A new year is a great opportunity for new beginnings and for personal / organizational goal setting. There are so many good things to choose from for personal goal setting: spiritual life, character, work, personal ministry, marriage, parenting, health, finances, friendships, education, new skills, and the list goes on.
The things we set our heart on and direct our attention toward reveal a great deal about our values. What personal goals have you set for yourself in 2011? And what do they reveal about what you truly value?
Psalm 90:12 says: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 103:15-16 reads: “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.”
I temporarily lost my dad to death 32 years ago and temporarily lost my mom 2 years ago. I am now the oldest surviving member of the McDaniel clan. If I live to be 80 (which is older than either of my parents lived) I have about 8700 days left. If I only make it to 70, that becomes about 5000 days. That is not a long time.
The apostle Paul did not fear death, He welcomed it. In Philippians 1:21 he said: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” As I have gotten older, I too have begun to look forward to living in a sin-free environment in the very presence of God. This world does not hold the same allure it once did for me. But I also recognize that God created me for a reason, as He has every human that ever lived. I don’t want to depart this life without have accomplished what God uniquely created me to do.
Life is not about me asking God to bless me and mine, and to enable me and my organization to accomplish our personal goals. Life is about God and what He is doing in the world (today and throughout all of history). What a joy and a privilege to know that He has designed me to join with Him in His vast, timeless, and very significant mission.
As I embrace this view of life, my thoughts about personal goal setting change. I become less concerned about one year, measurable objectives (although certainly there is a place for these). I become very concerned about life direction, who I am becoming, and who I am living for. Because I am a slow and often a resistant learner, these translate into life-long goals. Four of the biggies that I can’t get away from are:
1) To know Christ more and more intimately as time passes -- thru the exchanged life, thru His Word, thru prayer, and through personal obedience to what I know to be true.
2) To become more and more like Christ as time passes. Boy do I have a long ways to go there (selfishness, lust, critical spirit, anger, . . . ).
3) To fully engage in Christ’s mission, which centers around seeking and saving those who are lost. Both in my natural spheres of influence and among the least reached globally.
4) To invest deeply in the lives of other believers who will eventually share these high level life goals. And to see my life impact multiplied as a result.
Would you pray for me as I continue to press toward the goal? And if you will share with me what God has challenged you to pursue, I would count it a privilege to pray for you. May 2011 be a year in which God receives great glory thru our lives.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
from December 20, 2010 prayer update
Merry Christmas from the McDaniel family! May your Christmas this year be focused on the One that left all the benefits of heaven to make God understandable to us and then to die as a substitute in our place.
Twice each year our ACMC staff gathers at Pioneers headquarters in Orlando for several days of interaction. Last week was one of these gatherings. It is always an encouragement and benefit to be with my colleagues from across the U.S.
We had the opportunity to interact with Pioneers’ U.S. president, Steve Richardson. It was helpful hearing his perspective on what is happening around the world among unreached peoples where Pioneers missionaries labor to initiate church planting movements. And we interacted with Steve Shadrach, mobilization director for the U.S. Center for World Missions. Steve is keenly aware of the heartbeat of young adults in this country and how to effectively engage them in the task of world evangelism. We also devoted a session to interacting around David Platt’s excellent new book, Radical (my best read of 2010).
ACMC is about to begin its 36th year of service to local church mission leaders. We are distinct from most missions mobilization organizations in that our focus is on engaging local churches, not individuals. The local church in the U.S. has changed radically since our formation in 1975. The birth of the mega-church. The spread of seeker focused churches. The rapid expansion of charismatic churches. The decline of mainline churches. The birth of the house church movement in this country. And the recent missional church movement. Among many other noteworthy changes. Because of these changes, ACMC has changed as well. And we will continue to change going into the future.
Under the leadership of Pioneers new VP for church resources, Denny Spitters, ACMC will make a priority in 2011 of seeking God regarding our future as an organization. Our sense at the front end of this process is that our mission will remain unchanged -- “ACMC helps churches mobilize their resources for effective involvement in world evangelization”. However, we will be developing a new vision statement. We will re-examine our core values. We will likely sharpen the focus and scope of our mission. And we will consider what methodologies will best serve us in accomplishing our new vision moving forward.
Please pray for our task force which will be grappling with these issues in early 2011. We will be enlisting the involvement of an outside facilitator, Matthew Ellison with 16:15, to assist us in this process. Our hope is to be able to sign off on this work at our next staff gathering in late June. And then begin the important work of realigning what we do in each of our areas of service around what God reveals through this process.
Twice each year our ACMC staff gathers at Pioneers headquarters in Orlando for several days of interaction. Last week was one of these gatherings. It is always an encouragement and benefit to be with my colleagues from across the U.S.
We had the opportunity to interact with Pioneers’ U.S. president, Steve Richardson. It was helpful hearing his perspective on what is happening around the world among unreached peoples where Pioneers missionaries labor to initiate church planting movements. And we interacted with Steve Shadrach, mobilization director for the U.S. Center for World Missions. Steve is keenly aware of the heartbeat of young adults in this country and how to effectively engage them in the task of world evangelism. We also devoted a session to interacting around David Platt’s excellent new book, Radical (my best read of 2010).
ACMC is about to begin its 36th year of service to local church mission leaders. We are distinct from most missions mobilization organizations in that our focus is on engaging local churches, not individuals. The local church in the U.S. has changed radically since our formation in 1975. The birth of the mega-church. The spread of seeker focused churches. The rapid expansion of charismatic churches. The decline of mainline churches. The birth of the house church movement in this country. And the recent missional church movement. Among many other noteworthy changes. Because of these changes, ACMC has changed as well. And we will continue to change going into the future.
Under the leadership of Pioneers new VP for church resources, Denny Spitters, ACMC will make a priority in 2011 of seeking God regarding our future as an organization. Our sense at the front end of this process is that our mission will remain unchanged -- “ACMC helps churches mobilize their resources for effective involvement in world evangelization”. However, we will be developing a new vision statement. We will re-examine our core values. We will likely sharpen the focus and scope of our mission. And we will consider what methodologies will best serve us in accomplishing our new vision moving forward.
Please pray for our task force which will be grappling with these issues in early 2011. We will be enlisting the involvement of an outside facilitator, Matthew Ellison with 16:15, to assist us in this process. Our hope is to be able to sign off on this work at our next staff gathering in late June. And then begin the important work of realigning what we do in each of our areas of service around what God reveals through this process.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
from December 5, 2010 prayer update
The tensions in life are often presented as a choice between A and B. I am convinced that many of these tensions are better viewed as both A and B, rather than either A or B. Demonstration of the gospel vs. proclamation of the gospel is one such tension.
For 150 years in the Western world, there has been a polarization between the theologically liberal (social gospel) vs. the theologically conservative (verbal gospel proclamation) when it comes to the responsibility of the Church with the lost. When I study the models of evangelism presented in the four gospels, the book of Acts, and the epistles, I see both prominently present. People come to faith in Christ in response to the clear verbal proclamation of the gospel (Romans 10:14-15). However, cultivation of the soil and the resulting openness to the gospel message usually comes as the direct result of selfless acts of service that demonstrate the reality of the gospel.
Perhaps a helpful illustration would be an arrow, with demonstration of the gospel representing the shaft of the arrow and proclamation of the gospel representing the arrow’s point. There is no penetration and impact without the force and momentum of the shaft behind the razor tipped arrow point. Both are absolutely essential.
For the past decade a focus on justice for the vulnerable and exploited, and benevolence toward the poor and needy, have increasingly been the calling card of the emerging generation (18-35 crowd) of evangelical Christ followers. May this new generation avoid the social gospel only error of their grandparents and great grandparents. May they recognize that as important as justice and benevolence are, they are of limited kingdom value if pursued in isolation. They must be coupled well with a clear verbal proclamation of the gospel. And may the evangelical boomers and busters that have preceded them embrace the power and increased effectiveness that this new emphasis on justice and benevolence can bring when strategically joined with intentional and culturally relevant evangelism.
May we powerfully demonstrate the reality of the gospel through our tireless service among the lost. And may we also boldly verbally proclaim the life transforming good news of Jesus Christ in our natural spheres of influence (where we live, work, and play) and among the least reached around the globe. What better opportunity to do so than during our culture’s Christmas celebrations.
For 150 years in the Western world, there has been a polarization between the theologically liberal (social gospel) vs. the theologically conservative (verbal gospel proclamation) when it comes to the responsibility of the Church with the lost. When I study the models of evangelism presented in the four gospels, the book of Acts, and the epistles, I see both prominently present. People come to faith in Christ in response to the clear verbal proclamation of the gospel (Romans 10:14-15). However, cultivation of the soil and the resulting openness to the gospel message usually comes as the direct result of selfless acts of service that demonstrate the reality of the gospel.
Perhaps a helpful illustration would be an arrow, with demonstration of the gospel representing the shaft of the arrow and proclamation of the gospel representing the arrow’s point. There is no penetration and impact without the force and momentum of the shaft behind the razor tipped arrow point. Both are absolutely essential.
For the past decade a focus on justice for the vulnerable and exploited, and benevolence toward the poor and needy, have increasingly been the calling card of the emerging generation (18-35 crowd) of evangelical Christ followers. May this new generation avoid the social gospel only error of their grandparents and great grandparents. May they recognize that as important as justice and benevolence are, they are of limited kingdom value if pursued in isolation. They must be coupled well with a clear verbal proclamation of the gospel. And may the evangelical boomers and busters that have preceded them embrace the power and increased effectiveness that this new emphasis on justice and benevolence can bring when strategically joined with intentional and culturally relevant evangelism.
May we powerfully demonstrate the reality of the gospel through our tireless service among the lost. And may we also boldly verbally proclaim the life transforming good news of Jesus Christ in our natural spheres of influence (where we live, work, and play) and among the least reached around the globe. What better opportunity to do so than during our culture’s Christmas celebrations.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
from November 21, 2010 prayer update
“Come and see” (attractional model) and “go and tell” (missional model) methodologies for evangelism represent a growing tension in the evangelical church in the U.S. A study of the New Testament will provide ample evidence for both models in the first century Church. However, the priority of the 5 great commission passages and the book of Acts is clear. It is “go and tell”.
Sadly the majority of churches in the U.S. are inwardly focused and are not meaningfully engaged in either attractional or missional evangelism. And the majority of larger churches are involved almost exclusively in well honed “come and see” evangelism events and programs (the most prominent being Sunday morning worship).
Research indicates that about 35% of the lost in the U.S. are reachable through attractional methodologies. Although that percentage is dropping, and it is weighted heavily toward a suburban demographic. That means that 65% of the lost in the U.S. can be reached only through a “go and tell” methodology.
What are the implications of all this? Let me suggest five among many.
1) There is a huge need to awaken the sleeping giant (inwardly focused churches) to their responsibility to focus both inwardly and outwardly. There are a many excellent books, DVDs, conferences, consultants, networks, and para-churches organizations that could positively impact these churches. Educate and exhort these churches to take advantage of the available resources.
2) The suburban mega-church needs to ask itself some hard questions, if it is vested primarily in a “come and see” approach to evangelism.
• Are they content to see the audience they are targeting continue to shrink year after year?
• Can they, with a clear conscience, continue down this road knowing that they are automatically excluding 65% of the lost in their community by doing so?
• Are they subtly communicating to their congregation that their only personal responsibility with evangelism is to invite friends to Sunday morning worship or to an outreach oriented event?
3) Churches that are inwardly focused and churches that are vested primarily in attractional evangelism need to take several important steps:
• regularly teach and cast vision for what the New Testament says about missional evangelism
• provide practical training for individuals in “go and tell” evangelism (entry level and more advanced)
• primarily hire staff with a “go and tell” heart and gifting, not “come and see” heart and gifting
• regular hold up as positive examples lay members of your congregation who are living missionally
• affirm and release, rather than seeking to control and manage, those with apostolic and evangelism gifting in your congregation
4) The creation and multiplication of missional communities may be the most effective long-term strategy to see a church morph into a missionally focused church. These are highly intentional small groups who are living life and growing in Christ together, as they engage a shared evangelism target, and integrate the fruit of their efforts into their community.
5) Start planting new churches that are missionally focused from day one (especially among underreached demographics of a community).
Sadly the majority of churches in the U.S. are inwardly focused and are not meaningfully engaged in either attractional or missional evangelism. And the majority of larger churches are involved almost exclusively in well honed “come and see” evangelism events and programs (the most prominent being Sunday morning worship).
Research indicates that about 35% of the lost in the U.S. are reachable through attractional methodologies. Although that percentage is dropping, and it is weighted heavily toward a suburban demographic. That means that 65% of the lost in the U.S. can be reached only through a “go and tell” methodology.
What are the implications of all this? Let me suggest five among many.
1) There is a huge need to awaken the sleeping giant (inwardly focused churches) to their responsibility to focus both inwardly and outwardly. There are a many excellent books, DVDs, conferences, consultants, networks, and para-churches organizations that could positively impact these churches. Educate and exhort these churches to take advantage of the available resources.
2) The suburban mega-church needs to ask itself some hard questions, if it is vested primarily in a “come and see” approach to evangelism.
• Are they content to see the audience they are targeting continue to shrink year after year?
• Can they, with a clear conscience, continue down this road knowing that they are automatically excluding 65% of the lost in their community by doing so?
• Are they subtly communicating to their congregation that their only personal responsibility with evangelism is to invite friends to Sunday morning worship or to an outreach oriented event?
3) Churches that are inwardly focused and churches that are vested primarily in attractional evangelism need to take several important steps:
• regularly teach and cast vision for what the New Testament says about missional evangelism
• provide practical training for individuals in “go and tell” evangelism (entry level and more advanced)
• primarily hire staff with a “go and tell” heart and gifting, not “come and see” heart and gifting
• regular hold up as positive examples lay members of your congregation who are living missionally
• affirm and release, rather than seeking to control and manage, those with apostolic and evangelism gifting in your congregation
4) The creation and multiplication of missional communities may be the most effective long-term strategy to see a church morph into a missionally focused church. These are highly intentional small groups who are living life and growing in Christ together, as they engage a shared evangelism target, and integrate the fruit of their efforts into their community.
5) Start planting new churches that are missionally focused from day one (especially among underreached demographics of a community).
Saturday, November 13, 2010
from November 7, 2010 prayer update
How much do you know about the world we live in? You won’t learn much from a Christian perspective from your favorite news website, newspaper, magazine, or TV newscast. But there are excellent resources available.
The seventh edition of Operation World is now available. The last edition was published in 2001. The world has changed significantly in the past nine years. This is a book that every serious Christ follower should own.
Used by thousands as a daily prayer guide for the nations, and Operation World provides current background and statistical information on every country on the planet. I use this book as a resource for reliable missions facts more than any other missions resource available. Great stuff!
From “Ask a Missionary”: “This book is the definitive global prayer handbook. With over a million copies of past versions being sold, this all new 7th edition has been completely updated and revised by Jason Mandryk and covers every country in the world, from the largest to the smallest. Whether you are an intercessor praying behind the scenes for world change, a sender, or an aspiring missionary, Operation World will give you the information necessary to be a vital part in fulfilling God’s passion for the nations.”
Paperback and hardback versions are available as are excellent supplemental CDs and DVDs.
Interested in other great missions related books and resources? Check out the resources available through William Carey Library and Pioneers.
The seventh edition of Operation World is now available. The last edition was published in 2001. The world has changed significantly in the past nine years. This is a book that every serious Christ follower should own.
Used by thousands as a daily prayer guide for the nations, and Operation World provides current background and statistical information on every country on the planet. I use this book as a resource for reliable missions facts more than any other missions resource available. Great stuff!
From “Ask a Missionary”: “This book is the definitive global prayer handbook. With over a million copies of past versions being sold, this all new 7th edition has been completely updated and revised by Jason Mandryk and covers every country in the world, from the largest to the smallest. Whether you are an intercessor praying behind the scenes for world change, a sender, or an aspiring missionary, Operation World will give you the information necessary to be a vital part in fulfilling God’s passion for the nations.”
Paperback and hardback versions are available as are excellent supplemental CDs and DVDs.
Interested in other great missions related books and resources? Check out the resources available through William Carey Library and Pioneers.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
from October 17, 2010 prayer email
Below is an article I wrote recently for plantR, Austin’s local church planters’ web site, titled “BIFOCAL VISION”.
We find the primary marching orders of the local church in the 5 New Testament Great Commission passages. Center stage in each of these passages is the responsibility of all Christ followers, as sent ones, to incarnationally engage in evangelism and disciple making, individually and corporately. This is the foundation of any effective church planting model.
What we understand theologically, we tend to practically dismiss and rationalize away. A key element in four of these Great Commission passages is the priority of the unreached globally – “of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), “Go into all the world … to all creation” (Mark 16:15), “to all nations” (Luke 24:47), “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It is not enough, if we profess to follow Christ, to focus exclusively on local opportunities for demonstrating and proclaiming the gospel (where 10-20% are already believers), and then discipling and banding into reproducing communities those that come to know Christ. We must have a bifocal vision – on our local community and on the nations where Christ is not yet widely known (especially where less than 1% are already believers).
As a former bi-vocational church planter, I know how hard it can be to attempt to keep all the plates spinning in the first few years of a new church plant. This is especially true if your model is not simple and your mature colleagues are few. However, it is vital that the key principles and practices that you hope to see your new church practicing 10-20 years down the road be engrained from day one. It is extremely difficult to seek to broaden or change your church’s DNA 3-5 years down the road.
New churches that seriously embrace a bifocal vision from day one consistently discover that local engagement feeds international engagement, and vice versa. Missions (intentional local and international cross-cultural outreach) is not just one more activity to squeeze into an already overflowing agenda. You can cultivate a focus on living missionally where you live, work, and play. And simultaneously recruit and equip those in your new church to go, send, welcome, and mobilize others, while engaging in one or two prayerfully and strategically selected opportunities among the least reached outside the U.S.
We find the primary marching orders of the local church in the 5 New Testament Great Commission passages. Center stage in each of these passages is the responsibility of all Christ followers, as sent ones, to incarnationally engage in evangelism and disciple making, individually and corporately. This is the foundation of any effective church planting model.
What we understand theologically, we tend to practically dismiss and rationalize away. A key element in four of these Great Commission passages is the priority of the unreached globally – “of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), “Go into all the world … to all creation” (Mark 16:15), “to all nations” (Luke 24:47), “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It is not enough, if we profess to follow Christ, to focus exclusively on local opportunities for demonstrating and proclaiming the gospel (where 10-20% are already believers), and then discipling and banding into reproducing communities those that come to know Christ. We must have a bifocal vision – on our local community and on the nations where Christ is not yet widely known (especially where less than 1% are already believers).
As a former bi-vocational church planter, I know how hard it can be to attempt to keep all the plates spinning in the first few years of a new church plant. This is especially true if your model is not simple and your mature colleagues are few. However, it is vital that the key principles and practices that you hope to see your new church practicing 10-20 years down the road be engrained from day one. It is extremely difficult to seek to broaden or change your church’s DNA 3-5 years down the road.
New churches that seriously embrace a bifocal vision from day one consistently discover that local engagement feeds international engagement, and vice versa. Missions (intentional local and international cross-cultural outreach) is not just one more activity to squeeze into an already overflowing agenda. You can cultivate a focus on living missionally where you live, work, and play. And simultaneously recruit and equip those in your new church to go, send, welcome, and mobilize others, while engaging in one or two prayerfully and strategically selected opportunities among the least reached outside the U.S.
Monday, October 4, 2010
from October 3, 2010 prayer email
ACMC is a 35 year old missions mobilization organization. We came under Pioneers umbrella in 2007. This is the last in a series of five reflections designed to better familiarize you with the 16 areas in which ACMC provides practical services for local church mission leaders. Please contact me if we can be of service to your church!
Our mission statement reads “ACMC helps churches mobilize their resources for effective involvement in world evangelization.” Our motto provides insight into a vital part of our methodology: “churches helping churches with missions.”
ACMC provides practical services in 16 areas organized under four broad headings:
1. learning
2. leading
3. sending
4. engaging culture
This reflections will briefly describe the four areas included under the fourth heading – ENGAGING CULTURE.
MISSIONAL CULTURE: The Great Commission is at the very center of God’s mission in the world. Seeing your local church place this at the center of their mission should be a top priority – moving toward the goal of seeing each member of your congregation actively demonstrating and proclaiming the gospel. ACMC can help your church develop the DNA to be outreach focused, both locally and globally.
INCARNATIONAL MINISTRY: “The Word (Jesus Christ) became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) We too must put flesh on the gospel message and live attractive and compelling lives among those we are seeking to reach and disciple. ACMC can help you learn to relevantly and relationally present Christ on the turf of the lost, not relying primarily on attractional programs and events to bring the lost to your church’s campus.
LOCAL OUTREACH: With each passing year our cities are becoming more and more diverse. Hispanics, African Americans, Asians are rapidly becoming the majority populations in many of our urban centers. The poor, the disenfranchised, and the forgotten desperately need outreach efforts relevantly focused toward them. ACMC can help you impact in your Samaria, the cross-cultural opportunities in your midst.
SHORT TERM: 1.5 million Americans go on a short-term mission trip every year. 1/3 of all missions spending in the U.S. goes toward these trips. There is an upside and a downside to this explosion with short-term work in the past 15 years. ACMC can help you look at what you are doing short-term with a critical eye -- increasing effectiveness, becoming more strategic, and giving appropriate concern for the stewardship issues involved with this big piece of the missions puzzle.
Our assistance to church mission leaders is made available through:
• conferences / training events
• local mission leader networks
• consulting / coaching
• developing practical mission resources
• partnership with other mission mobilization organizations.
Our mission statement reads “ACMC helps churches mobilize their resources for effective involvement in world evangelization.” Our motto provides insight into a vital part of our methodology: “churches helping churches with missions.”
ACMC provides practical services in 16 areas organized under four broad headings:
1. learning
2. leading
3. sending
4. engaging culture
This reflections will briefly describe the four areas included under the fourth heading – ENGAGING CULTURE.
MISSIONAL CULTURE: The Great Commission is at the very center of God’s mission in the world. Seeing your local church place this at the center of their mission should be a top priority – moving toward the goal of seeing each member of your congregation actively demonstrating and proclaiming the gospel. ACMC can help your church develop the DNA to be outreach focused, both locally and globally.
INCARNATIONAL MINISTRY: “The Word (Jesus Christ) became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) We too must put flesh on the gospel message and live attractive and compelling lives among those we are seeking to reach and disciple. ACMC can help you learn to relevantly and relationally present Christ on the turf of the lost, not relying primarily on attractional programs and events to bring the lost to your church’s campus.
LOCAL OUTREACH: With each passing year our cities are becoming more and more diverse. Hispanics, African Americans, Asians are rapidly becoming the majority populations in many of our urban centers. The poor, the disenfranchised, and the forgotten desperately need outreach efforts relevantly focused toward them. ACMC can help you impact in your Samaria, the cross-cultural opportunities in your midst.
SHORT TERM: 1.5 million Americans go on a short-term mission trip every year. 1/3 of all missions spending in the U.S. goes toward these trips. There is an upside and a downside to this explosion with short-term work in the past 15 years. ACMC can help you look at what you are doing short-term with a critical eye -- increasing effectiveness, becoming more strategic, and giving appropriate concern for the stewardship issues involved with this big piece of the missions puzzle.
Our assistance to church mission leaders is made available through:
• conferences / training events
• local mission leader networks
• consulting / coaching
• developing practical mission resources
• partnership with other mission mobilization organizations.
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