experience at this kind of thing, and we don't have a lot of time to put things in place.

Thanks for being a part of our financial and prayer support teams...

Doug (& Ruth)

Showers of Blessing

     Being in Indiana again, I am reminded of summer showers. They usually come after a long hot and humid spell and they usually come just when you think it will never rain again. Then suddenly the sky gets dark and the air gets cool. And then... there it is... a summer shower. It is such a refreshing experience to have the rain fall. The pitter patter sound it makes on the roof is soothing. The heat subsides and the air becomes new and fresh again.

At the Tech Center

     I feel like we have been living in a shower of blessings this summer. After a long 2 year transition from Ecuador to the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Indiana, we are experiencing a downpour. God has blessed us in so many ways... Safety as we pulled a heavy trailer from California to Indiana with our belongings. A place to stay while we waited to get into our new home in Indiana. People to help us load and unload our trailer and  moving truck. A beautiful home here in Indiana which we never expected to be able to afford. The sale of our house in Ecuador just when we needed the funds to buy this new home. A free rental truck upgrade the night before we picked up the truck (and yes, we needed the extra space). A washer and dryer that our sellers left in the house, much to our surprise. The list could go on and on.

     Many of you have been part of that shower of blessing. Your friendship during the last 2 years while we were in California has been a great blessing. Many of you have been praying for us during this tranistion and continue to do so. Some of you have given faithfully to support our work with Reach Beyond and others have joined our team just recently. Kind notes and comments on Facebook encourage us and help us know we are loved and missed. A warm and freindly reception at the Technology Center has helped us feel at home even before we have unpacked our boxes.

     Yes, we are definitely in the midst of a summer shower of blessing. It's refreshing and soothing and relaxing. I think I will just stand out here in the rain for a while and soak it all in....

Doug

Timing....

Timing... What is it about timing that drives us crazy. We are constantly thinking about how the timing will work out, what's the right timing, or how to create the right timing. Time is a funny thing. We fret over it. We plan it. We optimize it. We take pains not to waste it. We even try to create more of it. We spend lots of time trying to manage our time. But in the end, there are usually a lot of things about timing that we simply can't control.

As our family shifts into major transition mode again, moving from California to Indiana, timing is on my mind. How can we squeeze in all of the visits with friends and family before we leave? What's the right timing for transitioning our responsibilites with the Spanish ministry at church? What happens if our house in Latin America doesn't sell before we need to buy one in Indiana? How do we work out the timing between moving into a house, and buying the furniture for that house? What is the best timing for begining our ministry at the Tech Center versus our need to get settled into a new home?

We are doing our best to plan our time well, but much of our plan depends on things beyond our control.That is why I am glad that I serve the God that created time. I serve a God that is active and loving and caring and wants to provide for me. I serve a God who knows the timing and I have seen him do some amazing things with timing, bringing two parrallel paths together at just the right time.

So we are trying to not worry about all of the timing issues related to our move from California to Indiana and leave those to God. It isn't easy. We are a society that is obsessed with time. But in reality there is only one person in all of history who has ever stopped time (Joshua 10:13), and He is the one who is calling us to this new land of ministry.

Doug 

Announcing.... "Reach Beyond"

     Yes! That's right. HCJB Global is Now Reach Beyond... No, its not a corporate buy out. We are still the same organization and our direction and goals have not changed... It just seemed like an appropriate time to change our name to better reflect the growing reality of our ministry.

     HCJB are really the call letters of our flagship radio stations in Ecuador, and they will continue to use these letters in their name.  And for now, the technology center, where we will work in Indiana, will retain the name, HCJB Global Technology Center. However the letters "HCJB" don't really convey the ministries that we do in healthcare, training, or leadership development. Nor do they convey the international scope that our ministries now enjoy.

     If you support HCJB Global (now Reach Beyond) or our missionaries, know that you don't have to change anything. Keep giving as you are now. But you will notice a change of name on your receipts, credit card statements or EFT bank charges.

Now, here is a brief video from our President, Wayne Pedersen, who will explain the reasons for the change in a little more detail.



Doug

Grab & Run!

     Having lived overseas for 20+ years, I have often rehearsed in my head what I would do if I ever found myself in a "rapid evacuation". It's the kind of thing that you never think will happen to you, but Ruth and I have talked for years about what we might take with us in that kind of scenario.

View to the East as Daniel Left for School at 6:37 a.m.

     As our son Daniel was on his way to school yesterday, we noticed thick billowing smoke in the sky above our apartment. As we looked around the side of our building we saw the source... the beginnings of what now is being called the "Colby Fire" in Los Angeles. As Daniel headed off to school I decided to keep an eye on the smoke plume coming from behind the hill to the east. Within half an hour the flames had crested the hill and the westerly Santa Anna winds were driving the flames down the other side, hopping and leaping as they came. It took just 15 minutes more before the flames were so close that we started packing our most precious belongings.... we were in the midst of our very own "grab & run" nightmare.

View to the East at 7:10 a.m.

     So what would you take with you? How would you prioritize your belongings? What are the most important things in your life that you would not want to lose in a fire? We had only 10 minutes to think about that, grab them and get them to the car. Ready?... Set?... Go!

     Priorities are a tricky thing. We think we can't live without a lot of things in our lives... the latest fashion, that big screen TV, our favorite book series, that ultimate stereo system, our baseball hat collection... But are those the really important things in life?

View to the West at 7:34 a.m. as We Drove Off the Property

      Family memories were at the top of our list. Photo albums were the first things in the car. Then hard drives and computers, cameras, medical records, passports & birth certificates. In the rush to get out before the fire got to us we didn't have time to pack any clothes. By the time we left the property the Colby Fire had already burned behind our apartment and was headed down the hill to the west, threatening to block our way of escape.

      So I would just like to encourage you today to think about what is really important to you? Hopefully you will never find yourself in a "grab & run" situation like we did, but if you only had 10 minutes to clear out of your house, what would you take with you? Then remember to thank God for those things, and His protection over you each and every day.

Doug

PS. The fire burned to within 100 yards of our apartment. We are all safe and have returned to our apartment, thanking God for his protection of us and the Church of the Open Door, on whose grounds our apartment sits. Thanks for praying for us. You can see more pictures on my Facebook page by clicking on... https://www.facebook.com/DouglasBWeber .