After 10 days of Keystone training (March 16-25), yesterday I was finally back in the field to begin the process of taking all that we had talked about and putting it into practice. One of the things that was talked about a lot in the Keystone training was to make sure that the discipleship process that you use is highly missional. In other words, the idea is to spend less time in study situations looking at what the scriptures teach us about discipleship and more time living it out.
Years ago when I was working at my youth ministry degree from Fuller Seminary, one of my professors had taught us the same thing when he instructed us that we should never go any where alone, that we should always have a youth with us so they could see what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. Over the years I have done this often with youth, but not enough with adults.
My opportunity arose to start this yesterday with one of the guys I have been working with. While I was at Keystone, Kevin emailed me and told me he had been laid off from his job. For him this was devastating. There is the obvious economic problem of loss of work, but there is also the problem for Kevin that he, as many of us do, put his personal value on going to work each day and doing a job. So between us, we decided it would be a good thing for him to travel with me on this Thursday and take part in the ministry that I do at the schools.
Now it was a different kind of a day, and we did not end up helping at the schools in the manner I usually do, but it was still time well spent as we had conversations with various administrators and other people. As our day ended together I suggested to Kevin that he look for ways to serve at the school and in his community while looking for a job. He agreed, and we parted ways.
This morning I got a call from Kevin. One of his sons, who had traveled to Red Bird Mission with me on a number of occasions had contacted Kevin and told him he should ask me about going to Red Bird with me next week. To make a long story short, I had had the same thought. And when Kevin called me, I took it as a confirmation from God. And so tomorrow Kevin will leave with our group for a week in Kentucky re-roofing an elderly lady's home.
This is a start. I have become more and more aware of the need to do missional things outside the church. This encounter has reinforced that idea in my life and I pray in Kevin's also.
I will be in Kentucky next week so expect to hear from me again in a couple of weeks. Thanks for all your prayers.
Your Servant in Christ,
Brian
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Great Commission
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matt. 28:18-20
This week finds me not in Sebewaing, but at Camp Michindoh. I am here with 11 other guys going through 10 days of disciple making training. The days have been long as we are logging between 8 and 9 hours a day in the class room. Then the conversations that are taking place around the meal tables and on walks around the grounds are all centering on a disciple making process that is meant to take discipleship out to the fourth generation.
Richard Greene, our presenter, has been very passionate about telling us that times are changing and that he believes that the church needs to change to become more effective at fulfilling the Great Commission as found in Matthew 28. As someone who has been in youth ministry for 17 years, I have been a witness to what Richard is talking about when it comes to changing times. My experience in youth ministry has shown me that things are changing rapidly and in many cases things that worked last year don't work any more.
Most of the people sitting in on our class are senior pastors, and there have been some real issues that have come up as Richard points out the things he sees as flaws in the present church system. There have even been some difficult conversations around these topics. I have listened to these conversations trying to figure out what God would have me to learn through them. Several of the guys keep asking about where is there a model of what Richard is proposing that is up and working in the U.S. (There is no question how well these Keystone/ first century principles are working in third world countries.)
At this point there seems to be no real answer for that question but for me there is one truth that keeps coming up. The Great Commission is suppose to be for all believers, yet as the church we have not been very good at carrying it out. Maybe one of the reasons we are arguing so much against these things is because even though what we have is not working we are afraid to let it go because it is all we have ever known. I am ready to look for new wine skins.
Please keep me in prayer these next days as we continue to unpack the Keystone materials.
Also pray for Richard Greene as he presents. I am afraid that the interaction today has dampened some of his passion.
I expect to be back in Sebewaing next week and should post a blog about that next Friday before I leave for Kentucky with my youth group next Saturday.
Your Servant in Christ,
Brian
This week finds me not in Sebewaing, but at Camp Michindoh. I am here with 11 other guys going through 10 days of disciple making training. The days have been long as we are logging between 8 and 9 hours a day in the class room. Then the conversations that are taking place around the meal tables and on walks around the grounds are all centering on a disciple making process that is meant to take discipleship out to the fourth generation.
Richard Greene, our presenter, has been very passionate about telling us that times are changing and that he believes that the church needs to change to become more effective at fulfilling the Great Commission as found in Matthew 28. As someone who has been in youth ministry for 17 years, I have been a witness to what Richard is talking about when it comes to changing times. My experience in youth ministry has shown me that things are changing rapidly and in many cases things that worked last year don't work any more.
Most of the people sitting in on our class are senior pastors, and there have been some real issues that have come up as Richard points out the things he sees as flaws in the present church system. There have even been some difficult conversations around these topics. I have listened to these conversations trying to figure out what God would have me to learn through them. Several of the guys keep asking about where is there a model of what Richard is proposing that is up and working in the U.S. (There is no question how well these Keystone/ first century principles are working in third world countries.)
At this point there seems to be no real answer for that question but for me there is one truth that keeps coming up. The Great Commission is suppose to be for all believers, yet as the church we have not been very good at carrying it out. Maybe one of the reasons we are arguing so much against these things is because even though what we have is not working we are afraid to let it go because it is all we have ever known. I am ready to look for new wine skins.
Please keep me in prayer these next days as we continue to unpack the Keystone materials.
Also pray for Richard Greene as he presents. I am afraid that the interaction today has dampened some of his passion.
I expect to be back in Sebewaing next week and should post a blog about that next Friday before I leave for Kentucky with my youth group next Saturday.
Your Servant in Christ,
Brian
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Prayer & Partnering
The last two weeks because of a hectic schedule I have traveled to Sebewaing on a Tuesday and this past Saturday. I would like to use my blog posting to recount a couple of things from those visits.
The last two weeks that Deb and I have been with John and Rhonda Elenbaum we have decided that God is calling us to use our time in extended times of prayer. Our prayer focuses have been on concerns in our own families and what God wants for the next steps in the disciple making ministry in Sebewaing. These times together in prayer have been very special. It has been a privilege to hold up one another in prayer and to really be seeking God on gathering a group together in Sebewaing to advance the kingdom.
I believe that with some of the more personal issues we have been holding up in prayer we have already seen God moving and laying ground work for healing in relationships. In the area of expanding what we are doing in Sebewaing, there also seems to be a growing sense that God is going to provide additional opportunities to expand the disciple making ministry. We are not sure what this will look like, but we have sensed a moving of the Spirit.
In the area of partnering, two separate things have arose. The first is fairly concrete, but a good example of the possibilities. On March 28, I will be leading my Youth Group to Red Bird Mission in South East Kentucky. It is a trip that I have made many times and look forward to how God will move. This year Joe, whom I met with in a Life Transformation Group on Thursdays, and his son are going to join us. I am excited about that because for me this is a picture of the Kingdom --different groups coming together to do the work of God.
The second possible example of ministries working together to advance the Kingdom arose out of a meeting I had with Mike Sweciki, the Pastor at Salem United Methodist Church in Pigeon. Mike is being called by the United Methodist Church to move to the Midland area to plant a church. We had a great conversation, and I told him I would love to get together when I get back to talk about how we can support one another.
Next week I will be going through 10 days of Disciple Making training through the Keystone project so I will not be traveling to Sebewaing. Please keep me in prayer during that time that God would show me new opportunities and train me in new ways over that time.
Your servant in Christ,
Brian
The last two weeks that Deb and I have been with John and Rhonda Elenbaum we have decided that God is calling us to use our time in extended times of prayer. Our prayer focuses have been on concerns in our own families and what God wants for the next steps in the disciple making ministry in Sebewaing. These times together in prayer have been very special. It has been a privilege to hold up one another in prayer and to really be seeking God on gathering a group together in Sebewaing to advance the kingdom.
I believe that with some of the more personal issues we have been holding up in prayer we have already seen God moving and laying ground work for healing in relationships. In the area of expanding what we are doing in Sebewaing, there also seems to be a growing sense that God is going to provide additional opportunities to expand the disciple making ministry. We are not sure what this will look like, but we have sensed a moving of the Spirit.
In the area of partnering, two separate things have arose. The first is fairly concrete, but a good example of the possibilities. On March 28, I will be leading my Youth Group to Red Bird Mission in South East Kentucky. It is a trip that I have made many times and look forward to how God will move. This year Joe, whom I met with in a Life Transformation Group on Thursdays, and his son are going to join us. I am excited about that because for me this is a picture of the Kingdom --different groups coming together to do the work of God.
The second possible example of ministries working together to advance the Kingdom arose out of a meeting I had with Mike Sweciki, the Pastor at Salem United Methodist Church in Pigeon. Mike is being called by the United Methodist Church to move to the Midland area to plant a church. We had a great conversation, and I told him I would love to get together when I get back to talk about how we can support one another.
Next week I will be going through 10 days of Disciple Making training through the Keystone project so I will not be traveling to Sebewaing. Please keep me in prayer during that time that God would show me new opportunities and train me in new ways over that time.
Your servant in Christ,
Brian
Monday, March 2, 2009
Being Patient
Truth be known, being patient has not always been one of my greatest characteristics. I usually like to charge ahead trying to get to a destination. The problem is that more than once in my life I have arrived at my destination only to find out that that is not where God really intended me to be. This last week I was blessed to be reminded that God is in control, and we need to be faithful to the small things in front of us; and He will be faithful to guiding us to His destination. Let me give you three encounters from my week to illustrate this point.
On this Thursday I started by traveling to Caro to meet with Bob Sweeney. For those of you who don't know Bob, he is the Pastor at the Cass City Missionary Church and the head coach for the Thumb Area LEAD Team. Bob and I were meeting to discuss some of the issues that had been raised at our last LEAD Team meeting. At that meeting there were some discussions that perhaps our efforts in Sebewaing were not as far along as they should be, and that maybe we needed to change directions a little. The conversations, which I felt like were productive and needed to take place, had caused some division among the LEAD Team, and I appreciated the leadership Bob was showing in the matter through his emails and personal contacts.
During our time together Bob shared with me from a book on discipling, the amount of time Jesus had spent with the 12 over the three plus years. In the end the conclusion by the author said that if we used that same time line with people we are discipling, we would need around seven years based on the number of hours of contact with the individual. Now I don't anticipate that we will have seven years in the Sebewaing project before we really start seeing a lot of fruit, but it was encouraging to hear that time is not as urgent as we sometimes make it.
For me, Bob's and my meeting was a confirmation of what I had heard earlier in the week at a meeting talking about restructuring some things in the Missionary Church. The meeting which was conducted by Bill Hossler, our denomination President; Jim Keller, Michigan DS; and Steve Jones, Central DS, centered on how the Missionary Church might more effectively reach its goals of planting more churches and winning the lost to Christ. For me some of the main points of the meeting reflected an attitude change about what churches were suppose to look like and how we are going about creating those churches. It seemed to me that many of the things the leadership were talking about, we have been trying to do with our Thumb Area LEAD Team. Again, even though progress has seemed to be slow, God has been working and the foundation that is being laid will help us to build a stronger structure to reach the lost in the future.
The third event which for me showed that you need to stick to the disciplines that God has in front of you to accomplish longer term goals, was my encounter with Kevin on Thursday. When I called Kevin to confirm our meeting time for our Life Transformation group, he started by talking about being too busy to meet today. I was almost tempted to let him off the hook but something in me suggested that we really needed to meet, and so I simply told him I would meet him over lunch like we had originally planned. When we did meet that day, it was clear that God intended our time to be a real encouragement to one another. Both Kevin and I learned that the urgency of the moment needed to be put aside for the time of fellowship and prayer before God.
So this week let's work on the things God has set before us and not worry about the things that we have no control over. If we take care of the things God asks us to, He will lead us to the right destination.
Praises:
The encouragement of Believers
The continued opportunities to serve in the USA schools
For a growing awareness of the presence of the Missionary Church in the Sebewaing area
Concerns:
My schedule in the next month which takes me from Texas to KeyStone training to Kentucky, a total of 21 days
My friend Joe who continues to battle illness
What direction God would have us move in not only in Sebewaing but perhaps in other communities in the Thumb
Your Servant in Christ,
Pastor Brian
On this Thursday I started by traveling to Caro to meet with Bob Sweeney. For those of you who don't know Bob, he is the Pastor at the Cass City Missionary Church and the head coach for the Thumb Area LEAD Team. Bob and I were meeting to discuss some of the issues that had been raised at our last LEAD Team meeting. At that meeting there were some discussions that perhaps our efforts in Sebewaing were not as far along as they should be, and that maybe we needed to change directions a little. The conversations, which I felt like were productive and needed to take place, had caused some division among the LEAD Team, and I appreciated the leadership Bob was showing in the matter through his emails and personal contacts.
During our time together Bob shared with me from a book on discipling, the amount of time Jesus had spent with the 12 over the three plus years. In the end the conclusion by the author said that if we used that same time line with people we are discipling, we would need around seven years based on the number of hours of contact with the individual. Now I don't anticipate that we will have seven years in the Sebewaing project before we really start seeing a lot of fruit, but it was encouraging to hear that time is not as urgent as we sometimes make it.
For me, Bob's and my meeting was a confirmation of what I had heard earlier in the week at a meeting talking about restructuring some things in the Missionary Church. The meeting which was conducted by Bill Hossler, our denomination President; Jim Keller, Michigan DS; and Steve Jones, Central DS, centered on how the Missionary Church might more effectively reach its goals of planting more churches and winning the lost to Christ. For me some of the main points of the meeting reflected an attitude change about what churches were suppose to look like and how we are going about creating those churches. It seemed to me that many of the things the leadership were talking about, we have been trying to do with our Thumb Area LEAD Team. Again, even though progress has seemed to be slow, God has been working and the foundation that is being laid will help us to build a stronger structure to reach the lost in the future.
The third event which for me showed that you need to stick to the disciplines that God has in front of you to accomplish longer term goals, was my encounter with Kevin on Thursday. When I called Kevin to confirm our meeting time for our Life Transformation group, he started by talking about being too busy to meet today. I was almost tempted to let him off the hook but something in me suggested that we really needed to meet, and so I simply told him I would meet him over lunch like we had originally planned. When we did meet that day, it was clear that God intended our time to be a real encouragement to one another. Both Kevin and I learned that the urgency of the moment needed to be put aside for the time of fellowship and prayer before God.
So this week let's work on the things God has set before us and not worry about the things that we have no control over. If we take care of the things God asks us to, He will lead us to the right destination.
Praises:
The encouragement of Believers
The continued opportunities to serve in the USA schools
For a growing awareness of the presence of the Missionary Church in the Sebewaing area
Concerns:
My schedule in the next month which takes me from Texas to KeyStone training to Kentucky, a total of 21 days
My friend Joe who continues to battle illness
What direction God would have us move in not only in Sebewaing but perhaps in other communities in the Thumb
Your Servant in Christ,
Pastor Brian
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