Category: Stories from the Fields

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Bonhoeffer on Christian Community

dietrich_bonhoefferI wanted to pass on a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his book Life Together (actually in German it was Gemeinsames Leben —that’s for Mindi!)  You may have heard of him, but in brief he was a noted Christian pastor and author who was killed by the Nazi’s in 1945. (For more check out www.dbonhoeffer.org/who-was-db2.htm ). 

In the first few pages of this book, Bonhoeffer references that those followers of Jesus who live in isolation–“the imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the Gospel in heathen lands”*–crave community.  The old adage…absence makes the heart grow fonder…is really true about those who are alone or separated from Christian community.

I’ll never forget when I heard the testimony of a man from Somalia who heard the Gospel through radio broadcasts into his country and gave his life to Jesus.  From that time forward, he lived out his faith through his relationship with the radio.  He hadn’t met another follower of Jesus in person.  He continued to follow Jesus but it was VERY difficult.  About 5 years later when he discovered a person who also followed Jesus, he exploded!  Can you imagine that…5 years of no one to encourage you, to pray for you, to love you in Jesus??? 

Back to the comment that Bonhoeffer made in connection to this was:

“Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart.  Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.”*

With that in mind, I am thankful to our God that I’ve been able to walk in community with so many followers of Jesus over the years..  I praise Him and am thankful for His Grace.  Would you stop and praise Him too?

—

* Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together  trans. John W. Doberstein, Harper & Row: San Fransisco, 1954, p. 18.  ** p. 20
Reposted from http://www.thequestcolumbus.com/resources/bonhoeffer.htm

Here’s where to get the book:

Life Together
Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

Kindle - Life Together
Kindle Edition – Life Together
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Differences between Eastern and Western Cultures – Minimalistic Visualizations

Germany-based artist and visual designer Yang Liu has created a series of truthful graphics that explains the differences in Eastern and Western culture.

Yang Liu was born in China but has lived in Germany since she was 14, and thus she is able to explain the differences in cultures.

Based on her own experience, she created minimalistic visualizations using simple symbols and shapes to convey just how different the two cultures are.

In the visualizations below, the blue side represents western culture, while the red side represents eastern culture.

 

[via bSix12]

P.S. Thanks Eric Marsh (@CityMarsh) for recommending this!

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Recommended Resources from Missionaries in Chad

This is a list of the “recommended” books and resources that were shared with us during our time in Chad. The hyperlinks to purchase books go to the Encompass World Partners Amazon Storefront, which gives a small percentage of your sale to Encompass (More Info).  Enjoy!!!

 

Online Bibles (especially for Arabic )

 

Labyrinth of Kingdoms: 10,000 Miles through Islamic Africa – by Steve Kemper

 

Church Planting Movements by David Garrison

Timothy Initiatives 

 

From Seed To Fruit: Global Trends, Fruitful Practices, and Emerging Issues among Muslims by J. Dudley Woodberry (Editor)

 

Where There Was No Church: Postcards from the Followers of Jesus in the Muslim World by Ej Martin

 

Miraculous Movements: How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims Are Falling in Love with Jesus by Jerry Trousdale

 

David Watson a key leader in finding effective ways for church planting movements  (even in Muslim environments)

 

Primal Fire: Reigniting the Church with the Five Gifts of Jesus by Neil Cole

 

Western Christians in Global Mission: What is the Role of the North American Church? by Paul Borthwick

  • “Borthwick has long been a spokesman for being globally mission-minded. This book of helpful and oft times stinging anecdotes communicates succinctly that the North American Church still has a role in global mission going forward. This book contains an important general & global perspective which provides an important contribution to mission literature. This is the type of book that is accessible for anyone who can read in English.” (via @MikeJentes review on Amazon.com)  http://bit.ly/KbrCP9
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Challenge From Chad

Mike & HutIt was a privilege to be asked by our Community of Elders to share with our entire Los Altos Grace family about my trip to Chad.  I hope that you were challenged, informed and encouraged by my sharing on Sunday.

If you weren’t able to join us, here is an overview video of the work in Chad (by Encompass). This video is really helpful and you should see it!

Synthesizing two weeks into a few sentences isn’t easy, but here are a few of the things I brought home:

Our Brethren in Chad spur us on!
In spite of poverty, our Brethren brothers and sisters have figured out how to survive, how to spread the Gospel, how to use medicine for the Gospel, how to start churches and more. They have as many churches as we do in the USA!

Mission isn’t about civilization
The economic contrast glared out on my flights between Paris and Chad. Yet we need workers in Paris to make disciples, train leaders and start churches in the same way we need them in the capital city of Chad (N’Djamena). If we can use tools of medicine and education for the Gospel, that is awesome. Living and sharing the Gospel is vital no matter what the “civilization” level of the culture is.

You are Needed!
No matter who you are, as a follower of Jesus, you are needed to continue to sow the Gospel and make disciples. YOU are needed across the street and across cultures as Jesus builds His Church!

A recording of the entire message is on the @LosAltosGrace website

A “movie” of the powerpoint slides is online too is on

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On My Way to Africa

20140217-154749.jpg

I was asked to join a special opportunity with Encompass ( the pic above was drawn by Katja) in the country of Chad. I’m actually at the airport in LA getting ready to depart!

I will have the chance to visit our strong work in the Southern region of Chad with Africa Director Frank Puhl. Also I’ll get to visit a training center, Bible Institute, a hospital as well as the President of the Chadian Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches ( with 250+ churches! More than the USA!).

After that we will be scouting the capital city of N’Djamena for a few days with a team from Akron, Ohio. Please pray for Jesus to show us what He wants to do in advancing His work in that great city.

I’m thankful for the Lord’s guidance and direction for this trip as it will be my first to Africa. From the time I was a little boy, I’ve prayed for Africa, and now I get to go.

I’d appreciate your prayers for me on the trip and for Mindi and the rest of the family at home.

A Video About Chad from Encompass World Partners

http://www.encompassworldpartners.org/pray-news/item/4473-windows-to-the-world-chad.html

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December E-newsletter from @MikeJentes

Dr. Mindi's Graduation
Dr. Mindi’s Graduation

Our greatest achievement over this year has been seeing Mindi become a Doctor! On the 14th of December she graduated as a Doctor of Chiropractic from the Southern California University of Health Sciences / Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. We are deeply indebted to you for your prayers and support over this journey!

WHAT’S HAPPENED WITH ME
The Latest Scoop

Sorry it has been a while since I’ve communicated to you via this means.  The past few months have been full, as I’m sure they have for you!

Some brief updates:

Mobilizers Mobilizers 24 Hour Retreat

In the fall, a collection of leaders who are mission pastors gathered for a retreat to be share with one another, be challenged and focus on the global work of mission.  See more on my blog

Cameroon Leadership Training Coalition

I’m excited to be part of a coalition that has committed for 5 years to seeing dozens and dozens of pastoral leaders trained for the more than 45 churches and 30+ church plants in Cameroon. Dave Guiles has described this “as the greatest leadership development need the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches has seen in several generations.” Jason & Christy Carmean will be key leaders in this effort! You will be hearing more about this opportunity, but if you are interested in how you can help please let me know!

Château

Coalition to Celebrate the 50th Year of Ministry of the Château de St. Albain      

In April 2014, we will celebrate one of the most out of the box and effective ministries in our global movement–the Château!  An 18-month coalition has formed with Jay Hocking as the coordinator to help with the celebration and to come up with long-term USA partnerships.

We are seeking to publish a coffee-table book (in English, French and German) to celebrate and seed funds are needed ( email me if you want to help).

Also, we are looking for some staff to serve a support need for a year or two on-site at the Chateau. Please pray and pass it on to those who might consider this opportunity!

Prayers Answered for the 533 Challenge

With Encompass World Partners we did a special project called the 533 Challenge at both Momentum and Grace College this year. Through a mission network called Finishing The Task, they have research which shows that 533 people groups (approximately 70 million people) who have little or no opportunity to hear the gospel. In order to direct prayer toward these peoples, we asked students to take part in the “533 Challenge” – a challenge to pray daily for the least-reached over the next 30 days.

Prayer Wall for 533 Challenge

We celebrated that all of the 533 people groups were adopted and prayed for!

In early December, I attended the annual meeting of Finishing The Task and as of December 5th, we saw the list go down to 449! We praise the Lord that He is still working to reach those who are least reached in our world!

THANK YOU!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank YOU for your prayers and support which are vital to the Lord’s work in our world.  I’m humbled and privileged to serve our King and alongside you!

From our family to yours we wish you a…. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Read the Entire December 2013 E-Newsletter

 

My E-newsletter Archive:
Read my August 2013 e-newsletter
Read my June 2013 e-newsletter
Read my May 2013 e-newsletter
Read my April 2013 e-newsletter

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Thoughts on Thanksgiving

GiveThankstoYouThis morning, I just typed “thank*” into my Bible’s search engine and began to scroll through 100+ places where the word is used.  One in particular made me take pause. Here are some lyrics of a song which was written to praise our God:

“All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord,
And Your godly ones shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
And talk of Your power;
To make known to the children of men Your mighty acts
And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.”

We see that it is good to thank and speak praises about our God to others. Not only is it good for us, but all of creation will thank Him (yes, that is what “all of Your works means”)!
Sometimes we think it is enough to just be thankful in our minds and hearts. I tend to be in that place and continue to have my faith be deep, but muted. This Psalm really challenged me to open my mouth and speak aloud about the greatness of our God and His Kingdom!
Won’t you take the opportunity this weekend to “speak of the glory of God’s Kingdom” or “talk of God’s power” or “make known to children God’s mighty acts”?  That is what blesses our God!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Jump In: Amazing Things Happen by Joe Caruso

In short, when Joshua was leading the Israelite people into the land God had promised them, they had come to a point where they needed to cross the Jordan River in its flood stage.  The Ark of the Covenant, the key item that symbolized the presence of God, was carried by the priests into the river and the water stopped flowing so that all of the people could cross on dry land.  Incredible.

The lesson of this story?  Amazing things happen in the river.  Not on the ledge, not with toes in the water, but when you’ve jumped in.  We often think, “God, hey, you do something awesome to prove you’re in this, and then I’ll get involved.”  That is not faith, and God very rarely operates this way.  God would say, “Have faith in me – jump in – and I will show up in powerful ways.  You have to jump in to see what’s amazing.”

jump-in

We see it over and over again.  “Noah, build an ark.”  “Moses, approach the most powerful leader on the planet and give him the what for.”  “Joshua, walk around this city for 7 days.”  “Gideon, take less guys and grab some jars.”  “David, yeah you – the teenager – go grab 5 stones.”  “Daniel, pray even when it’s illegal.”  “Peter, leave your nets and livelihood behind and follow me.”  And EVERYTIME, God did what He promised.  He shows up.  He delivers.  He takes care of business.  He transforms the lives of those involved and of those impacted.

We need to get our toes out of the water.  Did God intend for us to just be slightly better versions of humankind?  Did He intend for us to just be more civilized?  To do the same thing year after year, after year, after year…

Or did God intend for us to be a part of something supernatural?  Of something impossible, awesome, and dream-worthy?  If this is it, then He calls us to jump in the river.  Otherwise, we’ll “miss it” and faith will be boring.  It will be same old vanilla day-to-day, and we’ll call it “walking with Jesus.”  Of course, in reading the scriptures, it doesn’t seem like walking with Jesus was very boring.  It seemed, well, impossible, awesome, dream-worthy, and supernatural.  Why should we expect much different?

How do we jump in?  Get involved in the inner-city.  I don’t mean look for a semi-annual project, I mean jump in and get involved.  Watch a kid’s life change because you and Jesus connect with them consistently over the next months and years really loving them.  Invest in the lives of those around you that are exploring Jesus or those that are completely lost.  Check out the roundtable discussions coming soon on how we can work together in ministering to the homeless and those locked into human trafficking nightmares.  Start believing Jesus’ words that “where your treasure is, your heart is also” and give to his kingdom work – the church, local partnerships, or missions.

Break the staleness of normalcy, and jump in.  Your best years are NOT behind you.

____

Thanks to the always insightful Joe Caruso.
Article reposted from the GiveItAway Blog of Grace Church

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Multi-ethnic Church Conference comes to Long Beach!

Mosaix with Rosa & Jesus

Mosaix with Rosa & JesusThis week, I participated in the largest multi-ethnic church conference in the USA. More than 1,000 registrants descended upon the Grace Brethren Church of Long Beach, CA for the Mosaix 2013 Conference.

From main sessions, to workshops, to side bars and conversations, this event on November 5-6 pushed forward the need for church in North America to become more multi-ethnic… Read more from Encompass online here

Report from GraceConnect

Report from Exponential

See the Tweets at #mosaix2013

Mosaix founder Mark DeYmaz article “Cross-cultural Across The Street”

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Mission Mobilizers gather in the MidWest

MobilizersRetreat-2013_10On October 9-10, 2013, Encompass hosted a 24 Hour Retreat for Mobilization/Mission Pastors in central Ohio.  This gathering included leaders from five states. The retreat setting, campfire and all, created a flowing conversation ranging from short-term mission trips, to local church mission “successes” and even to how do churches create “pathways” to groom more cross-cultural workers.

The sharing of life, ministry, stories and principles invigorated everyone.  At the conclusion, each leader was challenged to a four-step application process:

1)   Think (spend some time working through all that was discussed)

2)   Draw  (put the current reality down on a piece of paper, and draw a future reality)

3)   Communicate (figure out good ways to share mobilization with the church)

4)   Experiment  (try some innovative ideas to mobilize many into cross-cultural mission)

 

Here’s a list of some of the “recommended resources” that were shared over the 24 hours:

Maximum Impact Short-Term Missions

Credible Study on the Impact of Short-Term Missions

When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert

What Every Church Member Should Know about Poverty by Bill Ehlig & Ruby Payne

“Mission Pastor’s Profile” by David Mays

Bible Study from Acts for Supporting Churches- “Behind the Goers” by Mike Jentes

Mobilizer Retreat Whiteboard 2013
This is a picture of the white board that we had for the weekend…

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Running away from “Why Me?” and toward “What Now?”

RayHauser2013_09-22 This Sunday @LosAltosGrace, our beloved Ray & Char Hauser joined us. Ray has battled brain cancer while serving with his wife Char in a hospitality & discipleship ministry with military men and women stationed in Hawaii.

Ray shared an emotional and powerful message about the spiritual wisdom they have gained through this trial. His text for the day was Psalm 73 which tracks the “whining” and “reality” of the writer all the way to the “right” conclusion:

 

But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord  my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.      (Psalm 73:28 NIV)

 

Ray candidly challenged us not to run to the typical “Why Me?” question that is the normal response. From his experience, he encouraged us to ask a different question “What Now?”

In a poignant moment, Ray confessed that they pray with both hands lifted high to the Lord. The one hand is lifted up to God full of their prayer requests.  And the other hand is lifted to receive whatever the Lord decides to give them.

May I be a man that seeks our Lord like my brother Ray.

 

Ray’s message is worth hearing again, not because it’s so polished, but because it’s from the lips of a man who has walked the hard road with our Lord and is sharing his advice:  Listen to this message online or on iTunes

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August E-newsletter from @MikeJentes

WHAT’S HAPPENED WITH ME
The Latest Scoop
533 Challenge #iam533

Whew…it’s been a busy summer lot of travel!

Kayla, Korey and I attended the Momentum Youth Conference with a theme of “I Am Second.” It was a powerful week with great moments of worship, spiritual challenge and making friends.

 

With Encompass World Partners we did a special project called the 533 Challenge.

 

We built a wall and filled it with the faces of the least-reached nations in our world – 533 people groups (approximately 70 million people) who have little or no opportunity to hear the gospel. In order to direct prayer toward these peoples, we asked students to take part in the “533 Challenge” – a challenge to pray daily for the least-reached over the next 30 days.


Students “adopted” a specific people group by removing one photo from the wall and signing a commitment card. Participating students are then photographed and replacement cards (with the students’ faces!) are quickly printed to replace the empty spaces on the wall. An Encompass staff member then prays for each student and gives him/her a prayer journal to take home along with their adopted people prayer card. For those who commit, we will be sending daily emails and text messages to equip and remind them to pray.
By Friday night, our wall was transformed from pictures of the least reached, to pictures of prayer warriors for the least reached! All of the 533 people groups were adopted!

Mike-explaining533

 

Mike-praying533

 

And then the work of praying every day began. It is hard to believe that the 30 Day Prayer Challenge portion just concluded yesterday. 

Below is an excellent video which gets at the heart of why we did the 533 Challenge.

 

See all of my August E-newsletter from @MikeJentes.

My E-newsletter Archive:

Read my June 2013 e-newsletter
Read my May 2013 e-newsletter
Read my April 2013 e-newsletter 

 

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Turning theory of church planting movements into practice by Steve Addison

MovementsThatChangeTheWorldEarlier this year Australian Missiologist Steve Addison did an interview with Dan Harding of Mission Platform. Dan asked about how Steve got interested in Movements and what he’s learning about turning theory into practice. This engaging interview has some good movement principles and good practices as well:

Reposted from Steve Addison’s Blog — Movements.net
Turning theory of church planting movements into practice.

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Credible Field Study on Short-term Missions via Leadership Network

Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, OH, reports significant life impact in people who are involved in short-term mission trips, as measured by an increase in serving and giving.

Our happy conclusion is this: The outcome of our study shows a strong positive correlation between Crosssroads’ short-term mission trips and the way people invest their time and money.

They also take a shot at answering the “WHY” question as well. We should be thankful for a credible study on the impact of short-term mission trips.

Download this free reportCrossroadsShortTermPic to read about the “Five Windows of Spiritual Growth” and three factors of short-term missions that have positively impacted participants.

via Field Study: Crossroads Church Short-term Missions Leadership Network.

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A Historic Wind is Blowing through the House of Islam

Mission-Frontiers-2013-08The latest Mission Frontiers. Available online. It’s free.

Contents:
God is Doing Something Historic – David Garrison
Why Are Muslims Coming to Jesus Like Never Before? – Robby Butler
Start a Disciple-Making Movement Among Your Muslim Neighbors – Paul Bartlett, Robby Butler
Any-3: Lead Muslims to Christ Now! – Mike Shipman
Guide Muslims to the Bible – AJ Hague
A Novice’s Guide to Fielding Common Muslim Objections – Shane Bennett
Kingdom Kernels: CPM Essentials On a Napkin – Steve Smith