E 2 E
  • Home
  • Program
    • E2E Three Day
    • Gospel Conversation Training
  • Articles
  • Resources
  • Trainings
  • Contact
EVERYWHERE TO EVERYWHERE

ARTICLES

The Night of Power

5/15/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Laylat al-Qadr - the night of power - is the night during the month of Ramada that Muslims celebrate the receiving of the first of the Quranic revelations by Mohamed.  For Muslims it is a sacred night, perhaps the most sacred night in the Islamic calendar and is a night spent on tasks such as prayer, reciting the Quran and spending as much time as possible at their local mosque. 

It is believed that worship and prayer on this night is more valuable than one thousand other nights of worship and prayer.  It is a night when the hearts and minds of Muslims all across the world are focused on one thing:  trying to please God.  And it is a night that we as followers of Christ can gather around our Lord's throne of grace, asking God to make Jesus known to Muslims all across the world.  

This year, Laylat al-Qadr falls on Tuesday, May 19th.  

Will you set aside time this year to take action?  Will you do one thing to join God in His global purpose to see Muslims worshiping Him?

WILL YOU LEARN MORE?  
Stop by the Prayercast page, watch the prayercast video and read more about the Night of Power.

WILL YOU PRAY?
Will you set aside time on Tuesday, May 19th to pray for your Muslim friends and Muslims in general. 

Pray that on this night:
  • the true character of Jesus would be revealed in visions and dreams.
  • Muslims would be delivered from the crushing burden of trying to earn God's favor.
  • God would demonstrate His love and power through signs, wonders, and miracles.

WILL YOU FAST?
Consider fasting on Tuesday May 19th as you pray.  Skip meals from sun up until sun down.  Fast for 24 hours or more.  Maybe fast from media or your smartphone.  Give something up as a way to focus your prayers during this day.  

Will you do something this year to join God as he calls Muslims to himself?  
0 Comments

How to Pray for One Hour

5/11/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
For most of my life I’ve wanted to improve my prayer life.  Having read the biographies of many great men and women of God and observing the Biblical examples from Jesus to Moses to the apostles, I’ve always known that prayer was an important part of the life of the disciple of Jesus.  And for most of my life, I’ve not lived up to my own desires to pray more.

The reality is that my knowledge of the importance of prayer has not yet led to a default toward prayer.  But I want it to.


Curtis Sergeant introduced me to a helpful tool to improve my prayer life, helping me to pray for one hour at a time.  I don’t use it often enough but because it is a helpful tool, I’ll be adding it to the Everywhere to Everywhere resource page.  The resource is called The Prayer Wheel and it is a part of the Zume Free Online Training.

The prayer wheel allows you to pray in five minute increments for one hour.  You will need some sort of timing device (Zume Timer) that you can set to let you know when five minutes is up so you can move on to the next section for prayer.
​
THE BASIC PRAYER WHEEL OUTLINE
  • PRAISE: Spend time praising God for who He is.
  • WAITING: Spend time silently waiting on God.  Just quiet your heart and wait.
  • CONFESSION: Spend time confessing sin and all that hinders your relationship with God.
  • READ THE WORD: Spend time reading the word of God.  
  • PETITION: Spend time praying general prayers of blessing and protection for yourself, family & others.
  • INTERCEDE: Spend time praying specifically for one or two people or issues.
  • PRAY THE WORD: Go back to the scripture you read.  Read a verse and then pray the essence of that verse back to God.
  • THANKSGIVING: Spend time thanking God for all of His blessings and actions in your life.
  • SINGING: Spend time singing a favorite hymn or play a worship song on youtube.
  • MEDITATE: Spend time meditating on one aspect of God, a phrase of scripture or a word or phrase  from a worship song.
  • LISTEN: Spend time listening to what the Holy Spirit might be wanting to say to you through this time.  Have a notebook and pen handy to write down anything you hear from God.
  • PRAISE: End your time praising God.

I have created a simple bookmark so that you can carry the prayer wheel with you where ever you go.  Set aside an hour and spend it in prayer with the Prayer Wheel as your guide.

Download the Prayer Wheel Bookmark


I hope that you will find the prayer wheel a helpful tool for increasing your prayer life and your ability to hear from the Holy Spirit.  It has been in many ways a helpful training tool for me but it will only help you if you try it out and apply it.  

Learn more about the Prayer Wheel from others:
  • More Disciples
  • Zume Tool Kit
  • Zume Timer
0 Comments

5 things you can do to join in God’s global purpose

4/24/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
I remember growing up, my grandmother would tell stories of the waning days of the Great Depression and the first years of World War II.  I was captivated by the way she and the whole country seemed to respond to the crisis of war and depression.  She told stories not only of the young men who willingly signed up to defend freedom but also of the ways those who stayed behind stepped up to serve, sacrificially rationing and growing gardens and doing anything they could to support the war effort.  Those stories left a longing in me to live a purposeful life of sacrifice and meaning.
  

The Covid-19 pandemic is our crisis.  For many of us, we are looking for purposeful ways to respond.  Somehow, “stay at home and watch Netflix” just doesn’t seem all that meaningful, even though we know it is the best thing to do (at least the stay at home part).

As followers of Christ then, what are the ways we can respond that are meaningful and in partnership with the mission of God.  Nearly six billion people in our world do not yet call themselves Christians and over two billion don’t even have access to an opportunity to hear the gospel.  Here are five different ways you can be a part of God’s global mission, even as you stay at home.

LEARN
As the global pause button continues to be depressed, take the extra time you have to learn more about God’s mission and how you can be a part of it.  Here are several ideas:
  • Crescent Project’s Online Bridges Study
  • OMF’s Six Ways to Reach God’s World
  • ​Beyond's Nugget Trainings
  • Multiplication Concepts Training Videos
  • 7 Books to Fuel the Missions Fire

ENCOURAGE

Isolation and loneliness are real issues in a time of pandemic.  I trust you are already doing your part to discover creative ways to encourage those in your neighborhood, your church family and your immediate family.  But missionaries and our global brothers and sisters in Christ are also isolated in times like these.  Here are a few ideas for encouraging them.
  • Write a letter to a Missionary - find out who the missionaries your church supports and consider writing them a letter or sending them an email.  Maybe even send them a gift card for iTunes or Amazon.
  • Write a letter to persecuted Christians.  You can learn how at Open Doors International.
  • Send Bibles to Believers in Restricted nations. Partner with Voice of the Martyrs to send a Bible to countries where Bibles are difficult to access.

PRAY

Too often, followers of Jesus underestimate the power of prayer.  It seems that in the pandemic and the forced slowing of life, prayer would be the greatest response would could give to the Lord.  Here are a number of resources to help you pray more.
  • Ramadan Prayer - Today (April 24, 2020) marks the first day of Ramadan in the Muslim world.  Sign up for Prayercast’s 30 Day Ramadan Prayer email series.
  • Develop a personal prayer strategy. 
  • Learn from the leading edge of Paul’s disciple making strategy. 

GO

Mission trips have been canceled, missionaries have had to return from the field and stay at home orders abound across the globe and yet the opportunity to go into the Muslim world has never been greater.  Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, more people on every continent are home bound than ever in world history.  They are isolated, alone, and wondering what tomorrow will hold. Hundreds of thousands of young Muslim men and women who speak English are also sheltering in their homes, smartphone in hand, surfing the Internet in search of answers, hope and friendship.
  

What if they met you?

Volunteer with Embassy and they will teach you how to connect online with Muslims in difficult to access nations.  You will almost certainly be the first follower of Jesus they have ever met.  

Sign up for a free one hour introductory training or stop by the Embassy website to learn more.

FILTER

We live in a media saturated world.  Messages come fast and furious from every device we own and many are wondering if we can trust any of the news we hear.  How do we filter through all the nose? 

The reality is that we are all being discipled - being formed -  by the messages that dominate our days.  Because of this it is imperative that we shut off the noise and immerse ourselves in the word of God.  As we do this, the word of God will increasingly become the filter through which all other messages have to pass. 

If the dominant source of messages in our day is our favorite right leaning or left leaning news outlet, it will become the filter, even filtering the way we read the Bible. 

Nobody is making you listen to the news or keep scrolling through your Facebook feed.  Nobody is forcing you to not read your Bible.  It’s a choice we all have to make. We have an opportunity to filter what we read, hear and see.

As we do that and as we prayerfully seek God’s direction each day we will find the things we can do in this season of global pandemic and God will use us in his global purposes.  
If you found this article helpful, share it!
0 Comments

The Leading Edge of Paul’s Disciple Making Strategy

5/27/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
That last command that Jesus gave in the book of Matthew was to go and make disciples.  It’s a command repeated in all four of the gospels and the book of Acts and becomes the driving mission of the early church.  

Making anything requires some sort of process.  Making disciples is no different.  It may be formalized or informal, but disciple making requires an intentional investment of time, energy and teaching.  It requires content - the commands of Jesus and the teaching of the Apostles.  

But what is the most important ingredient to a good discipleship plan?

What was at the sharp edge of the discipleship spear for Jesus and for Paul?

My own journey in learning to obey Jesus and make disciples has been a constant search for the best curriculum or book or training plan; something I can implement with my disciples.  Something I can do and that they can then do as well.

As I immersed myself in the establishment of the Thessalonian church these past few months, I discovered that the majority of Paul's time was not spent implementing the right teaching plan or training program.  

He was in Thessalonica just three sabbaths before he was forced to leave. He certainly taught them things.  He certainly modeled things for them. The story in the Book of Acts and the two letters he wrote them point to his teachings and the lifestyle he modeled and expected them to imitate.  

But the thing that comes up over and over again, and the thing that is the pattern in all the letters he writes to all of the churches he was a part of establishing is that he was praying fervently for the new believers.  

As I study the scriptures I am coming to believe that Paul's prayer for his Timothy’s was at the leading edge of his discipleship process.  It was the first thing he was focused on for his disciples.

Prayer was the default activity.

My default has been to focus on content or methods or strategies.  I’m always praying but it has too often been the afterthought activity.  I’m trying to grow in this and to shift my own paradigm around prayer and disciple making.  

How about you?  How much are you praying for your disciples?

​Don’t take it from me, I’d encourage you to download this simple discovery Bible study and go through it with a group of friends.

Disciple Making Prayer DBS


Discover for yourself Paul’s (and Jesus’) focus on prayer for their disciples.
Was this article helpful? --- Click here to subscribe to the blog.
0 Comments

Your Personal Prayer Strategy

2/13/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
In John 4, Jesus and his disciples were walking toward Galilee and were passing through Samaria. Tired from the journey, Jesus sat down by a well while his disciples scooted off to a nearby town to pick up some food.  A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water and Jesus spoke to her saying, “Will you give me a drink?”

There is all kinds of background and context to this exchange but in the course of the conversation between Jesus and this woman, she comes to realize that Jesus is someone very special, the long awaited Messiah.

Once she realizes this, she leaves her water jug where it is, hurries back to her town and says to the people there, “Come, see a man who told me everything I did. Could he be the Messiah?”

And the people respond. They come out to the well to meet Jesus for themselves where they eventually are lead to say, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

Making disciples begins with telling others about the good news of Jesus; the gospel.  As we train people to make disciples, we find it helpful to answer a few simple questions to help people get started.

This story helps us answer the question of who. Who should we share with?
 

Who did the Samaritan woman share with? She went back to her town and shared with the people who knew her and by whom she was known.  There is a relationship already established. And this is the place where we are all called to start making disciples.

In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul is speaking at the Areopagus in Athens and he says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”

Have you ever thought that you are where you are, that you have the neighbors and co-workers that you do because God appointed you to be their neighbor or co-worker or friend right where you are?  Paul continues by telling us why this is so: “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”

Like the Samaritan woman, we have neighbors, friends and acquaintances who need to hear about the the good news of the Kingdom of God.  

And it’s no mistake that you are in their lives!

God wants to use you to introduce them to Himself.


Action Step
Our lives are busy!  Too often we get going through our days and weeks and, without some intentional effort, we easily miss the opportunities that God is putting before us. I too often find myself with my head down and it’s go, go, go.  

At our E2E events one of the training strategies we use is to have everyone take five minutes to pray about their life and think about the people in their life.  We then have them make a list on a note card of everyone they can think of who they think is far from God. I’d like to challenge you to do this activity right now for yourself.  

Here are the four steps:
  1. Take a minute to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind everyone you know who is not walking with Him, who is far from God.
  2. On a sheet of paper, note card or in a document on your phone, write down every name that the Spirit brings to mind.  
  3. Take a few minutes to pray about every person on that list right now.  Ask the Lord to remove the blinders of darkness, to soften their hearts and draw them to Himself.  Ask the Lord to use you to share His love with them.
  4. Make a plan.  Make a plan to pray over this list every day.  Some people set a daily alarm on their phone that goes off every day to remind them to pray.  Others post the list on their mirror at home or on their dashboard for their morning commute. Find what works best for you and determine to pray every day.  This is your prayer strategy.

If you can do this; if you can begin to pray daily, I can almost guarantee that God will begin using you.  You’ll find your friends suddenly asking questions about God. You’ll find that you are more readily transitioning to spiritual conversations and that you conversations are more fruitful than you would have imagined.  

God delights to answer these kinds of prayers for our lost friends and family members.

And then they won't believe just because of what we have said, but will believe because they have met the Lord Jesus!
Did you find this article helpful? --- Click here to subscribe to the blog.
0 Comments

Something I Can Do

10/11/2018

0 Comments

 
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.
​

​It is a powerful story of perseverance and prayer.
Picture

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.
​

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


Enjoy this article? -- Click here to subscribe to the blog.
0 Comments

7 Resources To Fuel Your Missions "Prayer" Fire

9/26/2018

2 Comments

 
We pray because our vision exceeds our ability. Prayer is the soul's deepest cry of rebellion against the way things are, seeing the lost of this world and crying out, "This does not glorify God, and so, by God's grace, it must change!" Prayer comes from God and ascends back to God on behalf of those who do not know God. Extraordinary prayer lays a firm foundation for a movement of God."
                                                                                                         -David Garrison
I was reading in Luke 11 today, through the passage where Jesus teaches us His prayer and then goes on to tell us to, "ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, recieves, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."

It reminded me of the Garrison quote above and of the many resources available to help the body of Christ focus "extraordinary prayer" on the nations.  And so today I want to share Seven Prayer Resources To Fuel Your Missions "Prayer" Fire.

[READ ALL OF THE 7 SERIES BLOG POSTS]

Picture
Hindu World Prayer Guide
The Hindu World Prayer Guide will take you on a journey of learning about and praying for the world's 1 billion Hindus.  This fifteen day prayer journey is scheduled for October 28th - November 11th but you can use the guide to pray at anytime during the year.  Guides can be ordered from World Christian for $3.00 but there are substancial discounts if you order in bulk.  We'd like to encourage you to consider ordering 10 today and mobilizing nine others to join you in praying for Hindus to come to faith in Christ this fall.
LEARN MORE HERE
Muslim World Prayer Guide

Every year during Ramadan, thousands of Christains around the world use the 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World to interceed for those following the religion of Islam.  This year Ramadan is from May 5 through June 4.  Take  a moment to set a reminder on your calendar for April 1st to order your prayer guides.  Talk to your pastor about ordering a box for your church.  Order ten yourself and mobilze nine others to join you in praying.  This guide will do much to help you learn about Islam while you pray for Muslims to come to faith in Christ.
LEARN MORE HERE
Picture
Picture
Buddhist World Prayer Guide

This will mark the fist year of the Buddhist World Prayer Guide.  Much like the Hindu and Muslim World prayer guides, it is sure to be both a great resource for learning about and praying for the Buddhist world this coming year.  It will be availble starting in January, so like the Muslim world guide, set a reminder on your calendar to order yours then.  
LEARN MORE HERE
Prayercast

Prayercast is a unique prayer resource that is helpful for group prayer events.  Prayercast produces short videos for each nation on earth.  Each video features a montage of images and video from the country while a national believer prays for their nation.  The videos end with a few prayer points for the nation.  We use these videos to pray for the nations throughout each E2E training event we host.  They also have a number of theme based videos for different religions.  We try and post at least one Prayercast vidoe each week at the E2E Facebook page.  Check out the Prayercast for North Korea at the bottom of this article.  Each video is 3-4 minutes in length.
LEARN MORE HERE
Picture
Picture
 Operation World

Operation World is a great resource that every family should have on their coffee table.  Originally a resource guide that had information, maps and prayer topics for every nation on earth, Operation World, while still publishing a book, has expanded to offer a variety of online prayer resources as well.  Be sure and order the latest prayer guide for your home and encourage your praying friends to do the same.  
LEARN MORE HERE
Mission Organizations

Many mission agencies and organizations have great resources to help you pray for the nations.  If you support a missionary through a particular agency, be sure and check out their website for prayer resources.  Here are a few organizational prayer resources that we're excited about.
  • MB Mission
  • Crescent Project
  • Frontiers
  • OMF​
Picture
Picture
​Prayer for SF Muslims

This email prayer guide will lead you through 30 days of praying specifically for God to bless and reveal himself to the Muslim community of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  You'll get one email each day for 30 days.

SIGN UP HERE

We hope that these prayer resources will help you do your part in fostering extraordinary prayer for the nations.  If you know of a helpful prayer resource, be sure and share it in the comments below.

Like this article? -- Click here to subscribe to the blog.
Prayercast Video for North Korea
2 Comments
    The E2E Community
    Picture

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018

    Categories

    All
    Book Recommendation
    Church Strategy
    Cultures
    Discipleship
    Discipleship Strategy
    Discovery Bible Study (DBS)
    E2E
    Entry Strategy
    General
    Gospel Conversations
    Gospel Strategy
    Islam
    Leadership Development
    Mobilization
    Prayer Strategy
    Testimonies
    The 7 Series
    The Round Up
    Training

    Authors

    We are a collection of practitioners and trainers dedicated to equipping and encouraging everyone everywhere to proclaim the gospel and make disciples among the unreached locally, nationally and globally.

    Receive Posts Via Email
Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from US Department of State, Chris Yarzab, davidstewartgets, Unhindered by Talent
  • Home
  • Program
    • E2E Three Day
    • Gospel Conversation Training
  • Articles
  • Resources
  • Trainings
  • Contact