from January 5, 2014 prayer update

2014, a new year! Lots of new opportunities. I am not a big believer in New Year’s resolutions. But I am a big believer in personal and organizational goal setting. I have some great hopes, aspirations, and goals for 2014.

The apostle Paul was a forward focused person. In Philippians 3:13-14 he says, “… 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.”

As I enter my 59th year, I really want to see meaningful forward progress in my character development. There are three interconnected character areas that I am looking to God to change in my life: anger, patience / extending grace to those who give offense, and critical spirit. These are engrained traits that won’t change overnight. but they can change over time and with God’s Spirit’s enablement. I am looking to God to do a deep work in my life in these areas that will be lasting and Christ honoring.

In my spiritual life I want to carry forward my 2013 goal regarding prayer. I made some progress last year, but not as much as I hoped. I am asking God for consistency and fervency, to extensively claim Biblical promises, and to meaningfully connect with Him. One of my life goals is to become a powerful intercessor. I also plan to continue my practice of reading through the entire Bible each year accompanied with some simple journaling.

Kathy and I celebrated our 30th anniversary last month. I want to see growth in our marriage in 2014. It is easy for unhelpful patterns to develop over time. Kathy and I want to develop helpful patterns that will enhance our relationship and better reflect Christ to our children and to a lost world.

This year will be a year of transition for me with my work and ministry. I will be transitioning into a new role with a new organization early this year. I am looking to God to provide a new venue for kingdom service that better fits the gifts and passions He has placed within me. I am currently praying through three good opportunities and actively engaged in application and vetting processes. I look forward to announcing what this new opportunity will be soon. Associated with this will be extensive new staff orientation and training. Cultivating lots of new relationships. And a renewed focused on fundraising (as I will need to raise several thousand dollars in new monthly support for ministry expenses, medical insurance, retirement, and organizational administrative fees). Fundraising is hard for me, so I welcome your prayers. I am continuing my graduate program in intercultural studies at Columbia International University in 2014. My spring class is titled “Acts in historical, theological, and missiological perspective”. I plan to take a class in the summer and in the fall as well. And hope to complete my graduate program in 2015.

How about you, what goals have you set for 2014? Would love to hear from you.

from December 1, 2013 prayer update

I am teaching through I Peter in 13 sessions in the “PrimeTime” adult Bible fellowship in my home church. We are now past the half way point of the class. I have titled the study “holy living under authority and in adversity”. Not a very creative title, but very descriptive. I Peter has three major themes: holy living, living under authority, and living in adversity.

Peter discusses the importance of right thinking in becoming holy. Salvation is not only about what happened in the past, when we were declared “not guilty” by God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ. There are important present and future components to our salvation. The present component is often referred to as sanctification. It the life-long process, beginning at conversion, of being set apart from the world to God so that we might become more like Christ. This is not a pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, self help, approach to spirituality. It is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that starts with the mind and works its way from the inside out. A transformation that begins with allowing Scripture to thoroughly form our worldview, it then shapes our beliefs and values, ultimately resulting in lasting changes to our external behaviors.

The month of December for most Americans is focused on Christmas. It is a time of the year that I have mixed feelings about. Some of our thinking about Christmas is appropriate and firmly grounded in Scripture. But much of it is extra-Biblical, grounded neither in right thinking nor in honoring God.

George Barna in his book, Pagan Christianity, explores the pagan origins of much that we call “Christian” in the Western world today. Many of the traditions and practices at Christmas are described in this book. As a missions practioner, I can appreciate the effort of believers in any setting where they are a minority taking practices from their pagan culture and infusing them with new meaning and significance. In part that is what has happened with Christmas. The difference is that until recent decades, the “Christians” in the Western world have been the majority culture. We could have taken far greater liberties than we did to develop the traditions and practices at Christmas around solidly Biblical themes.

The crass consumerism and materialism that is now associated with Christmas each year offends many. And rightfully so. Stores and media now aggressively begin the day after Halloween to exploit the shopping frenzy of a people who seem to never be content with what they have.

What is Christmas really about? You already know. It is about God become man, beginning as a helpless infant to a poor, unwed teenage mother. It is about a man who led a perfect life. He never sinned, not once. It is about a man who taught as no one had ever taught before, as One with real insight and authority. It is about a man who regularly met needs and served others, sometimes in miraculous ways. It is about a man, who in the prime of life, was betrayed by a close friend, falsely accused in a farce of a trial, and condemned to a humiliating and extremely slow and painful death. It is about One who died as a substitute in our place, for all the times we have strayed from a far less than perfect life. And it is about One, who three days later, rose as a victor over death. The God-man who paved the path back to a Creator that we had turned our backs on. Providing life and power and hope and new perspective in the process.

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

Let us remember, celebrate, and worship this Jesus at Christmas this year!

from November 3, 2013 prayer update

I have heard from a number of sources that if our work and ministry engagements do not align at least 70% with our gifts and passions, it is not a good long-term fit. I believe there is a lot of wisdom in this statement.

Since I shifted from my 10 year role with ACMC into my role with Pioneers church partnerships team two years ago, I have been increasingly experiencing a lack of strong alignment. I love Pioneers, her mission, her core values, and her top leadership. But the fit I have with the team I serve on has been far less than a 70% alignment.

I am very grateful that Pioneers is supporting me as I seek to find a role that will better fit who God has uniquely made me to be. As I have reflected, sought input, and prayed deeply about this I have come to the conclusion that my gifting is primarily in four areas: teaching, consulting/coaching, writing, and administration. My passions lie primarily in six areas: adult education, discipleship, training workers, leadership development, developing ministry models and strategies, and church planting among the least reached.

I developed a life mission statement many years ago. It reads: “to honor God by serving as a model and catalyst to individuals and churches for reproductive engagement in the Great Commission locally and among the least reached.” This statement has served as a great benchmark for assessing opportunities that God brings into my life. It has been a huge help in determining whether I should pursue an opportunity or politely say no.

Rarely, if ever, does a job or volunteer opportunity provide a vehicle for us to engage 100% in our gifts and passions and also align well with our sense of life mission. But that 70% standard is an important one. It is one that is at the forefront of my thoughts and prayers as I seek out the next step God has for me in work and ministry.

How about you? Are you serving long-term in contexts that are a good fit for who God has uniquely made you to be?

from October 6, 2013 prayer update

Todd Johnson published an article titled “globalization, Christian identity, and frontier missions” in the Journal of Frontier Missiology in 2010. In it he discusses important trends with missions. One of those trends is that Christians have little significant contact with Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists.

The task remaining globally is predominantly among these three religious blocks. Sadly globally 86% of all Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists do not know a single Christian. They have few, if no ways, of hearing the gospel and believing. Even in the U.S., 60% of ethnic non-Christians do not have a relationship with a single Christian. And 70% of Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.

According to J.D. Payne, in his recent book, Pressure Points: 12 Global Issues Shaping the Face of the Church. The U.S. is the largest immigrant nation in the world, with 43 million first generation legal immigrants (Russia is second with 13 million). There are nearly a million international students in the U.S. (with 194K from China, 100K from India, 70K from South Korea, 34K from Saudi Arabia). And there are 571 UPG (unreached people groups) in the U.S. and Canada. This is less than 10% of the UPG’s globally, but still not an inconsequential number. God has truly brought the nations to our doorstep.

There are also 51 million religiously unaffiliated individuals in the U.S. (third to China and Japan). And this number is rapidly growing. Thankfully well over 95% of these atheists and agnostics are in relationship with one or more Christians, and do have access to the gospel.

In last month’s personal reflections I shared about the Explore God campaign in my home of Austin. 370 Austin area churches working together to engage in spiritual conversations in low key ways with tens of thousands of Austinites. I heartily commend these efforts. Wouldn’t it be great if something like this happened in every major metropolitan area in the U.S. But even if it did, we fail to properly understand important components of the great commission if we focus most of our outreach energies of folks like ourselves. We must make ethnic communities and individuals from Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist backgrounds a strategic priority.

I have been part of a multi-church, multi-generational missional community for 19 months. Our focus recently narrowed from engaging Austin area Muslims specifically to engaging Arabic speaking Muslims. Our objective is to see a rapidly reproducing Arabic speaking church planted in Austin. We are partnering with a Syrian pastor toward that end. We are a small missional community of a little more than a dozen and our impact to date is small. We saw two Arabic speaking couples come to Christ this summer. But our heart, our vision, and prayers are large.

Get out of your comfort zone. Engage the lost. And make special efforts to engage those with little or no access to the gospel. There are lots of ways to get started. If you’re not sure how to get started, let me know. I would be delighted to help point you to folks that can be a helpful resource.

from September 1, 2013 prayer update

Explore God is a two month city-wide evangelism campaign my home church is participating in. My senior pastor has been a key player in vision casting and recruiting with 330 Austin area churches that are involved. The campaign officially launches after Labor Day, following a great deal of preparation and promotion.

There are five primary components to the campaign:
1) mass advertising via spiritually oriented questions on billboards, radio, and TV,
2) basic training for church members in asking spiritually oriented questions and learning to listen well,
3) two months of seeker friendly sermons in 330 participating churches addressing basic life questions,
4) two months with thousands of seeker friendly mid-week small discussion groups addressing basic life questions,
5) encouraging church members to seek out opportunities to ask basic life questions where they live, work, and play with those willing to engage in these kinds of conversations.

In the gospels we see evangelism taking two basic forms: “come and see” and “go and tell”. Both are Biblical, but the great commission and the epistles focus on “go and tell”. Another more contemporary label for “go and tell” is ”missional living”. It involves living incarnationally among the lost, demonstrating and proclaiming Christ in relevant ways to them.

It appears to me that components two and five of the Explore God campaign are the components that best represent missional living, with component four also containing some missional elements. The greatest challenge and the greatest measure of success with this, and any evangelism campaign, is what happens after the campaign is over?

It would be wonderful if tens of thousands of seekers in our city hear and understand the gospel as a result of this campaign. Perhaps resulting in several thousand coming into a saving relationship with Christ. But that is aiming too low.

There are two other things that would thrill me far more.
1) GOOD FOLLOW-UP OF CONVERTS. Will these new converts receive initial follow-up in a timely manner? Will they be incorporated as long-term members into Austin area churches? Will they receive and respond well to quality discipleship training? Sadly most outreach campaigns devote little attention to these issues.
2) EMBRACING A MISSIONAL LIFESTYLE. Will the Christian participants in this campaign be permanently changed as a result? If not, we may need Explore God 2 next year and the Return of Explore God the following year, and Explore God the Sequel the year after that. An endless stream of high profile, resource intensive, evangelism campaigns in which to involve our congregations so that they will, for a brief period of time, engage the lost.

My home church conducted a survey of its members and attenders earlier this year. The survey asked many dozens of questions regarding a spectrum of important issues. One of the findings of the survey was that most of our members and attenders NEVER or RARELY share their faith. This is in a church that promotes outreach very aggressively from the pulpit and with its programs.

Will this campaign help turn this around? I hope and pray it does. Will members and attenders at my home church and the other 330 churches in the city start to more regularly and more effectively share the gospel where they live, work, and play? Time will tell.

Evangelism is a tough area of obedience for most believers. To be honest, it is a tough area of obedience for me.

How do Christians develop deep personal convictions that translate into how they live their daily lives? Convictions regarding the reality of heaven and hell. Regarding the hopelessness and eternal destiny of the lost. Regarding their personal responsibility to demonstrate and proclaim the gospel. Regarding their responsibility to take the gospel to every people group on the planet. That is the million dollar question. I would love to hear your thoughts.

from August 4, 2013 prayer udpate

Remember worlds A, B, and C from last month’s reflections? World A is unreached (less than 2% evangelical Christian), world B is underreached (2-5% evangelical Christian), world C is reached (more than 5% evangelical Christian).

With the U.S. being 29% evangelical Christian it lies solidly in world C. But not entirely. We need to make an effort to stop thinking about missions primarily from a geographic standpoint and start thinking about it from a people group standpoint.

Within world A is an important subgroup of unreached peoples called UUPGs (unengaged unreached people groups). It is the opinion of many missiologists that these people should be the top priority of churches and missions sending organizations seeking to be strategic in their great commission contribution. UUPGs have been defined as a people group where there is no church planting methodology consistent with evangelical faith and practice under way. Although these groups are found primarily in the 10-40 window, immigrants and refugees from these people groups can be found in many places around the world. Including in the U.S.

A statement I use frequently when I teach Perspectives classes is “God has not called the Church to simply engage in the great commission, He has called the Church to complete the great commission.” If this is true, the priority of UPGs and UUPGs is self evident.

According to a recent article by J.D. Payne, there are currently 3041 UUPGs globally. 106 of these UUPGs have representatives living in the U.S. Payne references stats from an April 2013 report titled “Global Status of Evangelical Christianity” published by Global Research with the International Mission Board. God is bringing the nations, including the unreached and the unengaged to our doorstep.

What are the implications of this for the Church of Jesus Christ? Let me suggest four.

First, we should view God bringing the nations to our doorstep as a stewardship issue. When we think about reaching our communities with the gospel, we need to place a priority on reaching international students, immigrants, and refugees. Especially those coming from UPGs and UUPGs. Strategic engagement should be an important component our involvement with the lost.

Second, we can seize these God-given opportunities to provide meaningful cross-cultural experiences for our congregations. Short-term mission trips should not be the only tool in our toolbox for giving members of our congregation cross-cultural exposure.

Third, the presence of representatives from particular UPGs and UUPGs in our community should be a factor in shaping the focus areas we select for our church’s international missions efforts. When local and global efforts can be married it has a synergistic effect and brings greater impact to both.

Fourth, engagement with local UPGs and UUPGs provides wonderful cross-cultural internships for individuals preparing to engage with UPGs and UUPGs long-term overseas. This should be a key component of sending church’s missionary candidacy process for training new workers.

from July 7, 2013 prayer update

Missiologists have divided the world into three easy to understand categories -- worlds A, B, and C.

World C is 5% plus evangelical Christian. It is reached. It does not mean there is no need for evangelism in world C, there is still a great need. But world C can be won to Christ if the existing Church is obedient to the great commission in taking the gospel, making disciples, and planting churches among its own people. There is no need for outside missionary involvement in world C. In fact, many believe it is poor stewardship of limited manpower resources to continue to send missionaries into world C. The U.S. is 29% evangelical Christian and is solidly in world C. Even its most “unreached” cities are in the mid-teens as a percentage of evangelical Christians. Canada, the Caribbean, most of Latin America, most of sub-Sahara Africa, Australia, and most of China are now world C.

World B is 2% to 5% evangelical Christian. It is underreached. It is the job of the national church in world B to take the gospel, make disciples, and plant churches among its own people. But there is still a place for missionary specialists assisting in support roles (not lead roles) partnering alongside the existing national church. Many believe we should stop sending most (not all) of the missionaries we are currently sending into world B, and let the national church do its job. Much of Europe is world B (sadly with Christianity on the decline, rather than growing).

World A is less than 2% evangelical Christian. 28% of the world’s population live in world A. 2 billion people. It is unreached. These are not people who have rejected the gospel message. These are people who have never heard. They are people groups with little or no access to the life-changing gospel message and a culturally relevant church. World A can only be reached with the involvement of outside missionaries. They lack the manpower to do the job themselves. World A should be the focus of most missions work today. It can be defined geographically. It is an area known as the 10-40 window (composed of north Africa, the Middle East, central/south/east Asia). It is where 97% of the world’s unreached peoples live. Places like India, Indonesia, Japan, and Pakistan.

Sadly only 2.5% of the world’s missionaries work in world A. 17.5% work in world B. A full 80% continue to focus on world C. Why? In part because of inaccurate or incomplete information about the world we live in and the status of missions in the world. But mostly because work among the unreached is hard, slow, and it can be dangerous. The easier work is already well underway.

Within world A is an important subgroup of unreached peoples called UUPGs (unengaged unreached people groups). These people should be the top priority of any church or missions sending organization seeking to be strategic in their great commission contribution. UUPGs have been defined as a people group where there is no church planting methodology consistent with evangelical faith and practice under way. Although these groups are also concentrated in the 10-40 window, immigrants and refugees from these people groups can be found around the world, including the U.S. God is bringing the nations, including the unreached and the unengaged to our doorstep. Next month, I will talk about opportunities to engage with UUPGs here in the U.S.