Super Bowl
Wow, of course lots of controversy about the commercials and especially the half time show from last night... Nothing more than I need to mention here, except that if you know me, you know I have a big disdain for professional sports. I usually never watch them, because I'm not convinced its a great investment of time and I think we as a culture have a slight problem with the way we treat atheletes and the amount of money we spend on pro sports. Please understand, I'm not taking shots, just reflecting how I personally feel. But despite all that, I watched the whole game, and it was quite a game. Kudos to the Pats and the Panthers on some good competition.
Read what Walt Mueller says about the Super Bowl here, find the heading "Lettin' it all hang out...". Very good critique. "I am fully aware that those who would be critical of my criticism will say I should have just turned it off. Sorry, but that's not the answer. I may not have watched it, but millions of other impressionable young kids will have. I think we need to be advocates for them and protect them from physical, emotional, relational, and moral harm." Go Walt!! We can't engage or dialogue if we hide from it...
Monday, February 02, 2004
Friday, January 30, 2004
Recording Dying Languages
This article is pretty interesting about a researcher doing language studies with languages that are dying off. Wow, I've really never thought about this before. And the ramifications for something like Bible translation, that keeps the language from dying, and sometimes consequently, the whole culture from dying...
- "A language doesn't fall over a precipice, it sort of slides into oblivion."
- Once I asked, "Can I use this word this way?" and the response was, "Of course, you're foreign, you can say a wrong thing. But I can't say that." (Foreign missionaries NEVER do stuff like that.)
-... to learn about how people communicate and how the human mind works. What are the categories that are important enough for people to express them in their languages? If these so-called "exotic" languages die, we'll be left with just one world view.
- every Amazonian society ever studied has a legend about a great flood.
- About 60-70 percent of linguistic diversity in the north-western region of Brazil has disappeared in the last 100 years.
Read it here.
This article is pretty interesting about a researcher doing language studies with languages that are dying off. Wow, I've really never thought about this before. And the ramifications for something like Bible translation, that keeps the language from dying, and sometimes consequently, the whole culture from dying...
- "A language doesn't fall over a precipice, it sort of slides into oblivion."
- Once I asked, "Can I use this word this way?" and the response was, "Of course, you're foreign, you can say a wrong thing. But I can't say that." (Foreign missionaries NEVER do stuff like that.)
-... to learn about how people communicate and how the human mind works. What are the categories that are important enough for people to express them in their languages? If these so-called "exotic" languages die, we'll be left with just one world view.
- every Amazonian society ever studied has a legend about a great flood.
- About 60-70 percent of linguistic diversity in the north-western region of Brazil has disappeared in the last 100 years.
Read it here.
Next SPACE Launch
So this SPACE kids come through again. We went and scoped out the next Launch.... I'll talk more about it when it gets closer. Very cool though. Going to do something unconventional to celebrate Valentines Day. Think a party that's totally out of the box. Yeah.
We also talked about these two statements:
1 - The church of God has a mission in the world.
2 - The God of mission has a church in the world.
Which one is right and why?
It made for some good discussion, especially after we framed them and talked about the previous four launches and which ones were relevant to statement #1 or #2.
Just for the record, #2 is really the right one. Debate among yourselves in the comments...
So this SPACE kids come through again. We went and scoped out the next Launch.... I'll talk more about it when it gets closer. Very cool though. Going to do something unconventional to celebrate Valentines Day. Think a party that's totally out of the box. Yeah.
We also talked about these two statements:
1 - The church of God has a mission in the world.
2 - The God of mission has a church in the world.
Which one is right and why?
It made for some good discussion, especially after we framed them and talked about the previous four launches and which ones were relevant to statement #1 or #2.
Just for the record, #2 is really the right one. Debate among yourselves in the comments...
Thursday, January 29, 2004
P&P 2
So we had this big work party tonight. It was quite a party, literally. There was a great dinner, an open bar, a live band, and lots of socializing, at one of the best restaurants in DC. Very fun. It was really a great time for a job well done, the execs really pulled out all the strings to throw this gala event. They really did a nice job.
My friend CW came too, even though he left the company a few months ago, he was invited, because he was a contributor to our successes. It was great to catch up with him, and we continued the conversation we had started during his final days as an employee. We talked about a decision point, The Passion movie, and differences in religions. The most significant thing we talked about, certainly, was my story of the P&P strategy, and thinking about him and giving him that book. How Joe pressed him for what book, and then hearing that Joe had gotten the same book as a gift the next day. CW said that he didn't think it was a coincidence at all, I of course agree. He and his fam also went to a church a few weeks ago, and they liked it. It sounded a lot like Grace. Your prayers for CW and his continuing to investigate and research would be great news.
So we had this big work party tonight. It was quite a party, literally. There was a great dinner, an open bar, a live band, and lots of socializing, at one of the best restaurants in DC. Very fun. It was really a great time for a job well done, the execs really pulled out all the strings to throw this gala event. They really did a nice job.
My friend CW came too, even though he left the company a few months ago, he was invited, because he was a contributor to our successes. It was great to catch up with him, and we continued the conversation we had started during his final days as an employee. We talked about a decision point, The Passion movie, and differences in religions. The most significant thing we talked about, certainly, was my story of the P&P strategy, and thinking about him and giving him that book. How Joe pressed him for what book, and then hearing that Joe had gotten the same book as a gift the next day. CW said that he didn't think it was a coincidence at all, I of course agree. He and his fam also went to a church a few weeks ago, and they liked it. It sounded a lot like Grace. Your prayers for CW and his continuing to investigate and research would be great news.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Waking the Dead 3 - Fellowships of the Heart
- It Must Be Small
This small core fellowship is the essential ingredient for the Christian life. Jesus modeled it for us for a reason.
- It Must Be Intimate
Of course, small groups have become a part of the programming that most churches offer their people. For the most part, they are short-lived. There are two reasons. First, you can’t just throw a random group of people together for a twelve-week study of some kind and expect them to become intimate allies.
“All the believers were one in heart.” Acts 4:32 It means they all loved the same thing, they all wanted the same thing, and they were bonded together to find it, come hell or high water. And hell or high water will come, friends, and this will be the test of whether or not your band will make it: if you are one in heart. My goodness- churches split over the size of the parking lot or what instruments to use during worship. Most churches are not ‘one in heart.’
Second, most small groups are anything but redemptive powerhouses because, while the wineskin, might be the right size, they don’t have the right wine. You can do some study till you’re blue in the face, and it won’t heal the brokenhearted or set the captives free. We come; we learn; we leave. It is not enough. Those hearts remain buried, broken, untouched, unknown. It is knowing that you are at war, that God has chosen you and evil is hunting you, and so a fellowship like Frodo’s must protect you.
- It Will Be Messy
“The family is… like a little kingdom, and, like most other little kingdoms, is generally in a state of something resembling anarchy.” – G.K. Chesterton
It is a royal mess. It is disruptive. Going to church with hundreds of other people to sit and hear a sermon doesn’t ask much of you. It certainly will never expose you. That’s why most folks prefer it. Because community will. We have settled for safety in numbers – a comfortable, anonymous distance. An army that keeps meeting for briefings, but never breaks into platoons and goes to war.
Living in community is like camping together. For a month. In the desert. Without tents. All your stuff is scattered out there for everyone to see. Some philosopher described it like a pack of porcupines on a winter night. You come together because of the cold, and you are forced apart because of the spines.
However, there are two things you now have that you didn’t have before, and they enable this sort of fellowship to work. First, you know the heart is good. That is the missing key in most fellowships. Your heart is good and the other’s hearts are good. This makes it so much easier to trust and to forgive. Whatever may be happening in the moment, whatever the misunderstanding might be, I know that our hearts toward one another are good, and that we are for one another.
Second, we know that we are at war. The thought that says, “Oh, brother, here goes Frank again. Why can’t he just drop it about his mother? What is it with these people? The’re not really my friends.” That’s the enemy. You must remember that the Enemy is always trying to pull everyone else to do to you what he is doing to you. As I said earlier, he creates a kind of force field, a gravitational pull around you that draws others into the plot without their even knowing it. “If you cant get it right, we don’t want to be with you.” It’s a lie. It’s the Enemy. I don’t feel that way toward him really. But unless I live with this awareness, keep a watchful eye out for it, and resist, I’ll get sucked into the pull, start making agreements with it, and there goes the friendship.
- Fight For It
“Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a great battle” – Philo of Alexandria
A true community is something you’ll have to fight for. You;ll have to fight to get one, and you;ll have to fight to keep it afloat. But you fight for it as you bail out a life raft during a storm at sea. You want this thing to work. You need this thing to work. You can’t ditch it and jump back on the cruise ship. This is the church, this is all you have. Without it, you’ll go down. Or back to captivity. This is the reason small house fellowships thrive in other countries: they need each other. There are no other options.
Suddenly, all those “one another’s” in Scripture make sense. Acts of kindness become deeply meaning full because we know we are war. Knowing full well that we all are facing battles of our own, we give one another the benefit of the doubt.
Wow.... We just started with a growth group this past Fall. Some great couples in it, and to be honest, we kind of hand picked it with people that we already knew, that we had worked with in ministry before, because of some of the reasons Eldredge refers to above. We started with three couples in the Fall, the other two we knew pretty well, and worked with together in YouthMin for literally years. Like about 5 years. We have shared passions, the same kind of calling, see the same kind of perspective. We just added a fourth couple, and they are a great mix. When I think about these three other couples, the word 'sacrifice' comes to mind. I'm pretty sure I could call them in the middle of the night if I needed to. And I think they would feel the same about us.
- It Must Be Small
This small core fellowship is the essential ingredient for the Christian life. Jesus modeled it for us for a reason.
- It Must Be Intimate
Of course, small groups have become a part of the programming that most churches offer their people. For the most part, they are short-lived. There are two reasons. First, you can’t just throw a random group of people together for a twelve-week study of some kind and expect them to become intimate allies.
“All the believers were one in heart.” Acts 4:32 It means they all loved the same thing, they all wanted the same thing, and they were bonded together to find it, come hell or high water. And hell or high water will come, friends, and this will be the test of whether or not your band will make it: if you are one in heart. My goodness- churches split over the size of the parking lot or what instruments to use during worship. Most churches are not ‘one in heart.’
Second, most small groups are anything but redemptive powerhouses because, while the wineskin, might be the right size, they don’t have the right wine. You can do some study till you’re blue in the face, and it won’t heal the brokenhearted or set the captives free. We come; we learn; we leave. It is not enough. Those hearts remain buried, broken, untouched, unknown. It is knowing that you are at war, that God has chosen you and evil is hunting you, and so a fellowship like Frodo’s must protect you.
- It Will Be Messy
“The family is… like a little kingdom, and, like most other little kingdoms, is generally in a state of something resembling anarchy.” – G.K. Chesterton
It is a royal mess. It is disruptive. Going to church with hundreds of other people to sit and hear a sermon doesn’t ask much of you. It certainly will never expose you. That’s why most folks prefer it. Because community will. We have settled for safety in numbers – a comfortable, anonymous distance. An army that keeps meeting for briefings, but never breaks into platoons and goes to war.
Living in community is like camping together. For a month. In the desert. Without tents. All your stuff is scattered out there for everyone to see. Some philosopher described it like a pack of porcupines on a winter night. You come together because of the cold, and you are forced apart because of the spines.
However, there are two things you now have that you didn’t have before, and they enable this sort of fellowship to work. First, you know the heart is good. That is the missing key in most fellowships. Your heart is good and the other’s hearts are good. This makes it so much easier to trust and to forgive. Whatever may be happening in the moment, whatever the misunderstanding might be, I know that our hearts toward one another are good, and that we are for one another.
Second, we know that we are at war. The thought that says, “Oh, brother, here goes Frank again. Why can’t he just drop it about his mother? What is it with these people? The’re not really my friends.” That’s the enemy. You must remember that the Enemy is always trying to pull everyone else to do to you what he is doing to you. As I said earlier, he creates a kind of force field, a gravitational pull around you that draws others into the plot without their even knowing it. “If you cant get it right, we don’t want to be with you.” It’s a lie. It’s the Enemy. I don’t feel that way toward him really. But unless I live with this awareness, keep a watchful eye out for it, and resist, I’ll get sucked into the pull, start making agreements with it, and there goes the friendship.
- Fight For It
“Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a great battle” – Philo of Alexandria
A true community is something you’ll have to fight for. You;ll have to fight to get one, and you;ll have to fight to keep it afloat. But you fight for it as you bail out a life raft during a storm at sea. You want this thing to work. You need this thing to work. You can’t ditch it and jump back on the cruise ship. This is the church, this is all you have. Without it, you’ll go down. Or back to captivity. This is the reason small house fellowships thrive in other countries: they need each other. There are no other options.
Suddenly, all those “one another’s” in Scripture make sense. Acts of kindness become deeply meaning full because we know we are war. Knowing full well that we all are facing battles of our own, we give one another the benefit of the doubt.
Wow.... We just started with a growth group this past Fall. Some great couples in it, and to be honest, we kind of hand picked it with people that we already knew, that we had worked with in ministry before, because of some of the reasons Eldredge refers to above. We started with three couples in the Fall, the other two we knew pretty well, and worked with together in YouthMin for literally years. Like about 5 years. We have shared passions, the same kind of calling, see the same kind of perspective. We just added a fourth couple, and they are a great mix. When I think about these three other couples, the word 'sacrifice' comes to mind. I'm pretty sure I could call them in the middle of the night if I needed to. And I think they would feel the same about us.
Evanescence
So, I don't exactly have a disposable income to buy all the latest music, although I would love to. In any case, since it was one of the top albums of 2003, I bought it. I wanted to buy it used, but D and I bought some other stuff from Amazon and got free shipping. I'm listening to it now, as I do more reading of Eldredge (the girlies are in bed...) Eldredge speaks a lot of seeing our lives as epic, and this album really fits the part. The music is so wide and expansive, listening to it convinces me that I'm integral to the battle, that the hour is desperate, that there is a war going on. It's interesting isn't it.
The other thing that comes to mind about it is that its kind of a dark record when you first listen to it. But the words are so heavy. Our culture is looking for spiritual answers... Enough that the album sold 3.4M copies...
i tried to kill the pain
but only brought more
i lay dying
and i'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal
i'm dying praying bleeding and screaming
am i too lost to be saved
am i too lost?
my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation
my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation
do you remember me
lost for so long
will you be on the other side
or will you forget me
i'm dying praying bleeding and screaming
am i too lost to be saved
am i too lost?
So, I don't exactly have a disposable income to buy all the latest music, although I would love to. In any case, since it was one of the top albums of 2003, I bought it. I wanted to buy it used, but D and I bought some other stuff from Amazon and got free shipping. I'm listening to it now, as I do more reading of Eldredge (the girlies are in bed...) Eldredge speaks a lot of seeing our lives as epic, and this album really fits the part. The music is so wide and expansive, listening to it convinces me that I'm integral to the battle, that the hour is desperate, that there is a war going on. It's interesting isn't it.
The other thing that comes to mind about it is that its kind of a dark record when you first listen to it. But the words are so heavy. Our culture is looking for spiritual answers... Enough that the album sold 3.4M copies...
i tried to kill the pain
but only brought more
i lay dying
and i'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal
i'm dying praying bleeding and screaming
am i too lost to be saved
am i too lost?
my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation
my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation
do you remember me
lost for so long
will you be on the other side
or will you forget me
i'm dying praying bleeding and screaming
am i too lost to be saved
am i too lost?
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Missions Bio
Found this bio of a missionary who works with Wycliffe.
- After twenty years of linguistic research, translation and literacy, and medical work, she completed the New Testament in 1982
- resulting in the establishment of indigenous churches in every Balangao village
Now that is some impact huh?
Found this bio of a missionary who works with Wycliffe.
- After twenty years of linguistic research, translation and literacy, and medical work, she completed the New Testament in 1982
- resulting in the establishment of indigenous churches in every Balangao village
Now that is some impact huh?
Year of the Monkey
Unfortunately, I'm not usually very big on Chinese New Year. And I'm Chinese!! It's pretty sad all in all. And if you know me, you know that the only Chinese culture I have in me is eating chinese food. I've tried to be better about it. I chose a people group in China for my Perspectives final paper, and been trying to expose my kids to more Chinese culture. But it's still bad. I've also often thought what kind of impact I could make as a Chinese person living here in the states, maybe Chinese youth ministry, or something like that. It really is a big culture difference, moreso than I ever used to think.
So this year, I took the girls to a Chinese New Year celebration they had at our county library. It was pretty cool, lots of little crafts, and a few little demonstrations and shows. They seemed to enjoy it. You can see pictures of them here.
Also, this is a cool link to see a Quicktime VR of the NYC Chinatown celebration.
Unfortunately, I'm not usually very big on Chinese New Year. And I'm Chinese!! It's pretty sad all in all. And if you know me, you know that the only Chinese culture I have in me is eating chinese food. I've tried to be better about it. I chose a people group in China for my Perspectives final paper, and been trying to expose my kids to more Chinese culture. But it's still bad. I've also often thought what kind of impact I could make as a Chinese person living here in the states, maybe Chinese youth ministry, or something like that. It really is a big culture difference, moreso than I ever used to think.
So this year, I took the girls to a Chinese New Year celebration they had at our county library. It was pretty cool, lots of little crafts, and a few little demonstrations and shows. They seemed to enjoy it. You can see pictures of them here.
Also, this is a cool link to see a Quicktime VR of the NYC Chinatown celebration.
Parents Panel
Our pastor to the Family, TS, asked D and I to participate in one of three parents panels that he is running, for preschoolers, elementary age kids and middle/high schoolers. Pretty cool, it's very flattering. When we both read the email, we were like, "Who, us?" Anyway, it's a pretty neat opportunity and not that we are experts.
Here is a snippet of what he wrote to us. "...seen in you a commitment to being a God honoring parent and one who knows the difference some encouragement and a few new ideas can make."
It sounds fun and like it could really be a great thing in very tangible terms. We are totally going to help out.
Our pastor to the Family, TS, asked D and I to participate in one of three parents panels that he is running, for preschoolers, elementary age kids and middle/high schoolers. Pretty cool, it's very flattering. When we both read the email, we were like, "Who, us?" Anyway, it's a pretty neat opportunity and not that we are experts.
Here is a snippet of what he wrote to us. "...seen in you a commitment to being a God honoring parent and one who knows the difference some encouragement and a few new ideas can make."
It sounds fun and like it could really be a great thing in very tangible terms. We are totally going to help out.
Monday, January 26, 2004
Day Job
More changes at my day job due to the mass excursion of people in November. The gist is that I now have a new boss. I think circumstances warrant some new individuals fitting in with the P&P strategy. Very intersting. In case you haven't heard about the first great P&P story (because I just know there are bound to be more), get in touch and I'll tell it to you.
More changes at my day job due to the mass excursion of people in November. The gist is that I now have a new boss. I think circumstances warrant some new individuals fitting in with the P&P strategy. Very intersting. In case you haven't heard about the first great P&P story (because I just know there are bound to be more), get in touch and I'll tell it to you.
Remote villages and email
Rural Cambodia and Wi-Fi
(free registration required)
This is pretty cool, how about incorporating this into a missions strategy?
Working from home in the snow
While watching this with the kids...
Who is Brit's hero?
Article here. Hmm. Very interesting...
Rural Cambodia and Wi-Fi
(free registration required)
This is pretty cool, how about incorporating this into a missions strategy?
Working from home in the snow
While watching this with the kids...
Who is Brit's hero?
Article here. Hmm. Very interesting...
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Camp Sheng
Last night, me and the girlies slept in the tent. It's a very fun thing to do, most of the time, and we don't do it that much. And yes, K has been camping outside, once in the backyard...
I remember the first time I did it with her when she was probably 18 months or so. It was probably the most impactful time I have ever had with one of my kids. That was the turning point of her toddler years, the point where I was no longer her father, but her dad. I still think about that sometimes, what a profound influence time makes in relationships.
You can see some pictures of Camp Sheng here.
Last night, me and the girlies slept in the tent. It's a very fun thing to do, most of the time, and we don't do it that much. And yes, K has been camping outside, once in the backyard...
I remember the first time I did it with her when she was probably 18 months or so. It was probably the most impactful time I have ever had with one of my kids. That was the turning point of her toddler years, the point where I was no longer her father, but her dad. I still think about that sometimes, what a profound influence time makes in relationships.
You can see some pictures of Camp Sheng here.
Gospel Night
So CpR had this thing tonight called Gospel Night. It was basically training for high schoolers on how to share the Gospel. We focused on the key points, helpful verses and sharing illustrations. It was really good. Sounds like lots of kids are pumped about being able to have tangible tools to share as well as seeing all the other kids who wanted to share but never knew how, since they all came to the thing tonight. SM (the high school pastor) talked at the end about a bunch of stuff, I can't quite remember all of it.
The biggest thing to me tonight was how those kids feed off of SM, he has such a touch with them, a way to communicate to them, its uncanny. I mean, I've heard him speak plenty of times, but tonight, he was right there in sync with 99% of them.
The funnest part for me tonight was teaching a few kids and leaders how to do 2 card tricks that can really be used to open the door for talking about spiritual things. MW was probably the biggest fan, and she was actually in my group during the training. And I had no idea that she had become a Christian through MW (another MW). (So I like using initials...) That was a pretty cool story!
So to see 50 high schoolers come out to Gospel Night on a Saturday night. I'm telling you, there is a generation coming up that is going to have some serious impact for the Kingdom.
So CpR had this thing tonight called Gospel Night. It was basically training for high schoolers on how to share the Gospel. We focused on the key points, helpful verses and sharing illustrations. It was really good. Sounds like lots of kids are pumped about being able to have tangible tools to share as well as seeing all the other kids who wanted to share but never knew how, since they all came to the thing tonight. SM (the high school pastor) talked at the end about a bunch of stuff, I can't quite remember all of it.
The biggest thing to me tonight was how those kids feed off of SM, he has such a touch with them, a way to communicate to them, its uncanny. I mean, I've heard him speak plenty of times, but tonight, he was right there in sync with 99% of them.
The funnest part for me tonight was teaching a few kids and leaders how to do 2 card tricks that can really be used to open the door for talking about spiritual things. MW was probably the biggest fan, and she was actually in my group during the training. And I had no idea that she had become a Christian through MW (another MW). (So I like using initials...) That was a pretty cool story!
So to see 50 high schoolers come out to Gospel Night on a Saturday night. I'm telling you, there is a generation coming up that is going to have some serious impact for the Kingdom.
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Launch B follow up
Last weekend, SPACE had a launch that centered around babies. Making meals for people in the church that just had new babies and working at a pregnancy center. During the intro, which had an awesome testimony from a girl at Grace that had gone through the issue, I talked about how much information there was about the prolife movement. So much info, so much you could do, so much energy with the issue. But here is an article that I think is pretty unique. It deals with all of us because it talks about the pro-life movement from the perspective of the entertainment industry. Wow, its got some perspective that I have a hard time even trying to think through, its that good. And its written by the author of one of the blogs that I follow, who I think is doing some pretty redemptive things in Hollywood.
Last weekend, SPACE had a launch that centered around babies. Making meals for people in the church that just had new babies and working at a pregnancy center. During the intro, which had an awesome testimony from a girl at Grace that had gone through the issue, I talked about how much information there was about the prolife movement. So much info, so much you could do, so much energy with the issue. But here is an article that I think is pretty unique. It deals with all of us because it talks about the pro-life movement from the perspective of the entertainment industry. Wow, its got some perspective that I have a hard time even trying to think through, its that good. And its written by the author of one of the blogs that I follow, who I think is doing some pretty redemptive things in Hollywood.
Friday, January 23, 2004
"God rules the Earth through the laws of physics"
This article states that it was physically possible that the Red Sea was parted. Sweet.
This article states that it was physically possible that the Red Sea was parted. Sweet.
"I introduced 2 of my favorite people"
Chris Marshall writes about one of his children wanting to hear more about God's story. This is not only neat. As a father, its almost overwhelming.
Chris Marshall writes about one of his children wanting to hear more about God's story. This is not only neat. As a father, its almost overwhelming.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Waking the Dead 2
** It is the image of God reflected in you that so enrages hell; it is this at which the demons hurl their mightiest weapons. -William Gurnall
** "Satan is called in Scripture the Father of Lies (John 8:44). His very first attack against the human race was to lie to Eve and Adam about God, and where life is to be found, and what the consequences of certain actions would and would not be. He is a master at this. He suggests to us – as he suggested to Adam and Eve- some sort of idea or inclination or impression, and what he is seeking is a sort of ‘agreement’ on our part. He’s hoping we will buy into whatever he is saying, offering, insinuating. Our first parents bought into it, and look what disaster came of it. But that story is not over. The Evil One is still lying to us, seeking our agreement every single day."
** "The whole plan is based on agreements. When we make those agreements with the demonic forces suggesting things to us, we come under their influence. It becomes a kind of permissions we give the Enemy, sort of like a contract. The bronze gates start clanging shut around us. I’m serious – maybe half the stuff people are trying to ‘work through’ in counseling offices, or pray about in their quiet times, is simply agreements they’ve made with the Enemy. Some foul spirit whispers, “I’m such a stupid idiot” and they agree with it; then they spend months and years trying to sort through feelings of insignificance. They’d end their agony if they’d treat it for the warfare it is, break the agreement they’ve made, send the Enemy packing."
** "During an assault like this, you must remember: make no agreements. The Enemy will suggest all sorts of things. “God doesn’t care. You’re not worth fighting for. Your heart doesn’t matter. You can’t trust him.” He is trying to kill your heart, destroy the glory of your life. It will feel hard – really hard, almost impossible – but whatever you do, make no agreements. You have to start there."
** "Finally, the Religious Spirit makes it next to impossible for a person to break free by spreadling the lie that “there is no war.” Be honest. How many Christians do you know who practice spiritual warfare as a normal, necessary, daily part of the Christian life? We don’t sing the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers because it isn’t true. We have acquiesced. We have surrendered without a fight.
We’ve exchanged that great hymn for a subtle but telling substitute, a song that is currently being taught to thousands of children in Sunday school each week (I’m in the Lord’s Army)
There is no battle and there is no war and there is no Enemy and your life is not at stake and you are not desperately needed this very hour, but you’re in the Lord’s army. Yes sir. Doing what?, may I ask."
Wow, that is some heavy stuff. It's very similar to the whole "excluded middle" that Perspectives teaches on, the idea that there is no spiritual element to life and we don't need to worry about it. In contrast to nonWestern cultures that totally believe and act on the fact that there is indeed a middle layer - where the physical and spiritual meet, and sometimes are in conflict with one another. We totally have acquiesced.
Reminds me of the time, and I always tell this story, when I took a group of guys to do conversational evangelism in OC, MD for a few days in the summer. T and E were talking to this older gentleman about Jesus and life and all that, and he seemed pretty into it. His wife came out of a store and immediately got confrontational. Bad vibe starts there. They go on for a bit, she is still very antagonistic. She then looks at T and asks, "Your birthday is in May isn't it?" And of course, it was. Never saw her before in his life. That night, and ever since then, I have taken the middle layer to be a lot less excluded. I think all of us in ministry, all of us that call ourselves Christ-followers really ought to.
** It is the image of God reflected in you that so enrages hell; it is this at which the demons hurl their mightiest weapons. -William Gurnall
** "Satan is called in Scripture the Father of Lies (John 8:44). His very first attack against the human race was to lie to Eve and Adam about God, and where life is to be found, and what the consequences of certain actions would and would not be. He is a master at this. He suggests to us – as he suggested to Adam and Eve- some sort of idea or inclination or impression, and what he is seeking is a sort of ‘agreement’ on our part. He’s hoping we will buy into whatever he is saying, offering, insinuating. Our first parents bought into it, and look what disaster came of it. But that story is not over. The Evil One is still lying to us, seeking our agreement every single day."
** "The whole plan is based on agreements. When we make those agreements with the demonic forces suggesting things to us, we come under their influence. It becomes a kind of permissions we give the Enemy, sort of like a contract. The bronze gates start clanging shut around us. I’m serious – maybe half the stuff people are trying to ‘work through’ in counseling offices, or pray about in their quiet times, is simply agreements they’ve made with the Enemy. Some foul spirit whispers, “I’m such a stupid idiot” and they agree with it; then they spend months and years trying to sort through feelings of insignificance. They’d end their agony if they’d treat it for the warfare it is, break the agreement they’ve made, send the Enemy packing."
** "During an assault like this, you must remember: make no agreements. The Enemy will suggest all sorts of things. “God doesn’t care. You’re not worth fighting for. Your heart doesn’t matter. You can’t trust him.” He is trying to kill your heart, destroy the glory of your life. It will feel hard – really hard, almost impossible – but whatever you do, make no agreements. You have to start there."
** "Finally, the Religious Spirit makes it next to impossible for a person to break free by spreadling the lie that “there is no war.” Be honest. How many Christians do you know who practice spiritual warfare as a normal, necessary, daily part of the Christian life? We don’t sing the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers because it isn’t true. We have acquiesced. We have surrendered without a fight.
We’ve exchanged that great hymn for a subtle but telling substitute, a song that is currently being taught to thousands of children in Sunday school each week (I’m in the Lord’s Army)
There is no battle and there is no war and there is no Enemy and your life is not at stake and you are not desperately needed this very hour, but you’re in the Lord’s army. Yes sir. Doing what?, may I ask."
Wow, that is some heavy stuff. It's very similar to the whole "excluded middle" that Perspectives teaches on, the idea that there is no spiritual element to life and we don't need to worry about it. In contrast to nonWestern cultures that totally believe and act on the fact that there is indeed a middle layer - where the physical and spiritual meet, and sometimes are in conflict with one another. We totally have acquiesced.
Reminds me of the time, and I always tell this story, when I took a group of guys to do conversational evangelism in OC, MD for a few days in the summer. T and E were talking to this older gentleman about Jesus and life and all that, and he seemed pretty into it. His wife came out of a store and immediately got confrontational. Bad vibe starts there. They go on for a bit, she is still very antagonistic. She then looks at T and asks, "Your birthday is in May isn't it?" And of course, it was. Never saw her before in his life. That night, and ever since then, I have taken the middle layer to be a lot less excluded. I think all of us in ministry, all of us that call ourselves Christ-followers really ought to.
21st century slavery
This report from the New York Times writes about his experience buying two girls out of slavery here. I can't even imagine. The second installment of his series talks about the reluctance of one of the girls to actually leave and take her freedom. It's an interesting set of observations that talk about freedom from bondage, but also acceptance when one is free.
It's a whole realm of society that we don't have to deal with here in the US, and a serious opportunity to reach people that are literally captive. Christ came to set all of us free, in order that we would be giving Him more glory.
I wonder what kind of spiritual background this guy has.
(Oh, reading the articles will require registration, which is free)
This report from the New York Times writes about his experience buying two girls out of slavery here. I can't even imagine. The second installment of his series talks about the reluctance of one of the girls to actually leave and take her freedom. It's an interesting set of observations that talk about freedom from bondage, but also acceptance when one is free.
It's a whole realm of society that we don't have to deal with here in the US, and a serious opportunity to reach people that are literally captive. Christ came to set all of us free, in order that we would be giving Him more glory.
I wonder what kind of spiritual background this guy has.
(Oh, reading the articles will require registration, which is free)
Some serious questions about The Passion
Well, the movie certainly has gotten lots of exposure over the past few months and even more in the past few weeks. I just linked to my friend Brian and an article he wrote about it. But this post here asks some serious questions of us Christian leaders about what we promote and why or why not....
** "However, I am curious how some evangelicals will navigate the moral trap they will set for themselves by endorsing this film. What trap is this? It is the moral dilemma of supporting a film filled with excessive violence, torture, and blasphemy - a film so bloody it has earned an R-rating simply for its gory content."
** "Christian leader, if you endorse The Passion as an evangelistic tool in spite of its R-rating, how will you keep your parishioners from attending other R-rated films?"
** "If they are willing to admit it, many evangelicals, if they are to remain consistent in their stated convictions concerning movies, will have to reject The Passion. Those who believe that the morality of a story ultimately has to do with its details (Does it contain sex, violence, or profanity?) rather than with its overall message will be forced to sanction this film with an unclean conscious."
Whoa. Yeah, he hits deep. And he is right on.
** "If you have preached against attendance at R-rated movies, or if you have declared that a movie is immoral if it contains violence, sex, or profanity, then you are inconsistent and lacking integrity if you endorse this film. If you constantly complain about the level of violence, disturbing images, or blasphemous actions in other films, then you should do the same for The Passion."
Read it for yourself and see what you think.
Well, the movie certainly has gotten lots of exposure over the past few months and even more in the past few weeks. I just linked to my friend Brian and an article he wrote about it. But this post here asks some serious questions of us Christian leaders about what we promote and why or why not....
** "However, I am curious how some evangelicals will navigate the moral trap they will set for themselves by endorsing this film. What trap is this? It is the moral dilemma of supporting a film filled with excessive violence, torture, and blasphemy - a film so bloody it has earned an R-rating simply for its gory content."
** "Christian leader, if you endorse The Passion as an evangelistic tool in spite of its R-rating, how will you keep your parishioners from attending other R-rated films?"
** "If they are willing to admit it, many evangelicals, if they are to remain consistent in their stated convictions concerning movies, will have to reject The Passion. Those who believe that the morality of a story ultimately has to do with its details (Does it contain sex, violence, or profanity?) rather than with its overall message will be forced to sanction this film with an unclean conscious."
Whoa. Yeah, he hits deep. And he is right on.
** "If you have preached against attendance at R-rated movies, or if you have declared that a movie is immoral if it contains violence, sex, or profanity, then you are inconsistent and lacking integrity if you endorse this film. If you constantly complain about the level of violence, disturbing images, or blasphemous actions in other films, then you should do the same for The Passion."
Read it for yourself and see what you think.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Summer 2004 and "Kazakhstan or Ocean City, MD?"
Just turned in my proposal for middle and high school missions to the Youth Min team for their approval and feedback. I'm pretty excited, I think we've got some solid goals outlined and to see them met would be huge for the Youth Ministry missions side. I also think the MTF is going to love it and to have the church see our students taking a lead in missions would just be awesome.
On a related note, K and E and a bunch of other guys are looking like they might go to Kazakhstan for a few weeks with a local, networked contact from MD. Very very cool. When I dream of SPACE and the progression I think it should have, something like this is the final, ultimate goal. A team going to another culture, assisting long term missionaries in helping them with the essential task. Wow. And to think, in the year 2000, when I was thinking about summer missions for my dteam, and wanting them to progress through certain experiences, with the end goal of ministry on the beach in Ocean City, MD - that was a pretty cool idea. It never panned out because those guys didn't get a sense of this kind of thing until probably very late in their senior year. But as I was thinking about it earlier this week, K and E have fulfilled this dream of mine, they will just end up in Kazakhstan instead of Ocean City. Hey, it's close...
I know I've posted this many, many times here, but this job I have is the coolest one on Earth. And what's even wackier, is that its not really a job. Well, it sort of is.... (Do you see what I mean?)
Just turned in my proposal for middle and high school missions to the Youth Min team for their approval and feedback. I'm pretty excited, I think we've got some solid goals outlined and to see them met would be huge for the Youth Ministry missions side. I also think the MTF is going to love it and to have the church see our students taking a lead in missions would just be awesome.
On a related note, K and E and a bunch of other guys are looking like they might go to Kazakhstan for a few weeks with a local, networked contact from MD. Very very cool. When I dream of SPACE and the progression I think it should have, something like this is the final, ultimate goal. A team going to another culture, assisting long term missionaries in helping them with the essential task. Wow. And to think, in the year 2000, when I was thinking about summer missions for my dteam, and wanting them to progress through certain experiences, with the end goal of ministry on the beach in Ocean City, MD - that was a pretty cool idea. It never panned out because those guys didn't get a sense of this kind of thing until probably very late in their senior year. But as I was thinking about it earlier this week, K and E have fulfilled this dream of mine, they will just end up in Kazakhstan instead of Ocean City. Hey, it's close...
I know I've posted this many, many times here, but this job I have is the coolest one on Earth. And what's even wackier, is that its not really a job. Well, it sort of is.... (Do you see what I mean?)
Reconnect
I was up surfing around one night a few weeks ago and googled an old friend of mine, and lo and behold, I found him. Brian Goins and I worked together during the summer of 1991 at Camp Shenandoah Springs as counselors. It was a pretty awesome 7 weeks, and pretty formative for me as I look back on it now, due to a few reasons:
- Brian was a big influence on me in terms of youth ministry. Even though I had been doing lots of volunteering as a youthworker in a local church, it never occurred to me that it was more than just something fun to do, a community service, etc. Brian was compelled to, called to, defined by - ministry to young people. I specifically remember him getting broken at talking about how little time was left in the summer, that our time to transform them was so short. After that summer, I began to really think about a calling to youth ministry. I don't think I ever thought of it that way before meeting and working with Brian, and certainly have continued to think and act upon the call since then. (Even though I have tried to get out of it... it seems like I can never leave it)
- I had worked in one specific summer camp experience, and Shenandoah Springs really threw me out of context, in the best way possible. That summer, I got to work in a co-ed Christian camp, which I had never done before. I had also got to work with some really quality counselors, people that had God set apart first, and were devoted to students in ways that were incredibly sacrificial. They gave it all, 24x7, to these kids.
- I had just graduated college and was on my way to grad school in the fall. It was a great way to spend the summer without having financial worries, etc. Just loads of fun.
I always knew he would do something significant for the Kingdom. Here is a recent article by Brian about The Passion.
I was up surfing around one night a few weeks ago and googled an old friend of mine, and lo and behold, I found him. Brian Goins and I worked together during the summer of 1991 at Camp Shenandoah Springs as counselors. It was a pretty awesome 7 weeks, and pretty formative for me as I look back on it now, due to a few reasons:
- Brian was a big influence on me in terms of youth ministry. Even though I had been doing lots of volunteering as a youthworker in a local church, it never occurred to me that it was more than just something fun to do, a community service, etc. Brian was compelled to, called to, defined by - ministry to young people. I specifically remember him getting broken at talking about how little time was left in the summer, that our time to transform them was so short. After that summer, I began to really think about a calling to youth ministry. I don't think I ever thought of it that way before meeting and working with Brian, and certainly have continued to think and act upon the call since then. (Even though I have tried to get out of it... it seems like I can never leave it)
- I had worked in one specific summer camp experience, and Shenandoah Springs really threw me out of context, in the best way possible. That summer, I got to work in a co-ed Christian camp, which I had never done before. I had also got to work with some really quality counselors, people that had God set apart first, and were devoted to students in ways that were incredibly sacrificial. They gave it all, 24x7, to these kids.
- I had just graduated college and was on my way to grad school in the fall. It was a great way to spend the summer without having financial worries, etc. Just loads of fun.
I always knew he would do something significant for the Kingdom. Here is a recent article by Brian about The Passion.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
diakanos
Thoughts about an emerging church get together from Chris Marshall. Don't know too much about him, but I like what he writes. Specifically, he writes "The future leader will not be an expositor but a diakanos (table servant)." Read more here.
Thoughts about an emerging church get together from Chris Marshall. Don't know too much about him, but I like what he writes. Specifically, he writes "The future leader will not be an expositor but a diakanos (table servant)." Read more here.
Saturday, January 17, 2004
Launch B
SPACE Launch B was today. Great great fun. Good turnout. It was all about babies. Made meals for people at GCC that just had babies and then worked at Laurel Preg Center helping them get some stuff done. Very cool.
I had some personal trouble putting together the talk for the beginning of it. The whole abortion issue gets heated so fast, Christians can get so angry and judgemental about the whole thing. Plus, I was way late in terms of thinking about it and getting the other logistics done for it. Last night, we bought most of the raw ingredients, cooked and cut 15 pounds of chicken, and baked two batches of brownies. It wasn't too bad, but it just made for a tough Friday night, the night before a Launch. And the directions, the recipes, the stuff to give to the people we made food for. The talk was the last thing on my mind. In many ways, relating to some of the posts below, not much time or attention to listening for God speaking.
Despite that, it worked. Kids came, served, got first hand experience about the issue.
The hands down best part of it all - Kelly'sf friend came and spoke about her experience getting an abortion as a teenager, getting pregnant in her 20s and deciding she could never do that again, making it as a single parent, and then finding Christ and being able to be forgiven after 10 years, not only forgiving herself, but experiencing God's forgiveness in a real and tangible way. Her story was intense.
Check out some pictures here.
SPACE Launch B was today. Great great fun. Good turnout. It was all about babies. Made meals for people at GCC that just had babies and then worked at Laurel Preg Center helping them get some stuff done. Very cool.
I had some personal trouble putting together the talk for the beginning of it. The whole abortion issue gets heated so fast, Christians can get so angry and judgemental about the whole thing. Plus, I was way late in terms of thinking about it and getting the other logistics done for it. Last night, we bought most of the raw ingredients, cooked and cut 15 pounds of chicken, and baked two batches of brownies. It wasn't too bad, but it just made for a tough Friday night, the night before a Launch. And the directions, the recipes, the stuff to give to the people we made food for. The talk was the last thing on my mind. In many ways, relating to some of the posts below, not much time or attention to listening for God speaking.
Despite that, it worked. Kids came, served, got first hand experience about the issue.
The hands down best part of it all - Kelly'sf friend came and spoke about her experience getting an abortion as a teenager, getting pregnant in her 20s and deciding she could never do that again, making it as a single parent, and then finding Christ and being able to be forgiven after 10 years, not only forgiving herself, but experiencing God's forgiveness in a real and tangible way. Her story was intense.
Check out some pictures here.
Thursday, January 15, 2004
K and E
Had a great time with K and E tonight. Great to reconnect with these two Dteam guys, as well as eat Chinese food, replace my car battery in -10 degrees, and eat some more food.
Talked at length about lots of good stuff, including summer missions for them (they are putting their own team of 8 guys together), the theory of "Leave One Man Behind", and being intentional and teaching young high school students to be intentional. Lots of good conversation, I even had a cup of coffee... That's how good it was. (I only drink coffee for special occasions... NOT. The waitress offered it to me for free instead of paying for OJ.)
Good guys. Even after being 'done' with Dteam03 for almost a year, I am still reaping the fruit of it. These guys continue to sharpen me, they long to reach people with the Gospel, they want to continue the traditions that we built in Dteam extending them to the new crop of students, and they love to hang out, converse and have fun. It is a true joy.
Also came up with a list of questions for their meeting with a missionary contact for this coming summer. Very cool.
Had a great time with K and E tonight. Great to reconnect with these two Dteam guys, as well as eat Chinese food, replace my car battery in -10 degrees, and eat some more food.
Talked at length about lots of good stuff, including summer missions for them (they are putting their own team of 8 guys together), the theory of "Leave One Man Behind", and being intentional and teaching young high school students to be intentional. Lots of good conversation, I even had a cup of coffee... That's how good it was. (I only drink coffee for special occasions... NOT. The waitress offered it to me for free instead of paying for OJ.)
Good guys. Even after being 'done' with Dteam03 for almost a year, I am still reaping the fruit of it. These guys continue to sharpen me, they long to reach people with the Gospel, they want to continue the traditions that we built in Dteam extending them to the new crop of students, and they love to hang out, converse and have fun. It is a true joy.
Also came up with a list of questions for their meeting with a missionary contact for this coming summer. Very cool.
God Speaking
More from Waking the Dead
- But I don’t think he speaks to me any more than others; I think I’ve just learned to expect it, need it, keep an eye out for it. It’s a whole different perspective on how we approach our day. Either we wake to tackle our ‘to do’ list, get things done, guided by our morals and whatever clarity we may at the moment have (both rather lacking to the need, I might add). Or we wake in the midst of a dangerous Story, as God’s intimate ally, following him into the unknown.
If you are not pursuing a dangerous quest with your life, well then you don’t need a Guide. If you haven’t found yourself in the midst of a ferocious war, then you won’t need a seasoned Captain. But if you intend to live in the Story that God is telling, and if you want the life he offers, then you are going to need more than a handful of principles, however noble they may be.
- A personal walk with God comes to us through wisdom and revelation. You will soon discover that we need both.
- Wisdom is crucial. But it is not enough. Many well-meaning evangelicals rely on it exclusively. That is why their lives remain where they are – rather short of all Christ promised.
- We begin by assuming that God is still speaking.
John 16:12-13
John 8:47
John 10:2-4,11
Many good people never hear God speak to them personally for the simple fact that they’ve never been told that he does. But he does – generously, intimately.
Now it doesn’t happen in an instant. Walking with God is a way of life. It’s something to be learned; our ability to hear God’s voice and discern his word to us grows over time. We have an eye out for his particular word to us, and we learn as we go along.
Notice that we must ask. And we will sometimes struggle to hear and struggle with what we hear. But personally, it’s worth it. I’m after the path of life – and he alone knows it.
I've tried this of late, sort of. I started recently just asking God about some stuff and trying to hone in on specific thoughts that would come in after this. A few of them came in:
- Saturday night I had this name just pop into my head, the last name of some friends from GCC. They have daughters the same age as ours and go to our school too. Anyway, turns out, he was in the hospital all weekend.
- Felt the moving of a name and a specific topic of conversation I could bring up with someone at work - AR. Brought it up today, he was overwhelemingly receptive to it, in fact, felt like he could use some advice about the topic and wanted to follow up at a later date.
Hmmm. Wow...
Things like the above, and the story with CW, make me feel like I am making more of an impact than ever, in all facets of life. It's cool. Not only making an impact, but that God is really impacting my life of late, in terms of growth, development, ministry, etc. It's really very cool. Wow.
More from Waking the Dead
- But I don’t think he speaks to me any more than others; I think I’ve just learned to expect it, need it, keep an eye out for it. It’s a whole different perspective on how we approach our day. Either we wake to tackle our ‘to do’ list, get things done, guided by our morals and whatever clarity we may at the moment have (both rather lacking to the need, I might add). Or we wake in the midst of a dangerous Story, as God’s intimate ally, following him into the unknown.
If you are not pursuing a dangerous quest with your life, well then you don’t need a Guide. If you haven’t found yourself in the midst of a ferocious war, then you won’t need a seasoned Captain. But if you intend to live in the Story that God is telling, and if you want the life he offers, then you are going to need more than a handful of principles, however noble they may be.
- A personal walk with God comes to us through wisdom and revelation. You will soon discover that we need both.
- Wisdom is crucial. But it is not enough. Many well-meaning evangelicals rely on it exclusively. That is why their lives remain where they are – rather short of all Christ promised.
- We begin by assuming that God is still speaking.
John 16:12-13
John 8:47
John 10:2-4,11
Many good people never hear God speak to them personally for the simple fact that they’ve never been told that he does. But he does – generously, intimately.
Now it doesn’t happen in an instant. Walking with God is a way of life. It’s something to be learned; our ability to hear God’s voice and discern his word to us grows over time. We have an eye out for his particular word to us, and we learn as we go along.
Notice that we must ask. And we will sometimes struggle to hear and struggle with what we hear. But personally, it’s worth it. I’m after the path of life – and he alone knows it.
I've tried this of late, sort of. I started recently just asking God about some stuff and trying to hone in on specific thoughts that would come in after this. A few of them came in:
- Saturday night I had this name just pop into my head, the last name of some friends from GCC. They have daughters the same age as ours and go to our school too. Anyway, turns out, he was in the hospital all weekend.
- Felt the moving of a name and a specific topic of conversation I could bring up with someone at work - AR. Brought it up today, he was overwhelemingly receptive to it, in fact, felt like he could use some advice about the topic and wanted to follow up at a later date.
Hmmm. Wow...
Things like the above, and the story with CW, make me feel like I am making more of an impact than ever, in all facets of life. It's cool. Not only making an impact, but that God is really impacting my life of late, in terms of growth, development, ministry, etc. It's really very cool. Wow.
What did the Agnostic say upon arriving in Hell?
"I can't believe this is happening to me!"
hardy har har
A joke from the comments from this blog, written by Director of Act One: Writing for Hollywood. The specific post is titled "WE MIGHT STOP SENDING MISSIONARIES TO THE THIRD WORLD NOW" Of course, I don't agree with the premise - of not sending missionaries to the Third World, because our own celebreties here in Hollywood are so distant from God. But the point is interesting in terms of ministry and reaching our own culture with the Gospel.
We must keep in mind, our culture is within reach of the existing Church. The crux is that the Church here is not doing a good job transforming what is already in reach. The "Third World" she refers to, that is unreached. 0 chance to hear the Gospel at all.
I like her writing, and its neat to hear an 'inside' track to Hollywood. Missions minded or not, we are all affected, and addicted I think, to Hollywood and entertainment at some level, just from living here in the US.
"I can't believe this is happening to me!"
hardy har har
A joke from the comments from this blog, written by Director of Act One: Writing for Hollywood. The specific post is titled "WE MIGHT STOP SENDING MISSIONARIES TO THE THIRD WORLD NOW" Of course, I don't agree with the premise - of not sending missionaries to the Third World, because our own celebreties here in Hollywood are so distant from God. But the point is interesting in terms of ministry and reaching our own culture with the Gospel.
We must keep in mind, our culture is within reach of the existing Church. The crux is that the Church here is not doing a good job transforming what is already in reach. The "Third World" she refers to, that is unreached. 0 chance to hear the Gospel at all.
I like her writing, and its neat to hear an 'inside' track to Hollywood. Missions minded or not, we are all affected, and addicted I think, to Hollywood and entertainment at some level, just from living here in the US.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
This article reminds me a lot of Waking the Dead. Very similar, almost like the author could have written part 2 of the book. Except she uses LOTR as a basis point. Good read though.
Origins
So I'm signed up to go to this cool conference. GCC is paying my way to go, along with 3 other staff from the YM. Very cool. It's pretty unbelievable, quite the opportunity.
So I'm signed up to go to this cool conference. GCC is paying my way to go, along with 3 other staff from the YM. Very cool. It's pretty unbelievable, quite the opportunity.
A Very Bad Definition of Missions
This article gave me lots of things to disagree with. I strongly dislike the definition of 'missions' the author is propogating here.
"Reaching out to people, or “missions,” is best defined as loving people."
Uh, no, sorry. Missions is not just reaching out to people. Yuck. If we keep on telling people thats what missions is, the nations will NEVER be reached. NEVER. What would compel someone to go with a definition like that. I mean, why even bother??
But alas, I think there is hope with one of the comments from the story. Tyler Watts, nice!
This article gave me lots of things to disagree with. I strongly dislike the definition of 'missions' the author is propogating here.
"Reaching out to people, or “missions,” is best defined as loving people."
Uh, no, sorry. Missions is not just reaching out to people. Yuck. If we keep on telling people thats what missions is, the nations will NEVER be reached. NEVER. What would compel someone to go with a definition like that. I mean, why even bother??
But alas, I think there is hope with one of the comments from the story. Tyler Watts, nice!
Saturday, January 10, 2004
E turns 3
Hard to believe, but our little one, E turned 3 today. D is away on a callig cult weekend, so I'm holding down the fort. Poor Em, she has been sick all week and she even had to go to the doctor today to make sure she didn't have an infection. It turned out well, clear ears and chest. Even so, it's sad to be sick on your birthday. You can read and see it here.
Hard to believe, but our little one, E turned 3 today. D is away on a callig cult weekend, so I'm holding down the fort. Poor Em, she has been sick all week and she even had to go to the doctor today to make sure she didn't have an infection. It turned out well, clear ears and chest. Even so, it's sad to be sick on your birthday. You can read and see it here.
Friday, January 09, 2004
Dreaming about space
SPACE core meeting tonight - very fun. We met at the Mall. I know, talk about crazy. Take ADHD high schoolers to the mall to have a meeting.... But actually, it was very cool.
Saw tons of their friends, and they all were like, what are you doing, and who are you with? haha. Pay no attention to me, even though I look like I'm 16.
I had them dream with me what a service project looks like, but not a normal one, instead a wacky one, that no one else would do. Not for any reason. And they did it, they came up with two. The next two. Awesome, because in a sense, that is indigenous leadership. I'm just here to be the catalyst, the vision, you bring something to the table.
I also had them do this weird thing - pray for three stores in the mall. So there was 5 of them, I thought maybe they would just go off by themselves and find 3 stores and pray, kind of nonchalantly. But they all went together, and at each store, they got in a circle and held their hands. Wow. Totally not what I would have expected. Of course, the key to it, the reason why, was to get them to think about life strategically. While most if not all of the people in the mall are buying stuff or whatever, you are thinking about how you could pray, which stores to pray for, and how to bring the Kingdom here. What is the most strategic and why. Very interesting. It was very cool. Oh, and the 3 stores - A&F (of course), Motherhood Maternity (a surprise to me too, but what a great great GREAT idea), and Hot Topic. (One of my mentors prays for Hot Topic every time he walks by it)
Did I tell you, this is the COOLEST job in the world....
SPACE core meeting tonight - very fun. We met at the Mall. I know, talk about crazy. Take ADHD high schoolers to the mall to have a meeting.... But actually, it was very cool.
Saw tons of their friends, and they all were like, what are you doing, and who are you with? haha. Pay no attention to me, even though I look like I'm 16.
I had them dream with me what a service project looks like, but not a normal one, instead a wacky one, that no one else would do. Not for any reason. And they did it, they came up with two. The next two. Awesome, because in a sense, that is indigenous leadership. I'm just here to be the catalyst, the vision, you bring something to the table.
I also had them do this weird thing - pray for three stores in the mall. So there was 5 of them, I thought maybe they would just go off by themselves and find 3 stores and pray, kind of nonchalantly. But they all went together, and at each store, they got in a circle and held their hands. Wow. Totally not what I would have expected. Of course, the key to it, the reason why, was to get them to think about life strategically. While most if not all of the people in the mall are buying stuff or whatever, you are thinking about how you could pray, which stores to pray for, and how to bring the Kingdom here. What is the most strategic and why. Very interesting. It was very cool. Oh, and the 3 stores - A&F (of course), Motherhood Maternity (a surprise to me too, but what a great great GREAT idea), and Hot Topic. (One of my mentors prays for Hot Topic every time he walks by it)
Did I tell you, this is the COOLEST job in the world....
Bad Books
I might be really dense...
But here is a list of bad books, designated by this Discerning Reader thing. I was really intruiged, because they have some serious knowledge with the collection of books. But why would they put Purpose Driven Life and Waking the Dead on there. I mean, sure, they aren't huge tomes of thought, they have gotten eaten up by the masses, but is there something fundamentally wrong with them? Is there bad theology in them? Are they unbiblical? Am I so unlearned that I am missing the whole construct? If you know, please tell me, if you think I can grasp it. And even something by Erwin McManus (whom I've never read, but am pretty sure I'm going to Origins in May.)
I might be really dense...
But here is a list of bad books, designated by this Discerning Reader thing. I was really intruiged, because they have some serious knowledge with the collection of books. But why would they put Purpose Driven Life and Waking the Dead on there. I mean, sure, they aren't huge tomes of thought, they have gotten eaten up by the masses, but is there something fundamentally wrong with them? Is there bad theology in them? Are they unbiblical? Am I so unlearned that I am missing the whole construct? If you know, please tell me, if you think I can grasp it. And even something by Erwin McManus (whom I've never read, but am pretty sure I'm going to Origins in May.)
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Vegemite
Got together with the 03 boys tonight. Very cool. We basically went around and told stories from this past semster/year. It was really fun, just to hear how they are doing and how God is moving in their lives. Interestingly enough, all of them that were there went to Urbana. It really was a great time. The funniest part was the Vegemite eating contest, thanks for Ryan. Andrew was the funniest, poor guy. Very encouraging, God's word is bearing fruit.
Got together with the 03 boys tonight. Very cool. We basically went around and told stories from this past semster/year. It was really fun, just to hear how they are doing and how God is moving in their lives. Interestingly enough, all of them that were there went to Urbana. It really was a great time. The funniest part was the Vegemite eating contest, thanks for Ryan. Andrew was the funniest, poor guy. Very encouraging, God's word is bearing fruit.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Wake Me Up
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us… And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Nelson Mandela
Member class, doctrine class, small group, Christian growth, evangelism class, courses on finance and marriage and parenting, leadership training class, hermeneutics, spiritual gifts, biblical counseling, participate in missions, carry a significant local church ministry load. (my paraphrase)
You could earn an MBA with less effort. But let me ask you: A program like this – does it teach a person how to apply principles or how to walk with God? They are not the same thing. Change the content and any cult could do this. Gandhi, Confucius, Jefferson, they all had principles for a better life. But only Christianity can teach you to walk with God.
We forfeit that birthright when we take folks through a discipleship program whereby they master any number of Christian precepts and miss the most important thing of all, the very thing for which we were created: intimacy with god.
Truth be told, you couldn’t master enough principles to see you safely through this Story. There are too many surprises.
Only by walking with God can we hope to find the path that leads to life. That is what it means to be a disciple. After all, aren’t we followers of Christ? Then by all means, let’s actually follow him. Not ideas about him, not just his principles. Him.
A personal walk with God comes to us through wisdom and revelation. You will soon discover that we need both.
When the apostles needed the help of some good men to shepherd the exploding new church, they chose men “full of the Spirit and wisdom” Acts 6:3. The two go together; we need both.
God has given us all sort of counsel and direction in his written Word; thank God we have it written down in black and white. We would do well to be familiar with it, study it with all the intensity of the men who studied the maps of the Normandy coastline before they hit the beaches on D-Day. The more that wisdom enters our hearts, the more we will be able to trust our hearts in difficult situations. Notice that wisdom is not cramming our heads with principles. It is developing a discerning heart. What made Solomon such a sharp guy was his wise and discerning heart. I Kings 3:9
The particular foolishness of the church in the past century was Reason above all else. The result has been a faith stripped of the supernatural, the Christianity of tips and techniques. We have our morals and we have our precepts, but where is the living God?
Just a few of my notes from Waking the Dead
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us… And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Nelson Mandela
Member class, doctrine class, small group, Christian growth, evangelism class, courses on finance and marriage and parenting, leadership training class, hermeneutics, spiritual gifts, biblical counseling, participate in missions, carry a significant local church ministry load. (my paraphrase)
You could earn an MBA with less effort. But let me ask you: A program like this – does it teach a person how to apply principles or how to walk with God? They are not the same thing. Change the content and any cult could do this. Gandhi, Confucius, Jefferson, they all had principles for a better life. But only Christianity can teach you to walk with God.
We forfeit that birthright when we take folks through a discipleship program whereby they master any number of Christian precepts and miss the most important thing of all, the very thing for which we were created: intimacy with god.
Truth be told, you couldn’t master enough principles to see you safely through this Story. There are too many surprises.
Only by walking with God can we hope to find the path that leads to life. That is what it means to be a disciple. After all, aren’t we followers of Christ? Then by all means, let’s actually follow him. Not ideas about him, not just his principles. Him.
A personal walk with God comes to us through wisdom and revelation. You will soon discover that we need both.
When the apostles needed the help of some good men to shepherd the exploding new church, they chose men “full of the Spirit and wisdom” Acts 6:3. The two go together; we need both.
God has given us all sort of counsel and direction in his written Word; thank God we have it written down in black and white. We would do well to be familiar with it, study it with all the intensity of the men who studied the maps of the Normandy coastline before they hit the beaches on D-Day. The more that wisdom enters our hearts, the more we will be able to trust our hearts in difficult situations. Notice that wisdom is not cramming our heads with principles. It is developing a discerning heart. What made Solomon such a sharp guy was his wise and discerning heart. I Kings 3:9
The particular foolishness of the church in the past century was Reason above all else. The result has been a faith stripped of the supernatural, the Christianity of tips and techniques. We have our morals and we have our precepts, but where is the living God?
Just a few of my notes from Waking the Dead
Monday, January 05, 2004
Missionaries for Dinner
Had dinner with the Penleys tonight. Very cool. Talked about the future and Australia, but mainly just hung out and ate really good food. We told them how much Grace loves them, its so true. Pastor M talked about them in church yesterday, a great story. So cool. They are my inside track to sending students to Australia....
Had dinner with the Penleys tonight. Very cool. Talked about the future and Australia, but mainly just hung out and ate really good food. We told them how much Grace loves them, its so true. Pastor M talked about them in church yesterday, a great story. So cool. They are my inside track to sending students to Australia....
I'm back. After driving from Baltimore to Savannah, then to Orlando, and back.... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. One of the things I'm pondering is turning some of this stuff into an email newsletter. If this sounds interesting to you, let me know via the comments.
Good article about how the face of people going to food shelters is changing - now its mostly single mothers with children instead of homeless people.
World Relief write up about the earthquake in Iran. 50K people dead so far... Note that Iran is one of Clive Calver's favorite churches in the world. Interesting, what REALLY is going on here? (One of the questions I keep thinking of after reading parts of _Waking the Dead_ by Eldrege)
On the Urbana front, wow! Lots of good feedback, 23 people went from GCC, most if not all loved it. I did some of the intervewing of some of them to the Body at large on Sunday morning and hosted a party for them on Sunday night. The GCC MTF donated about $2500 in scholarship funds, very cool, the real deal. The party was so great, loads and loads of fun and it was really good for them, they just needed to talk about it and share. The more I think about it, it was a debrief that needed to be done. So very good. And D and I just loved hearing them talk about it. Very fun, and some very funny stories. We made up some campy questions too that they had to answer, like "Describe the most interesting person you met that was not from Grace.", stuff like that. Wow, it was a long day.
I think these students are on the cutting edge of what missions for Grace, the whole model of missions at Grace is going to change....
Good article about how the face of people going to food shelters is changing - now its mostly single mothers with children instead of homeless people.
World Relief write up about the earthquake in Iran. 50K people dead so far... Note that Iran is one of Clive Calver's favorite churches in the world. Interesting, what REALLY is going on here? (One of the questions I keep thinking of after reading parts of _Waking the Dead_ by Eldrege)
On the Urbana front, wow! Lots of good feedback, 23 people went from GCC, most if not all loved it. I did some of the intervewing of some of them to the Body at large on Sunday morning and hosted a party for them on Sunday night. The GCC MTF donated about $2500 in scholarship funds, very cool, the real deal. The party was so great, loads and loads of fun and it was really good for them, they just needed to talk about it and share. The more I think about it, it was a debrief that needed to be done. So very good. And D and I just loved hearing them talk about it. Very fun, and some very funny stories. We made up some campy questions too that they had to answer, like "Describe the most interesting person you met that was not from Grace.", stuff like that. Wow, it was a long day.
I think these students are on the cutting edge of what missions for Grace, the whole model of missions at Grace is going to change....
Monday, December 22, 2003
Nice article here about the Act One screenwriting program in Hollywood. Neat to hear about Christians working in Hollywood. Here is her blog.
Had breakfast with my friend Ryan, who is back from Melbourne Australia for a few weeks. Very cool just to catch up and here about Australia. He is there with Campus Crusade, who has a long term commitment to building college ministry in Melbourne. The most significant thing - 'People don't think about what happens when you die. When you ask them, they say they don't know and they've never ever thought about it. And the conversation just stops. That's where relational ministry becomes important because when they get to know you, they ask why you are so different.'
On the Urbana note, we got three cars volunteered up from families of kids that are going. Very great news. I have officially turned over the coordination to the couple that are going, which is great news also. Very excited for these kids though, my biggest prayer is that God will give them a new idea of success (that is not about the lies Satan tempts us with) and that they will get the gist of the essential task.
Listened to a tape from Perspectives again (I've listened to it many many times). Its a lecture on Elements of Historical Revivals and The Three Eras of Christian Missions. Again, so many many good things from it. Here are some key points:
- 24K people groups in the world, 10K unreached right now.
- The Moravians (more info here) and their missions had 4 senders for every missionary. So...
* 5 church planters for every unreached people group = 50,000 people
* 4 senders for every missionary = 200,000 people
* total = 250,000 people
* there are over 250,000 evangelical Christians in the state of Colorado alone.
** the American church could easily do this....
Had breakfast with my friend Ryan, who is back from Melbourne Australia for a few weeks. Very cool just to catch up and here about Australia. He is there with Campus Crusade, who has a long term commitment to building college ministry in Melbourne. The most significant thing - 'People don't think about what happens when you die. When you ask them, they say they don't know and they've never ever thought about it. And the conversation just stops. That's where relational ministry becomes important because when they get to know you, they ask why you are so different.'
On the Urbana note, we got three cars volunteered up from families of kids that are going. Very great news. I have officially turned over the coordination to the couple that are going, which is great news also. Very excited for these kids though, my biggest prayer is that God will give them a new idea of success (that is not about the lies Satan tempts us with) and that they will get the gist of the essential task.
Listened to a tape from Perspectives again (I've listened to it many many times). Its a lecture on Elements of Historical Revivals and The Three Eras of Christian Missions. Again, so many many good things from it. Here are some key points:
- 24K people groups in the world, 10K unreached right now.
- The Moravians (more info here) and their missions had 4 senders for every missionary. So...
* 5 church planters for every unreached people group = 50,000 people
* 4 senders for every missionary = 200,000 people
* total = 250,000 people
* there are over 250,000 evangelical Christians in the state of Colorado alone.
** the American church could easily do this....
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Celebrated K's birthday and part of Christmas tonight with D's aunt and uncle and my parents. Very fun. Nice small party for the girlies. This was a big hit for Christmas, along with lots of Barbie stuff...
Had a potluck for our neighbors last night, very very fun. Lots of diversity here. In 8 families, two are Indian, three are Caucasian (one of them is a mixed-race Caucasian and Panamanian), one African American, one Korean, and then us.... Ha. Chinese, yes, definitely. A great part was having this whole mix of different kinds of food. Will be neat to see as the years go by what impact we make on them.
Had a potluck for our neighbors last night, very very fun. Lots of diversity here. In 8 families, two are Indian, three are Caucasian (one of them is a mixed-race Caucasian and Panamanian), one African American, one Korean, and then us.... Ha. Chinese, yes, definitely. A great part was having this whole mix of different kinds of food. Will be neat to see as the years go by what impact we make on them.
Saturday, December 20, 2003
Pray for the people from GCC going to Urbana. Specifically, in the next day or so, pray for two vehicles to be provided. Great group of kids, looking forward to seeing how the conference changes and transforms them. I guess the biggest thing I would like to see is a changing of their understanding for what success truly is.
Friday, December 19, 2003
Great challenge/encouragement from a youthworker here.
Key points include:
- "We have to grasp that, in this post-modern world, young people are far more engaged by people who 'do' the truth, rather than those who assert it."
Right on. I think thats all a part of true discipleship. Youth ministry has primarily been about youth group meetings, not neccessarily living your faith out. And I think when we talk about reaching the world for Christ, true missions, young people have missed out, because we don't talk about it, and we certainly, in most cases, don't model being a disciple, around town, much less around the world.
- "Imagine a small church where there is no youth leader and no youth meetings, just a handful of teenagers who help lead the Sunday School during the Sunday service."
I think that's it. What I love about GCC so much is that our ministry is leader-driven, student-led. Meaning students are up front as much as possible with leaders behind the scenes, doing that empowerment, encouraging, challenging. It really also fits in with the whole 'indigenous' leader idea that people in missions have been talking about of late.
- "We need to start telling these stories again, inspiring and challenging our young people with the rich resources of our Christian history."
This is something that I think I should focus on too. People LOVE to hear a good story. Chris Curtis, the guy that wrote this, said that he watched 52 movies in the year 2003, all for the purpose of looking at the whole story. Wow.
- Some final questions Chris asks:
1. What is more important in my youth work, what I achieve or who I am becoming?
2. What gets more of my attention and energy: the youth programme or the young people?
3. Am I prepared to admit to young people there is a dark side to my life?
4. Am I prepared to risk failure or do I play it safe?
I love question #1. In order to win students to Christ these days, we have to be authentic. A well run youth night with great games and a pretty good talk doesn't do it anymore, nor should it.
Key points include:
- "We have to grasp that, in this post-modern world, young people are far more engaged by people who 'do' the truth, rather than those who assert it."
Right on. I think thats all a part of true discipleship. Youth ministry has primarily been about youth group meetings, not neccessarily living your faith out. And I think when we talk about reaching the world for Christ, true missions, young people have missed out, because we don't talk about it, and we certainly, in most cases, don't model being a disciple, around town, much less around the world.
- "Imagine a small church where there is no youth leader and no youth meetings, just a handful of teenagers who help lead the Sunday School during the Sunday service."
I think that's it. What I love about GCC so much is that our ministry is leader-driven, student-led. Meaning students are up front as much as possible with leaders behind the scenes, doing that empowerment, encouraging, challenging. It really also fits in with the whole 'indigenous' leader idea that people in missions have been talking about of late.
- "We need to start telling these stories again, inspiring and challenging our young people with the rich resources of our Christian history."
This is something that I think I should focus on too. People LOVE to hear a good story. Chris Curtis, the guy that wrote this, said that he watched 52 movies in the year 2003, all for the purpose of looking at the whole story. Wow.
- Some final questions Chris asks:
1. What is more important in my youth work, what I achieve or who I am becoming?
2. What gets more of my attention and energy: the youth programme or the young people?
3. Am I prepared to admit to young people there is a dark side to my life?
4. Am I prepared to risk failure or do I play it safe?
I love question #1. In order to win students to Christ these days, we have to be authentic. A well run youth night with great games and a pretty good talk doesn't do it anymore, nor should it.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
So Im possibly printing some christmas cards from the web, using some templates at HP.com. It's kind of cool, since I just bought a new photo printer this past weekend. Of course, did I really need a new printer? No, not really. It's a luxury. Anyway, K and I were joking about phrases to use on Christmas cards in our very well to do American society, keeping in mind the global condition of the rest of the world...
- hoping jesus is preached in your life this season
- so wow, 30 million don't have food today. when was your last week long fast?
- at least you have access to clean water
- be glad jesus doesn't care that you don't
- 1.2 billion lived on $1 today. i think it's time for a frappachino (this was my personal favorite)
- how do you feel drinking bottled water because your tap doesn't taste good? At least you don't get intestional problems from it.
Very pious huh? Well, it was funny at the time....
- hoping jesus is preached in your life this season
- so wow, 30 million don't have food today. when was your last week long fast?
- at least you have access to clean water
- be glad jesus doesn't care that you don't
- 1.2 billion lived on $1 today. i think it's time for a frappachino (this was my personal favorite)
- how do you feel drinking bottled water because your tap doesn't taste good? At least you don't get intestional problems from it.
Very pious huh? Well, it was funny at the time....
SEMP dates are now online. Baltimore is July 17 - July 23. Hott.
SEMP fits in, I think, to a long term strategy in that it is awesome training for sharing your faith in the same culture, which can lead to a cross-cultural experience once students are trained and have an experience in the same culture. I took a group to SEMP in 1999, in Baltimore, right down the street from where we live. Even though we go to the Inner Harbot all the time, and that is where I proposed to D, I will always still remember talking to people about Jesus right in front of the Hard Rock Cafe.
As they say, they are trying to raise a movement of youth evangelism. I think its working. They not only teach you about how to do it, very well I might add, they engage kids in dealing with their friends back home by praying for 3 friends months before the conference starts, writing letters to them while they are there, and actually sending them on the Thursday during the week. It's pretty intense when 600 kids are dropping their letters back home in a big bin, having a huge worship service around the idea, and then praying for this big bucket that is going right to the Post Office.
Along the same lines is DCLA, put on by Youth for Christ. DCLA only occurs every 3 years and last year it was in DC, LA and somewhere in the midwest, St. Louis I think. I went for a day last summer to DCLA with KN, my young padwan. It was pretty fun, but I dont think we got a real feel for the whole event because we were only there for one day. Most of our time was spent in the exhibit hall since we were adult volunteers. In all that time, I didn't think I saw one youth missions organization that really got it, by that I mean, understood the essential task for reaching unreached people groups. Out of 8000 kids in DC for that conference, if only 10% of them got the vision for the unreached, think of that potential.
The other thing I have thought, between Sonlife and YFC, not to bash one or the other... But Sonlife has this pretty cool setup with some international youth ministries and is really focused on at least church planting where there is no church. YFC doesn't seem to really get that. YFC has a big missions arm, but most of that seems to just take kids out to experience something cross-cultural. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against growing and discipling kids, but using 'missions' to do it, when we aren't being strategic, when we haven't worked with indigenous ministries, when we haven't been able to do something that has good followup, thats where we need to start doing some missions that is strategic but also accountable. It reminds me of the statistic that 33% of short term missions trips do harm to the people they try to reach. Of course, keep in mind, I don't have ANY first hand info about YFC mission trips, just the literature. So I could be WAAAAAY off base.
Some info here on Sonlife's International connection. Plus, I think their youth ministry training is top-notch, and Biblical.
SEMP fits in, I think, to a long term strategy in that it is awesome training for sharing your faith in the same culture, which can lead to a cross-cultural experience once students are trained and have an experience in the same culture. I took a group to SEMP in 1999, in Baltimore, right down the street from where we live. Even though we go to the Inner Harbot all the time, and that is where I proposed to D, I will always still remember talking to people about Jesus right in front of the Hard Rock Cafe.
As they say, they are trying to raise a movement of youth evangelism. I think its working. They not only teach you about how to do it, very well I might add, they engage kids in dealing with their friends back home by praying for 3 friends months before the conference starts, writing letters to them while they are there, and actually sending them on the Thursday during the week. It's pretty intense when 600 kids are dropping their letters back home in a big bin, having a huge worship service around the idea, and then praying for this big bucket that is going right to the Post Office.
Along the same lines is DCLA, put on by Youth for Christ. DCLA only occurs every 3 years and last year it was in DC, LA and somewhere in the midwest, St. Louis I think. I went for a day last summer to DCLA with KN, my young padwan. It was pretty fun, but I dont think we got a real feel for the whole event because we were only there for one day. Most of our time was spent in the exhibit hall since we were adult volunteers. In all that time, I didn't think I saw one youth missions organization that really got it, by that I mean, understood the essential task for reaching unreached people groups. Out of 8000 kids in DC for that conference, if only 10% of them got the vision for the unreached, think of that potential.
The other thing I have thought, between Sonlife and YFC, not to bash one or the other... But Sonlife has this pretty cool setup with some international youth ministries and is really focused on at least church planting where there is no church. YFC doesn't seem to really get that. YFC has a big missions arm, but most of that seems to just take kids out to experience something cross-cultural. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against growing and discipling kids, but using 'missions' to do it, when we aren't being strategic, when we haven't worked with indigenous ministries, when we haven't been able to do something that has good followup, thats where we need to start doing some missions that is strategic but also accountable. It reminds me of the statistic that 33% of short term missions trips do harm to the people they try to reach. Of course, keep in mind, I don't have ANY first hand info about YFC mission trips, just the literature. So I could be WAAAAAY off base.
Some info here on Sonlife's International connection. Plus, I think their youth ministry training is top-notch, and Biblical.
Being a youthworker, trends in the society for students always interests me. Looks like weblogs is certainly a trend that is here to stay. Of course I have one.... haha. Anyway, here is an interesting graph from livejournal, which shows the distribution of users by age. Notice why its a youth trend.
Good article about urban house church planting. Really great points, not just about church planting, but discipleship and mission as a whole:
- Recent studies of American Christianity have demonstrated the church in America talks about personal discipleship, but does not practice it (See George Barna, Growing Effective Disciples). In healthy home churches most of the members should either be trying to disciple others or be under discipleship by others.
- Leaders of an existing home church will look for ways to plant a new home church naturally, not artificially. By natural, we mean they will seek to keep young Christians together with those to whom they minister and with whom they have invested relationally.
- Our best church planting teams have regular times of prayer together for the mission of the church. A good prayer meeting should be based on a prayer list prepared in advance by one of the members. Praying for non-Christian friends by name as well as key goals in the home church will turn back the attacks of the evil one and unleash the power of God into the church.
- The refusal to plant a new church was usually based mainly on the fact that members didn't want to upset a situation they saw as very happy and wholesome. In our view, such groups are far from wholesome. They are desperately sick! The members have come to see the home church as something that exists for their well-being and happiness, not for accomplishing the will of God. A well-led home church sees itself as a team setting out to accomplish a mission, even at the expense of acute personal suffering. Members in a successful church-planting movement see themselves as participants in a vast, spiritual war. Both concern for the lost and excitement over the fact that we are going to win drive them forward to a position of self-sacrificial love.
- American church leaders tend to interpret the biblical picture of church planting in very superficial and non-demanding ways. Leadership in a home church is seen as something that must not significantly interfere with typical bourgeois American middle-class living. American culture already places heavy time demands on the modern family that may interfere with an adequate family life. (**Ouch, because its so true.)
- We have talked with quite a few churches who started a home group ministry, only to see the groups turn inward and lose evangelistic effectiveness. Such groups are mainly interested in blessing each other and have lost the excitement of evangelism. This pathology is desperate because it is extremely hard to turn around. If anything, we believe that groups who turn inward are in even worse shape than impatient or superficial groups.
Also, Xenos is also listed in Tom Telford's (from the ACMC) book Today's All Star Missions Churches.
- Recent studies of American Christianity have demonstrated the church in America talks about personal discipleship, but does not practice it (See George Barna, Growing Effective Disciples). In healthy home churches most of the members should either be trying to disciple others or be under discipleship by others.
- Leaders of an existing home church will look for ways to plant a new home church naturally, not artificially. By natural, we mean they will seek to keep young Christians together with those to whom they minister and with whom they have invested relationally.
- Our best church planting teams have regular times of prayer together for the mission of the church. A good prayer meeting should be based on a prayer list prepared in advance by one of the members. Praying for non-Christian friends by name as well as key goals in the home church will turn back the attacks of the evil one and unleash the power of God into the church.
- The refusal to plant a new church was usually based mainly on the fact that members didn't want to upset a situation they saw as very happy and wholesome. In our view, such groups are far from wholesome. They are desperately sick! The members have come to see the home church as something that exists for their well-being and happiness, not for accomplishing the will of God. A well-led home church sees itself as a team setting out to accomplish a mission, even at the expense of acute personal suffering. Members in a successful church-planting movement see themselves as participants in a vast, spiritual war. Both concern for the lost and excitement over the fact that we are going to win drive them forward to a position of self-sacrificial love.
- American church leaders tend to interpret the biblical picture of church planting in very superficial and non-demanding ways. Leadership in a home church is seen as something that must not significantly interfere with typical bourgeois American middle-class living. American culture already places heavy time demands on the modern family that may interfere with an adequate family life. (**Ouch, because its so true.)
- We have talked with quite a few churches who started a home group ministry, only to see the groups turn inward and lose evangelistic effectiveness. Such groups are mainly interested in blessing each other and have lost the excitement of evangelism. This pathology is desperate because it is extremely hard to turn around. If anything, we believe that groups who turn inward are in even worse shape than impatient or superficial groups.
Also, Xenos is also listed in Tom Telford's (from the ACMC) book Today's All Star Missions Churches.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
from the Friday Fax...
Friday Fax 2003 Issue 48, 12 December
Has Bin Laden started a new search for Jesus?
Religious and ideological pressure is not going in the intended direction, so
"Osama Bin Laden may have helped many Muslims find Jesus", according to
missions expert and author Patrick Johnstone. "Tens of thousands of Iranians
came to faith in Jesus because of Ayatollah Khomeni. Since 11 September 2001,
the number of Muslims seeking alternatives has grown massively. Many are afraid
of extremism, and many are afraid to say anything at all, but many are secretly
searching. There have been breakthroughs in Northern Africa, Indonesia and
Nigeria, where the Gospel is bringing fruit. Thirty percent of India's Dalits
are considering a change of religion, and a growing number are finding Jesus.
Opinions Buddhism also has widely varying opinions, and is losing credit
because of developments in the past decade. Major ideological blocs are not as
impenetrable as we may initially believe," he said, calling for prayer for the
parts of the world opening for the Gospel, and on Western Christians to make
themselves available to God for long-term missionary work.
Source: Patrick Johnstone
Friday Fax 2003 Issue 48, 12 December
Has Bin Laden started a new search for Jesus?
Religious and ideological pressure is not going in the intended direction, so
"Osama Bin Laden may have helped many Muslims find Jesus", according to
missions expert and author Patrick Johnstone. "Tens of thousands of Iranians
came to faith in Jesus because of Ayatollah Khomeni. Since 11 September 2001,
the number of Muslims seeking alternatives has grown massively. Many are afraid
of extremism, and many are afraid to say anything at all, but many are secretly
searching. There have been breakthroughs in Northern Africa, Indonesia and
Nigeria, where the Gospel is bringing fruit. Thirty percent of India's Dalits
are considering a change of religion, and a growing number are finding Jesus.
Opinions Buddhism also has widely varying opinions, and is losing credit
because of developments in the past decade. Major ideological blocs are not as
impenetrable as we may initially believe," he said, calling for prayer for the
parts of the world opening for the Gospel, and on Western Christians to make
themselves available to God for long-term missionary work.
Source: Patrick Johnstone
A Biblical worldview, defined by Barna:
- that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life
- God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He stills rules it today
- salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned
- Satan is real
- a Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with other people
- and the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings
Read more here.
The fifth one reminds me of the story Dr. Clive Calver tells of a wife he met in some Third world country (I forget specifically which one), there with her husband the pastor and her two young children. He asked her where her husband was, and she responded that he was out at the next village preaching Jesus. (This is all a paraphrase...)
"How long have you been here?"
"About a year"
"What happened to your predecessor"
"Well, he came to the village preaching this strange, different god. And then the drought came, and nobody had any water or food. So they killed him."
"And what motivated you to come here and do this?"
"We are Christians. Isn't that what all Christians do?"
- that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life
- God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He stills rules it today
- salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned
- Satan is real
- a Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with other people
- and the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings
Read more here.
The fifth one reminds me of the story Dr. Clive Calver tells of a wife he met in some Third world country (I forget specifically which one), there with her husband the pastor and her two young children. He asked her where her husband was, and she responded that he was out at the next village preaching Jesus. (This is all a paraphrase...)
"How long have you been here?"
"About a year"
"What happened to your predecessor"
"Well, he came to the village preaching this strange, different god. And then the drought came, and nobody had any water or food. So they killed him."
"And what motivated you to come here and do this?"
"We are Christians. Isn't that what all Christians do?"
So the effective method of catching Sadam was "figuring out the former Iraqi president's clan and family support structures". Interesting how that works huh.... Read more here.
Also reminds me of the ideas taught in Perspectives about clans and family structures, how whole family to family ministry, especially outside the Western world, is one of the best ways to reach people and plant churches.
Also reminds me of the ideas taught in Perspectives about clans and family structures, how whole family to family ministry, especially outside the Western world, is one of the best ways to reach people and plant churches.
Saturday, December 13, 2003
Lots of links tonight and thoughts tonight... (It's a slow night covering a production release...)
=====
Here is a very interesting article about a former Playboy playmate doing incredible community development work in Haiti.
A few things got my attention:
- that she specifically went to the worst of the slums.
- it seems like she is not just throwing short term solutions but looking at long term methods (ie not just feeding them but teaching them how to feed themselves...)
- 16,000 children on $13,500 a month. wow.
- look at how she handles the finances, low to zero overhead
=====
A free DVD on missions, the IMB International Missions Emphasis 2003. Order it for free here
Very nice, could be a very good resource for discussing with people.
=====
Being a tentmaker and rebuilding Afghanistan here
- only 21% of women and 51% of men can read
- 40% of university professors are homeless
- "If tentmakers never open their mouths, I think that's deceptive. If I simply only use my credentials as an agenda to get me in, so I can start preaching to people, that's false. I don't live two lives. I'm a Christian with five degrees."
=====
Reaching out to prostitutes in Vancouver here
=====
Here is a very interesting article about a former Playboy playmate doing incredible community development work in Haiti.
A few things got my attention:
- that she specifically went to the worst of the slums.
- it seems like she is not just throwing short term solutions but looking at long term methods (ie not just feeding them but teaching them how to feed themselves...)
- 16,000 children on $13,500 a month. wow.
- look at how she handles the finances, low to zero overhead
=====
A free DVD on missions, the IMB International Missions Emphasis 2003. Order it for free here
Very nice, could be a very good resource for discussing with people.
=====
Being a tentmaker and rebuilding Afghanistan here
- only 21% of women and 51% of men can read
- 40% of university professors are homeless
- "If tentmakers never open their mouths, I think that's deceptive. If I simply only use my credentials as an agenda to get me in, so I can start preaching to people, that's false. I don't live two lives. I'm a Christian with five degrees."
=====
Reaching out to prostitutes in Vancouver here
Wow. Got some seriously cool things from the mail in the past few days. Suffice to say that 3 out of 4 items were financial windfalls, very awesome. But the 4th is just as cool - this book sent to me by my senior pastor, Pastor M. Wow, an awesome book from a great pastor!
I'm going through the book soon and will make some notes.
I'm going through the book soon and will make some notes.
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Just got comments working. Nice. Pretty simple. If you use HaloScan, make sure Step 1 code is outside of your style tags...
If you are reading this, would you please comment? I would appreciate that, because I think the only person I am writing to is myself. I mean, thats ok too...
Check out the conversation on youth mission trips over at NakedChurch I jumped in too and added my .02.
If you are reading this, would you please comment? I would appreciate that, because I think the only person I am writing to is myself. I mean, thats ok too...
Check out the conversation on youth mission trips over at NakedChurch I jumped in too and added my .02.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
I can't get over some of the images found here. Reminds me of the book Good News About Injustice. It's pretty tragic. And we sit in the US and do virtually nothing.
Update -
more historical info on the genocide in Rwanda here. Be forewarned.
Update -
more historical info on the genocide in Rwanda here. Be forewarned.
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Series of articles on homeless in San Francisco. Be prepared to be heartbroken if you read it, its quite intense.
In total contrast with my principles and values, I watched this movie the other night.... I felt dirty. I made it up by making some notes from Piper . I think I redeemed myself. I've posted notes from it down below, its just from the Conclusion page. It's pretty heavy reading though, I definitely have to read it again.
Notes - Let the Nations be Glad!
The ultimate goal of God in all of history is to uphold and display his glory for the enjoyment of the redeemed from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. His goal is the gladness of his people, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
Worship
Therefore, worship is the fuel and the goal of missions. Worship is the goal of missions because in missions we aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God’s glory. It is the fuel of missions because we can’t commend what we don’t cherish. We can’t call out, “Let the nations be glad!’’ until we say ,”I rejoice in the Lord.” Missions begins and ends with worship.
Prayer
Prayer puts God in the place of the all-sufficient Benefactor and puts us in the place of needy beneficiaries. Therefore, when the mission of the church moves forward by prayer, the supremacy of God is manifest and the needs of Christian missionaries are met. In prayer, he is glorified and we are satisfied. “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” John 16:24. The purpose of prayer is the Father’s fame and the saints’ fullness.
Suffering
The extent of our sacrifice coupled with the depth of our joy displays the worth we put on the reward of God. Loss and suffering, joyfully accepted for the kingdom of God, show the supremacy of God’s glory more clearly in the world than all worship and prayer.
Is Knowing Christ Crucial?
The aim of missions is to ‘bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations (Rom 1:5). God’s will is to be glorified in his Son by making him the center of all missionary proclamation. The supremacy of God in missions is affirmed biblically by affirming the supremacy of his Son as the focus of all saving faith.
People or Peoples?
Rather, God’s will for missions is that every people group be reached with the testimony of Christ and that a people be called out for his name from among all the nations. It may be that this definition of missions will, in fact, result in the greatest possible number of white-hot worshippers for God’s Son. But that remains for God to decide. Our responsibility is to define missions his way and then obey.
The ultimate goal of God in all history is to uphold and display his glory for the enjoyment of the redeemed from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. The beauty of praise that will come to the Lord from the diversity of the nations is greater than the beauty that would come to him if the chorus of the redeemed were culturally uniform or limited. Moreover, there is something about God that is so universally praiseworthy and so profoundly beautiful and so comprehensively worthy and so deeply satisfying that God will find passionate admirers in every diverse people group in the world. His true greatness will be manifest in the breadth of the diversity of those who perceive and cherish his beauty. The more diverse the people groups who forsake their gods to follow the true God, the more visible God’s superiority over all his competitors.
By focusing on all the people groups of the world, God undercuts ethnocentric pride and throws al peoples back upon his free grace rather than on any distinctive of their own. This humility is the flip side of giving God all the glory. Humility means reveling in his grace, not in our goodness. In pressing us on toward all the peoples, God is pressing us further into the humblest and deepest experience of his grace and weaning us more and more from our ingrained pride. In doing this, he is preparing himself a people – from all the peoples – who will be able to worship him with free and white-hot admiration.
Therefore, the church is bound to engage with the Lord of glory in his cause. It is our unspeakable privilege to be caught up with him in the greatest movement in history – the ingathering of the elect from every tribe and language and people and nation until the full number of the Gentiles comes in and all Israel is saved and the Son of Man descends with power and great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords and the earth is full of the knowledge of his glory as the waters cover the sea forever and ever: Then the supremacy of Christ will be manifest to all, and he will deliver the kingdom to God the Father, and God will be all in all.
In total contrast with my principles and values, I watched this movie the other night.... I felt dirty. I made it up by making some notes from Piper . I think I redeemed myself. I've posted notes from it down below, its just from the Conclusion page. It's pretty heavy reading though, I definitely have to read it again.
Notes - Let the Nations be Glad!
The ultimate goal of God in all of history is to uphold and display his glory for the enjoyment of the redeemed from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. His goal is the gladness of his people, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
Worship
Therefore, worship is the fuel and the goal of missions. Worship is the goal of missions because in missions we aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God’s glory. It is the fuel of missions because we can’t commend what we don’t cherish. We can’t call out, “Let the nations be glad!’’ until we say ,”I rejoice in the Lord.” Missions begins and ends with worship.
Prayer
Prayer puts God in the place of the all-sufficient Benefactor and puts us in the place of needy beneficiaries. Therefore, when the mission of the church moves forward by prayer, the supremacy of God is manifest and the needs of Christian missionaries are met. In prayer, he is glorified and we are satisfied. “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” John 16:24. The purpose of prayer is the Father’s fame and the saints’ fullness.
Suffering
The extent of our sacrifice coupled with the depth of our joy displays the worth we put on the reward of God. Loss and suffering, joyfully accepted for the kingdom of God, show the supremacy of God’s glory more clearly in the world than all worship and prayer.
Is Knowing Christ Crucial?
The aim of missions is to ‘bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations (Rom 1:5). God’s will is to be glorified in his Son by making him the center of all missionary proclamation. The supremacy of God in missions is affirmed biblically by affirming the supremacy of his Son as the focus of all saving faith.
People or Peoples?
Rather, God’s will for missions is that every people group be reached with the testimony of Christ and that a people be called out for his name from among all the nations. It may be that this definition of missions will, in fact, result in the greatest possible number of white-hot worshippers for God’s Son. But that remains for God to decide. Our responsibility is to define missions his way and then obey.
The ultimate goal of God in all history is to uphold and display his glory for the enjoyment of the redeemed from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. The beauty of praise that will come to the Lord from the diversity of the nations is greater than the beauty that would come to him if the chorus of the redeemed were culturally uniform or limited. Moreover, there is something about God that is so universally praiseworthy and so profoundly beautiful and so comprehensively worthy and so deeply satisfying that God will find passionate admirers in every diverse people group in the world. His true greatness will be manifest in the breadth of the diversity of those who perceive and cherish his beauty. The more diverse the people groups who forsake their gods to follow the true God, the more visible God’s superiority over all his competitors.
By focusing on all the people groups of the world, God undercuts ethnocentric pride and throws al peoples back upon his free grace rather than on any distinctive of their own. This humility is the flip side of giving God all the glory. Humility means reveling in his grace, not in our goodness. In pressing us on toward all the peoples, God is pressing us further into the humblest and deepest experience of his grace and weaning us more and more from our ingrained pride. In doing this, he is preparing himself a people – from all the peoples – who will be able to worship him with free and white-hot admiration.
Therefore, the church is bound to engage with the Lord of glory in his cause. It is our unspeakable privilege to be caught up with him in the greatest movement in history – the ingathering of the elect from every tribe and language and people and nation until the full number of the Gentiles comes in and all Israel is saved and the Son of Man descends with power and great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords and the earth is full of the knowledge of his glory as the waters cover the sea forever and ever: Then the supremacy of Christ will be manifest to all, and he will deliver the kingdom to God the Father, and God will be all in all.
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Wiring Africa Is the Internet Africa's best hope?
World Christian Conference This looks fun. But only for Chinese people...
World Christian Conference This looks fun. But only for Chinese people...
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Not neccessarily about missions per se, but certainly about paradigm change. The changing of a model, framework, etc. Pretty interesting names on there. I think my favorite is Madonna, and I think, strangely enough, her music is growing on me in recent years....
check this out
check this out
Sunday, November 30, 2003
update sent to the GCC - MTF. Notes are a little obscure....
SPACE
Students Prepared to Act for Christ’s Empire
LC/CpR Ministries
Background
• My background.
• LC/CpR stage of ministry
Goals
• Provide service opportunities for students to be involved in.
• Intelligently target kids who are not already involved.
• Another tool for discipleship – growing through serving.
• Teaching on various service/mission topics.
• Bridge the gap between different age ministries (LC/CpR/Fusion) - range of people serving together. (Leader issue)
• Enabling students to see their giftedness in a serving opportunity.
• Resource for administration, direction, implementation for holistic, progressive student missions trips that are tied with the overall mission direction of Grace.
Values
• All service lies somewhere in the realm of evangelism (I Cor 3), therefore, opportunities will be pointed towards interaction with people when possible.
• Devotionals and debriefs for every event.
• Constant evaluation via survey forms.
• Adult leaders/chaperones are integral.
• We tie service and missions together.
Pilot Year
• Launch F – 2003-09-27
24 people (all high school and leaders this time)
Teaching focused on homelessness and hunger around the world
Brought a bag lunch and then made at least another in the Warehouse before we left.
Had lunch with homeless people in two parks in DC. Saw three other church groups give away food but not engage the people. Our students noticed.
Over 20 significant conversations over lunch. Some students gave away all of their food and didn't eat.
Worked in the Capital Area Food Bank for three hours in the distribution warehouse.
Packed over 600 food packs.
Students most impacted by exposure to the homeless and engaging them in conversation over lunch.
Financials around $250 including bag lunches and transportation
• Launch L – 2003-11-08
33 students and leaders, middle and high school
6 houses and 12 townhouses raked
4 families within Grace, 3 outside of Grace, other neighbors were spur of the moment...
approx 200 bags of leaves raked
talk focused on being strategic, that we were doing more than just raking leaves, thinking about being thoughtful and what it feels like when you know someone is thinking about you (Is 49:15-16)
financials around $460 including school bus, lunch and lawn bags
• 3 December projects
- Adopt a Family with Grace Cares (7 families within LC/CpR)
- Salvation Army Kettle Bell ringing
- Blanket Drive
• January Launch
Right to life theme, in the midst of being planned
• Summer missions
Provided options for one grade for summer possibilities
See it as progressive for summer of 2005
Need to hone in on mission trips goals and policy
Overseas to only Grace missionaries?
Individuals doing their own thing ok?
Will take time to socialize, prioritize and implement – give 9th grade direction this summer
Service -> Evangelism Training -> Cross Cultural
• Core Team
Built a team of students and adults for planning, direction, implementation and service/mission on smaller scale
2 other leaders
11 students (lots of young students to shape and mold)
Where real transformation will occur first
• Urbana 2003
Not formally part of SPACE but is an outgrowth of CpR
16 total as of 2003-11-24
at least 2 seriously interested in missions, possibly careers
MTF helps in:
• Assisting in recruiting prayer partners for SPACE
• SPACE is an integral part of Grace’s missions strategy (?)
• Info to the congregation about missions includes something about SPACE
• Resources for summer missions
• Short term opps available from our missionaries (already started)
SPACE connects to MTF:
• Provides one concise list for all LC/CpR related summer missions.
• Implements the strategy among student trips.
Patterns:
• 10%.
• Will require students to take ownership. (Indigenous leadership in a sense)
• Overwhelming response and support.
• Youth min leadership
• Students
• Overall body
• Opportunity to change the type of students we grow.
• Will (not might) continue to evolve as God leads. Already God has directed.
SPACE
Students Prepared to Act for Christ’s Empire
LC/CpR Ministries
Background
• My background.
• LC/CpR stage of ministry
Goals
• Provide service opportunities for students to be involved in.
• Intelligently target kids who are not already involved.
• Another tool for discipleship – growing through serving.
• Teaching on various service/mission topics.
• Bridge the gap between different age ministries (LC/CpR/Fusion) - range of people serving together. (Leader issue)
• Enabling students to see their giftedness in a serving opportunity.
• Resource for administration, direction, implementation for holistic, progressive student missions trips that are tied with the overall mission direction of Grace.
Values
• All service lies somewhere in the realm of evangelism (I Cor 3), therefore, opportunities will be pointed towards interaction with people when possible.
• Devotionals and debriefs for every event.
• Constant evaluation via survey forms.
• Adult leaders/chaperones are integral.
• We tie service and missions together.
Pilot Year
• Launch F – 2003-09-27
24 people (all high school and leaders this time)
Teaching focused on homelessness and hunger around the world
Brought a bag lunch and then made at least another in the Warehouse before we left.
Had lunch with homeless people in two parks in DC. Saw three other church groups give away food but not engage the people. Our students noticed.
Over 20 significant conversations over lunch. Some students gave away all of their food and didn't eat.
Worked in the Capital Area Food Bank for three hours in the distribution warehouse.
Packed over 600 food packs.
Students most impacted by exposure to the homeless and engaging them in conversation over lunch.
Financials around $250 including bag lunches and transportation
• Launch L – 2003-11-08
33 students and leaders, middle and high school
6 houses and 12 townhouses raked
4 families within Grace, 3 outside of Grace, other neighbors were spur of the moment...
approx 200 bags of leaves raked
talk focused on being strategic, that we were doing more than just raking leaves, thinking about being thoughtful and what it feels like when you know someone is thinking about you (Is 49:15-16)
financials around $460 including school bus, lunch and lawn bags
• 3 December projects
- Adopt a Family with Grace Cares (7 families within LC/CpR)
- Salvation Army Kettle Bell ringing
- Blanket Drive
• January Launch
Right to life theme, in the midst of being planned
• Summer missions
Provided options for one grade for summer possibilities
See it as progressive for summer of 2005
Need to hone in on mission trips goals and policy
Overseas to only Grace missionaries?
Individuals doing their own thing ok?
Will take time to socialize, prioritize and implement – give 9th grade direction this summer
Service -> Evangelism Training -> Cross Cultural
• Core Team
Built a team of students and adults for planning, direction, implementation and service/mission on smaller scale
2 other leaders
11 students (lots of young students to shape and mold)
Where real transformation will occur first
• Urbana 2003
Not formally part of SPACE but is an outgrowth of CpR
16 total as of 2003-11-24
at least 2 seriously interested in missions, possibly careers
MTF helps in:
• Assisting in recruiting prayer partners for SPACE
• SPACE is an integral part of Grace’s missions strategy (?)
• Info to the congregation about missions includes something about SPACE
• Resources for summer missions
• Short term opps available from our missionaries (already started)
SPACE connects to MTF:
• Provides one concise list for all LC/CpR related summer missions.
• Implements the strategy among student trips.
Patterns:
• 10%.
• Will require students to take ownership. (Indigenous leadership in a sense)
• Overwhelming response and support.
• Youth min leadership
• Students
• Overall body
• Opportunity to change the type of students we grow.
• Will (not might) continue to evolve as God leads. Already God has directed.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
once again - not a post that is 100% missions, but, in honor of my magician friend M^3....
Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!
Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!
How British are you?
this quiz was made by alanna
Monday, November 24, 2003
ACMC Conf - Fairfield CT
OK - my notes from the Advancing Churches in Missions Commtiment New England Conference. It's going to be long, let me know if it was worth it....
Advancing Churches in Missions Commitment conference
ACMC – acmc.gospelcom.net
‘Flooding the World with God’s Word’
2003-11-22
Black Rock Congregational Church, Fairfield CT
Keynote
Clive Calver
World Relief
Not a lot of people working in relief, but not anyone who does it through the Church
6 ½ years as pres of World Relief
43K US Churches to serve other churches only through local churches
Temptations Facing Missions Today
Going for the jugular
Luke 4
Satan and Jesus meet in the desert
The wilderness is the classroom
30 miles x 15 miles – Judean desert
lowest places on earth
We assume Satan is a vague source of evil
Deliver us from the evil one – the Lord’s prayer which should be renamed as the Disciple’s prayer
Where Jesus will be tried and proven
Jesus was just at His highest point – baptized, mountain top experience
40 days without food
physical weakest
Why does God allow us to be tested?
Refining fire – impurities rise
Look into gold to see His reflection, in the hearts of His people
By His strength, we will win
Effective = Attacked
You are not alone.
The Holy Spirit took Jesus into the desert.
Scripture – Book of Deut
Story - The Iranian Church
5am Bible delivery
$60 = a lifesavings for Bibles
Kinds of Temptations
1. stone into bread
lots of limestone in the Judean desert, looks like bread
temptation to whine
look at your pain
use your power to feed yourself
80% of world resources are in the North American church
God trusted us to serve His church
Paul and Barnabas
Jerusalem famine, they went to Macedonia and sent back to Jerusalem
We need to rethink missions
Not a statement against expatriates
Evangelical churches don’t change quickly
19th century – sending
20th century – sharing, with indigenous
21th century – train the nationals, serving and enabling them
the serving is going to be incredibly unpopular
film about Sudan
2. temptation of compromise
All the kingdoms of the earth
Do it the easy way
The simple way
The greatest strength can become the greatest weakness
Americans are fix it people
Pioneering instinct
Sometimes it’s too easy
Not what we can do but what we can release
Most of the Christians around the world are spiritually deeper than us
Satan offers the wealth and the kingdoms of this world
Jesus strips you of what the world gives
A commitment to sacrifice
Story about the Iraqi church
Clive met a pastor’s wife
She told him her husband was preaching
He asked her what happened to the previous pastor
He showed up, a drought came, they killed him
He asked her what motivated them to come then.
She asked isn’t that what all Christians do?
‘Let a man deny himself’ – 7 times
Compromise is not the pattern of Jesus
3. Temptation to shine
Psalm 91 – aligned with the word of God
The Devil is the accuser of the brethren
Satan’s aim is the destruction of Jesus
The missions Rhode’s gallery (the wall of missionaries)
God called us to serve not to shine
‘I’ve never seen so little money going into missions. Other countries hope is in the US government when it should be in the US Church.’
You can earn the reward of service but not salvation.
Workshop #1
Ken Campbell – President – World Team Associates
Implementing a Missions Strategy in Your Church
I’m the 2nd youngest person here
The average age is easily in the upper 40s.
Affiliate of World Team
Service agency to missionaries
Church link division – connecting churches
Missions mobilization for 25 years
Wheaton IL, Wheaton Bible Church
- why have a strategy?
Communicate vision
Give focus
Establish direction
Answer questions
Enhance good stewardship
- Start with the church mission statement
Ask and answer
What is our history
What is our distinctive
Why was this church founded
What characteristics remain today
Any natural bridges to other cultures
In Wheaton, every Dunkin Donuts is owned by Pakistani people
- Misc
Gather facts about current missions commitments
Analyze data and discover current strategy
Take Perspectives course
Read _The Church is Bigger than You Think_
Subscribe to Missions Frontiers
- Select/Appoint Task force
Thinkers strategic planners
Research other churches in your network
Compare mission/strategy statements
Learn how they made changes
Analyze for what fits us
Allow time for the process
Involve key decision makers and leaders from the body
- Resources
ACMC
Denomination
Agencies
Other churches
Link to the missions strategy
Define missions for your church
- Paradigm shift in missions
Passive supporting
Proactive sending
Mission Focused/Synergistic
- How Churches View Missions (scale)
Problem -> possibility -> project -> program -> purpose -> passion
- Other Key Definitions
Church planting
Unreached
Unevangelized
Cross cultural
Domestic outreach
Support ministries
- Transition
Implement over time
Use natural attrition as part of implementation
Fire missionaries when necessary
Recruit to meet the strategy
Educate the congregation
Be gracious and generous
Communicate with present missionaries
Identify agencies that fit your strategy and partner with them
46 missionaries from 1 church with 1 agency
Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit
Workshop #2
Tom Telford, ACMC
Six Steps to Bring Missions Alive in Your Church
Many churches take a shotgun approach to missions
Focus that is strategic, defined, cooperative
Missions doesn’t fit into the American dream
- Add younger members to your missions team
Older generation – pray and pay
Younger generation – pray, pay, go
- Focus on integration versus information in Missions Programming
Missions is caught not taught
Concentrate on small groups, one-on-one
- Youth
Develop skills and passion systematically
Begin with local, physical assignments and progress to cross-cultural and international ministry
Solid training program
Debrief and move up
Short terms should be called vision trips
- Expand your involvement as senders
Evaluating call and readiness
Develop the support team
Prep field ministry
Spirit/emotional health
Family concerns
Home assignment needs
Survey of 50 churches:
20 had scholarship programs for the kids of their missionaries
48 send staff every year on a missions trip – missions minded pastor
be sensitive where you send them
*Chinese Urbana – 2004
10 essentials in a missions church
1. Outward Focus
2. pastor sold out to world evangelization
has a passion for it
3. church has a well defined missions strategy and policy
4. An effective international ministry team (missions committee)
5. A significant percent of the budget is for missions
One church gave a copy of Operation World to every person for Christmas
Resource a geography teacher
God is blessing churches that make sacrifices – economic climate
One church said if we run out of money, we fire the pastor first and the missionaries last – came upon a church property for 0 cost
6. Missions Education is for everyone
Covered basketballs as globes and gave to toddlers with the theme of hug a planet
Take your church and dip it into missions, sometimes you have to hold it down.
Drama – who wants to be a millionaire – all questions about missionaries – lifeline was one of their missionaries they called live – all money given to missions pastor at the end of the drama
7. church prepares and sends out missionaries
8. missionaries are well cared for
evaluation is part of this
missionaries child was sick. Church sent a doctor to the field. Couldn’t diagnose. Sent doctor and child to CDC in Atlanta. And then back to the field after treatment, church picked up the whole cost.
9. Broad personal involvement
10. The church prays for the world
Preachers kids are bad because they hang out with deacons kids.
Workshop #3
Doug Christgau
Everything you need to know to have effective short term missions trips
Inspire you all to do it with excellence
The kingdom would be better if we didn’t do the bottom 1/3 trips
Black Rock Church, Wheaton Bible Church, Valley Community Baptist – Avon CT
Missions Pastor
Fellowship of Short Term Leaders
1. Why Take short-term trips
a. Missionary encouragement
Do short term with your own missionaries
To encourage your own
If they have a need you can meet
b. Ministry with nationals
No just what we want
Think cognitively
Mutually designed by sending and going
c. Spiritual missions growth of members
Not a substitute for summer camp
d. Church mission passion
Church passion – debrief is huge for this
2. Before the trip – disciplined preparation leads to excellence
a. Church vs. short term agency organized
b. Financing
Should not come out of missions budget
Financed/partnered with people
If person wants to pay, let them
Giving begets giving
Can become a cash cow
c. Trip ministries and locations
Doug’s sampling of trips:
Construction trips
Rob economy – 5x the cost of a national
Nationals helping you
Work alongside
Not negative on construction trips if they are done right
Senegal
Muslims were their bosses
Will we submit?
Will we work hard
Will we be productive?
Good rapport and relationships
Sports Evangelism – Nicaragua – baseball fanatics
10 softball players
baseball clinics in the am
games with locals in the pm
evangelistic in the evening
Seeker Driven – Montreal
3 languages in city – international city
Family outreach – Indian reservation
Womens program
VBS
Youth programs
Same place for 7 years
Very good possibility of a church plant
ESL – Eastern Europe – Romania
Basic of English
Conversational English
Library software upgrades –
Software upgrade to library systems
Had special access to software in different languages
Business Education
American business practices
Believe it or not, other countries desire our standard of morality and code of ethics when it comes to business
Camp – Albania
Volunteer staff support – clean, dishes, etc.
Midpoint during their season
Muslim
There are 150K missionary kid schools around the world, virtually all are understaffed
MK schools are a great experience
Most MK schools have 50% unsaved, lots of expats have kids there
d. Training/equipping of leadership and participants
Thorough administration
8 hours of training
_Prepare Your Heart_ Cindy Judge – personal prep, any age
_Maximum Short Term Missions_ Peterson, Sneed
_Short Term Missions Workbook_ IVP
Training is critical
Hardy Personality test – have people choose one item and talk about it, in over 12 years, it helps on every team
Application/selection process
You don’t want a dysfunctional person on the trip
Missions trip are not reform school
Need a baseline of spiritual maturity – demonstrated in context of the local church
Ok for nonchristians to go
3. During the trip – direction amidst stops and starts
a. Pace of activity
b. Cultural sensitivity
c. Spiritual goals for trip members
d. Flexibility
e. Anticipate illness or stress
4. after the trip – yield from the investment
a. debrief on the plane
b. reunion with supporters included
c. tell your church
d. recruit for mission leadership at home
25% of short term members became missions volunteers
Standards of Excellent in Short-Term Missions
www.fstml.org
1. Releases God-centered kingdom growth
Expressed in the lives of all participants by:
- sound biblical doctrine
- persistent prayer
- integrity
2. is based on Partnership between sending and receiving sides
expressed by:
- primary focus on intended receptors
- planned outcomes which benefit all participants
- mutual acocountability
3. delivers a program which has been Mutually Designed by sending and receiving sides
expressed by:
- common philosophical base and alignment to long-term strategies/mission
- goer guests ability to deliver and receive
- hosts receivers ability to deliver and receive
4. provides Reliable Setup and Thorough Administration for all participants
expressed by:
- sound financial practices
- appropriate risk management
- program delivery and support logistics
5. screens, trains and provides Qualified Leadership for all participants
expressed by:
- pre-field through training and equipping leadership
- on-field through program delivery and support leadership
- post-field through debriefing and follow-up leadership
or expressed by:
- spiritually mature servant leadership
- competent interculturally experienced leadership
- empowering and equipping leadership
- prepared, organized and accountable leadership
6. is evidenced by Participants Trained and Equipped
expressed by:
- biblical, appropriate and timely for all participants
- commitment to continuous training (pre-field, on-field, post-field)
- qualified trainers
7. is commited to Thorough Debriefing and Follow-Up for all participants
expressed by:
- debriefing throughout entire process (pre-field, on-field, post-field)
- re-entry preparation for goer guests prior to leaving the field
- post-field follow-up and evaluations
or expressed by:
- spiritually mature servant leadership
- competent interculturally experienced leadership
- empowering and equipping leadership
- prepared, organized and accountable leadership
Advancing Churches in Missions Commitment conference
ACMC – acmc.gospelcom.net
‘Flooding the World with God’s Word’
2003-11-22
Black Rock Congregational Church, Fairfield CT
Keynote
Clive Calver
World Relief
Not a lot of people working in relief, but not anyone who does it through the Church
6 ½ years as pres of World Relief
43K US Churches to serve other churches only through local churches
Temptations Facing Missions Today
Going for the jugular
Luke 4
Satan and Jesus meet in the desert
The wilderness is the classroom
30 miles x 15 miles – Judean desert
lowest places on earth
We assume Satan is a vague source of evil
Deliver us from the evil one – the Lord’s prayer which should be renamed as the Disciple’s prayer
Where Jesus will be tried and proven
Jesus was just at His highest point – baptized, mountain top experience
40 days without food
physical weakest
Why does God allow us to be tested?
Refining fire – impurities rise
Look into gold to see His reflection, in the hearts of His people
By His strength, we will win
Effective = Attacked
You are not alone.
The Holy Spirit took Jesus into the desert.
Scripture – Book of Deut
Story - The Iranian Church
5am Bible delivery
$60 = a lifesavings for Bibles
Kinds of Temptations
1. stone into bread
lots of limestone in the Judean desert, looks like bread
temptation to whine
look at your pain
use your power to feed yourself
80% of world resources are in the North American church
God trusted us to serve His church
Paul and Barnabas
Jerusalem famine, they went to Macedonia and sent back to Jerusalem
We need to rethink missions
Not a statement against expatriates
Evangelical churches don’t change quickly
19th century – sending
20th century – sharing, with indigenous
21th century – train the nationals, serving and enabling them
the serving is going to be incredibly unpopular
film about Sudan
2. temptation of compromise
All the kingdoms of the earth
Do it the easy way
The simple way
The greatest strength can become the greatest weakness
Americans are fix it people
Pioneering instinct
Sometimes it’s too easy
Not what we can do but what we can release
Most of the Christians around the world are spiritually deeper than us
Satan offers the wealth and the kingdoms of this world
Jesus strips you of what the world gives
A commitment to sacrifice
Story about the Iraqi church
Clive met a pastor’s wife
She told him her husband was preaching
He asked her what happened to the previous pastor
He showed up, a drought came, they killed him
He asked her what motivated them to come then.
She asked isn’t that what all Christians do?
‘Let a man deny himself’ – 7 times
Compromise is not the pattern of Jesus
3. Temptation to shine
Psalm 91 – aligned with the word of God
The Devil is the accuser of the brethren
Satan’s aim is the destruction of Jesus
The missions Rhode’s gallery (the wall of missionaries)
God called us to serve not to shine
‘I’ve never seen so little money going into missions. Other countries hope is in the US government when it should be in the US Church.’
You can earn the reward of service but not salvation.
Workshop #1
Ken Campbell – President – World Team Associates
Implementing a Missions Strategy in Your Church
I’m the 2nd youngest person here
The average age is easily in the upper 40s.
Affiliate of World Team
Service agency to missionaries
Church link division – connecting churches
Missions mobilization for 25 years
Wheaton IL, Wheaton Bible Church
- why have a strategy?
Communicate vision
Give focus
Establish direction
Answer questions
Enhance good stewardship
- Start with the church mission statement
Ask and answer
What is our history
What is our distinctive
Why was this church founded
What characteristics remain today
Any natural bridges to other cultures
In Wheaton, every Dunkin Donuts is owned by Pakistani people
- Misc
Gather facts about current missions commitments
Analyze data and discover current strategy
Take Perspectives course
Read _The Church is Bigger than You Think_
Subscribe to Missions Frontiers
- Select/Appoint Task force
Thinkers strategic planners
Research other churches in your network
Compare mission/strategy statements
Learn how they made changes
Analyze for what fits us
Allow time for the process
Involve key decision makers and leaders from the body
- Resources
ACMC
Denomination
Agencies
Other churches
Link to the missions strategy
Define missions for your church
- Paradigm shift in missions
Passive supporting
Proactive sending
Mission Focused/Synergistic
- How Churches View Missions (scale)
Problem -> possibility -> project -> program -> purpose -> passion
- Other Key Definitions
Church planting
Unreached
Unevangelized
Cross cultural
Domestic outreach
Support ministries
- Transition
Implement over time
Use natural attrition as part of implementation
Fire missionaries when necessary
Recruit to meet the strategy
Educate the congregation
Be gracious and generous
Communicate with present missionaries
Identify agencies that fit your strategy and partner with them
46 missionaries from 1 church with 1 agency
Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit
Workshop #2
Tom Telford, ACMC
Six Steps to Bring Missions Alive in Your Church
Many churches take a shotgun approach to missions
Focus that is strategic, defined, cooperative
Missions doesn’t fit into the American dream
- Add younger members to your missions team
Older generation – pray and pay
Younger generation – pray, pay, go
- Focus on integration versus information in Missions Programming
Missions is caught not taught
Concentrate on small groups, one-on-one
- Youth
Develop skills and passion systematically
Begin with local, physical assignments and progress to cross-cultural and international ministry
Solid training program
Debrief and move up
Short terms should be called vision trips
- Expand your involvement as senders
Evaluating call and readiness
Develop the support team
Prep field ministry
Spirit/emotional health
Family concerns
Home assignment needs
Survey of 50 churches:
20 had scholarship programs for the kids of their missionaries
48 send staff every year on a missions trip – missions minded pastor
be sensitive where you send them
*Chinese Urbana – 2004
10 essentials in a missions church
1. Outward Focus
2. pastor sold out to world evangelization
has a passion for it
3. church has a well defined missions strategy and policy
4. An effective international ministry team (missions committee)
5. A significant percent of the budget is for missions
One church gave a copy of Operation World to every person for Christmas
Resource a geography teacher
God is blessing churches that make sacrifices – economic climate
One church said if we run out of money, we fire the pastor first and the missionaries last – came upon a church property for 0 cost
6. Missions Education is for everyone
Covered basketballs as globes and gave to toddlers with the theme of hug a planet
Take your church and dip it into missions, sometimes you have to hold it down.
Drama – who wants to be a millionaire – all questions about missionaries – lifeline was one of their missionaries they called live – all money given to missions pastor at the end of the drama
7. church prepares and sends out missionaries
8. missionaries are well cared for
evaluation is part of this
missionaries child was sick. Church sent a doctor to the field. Couldn’t diagnose. Sent doctor and child to CDC in Atlanta. And then back to the field after treatment, church picked up the whole cost.
9. Broad personal involvement
10. The church prays for the world
Preachers kids are bad because they hang out with deacons kids.
Workshop #3
Doug Christgau
Everything you need to know to have effective short term missions trips
Inspire you all to do it with excellence
The kingdom would be better if we didn’t do the bottom 1/3 trips
Black Rock Church, Wheaton Bible Church, Valley Community Baptist – Avon CT
Missions Pastor
Fellowship of Short Term Leaders
1. Why Take short-term trips
a. Missionary encouragement
Do short term with your own missionaries
To encourage your own
If they have a need you can meet
b. Ministry with nationals
No just what we want
Think cognitively
Mutually designed by sending and going
c. Spiritual missions growth of members
Not a substitute for summer camp
d. Church mission passion
Church passion – debrief is huge for this
2. Before the trip – disciplined preparation leads to excellence
a. Church vs. short term agency organized
b. Financing
Should not come out of missions budget
Financed/partnered with people
If person wants to pay, let them
Giving begets giving
Can become a cash cow
c. Trip ministries and locations
Doug’s sampling of trips:
Construction trips
Rob economy – 5x the cost of a national
Nationals helping you
Work alongside
Not negative on construction trips if they are done right
Senegal
Muslims were their bosses
Will we submit?
Will we work hard
Will we be productive?
Good rapport and relationships
Sports Evangelism – Nicaragua – baseball fanatics
10 softball players
baseball clinics in the am
games with locals in the pm
evangelistic in the evening
Seeker Driven – Montreal
3 languages in city – international city
Family outreach – Indian reservation
Womens program
VBS
Youth programs
Same place for 7 years
Very good possibility of a church plant
ESL – Eastern Europe – Romania
Basic of English
Conversational English
Library software upgrades –
Software upgrade to library systems
Had special access to software in different languages
Business Education
American business practices
Believe it or not, other countries desire our standard of morality and code of ethics when it comes to business
Camp – Albania
Volunteer staff support – clean, dishes, etc.
Midpoint during their season
Muslim
There are 150K missionary kid schools around the world, virtually all are understaffed
MK schools are a great experience
Most MK schools have 50% unsaved, lots of expats have kids there
d. Training/equipping of leadership and participants
Thorough administration
8 hours of training
_Prepare Your Heart_ Cindy Judge – personal prep, any age
_Maximum Short Term Missions_ Peterson, Sneed
_Short Term Missions Workbook_ IVP
Training is critical
Hardy Personality test – have people choose one item and talk about it, in over 12 years, it helps on every team
Application/selection process
You don’t want a dysfunctional person on the trip
Missions trip are not reform school
Need a baseline of spiritual maturity – demonstrated in context of the local church
Ok for nonchristians to go
3. During the trip – direction amidst stops and starts
a. Pace of activity
b. Cultural sensitivity
c. Spiritual goals for trip members
d. Flexibility
e. Anticipate illness or stress
4. after the trip – yield from the investment
a. debrief on the plane
b. reunion with supporters included
c. tell your church
d. recruit for mission leadership at home
25% of short term members became missions volunteers
Standards of Excellent in Short-Term Missions
www.fstml.org
1. Releases God-centered kingdom growth
Expressed in the lives of all participants by:
- sound biblical doctrine
- persistent prayer
- integrity
2. is based on Partnership between sending and receiving sides
expressed by:
- primary focus on intended receptors
- planned outcomes which benefit all participants
- mutual acocountability
3. delivers a program which has been Mutually Designed by sending and receiving sides
expressed by:
- common philosophical base and alignment to long-term strategies/mission
- goer guests ability to deliver and receive
- hosts receivers ability to deliver and receive
4. provides Reliable Setup and Thorough Administration for all participants
expressed by:
- sound financial practices
- appropriate risk management
- program delivery and support logistics
5. screens, trains and provides Qualified Leadership for all participants
expressed by:
- pre-field through training and equipping leadership
- on-field through program delivery and support leadership
- post-field through debriefing and follow-up leadership
or expressed by:
- spiritually mature servant leadership
- competent interculturally experienced leadership
- empowering and equipping leadership
- prepared, organized and accountable leadership
6. is evidenced by Participants Trained and Equipped
expressed by:
- biblical, appropriate and timely for all participants
- commitment to continuous training (pre-field, on-field, post-field)
- qualified trainers
7. is commited to Thorough Debriefing and Follow-Up for all participants
expressed by:
- debriefing throughout entire process (pre-field, on-field, post-field)
- re-entry preparation for goer guests prior to leaving the field
- post-field follow-up and evaluations
or expressed by:
- spiritually mature servant leadership
- competent interculturally experienced leadership
- empowering and equipping leadership
- prepared, organized and accountable leadership
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Wow - big changes happening at work. The cool gist of it is that people are going to get big opportunities to ask significant questions since their whole identity, the whole landscape of work, the project, the relationships are all thrown into flux. It's really as big as getting married, you are excited about the future, a little forlorn at leaving a chapter of life behind.
Pray specifically for CE, had an intense conversation with him about the purpose of life. It was great, better than I ever expected it to go.
Pray for the next two days, Thursday and Friday. Lots of farewell lunches on Thursday and the mass exodus is on Friday.
Also, pray for the missions conference K and I are going to. Pray esp for K, for direction and vision.
Pray specifically for CE, had an intense conversation with him about the purpose of life. It was great, better than I ever expected it to go.
Pray for the next two days, Thursday and Friday. Lots of farewell lunches on Thursday and the mass exodus is on Friday.
Also, pray for the missions conference K and I are going to. Pray esp for K, for direction and vision.
Monday, November 17, 2003
the missions conference that K and I will be traveling to this weekend - in Fairfield, CT.
should be some good times, God is going to continue to ignite.
should be some good times, God is going to continue to ignite.
Monday, November 10, 2003
GCC - SPACE - Launch L
- 33 students and leaders
- 6 houses and 12 townhouses raked
- 4 families within Grace, 3 outside of Grace, other neighbors
were spur of the moment...
- approx 200 bags of leaves raked
- talk focused on being strategic, that we were doing more
than just raking leaves, thinking about being thoughtful and
what it feels like when you know someone is thinking about
you (Is 49:15-16)
- financials around $460 including school bus, lunch and lawn bags
So, thanks for your prayers, I believe we challenged students
to be strategic in their lives....
- 33 students and leaders
- 6 houses and 12 townhouses raked
- 4 families within Grace, 3 outside of Grace, other neighbors
were spur of the moment...
- approx 200 bags of leaves raked
- talk focused on being strategic, that we were doing more
than just raking leaves, thinking about being thoughtful and
what it feels like when you know someone is thinking about
you (Is 49:15-16)
- financials around $460 including school bus, lunch and lawn bags
So, thanks for your prayers, I believe we challenged students
to be strategic in their lives....
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Monday, November 03, 2003
interesting link about elementary school aged kids celebrating Ramadan and how schools are helping them out. I wonder, would the public schools be that interested in forms of Christian rituals?
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Now that we are in the beginning of Ramadan, this site has some cool resources to pray for Muslims. And you can get an email everyday during Ramadan for what to pray for. Very good info.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
wow. that world map thing is much much cooler than i thought at first. if you are into world geography, frontier missions or mobilization, you need to bookmark it. Check out the interactive digital atlas.
World Map Very cool, maps of evangelization and bible translation for all the countries (or most of them) in the world. Can also search by country profiles.
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Thinking about the best way to convey to the SPACE team (mostly students) that service is not an end to itself and this whole thing can be much bigger than just service projects. It has the potential to change the way students see others, the way they live day to day, the way that they view the world, not only around them, but the global world, knowing that most of the world still has never heard the name of Jesus.
“As I travel, I have observed a pattern, a strange historical phenomenon of God “moving” geographically from the Middle East, to Europe to North America to the developing world. My theory is this: God goes where he’s wanted.” - Phillip Yancey
. As quoted in The Next Christendom
. As quoted in The Next Christendom
Faith based service holds incredible appeal for the next generation of believers. In an email poll of the campus chaplains at evangelical Christian colleges, fifteen of seventeen respondents said they had seen a significant rise in student interest in service projects and missions trips in recent years. Short-term mission trips are particularly popular among today’s teenagers and young adults: the number of people taking them has increased exponentially, from about 25,000 in 1979 to 120,000 in 1989. By 1995, the number of short-term missionaries had swelled to 200,000.
The New Faithful Colleen Carrol
The New Faithful Colleen Carrol
Saturday, October 11, 2003
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Was doing some research for a small group leader at GCC for summer student mission for 2004. Looking at things that fit his criteria as well as being strategic, progressive (preparing his team for 2005) and taking care of logistics (meals, housing, etc.). Found some very cool other sites as well:
K - this one is for you. Destination Summit - Part of New Tribes Mission - specific to reaching the unreached.
Network for church planters among the unreached
Reaching the unreached people groups of NYC
K - this one is for you. Destination Summit - Part of New Tribes Mission - specific to reaching the unreached.
Network for church planters among the unreached
Reaching the unreached people groups of NYC
Sunday, October 05, 2003
Thursday, October 02, 2003
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