The (Unofficial) Fellowship Bible Blog

"Today's All-Star Missions Churches"-Chapter 4

In chapter 4, Telford introduces the concept of mobilizing children for the mission field. "...there is no greater purpose we can impart to children than G'od's purpose, which is to make his name known to every tongue, tribe, and nation" (pg 50). When a church works hard at mobilizing children for mission, then there is a "bubble" effect and the adults become mobilized themselves. Another interesting thing that Telford notes is that on one occasion when he was speaking to a large gathering of missionaries the average age when God called these people to missions was 8 years old! 

I have to admit that when I consider what missions at Fellowship should look like, I had not even considered mobilizing children. I hope that God will call many of our children to the mission field! 

Today's All-Star Missions Churches--Chapter 3

Chapter 3 of Telford's book introduces us to an African-American church in Philadelphia that is winning on the mission field. Unfortunately, there is a racist history in many mission organizations that prevented many African-Americans becoming missionaries. As a result, the African-American church does not have a very rich heritage in international missions. However, Christian Stronghold Baptist Church is an exception and is a model to all churches. 

Of all the things that we can learn from this church, a principle that stands out to me is that they believe that "Its a must that the church do missions education". They have an intentional strategy for educating their people towards mission through classes and conferences. I am sure this has played a key role in building excitement among their folks about what God is doing around the world. I have a hunch God has used these educational opportunities to call many people to the mission field. 

I hope that down the road Fellowship will be known as a church that does a really good job educating our people about missional theology and the need for missions around the world! 

"Today's All-Star Missions Churches"-Chapter 2

Chapter 2 highlights the importance of "missionary care". Sending churches take care of the missionaries they send. Churches should be involved in missionary care because this is a biblical aspect of mission (Philippians 4:10-19 and 1 Cor. 8:1-15). When missionary care is high on the list of importance at a church, then it becomes easier to mobilize your church for mission because people are exposed to the work of mission. The ways to care for missionaries is to communicate with them, show them great hospitality when they are home, pray for them constantly, connect them to Small Groups, send teams to do ministry with them, stay involved in their lives even though they are overseas and holding them accountable to report back to the church. 

As Fellowship sends missionaries from our church, I hope that we are able to support those we are sending. One of the guiding principles that our mission team has established is that we want to "partner well" with those we are partnering with. This means that we want to there to be a vibrant relationship between the church and those we are sending. 

Church Activity

This video is a great picture of church activity for the sake of church activity. 

Ann Coulter puts it out there in Human Events: If You Can Find a Better Deal, Take It!

You may love Ann Coulter or you may hate Ann Coulter.  I'm not concerned about that right now.  You must read her editorial in Human Events in regards to FOX News' Brit Hume's comments that Tiger Woods should consider turning to Christ.  As my mom said in the email in which sent me an email with the link, "I can't believe these words came out of Ann Coulter's mind. I am shocked. Britt Hume--yes; Ann Coulter??" I'm quoting the entire editorial here because she so hit the nail on the head. 

Again, it really doesn't matter what you think of Ann Coulter.  This isn't about politics.  Sure, she picks on "liberals" throughout the article, but that's Ann Coulter.  Get over it. Just read the editorial below and ask yourself if you are using your public platform, whatever it may be, to communicate the truth as clearly as to you to those you influence?

Someone mentioned Christianity on television recently and liberals reacted with their usual howls of rage and blinking incomprehension.
   
On a Fox News panel discussing Tiger Woods, Brit Hume said, perfectly accurately:
   
"The extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So, my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."   

Hume's words, being 100 percent factually correct, sent liberals into a tizzy of sputtering rage, once again illustrating liberals' copious ignorance of Christianity. (Also illustrating the words of the Bible: "How is it you do not understand me when I speak? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my words." John 8:43.)
   
In The Washington Post, Tom Shales demanded that Hume apologize, saying he had "dissed about half a billion Buddhists on the planet."
   
Is Buddhism about forgiveness? Because, if so, Buddhists had better start demanding corrections from every book, magazine article and blog posting ever written on the subject, which claims Buddhists don't believe in God, but try to become their own gods.
   
I can't imagine that anyone thinks Tiger's problem was that he didn't sufficiently think of himself as a god, especially after that final putt in the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year.
   
In light of Shales' warning Hume about "what people are saying" about him, I hope Hume's a Christian, but that's not apparent from his inarguable description of Christianity. Of course, given the reaction to his remarks, apparently one has to be a regular New Testament scholar to have so much as a passing familiarity with the basic concept of Christianity.
   
On MSNBC, David Shuster invoked the "separation of church and television" (a phrase that also doesn't appear in the Constitution), bitterly complaining that Hume had brought up Christianity "out-of-the-blue" on "a political talk show."
   
Why on earth would Hume mention religion while discussing a public figure who had fallen from grace and was in need of redemption and forgiveness? Boy, talk about coming out of left field!
   
What religion -- what topic -- induces this sort of babbling idiocy? (If liberals really want to keep people from hearing about God, they should give Him his own show on MSNBC.)
   
Most perplexing was columnist Dan Savage's indignant accusation that Hume was claiming that Christianity "offers the best deal -- it gives you the get-out-of-adultery-free card that other religions just can't."
   
In fact, that's exactly what Christianity does. It's the best deal in the universe. (I know it seems strange that a self-described atheist and "radical sex advice columnist f*****" like Savage would miss the central point of Christianity, but there it is.)
   
God sent his only son to get the crap beaten out of him, die for our sins and rise from the dead. If you believe that, you're in. Your sins are washed away from you -- sins even worse than adultery! -- because of the cross.
   
"He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross." Colossians 2:14.
   
Surely you remember the cross, liberals -- the symbol banned by ACLU lawsuits from public property throughout the land?
   
Christianity is simultaneously the easiest religion in the world and the hardest religion in the world.
   
In the no-frills, economy-class version, you don't need a church, a teacher, candles, incense, special food or clothing; you don't need to pass a test or prove yourself in any way. All you'll need is a Bible (in order to grasp the amazing deal you're getting) and probably a water baptism, though even that's disputed.
   
You can be washing the dishes or walking your dog or just sitting there minding your business hating Susan Sarandon and accept that God sent his only son to die for your sins and rise from the dead ... and you're in!
   
"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9.
   
If you do that, every rotten, sinful thing you've ever done is gone from you. You're every bit as much a Christian as the pope or Billy Graham.
   
No fine print, no "your mileage may vary," no blackout dates. God ought to do a TV spot: "I'm God Almighty, and if you can find a better deal than the one I'm offering, take it."
   
The Gospel makes this point approximately 1,000 times. Here are a few examples at random:
   
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.
   
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8.
   
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23.
   
In a boiling rage, liberals constantly accuse Christians of being "judgmental." No, we're relieved.
   
Christianity is also the hardest religion in the world because, if you believe Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead, you have no choice but to give your life entirely over to Him. No more sexual promiscuity, no lying, no cheating, no stealing, no killing inconvenient old people or unborn babies -- no doing what all the other kids do.
   
And no more caring what the world thinks of you -- because, as Jesus warned in a prophecy constantly fulfilled by liberals: The world will hate you.
   
With Christianity, your sins are forgiven, the slate is wiped clean and your eternal life is guaranteed through nothing you did yourself, even though you don't deserve it. It's the best deal in the universe.

Are Small Groups a Band-Aid?

I sort of answer the question at www.fellowshipsmallgroups.com.

"Today's All-Star Missions Churches"-Chapter 1

"Today's All-Star MIssions Churches" is a book by Tom Telford that examines churches that are doing missions at a high level. I am going to read one chapter a day for the next 12 days and pull a few leadership/missions nuggets from each chapter. Each Chapter focuses on a church that is doing well in mission. 

Tom is coming to Fellowship later this month to help us build a more comprehensive mission strategy. He will be meeting with staff, elders and a few other key leaders. 

Insights from Chapter 1-Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis, MN)

• If the pastor gets mobilized for missions, then the people will as well 
• There is a big difference between a church that "has" missionaries (on the back of the bulletin or as a line item in their budget) and a church that "sends" missionaries. These missionaries should be grown and identified by the church.    

The issue of leadership is so important in mobilizing a church towards mission. Mission begins and ends with the quality of leadership. The leader's task in mobilization is to effectively cast vision and develop people to accomplish that vision!  

Review of Mark Batterson's newest book, Primal

I've been a Mark Batterson fan for several years now. I think I discovered Mark first when I listened through a series of CDs from a conference at Willowcreek focusing on churches that were operating in more than one site. The church that Mark pastors in Washington, DC, called National Community Church, had a handful of venues in Metro stations in the DC area. At that time, they were just launching a coffee shop serving Capitol Hill called Ebenezer's. From that time on, I've followed Mark and his church by visit his blog at evotional.com and following him on Twitter and Facebook. He attended Central Bible College here in Springfield, Missouri, and I will occasionally notice him (via his Twitter account) frequenting local restaurants when he's in the local area for speaking engagements.

Mark is a young, vibrant pastor who is setting the pace for innovation mixed with inspiration and vision within the evangelical community. It seems that every time I hear about an upcoming Christian conference, Mark is one of the featured speakers, teaching on leadership in the local church. He is full of organizational and leadership tips, and he seems to always have an inspiring one-liner to challenge you in your faith or your leadership or vision focus. He has written several books in the past few years, most of which I've read, including In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars and Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God .

I received a free advance copy of his latest book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity from his publisher Waterbrook Multnomah to read through and review. The book is officially available for purchase today, so I'm writing a quick review to give you an idea of what to expect.

Primal is a relatively short book that feels very readable when you pick it up, and what I found when I started reading through its opening chapters is that it really sucks you in quick. Mark's premise is that it is important to take time to step out of our daily lives of faith and get back to the roots of what we believe. He recounts the story of discovering a church in Rome that had catacombs dating back from the second century down below the current church building and the feeling of awe that overwhelmed him when he walked down those stairs into a place where the earliest Christians practiced their fledgling faith. He challenges the reader to get back to the original thoughts, the primal thoughts, the "burning bush" of their faith that was there when they first met God and reignite that fire and faith.

Mark lands on the Great Commandment from the Bible, the concept of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, as one of the simplest, more straight-forward view of the Christian life, and calls us to dig deep into these concepts and pursue them deeply. He then creates some more pragmatic terms with those four element, describing the heart piece as a call to love God with a sense of compassion, the soul piece as a call to love God with a sense of wonder, the mind piece as a call to love God with a sense of curiosity, and the strength piece as a call to love God with a sense of energy. He then quickly dives into a discussion of each of these four elements and how to apply them in your love affair with God.

At this writing, I'm about halfway through the book. I've read completely through the heart/compassion section and I'm now well into the soul/wonder section. Mark keeps things moving, but really challenges you to step up in your walk of faith and really grasp an inspired life with God that erupts from the inside out. His writing is full of personal stories that bring his thoughts together and some practical moments where he throws a few ideas at you to help you move one step closer to the concepts he's placing before you. I would encourage you to read this book -- it's simple but pragmatic and challenging, and I've used the word several times now, but it fits this book very well -- "inspiring". Mark's writing style is easy to read and very approachable and casual, and I've found it an enjoyable read so far.

This book has 171 pages when you don't count the endnotes, and Mark has broken it down into 4 sections of 2 chapters each, along with an introduction and conclusion chapter. I could be easily used as a small group study for anywhere from 4-10 weeks, depending on how much the group wants to read each week. The book doesn't have group discussion questions included, but Mark typically publishes a small group guide for his books sometime after the book goes live. The book is very Biblical in its sourcing, and Mark quotes lots of verse directly to support his ideas plus adds endnotes of verses that connect as well. I would encourage using this book in a group where the individuals are stuck in a rote, textual view of God and may need some help stepping out into a more practically lived out, emotional and guttural sense of life with God.

Primal is worth the read, and if you've never read anything from Mark Batterson, it's a good introduction to his writing, and so far, I'm finding that this book has brought me in, kept my attention and challenged my status quo even more than his other books I've read.

You can buy the book from Random House directly or you can purchase it at Amazon.com , Barnes & Noble, BooksChristian and most other booksellers.

Stuff Christians Like #674: Treating our quiet times like magic spells

I get a kick out of Jonathan Acuff's blog "Stuff Christians Like". He does a great job of capturing the ironic elements of the evangelical Christian life in America without being negative and grumpy like some fall into.

Today's "Stuff Christians Life" post made me laugh as he discusses how we treat the "formula" with which we do our "quiet times" as if it's some kind of magic spell that will conjure up the God of the Bible.  Funny stuff and so true.  It's so easy to push aside time with God so we've mechanized the "quiet time" into its own standalone Christian concept, much like the "prayer form" of bowed heads and folded hands that someone has taught my children.

May we all pursue the God of the Bible wholeheartedly and do everything it takes and whatever it takes each of us individually to quiet ourselves enough to hear God's voice and come close to Him.

Did You Know?

These videos expose the challenge of ministry in today's world.