A video about how AIM’s health ministries impact the kingdom of God. The OFM team have been working on this video for almost 3 years now, with footage on here spanning the continent and the past 3 years. Most recently, I shot the Lake Victoria island sequences a couple weeks ago, and scored the beginning/ending of this video. My good buddy and OFM teammate, Mike Saum, wrote and produced, Ted did most of the editing and directing.

Last December, OFM was commissioned by AIM’s international office to produce a video for worldwide use about AIM’s vision to see Christ-centred churches among all african peoples. Up until this point AIM had no video that spoke on an organization-wide, and world-wide basis. OFM had already identified the need for such a piece, and the commission from the international office was all the encouragement we needed to go do it.

The challenge was both broad and comprehensive. To create a video under 5 minutes in length, that could be used cross-culturally in every AIM context (from US to Brazil to Hong Kong and everywhere in between!) and would show AIM’s history, depth, and breadth of mission work, and especially that AIM is all about partnership with the African church.

We started an international brainstorming process in January, involving AIM regional media personnel from around the world. We started writing script treatments in February, by March we were storyboarding. In April we went to Northern Kenya to film the beginning and ending sequences. A few weeks later we went to Rwanda to film Bruce Rossington’s sequence and VO. We spent May and June editing, and pulling footage from the past 3 years of OFM’s archives for the montage sequences.

After taking a month off to attend my sister’s wedding in the US, I hit the deck running with developing the motion sequences throughout the film, then scored it at least 4 different ways before settling in on the current score, then colored it for about a week.

It’s the biggest collaborative effort OFM has ever pulled off, and I was privileged to get to be the producer on this project. May God be glorified in Africa and around the world by what he is doing through AIM and other organizations here in Africa.

Andy and Lesa, please know how very much I appreciate your worship leading at conference. A number of people have shared with me how they valued the way both of you led and the songs you chose. Thank you for your prayerful preparation for those two evenings.

We also taught a workshop on Friday morning about leading worship from guitar and piano, we’ll post the handouts here on this site for anyone interested.

On Monday, we taught a workshop on “maximizing the internet as a communication tool” and it was very well received also. We showed the class the things we’re doing with email newsletters and blogging and video podcasting and how to use all these tools to stay in touch. I’ll also post the handouts to that on our site soon as well.

Finally, they showed the OFM’s Psalm 40 video at one of the big sessions, as a reflective, closing element for worship. We had no idea when we made this video that it could serve that purpose, but it really tied in nicely with the conference’s theme of trusting God and knowing we don’t accomplish things by our own strength.

We just got our Christmas tree up, and we’re already writing our “Christmas” letter (a big step for us)! We hope your holiday season has started off well and your tree is up! Things are going well here. Life is busy and in full swing as we are enjoying our ministry at Dulles Community Church, spending time with our kiddos, and giving LOTS of piano lessons.

Robbie, who is eight and in 2nd grade, keeps busy playing with Legos and video games, practicing piano, losing teeth, and running around playing with his buddies. Avery, who is four and in preschool, learned to ride a bike this summer and is as happy-go-lucky as ever – following his brother around! Sydney is two now and talking and singing up a storm. Every place we go, someone is exclaiming how cute she is (what can we say?)!

The big news…

Two weeks ago we were officially “appointed” as missionaries with Africa Inland Mission. We hope to be moved to Nairobi, Kenya by next July to serve as full-time missionaries there! The process was prompted by Andy’s trip to North Africa which made a profound impression upon him. I (Lesa) had felt drawn towards missions, particularly Africa, since I was 15 and had pursued the subject in college and seminary.

So when he came back on fire, I wasn’t sure what to think! We prayed for four months. We eventually decided that we were being called to go somewhere, we just weren’t sure where!

We took a wonderful trip to North Africa and Kenya last spring, which confirmed our call and confused us at the same time. We came away leaning towards Sub-Saharan Africa, but were still unsure. We also came away with contacts and ideas of ministries there. We spent the summer praying and seeking out more possibilities.

Meanwhile, I was fighting going to Africa in my heart because of the difficulty of life there. However, doors were continually opening for an opportunity which we had heard about on our trip through Africa Inland Mission (AIM). God began teaching me what “surrender” and “trust” really means. By that point, all of the open doors with AIM were undeniable and we knew in our hearts that it was where God had been leading us.

In November, we went to “Candidate Week” at the US headquarters for AIM in NY. Andy’s mom came to Virginia to stay with the kids, so we ended up having a nice get-away, as well! The week went wonderfully – we made lots of friends and had many intense workshops and meetings. There we were appointed by AIM and knew that this was an organization we could trust and partner with.

Life in Africa

Our official, primary assignment with AIM is the new On-Field Media Team, whose purpose is to be “missionary storytellers,” a team with a unique set of technical and creative skills (sounds like Andy, huh!), serving both the mission and the missionary, encouraging the Church, for the glory of God. They will be field-based and mobile (through AIM AIR); able to go to any of the 18 African nations where AIM serves. The video, web, photography, articles and graphic art design they produce will serve to enhance the work of partnership development, recruitment, needs awareness, and prayer. Their goal is to “Declare His glory among the nations” (Psalm 96:3).

Unofficially, we are going as “worship leaders to missionaries” – to use our music to help refuel the missionaries to be able to serve from a place of spiritual and emotional abundance. This will happen whenever and wherever we have the opportunity – Bible studies, meetings, conferences, retreats, etc.

We’ve also always dreamed of assisting the African Church in equipping/ resourcing its musicians, as we have tried to do in churches here. We have a lot to learn about African culture/music and we want to assess what the real needs are – so we’ll participate in local churches at first as students of their culture.

Finally, I (Lesa!) will be busy with the kids and making our house a “home” in Africa – when I have time, I plan on checking out local ministries such as orphanages or national schools to see how and where I might volunteer regularly.

Robbie and Avery are becoming excited about the upcoming move. We plan for them to attend West Nairobi School, a private Christian (American) school, where there will be many other missionary kids for them to befriend. OH, and Sydney already says, “Jambo” (“hello” in Swahili)!

Partnering with us

As we have come to believe that this is God’s plan and desire to send us to be a part of His work in Africa through AIM, we are also placing ourselves fully in His hands for all of our needs. This seems scary, but we have a real peace that if this is what He wants us to do, He will provide the way for us to go.

Missionaries with AIM raise their full support – which means that all of their expenses, salary, etc. come from the body of Christ, which is sending them out as part of the Church’s commission from Christ to “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” We are seeking individuals and churches who want to be a part of our work and our lives in Africa through prayer (which is a huge need) and/or financial support in order to make the work possible.

Financially, you can partner with us in these ways: by contributing to our Outgoing Expenses or by making a monthly pledge for our Salary on the field. Our Outgoing Expenses target is $28,930, which will cover travel, household set-up in Nairobi, Orientation School, 2 months’ worth of salary, medical expenses, and shipping of our stuff. Our Monthly Support Target is $4,911, (you can see a specific break-down of all expenses on our website, as well as a link to contribute on-line). If you are feeling a call from God to join us through prayer or finances, you can send us the response card we included.

If you want details on any of this: our family (plus photos!), AIM, our ministry, our move, expenses, thoughts on missions in Africa, etc., you can go to our family website at www.brownfamily.ws. It’s a pretty cool site (why do you think I married a web-geek?)

Will you pray for us?

We will be sending out another update in a month or two. For now, we would love your prayers for us over the next two months as we begin the process of packing up and selling our house, doing loads of paperwork for moving overseas, and building our support team. Please pray that we will remain calm and trust in God’s provision and timing in all things. Please also pray for the On-Field Media Team as it gets started this year – that a solid foundation will be laid for a strong team.

We would also love to hear how you are doing and keep in touch with you. Please write us!

We love you all!

Have a Merry Christmas,

Andy, Lesa, Robbie, Avery, and Sydney Brown

Anyhow, Lesa and I feel led to pursue a position with AIM, hopefully with the media team in Nairobi. Right now we’re praying about the best time to do the “candidate week” in New York, which is required to be accepted as a missionary candidate. Their next candidate week is in November, the one after that is January. We’d like to do it as soon as possible so we can start raising funds, with the hopes of arriving in Africa maybe next fall. November is a bad month for us, though, the busiest time of year for church musicians.

Shirley then drove us through Nairobi (an adrenaline rush, if it’s your first time) to Rosslyn Academy, where Lesa and I led worship for a chapel service. This is the school where my cousins, Rachel and Hannah, attend. It was beautiful, as was Nairobi in general. Lots of trees and flowering vegetation, and such a great, mild climate that the school campus was a real open-air architecture.

After lunch at Rosslyn, we went to an orphanage for infants who were orphaned by AIDS. Many of them had tested positive for AIDS because their mothers had AIDS, but we found out in many cases they end up not being infected at all.

The next day we had planned a tour of the Kibera slums, but ended up spending the morning at the doctors office as Sydney was throwing up again, and had developed strange spots all over her torso and arms and legs. We thought it might have been an allergic reaction to the malaria meds she had just started taking, or maybe an interaction with the chickenpox vaccine she had had along with a buch of other required vaccines before we left. The doctor told us it was a virus, but nothing to be worried about. She was also terribly constipated, since we had been unable to feed her any fresh fruits or vegetables for sanitation reasons.

We went to the AIM (Africa Inland Mission) hanger in the afternoon, and had an interview of sorts with Alan Masters, the director of the International Services division of AIM. We really enjoyed meeting with him and hearing his vision for AIM IS, and getting a great overview for the structure of the organization, and where we might fit in.