from July 5, 2015 prayer update

I am participating in a 12 month life & leadership coaching certification process through NCM. In August, after attending a three day training event in DFW with several dozen others, I will be officially certified as a coach.

An essential part of that process has been connecting twice a month with one of my NCM colleagues, Bill Mowry, who is modeling and mentoring me through the coaching process over the phone. I have read and processed through several good books as part of the training. Most recently I read Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. A quick and helpful read. He outlines five interrelated dysfunctions that teams commonly face. As I have reflected back on my experience as part of a wide variety of teams through the years, both as a team member and as a team leader, I have seen each of these dysfunctions significantly limit team effectiveness.

In April I was appointed as the regional field director for NCM for Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas. I inherited a small group of staff and volunteers. Over a period of many years, they have been conditioned to function as individuals contributors rather than as a team. I am working and praying toward each of us becoming part of a highly effective ministry team. The first step in this process is seeking to build trust.

Our regional staff currently includes Judy Miller in Austin, Anna Marie Peterson and Dee Seifert in DFW, Steve Stahl in Houston, 2 Nav associates (Oklahoma and Louisiana), and several NCM partners. I am asking the Lord for 12 additional staff and dozens of Nav associates and NCM partners over the next several years.

I envision and am praying daily that in five years we will have seven empowered ministry teams serving church leaders in this four state region. A ministry team will consist of at least two staff units and several Nav associates and NCM partners. Six ministry teams will be geographically focused (central Texas, DFW area, Houston area, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma) and one will be focused on Hispanic churches.

The vision that God has put on my heart is to meaningfully impact outreach and disciplemaking in 1% of the Protestant churches in this four state region (600 out of 60,000 churches). In addition, God has impressed on my heart eight critical success factors that will be our focus during the next five years. More on those factors at another time.

I welcome your prayers as we move toward building a strong south central regional team that will be powerfully used by God to advance the great commission through hundreds of local churches in this part of the U.S.

from June 7, 2015 prayer update

I recently read David & Paul Watson’s (father / son) 2014 book, Contagious Disciple Making. These men serve with an organization called CityTeam. Their stories are drawn from their experiences with disciplemaking / church planting movements in northern India and in isolated settings in the U.S.

The disciplemaking / church planting process they describe has been used very successfully in a variety of settings around the world. Jerry Trousdale’s (also with CityTeam) 2012 book, Miraculous Movements, is an account of the impact of these practices in Muslim north Africa. I had the privilege of participating in a small interactive conference featuring Trousdale a few years ago, when I worked with Pioneers. Many of Pioneers’ field workers practice the principles described in these two books.

Over the past decade, I have attended several multi-day training sessions involving this approach (or very similar approaches) to disciplemaking / church planting. I have been intrigued by it, but have remained somewhat skeptical about its applications in the Western Church, perhaps with the exception of the house church movement. Even though there are emerging examples in the U.S. in a variety of contexts, most success stories are among poor, oral learners, with people far from Christ and Christianity, in a simple church, house church context.

There is much in the book to commend it. I am convinced that chapter 6, on obedience-based disciplemaking, should be a core component of any disciplemaking model. Chapter 12 on prayer is excellent. This is a simple truth that most in the Western Church badly neglect. I believe it is foundational for the spiritual power to give birth to a movement or anything with a lasting impact. I appreciated the authors’ insights in chapter 13 into the limitations of “extraction evangelism and discipleship” as opposed to seeking to reach entire “silos” of people. Chapter 14 builds on the concepts introduced in chapter 13 as it describes the importance of identifying a “person of peace” as the doorway into silos. And chapter 15 describes the use of “discovery groups” as vehicles for evangelism, disciplemaking, and church planting. Small groups built around a fairly rigid, but very simple church model that is easily reproducible. And which can be facilitated by a very young believer with very limited knowledge of the Scriptures. This methodology is perhaps the most controversial piece of the disciplemaking model described in the book. It runs counter to almost all of our adult education, leadership development, and church planting models in the West.

How about you. Have you identified and been trained in a particular disciplemaking model? A model that you are seeking to practice regularly and with intentionality. If so, how is it going? And if not, would you benefit from getting some help in intentional disciplemaking? Either way, I would love to hear from you.

from May 3, 2015 prayer update

I made a new friend this month. His name is Ghasem. He was born and raised in Iran. I would guess he is a few years older than I am. He moved to the U.S. in the early 70s to attend college and has lived here since. He has been an American citizen for many years now. Let me share the story of how we became friends.

I am a big BBQ lover. There is a new BBQ restaurant that opened near my home 13 months ago. I have been going there for lunch on a regular basis for several months now. I came in for a late lunch recently, so business was slow. I took advantage of that slowness to engage the cashier in conversation. I suspected from his behavior that he was the business owner, so I asked him if he was. He affirmed that this was true. I then asked him several questions about how the business had been going and communicated my appreciation for their food. I could tell from his appearance and his demeanor that he was probably not born in the U.S. He was far more gentle, low key, and gracious than most Americans. So I asked him where he was born. After learning he was from Iran, we talked briefly about Iran. I then sat down to enjoy my lunch.

I was not more than a few bites into my lunch when Ghasem came by the table where I was sitting and wanted to talk further. So we talked for about 15 minutes about Iran and his experience in the U.S. for the past four decades. I told him that I would like to hear more stories from his life in future visits to the restaurant. He gave me his business card, and he returned to work. I was not even half way through my meal when Ghasem returned to my table and wanted to talk more. We talked briefly, then he asked for one of my business cards. He indicated his desire to connect outside of work. He said that he really enjoyed talking with me.

Why did Ghasem respond this way to me? First let me say why he did not. It is not because I am a skillful conversationalist and highly relational. Nor is it because I am a gifted evangelist. Anyone who has known me for a while can easily confirm that these statements are true. So why did he? I can’t say with certainty, but I believe it was for four reasons.
1) I pray for myself in the area of evangelism every day, that God would give me a heart for the lost, especially for those with little or no access to the gospel. Because evangelism does not come naturally for me.
2) I took the initiative to seize a small window of time to interact with Ghasem in the natural flow of life
3) I demonstrated a genuine interest in Ghasem as a person and asked questions about things that were important to him.
4) Even after more than 40 years in the U.S., Ghasem probably has few traditionally American friends. Because few Americans take the initiative to cultivate a relationship with people like Ghasem. Which is very sad.

I have added Ghasem to my list of people (I now have two couples and five individuals on my list) in my spheres of influence that I pray for daily to come to know Christ. I look forward to getting to know him and his family, learning about their worldview and religious heritage, and sharing with him in a very natural way the good news of the gospel.

I love to travel and would love to visit Iran some day. But chances are that will never happen. And the likelihood of me ever living there and serving as a missionary is very close to zero. In fact, only a handful of missionaries do serve in Iran. And those who do must have a legitimate business purpose to be there and keep an extremely low profile. Only 1/5th of 1% of the population know Christ. And yet less than two miles from where I live, God has placed a strategic opportunity with an Iranian (in all likelihood, a nominal Muslim) in my pathway. And he responded strongly and positively to my small actions. He visits Iran regularly and still has family there. What a privilege it would be to see Ghasem come to know Christ, become established in his faith, and then represent Christ to his family and friends back in Iran in a way that I never could.

I would love to hear your stories. What strategic opportunities has God placed in your pathway (where you live, work, and play) to share the hope that lives within you? If you are not aware of any strategic opportunities, begin to regularly ask God to open your eyes to see them. I promise you that they are there.

from April 5, 2015 prayer update

Easter is not the highest profile Christian holiday, but it is the most important. On Good Friday we celebrated Christ’s substitutionary death for us on the cross. Today, Easter, we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Please don’t let the world rob you of the richness of this deeply significant day by focusing on silly distractions like bunnies and candy eggs.

If Christ did in fact die for our sins and rise from the grave, the implications are profound. We have the hope of forgiveness, reconciliation with an offended God, power to live life well and for the glory of God, and eternal hope for the future. Good news indeed. News that needs to be clearly and unashamedly shared with others.

There are more than 40 million first generation immigrants in the U.S. Included among them are 856 thousand Asian international students (331 thousand from China, 146 thousand from India, 81 thousand from Saudi Arabia)? Saudi Arabia is one of the most closed countries on the planet. A very difficult place to make inroads with the gospel. And yet there are no limitations placed on what you can share with Saudis studying in the U.S. There are growing and wonderful opportunities to impact the nations, even the least reached globally, right in our backyard. We are the largest immigrant nation in the world. God is bring the nations to us!

A couple of years back I had the privilege to serve as an English conversation partner for six months for a young Muslim man from Saudi Arabia. He is now an undergraduate at a university in San Francisco. This semester I have been meeting regularly with a UT student (Xuebin) from a small community in central China. He is an all-but-dissertation PhD student in geography. He recently introduced me to one of his friends (Yatong), a visiting professor at UT. He is dean of the department of electronic and information engineering at Hebei University in Tianjin, China (one of the world’s largest cities), but he is here in Austin for a year. I am now serving as an English conversation partner for him. Both men are atheists, but are remarkably open to conversations we have had about Christianity. In fact Xuebin will be visiting a good evangelical church for Easter today. I am praying that both men (and their wives) will come to know Christ, and that I can play a part in that process.

How about you? Who are you bringing the good news of Easter to. I would love to hear your stories. We all know lost people where we live, work, and play. That is a natural place to start. Take a few small steps and allow God to surprise you by what He does. Who knows, He may even lead you to engage the nations, perhaps starting with opportunities that He has brought right to our doorstep.

from March 3, 2015 prayer update

Last month I shared with you about a class I am taking this spring through Columbia International University titled “the mission of God”. I shared a little about the mission of God in the world from one of our texts, edited by Mike Barnett and Robin Martin titled Discovering the Mission of God. I would like to continue with that theme in this month’s personal reflections.

My class is divided into four sections, with a focus on God’s mission in the Bible, God’s mission in history, the role of culture in God’s mission, and the role of strategy in God’s mission. We have wrapped up the Biblical and historical sections of the class (some great stuff) and are now considering the role of culture in God’s mission.

As I reflect back on this past month, it has been a wonderful adventure in joining with God in a marvelous variety of ways in His mission in the world. I am convinced that each month can be a wonderful adventure in joining with God in His mission in the world for each of us. All it requires is a basic understanding of what that mission is, followed up with a resolve to intentionally seize opportunities that He provides. Mix in some focused prayer, meaningful relational engagement, and a willingness to extend yourself outside your comfort zone and you have the makings for an exciting and purposive life. A life that aligns with what God is already at work doing.

In January I had the opportunity to participate in a meeting of Hispanic leaders in the San Antonio area. Last weekend we had a series of similar meetings with Hispanic church leaders in the McAllen area. We had a number of wonderful opportunities to connect with Hispanic church pastors wanting very much to see their churches meaningfully engage the lost and make life-long disciples and laborers of those who come to faith. We may even have a new NCM staff member coming out of these meetings who will significantly expand our ability to impact Hispanic churches in Texas. Did you know there are nearly 10 million Hispanics in the state of Texas?

Back in January I also had the opportunity to begin developing a relationship with Xuebin, a graduate student at UT from central China. Xuebin is a newlywed (separated by ten thousand miles from his new bride) and does not yet know Christ. But he is seeking. Last time we met he had just had his first long distance fight with his new bride over Skype and was still stinging from the conversation. We talked about marriage, forgiveness, and he gave me permission to pray for he and his wife (which I did with him). Xuebin and I connect again this evening.

In mid-February I spent a few days in snowy Manhattan, Kansas speaking three times as part of Grace Baptist Church’s annual missions conference. A medium sized church with a long history of sending workers into the harvest fields of the world. A church currently partnering with a denomination in Ethiopia to send African workers into the 10-40 window.

A week ago, I had the opportunity to help with a training clinic for the Houston area, focused on one of NCM’s excellent disciple making resources, The Ways of the Alongsider. The clinic was a great mix of pastors and laymen, young and old, men and women. It was fun to interact with two older widow women who had roots that go way back into Navigator history. Individuals, who many would write off as well past their prime, but are still walking with God, living a vibrant faith, and are continuing to learn how to be more useful Kingdom servants.

Since September I have been meeting at 6am every Wednesday morning in a study with a couple hundred other men in my home church. We are studying Gene Getz’s book, The Measure of a Man. We are spending a week on each of the 20 character qualities highlighted in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1 that should be present in the life of a church leader. I facilitate discussion for one of the small groups. A good time with these men every week.

This morning, I had the opportunity to participate for an hour with 15-20 others as part of a 24 hour prayer time for the persecuted church (think ISIS martyrs) sponsored by my home church. We prayed for the persecuted, the persecutors, for government leadership, and for the Church. Doing what Jesus told us to do, “pray for those who persecute you”.

Life is an adventure, an adventure that can have the mission of God right at its center. Would love to hear from you regarding how you have been joining with God in His mission in the world.

from February 2, 2015 prayer update

I am taking my sixth class this spring as part of a graduate program in intercultural studies at Columbia International University. The class is titled “the mission of God”. We are using a reader titled Discovering the Mission of God, edited by Barnett and Martin as our primary text. In the introduction to the reader there are some excellent points made regarding God’s mission in the world. I will share a few thoughts with you.

Barnett asks and answers a number of important questions. First, whose mission is it? “It is not the church’s mission. Neither is it primarily the missionary’s mission, nor just the mission agency’s mission. It is God’s mission. … we should be both humbled and disturbed by the fact that God has chosen the church as His instrument, His agent, in accomplishing His mission.”

Second, Barnett asks, what is the mission of God? (Latin: misseo dei) He points out that “misseo means a sending of someone with a duty or purpose to perform.” It is a mission that is first described not in the great commission, but given to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. The mission is that all peoples on earth will be blessed. “Everything between Genesis and Revelation is directly related to this mission of God, this sending of Himself and His people to bless all the peoples on earth.”

Third, Barnett asks, why this mission? The answer is simple: God’s glory. An answer that is very different than the man centered answers we usually hear. In Isaiah 48:11 we are reminded, “For My own sake, for My own sake, I do it, for how should My name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

Fourth, Barnett asks, where do we see it? He points out that we find it both in the Scriptures and in history. He claims that the Bible itself exists because of the mission of God. He goes on to say that everything we do as Christ-followers, as the church, and as para-church should connect with the mission of God.

Fifth, Barnett asks, how does God do it? His response is five-fold: God’s love, people-to-people, discipling all people, equipping the saints, and through the church.

Sixth Barnett asks, by what power? The apostle Paul says “according to His power” and then goes on to discuss the power of the gospel. I would add to that the repeatedly promised presence and power of God’s Spirit at work in and through the lives of His children.

Finally Barnett asks, where do we fit? He states that “After discovering the mission of God, we can no longer say that we do not fit. We are unable to pass the responsibility to missionaries or mission pastors. We are all called by God to participate in His mission of blessing to all people.”

Some great questions and some insightful responses. Where are you in your life-long journey of partnering with God in His mission in the world?

from January 4, 2015 prayer update

Happy New Year! January 1 always provides great opportunities for a fresh start. As I look forward to all that 2015 will hold, I do so looking to a God who delights in exceeding our expectations, but often in unexpected ways.

When I think about areas for personal goal setting, I think about things like character, family, finances, health, school, service, spiritual life, work. I have set personal goals for 2015 in all of the areas mentioned above. The things God has laid on my heart to focus on this year are not new. They are areas that I have been looking to God for growth in for some time. I have decided to focus on a few, with hopes of keeping these central and of making meaningful forward progress. Three I am highlighting in 2015 are:
• my character (dealing with impatience and a critical spirit)
• my health (consistency in exercise – 3x per week)
• my spiritual life (consistency in intercessory prayer – 3x per day).

I turned 60 in October. Entering a new decade of life is a not so subtle reminder of the brevity of life. This important truth is a great reminder of the need to live life with intentionality. This cannot be done well apart from personal goal setting. The apostle Paul states in Philippians 3 that “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” He goes on to say “Let those of us who are mature think this way”.

How about you? What personal goals have you set for 2015? I would love to hear from you. Happy New Year!

* * * * * * * *

“Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day.”
Denis Waitley

* * * * * * * *

“If you’re not sure where you are going, you're liable to end up someplace else.”
Robert Mager

* * * * * * * *