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E2E says: Bring the Kids!

10/29/2018

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I have heard the sentiment from a number of different people over the last few years - usually from moms.

Aren't there any missions experiences or training events that we can do as a family?

Too often, in order to get trained or to go out on a mission trip, we have to find someone to watch the kids and yet we want desperately to model for our kids what it means to live on mission. 

Not easy to do when we are forced to leave the kids at home.

Everywhere to Everywhere has always been an event that is open to families coming and we've worked to create an experiential weekend of learning and training that older kids can enter into along with mom and dad.  
 
Our regular E2E training weekends are good for high schoolers and mature junior high students who come with a parent.  The learning is often discovery based and interactive and much of the weekend is experienced outside of the training room at the local mosque, ethnic restaurants and in neighborhoods.  

But it still hasn't been conducive to a family with elementary aged children.  And so in May we will have our very first E2E Family Weekend. 

The idea is to create a weekend of learning and ministry that the whole family can come to together.  It will be for school aged kids and above.  We still aren't ready for babies and toddlers but are working to create a great weekend that the whole family can enter into together.

We will continue to working on the details and adjustments that need to be made and even today I came across another challenge that we need to consider: early bedtimes!

Our family is working together to create a weekend that your family can enter into together.  But we'd love your  feedback as well.  Stop by and read through the program description page and then share your ideas in the comments for adaptations and adjustments that would help create a family friendly E2E weekend.  

The dates for the first E2E Family will be May 31 - June 2 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
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What will they Hear?

10/22/2018

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Driving through Mcpherson, KS on my way back from an Everywhere to Everywhere training event in Wichita, I pulled into a gas station to fill up for the drive back to South Dakota.  Mcpherson is a small midwestern town of around 13,000 people with a small Christian college, a strong economy and a lot of churches.

But there behind the counter was an olive skinned man whose heavy accent belied the reality that he was not born in the U.S.  With curiosity and expectation I asked where he was from and he told me his homeland was India.  

I inquired further, "So if you are from India, you speak both English and Hindi, but you also probably speak a third language as well, is that right?"

Surprised by my interest, he smiled and said, "Yes, I also speak Gujarati."

While he was telling me this and ringing up the sale, I pulled out my smartphone and opened the Jesus Film App.  Clicking on the "map" tab, I showed him the map of the world that opened up on the screen.  Zooming in on India, I tapped the little red flag that opened up a list of over 200 languages that are spoken there.  

I pointed at what looked like the language he had mentioned and he said, "Yes, that is it. That’s my language."

Ten seconds later the Jesus Film began playing in his native tongue - a language spoken by nearly 57 million people.  The man smiled then and nodding his head happily said, "Yes! Yes, that is my language."


The Gujarati people are an unreached people group at less than 1% evangelical Christian.  And there he was right behind the counter selling me gasoline and a coke as we listened to the beginning of the Jesus film in his native language.

But then he caught me off guard as he asked me a question.  

"Are you a Christian?"

"Yes," I replied, "I am a follower of Jesus."  I was giddy with anticipation, thinking that this was one of those God prepared moments, that perhaps he'd had a dream of Jesus and was going to ask me to tell him how to become a Christian.

It was indeed a God prepared moment, but the the lesson was to be for me.

Reaching beneath the counter and pulling out a magazine, the man said, "Another Christian was here a few days ago and gave me this."  He held out the magazine for me to see.  

It was a pamphlet from the Jehovah's Witnesses.

​The least reached from the world are here.  They are immigrating to our cities and towns. They are coming to our universities.  They are looking for friendship and hope and truth and if we don't reach them, someone else will.

If it’s not the Jehovah’s Witnesses, it’ll be the Mormons or the American dream or secular humanism or radical jihadists or atheists.

Someone at some time will reach them.


The only question is who it will be and with what message.  Let us not neglect God's call to reach the nations locally, nationally and globally.  

We all have a role to play in God's global purpose.
100 Largest Unreached People Groups
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The Ministry of Availability

10/15/2018

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Availability. 

It’s not often mentioned in the list of important qualities of disciples of Jesus but in our strung out western world, it may well be the most important gift followers of Jesus have to offer a broken and hurting world.


Availability. 

It is what Moses had when God called him to lead the people of Israel out of captivity.  He was not a gifted speaker.  He made bad decisions.  He wasn’t very brave.  But he was available and in his going back to Egypt he allowed God to work through him to rescue slaves unto freedom and to move God’s redemptive story forward.


Availability is what Gideon had when God called him to lead an army.  Granted, Gideon was hiding in a winepress when God found him, and he wasn’t exactly excited to jump on God’s bandwagon.  Once Gideon’s fleece was wet however, he obeyed even as God reduced his regiment to a hilariously small number that gave all the glory to God in victory.

And Rahab was available too. 

​She was a woman of ill repute, a foreigner and a prostitute who at the time we can assume knew very little of the God of the Israelites except what she has overheard; that He had been victorious in recent skirmishes and miraculously parted the Red Sea.  She steps into God’s redemptive story when two of Israel’s spies step into her room and she risks her life to hide them.


If we survey the prominent characters of the Biblical narrative, few are chosen because they are highly qualified leaders.  A few were of course – King Saul, Judas, Saul of Tarsus, but most of these didn’t work out so well.  It seems the highly qualified often lean a little too deeply into self reliance and self reliance usually leads to trusting in man rather than trusting in God.

Relying on his own gifts and abilities and education, Saul of Tarsus was hunting down followers of Jesus to have them arrested and thrown in prison.  It was only when he left his highly qualified self behind that Saul became available to become Paul and the man whom God could use to build his church.

When we look through the hall of fame that is Hebrews eleven, the number one thing each of the faithful had to give to God was themselves.

They said yes.  They were available.

And while Jesus is highly qualified in every way, he models the radical availability that allowed him to say, “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”

And that is why Jesus’ ministry looks so vastly different than the successful ministries of today.  His is the ministry of availability, of responding to the interruptions of the masses, of walking miles out of his way to heal a leader’s son, of inviting the little children to come to him.

​Jesus’ model is not that of the best leadership style but of availability.​

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Jesus' avalibility in ministry begins as He models an availability to abide.   Despite an incredibly full ministry, Jesus routinely makes time to be with the Father.  He is part of the triune forever relationship of God and Son and Holy Spirit and this carries on into His thirty three years on earth.

He is a master of scripture, a mastery that most certainly came from years of immersion in those same scriptures.  He is a master as well of prayer, of interceding on behalf of the sick and the demon possessed and the lost.  There is authority in his prayers.  And Jesus is the master at communing with God, of walking in a living relationship with the Father. 

He is the master of abiding and he invites us first and foremost to do the same.  And so while the immediate needs of the masses continually pressed in around him during his ministry on earth, we see the clear model that, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

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When Peter and John were before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4, the characteristic recorded for all posterity is not that of highly qualified leadership skills or a refined speaking ability.  It was that they had been with Jesus.  The Sanhedrin note that while they were “ordinary unschooled men”, they had been with Jesus.  Peter and John had become masters of abiding with God because it is the model that Jesus gave them.

And so at the forefront of the discipleship journey, we as followers of Jesus must learn to be available to abide with him.  Despite the chaos of our frenzied western existence, we must learn to set aside time to be with Jesus.   

Abiding is to be our first act of availability.

It was from this lifestyle of abiding availability that Jesus’ ministry flowed.  And in his three years of ministry as recorded in the gospels, He models again and again the servant heart that makes him available to engage hurting, lost people – even when they interrupt him.

It seems an almost regular occurrence that Jesus responds to a pleading father, a frightened and sick woman or a shouting blind man.  He is regularly going one way and then – in response to a need – heads another way.  It seems at times haphazard and yet it’s not. 

His ministry is focused.

He went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  There was purpose in his journeys.  He trained up twelve men who would go on to launch His movement.  He gave his followers what they needed – himself – to spread the good news of His kingdom.


Like Jesus we must live strategic lives of engagement with a clear goal in mind.  But the way to do that – as modeled by Jesus – is first and foremost to be with God.  To make knowing God our first priority. 

  • We must set aside regular time to go away and sit at the feet of the Father. 
  • We must practice listening prayer.
  • Immersion in the scriptures must be a central part of our daily routines.
  • We must step fully into abiding in Christ.

And when we do.  When we learn to discern the voice of God.  When we begin to do only what the Father is doing.  

Then we will be working in the ministry of availability.
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Something I Can Do

10/11/2018

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One of the beautiful things about our everywhere to everywhere world is the ability to learn from and be challenged by our brothers and sisters in Christ from around the globe.  One such couple serves in Thailand.  I read about their journey of prayer which lead to church planting in an article recently published at the Multiply website.
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​It is a powerful story of perseverance and prayer.
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We had been in Bang Chalong for months, and while we clearly felt God leading us to serve there, I often faced many feelings of inadequacy.

I had never planted a church before. In fact, I barely finished two years of Bible College! I don’t play guitar, so I couldn’t even use music as a way to draw people in. There were so many gifts that I lacked, so much that I could not do. Then God showed me that there was one thing that I could do. I learned this from the Book of Nehemiah. I saw that Nehemiah spent a lot of time in prayer before he ever built anything. I thought to myself, that’s something I can do! I can pray! So I began to do this.
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We would rise early, at four in the morning, so that we could stand on a high bridge and see everyone going off to their jobs. We prayed over each person that we saw. Then we would walk the streets of Bang Chalong, praying for opportunities to meet people, to build relationships and to share the Gospel.

>>>​ read the rest of the story here


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The Round UP (vol. 1)

10/8/2018

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 The round up will be a semi regular feature of the E2E blog.  With it we hope to share some of the articles, podcasts and videos that have inspired us or that we've learned from in the past weeks and months.  We'll simply post the title of the article, podcast or video with the link embedded. We hope it will be helpful and that you will grow in your heart for the nations and your understanding of how you can be part of reaching the nations because of this feature. 

Social Media On The Mission Field - Tweaks and Tips (article)

Looking  Beneath the Surface (article)

A Priest and a Rabbi Walk Into a Bar (article)

​Not Immediatly Finding a Man of Peace? (article)

Apartment Evangelism is Moving the Gospel (article)

How Local Missions Impacts Global Missions (article and video)

Abiding in Christ (Video teaching series)

God, Give us Austin, Texas or we die! (Podcast)


​What have you been learning from lately?

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7 Smart Phone Apps for Reaching the Nations Among Us

10/4/2018

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As we head out into diverse neighborhoods in our city, we often run into new Americans, people who've just recently come to North America and who have yet to master the English language.  Like first generation immigrants from years past, they'll probably never master English, working rather to earn a living and give their children a chance at a better life than they had.  

As someone interested in sharing the good news of Jesus with these new neighbors, this poses an interesting challenge. 
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  • How do we communicate? 
  • How do we build relationship? 
  • How do we tell the story of Jesus?

Technology offers a way around this challenge.  There are some amazing apps that you can use to help  share the good news of Jesus with the nations among us.  These can be found by searching for the apps below on either your iPhone or Android phone.  

Here are seven smart phone apps for reaching the nations among us that we have found helpful.  As always, if you know of others, please share them in the comments below.

[READ ALL OF THE 7 SERIES BLOG POSTS]
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Google Translate

Google translate is getting crazy good at translating. It's not perfect and it is capable of making interesting and at times embarassing mistakes, but it is very helpful for communicating with those whose languages we haven't mastered yet.  

The "conversation" function allows you to simply set your phone in between you and your new friend and talk.  It picks up your English and quickly translates it audibly to most target languags.  Your friend responds and it translates to English.  No typing. No pushing buttons.  

Google translate is not perfect but it can be a useful tool to begin a conversation.  You can use it online here:  https://translate.google.com/
Bible.is

There are a lot of Bible apps out there and others are probably better than Bible.is for functionality and reading plans and other bells and whistles.  Bible.is has more languages available than any other app though and so it is a must have for anyone interested in diaspora ministry.  With over 1,400 languages available, the Bible.is app is helpful when beginning to build relationships with new friends whose native language is something other than English. 
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Bible.is has a number of features that are helpful.  If there is an audio version of the particular language, you can use it to listen to the language.  I know a friend who was doing a creation to Christ Bible study with a Somali family and he'd simply place his phone in a bowl on the table (for amplification) and play the chapter of the Bible they were exploring that week.  The family would listen in Somali and then they'd discuss the passage. 

Learn more here:  
http://www.bible.is/
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 Jesus Film Media

The Jesus Film has been used by the Lord for nearly 40 years and through it, millions of people all across the globe have come to faith in Christ.  Now the Jesus Film has found it's way onto your smart phones and the app is really pretty amazing.  

The Jesus Film has been translated into oveer 1,600 languages and by using the app's "Map" function, you can simply find the country your friend is from on the map of the world, click on the country pin and find the Jesus film in their language.  Push play and within seconds, they will hear their language being spoken as the Jesus film begins.  

Learn more here:  https://www.jesusfilm.org/
5 Fish

5 Fish is an app that has consolodated all the available audio and video gospel resources available for each language.  You can search by country name or language name.  When you find the language of your new friend, it will give you access to whatever resources are availble in that language.  

​A good way to explore the resources is to search for the resources in English.  This will allow you to listen in English first so you know what they are listening to.   5 Fish brings a lot of great resources (including the Jesus Film) into one place.

Learn more here:  ​https://5fish.mobi/
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God Tools

Devleloped by Cru, the God Tools app has six great "tools" for sharing the gospel.  The app allows you to search through the list of tools and select the ones you want to use.  You can find apps in parallel languages that allow you to see each page of the particular study in English and in the other language with the click of a button.  

One tool that will be helpful is called Honor Restored and it shares the gospel through the lens of honor and shame.  This app is simple to use and there are tools available in over 70 languages.

Learn more here:  ​https://godtoolsapp.com
M28 Global Discipleship

When beginning to engage new friends with the word of God when you don't know their language,  discovery Bible study (DBS) is a helpful way to go.  With DBS, you don't need to rely on your ability to explain concepts but rather focus on allowing the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to be the teacher.  

The M28 Global Discipleship app will help you facilitate a DBS with your new friends.  It will equip you to lead a DBS and walk you through the process.  Coupled with the Bible.is app and Google translate, anyone can lead a creation to Christ DBS even if you don't know how to say anything more than hello in your new friends language.

Learn more here:  http://www.m28global.org/
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Google Earth

​This may seem like a strange app to finish out our list with, but there is something special that happens when you open up Google Earth and find your friends home village on the map.  When you zoom into their neighborhood and perhaps even to their house -- well it's pretty special and a lot of fun.  

It also expresses a level of concern and shows that you want to really know about them and their story.  It allows you to enter into their story, to walk the streets of their home town, a place that they've left, probably for good.   And then it's interesting to show them the street that you grew up on.  

Learn more here:  https://www.google.com/earth/

We hope that these smart phone apps will help you out in the harvest among the nations.  If you know of other helpful apps, be sure and share them in the comments below.

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