Find The Bride

Shane Bennett, missions catalyst for Frontiers, was at Grace this past Sunday, kicking off the second segment in our Beyond series [reach across the world]. He shared a fascinating paradigm for missions from Genesis 24 that he termed "Find The Bride." Fascinating in that the concepts include the servant being blessed, the bride and her family being blessed and, of course, the groom being blessed. Check out the video entitled "A Thousand Questions." He also ran a short workshop Sunday evening for those that wanted to get more involved in global missions and cross cultural experiences - incredibly practical stuff like reached vs. unreached, THUMB, and dreaming big dreams. [See AR's notes.]

I was fortunate enough to hang with Shane all afternoon giving him a quick tour of some of the monuments in DC. I'm left with more questions and reminders from our amazing conversation, like:
+ I've wanted a church to look as close as it can to a missions org, especially in the view of mobilization. Maybe that's an unfair expectation.
+ Perhaps the individual's call to a cross cultural experience needs to fold in to God's call for their local church.
+ The "problem" of lots of people hearing God's voice to start a new ministry or serve somewhere around the world is universal. And when we say "problem", it's a good one to have.
+ Regardless of where God motivates you, we still need you at your very best. Do your homework. Get some training. Find or create a solid team.
+ A tight amount of control won't help us complete the task.

Thanks again Shane - excited to watch how your investment in Grace will multiply. Find him on twitter here.

[Photo: Shane, me and AR, one of the Ember interns.]