Choosing the Better - Paul and Wendy

Leading the team in Puebla México are Paul and Wendy Scheele pictured here with their kids: Rachel, J.P. and Sarah. Melissa Neuman, who was the co-leader with Paul, is back in Kansas finishing up her year serving at K-State and as my SHERPA from afar. Melissa was back in Puebla this past week though for Spring Break with a group of K-State students and staff.

As Paul was left with just himself and one other guy - Josh - as staff on campus, he did what leaders do: threw away the old plan and went after Puebla - which has over 100 universities - in a new way. They handed the local movement over to students and started using the strategy of the México City team believing God to surface leaders to launch movements on every campus and every department in the city.

Last month, they doubled the numbers of campuses where they have a presence. This past week with the K-Staters in town, they went after 22 more. They went out in small groups walking on campuses throughout the city, asking God to lead them to persons of peace. They interviewed students, shared the gospel and asked if they knew anyone who was a follower of Christ. When they found believers, they challenged them to launch a movement. The Scheele’s Josh and student leaders will coach these movement launchers.

One thing through all is that the students have stepped it up. Paul said, “we’re most excited that Mexican students are leading the charge on their campuses, and even other campuses that are not their own! It’s exactly what we needed to see happen so that students would own their movement.”

Luke 10 starts off when Jesus sent out 70 (72 in NIV) Spring Breakers and STINTers to do this very thing: go to villages (which are what universities and faculties are), find people who were spiritually open, and proclaim the Kingdom. They come back pumped. “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

He tells them that yes He has given them authority and almost superhero-like characteristics. But then he says, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

It’s strange to me. It seems like he bursts their bubble. Come on?!? Didn’t he tell them that the harvest was plentiful but the workers are few? Did He send them out to do the very things they did? Something else must be behind this.

The chapter ends with Jesus at Martha and Mary’s home. You know the story. Martha is doing the work and Mary is lounging at Jesus’ feet. Martha gets ticked. "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

You know what happens next… Jesus tells Mary to get up off her lazy bum and help her sister. Cuz it’s all about serving Him – He’s the King! Laborers are few, start laboring. No, you know that instead Our Lord tells Martha that she is so bothered by serving that she missed out on the better thing that Mary has chosen – sitting at His feet. That is where real joy is found.

Jesus wants us to proclaim His Kingdom but it’s even greater that we experience the Kingdom and know the King. I was relaying these thoughts to Marta Fraser and in her great wisdom she said, “People who experience the gospel, extend the gospel” How true!

We are to lead our teams to launch movements everywhere so that everyone will know someone who truly follows Jesus. But movements are not the end; they are merely a means to the end – that the Holy Righteous One would be worshipped forever and ever by people from every tongue and tribe. I wonder would happen if we focused foremost on worship and being people (and leading and reproducing others) who truly followed Jesus.

I wonder. I imagine the world would be turned upside down.

Finding Co-workers and Great Grub in Unusal Places

Sunday afternoon, I went to Teotihuacán with Craig and Curtis & Emily Brink. (It was a free day for Spring Breakers and the team.)

We climbed the third largest pyramid in the world.

But the most unusual finds were a guy in traditional garb who looks suspiciously like John Lamb ..... Compare for yourself - that's the real JL by Victoria Falls.

And eating at the coolest restaurant inside a real cave. La Gruta. It has been around since 1906. I had what had been their house speciality since 1929 (the year my dad was born). It could have been the best Mexican food I have ever ate! The Mole was mucho gustoso. Unreal! We even got a show and Craig was pulled up on stage to dance. Great last day in Mexico City!

Launching Movements, Eating Tacos and Hiking

Today I went with Craig and Eric Heistand (Our Metro Director in Denver)to University Anahuac. It is very rich private Catholic University. There is even a Starbucks on campus. We made some good contacts that we hope will open some great doors. I got to share the gospel with 4 students. The conversation ended before I could finish because they needed to go but I was able to leave a 4 laws with the two girls who were really interested.

Craig then took us to his favorite taco stand: Torito Feliz. Some great steak tacos!

Then we drove 15 minutes outside the city into the mountains and we went for a hike. Can you believe this is the city of 25 million? Unbelievable.

In Mexico City

I'm in Mexico City. Today I joined the c. 30 Spring Breakers for worship, sharing and prayer in the park near their hotel. There were some great stories of what has already happened this week. Several of them met students who were praying for a Christian group to be started on their campus. Just a bunch of cool stories about God clearly showing up. I shared a little from Luke 10 with the group. I think i may write about this next Wednesday on the STINT Leaders blog.

They broke to go on campuses, but I spent most of the day meeting with Marta Fraser, one of our regional directors; David Bedolla, the CCC National Campus Director of Mexico, and Joe Cross & Craig Johring, our Enfoque Mexico Directors. We had a great several hours of talking about vision, thinking of ways to solve problems and praying together. Great times!

David is a great young man. It is so cool to have a Mexican in this role too!

Tonight all the CCC staff down for the week are gonna hang out together. Tomorrow I will go with a group to a campus. I am excited about what God is going to do!!!

Heading to Mexico

Tommorrow I fly down to visit the team in Mexico City. I along with Marta Fraser, one of our regional directors, will meet with Craig, Joe and David Bedolla who is our Mexico National Campus Director for times of strategic planning and vision.

We also will be looking for ways we can serve the whole team there and jump on board with the Spring Break groups that are in the city this month from all over the US.

Here's some big prayer requests...
1. Robin and the boys - Jack and Drew had the stomach flu over the weekend and Drew threw up again this am. No fun being only parent with sick kids.

2. That the Lord will give us great insight in how to best partner to reach the 400 universitites in Mexico City.

3. For laborers for the harvest - that many of these Spring Breakers will return to help us reach the city.

4. That the Lord wil lcontinue to open doors on the campuses there. Cool stuff is happening - students are recieving Christ and leaders are being surfaced. Pray that the Lord will continue to allow open doors for the gospel!

Here are some cool blogs to read about what's going on there...

Joe Cross'
Craig Johring's
Enfoque (Focus) Mexico

Working on a Building - Kyle and Jennifer

Kyle and Jennifer Frazier lead the team in La Plata, Argentina. Six other STINTers and one ICS make up their family there.

Their new school year starts up soon. They have identified three campuses to focus on and will split into three separate teams. The first two teams will be made up of four STINTers and focus on launching movements at two different campuses. The third team will consist entirely of Argentines and include their ICS staffer for direction/support. This will allow Argentines to take complete ownership of a movement on one of the many campuses. The students are excited about this challenge and have already begun meeting on campus to pray for God to move in the hearts of other students.

They are also in the process of renovating their new meeting place. Kyle has pictures as well as a video. The blog explains the idea behind the meeting place and the vision they have for it.


Speaking of renovating, building and vision…. a few years back I noticed as new houses were being built it was done in teams. You would have one group that would lay the foundation, then another would come and frame the house, another would do the roof and so one.

It reminds me of what we are called to do in movement launching. We are teams of foundation-layers. The apostle Paul was a foundation-layer himself. (Romans 15:19-21 ; I Cor 3:9-11.) He laid the foundation of Christ in a city and then would often move on and let others be the framers, roofers etc.


The obscure book of Haggai is a manual for laying the foundation of the temple. It was written after a remnant had returned to Jerusalem. They had rebuilt the wall and paneled homes for themselves. God tells them it was time they start rebuilding a house for Him.

So they begin the work and a month later in chapter two, in a human glory sense it was nothing. They have not even finished the foundation. It’s just a hole in the ground. And it’s not gonna be as near as big as Solomon’s temple was. Yet God asks them what it looked like to those who saw it in its former glory. He then gives three commands to continue working none the less: be strong, work and do not fear (because my Spirit remains with you).

I shared this analogy of the way houses are built and movements launched a few years ago with some students who happened to be construction majors. They said that one of the problems with houses built this way was that sometimes teams at the beginning stage loose sight of the vision. I need to remember that as I go look for a house this afternoon.


In that same needing vison vein, I’d like to share an email Cindy Kahre sent me the other week… “In 1980, Dave and I were both students on a summer project in Poland. This was only the 2nd year that summer projects existed in Poland and the very early days in all of Eastern Europe. We traveled as tourists and couldn't even acknowledge other teams if we crossed paths with them. We hid up in the mountains and trained the underground church in basic biblical principles. My small group included 2 nuns. Imagine me, this young, unseasoned little college student training nuns! I was over my head but God showed up and enabled me to do it anyway.

Fast-forward 22 years later. Dave and I were married and on staff in Hungary. That year EE/Russia had their AOA staff training at Lake Balaton, Hungary. There I stood in a huge room with over a thousand CCC staff. This was the very first year that the national staff outnumbered the Americans. Did I hear that right? The national staff OUTNUMBERED the Americans for the very first time. There we all were - worshipping along side each other - each in our own languages - and the sound was incredible - like nothing I can even attempt to explain. A combination of Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Russian, Albanian, Czech, Moldovan, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, and the list goes on.

My overwhelming thought was - Oh my goodness, a few years ago none of this existed. We were hiding up in the mountains secretly helping to build up the underground church and look at what God has done!!!!!!!! This must be the closest thing I will ever see of what heaven will be like - every tribe and tongue worshipping the living God along side each other. What a privilege to be here and see what God is doing and a picture of what will come!!!!!”


You may not get to fast-forward 22 years to see what things will be like where you are laying the groundwork. And it may truly seem just a big hole in the ground right now. But you can lead your teams to follow God's same commands (be strong, work and don't fear) all the while laying claim to the visionary blueprint that God gave to those foundation layers way back when…

"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD Almighty. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty."

May God shake the heavens and allow His glory to fall! May the Desire of All Nations come and fill the house you and your team are building!

Where we are in Housing-hunting

We are still on the path of closign on our place on April 20th... But we are not sure where we will live.

Friday i went through Numbers with my friend Glen who is our Mortgage Broker. Looks good except we realize than in order to put 20% down, be within a reasonable range of what we can pay monthly, live where we want to live and not settle on a place we don't really like.... our pickings are slim right now.

We are still holding out for this place we really like and that I saw about a month ago. It was in the transitionary period for foreclsure and the day we got an offer, it passed the deadline for the owner to sell it. So its kind of complex but the bank owns it or will own it. So it could be good in that maybe it will sell for less. But we have heard it could take months for it to reappear on the market and in that scenerio we would be homeless for a while. And not even sure we could still buy it. But if it did come up sooner and maybe even sell for less, we could grab it. Crazy.

Anyway we are looking at some homes tommorrow, then I will be in Mexico for a week so if any looking will be done it will be by Robin herself.

Pics for trip - mostly at Cornelia

Here is a link to new picasa album

March 2007

Where are the Prophets?

I was reading this Christianity Today post "Where Have all the Prophets Gone?" just now.
I wonder too why we tend to run off prophets. They make us uncomfortable for sure.

I was intrigued mostly by the author's #3 reason: Ministries evaluate size not depth. I don't even know how you truly measure depth. I fear often that we not only evaluate size over depth but value size over depth. It's easier to get strokes for size. But its not about us. It's about Him.

On my email tag right now I have a quote: “The things that really count are the things we cannot count.” It's by TJ Bach, who lived from 1881-1963 and was a missionary to Venezuela.

You know its not only size we value over depth. It's also how eloquent we are, how slick, how attractive...

Maybe if we valued (and evaluated if possible) the things God does maybe we would welcome prophets (and evaluate leaders who are like this over the polished flashy ones.) Things like mercy, compassion, humility, brokenness, generosity, kindness, justice, forgiveness, tenderness, service, etc.

Maybe then we won't stone the prophets and chase after those who tickle our ears.

Completing the Task - John and Alexis

This week we go back to Eastern Europe and feature Team Leaders John Rozzelle and Alexis Youngs. John and Alexis, pictured with GNW coach extraordinaire, Carolyn Culbertson, are leading for their 2nd year in Rijeka, Croatia. John and Alexis don’t play! They pioneered the ministry and in two short years are turning it over to national leadership next fall!

Alexis (whose birthday was last week but I didn't edit the March birthdays in time) writes, “Pioneering a campus was crazy - really hard, but also fun. It's been humbling and exciting just to watch what God is doing here and to be used by Him somehow to get a movement started. This year it seems like momentum has really picked up, and even though there are still only a handful of believing students, there is a growing core community and more students really seeking to know who Christ is and what the Bible is really all about."

"We feel so blessed that God has let us be a part of what He's doing here, and that there are so many things we genuinely love about this city and culture and the students we are privileged to work with. We're also thankful for two great teams (last year and this year) that we've enjoyed serving, leading, and working beside. At the same time, there have also been a lot of challenges and tough, painful experiences along the way. In the end though, Christ is faithful and absolutely worthy and we are honored to be able to serve Him here."

Transitioning out of something you started can be bittersweet. It is such a huge praise but I am sure there will be tears when they leave the community of their disciples. ( It might even be sooner than you think for John as he finds out today ~ FINALLY ~ whether or not he has been granted residency here. If the answer is no, he will need to leave the country for 3 months.)

In Acts 20, the apostle Paul was on his way to Jerusalem where he will be arrested. Leaving Greece, he decided to meet the Ephesian elders on a neutral of Miletus. There was a lot of weeping, kissing, praying and singing of Friends are Friends Forever. In this passage, Paul laid out how he lived and ministered during his Three-Year-STINT in Ephesus. (He was able to do a third year because in those days the Roman IRS and the Antiochian HR wasn’t as strict as today.)

While many of you have several months (prayerfully John too) or perhaps another year before you say goodbye, I thought it might be helpful for us to look now at what Paul says about his STINT years and compare and contrast them to our own present ministry.

~ I served the Lord with great humility and with tears.
~ I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you.
~ (I) have taught you publicly and from house to house.
~ I have declared to both Jews and Greeks* that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. (* Insert your own ethnic groups.)
~ I am innocent of the blood of all men for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
~ For three years I never stopped warning each of you (of savage wolves) night and day with tears.
~ I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing.
~ These hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. (Okay may you didn’t raise your team’s support or sell tents but have you ministered and led in a way that says ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’?)

Earlier in verse 24 when explaining why he was not concerned about a prison sentence, Paul says, “I consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.” I guess that statement sums up the totality of his life and ministry.

You may not be experiencing the same quick turnaround as John and Alexis but you are laying a foundation for His glory none the less.

May we be found faithful. May we be able like Paul to say that consider our lives worth nothing if only we may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given us!

Some prayer requests for John and Alexis' team...
1) Their teammate Andy left about 2 weeks ago because his mom is in pretty serious condition, he will most likely not be returning except possibly to visit/say goodbye to students in a few months. Pray for Andy and his family and healing for his mom, and for our team as we deal with his indefinite absence.

2) For John to be granted residency and be able to stay in Croatia.

3) For endurance/strength/joy for our team as drama can be really draining.

4) They have their first big event today (14th), and there is a vision/encouragement trip there this week from Montana State University.

5) For God to continue to build the ministry this spring and that they would see more students come to know Christ.

5) For the Croatian couple currently raising support to be able to come lead the campus here next year, and for that transition to go smoothly.

Ladies and Gentlemen we Have a Buyer!

Yesterday we got a call from our realtor Jesse that someone was making an offer on our townhome. It was 4k less than we listed but we countered this more at the medium price and in less than an hour, he accepted it!

This is huge! Last year we were listed from June to December. We listed this time on Feb 24th and so in less than 3 weeks we had more showing than we did in six months and have a buyer!!! Because we were gone almost all of that time, Robin never had to clean up and load up the kids in a moment's notice. We did have a showing last Sunday but it was while we were at church and we cleaned up Saturday am.

Please pray with us that everything will go through. Pray also for us now that we need to be really aggressive in looking for a new home. We close on April 20th and need to have keys in hand so we need a place to live or we will be homeless.

There was one bummer though in that the property I looked at right before we listed (and left town) is no longer on the market. it was removed yesterday. It's not totally a closed door yet as its a long story but it was in process of foreclosure and the time ran out yesterday. So now its fully bank-owned and there is not a clear picture if it will be back on the market before we need to buy. Jesse is going to do some major research for us on this while we keep looking.

If you are local, I highly, highly recommend the Team Rutledge!

From Emily Preston

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for your prayers, encouraging emails and phone calls! They have been of great blessing to me. For the past two days I have been feeling GREAT! I have had more energy than I know what to do with and it has been a blast. I went for a walk yesterday and ended up going a mile farther than usual. Plus, I came home with all sorts of energy…even running up and down the stairs! My parents think I am crazy (they might be right) and the arthritic dog is a little depressed because I can outwalk her now (she’ll get over it).

The physical change I have experienced in the past couple of days feels nothing short of miraculous. My health on Sunday was 100 times better than it was on Saturday, and I’m praising the Lord for whatever it is that He is doing to heal my body. On Wednesday afternoon I will go back to the doctor and from there we’ll begin deciding what the next step will be for returning to Merida. If he makes me stay in the states longer, I think I might just have to arm wrestle him…if I win, then I’m sure he’ll let me have my way.

Please continue to pray for healing and wisdom on the part of everyone involved in the decision for when to return.

Rejoicing in God’s faithfulness,
Emily Preston

http://emilypreston.blogspot.com/

Sounds like a smokescreen to me

Chinese adviser wants hotel Bibles for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"The service can help clear up foreigners' misunderstandings of China in the area of religion," the agency quoted Liu as saying.

The U.S. State Department's 2006 report on international religious freedom said China had failed to live up to promises to respect citizens' faith and persecutes Christians, Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists who refuse to accept official controls.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at the time the report "was a continuation of groundless accusations of China's policies on religion and ethnic minorities".
China's officially atheist Communist leaders say its citizens are free to practise religion in places and ways approved by the state.

So its okay for foreigners to read Gideon bibles in their hotel rooms but Chinese believers can't legally gather in their homes or share their faith on campuses.

Reaching the World by Becoming a Starfish

A couple of weeks ago I read "The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations". I probably drove Robin crazy talking about it.

To me it has huge implications about our world: how fast things have changed (like someone could create a blog about their cat if they wanted to for example), the war the terror, and for me launching spiritual movements everywhere.

The general gist is easy to grasp. A starfish has no central control center. If you cut off a leg, it will regenerate itself and therefore has the potential to multiple exponentially. A starfish organization is one in where everyone contributes and leader isn't one who controls but influences.

I remember back 22 years ago when a guy named Eric Johnson came to my dorm room in Russell Hall at UGA and challenged me to join his Action Group bible study. He pulled out this chart showing how the world could be reached through a chain of discipleship. Sometimes I still wonder why we haven't done that. Well.. its in Brafman and Beckstrom's book the structural drawing of a spider organization looks just like that discipleship chain. We haven't done it because we can't control such a chain. If we could it would be about us and not Him defeating the whole purpose of discipleship and building his kingdom.

But if the body of Christ (or more specially CCC) could become like a starfish... give up control, pass on DNA in a simple way, and just let it happen, we could see movements everywhere.

Yet my biggest angst after reading this is that we are becoming more spider-like as we age. We have systems that are meant to support us but may actually be holding us back (HR, OPs, Legal Department, Risk Management, Training requirements...). Now that all not all bad but they should support us as we go after the vision of movements everywhere not hinder us. Protect us, not slap our hands.

I realize I could get in trouble for this last paragraph since my boss now has a blog and might read this. I wasn't referring to him. (Not the capitalized Him, Matt.) He fits more the starfish model of a catalyst leader...

CEO / Catalyst
boss / peer
command and control / trust
rational / emotionally intelligent
powerful / inspirational
directive / collaborative
in the spotlight / behind the scenes
order / ambiguity
organizing / connecting

Hmm.. now it sounds like I am brown-nosing. I will move on.

Another analogy that I heard last week from a fellow WSN Leader was about a failing company that this guy inherited. He changed the paradigm from where they saw the company as one that 'sold drill bits' to one that 'sold the ability to make holes'. In turn, they cornered the market on laser drills.



I think we need to change the paradigm from where we send college students to the world or we do evangelism to one where...we bring God's glory to the nations by partnering with the body of Christ to launch movements everywhere.

The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version)

Declaring & Demonstrating His Glory - Graydon

This week we are highlighting a Candian, eh? Graydon Baker leads the Canada STINT team in Tanzania. (Graydon is on the left. He and teammates: Bryon, Melissa and Carmen are surrounded by Masai guards.) You can catch up with latest on Graydon on his blog.

Graydon and his team work on the University of Dar Es Salaam. Dar is the nation's top university, and in a struggling economy a very prominent and important setting for change. Idi Amin featured in , 'The Last King of Scotland' was finally overthrown by among others, Yoweri Museveni, who is alumni of the University of Dar Es Salaam, and the current president of neighboring country, Uganda. Graydon’s team vision statement is, "To Change the World, By Introducing World-Changers to the Original World-Changer, Jesus Christ".

Recently they tried to host an 'I Agree with Campaign', with a student named Mpeli at the centre of all the controversy. God used this campaign to work on the hearts and minds of their students, but He definitely didn't employ their plans in accomplishing that! In the unstableness of African politics, coups many times rise out of universities, and so when the University of Dar administration saw, 'Do You Agree With Mpeli', they immediately thought of a political agenda and literally called in reinforcements. The campaign was cancelled in a rash decision...but God was not done with it yet! Graydon wrote, “The foundation had already been set before the decision was made, and to make a longer story a bit shorter, through door-to-door evangelism, and working behind the scenes, we partnered with over 600 Christian students. The student body demanded to know who Mpeli was, and what made him so special. So we told them: he is a sinner who was saved by grace, and he now lives a Jesus Christ-centred life.”

I was reading this week in the last chapter of Isaiah.

"And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. "

I was struck that the Lord will come and reveal His glory to people who had not heard of His fame nor seen His glory. They have not heard but they will hear and see. He following verses says they will respond in worship too.

Remember Isaiah begun his ministry when in chapter six He saw the Lord in all His glory, experienced His glory and heard the seraphs declare His glory covered the whole earth. He volunteered to take this message of His glory!

Hearing Graydon’s update and hearing this, I am reminded that the Lord desires to proclaim His glory more than we do. We are just instruments of taking the message of the glorious new covenant to people who have not heard of His fame nor seen His glory. When people see His glory and hear of His fame (really hear and understand), they respond in worship.

When we get right down to it, our job is not to lead our teams to do evangelism, or even plant movements. Our job is leading our teams to declare and demonstrate His glory so that we bring worshipers of every nation into His kingdom. (And of course to do so we proclaim the gospel and launch movements.)