Who’s kingdom are you growing?

In one way or another we’re all in the business of kingdom building. CEO’s focus on the growth of their company, coaches focus on the performance of their team, people in ministry are focused on the growth of their ministry.

The desire to see a company or ministry expand in reach and influence is absolutely natural, we as people desire to succeed and as a result we have an inclination to see the thing that we spend our time working on succeed as well. We look at things like market penetration, number of people served, and name recognition. Trucks are purchased and buildings are built with corporate or ministry names emblazoned on them as evidence of the success of the organization.

Don’t misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with a ministry growing, or identifying the vehicles or buildings it uses for ministry.

In 1 Corinthians Paul shows an example of kingdom building:

“For you are yet carnal. For in that there is among you envyings and strife and divisions, are you not carnal, and do you not walk according to men? For while one says, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each? I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he who plants anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. So he planting, and he watering, are one, and each one shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For of God we are fellow-workers, a field of God, and you are a building of God. According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let every man be careful how he builds on it. For any other foundation can no one lay than the one being laid, who is Jesus Christ. And if anyone builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, each one's work shall be revealed. For the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try each one's work as to what kind it is. If anyone's work which he built remains, he shall receive a reward. If anyone's work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss. But he shall be saved, yet so as by fire.”
1 Corinthians 3:3-15

The work we do, no matter who’s name is attached to it must have God’s name attached to it. It must be focused on building God’s Kingdom and not mans, without jealousy or envy.

I have a dear friend who is a pastor of a church that rents a small building for Sunday and midweek services. When he drives past a large church in the area with a beautiful building and a large youth center, he might be inclined to be look upon the work their doing and say “Lord, why don’t I have a building like that? Haven’t I been faithful to what You called me to?” But he doesn’t, I know for a fact that this pastor actually prays for this church’s continued growth and effectiveness in their ministry.

Gold stars

I remember grade school well, perhaps because I have a child who came through grade school, one in the middle of it, and one about to enter.

One thing I remember vividly about my own school days as well as that of my children was the gold star chart. The chart in case you are not familiar is a simple way to motivate children to accomplish a goal by placing gold stars (or something similar) next to their name. It usually resulted in 2 things; excitement over some nominal reward for earning said stars, and competition/comparison between children.

Sometimes as adults we long for things of childhood, and I believe the gold stars are one of them. We long for recognition and to know that we are achieving an objective or subjective goal. And not only with other people, but also with God.

Work gets done for public recognition and each of us silently (or publicly) compared ourselves to the next guy.

Did I earn a gold star for that? I must have one for giving. I must have more gold stars than him, after all I'm a....(deacon, missionary, pastor, elder, board member, etc...)

I'm sorry to tell you this, but there is no divine gold star chart where we can check our own standing against others. No, the Lord has no chart with carefully placed stickers by which He compares our performance against one another.

Revelation 20:12 references "books" in which works are recorded. But it is important to note that those books are closed, ie not open for public inspection and comparisson. 

The standard God looks at is not how we're doing compared to the next guy, but are we being obedient to the standard He has called us to in scripture and to the obedience on His personal call on our lives.

That Old House

About two weeks ago I was in my old neighborhood visiting with some friends and neighbors and got to see my old house. 

My kids wanted to go and play in the yard, but I had to explain to them that it wasn’t their house anymore and that it belonged to someone else. 

At the same time I started to notice things that were different – the Christmas decorations on the outside of the house were similar to the way we used to hang them, but different enough that it didn’t seem completely right.  Some of the landscaping that I personally had worked on had changed too.  Somehow all of us longed for this house to be the way it was when we were there.

But this was not our house anymore, God had called us to serve Him elsewhere.

I was reminded of the Israelites when they had just been taken out of Egypt - Exodus 14:12  “Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”

The people of Israel looked back at their old house and not at the place they were going, and though it wasn’t their home anymore.

There is something about the place we used to be and the things we used to do that pull at us…sometimes these things can be positive. All too often they are the bad habits or sins from years past that pull on us to walk past the old house and glance at what looks like a comfortable place to be and ignore the fact that God has taken you away from that place for a reason, and this is to live a life that would be able to glorify Him.

“And such were some of you. But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
1 Corinthians 6:11

Christmas parties

Over the past few weeks, and through the end of this week childen that are served in the projects we work with around the world have been able to celebrate something many orphaned and neglected children in the developing world aren't able to, Christmas. 

Though there is special food and gifts for the children at these parties, that is not what makes the event special.  The customs associated with Christmas are a little different in each country, but one thing is consitent for every child that is at one of these parties - each child hears the story of the incarnation of God the Son - the story of when Jesus was born.  The heart and true meaning of Christmas.

I ask you take 5 minutes this week and pray for the Chilren around the world who attend these simple Christmas parties to continue to grow to know the love of God and to develop into mature Christians who can impact their own culture.

Where we're (I'm) going in 2009

1st of all let me say that we (and specifically me) are going wherever God is going and leading.

With that said I wanted to share a few things that I personally will be working on in 2009.

1. Ministry management system - this is a fancy way of saying the tools that run behind the scences to enable the "experience".  The goal is to cover 4 key areas; relationship management, child sponsorship program management, integrated reporting, and field empowerment.

2. Country 10 - as you know we're working internationally in 9 countries today.  The US is what I sometimes refer to as country 10 - we want to make sure that everything we do in the US is laser focused on one thing - developing orphaned and neglected children into mature Christians equipped to live in their own culture....and to do this in the best (ie the best process, Biblical foundation, Christ centered, as good stewards, for the furtherance of the Kingdom and not ourselves) way possible

3. Field work - I've already got international projects queued up for 2009, in fact I am expecting to get my passport back today for one of them. I will share more details as the 1st project of 2009 gets closer.

4. Growing the body - a big part of being a part of God's family  is helping other parts grow. One of the ways we can reach our core goal of - developing orphaned and neglected children into mature Christians equipped to live in their own culture, is by helping grow the church as a whole.  Some ways we can do that is through empowering believers to put their faith into action, to make the local church an active part of the work God is doing around the world, and enabling other ministries we may partner with to be effective as we work in unison.  I've thought about how to put this into words... one thought I have is this - developing individual Christians and the local church into mature, effective individuals and bodies of believers equipped to reach orphaned and negleceted children.

5. Teaching my own family -as important as getting work done now, the most important thing I can do is to grow the next generation of Christ-followers.

Have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Everyone else is doing it...

If someone else told me this I would honestly think they're making it up...but I notice a trend that a lot of my friends are going into missions work or other full time ministry work.

That might sound sort of obvious, coming from someone who works from a ministry that does international missions work...except for the fact that I'm talking about friends that I had before I started chasing after what God was calling me to.

As a point of reference over the summer I've had one friend leave the country for full time missions work, another has started down the road to missions training in Guatemala then full time missions after that....

Today, I recieved an email from a 3rd friend who was offered a missions position in Zambia that he will leave for around February.

I'm open to your feedback on this trend.

The chain

I've read this story in multiple places so I apologize for not having a good source as to who the actual story came from:

July 1, 1885, a man named Kimbell had a burden for a shoe salesman, by the name of Dwight L. Moody - D.L. Moody. This layman, Kimbell, went to the shoe store and talked to young Moody about his salvation. Moody got converted. He began Bible classes and then later began preaching. He went to England and preached in Dr. F. B. Meyer's big church. Meyer's life was touched by the Holy Spirit through the Moody's preaching.

F. B. Meyer came to the United States and was preaching in a college at the chapel service and his sermon was about full surrender. He said, "If you cannot tell God you are willing to give Him everything, ask Him to make you willing to be willing." Wilbur Chapman, who was listening to Meyer, said to himself, "He is talking to me, I've been ready to quit, give it up and get out of the ministry." Wilbur Chapman was touched by God and let God use him in a mighty way.

Chapman then began to look for someone to help him in evangelistic work. He found a professional baseball player, a young man converted from a life of drunkenness in Chicago. His name was Billy Sunday. When Chapman got old, he turned his work and equipment over to Sunday. Billy Sunday became a world famous evangelist. He was in his generation was Billy Graham has been and his to his generation. 

In 1924 Sunday preached a city-wide crusade in Charlotte, North Carolina. Out of that revival meeting a group of men formed a men's prayer group to pray for the world. They prayed for Charlotte to have another great revival.

God sent another evangelist named Mordecai Hamm. Hamm went to Charlotte in 1934 to hold a crusade. Under the big tent were two young men, Grady Wilson and 15-year-old Billy Graham. Graham was converted in that crusade and dedicated his life to telling others about salvation. Grady Wilson became a preacher too, and the two of them worked together for many years. 

I don't know what the chain is that led to me personally, but I think of the man who introduced me to Christ and the man who introduced me to serving in missions. I also thank God in advance for others who will come after me in ministry.

What is a hero?

Yes I know this appears to deviate from my theme and purpose, since this is my blog and since today is the day that it is  I 'll take the liberty to discuss it. I also I believe it applies to many missionaries.

I wish I could remember where I first heard it so that I could attribute the quote correctly, but the best definition I ever heard for a hero was something like this -

A hero is someone who is running into a place, while everyone else is running out.

Think about it for a second, and think about the people you consider heroes.

This statement applies to everyone from firefighters, to missionaries working in dangerous areas, to the Lord Jesus Himself.

For a firefighter the place could be a burning building, for a missionary it could be a country that everyone else is abandonding and for Christ it could be the life of a person that everyone else thinks is hopeless.  

But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. 

(Rom 5:8)

Tools of the trade - Intro

What are some of the tools needed (other than spiritual giftedness and a call from God) to be successful in missions?

1. A Bible
2. Sturdy pants
3. A Swiss Army knife (or leatherman)

What am I talking about? 

Don't worry I'll explain more later.

Experience & the missionary part 1 - support

What should the experience of a missionary be?

This is a little more complicated, so I'll have to break it down into a few posts.

First a missionary should be supported in 3 primary ways

• Sending -missionaries are responding to a biblical call from God to serve the lost and hurting in whatever mission field they might be working in.  It is better to be one who is sent, than to be one who went.  Even Jesus Himself was sent by the Father (John 5:23).  The act of sending, whether it be by a local church, a missions board, or other body... allows the person who is sent to act with the blessing and authority of those who sent him.
  
• Financial support -I just heard a wonderful message about this yesterday, the gentleman speaking said "God's people, using God's money to do God's work" It doesn't get much more straight forward than that.  Individual missionaries and missions organizations as a whole put their faith in God that He will provide, and the way that God in His sovereignty has chosen to do that is through other believers. In a 2008 study of missionaries in Kenya by Patrick Nabwera "Lack of financial support" as the #1 reason missionaries leave the field
  
• Prayer -I'll keep it simple missionaries (pastors, leaders, sunday school teachers, etc...) need your prayer.  (1 Thessalonians 5:25).  

I praise God that I am blessed to have a home church, family and friends that get this 3 key ingredients.

OK, what is mission experience?

Now that is the million dollar question. What is mission experience?
To sum it up mission experience is the end to end experience (that is the the affect a mission has) of:

• The missionary
• Staff in the field
• Local nationals who are partners in ministry
• Ministry partners (NGO's, Churches, etc...)
• Those being served
• Support staff
• Donors who support the mission

Throughout the lifecycle of a particular missionary undertaking whether it be a short term process, or multigenerational.

I will discuss more in depth as time progresses the importance of experience to each of the roles I described above as well as practical ways to enhance that experience.

What is missions?

My younger sister and I had a conversation a few days ago, about what missions was (and wasn't) as well as what made a missionary a missionary:

Websters Dictionay Defines it this way:

Mission -ministry commissioned by a religious organization to propagate its faith or carry on humanitarian work b: assignment to or work in a field of missionary enterprise c (1): a mission establishment (2): a local church or parish dependent on a larger religious organization for direction or financial support dplural : organized missionary work e: a course of sermons and services given to convert the unchurched or quicken Christian faith.

Missionary -a person undertaking a mission and especially a religious mission

Does it get any simpler than that?

Here's my definition - a mission is any work done to advance the Gospel and the Kingdom of God on Earth. And a missionary is a person doing that work.