Update on UNO

In May I was in New Orleans for a training conference. One thing we did was 'decode' the University of New Orleans. We knew two teams were launching there in the fall. One would focus solely on reaching the university students of NO and another would continue to run Katrina relief efforts.

My friend Craig just returned from NO where he helped these teams launch. Craig posted a few updates on his blog. If you scan down to August 23rd, you can see that these team did some of the very thngs we suggested especially the sign-up table to gut houses.

Craig who is an expert in Catalytic ministries said it was the first time he had ever launched Cru (typical mostly Caucasian Crusade), Destino (Latin-American specific ministry), Impact (African-American) and Epic (Asian-American) ministries all at once. Basically they set up these info tables as Christian students came by they invited them to be a part of a leadership meeting. At the end of the meeting, they had enough leaders sign on to lead all of these specific movements. The team there will coach and train the leaders in win, build and send.

Our vision is that there would be movements everywhere so that every student would know someone who truly follows Him. Cool to hear how we walked on this campus one day in May and to then hear what God is starting to do there.

Perspective

Philip Baran (far left) who led the STINT team to Belgrade last year, is going back this year under the leadership of General Westmoreland and Sara. (No, we didn't fire him!) Phil has a really good post on Perspective. Hmmm, he even mentions Elisha.

Starving Jesus

Someone sent me this link that I thought was pretty cool. A couple of pastors are traveling the US to challenge the church that if we are just chained the pews and not making a difference in our communities we are just starving Jesus.

Double Shot: The McGuire's

As Ben and Jill McGuire were boarding the bus about 10 days ago to leave Copper and head to Kosice, Slovakia, I asked Ben how we could pray for them. Ben said that he was following a guy who had been the leader there the past three years and Jill was following someone who had been the leader the past two years. He asked that we could pray for them as they stepped into their shoes; for the transition and that both their team and the students within movement would welcome their leadership.

I am sure some of you are walking into similar situations. When Ben asked me to pray I thought of Elisha following Elijah. No, I didn’t think of him because of Elisha’s hairline. (Though part of me could see Ben being tempted to call down bears from the Tatra Mountains to maul some Slovak urchins who were jeering him.) I think Elijah would have had a big cloak to fill. Elijah was the man. You got the praying and no rain for three years, the Mount Carmel showdown, hanging out with Jesus and Moses at the Mount of Transfiguration, having a seat saved for him at every Passover meal, etc. We even learn from Matt Mikalatos that he later visited other planets.

I can’t even imagine what was going through Elisha’s head when suddenly this chariot of fire with horses of fire separates him from his spiritual father and he sees Elijah taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. But Elisha picks up Elijah’s cloak and does a number of things he did (parts the Jordan, miraculously sustains a widow and raises a dead boy) and more amazing things (makes a deadly stew safe to eat, feeds 100, heals a leper, makes an axhead float, etc.). As far as I can tell the 7000 in Israel who knees have not bowed to Baal accept Elisha as their leader. And those 42 youth who teased him wished in hindsight that they had.

Here are some leadership principles gleaned from Elisha’s life:

• Know that God has handpicked you for this role.
• Leave everything behind as a sacrifice.
• Be known as a servant.
• Help your team see the realty that when you are on God’s side there are more with us than against us.
• Lead from a Double-shot of the Spirit.

Actually that is more intriguing to me than making an axe head float or calling down bears on youth who call you baldy. Elisha asked to inherit a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. (In Kentucky where the McGuire’s hail from I imagine they would say “A Double Dose of the Holy Ghost”.) It makes me think of that 80’s praise song, More Love, More Power. I never understood how you can have more of God in your life. How can you have a double portion of the Spirit?

Double portion is a phrase used in the OT in several places to refer to special favor or blessing. It is like an extra reward.

Elisha knew that to follow Elijah and to lead in wicked times that he needed the Spirit in a special way. I think that’s what we need today. Maybe as NT believers we would cry out, “God would you look down in favor on me and pour out your Spirit on me to enable me to lead.” That’s what we need whether we are stepping into someone’s shoes or leading the first team to our location. We need His Spirit to control and empower us. We need to walk moment by moment in the Spirit. We need a double shot of His boldest blend… to go... Venti… no room for cream or anything else.

Meeting Simon

One of the interesting things about our STINT Briefing conference last week was that we shared the conference center with a group of Hasidic Jews. Actually it was a Kosher vacation so a lot of Jewish people of different levels of orthodoxy were there because it was the only one of two options for a Kosher vacation outside of Jerusalem. (At least that's what I was told but I bet I could find another on a google search.)

One night I met Simon. Actually he must of asked who was in charge and someone told him I was and he approached me. I wasn't in charge but gladly spoke with him. He was a little upset by the circumstances. I think he was caught in the middle because he had organized this vacation along with his brother and this was the 5th year they used Copper Mountain resorts. He was not expecting to share with a Christian group much less one named Campus Crusade for Christ. It was hard on his most Orthodox clients who do not have much contact with anyone outside of their community. So they complained to him and he was seeing if we could work out a compromise.

We had a good talk. I really couldn't do much but refer him to Matt who organized a meeting with Copper officals. I don't know if it really was solved to his satification but I felt like Matt and I were able to listen to him and demonstare love and mercy as best we could. Copper did do a few things like throw us a free party so we would be out of the lobby one night.

I have been reading two books lately that I feel like the Lord had me read to be prepared to approach Simon and the other Jewish people with understanding. One is A History of Jews and the other is Night.

I would give you a sumamry but sadly I haven't finished either. I started reading Night earlier this summer and since it is so short I alsmot read it in one night. But it got neglected in all the moving around - housing sitting, going to Fort Collins for a week and then moving back into our townhome that still hasn't sold. I think I saw it the other day. I was about 1/2 way through A History of the Jews when I went to Copper for this conference. Just couldn't read when in the middle of one of those and I had ESPN in my room to watch late at night. But I did read enough of both to be taken to a greater level of compassion for Jewish people. I was overwhlemed by the degree of persecution throughout history that is record in A History.

I did find myself being moved by compassion a lot especially as I saw young children and wonderign if they would ever know of the Messiah who has come.

Not by Sword

D and A are in an unnamed country leading their team to launch movements among students from an unreached people group. They left straight from briefing with others going to that nation and those who went to Russia, Sweden, Slovakia, Chile, et. al.

Earlier this summer while some of you were pulling weeds in a pumpkin patch, D was in a park with Tom Cruise er…Rob and Brian welding foam swords. While they were forcing middle-school kids to be their minions, A was with Ashleigh under the hot sun going door-to-door like a pair of JW’s. D and A both got to talk about Jesus that day. And if the there are to be movements everywhere then the natural conclusion is that there must one day be movements among the future Renaissance festivalites of Fort Collins.

As D and A and all of you lead your teams to ‘conquer’ in His name I am reminded of Psalm 44:1-3:

We have heard with our ears, O God;
our fathers have told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
With your hand you drove out the nations
and planted our fathers;
you crushed the peoples
and made our fathers flourish.
It was not by their sword that they won the land,
nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand, your arm,
And the light of your face, for you loved them.

As you go out wielding the sword of the Spirit –made not of iron nor foam – to set peoples free - not to make them your minions - be reminded that it is the Lord’s arm and His favor that brings victory.

You could do a word study of his arm and how it often relates to His power to save. My personal favorite passage is Isaiah 40:10-11 where we see that with His right arm He rules with power, He graciously recompenses and He gently tends His flock. God himself brings about salvation where you have gone (or soon will go) by His mighty right arm. It is not our creativity, youthful zeal, tools or skills that bring about transformation – it is Him.

It is also the light of His face - His countenance upon you, His approval, and His favor. The light of His face shines upon you and your team because He loves you and He loves the students of the world. He desires them to know of His glory and fame. It is all in the fullness of His perfect timing and plan. May this be the year!

Lord would this year you look down and have favor on all of the STINT leaders and their teams. Almighty Father, may this year be the year you display your right arm and bring about salvation to the students on every campus where you have sent them and will send them. May you gather your flock in your arms and carry them close to your heart. May you gain victory and your fame be throughout the entire earth!

And We Wonder Why It's the Greater Northwest

STINT Briefing

I am here at Copper Mountain resort with 400 stinters getting ready to embark on a year of missions around the globe. I am coaching our Krasnodar, Russia and Belgrade, Serbia teams this week. I also meet with all the team leaders. Tommorrow (our last day) I give a couple of seminars on Decoding.

Decoding is a term we use for observing and learning about a campus in order to launch a movement there. Decoding is to launching a ministry then way observation step is to bible study. Once you decode well and ask the right questions, it leads to proper intreptation and a better application of evangelism and ministry.

Edison of Estes Passed Away

Some of you might have read my post back in April on meeting the Edison of Estes Park.

I just got a comment that Dr. Omar Moore had passed away this past week. I can't seem to confirm or deny it on the web. Kind of sad to me that this would not have been a news story at least that you could find on the web.

It is sad to me too that on that morning in April right when we were starting to dicuss spiritual things the session of the conference ended and like 200 people came through the lobby. He was hard of hearing so we didn't get to discuss the Greatest Inventor who ever walked the earth - a man who healed the blind and deaf.

You never know who you are going to meet and if they are ready to meet their Maker. If I had to do it over again I would have asked what his spiritual background was and if he knew Jesus personally.

Creatively Maintaining Long-Distance Relationships

On the GPI regional website under the page for STINT Team Leaders we have posted some pdf articles of the Xtrack seminar on "Creatively Maintaining Long-Distance Relationships".


It is listed under the bold Talks (PDF) as "Documents for Families zip" because it was mentioned in the married's time at the Team Leader training.

To access this page after clicking the link, you will have to enter the ever-secure typical cccstaff username and pw. If you don't know that, you can email me.

Leader's Thought on Leadership - Flexibility

Matt Mikalatos- using his own flexible wisdom in the photo on the left- has a new #4 Leader's Thought on Leadership.

It is worth checking out.

A Double Portion

I was reading in Isaiah 40:1-2 earlier this week.

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins."

I was struck by the phrase ''double for all her sins". Isaiah writes something similar again in chapter 61 when he says 'instead of shame, my people will receive a double portion.'

I thought of Hannah and how her husband gave her a double portion since he loved her and the Lord had closed her womb. (I Sam 1:5). Of course he also married another woman so maybe that's not a great example. I found in Deut. where the son of an unloved wife was to get a double portion of inheritance. It's like God's plan was to go beyond the norm in blessing and inheritance.

Ephesians chapter 1 says that the riches of God's grace has been lavished on us. Paul quoting Isaiah 64:4 writes in 1 Corinthians that "eye has seen, no ear heard, nor mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him."

It's like getting twins - but without the work!

This message to be proclaimed - not just to Jerusalem but starting there - is a comforting message. It's a tender message. It's a message of forgiveness, release and hope. But the double part shows that it is more than we can even imagine. Amazing, amazing grace!