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!

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

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

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from December 7, 2014 prayer update

November 20-22 our NCM south central regional team met in Austin for a time of interaction and training. Our NCM national directors from Colorado, Roy & Margaret Fitzwater, joined with us to facilitate our time together.

Included in the photo are: front row (Cindy & Vincent Escandell, Wayne Lott, Dee Seifert, Judy Miller, AnnaMarie & Willie Peterson), back row (Blake McDaniel, Roy & Margaret Fitzwater, Steve Stahl), not pictured (Jen Howat, Kathy McDaniel, Cheryl Stahl). The Escandells recently joined our team and serve in Louisiana. Jen also recently joined our team and serves in Oklahoma. Dee, Judy, Wayne, the McDaniels, the Petersons, and the Stahls all serve in Texas.

I am praying daily for new NCM staff, primarily in their 30s and 40s, to join with our team of seasoned servants. I am also praying for a Hispanic couple to join our team to better serve the growing number of Spanish speaking churches in our region. There are two top 5 cities in our region (DFW – 6.8 million and Houston – 6.3 million). There are five additional cities (Austin, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Tulsa) of a million or more. And five more cities (Baton Rouge, El Paso, Fayetteville, Little Rock, McAllen) of 500 thousand or more. I am asking God for a NCM staff presence in all 12 of these key cities, and for a strong team in DFW and Houston to effectively serve many hundreds of churches of all sizes and theological bents in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Judy Miller wonderfully hosted our time together in her home in Cedar Park. We had good time together as a team in the Scriptures, sharing from our personal lives and ministries, and interacting over good meals. We also received some helpful training called “deep dive”. This training was designed to enhance our skills as certified coaches in our work with local church leaders toward NCM’s goal of helping create a culture of outreach and disciplemaking in the local churches we serve.

from November 2, 2014 prayer update

Emporia is a community of 25,000 located on IH35 about halfway between Wichita and Kansas City. It is home to Emporia State University, the 2010 division 2 national champions in women’s basketball and the 2009 division 2 national runners up in men’s baseball. This past week I had the privilege of serving as the speaker at 12th Avenue Baptist Church's annual missions conference in Emporia.

The theme for the conference was “redeemed, equipped, light of the world”. I spoke four times as part of this important event in the life of TABC. I spoke twice on Sunday morning on the topic, “we are redeemed” (link to the message), on Sunday evening I spoke on “we are equipped”, and on Tuesday evening I spoke on “we are the light of the world”. Each message was drawn from the book of Ephesians. Al Areheart has served for 20 years as the senior pastor at TABC. He is a graduate of Columbia International University, where I am currently involved in a graduate program in intercultural studies.

On Wednesday I traveled from Emporia to Tulsa to speak at the 10th anniversary gathering of Tulsa Mission Movement on the topic “church missions strategy for unreached people engagement”. TMM is a local missions leader network that I had the privilege of helping launch back in 2004 in partnership with a long-time missions mobilizer, John McVay. A number of Tulsa area churches have recently covenanted through TMM to partner together around a vision of reaching 100 UPGs (unreached people groups) by the year 2040. WOW! What a compelling vision. TMM facilitators: Jerry Lout, Justin Schell, John McVay.

Following the time with TMM, I had the opportunity to meet with a pastor from one of my supporting churches in Tulsa. Nate Nauman, is the new discipleship pastor at Fellowship Bible Church. Neil Beasley, who I have known for a number of years through the global outreach efforts at FBC, joined with Nate and me as we interacted around issues related to future discipleship efforts at the church. We discussed how Navigator Church Ministry’s GIDC (growing intentional disciplemaking cultures) process might serve FBC in pursuing the discipleship related dreams and goals they have.

I am grateful that I am not on the road all the time. I always enjoy myself, but I miss my family when I am gone. The five days on the road this past week proved to be an enjoyable and fruitful time for kingdom service and advancement. It is exciting and humbling to play a small role with what God is doing with many great commission focused local churches across the U.S.

from October 5, 2014 prayer update

One of my primary areas of focus since coming on board with NCM (Navigator Church Ministries) in the spring has been my personal training. Getting familiar with resources, processes, and training that will enable me to be effective in coming alongside local church leaders as they seek to create a disciplemaking culture within their congregations. Coaching is a significant component of this personal training.

Within NCM we have a coaching process that has been developed over a period of many years in partnership with Building Champions (www.buildingchampions.com) and Ministry Coaching International (www.ministrycoaching.org). The training takes place in the context of a reproducible coaching relationship.

My coach is Bill Mowry. Bill serves as the Great Lakes regional field director for NCM and is the author of one of our key resources, The Ways of the Alongsider. We will connect long distance every other week for the next year, as he coaches me personally and models for me how to coach others.

The coaching provided by NCM is more directive and intentional than the coaching I have seen used by others outside of NCM. It utilizes a traditional coaching process, but does so within well defined areas of focus. There is a limited version and a more comprehensive version of the coaching.

Tbe limited version focuses on a developing a life plan by developing a life mission statement and exploring with your coach seven important life areas (faith, priorities, health, family, friends, finances, and service). Each coaching session is preceded by a meaningful time of preparatory study and personal reflection. Accountability for follow through with past actions items is also an important part of the process.

The more comprehensive version is in four stages. The first stage is the development of a life plan. Stage two is the development of a vision plan, stage three the development of a ministry plan, and stage four addresses priority management.

Much of the work that I will be doing with church leaders will be conducted within a coaching framework, utilizing principles and practices I am currently learning. Please pray for me as I engage in this process. First, pray for a strong relationship to develop between Bill and myself. Second, pray that I would personally benefit from the coaching. Third, pray that I would master the reproducible aspects of the coaching and use them well in my work with church leaders.

from September 7, 2014 prayer update

In August I had the opportunity to participate in two Texas based Nav events, a gathering of DFW staff and laborers on 8/16 in Plano and the NavVida Hispanic national conference in San Antonio on 8/29-31.

Darrell and Cindy Jolley were recently appointed as our Nav city leaders for DFW. Darrell came out of the Nav work at UT Austin a few years after I did. He is a layman, is actively involved in his home church in Grapevine, has a personal ministry to Muslim immigrants in DFW, and serves as CFO for a business in Dallas. Cindy was one of Kathy’s roommates years ago, and came out of the college ministry that I led at Grace Covenant Church in Austin 30 years ago. It was a delight to stay overnight with the Jolleys while in Dallas and catch up on what is happening in their lives. The half-day gathering was a cross-mission event, designed to bring DFW Nav staff and alumni together who serve across the 10 U.S. based missions of The Navigators. Rob Mahon shared three messages with us out of Matthew 9:35-38. Rob has served with the Navs in Japan and Thailand, and has led the Nav city work in Albuquerque for past 20 years. He is the brother of John Mahon, who led the Nav collegiate work at UT when I was an undergraduate there in the early 70s.

It had been 8 years since the last NavVida (Nav Life) national conference. We spent three days together in a hotel on the San Antonio riverwalk. 5 main sessions, 3 workshop sessions, and 2 affinity group gatherings focused around ministry to the 1 in 6 Americans who are Hispanic. Old friends from my college days spoke in 2 of the 5 main sessions. Eddie Broussard, senior VP for U.S. field ministries for the Navs, was our opening night speaker. Eddie was involved with the Navs at Texas A&M when I was at UT. We co-led a Nav summer training program for UT and A&M students in Dallas in 1979, and were roommates that summer. Eddie has become a gifted communicator and has spent many years in cross-cultural ministry in the U.S. and Eurasia. Alex Mandes and I were involved with the Navs together at UT and then attended Dallas Theological Seminary together. Alex lives in San Antonio, is a former church planter, and currently serves as the national director for ethnic ministries for the Evangelical Free Church of America. It was a pleasure to reconnect with these old friends.

One of the big perks in rejoining with the Navs has been reconnecting as colleagues with friends that I have known for many years.

from August 3, 2014 prayer update

I have had the opportunity to spend time at Glen Eyrie, The Navigators national and international headquarters in Colorado Springs, twice this summer. First for a week of new staff orientation and fundraising training, and second for several days of interactions with NCM’s regional field leaders.

Colorado has had more rain than usual this year, so everything is green. With the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, it is a beautiful setting. But greater than the physical beauty of the location, is the spiritual beauty of my new colleagues.

the castle on the Glen Eyrie campus
I have lots of first impressions from these first four months with The Navigators. I will share about three that stand above the rest. A passion for Christ and His mission, a passion for digging deep into the Word of God, and a passion for intentional disciple making.

First, a passion for Christ and His mission. The Navigators motto is “to know Christ and to make Him known”. Passion for Jesus’ mission should flow out of passion for Jesus. If we love Him, we also love what He loves. This is at the very core of who The Navigators are, and it is evident in the lives of our staff as you get to know them personally. The apostle Paul, the model cross-cultural evangelist and church planter, speaks of his passion for Christ in Philippians 3:8. “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ”.

Second, a passion for digging deep into the Word of God. Depth in the Word in our personal times alone with God, in our discipling work with individuals, and in our coaching and training work with church leaders is central. It is the Scriptures studied, grappled with, and lived out that transforms lives. “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” – James 1:25.

Third, a passion for intentional disciple making. This is what The Navigators do best. I believe we do this better and with greater enthusiasm than anyone else. For the 130 staff serving with NCM, we have a passion for seeing this happen in the 400 thousand Protestant churches in the U.S. II Timothy 2:2 says, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” The Navigators believe that Biblical reproduction has not occurred until you see a solid third generation in place. The proof of reproduction is seeing someone you have invested deeply in turn around and do the same with someone else.

from July 6, 2014 prayer update

In June I read a book that was recommended to me in my new role with The Navigators. Real-Life Discipleship is written by Jim Putman, senior pastor at Real Life Ministries in Idaho. It is a NavPress publication. It describes the lessons learned and principles applied in disciple making in the planting and growth of the church where he serves as senior pastor.

In the book he describes disciple making as intentional, relational, and reproducible. He describes the disciple making process in five stages (spiritually dead, spiritual infant, spiritual child, spiritual young adult, and spiritual parent). The book is an expansion on the basic concepts found in Putman’s description and stages of disciple making. The stages are described well (and do not always conform to the stages that some churches use to describe their pathway to spiritual maturity). The author does a good job of providing windows into where a person is spiritually by the listening closely to the kinds of things they say and the kinds of questions they ask.

I found the book a helpful introduction to the disciple making process, written from the perspective of a pastor and practioner who has seen these principles at work over an extended period of time in a large, growing church that is doing a great job of raising of laborers and leaders. Outreach magazine lists the church where Putnam serves as one of the one hundred most influential in the U.S.

For those who are not well acquainted with the work of Navigator Church Ministries (formerly Church Discipleship Ministries), this book provides some great insights into what we do. NCM’s aim is to serve as catalysts and coaches as we come alongside local church leaders in helping create a disciple making culture within a local church. If we can ever be of service to your church, please let me know. We would be delighted to serve you toward the goal of becoming a more effective disciple making church, both within your community and among the least reached globally.