For His Kingdom

My Top Ten List -- What I'm Learning From Our Missionaries and National Leaders

During our Missionary Summit in July we talked of the really big concepts that the Lord is teaching us.  To get the group thinking I shared my top ten list that I'm learning from our missionaries and national leaders.

#10 - God is doing much more near me than I can see – and is inviting me be part of it.

#9 - Doors open – and bridges appear – as I turn my back on the lure of this world  -- the American dream – and embrace a life many may see as sacrifice.

#8 – There is no silver bullet.

#7 - I cannot stop when many misunderstand what I am doing and seek to overlay American metrics on my work.

#6 – People want to be engaged – my job is more to help them than to do it myself.

#5 - This is the big question – how can I follow God’s lead as he reveals it through the majority Free Methodist Church?

#4 -- The only safe place to risk is in submission to Christian community

#3 – Evil is becoming more aggressive and more insidious.

#2 – God is always working miracles that sometime I will see

#1 – God’s call is the most important factor I my life.

Worldwide Faith Community Alive

Some moments will always live in my memory.  One happened in Creative Access Country L while on the Southeast Asia Prayer Journey in March. Our leader is a very creative and caring person – his new home and ministry center already features ESL training.  And soon there will be a fishpond, a frog farm, and community gardens.  He’s lived in this location for only a few weeks, but already is being used by Jesus to transform the community.

Behind his home is a small creek.  Soon it will be the fishpond surrounded by the gardens.  A dirty old well is nearby.  Many from the community get their water from this well or the equally dirty creek. 

 
Children were everywhere – many of them with double buckets to transport their family’s water.  The water available was brown and dirty.  My heart sank.

 Then we received the word. $20,000 from Clear Blue Water had already been secured.  Four wells would soon be drilled.  Wow!! In a moment my grief turned to joy.  No longer would the children of this community suffer from water-born disease.  The worldwide church had come through again.  First the Lord had sent a missionary, then some frogs and fish and education.  And now the pure living water of the gospel was being matched by clean water to drink.  And all of this because of the love of Jesus – expressed powerfully through the worldwide church. 

This is what we are.  This is the kind of thing Jesus Christ is doing all over the world in countless ways because we love and give and go.  Thank you for being part of our Lord’s resurrection team!

Celebrate With Haiti

 A few days ago we were able to celebrate the election of our first bishop in Haiti.  Haiti has become a provisional general conference and Rev Clovis Momplasir is their first bishop.  The celebration was wonderful.

Many moments during that time will always stand out in my mind.  One in particular helps me understand who God has called us to be. 

The general conference was reminded of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  The suggestion was made that an offering be taken for our Japanese church.  Without question a motion was quickly approved and the offering scheduled.  When taken, we were all amazed at how much was given -- and with such marvelous grace; this in a land where many people still live in tents after their own earthquake 15 months ago.  Their own needs – many churches, homes and schools needing to be rebuilt – were all made back burner as the needs of others took precedence.  

Let’s celebrate together what our Lord is doing in Haiti -- and in many countries and among many peoples.  And let us purpose to continue to let God work deeply in our own hearts, making them generous like his.

In the Right Place at the Right Time

Sylvia and I have just returned from the first annual conference for our Spain Mission District. It was an awesome time of worshipping the Lord, celebrating His work among us and looking to His even better work in the future.  

What the Lord is doing in Spain is much like what He is doing in many other places. We are facing huge - some would say overwhelming - odds. Our resources are small, and our enemy is huge. Yet, despite all of this, our Lord is using us; He is bringing people to Himself; He is healing individuals and families. And, as a result, we believe He will heal whole communities.

Mark Batterson has written a book with a most unusual title - In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. The title is taken from the life of Benaiah, King David's chief bodyguard, and his experience of killing a lion in a pit on a snowy day. (Check out 2 Samuel 23:20-21.)

Early in the book, Batterson shares with us one of his convictions. It's one of my convictions, too. "God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. A sense of destiny is our birthright as followers of Christ. God is awfully good at getting us where He wants us to go. But here's the catch: The right place often seems like the wrong place, the right time often seems like the wrong time."

That's the confidence with which we face every day. Human perspective does not determine our view of life. God has more going for you - and in you - than you can imagine. From time to time, He shows us part of His plan. Someday we'll see the whole picture. In the meantime we live by faith.

 

Well Invested Lives

Early each December I meet with a group of denominational missions executives to help  leverage each others opportunities -- and to solve each others problems.  Steve Moore of The Missions Exchange moderates.  I always discover something new. 

I remember talking of doing missions in some of the tough places – where the ground seems very hard and it’s hard to convince our supporters that the investment is worthwhile.  We may also wonder whether the huge investment we’re making – personally, financially, spiritually -- is worth it.

Then someone shared this discovery. They’ve realized working in the hard places is worth it when first of all, we clearly know what we are trying to accomplish (intentionality) and also when we carefully document and share how we are doing in reaching those objectives (accountability).  That’s the way we stay on target, keeping ourselves from wasting energy and time, and keeping from being discouraged.

Intentionality and accountability – without doubt those are two of the secrets of well invested lives – whatever the circumstances.  That’s why we do annual Smart Goals, and why we make sure that every missionary has an AD or other overseer who can support them as they stay on target.

It seems that there is one other practice that is essential to lives well lived and ministries well invested.  I’d call it celebration.  Only when we note what God has done – even the little things – and praise him can we expect to hear his “Well done.”  Celebration is noticing what God has done through us – and others – and giving praise for his great work.

If We Don't Give Up

Early in August our two oldest grandsons Ian and Isaac spent the week with us.  It was awesome.  They are the neatest young men -- now eleven and ten years old. 

 
One evening I was going to grill out – simple things, hot dogs and hamburgers.  But I still needed a grill.  And that was the night the grill decided to quit.  I couldn’t even turn the knob.  It was as if it had frozen.

A few days later I stopped at Lowes home improvement store to see if I could get a replacement part.  The grill is ten years old and I wasn’t very hopeful.  But at least I needed to try. 

“Can I help?” said one of the associates.  I think I looked like I needed help.  I explained my need and he gave me the bad news.  The part would need to be ordered and would probably cost more than the grill is worth.  He then asked for details on my problem and suggested I take off the plastic knob and use a wrench on the knob.

Why didn’t I think of that, I thought.  There’s nothing to lose.  It’s broken anyway.

Last week I grilled out again on our ten-year old grill.  A pair of pliers and some 10W40 has fixed my problem.  And I owe that Lowes associate.  He didn’t sell anything, but he has produced a satisfied customer.  In fact, I’ve already gone back to buy something totally unrelated to the grill.

Isn’t that the story of ministry?  Most of what we do does not produce any immediate results – at least not in a way that we can see counts for eternity.  But each day we do what the Lord directs and amazingly the good results – the miraculous results – happen.  And often they happen when we least expect them.  Maybe that’s the reason Paul could write to the Galatians, “Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (6:9).”

The Future is Change

The Missions Executive Leadership Team and our bishops are continuing their dialogue on how to best structurally change Free Methodist World Missions for maximum effectiveness.  Our goal is to help every local church become a global local church and to integrate a passion for world missions into the heart of every local church. 

We want to realize the mission of FMWM, “To serve Free Methodists as together we make disciples of Jesus Christ among the peoples of the world.” 

I continue to be amazed at how committed our team is to follow Jesus regardless of the cost – and often that cost is being willing to adapt to yet another change – perhaps in the culture we have adopted or perhaps in the support system of FMWM.

And we know that the changes are not yet over.  There will be more.  And the Lord will use those changes to bring new persons to himself.  He only needs from us our heart- felt willingness to follow.

Edmund Burke once said, "A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation."   Sometimes the changes we embrace are the only way to support the values we hold highest.  Or as the French proverb says, "Only the provisional endures.”

The ultimately important never changes -- God’s love the whole world, his gift to use us in his ministry of reconciliation, and his power to work through us through the Holy Spirit.

Help Transform Our World

Would you like to share in the transformation of our world?  You can – and you can do it in places you never thought possible.

Let me introduce you to my friend, I call him Hi.  Forty years ago we were at war with his people.  Then for years there was very limited gospel truth available in his country.  Today he is part of the spiritual revival taking place in Vietnam.

Brother Hi has been a believer for about two years. His is an infectious personality with a wonderful smile – a smile with his eyes.  His story began when met “a brother”.  He was assured that if he would come to Jesus he would be saved and receive great peace.  Finally the Lord used a dream, telling him that a man would come to him. 

Both Hi and his wife have experienced physical as well as spiritual healing. His story would be a miracle anywhere.  He says, “Before my family was in chaos, I fought with my wife and the children would not obey.  But now as a family we live in peace.”

He has also experienced persecution.  His family became angry. The police came to his home because the church meeting he was hosting was illegal.  He asked them how to register and they are to help him.

You can be part of our Lord’s holy transformation.  First you can participate as you pray.  Secondly you can become personally involved as a partner through our Country Support Accounts.  Contact me at missions@fmcna.org.  I’d love too help you develop a direct connect with what the Lord is doing today in our world.

Christ in the City

Here’s a question that would perplex many North Americans.  Why would two of our finest leaders in Latin America leave secure and fruitful ministries and travel to gargantuan cities to jump start new church planting there.  Hector Perez took his family from Northern Mexico to Mexico City for just these reasons.  Miquel Algorto travels each week from his family city in the Andes to the huge city of Lima, Peru.  Both are following the call of God to the city.

 

In 1900 one out of six people on planet earth lived in cites; by 1950 it was one out of three.  Today over half the world’s population lives in cities.

 

Go to any of the great cities of our world.  You may not immediately see the evidence.  You may suspect God is not at work.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In the place we would suspect it the least God has his witnesses.

 

The skyline of Shanghai for me symbolizes this truth.  Walk the historic Bund along the Yangtze River.  Glance up at the skyline filled with buildings under construction or recently built.  Your eye may catch what mine did – a towering building with windows constructed to form a massive cross.  The cross is over the cities of China and ever other city of the world.

 

That’s the reason we annually remind ourselves that we must focus on urban priorities.  Christ is in the city.  We will be there also.  We have a message of release to proclaim to the urban masses wherever they are found and however heavy their captivity may be.  The message is authentic because Christ is there

Keeping in Step With Him

Our Missions Executive Leadership Team finished excellent meetings in Indianapolis and spent two days together in vision planning.  Our major question was  – what do we believe the Lord wants to do in the next ten years and what kind of organization does he need us to be to fully cooperate with him.  At the same time our bishops are forming proposals for the 2011 FMCNA General Conference for organizational changes in our denomination including FMWM. One of their major goals is to integrate FMWM more fully into the life of the church and thus help every congregation become a global-local church.

 

During our planning retreat each Area Director projected possible developments in their area in the next ten years.  Common themes were decentralization, internationalization, contextualization and interconnectedness.

 

We asked the question – what’s essential for FMWM.  Our conclusion:  1. Stance – deliberate perspective and decision-making conditioned always by another culture (continual learner; conscious viewing of the work through a lens of acquired culture) 2.  Vision – the vision we work with is one specifically that does not arise from us, but which is discerned from what God is doing on the field and from the leaders on the field. 3.  Responsibility of insuring cultural appropriateness in all FMWM-to-field matters (making sure we are truly helping and not harming; making sure we are employing practice that honors host culture; making sure we are guarded against exporting Western culture); 4.  Broker new relationships (exploring apparent relationships with an eye to whether God is in this; co-evaluating prospective partnerships or relationships with missiological critique); 5.  Missionary servicing (recruiting, processing evaluation

of candidates; coordinate their support of sending body and finance); crises; promotion/communication)