Greetings to you from the air as I fly from the Pacific toward the midwest for some important ministry opportunities.
I have the privilege this week to be a host for the Central African Leaders Pastor Jonas Bavon and Dr. Françios Ngoumape who will be visiting the USA on a fraternal visit to the Charis Churches and leaders here in the USA.
(On the Left) In addition to leading his local congregation, Pastor Bavon Jonas was recently elected to serve as Executive Secretary of the 3000+ Charis Alliance (Grace Brethren) churches of the Central African Republic.
(On the Right) Dr. Ngoumape Francois is Dean of the School of Theology in Bangui, and coordinates leadership training among and beyond our four Bible Institutes. You can see more about the school online here:
Here is a brief outline of our tour with 2 special receptions (in bold) where you can meet these leaders!:
Oct 2 in Ashland, OH Brief Reception at Ashland Grace Church at 8pm
Oct 3 at Ashland University
Oct 4-5 at Marysville, OH and in Columbus area
Oct 6 at Grace Polaris Church during Sunday morning worship services
Oct 7-9 attending Central FOCUS Retreat with Charis Fellowship leaders in Northern Indiana
Wow it’s going to be a busy week…and I’d covet your prayers for this trip and the mobilization of many toward cross-cultural impact for the Gospel!
Mobilizing Churches for Missions
I wanted to share a bit of the story of a church I love and get to work with directly in my California ministry scope. You can see a compelling video of how we are working to help churches by clicking on the picture below…
Church feature: Auburn Grace Community Church in Auburn, California Watch how one church dedicated themselves not only to be a sending church but an equipping church. Together with Encompass, Auburn Grace Church educated their missions committee to be a proactive team that supports missionaries and shares God’s love for the nations with their church body.
As you learn about Auburn Grace’s approach, ask yourself: How can my church better engage with our global movement? Learn more about The Path Series’ “Mobilizing the Mobilizers” at PathSeries.com.
Circles of Grace
Our church plant had a neat morning this past Sunday! We finished the book of Acts and so we took last week to think and pray about what the Lord has put our hearts about our church family… what we are doing well and where we could grow.
We were trying to sense what the Lord has for our next chapter. There was some really great feedback and we sense that the Lord has us in a good spot and we love eating together!
We’ve been meeting in the public park regularly on Sundays centered around Jesus and His Word. And the Lord is pushing us out and deeper in this next chapter!
Keep praying for us to sow the Gospel, make disciples and enlarge our circles! We also need financial supporters for our effort and you can see how to contribute online at CirclesGrace.com (where you can also track with what we are doing together!)
On Easter morning, April 21st at 6:00AM, we will have a Sunrise Service in Signal Hill near Hilltop Park! We will bring some coffee to keep you warm, but you should bring your coat & a chair so you have a place to sit!
So we can see the sunrise (praying for no marine layer!), we will meet on the South side of Skyline Drive just east of Dawson Street around the Oil Well Workers statue. Map of our Location 2448 Skyline Dr. Signal Hill, CA 90755
To honor our own Denny, we will follow our time with an Easter breakfast at Denny’s at 2860 N Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90815 (Dutch treat for breakfast).
We would be delighted to have you celebrate our Risen Son at the rising sun on Resurrection Sunday!
I was just asked a good question, and thought I’d re-post my answer here:
What do you mean by “spiritual family”?
Here was my reply:
The primary metaphor for church in the New Testament is FAMILY— not hospital, not army, not organization and not school. So often we will refer to the emerging of a new local church as a “spiritual family.” Not a physical family, but the new brother & sisters who are spiritually joining together to follow Jesus.
Jesus actually uses this kind of language about his new “spiritual family” in Matthew 12:46-50:
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
A few Bible verses which use this language about the church in the New Testament:
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Galatians 6:10 NIV)
“Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:17 NIV)
“And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:10 NIV)
“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”(Hebrews 2:10-12 NIV)
Hopefully that helps if you had the same question!
Our icebreaker question for our spiritual family gathering today caught some people off guard:
Share with us your name and who you would call with your one call if you were in jail?
As we continued in the book of Acts, being thrown in jail was a common theme for the the early church leaders. By chapter 5, some of the apostles have had two overnight stays in prison!
The first time, the apostles were released with a tongue lashing telling them to stop talking about Jesus. The apostles vowed to obey God, and not the religious officials.
In Acts chapter five, the officials have had enough of being accused of murder (Jesus) and hearing about the Messiah’s resurrection, so they imprison the apostles again. Yet in the middle of the night, an angel secretly releases the apostles without anyone knowing:
This picture was colored today by one of our church plant kids as we were talking through the story.
But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought them out. Then he told them,“Go to the Temple and give the people this message of life!” (Acts 5:19-20 NLT)
The apostles obey and begin teaching about Jesus in the Temple in the morning. The officials convene for court, send to the jail for their prisoners and they can’t find them! Finally the officials discover that the apostles are teaching in the Temple the same message that has cause such an uproar!
The apostles were seized and brought before the officials who grew so angry they were desirous to kill the apostles!
But one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a while.Then he said to his colleagues, “Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men!Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him, but he was killed, and all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing.… “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown.But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!” (Acts 5:34-39 NLT)
The advice of Gamaliel was heeded (after a body beating), and even today we see that the officials couldn’t “overthrow them” and the message has spread all over the globe about Jesus the Messiah. They were fighting against God…and lost!
The story concluded with this:
The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.” (Acts 5:41-42 NLT)
What an example from the apostles:
– They were bold to follow God and not conform to human pressure.
– They had joy in suffering for Christ, the Messiah.
– They continued to follow Jesus and share about Him everyday, everywhere!
Wow…may we live this for our King Jesus the Messiah today!
A huge problem loomed in Jerusalem for the early followers of Jesus, namely they believed in their Messiah’s resurrection from the dead. As we read in the beginning of Acts chapter 4, the resurrection was why the Jewish religious officials were so incensed at the Jesus followers (verse 2).
These disciples or followers of Jesuswere a band of misfits: fishermen, zealots, tax collectors and commoners. This handful of men were unrefined in scholastic and educational pursuits and very ordinary. These disciples followed Jesus throughout His earthly ministry, crucifixion, resurrection and through His fifty days on earth after the resurrection. And this band were humble and true believers that Jesus was the Messiah sent from God to be worshipped and followed as the one Way, Truth & Life.
The power of God was on these disciples, and God used Peter and John to heal a forty year old man who everyone recognized back to full and immediate health (chapter 3). This healing drew a crowd, and Peter shared from the ancient Scriptures about Jesus and how He was the Messiah, how He died and rose back to life and that all should follow Him. Many responded to the truth of Peter’s explanation and pledged their allegiance to Jesus the Messiah!
The Jewish officials wanted to put a stop to this message, so they had Peter and John arrested and they spent the night in jail (4:3-4). What would you think about if you were (like Peter and John) sitting in jail overnight waiting for trial?
I think that the Gospel of Mark gives us a hint. They were WORRIED!
Many believe that Mark wrote his Gospel along with the apostle Peter who was coaching him as an eyewitness about the stories of Jesus’ life and ministry. We have this teaching from Jesus to his disciples captured in Mark 13:9-11:
“You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehandabout what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.” (NIV)
We see that Jesus said “don’t worry beforehand” because He knows us! He also counts the Holy Spirit into the words of witness!
I think this teaching was remembered well by Peter who actually endured the trials, floggings, witnessing and worry! I believe this teaching is vital to us who follow Jesus many years later, because we need to remember don’t worry, and that the Spirit is able to give us what words to say of witness to Jesus!
Back to these ordinary guys–Peter & John–who are standing trial for causing all of the city to be in an uproar. As they stand in front of the officials, Peter with power and persuasiveness shares that the resurrected Jesus is their Messiah and the only Way for salvation!
They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people!If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is
‘the stone you builders rejected,which has become the cornerstone.’
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
So how do you go from Ordinary to Extraordinary? The officials at the trial saw the transformation and they took note that these men had been WITH Jesus!
We can be transformed the same way today from ordinary to extraordinary by being WITH Jesus!
We are going to remain in our home in East Long Beach and seek to gather a new spiritual family in the Greater Long Beach area. We are seeking to be as sensitive as we can to the existing churches…but we know there are tens of thousands of lost people, so the fields are white for harvest in SoCal. We are thankful that Los Altos Grace is supporting and sending us!
Below is part of the commissioning service for the Jentes family on January 27, 2019:
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
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.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21 ESV)
As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus has sent us. That means that if we can discover how the Father sent Jesus, then we will see how we have now been sent.
What an example from the apostles:
These disciples or followers of Jesus were a band of misfits: fishermen, zealots, tax collectors and commoners. This handful of men were unrefined in scholastic and educational pursuits and very ordinary. These disciples followed Jesus throughout His earthly ministry, crucifixion, resurrection and through His fifty days on earth after the resurrection. And this band were humble and true believers that Jesus was the Messiah sent from God to be worshipped and followed as the one Way, Truth & Life. 
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 (FLINCH Conference), my friend and team leader John Ward & I were asked to lead a workshop on how missions and missional relate.
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–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.
I’d recommend his book: BIVO: A Modern-Day Guide for Bi-Vocational Saints as well.
A couple of my mission leaders, friends and mentors were part of a discussion about the study released this week by Pew Research entitled:
So, how was Jesus sent?