Receptivity

So I’ve been noticing a lack of comments on this blog lately. That means one of two things –

1. Nobody really reads these anymore – the blog reading days have passed. Or…
2. Our content is not interesting enough and unworthy of comment.

I can understand this…I have read many blogs and thought, “I really have nothing to say to that”. To see what the problem is, I thought I would throw out an issue that’s worthy of discussion and ask for your thoughts, O faithful blog readers. What do you think about this…

“These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11

I think it’s a proven biblical fact that there are some cultures in the world that are more receptive to the gospel than others. The Bereans were obviously more receptive to the gospel than the Thessalonicans. I don’t think it was just that Paul ran into some people in Berea who happened to be open. I think that the culture in Berea was more receptive to the truth of the gospel and lined up Paul’s teachings against the Old Testament to see if his teachings were true.

Now that my best friend is giving his life in the service of poor and dying people in Uganda and having incredible success, I’ve often had this thought…

Is our time as evangelists (Christians who are obeying the great commission) best spent in the regions of the world that are most receptive to the gospel?

Should receptivity be a factor in choosing where we take our missions trips and plant our churches?

I’ll never forget a conversation that I had with missionary Richard Michalski on a mission trip to the Ukraine. He was pouring out his convictions on this subject in between spoonfuls of pasta. He told me that if you added up all the dollars spent on evangelism in a certain nation and divided that by the number of souls that were coming to Christ you would have a “cost per soul” ratio.

He told me that the cost per soul in the USA was around $10,000. So for every 10,000 dollars that we spend on evangelism in our country, 1 person comes to Christ. The shocking part was still to come. He said that in the Ukraine, the cost per soul was around $1. In Africa? A mere 10 cents. So if we sent our 10,000 dollars to Africa instead of reaping 1 soul in America, we would see 100,000 people come to Christ. He talked about how there are regions of the world that are under a “grace for harvest”.

Now I’m not sure where he got those figures and if they’re exactly accurate. But he does bring up an interesting point. Should we be focusing our money and man power endeavoring to reach a culture that is mostly closed to the gospel (like much of the western world) when there are millions of people in other parts of the world who have never heard the gospel and are very receptive to the message?

Or to make it even more personal – Why am I living in an area that is statistically unreceptive to the gospel when I could be living in a region and helping reap a massive harvest?

Should receptivity be a factor? Or should we be specifically commanded by the Spirit of God in every mission trip, church plant and choice of residence? Obviously he wants a witness in the hard mission fields of France, Germany, Spain, Japan and the like. Did Paul have the direct command of Christ to go to each city? Or did he just preach wherever he went? Sometimes that seems clear…sometimes not.

It’s clear that God’s plan is to redeem every tribe, tongue and nation. But does it make more sense to start with the receptive regions of the earth so they can be part of the army of missionaries that flood the unreceptive areas?

I know that I’m living in direct response to the call of God to live in Nampa, ID. But as FLC continues to grow in number and influence, I’m realizing that God is calling our church to have global impact. The question is…where do we begin?

I’d love your thoughts on this one...

2 Books

Due to the lack of posting on our book review blog, I'm going to continue reviewing books on our blog...did you ever realize you have too many blogs and need to downsize? Ha ha. Anyway, my two latest reads were:

The Local Church Today - Bill Scheidler

and

Communicating for a Change - Andy Stanley

Local Church was really great. The importance of the local church is one of my life messages that's been passed down from spiritual fathers in my life. People ask me all the time why I'm so passionate about it and how I see it so clearly in scripture. This book by Bill Scheidler really sums it up well. The 1st half is a study of the church in scripture and the 2nd half is a biblical analysis of elders, deacons, and the 5 fold ministry. It's all straight bible.

If you wonder about MFI and what we believe about the local church, church government, and church offices - pick up this book.

Stanley's book was a fun read for a preacher. He's pretty confrontational and challenging in his assault on boring preaching. I liked it. I think he comes across a little bit strong in some areas. You get the feeling that you should abandon your preaching style and use his models or be doomed to poor preaching. I'm going to take some and leave some.

His main controversial point is that all messages should only have one point. I'm not buying that part completely. I believe that we should preach the way that God leads us to preach - and that may change from week to week. I believe that the Holy Spirit not only can give us content but He can give us communication technique. But if you applied Stanley's system as a basic foundation and let the Holy Spirit breath on it from week to week, you would have some good things going.

I especially enjoyed his comments to preachers who hide bad preaching behind the guise of "that's just my style" or "I need to be myself". He has some pretty great stuff to say about the necessity of engaging your audience and not being boring. I'm stirred to preach more focused messages that have a clear take away - yet I'm going to continue to allow God to groom my preaching style and seek Him for direction, content and style.

Jamie's late night thoughts

I am not sure whether it is Danny's recent blog kick or the Autumn leaves and crisp breeze that have inspired me to write lately, perhaps both. Today, though, I have been writing all day long. Being a mother of a two year old, it has all been in my head of course. But now that David has drifted off to sleep and my house lies quiet, all that has been written during the day finds it way out of my mind and into my studies and now, this blog. I think blogs must have been invented for men who like to chronicle their daily revelations out of Scripture and women who need more avenues to use up all their words. (Or at least that is what this blog has been utilized for.) So, for whoever reads this, bear with me as I use up some extra words from today.
As the heat of the summer finally submits to the Harvest season, I find myself spending more and more time with a cup of coffee, my Bible and a contemplative spirit. Not that I don't contemplate in the other seasons, but in this particular season I seem to contemplate more that usual. I contemplate the Word of God, my life, how my life measures up to the Word, the church, parenting, and on and on. I am a firm believer in contemplation, especially with the Holy Spirit, as I believe it leads to accurate self evaluation and practical goals for the future. Anyways, today I was once again contemplating on the consistent war between faith and worry. For those of you that know me, you know that this has been a large battle in my personal life that started on the day that I realized that these two were opposed to each other. Ruth Bell Graham says it this way, " Worship and worry cannot live in the same heart; they are mutually exclusive." Today though as I was evaluating my faith level, the Holy Spirit led me to the revelation that just as faith and worry cannot co-habitate neither can disappointment and a thankful heart.
I have never really thought of myself as disappointed in anything in my life. I have an amazing husband, a healthy child whom I have the privilege of staying home with, I love my ministry, etc, etc. God has truly blessed us! As the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me the power of thanksgiving and the barrier that disappointment poses to it, I began to see with Him even the slightest areas of disappointment in my life. Areas that are not bad, but are not exactly the vision I had of them either. As one area popped up, others began to surface and before long I realized that in order to go where the Holy Spirit is wanting to lead me in my relationship with Him disappointment can have no place in my life, not even the smallest part.
Tonight marks a significant day for me just as the one did years ago when I decided to engage in the battle against worry and fear. Tonight I decided to engage the giant of disappointment in battle no matter how small the ground is that he would try to take in my life. I wonder at people who do not seem to live this Christian life with excitement and passion. I find it absolutely invigorating to realize the plans of the enemy and then partner with Christ in destroying them!!!

From them will proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who celebrate; And I will multiply them and they will not be diminished; I will also honor them and they will not be insignificant. Jeremiah 30:19

That is all for tonight. Word ratio is now satisfied. To the unknown blog reader or readers out there: Be blessed in your conquests this week!

The Fear of the Lord and Healing

"But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings..."
Mal 4:2

"Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed."
Acts 5:16

I'm praying for a culture in our church that fears the name of the Lord. It's incredible to see the power that comes upon a people who cultivate the fear of God and choose to live without double standards. The fear of the Lord came upon the church of Jerusalem after the Ananias and Sapphira incident. And the result? Great healing and deliverance.

People from all over the region heard about the power in the church. I can imagine them packing up their sick and demon possessed relatives and making the trip to Jerusalem full of faith and convinced that God was moving and was able to heal their loved ones. People will move miles away to experience a genuine move of God. It seems like everyone has a story about Toronto in the 90's. People are so hungry for an authentic and genuine move of God that is evidenced by his power. They will give up jobs and relationships and move to churches where God is moving in power. If it happened in the book of Acts, than it will happen today. I'm amazed at the stories people tell me about how they came to FLC.

I believe now more than ever that the power of God will draw people to hear the message of the cross. I believe the multitudes are coming. But I believe that power in the church is dependent upon a great commitment to a culture where we fear the name of the Lord.

Speed of My Heart

"O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!" Luke 24:25

How quickly does your heart believe? Do you have a heart that takes a lot of stirring to believe for the promises of God in your life?

I think God is ready to absolutely blow our minds with blessing if we would simply cultivate a heart that quickly believes him at His word. I honestly don't believe that God is wanting to wait forever to do unbelievable things through us to reach our cities. We're in days of massive harvest and increase. God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth and I believe that He wants to do this through us in a rapid manner.

I wonder how often God is limited by the faith that is in our hearts. Hearts that are slow to believe and our filled with hesitation limit the rapid miraculous movement of the Holy Spirit in our cities. God is speaking some pretty unbelievable things to our church right now - I'm praying for faith in the hearts of our people to believe God at His word and step out in bold obedience.

The Burden

God has really been speaking to our church about reaching our city. It's like He just stopped us in the middle of our plans and said, "Its time to care for the lost". I'm really feeling pressed by the Spirit to be more bold than ever before in sharing the message with a generation that so badly needs it.

One thing that Larry Stockstill said in the previously mentioned message is that at the core of Christianity there needs to be a strong burden for the lost. He put it this way (speaking to pastors)...

"Don't spend time discipling a leader unless they bleed for your city."

His point was that the burden is the thing that drives us to prayer, fasting, action, and results.

I found this scripture really hit home this morning...

"So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven." Nehemiah 1:4

For a long time I've thought that a burden for the lost must be a sovereign move of God on your heart. But if it was up to God to move on us we'd see a whole lot more burdened Christians around. I believe there is a responsibility on our part to cultivate our hearts to receive God's burden for His lost sheep.

Nehemiah had a heart that was ready to receive the burden from the Lord. The broken down wall in Jerusalem wasn't new news...it had been that way for 180 years!! I believe he already knew that facts about his homeland but that he had not yet received the burden God had for him...until that day in chapter 1. And the burden led to prayer and fasting. The prayer and fasting led to favor and action. Before you know it a whole culture was being transformed by a man with a burden and a vision.

So what can we do to cultivate a heart that is ready to receive a burden from the Lord?

• Pray for the lost
• Spend more time with lost people
• Ask the Lord for compassion and mercy
• Ask the Lord to make our heart like His heart - "God, I want to feel the way you feel..."
  
• Remember the kind of life that God saved you out of
• ???

Renewed Blogging Efforts

So it's been one year since we moved from Bend to Nampa. I felt stirred to renew my blogging efforts. My new strategy is to post more often with shorter thoughts and updates. The blogging public demands something fresh and it is high time I give it to them. So this is a new day for our blog and it comes with a fresh look. What do you think?

I'll be doing my best to continue to keep you updated on how ministry is going as well as our life apart from ministry. Jamie tends to feel a little guilty when the content gets stale, so she posts more often. But I'm working on the discipline of writing and will strive to be a good contributer.

Last week I attended the international MFI pastors conference along with Pastors Steve and Taunia and my good friend Troy. We had a fabulous time. There was great teaching all around but the top three messages, in my opinion, go to Bob MacGregor, Frank Damazio and Larry Stockstill.




I've never had an opportunity to hear from Pastor Larry. His slant on the 5 fold ministry and the importance of discipleship was absolutely inspiring. His church in Baton Rouge is exploding. The youth ministry led by his son Joel Stockstill is the largest in the US with over 5500 students in cell groups. I highly recommend listening to his podcast. Spending time listening to great leaders in the church is always good to stir my vision and passion. I'm excited for another year in youth ministry.

We've come a long way this year - there's a over 100 students coming to the NXT now every week and we keep taking strides forward. I'm proud of our leaders and all that they sacrifice for these people. Keep praying for us as we move forward into the God's plan for Southern Idaho.