Nebraska Catalytic Leader's blog

Glocalization by Bob Roberts

2009-03-20T18:05:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Alan Hirsch:

Chapter 1. The Whole World Has Gone Glocal!
“Nothing local is purely local and nothing global is purely global.” “Glocal means everything is becoming decentralized, especially in the church. Glocalization puts everyone center stage. Glocal implies a new set of values changing the culture and the world. (21)

Glocal is a great opportunity for the church. Decentralization means every person in every domain of society in the pew connects with domains and people glocally. “It’s not about missions; it’s about globalization. People have become global beings.” “It’s way over there and here at the same time. That is why it’s glocal.” (27)

Chapter 2. It’s All about the Kingdom–Not Missions (From One-Shot Evangelism to Comprehensive Domain Transformation)

“Missions was through the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. The twenty-first century is about glocalization. The old missions metaphor does not communicate because it only ‘worked’ as a religious response to an unconnected world.” “We have to move…to a radically different faith response where one is unabashedly proclaiming the gospel, and serving, and loving.” [There seems to be a current mood that missions has come through a period of not serving and loving. dlm] (34)

“…the kingdom itself is a viral, organic response. It’s societal, as opposed to religious, skeletal, and institutional.” “…we use all the domains of society to operate.” (34)

“The kingdom is about people wanting to make a difference.” (34)

“As followers of Christ, we are to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God and engage society so it can see kingdom principles lived out in our individual lives and communities.” (38)

“He [Jesus] doesn’t want to know how many converts, how many new churches, how many institutions, or how much the budget is. He wants to know how we are helping the hurting in society.” (39, commenting on Matthew 25:35-46 ) [This seems to be a hugely growing perspective in the church today. The pendulum is swinging. Do we risk swinging from neglect on one end to omission on the other? dlm]

“When the church glocalizes, it acts as a connection center between believers and all of society’s domains. It focuses on training the people in the pew how to view their vocation as their ‘Jerusalem’ in terms of ministry. From there, it motivates them toward how they can use that vocation to intersect a domain locally–and globally–throughout the ends of the earth! The church connects to society through the natural infrastructures, equipping and sending people through their jobs to affect a particular domain. (41)

“Realizing that God intended our faith to lay across all of the infrastructures of society is one of the biggest issues today.” “Effective faith is a voice in every domain, and it’s an influencer of all domains.” (42) [In the past] “we have made faith skeletal instead of viral,…an institutional response to society.” “Viral is more organic–it involves individual believers using their jobs in society as Christians on a daily basis.” (42) “It’s a return to how the early church accomplished the spread of the gospel….” (43)

The formula: “Inject the DNA of what it means to be transformed in Christ, connect the body of Christ to the domain of society, infect the whole of society for Christ.” (45)

Imagination

2009-03-20T18:03:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Mark Batterson:

I came across an interesting factoid today as I was researching for my next book.

The human body has approximately 100,000,000 (one hundred million) sensory receptors that enable us to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. And that is a testament to our Divine Designer. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. By the way, when was the last time you thanked God for each of your senses? We have seven million cones that enable us to perceive about ten million different colors. Doesn't it seem like we owe God seven million thank yous?

Now here is what I found fascinating: neurologists estimate that the average three-year old has 1,000,000,000,000,000 (one quadrillion) synaptic connections.

Honestly, those numbers numb us. But I think they reveal something significant. Our ability to imagine things in our mind is far greater than our ability to interpret physical reality. Mathematically speaking, imagination is ten million times more powerful than our five senses put together!

Naturalism is living down to the limit of our one hundred million sensory receptions. It is the inability or unwillingness to perceive reality that is beyond our five senses. The end result? Our universes shrinks to the size of our senses.

Faith is living beyond our five senses. It is being certain of what we do not see. One dimension of faith is imagining what our five senses can't perceive or confirm. It is extra-sensory perception. And that is why faith often seems like it is out of touch with reality. But that is because it is ten million times more powerful than our senses!

One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 3:20. It is actually our most-used benediction at National Community Church.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and throughout all generations for ever and ever, Amen.

Translation? God is able to do immeasurably more than we can imagine with our one quadrillion synapses. Amazing isn't it? Our imagination is ten million times more powerful than our five senses. But God is still able to do infinitely more than anything any of us can imagine with our one quadrillion synaptic connections. And to top it off, no mind has conceived of what God has prepared for us!

Religious Trends in the U.S.

2009-03-20T18:02:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Alan Hirsch:

(HT, James Nored) /// On Monday, a new religious study was released that showed that 15% of the US population defines themselves as belonging to no religion. Here is an excerpt from the American Religious Identification Survey—conducted by the Program on Public Values at Trinity College.
“The percentage of Americans claiming no religion, which jumped from 8.2 in 1990 to 14.2 in 2001, has now increased to 15 percent. Given the estimated growth of the American adult population since the last census from 207 million to 228 million, that reflects an additional 4.7 million ‘Nones.’ Northern New England has now taken over from the Pacific Northwest as the least religious section of the country, with Vermont, at 34 percent ‘Nones,’ leading all other states by a full 9 points.

‘Many people thought our 2001 finding was an anomaly,’ [Ariela] Keysar said. We now know it wasn’t. The ‘Nones’ are the only group to have grown in every state of the Union.’”

In addition, every single Christian group has decreased in terms of percentage of the US population–and most have declined in raw numbers as well. In regards to atheism, the study says:

“Only1.6 percent of Americans call themselves atheist or agnostic. But based on stated beliefs, 12 percent are atheist (no God) or agnostic (unsure), while 12 percent more are deistic (believe in a higher power but not a personal God). The number of outright atheists has nearly doubled since 2001, from 900 thousand to 1.6 million.”

In sum, the findings show or lead to the conclusion that:
1) Religion and Christianity are on the decline in the US;
2) Protestantism is doing worse than Catholicism due to Catholic immigrants;
3) Mormonism is keeping up with population growth, and Islam and New Age/Wicca are exceeding it;
4) Atheism, while still a small percentage of the population, is on the rise; and
5) “Spirituality,”–or non-organized belief in God–is still vibrant in the US.

What implications does this have for the church in the US?
- Attractional methods alone will have decreasing effectiveness, though they will reach some.-
- Not only theologically, but pragmatically, we must make the structure of the church be missional in nature and make dramatic changes in how we allocate our resources. This might mean moving all “Bible studies” off site, in coffee shops, Starbucks, homes, schools, etc.to meet people where they are. With antagonism and apathy towards religion, fewer will show up because we have better programs. And those that do will already be Christians.
- We need to train our members in knowledge of other faiths and resurgent atheism and methods to reach these adherents.

We must make dramatic changes. Sadly, however, most churches will do almost nothing to respond to these cultural changes. Those that do respond will respond incrementally only. With a shrinking pool of Christians, there will be an increasing competition amongst churches for members. This will, ironically, put more pressure upon church leaders to shore up “programs” to attract church members to shore up the decreasing member base.

In the midst of all of this, it is unbelievable to me that our fellowship is consumed on all sides with “doctrinal issues”–meanwhile our nation is hopelessly lost. And the resistance to making practical, methodological changes, such as replacing Sunday night worship or Wed. night classes with outreach and service, moving “classes” off site, planting new churches, changing times, making budgets missional, etc., is quite simply, absurd.

What do you think of these findings? How should the church respond to the changing (a)religious landscape of the US so that we can reach people today?

Good Quotes

2008-10-31T07:57:00.003-05:00

"We've got to get to the place where we believe Jesus is absolutely right about absolutely everything." "If you're not ticking off religious people you're not following Christ." Alan Hirsch

"50% of our church budgets ought to go to 'the least of these.'" Chris Seay

"Objective reality needs to become subjective reality. Truth that only makes it into our head is informational. But truth that penetrates the heart is transformational. Reformation isn't the byproduct of good ideas. It's the byproduct of deeply held convictions." Christian Schwartz

"Our spiritual formation efforts have focused on information acquisition." Ron Martoia

"Christianity has become a way of thought instead of a way of life." "If you don't change you become part of the problem." George Barna

"The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday." The Anointing by R.T. Kendall

"The greatest schism within the church is not between races, classes, or even denominations, it is between the clergy and the laity." Howard E. Butt

How to kill a movement

2008-10-09T11:24:00.002-05:00

From Alan Hirsch:

All the talk about Al Quaeda makes me think of my friend Brant Hanson’s post while back. this has already featured here once, but it is so good that it has to be posted again! So, this is from Brant….

Alan Hirsch, points out that Al-Qaeda is almost impossible to stop. This is, in large part, due to the way its message works, and the way the work gets carried out. And he’s absolutely right. So, in the service of national defense, I propose the following, in order to effectively neutralize the movement. Let’s get Al-Qaeda to…

1) Complexify the message

Right now, it’s so simple, it can pass from one to the next, and be easily grasped by the uneducated, the young — everyone. This is dangerous, because it’s highly contagious, and people on the street feel capable of enlisting others in the cause.

2) Construct a less “flat”, more hierarchical structure

Currently, small, underground groups can move nimbly and autonomously, complicating efforts to thwart them. A more regimented, stratified approach, where some members are left thinking, “I can’t know enough to do anything” would bring the movement to a halt.

3) Foster “expert” culture, and barriers to entry to the expert class

Promote the idea that the message is not only highly complex, but only some can truly understand it. Construct extensive barriers to entry to the presumed expert class. Promote idea that cells lacking a certified member of expert class, it is not equipped to be activated.

4) Focus on knowledge, rather than doing

Complexification and expert-class development will make cells spend immense amounts of time studying the work, even debating theories of the work, rather than doing it. Better yet…

5) Equate STUDYING the work with the work itself

The cells are called to ACT, of course. But if we can convince operatives that the work, itself, is in trying to understand the complexity of the work? They’ll be effectively neutered. We need to get them to spend large amounts of time in study, gathering to study, believing they don’t know enough, hiring new experts to teach them again and again, and attending teaching events.

They’ll actually believe they’re doing their work when they attend events held by experts. This will render the cell, and the whole movement, harmless! Convince them that the most radicalized, militant among them are merely called to bring other non-activated members to the cell events.

6) Sabotage cell multiplication

VERY important! Cells that operate under simple principles, with motivated operatives, devoted to multiplication? Very, very dangerous, fast-growing, and pop-culture endangering. We must stop this in its tracks, and this is done in multiple ways:

A) Foster egos and small-time celebrity. By convincing operatives to set up individual fiefdoms, fewer autonomous cells will be activated. Rather, the emphasis will be on building larger individual cells with numerous unactivated members.

B) Make the basic structure highly difficult to replicate. Al-Qaeda cells currently are, by necessity, simply-structured and easily replicated. Propagate idea that for cells to begin, planning, experts and capital must be simultaneously accumulated. Expert motivational speakers will be necessary, plus paid staff with highly specific training and talents. Operatives will see massively “successful” large cells, and attempt to duplicate them, with very limited success because of the huge inputs required. This will greatly inhibit growth.

C) Convince philosophically-aligned, but non-active, members to choose from among most entertaining, high quality, cells that offer services for them. Not only will this engender a harmless, internal focus, it will require IMMENSE amounts of resources and energy.

7) Make operatives really, really busy.

Replace simple, animating mission with lengthy lists, charts, and programs for cell maintanance. Convince them that this institutional maintenance is, actually, the mission, itself.

This will leave them will no actual time for conducting actual mission.

Get Al-Qaeda to seek governmental approval.

Offer tax incentives if necessary. The larger cells, requiring large edifices, will also require tremendous amounts of capital. This will also allow a measure of control, to threaten the cell’s tax status, thereby threatening funds for internal programs, when necessary.

Better: They’ll consider actual operational cells that exist without this governmental approval to be, themselves, invalid!

9) Co-opt Al-Qaeda with the larger culture.

Once members are convinced that cell maintenance and study are actually their “mission”, the rest of their lives can be harmlessly integrated with the culture at large. They’ll be indistinguishable from non-members, and, because of their new understanding of “mission”, effectively equivalent to non-members.

10) Convince members to wear Al-Qaeda t-shirts with funny sayings and stuff.

Mission accomplished.

It’ll work to thwart an evil message. It even works with the good ones.

McDonalds

2008-08-14T14:48:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Joe Cross for an incredibly insightful post:

McDonald’s has done it again. First, the company paid $20,000 to become a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and to have a seat on the board of directors. Next, McDonald’s refused a request to remain neutral in the culture war by choosing to promote the gay agenda. Then McDonald’s accused those opposing the gay agenda, including same-sex marriage, of being motivated by hate.

Now we learn that McDonald’s sponsors training for homosexuals on how to promote their agenda among corporations from the inside. Out & Equal™ Workplace Advocates is a national organization devoted to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the workplace. One of its primary purposes is to train employees how to aggressively promote homosexuality within the company they work for, all the way to the corporate boardroom. Part of last year’s Out & Equal Summit in Washington, DC, (sponsored by McDonald’s) was an organized march into congressional offices demanding same-sex marriage laws be passed.

At the bottom of McDonald’s half-page ad in the Out & Equal Summit booklet is this statement: “From neighborhood to neighborhood, coast to coast and around the world, McDonald’s is proud to celebrate diversity” (homosexuality).

Source: American Family Association

Disclaimer: You decide for yourself what to do with this information. I feel it necessary to inform people of what McDonald's decides to do with their money and of their decision to push an agenda on an unsuspecting populous.

China

2008-07-30T17:11:00.001-05:00

From author Alan Hirsch

Michael Frost, a friend of mine was recently privy to a meeting with three Chinese leaders from the underground church who were smuggled out to a group of Western leaders about issues they were facing. When they were asked what wanted prayer for they asked for three things:

1. Whilst acknowledging that the government has become more lenient, they were still not allowed to gather in groups of more than fifteen people and that when they grew beyond that they had to split and start a new church. Could the westerners please pray for that?

2. The second issue they asked for prayer for was that they were not allowed church buildings and were thus forced to meet in homes, cafes, karaoke bars, and social clubs. Could the westerners please pray for that as well?

3. The next thing they felt they needed a breakthrough with was that they were forbidden to develop separate organizations where they could collectively train leaders; they were forced to train leaders in the local church. Michael, himself a vice-president of a seminary, says in all good conscience that he simply could not pray for them in this way because he and the group gathered there realized that in many ways the Communist state was forcing the church to remain more true to themselves.

Philip Yancy likewise reports on his life-changing trip to China. He says “Before going to China I met with one of the missionaries who had been expelled in 1950. ‘We felt so sorry for the church we left behind,’ he said. ‘They had no one to teach them, no printing presses, no seminaries, no one to run their clinics and orphanages. No resources, really, except the Holy Spirit.’” Yancy wryly concludes “It appears the Holy Spirit is doing just fine.”

Michael Frost

2007-12-07T02:30:00.000-06:00

Michael Frost is the Founding Director of Centre for Evangelism & Global Mission at Morling Theological College in Sydney. The following is from REV MICHAEL FROST (M.A., B.Th., Dip.Teach.)

What is ‘Missional’. Simply put, it is a way of thinking that encompasses: leadership, worship, evangelism, etc. and channels the energy toward an outward focus.

If you embrace a Missional paradigm 3 things will happen to you:
1. You will see God differently than the way a lot of the mainstream churches have spoken about Him.
2. You will see the Church differently than the way the mainstream churches have spoken about church.
3. You will see the world differently than the Church has spoken about it

From the beginning of time the stories of the Bible are the stories of “God the missionary”. God sends out his Word into the chaos and order is fashioned. God sends out his “reake” breath that Adam and Eve might mirror Him. Even after they sin and fall God follows after them. The history of Israel is the history of God’s constant “sentness” after those people who continue to disappoint him and betray him.

God the Father sends God the Son, God the Son sends God the Holy Spirit, and the cycle is not complete until we understand that God sends us. “As the father sent me, so I send you.” John 20:21 You cannot fully understand the character of God unless you see it through the paradigm of mission.

Good stuff, you can find it in it’s entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ndCFSv47g

-Ethan

Who is a leader?

2007-11-27T22:13:00.000-06:00

Research from George Barna taken from barna.org:

Most Americans think of themselves as leaders (71%) and believe they are well-informed about current events (81%). They almost unanimously view themselves as independent thinkers (95%), and as loyal and reliable people (98%). They also say they are able to easily adapt to changes and a whopping four out of five people believe they are making a positive difference in the world. Two out of three adults noted that they like to be in control of situations.

Holy cow, 71% of Americans think of themselves as leaders? What are they leading, and where are they leading us?

-Ethan

Catalyst Podcast

2007-11-27T21:06:00.000-06:00

I’m starting to get into podcasts more, and the last submission from Catalyst was a good ‘un. They had author Tim Sanders on speaking about upcoming culture and social change. This is a paraphrase of some of my highlights:

On emotional intelligence as it pertains to future generations:
We live in an emotional world. The amygdala, the emotional part of the brain, has (on average) grown 1% since World War II, because the brain adapts to environments, you know. The neocortex (the logical part of the brain) has shrunk, on average, .5% in that same span. What does that mean?

20 years ago the emotional brain was 25 times more powerful than the logical brain
10 years ago the emotional brain was 35 times more powerful than the logical brain
Now the emotional brain is 50 times more powerful than the logical brain

Financial freedom to kids today translates into freedom not to suffer emotional abuse

On Spirituality in America:
The author of the book “Mega Trends 2010” makes an argument that Spirituality is probably the greatest trend in America. If you took a look at the number of CEO’s that would answer, “Yes, I am churched and spiritual”, you would find that the number is significantly higher today than it was in 1990.

On his 9/11 research
Different changes in our lifetime have caused us to have different values, and those new values have prioritized where we put our resources. Of all the things that have happened in the past 10 years, (and there’s been a lot) this is the impact of 9/11 according to Harvard professor, Robert Putnam says

9/11 influenced kids because it was a teachable moment; everyone understood that we live in an interdependent world where one day we’ll have to depend on the kindness of strangers. That feeling of interdependence leads to an incredible feeling of social responsibility.

Virginia Tech for this generation was the equivalent of a 10 year old being diagnosed with diabetes. As catastrophic events happen the thinking goes from “I’m going to live to be 70, to I’m going to live to 60, to I’m going to live to be 50. As perceived life gets shorter, purpose gets bigger.

On Social change:
Researchers call 1 out of 4 educated college graduates an “ethical advocate”. An ethical advocate believes that the money does not trickle down, a company must be worthy of their patronage and that the for profit sector is not as good as the for benefit sector.

The number of ethical advocates graduating college will double every 5 years, and they will scrutinize every product they buy, every job they apply for, and every stock their fund manager buys – to see if the company generates or takes out social value. They will punish the ones that don’t and reward the ones that do.

There’s a ‘sin tax’ (like that on tabacco) bill on the floor of legislature in Oregon right now that, if passed, would place a 120% tax on paper.

Fun stuff that probably only interests me:
Top 5 most likable leaders in U.S. history (in no order, from different social sectors):
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Bill Clinton
Ellen Degenerous (ahead of Oprah interestingly enough)
George Foreman
George Clooney

Gallup said every election since ’76 has had a tip, in an undecided state, toward the BBQ test: “who would you invite to a BBQ on Sunday?”

-Ethan

The Spiritual Leaders' Tools - S&S VI

2007-10-29T18:13:00.000-05:00

Spiritual Acumen. Jesus met people where they were at and then, almost without fail, he met needs. To lepers he touched them to heal them. Think about that; he could have chose any means by which to heal them but he chose to touch those who had not been touched in years. Over and over again Jesus displays an incredible spiritual acumen, meeting physical needs on his path to bringing spiritual life and redemption.

Trish was an RA in her dorm. She was praying all summer to have an impact on her dorm floor. As the school year began she noticed that many of the girls were lonely, so she went to them, and met their need for friendship and connection by getting them connected. It was in this context that she was able to share the gospel and launch a movement. By the end of the school year ½ of her dorm floor had personally heard the gospel and ¼ were involved in a movement.

Seek to meet the felt needs of a pocket of people, but don’t stop there. Ask God to give you wisdom and discernment as to how you can meet these needs on your way to introducing them to Jesus – who will meet the deepest longings of their soul. Man’s greatest need is spiritual, but it’s awfully hard to think about spiritual things when you’re starving.

Mapping. As we individually take responsibility for launching a movement in a pocket of people on campus and collectively take responsibility for launching movements everywhere, one tool that will keep us focused is mapping. Mapping is simply keeping track of where God has moved and a movement has been launched while praying for those pockets of people who do not have the gospel within arms-reach.

Mapping allows us to get to the end of the week, semester, year, etc. and praise God for what He has allowed us to be a part of. Otherwise, how would we know? If we, as the church (global), didn’t map out the unreached countries of the world how would know where to send missionaries? In the same way, mapping allows us to pray for and seek to launch movements in the unreached pockets of people on campus.

Believe the best in people. After Paul has his amazing conversion experience he immediately starts preaching Christ as the risen messiah. He decides to go hang out with the disciples for a while in Jerusalem, but they’re scared that he isn’t genuine and that he might be trying to kill them. That could’ve been the end of the story for Paul. It wasn’t. This guy named Barnabas came along and believed the best in Paul. Barnabas went out of his way, put his name on the line, and arranged a meeting with the disciples. The rest, as they say, is history. After Paul met with the disciples he was welcomed into the faith, and went on to be one of the most influential persons in all of Christian history.

Barnabas believed the best in Paul. As we are living Spirit-filled lives and moving toward the same mission of launching movements everywhere, the challenge will be to believe the best in one another. Who are you tempted to dismiss or gossip about? What steps could you take to begin to believe the best in them?

Launch. Just like launching a shuttle, when a movement is launched it’s time to take our hands off. Apollo 13 still had communication and contact with Houston, but there was no denying that they were launched. When a movement grows to the point where it is going to launch another movement we need to launch the new group and let go. This doesn’t mean that we stop dialoguing or that we lose communication, but it does mean that we let new people lead the new group. Remember, they’ve got the Holy Spirit, who is a better comforter, counselor, and evangelist than we will ever be.

-Ethan

Application Starfish & Spider V

2007-10-24T23:06:00.000-05:00

1. Circles
When we say circles we mean to say that we don’t have a defined leader within your movement – there is no hierarchy. I’m not talking about your leadership team or weekly meeting here, but rather, the movement that you’re a part of in a specific pocket of people. Instead of rules and regulations, there are norms. Apache followed Geronimo because he picked up a rifle and began to fight. His influence came from the way he lived his life and not his title or position. By keeping your movement a circle and not a pyramid you allow others to lead and take ownership for their slice of the mission.

2. Mission & DNA
While all of the movements around campus will be diverse and even autonomous from one another, continuity and solidarity will come from the mission and DNA. You will be separate and different, but when you step back and take a look at the broad picture of reaching every group of people on campus you can see that you’re all going toward the same mission of putting the gospel within arms-reach of every student on campus. We must lead with a clear and compelling statement of our mission to launch movements everywhere. Further, it’s significant to have a unified understanding of what a movement is. Yes, adaptation, mutation and customization will happen (good!) but we must start with a common mission and shared DNA. It is this common ground that allows us to let go and trust as other students purse the mission in the power of the Holy Spirit.

3. Preexisting Network
Rather than extract a football player by asking him to come over here to follow Christ, why don’t we share the mission, give him the DNA of a movement (Movement Launcher), and let go. Instead of extracting the football player we, in effect, infect the entire football team with the Jesus virus. It catches. Soon a football player comes to faith who has a girlfriend on the softball team. Instead of extracting her, he shares the mission, gives her the DNA of a movement (Movement Launcher), and, in effect, infects the softball team with the Jesus virus. I use sports teams because they are easily recognizable, but there are preexisting networks of students all over campus. We don’t extract, we infect.

The Thump Test. S&S IV

2007-10-22T12:49:00.000-05:00

If you thump it on the head will it die? We've been talking a lot of theory and paradigm to this point, so let me pause a moment to ask some questions to put this stuff in our life.

Bill Wilson died and AA continued to thrive, Geronimo was killed and the Apache defeated the Spanish, the Disciples were martyred (for the most part) and the church exploded across the globe. If your organization were to lose its leadership team would it cease to exist? Are there students on campus who are empowered to lead toward the mission without a title or position?

If you take out a unit (movement) is the organization harmed?

What happens if a spider loses a leg? The spider’s mobility is significantly affected, and if it keeps losing legs its survival will be at risk. Separate a company’s accounting department from the rest of the organization and it won’t magically sprout a whole new organization to support. As we’ve seen, when a starfish is cut in half you end up with two starfish. On your campus when a movement grows in numbers does it turn into a spider or a starfish?

Are knowledge and power concentrated or distributed?

In starfish organizations, power is spread throughout. Each member is assumed to be equally capable and has power equal to that of the others. Each AA circle knows about the needs of its members, and each group can decide how to react accordingly. Are members of a movement empowered to innovate and meet the needs of their friends? Do they have access to the core DNA of a movement?

-Ethan

Starfish & Spider III AA

2007-10-17T23:05:00.000-05:00

“Bill Wilson started Alcoholics Anonymous, but nobody owns AA. Bill realized when AA became a huge success, and when people from all over the world wanted to start their own AA chapter, that he had a crucial decision to make. He could go with the spider approach and control what the chapters could and couldn’t do. Under this scenario, he’d have had to manage the brand and train applicants in the AA methodology. Or he could go with the starfish approach and get out of the way. Bill chose the latter. He let go.”

“He trusted each chapter to do what it thought was right. And so, today, whether you’re in Anchorage, or Santiago, Chile, you can find an AA meeting. And if you feel like it you can start your own. Members have always been able to directly help each other without asking permission or getting approval from Bill Wilson. This quality enables open systems to quickly adapt and respond.”

“When other addicts took note of AA’s success, they borrowed the 12-step model and launched organizations combating a variety of addictions, including narcotics, food, and gambling. AA’s response? Good for you. Go right ahead. It’s all a part of the design.”

Bill Wilson and AA found a sweet spot, where incredible freedom and mutations were designed into the very fabric of these ‘open’ systems. It started with a unified commitment to the mission; whether you’re at AA or Narcotics Anonymous or whatever, the mission is to set the captives free, to bring healing, restoration, and freedom to those who are enslaved by addiction. From there, each mutation (new group) takes with it an adaptation of the 12-step process and the AA handbook.

The mission is always the same, and the tools are an adaptation of the originals, but these groups thrive in a diverse range of populations, cultures, languages, and ethnicities around the world. Similar to the early church and the Apaches, Bill Wilson said “This is what we’re doing (freeing people from addiction). This is our strategy (the 12-step plan and handbook). Now let’s get out of the way - empowering people to take this organization and customize it to best reach their friends and neighbors.

In Nebraska Catalytic we’ve done a very similar thing: our mission is to put the gospel within arms-reach of every student in Nebraska. Our approach is to launch movements everywhere. We’ve created the ‘Movement Launcher’ as our version of AA’s 12-step plan and handbook; the core DNA of our organization is in the Movement Launcher. Now we’ve let go, saying that Hastings College students can reach their friends and classmates better than we can. International students at UNK can reach their peers more effectively than I can.

Innovate, customize, create….figure it out! We’re behind you all the way. The challenge for you will be to enter a group on campus and launch a movement while praying for groups on campus where there is currently no spiritual movement. Once a movment is launched you’ll get to do what the apostle Paul, and the Apaches did…inject God's core DNA into the new movement (from the Movement Launcher) and begin to let go. Allow the new believers and new movement members to mature through their experience of Jesus and his mission to reach every student on campus.

-Ethan

Mitchell

2007-10-11T01:45:00.000-05:00

As a lifeguard in high school, the beginning of the summer was always the most competitive time of the year. You see, as the summer was kicking off, all of the parents were making arrangements with their child’s favorite lifeguard to have private lessons. I suppose the popularity thing made it competitive, but the private lessons also paid double what we typically made.

During my first year I got a call from the regional center to set up a lesson for Mitchell Dunn. After asking if they had any preference for a lifeguard I pounced on the opportunity and was pleasantly surprised to find out that Mitchell was going to be taking a double session – almost the entire summer! Ka-Ching! Little did I know, I was going to earn every penny.

Mitchell arrived at the pool and after introductions his teacher informed me that Mitchell was in his mid-twenties but had the capacity of a grade-schooler. She said that he minds his manners...most of the time. After getting changed I jumped into the water and asked Mitchell to come and get in with me; he refused (rather emphatically). That first “lesson” basically consisted of me and Mitch walking around the pool so he could introduce himself to everyone there. By the end of the session I had convinced Mitchell to sit on the edge of the pool and put his feet in the water. There was a brief screaming incident once he put his feet in, but other than that he was fine.

For two summers I gave Mitchell private lessons, and I got to see him move from being scared of the water to getting in, and eventually even swimming. Mitchell learned to put his head under water, and after about a year and a half he swam 25 meters across the deep end of the pool all by himself. Sure there was some screaming, one biting (he bit me, not the other way around), a few names that shouldn’t be repeated, but he did it. He could swim.

Perhaps we were feeling a little cocky, or maybe we needed a new challenge after Mitchell had conquered swimming in the deep water, but one day I told Mitch that he was going to jump off the high board and swim back all on his own. Well, that idea stuck in his head and from that point on, from the time he arrived to the time he left, Mitch would ask over and over again, “Go off the high board now?”

A couple weeks into the incessant questions (and one successful jump off the low board) I decided it was time – Mitchell was going to jump off the high board. I’ll never forget watching him climb to the top of the board and meekly make his way toward the edge. He stood there for several minutes using every excuse he could think of until he finally looked at me and said, “I’ll jump now”.

By this point many of the mothers at the pool were interested, and the aerobics class was just finishing up so many of those ladies stayed behind to cheer on Mitchell. Of course Mitch had been telling every lifeguard for a few weeks that he was going to jump off the high board so when they saw him up there they came out of the guard house to watch. So there we were, shading our eyes looking up at Mitchell as he stared down at the water, trying to muster the courage to jump.

Mitchell would bend his knees, hold his breath with his cheeks puffed out....and then...he would stand up and shuffle his feet and mutter. He did this several times, and thus the audience was really getting into it. Mitchell crouched down and his knees started knocking, causing the board to shake...but this time he did it, he jumped! Mitchell swam to the side, got out of the water, and ran through the crowd to give everyone a high-five. (I know running is against the rules, but we let it slide)

So often I talk to people who have followed God and his leading right up to the edge of the high-board and once they get there their knees start knocking and suddenly God’s plan doesn’t look so good anymore. It may be taking the leap to go on summer project, share Christ with a parent or friend, or to reach out to co-workers. I’m so grateful to be in a position where I get to experience stories from around the state of students following God’s leading, pushing through their knocking knees, and jumping into the deep end. I rarely hear of how God simply made it easy, but often hear of how trusting God through the fear and the unknown has changed them, marked them for a lifetime.

I don’t know what your high-board is, but I do know that if God has brought you this far, the leap will be worth it. I’ll be on the pool deck waiting to give you five.

Geronimo and You (S&S II)

2007-10-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

“Just two years after Cortes (the Spanish Conqueror) first laid eyes on Tenochtitlan (Aztec capitol), the entire Aztec empire – a civilization that traced its roots to centuries before the time of Christ – had collapsed. The Aztecs weren’t alone."

"A similar fate befell the Incas. The Spanish army, led by Pizarro, captured the Inca leader; a year later (with all their gold in hand) the Spanish killed the him and appointed a puppet ruler. Again, the annihilation of an entire ancient society took only two years.”

The Spanish moved North, conquering every group of people whom they encountered, until they reached what is today Southwestern USA.

“You’d think that against an army like the Spanish, the Apaches wouldn’t have had a chance. But that wasn’t the case, ‘By the late seventeenth century, the Spanish had lost effective control of Northern Sonora and Chihuahua to the Apaches. The Apaches had successfully wrested control of North Mexico- not that it was ever their desire to do so.’ This wasn’t a single accidental victory, however. The Apaches continued to hold off the Spanish for another two centuries.”

How’d they do it?

The Apache are a decentralized, open culture with no clear leader.

“If and when a leader does emerge, that person has little power over others. The best that person can do to influence people is to lead by example. There are rules and norms but these aren’t enforced by any one person. Rather, the power is distributed among all the people and across geographic regions. Basically there’s no Tenochtitlan, and no Montezuma.”

Without a king like Montezuma (Aztecs), how do you lead a people group?

“The Apaches had a Nant’an (a spiritual leader and cultural leader). The Nant’an led by example and held no coercive power. Tribe members followed the Nant’an because they wanted to, not because they had to. Geronimo is one of the most famous Nant’ans in Apache history.”

“Geronimo never commanded an army. Rather, he himself started fighting, and everyone around him joined in. The ideas was, ‘If Geronimo is taking arms, maybe it’s a good idea. Geronimo’s been right in the past, so it makes sense to fight alongside him.’”

“Because there was no capital and no central command post, Apaches decisions were made all over the place. A raid on a Spanish settlement, for example could be conceived in one place, organized in another, and carried out in yet another. In one sense, there was no place where important decisions were made, and in another sense, decisions were made by everybody everywhere.”

Doesn’t this sound similar to the early church? As I read Acts I can’t help but see the similarities: very limited positional power, people coming together as equals to engage in the mission of letting the world hear the good news that Jesus is alive. Spiritual movements cropping up all over the place, led by example.

The Apaches and the early church hold many principles for movement launching on your campus. Before we get to it, however, we need to start by recognizing two of the characteristics that made these organizations so powerful: commitment and empowerment.

They both made a commitment to the mission – the Apaches were fighting the Spanish, and the church was committed to the gospel. Next, they empowered people to engage in the mission in their own cultural context. In effect, the message was: “Here’s what we’re doing…now figure out the best way to do it in your world.”

Each group of apache knew the lay of the land in their area and thus they were the most capable people to perform a raid on the Spanish. Ephesians knew the culture in Ephesus, and thus were capable of reaching their friends and neighbors in Ephesus. As we seek to launch movements in every group of people on campus we are praying for athletes to come to Christ who can then reach athletes, greeks to launch greek movements, and so on. The mission is to launch spiritual movements everywhere so that everyone knows someone who’s a follower of Jesus.

That’s what we’re doing. Now, how are we going to do it? What is your part?

Starfish & Spider I

2007-10-04T15:11:00.000-05:00

One of the books we're reading is "Starfish & Spider: the power of leaderless organizations." It's fascinating and I think that many of principles will aplly to you and your movements.

“If you cut off a Spider’s head it dies; but if you cut off a Starfish’s leg, it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish. Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of the world.”

What better example of a Starfish organization than Christianity? A quick glance at the beginnings of the church starts with a Starfish organization dramatically losing its core and central figure, Christ. At this point the centralized power of the faith shifts from Jesus Christ to the remaining 11 disciples. Jerusalem remains the primary location for the disciples and for Christianity as the number of Christ-followers grows.

Fast forward about 20 years.

Saul has a miraculous conversation with Jesus and a few years later becomes a missionary to the gentiles. From this point Paul spends the days of his life moving from one strategic location to the next setting up small churches-circles of believers who come together to worship and follow the teachings of Jesus. Once a church had been established Paul moved on.

Port cities, significant trading routes, and cross sections of culture – these are the places that Paul established faith communities. Corinth, in fact, is a small isthmus (only a few miles wide) where sailors would take cargo and ships from one body of water over the land to another body of water. It’s easy to see how Christianity spread so rapidly when you begin to understand the significance of the early church locale.

If you were to draw the conclusion that real estate were the only reason for this expansion you’d be mistaken. While the location of these early circles of believers certainly contributed to the growth of the Church, just as important is the fact that the faith of these early Christians was decentralized. Just as Paul didn’t need to get permission (Gal. 1) before embarking on his missionary journeys, the churches that he established didn’t need to get permission, sign a document, or pay dues in order to be a church. When they had the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ teachings, and a few other like minded believers they had a church!

Combine this decentralized organizational structure with tremendous real estate for proliferation, the power of God himself, and compassionate support from Paul and his boys…and you get a tidal wave of faith. Christianity spread like wildfire; or like starfish… A church would sprout up, grow, and when people tried to stop it by cutting off an arm, or killing a leader, they would only end up multiplying the number of leaders and overall believers.

As leaders on your campus you have the honor and privilege of being a part of this incredible, decentralized heritage. As you pray over the campus and ask God to direct your action you can relate to our forefather in the faith Paul as he prayed for direction. As he set out to launch spiritual movements from town to town he relied on the Holy Spirit to direct him and then he worked hard and labored to launch a movement despite persecution and hardship. 2000 years later you are doing the same thing, following the Spirit and seeking to launch spiritual movments everywhere.

-Ethan

Quotes collected by Shane

2007-09-26T02:18:00.000-05:00

Shane Deike (link at right) always has good quotes on his blog. I thought I'd collect a few of them. -Ethan Wiekamp

"Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both"
- Author John Andrew Holmes

"A goal without a plan is just a wish."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"To expect dramatic results without stepping out is more foolish than foolishly stepping out."
-Shane Deike

"There is always a philosophy for a lack of courage"
- Albert Camu

"For years, ministry leaders have used a business model in managing their churches. It's a legitimate attempt to get religious organizations working at a more efficient level and trying to make them more productive. But ultimately that won't work. Writer and consultant Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, says a business ins driven by profit, but a nonprofit is driven by mission. The two cannot be confused."
- Phil Cooke, Ph.D.

“Men do not follow titles, they follow courage.”
- William Wallace in Braveheart.

Another gem from Lee

2007-09-24T16:27:00.001-05:00

Posers….or as the song goes plastic people. Does your heart beat within you with a passion? Or are you like the rest of the world like a zombie searching for your heart and life? I think the biggest problem with us Christians is that we really don’t believe Jesus. If we did it would show. Jesus said seek the kingdom of God first and all the stuff we think makes life worth living would be given to us. Instead, we seek the things that we think will make us happy and try to add Jesus into the mix. How backwards is that? The Bible promises if we search for Him with a hunger and thirst we will be filled. If we search for fulfillment we will go hungry and thirsty. Empty.

God has designed us for relationship. First with Him, then with other believers. Community. That’s the ticket to happiness. Most people have to wear themselves thin before they can listen to the Spirit quietly yet definitely calling them to a real life…a life that satisfies.

Real, we need to be real. We need to be with people who let us be real…who God made us to be. We need acceptance. We need to know God finds pleasure in us and He looks upon with love and desire to walk with us if we would only walk with Him. We need to be real not because that is what we are supposed to do but because if we don’t we will die inside and our heart will stop beating. But we are afraid to be real. We have been in a world (and sadly even in church) where we are constantly being corrected and chastised for being ourselves. Walking with God is not just behaving. It is living. Real living. To truly live a life worthy of God we have to be real first.

Let’s quit faking and be real. Be filled and full.

-Lee Jones

NCTA at Curtis

2007-09-05T09:54:00.000-05:00

Over the past several months we have met a handful of men in Curtis Nebraska who have a heart for college students. We are fortunate to know these guys, and to have the opportunity to work alongside them this year at the local community college. One of the men, Lee, just wrote this to the students:

In Matthew 26:40 we read where our Lord Jesus told the disciples to ‘watch with me’. He knew what was to come. He knew the agony the disciples would face separated from Him; He knew the excruciating trial that was before Him and He told the men ‘watch with me’. He tells you and me that same thing today. He knows the trials in life. He knows our tendency to chase so many schemes to find happiness and significance apart from Him. He knows our heart and He loves us. And…we have a role to watch WITH Him. He invites us to join Him yet we would rather HE watch over us, He reveal Himself to us, He serve us. So we watch FOR Him not with Him.

Jesus invites you to watch with Him. To stand in the gap for fellow believers and tell the good news of His salvation to unbelievers; to face the trails of our lives and stand with others in the trials of their lives. Yes, it will cost you something. Your faith isn’t worth anything if serving the Lord doesn’t cost you something. This world tells you there is no consequence to ignoring what must be done. Have you bought into that?

What will it cost you? Everything. What will you gain? Do you know? There is no comparison.

Has God spoken into the darkness of your life yet? As He did in His wondrous act of creation let Him speak into the darkness of your life or be the voice of Him to speak into the darkness of another’s life and bring order out the chaos and turmoil that this life can bring.

But first we must watch with Him.Are you at your post?

-Lee

Simple...not necessarily easy...but simple.

2007-07-30T14:19:00.000-05:00

“When the solution is simple, God is answering.”
-Albert Einstein

Questions to Ask Ourselves:
Does our movement have a clear process (DNA) to move people toward greater levels of knowing Jesus (maturity)?

Does everyone understand what a movement is? Are they committed to it?

Does our movement stay focused or are we bouncing from event to event, program to program, paradigm to paradigm?

Can we clearly articulate the vision to launch movements everywhere, and in doing so teach new movement launchers?

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
–Leonardo da Vinci

Principles of how Jesus did it

2007-04-02T10:21:00.000-05:00

Selection (People were His Method) Just as Jesus took very seriously the selection of those he trained, so must the movement builder. He must look for those who are faithful, available and teachable. He must seek to find those who have a genuine heart to grow in Jesus Christ.

Association (He Stayed with Them) Since Jesus became intimately involved in the lives of His disciples, so should the movement builder be in the lives of those leaders he is seeking to develop.

Consecration (He Required Obedience) Jesus sought to create in His disciples a lifestyle of consecrated obedience.

Impartation (He Gave Himself Away) In developing His disciples, Jesus gave himself to them by imparting to them spiritual truth about life.

Demonstration (He Showed Them How to Live) One reason Jesus had such a lasting impact on His disciples is that like no other man, He practiced what He preached.

Delegation (He Assigned Them Work) Jesus developed His leadership team by delegating major ministry responsibilities to them. An ancient Chinese proverb says, “Tell me- I forget, show me- I remember, involve me- I understand.”

Supervision (He Kept Check on Them) Jesus made a point to get with His disciples following their ministry tours in order to hear their reports and instruct them in light of their experience.

Reproduction (He Expected Them to Reproduce) Jesus imparted vision to His disciples. He made them feel as if they were part of something much larger than themselves. He fully expected them to reproduce their lives in others and thereby play a major role in making disciples of all nations.

(From Jay Lorenzen - at right)

-Ethan

People not Programs

2007-04-02T10:18:00.000-05:00

In the his book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman comments, “When His (Jesus’) plan is reflected upon, the basic philosophy is so different from that of the modern church that its implications are nothing less than revolutionary…His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes but with men whom the multitudes would follow…Men were to be His method of winning the world to God. The initial objective of Jesus’ plan was to enlist men who could bear witness to His life and carry on His work after He returned to the Father.”

If we are to be like Christ, not only in character but also in ministry methodology, we must prioritize the investing of our lives in the lives of those people who will bear the maximum responsibility for the future ministry of the kingdom. In Coleman’s model of leadership development, based on the example of Jesus Christ, we find a helpful and challenging guide to the training of the next generation of transformed disciples and multiplying leaders.

(from Jay Lorenzen - at right)

-Ethan

Warfare

2007-03-27T23:59:00.000-05:00

Following the Korean War the U.S. army took note that the North Korean POW (prisioner of war) camps had an astounding death rate. In fact the 38% death rate in these P.O.W. camps was the single highest rate of mortality for ANY P.O.W. camp in the history of the United States Military. Upon examination of these camps the military noticed something even more astonishing: there was little physical torture.

Before you read on let's get this straight- the highest death rate in a P.O.W. camp (remember this is after WWII) in the entire history of the United States, and the captured soldiers were given sufficient food, water, and shelter while very little physical punishment/torture was applied. If that doesn't have you wondering you should check your pulse.

Here's an excerpt from "How Full Is Your Bucket" (Rath, Clifton):
"It was not uncommon for a soldier to wander into his hut and look despairingly about, deciding there was no use in trying to participate in his own survival. He would go into a corner alone, sit down, and pull a blanket over his head. And he would be dead within two days. The soldiers actually called it "give up-itis." The doctors labeled it "mirasmus," meaning, in Mayer's words(Military Psychologist who was studying the phenomenon), "a lack of resistance, a passivity."

We are getting a peek at an intruguing story here. Battle hardened men who had been through boot camp and on the front lines of war were now detained in a camp with no armed guard and no barb wire. In fact, no American soldier ever tried to escape their captivity.

What the North Koreans had discovered was that a man could be destroyed more efficiently and completely through the use of psychological warfare than through physical means alone. There were 4 tactics that were primarily used in this warfare:

informing
self-criticism
breaking loyalty to leadership and country
witholding all positive emotional support

Let me give you a brief breakdown of these four tactics...mostly because I find this stuff so spankin' interesting.

Informing:
The captors offered bribes (cigarettes, etc.) to soldiers in exchange for informing on their fellow prisioners. Once a soldier snitched, neither he, nor the person whom he had informed about were punished. Their intent wasn't to punish the prisioners, but rather, to break trust between one another. Can you imagine what this would be like? One day you're brought in front of the camp and the North Koreans inform the whole camp that you are bad because you have been breaking the rules and that one of your fellow prisioners is good because he reported your banned behavior. Immediately the thought would pop into your head "who can I trust?" As the rest of the camp looks on they would have to be thinking the same thing.

Self Criticism:
The North Koreans would gather the prisioners in groups of 10-12 and have each of the prisioners stand up in front of the group and report all of the bad things he had done, followed by all the good things he could have done, but failed to do. They reported to each other, not to the North Koreans.

Breaking Loyalty to Leadership and Country:
As you know, the military trains soldiers to stick together in battle; soldiers are trained to jump on a live grenade to protect the company, and the bonds forged in the heat of battle make for lifelong kinship. The North Koreans persistently and methodically undermined the prisioners allegiance to their superiors and to the U.S. The results? In one case 40 men stood by as 3 sick prisioners were thrown out of their dwelling, left to die in the elements. When asked why no one stepped in, they responded it "wasn't their job". They had lost any loyalty amonst themselves.

Witholding Emotional Support:
If a soldier received a positive letter from home the letter was witheld. If a negative letter was sent (news of a relative passing away, a wife planning to remarry, even notices of dilinquent bills and letters from collection agencies) these were promptly put in the hands of the soldier.

I've already alluded to the results of this psychological warfare: 38% of the men died. Devestating.

The Bible makes it clear that our lives are set in the context of spiritual battle. From the moment you breathed your first breath to the moment you breathe your last you are in an uphill climb - fighting, not as the world fights, but rather, a spiritual battle for existence. We have three enemies that are lurking around every corner, waiting, hoping that in this moment our armor will be weak and we will be devoured. Our ememies, the world, our flesh, and Satan don't take any days off and have never heard of a coffee break. I can identify time after time that either the world, my flesh or Satan have used the same incredibly powerful tactics that the North Koreans used to wage war on my soul.

The result? Victory...at times. The other times I simply walk into a corner alone, pull a blanket over my head, and give in to spiritual Mirasmus. "Mirasmus: a lack of resistance, passivity".

Had the North Koreans used tactics common to soldiers like spitting in their face, calling them names, or torturing them they would have aroused feeling, emotion, anger in the soldiers. This anger could then be channeled into a will to survive or point to rally around against a common enemy.

In my world the attacks rarely come from the front. If they came from the front I could anticipate, perhaps even get angry and channel that energy into the battle. Instead I am attacked from my flank, by suprise, and, by far the most hurtful, from behind. These attacks leave me bewildered, hurt, and often alone.

On the good days I push through. I may have been attacked from the flank, but I quickly reorient myself to take on the enemy face-first. I find soldiers to rally around me and sound out the battle cry "No man will be left behind". Together we jump on grenades for oneanother and navigate the minefield of life.

On the bad days...well, to be honest, it looks a whole lot like Mirasmus. "Mirasmus; a lack of resistance, passivity". At the end of these bad days I find myself looking back wondering "how did I get here?" Why am I snapping at my wife? Why do I have an utter disregard for others? Why can't I seem to find an ounce of desire to walk with God? How did I get here?

to be continued...

Movement Launching

2007-01-18T22:34:00.000-06:00

Imagine a pastor had a church of 30 people. Four months later, 200 people have made first-time commitments to Jesus through those discipled by this pastor. By the end of the first year, 40,000 people committed their lives to Jesus. In three years, a total of more than 300,000 people had accepted Christ.

Now imagine that all of this happened in one of the toughest areas in the world to share the Gospel. Would you listen to what this pastor had to say?

That's why when Baptist missionary John Li* talks about church planting, people listen. Li, a missionary to China, started a movement in his province that has led to more than 37,000 new churches in just three years.

"It has been exciting to see what God has done in our province," Li said....

For more:

http://www.pastors.com/RWMT/?id=154&artid=6549&expand=1

Spiritual Leadership

2007-01-17T19:34:00.000-06:00

an excerpt from 'Spiritual Leadership' by J. Oswald Sanders:

"Select men full of the Spirit. And they chose Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit" Acts 6:3, 5

Spiritual leadership can be exercised only by Spirit-filled men. Other qualifications for spiritual leadership are desirable. This is indispensable.

The book of Acts, an inspired source - book for principles of leadership, is the story of the men who established the Christian church and led the missionary enterprise. It is of more than passing significance that the central qualification of those who were to occupy even subordinate positions of responsibility in the early church was that they be men "full of the Holy Spirit." They must be known by their integrity and sagacity, but preeminently for their spirituality. However brilliant a man may be intellectually, however capable an administrator, without this essential equipment he is incapable of giving truly spiritual leadership.

Good point Oswald.

-Ethan

Broken

2007-01-15T23:03:00.000-06:00

Only the sinner
only the weak
only the man who lies and steals and cheats
only the woman who runs around
only the child with a selfish mouth, prostitutes and murderers, crooked businessmen
only those who have no alibi

only those who cannot hide their shame
only the dirty, never the clean
only the beggar man, never the king
only the messed up, never the made
only the sinner Jesus saves

lyrics from Josh Bales song 'only the sinner'

the Power of Prayer

2006-11-30T23:15:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday night we started a Jericho Prayer Walk at Southeast Community College in Lincoln. Earlier I blogged about this same type of prayer walk at Doane. We walk around the campus praying for walls to come down (spiritual and relational walls) one time each day for six days in a row. On the seventh day we walk around the campus seven times, and at the end declare praises to God. It is inspired, of course, by Joshua 6 in the Old Testament, and what it is for me is a faith step, and commitment to listen and obey God.

As I was driving there I wasn't expecting a lot. Southeast is two year school with no dorms. Who, I wondered, would come out at 9:30 p.m. in the freezing cold to walk around their school. I sat in the parking lot for a couple minutes with the heat on high in my car and asked God to come with me onto campus. What I need to learn is that God wants to show up...He's waiting for us to ask Him for things, or recognize where He is working...so I should have known that God was about ready to do some crazy things at Southeast. When I went to meet the group, God said, "watch me work" as seventeen students showed up to walk around their campus that night and pray.

Tonight was the third night, and already walls at Southeast are coming down. Last night two of the girls on campus (Teresa and Rachel) both had a certain teacher on their hearts. They stopped outside her room and prayed for her and opportunities to talk with her about what they believed. Today (the day after yesterday) God showed up and answered that prayer. Teresa had an opportunity to share her faith with this teacher, as well as ask her about her spiritual background. When Teresa was telling me about this conversation tonight she repeatedly used the word amazing, and couldn't keep the smile off her face. We haven't even reached day seven yet and already God is bringing down walls in a teachers life at Southeast.

What a blessing it is to work with students who believe. Students who are trusting God to transform their campus. Join with us as we continue praying for walls to come down at Southeast Community College.

-terah

Barbarian Way IV

2006-11-14T09:57:00.000-06:00

“The entire focus of our faith has been the elimination of sin, which is important , but inadequate, rather than the unleashing of a unique, original, extraordinary, wonderfully untamed faith.”

As I'm writing I’m near Rapid City, South Dakota at a men’s retreat and a few minutes ago a student and I were talking about this very thing. He was making the point that men struggle most with lust they’re “bored”. At the same time when I ask guys around the state how their life is going the answer I hear the most is some variation of, “I’m soooo busy right now”.

I don’t think the problem of boredom comes down to a lack of options for how they might spend their time, but rather, a compelling vision that captivates their thoughts and imagination. Thus, the problem comes out something like this:

I want to be a good Christian
I have no vision for what the Kingdom could be on my campus.
I want to eliminate these thoughts and habits but I have nothing to replace them with
I get into an “accountability group” to help me eliminate this sin
If it works I’ll achieve a measure of victory because maybe I won’t commit this sin anymore.

What if it didn’t start with an attempt to eliminate sin, but rather a compelling vision of fulfilling the great commission at your school? What if victory wasn’t an elimination of your sin, but every student at your college having the chance to say “yes” to a personal relationship with Jesus. What if the focus of your life wasn’t yourself?

I long see clumps of students who are gripped by the work of God’s Kingdom, resulting in an elimination of the boredom that’s created by a life of self gratification. I envision small groups of students who are so enraptured by the call of Jesus on their lives that they find themselves desperate to eliminate sin in their lives because their friends’ spiritual lives are stake.

What if “accountability groups” kept one another accountable for personally accepting responsibility for their slice of the great commission pie? What if accountability consisted of a group of your friends calling you out of the mediocrity of the majority and into your unique calling in the service of the King?

-Ethan

Barbarian Way III

2006-11-13T22:02:00.000-06:00

“For the early disciples Jesus was right there for them to watch and hear. For the rest of us, we have to learn how to see the invisible and see the inaudible. Although you can learn important things about God from others, in the end to know the barbarian way you must receive your instructions from God himself. If this isn’t enough to drive you crazy, I don’t know what is.”

God, I want this to be true of me…I want to hear your voice clearly and have the courage to follow where you lead. You said my sheep know my voice and they follow, I pray God that when my days are done this, above all else, would be true of me. Take me Lord, speak loudly to my busy ears and come firmly to my numb senses.

I struggle so often with results and continuing to follow you when I don’t see the immediate result of what you’ve called me to. Help me trust you equally with the action and the result. Make my heart lead my mind. Help me live a life in the spiritual realm, living by faith and faithfully following to whatever end.

Lord I repent of the stuff that clutters my mind and life, distracting and diluting the potency of your voice and call on my life.

-Ethan

Barbarian Way II

2006-11-13T01:11:00.000-06:00

“History again and again reveals to us that we are less likely to do good when we perceive ourselves a part of a larger crowd than if we make the choice standing alone. When we are in a crowd, we are more prone toward acts of evil or at least compliance to evil. For some reason the civilized can rationalize apathy and feel themselves absolved from personal responsibility. Good needs to be done, but someone else will take care of it.”

Boy, isn’t that the truth. You could do a little research and find this simple truth in social psychology, in the church, or in America in general.

As Jesus ended his time with the disciples he gave them a very simple command: “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:18-20). What will it take for you to take personal responsibility for making disciples where you are?

Can you imagine if half of the people in your Crusade movement or local church suddenly decided that they were personally going to obey this command? What would this look like? I imagine it would mean that people would have to stop going to potlucks because they are instead having their neighbors over for lunch on Sunday. I think it would mean that people would worry a whole lot less about programs and instead start worrying about people whom they have relationships with who don’t have a relationship with God.

You see, when we start to think about reaching every student at _____ College I believe we’re starting to think like Jesus. I believe that Jesus has a heart for every tribe, tongue, nation, and people. But, here’s a newsflash: you aren’t going to reach every student at your college with a meeting.

“But we’ll get a better band.”

Nope, they’re not coming…not all of them at least.

“But we’ll try harder.”

Nope, they’re not coming…not all of them at least.

“Maybe we’ll facebook everyone at our school…”

Listen, if they didn’t come to a meeting to see God in the flesh they’re sure aren’t going to come to your meeting. Jesus said he came to seek and to save the lost…who’s doing the movement in that statement?

Students will be reached when you and a couple of your friends get together and make a commitment to God and each other to live in the Spirit and make disciples of those whom he puts in your path…and then start moving. This might mean that you’re spending time in your suite-mates room talking about the divorce that his parents are going through instead of spending time at band practice.

What will it take for you to step out of the majority; out of the anonymity of the crowd and into your unique calling to bring light to dark places on campus? What will it take?

SECC fall retreat

2006-10-28T18:41:00.000-05:00

This weekend was the first ever fall retreat for Southeast Community College in Lincoln. 25 students showed up for a student-led initiative that followed the theme of "Light a Fire". As you would guess, the weekend started with an enormous bonfire near Seward accompanied by dinner and smores. The student leaders invited Bob, the faculty advisor for Campus Crusade for Christ, to tell his personal story of coming to Christ with the theme of "the fire in you". Many of the students stayed up all night and all stayed at the Efree church in Seward.

Today the student leaders gave a couple talks followed by small group discussion time. The themes were "how to share the fire", and "start a fire on campus" (sharing the gospel and launching a movement). Brian Abbot, a local pastor whom we're partnering with at SECC came for a few hours today, and sat in the last talk with Terah and I as Theresa talked about the vision of reaching every student at SECC with the gospel. We were sitting next to one another when something happened that neither of us had seen before:

Theresa was near the conclusion of her talk when one student raised his hand (odd). He's a quiet guy but he asked if he could say something...he then got up, faced the group, and talked for a minute or two about how this weekend and CCC had been such a huge blessing to him in the few weeks that he had been on campus. Sheepishly, he finished by saying "thanks", and then sat down. In a pure movement of the Spirit, one student after another started telling a short blurp of their story, how they got to SECC, and how they were so grateful for the group. One student tearfully shared of his struggles being adopted and how the group (in just a few weeks!) felt like a home...one student shared of how she had prayed and prayed for a Christian group before coming to SECC and what an answer to prayer the group was.It was amazing.

The best part was that there seemed to be a great wave mounting that, once one student broke the social norms and shared, came crashing down in an outpouring of worship. The students planned it, they spoke, and they are the one who will be lighting fires all over campus...Praise the Lord!

-Ethan

Around the Walls of Doane: Day 7

2006-10-07T23:45:00.000-05:00

This was the final day of our Jericho walk, and what a day it was. We discovered that walking around Doane College seven times takes 2 1/2 hours. What an amazing time of prayer. This weekend was also Homecomeing at Doane, and so the atmosphere was very festive. As we walked around we couldn't help but be excited by the fact that God was going to show up and we believed it.

We started our walk praising God for who He is and asking Him to align our hearts and wills to His. On our second lap around we shared with each other what God had been teaching us lately. Up until this point we walked around the campus with very limited conversation. I enjoyed hearing how God was developing the character of our key leaders on campus. Lap three was dedicated to praying for the walls to come down; whether that be in individuals, relationships, between organizations, or area's on campus. After this round we decided it would be wise to take a little stretch break (maybe we should have trained for Saturday more ;).

Last night after we were done walking, Wes, one of our student leaders, mentioned his desire for comfort zones to be expanded. He said he felt like comfort was a wall. So, as we began our fourth time around I told them we would be praying about comfort zones, and getting out of them. Two verses had come to mind earlier that morning (2 Timothy 1:7 and Romans 1:16) and I shared those with the students. One the back stretch now we asked God during lap five where He was already moving on campus and how He was moving. That led us to our sixth lap where I challenged the students to ask God what their part in that movement may be. If God was already moving on campus, which we determined He was, and we asked Him what our part might be, which we did, the question then becomes are you willing to listen and obey. One of the most helpful things in the obedience step is accountability, and so on our seventh and final trip around Doane College I asked the students to share with on another what it was that God had told them on the lap before. We shared what we heard God answer to the question about where and how we might join Him.

And yes, of course at the end of our final lap we all gave a shout and the walls came down! I am confident that God was faithful, it's true of His nature, and that there will be a number of opportunities in the next few weeks for us to see Him work. My prayer continues to be that we as believers would stay faithful and full of belief. I pray that we are obedient in the opportunities God puts before us to join Him in His amazing plan. I look forward to posting stories of what is happening at Doane in the future.

For me this has been an amazing experience and while God continued to grow my understanding of obedience, He also rekindled faith that had become somewhat small. Thank you to those of you who joined with us in prayer. Our God is an awesome God!

-terah

Around the Walls of Doane: Day 6

2006-10-06T22:13:00.000-05:00

Tonight Ethan and I made our way to the bell tower to meet our faithful students. I imagine I felt the anxiety the Israelites may have felt on their 6th walk around the walls of Jericho. We were on the sixth day, walking around Doane, wondering: what does tomorrow bring? What's behind those walls? My prayers were focused on the many walls that could be on this campus, in peoples lives, and between relationships. I think I can officially say, God has given me a heart for Doane.

Just to give you an update on the FCA skit that was performed last night at the Homecoming pep rally..."It was awesome" was the quote from Wes Jensen, one of our student leaders. As he told us what the skit was about, and how it communicated Christ's victory over Satan, he said students all over the stadium got it. They were whispering about the character that represented Christ in the skit, and became silent when one student declared the gospel through the loudspeaker. Praise the Lord because students were talking about it in class today.

One more day...

...then the walls will come down.

-terah

Around the Walls of Doane: Day 5

2006-10-06T08:22:00.000-05:00

Today God seemed to be communicating to me about belief. My heart was burdened with the fact that we so often know things but stop at that knowledge. The simple fact is that faith is a core aspect to our salvation along with God’s infinite grace and Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. If we were to merely know about God’s grace and Christ’s sacrifice for our sins but did not believe it, where would that leave us. Why then, was the question that came to my mind, do we hesitate to believe as we live out our Christian lives? What makes us pray things simply because we know that is what we should be praying, but not really believing God will come through?

This challenging thought coupled with the fact that my heart was becoming more burdened for Doane College led me to resonate with D.L. Moody when he stated:

“It is a delusion of the devil to think that we cannot pray; we can if we really want anything. It is not the most beautiful or eloquent language that brings down the answer, it is the cry that goes out of a burdened heart. It is the desire, the wish of the heart, that God delights to answer. An arrow if it be drawn up but a little way, goes not far, but if it be pulled up to the head, flies swiftly and pierces deep. Thus prayer if it be only dribbled forth from careless lips, falls at our spirit. Fervency of spirit is that which availeth most.”

Tonight we started our walk by asking God to align our hearts to His. We individually asked the Lord to search our hearts and make known to us anything that may be hindering our belief. The Spirit was moving, and I look forward to seeing what God’s will is for the campus and the role we as believers will play in that. One thing I realized was, I truly do believe that God is going to do something great...my struggle is trying to avoid defining great by my own expectations. When our hearts are aligned to His, asking for the campus in His name, we will understand His amazing will.

Onto day six!

-terah

Around the Walls of Doane: Day 4

2006-10-04T22:50:00.000-05:00

We have come to the middle of our week and while driving to Doane tonight I realized how easy it would be to loose focus and simply go through the motions. I prayed that God would renew my heart and open my eyes to specific walls on campus. Before heading out on our walk tonight we took some time to ask God to arms us for the battle we were putting ourselves in by asking God to show up. We prayed out of Ephesians 6, putting on the different pieces of the armor of God, and then we headed out.

God honored my request from the car and gave me focus, as well as clarity in what I should be praying for as I passed different buildings. God has been growing my heart for Doane College campus with every walk I take around it. I have been amazed at the way He brings something new to my attention each day.

When we finished up Rachel (on the left), a student who was walking with us the first time tonight, closed us in prayer. I don't know if you have ever experienced the spirit move as someone is praying the exact things that are on your heart, but it is amazing. As Rachel prayed I knew the Spirit was moving powerfully. I felt God affirming me in my faith. I can't wait to head out tomorrow.

By the way, I will be playing basketball after our walk tomorrow night with some of the girls on campus and will be inviting Christina from last night. Pray that she would be able to come and I would be able to have a spiritual conversation with her. Until tomorrow.

-terah

Around the Walls of Doane: Day 3

2006-10-04T00:19:00.000-05:00

As we gathered at the bell tower tonight I felt it necessary for us to quiet our hearts before God and ask Him to reveal anything that may be standing in the way of our prayers. Knowing that in day three walking around the campus could become just something we do at 7:30 p.m. instead of a time where we step out in faith and ask God to truly move on our campus, I encouraged them to take some time to focus any thoughts that may be wandering, and we started our walk. We have had a total of 12 people walking, not including myself, and most of those have come more than once. It is encouraging to see God challenging the faith of the students and them responding.

Throughout the day and into the walk I had been praying for opportunities to share my faith or see the walls come down while I was there walking. When we were about 4/5 of the way done with our walk tonight I noticed a girl shooting hoops at an outdoor court, in the dark. My heart went out to her and immediately questions swarmed my mind. Why is she shooting by herself in the dark? Am I supposed to share the Gospel with her? Is she a believer? Does she play on the basketball team? What in the world will my opening comment be?

After recognizing the coincidence that she was playing a game I had loved so much, by herself, on a day I had prayed for God to give me an opportunity to impact a life at Doane, I decided to ask her if she wanted me to rebound for her.

Christina is a Sophomore at Doane who lives in the "Quads", the notorious party housing on the only wet campus in Nebraska. She was extremely easy to talk to and I felt comfortable asking her questions as I passed the ball back to her after a shot. I came to find out that her roommate attended the Crusade meeting after asking her if she would like to go with me that night. She hesitated, which I took as a good sign, and then said probably not tonight because of homework. I had also mentioned the fact that I was going to be playing ball with my friend Laura Kroese and a few other girls sometime this week and invited her to join us. She gave me her phone number and room number and I fully intend on picking up the game where we left off this evening.

Tonight I realized my desire to be able to step onto a court, build relationships with the people I'm playing with, and share my faith and hope in Christ with them through that. My conversation with Christina was my highlight tonight. Thank you for praying with us.

-terah

Around the Walls of Doane: Day 2

2006-10-02T23:46:00.000-05:00

After walking around the campus at Doane tonight I was amazed at the way my heart was growing for the campus. As we walked a couple of the students told me what some of the buildings were and specifically some of the walls in those places. As the buildings came alive so did my faith that God would surely show up.

To top it off, when I returned home tonight I was checking my email and noticed an email from Beth Heimann. Beth is the faculty advisor at Nebraska Methodist College and an amazing woman of God. I must share it with you because of the amazing power of the Spirit. Here's what she wrote:

The Holy Spirit is definitely speaking. Last week the Lord placed on my heart to do one of two things for our meeting on Wed. The first was a Jericho Prayer Walk. I met with Kim this morning and she thought the prayer walk would be powerful. I had my bible on my lap open to the book of Joshua ready to read and review it just now.I saw that I had an email message and my mouth dropped when I saw it was from you re: a Jericho Prayer Walk. We’ll be standing in the gap with Doane on Wed. We will pray for their campus as well. I have a chill surging through my entire body right now. God is on the move. He wants our campuses claimed for Him. I can’t wait to see the work He will continue to finish.

Praise the Lord! The Spirit is always moving, the question is simply are we willing to listen and follow. Below I've listed some of the requests the students at Doane have for this week. Please join us in praying.

the Chaplin office - that it would be based in Christianity and stand for what is Truth
Homecoming is this week, pray for the activities that accompany that.
FCA will be doing a skit for the Homecoming pep rally on Thursday evening that presents questions that lead to the Gospel. Pray that students would be receptive, and the believers on the campus would have courage to tell people about the Gospel when the opportunity arises.

I long to say as Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

-terah

Around the Walls of Doane: Day 1

2006-10-01T23:06:00.000-05:00

There was excitment in me as I stepped onto Doane College tonight. Earlier in the day I received an email from one of our student leaders at Doane, that went out to a number of students on the campus. I would like to share the vision of that email with you.

Have you noticed walls on our campus? No silly not the walls of your dorm room that are slowly closing in on you. The walls we are talking about are walls between people and their relationships. We've noticed them too.
Here's what we are going to do. We are going to step out in faith and follow the model of Joshua and the Israelites in Joshua 6 and ask God in faith to bring those walls down.
Here's what that means for you. Campus Crusade is inviting you to step out with us. We are inviting you to walk around campus in prayer with us. Starting tonight for the next six nights we ask you to meet us at the bell tower at 7:30pm to walk around campus once in prayer. Then Saturday at 9:30 A.M. we will walk around seven times just as Joshua and the Isrealites did shouting praises at the end of the walk.
So here's the break down. God literally crumbled the walls at Jericho. Surely, he is just as powerful today. We would love for you to come and step out in faith with us for just one night or all seven.

These students are truly trusting God to bring down walls on their campus, and inviting others to join them in that faith step. And this is only the beginning.

As I made my way to the bell tower where I was to meet Kristin, our student president, I noticed a stone side built into the side of the tower we were to meet at. One the stone it stated "We Build on Christ". What a moment of affirmation for me. Tonight, seven students joined me on my walk around campus. Imagine what God can do with seven students who are full of faith.

-terah

Walls

2006-10-01T22:31:00.000-05:00

Joshua 6:1 “Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.” This is the condition of many campuses across the state of Nebraska. Shut up because of the power of God in people, and to the Gospel in general.

Last week I was talking with God about where He might have me on the campuses here in Nebraska. Where was He moving, what part could I play, what did my next step look like? I took out a copy of my most recent email from Barbara Francis, a woman on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, and began reading the Devoted to Prayer article. She had attached what was titled “A Jericho Prayer Walk”, and as I read that God began spurring my heart to action. She talked about a prayer walk, through the story of Joshua and the Israelites, and inviting God to break down the walls on campuses, among teams, and in the office.

As I read the story of Joshua (Joshua 5:13 – 6:20) and the Israelites in my Bible, I prayed for God to show me what this looked like in my life. As soon as I asked He answered; do exactly that. What would it look like to walk around a campus one time for six days in a row, and then on the seventh day walk around the campus seven times? What would it look like to have students who committed their hearts to this with the faith that God would do just as He promised? What would it look like to have the walls on campuses throughout the state of Nebraska shattered so that the Good News could be known?

That kind of faith excites me. Knowing the outcome God could produce fills me with passion. God communicated a commitment to me and I signed on the dotted line. My desire is to see students on every campus in the state of Nebraska step up to this challenge of faith and devote one week to following the model laid out in the Old Testament. Today we are starting a Jericho Walk at Doane College in Crete, NE, trusting that God will bring down the walls that are preventing the Gospel from transforming the campus. If you would like, you can pray with us every evening this week at 7:30 for Doane College. Also, on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. we will be walking around seven times. I look forward to keeping you updated on the wonderful things God does this week, as well as other weeks on different campuses.

-terah

Anonymous

2006-09-26T02:06:00.000-05:00

This is an excerpt from an email that I received from a student leader in Nebraska. Man, just hearing their heart and vision being transformed to Jesus' makes me proud to call them a friend, and as I read the words I am compelled to follow their example as they follow Christ.

It was a huge coincidence that put this person in my life, and now I know it was not an accident, but an act of God. I can't help but wonder how many times God has put resources in my life for me to take advantage of and I didn't. I have realized that God has been trying to help me all along, but I didn't realize it until now, because I have never had enough faith to take those steps to seek his resources.

I can't put into words at how overwhelmed I feel about how great my life and my faith has become. For the first time, I feel like a truely happy, faithful, Godly person. I have realized that in life it is not just the end result that counts, but the journey you take to get there, and my journey, although hard and frustrating, and definitely not over, has been very worth while because it has given me a great appreciation for life and the God that has given not only given it to me, but given it back to me over and over again after all of my failures.

You have just caught a glimpse of a person's soul growing.

-Ethan

Situational Leadership

2006-09-25T12:44:00.000-05:00

Below you'll find an excerpt of Hersey and Blanchard's (one minute manager) leadership study entitled Situational Leadership. Below that you'll find my thoughts on how this relates to spiritual movments in Nebraska.

According to Situational Leadership, as the readiness levels of individuals increase, the followers' ability and willingness fluctuate. When first beginning a new task, where they have had little, if any, prior knowledge or experience, most individuals are tentative or insecure. Then, when they begin to get into the task, followers respond to the leader's assistance. This builds confidence which increases as skills are acquired.

If they overcome this stage of development and learn to perform the task with help from the leader, most individuals then go through a self-doubt stage where they question whether they can perform the task well on their own. The leader would say that they are competent, but they are not sure of the their competence. These alternating feelings of competence and self-doubt cause the variable commitment; sometimes excitement, other times self-doubt. Once the self-doubt is overcome, the followers move from doubt to peak performer.

One of the acronymns that we use in Nebraska (you'll find it in the Passport) is MAWL. Model, Assist, Watch, Leave. As more mature believers, we model for new believers and underclassmen how to share their faith, lead a Bible study, and basically follow Jesus on a moment by moment basis. Next, we assist them as we do it together. This means that we invite people to lead...they're not left alone to succeed or fail, but rather, we're right there beside them, leading together.

After assisting, we begin to pull back and let the new leader have greater responsibility. At this point Hersey and Blanchard would say the emerging leader is experiencing variable commitment - sometimes experiencing excitement, other times self-doubt. This, in my opinion is the trickiest position for us. As we have our eye on the next step of leaving, we now have the responsibility to remain in the 'Watch' phase to help the new leader in any way possible (prayer, conversation, encouragement, etc.) get to the point where they are able to make the leap to leading on their own. Then we leave and do it again with another emerging leader!

One of the ways this basic model of discipleship breaks down is when the emerging leader does not replecate the tutelage which they received after they have been leading on their own. What can we do to help MAWL perpetuate among new leaders?

Before Hersey and Blanchard performed an academic study on this principle I believe Jesus modeled for us the same type of leadership. For the sake of length let me just pose some questions:

Model: Did Jesus model for his disciples how to 'do ministry'? (sharing their faith, prayer, etc.)
Assist: Did Jesus assist his disciples as they began to take on greater responsibility?
Watch: Did Jesus step back and let them lead ministry while he was there watching?
Leave: Ummm... Did Jesus physically leave :) and let the disciples take on the task of leading?

I'll come back to this.

-Ethan

The Gospel for Real Life I

2006-09-21T00:50:00.000-05:00

I hadn't intended to start on this book so soon, but after our discussion in small group this evening I really feel like God is leading me to start now. It's going to be long, a little corny, but worth it. The blue text are direct quotes from the Gospel for Real Life. The red text is me.

"When Lazarus lay dead in the tomb he could not decide to come to life again. In fact, Lazarus could not even respond to Jesus' call, "lazarus, come out!" unless with that call Jesus gave him life (John 11:1-44). Lazarus's condition, as he lay dead in the tomb, is a picture of our spiritual predicament. We can hear the call of the gospel a hundred times, but unless that call is accompanied by the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit, we can no more respond to it than Lazarus could respond to a vocal call from Jesus."

What a great point. This great point, however, makes me think you're saying that there was nothing that I did to receive Christ. Is that right?

I know it is difficult for us to accept the fact that we could not just decide to trust Christ in much the same way we might buy more life insurance (intellectually). The truth is, we did decide to trust Christ, but the reason we made that decision is that God had first made us spiritually alive.

O.K., so you're saying that I DID make a free-will decision to trust Christ, but God, through Christ, gave me the ability to make that decision. You've got my attention Mr. Bridges...now can you back it up Biblically?

"We see the necessity of the Spirit's work in giving us faith in Jesus' conversation with the Pharisee Nicodemus (John 3:1-21). In verse 3 Jesus says emphatically that 'no one can see the kindom of God unless he is born again.'"

"What is Jesus saying to Nicodemus and to us?

I don't know...you're the spankin' author, why don't you tell me?

Notice that Jesus speaks not of permission to enter the kingdom, but of inability to enter it apart from a new birth. We all recognize the difference between the relationships of may to permission and can to ability. Here Jesus consistently uses the word can. We cannot - in other words, we do not have the ability to - enter the kingdom unless the Spirit of God gives us life through the new birth. We are born again, then, by a sovereign, monergistic (that is, the Spirit working alone) act of the Holy Spirit. Then, as a result of that new birth, we exercise the faith given to us and enter the kingdom of God."

What's that? You're not done yet? Well, by all means then, please proceed...

"'One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.' (Acts 16:14) What does it mean that the Lord opened Lydia's heart? It means that He made her spiritually alive, that she was born again. It means He removed the Satan-induced blindness from her mind so that she understood and embraced the gospel. I means that He delivered her from the kingdom of darkness, where she had been held captive, so that she could respond in faith. Note the sequence of events recorded by Luke. The Lord opened her heart; then she responded to Paul's message. She could not respond until God first opened her heart."

Point well made; I guess there's quite a bit of Biblical evidence pointing toward the verdict. At this point, however, the argument seems rather lopsided; is seems as though God has everything to do with my salvation while I have very little. Not to mention the fact that I've spent countless hours sharing my faith and learning to share my faith clearly in an attempt to win people to Christ. If salvation's all the work of the Holy Spirit, then I guess I wasted a lot of time, huh?

"Obviously the Holy Spirit works through our human channels of evangelism. As we saw in Chapter 9, 'faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ' (Romans 10:17). But our message is impotent apart from the working of the Holy Spirit, who both empowers the messenger and opens the heart of the listener as He did in the case of Lydia.

Prove it.

"Consider Paul's words to the Thessalonian believers: 'Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction' (1 Thess 1:5)." What resulted when Paul's message was accompanied by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit? 'The thessalonians 'turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God' (1:9)."

"The Thessalonians themselves believed. They exercised faith. God does not believe for us, but He does through His Spirit create spiritual life in us so that we can believe."

Gotcha; God gives me the ability to have faith, to accept salvation, and then I have to exercise that faith, like Jesus giving Lazarus the ability to come out of the tomb, but then Lazarus actually exercising his ability to walk out. Here's the deal though, let's say I have a friend who doesn't know Christ; what then? I understand that "God uses our human channels of evangelism", thus I need to be able to clearly articulate the gospel message in words that they can understand. But on the other hand, you've proven your point that salvation is, first and foremost, the working of the Holy Spirit in a person's life. How in the world do I account for their ability to receive Christ in the first place?

"I think of some for whose salvation I pray regularly. One is stridently opposed to the gospel, wanting nothing to do with God. Another is happily indifferent, seeing no need of a Savior because he is a good, moral person. Others, at this point in our relationships, would be highly insulted to be told they need a Savior because, after all, they are both moral and religious. What hope is there for these people? It lies only in the sovereign, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. And I pray regularly that He will work in the hearts of these people through the gospel message to create the faith they must have to believe in Christ."

Alright, the lights are coming on for me, and I'm starting to put the pieces together. What you're saying is that because salvation is the working of God I need to pray to God to open their hearts as he did Lydia's some 2000 years ago - pray that God grants them the ability to exercise faith. Also, the gospel needs to be presented to my friend in a way that they can understand because 'faith comes from hearing the message'.

That makes sense. I once heard John Piper say "God has the ability to drop vertically on each person to present them with a clear gospel message. For some reason, however, He chooses to use us to move into a person's life horizontally...one person at a time."

I guess what I'm getting out of this is that I need to be regularly praying for God to give my friend the ability to receive the gospel, while at the same time I need to be prepared to give an account for the hope that I have in Christ whenever the opportunity arrises. What would you say to that?

We are not to be a terminus point for the gospel, but rather a way station in its progress to the ends of the earth. God intends that everyone who has embraced the gospel become a part of the great enterprise of spreading the gospel.

Well said. Man, you should write a book, or 12.

-Ethan

The Barbarian Way I

2006-09-20T00:25:00.000-05:00

My first installment of thoughts from the Barbarian Way by McManus:

"Somehow Christianity has become a non-mystical religion"
One of the things that I appreciate about the whole post-modern culture is an inclination away from the scientific method approach to life and toward spirituality. I believe this is a healthy movement for us as a society and, most importantly, Christianity. Somewhere along the way we became concerned with trying to prove our faith, perhaps now we can move beyond that and embrace the reality of what the Bible is saying.

The whole Bible is filled with crazy stuff (see: circumcision, virgin birth, dead men walking) that flat out can't be explained any other way than by the supernatural power of God Himself. This is the faith to which the writer of Hebrews refers as he (chpt. 11) rattles off crazy story after crazy of people who were completely devoted to a God who moved them to action. The faith that the Bible presents is a whole lot different than the faith you see in Ned Flanders.

"For the early disciples, Jesus was right there for them to watch and hear. For the rest of us, we have to learn how to see the invisible and hear the inaudible."
Bill Bright was once asked if he had the chance to speak to a group of Christians or non-Christians which would he choose. He responded that he'd rather teach the Christian audience to live a spirit-filled life because then they'd have the chance to share Christ with the other group of non-Christians.

When you leave college my prayer for you as a student leader with CCC is that you would be educated. Not with a degree or skill for the workplace, but rather with an understanding of what it means to live a Spirt-filled life; to see the invisible and hear the inaudible. I pray that you will be an ambassador for Christ for the rest of your life because you are listening to the still small voice of Holy Spirit as He directs you.

-Ethan Wiekamp

5 sources of motivation

2006-09-10T20:10:00.000-05:00

I recently ran across an academic article (Leonard, Beauvais, Scholl, 1999) that discusses 5 basic sources of motivation. It's interesting. What would you say is your primary motivation for being involved in Campus Crusade for Christ in Nebraska? You don't have to answer, it's just fun to think about.

5 sources of Motivation:

Intrinsic Process: we do it because it’s fun

Instrumental: we do it because we’re going to be rewarded for doing it

Self Concept External: we do it because people will know that we did it, and they’ll think highly of us

Self Concept Internal: we do it because there will be a reinforcement of our own self concept

Goal Internalization: we do it because we truly believe in the cause

Understanding that nobody will end up with 100% of their motivation coming from a single source, where do you think your primary source of motivation is coming from? What about the freshmen in your movement? Let's say most of your freshmen are involved because "it's fun"...is that O.K.?

-Ethan

-Ethan

Doane is going to explode this year!!

2006-09-06T12:33:00.000-05:00

I got this email from Wes Jensen. Man, I'm so excited about Doane this year!

-Ethan

Ethan...

How's it going man? I just wanted to fill ya in on some pretty amazing stuff...

A good friend of mine and someone I and many others have been reachin out to since freshmen year, is a Mormon and has never really been in tune with Crusade in the past years. In fact, she'd leave the area if Cru was ever brought up. Last spring she went to our Easter weekly meeting when Kevin Pringle came and spoke. During the altar call, she was crying. No decision made, but definitely a seed was planted. In the last four days of being on campus, we've seen the harvest of that seed from spring time. During lunch one day, Ashlee was informing me that Kevin Pringle was coming to our 1st official weekly meeting to do the talk on sharing the Gospel. My friend immediately said she's going! Also, others have had significant spiritual conversations with her just the past few days!

A junior at Doane, came up to Ashlee A. today at our OL training and immediately said, "I think I want to join Crusade this year." Wow! What's the chance that would happen, especially since she has never attend a Cru event or meeting ever! Basically, its like she said, "I want to know about Jesus!" Of course its not the same thing, especially the eternal impact it'll make in her life, but a huge step. Plus, Ashlee is really building a strong relationship with her just in 2 days!

A senior and a suitemate of mine, and I had a great conversation tonight. How it all happened is just amazing. I can't even remember what it was right now, but he had gotten sick this early night so I was just chillin with him in the suite and all of sudden our conversation turned to spiritual aspects. It was just awesome to see where he was in his walk with Christ and get to know him on a more personal level. Really feel that God is going to make great things come through with this.

We're having Piper Down, Cru's Keynote Band, come Sept. 5th. Its outdoors in our theatre and since its at 7 pm we wanted to get the caf. closed for it. Well it had been lookin like we weren't going to be able to do it since we got a new food service company and one of the connections we had with the old caf. workers had left when the new company came in. However, we went in yesterday to talk to them about it specifically and they said, "No problem."! Will be a great opportunity for us to talk it up and keep students there!

I could go on but the Lord has opened up many doors for me and other leaders on our team to begin relationships with people we never imagined, have been praying about, never met before, and so on. It is evident that the Holy Spirit is moving on our campus and the atmosphere is just indescribable.

Thank so much for your leadership and desire to help equip Christian college students to win their campus for the Lord. The Core was a great start for our team and I really feel this is going to a revolutionary year at Doane! Have a great rest of the week bro and if your not busy tomorrow night you should stop by Memorial Stadium. They're giving tours of the new facilities and such. God Bless!

Your Brother in Christ,

Wes Jensen

Impacting Chile!

2006-09-03T22:25:00.000-05:00

Here is a recent email I received from Julie Sorensen. Julie was a student at Wayne State College, and after she graduated from there she went on to Nebraska Med Center for Pharmacy. She is currently taking a year off to do a one year STINT (short term international ministry) with Campus Crusade. It is so exciting for us to read about the impact a student from Nebraska is making in Chile and we wanted to share it with you.

Hey-
I made it to Chile! Thank you so much for all of your prayers- we had a great flight and all our luggage even arrived with us. The Lord has blessed me a lot with a great team of 6 other people- 3 married couples- Jason and Kristi, Clint and Maggie, and Vince and Holly. Things have started off well between us and we really do enjoy being together and definitly have a unified vision to see the Chilean students reached for Christ. I live with 3 other girls that are also on another STINT team here in Santiago- 2 are from Mexico and the other is from the United States. They're a lot of fun and I'm so thankful that I get to live with them. (I think I might get to learn to cook!) The briefing in Colorado was good last week too. It really helped me to get focused on why I am going to Chile, as well as helping me to really connect with the Lord again.

We arrived last Monday and got settled in and figured out how to live in Chile with grocery shopping and other essentials. This week we started language school and will be going everyday- we're all at different levels, but it's definitly a challenge for all of us to try to understand and speak this Chilean spanish. They talk so fast and don't pronounce their words very clearly- but I love the language. We've also been going to the campus we're going to work at - it's actually a street called Republica and there are several campuses together on this street. We've done a prayer walk and are going to 'decode' it tomorrow.

The Lord has been teaching me a lot about what it means to love these Chilean students as he does. 1 Cor. 13 keeps coming to mind, and I try to put myself in it and it seems I am the opposite of all the things that love is. But it is so strengthening to know that He is all these things- he is love- and He can love these people through me. It's so incredible to truly look at people and know that Christ died for them specifically - that they have a story and God is infinitly interested in them, just like He is in you and me. I keep praying that God would break my heart for these students, and I feel He is beginning to do that.

Please keep praying for us that Spanish would come quickly- it's definitly a big barrier right now to talking with people. Also for continued team unity and unity with my roommates- the language barrier makes things a bit more complicated. Also pray for wisdom in talking with students- a lot of them are closed to anything about God, so we need wisdom for the context in which we present the gospel to them. We definitly want to focus on building relationships with the students there.
Thank you so much for all your prayers- it's such a blessing to partner with you all in reaching the Chilean students for Christ.

My Chilean address is
Julie Sorensen
Carlos Antunez 1867, Edif. 18,
Depto.1007, Providencia
Santiago, Chile

In his love and grace,
Julie Sorensen

Chadron is Rollin'

2006-08-24T11:37:00.000-05:00

Just got this email from Brady Cone- the student president at Chadron. Praise the Lord! -Ethan

Hey Ethan & Terah,

I just wanted to let you know how great things are going here. Everything sounds like it is going to be great on wednesday (for our first weekly meeting). Our freshman survival kits are doing awesome: so far, sixty percent fo the freshman we've given them to want to be in a bible study, which I think is amazing.

If that works out for the rest, then that means we will have like 75 freshman in bible studies from the FSK's alone!!!!!!!! For all of them that are showing interest, I am getting people lined up to invite them to go to cru on wednesday, so I think we can get most of those there. With as well as it is going, I think that we can get a fourth of the freshman class there on Wednesday, and get close to that signed up for bible studies.

-Brady Cone

Time

2006-06-06T09:35:00.000-05:00

I have been in Myrtle Beach on Summer Project for a while now, and this past week I have been struck by my perceptions of the effect of time on relationships. I have this unspoken understanding that in order for me to bond to others in relationship I need to spend copious amounts of time with that person, share experiences, and gradually get to know them. This week has challenged my subconscious perception…

The students have only been here for about a week, and already we’ve begun to develop incredibly close and open relationships….we have shared with each other things that very few others have heard. In short, authentic, Christ-centered community has sprouted in the course of about 7 days. That’s amazing!

I find myself rethinking my misconceptions of the time needed in order to build a real relationship.

However, I believe that the key ingredient necessary for deep relationships to form in a short amount of time (think: incoming freshmen) is that the involved parties are committed to one another and the relationship. Permission needs to given and taken to be open, honest, real, and vulnerable; to be fully known and still be fully loved. The men on this project came with the understanding and expectation that they were going to be open and honest, and thus have the chance to experience the kind of relationships that few will experience. It works.

-Ethan Wiekamp

Bubble

2006-04-24T16:06:00.000-05:00

At times we joke about the “Christian bubble”, the community of believers who can’t seem to reach outside themselves. Throughout my life I’ve talked about this group with different people, always with the idea that I’m not one of “those people”. As I’ve grown in my walk I’ve realized my tendencies to find comfort in “those people”. To be relaxed around people who are like me and enjoy things the way I do. This realization challenged my priorities and quite frankly scared me a little.

Recently I began reading the book “Finding Common Ground” by Tim Downs. Through his artistic communication Tim has helped me put words to many things floating around in my head as well as challenge those priorities I mentioned earlier. I would love to share with you just a few of those thoughts.

When talking about interacting with students in the Communication Center Tim Downs was a part of starting, he says:
“What I discovered after several years of this kind of interaction is that, because of the separatism that exists in the evangelical world, Christians tend to learn the Bible as an isolated topic. They understand biblical doctrine, but not what it has to do with business or politics or the family. They understand biblical morality, but not how to apply it to the complexity of modern relationships. They are superbly prepared to answer questions that non-Christians quit asking two generations ago.” (pg. 98)

When we don’t know how to communicate we often don’t communicate. The fact being, if we don’t know how to interact and communicate with non-believers we don’t, thus creating a separation. We begin to only associate with those who are easy to communicate with, those we think are “close to coming to God”, or those who are like us, people we know what to say to, thus driving ourselves further and further away from the masses who are living in darkness.

“With less and less communication from the Christian world, true nonbelievers are free to grow more ignorant, more distant, and more hostile.”
“It’s not as easy as it used to be to say everything—but that doesn’t mean you can’t say anything.” (pg. 107)

He references Matthew 10:16 noting that we need to be both innocent and shrewd. He talks about our tendency to error on the side of innocence and disregard the importance of being shrewd. “The word translated shrewd is the Greek word phronimos, which means ‘prudent, sensible, or practically wise’. Why should we neglect such useful qualities?”

To communicate to the world we need to communicate in the way the world communicates in this generation…more through art, not science. As Christians our tendency is to communicate solely with science, laying down the facts that frankly are not attractive to nonbelievers because you’re not speaking their language.

While there is comfort in “the bubble”, my hearts cry is to help people understand the mysteries of the gospel as Paul writes about. When I step out of the bubble and into another person’s life I am able to become fully alive.

-Terah Wiekamp

Doane Rocks!!

2006-04-19T19:11:00.000-05:00

I just got this message from Wes Jensen at Doane College; I can't believe how creative those Doanites are!! It's amazing to hear how God is moving and working on their campus; way to go guys.

Ethan...

Cru is going really well. The gathering idea has been awesome. God is bringing in new people week by week and the conversations are phenomenal. This past week we had Kevin Pringle come in and give a talk on the story of Easter. We had 52 people show up and 10 individuals come to know Christ as their personal Savior or recommit their life to Him. It was amazing. How we advertised our meeting was through a campus wide Easter egg hunt and in the eggs was a ticket and candy. The ticket allowed them chance to win a Ipod Shuffle, dvd's (Passion and Narnia), or Easter baskets. God showed up in a huge way that night.

Plus we are starting Growth Nights which are on our "off" Tuesdays. The week right after Spring Break we had one focused on the trip and a majority of those who went down with us came to the meeting. The night was very low key and basically a night of sharing testimonies of the trip and after awhile many of the "non-Cru" folks opened up and just poured out their hearts on how they saw God moving and how God touched their lives. It was cool to see them open and share their story.

The Hurricane relief trip was also awesome and has really opened up a lot of doors. In fact, one of the girls who went on the trip came up to me and Ashlee after the meeting crying and asking if she could be a member of Cru. Then this past week she dedicated her life to Christ.

Man...I could go on and on about awesome things going on, but it'd take forever. But praise God, He is definitely moving on our campus. We also are having a Bonfire for Stop-day (a day where we have no classes, it's to make up for having no "dead week")....this is a huge outreach event so excited to see what will happen there. Also, on Saturday we have our banquet, the traditional Barn Dance so that'll be our final outreach for the year and big Cru event so that'll be cool.

-Wes Jensen

A FCA/CRU Slam Dunk

2006-03-28T12:48:00.000-06:00

Last night at Wayne State, FCA and Crusade rallied together to put on a Dunk and 3 Point Contest. They invited the campus, and invited FCA State Director Ron Brown to speak. God moved last night in powerful ways in the lives of students----the power of the gospel to change lives! I'm excited, blessed, and pumped to hear what happend last night from Chris Hruska, the student president of Crusade at WSC. (below) -Craig Johring

Today I praise God fully, with out hesitation. With something more than a lip service but today I in Awe of Gods powerful call on peoples hearts. Last night at WSC Ron Brown spoke after FCA/CRU sponsored a Dunk & 3 Point Contest. As Ron spoke about the eternal truths facing us and the life with or with out Jesus peoples hearts responded and twenty college students said "Yes" to Jesus for the First time. Lacey, a girl on campus who was know for winning "Wet T-Shirt" contests at local bars was the first to get up out of the stands and approach Ron. As she Knelt down on one knee and began to cry others were moved by Gods leading. People's testimony's include, just running from Christ, Hiding from his loving hands and believing lies that dictated and enslaved their lives. Praise God today!! For the Power of Christ to redeem the worst of sinners including both you and me.

The story goes on... After Ron gave an invitation for first timers, he invited people who had already committed their lives to Christ, but for some reason had turned their backs on Christ, to rededicate their lives. Over 150 students crowded around Ron to pray and once again meet with their Lord and Savior. Praise God for the Fruit he produces and the Harvest that is at Hand. -Chris Hruska

18,840 Volunteer Hours

2006-03-26T23:40:00.000-06:00

I get excited everytime a hear stories of lives that were impacted through Hurricane Katrina relief trips. I'd love every single story of how God worked, and how the experience is impacting lives back on campus. In the meantime, there's some incredible stats:

- 471 Catalytic students, staff, and parents went on Nebraska Campus Crusade for Christ Hurricane Katrina relief trips in September, October, and March.
- At least 10-15% of the students who went on the Spring Break trips in most of the groups were not yet Christians.
- The 471 who went gave 18,840 volunteer service hours in the Gulf Coast.

That rocks.

-Craig Johring

Katrina Spring Break Relief Trips

2006-03-23T10:19:00.000-06:00

I'm amazed, blessed, and pumped to see students from our 28 campuses in Nebraska going to the Gulf Coast over Spring Break. During the past three weeks 322 Nebraska Crusade students have spent their Spring Break on relief trips to the Gulf Coast.

This week 44 students from Dana College are in Slidell, LA along with groups from Doane College and Hastings College. This past week over 70 Crusade students from UN-Omaha spent the week in Slidell along with groups from Nebraska Wesleyan, and Kearney. You can read the list of teams who went from Nebraska the NebraskaRelief.com website.

This past fall after Hurricane Katrina hit we sent 170 students to the Gulf Coast on 7 separate trips. This winter Omaha Metro staff member Tyler Zach built the www.NebraskaRelief.com website and recruited leaders for the Spring Break trips.

-Craig Johring

Southeast Community College - Milford Trap Shoot Outreach

2006-03-22T10:46:00.000-06:00

On this blog you constantly hear talk of "multiple movements" and "missional communities." What exactly is that all about?

We desire for every college student in Nebraska to have the opportunity to say “yes” to Jesus through being involved in a student group on thier campus. To see this happen we need movements or missional communities on every campus that are a cool place for the students on that campus to get involved and sort out what it means to follow Jesus.

Every campus in Nebraska is unique, so the every Cru and missional community on each campus will have different ways of connecting and reaching out to other students. A great example is the outreach held this past week at Southeast Community College in Milford. The Campus Crusade advisor and students at Milford put together a Trap Shooting competition. They invited friends from their classes and thirty students spent the evening having an great time together shooting guns and later connecting around a fire. What an awesome outreach to reach students at Milford.

-Craig Johring

What Deters Volunteers?

2006-03-20T11:03:00.000-06:00

Why do some people come back day after day to serve, while others try it once and never return? According to Dr. Don Simmons, “We don’t have a recruitment issue with volunteers; we have a retention issue.” Simmons gives his Top 10 reasons volunteers quit or fail to perform their services:

1. A sense that their service is not valuable.
2. A sense that they do not matter as a person, only as a “worker.”
3. A sense that their contribution is not as valid as others.
4. A lack of community.
5. A lack of connection with a bigger purpose.
6. Poor leadership and management.
7. Poor communication/direction.
8. Lack of appreciation.
9. Failure to recognize them as a donor.
10. Lack of development of them as a person.

This is taken from Jay Lorenzen's 'On Movements' blog. Jay always has really great nuggets like this- you can access his blog by clicking on his link under the "blogs we're reading" column to the right.

the SLAM!

2006-03-15T21:10:00.000-06:00

Hey Ethan... I just wanted to drop you a line about what is going on at Wayne.

Recentely our Fellowship of Christian Athletes group teamed up with our Campus Crusade ministry to present an event we are calling The Slam! Basically, next Monday night we will be having a 3-point contest, a slam dunk contest (judged by a few coaches and some students) massive prizes for the winners, door prizes for everyone and following the activities Ron Brown will be speaking... We are all really excited about the event.

This entire week we are wearing t-shirts that say "Ready for the Slam?" and wearing buttons asking the same question. Obviously, this has gotten people's attention so we hope that our publicity efforts will be seen in our attendance. We are hoping for amazing opportunities as Ron will present the gospel and have an alter call... keep us in your prayers! We'll let you know how it turns out!

And honestly, Ethan, I have to admit that the greatest part of this experience has been the excitement everyone has to see it happen when FCA and Cru leaders to combine... and when that happens, the servitude of Christ is present! Such a simple event has made people ask questions, get involved, and brought our leaders together. Finally we can share what God is doing on our campus!

in HIM,
Halie Hughes

Doane Men's retreat

2006-03-11T19:59:00.000-06:00

This weekend I got to be part of the Doane men's retreat just outside of Milford. It was awesome! FCA president Robbie spoke on leading/obeying God, Alum Jordan delivered the goods on sexual purity, CCC leader Wes talked about brotherhood, and I explained the gospel. Robbie and Wes planned and led all the activities for the weekend and did such a good job...

The first night we broke into two teams (designated by the colored bandanas) and then had different games throughout the weekend- low ropes course, capture the flag, dodgeball, ultimate frisbee. The winner of each game obtained the travelling trophy, which was a sweet lawn gnome, and the cumulative winner was crowned the weekend's champion.

It was awesome to see all of the Doane guys coming together as the body of Christ and making comitments to God and one another; comitments that will change the eternal desitination of souls at Doane. I can't wait to hear the stories of these comitments coming to fruition back on campus.

Here's the link for pictures: www.2overflow.com/Doane

-Ethan Wiekamp

Ignite

2006-03-03T21:32:00.000-06:00

Adrienne, Terah and I just got back from Hastings College yesterday. I got to hang out with Tim and Ryan to talk about giving every student at HC the opportunity to say 'yes' to Jesus. It's really awesome to see these men of faith step up and really follow God as they minister to their campus. It was a good night for these men: Tim was the high-point man for their intramural basketball team (dominating win), Ryan delivered the message at Ignite, and they both led the biggest Ignite meeting of the year.

About 10% of the campus was in one room hearing about what it looked like to have a personal relationship with God. What is really exciting, however, is that the leadership team is asking the right questions, and they're not content. Tim and the rest of the leaders are still on their knees in prayer asking God for a clear strategy to reach those students who are currently unreached.

Dan and his sister, Hannah, were also at the meeting. Dan is the student president at Hastings community college and is one of the best community college leaders that I've been around- he's humble and at the same time he's very bold. Just last night Dan was in conversation with a non-Christian who had all sorts of intellectual arguments in opposition to Christianity... Dan is going to Alaska this summer with Craig.

-Ethan

A baby is not a teacher

2006-02-17T00:30:00.000-06:00

In past entries I have listed numerous biblical and present examples of new believers who, in the power of the Spirit, acted as missionaries to their friends and family immediately. As previously stated, this is a healthy sign of a changed heart, and follows a Biblical pattern.

However, there is clearly a biblical standard set for those who would presume to be teachers, thus I feel it is important to draw a line between being a missionary and being a teacher:

1 Timothy 1:6-8 Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.

First, they need to know what they’re talking about. Yes, the Holy Spirit opens the spiritual eyes of new believers and promises to illuminate scripture, but the new believer must still read the scripture in order for it to be illuminated. The law is good if one uses it properly. Confidence, persuasiveness, and charisma are absolutely worthless if the one who posses those qualities doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

Hebrews 5:11 & 12 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

Second, new believers must learn the elementary truths of God’s word. From the second you’re a Christian you have something to share about how God has changed your life, but teaching scripture is another matter entirely. Baby Christians need spiritual milk before they get solid food, and they need to be eating solid food before they’re feeding someone else milk.

James 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

Third, if we allow baby Christians who don’t know what they’re talking about try to feed others spiritual food before they themselves have started eating solid food, we open them up to being judged more strictly. I wouldn’t let a toddler try to perform brain surgery, but I would let a recent med. school graduate try to perform brain surgery for the first time. There is a big difference.

-Ethan Wiekamp

Decentralization was God's idea?

2006-02-16T23:23:00.000-06:00

I grew up in the Church. I like Church. I really like my church. Thus, when I came across the following excerpts I took some time to really examine the scriptures and see what was going on here:

from Organic Church by Neil Cole:
God has always intended for humankind to spread out and fill the earth with His glory. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. (Genesis 9:1,7) Noah and his family tried to settle in one place, and they started a building project in direct disobedience to God’s design. God had to force decentralization with the confusion of languages (Genesis: 11:7-8)

When Jesus revealed His true incarnate self to His inner circle of leadership at His transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-6) Peter’s response was classic: “This is a good place to be; let me start a building project right now!"

Jesus commanded the disciples in (Acts 1:8) to spread out from Jerusalem until the ends of the earth are filled with the power of God. Instead, they all stayed in Jerusalem. Just as God forced decentralization in Genesis 11 with languages, He forced decentralization in Acts, this time with persecution (Acts 8:1)

By Acts 21 Paul returns to the Jerusalem church and finally the sent ones (apostles) are gone. But look at this model church: Paul is taken aside and told in private that he shouldn’t be there, that the church was overrun with legalists who would attack Paul if they saw him (Acts 21:20-26). Sure enough he is attacked and arrested, and this church tries to have the author of half the New Testament killed. If we disobey God’s will (whether in outright defiance or more subtle neglect), the consequences are an unhealthy church with messed up priorities.

Cole raises some interesting points concerning a centralized church body. According to the author of Acts (Luke), in 2:42-47, “All” the believers were together, and were meeting together “daily”. How many people is that? If we back up one verse we find a group of 3,000 people coming to faith after Peter preaches at Pentecost. Thus, at least 3,000 people were meeting together daily in this ‘transformational community’.

The mission of Christianity is to make go and make disciples; the command is very clearly, to “go”, and never, ever, are we commanded to have them “come”. Large group meetings are also clearly modeled by the early church.

When Paul goes on his missionary journeys of church planting, he would regularly write to these collections of believers, addressing them as "the church in ___", or "the saints in ___". Yes, these churches (collections of believers) are reaching out as decentralized individuals who would first "go" to their own households and friends, but I simply haven't seen any evidence to suggest that they weren't networked together in their community like the original post-pentecost church in Jerusalem.

This, of course, begs the question: what does it look like to decentralize in order to “Go”. Maybe we’ll get into that later…if you’d like.

-Ethan Wiekamp

A New Believer at Peru State Is A Missionary Immediately

2006-02-12T12:27:00.000-06:00

At Peru State College this week I was waiting for the band to finish practicing, and ended up talking to a freshman named Piper who was also waiting.

We were small talking about how things are going at PSC when Piper casually mentioned that she had the privledge of leading a friend to Christ today. I asked how that happened and Piper told how her friend had been coming to Campus Crusade meetings for the past month. Today Piper took her friend up to the cemetery and shared the gospel with her (I guess the cemetery is one of the coolest spots in Peru).

After the meeting started, to my surprise they introduced Piper to share her testimony. She shared of growing up with a Jewish background, and living in foster homes, and Boys Town. When she came to Peru State this past fall, and started to coming to Campus Crusade meetings. In September Piper made a decision for Christ at a retreat, and her life changed.

The amazing thing to see is that after Piper came to Christ this year at PSC, she immediately became a missionary to her friends. That is right out of the pages of the Bible: (In John 9:1-41 Jesus heals a blind man and once he had received his sight he immediately went home and told his neighbors about what Jesus had done in his life. In John 4:1-42 Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman who immediately goes into town and brings back half of the town to meet Jesus. Acts 16:14-15 tells of Lydia coming to faith in Christ, and the next thing we know her whole household is being baptized.)

Sometimes I see a flawed mindset in Christian communities that goes like this: once a person comes to Christ they need to leave their friends and ‘worldly’ influences, be built up in their faith for a time, then go back to those loved ones to share Christ with them.

I get pumped to see college students who come to Christ, then turn around right where they live and lead their friends to Christ. A new believer is a missionary immediately! That rocks.

-Craig Johring

Peru State students Praying and Seeing Lives Changed

2006-02-09T23:32:00.000-06:00

Last night the students at Peru State College invited down because Cale Lang, a student leader and friend of mine was speaking. Cale did a great job speaking on friendship, and I was blown away to see what is going on. I felt like I was stepping into a transformational community that is written about in Acts 2:42-47. The students at Peru study the Word, eat together, fellowship, and are involved on campus. But the part that blew my mind was to see that God is "adding to their number...those who are being saved." Well over half of the 60 students at this meeting have made decisions to follow Christ while at Peru State, many during this school year. Behind every thing the students do is prayer. They are constantly praying--every day there is some kind of prayer meeting or event. And God is answering by changing lives, and bringing people to Jesus. That just rocks!

-Craig Johring

Prayer and Action

2006-02-09T12:19:00.000-06:00

excerpt of an email from Lindsey Stockwell, an FCA leader at Wayne State College:

Terah, I know I wasn't even at the meeting you had here at Wayne on
Wednesday; however, the small spark you made lit a fire through many
women's hearts. I have felt the weight of God's Spirit moving on me
about prayer for several months now, but haven't really known what to do with
it. Satan was challenging that movement with lies like, "You just
don't have the gift of prayer, wait for someone else to take up that
ministry." or "Don't worry, if you don't pray, someone else will." But God has
also been teaching me a lot about spiritual warfare and breaking the disagreements we've made with satan's lies.

In one day, the power of Christ changing our attitudes about our spiritual battles
and the use of prayer has caused many good things to happen. As a group of
women, we have been praying for so many things today. I had a one-on-one opportunity with a teammate tonight and I knew God was going to give me the chance to share my faith. With one phone call and a text message, I had and army of women supporting me with prayer during the hour I spent with that teammate. I am actually so glad I did not go with you on your prayer walk because of all the occurred because I walked inside and started a conversation with Haley. (this too I am sure was God's plan)

I'm so excited to hear what God is doing through student leaders at Wayne State who are willing to humble themselves in prayer, and follow through on what God is leading them to do. Way to go Lindsey!

-Terah Wiekamp

Righting the ship at WSC through prayer

2006-02-08T08:48:00.000-06:00

from Chris Hruska, student president at Wayne State College:

A month ago our ministry at best could be describes as “Functional”. As a leadership team we had all the right motives, gifts and abilities yet our community consistently seemed to be suffering from division with in. We wrote out our goals, restructured and even implemented the newest ministry strategies yet the spiritual harvest was sparse and our ministry seemed to be spiraling downward into an inward focus.

What we needed couldn’t come from a popular theory or principle or any other natural means; our community desperately needed God to start working in Super natural ways. For our leaders and ministry this meant a serious, second-to-none approach to prayer.

Last week we began applying the powerful approach to prayer and the results have been supernatural. One example of this growing prayer movement that is taking place on our campus takes place happens every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when five girls from our ministry gather together to pray for an hour before eating lunch. Others include random and unplanned prayer walks taking place not out of a duty to participate but out of a heart felt desire to pray for our campus.

The results of these prayer are making an eternal difference on our campus! Tonight Brady Heartman and Karen Sharp lead an evangelism training seminar with 35 students in attendance; after the meeting they encourage students to take part in trash ministry and share their faith. One student had the opportunity to share his testimony and faith for the first with his neighbor. Another student, (Austin Diehm a freshman who was sharing his faith for the first time on campus) had the opportunity to lead a student who lived just 4 doors down from him in prayer.

By simply humbling ourselves, and dropping to our knees in prayer God has accomplished more on our campus in the last weeks as he as in the last two months!!

I'm so encouraged to hear the accounts of such a large number of students taking steps of faith to pray for direction and then act out on the direction that God has given!

-Ethan Wiekamp

WSC

2006-01-31T10:33:00.000-06:00

Last Tuesday Terah and I had the chance to stop by Wayne State College and meet with a few leaders about doing Missional Communities around campus. It was a great time to get together with these men and women as we processed and prayed for pockets of people around campus. Praise the Lord for men and women who are willing to go as missionaries to their friends and peers with the mission of sharing Christ with whomever God has prepared to hear.

-Ethan Wiekamp

Hasting follow-up

2006-01-24T14:41:00.000-06:00

Where do I begin?! As Ryan alluded to in the last entry, perhaps Acts 2 would be a good starting point. "Everyone devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles." "...and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:42-43 & 47b

Craig and I met with Ryan, Vanessa, and Jess from HC yesterday and were so encouraged to see these leaders taking steps of faith and moving forward in prayer. They are meeting to pray every day, and as a result they are seeing God move in amazing ways all over campus.

One girl just accepted Christ, another student started a Bible Study and already has 6 men involved who would otherwise have no spiritual contact, prayers are being answered (literally) around the world...and there's more!

Praise the Lord for what is happening at Hastings College and for willing student leaders.

-Ethan Wiekamp

Prayer Taking Place at Hastings College

2006-01-21T16:53:00.000-06:00

From Ryan Potter, Senior, Hastings College:

As we got ready to leave on the 27th, my brother (in Christ) Brandon and I prayed for our trip to Minneapolis! It was at that moment that I knew God was going to do something huge those next few days at TCX. I went into TCX expecting to have change take place in my life…And oh, did the Lord answer my prayer!

(Since returning from TCX) God has already begun to work miracles in the lives of students at Hastings College. We have made a time to pray at 10:00 p.m. every night ( up to 25 Hastings College students have been walking around the campus to pray each night) and it has been amazing to see our Father unite a body of believers. God continues to amaze all of us because we are starting to see the power of prayer…lives are being transformed, people are being healed, and leaders are becoming warriors for Christ!

My prayer and our prayer has been that Hastings College would become a Holy Ground! I believe it is going to happen! Prayer has not only unified our campus, but it has become the talk of campus…Now I am not here to brag or boast in anyway, but one of the best comments was said as I ran into a girl the other day from campus. She said, “So I hear you and others have been praying for our campus?” I just nodded my head and said, “Expect God to move this semester!” God is using people like us to change the campus, the community, and the world! A bond has been created between the body of believers (Catholics, Methodists, Lutheran, E-Free, Assembly of God, etc) and as we come together every night, we have one thing in common: Christ!

This group has begun to remind me of the book of Acts. As I read in Chapter 2, it talks about the believers coming together and having everything in common (v. 44). It goes on to talk about the believers meeting together everyday and the Lord adding to their number daily those who were being saved (v. 46, 47). This is not a vision, this is becoming a reality! Something huge is happening here…and why? Because a group of people were called by God to start a prayer walk and team! The foundation of a movement must start with prayer…then and only then will God begin to move through his children…because they have professed to submit everything in their lives to him!

I am blown away to hear what is going on at Hastings College, and believe prayer will be answered and lives will be changed, and our State impacted as a result in the coming weeks, and months. -Craig Johring

Missional Communities

2006-01-06T20:22:00.000-06:00

As I’m writing this blog entry the last night of the Denver Christmas Conference is coming to a close. This was a great year and I really feel as though God is moving in a fresh new way throughout the CCC students from Nebraska in attendance. Personally, I am once again struck by the fact that God has things under control, and He will speak clearly if given the opportunity.

I (literally) just finished meeting with students from Wesleyan, North Platte Community College (midplains), Chadron State College, Columbus Community College, and Wayne State College, and I’m excited to see how God will bless these students as they move forward in obedience.

A typical problem today is having a ministry that will insist it is growing while failing to reproduce. Growth results in reproduction. This is true in a single cell amoeba and it should be true in Christians as well. Tonight I had the opportunity to get together with several leaders who had identified the problem, and who are willing to do something about it.

The context of our meeting was to send out (Luke 10) missionaries around each of the schools represented. They are leaving equipped to prayerfully seek out a person of peace at their school who might be receptive to the message of Jesus Christ. It was so exciting to meet with these students whom God had already been preparing, and to send them out into the harvest. Please join with me in praying for these leaders as they take some rather scary steps of faith in the upcoming weeks.

God and Football

2006-01-03T19:58:00.000-06:00

Those of you who follow the NFL have probably heard the news that Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy recently lost his oldest son to suicide. Dungy is a believer and stalwart man of faith. I just read an article by Sports Illustrated’s Peter King where he mentions the impression that Dungy made in how he is dealing with this personal tragedy. The following is an excerpt:

Following his son's death on Dec. 22, Dungy thought long about when would be the right time to return to coaching. He said that if he was to be a man of his convictions -- and his convictions are those of a man of God, he could not wallow in his sorrow; he needed to get back to work. If, as he believes, his son is in heaven with his God, then that is something to be celebrated, and Tony wouldn't be doing his duty as a Christian to remain house-bound, mourning.
"I had to make a statement as a Christian,'' Dungy said. "As tough as it is, and I discussed it with my wife, I've got to be able to move on.''
After Sunday's game, Dungy looked totally beat, but placid. A few of the writers surrounded him after his press briefing and he was Mr. Positive -- about his team, his family, his life. I have no idea how he is doing it. He just is.
"The Lord's giving me an opportunity to show what my life is about,'' he said. "If I can only show my best foot forward in the good times, then I'm not a very good man.''

I have been deeply moved by this account of how a true man of faith pushes forward while in the most dire of circumstances. I find myself wondering…well, truth be told, doubting whether or not I would respond in a similar manner if I were to face the same circumstances.

I want that kind of faith. Just watching Mr. Dungy move forward at this time makes me realize just how much I don’t have figured out, and I’m acutely aware of the fact that I have a long way to go. I find myself compelled to follow Tony Dungy’s example as he follows Christ, (I Corinthians 11:1) trusting that God will reveal himself to those who seek with all their heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

The convert is a missionary immediately

2006-01-03T15:19:00.000-06:00

If you read the title, “the convert is a missionary immediately”, then you probably know where I am going already. There is a basic flaw in our approach to evangelism, and it goes like this: once a person comes to Christ they need to leave their friends and ‘worldly’ influences, be built up in their faith for a time, then go back to those loved ones to share Christ with them.

The flaw is that they are leaving the mission field. The best person in the whole world to reach the new believers’ friends is...the new believer. Don’t take my word for it; here are God’s words:

Acts 8:26-40 is the story of the disciple Phillip and the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. In verse 26 we see “an angel of the Lord” (NIV) telling Phillip to go. As Phillip is on the way, Phillip runs into the Eunuch who consequently accepts Christ as his personal savior and is baptized. After Phillip baptized the man, “the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Phillip away.” Notice, there is no community for the eunuch to get plugged into, there is no follow up program implemented, and no direct discipleship. But rather, God puts Phillip in the right place to share with the Eunuch, and then God takes him away. Apparently God thought that having the Holy Spirit living in his soul, and some of the Old Testament was enough for this man.

In Mark 5:1-20 Jesus is visiting the region of the Gerasenes when he runs into a man who is possessed by a demon. In fact, this man was possessed by many demons and was so out of control that he had to live in caves outside of town. Jesus casts out the demons, and sets the man free. Immediately the former demoniac submits his life to Jesus and becomes a follower of Christ when… “As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”(v.18-19) Apparently God (Jesus) thought that having the Holy Spirit was enough for this man to be a missionary to his family and community.

In John 9:1-41 Jesus heals a blind man and once he had received his sight he immediately went home and told his neighbors about what Jesus had done in his life. In John 4:1-42 Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman who immediately goes into town and brings back half of the town to meet Jesus. Acts 16:14-15 tells of Lydia coming to faith in Christ, and the next thing we know her whole household is being baptized.

This blog entry would go on and on if I mentioned every story in the Bible of a convert who was a missionary immediately.

The point is simply that our Biblical model and God-given directive is to: go where Christ is at work, and make disciples who make disciples. Follow-up and Bible study are great, but not necessary for a person to be a missionary to their friends and family immediately.

Is your movement in need of workers? Is the harvest plentiful, but the worker few on your campus? Do you find yourself asking the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field? (Luke 10:2)

The workers that we seek may very well be in the harvest.

“GO! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” (Luke 10:3)

-Ethan Wiekamp

Doane Leaders are Asking the Right Questions

2005-12-16T16:43:00.000-06:00

Student President Kristin Hasenkamp invited Terah and I to attend their leadership team meeting today at Doane, and we found a group of leaders asking each other some very good questions. As we entered the conference room, the smell of smoke from a burned-out leadership team met our nostrils. Finals week had just come to a close, and it was impressive to see these leaders still pushing forward with ministry despite the fatigue that typically accompanies final exams.

As they dialogued about the past semester, and the one yet to come, I found myself very excited about the questions that they were asking one another:

Kristin led the way by asking, "Why don't we just move the three different groups together?" A great question indeed- the past semester CCC had four different focuses: service team, small group, events, and weekly meeting. After some conversation the conclusion was reached that all three (except small groups) will be combined into one bi-monthly gathering for next semester.

This should allow CCC to still have the most effective activities while eliminating the less effective. Also, fewer meetings means higher quality. The expectation to plan and prepare a weekly meeting will be replaced by the responsibility to figure out the best two gatherings for that month...brilliant.

Wes followed this conversation by casting the long-term vision for multiple small groups around campus when Charissa asked one of the best questions of the day: "where are these people (for small groups) going to come from?". That, my friends, is a great question and one which I will address in my next blog entry. From there Ashlee helped shape the things to come at Doane by discussing the need to be intentional in relationships.

My "nutshell" of the meeting was this: reorganize to spend about 60% of resources creating a safe, seeker friendly environment where students can encounter Christ and spend about 40% of resources intentionally praying for, caring for, and bringing Christ to the seekers.

Way to go guys!

Miscelaneous: Doane is taking a great group of students to Christmas conference, which should help to propel these new ideas. The leaders are already making plans to revisit New Orleans to aid in the disaster relief effort.

-Ethan Wiekamp

DNA

2005-12-15T00:09:00.000-06:00

Neil Cole makes an interesting claim in ‘Organic Church’:

“Every aspect of the Body of Christ should consist of: Divine Truth, Nurturing relationships, and Apostolic Mission. The key is not in having a separate ministry committee or program to handle each area. DNA must be whole, intact, and in every cell. In other words, every meeting, every ministry, every disciple must have all three components at the same time.”

I have grown up my whole life in “the Church”, and yet I had never heard this claim until reading Cole’s book. More than anything, I guess the simplicity and “Duh” factor of his statement really jumped out at me. I found myself thinking, “Of course...how could I have missed this?”

I suppose you could call me a willing victim of the norm, or a product of the system, but I have regularly separated the three parts of the DNA as such:
Divine truth: church sermons or reading the Bible on my own
Nurturing relationships: small group Bible study where authenticity is a high value
Apostolic mission: either an outreach program or going out sharing my faith

In my experience, the first thing to go is the apostolic mission. We tend to juxtapose apostolic, which literally means “sent as a representative with a message” (Organic Church), into meaning “get others to come to us”. (See previous blog entry: the Wrong Questions) It is a very simple yet profound concept to think that every part of our faith, and every person with faith, should not unravel the DNA, but rather, live out all three aspects simultaneously.

The more that I have processed Cole’s insights the more I am convinced that he’s on to something. The DNA is a basic description of Christianity- to remove any one part of the equation is to take away a fundamental element of our faith. And just like DNA, when you remove one strand you end up with something entirely different than what you started with. When I have Small group that isn’t centered on Divine truth in God’s word I've missed it. If that same group isn’t living out an Apostolic mission I've missed it too.

Oops.

-Ethan Wiekamp

Movements Ignite at Hastings College

2005-12-09T14:30:00.000-06:00

Last night I was in Hastings and saw how God is moving in amazing ways on the campus of Hastings College. Over two years ago the leaders of three Christian organizations on campus came together and began to strategize how the could work together to impact their campus. The problem at Hastings College was that students were too busy to have time to reach their campus. The week was filled with a Monday Night large group Bible study, Tuesday was the Campus Crusade weekly meeting, Chase met on Wednesday, and FCA on Thursday.

After two years of casting vision and prayer the leaders of the three organizations merged into one that they called Ignite. The results this Fall have been powerful. The weekly meeting of Ignite draws 80-120 students, and lives are being impacted. There is a sense of momentum and excitement from having a critical mass of students working together who are seeing students around them make decisions for Christ. Today the organization is building multiple movements of Bible studies with a goal of starting a Bible study in every dorm, and a vision of having a Bible study on every floor of every dorm to put the gospel within arms-reach of every student on campus.

-Craig Johring

Are you Toad or Frog?

2005-12-09T13:11:00.000-06:00

the following is taken from Neil Cole's book, "Organic Church":
Growth
In Mark 4:26-29, Jesus tells us: “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows- how, he does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

In the children’s book Frog and Toad Together, the garden tells the story of Toad’s adventure of planting seeds to grow a garden. Things begin when Toad appreciates his friend Grog’s fine garden. “Well, yes,” replies Frog, “bit is was hard work.” “I wish I had a garden,” responds Toad. So Grog gives Toad a package of seeds and tells him that if he plants the seeds soon he too can grow a beautiful garden. Toad asks, “How soon?” “Quite soon” is the reply.

Toad plants the seeds and then tells them to start growing, while he stands there waiting for them to appear. When he sees no response, he tells the seeds to start growing, a little louder. Then he shouts at the seeds, commanding them to start growing. Hearing the loud noise, Frog looks over the fence and asks what all the commotion is about. Toad replies, “My seeds won’t grow.”

Frog says, “You’re shouting too much. These poor seeds are afraid to grow!” Toad remarks, “My seeds are afraid to grow?” “Leave them alone for a few days,” answers Frog. “Let the sun shine on them. Let the rain fall on them. Soon your seeds will start to grow.”

Late that night, Toad looks out over his garden and see that nothing has changed. “Drat, my seeds haven’t started to grow. They must be afraid of the dark. I will read the seeds a story, and then they won’t be afraid.”

Over the next couple of days, we see Toad reading the seeds stories, singing songs to them, dancing in the rain for them, and playing tunes for them on the violin, all in a fruitless effort to coax the seeds to grow on his timetable. One night, in a fit of exhaustion, Toad remarks, “Oh what shall I do? These seeds must be the most frightened seeds in the whole world.” He collapses in sleep from the fatigue of trying to entertain the seeds nonstop for several days.

He is awakened the next day by a jubilant Frog saying, “Toad, Toad, wake up! Look at your garden.”
“Oh at last my seeds have stopped being afraid to grow.”
“And now,” replies Frog, “you’ll have a nice garden, too.”
“Yes, but you were right, Frog,” remarks Toad, wiping the sweat from his brow. “it was very hard work.”

Many of us are like Toad. We are spending our lives singing, dancing, and telling stories to dirt, trying to make the seeds grow. In the end, we conclude that making seeds grow is hard work.

Jesus described the works as casting out seed, going to bed at night, and rising in the day. The soil produces the growth “all by itself.”

As I read this parable, I recognize two things that need to be addressed. First, we are all qualified to do the work, and the work is not really so hard. Second, we frequently expend our energy and resources in the wrong phase of ministry life.

I Corinthians 3:6-7 Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow.”

-Ethan Wiekamp

Application vs. Obedience

2005-12-07T22:21:00.000-06:00

“It doesn’t really apply to me”. Do you remember saying those words? I do. In the emerging culture of the Baby-Buster/ Mosaic generations a high premium has been placed on things that are applicable and relevant to our everyday lives. More so than any other generation in the history of America we are willing to look beyond convention and norms to find what we deem valuable. Look around: satellite radio, internet, 250 TV channels. We have taken the templates of the Baby Boomers and we have customized and tweaked them until they fit our own needs.

Unfortunately we have done the same with the words of God. The Bible has become one voice amongst a myriad of cultural influences that all seek to shape how we spend our time and what we do with our lives. What would happen if we began to read God’s words with a fervent expectation that God is already moving, and through obedience we can join Him?

Let’s start with the premise that God’s word is always true and it always applies to every life. With this assumption in place, suddenly we no longer need to wonder if a particular passage applies to our lives, but rather, we start to ask God how we can obey Him. Instead of sifting through scripture to find what we can apply, we begin to simply obey God.

“Surrender is the proof of conviction.” -Barna

When God says, “Take care of widows and orphans” we no longer say “Well, I don’t really know any widows or orphans, so I guess this passage doesn’t apply”, but rather, we go find widows and orphans so that we can obey God by taking care of them. When God says, “Share with My people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” we obey God by finding out who has needs rather than saying, “I don’t really know any of God’s people who are in need, so I guess this passage doesn’t apply.” When you simply seek to obey, you don't have room for questioning application.

“You devote yourself to doing what you believe is the highest priority if life. Sometimes you may protest that you’re a victim of circumstances or others’ expectations, but your choices reflect what you believe to be most important.” -Barna

-Ethan Wiekamp

Are you a Revolutionary?

2005-12-06T10:30:00.000-06:00

The following is taken from George Barna's latest book Revolution:

“Revolutionaries have no use for churches that play religious games whether those games are worship services that drone on without the presence of God or ministry programs that bear no spiritual fruit. Revolutionaries eschew ministries that compromise or soft sell our sinful nature to expand organizational turf. They refuse to follow people in ministry leadership positions who cast a personal vision rather than God’s, who seek popularity rather than the proclamation of truth in their public statements, or who are more concerned about their own legacy than that of Jesus Christ. They refuse to donate one more dollar to man-made monuments that mark their own achievements and guarantee their place in history. They are unimpressed by accredited degrees and endowed chairs in Christian colleges and seminaries that produce young people incapable of defending the Bible or unwilling to devote their lives to serving others. And Revolutionaries are embarrassed by language that promises Christian love and holiness but turns out to be all sizzle and no substance.”

Seven Passions of Revolutionaries (these are taken from Acts and the early Church, which Barna believes God designed to be our model):

Intimate Worship
“NOT a worship service, but a commitment to feel the awe of God’s magnificence, to express gratitude for His love and authority, to acknowledge His control and power, to follow Him with dedication and to enjoy the miracle of His relationship with us”

Faith-Based Conversations
“The evangelistic efforts of the first believers were carried out through preaching, low-key/high-impact conversations about truth and purpose, prayer...(etc.)...and the joy-filled perspective they had toward God and life that created interest in their lives.”

Intentional Spiritual Growth
“(early Church) Believers exhibited a remarkable attitude toward life and people and acknowledged the presence of the supernatural in their everyday adventures.”

Servanthood
“Servanthood also shows the transformation that their faith has wrought within them.”

Resource Investment
“...they shared ‘everything’ (Acts 2-42-47) with those in need, and they used the variety of resources at their disposal- money, food, clothing, housing, relationships, influence, skills, time...”

Spiritual Friendships
“The friendships they (early Church) formed (with each other) provided not only encouragement but also loving accountability for spiritual integrity.”

Family Faith
“In a very real sense, the home was the early Church- supplemented by larger gatherings in the Temple and elsewhere, but never replaced by what took place in the home of believers.”

-Ethan Wiekamp

The Wrong Questions

2005-12-05T13:49:00.000-06:00

Ever notice how a person’s follow-up question can gauge their comprehension of what you just said? As I dialogue with various Christian leaders around Nebraska I am struck by how many people are asking the wrong questions. “How many people are coming to ___.” You fill in the blank. It could be: weekly meeting, prayer meeting, Bible study, outreach activities...whatever.

God comes to rescue the Israelites time and time again when they couldn’t save themselves. God comes to earth in the form of Jesus to save us when we had no hope of salvation. Jesus leaves his body (the Church) with the simple admonition to ‘go’. The overriding principle of God in the world is that of pursuit, yet we’ve somehow twisted pursuit to mean that we convince people to come to us.

God has demonstrated His pursuit of the lost and Jesus consistently taught that His followers should “go”, yet the overwhelming majority of Christian leaders today are asking “How can we get more people to come”.

We spend time and effort designing our large meetings of Christians as “seeker friendly” while neglecting to spend the same time and effort in being friends with the seeker.

“What Would Jesus Do?” What would happen if we began to ask ourselves the question, “What Did Jesus Do?” Be careful... you’re in danger of asking the right questions.

The Right Questions
Can you imagine a group of believers who would come together asking the right questions? They would open their Bibles hoping to discover “What did the person of Jesus Christ did with his time on this planet?”, and “What would the person of Jesus Christ do with my time on this planet if I fully followed Him?”

So...What Did Jesus Do? (from George Barna’s book, Revolution)
Jesus the Revolutionary:
“As you study the Gospels for lessons and clues, notice Jesus ignored customs, expectations, and even laws in order to be all that God intended.”

“The consistency of His words and behavior transformed every place and every person He encountered. He generally shunned the spotlight and avoided situations that would bring notoriety and acclaim. He consistently exhorted people to demonstrate humility and to realize that their stature is determined by God, not by what they or others say. He lived as a servant seeking to be used by God.”

“The picture He painted for fellow Revolutionaries was appallingly unattractive- and it reflected His acute awareness of His place on earth.”

“Jesus wasn’t a Revolutionary because he proposed a different philosophy. He was a Revolutionary because He lived differently.”

Jesus went to the sick...the healthy didn’t need a physician. If you wanted to find Jesus, chances are you would start looking in some of the more unsavory places in town.

So... what would Jesus do with me?
The right questions are: where was Jesus’ body (during His ministry)? And where is the body of Christ (the Church) now?

I imagine that a follower of Christ wouldn’t necessarily need to plow through drifts of snow to get to the destination...they could simply place their feet in the footsteps left by Jesus. So where are those footsteps? At times I wonder if we don’t ask the right questions simply because we know what the answer will require of us.

“I don’t know if God is happy or not, but we sure made Him a nice prison.”
-Homer Simpson (Courtesy of Dan @ CSC)

-Ethan Wiekamp

Movements at Midland Lutheran College

2005-12-03T13:57:00.000-06:00

I'm pumped. This past week was on the campus of Midland Lutheran College to spend time with our Campus Crusade for Christ leaders. Before school started Paul Krause and Sarah Clements from Midland attended The CORE, our training retreat for student leadership teams.

At The CORE, Sarah and Paul evaluated decided that on their campus they could be more effective in reaching their campus by forming small groups (multiple movements). The Leadership Team started the semester by pouring their efforts into building small groups, and stopped holding a weekly meeting. Instead they hold a monthly Campus Crusade for Christ meeting where they gather students together who are in small groups, and invite others to attend.

The results are awesome. Students are growing, relationships are being built, and leaders are being raised up. The great part is to see the leaders not overwhelmed with trying to pull off a weekly meeting, and being excited about impacting their campus through small groups.

Great job Midland Leaders in decoding your campus and coming up with a great plan for putting the gospel within arms-reach of students through building multiple movments.

-Craig Johring