Daily Archives: February 18, 2011

Do you believe this important Pauline teaching?

I continue to see how important it is to give thanks in all things.

I just wrote to a friend telling him that the “provisional acceptance” that I thought I had in a doctoral program is, it seems, far more provisional that I realized. But, since I invested sixteen years in the academy and learned about academic credentials and accrediting and so forth, and the importance of each of those concepts to individuals and institutions, when I learned that I am not as “provisionally accepted” as I once thought, I understood.

A friend recently said that we live in a world of credentials. If you’ve been following this story, you know that this possibility of doctoral study is not something that I went seeking. I was urged to pursue this and, to me, my wife and my advisors, it made a great deal of sense. Still does, and I have not actually given up on the possibility, and will continue to pray (and read). But I am reminded that life is about following Him and learning lessons.

When we are faced with news or experiences that are not exactly what we wished, we should step back and take a bigger view.  Indeed, it is incumbent upon us to seek God’s view. This takes a view that God is sovereign. A couple of hours ago, my board chair who was writing a letter toward this effort asked if this were going to happen, I said that I’ll believe it when I see it on paper. I am a not an optimist, but instead, am a realist who believes in possibilities, possibilities that God uses to change lives. I actually believe in this possibility and boldly ask you to pray and ask God to make that thing happen that is best for me, my family and my work in the Kingdom.

But, let’s practice the God view thing, looking away from the possibility in future and into the here and now, I must stand back and look at what I can be thankful for – now. Here is what I wrote a friend: “…But, a bit of disappointment aside, I am… …encouraged in several ways. I’m very glad for having gotten back into a disciplined study mode. Why, just in the last seven days of speaking with our partners on Skype and in person, I have been integrating material from the reading [750 pages that I’ve finished so far]. So, to renew one’s vigor for study is a discipline that God will use to bless both me and CEO. The other unexpected blessing is that the need to set 2-3 hours a day aside in the (earlier) morning for study has made me become a better manager of my time and has actually made me more productive in my day. The reading and the better time management have been a blessing to me… …Perhaps it is not God’s desire for me to be in this program, but He has already used this process to sharpen my ministry, for that I am grateful.  I am not quite ready to give up praying and working – indeed I think Mueller comes into play here: “pray like its all up to God and work like its all up to you.”

So, the lesson that I am reminded of today is that I am learning how to practice this urging of Paul: “in all things, give thanks.”

Oh, as I noted above, I have not quite given up. So please ask God to do that which is the best for us and if that is that I am granted admission on paper, thanks be to God! and if not, thanks be to God!

By John Rowell… This is a story of a small(ish) group of believers who fearlessly walk through doors that others would not. God used this church to bring the Gospel to a needy place. Written in 1996 and published in 1998, the book then becomes a philosophy for and textbook of small church missions. Rowell challenges a great deal of  traditional thinking and methodologies in missions. He uses his own ministry and its successes in outreach anecdotally not only to illustrate but then to become the basis for “Synergistic Missions.” In the appendix to the book are found copies of agreements, strategies and plans for what one contributor in the appendix calls a paradigm shift. This work seems to be the publication of the author’s doctoral dissertation. It has been successful in its distribution since the copy I have is a second printing, done in 1999. The two biggest values to me were the story of ministry and the wealth of Scripture . The challenge I had was at times his passion came off as pretension. But this is the risk one runs when he believes that what he is putting forth is from God. In that case, it is better to risk pretension than shortchange the passion. Below are citations that I found helpful to my thinking.

“Jesus proved by feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish that it is not the size of our resource pool, but the limits of our faith and our vision that determines our impact for the Kingdom of God.” (p. 13)

Here is how this church identified a thoughtful strategy to adopt an unreached people group:

1. Select a people group for adoption

2. Organizing prayer for the people groups selected

3. Conducting research

4. Networking

5. Church Planting (p. 42)

“More opportunities to advance the gospel around the world have been lost in our lifetime due to caution than for any other reason. America;s missionaries are often hindered because they move too carefully and too slowly.” (p. 61  a quote from a missionary in Russia)