Koffi House

Two Types of Workers

2010-07-01T00:33:00.000-05:00

There are two types of workers you can partner with or hire. One is very helpful; the other not so much.

Some people need you to hold their hand. Not just in the beginning. Not just for encouragement through difficult times. But always. They can't get anything done unless you hold their hand.

Do you understand what I mean by "holding their hand"? I mean you have to watch them constantly. You have to tell them what to do at each juncture. You have to say, "Here, do this," or, "No, don't do that." You have to direct them continuously. Perhaps they do very well when you direct them like this, but without your oversight, they wouldn't know what to do. If you leave them to do it by themselves, chances are things are not going to be completed. They will run into some obstacle and the work will halt until you come and tell them what to do. If you are fortunate, they will tell you when they've reached a stopping point. If you are not fortunate, they will wait for you to come and notice that things are stuck and to tell them what to do.

There is always a reason or person to blame with these kinds of workers. When the job is not completed or the goal is not reached, they will be very good to blame this obstacle or that, or blame another person, or, in many cases, blame you. They will always have a host of good reasons why it was impossible for them to be successful.

The world is full of these kinds of workers.

The other kind of workers are those who just need you to set them up, point them in the right direction and clearly communicate the goals you are trying to reach. Then they go after it. When they face obstacles, they immediately think of ways to overcome them without bothering the boss, yet still keeping the goals and values in mind. When they don't know how to overcome a particular obstacle, they come back and ask you for your help and advice. When you give them help and advice, they jump right back on it and tell you not to worry about it--they got it taken care of.

In the end, this kind of worker brings in results. They produce something from their efforts. They aren't just all talk and excuses. They make progress.

This kind of worker understands the concept of RESPONSIBILITY. And they are the ones who are going to get promoted. They are the ones who you never have enough of.

In terms of teammates in ministry, I definitely want to work exclusively with those in the latter category. Certainly some employees or volunteers will be those you have to continuously direct and that's okay. But if people are partners, they absolutely need to be people who have the initiative and motivation to produce results. If they always need you to hold their hand and do things for them, they are holding the work back.

Stick with me...

2010-06-28T11:54:00.002-05:00

Okay, I hope I don't lose all of you on this...

It occurred to me the other day when I was taking a shower.... The People (those who live here in The Location) would probably be described by those who study such things as pre-modern. Of course, The Location, like all countries, is a complex society and you could describe certain segments of the population and mostly modernists, and even a few as post-modernists. But the average, paddy and upland farming families--along with those who sell things at the market and drive motorcycle taxis--would best be describe as pre-modernists.

What are these three things? (Pre-modernism, modernism and post-modernism) Endless things have been written about this subject and the more you read the more confusing and boring it becomes. But to gain a basic understanding of these three concepts you have to begin by describing modernism.

Modernism is the idea or worldview that assumes the existence of absolute or universal truth. In physics, we call this the Grand Unified Theory (GUT)--something that physicists assume exists and once understood will tie everything they know about the laws of our physical world together. In philosophy and religion, it is the existence of a "meta-narrative"-- a story or a system of thought that explains how the world works--and how those who don't agree with this system of thought fit into it as well. Modernism lends itself to science, unity, reason, "progress" and the pursuit of objectivity.

Post-modernism is basically a reaction to modernism and the idea that there is universal truth. Truth is relative. There are no over-arching "meta-narratives" that explain everything. It is the rejection of objectivity as an absolute possibility and the embracing of subjectivity. Therefore, post-modernism lends itself to the creative arts, diversity and plurality.

Pre-modernism would describe, then, societies who have yet to embrace modernism. Basically, pre-modernism exists where there tends to be ignorance of scientific explanations for social and physical phenomena. Understanding of the world is obtained through mythology, legend, proverbs, and oral histories handed down from previous generations.

Post-modernism lends itself to individualism; modernism lends itself to the idea of progressing toward universal conformity; and pre-modernism lends itself to tribal grouping.

So, what does all of this have to do with missions?

Tons.

Most Christian missionaries would be firmly in the modernist camp. Kind of a necessity, really, if you believe you have a universal gospel (which acts as a meta-narrative) you want all peoples to accept. Evangelical missionary work is the epitome of belief in absolute truth. But there are obstacles when we seek to share this message with people in each of the three worldviews.

When speaking with post-modernists we often appeal to the idea of absolute truth as if they believe in such a thing, only a different one, when in fact they don't even believe in the concept of there being one narrative that is true for all people.

When speaking with modernists we find that they have often rejected religion as an antiquated and superstitious approach to life.

When speaking with pre-modernists we tend to make logical points and give rational explanations of concepts when stories would communicate much better.

I could spend many posts just talking about missionary approaches depending on modernist worldviews.

But what hit me in the shower the other day was that where someone is at in terms of modernism (whether they are pre, modern, or post) has a lot to do with economics and wealth.

In places where there is widespread poverty (such as in The Location) people are mostly concerned with one thing: How are they going to make money. Poverty is an ever-present reality. The escape from poverty is more a dream and a desire than an expectation. People feel "the pain of poverty" that we are mostly unaware of in the West. Consequently, the focus of their minds rarely ventures away from the concern of immediate benefit. Exploring scientific theories and considering abstract ideas isn't going to put food on the table tonight, so why waste time doing it? Poverty and under-development, therefore, tends to hold people in pre-modernism. In fact, societies that we would describe as being predominately "pre-modern" are those that are undeveloped, poor and more tribal/traditional in nature.

In places where there is rapid development (think the USA in the 50's, or China in the present) there is economic hope. People can expect to make a good living if they just work hard. Opportunity exists. They are witnessing "progress" all around them. Children are growing up doing better financially than their parents did and living at a higher standard of living. This tends to a modernist worldview.

In places that have already been developed for a generation or more (think present US and Europe), the increase of wealth has stagnated. While children grow up relatively wealthy and don't have to worry about where their next meal is going to come from, they also grow up NOT doing better financially than their parents, and in many cases, worse. But because of being accustomed to wealth (and perhaps taking it for granted), people do not pursue occupations based on what they think their income will be, but more based on what ever fancies their interest. There is not a sense of progress and destiny, but a sense of "been there, done that" boredom. This tends to a post-modernist worldview.

Recently a Christian university professor visited The Location. As he shared about evangelism and how we bring people who are far away from God to become Christians, he described a spectrum of places people might be at in relationship to becoming followers of Christ. At one end was they fully accept Christ and submit to him as Lord and Savior. At the other end, however, he described someone as being atheist--not believing in the existence of God.

Here in The Location that is not really the spectrum. The far end of the spectrum would better be described as those who are disinterested in God as they are pursuing wealth.

Fresh Roasted Koffi House Coffee!

2010-04-04T22:00:00.003-05:00

We need to raise about $100,000 for the next phase of our work here in the Location. I could ask you to pray that God provides the funds. All good things come from him! He has always surprised and amazed us in the past.

Or, I could just ask you to fork over your hard-earned cash and maybe even put a layer of guilt on you to help lubricate the process. (Just kidding!) BUT rather than just asking people for money (though we're not opposed to offerings) we have another way we can raise the funds.

We need to sell about 8,500 bags of fresh roasted Arabica coffee (organic and shade-grown) from The Location.

We can ship directly to you around the world, but the minimum order is 50 bags. Our goal is to make 170 shipments of 50 bags each. The great thing is that we will cover shipping costs (with a few exceptions) and it usually takes less than 2 weeks no matter where you are. The price of the coffee? $12 for a 12 oz. bag.

What would you do with 50 bags of coffee? Here are some ideas:

Drink a couple cups every half-hour and get a lot of work done in those late hours when you can't sleep.
Use them for your coffee bar at your church or workplace.
Sign up 50 or more people from your church to each buy a bag.
Sign up 50 or more people from your SCHOOL to each buy a bag!
Have your kids raise $ for their camps and mission trips by selling them for $15-20 a bag (it is so worth it!)
Sign up 50 or more people from your place of employment to each buy a bag.
Convince about 5 grocery stores and coffee shops in your area to each take 10 bags to sell.
Convince about 5 other churches in your area to each take 10 bags in support of BAM.
Sneak it into your local Starbucks' coffee grinders to impress their customers with the improvement.
Open and dump all 50 bags of coffee in your bathtub, jump in, and let the aroma of fresh roasted specialty coffee (and the caffiene) osmosis its way into your body. (Just kidding, and yes, I know that osmosis is not a verb. Besides, 50 bags of coffee wouldn't come close to filling your tub. You might have to start at about 300 bags for that.)

So, if you want a pack of 50 or 100, just leave a comment with your e-mail address (I won't post it unless you want me to) and I'll e-mail you directly with more info.

Mmmm... I can smell that fresh pot brewing already with all the essesence of this exotic and enchanted land coming together in your delicious cup of coffee!

Response to Anonymous

2010-04-01T02:18:00.001-05:00

In a recent post I related a comment and series of questions an anonymous poster left on one of my blogs. I asked you how you might respond. (Thank you, all, for the hundreds of responses you gave me! :-) ) Well, I don't lift my words up as the perfect response by any means, but I thought I'd share what I wrote. Here it is:

Dear Anonymous,

It all depends on your worldview and whether or not you believe there is absolute truth. If religion is simply a product on the market like shampoo, then who's to say one brand is better than the other. Only a salesman who is trying to sell you his brand, but in reality, many are just as good as others. It appears that faith to you is this--it is something to make you happy.

My worldview is that there is only one Creator God--only one God who created the world, and only one way to know him--through Jesus Christ. If we don't put our faith in Jesus then our sins will eternally seperate us from God. If we accept the gift of Jesus, then we will know God and be safe forever. I want all people to know God and be safe forever. It is that simple.

It is also not correct to call these "my beliefs" as if they were my idea or originated with me. Everything I believe or teach comes from the Bible, which I believe comes from God. So, it is not me placing my personal thoughts or beliefs on them, but it is propogating the message of the truths that God gave to us.

You said that faith is the most important thing one can carry with them... faith in what? Faith is only as good as what it is attached to. If someone has faith in the Titanic to bring them safely across the Atlantic, their faith isn't going to help them when the ship hits the iceberg and sinks. What is important is the One to whom our faith is attached.

If we say that all religions are good, then we are basically heading towards atheism, because the teachings and claims of all religions are not compatible--it is impossible for them all to be true. I believe in Jesus Christ because I heard his message and I believe God revealed this to me.

The message of Christ is grace, not works. It is not us reaching up to God, but God reaching down to us. I believe this is unique to Christianity and demonstrates a God who truly loves and values us--despite our pride, selfishness and sin.

How Help can Sometimes Hurt

2010-03-19T12:04:00.001-05:00

Did you see this article on CNN.com? I wish more of us would understand these dynamics. I witness this stuff first hand as The Location is not a lot unlike Haiti.

You can read the article here.

Responding to Anonymous

2010-03-14T10:25:00.003-05:00

On another blog I manage to ask for prayer for an unreached people group, I got the following message from Anonymous...

"Reaching out to X people"? In what way? Is there something wrong with the original religion that the X people have always carried, that is part of history? No disrespect AT ALL to ANY RELIGIONS out there, NOT AT ALL, I have faith myself, I think faith is the upmost important thing one can carry along with them in their life, so my question I guess is, why feel the need to place your personal thoughts, beliefs, and values on others if you are happy with your faith?

I don't want to get into a debate at all, but I do feel a response is appropriate. I have responded by saying some things, but I want to know what YOU would say. How would you respond to Anonymous?

I look forward to your input. Thanks!

Guerrilla Lovers

2010-02-01T03:20:00.001-06:00

My friend Vince Antonucci wanted me to relate to you that his new book, Guerrilla Lovers, just came out! Vince is also providing all kinds of cool guerrilla loving resources for individuals and churches at http://www.guerrillalovers.com/.

Marked Man

2010-01-25T09:37:00.000-06:00

I know about five foreigners who have been kicked out of The Location because of Christian witness since the time I first moved here. All five of them worked in the same province. Some of them are back in The Location in different provinces. Some are gone indefinitely. But all of them ran into problems in the same area.

This area is the hotbed of opposition to Christians in The Location. This is also where VK was arrested and jailed for "human trafficking." Though he was released briefly, he was re-arrested and put back into prison. He remains there to this day.

What I've just learned today, is that I have been named.

I suspected this was the case after VK named my worker and my worker and I were called into the police together. I was away so he went without me. Since I've been back I haven't yet been called in. But I've been told that my name is now "loud" in that province. And I've been warned to lay low for a while.

VK's arrest is completely unjustified and he should be released immediately. At the same time, he did several things he could have done differently that would have completely avoided this whole situation. VK made three major mistakes: One, he lied to us about the people he was sending to work with us. One of them was not one we wanted. Two, he disrespected his village headman by sending one of the young men even though the village headman refused to sign that man's documents, which would allow him to go. Three, he announced openly at his church and elsewhere that these two young men were "going to study the Bible." We had told him to emphasize that they were going to work. We told him about the Bible studies we do, but there was no need to mention it to anyone else. Apparently VK thought he could get away with it and that it would impress others in his church.

Pray for VK. Pray also for me and my family. I need to remember that it could all end any day and that we might be called someday to walk away from everything here in The Location.

Pastor Back in Prison

2009-12-12T15:21:00.000-06:00

I just received word yesterday that the pastor who was arrested for human trafficking and in prison for two months, was just re-arrested after being set free last week. Apparently, the village headman in his village saw that he was released and reported it to the provincial authorities, bypassing the district authorities. They required him to be put back into prison and the money the police recieved to let him go to be returned. It appears that the provincial authorities were trying to clamp down on corruption, assuming that the pastor's release was the result of an illegal bribe. It is unclear if the provincial authorities are aware of his bogus arrest in the first place and the charges by which he was being held.

We are very sad about this. But please continue to pray for VK who is back in prison. Thank you.

Pastor Released!

2009-12-07T14:38:00.000-06:00

I just found out yesterday that the pastor who was arrested in September has been released! Prasie God! A lot of people have been praying for him. Thank you, also, for praying for him. We pray more good news is on the way as 2010 approaches.

Some Cool Stuff

2009-10-31T22:01:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. Sorry to leave you hanging for so long. I've been doing some traveling and will be preoccupied with meetings and conventions for most of the rest of the year. Don't know if I'll get to blog much here. But for now, check out some cool stuff that is going on here.

Thanks,
Koffijah

What did I learn?

2009-10-10T07:02:00.000-05:00

The last couple days of CPM training were pretty intense as we had to draw up our own "Master Plan" based on CPM principles and present it to the whole group. So, I didn't blog the last couple days. But now we're finished. I presented my plan and had a very good response from those who listened. I hope they will pray for me and the work here in The Location.

What did I get from the training?

Besides a library of information and concepts to consider...

God really planned to have me here. There were about four major things that should have kept me from even attending in the first place. I can't go into all of them on here, but one of them was the fact that I had missed the deadline and all the slots were full. Still, one man in my agency kept praying and just a week before the training a spot opened up. I didn't really want to go at such a late date and so many responsibilities where I am at, but after talking with my wife we concluded that God must want me there. And now I can see way.

I have felt more like quitting the mission field in 2009 than I ever have since I came to work here nearly a decade ago. We have been hit with problem after problem after problem, and indeed were hit with yet another major problem just this past week. Yet, in the midst of all of this, God also did a miracle--our paperwork for an important enterprise here was approved last week after waiting for over three years. When I told some of our faithful supporters who had been praying for this for three years--they cried.

I feel that my heart has gotten off track in a lot of ways and this training helped me to get it back on track. I certainly have a much clearer focus on the mission that lies ahead. Along with that, I have regained a passion that I must have lost along the way. I have been pretty depressed at times feeling like I am not making any difference, that I'm wasting time, money and resources, and that I do not have what it takes to be an effective missionary. I have become stressed over too many things to do and little help to get it all done.

Mostly, I am convicted to pray, stay focused, believe that God WILL act and work through me, and obey him in everything. It is God who sustains us and empowers us.

Business and Missions

2009-10-06T22:00:00.002-05:00

Four types of Business and Missions models:

Business As Missions—The business actually allows you to do ministry you couldn’t otherwise do. The business is successful and is a platform for successful ministry.

Business For Missions—The business helps to fund missions or gives you an entrance to do ministry, but the ministry doesn’t really flow out of the business.

Business as a Front For Missions—The business is not seriously undertaken to be active or profitable, but just provides a front in hostile locations to hide the work of ministry that you are actually focused on doing. The ministry has nothing to do with the business.

Business in Spite of Missions—The business is done well and may have some positive effects, but ministry is mostly left behind in order to focus on making the business work. (Missions as a Front For Business.)

I can live with one of the first two, but not with the last two.

CPM Video

2009-10-06T09:13:00.005-05:00

This is the Baptist's video about CPMs (Church Planting Movements). It is a little cheesy, but communicates some of the ideas. The guy at the end is David Garrison who wrote the book Church Planting Movements. He is Baptist, so they tend to talk more about Baptist stuff in the book, but he is by no means a denominationalist. You certainly don't have to be Baptist to get a lot out of the book.

IYKDWYHBDYWKGWYHBG

2009-10-05T23:56:00.002-05:00

IYKDWYHBDYWKGWYHBG

Do you know what this means? Here it is:

If You Keep Doing What You Have Been Doing You Will Keep Getting What You Have Been Getting.

Most of the time when we think about how we can reach people for Christ we say things like pray more, share our faith more, do more events. Rarely, however, do we actually increase our efforts. If we do, we do it for a while and then fall back to a status quo level of prayerful and evangelistic output.

One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and expecting different results.

If we are not reaching our targeted people group by the ways we have been doing it up until now, then we need to do things in new ways.

Most people get rather defensive when you start to question methods and approaches to ministry. Why is that? Because we are invested in what we've been doing. If someone suggests that our method is not effective we feel a need to justify it in order to save face, legitmize our position, and justify the time and money we have put into our approach. We don't want to feel like we've wasted time. We really don't want to feel like we've wasted money people have given to us to do ministry the way we've told them we will do it.

But... What if, in all honesty, there ARE better ways to reach our people? What if God would have us change? Do we have the courage to change?

If we have an approach that we're not willing to sacrifice in order to see a Church Planting Movement, then we have the wrong approach. We must be committed to the the growth of God's kingdom, not to our "pet" approaches for growing it.

Minding the Gap

2009-10-05T09:09:00.000-05:00

In CPM (Church Planting Movement) training they asked us the following question:

How many people from your targeted unreached people group will hear the gospel today?

All of us had already done extensive research on our groups. We all know their population, what percentage of them are Christians and how many Christian resources are available to them. So, we all went up to a board in front of the room. We each wrote down the name of our group, their population and how many people among them we estimate will hear the gospel in the next 24 hours. Then we added up all the populations from every group, and the total number of people who will hear the gospel. The result?

At the current rate, it would take close to 200 years for all of them to hear the gospel, assuming that each time someone hears the gospel, it is the first time. (No repeats.) If some hear it more than once, then it will just take longer before they all hear.

"Folks, that ain't cuttin' it!"

These were the words of the facilitator leading the session. In business time = money, but in missions time = lost people who either hear the gospel, or die without it. There is a huge gap between those who need to hear and those who are hearing it. And we need to mind that gap.

Something must be done so that the message of Christ is communicated in a way people can understand and respond in a much broader fashion. What needs to be done so that they will hear? Part of the answer lies in radio broadcast. In some places it will involve literature distribution or the Jesus film. But in no place will there be a better way for people to hear the story of Jesus than "mouth-to-ear." Christians need to be mobilized to share the gospel in person.

You might ask, "Where could we possibly find enough evangelists to tell them all?"

The answer: The resources are in the harvest. Those who hear must be trained to tell others, and then those in turn trained to tell more, and so on. Those who hear and accept become the evangelists to share the story to the next person in line. The idea is seen in 2 Timothy 2:2:

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."

Potential New Church

2009-10-02T22:21:00.002-05:00

"Each believer is a potential new church."

This is one of the concepts we are learning at CPM training. Typically, when someone comes to Christ two things happen:

1) We seek to incorporate them into a church of a bunch of people they mostly do not know and help them form relationships with other Christians in the Christian community. They are encouraged by fellowship, accountability and example.

2) Before long, they lose the opportunity to witness to their families, friends and network of non-Christian acquaintances as they immerse themselves into the new Christian community. The "fire" they have for Christ is spent in the existing church. Then, years down the road when they have learned more about the Bible and what it means to be the Christian and are "mature" enough to be trusted to teach others, the fire is mostly gone. They might teach Sunday school or something.

A friend of mine told the tale of two girls he and his wife led to the Lord. The first one was incorporated into the existing church structures in a big city here in The Location. She learned a lot, grew and served well in the church. But she never really led anyone to Christ.

The second girl was encouraged to start worshiping in her home with anyone in her family who would join. She was not confident to do this by herself, but she was coached by the missionary on what to do. Then she did it. Her whole family joined her. They all came to the faith. She baptized all of them. Every day during the initial stages she was e-mailing the missionary asking questions about God, the Bible and what to do with new believers and how to have worship. For months her whole family worshiped together with joy in their new faith. A church had been planted.

Later, an official church leader in the registered church in The Location found out about her meetings and came to their house. He chastised the girl and her family for doing this outside the authority of the church. She had no right to lead it, he said, because she was not a trained and ordained pastor. She had no right to baptize them so he declared all of her family's baptisms invalid. He reminded them that this meeting was illegal and said they all need to go to the official registered church.

The official church leader killed the budding new church. He crushed a beautiful flower that was just beginning to bloom. Only the girl and her younger sister joined the offcial registered church. The rest of the family fell away.

Later, the missionary visited and had a chance to interview the parents and the family members. They said that they had put their faith in Christ when they had seen how their daughter's life had changed--how it was so evident as she taught and led the studies. Now that she can't do it any more and she has joined the church in town, we don't see how her life has changed much. Also, worshiping in their home felt like they were really believing in God in a natural way; going to the big church downtown felt like they were joining a foreign religion--so they stopped.

Every person we lead to Christ is a potential new church. It is important that we get them sharing their new life with their families and friends before we quench the fire of their faith in the lake of the church.

Paperwork Signed

2009-10-01T18:56:00.000-05:00

There is a very important set of paperwork we have been trying to get signed and approved here in the Location for over three years.

Just two days ago the governor signed this paperwork and yesterday we received two very important documents/certificates that we need.

Praise God.

Training for Trainers

2009-10-01T10:13:00.001-05:00

One of the CPM-friendly methods we have been studying here at CPM (Church Planting Movements) training is the Training for Trainers (T4T) process. This was started by a Taiwanese man who has since seen a CPM in China to the likes of this:

After 2 months (of beginning the process in 2000): 20 small groups started.
After 6 months: 327 house churches with 4,000 baptized.
After one year: 908 house churches with 12,000 baptized.
The following year: 3,535 new churches with more than 53,430 baptisms.
First six months of 2002: 9,320 new churches and 104,542 baptisms.
End of 3rd year: 15,000 new churches with more than 160,000 baptized believers.

This man was the son of a preacher who made it his goal to start a new church every year. When he grew up and started ministry, he followed in his father's footsteps and did the same thing, leading 50-60 people to Christ each year. After attending a training in the year 2000 (very similar to the one I'm in right now) he reasoned:

"What is better than planting a church?" Answer: Training others to plant churches.

"And what is better than training others to plant churches?" Answer: Training trainers to train church planters to plant even more churches!

His simple method for training trainers of church planters was to make every discipleship lesson reproducible and repeatable. Below is the process of T4T when the small groups met.

T4T Training Process

There are three parts to the meeting and each one should take about the same amount of time. Usually the first initial meeting (when they explained the whole process for the first time) would take a half-day. This would include everyone writing down a list of every non-Christian family member, relative and friend they could think of. Most people's lists were around 100 people long. Then they would mark off the first 5 they would share the gospel with. They did this by each preparing simple testimonies consisting of three parts: 1) What you were like before Jesus, 2) how you met Jesus, and 3) what your life has been like since Jesus. Then he had them remove all religious vocabulary from their story. They were then required to share with their first 5 people on their list during the first week. The next week, the second five. After they built a small group of inquirers or new believers, they would begin meeting regularly as a small house church.

After the initial meeting explainging the process, meetings would last for about 2-3 hours each time, and they would normally do them about once every two weeks. This would give people time to put the lesson into practice before filling their heads with new knowledge. What the people learned and did in this meeting, they repeated in the meetings with their new disciples. Most of the groups had 5-6 disciples. The meeting had three parts:

Sharing Time (Fellowship and Accountability)
New Lesson Time
Practice Time

Below is further explanation of what they did during each part of the meetings:

Part 1: Sharing Time

Worship
Prayer (for the disciples and people in the group)
Accountability and problem solving

(These first three things are pastoral care for the group itself.)

Review of the last meeting's lesson.
Vision Casting time by Leader (Putting the vision of the Great Commission before the people--always putting the burden of the lost out there).

Part 2: New Lesson Time

New Lesson (They had their own plan, but you could use any lesson plan or oral story plan you wanted.)
Disciples Learn the Story—by retelling it as the trainer asks, “What happened in the story?”
Memory Verse (From the lesson)
Trainer Testimony—The trainer gives a testimony from his own life what happened when he obeyed the lesson of this story.
Application. What will you do with the new lesson?

Part 3: Practice Time (It is critical to do Part 3! If we are pressed for time we typically want to skip this portion of the meeting--along with the review from Part 1--but if we do we are skipping the most important thing that actually creates obedience rather than mere knowledge, and the CPM tanks.)

Trainees lead Part 1 of the T4T session (do it another time with the trainer observing rather than leading)
Trainees pair up and re-teach new lesson.
Trainees set goals for next two weeks.
Pray and Send off.

After Parts 1, 2 and 3 are finished, the trainees go to their own groups and repeat the same process, only as trainers in those groups rather than trainees. Their trainees learn and repeat the lesson and are encouraged to go out and teach even more people. You can see how this reproducible model leads to the multiplying of churches. And it is not just theory--this has actually been put into practice and has worked with the Holy Spirit's help, producing amazing results.

EndVisioning

2009-09-30T09:24:00.001-05:00

Today we learned about the concept of EndVisioning. It is pretty simple, really. All it is is envisioning what the end would look like should we achieve everything we are praying and trying to accomplish. But then we do something more...

The speaker compared it to climbing a mountain. We can imagine what it is like to stand on the very peak before we ever get there. Then, when we do get there, we are so excited by the accomplishment, the beauty, the view, and the air that we forget the long struggle it was to climb to the top. But before we took the last step to stand on the summit, we were there--one step away.

If we imagine the end of our mission--everything that we have set out to achieve and pray to see happen has been fulfilled. Our people group has been reached. There are churches in every village. A high percentage of the total population have heard the gospel, accepted or is in the process of being discipled by other people in their own group who have been trained. The Bible has been translated and given to them in forms they can use. Etc., etc., etc.

Now imagine what the last step was before we got to that final end vision. What was that like? What was the last thing that needed to happen before the vision was finally achieved? Not something you do necessarily, but something that needs to be done. What is that?

Now, how about the last thing that needs to happen before what we just described happens? What is that?

And the thing before that?

Do you see where this is heading? If we envision the end, or "endvision," then we can start stepping backward considering what needs to happen in a reverse order. If we are disciplined about it, we can describe all the steps that bring it back to the situation as it actually exists in the present. This little exercise helps us to make better plans for doing what it takes to accomplish our missions that lead to an ultimate vision of what we want to see happen.

Just thinking about our mission in this fashion has both excited me and helped me think clearly about the path we need to be taking now. An important concept is that we don't ask ourselves, "What can I do?" but, "What needs to be done?" Then we consider what role we can play in what needs to be done, and who needs to help with the things we can't do.

Things That Kill CPMs

2009-09-29T09:20:00.000-05:00

Today we learned about certain elements and dynamics that tend to stifle or kill an indigenous church planting movement. It would be possible to write a book just on this topic, but I'll include the outline I wrote in my notes from the training.

THINGS THAT STIFLE OR KILL INDIGENOUS CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENTS

1. Extra Biblical Requirements for being a church
     a. Buildings.
     b. Having to have a minimum number of members.
     c. Having to have a dedicated location for religious things to happen.
     d. Hymnbooks.
     e. Choirs.
     f. Have to have a Bible college.

2. Extra Biblical Leadership requirements
     a. Seminary graduates.
     b. Ordained clergy.
     c. Paid leaders.
     d. Full-time leaders.
     e. That only clergy can administer sacraments.
     f. Extra requirements not found in 1 Tim3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9.

3. Loss of cultural identity
     a. To be Christian you must take on Western culture.
     b. Political Stigma. Christianity is the religion of the Imperialists.
     c. Teaching, worship, Bible in something other than the “heart language.”
     d. Foreign elements in the service (furniture, vestments, communion materials…).
     e. Extraction evangelism, creating a Christian sub-culture.—idea of winning people as individuals.

4. Non-Reproducible Church Models
     a. Externally funded buildings.
     b. Foreign funds that tie movement to outside sources.
     c. Relying on very talented people to do ministry (talented in preaching, music, etc.).
     d. Teaching Methods
          i. Literate exegesis with oral learners.
          ii. Using expensive non-local materials in teaching. Posters or Power-Point.
          iii. Using complicated discipleship materials.
     e. What should we do?
          i. Train local leaders to think critically about reproducibility and copying other methods.
          ii. Discipleship: “I never do things a 1-week old believer couldn’t do.”—Charles Brock
          iii. Use local materials reflecting economic level.
          iv. Use storying with oral learners.

5. Overcoming bad examples of Church
     a. Non-believing “Christians.”
     b. Moral failure of leaders.
     c. Religion is only for outcasts.
     d. White man’s religion.
     e. Christians are the paid lackies of the imperialists.

6. Financial Dependency
     a. Foreign funding of local pastors weakens the relationship between pastor and local believers.
     b. Outside salary subsidies create jealous, division.
     c. Outside funding sitles local initiative and giving.
     d. Local churches are robbed of the gift of giving.
     e. Unhealthy partnerships which do for believers what they should be doing for themselves.
     f. Dependence stops a movement from developing.

7. Linear, sequential thought and practice.
     a. Thinking you can't do something until something else is finished.
          i. Language .
          ii. Build relationships.
          iii. Disciple new converts.
          iv. Form churches.
          v. Raise up leaders to take over.
     b. Want to be thinking in a parallel fashion, and do things together.
     c. Thinking the real work is later stifles urgency for the task (God is delighted to use you and your
          bumbling efforts.)
     d. Fixating on the steps may cause you to miss today’s opportunities.

True Fruit

2009-09-28T18:21:00.001-05:00

"The true fruit of an apple tree is not an apple; it's another apple tree."

“The true fruit of a church is not a new disciple but a new church.” --Christian Schwartz

Resources in the Harvest

2009-09-28T18:16:00.000-05:00

Wow, there is so much I could write about the first day of Church Planting Movement (CPM) training. Too much to put into one blog post, so I will focus on one powerful concept we learned:

The resources are in the harvest.

We compared movements to avalanches--large movements of snow that flow down a mountain. People sometimes set off avalanches intentionally (such as by throwing dynamite or shooting the snow with a gun), and sometimes they set them off unintentionally (such as by skiing down the mountain). In moments, the snow gathers such momentum that it sweeps everything away with it and the skiiers cannot control it. It can be very dangerous for them. But the people who start avalanches do not make them flow and gain velocity. The potential energy is already built up in the snow and only needs to be triggered in order to make it happen.

Though the analogy is incomplete, it demonstrates that CPMs, when they occur, do not occur because an individual missionary or Christian is organizing and structuring the entire effort, and raising tons of money and people to come in from the outside to make it happen. Instead, one flake of snow pushes the next flake of snow and it multiplies on a grand scale. CPMs happen when the people themselves share the gospel with the people around them, plant a church among them, and then they in turn repeat this process until churches are multiplied throughout the entire people group.

The method initually introduced must be simple and reproducable. If a missionary starts out with an evangelization or church planting method that the people themselves could not reproduce, then it will not trigger a church planting movement. He might start one awesome church, but it will stop there.

This approach is like trying to move snow by making a snow ball. You roll it and it grows in size until it is quite large. But then it becomes too large to push and it stops. To make it move you must call other people in to help push it. The snow itself can't push itself as it does in an avalanche.

Though it is counter-intuitive, sometimes the "better" we do church makes it more unlikely that there will ever be a movement among the people we're attempting to reach.

Common Elements

2009-09-28T04:13:00.001-05:00

In the book Church Planting Movements the author describes ten additional elements that are present in most CPMs, though not all. They are:

A Climante of Uncertainty in Society
Insulation from Outsiders
A High Cost for Following Christ
Bold Fearless Faith
Family-Based Conversion Patterns
Rapid Incorporation of New Believers
Worship in the Heart Language
Divine Signs and Wonders
On-the-Job Leadership Training
Missionaries Suffered

This actually sounds quite like the book of Acts!

Alpha Groups

2009-09-28T03:47:00.002-05:00

Though the author admits this is not (or not yet) a Church Planting Movement (CPM), he takes some time to describe a program that is being used with success in England. This is the Alpha Program. From the book...

...The Alpha Program is an introduction to the core truths of the Christian faith built around a setting of openness to inquiry. Lasting 15 weeks, the course focuses on non-Christians, often meeting in homes rather than in the church building, typically including a shared meal, welcoming skeptical questions, and resulting in an astonishing number of conversions....

First, it gets non-believers into small groups meeting in the homes of believers. Second, it actually encourages difficult questions that non-Christians have, without feeling a need to answer every question. This is very important. Christians think they have to have an answer for every question. Non-Christians want to know that they are free to ask--asking is more important to them than receiving a half-baked answer. Third, by the time the 15 weeks is over, it is often the small group itself that converts the non-Christian.

Today there are thousands of people in Alpha Groups and thousands of churches that have begun to use them effectively to reach people in Europe who have considered themselves "post Christian." It will be interesting to see if these Alpha Groups could spark a house church planting movement across the continent of Europe which is filled with ancient and empty cathedrals.

Yanyin Church Planting Movement

2009-09-27T02:49:00.033-05:00

One Strategy Coordinator (missionary) for a Church Planting Movement (CPM) lived in a province of China the author nicknamed Yanyin. He began by moblizing Chinese evangelists from other locations to do widespread personal and mass evangelism in Yanyin. This was their process:

Do abundant evangelsim by showing the Jesus film and using other materials so that as many people as possible are exposed. The idea was that in nature trees produce thousands more seeds than ever sprout--but by sewing more you reap more.
Identify those who are interested in knowing more about Christ from the initial exposures to the story of Christ.
Then, direct the gospel message to the heads of households--those who have the most authority in the family.
Trace family lines of these inquirers and heads of households to invite family members to a series of meetings that more fully explain the gospel and how to become a Christian.
At the conclusion of these Bible studies invite the listeners to make a commitment to Christ.
Incorporate new believers into basic discipleship Bible studies and baptize them at their conclusion.
In each group of new believers identify suitable leaders and turn leadership of regular public worship meetings over to them.
After such a church is established, reproduce (divide into) another church when the size of the group exceeds the number of people that can comfortably fill a household.

The last point was very appropriate for their situation to avoid persecution from the Communist government. The police would oppose the building of church buildings (of any size) and large gatherings of people. Gatherings of people confined to a single house were not viewed as a threat.

The Strategy Coordinator began this effort in 1991. At that time Yanyin province had 8-10 million people with only 18 churches all belonging to the controlled registered "Three-Self Patriotic Movement" church. These churches were not growing, nor were they interested in evangelism. The first year of their effort produced six new house churches. The next year saw 17 more churches sprout. The following year there were an additional 50. Six years after beginning the total number of churches had climbed to 195 and the gospel had reached every county in the province with churche among each of the five ethnic groups that inhabited Yanyin. By the end of 1998 when the Strategy Coordinator left, there were 550 house churches in Yanyin province with more than 55,000 believers. Finally, a survey done in the summer of 2001 revealed more than 900 churches with close to 100,000 believers worshiping in them.

There is more to tell about the Yanyin CPM and the methods they used for training. You will have to get the book Church Planting Movements and read it for yourself. It is very interesting stuff!

On thing that is notable--though he was probably involved in some of the initial plants, the foreign Strategy Coordinator (missionary) isn't described as being the one planting any of the churches. The movement went far beyond his influence or ability. Why? Because it started that way. If he had begun by being "the man" then the model wouldn't have been reproducible and people would have felt that only a foreigner can do those things. He started with a few local believers, along with some Chinese workers from other provinces, prepared them with a simple reproducible approach that was in its DNA, and helped to get it going.

It is easy for missionaries to arrive on the field and do ministry. It is easy to do things that impress supporters back home or puts an emphasis on what the foreigners (or his short-term guests) are doing in ministry on the field. However, often the spread of the gospel is hindered because of those actions.

Elements Present

2009-09-26T02:46:00.003-05:00

Below is a list of elements present in every Church Planting Movement (CPM), according to the author of the book, David Garrison. First, he defines a CPM as the following:

A Church Planting Movement is a rapid multiplication of indigenous churches planting churches that sweeps through a people group or population segment.

There are other kinds of movements. Some of them see masses of people coming to faith or joining one big mega-church organization. Some are cell church groups that are organized under one such mega-church. But if they are not churches--and if they are not churches that plant the new churches (as opposed to cell groups which are not autonomous but part of one over-arching structure) then they are not CPMs. The idea is that independent church groups (usually relatively small because it helps it to be more reproducible) are planting new churches, and those new churches go on to plant new churches, and so on for many generations until it reaches saturation in the population segment.

Looking at such movements, the author identified the 10 listed elements found in every single authentic CPM. This is a description, not a prescription. And it is very interesting:

Extarordinary Prayer
Abundant Evangelism
Intentional Planting of Reproducing Churches
The Authority of God's Word
Local Leadership
Lay Leadership
House Churches
Churches Planting Churches
Rapid Reproduction
Healthy Churches

I'll tell you more about the book next time.

Church Planting Movements

2009-09-24T21:36:00.002-05:00

Starting next week I will be attending a training for two weeks for "Strategy Coordinators" of Church Planting Movements. In preparation for this course we are reading the book Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World.

I was a bit skeptical, but this is a really good book. It captures much of what I have been thinking after nearly a decade of service in The Location. It has also encouraged me to refocus and reignite my passion for playing a part in reaching our particular unreached people group. It has been encouraging to read about different movements of church planting around the world.

I like this book because it emphasizes the planting of churches as discipling agents rather than simple mass evangelism and large numbers of people coming to faith. It takes time to survey different Church Planting Movements around the world and identify universal elements. It also discusses the dynamics that kill Church Planting Movements. Among these include over-injection of foreign funds, church buildings, dependency upon foreign funds, clergy-leadership, having short-termers doing too much for them such as building buildings, paying preachers, etc. And it doesn't limit the discussion to third world non-Western countries--it discusses every continent on the globe.

You can download the booklet for free here. However, I am reading the full version, which you can purchase on Amazon or the Church Planting Movements website at the link above if you are interested in reading. I recommend it for anyone doing ministry involving church planting, discipleship and evangelism wherever you are--even in the West.

I will post a few items from the book over the next couple of days. Then, as I go through the training, I plan to make a post each day of the most important things we've learned. So, stay tuned...

Update on Pastor

2009-09-24T21:13:00.000-05:00

I really don't have any news to update you with, but I know some of you have been praying and would like to know what's going on.

We have one contact who is able to give us news about VK's situation. And the news is that nothing has changed. The funny/encouraging thing, however, is that our contact (let's call him SK) isn't too worried about it.

You see, here in The Location persecution is a part of the landscape for a Christian. Getting arrested? That's just part of the package you sign up for. SK doesn't think anything bad will happen, apparently, but it will just take time. VK seemed to have the same attitude when we last saw him regarding talking to the police. It's not his first time. When we had a dinner together with all of our disciples I asked the question, "What do you guys think--Is persecution a good thing or a bad thing?" Before they had time to think VK spoke up and said, "Good! It makes us strong. It keeps us from getting fat and weak." It was a good moment for our disciples to be a part of.

Please continue to pray for VK. But take heart--he is spiritually and mentally prepared for the trial is is going through. I will let you know whenever we hear anything more.

Pastor Arrested

2009-09-21T11:21:00.000-05:00

Please pray for a man I'll call VK. He is a pastor here in The Location. He is in jail now. He was arrested last Friday because he was going to send two young men from his village to work with us (in another province). I just found out today. My heart is heavy for VK.

They are accusing VK of human trafficking because he was going to send these two young men to "study" but he couldn't give them the name of the school or company. All he gave them was the name of one of our workers. The charges are a farse. For one, the two young men never made it here. They were apprehended at a bus stop and escorted back home. Plenty of people travel for no reason (and many even for bad reasons) and are never harrassed. But VK is someone they've been harrassing for years because of his faith. He is one of a very few number of Christians (and one of the first) in a very unreached people group. They can't say they've arrested him for practicing his faith, so they say he was involved in human trafficking.

We don't know what is going to happen. Please pray for VK. Please pray for our worker who was named. Please pray for us. This could eventually all come back on us and potentially be the end of what we're doing here. Or, it all blow over and be forgotten.

We trust in God.

Good Things Take Time To Grow

2009-09-13T23:45:00.002-05:00

They say the definition of impatience is standing in front of a microwave oven screaming at it to hurry up!

I live in a semi-tropical country. That means that by all comparisons, things grow fast. In March I planted some trees from tiny little seeds around our parking area at our offices. Now these trees are over 3 meters tall already. Pretty fast, actually.

But these trees are still not big enough to provide shade for my vehicle parked there. When I look at them I think, "Hurry up! Grow taller. Grow bigger. And do it now!" I try to think of what fertilizer I can put on them to make them grow faster. I am being impatient.

The truth is, good things take time to grow. While I may wish for success overnight, I can't expect to plant a seed one day and get a tree the following day. It just takes time. Especially for things that grow.

You see, I could have constructed a shade roof for our parking area. It would have been finished in less than a week and our vehciles would have been basking in shade for the past six months. But that shade roof would never grow. In fact, without a lot of maintenance it would probably be unusable in a couple years, depending on the materials I used.

If I wait one more year my trees will provide better and cooler (as in temperature) shade than any roof I could build. And they will continue to grow providing shade for decades to come.

That which is built can be big fast; that which is grown takes time.

So it is with disciples and church planting. I could build a church. It is growth by addition. But I'd rather plant a seed by making a disciple and watch, over time, a church growth movement multiply far beyond my own influence.

Gluttony 3

2009-09-03T21:06:00.001-05:00

More thoughts on gluttony...

My theory of how we should use/possess money is related to how I view gluttony. You will usually hear one of two approaches regarding Christians and money:

1) It's not wrong to have money as long as you tithe (10%) to God/church.

2) It's not right for Christians to be rich or make lots of money. We should live simple and not be wealthy.

The former preaches against the love of money rather than the possession of it, arguing that it's okay to have it as long as you don't love it. The latter preaches against the possession of money, usually arguing something to the effect of, "If you still have it, how can you convince me you don't love it?"

The Bible teaches us "You cannot serve both God and Money." Also, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."

The Bible also reprimands the greedy by saying, "You have hoarded wealth...". Jesus told us the following story in Luke 12:15-21:

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

It is clear that we should not love money and wealth. It is not our goal. It is not our purpose to become wealthy. Our purpose is to serve God and his Kingdom. If we pursue worldly wealth, then we are not walking according to God's plan.

And while we may certainly use money in God's service, the Bible also tells us not to hoard wealth. What does that mean? It means we should not keep extra wealth around that isn't necessary when it could be used for more important things or for helping others.

This is how our use of money relates to gluttony. It is not wrong to have it or use it but we should not consume (or store it up like fat around our waistlines) more than we need.

I have no problem with Christians making millions of dollars doing honest work and business. But how much of that do they spend on themselves? Do they feel they have the right to use 90% of that just because they tithed 10% to their church? Are they not still accountable for how they spend every penny? Would they not also be guilty of "building bigger barns" and hoarding wealth when they build themselves mansions and buy lots of very expensive "toys"?

I know of one Christian business man who does in fact make millions of dollars. But his standard of living is on par with someone making $30,000 - $40,000 a year. No one would ever know how much money he actually brings in, and indeed most people around him do not. What he spends on himself is a small percentage of what he could spend. So, what does he do with his money? Not only does he tithe to his church (and beyond) but he also supports many different kinds of ministries and specifically, he helps missionaries in his denomination establish businesses in "closed" (creative access) countries. He has helped establish dozens of these enterprises in order to get the gospel into places that are difficult to reach. No one can accuse him of hoarding his wealth.

I also know of a young man who does not make enough money to live on. It's not because he's lazy, addicted or mentally impaired. It's just that he has never had anyone to help him get a good start. I expect that he will eventually establish himself and make enough to live on and help others. But it will take time. Right now, he sponsors a child in Haiti and gives a few dollars to his church on Sunday. If you were to do the math, the money he gives to his church and child would probably be around 5% of his income. Yet, it is still difficult and a sacrifice for him. Most people with his level of income don't give a penny because they need it to eat on. I believe this man is like the woman who gave a few pennies to the temple--Jesus said she gave more because he was giving all she had to live on. It was a sacrifice. Many of those giving large amounts weren't sacrificing, but giving from what was left over from an abundance.

We should not be gluttons for money. We should use and give money; not love it and hoard it.

Gluttony 2

2009-09-01T11:49:00.004-05:00

A few more thoughts on gluttony...

If we compare the consumption of physical food to the consumption of "spiritual food" it is interesting to draw some parallels between our physical and spiritual health.

I didn't get into the whole topic of the kinds of foods we should eat versus the kinds of foods we shouldn't eat in my ramblings on gluttony. It is important, but I didn't go there. One of the points I wanted to make was that, for weight loss, added exercise doesn't usually help us if we don't have a change in our diet.

So it is spiritually. Doing good things, serving and performing other kinds of ministry are good. But they don't really help our spiritual health a whole lot if we are still consuming a steady diet of spiritual junk food: TV smut, pornography, celebrity gossip, soap operas, romance novels, pop psycology books, gossip with other people, music TV, advice from men's/women's magazines, or any other media that convey messages about our worth, value, meaning, or worldview that is different from God's word.

I'm not saying we can't "taste" SOME of these things so we at least know what the world is saying and how people who do eat these things up are affected, but they shouldn't be our "main course." Instead, it would do us well to have a steady diet of God's word and to help us understand God's heart and how to hear/listen to his voice.

Bearing good fruit without being deeply rooted in the Vine is very difficult to do.

Gluttony

2009-08-28T23:58:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about gluttony lately. It is one of those sins we don't take very seriously in the American church. If we were to compare gluttony to adultery, they would come out at completely different ends of the "seriousness of sin" spectrum we have constructed in our minds or in our society. How many times have you heard of a pastor that has "fallen" because he committed an act of gluttony... and therefore had to step down from ministry in disgrace?

Yeah, me neither.

I confess to the sin of gluttony. And I haven't just committed an isolated act of gluttony... I do it regularly! Buffets and bars (of the salad/food type) are temptations I can't resist. What's worse, I often eat to stay awake while I watch a late-night movie, drive, or work at my computer. Nothing keeps me awake as well as eating. Over time, these actions have accumulated quite the display around my mid-section.

I know... I'm not alone. Perhaps you're right there with me. So many people share this problem that we rarely, if ever, hear taken seriously in church. And this is while America is one of the most (or is it THE most?) obese nations on the planet!

It is ironic that in a society that equates "fat" with "ugly" (here in The Location being a little overweight can be attractive, and at the very least is not detractive) and where you can search for hours in magazines and soap operas to find one image of an obese person without any success, that obesity is on the rise and is smashing records.

But this post isn't about obesity--it's about gluttony. Obesity is one of the the consequences of long term gluttony.

Gluttony, plain and simple, is eating more than your body needs. Our bodies only need so much. And for millenia humans on earth have mostly dealt with the issue of not having enough to eat. In poor and developing countries you hear people talk about average caloric intake of the population. Usually it is BELOW what people's bodies need. And so organizations like the UN's World Food Program try to get balanced meals to kids that include high levels of protein in order to up the calories they consume.

In America, people spend hundreds of dollars each year for gym memberships to go running on machines that are designed to burn up all of the extra calories we consume. Kind of funny. (It's too bad we can't capture all that energy and load it into the power grid. Actually, I just saw in a neighboring country to The Location some public exercise bikes in the park that are hooked up to what looks like water pumps. Not sure what they're pumping for.)

I have always bristled when people would suggest to me that I eat too much in explanation of why I'm overweight (like I needed it, thanks). I would point to my roommate in college who has always been something of a "rail." He would eat every bit as much as me--perhaps more--and would never get fat. Nope, always thin. I would completely envy his "metabolism." Yet, I am the one guilty of gluttony, not him?

Many people have said, "God just made some people fat and some people skinny. We should just accept who we are and how he made us." And for a long time, though I had wished God made me thin, I just accepted that this is how I'm supposed to be.

But now I am starting to see things a little differently...

My father has diabetes, my older sister is getting it, and I have high blood pressure. I know what's coming. If I don't change my weight, I will surely get diabetes in the future. The risk of diabetes is extremely effected by being overweight. If you can control your weight, you can actually prevent diabetes. (I know this isn't true for 100% of diabetes cases, but it is remarkably high.) There are a host of health related problems that are caused by obesity.

So, is this just how God designed me? It seems he didn't design our bodies to be overweight if by being overweight it causes all of these problems for our bodies.

If by eating more than I need I put on weight, the solution seems pretty obvious to me. I don't need to eat as much as I do. In different scenarios in the human experience on earth, this would be a huge blessing. I actually don't need to eat as much as my college roommate. If we lived together 3,000 years ago during a world famine, I might survive while he perished. It's not that God has cursed me with low metabolism--it's just that he has blessed me with not needing to eat as much as I do. (Not that I don't want to--desire/hunger is another issue.)

The solution to obesity, for me, isn't in trying to burn off all the extra calories I consume. That just seems silly. I mean, exercise is good for the body and good for the heart. But when you sit back and think about it, it is crazy--our bodies need a certain amount of calories, but we eat more, so then we do artificial activity just to burn off those extra calories. And what is even more funny--it doesn't even work that well. You see, our bodies crave equilibrium. So, if we are accustomed to eating so much and then all of the sudden we do new activity to burn off those calories, our body reacts by making us hungrier so we will consume more calories to make up for the ones we're losing. Exercise without diet change is a recipe for bodily disaster (in terms of obesity--it is still good for the heart). That is why any fast changes is our weight is not good. Our body will work against us. Slow change gives our body enough time to adjust to a "new equilibrium."

Not eating more than I need is the solution. Not committing gluttony, actually. (Funny how obedience to God's way is the best for us.) And this is where I must wage the battle.

When I was growing up my parents expected me to "clean up my plate." I had to eat everything set before me. Often, when we were clearing the table and putting things away, there would be a little leftover pasta or stuffing. My dad would ask me, "Do you want to eat this so it doesn't go to waste?" The idea is that if we threw it away, it would be wasted. But if I ate it--even though I was already finished eating--it would be "saved." That is crazy thinking, really. "Contribute to future obesity via gluttony by eating this extra amount of food so that we don't have to feel wasteful by throwing it away."

Just because there is more food on the table than my body needs doesn't mean I have to eat it.

Eating only what I need is not self-denial (though it might feel that way at first), it is simply what's right. Self-denial would be eating less (which is what fasting is--and that is something we're expected to do on occasion). I need to learn what that amount is, and prepare my meals accordingly. If others prepare a feast, I must learn how to (respectfully) say no to more.

I don't know how it's going to go. I'm so accustomed to eating more than I need; consuming beyond what my body requires. I'm thankful for the abundance of food. But I must not hoard it all into my body.

Situation Critical

2009-07-15T11:37:00.003-05:00

I once lived briefly in a military town that had fighter jets flying over all the time. When I first got there I found it rather exciting to see. After a while, it just became an annoying noise.

But I did notice that the jets would often do the same maneuvers over and over. I once asked an ex-military friend of mine what they were doing all the time.

My friend told me that they often play out war-time scenarios. They repeatedly practice what they need to do in real situations so that when the time comes, they'll be ready. The soldiers, airmen and seamen don't just understand the theory of what needs to be done--they train themselves by doing it over and over and over until they get it right--before they ever have to do it for real.

Could you imagine sending soldiers out to defend our country who have never trained, but who have only studied military philosophy in the classroom? Would you be very confident that they could protect us? Would you have much faith in their ability to defeat the enemy?

This is exactly what most of our seminaries and theological training institutions do--we send out Christian ministers to jump into the spiritual battle that is life who have primarily been trained academically. We make the assumption that Christian ministry is a primarily academic endeavor.

Why?

But the military training my friend told me about goes beyond just practicing war games over and over. Instead, they create the most critical situations possible for the young men and women to handle. In fact, they make the scenarios ten times more difficult than they would ever encounter in real warfare. What effect does this have? Well, when the real warfare comes around--it seems almost EASY!

I'm not sure how we would could apply this principle for Christian training and create "scenarios" that are more difficult than what we would face in real life without it being rather hokey. But I like the concept. I like the concept of being trained and prepared by repeated practice rather than simple theoretical instruction.

What do you think? What are some "out of the box" ways we could prepare Christian workers for ministry by applying this type of training technique? What are some ways we can prepare young people for ministry that aren't primarily academic?

Trump Card

2009-07-13T03:32:00.003-05:00

Just another thought regarding the Location post I just made...

When it comes to our attitudes and actions, the Bible certainly teaches us (look at 1 Corinthians 13) that love is the biggest trump card.

I have seen this to be true in ministry. People who aren't "cool," people who aren't up on all the latest technology, and people who don't know a lot about pop culture or what's on TV are still VERY effective in ministry when they simply, truly and generously love people from the heart.

Love is the big trump card.

Location

2009-07-13T02:31:00.004-05:00

In retail business there is one aspect of your enterprise that is not only critically important--it is exclusively important. Meaning, if this aspect isn't good, then it matters very little how well you do in every other aspect. What is it?

Location.

That's right, you've heard it before: Location, location, location.

The axiom is that you want to be located where people already are going by and can easily stop in. You don’t want to be somewhere where you have to try to draw them in with your product—no matter how wonderful that product is.

That is the point about location—A good location beats a good product. A good location beats sub-par service. Bad businesses (with inferior products or substandard service) can do well in good locations. Good businesses (with superior products and services) do poorly in bad locations.

Location is a trump card. A good location beats all the other things you can do (or fail to do) to make your business prosper. It almost seems unfair. Why should a mismanaged and inferior enterprise do better than your own? Because it has a better position. You may be able to sink 65% of your three-pointers, but all they do is make 98% of their lay-ups.

That is why it is much more important to spend more time and energy (and resources) on securing a good location for your business than spending it on logos, advertising, or even employee training. If location is a trump card for all these other things, businesses are wise to go after the best locations, first, before investing in so many other things.

So… what does this mean for ministry? Are there “locations” in our society we can try to “secure” in order to make it almost impossible to fail?

I’m mulling this one over… I could see “locations” for ministry in three ways:

Physical location of our services. And I don’t just mean “services” in terms of meetings (although, that is a part of it, too), but of any kind of service/ministry we would offer to the public who needs it. If we are in places where people are at already, it will make it much easier to serve them. We will have more people who accept the service we have to offer. Even though I’ve listed this first, it just might be the most important.
Cultural location. This just means doing things according to the “culture” of where people are at. Call it being culturally relevant, if you like.
Mental location. This means we are dealing with the exact issues that are in people’s minds as to why they are where they are with God. Now, this doesn’t mean the “real” issues. Sometimes real issues are subconscious. These are the conscious issues in people’s minds—what they think about God, about others who believe in God, about organized religion and about where they fit in the eternal scheme of things. These are the kinds of things Paul was talking about when he made the “take every thought captive” comment. (No, he actually wasn’t talking about lust.)

Securing a good location is “getting a corner on the market.” It is positioning ourselves right under the basket so that we can make the highest percentage shots possible. The question is—how do we get to that location in the communities we are trying to reach?

With Or Without God's Help

2009-07-11T19:07:00.003-05:00

I am all for excellence in ministry.

I am all for planning and preparation.

I am all for trying to make a difference.

I am all for social research and the understanding of human dynamics.

I am all for using technology in ministry.

I am all for using money and resources in ministry.

I am all for purposing for results rather than relying on wishful thinking.

I am all for organization, programs and systems.

I think all of the above are a matter of good stewardship with the opportunities, time and resources we are given.

But there is one thing that makes me uncomfortable when I've been a part of such ministries or ministry planning--It's almost like we're saying to God when we purpose to serve him: We will build your kingdom with or without your help.

And something about that just isn't right.

I think it's the difference between praying and saying a prayer. You know what I mean? We spend an hour in planning relying on all of our human powers, resources and wisdom, and then we say a 30 second prayer to "bless" it all. Then we claim that this was God's will.

What if God would not have us use our own wisdom but would have us simply do one thing: Every day spend an hour in prayer and his Word. Listen to his voice. Then obey what he wants us to do. What would happen? How can this be done as a group/team rather than just as an individual?

Teammates Needed

2009-07-07T11:19:00.003-05:00

I came to the mission field as a single man. I have been married only four years and in a few days my wife will be giving birth to our second child.

I am overseeing three different business projects and have plans to start more, and drastically increase the size of one.

I am administering a discipleship program that is designed to prepare local people to become national tentmakers here in The Location, and I am trying to develop all the curriculum in the language here.

I am attempting to reach at least one unreached people group here in The Location, and in addition to creating a unique script for their language (which the Bible was printed in last year) I am trying to make inroads into their community in our current location. Where I lived in previous places in The Location there were already growing communities of Christians in my designated people group, but in our current location there are almost none.

And I am trying to do and handle all of these things by myself. So, as you can see, I get stressed sometimes. I do not have much time for blogging or spending time online at all. I could really use some help... some teammates.

Recently a representative from my mission agency wrote to ask me to attend a special new training in a couple months and then head up future trainings, and the program that comes from the training, for our mission agency. I would love to do it, but I'd have to drop everything I've been working on for years. They didn't seem to understand that.

Like I said... I could use some teammates. But, then again, if the wrong people joined our team it could end up being much more stressful than it is now. If the right people joined, it could make a world of difference!

Who are the right people? Good question. Please pray that God sends them... soon. Thank you.

Overachiever

2009-07-06T01:13:00.004-05:00

I have been called an overachiever before.

An overachiever is someone who does more than required. Someone who does more than is expected.

Some have meant it as a compliment. "You did so well and have gone above and beyond!" Others have offered it as a complaint. "You really don't need to waste time doing it like that."

But, to me, overachieving is more about expectations than it is about accomplishments. Kind of like movies, really. Have you ever seen the trailer for a movie and then really wanted to see it? And then when you did see it, you were a little disappointed. Why? Because your expectations were high going in. Just like when someone takes you to a movie you don't really want to see, but you go with them because they want to see it. Then, it turns out to be a lot better than expected. Why? Expectations were pretty low to begin with.

You've seen this with political candidates, too. Before any debate the campaign staff will downplay their own candidate's debating ability and generously compliment the opponent. What are they doing? Trying to raise your expectations for the opponent and lower your expectations for their candidate. Then, they hope you are disappointed in the opponent and pleasantly surprised by their candidate.

Expectations strongly effect our judgement. Expectations that we have of others (meaning, how we think they will do--not demands or requirements) tell us a lot about how we view other people.

So when people call me an overachiever, I know that they have simply underestimated me.

I once got a dose of this from the president of my mission agency after I came back from my first 3-month trip to The Location.

"Koffijah, I am so impressed with what you've done! You did a great job this summer! You know, before you left we looked at you and it was kind of like when you're watching little league baseball. We're down by two, the bases are loaded, it's the bottom of the last inning and there are two outs. Then you come up to bat and you're the boy who is last on the lineup. You have to bat because in little league everyone gets to bat. Everyone on the team moans and all the parents in the stands moan, too because this is the kid who strikes out almost every time. But Koffijah, you just hit it out of the park!"

Yes, he actually said that. I was like, "Uh... thank you." I was glad he was so happy with what I had done, but was rather disturbed that he expected so very little. I knew he had a pretty low view of me and didn't think I would be capable of doing much, but, hey, "God can use anyone!"

Do you do this with anyone in your life? Do you look at them and think, "I don't think they have what it takes." Or, "If they end up doing anything it's going to be God for sure!" If so, then we just might take time to look deeper at them and reconsider our view of them. It just might end up making a big difference.

Maybe you'll start batting them cleanup.

"The More People I Meet...

2009-06-30T22:19:00.003-05:00

...the more I like my dog."

I used to have one of those pin buttons with this phrase on it. I don't know if I really felt like that at the time or if I just thought it was funny. When I realized its deeper meaning I threw it away. This was a very long time ago... and before I became a Christian.

After I started following Christ and was in a fellowship of Christians I had a renewed love for people in general. Those in the fellowship were like dear brothers and dear sisters. Those outside were people we would love to welcome into our fellowship and really hoped they would join.

It took me a number of years to begin to have my faith in people eroded. And I admit... even now I find it really easy to get discouraged with people in general. Myself included.

I have written quite a bit in The Koffi House about how we view people. In fact, if you click on the label "View of People" you will get all the posts I have tagged with that description. One of the best posts regarding this topic is The Arrogance of Agape Love. It describes the difference between loving people as doing something good for them and loving people as viewing them as someone valuable.

This morning I was thinking about monks in Burma that set themselves on fire to make a political protest. I thought about other non-Western people basically throwing their lives away to make some kind of point in protest. I thought to myself, "They don't value their lives as much as we do in the West." This immediately led me to think of the verse in Revelation 12:11 that describes those who died because of their witness of Christ and their refusal to deny him even in the face of death. It says, "they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."

You see, it's not that these Christian martyrs (or even those burning Buddhist monks) didn't value their lives. It's just that they valued something more--something greater than themselves. If I would have used my own wording to described these people do you know what word I would have chosen? I would have said, "They didn't value their lives so much..."

That's when it hit me. Value equals love. Love equals value. If we love someone we value them. Just like the martyrs in Revelation 12 didn't love their lives so much it means that they loved Christ even more. They valued Christ more than their own physical lives.

You can't separate value from love. You can't claim to love someone whom you don't value as a person or a child of God. This requires we change how we view people. This requires a change in our values.

Missionary Material 5

2009-06-29T10:24:00.003-05:00

So, say you're that missionary wannabe I described in Missionary Material 3. What do you need to do to become a missionary?

Well, even though you might need to hear it, I'm not going to share the nuts and bolts of what probably needs to happen. (But if you really want to know, leave me a comment and I'll be glad to get into that with you.) I'd rather focus on the preparation of you as a person--developing the "material" that will make you an effective missionary.

Now, if you remember from what I wrote in Missionary Material 2, your walk with Christ and your spiritual character are WAY more important than whatever strategy or approach you use. So, even if you might be excited about what I wrote in Missionary Material 4 regarding business and all that--don't get too excited just yet. You need to be discipled, first.

Have you been discipled? Have you ever hung out with a deeply spiritual and Christlike person whose mind was on how he/she could please Christ and serve him? Have you allowed this person to peer into your life, counsel you and coach you? Have you allowed them to suggest to you how you need to change or where you need to grow? Have you spent time in prayer with them? Have you spent time serving alongside of this person in real-life ministry situations? Have you joined this person when he/she has spent time with those outside the faith?

If you have answered "no" to any of these questions, I think you need to find someone like this, first, and ask them to disciple you. Live with them if you can. But whatever you do, don't get someone who is a good talker (can explain anything about God) but never seems to get around to doing any ministry or spending time with anyone outside of the Christian community. If you allow yourself to be discipled by someone like that then you will probably become like that, too.

Allow yourself discipleship time to change into the kind of person God wants you to be. This is primary before any kind of ministry--cross-cultural or not. Of course, you will always be growing and discipleship is ongoing--it will never end. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't take time to be discipled, first, before jumping into a situation where you will be tried in ways you've never even imagined before. You need time to deal with the issues deep in your heart. You need time to allow others to help you grow strong where you are weak.

Nobody runs a marathon without first having gone through extensive personal training. It doesn't matter how much academic knowledge you have about running. Nor does it matter how much you have spent on your fancy shoes. You better be in shape when the whistle blows.

Missionary Material 4

2009-06-28T10:49:00.004-05:00

I used to think that everyone who majored in business majored in greed. In fact I had a roommate once who was a business major and on one occasion I commented to him that he and all the other business students are majoring in greed. He kind of smirked and said, "For most people--that's about right!"

For many people business and ministry cannot mix. Business exists to make money. Ministry exists to save souls. And money is what those of us in ministry are often fighting against in trying to save all those souls from loving it more than God. So, in many ways, business and ministry are enemies.

Many Christians think the Bible says something to the effect of "Money is the root of all evil."

It does, doesn't it?

Well, no, it doesn't.

Here's the verse you're thinking of:

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:10

Money in and of itself is neutral. The sin is to LOVE money. The sin is to SEEK money before God. The sin is to HOARD money that we have when we could use it to help people in need.

So, business, like money, is neutral. It is no more sinful to do business than it is to have money.

But for many of us... we reject anything from the realm of business because we assume that if your purpose is to make a profit then you must not have pure motives. At the end of the day... we assume... you're in it for the money!

I've written elsewhere about ways we can do business and shield ourselves from the temptations of profits. But as I read through much of the Bible and as I learn more about business I am starting to see that business, in a lot of ways, is a lot like good stewardship. It's a lot like trying to make smart financial decisions. And, if you look at it one way, anyone who has and uses any amount of money is already doing business.

You work at a job and get paid. That is how you make money. You then use this money to buy food and clothes and also pay for your car and your house. When you buy a house, you have to be careful not to spend too much or your salary will not be able to keep up with it. Sometimes things get tight and you have to plan your purchases carefully. At the end of the day, you are selling your services (by doing your job) and then you are managing your expenses the best you can so that you will hopefully end up with a little to save each month. Hey, don't look now, but--You're doing business!

If we manage our expenses poorly we go into debt, are forced to sell assets or we have to live without for a period of time. We probably all have experience at this. So...

Why not learn to do business right? Could learning about good business practices be a matter of good stewardship?

I am reading a very good book now that I think every high-school student should study. That's right--high school! I have gone all of these years (after having majored in science and theology) and have never been taught these things that I believe would be a good idea to include as required high-school or college general education curriculum. The book?

The Complete Idiot's Guide to MBA Basics

It's not rocket science and don't let the "MBA" part fool you--it doesn't take a business whiz to grasp the concepts. Also, don't let the "Idiot" part fool you, either--that just means this book assumes no prior knowledge in the business discipline. Good for guys like me.

So, how about that young missionary wannabe who wants to know how to become an effective missionary in a very unreached part of the world? Well, I'm not saying you HAVE to do BAM, but I think it is a very good option that will allow you to get to and involved in so many places that would never accept someone who just has a Missions degree from a Bible college. And, depending upon the kind of business you do, you will likely need to get training in something else, too, besides missiology.

Missionary Material 3

2009-06-26T09:15:00.003-05:00

A young high-school or college-aged student has recently become a Christian and is "on fire" for Christ. While this fire is still burning brightly he goes on a mission trip (to Mexico or Haiti, of course) and then it hits him: He wants to be a missionary! This is indeed what God is calling him to do.

Now what?

Seriously, now what? What does someone do to become a missionary? Where does someone go to find out what it takes to become a missionary?

Perhaps it is his youth pastor? Or maybe his church's senior minister? Maybe he should just google "missionary" online and see what he gets. (Yeah, maybe not!) Or would someone down at the Bible college know about how someone becomes a missionary?

It is frightening the kinds of advice this young man is going to get from all of these different quarters. Many will smile real big and say, "Great!" while inside they are saying, "You'll never make it!" Others will overtly try to talk him out of the idea or question God's calling of him. Some with try to psychoanalyze him and say he is being eccentric because of pent-up angst stemming from being bullied or neglected as a child. There will always be the multitude of people saying that you don't have to be a missionary to be a Christian and that good works do not earn us salvation. (When did that become the issue?) A few will be impressed. Most will assume it is just a phase.

Then some will point this young man to the traditional means by which many people have become missionaries for centuries: Theological training institutions. The young man visits such an institution and meets people who indeed advise him on how he can become a missionary if he's really committed. This includes theological training and graduating with a theological degree, ordination to missionary service and then commissioning to the field through a missionary or denominational agency.

So... what's the problem with all of this, you might ask?

Our world has changed. Traditional ways of doing missions only works in places that allow traditional missions. And you know what? The vast majority of people who are unreached and have never been given the opportunity to follow Christ live in places where traditional missionaries are not welcome.

What's a young missionary wannabe to do?

I'll share some of my thoughts in my next post.

Missionary Material 2

2009-06-21T02:47:00.002-05:00

What does it take to be an effective missionary? Well, I've written many things on this topic and you can peruse them by clicking on the label "Effectiveness" in the labels list on the right. It is a bit hard to be generic, though, because there are few generic missionaries. I mean, a missionary is not just one kind of animal. There are doctors, translators, leadership trainers, evangelists, business owners, tentmakers, support, development workers, pilots, mechanics, financial directors, etc. The list goes on and on. So, how do you generalize?

In general, I would say good people make good missionaries. You know, just like good people also make good husbands, good fathers, good wives and good employees. In general, the better a person you are the better you will be at being a missionary, as well as a thousand other roles in life. You will always be better the more loving you are; the more joyful you are; the more peaceful you are; the more patient you are; the kinder you are; the more gentle you are; the more faithful you are; the more self-controlled you are. The more the Holy Spirit has molded you into the likeness of Christ, the more effective you will be at being his witness.

But here are three things you can start with for being an effective missionary:

Have a close, abiding walk with Jesus and his Word.
Have God's view of the people you're trying to reach.
Have a good approach/strategy.

Also, have them in that order, too--not the other way around.

Missionary Material

2009-06-20T11:36:00.009-05:00

I love the phrase "missionary material." The only time you ever hear it is when we're judging whether or not someone should be a missionary. Either they're not spiritual enough or they're not tough enough. We say, "I don't think they're missionary material."

I've probably uttered these words once in my life. I don't have a specific memory, but I wouldn't deny it if someone else did. I know I've thought that way before. But this phrase just makes me want to laugh now.

Why?

Because usually we have some pretty uninformed ideas of what kind of person makes a good missionary. Would the following things be on your list?

* Loves adventure.
* Very extroverted.
* Independent.
* Doesn't mind being dirty.
* Enjoys eating strange foods.
* A little on the wild side.
* Has a strong sense of God's calling.
* Loves working with children.
* Doesn't miss home, friends or loved ones when gone.
* Loves mixing and pouring concrete.
* Has MacGyver-like skills at fixing almost anything.
* Confident riding motorcycles.
* Enjoys speaking to large crowds of people.
* Has no need for luxury or convenience.
* Can live on next to nothing.
* Has training in agriculture or machine mechanics.
* Good at initiating conversations with strangers.
* Loves to travel and can't stay in one place (wanderlust).
* Has a pith helmet.

Well, let me tell you that while many missionaries do possess many of these qualities, many of them are actually less effective BECAUSE of these same things.

I once met a person who told me they wouldn't be a good missionary because it would be too difficult to leave relatives, friends and loved ones. They suggested that people who don't miss their families would be better missionaries.

Actually, I think those who know how to form deep relationships with others and then feel like they don't know what they could do without a close connection to those people would actually make very good missionaries. Those who don't have deep relational ties at home usually aren't able to form deep ties with nationals on the field, either.

Those who are "social butterflies" aren't as good at discipling small groups of people.

Those who are very independent often clash with other missionaries on the field (who are also very independent). (You've heard we missionaries don't get along very well, right? And that most of us who return home early do so because of differences with other missionaries on the field. Well, that independent streak has a lot to do with that.)

Those who are good at mechanics, farming or some other skill often get caught up into doing work.

Those who love to work with children often don't know how to relate to the leaders and decision makers in their location and are sometimes seen as deceptive by preying on the little ones to spread their foreign religion.

Those who have wanderlust aren't very good at staying put on the mission field, either, and are always traveling around and not doing consistent ministry in any one location.

Those who can jump in, blend in and live in poverty are often seen as strange and useless in the eyes of nationals who know the missionary has more money than them.

So, don't sell yourself short. You don't have to be a cross between Indiana Jones, MacGyver, Jason Bourne and Mother Teresa in order to be a missionary. God calls people of all shapes and sizes.

Fish, Fruit and The Stuff

2009-06-15T21:31:00.002-05:00

Hi all faithful followers of The Koffi House. :-)

Traveling now. Buying lots of fish and fruit trees as this is the time of year that ponds fill with water and trees are planted.

I'm also working on potentially sending a big load of The Stuff to the UK. Would be great if it happens and a big encouragement to us here.

Other exciting news on the horizon. My son's going to get a little sister very soon. :-)

Later,
Koffijah

Competitive Package

2009-06-10T20:28:00.004-05:00

A Bible college I once visited kept postings of open ministry positions on a bulletin board in their Administration building. Bible college students getting ready to graduate could peruse the postings and contact various churches to apply for a job. The postings would normally be divided into categories, such as Senior Minister, Youth Minister, Worship Minister, Children's Minister, etc.

In a posting from a large church (1,000+) for a preaching position was the following description:

We offer a very competitive package of benefits including a comfortable salary, housing allowance and vacation time.

Competitive package? With whom are they competing? Other churches? By offering a higher salary or more benefits does it help this church to attract a more spiritual pastor? Does it help them hire the person God has chosen for them?

For the would-be preacher who applies--Does a more comfortable salary and living situation indicate God's leading to preach at this church?

Taking Job Positions

2009-06-09T23:48:00.002-05:00

“If there is an existing position for the work that you want to do then you won’t really be making a difference by taking that job. That is because if you don’t take that job somebody else will.”

What do you think of this quote? Do you agree?

I don't know. A case can be made that you will do the job better than anyone else out there. That is possible. Also, it could be that no one else wants that job and if you don’t take it then your employer will not be able to find anyone else. In that case it is also possible to make a difference by accepting the position offered to you.

However, most people don’t seek or take jobs in order to make a difference. They do it in order to make a living—to make enough money to live, feed and clothe their family and send their children to school. There is nothing wrong with that, either. If our goal is to live and provide for our loved ones, then competing for a desirable job position with a good salary makes sense. It will allow us to live the life we want and to have enough money to do it.

In the long run, most people do their jobs because of one reason: Payday. If it weren’t for the money they wouldn’t be spending all this time doing this job. And there is nothing wrong or dishonorable about working for pay. Earned money is a good thing and nothing to be ashamed of. Many people around the world would love just the opportunity to work and earn a living.

Some people, on the other hand, choose not only to earn a living and provide for a family, but to try to make a difference in our world. They aren’t motivated just by the money (although, that is necessary in order to eat and live) but they are also motivated by the positive impact their work has on society. These may be people like doctors, police men and women, teachers or even lawyers. The majority of these people take positions that were already created for them. And sometimes it is a pretty competitive position.

Just think about job competition for a moment. What is the purpose? From the employer’s perspective it is to find the best candidate out of many who apply for the same position. From the applicant’s perspective it is to get a good job that is hard to find. Some positions are so desirable (high salary, great benefits, convenient location, good hours, light work, etc.) that many people compete to be the lucky one chosen for the job. This is true for both jobs that make a positive impact on society and those that don’t. (Think working in a soft drink company as compared to teaching in a city school.)

But does taking a job that makes a positive impact on society really make a net difference in the world? Maybe. Maybe not. Because even if you don’t take that position someone else probably will. Most likely, the difference is going to be made by one person or another.

A question: If you left your job today, would they hire someone else to take your position?

Another question:

Why would you want to be a doctor in a hospital that already has 100 other doctors and your patients aren’t even really sick? Why wouldn’t you want to be a doctor in a poor country where the lives of hundreds who are dying every day without any doctors would be saved by you?

An answer:

We couldn’t imagine the sacrifice it would take (giving up our lifestyles) to go save their lives. We love our lives the way they are (i.e.: our lifestyles) and feel it is not necessary to change them because, after all, people in our own country get the flu, too.

Okay, don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying you need to go to another country in order to make a difference in the world. I’m just trying to make one simple point. Here is the point:

There aren’t many existing job positions for the kinds of things most needed in our world that you can apply for, receive a salary and make a difference. If you want to make an impact you have to figure out what needs to be done that isn’t being done by anyone, where it needs to be done, and then figure out a way to fund yourself to do it. Most of those things will not have someone waiting to hire/pay you to do it.

In business we call these people entrepreneurs. In charting and settling unknown territory, we call these people pioneers. In ministry, we call them...

Not Impact But Obedience

2009-06-05T19:33:00.005-05:00

The following quote is from Skye Jethani author of the book The Divine Commodity. I saw this on another blog and liked it so much that I've posted his quote here.

"What compelled Jesus was not impact but obedience. He was nourished by doing everything his Father commanded. 'My food is to do the will of him who sent me,' he said. Whether amid an adoring crowd entering Jerusalem, or isolated in the wilderness for forty days, Jesus' single-minded obedience to his Father never wavered. His legitimacy did not come from the size of the crowd he impacted, but from the One who declared from heaven, 'This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.' With an identity anchored in his Father rather than his fans, Jesus was able to engage his mission and abandon the outcomes to God."

I don't know if I'm brave enough to "abandon the outcomes to God." You know, I'm here on a mission and there are things I wish to accomplish with the express purpose of making an impact here in The Location. I have goals to be successful in doing these things for God's kingdom and I feel I would be letting all of my supporters down by abandoning such goals and not worrying about whether or not I achieve them.

Do you see my line of thinking? This is what I'm saying:

I'm more concerned about what supporters think than I am about obeying God.

The goals I wish to accomplish for God are more important to me than the activities God might have me to do.

I am doing these things for God rather than with God.

Lord, purify my heart and let my only goal to be obedience to you.

Worth Saving

2009-05-29T23:58:00.005-05:00

Can people change?

This is a hard question for me to answer. While I will say yes, it is possible, I will also say, no, it is unlikely. Not impossible, but improbable. As I grow older I find myself having less faith that people will indeed change, despite the lip service we give to making changes in our lives.

How about changing our beliefs? Beliefs about ourselves? Here's a question for you:

Which is harder for you to really believe: That Jesus rose from the dead, or, that Jesus really does love you?

Feeling like you are unloveable or are somehow a bad person is not an easy thing to change. You do bad things and those things just confirm to you that you are bad. Some bad things you do, you really want to stop doing. But you find yourself doing them again and again. You get discouraged. You feel like you can't change. You sigh in defeat, "This is just the way I am." And because that way is not good, you feel you are bad.

For many of us “bad” also means “unchangeable” or “unsavable.” Nothing good can be salvaged out of this wretched heart of ours. We suffer from depression, mostly, because we believe that we cannot change—that we will always be bad and do bad things and be unaccepted, unloved, unrespected and unappreciated by people in society.

One of the deepest questions people ask in their lives is, “Am I good?” And there are two main sources for a major answer of “No!” to that question.

One, you are not good because you do bad things—you sin. Sin has made you unclean. You have sinned in the past, you do sin and you will sin again.

Two, you are not good if you are unliked or unattractive to many people in society. You know this may not be how it really is, but it is how you sometimes feel. People don't pay you attention. People don't take you seriously. People judge you, ignore you and don't respect you all that much. People don't want to spend a lot of time just hanging out with you. At least, that is how you find yourself feeling sometimes.

There is something in you that tells you that if you were “good” people would treat you better, respect you more than they do and want to be your friend and spend time with you. Any negativity you get from other people—you turn it on yourself and feel that it is because you are not good. You don’t like the person you are because you wish you were someone other people liked more.

This is my message to you. Not only can you change, but you are worth changing. And, really, the latter is a more important issue. It is where it starts.

I remember when my Grandpa was living with us and was getting old. One time he became very sick and had to go to the hospital. He lost a lot of weight very fast. Relatives joined at our house to discuss what to do when he was in the hospital. One lady said that we need to prepare ourselves for the fact that he is dying. I was just a kid at the time—maybe just 10 years old, I don’t remember. And what she said, I now realize, was wise and good. But at the time it angered me. I felt like they were giving up on him. I felt like they were calling the game "over” when the fat lady had not yet sung. I remember thinking, “He’s not dead yet!”

About that time (I don’t remember clearly the chronology of events) I remember my dad taking me into see grandpa at the hospital. The doctor laid out the options before my grandpa and dad about what can be done, and that he needed some sort of surgery or procedure if he was going to live much longer. I think the cost of this procedure was expensive or not covered by insurance, or there was some sort of financial issue involved. (Again, I am not too clear.) But I remember my grandpa saying something to the effect that we might not choose to do the procedure—perhaps because it was too expensive and he was so old and not worth saving. But my dad didn’t waiver at all, and said that we would definitely do the procedure. To my dad, it wasn’t a question to consider—my grandpa was worth saving, at any cost.

Spiritually speaking, I have felt like my grandpa—too far gone to be worth saving. The issue isn’t just a question of possibility—it is a question of worth—of profitability. What would we really gain by saving this?

My grandpa got better, to everyone’s amazement. He put weight back on. He came back home with us and lived a life the same as before he went into the hospital. The night he died he had just finished helping me wash the dinner dishes and sang as he worked. I am so thankful that my dad saw him as worth saving.

My grandpa used to save everything. He had lived through the great depression and had lost his house during that time. Unlike people of my generation, he knew the pain of poverty, and how fleeting was worldly wealth. He did not take things for granted and therefore did not live wastefully. I remember that he saved his dinner napkins from almost every night of dinner when it didn’t get too dirty. He folded them up and kept them on top of his refrigerator in his room. They were still good. They could be used again. There was no need to throw them away so promptly.

My grandpa didn’t come from a disposable society. In our society, so many of the products we buy and use are disposable—we use them and then we throw them away. It is cheaper and easier to buy a new one than it is to re-use an old one. It has become our mentality. Once something is “old” or “used” then it cannot be made new again. So, we don’t get attached to it. We throw it away. Nothing has value to us for very long. And certainly nothing has redeemable valuable—something that we can save, or get value back out of. No, we just dispose and purchase new; dispose and purchase new.

Imagine a paper napkin that we have used to place a piece of barbecued chicken on. The sauce has dripped down and soaked the paper napkin. It is really impossible to re-use that napkin. The sauce has probably actually melted the paper of the napkin. There is no way we could, or would, take that napkin to the laundry room and wash it, dry it out, and then use it again. If we placed it in a washing machine or a dryer, it would disintegrate. But that is the point of a paper napkin—they are so cheap that they wouldn’t be worth spending the money on soap, water and electricity (much less our precious time) to re-use when we can just throw them away and grab another one out of the pack.

Now, if we had a fine cloth or silk napkin, we would probably think differently. If gravy gets on that napkin we certainly do not throw it away and buy another! We do all we can to get it clean, and restore it to its prior condition. Why? Because we have already spent a lot of money on it. It is worth more. A dirty paper napkin is not worth saving. A dirty silk napkin is worth saving because we have already invested a significant amount into it.

And that is my point about my dad and my grandpa. To my dad, my grandpa was not disposable. He was not something my dad could just so easily part with. Yes, he was sick. Yes, it was very serious. But he was worth saving. He was worth bringing back to his prior condition. My dad had no doubts about that. I am glad he didn’t.

So, I have to ask… Is your depressed and broken heart worth saving? Is it worth being changed? Is it worth being healed? Is it worth all the time and work it would require to restore it to a healthy condition?

Jesus died to say “Yes!” to this question. Romans 5:6-8 makes it clear that we were sick; we were sinners; our situation was very grave and serious. But Jesus didn’t even wait for us to ask. He didn’t wait for us “get well” on our own. No, he came with his purpose of “redeeming” us—of retaining the value that he had created us with. He came with the purpose of freeing our hearts from the prison of lies and sin, and to heal the broken hearted. Jesus wants our hearts free. Jesus wants our hearts healed.

So, yes, you are worth saving—your heart is worth saving. And if you are not dead yet, it is not too late. You are not “too far gone.” You can change, and you are worth changing.

Satan’s purpose is to get us to reject Jesus and to reject God’s grace. How do we usually reject God’s grace? By feeling that we are “not worth” saving. When we say, “I am not good,” we are not just saying that we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory—no, we are actually saying that “we are not worth anything.” Yes, it is true that we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But, no, it is not true that we are not worth saving. Satan’s most powerful deception is to get us to believe that we are “not worth” saving, so that we will thereby reject any grace, any possibility of change. (See Good and Good.)

So, in communicating the story of Jesus, we don’t just need to convince people that Jesus died save them, but that they are worth saving! This is good news!

To believe that you are worth being changed is simply to believe that God truly loves you.

“Okay, maybe I am worth being changed, but CAN I be changed?”

I think that if you can change your mind about your worth (that your heart is good, not bad), then you can change.

Being A Missionary Wherever You Are

2009-05-28T19:31:00.005-05:00

I know you've heard this a thousand times, or variations of it:

"God has called me to be a missionary right here at home." Or, "All Christians are missionaries."

There is something about this statement that I totally agree with and something about it that bothers me, too.

TOTALLY AGREE

I agree that all Christians are priests of God and are called to ministry--service to Jesus--wherever they are in this unreached world of ours. The Bible is very clear about that. Christians are called to ministry, and ministry is not just for those we "ordain." In fact, all of us have been ordained to ministry when we put our faith in Christ and committed our lives to him. So, wherever we are, we should be serving Christ, shining his light and extending his grace to those around us who do not yet know him. Amen.

I also agree that not everyone should leave their homes and go to a different country or culture to be a missionary. I used to think that most people should, but many refuse. But after serving in a cross-cultural context, I have seen the example of many people who have traveled over land and sea to serve cross-culturally, but they've done all they can to live the same kind of lifestyle in that place. This usually makes them pretty ineffective. Sometimes it gets ugly and it would be better if these people went back home and served Christ there.

BOTHERS ME

Just yesterday I made a post about the politics of missions. One thing politicians do is to reaffirm the majority of people (potential voters) that they are exactly what they should be. They're doing exactly what they should be doing. Translation: No change is necessary. (That is, no change on the part of the masses of people. Politicians love to say they will change things for the people if they are elected.) And the line of "we're all missionaries" smacks of this same justification of the status quo.

I used to argue that the word "missionary" implied cross-cultural service. Most missiologists will make this distinction between a cross-cultural Christian worker and a Christian worker (evangelist/pastor) who serves in his own culture. The former is a missionary and the latter is not. The word "missionary" is basically the same word as "apostle." The former word comes from Latin and the latter from Greek. And in Ephesians it says that he gave some to be apostles....

But I'm done arguing about words. If you want to define one word one way, that is fine with me as long as you clarify your meaning.

What really bothers me is that we use our fancy and cute explanations to get around one thing that we just cannot imagine giving up: Our lifestyles.

Now, that is fine--you don't have to give up your lifestyle. Unless it is a sinful one or doesn't glorify Christ. But I'm not talking about lifestyle in the sense committing sins, not tithing your money, being involved in gambling, moonshining or drug-running. I'm talking about lifestyle in the sense of how your life is ordered according to your own culture. I'm talking about the kind of people you hang out with (not the kind of people you minister to). I'm talking about the kinds of places you go for fun. I'm talking about the kind of food you eat; the entertainment you watch; the clothes you wear; the language you operate in; the music you listen to; the places you shop; the kind of house you live in. This is the lifestyle I'm talking about.

Most people would rather give up their lives than give up their lifestyles.

And you know what... that's perfectly fine with me. I know how hard it is for people to really give up those things.

But some people do give them up. Some people go to another country, another culture. Some people do this for the very purpose of reaching people who have so very, very, very little opportunity to even hear the gospel compared to those in our homes who have an abundance of opportunity.

Is it wrong to share Christ with someone at home, then, who does not follow Christ? Absolutely not! Please do it. Do it right now!

But after you have done it, please think about a man named Khamman who lives on the other side of the world. Khamman has heard there is a religion out there called "Christianity" but he doesn't know anyone who is a Christian. He also doesn't know where there are any churches, because there are no churches in his village, district or province. He doesn't know there is a Bible, and even if he did, he couldn't read it because it hasn't been translated into his language. And even if it had been translated into his language, he still couldn't read it because he doesn't know how to read.

And he will die without Christ because so many people were content to be "missionaries wherever they are."

Selling an Experience

2009-05-27T23:28:00.003-05:00

What is the purpose of short-term mission trips? I’m talking about those 10-20 days trips we take during our vacations or spring breaks.

To the short-termer who goes: The purpose is to be a witness of Christ; love those who are different from us; encourage cross-cultural believers; build a church building or other needed asset in the work of the kingdom there; make a difference!

To the long-termer who hosts the short-termers: Make them feel like they’ve made an incredible difference.

Yes, it’s all politics.

Have you ever noticed that a politician never criticizes the culture or the people at large? Never will you hear an American presidential candidate say, “Well, you know Larry, this is where a vast majority of the American people are dead wrong. They need to change their thinking. They need to change their behavior.” No, they don’t go there even if they think this way. Instead, they compliment Americans. They talk about the greatness of the American Spirit and how they identify with the masses of people who live on “Main Street.” If anyone needs to change, it is those few but loud “radicals” that belong to the other political party.

Politicians have everything to gain from telling people they are good just the way they are. If a candidate says everyday people need to change, it is political suicide. Instead, they need to make people feel as if everything about them is all right.

So it is with short-term missions. Few people are brave enough to criticize these trips. Why? Because so many people go on them and have loved them. Because so many supporting churches send groups to visit their missionaries. A long-term missionary would be in trouble of losing support if he criticized his supporting church’s short-term approach.

I, for one, am not against short-term trips. Not in the least. If done right, I think they are great. In fact, I went on exactly ten short-term trips before I became a long-term missionary. (Well, six were in the 10-20 day range; four were in the 2-3 month range.) I would not have become a long-term missionary if it weren’t for those trips. So, I am not against such trips. Neither am I against people from my supporting churches coming to visit or do a small project. I love it! I love getting to share with them the country and the people I have grown to love. I feel like I have learned an entire world of new information from living in The Location and am delighted to share these things with people who come.

But there is one aspect of these short-term trips I have come to realize. Most people come to achieve one thing: An experience or sense that they’ve done something incredibly good.

People want to go home with the feeling, “That was awesome!” And there is only one thing, for Christians, that makes them feel that way—that they made an eternal difference.

It is not impossible, but it is very difficult to make a long-term impact in the space of 10-20 days. Even in the life of one person. Chances are the people coming for a week will be much more affected by the trip than The Location is affected by the people coming. But this doesn’t help recruiting:

“Come to the Far East and learn that you have anger issues you need to resolve when you return home!”

“Go on an exotic trip to Africa and learn that there is another way to live besides your narcissistic, consumeristic, individualistic existence!”

“Visit the other side of the world and discover that God is not only interested in, or dependent upon, the American church!”

These lines do not get people signing up in droves to spend $3,000 and precious vacation time.

Instead, we like to advertise like this:

“Spend a week of your time and make an eternal impact.”

“Experience what God is doing on the front lines of the gospel.”

“Be like Jesus and make a difference among the most unreached and the poorest of the poor.”

And we tell stories of how somebody went somewhere, met a local, shared the gospel and how he became a believer. We show pictures of white people hugging dark-skinned natives with bright white smiles. And we know that going on a trip is the best thing a spiritual person could do. While people at home don’t even want to hear the gospel, it is so easy to make a difference overseas where people are begging to hear the gospel but no one will even tell it to them!

If there ever was a missions “urban legend” that last statement is one! While there have been some instances of this dynamic in the history of Christian missions, it certainly does not characterize the “mission field” in general.

So, as a long-term missionary who often hosts short-term groups, I often feel like I have to sell an experience. I have to make people feel that what they’re doing is incredibly critical to the advance of God’s kingdom around the world. I have even had churches tell me that they want their people to have that feeling when they return.

I have to laugh. It is clear such churches aren’t really interested in making a difference overseas. Instead, they want to make a difference in their own people—in their church dynamic and church “life” back home. They want to feel like they’ve made a difference. And I’m stuck with the role of politician trying to make sure they feel that way.

If churches were really interested in making a difference on “the mission field” they would learn to accept that differences aren’t made that easily. They wouldn’t be so concerned about their “feelings” upon return home as they would be about gaining a greater understanding of the task ahead of them. They wouldn’t be so concerned about what they “do” but about what they “learn.” And they would spend more collective resources on long-term efforts than they spend on short-term trips.

But that just isn’t as sexy as being able to boast about one’s short-term trips and the incredible difference these trips are making to listeners at home who have no way to evaluate the real impact.

Dad's Day

2009-05-24T10:24:00.001-05:00

Do you know how many dads there are in the world? I don’t.

Let’s see… Suppose the “average family” in the world consists of a mom, a dad and… say… five children. (Is this the world’s average? I have no idea.) If so, then dad’s make up one-seventh of the population. However, some dads have children that are dads, too. So, I’ll venture to make a scientific guess that dads make up as high as 15% of the world’s population. If so, then there are roughly, approximately, about 700 million dads in the world.

I don’t know most of them.

I know one of them really well… that’s my dad. The other dad I’m getting to know is myself. And sprinkled about my acquaintances are a number of dads I’ve gotten to know over the years. Still nowhere close to 700 million, though.

So, what do I really know about dads? What could I possibly say that would generalize “what dads are like”? I’ll give it another scientific try:

Dads think they’re not good. Or, not good enough.

Why would dads think like that? Two reasons, really.

One is that dads are always trying to be better dads. They never settle. They work very hard. They want to achieve for their family. They want to provide for their children. They don’t want to see their children suffer, go without or be hindered in any way because their dads were too lazy or incapable of providing what a child needs.

And how much is enough? How good is good enough? Well, do you mean, for my kid? My kid is much better than me. That means all I could provide is never good enough for my wonderful kid.

The other reason that dads think they’re not good is because that is what we tell our dads. Our dads are “Superman!” when we’re young. Then we grow up and learn they are not really Superman. They’re just dad. And if they do one thing to hurt us (which every dad does because no dad is Superman), boy does it hurt! It hurts so bad that we blame them. We tell them what a bad dad they are. We don’t care what they’ve done or sacrificed for us…. Why didn’t they do ______ instead?

And there is probably nothing that hurts a dad more than to hear their child tell them how bad they are. After they’ve worked so much… After they’ve tried so hard…

Our society also gangs up on dads. While moms are the gentle, pie-baking, tear-wiping, encouraging-words-speaking, servant-hearted kissers of all boo-boos; dads are absent, workaholic, angry, over-protective jerks. How many Mother’s Day sermons have you heard extolling the qualities of our wonderful mothers, and how many Father’s Day sermons have you heard telling dads that they better shape up and do better?

I remember my dad going to church with me for a Christmas Eve service. He hadn’t been in a long, long time. And he felt uncomfortable there. So do many people. As we mingled with some of the church’s greeters at the door and chit-chatted, one of the men said to my dad, “Good to see you here.” My dad replied, “Well, the walls just might crumble in.” Surely a holy place like a church would crumble upon the presence of such a bad man!

My dad has gotten the message: He’s bad. Perhaps it was me or my siblings telling him that somehow. Perhaps it was society that got the message through to him. Perhaps it was just him thinking so lowly of himself that he expected others to do so, too. Maybe a combination of all of the above. Dad even rhymes with bad. Bad dad.

Perhaps, instead of “Father’s Day” they should change the name to “Give Dad A Break For Once, Day.” Give him a break from all the negativity. Give him a break from all the high expectations. Give him a break from the bitterness borne from unhealed dad-pain. Give him a break from never getting a break. Forgive him for not being Superman. See in him the goodness there is. See his heart. See that, even though he never knew how to express it very well—he loved you.

Thank you for being my dad, Dad. I’m proud to be your son. I just have one thing to say to you:

You’re good.

Managing People

2009-05-21T23:51:00.001-05:00

If management is defined as the art of getting things done through other people, then I have one thing to say about it:

I suck at it.

Sorry for the language—I rarely speak like this, but there is no better word that can describe my abilities more precisely.

Whether trying to get things done through other people in business, or by directing them in ministry, I usually end up very disappointed, angry, disillusioned and hurt. The people who were under my management usually end up very disappointed, angry, disillusioned and hurt. In other words—my management style is hell on relationships.

Now, perhaps I’ve being a little hard on myself. I do have a few success stories over the years. But I think I have more disappointments. And one of my consistent feelings is, “Why don’t people do things better than they do? Why don’t they take more responsibility? Why don’t they see that this level of quality is still not enough?” I often am amazed that even though they agree to accomplish a certain goal, they don’t do what it takes to figure out how to accomplish that goal well. I become personally offended when they don’t do their job to the highest standard of excellence.

What do I do? Usually deride them. Yell at them a little. Question their character. Question their integrity and loyalty. Let them know that they’ve personally hurt me by doing a bad job.

I’m a jerk that way.

Well, I’m learning. I have been humbled. I have been completely broken by my own mistakes and my own treatment of other people. I have been personally grieved by the broken relationships I have caused. I know I expect way too much of people and have struggled to find out how to have the highest of standards in work/ministry and yet not expect too much from people. It almost seems contradictory.

I grew up in a family situation that discipled me to motivate others by making them feel bad. Seriously. That’s how my parents and older siblings motivated me. They would insult me for whatever I did that displeased them. I was hurt and was thus motivated to improve in order to protect myself from being hurt by them and to make them happy.

So when I became an adult this is how I attempted to motivate people, too. I would tell people to accomplish a particular goal and when they would go about it in ineffective ways I would question their judgment and intelligence. If they did it again, I would question their integrity. Great management skills, huh? Would love to work for a boss like me, right? Yeah, right.

I have completely started over now. I have read some books. I have listened to other people. I have tried to deal with my own issues and the relational “rut” I easily fall into by deriding those under me who displease me. I’m not perfect and not yet where I want to be. But I am learning. The transformation is underway; but it will take a while to complete.

One thing I’ve learned: Success is obtained not just by looking at the problems and obstacles and solving them. Success is obtained by looking at the goal, and continuing to look at it. The former is a focus on the negative. The latter is a focus on the positive. The former is a focus on a part of the present reality. The latter is a focus on a future reality.

I can do this. I know I can. I can do it right, too. I am filled with hope.

Village Health Care

2009-05-21T00:42:00.002-05:00

In many so-called “third world” countries missionaries often get involved in providing health care. And it doesn’t take long after treating so many of the same diseases in many people that they realize “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Thousands of people die on a daily basis from diseases or conditions that are easily preventable. Bandaging the ailment doesn’t really solve the problem. People need education on how to keep themselves from falling into the problem.

These could be very simple things like: Wash your hands before eating. Boil water before drinking it. Wear shoes if you’re walking where animals defecate. Drink plenty of water. Sleep under a mosquito net. And so many more instructions that will improve the health of a village by the prevention of common problems that everyone face.

And so health workers schedule village-wide meetings to instruct everyone on these issues at one time. This saves the health workers from having to go around door to door and repeating the same things at each place. It prevents people from misunderstanding and claiming they were told differently than others. It also allows everyone to hear answers to questions that concern the people that perhaps the health worker wouldn’t have thought to tell everyone.

But the work of the doctor or health worker is still far from over after these mass health education seminars. Just because everyone faces certain common health threats, each person may still have their own health issues that are different from others. This means the health worker must still go around and give everyone a personal check-up.

I really think that the role of a “pastor” is that of a “spiritual health worker.” And here is my main point:

Preaching sermons to large groups of people is both good and needed. At the same time, so is one-on-one counseling, prayer and accountability with each of his people. The sermons cover things that are common to all people. The one-on-one times cover issues that each specific individual faces. And everyone, everyone, has issues—even if it isn’t a problem or a “sin-issue” it is still an issue of growth and service unto God’s likeness.

So, if you can, please tell me what the difference between pastoral care and discipleship is. In the original language, a “pastor” is a shepherd. A shepherd raises sheep. A shepherd wants his sheep to be all that a sheep can be. So, that includes both the prevention of attacks and proper growth.

While a doctor might be primarily concerned with preventing and curing problems, a good health worker wants to see each person grow strong and be capable of working and serving society. Similarly, a good pastor is not only worried about spiritual problems their people face (whether problems they already have or those they might have if they’re not careful), but he is worried about the spiritual growth and service his people are able to do.

This takes both mass-instruction time, and personal one-on-ones.

Doing Business Right

2009-05-18T23:28:00.003-05:00

I have been thinking about business a lot ever since I started doing business in The Location. I have had my share of struggles in trying to make things run smoothly, work right and be profitable, too. I want things to be profitable for the sole purpose of it being sustainable. That is, I don’t want to have to keep dumping money into an enterprise that is just not working. I want it to make a profit so that it can continue to function on its own.

Perhaps that is part of my problem. Perhaps it isn’t. I don’t know, really. I do know that two out of three enterprises I’ve started have yet to make a profit. Perhaps if I were shooting for large profits rather than just a profit it would make becoming profitable a little easier. I mean, if we shoot for the stars and fall short, we’re still doing pretty good. But if we shoot for a cow pile…well, our chances of success are high but it’s not where we want to be.

One thing I do know: Business people with experience and success (and those who do not have a ministry objective) do not have the mere goal of profitability for sustainability. They want to make good profits. To do otherwise wouldn’t be considered “good business.” So, I wonder, should I be aiming for a higher margin of success even if being rich is not my goal? Would aiming for larger profits actually help me to achieve sustainability a lot better?

One other thing I know: In the business world, people who start businesses that end up being successful in the long run are people who have knowledge and experience in doing what they’re attempting to do. If they don’t, they get people who do to work with them. What that means is that if I am learning as I go (because of lack of knowledge and experience in both business administration and the production of products and services we offer) then I will make a lot more mistakes; it will take a lot longer time; and there is a higher percentage of potential failure.

A football team I follow has just hired a new general manager and a new coach. Both of these men have never held these positions before. They are both “new” to their jobs—doing it for the first time. But they aren’t really doing it for the first time. They do have experience. Even though they have never held the top jobs in coaching and general managing, they have been in the system for a long time. They have been the “second man” for quite a while. They come to their new jobs—not without any experience or idea of what to do—but with plenty of experience in seeing how a successful football club is run. You see, every head coach is a head coach for the first time, sometime. But rarely, if ever, does someone become a head coach without having been an assistant coach for a long time and without having most recently spent time as a defensive or offensive coordinator. No one hires a man off the street—or even a recently retired football player—to be the head coach. Even if that man could eventually figure it out, they don’t want to lose millions on his “learning curve” and the time it would take to learn as he goes. They need more confidence that he will start out with a winning plan.

So, as an entrepreneur who has never ran a successful business or even been the “second man” in a successful business, I have a pretty big learning curve ahead of me. That is okay. But what it means is that I would do well to learn about the right way to do my business. Knowing the product is not enough. Knowing how to produce what we’re selling is not enough. I need to know about all the administrative things I see big successful companies doing that might seem “unnecessary” for a small business like mine. I need to be prepared for growth and have the systems in place to handle it when it happens. Because if I don’t, the business will crash and burn when it can’t keep up.

I have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of study to do.

And I have accepted this. I think sometimes, as Christians, we don’t accept the business challenge ahead of us when we start to do BAM. We make some fatal business assumptions. One is that the business will kind of work itself out. Another is that we don’t really need an MBA or need to know about the things MBA graduates know. Another fatal assumption is: “If this is God’s business he will bless it and make it successful.” We use this kind of blind faith in God’s power to exempt ourselves from due diligence in the task he has given us to do.

One book about BAM that I read said that most BAM enterprises are usually good at business or good at ministry. Less often will they find one that is good at both.

I think this is a challenge to us to well in both business and ministry. If we cannot, perhaps the model isn’t as good as we thought.

Working on some stuff

2009-05-13T21:56:00.003-05:00

I am working on organizing a few of our efforts here in The Location. Lots of work to do. But this will be very beneficial and help us to multiply. We are making a little progress, but things move very slowly. I have to type up large manuals and then translate them and then type them again in the language of The Location. Lots of work. Thank you for your prayers.

Into the mist...

2009-05-07T02:24:00.001-05:00

Perhaps I should disappear into the mist.

Out of the rat race. Out of the sight of those who may or may not applaud. Out of the trap of prideful humility.

Into the lives of those I want to touch with God's healing love. Into the heart of those God has given me to love and pour myself into. Into that distant and dark place where no one desires to go where I can shine his light.

My friends are of a different race. My associates pursue different goals. My companions possess some wisdom from which I could learn... if I listen.

And at the end of the long journey... after we have long ago said goodbye... after we have been forgotten by those who saw us off... after the door back home has long been closed... we just might come to see that there are some things to discover, not only establish. The change we seek to instigate might first require a change in us. We will be used by God, and we will learn to know God in ways we never imagined.

He is bigger now. The world is smaller. His culture is not like what I had expected. My former way of life is a foreign culture... not just to Him... but to me, now, too.

Good bye.

Rat Race

2009-05-06T02:53:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I feel I'm in a rat race. The only thing is--I don't know when or how I joined. What is this rat race? It is this weird thing of trying to get the approval of others. And approval could be for anything:

Leading lots of people to Christ.
Being an amazing writer.
Speaking a strange language fluently.
Being a great Christian.
Planting a big and growing church.
Planting lots of churches.
Getting books published.
Reaching an unreached people group.
Doing big things with little or no money.
Being an impressive prayer warrior.
Being a sexy business leader.
Being "in touch" with technology.
Having thoughts no one else considered.
Being an incredible speaker/preacher.
Organizing successful events.
Knowing popular people.
Being a great parent.
Being artistic and creative.

I'm not talking about others who are trying to gain approval for these things. I'm talking about me. Me alone. For anything I try to do well I will find myself looking to see if someone is noticing. I will look to see if a crowd is gathering. I will look to see if they start applauding. I will get jealous when I see others are more successful... or more noticed. More applauded.

Lord, have mercy on me... I am a sinner!

Perhaps I should...

(to be continued)

Blessing Trees

2009-05-04T19:00:00.000-05:00

A story I shared after completing my first full year in The Location, many years ago...

It seems strange that I have already been in The Location for a year now. It was on November 6th last year when I waved goodbye to my father at the airport and boarded a plane headed for The Location. In many ways it seems like the year has gone by so quickly. In other ways it is hard to believe that I was able to cram everything I have done this past year into one year.

When I first visited The Location five years ago I remember walking down to a riverside with some missionaries who were hosting me. We passed a temple that had trees and bushes lining the entrance. At one point we all smelled a very fragrant scent and I wondered what produced it. The oldest missionary stopped and immediately pointed out the culprit--it was a flowering tree that emits an incredible fragrance in season. I thought it was very exotic and romantic.

Soon after I moved here permanently I bought a motorbike and would often drive it up and down a particular street in town, which is lined with trees. These trees are very big and extend well over the street. Every time I would drive by them I would feel a drop of water or two and I began to realize that it was dripping from the trees. I wondered if I was the only person who felt this, or if others did, too. On a scorching hot and sunny day a few drops of water was just enough to make me think of those trees as refreshing. It was kind of "romantically exotic" (like the fragrant tree), and I would look forward to driving under those trees each day. I thought of them as "blessing trees"—trees that were dripping with blessings for the weary traveler who takes refuge under their limbs. I imagined the water to be fragrant, like a natural perfume.

Many months later I was driving down that same road with a national friend of mine after playing basketball. He was sitting on the back of the motorbike while I was driving and as we drove under those trees I felt the water drip as before. I asked him, "Do you feel the drops of water when you drive under those trees?"

"Yes, I do," he answered.

"Do you know what it is?" I asked.

"Yes, I do. These trees have a certain kind of insect that lives in them. And the water drops that you feel are these insects urinating." Ha!

Well, that kind of took the whole "romantically exotic" feel out of it for me! I imagined natural perfume and in reality it was bug urine. Now I try to avoid that road. At least I didn't imagine it to be honey and drive under the trees with my mouth open! If nothing else, this makes for a great story when I tell it to The People. They think it is very funny, and I usually get some laughs out of it.

Some might compare this story to working on the field as a missionary. We are often exposed to the "romantically exotic" things about the field on our short trips and imagine some of the most wonderful things about what it would be like to live and work there. Then, when we move there and live there for a long time, we find out the truth of what it is like and we have a completely different feeling about living there. What we once thought of as "perfume" is now "urine," and we don't want any part of it.

Life "on the field" isn't as exciting and adventurous as one might assume from reading missionary books, or even my newsletters. Much of it is a lot of hard and "dull" work, and it can be easy to get the feeling of wanting to leave. That is culture shock. But if you stick it out, you begin to adjust, and you don't feel so uncomfortable as you did before when you were at your "low." That is when you decide, "You know, even bug urine is refreshing on a scorching hot sunny day!"

A Prayer

2009-05-03T19:37:00.001-05:00

"God, I know you can handle my accusations; but I cannot handle your response. You can handle me being like David; I cannot handle being like Job."

It Takes One To Know One

2009-05-03T19:00:00.002-05:00

I heard this when I was a kid. When I called my sister a "pig" she would abruptly inform me: "It takes one to know one."

We all know and say that all sin is evil in God's eyes and no sin is better or worse than other sins. Still, some sins bother us more than others. A preacher can snap and in anger insult his ministry staff. Later he apologizes and is forgiven. But if that same preacher commits adultery with the deacon's college-aged daughter--he is fired. (We'll save this dicussion for another post, someday.)

Similar to pet-peeves regarding sin, there are certain kinds of character flaws I see in people that bother me more than others. When I see someone doing certain things or displaying a certain attitude it disturbs me more than other things that I might find more "forgiveable." Namely--arrogance and pride.

There is nothing I loathe more than arrogance. The problem is that I seem to run into it everywhere. Arrogance is the attitude of "I'm better than you." It is the opposite of what Paul commanded us to do in considering others better than ourselves. That would be humility. But humility seems hard to find.

I keep running into people who think they are better than me. No one considers me better than them. How arrogant of them! They should know I'm better than they are. They should treat me better! They should be praising me a lot more and seeing my value. They should ask me for my opinions instead of telling me theirs. How arrogant!

Oops. You see what I just did? I projected my own arrogance. Why do I think I recognize arrogance in other people so well? It takes one to know one. I recognize arrogance because I desire humility in others more than I desire it in myself.

Impressed

2009-05-03T01:29:00.004-05:00

If you work with small children you have undoubtedly had the experience where they do or show you something and you respond with, "Wow!"

Why do we do that? Is what the child did really that impressive? No, it is usually not. However, we want to show the child that we are impressed with them. Why? Because it makes them feel good--feel special--feel valuable.

Small children are too young to figure out that we are usually putting on a charade of being impressed. When we become adults we are offended by such pretense. However, that doesn't mean we don't still bask in the praise when we feel it is genuine.

Being "cool" is being impressive. A cool person is someone who impresses people in ways that people admire and aspire to be themselves. (I might impress you with my ability to juggle running chainsaws, but that still doesn't make me cool because chainsaw-juggling mastery is not a quality you would ever desire to attain.) In short, this is what a cool person is:

A cool person is someone who is usually good-looking. If they are not naturally good-looking, then they usually do something "stylish" with their hair, clothes or appearance.
A cool person is someone who knows what's up. While they might not be the smartest person around, they certainly know about pop culture or what's going on in respect to the community of people they're a part of.
A cool person is someone who other people love and want to be around. They usually have a crowd of people around them at most times, usually praising them.
A cool person is someone who is funny. They know how to make people laugh.

One more thing about cool people: They aren't impressed with much.

That's right--if you are going to be impressive, it means that you aren't all that impressed with many other people. Only a select few if any.

How "impressed" we are with another person usually indicates how we view them. They aren't the same thing, but they are related. If we have the ability to look at people who aren't impressive to anyone, and see something about which to be impressed, then we are far along the road to loving them.

Now, I know what you're thinking. If you have unconditional "agape" love then you don't need to be impressed by someone before you love them. True. But this can also become a dangerous road to arrogant pity, too, if we don't learn to see the intrinsic value in these "unimpressive people" by considering them better than ourselves. (Please read my post The Arrogance of Agape Love.)

What happens when we have a "cool" Christian preacher, church-planter, worship leader, author or missionary? It usually means that they aren't that impressed with other preachers, planters, leaders, writers or missionaries. It also usually means that they aren't very impressed with the people they're serving but are very interested in making people impressed with them. It usually means that while they would love to sign people up as their supporters or followers, they really don't think these people could do what they're doing half as well. And it shows.

I think it would do us well to take a look at the people around us. Are there people impressed with us? If so, is it because they are worshipping a talented-cool person? Or is it a reflection of the fact that we're impressed with them and they therefore feel valued by us and special in our eyes?

Which do you think is more transformational?

Learning The Lingo #6: It takes time.

2009-04-30T19:07:00.001-05:00

One of the most common questions I get asked when it comes to language learning is, “How long did it take you to learn the language?”

I have a hard time answering that question.

You would think that after hearing this question a thousand times I would have come up with a good quick answer that made people say, “Oh, that’s nice,” and move on with the conversation. Most people aren’t ready to listen to a 5-hour symposium entitled, My Theory of Language Learning Based Upon Experience.

When I used to drive a van for a particular ministry I would often get the question, “How much longer until we get there?” Now, this was on those two-day trips to Mexico and such. They would usually ask this after a couple hours into the journey. I had a standard answer: About a half-hour. The response was always the same. They thought, “Oh, that’s not too long,” and went back to talking with their friends, playing card games, listening to their headphones or sleeping. Three hours later it would begin to dawn on them, “Hey, hasn’t it already been more than a half-hour since Koffijah told me that?” But that answer bought me a solid three hours of non-whining.

I could do the same with the “How long did it take you to learn the language?” question. I could just answer, “Two years,” and be done with it as we continued on talking about things they found more interesting. But I just can’t bring myself to do it. I just can’t pass up the opportunity to dismantle one of the misconceptions about language learning.

People often have the idea that you spend time learning a language until you become “fluent.” After that you go out and start using it to accomplish the work you want to do. But that is not what it is like at all.

First of all, it is difficult to learn a language unless you start using it from the beginning. Then, you gradually increase in your ability to speak it as the years go by. I imagine a hyperbolic curve that continually rises and continually approaches this thing we call native-like-fluency, but never gets there. The curve is smooth. That means there are no distinct points at which we can say, “Okay, now you can speak the language.” We can always only speak “some” of the language from the first day we start learning a few words. It is just that this “some” continually increases.

So it is difficult for me to answer honestly that it took me __ years to learn the language. I am still learning. I am still running into new vocabulary and ways of saying things that I have never known. This is true even after many nationals say I speak just like them and even confuse me as a fellow national when I talk with them on the phone.

It takes time to learn a language. There are days when you feel like you are not making any progress. Then there are days you feel like a whole new world has opened up to you because you finally understand something new. It just takes time. But the less social contact we have with the community, the more time it takes.

If you do the right things, over time, you will learn the language. How long will it take? About a half hour.

Learning The Lingo #5: Commitment

2009-04-29T21:35:00.004-05:00

Let’s get one thing straight—Learning a second language doesn’t happen on accident. Save a supernatural gift from God, the language isn’t just going to get downloaded into our brain. As “natural” as we try to make our learning process, it is still hard work. Sometimes it hurts. It takes commitment if we are going to learn the language well.

That's probably not a huge revelation. Most of us tend to think learning a language is an impossible task, not an easy one. If it is possible, it's only because we have a firm commitment and good discipline. While it might not be as impossible as we may think, it is still a good idea to be prepared. If you can get others to join with you in learning the language it is even better. But in any case, it is good to have someone (or several people) holding you accountable for your language learning.

Along the road of language learning there will be plenty of detours and distractions encouraging you to give up or lessen your language commitment. Commitment to language learning will be necessary when…

Your head is aching from the onslaught of new information that you just don’t understand.
You’ve said something that you shouldn’t have said and made someone feel bad.
People laugh at your speaking mistakes—for the thousandth time.
You are confident you are saying it right but the nationals just don’t understand you.
You just don’t feel like hanging out with your national friends tonight.
You just can’t pronounce that strange vowel that doesn’t exist in English.
You really, really, really want to skip language class today.
Your language teacher insults you in a way he thinks is funny.
You lack the courage to walk up to a group of nationals and begin a conversation.
You just want to buy a small item in the store but you can only think of the English word for it.
You don’t understand the difference between five words in the language that all translate to the same word in English.
You described her as a “pig” when you meant to say “friend” because you messed up the tone.
You have an English-speaking national who is more than willing to translate for you.
You have invitations to go hang out with other expats doing something you actually enjoy instead of hanging out with the nationals.
The phone is ringing with a national on the other end of the line and you just want to hang up.
You’d rather just save the language learning opportunity for class-time.

It is hard work to learn a language. You should know this going in and make a plan for it. You should also not be too hard on yourself—your brain needs breaks and time to process all that you are learning. Just be careful not to turn breaks into extended vacations.

I have noticed the best language learners are the ones who make the most of every opportunity. Whether that is riding a bus, standing in line at the immigration office, reading signs along the road or talking with a previously unknown merchant, they never miss the chance to pick up a new vocabulary word. These people are motivated by a desire to really "get it." Those who feel like, “I’ll get to that when I take my class,” usually go much more slowly.

Commitment means we really want to obtain fluency, not just survival phrases. We shoot for native ability even though we know we will never quite reach it. Still, that commitment moves us further down the road of language competence.

Other qualities such as grace and humor also go along well with commitment in language learning. If we are too afraid to make mistakes, or find it hard to laugh at ourselves, then we become more hesitant in opening our mouths. Perhaps that is where real commitment lies—in “getting back up” from our setbacks, failures and embarrassments to keep going.

Learning The Lingo #4: Many Methods

2009-04-28T19:21:00.005-05:00

Okay, up until now you probably think that I am anti-language classes, anti-videos, anti-language books, anti-lesson material altogether, but am just in favor of immersion into the social community of native speakers. Well, I do believe that immersion into the social community of native speakers is foundational. It will make the biggest difference in our language learning endeavor. But that doesn’t make me against other methods. In fact, I believe they’re all good. (Think Samuel L. Jackson.)

For effective language learning I’m very much in favor of an “all of the above” approach—just so long as it includes lots of social contact with native speakers, preferably immersion into their community so that real communication can take place in the language we’re attempting to learn. But along with that, I believe it is a great idea to take language classes, read language books, do a language route and hire language teachers. I wouldn’t limit myself to just one approach.

In my experience, I found that I learned different but very valuable things from different people. Had I limited myself to one language teacher three times a week, it would have been crippling. Even if I lived with this person 24/7 it wouldn’t have been as helpful as having a multiplicity of language teachers (both people and books). I found that after an extended time each morning with one teacher I would get a pretty strong headache. I needed a break. After I started using three different language teachers (while also living with a national family) my headaches weren’t as much of a problem.

I also found it helpful to have both national and expatriate language teachers. The native speaker would do a much better job of teaching pronunciation and of just knowing what was right or wrong in the language. They would also have a much wider vocabulary and knowledge of the language to share. The expat teacher, on the other hand, would have a much better understanding of where I was coming from and why I made the mistakes I always made. The expat teacher could explain many things about the language better than the national speaker because they understood what my “hang-ups” were as an English speaker.

Flash cards were a tremendous help for me when I first got started. The language here in The Location doesn’t use roman letters, so I learned the alphabet by using flash cards. After I had that down I used flash cards for basic vocabulary. I repeated the cards I had trouble with. It wasn’t long before I learned all the words on my cards and no longer had a need for the original cards I made. I had to keep making more. They were very helpful.

Recording a native speaker saying difficult phrases on audio tape was also a big help. Especially when it came to pronouncing different “tones” in the language. I could replay the recording a hundred times without the tape recorder getting tired. If I had my language helper say the phrase a hundred times in a row they would probably have quit on me the next day. But I would listen to these phrases one after the other until I could say it at the same speed, rhythm and pitch contour as the native speaker. It was a vital help to me.

Books were also good, though confusing at times. I went through several books with a couple of my teachers. I also bought children’s school books from kindergarten through sixth grade and read them on my own. I would constantly try to decipher signs around town. I learned to play some of their popular songs on my guitar and wrote down the lyrics. I studied them with my friend until I understood the meaning of all the words in the song. Then I discovered how much fun it was to play those songs with The People. They were always amazed that not only did I know their music, but that I could play and sing it too. It was an amazing social connection that opened many doors for me.

I also did a language route for a while a la LAMP (Language Acquisition Made Practical). Though it was a bit slow for me, it was helpful as another contributor to language learning. I enrolled in language classes, too. I also found them to be slow and sometimes below my level, but I learned many things that I previously didn’t know about the language. It helped me, too.

Learning a language effectively takes many methods. We should not limit ourselves to just one or a few.

Now, does this apply to other areas of ministry, too?

Learning The Lingo #3: Social Contact

2009-04-27T21:26:00.003-05:00

Languages are best learned by people from people.

Kind of sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, many of us try to learn language without involving other people, for some reason. We buy books, tapes, videos, flash cards and other lesson materials. Those are all fine and good. But the biggest ingredient needed is social contact with native speakers of the language.

That’s right—social contact. I’m not just talking about learning from a language teacher. I’m talking about interacting with speakers of the language who are not trying to teach you a lesson, but are just having a conversation with you, trying to tell you a story or a joke, or just doing life together. One of my favorite quotes from the LAMP (Language Acquisition Made Practical) method people is the following:

“If you set out to learn a language you will possibly fail, but if you set out to have a deep relationship with people, you will learn their language.”

-Thomas Brewster, Bonding and the Missionary Task

The point is that if we have the mere goal of learning a language—and if we subconsciously think we can do this without building friendships with any native speakers—chances are we will fail to speak it fluently or we will find it extremely difficult. However, if we make it our goal to form a friendship with at least one or several native speakers (preferably someone who speaks little or no English) then in the course of that process we will pick up a great deal of the language. Not only will we have the language learned, but we will have a good friend, too. So this approach is ideal for ministry, too.

Of course, if we see the people we’ve come to reach as simply “subjects” then we probably won’t want to build friendships with them. “We want to help them; not hang out with them!” If we are afraid of them and view them with suspicion, we probably won’t be allowing them to get too close to us or our children. If we fear giving up our lifestyles, eating their food and doing things with them that they enjoy, then we will probably only try to build friendships with those few who are brave enough to come into our big luxurious houses and eat our strange Western food—not too many, if any.

So, how we view people can end up being a big factor in how well we learn the language. That is because how we view the nationals will mostly determine how much social contact we have with them. How much social contact we have with them will greatly determine how much of the language we learn.

Learning The Lingo #2: Immersion

2009-04-26T23:04:00.003-05:00

There is no single language learning technique, method, class or dynamic that beats total immersion.

The word “immersion” gives us the image of being thrown into a large body of water. I imagine a raging river. We don’t just go visit the edge. We don’t just take sips of the water or dangle our toes into it. We don’t just splash around and get a little wet. No, we are thrown into all the fury of its current and the river takes us where it is going—not where we want to go. We are not so much in control—the river is. But by being in the flow we learn the currents, the eddies and the falls.

That is what learning language by immersion is like—a bit crazy and uncontrolled. But please notice two things: One, it is for this very reason many people choose not to learn by immersion but select a more comfortable and controlled approach by taking in the language in “small doses.” Two, immersion is exactly what our first language learning process was—when we were born into a crazy world full of people speaking a language we didn’t know. But we still picked it up.

Now, learning a second language as an adult is different than learning a language as a child. But adults can learn faster. An adult can become rather fluent in two years’ time when the baby who was born into the culture is still just saying a few words. Now, give the baby another 7-8 years and he’ll blow the adult away. But with immersion adults will be hearing things “outside the lesson” that will help them to pick up the language must faster than simply taking classes. This is the same dynamic for the child who grows up hearing the language.

Here is the key: Immersion gives you no crutches. Crutches can be rather crippling. That is because we have little confidence in ourselves and we depend on the crutches more than we need to. But when we put ourselves into situations where we need to speak the language for real life communication—that is when we really learn it.

So, if you want to learn a second language my biggest advice to you is this: Find a way to live with native speakers of that language who DO NOT speak English. Yes, it will be crazy at times. Yes, you will use a lot of sign language. Yes, it will seem like you are getting nowhere. But I promise you—you will be making much more progress than if you are only taking the language in small doses.

Now, does the dynamic of immersion apply to other things in ministry besides learning a language?

Learning The Lingo #1: You can do it!

2009-04-22T22:37:00.002-05:00

You’ve heard the joke before:

“What do you call someone who can speak many languages?”
Multilingual.

“What do you call someone who can speak two languages?”
Bilingual.

“What do you call someone who can speak only one language?”
American.

Americans are somewhat unique in the world. And it is not because many Americans only speak English. There are plenty of monolingual people in the world—probably in every single country. But the thing that is unique about many Americans—especially those who come from the Midwest—is that we can live the majority of our lives without ever hearing someone speak another language (in real life—not on TV). Now, if you’re from the South or Southwest you are probably accustomed to hearing Spanish being spoken, and this is increasing in many locations. (And many people resent it, too.) But in many corners of middle America you will rarely, if ever, hear someone speaking a language other than English.

In most parts of the world it is common to have native speakers of many different languages living all around you. This is certainly true in The Location. Even if you don’t speak these languages it is not an uncommon event to hear others speaking them. And I have come to see that this is normal. Living in such a monolingual environment is the exception.

Consequently, I believe this is one reason many Americans have this mental barrier to learning a language. We see it as a near impossible and very difficult task. I did, too. I remember when I was in high school I had the opportunity to study Spanish my freshman year. Something told me that I was “too young” to do this and needed to put it off until my junior or senior year. (Oh, how I regretted this—and oh, how wrong I was!) Learning another language was something only a very talented and intelligent person could do, so I thought. And so think many people.

The truth is, learning a language is difficult. However, it is not as difficult as many people think or make it out to be. Sometimes those who have learned to speak another language fluently don’t mind others thinking it is an amazing feat because it makes them look more impressive. But it is not an impossible task, or even an improbable one, if approached the right way.

I know how to help people learn to speak the language here in The Location. I have done it. I mentioned before that I have had interns from the US come for 4-6 months and in that time learn to speak more of the language than many full-timers who have been here for years. I know how to do it.

First, you must believe it is possible. You can do it. Yes, it is tough. Yes, you will get headaches and probably cry at times. Yes, you will make mistakes that are both funny and offensive. Yes, you will be confused and clueless. Yes, you will look dumb. But in the end, you will learn the language. Wanna know how?

Stay tuned…

Learning The Lingo

2009-04-21T22:18:00.001-05:00

Bob, Bill, Betty, Bart, Bee, Ben, Brody and Brad have something in common. None of them are fluent in the language of The Location. A couple of them can carry on the most basic of conversations, but most of them can only say a greeting, thanks, brief introduction and “how much?” for shopping. Is this a coincidence?

In my view, the most important thing about being a missionary is loving people as Jesus loved them. The second is learning the language. It is critically important. It doesn’t matter how good your translator is or how well your disciples speak English—if you don’t speak their language well you don’t truly understand them, their problems and their perspective. You just don’t.

I have found that most cross-cultural “understanding” is more projection that true understanding. We listen to someone explain the difference between our own culture and theirs and then we take this “understanding” (which we didn’t get from our own experience) and we project it onto the people. Often, the things we’ve heard are incomplete or simply incorrect. But these “understandings” persist and are abundant. The only way to get past the clutter of misunderstanding is to learn the language for ourselves—to the point where we can truly see things from the nationals' perspective.

In my time in The Location nothing has been so rewarding as learning the language. It has opened the door to this entire country and people. It is exciting to know that wherever I go within The Location I can find people that I can talk and listen to. And the things I’ve learned from listening to people here have changed many of my initial opinions and understandings. I can’t imagine living here for an extended period of time without knowing the language. I don’t know how so many people do it.

Learning the language isn’t important just so that we can share our message. It is important so that we can listen to the thoughts and perspectives of The People. When we listen, we learn. When we learn, we begin to understand. When we understand, we can begin to come close to the heart of The People. Then we learn how to begin communicating effectively—what they really need to hear in order for them to understand who God is.

You would be surprised how many missionaries don’t ever learn to speak the local language fluently. I was surprised when I first came. I would say it is a majority. Virtually all of them can say enough to fool a non-speaker from their home country that they know how to speak the language. But most of them depend on translators or English-speaking friends and staff. These “crutches” actually are hindrances to learning the language. I have had interns from the US come to The Location for 4-6 months and in that time learn to speak more of the language than a large percentage of full-timers who have been here for years.

Two enemies of language learning are (1) very limited contact with the nationals (or spending too much time with other expatriates and in public places that cater to the tourist industry) and (2) viewing The People as subjects rather than as friends. So many foreigners do not have any nationals as friends. Of those who do, many of them are the ones who know how to speak English very well.

Up until now I have not talked much about language learning in the Koffi House. However, it is one of the things that is very close to my heart. I have seen the benefit of learning the language fluently and desire to help others avoid the trap of settling for non-fluency. Unlike Brad’s friend in The Ugly Missionary #7, I believe learning the language IS necessary to being effective in The Location.

So my next few posts will focus specifically on language learning. I will discuss what it takes to really learn a language. Please feel free to share your stories, too, if you have some.

The Ugly Missionary #7: Language Learning

2009-04-20T18:58:00.004-05:00

I’m sorry for posting about ugliness here at the Koffi House. I do it for a purpose, however. I write these stories so that we will see what we should not be; how we should not think; and what we should not do. There aren’t any “old scores” I’m trying to settle. (Some of these stories will include my own actions.) Rather, I want us to evaluate and adjust, consider and repent, so that we will be effective missionaries wherever we are.

Brad moved to The Location not too long ago. Before he came to the field his organization sent him through a rigorous pre-field orientation process that included instruction on cross-cultural living, language learning and ministry. Brad was inspired by this training and reported to his friends before leaving to the field that it was some of the best preparatory instruction he has even gotten even after majoring in “missions” in Bible college. Brad had in mind to use local transportation for the first year on the field (instead of quickly buying a car) so that it would increase his interaction with the nationals.

Brad also had in mind to use the LAMP method of language acquisition. LAMP stands for “Language Acquisition Made Practical” and consists of doing a language route where you go around to the same 15-20 nationals every day and speak a phrase or two that you’ve just learned. Over time this helps the missionary not only learn the language, but also build a core of national friends.

But Brad wasn’t alone when he moved to The Location. He also had his family—a wife and three kids. After arrival one of his first obligations was to get his children enrolled in school. The only problem was that they each had to attend different schools because of their ages. Brad spent more than an hour taking each of them to school in the morning by riding the popular motorcycle taxis in the city. In the evening it was another hour. Brad didn’t want his oldest (a 14 year old son) to take the taxis alone—he feared something bad might happen. So every day Brad spent 2 hours riding motorcycle taxis.

Brad was also trying to get his house settled and his stuff shipped over from home. He was inundated with all kinds of decisions, not only about school and work, but about hiring a maid, buying food, purchasing computers and Internet access, getting to know other expats, etc. It wasn’t long before Brad said, “Forget this! I’m getting a car.” So Brad found a car he could use to send his children to school every day, and then to work.

Brad never got around to doing a language route. He kept putting it off. First it was to make sure his children were enrolled in school. After that he would start his language route. Then Brad found himself busy setting up his house. He had furniture to buy and things to get shipped over from home. As soon as the house was set up then he would start his language route. Brad’s project gave him a month to “get settled” before starting to work in the office and a year to concentrate primarily on language learning. But Brad found that a month wasn’t enough. Even so, Brad thought to himself that a regular schedule would help him be more disciplined about doing a language route.

As assistant director of his project Brad was given a national employee to help him. This young man was fluent in English. So Brad enlisted his help with getting set up in The Location. He became Brad’s translator. If Brad wanted to discuss something with city utilities, this young man translated. If Brad wanted to buy some things at the market, he took his employee along to translate and help settle the price. Brad was so much happier having someone who could speak the local language working for him. But he still always felt guilty about never doing a language route or learning much of the language.

Brad decided to hire a local language teacher to give him lessons every afternoon. However, Brad found that afternoons turned out to be a busy time doing e-mail, picking his kids up from school and crossing the border to a more developed neighboring country to do shopping, eat pizza and take a break from living in The Location. So Brad had to cancel his language lessons often.

Finally, Brad met another missionary who worked in the same city and has been living in The Location for three years. This man teaches a Bible study several times a week to The People. He uses one of his employees to translate for him. After many dinners out with their two families, this man explained to Brad that he feels it isn’t really necessary to learn the language to work and minister in The Location. He has been doing just fine using an interpreter. Brad really respects this man and began to feel better about not picking up the language.

After a year’s time, when his language-study period has been completed, Brad can only say, “Hello,” “Thank you,” and “How are you? I’m fine.” All of his kids know how to greet people in the local language but cannot say anything beyond that. When a representative from Brad’s mission agency visits the field and asks about his language ability, Brad admits that he has not done too well. But he points to the necessity of taking care of his family and making friends in the expat community, to the hectic nature of his office and the reality that learning the language isn’t as necessary as he once thought.

The Ugly Missionary #6: The Undercover M

2009-04-19T21:38:00.004-05:00

I’m sorry for posting about ugliness here at the Koffi House. I do it for a purpose, however. I write these stories so that we will see what we should not be; how we should not think; and what we should not do. There aren’t any “old scores” I’m trying to settle. (Some of these stories will include my own actions.) Rather, I want us to evaluate and adjust, consider and repent, so that we will be effective missionaries wherever we are.

Brody loves a good suspense novel. The mafia. Corruption. Plot twists. Mystery. International espionage. Global politics and warfare. It is all good stuff. Brody enjoys the danger and adventure of such stories and the movies made from them. Deep down inside Brody fancies himself a courageous and “smart” undercover agent. He knows he could do the job.

Well, Brody is doing the job—kind of. He is a missionary in The Location. An undercover one, at that. No missionaries are allowed in The Location. Everyone tells young wannabe missionaries that visit the field as tourists: “If the government finds out you’re doing evangelism, you will be kicked out in 24 hours!” Oh, how this thrilled Brody! He would do it! He would dare to go where few others would tread. So that is what he did. Now Brody runs a handicraft business in The Location, sending boxes of small souvenirs to the US to be sold. But Brody is really an undercover missionary.

The only problem is that the government in The Location knows exactly what Brody is doing. And what is more, they don’t really care that much. Why? Because Brody is working in the capitol city where there is already a large Christian presence in the legal church. Most of Brody’s employees were already Christians when he met them. His Bible studies are small and consist of people who are already a part of the national Christian community. The nationals who are not Christians and join Brody’s group are mostly poor youth that the government doesn’t consider a threat.

But when you tell this to Brody it kind of peeves him. He bristles at the suggestion the government knows and doesn’t care. No, his work is dangerous, gosh darn-it! He could get arrested at any moment, put into prison, martyred or escorted to the border. And he has stories to prove it.

One morning Brody saw a policeman outside the gate of his house. “They’re watching me!” So Brody called his missionary colleagues and asked them to meet him at a local coffee shop. He wouldn’t dare mention anything about God, the government or persecution over the phone—they could be listening. When his friends gathered at the shop Brody had everyone take the batteries out of their cell phones. “The government can turn on our phone’s microphones from a remote location and listen in on our conversation. I’ve heard this was true.”

“We had a B.S. last week at my house. I was the only M there with several nationals. Perhaps we have an informer. We need to yarp.” B.S. is code for ‘Bible study’ and M means ‘missionary.’ Yarp is ‘pray’ spelled backwards. Brody would always speak in code to mask words with Christian meaning—even when in private rooms and cell phone batteries removed. “I think I’m going to have to move our B.S. to a new location. The police are on to me. If I don’t see you guys again, I just want you to know that it was all worth it!”

Brody goes a bit overboard. When you first meet him you kind of scratch your head. Then you are enthralled to hear of how many “close calls” he has had and how much danger he has braved. He is completely serious about all of his adventures. Then you realize that he is perhaps exaggerating the peril he has faced, and you find it somewhat humorous. Brody believes (and relates to others) every near-persecution rumor he has ever heard. Then, after hearing him talk over the course of years, you find it very annoying.

Brody views his missionary world as an imminently dangerous place where he is always on the verge of being persecuted, arrested or martyred. When the government tax collector comes around and asks for payment Brody sees it as persecution for being a Christian. He sees himself as a major player in this game of international intrigue. He wonders why the CIA hasn’t tried to recruit him yet. But then again, he did hear that comment from an embassy employee at the Fourth of July party softball game—“Brody, you’ve got to sacrifice yourself and grab that ball. Then send it right home to me.”

Brody wondered if this man wasn’t talking about diving for a softball and throwing it to the catcher at home plate to prevent the tagging runner at all. “No, he was talking about me risking my life to get some ‘intel’ and then feeding it to him. That’s how those guys recruit. He must really be CIA. I’ll have to yarp about that opportunity.”

The Location is in fact a “closed” country. But the government is not stupid. They know foreign Christians come to work here in businesses and NGOs. In fact, if you are European or American they assume you are a Christian—even when many are not. There is persecution against Christians and foreigners have been arrested and kicked out. But never for doing the kinds of things Brody is doing—small quiet Bible studies at his home in the big city. Those who have been kicked out are those who have done widespread Christian literature distribution, street preaching, or have been responsible for entire villages becoming Christians in the countryside. Missionaries do have to be smart here in the Location, but not as paranoid as Brody.

Brody’s supporters are inspired by him and the stories he tells of his adventures on the field. When he visits home they gather big groups of people to stand around him and pray for his safety. They compliment him for being so brave—so self-sacrificing. They applaud his heroism. Some of them call him Missionary Agent 007. Brody just smiles and soaks it all in.

“That’s M Agent 007,” he tells them.

The Ugly Missionary #5: Secrets and Shame

2009-04-18T04:47:00.002-05:00

I’m sorry for posting about ugliness here at the Koffi House. I do it for a purpose, however. I write these stories so that we will see what we should not be; how we should not think; and what we should not do. There aren’t any “old scores” I’m trying to settle. (Some of these stories will include my own actions.) Rather, I want us to evaluate and adjust, consider and repent, so that we will be effective missionaries wherever we are.

Ben is a loner. Perhaps that is his problem. He is the husband of a beautiful wife and three children, but he doesn’t like to spend a lot of time around his family. He loves them, but they cause too much commotion for him. He lets his wife take care of the children and Ben keeps working. His wife doesn’t seem to mind—most of the time. She still wishes Ben would spend more time around them. But when Ben is home he gets frustrated because he can’t think or read. There is too much noise. When he complains about it an argument ensues. So Ben has become rather detached.

Ben is not like many missionaries and ministers who put their flock before their family. No, The People stress Ben out, too. When a national comes to visit Ben at his office, he quickly finds ways to get them to leave. If they don’t seem to be moving along very fast he sometimes says something rude. If they don’t have any business then they don’t need to come by! Ben prefers his solitude. The People seem to always interfere with it.

Ben also doesn’t like to spend time with the expatriate community. They feel so self-righteous and super-spiritual to him. He feels they look down on him, too. They make too many negative comments and Ben takes these personally. So Ben has isolated himself from almost everyone.

Ben also has a problem with anger. Nothing ticks him off more than irresponsible and chaotic driving in The Location. When someone cuts him off he honks his horn. When someone on a motorcycle doesn’t let him pass, he races past them at the first opportunity he gets creating a cloud of dust for them to breathe. When someone makes a traffic violation Ben angrily waves his arms and yells at them out the window. Ben drives very fast and doesn’t like anything to slow him down. Hitting a chicken or a duck never fazes him. “Serves them right. It’s a road, not a chicken coop!”

Stress is killing Ben. He needs to get away. He dreams of spending his time alone at a resort hotel outside of town. Just for a few days. Ben talks his wife into letting him get away for a while. She cares for him and is worried about the effect the stress of living cross-culturally and running a project is having on him. So she lets him go away… alone.

Ben enjoys the tranquility of his secret retreat. But his body is so tired from the previous week’s work. He decides to have a massage at the resort. A young lady comes to his room. However, she gives more than just a massage.

Ben’s problems have just multiplied. He knows what he did was wrong, but can’t bear to tell anyone. They will simply judge him and he’ll have to stop being a missionary. He couldn’t bear the shame. So he decides to keep his actions a secret. He also decides he will never do that again.

Two months later Ben does it again. He is so wracked with grief. It isn’t long before he starts taking drinks from the bottles of whiskey in his hotel rooms—just to settle down from all the stress and grief about his own sin. It seems to help if he doesn’t drink too much at once.

Ben had never drunk alcohol before coming to the mission field. He always thought it was something Christians should never do. But after seeing so many other missionaries drinking at local weddings in The Location, and the ensuing discussions about alcohol, Ben agreed that it wasn’t wrong for Christians to drink. This opened the door for him to try it out. The only problem was that Ben enjoyed the buzz.

It wasn’t long before he started getting drunk. First it was about once a month. Then it progressed to weekly. There were more retreats, more girls, and more problems.

Ben couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. His wife and friends saw that he was falling apart. Finally, they confronted him. Ben confessed it all with much shame and many tears. He promised he would never do it again—just don’t tell his supporters. Ben didn’t want to stop being a missionary. They agreed to keep it a secret as long as Ben would give all those things up for good.

But Ben never could give it up. Even after quitting the mission field. Even after losing his wife in divorce. That’s when the drugs started. They ate him up. Now Ben couldn’t even keep a job. One day, when Ben was mowing grass to make a little money, he had a heart attack.

Ben is now dead.

This story makes me very sad. Why didn’t Ben reach out for help sooner? Why didn’t people give him better help? Perhaps this is “ugly,” but to me it is heart-breaking.

The Ugly Missionary #4: Desperate Young Women

2009-04-17T20:36:00.004-05:00

I’m sorry for posting about ugliness here at the Koffi House. I do it for a purpose, however. I write these stories so that we will see what we should not be; how we should not think; and what we should not do. There aren’t any “old scores” I’m trying to settle. (Some of these stories will include my own actions.) Rather, I want us to evaluate and adjust, consider and repent, so that we will be effective missionaries wherever we are.

Bee is an MK (Missionary Kid). She grew up on the mission field with her parents as they translated the Bible into the language of a remote tribe. Being an MK is a difficult thing. Not only are you caught between two worlds—the world of your parent’s home culture (the USA for Bee) and the world of your parents ministry (tribal third world)—but you're often caught between two communities right on the mission field, too. The first is the community of the people your parents have come to reach. Some missionary kids grow up in that community and identify with it more than their parents. The second is the community of expatriates on the field. And this is where most MKs land. (That’s right—most!) This is where Bee landed, too.

Bee grew up dreaming about getting married. It was her one life’s desire even though she had never dated. Unfortunately, she wasn’t too impressed with her prospects in the MK community. So many of them were messed up or just plain weird. But when college came and passed Bee was still single and didn’t know what to do. So, she decided to be a missionary in The Location—a place not too far from where her parents had served. While being a missionary is a major decision for most people, it was always kind of the “default” occupation for Bee as an MK. Her heart was really set on getting married and following her husband.

That was Bee’s problem. She was at a very marriageable age, but there were no real prospects. In the missionary community there were single women missionaries and married couples. Few single guys. And Bee would never consider marrying one of The People—they would be below her educational and financial levels and that would be too weird. Bee and her other single female missionary friends would get together regularly to complain about the lack of marriage options on the mission field. They dreaded the thought they would turn out like some of the older women they knew who served as missionaries into retirement without ever getting married. This thought made them shudder.

Finally a single missionary guy moved to The Location. He was a pretty normal guy, but never attracted much attention from the ladies at home. Oh, but this changed when he arrived in The Location. At home he was used to female-male ratios of 51-49%. Here in the location—90-10%. Suddenly, all the single girls were interested in him. Who would land him?

Bee was first in line. She was determined to beat her friends to the prize. She had been studying online the principles of the seduction community and was learning things to do to snag and keep a guy’s interest. The only problem was that she had shared all of these same tips with her single girlfriends and now they were using them, too, to attract the new missionary. So jealousy and fighting broke out among the girls. Bee’s roommate had to find a new place to live.

Bee decided it was time to notch things up and keep the competition down. She let it be known in the missionary community that she was “in love” with the single missionary guy. It became so well-known that people just assumed they were dating. So this had the effect of blocking other interested parties from daring to engage in flirting behavior without risking the appearance of trespass against Bee. Bee was confident she had cornered her man.

Not too long after that the single guy married one of The People. This was a big blow to Bee. How could he?! When she had the opportunity, she purposely humiliated the fiancé of “her man” in front of other nationals. She told her friends how she had been led on. Slowly, Bee reconciled with them. They resumed gathering to complain about the lack of single guys on the mission field and how the single ones who do come marry the locals.

So Bee did what many young women do in desperate situations—she looked for love online. She spent the better part of her evenings chatting on the Internet and filling out personal profiles. On weekends, after most missionaries were already asleep and therefore wouldn’t notice, she would sneak out to the local tourist bar. A few beers wouldn’t hurt anything and it allowed her the opportunity to meet some of the guys traveling through. Her knowledge of The Location was all that was needed to start up a conversation. But these guys never seemed to be very marriage-minded.

Bee became self-conscious about her weight wondering if being a little chubby was keeping the boys away. Bee was not fat, but not skinny either. So from time to time she would force herself to vomit just to make up for eating a little too much. Over time she did lose weight and people noticed. She reassured everyone that this was actually her “normal” weight.

Bee had a national friend who started living with her when she took a new job in a new city. This girl was also single and didn’t want to marry a fellow national. She wanted a foreign husband. So Bee helped her to make online profiles on several Internet sites. She also taught her some of the basic techniques in attracting a man.

Finally, Bee was successful. Her time online paid off. She is now married and no longer living in The Location. Her national friend is still single. She is still applying the principles she learned from Bee hoping they will one day pay off for her, too.

The Ugly Missionary #3: Living the Life

2009-04-17T06:40:00.003-05:00

The Ugly Missionary #2: Over Protection

2009-04-15T23:53:00.003-05:00

I’m sorry for posting about ugliness here at the Koffi House. I do it for a purpose, however. I write these stories so that we will see what we should not be; how we should not think; and what we should not do. There aren’t any “old scores” I’m trying to settle. (Some of these stories will include my own actions.) Rather, I want us to evaluate and adjust, consider and repent, so that we will be effective missionaries wherever we are.

Bill and Betty want to do things right. In particular, they want to raise their children in a Christian family.

Betty didn’t grow up in a Christian family and didn’t become a Christian until after she was an adult. So many hurts and scars in her life trace back to the harsh treatment she received from her parents. She grew up with this ever present feeling of “I don’t measure up” and struggled to find love. When she became a Christian she received so much love and healing from her Christian community. It was unlike anything she ever experienced. So Betty completely devoted herself to God.

It wasn’t long before Betty noticed two things. One, many people who called themselves “Christians” were NOT living up to the standards she was learning about from reading her Bible. Two, of those Christians who were actually totally committed to Christ, they had families that were so much different than the one she was raised in. She saw how these people taught and disciplined their children. She saw how their lives were in order and how the children respected the parents. When she talked with these committed families about raising children she learned about “Growing Kids God’s Way.” So she determined in her heart that when she was married and had children she would raise them the right way—God’s way!

Betty married Bill who was a scientist and a very logical and rational man. He was also a Christian who seemed committed to God—not just someone who attends church on Sundays. In fact, Bill wanted to be a missionary and Betty admired this clear demonstration of all-out commitment to Christ. It was the best thing someone could do if they really loved Jesus.

After having two kids at home Bill and Betty moved to The Location where they had two more children. Before they came they met another American family in The Location with children. “Thank God!” Bill said, “Now our children will have someone to play with.” They didn’t know much about the culture there but they determined to continue to do their family “God’s way” in spite of their new address. Because there were no Christian schools to which they could send their children, Betty decided to home school. All day long their children would stay at home to study their curriculum and Bible lessons.

Bill and Betty became fast friends with another American family who seemed to value doing things “God’s way” and not allowing the non-Christian culture of The Location to affect their children. When they got together they would often talk about a third American family who didn’t seem to be very committed to Christ. “They just let their children go play with the local kids and don’t even supervise them!”

Bill and Betty’s friends told them about when they first arrived in The Location. “My youngest boy was playing in front of our house, and a local kid came up to him… said something to him in his language… and then pushed him! The next day when my son was out there the local kids threw rocks at him!”

This was all Bill and Betty needed to hear; they would not allow their kids to go out and play with the children of the nationals. “Yes, we have heard stories like this, too. When you leave your kids alone for long periods of time with the house helper—they might molest them. I’m not going to take the chance of exposing my children to that!”

After five years of living in The Location, none of Bill and Betty’s children speaks the language. (Neither do Bill and Betty.) None of them have any local friends. Their only friends are the children of the other American family. The only nationals the parents know well are their landlords and the ones they’ve hired to work in their house and with their project. After years of doing their family “God’s Way” and protecting their children in such a non-Christian environment, Bill and Betty started to feel like they weren’t accomplishing much on “the mission field.” They decided to return home.

To me this is very sad. Bill and Betty are not bad people. But they just couldn’t seem to come to trust the nationals or to open up their family to the wider society and really engage the people of The Location. Learning the language was always a task they kept putting off. But for children—they don’t need language classes to pick it up—all they need is exposure. Exposure they never got for fear of harm.

When we create our “little America” within the walls surrounding the house we rent on the mission field and never leave, we become pretty ineffective. The only nationals we meet are the ones we invite to come into our “sub-culture.” The only time we go out is to make “forays” into the wider culture surrounding us. This is a recipe for depression and ineffectiveness. But it was done in the name of “doing what’s best for our children.”

Bill and Betty are not just one family. There are about a dozen or so families similar to this here, and probably many, many more around the world. When such families visit home supporters will often hear them spout off a few words and phrases and think this represents fluency. But just imagine how far a Chinese person would get in building relationships in America if the only things he could say were, “Hello, how are you?” “My name is…” “How much to buy…?” “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.” “I am believe Buddha.” “Come to my house for food very delicious tonight!”

That’s right—not very far. Especially if he spent the rest of his time in his apartment stir-frying strange foods with heaps of MSG.

You know… Cooking food God’s way!

The Ugly Missionary #1: Gross Misunderstandings

2009-04-14T22:39:00.003-05:00

The Ugly Missionary

2009-04-14T04:39:00.004-05:00

There is a book I read a couple years back that was recommended to me by a missionary friend. He said this book should be required reading for all new missionary recruits. It is not about missionaries or ministry. It is not even a Christian book. What is it called? Maybe you've heard of it:

The Ugly American

It tells a "fictional" story about American involvement in Asia during the Vietnam war. While the narrative is fictional, it is made up of an amalgamation of true stories, actual personalities (names changed), and some of the real dynamics that existed during the war in Southeast Asia. It is one of those books that makes you angry as you read it when you see how inept and arrogant many of the American Foreign Service people were. And it is this very arrogance and ineptitude that led to failure in the region.

Why is this book appropriate for missionary recruits?

Because it describes the same attitudes and dynamics that make many missionaries ineffective, too.

I am not a perfect missionary. Far from it. I have made many cultural mistakes and have been confronted by my own ignorance and arrogance on multiple occasions. In fact, I don't think there is anything out there that challenges and stretches us more than extended cross-cultural living where we try to accomplish something in that context and have meaningful relationships with the people. And it is perhaps because of these challenges that many missionaries either fall into some certain well-worn ruts or circle the wagons and separate themselves from the community. And when these two things happen it can produce some pretty rancid ugliness.

I have considered writing a similar book and calling it The Ugly Missionary. This would detail (using "fictional" characters who actually exist) some of the dynamics of arrogance and ineptitude that I've witnessed in the missionary community. These are things that many who support missionaries back home never realize. And my purpose in writing would not be pride or to lift myself up as a good example. (Parts of the Ugly Missionary would be myself!) But my purpose would be to warn new missionary recruits of the pitfalls that face them and to educate supporters on what to look for in sending and pastoring the missionaries they choose.

A "missionary" is equivalent to "hero" or "big time spiritual stud" to many people who have never traveled overseas. It doesn't take many qualifications other than going to another country (the more different the better), knowing how to say a few words in the language (if you can tell people your language is "tonal" then they're really impressed), and being able to do the "secret handshake," or whatever the local greeting gesture is. People are mostly impressed because you are doing something they know they couldn't or wouldn't ever do. (And many of them will give you money because of it, too.)

But far too often we fall very short of being effective cross-cultural ambassadors of Christ who demonstrate a genuine love for the people we've come to reach. Far too often we fail to even come close to immersing ourselves in their communities. Instead, we become the Ugly Missionary who spends all of his time around other expats, only eats at foreign restaurants, lives in a gated mansion far removed from the nationals, prohibits his children from playing with the local kids, and only dabbles in the the language, food, and community.

For many missionaries the only contact they have with nationals are the ones they hire as maids, nightwatchmen or as English-speaking managers of their projects. For many, the only knowledge they have of the culture, country and people is what they have read in an English travel guide or heard from other expats. I have found this information to be quite unreliable here in The Location.

So, if you get a chance, pick up The Ugly American. Give it a read. Think about it in terms of ministry--wherever you are. Is it applicable?

Smart Snakes and Holy Birds

2009-04-12T03:37:00.004-05:00

What makes us effective--our programs and strategies, or our character and personalities?

I guess that depends on your answer to the following question: Effective at what?

There are plenty of jerks out there running very "cool" programs and people flock to them. If by "effective" we mean we are able to attract a crowd, then character flaws can be covered up.

If by "effective" we mean transforming people by God's grace into the likeness of God--then I don't know if that could happen (except in spite of us) unless we have a godly character and personality. Why is that? Well, Jesus gave us the answer:

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:4-5

Jesus didn't command us to bear fruit. He commanded us to remain (abide) in him. His promise is that we will bear fruit if we do. Bearing fruit for God is not a command to be obeyed, but a promise to be fulfilled by God when we obey the command of staying close to Christ and rooting ourselves in him. So, you could say that the fruit we bear--we are not even the ones who are bearing it. However, it is Christ bearing fruit through us.

So for all the thoughts about strategies, approaches and programs... it is not worth very much if our hearts are far away from God and we have not stayed close to him.

Does that mean we throw away all strategic thinking? No, I don't think so. Jesus also once said...

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." Matthew 10:16

Unfortunately, we are often only one or the other. Good and naive, or, smart and corrupt. But Jesus would have us to be good and smart; holy and shrewd; pure and wise. Certainly, we will be the most effective if we are pure in heart as we walk closely with Christ and use the wisdom God granted us to do the best we can. Being holy isn't an excuse for being lazy. And being clever will never replace the need to depend on God to make the change we want to see happen.

I have a very good friend who is one of The People here. He is unlike any other I have met. He understands the deep things of God and of this world. And he was encouraging me to stay strong and not be too discouraged--that God himself had called me to serve in The Location.

I told him, "Every day I struggle against two things. One is not being smart enough and the other is not being good enough." And I wasn't talking about salvation or making myself pleasing to God--I was talking about making a difference here in The Location.

Everything is set against us here. No one is rolling out the red carpet for us to do either business or ministry. Certain parties do things against us (steal land, money, assets, or lie and cheat) and we have no recourse. No one is on our side even though the law technically should be. There is corruption. There is a warped view of wealth and people. There is an especially warped view of outsiders and Christians. There is false-teaching. There is jealousy and infighting among those we aim to help. There are harmful approaches being undertaken by other workers that pull many well-intentioned people in the wrong direction. There is injustice. There is spiritual oppression.

So, I told my friend that I cannot waste time complaining about how things aren't the way they should be. I need to accept the fact that they are the way they are. Now it is up to me to figure out, taking the situation into account, how to be effective in spite of it all. It is not an easy task. I'm still learning a whole lot. I need to become smarter and wiser.

But before that, I must be good. I must be Christ-like. I believe I can only be like Jesus when I am seeking him and his ways. When I rely on him he helps me to love as he loved. When I read his Word he shows me how to view people as he views them. When I pray he helps me to quiet my heart and put my trust in him.

I'm a lot more effective when I do that.

Organic Microchurches

2009-04-10T23:46:00.005-05:00

Aaron at The Road Less Traveled has written an excellent series on microchurches that I think is well worth your time to read. He has written it in four parts and I am including all four links under the following titles:

Microchurch 1: Disciple Making
Microchurch 2: Stewardship
Microchurch 3: Simplicity
Microchurch 4: Reproducibility

Aaron is not condemning one model to try to justify the microchurch model and he gives his disclaimer before talking about the good points of microchurches. Here are some nuggets from both the text and the comments:

"Everyone we talked to within our church said that the main environment that helped them become a follower of Jesus was our small groups."

"We spent about $800-$1000 a month on facility rental... We had thousands wrapped up in equipment. We spent most of our week getting ready for Sunday... All on an event that didn’t contribute to making disciples. The cost/result ratio was ridiculously out of whack. And we weren’t putting near enough into what was really making disciples–small groups. So we cut out the Sunday service altogether."

"It all revolves around relationships."

"If we see church as a lifestyle instead of an event, then our systems will be simpler."

"...there’s a lot of effort being put into making things 'relevant'… which, to me, is trying to make up for that vacuum for no relationships. A lot of effort is placed on 'assimilation,' which has to happen if there are no relationships."

"But because our system is simple, reproducing churches has been simple. Now we’re looking to multiply (and multiplication always starts slower than addition… but it eventually surpasses it)."

"Pick up 'Organic Church' by Neil Cole. It gives a pretty decent overview of organic churches."

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Aaron.

The Jesus Program

2009-04-07T10:56:00.004-05:00

Even looking at it from a human perspective you could definitely say that there has never been another person who has effected human history more than Jesus. The few things he did during a finite amount of time on earth has sent reverberations throughout the generations. And what strikes me is that he never had any kind of "program" going, as far as I can tell.

We never see Jesus planning events. "Hey, let's invite 5,000 people to a picnic and feed them with a few bread loaves and fish. Peter, you distribute fliers. John, you paint a banner. Phillip, go get a radio ad going."

We never see Jesus offering regular public services. "Now tell all those people to meet me on the mountainside every Thursday at 3:oo as I go through my current series on Beatitudes. And tell them after I am done teaching we will have a time of prayer and healing. Andrew, while everyone is praying with their eyes closed I want you up on that mountain behind me playing music as soon as I say 'Amen!'"

We never see Jesus outline his discipleship training curriculum. "Okay, disciples, we're going to have 40 days of purpose as we go through my various parables, memorize my Thursday 3 pm sermons (verbatim--including punctuation!), and I will quiz you on the names of all the books of the Old Testament. Those who get the higher marks will be rewarded by not having to pray before our meal times."

And we never see Jesus setting up organizations or committees. "After I finish writing these bylaws I'm appointing Peter, James and John as board members who will receive occasional special counsel from Moses and Elijah. With the synergy we generate from all of our ideas we'll put together an impressive package for the post crucifixion event. Now, Peter, don't bail out on me at the last minute!"

But Jesus was still able to change the world. How did he do it without a program?

Now, I don't think programming is wrong and I think there are some great programs out there that do a lot for God's kingdom. But, sometimes I wonder if we put more energy into programs than we do people. Sometimes I wonder if our programming keeps us buried under work and isolated from the community. Instead of worrying about our relationship with people and their relationship with God, we worry about their relationship with the program. "They haven't been in attendance lately." "Why haven't Bob and Melissa signed up for this class yet?" "Janice should be a small group leader by now."

But when I look at Jesus, I just see him going out there and doing things in the community and addressing events as they occur. It was his presence and his exposure to the community that allowed him to have such a great impact.

What do you think?

Klingons

2009-04-06T11:23:00.004-05:00

Do you remember Klingons? No, not the race of warriors in Star Trek. I'm talking about people from our youth--you know--those people who would seem to "cling on" you if you showed them too much friendliness? Well, okay, maybe I was one of those Klingons. Actually, I confess, I was...

I remember trying to enter a particular group of friends from town who were some of the "cool kids." We were at the county fair together and they literally ran around different amusement park rides trying to get rid of me. I was a pretty fast runner and they couldn't shake me. It finally took one of the guys to come talk to me and tell me that they didn't want to be friends with me, so, Go away! True story.

Well, as the years passed by I wizened up a bit. Then came the girls.

Do you remember those girls who were so nice to you? You wondered, "Does she like me? Or, is she just nice to me because she's that way with everyone?" It was the latter. Always the latter; but it never seemed to kill the hope.

Some of the guys I knew who were very friendly had a problem. Over and over girls would get their hopes crushed because they thought this guy liked them. However, he was just being friendly. They took his friendliness for interest and had high hopes. Later when they found out he was just a friendly guy to everyone and had no specific interest in them, they were hurt.

Then, of course there were the girls I liked.

With me, it was a little different. When I was friendly to a girl I usually got a distinct "Go away!" vibe from her. My friendliness didn't spring hope in their hearts. Instead it generated fear. Fear that this strange "uncool" guy might like them. They wouldn't dare act friendly towards me in fear that it might cause me to hope for them. Being rude and generally disinterested usually did the job of letting me know that I didn't have a chance with those girls. So, I would go away. No need to be a Klingon anymore.

We humans are very good at sending non-verbal signals to people that have the same effect of hanging a sign on our cold shoulders that says, "No friendship available here! Go away!"

Much of this arises from a fear that if we are too nice to people (or to certain people) they will get clingy, we'll have to hang out with them and others will think we are like them (when we really view ourselves as being much above them).

Do you think Jesus struggled with this?

I have been writing a lot about how we view people because I have discovered that it is fundamental to how we treat them. And while many may think this is simply about personal Christian virtue, I have learned that it is all about effective ministry, too. And it is completely applicable to cross-cultural missions. How do we view The People?

I am sad to report that many missionaries I know (even right here in The Location) view the nationals as Klingons. "As soon as they get to know you they start asking for money, a motorcycle or a job." And so they subsequently send subconscious messages to the nationals that have the effect of saying, "No money here so don't even ask!" or, "I don't want to be your friend!" While some missionaries throw money around to draw a crowd of followers, others withhold any kind of interaction in fear of drawing people they don't understand and don't really want to get to know. In fact, this latter kind is even more common.

When I was a new Christian and first became interested in missions I was very impressed when I met a missionary. Now after serving on the field and seeing how so many missionaries never learn the language with any degree of fluency, never have any peer friendships with nationals beyond those they employ, rarely eat the local foods or visit nationals in their homes and instead spend most of their time with other expatriates, I have become more cautious in being impressed.

It is easy as a missionary to get caught up in the expat community where people "light-heartedly" complain about the nationals and their culture. It feeds a rather negative view of the people God has sent us to love and reach with his message. It also shows that we haven't come to understand them very well at all. And in the end, holding such a view of them will make us pretty ineffective in influencing them towards Christ.

Love and Like

2009-04-05T18:35:00.003-05:00

“I love you; I just don’t like you.”

When I was young I heard these words from other children at different times. Only children are honest and brave enough to say such words to your face. As adults we learn to control the expression of our inner thoughts and feelings. However, as adults we still feel like this toward people. At least, this is what we say to ourselves and perhaps even to other people who share our dislike for another person. “Just because I love him doesn’t mean I have to like him,” we assure ourselves.

I have to be honest. I meet some people I don’t like. It could be things about them that are different. Sometimes I find myself disliking someone when I see that their views and opinions oppose mine. Other times I dislike people when I see them celebrating immorality. And sometimes I don’t like people just because I am jealous of them—they are better looking, more talented or more popular and they know it. I tend to dislike people universally who portray themselves in an arrogant way or who are very aware of how “cool” they think they are. I’m not saying I am right to dislike these people, but I am trying to be honest with you.

I have discovered something about people I don’t like. Almost always, I would say 99.99% of the time, when I don’t like someone it is for one of two reasons: 1) I feel inferior in their presence and they say or do nothing to make me feel less inferior, or, 2) I perceive that they don’t like me or that they look down on me.

The first reason is simply the feeling of “I don’t measure up.” When I feel like this around people, it can be overcome by their friendliness. That is, if people I know I don’t measure up to (in education, in wealth, in looks, in popularity, etc.) show me that they really like me, then I will not be intimidated by them and will begin to like them. If they are neutral towards me, then I am in danger of projecting. I project onto them the idea that they look down on me because I am not as educated; or because I am not as wealthy; or because I don’t enjoy the same kind of “cultured” lifestyle. I assume that they look down upon me even though they have done nothing to actually indicate this. In reality I am looking down on myself when I compare myself to them. I dislike myself for the fact that I do not “measure up” to them. I suppose without any evidence that I would not be accepted into their circles.

The second and more typical reason I find myself disliking people is when I perceive that they don’t like me or that they look down on me. It is difficult to like someone who doesn’t like you. It is really difficult to like someone who seems to purposely offend you, insult you, or make you feel stupid. So, I usually don’t like people who don’t treat me very well and don’t show respect.

So, what about liking versus loving people? Jesus commanded us to “love one another.” He didn’t say, “Like one another.” But these very much depend on how we understand “like” and “love.”

Traditionally, we understand that to love someone we wish them no ill-will (don’t want to see them suffer or die) and we do nice things for them in spite of themselves. When we like someone, basically it means we want to hang out with them and be around them. We want to become their friends. That’s what the children were saying to me when they said, “I love you; I just don’t like you.” They were saying, “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, but I don’t want to be your friend. I hope things go well for you, but I don’t want to hang out with you.”

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) He also said, “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” Jesus associated love with friendship, and friendship with letting people in. We know from Jesus’ example that he spent time with people. The power of his presence was found in the fact that he accepted people others didn’t like. He spent time with them. He let them in.

Much has been said to explain the different Greek words for “love.” We say that agape love is the highest and most Christ-like of the different “loves.” And this is the word we typically translate “love.” Eros love, on the other hand, is often described as “selfish love" (which I believe is an incorrect understanding). Instead of calling this eros, I would call it conditional love. It is loving people for being lovable.

In reality, what we often call “love” (I hope you don’t die, and here’s a sandwich) is not much more than a mere gesture. Furthermore, what we call “like” is better described as that conditional love—we like those who like us back, and we therefore let them into our lives calling them our “friends.” However, Jesus’ example of agape love might better be described as unconditionally liking people. Could you intentionally like someone who doesn’t like you?

I was once at a Christian conference attended by people I mostly did not know. I only really knew one person who invited me to the meeting. As I sat and listened a woman went forward to the microphone to share something on her heart. The tone of her voice sounded a bit whiny to me and the things she said gave me the impression that people in the room weren’t being spiritual enough for her. She didn’t say that. That was just my impression. So, in my heart, I disliked this woman.

When the meeting was over I discovered that this very woman was close friends to the person who invited me to the conference. So I was introduced by my friend with some undeserved compliments. This woman smiled really big and seemed to like me from the very first moment I met her. I subconsciously thought that this “like” wouldn’t last long once we talked and got to know each other more. But as I saw this woman more and more over the next few years she continued to show a sincere interest in me and often invited me to eat dinner with her husband and family. I still don’t know why this woman likes me. But I discovered that I stopped disliking her. In fact, I would call her a good friend.

I have discovered that liking people is a very powerful thing. People don’t want to be loved. People want to be liked. We want for others to be interested in us. We want them to want to be around us. We want them to call us “friend.” We want to be liked. Because, when it comes right down to it, liking people is really loving people the way Jesus loved people.

I have also discovered that people don’t like me for the same reasons I don’t like them. People don’t like me when they perceive that I don’t like them. Things we do that indicate to people that we don’t like them make them not like us. So I am learning to respond differently when I perceive people don’t like me. I think, “Did I in some way show them I didn’t like them or looked down upon them?” And I try to treat them in ways that do not communicate dislike or disdain. More than anything, that is showing them that I see their value and that I want to spend time with them. This may be difficult to do, and at times impossible if the person persists in their dislike. But sometimes it is enough to turn a heart around.

God help me, for my heart is more bent on hate than on truly loving the unlikeable.

The Arrogance of Agape Love

2009-04-03T21:13:00.009-05:00

I don’t care if you love me if you still think I’m a chump.

I became a Christian as a freshman in college. And I’ll tell you, my major issue was feeling like I was a “chump” in the eyes of so many other people and, I feared, in the eyes of God. When I first got a sniff of the idea that there is a God and that he values me and loves me—that was an amazing feeling. It was completely foreign to me and tantalizingly transformational. I became “addicted to love”—agape love, that is.

Agape love was a term I learned fairly quickly in the Christian community. Agape is one of the Greek words for love, and it is the word Jesus used when he told us to “love one another” in John 15:12. We distinguish it from phileo (brotherly) love and most certainly from eros (erotic) love. So, even though Robert Palmer sang about being addicted to eros in the mid 80’s, we Christians would love to talk about the “holier” form of love: agape.

Agape love was good stuff. After all, it was unselfish love. It was love offered unconditionally. It was love that was offered with no strings attached. I can’t tell you how many sermons I have heard where we talk about how eros is “I love you if…”, phileo is “I love you because…”, and agape is “I love you regardless…”

Agape love was presented as the purest form of love because it was completely unselfish and unconditional. I didn’t love you in order to get anything from you (or in response to getting anything from you) and I didn’t love you because you somehow deserved my love. Agape love, the highest form of love, is what would motivate us to feed the hungry, preach the gospel to the poor, clothe the naked, encourage the depressed and otherwise love the unlovely.

So how could agape love be arrogant? After all, it is not self-seeking but unconditional. Who could be opposed to agape love?

Here is one of those ruts we often fall into as Christians. For example, the Bible teaches us to be humble, right? Yes. And it also teaches us not to be arrogant or prideful, right? That is correct. So what happens when I see you being arrogant and I am being humble? What if I see everyone else being arrogant, save myself? Will I stand up and announce to the group, “All of you are so arrogant! No one is as humble as me! Can’t you see how humble I am? I know I am so much better than all of you because I am so much more humble!” Wait, wait, wait… that doesn’t sound like humility at all! It might have honestly started out that way, but we just became rather prideful about how humble we are being.

This is what happens to so many of us Christians. We know the right way to be, and after we change to become that, we then become arrogant about the fact. Just like Al Pacino’s character in The Devil’s Advocate (Satan)—in the end he was able to get Keanu Reeve’s character to stumble for being prideful about doing the right thing. He says, “Vanity—it’s my favorite sin.”

This same dynamic occurs when we try to elevate agape love over other forms of love, implying that phileo and eros are somehow unholy. The truth is that Jesus also talked about phileo love and not in a negative sense. It is good and right for us to have phileo love towards others, as well as agape. And if eros is erotic love, what is unholy about sharing erotic love with my wife? In one way, eros becomes even more special as I share that only with her and agape I can share with anyone and everyone.

I do believe that agape love is special. There is, in fact, nothing more Christ-like than to offer unselfish love to another human being. Jesus’ greatest command was to love God and to love our neighbor. So how can agape love be arrogant?

Well, the arrogance isn’t in the agape love; it is in the people who think they are offering it. We define agape love as loving people regardless. Regardless of what? Regardless of the fact that they are undeserving, uneducated, unkempt, unbathed, unrepentant, under privileged, or downright unholy. We think (and sometimes say), “Even though you are a dirty rotten scoundrel, I give you this sandwich in Jesus’ name.” Then we congratulate ourselves in our hearts for being so godly in displaying agape love. Certainly that guy was undeserving. But we gave him that sandwich anyway!

Let me ask you—if you were the recipient of that sandwich, how would you feel? (That might just depend on how hungry you are.)

Many non-Christians resent the charity of Christians for two reasons. One is that it often has strings attached: “Can I give you this _____ in hopes that you will come to my church?” The second is the perceived message Christians are sending: “This ______ is given to you to let you know how much better I am than you by giving this to you.” Now it is not wrong to want people to come to church, but non-Christians often see that as an ulterior motive--that you don't really love them; you just want to grow your club.

When I was a new Christian I heard the slogan, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

I was really excited by that truth. The idea is that if I try to tell someone about Jesus—just give them a message but not really love them—then they will likely reject the message. But if I can show them that I really care about them, then they might be interested in the message I have to share. This is an important truth. And real agape love is in the realm of “really caring” about someone.

If we come to someone with the attitude that we think very lowly of them, then it taints everything we do to/for them—even the “love” we offer them. We don’t have any respect for them, but we do something nice for them. Can we say, then, that we “really care” for them?

“I don’t care if you love me if you still think I’m a chump. It would mean a lot more to me if you showed me some respect. It would mean a lot more to me if you valued who I am. What good is your 'love' for me if you have such a low opinion of me? How much is your 'love' going to affect me if you just don’t think I’m anything special? I would rather you ask me for something because you thought I had something to offer than to offer me something that you think I lack. I don’t care if you love me if you still think I’m a chump. You can keep your sandwich.”

The most powerful thing we can do to another person is think about them one way or another. If I think someone is an idiot, that person will soon get the sense of it if they spend enough time around me. If I am impressed with someone they will soon be able to tell. My disdain for others will drive people away. The admiration I show will draw them in.

So what happens when we show unconditional agape love to someone we disdain? (Even though I disdain you, I still love you.) Which will influence them more—the “love” we show them by whatever nice thing we are doing for them, or the disdain we feel toward them? If there is enough exposure, the disdain will overtake the “love.” They will not be impressed by the nice thing we have done if they learn of the low opinion we have of them. Our actions will not be seen as love, but as pity. And that is what a lot of the agape love we practice is—pity. Implicit is the message, “I’m more impressed with myself for doing this for you in spite of the idiot you are.”

No one gives to beggars because they think they will get anything in return. Even so, the offerings made to beggars are often not motivated by such unselfish love but by a desire for the beggar to quickly go away. So even though we have given “unselfishly” in that we don’t expect to be given anything in return, our “love” is not so impressive when the last thing we would want is a relationship with the recipient.

True agape love requires that we change how we think about those we offer it to. We might love people in spite of them not loving us, or in spite of their sin or other ugliness, but we must still learn to value them. If there is no value in our opinion of them then it negates whatever nice thing we might do for them.

Look what Paul said in Philippians 2:3:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

Our agape love may be unconditional, but is it to the point that we consider others better than ourselves? Would we dare do that to a beggar? Would we dare consider a “wannabe” better than ourselves? Could we possibly extend such respect to someone who has repeatedly made bad choices in their lives and have suffered the consequences and consider them better than us? Or does knowing that it just isn’t true keep us from thinking of them in such a high manner? If so, therein lies our problem.

I don’t care if you love me if you still think I’m a chump.

The Machine

2009-04-02T19:29:00.008-05:00

There once was a scientist who built a machine. It was a rather large machine. In fact, it filled up his entire laboratory. It was a complicated machine and took him years to build. It had parts and pieces and all kinds of handles and hoses. It had belts and bearings, chains and chambers, gears and gaskets. The cost of building the machine was no small investment, either. The scientist spent $347,000 for each of the 4,000+ parts, though he did "borrow" some parts from other broken down or inefficient machines in the area.

When he started it up it would shake and shiver, purr and peddle, beep and bellow. The scientist spent most of his time adjusting the idle, lubricating the moving parts and attaching more mechanical accessories to the machine. Because the machine generated so much heat when it ran, he had his entire laboratory climate controlled in order to accommodate the machine so it wouldn't overheat from its own activity.

The machine also required quite an array of fluids. There were the standard greases and oils, hydraulic fluids and coolants. Then there were some more specialized chemicals--helium, liquid nitrogen, hydrochloric acid and mercury to name a few. All of these different and expensive fluids had their parts to play in the running of the machine. But the fluid most consumed by the machine was the gasoline it took to run. The scientist was constantly seeking new grants and government funds to purchase more fuel to feed the machine.

Because the machine took so many years to build the scientist was always updating it with modern technology to keep it current and keep it running. The scientist rarely shut the machine down. Mostly, he kept it running, running and running.

One day a group of children visited the scientist at his laboratory to see his machine. They were all members of the Science Club at their school. The scientist was very proud to show off his machine. It represented his life's work and his blood, sweat and tears. With gleaming pride he demonstrated to the children how the machine runs. He pointed out each part and each process. He explained the history of the machine and how he decided to construct each part. He spent not a small amount of time explaining problems that occurred--both those in the past and recurrent problems. The scientist had become an expert in solving things like broken belts or busted bearings. He stressed to the children the never-ending necessity of lubrication with oil.

Finally, one of the children raised his hand. The scientist was delighted to have someone so interested as to ask a question. "What does the machine do?" the child asked.

"Let me show you!" The scientist led the children around to the back side of the machine. He fired it up and adjusted all of the gears. He turned cranks, pulled on levers and pressed buttons. Lights lit up, monitors beeped and the engine roared. The scientist scrambled to add more fuel. He watched the analog and digital readouts very closely for the next hour and was so consumed by running the machine he seemed to forget that the children were watching. But right when the children started to become bored, he turned to them with a big smile on his face.

"Look!" he said, pointing at a small dispenser-like opening protruding from one corner of the machine. The children all turned their attention to the dispenser and slowly but surely they began to hear a "clink-clink-clink," like something was dropping down the chute. Then in a moment, into a tray on the dispenser, fell a single gumball.

"That's it? One stinking gumball?" the child asked the scientist.

The scientist was surprised at the insolent little child who didn't appear to appreciate the magnificence of the machine and the complexity of its functions. So he began to explain the machine in greater detail--how each part was necessary to address problems that arose in other areas of the machine--how this belt turned this gear and how that gear turned this motor which addressed that specific problem that resulted in the oscillation sector because of the activity of a distinct combustion arising from the capacitating performance of the flux manifold on whose chassis was built the dual processor that operated the timing of the ignition of the central magneto calculator for the signaling of critical mass in the execution of the Fangoli process in general.

"Don't you see how it all works?" The scientist couldn't appreciate the children's lack of appreciation.

"Well, that's a cool machine, sir. We just wish it actually did something more than produce one gumball an hour."

Good and Good

2009-04-01T21:25:00.003-05:00

Did you know that the word “good” in English has two meanings? (Well, maybe more if you look at one of those huge dictionaries with etymology and all that.) But in our everyday language we use “good” in two different ways without realizing it. Here they are:

Good—Righteous, holy, decent, morally right.
Good—Valuable, desirable, worthy.

When we lose our wallet at the supermarket and someone we don’t know returns it to us without stealing the money inside, we say they are good. That is Good #1—decent, morally right. If they stole the money they wouldn’t be good. If they didn’t do anything, they still wouldn’t be so good. But because they did the right thing when they didn’t have to, they are good.

When we are looking for shells on the beach and we find one that is big, beautiful and unbroken we say we found a good one. That is Good #2—valuable, desirable, worthy. We could sell it and get a better price for it than if it were small, broken or ugly. But it is not a moral judgment at all—the shell is neither morally right nor wrong. It is not something that is holy or righteous. In fact, when we talk about things we buy and sell we call them goods. They are things with value.

A basketball player makes 80% of his shots from the field and never misses a free-throw. He can run around anyone, jump higher and shut down the opposing team’s offense. We say he is a good player. The team may pay him millions of dollars more than less talented players. If they trade him, they might get two or three other players in return. This is Good #2. The player is valuable to a team wanting to win basketball games.

So, here is the million-dollar question: Are we good? Does the Bible teach us that man is good or bad? What view of man does Christianity hold? If we say man is basically good then are we somehow justifying sin or lessening the need for repentance? If we say that man is basically bad are we then saying that God doesn’t like people very much unless they shape up? So, what are we? Good or bad?

Jesus said that no one is good but God. (Mark 10:18 ) But he also said that we are worth more in God’s sight than many sparrows. (Luke 12:7 )

So, I think the answer is that we are not Good #1 but that we are Good #2. We are not naturally righteous but have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But we are very valuable in the eyes of God. So much so that Jesus died on the cross to save us from being Bad #1.

The problem is that we often send a mixed message. We confuse people because of the duplicity of the word good. We subconsciously feel that the message, “God loves you,” and, “You’re a sinner and need to repent,” are contradictory. One says I am good, the other says I am bad and need to change. So, until I’ve changed, I’m no good! How could God love me?

But here’s the secret: God wants us to change, for sure. But changing by itself doesn’t make up for not being good as in righteous and holy. God loves us because we are valuable to him, even when we haven’t yet changed. God’s love isn’t based upon our holiness but upon our being.

But then here’s the other question… What if I’m like that small, broken and ugly shell on the beach? Then I am not worthy because I am ugly and my heart is broken? What if I can’t play basketball very well and miss 80% of my shots? Well, it may sound harsh, but to an unredeemed world—that’s right—you are not valuable to them. They don’t want to talk with you if you are not pretty, if you are not smart, if you are not talented, if you are not rich. It is true. But that is NOT how God counts value.

So how does God count value? Basically, he loves those he has created. You know this has to be true. If you have children do you only love the ones who are more talented than the others? No, you’re going to love all your children as different as they are. But even if you did have a favorite child, God does not. He loves everyone he created.

What does this have to do with missions or ministry?

I think one of the first steps we must take in reaching out to others is to look at them how God looks at them. We may see a wicked person, and they are certainly not good in terms of righteousness or holiness, but they are good in terms of value to God. We tend to see wickedness, ugliness, brokenness and think “bad.” God sees his child and someone he wants to come back home.

So how do you see them?

Putting Business to Work for God

2009-03-31T02:47:00.001-05:00

I think that sometimes Christians are given more credit than they deserve. For both good and bad. I have heard Christians take credit for everything that is good about Western culture. “Our societies have progressed beyond societies of the world because of our Judeo-Christian heritage.” Maybe, but I doubt it. In the time of Jesus the Roman Empire was the envy of the world in terms of organization, technology and progress, and they did it without being Christian first. Many like to say it was because of the official acceptance of Christianity that the Roman Empire fell. Maybe, but I doubt that too.

In our modern age Christian missionaries are often blamed for all manner of things stemming from the days of rampant colonialism where Christian missions was simply a part of the process of “civilizing the natives” and bringing them into modernity. Missionaries are commonly blamed for destroying cultures and changing customs. It is almost like people say, “Natives would still be just like we like them—living in harmony with nature without any of the trappings of Western technology—if it weren’t for missionaries going in and messing things up.”

First of all, that is a very narrow and incorrect view of how things are. I could write an entire book dealing with the misconceptions bound up in that one statement. Secondly, I think people are giving missionaries too much credit for “messing things up.”

There are at least three dynamics in our world that I believe are much more responsible for the changing of cultures than missionaries. I even think the influence of missionaries may be far down the list from these “top three.” But this isn’t based on scientific research—just my own experience over the years. What are those three dynamics? Politics, the people themselves and business. I might say technology, but I am going to include that into the others. New technologies wouldn’t be brought to the peoples of the world if it weren’t for government programs or businesses selling the new products.

Politics. Politics is big. We know that political borders don’t represent ethnic boundaries, but they are important nonetheless. Government, political administration and strife over these things (war) effect people tremendously. Cultures are mixed and changed. It has been this way ever since man began defining boundaries and ruling over one another.

The people themselves. Most people don’t realize this but when you see “natives” in t-shirts it often is not the pushing of outside culture in as much as it is the sucking of it in. People see things on the outside that they don’t have and they want it. Contrary to popular belief, most so-called “stone age” tribes do NOT consider themselves to be living a dream in harmony with nature but instead loathe their own poverty and way of life and desire ways to get out of it.

Business. Businesses make money when they sell their services and products. They are effective when they create consumers. This is what marketing is all about—letting you know why you NEED our product. And taken as a whole, this is a powerful force in our world. I honestly believe that international business has exerted more cultural influence on non-Western peoples than traditional missionaries ever have.

Coca-Cola spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year just to try to sell their product. Their goal isn’t to try to make people into better people, but to make people drink Coke. So, it might be an easy choice for them to send an implicit message that in order to be cool, fashionable, sexy, etc. you should drink Coke. To talk about the real physical benefits of drinking Coke—well there aren’t any. It is full of sugar and will make you fat if you drink a lot of it. So, they don’t go there. Instead they go to image. Along with a thousand other companies, they implicitly teach people that how you look—how “cool” you are—is important.

Christian missionaries, and Christian workers in our own culture, have always faced an uphill battle in combating the messages coming out of our TVs and magazines when they advertise for such businesses. Instead of teaching people that how they look is important we want to teach them that they are intrinsically valuable and loved by God. We scramble to pick up the pieces of broken people who can’t live up to the cultural “ideal” put forth in all of these images.

And it’s hardly a fair fight if we look at it in the world’s perspective. Churches fight this battle with minuscule budgets and without being coordinated and connected to any or few other churches. Big companies like Coca-Cola have hundreds of millions of dollars at their disposal and a very well-connected global network to get their message out. Perhaps only the Mormons come close to doing anything similar with their message. They have been doing BAM for a long time.

My point is this: Instead of always fighting the influence of non-Christian business in the world, we should use business to influence the world for God’s kingdom.

Non-Christian businesses would love to make the world full of consumers. They are successful in producing consumers when they make people dissatisfied with themselves and narcissistic. Narcissism (concern with our own image) is like a substance addiction that keeps us coming back and buying more drugs—it makes us perpetual consumers always needing to buy things that are really not good for us or, in the least, are unnecessary.

But why not make businesses work for Christ instead of against him? Why not start businesses that send out a good message—the right message? Why not have kingdom-minded Christians running international businesses around the world that do not lead people to narcissism but lead them to redemption? Why don’t we harness the ability to influence that exists in the business world and use that to expand God’s kingdom on earth?

I say let’s do it.

Team BAM

2009-03-30T05:44:00.000-05:00

Another concern people raise about BAM is that doing both business and ministry takes too much time. After all, even the apostles designated others to do certain things so that they could focus on teaching the Word of God.

And this is my response: Doing just ministry can also take too much time if one guy is trying to do the work of 10. Doing just business can take too much time if one person is trying to do the work of 12. To be successful in both ministry and business you need to have a team. The size of the team depends upon the size of the work at hand.

Actually, you could say that the twelve apostles and the seven who were chosen to serve the widows in Acts were all a part of the same team. They each had different roles, but they were getting it all done.

The same is true with BAM. If the business aspect takes one full-time person to “run” it and the ministry aspect also takes one full-time person to serve, then you should start out with a least a team of two people. You could both do some business things and both do some ministry things—however you decide to break it up according to your gifts and passions. But BAM isn’t intended to be a “one-man show.” It takes a team.

Non Profit--For Profit

2009-03-27T20:22:00.006-05:00

One of the most common objections or "concerns" that people raise when it comes to BAM is that doing business will lead to greed or distract you from ministry in the pursuit of money. At first I was surprised when people brought this up. I thought to myself, "If you know me you HAVE to know that is NOT what I'm about." But some of these people didn't know me. And when thinking about others doing BAM, I might have the very same concern if I didn't know them that well. I might have that suspicion, "Is this just a fancy way for them to use God to get rich?"

Here in The Location stinginess is more of a cultural sin than greed. It's like, You shouldn't withhold your money from me--that's wrong! But it's not so wrong (in people's minds) to want more money all the time. But greed is a real thing and it certainly can and does affect us. We should not take it for granted that greed isn't going to raise its head and tempt us. Our defense should never just be, "Oh, I would never do that."

So if a Christian missionary starts a business with the goal/plan of doing BAM, what is going to keep them on the right track? If the business is successful then they would not need to be financially supported by anyone. Therefore, if they would start teaching heresy or if they dropped all ministry just to do business and make money, there would be no recourse of "pulling their funds" to stop it.

I think I have a way to help address this concern, and it is how we have set things up with our work here in The Location. That is to have non-profit ownership of for-profit enterprises.

That means that the missionary (or the minister, if done at home) is not the one who owns the business but is the one who runs it. He or she wouldn't be keeping all the money, nor would it be at their discretion to use as they please. Neither would there be shareholders who control the profits or who are expecting/desiring to get a return on their investment. Instead, all the profits would stay within the company and organization that owns the business.

In the US it is not against the law for non-profits (even tax-exempt organizations) to do profitable business. While some activities would still be taxed, the important thing is how profits are handled. For this set up, profits would not go in anyone's pockets but would be used for the stated purpose of the non-profit organization. So, it is possible for something like a church (a non-profit organization) to own a business like a coffee shop. The income, in addition to covering expenses, can be given to the missions budget or help feed the homeless or any other kind of ministry.

Along with non-profit ownership of for-profit enterprises comes oversight and accountability. I believe that in BAM we should have as thorough a ministry plan as we do a business plan, and vice versa. The board of directors can then hold the missionary(ies)/minister(s) accountable to not only run the business well, but to put excellence into the ministry as well.

So, imagine some possibilities:

A non-profit organization is created in the US and opens several different businesses. One is something like a YMCA center where people come to work out, play sports, take classes on all kinds of different things... and the staff are the ministers who not only interact with the customers but also offer special short courses on the Bible, do discipleship, and run children's programs. Another team of ministers start a coffee shop to reach out to the college and artsy crowd while also having a worship night once a week; hosting group meetings to overcome substance or pornography addictions; and partnering with a homeless mission to help provide food and volunteers on a regular basis. Another group of ministers start an organic farm in a more rural area and host area youth during the summer to help do the work of the farm while also discipling them. The income from the produce covers all expenses.

And I'm sure there are a lot more creative and more impacting ideas out there that others can/will think of. Perhaps this will help you to start brainstorming.

I have actually created a non-profit organization in the US to be the owner of our business here in The Location, and also future businesses we may start in the States that are associated with what we're doing over here. But it takes teams of people with a common vision to do all of this. I'm excited about the possibilities.

So, let's hear your ideas...

Not Really Welcome

2009-03-26T19:05:00.007-05:00

I didn't launch this blog to try to solicit money, support or prayers. I am not trying to get any help from anyone by what I write on this blog. For a couple reasons. One, we don't really have any big financial needs. Two, I want to write for the sake of writing what I really think--not in order to have an effect that somehow benefits myself. Even if I were trying to raise funds or something I would still be honest... but I might choose different things to write about or wonder about the effect of things I said. I want to save myself from that whole conundrum so that I can just write and log some of my thoughts related to missions and things I've learned over the years. I would like to write a book someday and not only does this blog allow me to keep track of my thoughts and experiences, but it also allows me the opportunity to "pre-publish" these ideas, get feedback and critique before ever putting them into a book.

The reason I'm telling you all this right now is because right now would be a good time for me to ask for prayers. I don't want to put that on anyone--I myself don't spend a lot of time praying for anonymous people on the internet. But anyway...

There is a certain sadness... depression... that comes when you live in a situation where you know you are not wanted. This is not a general consensus kind of thing here in The Location. It does not come from all quarters--many are delighted to have me here. Others see me as an opportunity to make money. And then there are some... mostly government people... who view me with suspicion. For what reason? Just because I'm a foreigner to The Location.

There is a certain brainwashing that comes with official training here in The Location. All police go through it. Military, too. Any official that wants to climb the ladder within the government must study in a certain school of thought. And all of these people are trained to be wary of outsiders. They see religion as politics--it is just one way the imperialists use to further their political agenda. And this is taught at all the schools, too. Every single college, even if it is a business or technical college, must teach courses in "politics." And the message is clear--If you love your country then do not work with foreigners; do not join their religion; do not allow yourself to be warped by their thinking.

The funny thing is, though, that this very teaching is their way to warp young people's thinking to parrot their message. They use the word "unity" to silence any opposition. Anyone who would criticize the government is destroying national unity and therefore must not be a patriot.

The Location is a wonderful place and when tourists come to visit they typically are surprised to find it so relaxed and laid-back. And they usually go away with a positive view of the situation here. But it takes time to see the depth of the oppression.

Lately a number of things have been said against me and we have run into some problems on a number of different fronts. Others I know have been kicked out of The Location. It could happen to us, too. A couple years ago a faithful man (national) and co-worker of a friend was detained and disappeared, never to be seen again. Last night I had a dream about being detained by the police and having others with me arrested, too. In real life I was once detained by the police and interrogated for a couple hours. It was pretty intense and stressful. Now I have a family and the thought of something like that happening to me again, or to them, weighs on me. Not heavily... just a constant weight over a long period of time.

Anyway, I know that who I am and what I stand for is not readily welcomed here, and there is an associated stress with that knowledge. I have come to realize this. And with that stress, over time, comes a certain kind of mild depression. I am dealing with all of this right now.

This morning I am thinking about David and what he faced as King of Israel. He had his enemies, yet he praised the Lord. This is what I choose to do, too. God's plan will not be thwarted and I take joy in that.

The Rut of Church

2009-03-24T17:13:00.004-05:00

I have been thinking about BAM (Business as Missions) for a while now as I have been doing this here in The Location. Over the past three years I have thought about how BAM might work as a ministry model in the States. As I have stated before, being a missionary in a different country with a completely different culture has helped me to think about how some of these same principles might work back home.

I love the fact that here in The Location there aren't as many "ruts" as there are in America when it comes to Christianity and how we "do church." It is more of a clean slate here, but there are already some ruts in the national congregation. But back home we tend to think about ministry in the same terms that we've always thought about it. Usually, the only challenges are to do things better and to make things more culturally relevant. That's not bad, but we often improve things as we travel along those same ruts.

One of the ruts is "church." Now when asked, virtually every Christian will tell you that the church is the people not the building. We know that. We've been taught that. But in our everyday lives and in our subconscious thinking (where ruts live) we still refer to the church as two things it is not: One, a building or location. Two, a service.

We "do church" by putting on a service. When we think of what our church is like, we think about how the service is conducted. In a service, you have people who contribute and people who consume (view, take-in, receive, etc.). The contributors spend a lot of time each week getting ready to put on a show, er..., service for all the people they hope will gather to watch, er..., attend. But no matter how well we do our Sunday services (music, speaking, visuals, ambiance, etc.) we can't get around the rut of a starting time and an ending time. It is a service.

I'm not against services or meetings with set times. I just think that the Bible describes something so much better than simple services when it talks about the church.

I used to spend a lot of time talking trying to help people understand what the "church" is really supposed to be like. And I thought that if we understood what the church is and what the church isn't, then we can really become what the church is supposed to be. But I found that no matter how hard I tried to redefine "church" in people's minds, the old connotations would inevitably come right back and the subconscious assumptions would hold on as strong as ever.

So, you know what I want to do now? Stop using the word "church." Blasphemy? Well, I don't think so. No matter how much I tried to help people understand the real meaning of the Biblical word "church" they would always conform right back to our general society's connotative understanding of the word church. So, perhaps real blasphemy comes from re(mis)defining this word to mean something else. But I don't want to go down this path...

Actually, I'm not talking about replacing the word church with other, sexier terms like "assembly" or "faith community." Because, if we still do the same model of putting on Sunday services this is the typical conversation that would ensue: "What are you doing on Sunday?" "Oh, I'm going to North Pointe Faith Community." "Really? What is that?" "It's a church. I'm going to the 11 am contemporary service." Back to Square One.

So, I would like to do a real church by not only NOT calling it a church, but by doing a different model than the typical Sunday morning service.

People will then say, "Oh, that's not a church!" And that will be fine with me! If they mean to somehow illegitmize it as "not a real church" because it doesn't meet on Sunday or do the typical traditional Sunday morning service things... then those people will probably be just fine at their traditional Sunday morning places of worship. If they mean it is not a church according to people's connotative understanding of what "church" is--Great! That is what we're going for.

I feel the term "church" in the Bible is more descriptive than proscriptive. I think that if we are doing what God wants us to be doing as his followers and in fellowship with other believers, then we are the church--it doesn't matter if we're called "church" or not.

As an undergraduate student at the state university I was very involved in a Christian campus ministry. We had fellowship together throughout the week, had Bible studies, did weekly service projects, did on-campus evangelism, had weekend events and during school breaks went on mission trips together. Never once did we meet on Sunday mornings during the regular course of the semester (well, maybe at a retreat), but different people attended different "churches" on the weekends.

When I would go to "church" I hardly knew anyone sitting in the pews around me as we viewed the same service together on Sunday morning and as we passed by each other on the way out the door shaking the minister's hand. But during the week, I regularly prayed together, had fellowship, studied the Bible and served together with many people in the campus ministry. But no one would dare call it a church, even though it was a community of Christians who were in fellowship with one another as we sought God, grew in our faith and served the community around us.

There is a whole other can of worms to be opened when discussing the "first day of the week" deal that has had Christians meeting together on Sundays since the Bible times. There is a lot to say on this topic. I am one, however, who believes that biblical precedent isn't binding as is biblical commandment. And even if precedent were binding then we might as well take the precedent of Acts 2 where the early Christians met together every day in public and in their homes.

So if I were to start something in the States, what would this new model look like? My ideas are not yet complete, but I will share some in coming posts... For now, do you have any ideas? Please share.

Infiltrate or Isolate?

2009-03-22T22:03:00.005-05:00

You already know where I stand. One look at the life of Jesus and we clearly see he didn't isolate himself or his disciples from the world or society around them. I think his actions were completely intentional not just for ministry (it is the sick who need a doctor, not the healthy) but for training his disciples for ministry. In fact, I devoted an entire blog post to this aspect of Jesus' training approach in The Crux of Discipleship.

I was serving as a "missionary on campus" one semester when I was in America and I re-took the Perspectives class. (If you have never taken this course I completely recommend it!) We had one guest speaker who is a big-name Seminary professor there. He taught and at the end of the class was asking what is it really going to take for us to win our communities for Christ. People gave a few Sunday-school answers about loving people more and getting out there and sharing our faith with non-Christians. Most of the answers were basically about doing things more and not differently. Then the professor said that his problem is that he spends all of his time around Christians.

That comment hit me like a rock and while I understood his situation and all, I felt that something just isn't right. I'm sure countless Bible college professors, preachers and ministers could say the same thing: They spend all of their time with Christians and people in the church. And without realizing it they are unintentionally discipling all of their Bible college students to graduate and do the same thing.

I was reading a book by a well-known pastor in Dallas and he told a story about a conversation he had with a non-Christian lady on an airplane. I was thinking that it seems like I've heard hundreds of stories by preachers and Christian authors about their conversations with people on airplanes. Then it hit me--when such people fly it is the only time that they have meaningful contact with people who are not Christians or who are not a part of the church community.

And so I'm thinking that all of our "big guns"--preachers and Bible college professors--are found only deep within the Christian community, and they're teaching all of the "little guns" to go out there and evangelize while offering no example and giving the reason/excuse that they don't spend any time around people who are not Christians.

Is Satan laughing, or what?

Jesus didn't spend all of his time around those who didn't need him the most. Maybe it was because his heart was to really help people far away from God. Maybe it was because he wanted his disciples to have experience doing this kind of ministry so it wouldn't be such a foreign concept to them after he sent them out. Maybe it was both.

Salt doesn't have much use if it's in the salt-shaker most of the time.

How can we do things (church, discipleship, Bible training) differently (not just better) so as to infiltrate the world with God's people and not isolate ourselves from the world?

New Model

2009-03-22T21:16:00.006-05:00

Aaron at The Road Less Traveled made a post about Bible colleges and their necessity a few days ago. It has generated a great discussion with many contributors. I think it is a discussion we need to be having. Below are some of my comments I posted there. Please check out the entire discussion...

I think that if at the end of this discussion we only come up with, "We need to reform our Bible colleges and do it better," and "We need to change our churches and do it better," then in the end nothing will change very much. Guys, we aren't the first ones to see weaknesses in both Bible colleges and churches. People have been saying these things for years.

I think what is needed is a new model. Both for Bible college and for church. (Aaron understands new models for church!) I think we should start new churches that have in them a training (discipleship) program. In fact, I think that "program" might just be the way to start a new church. I wrote a lot about Jesus' model for discipleship in my blog, The Koffi House. I won't repeat it here in the comments of Aaron's blog, but you can check it out if you like. I do think that a good discipleship training program should have a major focus on our behavior, understanding and ability and a minor focus on academic knowledge, not the other way around.

Yes, we will always have our Christian liberal arts schools and other colleges that are progressing in that direction. Some may want to study theology and get their PhD's from those institutions. God bless them. We don't have to dismantle those things in order to start a new model. But what we are going for here is something that will...

Be reproducible (meaning virtually every church could copy it).
Demolish the clergy/laity distinction that is upheld by our current models of both church and Bible college.
Be accessible to all kinds of Christians, in any location, who aren't quitting their jobs to go to Bible college.
Train people to live, love and talk like Jesus, not like the Pharisees.
Infiltrate non-Christian communities with our disciples (and disciplers) rather than isolate the disciples from the larger non-Christian community, only sending them on “forays” into that world.

Businessman Christian

2009-03-21T07:45:00.006-05:00

I tend to loathe the "How to be rich and be a Christian" movement that is in certain sectors of Christianity these days. You can call it the health and wealth gospel. But, actually, what I am talking about is bigger than the health and wealth gospel movement. It is the line of teaching that aims to justify "building bigger barns" that Jesus warned us about. And I know that saying this automatically offends many of the wealthy people I know, some of whom support missions.

Personally, I don't think it is wrong to own anything or to have money. We have to be careful not to condemn wealth but to condemn greed. But it seems like this argument, "It's not wrong to have money, only to be greedy," is often the very mask that covers up greed. It is sad that we have to waste energy in our lives or in the church trying to justify the wealth we have.

If we think to ourselves, "I give my 10% to God, so I can do whatever I want with the rest!" then we miss the heart of Jesus. We miss it.

I am not one to be dogmatic about a 10% line, increasing our giving by 1% a year, etc. I know for some 10% is an unimaginable sacrifice. For others, giving 10% means sacrificing luxuries, not necessities. And it is to this latter group that I am referring in this post. Is the 90% that we're living on still more than we need?

I tend to be one who promotes living more simple lives, consuming less, and giving more. Kind of like food. Gluttony is the sin of overeating--eating more than our bodies need. Just because I have lots and lots of food doesn't exempt me from gluttony just because I only ate half of it and gave the rest to the local homeless mission. No, I should only eat what my body needs regardless of how much food is on the table.

So, I tend to think the same way when it comes to wealth. I should only consume as much as I need, regardless of how much I make.

I write these things because I want to warn people to be aware. Beware of those books, seminars, conferences, classes and audio Cd's that give us a lot of solid financial and accounting advice, but mask greed. I don't want us to hide behind a truth that it isn't wrong to have wealth when our hearts are more excited about that wealth than serving Christ. That doesn't mean we throw away good accounting and financial planning, but it means we root out greed whenever it sprouts.

I want to warn people that this is NOT what BAM is about. It is not about making ourselves wealthy. It is all about furthering the mission of God in our world.

If I call myself a "Christian businessman" then what I am saying is that I am a businessman who happens to be a Christian. The word "Christian" is the adjective modifying the noun "businessman." So, it means that I am a businessman first, Christian second.

Perhaps it would be better, then, to call myself a "Businessman Christian." I am a Christian who happens to be a businessman. "Christian" is not just an adjective modifying my identity--it is the root of who I am. It just so happens that I do business. I am a follower of Christ first, and a businessman second. That means I do business for Christ--not try to make Christ do business for me.

BAM and Christian Business

2009-03-20T19:47:00.005-05:00

Thank you to Katdish for bringing this up in the comments on my post The Approach.

Is BAM the same thing as a "Christian Business"?

In my hometown you can look through the Yellow Pages and will see numerous ads with the Christian fish symbol on it, a cross or sometimes a scripture. Sometimes someone gets clever and spells the word sun (that fiery ball in the sky) as "Son" (that's right, the Son of God--Jesus). These are all "codes" to let us know that the owner is a Christian. Many Christians will see these things, pick up on the code, and become excited to find a fellow Christian. When it comes time to use their service (auto repair, dentist, lawyer, etc.) they will choose that Christian business over the other ones.

Not too different is when a businessman joins a church. He then gets a hold of the church directory and promptly sends out letters or e-mails letting everyone know about his business. Or, he makes an announcement in church that he will give a special deal to all the members of the church who want to come purchase his goods or services. Most people are so excited that they are on "the inside" of a good deal that they don't realize that this guy is likely doing this to increase his business, not because he wants to "bless" the church.

Now, I don't think these things are inherently wrong. I think that depends on the heart of the business man or woman and what their purpose is. I cannot judge them. I think we often feel jaded, though, because we feel like people are using God. And I think many times people do. They have put a Christian label on their sign to drum up more business in areas where there are a lot of Christians. They are using God to make more money.

BAM (Business as Missions/Ministry) is quite the opposite. The idea is to use business to impact people for God, not using God to improve business. Profitability is important because it is necessary for sustainability. The real "bottom line," however, is kingdom impact. Our main purpose is to serve God and to expand his kingdom. Therefore, we try to do business with those who are NOT Christians. This is not to try to trick them or get their money, but in order to get to know them and build a relationship. In the course of a relationship we share our faith in Christ in a natural way.

Therefore, I think most BAM businesses would NOT use Christian labels or symbols because the goal isn't to get into the Christian community but to get into the non-Christian community.

An Effective Missionary

2009-03-18T23:47:00.008-05:00

An article I wrote a few years ago...

I have been in The Location for a number of years now. It doesn't seem that long. At the same time, it is hard to imagine that all of my experiences have been crammed into this short time. Each day I am becoming more and more accustomed to living here and fitting into the society. There are still times, however, when I feel very “foreign” to the culture here.

I now look back on my first few months here in The Location as a “childhood,” of sorts, when everything was brand new to me. As I have grown in my ability to speak the language and to understand how things work here, I have come to see that some of the assumptions and conclusions I made early on regarding The People and their culture were incorrect. Other early ideas weren’t incorrect, but not as significant as I once thought. And, finally, I am learning many things from first-hand experience that help me to better understand this culture rather than holding to many of the false assumptions and ideas within the foreign community about The Location's culture.

Recently I was reflecting about serving here in The Location as a missionary. What would I do differently to prepare myself to work here now that I’ve been here for a few years?

I decided I wanted to be a missionary when I was a sophomore in college. After graduating and working for a while, I decided I wanted to get some specific missionary training so that I would be prepared to serve on a foreign field. I subsequently enrolled in a particular seminary's Master of Art’s program in Missions. I spent two years there and another two years finishing up my thesis. I greatly value my time at seminary and learned an incredible amount of information and ideas that have been very helpful to me as a missionary.

At the same time, I wish I could have done a few things differently. I prepared myself in some areas that have proved to be helpful and others not so helpful. But I also did not really prepare myself in a number of areas that would have made me much more effective in my ministry.

I studied Cultural Anthropology so that I would know how to approach different cultures and different worldviews, how to understand them and how to communicate with them. That was good. But I know I would be a much more effective missionary if I had learned how to control my anger better. I never thought of myself as an “angry” person. It never really came out until I came over here. I am here to try to help this country and there are so many things that are blatantly not “up to standard.” The people here are not really my “peers” and I am already weird and different in their eyes. Consequently, it is easy for me to show my anger and displeasure in front of them. Showing anger and displeasure, while not a good thing, is still pretty normal for us in America. In The Location it makes you lose respect and discredits you in the minds of people. God’s kingdom could be expanded better by me if I learned how to quiet my heart, be content, and not show my frustration.

I studied Greek and Hebrew a year a piece so that I could understand how to best interpret the Bible. I loved those classes and would never think of going back and not taking them! In the future I hope this knowledge will have more practical application in my ministry, but to date it has really had very little use in my witness here. On the other hand, had I learned the discipline of studying my Bible every day, being in God’s Word and having his Word in my heart I know that I would be a much more effective missionary. Knowing about God’s Word and knowing his Word are as different as knowing about God versus knowing God. If I were the kind of person that had his Word on my mind, in my heart and on my lips by disciplining myself to be immersed in the scriptures every day, I would be much more effective in my witness here.

I studied Leadership and dissected the difference in meaning between leaders and managers, between mission statements and vision statements and between contextualization and syncretism. This was good… but it would have been more helpful had I learned the skill of spending time with people, listening to them, talking with them and getting to know them. Being the busy visionary has not helped me be an effective missionary when taking time to get to know people here would.

I studied Missiology and learned about missionary methods, approaches and strategies for evangelism among unreached peoples in ways that God’s kingdom will subsequently expand rapidly without hindrance. Again, this was very helpful and insightful. But I know that I would be a much better missionary if I had learned the practice of prayer and fasting, depending and calling on God to work miracles that I could never do. My first reaction to a kingdom “barrier” is typically a smart and fancy missiological strategy. But I would be a much more effective instrument of God if I would react and persist in prayer for the spiritual difference I am attempting to make.

I studied Church Growth and how pastors should lead their churches past the “200 barrier” or past the “1,000 barrier.” But I would have done better to address personal issues of over-sensitivity, pride and self-pity. I studied Ministry to Muslims, but would have done better to learn how to really stave off sexual temptation. I studied Linguistics, which has been very helpful and profitable. But I should have spent more time learning to have a close walk with Christ and how to be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I would be a much more effective missionary if I possessed these fruits of the Spirit in greater quantity.

Our effectiveness as servants of God flows out of our relationship with God. That is because our wisdom, strength and riches, in all its measure, could not possibly begin to accomplish what we are attempting, and what only God can accomplish through us. The battle we are fighting is a spiritual one, not a worldly one. The difference we are trying to make is a spiritual difference.

Jeremiah says (9:23-24), “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.”

Amen. Please don’t take the above as criticism of those who trained me, or who failed to train me. It is not. Rather, it is a criticism of myself and my way of thinking as I was preparing to become a missionary.

When it comes down to it, if I actually live in relationships with people (and not just make teaching appearances), people will be much more affected by my example than they ever will be by my teaching. What they see in my life will be more powerful than what comes out of my mouth. In fact, how I live my life in the quiet, private and trying moments will prove whether or not people should believe what I say. When I understand and know the Lord, and when I also exercise kindness, justice and righteousness in my life, then I will be an effective missionary.

Still Plodding

2009-03-18T21:29:00.003-05:00

January 2009 was a terrific time for us here as we had lots of good news and great things happening. February was pretty good, too.

But now the bad news has been hitting us in March.

Paperwork on hold.
Resistance from some local officials because of our Christian faith.
Land problems (people claiming some of what we bought was really theirs).
Some interpersonal problems with a couple of our employees.
Getting sick.

Still plodding. Thank you for any prayers offered.

Koffijah

The Approach

2009-03-17T21:01:00.003-05:00

In regards to my thoughts from the Jesus' Discipleship series, the Dependency Mission series, What is BAM?, Go Inter, National Tentmakers and the Blessings of Restricted Access, I wanted to write a little more in summary of our approach here at The Location...

1. Business as Missions--using business to (1) gain access to the country and unreached peoples, (2) have a way to associate with people as non-clergy and in an understandable fashion, thus building relationship where the good news can be shared, (3) have a positive economic and physical effect on the lives of the poorest peoples, and (4) create a sustainable model that doesn't continually depend on outside sources of funds to operate.

2. Discipleship Training--training young interns in a discipleship fashion similar to how Jesus trained his 12 disciples (community living, doing ministry together in the community, responding to events/issues, giving them opportunities) along with an intensive Bible study program and agricultural (or vocational) courses. Training them to beware of the Christian ministry "ruts" that too many young passionate believers fall into: Using Christianity as a way to get rich and move away from the needy, or to get respect, titles, authority, etc. Instead, training them to work with their own hands and gain the respect of outsiders.

3. National Tentmaking--Setting up qualified disciples of Christ in unreached places where they can do business to support themselves and do ministry as well, planting communities of Christ-followers wherever they go.

All three of these things have to work together. Without one of the three, there would be some major gaps.

Now, I want to do this on a larger scale and for a longer time before I really start promoting this model. I know there are some lessons still to learn. But I really believe in this approach for The Location.

Actually, I am also asking myself... Why wouldn't this approach work in America or elsewhere? Your thoughts?

GUT and Theology

2009-03-17T20:14:00.005-05:00

Some comments I made in a discussion about theological creeds...

What we call creeds and confessions arise from systematic theology--our attempts to organize and summarize the message of scripture. The problem with systematic theology is the assumption that we know enough (that God has revealed enough) to put it all together. But what if God just told us what we needed to know without explaining it all to us? Does it mean that we are somehow compromising the truth because we refuse to be dogmatic (not refuse to discuss and consider different possibilities) about our systematic theological constructs?

We are in a ship navigating a sea and we can see the continents and avoid the islands as we travel to our destination. But is it necessary to know all the landscape of the ocean floor in order to get to our destination? Is it God's will for us to arrive at our destination or to know all the mysteries of the deep? Even so, I still think it is good to explore those mysteries... just don't be dogmatic about them.

What God wants us to know the most is the clearest in scripture. These are the things necessary to navigate through the ocean and arrive at our destination. And these are the things we must hold onto firmly without budging, unlike the mysteries of the deep. Yes, I know it isn't that sophisticated. But I truly believe that sometimes our goal is theological sophistication. We pride ourselves in being able to talk theologically about God, but not in being able to live our lives according to God's Way. We would do better to give up our theological pride and live with simple faith, fighting temptations in our life and serving others.

In physics, of all the things that we do know, there are a number of theories that we can't really prove. But we still use them. One is the model of the atom. We are most familiar with the common Bohr model of the atom. But it is not complete and doesn't answer all the questions. A better model is the quantum model. But they are all models. Gravity is another one. We don't know for sure what it is. We have Einstein's General Theory of Relativity that proposes curvature in the space-time continuum. It is a model. Perhaps one day we can prove it; but not yet. The Big Bang, anti-matter, the density of the universe and the particle nature of light can be described in certain terms. However, we are still seeking a so-called Grand Unified Theory. The GUT would tie it all together.

So far the GUT eludes us. However, that doesn't mean that our universe doesn't work or add up. Physicists are confident that it does all add up... we just don't know how yet. Does it matter how it all adds up? Absolutely. Does it matter that we KNOW how it all adds up? No, not really. But it is interesting.