Lessons from Henry and Richard Blackaby

A couple of weeks ago , I attended a meeting of Church Planting Missionaries from around the US and Canada. Leading the Bible study on our last day was Henry and Richard Blackaby. This time with them brought back memories because it was Henry who led the Bible study for my missionary group when I first became a missionary with the then Home Mission Board.


The one thing that stuck out to me as I listened to Dr. Blackaby speak was that his message was the same as it was back in 1988. GOD IS AT WORK AND HE INVITES US TO JOIN HIM.


So often we forget that God is on a mission in the world to redeem His creation back to a relationship with Him. It is almost like when we accept Christ and we decide to join Him in His work, we tell God to sit back, I got this now. I will do it and you can watch. Richard Blackaby shared a good example of this mentality of taking over for God. Richard shared about a church who was struggling to find a way to reach their community. This church began to pray and earnestly seek God on how to do this. As they prayed God began to reveal to them to host a community picnic and invite their neighbors to come. God began to reveal to people what they needed to do to resource the event. The result was God blessed and people were reached for the Kingdom.


Guess what this church did the following year? That's right. They did another picnic. This time though they did not pray as much. The following year, they did the same and with less prayer. It seems that their success in their method made them forget about God.


It seems that all of us forget this. We want to follow God. We see Him work in one way and we decide that is the way He always works and we adopt that way and stick with it. We cannot keep thinking that God works the same way each time and every time. It seems that once God has revealed and blessed a way to work for Him, that we seem to then tell Him to step back and let us do it.

As we look at scripture, God did not work the same way twice. As we begin to fall back or depend on our own mindsets, methods and patterns of success, we rob ourselves of seeing a working of God. See God is at work and He wants to work through us. The question is: Are we letting our past success and our methods keep us from being in tune to what God wants to do?

Success is remaining alert in prayer, and God will share His heart and purpose with you.

Evangelism Done in A Missional Way

Over the last couple of years there has been a buzz word going around in evangelical circles. This word is missional. It has come to be known as many things from the church going out and doing community projects; being concerned about our environment; going to a homeless shelter once a week to feed the homeless or give money to worthy causes. Like most Christian terminology there seems to be many definitions. Often these definitions are designed to fit our view or desire for it in our comfort zone.

So let me throw my definition in the ring: Being a missional church means: a community of Christ-followers sent to live out the mission of God. What is that mission? The mission of God or Missio Dei is that God is the initiator of His mission to redeem for Himself a special people from all of the peoples of the world. He sent His Son for this purpose and He sends the Church into the world with the message of the Gospel for the same purpose. Our mission and purpose is to join God in His mission as His people in seeing that mankind comes back to its original purpose and that is worshipping and glorifying God.

How does this affect the way that we do evangelism? The best ways to explain this is to refer to The Celtic Way of Evangelism by George G. Hunter III. In his book, Hunter explores the methods of Patrick of Ireland and how he used what is termed “The Celtic Way” to evangelize most of Ireland in the fifth century.

According to Hunter and other historians, Patrick did not build churches or cathedrals for preaching and worship. Rather, he and others went into the villages of Ireland and set up communities. Once in a village, they would invite the unbeliever into the community, and engage them in ministry and conversation. The Celts used a conversational evangelism using terminology or language that they could relate to and focusing on answering the questions of the unbeliever rather than pushing them along a predetermined presentation and then invite them to a commitment to Christ and the ministry of the community. Hunter says that, in the Celtic community, "seekers" often came to Christ in a matter of days or weeks as a result of participating in the life of the Christian community.

Missional evangelism is living incarnationally out the mission of God as the Celtic missionaries. We are sent by God to live in our communities, engaging unbelievers in conversation while using relevant language and invite them to be a part of our life as we are a part of theirs. For the Celts, evangelism and discipleship were synonymous. As we live among unbelievers, we can share the truths of God, scripture and Christ on daily basis with the intention that as unbelievers hear these teachings the Holy Spirit will use them to draw those without Christ to a relationship with Him.

For the Celtic missionaries, being missional was doing evangelism and discipleship wherever they were, everyday because that was their life and it was being a part of the movement of God in this world. This passion of the Celts should be the same passion of the Church to today. Like the Celtic missionaries, we are a community of Christ followers sent to live out the mission with God.

Lesson of The Seagull

I had an interesting experience on the beach when I lived in Florida that illustrated the condition of our world and the church. I was with a group of students who were having a picnic. As you know, if you are having a picnic on the beach then there is going to be seagulls. This one particular seagull me a very valuable lesson that day.

As the students were enjoying their meal, this particular seagull became entangled in a string tied to a tree. As the seagull struggled to get loose, it became more and more agitated. The more it struggled, the more it became entangled.

Seeing this, one of the students walked up to the seagull and tried to release it. The seagull began to try and attack the student. Another nearby student decided since the seagull was being uncooperative and combative; he would club the bird to stun him so the other student could save him from the string. Before this could happen however, the other student was able to free the seagull and he flew off.

This is a perfect picture of how the world sometimes response to the gospel and how the church responds to their rejection. We want to help the lost but sometimes they are unresponsive or combative because they don’t know that we are trying to help. Then when the lost don’t respond to the way we want or don’t listen, we either want to “clobber” them with our message or we just want to right them off.

The sad part of this whole story was the number of us, including myself who sat and watch. We gave advice from the sidelines but we never really tried to help. At least the two young men were trying to help the seagull, the rest of us were fascinated by the scene.

The lesson for us as the church. The world is entangled in sin and destined for destruction without Christ. They are going to fight, reject and wonder what we are trying to do. Yet, this does not change the fact that the Holy Spirit has given us the power and the message to help them become untangled for a life of sin. We don’t clobber them; we love them, try to understand their context and reach out to them in love..

The second lesson is that we need to get involved. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and give advice. However, the Great Commission calls us to be involved, not sitting on sidelines watching the scenery. With the large number of unchurched in our neighborhoods, it is time that each of us begin to help others become untangled from a life of sin and soar to freedom in Christ Jesus. Lets work together to see that happen

Thoughts About Mid Life.

46 years of age has not been good to me! I turned 46 and sometime later had to buy bi-focals. I had to have treatments on my foot for nerve problems. My wife mistakly thought the grey in my beard was toothpaste and a lady mistaked my son as my grandson. Not good!

To top all of this off. I went to one of our new church plants the other week and I realized that I was the oldest person in the room. This was not a very comforting thought. I looked around and saw all of these younger people and realize that I was not one of the guys but rather one of those older people I used to look up to for advice. I realize MID-LIFE HAD ARRIVED!

Now I know some of you are having a chuckle over this. In a way I am too. I’m not planning on going out and buying a sports car, change my wardrobe or take up sky diving (I don’t bounce as well as I used too). I am not going to consider liposuction or a face lift. It wouldn’t help anyway

However, I am going to do something that I observed in these young people in this new church. No I am not going to pierce my ear. I got enough holes in my head. What I am going to do is renew my passion for God. Each one of these young people was hungering to learn more about God and his truths. They desired to apply those truths to their lives. I thought to myself, this is why we plant churches: being a part of seeing people come to a deep passion for God. This is what it is all about, having a passion for God and letting it be contagious to others!!

How many people we could reach if were really passionate about God and what He has done for us? I read a statement the other day. It is by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a French pilot, writer and author of 'The Little Prince. He wrote “If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea" If we want to see a movement of God in our lives, in our neighborhoods, our churches, or our convention we don’t need programs, better structures or marketing plans. We first need as believers to learn to long after deep intimacy with God!

That is my desire and the desire of all Christians: To find people who do not have that intimacy with God, send out among them a person or persons who will live out that longing for God before them and teach others to long after Him. I have come to realize that it is not a desire or passion to reach the lost that we need to plant churches or do ministry even though we should desire to reach the lost. It is when we desire God, draw closer to Him in our relationship, and then we gain His passion to see others come to know Him.

My mid-life has taught me to become young again, not physically or appearance but rather become young again by renewing my passion for the Lord. My prayer would be that all of us as would have the same mid-life awakening. Let’s Get Passionate About Our God and Who He Is!!!

DISTRACTIONS

"I'm not easily distracted... Oh Look a Squirrel!!" Its something we laugh at but it has become all too prevelant these days. Being distracted by something that looks better

Distractions are big among leaders now. I spoke with a pastor the other day who is doing a consultant job on the side; making trips to other parts of the country to see new innovative churches; talking to people about making a movie with his church people and then he asked me a question: “I wonder why my church is not really growing?” Maybe because of what I call pastoral or church ADD. Could it be the hard work or the wanting to be someone other than a pastor or maybe pride cause this pastor to go..... Oh look a Squirrel!

I like how Nehemiah handled distractions and Ministerial ADD in Nehemiah 6. There is a lesson for all of us.

KEEP WORKING IN SPITE OF DIVERSIONS. Nehemiah’s enemies they tried to sidetrack him. They said, Nehemiah, let's have a peace conference. Let's get together and discuss. They mentioned the plain of Ono, twenty miles north of Jerusalem. What could be wrong with that? But Nehemiah said, I'm carrying on a great project and I can't go down. Why should I stop the work on the wall and go down to you? He's saying, I'm not coming down. He would not be distracted until the wall was finished.

The time for discussion is past. It's time for work. Have you known people that want to talk more than they want to work? They discuss to stop you from working? That's what's happening here. Many churches never accomplish anything because everything they do, they assign to a committee and then they table it More than that, it would delay the project. "Why should I stop and come down to you when the work has not been finished?" You don't want to discuss, or debate. You have a hidden agenda and want to delay the thing. You want to keep it from being built."

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. The reason why Nehemiah finished it he wouldn't let anything distract him. He kept his eyes on his goal. They came to him four times. He said no each time.

YOU KEEP WORKING IN SPITE OF SLANDER. They tried to slander Nehemiah. You're just trying to build an empire. We know what you're doing. They were challenging his motives. They said, You're setting yourself up as king and you're hiring prophets to promote yourself. They sent this letter unsealed. It was like a letter to the editor. They wanted everybody to read it. It's meant to stir up rumors.

Anybody that sets big goals is going to be criticized and slandered by people who set no goals. Failures hate successes. Who is the most falsely accused man in history? Jesus. Jesus said, "Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven."

Nehemiah discerns their motive. v. 9, I know what you guys are doing, you're trying to make me upset so I'll stop working and start defending myself. Have you ever had to stop work on something because somebody was criticizing you and start defending yourself? Nehemiah said I'm not going to get caught in that trap. I'm not going to start responding to rumors and innuendos. I'm not going to get discouraged and quit. Probably the most difficult thing to do as a leader is to handle false accusations. You want to give up! Nehemiah said I'm not going to do that. He denied the accusation and prayed for the strength. v. 9 "They were all trying to frighten us thinking, `Their hands will get too weak for the work and it won't be completed.'" He said, I'm not going to get involved in an argument

Abraham Lincoln: "If I were to try to read, much less answer all the attacks made against me this shop would close for business. I do my best, the very best I know how, the very best I can. I man to keep on doing it until the end. And if the end brings me out wrong, then ten angels swearing that I was right wouldn't make a difference." Don’t take time from the task for silly fights.

KEEP WORKING IN SPITE OF THREATS:If you want to be a leader, keep working in spite of danger.
Now they're trying to scare Nehemiah by danger. Evidently this man, Shemaiah, a friend of Nehemiah's was evidently gotten to by the bad guy Sanballat and bought him off. He was told "Go tell your buddy Nehemiah there's an assignation plot on his life. We've put a hit man out on him. The only way he could be safe is to run and hide in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The bad guys won't follow in there for fear of God."

Nehemiah's response, v. 11, "I said, `Should a man like me run into the temple to save his life? I will not go.'" He would keep on working in spite of danger. Why didn't he give into this?
It would make him look like a coward. "Should a man like me run away?" I'm the leader of this thing. I'm building the wall around Jerusalem. If I run and hide in the temple what's that going to do to the morale of the people? .

"I realized that God had not sent him" Nehemiah was a very perceptive person. He realized that this wasn't advise from the Lord. This guy said he was from God, "I know! I have a word to you from the Lord. Run and hide in the Temple." Have you noticed that some people who say they're speaking for God, aren't? Some people say, "I think this is God's will for your life" and they have no idea at all. They may have a hidden agenda.

One of the basic lessons of Nehemiah is that leadership is essential for any project.

Four things I believe you need, as a leader, to succeed in the face of distraction, slander, threats and fight Pastoral and Church ADD!

1. A Compelling Vision: This is the very first element of leadership. It's something that pulls you towards that goal. It doesn't drive you, it draws you. You have to have a compelling purpose.
That's why, when they came back in v. 3, and said "Nehemiah, we want you to leave the wall and come out and have a little party with us. You've been working on the wall too long. Come talk to us, Nehemiah." Nehemiah said, "I am carrying on a great project." Nehemiah was very single minded. I'm going to keep the main thing the main thing. I'm carrying on a great project. I think we move on to other different projects that we lose the vision and call that God has given us.

2. You need a Clear Perspective: Nehemiah had incredible discernment, spiritual radar. Every time a trap came up, he sensed it. He could smell it every time. He was perceptive. James 1:5 "If any man lacks wisdom, ask God." When you spend time in the word of God you begin to take on the mind of Christ and you'll be a more perceptive leader. \

3. A Continual Prayer Life: Nehemiah was a prayer-addict. His first response to everything was pray. No matter what happened, he first prayed. That's the number one thing you do when you're slandered. Instead of taking it out on the person, you talk in out to God. Luke 18:1 "Jesus told his disciples that they should always pray and not give up."

4. A Courageous Persistence: One of the great keys to success is the ability to hang in there! Keep on keeping on! Keep on doing what God wants us to do!How can you be fearful and courageous at the same time? Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear

Mad Max Meets the Apostle Paul

That was the description my friend gave to the movie "The Book of Eli." as we left the movie theater. Yes, I went to a movie that had blood, violence, and three times the "F" word. However the movie also had some great lessons that we as Followers of Christ need to adhere.

For those who have not seen the movie or do not care to see the movie, here is the premise (warning: this gives away the plot of the movie): Eli (Denzel Washington) has been on a journey for 30 years, walking west across America after a cataclysmic war that turned the earth into a total wasteland. The world has become a lawless civilization where people must kill or be killed. The barren roads belong to gangs of cutthroats who rob and kill for water, a pair of shoes, a lighter, or just for fun. Eli is a peaceful man who only acts in self defense, and becomes a warrior with unbelievable killing skills when he is challenged. After the war and the "Big Flash", Eli was guided by a higher power to a hidden book and given the task of protecting the book and taking it to its final destination. Eli guards the book with his life, because he knows that the book is the only hope that humanity has for its future and it is the only copy left.What is the book? It is the Holy Bible. Eli does all this because as He claims, the Spirit of God told Him to take the Book west to a place where it would be safe.


All through the movie, Eli reminds himself do not stray from the path. He is a man with a mission. He journeys towards his destination because it is his mission. Even when tempted by the evil person in the story with a women, water and power, Eli stays true to the course.


Like Eli, we must stay true to course that Christ calls us to. So m any times we are distracted by things that keep us from our mission: Glorifying God through the making of Disciples. many times we get distracted by the things that we need for survival or for what we think will make us comfortable or for a need to be recognized and we neglected the very thing that God has called us to do.


One of the most outstanding parts of the movie is Eli's faith. All throughout the movie, Eli states that God will sustain him and that his mission will be fulfilled. Even in a raging gun battle, Eli tells his companion, Solara that they will survive. Eventually they do. Even after Eli is shot, his faith in the one who calls him and the mission that he is on continues. This faith is the belief that he is truly called to this and that God will sustain him.

Its is interesting to note that as Eli's faith in God and His Word sustains him, the evil character, Carnegie wants to use faith to control people and manipulate them to build his own empire. Carnegie sees faith as a weakness to exploit; Eli sees it as strength to sustain.

The most amazing part of the movie was the ending. It seems all is lost when Carnegie finally gets the Bible. Eli still continues west with Solara towards the safe place. You think well this is it. Then Eli and Solara reach the safe place (I won't tell you where. watch the movie). Eli tells the care keeper that he has a King James Bible. The care keeper ask what condition. In his reply Eli responds " It is beaten up and worn." Then in the care keeper's chamber, Eli begins to recite the who scripture which is copied down. Eli was the the book. You see the other copy that Carnegie had was a braille copy that could not be read. GOD'S WORD MUST LIVE IN US. IT MUST BE LIVED IN US! Thy Word Have I Hid In My Heart!

What amazed me was that here was a secular movie calling us to become keepers and ones who live God's Word in a World that needs hope. This point is brought home when in the end, Solara, leaves the safe place with Eli's bag, gun and equipment and begins her journey home to share the Word of hope.

We are on a journey in a world that needs God's word of Hope. It is not to be hidden but lived before the World. It is our mission and our faith in Him will sustain us. The Book of Eli calls us to not only be hearers and readers of God's Word but ones who do and live it.

God's Word was Eli's Book. God's Word should be our Book: Written Upon Our Hearts and Life!!

Missional Lessons from the Vietnam War

I have been a big student of history; especially military history. The other evening I was reading a novel about the Vietnam War called "The Incident at Muc Wa." The story line of the book takes place when American involvement in the war was escalated from the use of Special Forces troops (Green Berets) to having American ground troops involved.



In the early days of the war, Special Forces soldiers served in some of the outlying areas of South Vietnam. They would go into these areas with 12 men "A" teams to set up a base of operations, recruit indigenous personnel, train them to fight communist insurgents and lead their own armies. Many of these groups were so successful in their mission of disrupting the enemy that their bases would be attacked by hundreds of the enemy forces to destroy them.

Now you are probably saying, what is so missional about this. Well here are some of the principles that these "A" teams used.

Understand the Culture that You are Working Within. These "A" teams understood what was important to the indigenous people. They respected these things and actually used these ideas to help recruit them to fight.

We as Christians must adapt our language, our style and sometimes our thinking (not the message) to help those who we are reaching. Understanding people comes from listening, asking questions and observing. It also comes from being with them. You cannot learn about your neighbor sitting in your house or a church building.

Win their Hearts before you can Win their Minds. These "A" teams loved the people that they lived and worked with. many of these soldiers were accused of going "native." This accusation was brought because these soldiers lived with their people, they eat with these people, adapted some of their customs. Through this love and living with their people the "A" teams won the hearts of the people then were able to win their minds to fight and serve and protect their villages.

Interesting fact about this was that these indigenous people were treated like second class citizens by the government of S. Vietnam, yet they fought for that government. Not out of obligation but out of love for their "A" team. The same is today. many new converts are not accepted by many churches because they are different.

Be a Force Multiplier. A 12 man "A" team could not defeat an enemy force by themselves but they could recruit, train and empower a force of hundreds. How did they do this? They model the combat behavior, they allowed the villagers to practice combat procedures in safety of camp, they allowed the villagers to practice in combat under supervision of "A" team leaders and then they allowed them to lead combat patrols on their own.

As one of the "formal" educated clergy, I realize that my role is to equip others to do my job. The world is not going to be won for Christ by formal clergy, deacons, Sunday School teacher or ministers. The world is going to be reached by each believer reaching others, disciplining them and then turning them loose to do the same. We need to be FORCE MULTIPLIERS!! Gathering the harvest does not mean seating people in auditoriums or meeting places on Sunday. It is equipping and empowering missionary soldiers for Jesus Christ.

Live with the People: These "A" teams did not just go out work with the indigenous people of Vietnam and then retreat to the safety of their base. They lived and worked and played with these people. They lived in the danger zone of the enemy unlike the conventional forces that fought during the day and ran for cover when at night.

In the church today, we have mistaken the "come out and be separate" of scripture to mean that the only contact we should have with lost people is to do "little forays" into the lost community for the only purpose of maybe capturing someone and hooking them to come to church. The lost are not projects or game to be captured. They are God's creation that has not realized that they are His creation and that He has a plan for their salvation and life. The greatest way for them to learn is to see that lived out in our lives as we live and relate to them everyday. This cannot be done sitting in a pew or hiding out in our homes. It must be done in their midst.

God has called every Christian to be his "A" team. The official motto of the Army Special Forces is De Oppresso Liber (Latin: To Liberate the Oppressed). As we know Christ has accomplished this. He has liberated us fro spiritual oppression and has provide salvation. As God's "A" team we are about the business of letting the world know this and how they can be liberated. It is our mission because it is God's!