The priority of Jesus’ solitude and silence is everywhere in the Gospels. It’s how he began his ministry. It’s how he made important decisions. It’s how he dealt with troubling emotions like grief. It’s how he dealt with the constant demands of his ministry and cared for his soul. It’s how he taught his disciples. It’s how he prepared for important ministry events. It’s how he prepared for his death on the cross.
Jesus’ solitude is how he went deeper in his love-relationship with the God he knew as “Abba”.* Won’t you take a chronological journey through the Gospel of Mark and see where He stopped for silence & solitude?
*Special Thanks to Bill Gaultiere who outlined most of this concept and content for us. I did enhance the Bible Passages through the Gospels and made it a self-study worksheet. You can see Bill’s article online at http://www.soulshepherding.org/2013/02/jesus-solitude-and-silence/
Today, I did a heart wrenching funeral service. In preparation and in ministering to the family over the last week or so, I shared a booklet I wrote on Understanding Grief. This outlines stages of grief, how to help those experiencing it (from the Book of Job) and also Bible Verses for Truth and Comfort.
In getting things together for today’s service, I realized I haven’t posted this helpful resource yet. So, to remedy that, I’ve now posted it here. See below for a teaser…
Two young children were trying to know how to cope with the death of their grandma. In the midst of the turmoil, the parents were trying to know how to care for their children. On the day of the funeral the whole family stood in front of the casket. Many preparations had been made with the children. Knowing they would be curious, the parents instructed them that they could touch her hands if they wanted, but grandma’s skin would be cold. The children’s mother was transported to another time when her mom cared for skinned knees, dinner preparations and broken hearts. Interrupting the memories, the four year old whispered, “Is she breathing?” The parents hadn’t anticipated this question. It certainly required more that a simple “No.” This business of explaining death became very difficult. Finally the mother said, “Well. . .” and nothing more would come. The oldest child then turned from his study of the casket and faced his sibling, “No, she’s not breathing. Remember? The breathin’ part’s in heaven.”… …Read the Rest>>
A catalytic leader that I have had the privilege of getting to know over the last few years is Steve Moore*. He put together this helpful video and process to help learners leverage events for maximum learning. I really appreciate this video and process. I curated his content…and gave you a tool below outlining his process. Don’t skip the video though…it’s worth your time!
A blog post on Fast Company’s web site shared about a group of young entrepreneurs who filled a large Silicon Valley auditorium to hear a speech by Mark Zuckerberg. He shared his perspective on the future of Internet business along with lessons he has learned on the journey so far.
It is no surprise the room was full of twenty-somethings eager to hear what the Facebook founder had to say. According to eyewitness accounts of the meeting, two older, legendary Silicon Valley investors seated in the front row stood out. But not for the reason you might think. It wasn’t their silver hair that made them look out of place. It was the fact they were the only people in the room taking notes.
The two most successful people in the room, whose names are synonymous with money and power in Silicon Valley, were the only ones taking notes. Maybe that explains why they are successful?…
Here are the process questions Steve outlines:
Pre Event Questions:
1) What is the Best Resource I could recommend to others and why did I find it helpful?
2) What is the most important ______________ I need to process?
3) What questions will help me best engage with others for learning?
During Event Questions:
1) What Learning choices do I need to make tomorrow?
2) Have I spent 5 minutes with the schedule to plan my time effectively?
3) Where is the networking space? How will I use it?
4) What is the most effective way to harvest the information? How will you capture learning?
5) Who do I need to seek out during this event?
Immediately After Event Questions:
1) What is the most important idea to consider?
2) Most important relationship to pursue?
3) Most important conversation I need to have?
4) Most important decision I need to make?
5) Most important action I need to take?
Free Tool >> Download a Word Doc or PDF of these questions
*As executive director of Missio Nexus, Steve Moore put together many leadership resources which have been helpful to me. This year Steve transitioned into a new role with NexLeader…and you should check that stuff out too! Find Steve on Twitter
So as I prepared to be greeted by social media friends (and real ones too) for my birthday on Monday, September 28th, I wanted to let everyone know my birthday wish…
As you may know, I’ve been training since the spring of this year to run the Long Beach Half Marathon with some friends from @LosAltosGrace Church and Team World Vision. Race day is coming up on October 11th. I’ve done pretty well at the training and I think I’ll be in fine shape to complete the run.
One of our other goals in running is to seek to raise support for clean water in Africa. I haven’t worked as hard at that as I have my training. So, I’d love to have you help me finish this off!
So Periscope…you know about the one is on a submarine, but did you know about this new social media mechanism to live stream from your smartphone?
Periscope is a live stream broadcasting platform connected with Twitter. I actually first used Periscope to attempt to watch the big Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight. I was too cheap to pay a hundred bucks to see the fight. To stay in the loop in real time, I started following the fight on Twitter and saw that some people were using Periscope to “watch” the fight.
I actually downloaded the app, linked it with my Twitter and found a broadcasting stream just in time for the last bell to go in the last round. I watched the announcer proclaim Mayweather the winner (on someone else’s TV with about 7,000 other people tuning in) …and I realized that this live broadcast stuff had gone from the hands of the TV trucks to everyone with a smartphone!
While tinkering with Periscope, I actually watched some “behind the scenes” stuff of the NBA (announcers who were periscoping at shoot-arounds before games, etc.). I also tinkered with following a few LA area celebrities like Marcellus Wiley of ESPN Radio (videoing a radio show!) and some local TV anchors as they talked with their fans prior to going on the air (when are they on air?).
A week ago, some ministry leaders and I had a conversation talking about Periscope and how it could be used for ministry. Not many of us had much experience, but we shared what we knew…and had a conversation about it. After a few moments of talking about Periscope, it dawned on me that I could actually Periscope our Conversation about Periscope. So I got my iPhone out and started recording!
One of the public figures who has done the most with Periscope is the publisher/author/blogger/platform-maker Michael Hyatt. He actually did a 30 Day Experiment with #Periscope.
-Blogging is one-dimensional: just words.
-Podcasting is two-dimensional: words plus audio.
-Scoping is three-dimensional: words, audio, and video.
Because of this, people are able to experience more of who I truly am. Why is this important? Because the more authentic we can be, the more impact we can have.”
Not sure what all I’m going to do with Periscope, but I thought I’d share where I’m at currently…
In late July, I was off to Atlanta for Encompass Family Reunion where it was great to catch up with many of our deployed staff who were back in the USA for home ministries. This time was rich for relationship renewal and even for the connections of future partnerships.
To wrap up that week away, I was in New York City (okay staying in Newark, NJ) at theFlinch Conference with our Grace Brethren Family. The theme on taking RISKs for Jesus was very powerful through messages and testimonies. You should check out some of thevideos of main session talks and audios of the workshops online.
Neither of these workshops got recorded, but I posted my powerpoints at the links above for you.
From a family side, we also sent our oldest daughter, Kayla, off to Grace College. Here’s a little pic of us at a send off for her the night before she left!
(Thanks Flinch Conference for the selfie stick…we used it in Long Beach too..not just in NYC.)
Coalitions
Over the summer, we made some significant traction with a variety of coalitions:
Chad Educational Coalition:
Partnering with the Chadian church to help start new Christian elementary schools and help their teachers get the training/certification they need to lead those schools. We are looking to raise about $7000 per year to send 5 teachers to the training. Ways to give will be open soon!
Chad Medical Coalition: Partnering with the Chadian church leaders and evangelists and to aid their self-sustaining medical clinics and build a new surgical center where it is really needed. This one is still in development, but hopefully by the end of the year will be moving forward significantly.
St. James Way Coalition
A unique evangelistic opportunity is afforded by thousands of pilgrims walking on the Caminho de Santiago or the St. James Way. In Western Europe, where spiritual conversations are a rarity, this experience is fertile ground for the church to relationally and spiritually connect for evangelism, discipleship and leadership training. The faithful Via Portus Cale ministry in Porto, Portugal has become a strategic dual initiative: along the caminho and in therefugio. We’ve had two different Teams to walk the St. James Way and to serve pilgrims over this summer. Also we had two interns serving consecutively for one month each. One of the outstanding young ladies–Mariah Shope–was from our Los Altos Grace Brethren Church. There is much to be learned and prayed for in this ministry as we hope to send 20 international teams over the next 3 years! We are excited that Grace College will be doing a special mission project this fall (with solar panels) and taking teams next year!
Encounter SoCal
A cross-cultural experience in one of the most ethnically diverse geographic regions of the world — Southern California (pic from ChinaTown in LA). This pilot program from August 10-14 was a great success!
The participants had an eye-opening time and four people expressed faith in Christ for the first time through the ministry efforts of the team!
Thanks for your support!
I wanted to thank you for your prayers, they make all the difference! Also, if you want to continue to mobilize the church for the sake of the least reached, you can make a tax-deductible donation to support my work using the Donate button.
For the conference on RISK (FLINCH Conference), my friend and team leader John Ward & I were asked to lead a workshop on how missions and missional relate.
Here is the workshop description:
The new word missional is now everywhere in Christian-ese. The word missions has been around for centuries. These two words often create very different ministry targets. You are invited to a lively debate highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of polarizing missional and missions.
Unfortunately, this session wasn’t recorded, but I have posted the powerpoint for you to see the direction we headed with this workshop. Below is an outline with the major items of discussion:
The first exercise we had the group do was to take 5 minutes and do their best to define the two words: Missional & Missions.
I’d invite you to take a few moments and take a stab too!
Here is where John and I landed for our definitions:
Missional: The Word missional is simply the adjective form of the noun missionary, and like any adjective it is used to modify a noun.*
Missions: Missions is to move towards or go to those different than us –culturally, socially, ethnically, economically– by crossing over those barriers and sharing the gospel with the compassion and love of Jesus.
Another exercise for the group was to ask this question: Does the church have a mission or does the mission have a church?
We realize it is a “both/and” answer. Yet thinking about our God being a missional/sending God reframes our orientation to see mission as bigger than merely a “job” of the church, but to see mission as part of the very character of our God.
Along this line, we shared the following quote:
“Our task as His people is to discern what God is doing and join with Him. It is not so much that the church has a mission but that the mission has a church.”
– Alan Hirsch (The Permanent Revolution, p. 148)
Don’t we need to be reaching out in my neighborhood before we go to the rest of the globe?
The tension of Global mission and Local mission is a one that everyone sensitive to the mission of Jesus feels at a gut level.
In China, the country with the most Christians on the planet–87 million– hasn’t really made a dent in the total population of 1.3 BILLION people!** So we are delighted that there is great progress of the Gospel, but there are millions (a billion!) more people to reach!
Even here in the USA where there are approximately 84 million evangelical Christians, a much higher percentage than China, yet we still have 234 million people to reach!** So do we need more disciples, leaders and churches in China and the USA? Absolutely! We need to take serious the opportunity to reach those in our community who don’t know our Jesus yet!
At the same time, we must know about the plight of billions of people outside of the easy reach of the Gospel. Billions of people on our globe don’t have a Bible, Body of Christ or even a Believer in Jesus in their lifepath! We must be informed about this reality!
To close our time we watched the following CONVICTING video–You Should Know:
We hope that sharing this outline of our workshop has been helpful to you! If you would like to chat with John or myself, please reach out to us via email at the links on our names above!
For the conference on RISK–FLINCH Conference–I was asked to lead a workshop on bi-vocational leadership for the church. Rather than me talking about this, I decided to pull together other leaders from around the country who have been doing it to share about the candid truth.
Here is the workshop description:
Since the beginning of the Church, her leaders have not all been fully salaried staff pastors. The Apostle Paul even made tents for a season in his ministry. One of the questions facing many of our leaders is “how to support my family and do the ministry that God has called me to?” We have a panel of leaders who have experienced the reality of bi-vocational ministry — earning income from the ministry and from some other source. So as we think about raising leaders and church planting, we should hear the stories of those who have embarked on the bi-vocational journey.
Here is the list of panelists:
Manuel Espinosa: Pastor – Iglesia Cristiana de la Comunidad (Lakewood, CA), Prison Evangelist, House Painter
Angel Ortiz: Pastor – First Alliance Church NYC (Christian & Missionary Alliance Church; the church Dr. A.B. Simpson started), Freight Supervisor – Javits Convention Center in NYC
Jack Brown: Pastor – North Shore Bible Church (Essex, MA), Realtor – Sotheby’s International Realty, Grow New England – Regional Church Planting
Javier Forero: Pastor – Iglesia Comunal La Esperanza (Lithia, FL), Chaplain – Crush It, Dominion, & more!, Coaching & Recruiting Church Planters – Encompass World Partners
Plus via Video– Hugh Halter: Church Planter – Adullum (Denver, CO), Author, Trainer with Missio, House Painter
Here’s his video that set up our conversation (the first 7 minutes):
Mobilizing the Church for the Sake of the Least Reached
June 2015
I know I didn’t get this out at the beginning of the month, but since we are at the halfway point, I wanted to still send something out to you.
These last 6 weeks have held special times for our family…as we have multiple birthdays, end of the year concerts, award ceremonies, promotions, and a graduation from high school. Congrats to Kayla who graduated with honors from Los Alamitos High School.
We were blessed to have my Dad as well as Mindi’s Mom and Dad with us to celebrate several of these special milestones.
We are so blessed! Thanks for praying for us and standing with our family over many years!
Coalitions
Last month I shared about a vision trip heading to Chad, and that trip was a great success. We are actually in the process of building at least 3 coalitions to aid the indigenous work there:
1. Chad Medical Coalition: Partnering with the Chadian church leaders and evangelists and to aid their self-sustaining medical clinics and build a new surgical center where it is really needed.
2. Chad Educational Coalition: Partnering with the Chadian church to help start new Christian elementary schools and help their teachers get the training/certification they need to lead those schools.
3. Reaching the Least Reached: Relational bridge building and future church planting in the capital city of N’Djamena.
St. James Way Coalition
A unique evangelistic opportunity is afforded by thousands of pilgrims walking on the Caminho de Santiago or the St. James Way. In Western Europe, where spiritual conversations are a rarity, this experience is fertile ground for the church to relationally and spiritually connect for evangelism, discipleship and leadership training. The faithful Via Portus Cale ministry in Porto, Portugal has become a strategic dual initiative: along the caminho and in therefugio.
Because of the potential of this ministry, we have a St. James Way Coalition to help the ministry prosper for the sake of reaching the lost, discipling believers and equipping leaders.
Two different groups (one pictured above) have gone to walk the St. James Way and to serve pilgrims in this last month. I was also able to help one of the outstanding young ladies from our church, Mariah Shope, to go and serve as an intern later this month! Pray for her and for the equipping of more hosts and guides for the ministry!
Encounter SoCal
A cross-cultural experience in one of the most ethnically diverse geographic regions of the world — Southern California.When: August 10-14, 2015 (Monday 9am thru Friday 4pm)
Who: A learning community of only 20 High School Seniors, College Students, and Adults
Individual/Group Sign Up: For applications and info email Haley, or call 678-992-5313 x49.
Thanks for your support!
I wanted to thank you for your prayers, they make all the difference! Also, if you want to continue to mobilize the church for the sake of the least reached, you can make a tax-deductible donation to support my work using the Donate button.
Mobilizing the Church for the Sake of the Least Reached
May 2015
April held a special time for our family…as we got to take a special vacation. While we all looked pretty dapper, we got a family pic:
We are so blessed! Thanks for praying for us and standing with our family over many years!
Networks
Last month, I shared about being involved in creating, facilitating and resourcing networks for Great Commission good. Two of the networks had special events in the month of April. I thought I would share those events with you:
Communicators Network: This isn’t one I started, but a group of Grace Brethren communications folks have been getting together for a while now. They asked me to plan their April get together…and it was a very insightful time. I wrote a blog post with a recap, so if you are interested in more info about the Church & Social Media check it out: Communicators Communal Learning with special guest DJ Chuang.
Northern Iraq Summit: A variety of churches and ministries were called together around their work in this region to a one-day Summit at our Encompass headquarters in Atlanta. We had 13 people from 8 different churches and 7 different states for the day. Many stories were told and prayers were lifted for the peoples of this region. If your church is involved in Iraq and wants to know more, send me a message!
Great people are involved in each of these networks and I’m so privileged to be able to connect and resource so many great efforts!
Chad and Coalitions
A short-term vision trip team is heading to Chad this month (but not me this time). The team consists of several pastors (who represent churches considering partnering with Chad), Encompass leadership, and individuals that are considering long-term work in Chad.
The overall goals of the trip are:
1. For Encompass leadership to meet with, encourage, and teach Chadian church leaders and evangelists and to discuss together the direction of the ministry.
2. To visit different ministries in the capital and to brainstorm how churches can partner with in N’Djamena.
3. For 3 prospective people to get a first taste of Chad and to pursue God as to whether or not he is calling them there full time.
4. For partners to be cultivated for 2-3 different coalitions to work together with the national church for greater fruitfulness!
I am very excited about this team of 18 people! (Special Note: this is the largest short term team Encompass has ever sent to Chad)
I wanted to thank you for your prayers, they make all the difference! Also, if you want to continue to mobilize the church for the sake of the least reached, you can make a tax-deductible donation to support my work using the Donate button.
In my role of Mobilization with Encompass, I’m heavily involved in creating, facilitating and resourcing networks for Great Commission good. On April 22, there was a special event I was able to facilitate with Grace Brethren communications folks who have been getting together for a while now. They asked me to plan the next get together…and so I did. We called it Connect & Equip for FGBC Communicators.
We had communicators from all over, so we gathered online via GoTo Meeting:
DJ took on the topic “Fresh things he has been learning about churches and social media.” My friend and participant Aaron Scantlen shared some of his notes on our Facebook event page:
I had a great time and got two pages of valuable info. Thanks to everyone for sharing what they are using right now and to DJ Chuang for sharing great stuff with us about the church and social media. I’m sharing with our Pastoral Leadership Team at Winona Lake Grace Brethren Churchtomorrow morning about the highlights of our gathering.
Highlights:
1. Social Media is about People – It’s easy to get caught up in all the new platforms and technology, but we have to remember that it is relational at it’s core. – DJ Chuang
2. Be Authentic – People can tell if you are only on there to “sell” them something or if you actually use the platform regularly. Each platform is different, so use the ones for your church that you know and are using and then use them as intended, or people will ignore you. – Andy Jewett Also, follow your church members and interact with what THEY are posting about rather than always trying to make them see YOUR posts. –DJ Chuang
3. Communication is about Content – We should be giving people content/value, not just telling them information. 90% of what we share and post should be story and adding value and 10% can then be an announcement or sale. We have lots of content already, especially through sermons, that we just need to package and give away. –DJ Chuang
4. Find a Reverse Mentor – Find a someone from the next generation to mentor you in how they are using social media. What platforms are they using, how do they work, and how do they use them with their friends. Don’t do this just one time. Social media is constantly changing. Once you get on the treadmill, you have to keep up. –DJ Chuang
Even if you weren’t there live, this rich time was recorded and is available for you to listen or download off my Dropbox at: ConnectEquipCommunicators2015April22 ENJOY!
Mobilizing the Church for the Sake of the Least Reached
April 2015
Sorry, it’s been a while since I sent out an update. This isn’t because the ministry is going slowly…quite the opposite!
I have changed email newsletter systems (now with Mail Chimp), so hopefully I transferred everyone’s email addresses correctly! Feel free to share this update with others so they can pray and be participators in this amazing work!
Thanks to many of you who have financially supported the work the Lord is allowing me to do. I have been fully supported each of my two full years with Encompass! Thanks!
Networks
This month I wanted to share with you some of the nitty gritty of my work (in one specific aspect). I’m heavily involved in creating, facilitating and resourcing networks for Great Commission good. I’d love to share five of them with you, so you know and can pray…and can even JUMP IN!
Adoption, Orphan and Foster Care: This is one that the Bible is hot on…and we’ve been able to pull together some folks who are passionate about this into a Facebook group. If you are interested, you should join it here!
Church Mobilizers Network: A group of nearly 30 of us gathered in Columbus, OH in February to be challenged on how we could create “pathways” for people in our church to grow as disciple-makers and to be deployed as missionaries to the least-reached!
Communicators Network: This isn’t one I started, but a group of Grace Brethren communications folks have been getting together for a while now. They asked me to plan the next get together…and it’s gonna be great (ok…I’m biased). You can find out more about it at Connect & Equip for FGBC Communicators.
Northern Iraq Church to Church Partnerships: Grace Community Church in Goshen, IN was tapped on the shoulder by the Lord to DO SOMETHING to help in Iraq. Their journey has been amazing and they invited Encompass (and me) to walk with them and see what might be next. We are pulling together a Summit this month in Atlanta with some highly invested churches in the region. If your church is involved in Iraq and wants to be invited, send me a message!
Great people are involved in each of these networks and I’m so privileged to be able to connect and resource so many great efforts!
Thanks for your support!
I wanted to get this out to say thanks, and to mobilize you to pray!
I also wanted to say that our family is looking forward to a special Family Vacation next week during Spring Break! We are excited!
The priority of Jesus’ solitude and silence is everywhere in the Gospels. It’s how he began his ministry. It’s how he made important decisions. It’s how he dealt with troubling emotions like grief. It’s how he dealt with the constant demands of his ministry and cared for his soul. It’s how he taught his disciples. It’s how he prepared for important ministry events. It’s how he prepared for his death on the cross.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight. I was too cheap to pay a hundred bucks to see the fight. To stay in the loop in real time, I started following the fight on Twitter and saw that some people were using Periscope to “watch” the fight.
From a family side, we also sent our oldest daughter, Kayla, off to 
Chad Educational Coalition:
A cross-cultural experience in one of the most ethnically diverse geographic regions of the world — Southern California (pic from ChinaTown in LA). This pilot program from August 10-14 was a great success!
Press on,
For the conference on RISK (
The tension of Global mission and Local mission is a one that everyone sensitive to the mission of Jesus feels at a gut level.
For the conference on RISK–
