Pray that the scourge of the properity gospel would be cleansed from America.

  The video embeded below is worth the wait it will take to download.  I am asking you to pray with me for this conference.  I have been asked to go and represent Dynamic Church Planting International.  I don't know if I can.  But my place in this historic conference is immaterial.

 

This will be a gathering worthy of your most passionate prayers.  Please, give a few moments to watch the video and then pray for the fruitfulness of its purpose.

 

And while you are at it, would you pray that God would give me both wisdiom and means if he calls me to attend.

 

Here's a post I have been hanging on to for some time.  It is relevant for all believers but especially perhaps for church planters. Kimberley Wagner is a writer and pastor's wife.  She writes for Revive Our Hearts.  I have appended the first comment that was made when the post appeared back in June.   I hope it will challenge your heart to pray and your mind to think more clearly about how your church is "doing ministry". 

I will post an update on our ministry tomorrow.                                            __________

Losing the Millennial Generation

Your Purpose posted on 06.22.09 by Kimberly Wagner

Several years ago my husband, (also my pastor) became burdened by the growing number of young people who were leaving the church. Sadly, his burden was backed up by alarming statistics:

• 69–94 percent of Christian youth forsake their faith after leaving high school.
• An additional 64 percent loss after college graduation.
• 75 percent loss of students from The Assemblies of God churches within one year of high school graduation.
• 88 percent loss of students from churches within the Southern Baptist Convention.
• 94 percent fallout within two years of high school graduation was reported by Josh McDowell Ministries.¹

What is the problem?

A heavy burden for the next generation of Christian leaders caused my husband to spend an extended period seeking God's guidance and direction for insight into this growing trend. What he came away with resulted in (for us) a completely new approach toward ministry.

We grew up in the "program-driven model" of doing church. That's all we'd ever known or experienced. My husband surrendered to ministry when only 13 years old and was asked to preach a message at youth camp the very next evening! He was called to pastor his first church when he was barely 18, before he even started college. We kind of "slid into" the pattern of "doing ministry" the only way we knew how. But after seeking the Lord on His view of the church, my husband came to a few different conclusions than what we'd practiced most of our lives.

We noticed our young families were spending more evenings attending church activities than they spent at home, often dragging young ones through the church door, rushing them into some childcare program, dashing down a hall to slip into an adult Bible study class without even having time to eat an evening meal until possibly 9:00 at night! We started counting up how many hours that our church was dividing up the family in order to have "spiritual activities." We were alarmed by what we discovered.

We are not opposed to church activities. Bible study classes, outreach events, and even church softball leagues can have beneficial aspects in our spiritual formation. But what may have begun as discipling opportunities in many cases seems to have grown into a high-speed treadmill of activities with no way to jump off.

Is the church accomplishing its mission of making disciples? Equipping believers? Evangelizing the lost? It seems we can't even keep our own kids.

Really, should it surprise us that we are losing our teens when we've spent so many hours away from them through the week? Has church robbed us, many times, from family meal-times, family devotion-times, family game nights, or family camping trips? Is this what the church should be doing?

How does Scripture address this issue?

We have a clear model for "doing church," and it may be aided by various programs—but it definitely is NOT program-driven. Study this model in Titus 2:1–8, combine that with the parental instructions given in Deuteronomy 6:1–7.

How does your church stand up to scrutiny under this model? How does your life?

¹ http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060112/u-s-church-leaders-youth-ministers-address-christian-youth-fallout/pageall.html

Comments

1. I read the newsarticle you mentioned. Who gave this example to my kids? Who didn't teach my kids these things? Who allowed it to leave the Godly set standard? Who became more and more of the world? Isn't it me? Who is satisfied with salvation? Isn't it us? Lets all of us press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14) Lets be True Women!!

posted by Mathil Sanders
on Monday, June 22, 2009 at 7:22 am

May God be gracious to us and bless us,

      and make his face to shine upon us,     Selah

That your way may be known on earth,

      your saving power among the nations.  

                                              Psalm 67:1-2

 

If you are reading the Psalms through in a month, the morning reading for the 13th day is Psalm 67.

 

It is fuel to keep the passion hot in the soul of a church planter. The psalmist prays that God's blessing and grace would be so evident in his life, that God's brightness would be so intimate and personal in experience that others who do not believe would be forced to acknowledge the ways of God and the knowledge of salvation would be known among the nations.  It is great passage for the church planter to hold on to.

 

Lord, would you do this in the life and ministry of all my former students? Would you bless them with such a sense of your presence that your grace is unmistakeable to all who know them.  Would you bless them in your lovingkindness so that all who come in contact with them know that you, the sovereign Lord, is among them?  Would you do all this, for your glory, Lord, that your saving power would be extended to the nations. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Launch team development and recruitment are going well for the new church in Mundelein. I am continuing to make new contacts even with the limited time I am able to get into the community.

 

On Monday we went house hunting and found a wonderful house in the heart of town only 18 minutes from the seminary. Small bedrooms and closets but wonderful ministry spaces inside and out. Our house in Bolingbrook should be on the market in a week or so. Financial support is a bit behind where I wanted to be at this time. As a result, we are approximately $10,000 behind in reimbursements. Still, by the grace of God and a frugal wife, paying our bills but we need a burst right now.

 

A team member has stepped up and given a challenge. If I can raise $3,000 in new special gifts by August 10, they are prepared to release $10,000 in stock to our new ministry. This would be a huge step in our ongoing ministry development. It would allow us to take our back reimbursements, and get full paychecks. That would put us in a better position with lenders when it comes time to sell one house and buy another.

 

Prayer requests:

Just had a four our conversation with four students from Trinity Univeristy that are here for the summer working grounds,  and painting and other jobs. Wow. What an eye opener and what a joy. They were fresh and spiritualy interested. gave me great insight to the campus atmosphere, offered numeous ideas for how to make a difference on campus.

 

It was thrilling to see how easily they talked to me and how easily i could relate with them. It just was another confirmation of the need for the new church plant in Mundelein and the opportunity to make a big difference on this campus. Three of them are interested in the church plant! A very encouraging evening. Even if the National League lost the all star game again.

Today was the second day of the DMin class I am taking on Revitalizing Ministry in the 21st century. It was a home run. Don Cousins spent basically the whole day (8:30-4:30) unpacking the implications of Ephesians 4:11-12. It was life changing for all 22 of us in the room. I don't think I can begin to tell you how different my future ministry will be as a result of today.

 

Frankly, I am more energized about the new plant in Mundelein than I ever was before and can't wait to get to the work. And yet, the first piece of work is going to be to get away and seek the face of God again. I always want to take great advances in my understanding of ministry and plow them into the soil of my heart through prayer retreats that allow me to brood over what I have learned. Pray that I can do that in the next few weeks and then I will begin to write more about the process. stay tuned.

 

Please keep praying for my mother. She is doing well, as well as we can expect. Pray that I can make the 800 mile trip to see her soon. 

"Let your works be shown to your servants,

     and your glorious power to their children."  Psalm 90:16

 

You've lived your life, made your mistakes, paid your prices, celebrated your wins, mourned your losses and now you know that the sand in the top of the hour glass is less than the sand in the bottom.  Reflection becomes the dominant process of your heart. And as the great saint of God looks out over the multitudes about to enter the land, his prayer is that they would know the works of God.

 

Moses longed for Israel's children to know the greatness of the God he has served since he left Egypt 40 years before. He wants  the children who weren't there to see the sea parted,

    the manna each morning for 40 years,

    the endless horizon of quail,

    the water cascading from a rock,

    clothes and sandals not wearing out,

    the ground opening up,

    the lightning and thunder on the mountain,

    the fading glow on Moses face---

    he wants them to know the "glorious power" (vs.16).

 

One of the great things about church planting is it gives a church family the opportunity to pass on a larger vision of the greatness of God's power to its children. As the reports come back of new converts won, lives rescued from the abyss, marriages saved from dis-integration, persecution endured with grace, lifestyles of drugs and alcohol and sexual immorality abandoned, and new communities penetrated with the gospel---our children see the power of God and imbibe a vision of His greatness.

 

This weeked, I had the privilege of attending the wedding of one of the young men from New Song Church. It was a great celebration as all weddings are, but for me the joy was doubled as I saw so many remarkable young men and women from my former church. Brian, Matt, Michael, Mark, Dan, Ben, Ariel, Amy, Holly--each is such a treasure and joy to their family's and the Juthapan's and Wangler's, and Gaskins; and Capps', and Smith's, and Stacy's have so much to be proud of in the choices and pursuits of their progeny. I rejoice with them in the wonder and potential of their lives (and now their children's children lives). And I remember and wonder at the fact, that all of these were raised in a church planting church that regularly saw the sacrificial giving of people and resources to reach other communities with the gospel.

 

They heard the stories. They experienced the wonder and they imbibed something that their counterparts in churches that don't plant churches did not and can not. And they didn't even know it was happening. For them, it was what a church does. Oh how I covet that for future generations.

 

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

     and establish the work of our hands upon us;

Yes, establish the work of our hands!"  (Psalm 90:17, ESV)

 

Back from a four days in Kentucky training mother church planters to plant new churches. It was a thrilling time.

 

A team of six of us worked together to train about 20 key leaders in a denomination of 6 million members worldwide. What a privilege! Sam Douglas, southern baptist church planting mentor, founder of the ministry "Just Coach Me" and World Zone Leader for Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) led the team, Paul Becker, founder and president of DCPI, and his wife Cathy, Dr. Mark Williams, author of the new book "Winning the World for Christ", Kevin M. another southern baptist and a long time DCPI master trainer and church planter--we were all there to help train leaders to start a denomination wide movement of church planting in one of the largest protestant denominations in America.

 

Another bonus was that all of the training was video taped and will now be edited for broader distribution around the world and will be used in probably 60 different denominations to plant more churches that will have the potential to change the world. I will write more in the next few days but wanted to give you the opportunity to rejoice with me in what God is doing right now.

  

 

Ed Stetzer and Alan Hirsch on the multi-site phenomenon, pros and cons.  Here's another provacative link on Multi-site issues, http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/05/9-marks-and-multi-site-churche.html.

April 1-?       Continue raising financial support for

April 3-4       Have a birthday and preach three

                       Lake Geneva

April 4-5       Drive to Lima, OH and preach at

April 5          Celebrate the beginning of the Major

April 17-18   Teach Church planting class at Trinity

April 21-23   Attend The Gospel Coalition

 

May 1-2        Prayer Retreat (pray for increasing

May 17-21    Fly to Nashville for recording of

May 30         Teach one day Churches Planting

The news around the world is not great on the economic front for any country. But when reports come in like this, The Christian's heart has got to sing. The following quote comes from the founder and president of one of the most effective Church Planting organizations in the world. I am leaving both his name and the country from which he is reporting out of this post, but the news is fantastic.

One of our brothers from the Arab World, whose name we will shield for his safety, shared the good news with us that 70 mosques have shut down in southern _________ because Muslims are coming to Jesus at such a great rate that the mosques have emptied!

With the prominance of extreme Islamic fundamentalism in the country from which this was reported, this is good news and hope for the entire world, Christian and non-Christian alike. Pray for your new brothers and sisters in Christ. And pray that such a movement might start here in the states.

   “Oh the walls of my heart!

My heart is beating wildly;

    I cannot keep silent”          Jeremiah

                                              (Jer. 4:19)

 

I am haunted by a question I read just the other day. ‘When was the last time you wept over the need of people to know Jesus?’

 

I couldn’t remember. I thought and thought. I was embarrassed by my lack of memory. I was alone in my room, reading a book. No one else was present. Yet my face grew hot with embarrassment as I contemplated and tried to remember a recent occasion of weeping and anguish over the need of anyone to know Jesus.

 

I’m not talking about a vague, intellectual commitment or awareness that people need Jesus. I’m not talking about a formal and cognitive grasp and desire for people to know God. I’m talking about having my heart quaking with passion and longing for people to know Jesus.

 

There is something wrong with a man who says he is going to plant a church, (who feels called to train others to plant churches), whose heart is not broken over the needs of people to know the matchless God at the center of his life. So what does it mean? Does it mean that Jesus isn’t the center of my life? Does it mean that I have left my first love? Does it mean that I am an imposter?

 

Oh, God tell me what it means. Tell me what I should do about this grotesque lack in my soul!

 

“Repent! Repent. Return to Me.”

 

Oh God who inhabits these words from Jeremiah, cleanse my heart (Jer. 4:14). Make me soft and pliable to Your Spirit. Break my heart for those who will be redeemed. Give me a zeal for You that will not cower in the face of rejection. Oh God break, and melt and mold and fill me with Yourself. Let me overflow with love for those who don’t know You. Make the walls of my heart quake for You, or take me home Lord. Give me the grace that leads to my first love. Amen.

 

Brothers, sisters: pray for me. Don’t encourage me. Pray for me.

And if my problem is your problem, pray for yourself as well.