from June 3, 2012 prayer update

I have been reading and learning about the missional church for several years now – Barna, Cole, Frost, Hirsch, Roxburgh, Stetzer, among others. I also attended two Verge conferences, which targeted missional community leaders, exposing them to the stories and thinking of many of the national and international missional church leaders. After much reflection and prayer, I finally decided it was time to take the plunge. A few months ago I became part of a missional community.

A missional community is a small, closely knit community of believers. Outreach to a well defined audience where the gospel is clearly demonstrated and proclaimed is the glue uniting the community together. Our focus is local Saudi Arabian students learning English for nine months through TIEP (Texas Intensive English Program) in central Austin.

Saudi Arabia is one of the least reached countries on the planet, 92.4% Muslim. 27 million lost souls, without access to the gospel. It is an Islamic state, where the cost of conversion to Christianity is your life. It is the birthplace of Islam. It’s holiest city, Mecca, is the direction of prayer for Muslims world-wide five times daily, and it is a once in a lifetime pilgrimage destination (Hajj) for Muslims.

Our missional community is composed of five couples, one single, and me. We are a multi-generational community with folks in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. It includes a missionary couple with Pioneers (they are taking Christ to unreached Muslims in NW China). They were sent to the field from an Austin area church 10 years ago and are furloughing in Austin for a couple of years. It also includes two couples preparing to move and take Christ to Muslims living in the Maldives (off the coast of India). And the team is led by my dear friends, Richard and Sharon Hampton.

God has brought the Hamptons and I together in a variety of contexts over the years. Initially serving together as undergraduates through The Navigator ministry on the UT campus in the 1970s. We served together in a central Austin church plant more than 20 years ago. We often compared notes when we each served as lay missions leadership team chairmen in different churches in the city. We served together on the board of Mission Possible (a local inner city ministry). We have both been actively involved with the “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” class, where Richard currently serves as the Austin coordinator. And now, once again we are serving together through this missional community. Relationships don’t go any deeper than this, forged in many years of kingdom service together.

Richard and Sharon are empty nesters with four children and a growing clan of grandchildren. Richard is a small business owner, intentionally using his business as a vehicle for creatively bringing Christ to hundreds of low income housing residents around the state that live in units he manages for others. Sharon is among the best children’s missions educators I have ever met.

TIEP has not yet paired me with a student. That may not happen until the fall (although the program does operate year round). Pray that God would superintend this pairing with a young man who God has been preparing for the gospel, and one who will become a choice kingdom servant following his conversion. I am praying John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you.”

Until then, I join with the rest of our team in regular intercession. Prayer that is tearing down the spiritual strongholds that must first be overcome with those trapped in Islam. And we engage in frequent social events around meals with the students we serve (and their friends and family members). These events help introduce our community to the Saudi community living temporary in Austin, building relational bridges that open doors for meaningful conversation.

We meet individually with the student we are paired with each week on their turf or in a neutral location to provide a friendly environment where they can practice English with us. And every Friday morning our missional community meets for several hours in the home of one of members. In our missional community gatherings, we alternate weeks between learning more about ministry to Muslims / sharing stories and intercession for the students we are involved with. What an encouragement and privilege to be part of such a like-minded and like-hearted group of believers.

from May 6, 2012 prayer update

I have always loved biographies. I started reading them when I was a child and have continued with the practice for many years now. I draw inspiration from the lives of great men and women with focused lives that counted for something significant.

I recently read the auto-biography of Ted Fletcher, When God Comes Calling. It is the story of the founder of Pioneers. I share the story to help provide insight into the origins of Pioneers. But also to illustrate how God calls ordinary people, even older ones, to accomplish significant kingdom initiatives.

Most heroes, most great men and women, are actually fairly ordinary individuals possessing unusual vision, hard work, and perseverance. Ted Fletcher was such a man. Most men and women of God also possess a large faith, dependence on God, and a great concern for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom. Fletcher also demonstrated these qualities.

The book opens with a quote from Mark Twain. “Twenty years from now, you’ll be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did. So throw off your bowlines. Leave the still waters of the harbor. Catch the trade winds with your sail!”

Fletcher was born in 1931. As a young man, he became a marine. Ted came to Christ at a Billy Graham meeting while serving in the Korean conflict in 1952. Post-war he completed his college education. And he married his wife, Peggy, in 1956.

Much of Fletcher’s adult life was invested as a businessman. He served in sales roles with significant responsibilities within Mobil Oil and later with the Wall Street Journal. It was during these years that God began stirring Ted and Peggy’s hearts to go to the mission field. Sadly, sending agency after sending agency snubbed their inquiries because of Ted’s lack of formal theological education. So reluctantly Fletcher embraced the role of a “sender”.

During this time God gave Ted a promise out of Psalm 2:8. “Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your possession.” Sensing God’s leadership in 1973, he resigned his role as national sales manager for the Wall Street Journal. Little did he know that it would be another six long years before God provided the clarity that led him to engage in what become his life’s mission, the launching of a new missions sending agency focused exclusively on unreached peoples (those with little or no access to the gospel).

Fletcher launched World Evangelical Outreach, in 1979. It was renamed Pioneers in 1984. The work had small and humble beginnings in Papua New Guinea and in Nigeria, soon expanding into China.

Romans 15:20 describes well the initial and current focus of the organization -- “and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation”.

In 1982 WEO held it first candidate orientation program with 19 prospective missionaries.

A series of heart attacks, the first in 1986, awakened Fletcher to his own mortality and his need to more significantly involve others in the work. After stepping into a different role within Pioneers, the board passed the leadership of this emerging organization to Ted’s son, John Fletcher, in 1988, with John continued in that role until 1999.

In 1992 the U.S. mobilization base moved from Sterling, Virginia to its current home in Orlando, Florida.

In 2003, after several years of struggle with kidney failure, Ted Fletcher graduated to heaven.

Today Pioneers has 2450 workers on 229 teams among 146 unreached people groups in 95 countries. Approximately 250 new candidates align with Pioneers each year. The international work continues forward today under the leadership of Eric Peters, with the U.S. mobilization base led by Ted’s son-in-law, Steve Richardson.

Ted Fletcher, an ordinary man with an extraordinary impact.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” – II Corinthians 4:7

from April 1, 2012 prayer update

The Scriptures are clear regarding a literal heaven and hell. They are real places. Every human ever born will spend forever in one location or the other. With the location decided entirely by how they have responded to what Christ has done on their behalf. These are sobering truths.

We are all confronted with the reality of death at different points in our lives. Some of these confrontations are subtle, others are life changing.

I lost my dad to cancer 33 years ago. He was a young man of 50. But it was through his cancer experience that he confronted the reality of death. This confrontation brought him to the cross of Christ. A hardened and scarred agnostic came to Christ through the witness of a work colleague a few months before his death. And his life was transformed.

I lost my mom 3 years ago. I had the privilege of being at her bedside as she passed from this life into the reward she was awaiting at age 78.

Last fall I lost a long-time friend and former colleague with The Navigators, Dick Miller, to heart failure at age 72. And in January I lost a close friend and former mentor with ACMC, Dr. David Mays, to heart failure at age 69.

For those who know Christ, death is simply leaving behind a worn out suit of clothes and moving into real life as God intended. Nonetheless it often creates a painful separation for those left behind.

For those who don’t know Christ, death is a tragedy of unspeakable proportions. 27% of the world’s people live among a people group who have little or no access to the gospel. Tragic! They have not rejected the gospel. They have been provided with no opportunity to respond. Bringing the gospel to these people should be very high on the priority list of every local church.

On March 14 death struck again. My mom remarried a few years after my dad’s death. Before her passing, she had been married for 24 years to Dr. W.R. (Ray) Corvin, a man who had also been widowed. I was already a married adult when my mom remarried. Ray never attempted to be my dad. But he was a great husband to my mom, a far better one than my dad had been. And he was a good and godly man.



Ray was born on Christmas day in 1921, growing up on a farm in rural Oklahoma. He served in WW2. He came to know Christ personally through his older brother on his wedding day. He was a well educated man with a seminary degree and a PhD from the University of Oklahoma. He served as a senior pastor in several Methodist and Pentecostal Holiness churches. He was president of Southwestern Christian University in Oklahoma City for 15 years. And was president of the University of Biblical Studies in Oklahoma City (one of the first large scale distance learning schools in the U.S.) for another 15 years. Ray also had the opportunity to proclaim Christ in China, Cuba, India, and Israel. At the age of 80, a head injury in a tractor accident sped the onslaught of Alzheimer’s. Ray graduated to heaven 10 years later. He left behind a mind with no short-term memory and no ability to recognize anyone that he had previously known. I am delighted that he is now in the presence of the One he served for many decades. He is no longer hampered by a used up body and a mind that no longer works. I am proud to have been his step-son.

from March 5, 2012 prayer update

Last week I participated in Verge, a large conference in Austin targeting missional community leaders. Several dozen presenters spoke over a four day period, with the final day focused on God’s mission among the nations.

Clearly those who conceived and organized the conference get it, or they would not have included the final day focus. However, I was disappointed that so many of the presenters (many well known, nationally prominent promoters of the missional church through their writing and their speaking) did not get it. Certainly not all the presenters, but more than a few, spoke about social justice without any linkage to the Great Commission. And they spoke about the Great Commission without any linkage to the nations.

There was, however, a striking exception to this pattern. David Platt is a young senior pastor of a denominational mega-church in Alabama. Platt is perhaps best known for his book, Radical, and a follow-up book titled Radical Together. He spoke with great passion about the transformation the church he leads was undergoing as they reject the American dream and focus on extending God’s global glory. Platt was articulate, well informed, and actively casting vision for ordinary believers to engage with people groups with little or no access to the gospel.

Unlike some of the conference’s speakers, Platt gets it. He did a fantastic job of helping his hearers understand that social justice must go hand-in-hand with gospel proclamation. And that a focus on reaching the lost in our communities must be coupled with a focus on the nations (with a priority placed on least reached peoples).

I read Radical a couple of years ago and found it be the most challenging book I had read in several years. It closes with a challenge to the believer to engage in a personal one year experiment in which they undertake five simultaneous challenges:
1. pray for the entire world
2. read through the entire Word
3. sacrifice money for a specific purpose
4. spend time in another context
5. commit to a multiplying community

I just finished reading Radical Together. It has a similar theme, but is geared to the local church, not the individual believer. How do we pursue God’s global glory together? My boss liked the book so well, that he is buying it by the case and giving a copy to every church missions leader that participates in one of Pioneers church partnership forums.

A few quotes from Radical Together.

"God has called us to lock arms with one another in single-minded, death-defying obedience to one objective: the declaration of His gospel for the demonstration of His glory to all nations. … And it is worth it for you and me, because we were made to enjoy the great pleasures of God in the context of total abandonment to His global purpose." – p. 5

“The plan of God is certainly not confined to large churches or gifted leaders. The plan of God is for every person among the people of God to count for the advancement of the kingdom.” – p. 75

“What we need to understand is that Jesus did not command us simply to take the gospel to as many individual people as we can. Instead, He made it clear that His followers are to make disciples among every people group in the world.” – p. 82

“we are to be selfless followers of a self-centered God. But the problem is that we often reverse this in the church. We become self-centered followers of a selfless God. We organize our churches as if God exists to meet our needs, cater to our comforts, and appeal to our preferences. Discussions in the church more often revolve around what we want than what He wills.” – p. 105

Let’s get radical about the gospel and about bringing it to those who have never heard. Let’s give all that we are to seeing the Great Commission completed in our lifetime – discipling the nations by establishing healthy, reproducing, culturally relevant churches among every people group on the planet.

from February 5, 2012 prayer update

The Scriptures are filled with great examples of mentoring. Moses mentored Joshua. Elijah mentored Elisha. David mentored his mighty men. Jesus mentored the 12. Barnabus mentored Paul who mentored Timothy.


During the years that we were colleagues together in ACMC, I had a mentor too, David Mays. David left ACMC in 2007 to become the learning initiatives director for The Mission Exchange (formerly EFMA). David was a man I looked up to for a wide variety of reasons. He was a disciplined and godly man. He loved people and was deeply committed to the great commission, especially a focus on the nations. He was a fantastic practical resource to church mission leaders. Check out his web site. He had a great sense of humor and a dry wit. He was a well educated man, with a PhD in the natural sciences and a seminary degree. He had a work ethic that just wouldn’t quit. He was a good communicator and very practical with what he said. He was a published author, in fact, the most prolific in ACMC’s history. He was better read than anyone I know personally. He read, wrote, and made available to a broad audience summaries on about 200 books every year. He was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. And perhaps most significantly from my vantage point, he was a loyal and caring friend.

On January 2, my dear friend and mentor experienced heart failure and unexpectantly left life on this fallen planet and entered into a far richer life in the presence of God. I miss him already, and I grieve for his family. But I am delighted that he finished strong and has heard Jesus say “well done, good and faithful servant.”

David’s boss had this to say about him, “I could make a compelling case that David Mays has read more books, interviewed more thought leaders, and facilitated more mission-focused webinars than anyone in North America in the past thirty-six months. In his passing we’ve lost a treasure chest of kingdom insights but gained a powerful and inspiring finishing well role model. May David’s life and legacy challenge all of us to press forward as life-long learners, hungry for God and passionate about sharing the Good News with the nations.”

Brigada Today said this about David, “If you didn't get a book review from him at one time or another (maybe you were living on Mars?), you probably heard one of his webinars. In his typical well-prepared way, he modeled a level of excellence for me that was such a trademark, it might as well have been his middle name. In his work with ACMC, and most recently, with The Mission Exchange, he was always ‘Mr. Resource,’ and constantly improving the capacity of local churches and agencies wanting to make a global impact. But this past week, he went on up to see Jesus. David Mays will be missed, but not forgotten. The Mission Exchange might try to replace him, but they'll need five employees to come close to what David did solo and each of those five better be good. Bravo David. Job well done.”

Missions Catalyst had the following words about David. “My friend David Mays died last week. I admired and respected him hugely. David was a mobilizer and darn good at it; a first-round inductee into the Mobilizer Hall of Fame. His success in ministry was undergirded by his walk with Christ. I'll think of him when I'm choosing between reading an important book or playing Angry Birds. I'll continue to rely on his expertise when a church asks about a sticky missions issue and I think, ‘I bet that's on a Mays Stuff CD.’ And I hope and pray his example looms in my mind when I ask myself, ‘Am I giving it my all? Am I mobilizing with intent, empathy, wisdom, and humor? Is Jesus working through me as I work in His harvest?’ David Mays did these things. And Jesus worked through him.”

Solomon’s words in Proverbs 13:20a come to mind, “He who walks with the wise grows wise” Thank you Jesus for the powerful impact of David May’s life on so many, including me.

from January 1, 2012 prayer update

Below is Christianity Today’s list of the top 10 religious stories in 2011.

1. Rob Bell tries to legitimize universalism, prompting huge backlash. He later announces he's leaving Mars Hill Bible Church to work in TV.
2. States adopt 80 abortion restrictions in their 2011 legislative sessions, an all-time high (the previous record was 34).
3. Mideast Christians conflicted about the Arab Spring, especially as anti-Christian violence follows Mubarak ouster in Egypt.
4. John Stott, evangelical statesman, pastor, and builder of the global church, dies at 90.
5. Beijing's Shouwang Church holds outdoor services for more than six months, enduring mass arrests as it leads China's booming house churches in unprecedented demands for religious freedom.
6. HarperCollins, which already owns Zondervan, buys Thomas Nelson; it now has about 50 percent of the Christian book market.
7. How best to translate "Son of God" in Bibles for the Muslim world becomes a flashpoint, prompting Wycliffe to clarify standards and missionaries to pledge more civility.
8. Tim Tebow's prominent display of faith becomes one of the sports world's major talking points.
9. Largely Christian South Sudan votes for independence; persecution ensues for Christians in the Nuba Mountains and Khartoum.
10. The PC(USA) votes to allow noncelibate gay pastors, prompting defections from presbyteries. (Meanwhile, the United Methodists hold the line on same-sex unions amid a planned clergy revolt.)
Story #7 is one with great relevance in missions circles. It regards the tension between contextualization and syncretism. Where should the line be drawn?

On one hand we have Paul’s statement in I Corinthians 9:22b, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” One of many passages that illustrates the importance of contextualizing evangelism and church planting. Contextualization seeks to make the gospel as clear, winsome, and culturally relevant as possible. Tailoring it to the audience.

On the other hand is Paul’s statement in Galatians 1:8, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” One of many passages that illustrate the importance of avoiding syncretism and preserving the purity of the gospel message. Syncretism is mixing Christianity with something else -- animism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Marxism, materialism, New Age mysticism, secular humanism, the American dream, veneration of Mary, or anything else.

Sadly this tension, which is a healthy tension for any local church and any missions sending agency to grapple with, has become a highly divisive issue in the Church. Those on both extremes are often at odds with one another.

The “insider movement” in the Muslim world has become the epicenter of this tension. It has become such an important issue for many, that Pioneers has developed a formal statement of their position.

Regardless of where we may personally draw the line regarding this important tension, my hope is that we can embrace Paul’s statement in Philippians 1:18, “The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”

from December 5, 2011 prayer update

Twice annually (March and November) Pioneers church partnership team hosts a CPF (church partnership forum) at our U.S. mobilization base in Orlando. The intent is to involve a small group of church mission leaders (from churches with a pre-existing relationship with Pioneers) with our nine member church partnership team in a highly interactive two days together around the issue of local church / sending agency partnership.

It provides Pioneers with the opportunity to better understand the missions related objectives of the local churches represented, and it gives insight into where each church is in their journey toward meaningful engagement with the nations. It provides the local churches participating with the opportunity to better understand who Pioneers is and how we operate. And it provides both with the opportunity to begin to consider a future of deeper more impactful partnership together in church planting among the least reached around the globe.



On November 15-17, I had the opportunity to participate in my first CPF with Pioneers. 14 local churches (20 individuals) were involved in our time together. Most of these churches has one or more missionary candidates with us preparing for departure to the field. The remainder already have workers with us on the field.

We generally invite an outside missions leader to join with us during this time to provide input and help facilitate interaction. For this CPF that was Ellen Livingood with Catalyst Services. Ellen led 3 interactive sessions with us – “response to a compelling vision”, “proactive partnerships”, and “next steps”. We also heard from Pioneers US president, Steve Richardson, on “core values: behind the mission” and Pioneers US executive VP, Ted Esler, on “show and tell church planting”. Folks also were provided with a high level overview of the role of Pioneers mobilization, training, and member development teams by a representative from each of those teams.

We began each day with breakfast together, followed by a time of corporate worship and a challenge from the Scriptures from a Pioneers staff member. We split those participating into four groups (each group sat together throughout our two day gathering) to encourage greater intimacy and continuity in our interactions together. I served as a facilitator for one of these groups. We shared all our meals together and were housed together on the Pioneers campus for this event. So there were lots of opportunities for informal interaction.

Our church partnership team also led 3 interactive sessions – “the challenge of unreached peoples”, “proactive sending and care”, and “growing relationships that lead to results”. We wrapped up our time together praying for each church participating and the next steps they identified for their church through this intense two days together.

Our next CPF will be held at our U.S. mobilization base in Orlando on March 20-22. John Kless, lead pastor at Glendale Bible Church in Philadelphia for 32 years, and Eric Hyatt, global outreach pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis for 9 years, will be the outside missions leaders leading and interacting with us at this gathering. Churches participating are responsible for their travel costs. Pioneers provides everything else – housing, meals, transportation to and from the airport, and the event at no charge to those involved.