A Complete Evangelism Team

Messages will be given out of the usual order. The judgments of God are in the land. While city missions must be established where colporteurs, Bible workers, and practical medical missionaries may be trained to reach certain classes, we must also have, in our cities, consecrated evangelists through whom a message is to be borne so decidedly as to startle the hearers.

This paragraph shows the need to have a complete evangelism team working together in a city. It seems that most of the time these classes of workers operate in isolation: canvassers by themselves, Bible workers by themselves, etc. What we need to do is build a team with all the components.

A team of just canvassers is not complete. A team of just Bible workers is not complete. An evangelist by himself is not complete. We need to learn to operate as a body. A complete work will be done only when the body works together.

Sometimes I find that certain people prefer to work in specialized groups. This is ok to some extent, but we need to come together and coordinate our work. We need to reexamine models that are exclusive to one type of evangelism. Workers should still focus on their primary task (Canvassing, Bible work, medical), but there should be coordinated teamwork.

This combined model is what ThisGeneration tries to do. On our mission trip programs we train our students in Bible work, medical evangelism, and canvassing principles. We also run a canvassing program in parallel to the mission trips so that both groups have an exposure to the other group. We then bring in Bible workers to follow up the leads and train church members. We also work with a church through a reaping series. It is total, holistic evangelism.

Let’s work as a body.

Romans 4

These are the thought questions that were shared at our men’s Bible study tonight. You won’t have our discussion, but you can get there on your own.

As David says, be happy in the freedom that God offers us through faith. Abraham shows us that faith sees past the impossible, and we can face the infinite gap between us and God with confidence, knowing that Christ has bridged it for us.

4:1,2 – What would there be to boast about before men, and why wouldn’t it work with God?

4:3,4 – Why are are the wages of works a debt?

4:5-8 – Why are these people blessed?

4:9,10 – What are the implications of which state the blessing comes in?

4:11,12 – Why was circumcision given? (Circumcision = outcome)

4:13-15 – Why would the promise be of no effect?

4:16-19 – How was Abraham’s name (father of a multitude) an illustration of faith?

4:20-22 – How did Abraham model rejecting apparent impossibility?

4:23-25 – How does our faith parallel Abraham’s?

The Single Secret to Succeeding in the Christian Walk

This sermon has struck a chord with me over the years. I’ve totally stolen the canoe illustration for my own sermons and Bible studies. This is a must watch.

TGen Ohio Staff Update

I traveled to Southern this last weekend to interview staff for the mission trips. Joe Reeves helped me connect with several friends and students.

I am pleased to announce that Katie Hickman and Amir Davis will be joining the program as deans/outreach leaders. Had great interviews with them, and the mission trips are a great fit for them, as they are good fits as staff. I’m looking forward to finding out who our last two deans will be!

God also set up a divine appointment for me. I pulled up to Red Robin with Joe and Doug Houghton. The Mount Vernon Academy bus was in the parking lot outside the mall. Doug encouraged me to go see if I could talk to anyone. I was able to introduce myself, make some small talk, and then meet the principle, who is interested in hearing more about the mission trips! I’ve wanted to recruit there, and I hope this opens the door. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Soaring High, but Resting Nowhere

“Many of the world’s learned men have received so high an education that they cannot touch the common people. Their knowledge is intricate. It soars high, but rests nowhere. The most intelligent businessmen desire simple truth such as Christ gave to the people when He was on this earth—the truth that He declares to be spirit and life. His words are as the leaves of the tree of life. What the world needs today is the light of Christ’s example reflected from the lives of Christlike men and women. The intellect most powerful in behalf of truth is the intellect that Christ controls, ennobling and purifying it by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. – {9T 135.3}”

The most striking sentence in this paragraph is the one that pictures the intellectual as soaring high, but never finding a place to rest. That reminds me of a critical thinking class that I took in college. It was a class in the honors program that prepared the intellectual elite.

Once, the professor talked about how critical thinking was a system of thought that helped us to always evaluate our beliefs and to move on to better beliefs by not becoming complacent. I think that can be used appropriately, but I think it tended to set the stage to shipwreck students’ faith. The professor said that it was a system that never let its adherents rest because they were always looking for something better.

I was always glad that I already had a resting place. I already knew an absolute truth that would help me establish all other truths. It is not complacency, but the lack of a necessity for something better.

My heart still aches for very smart classmates of mine who locked their minds to the rest Christ provides by one way or another. Christ has never been a limitation for me, but always he has always represented rest and freedom.

Matthew 11:28 – Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Pale Blue Dot

God cares about us. Even if we are comparatively nothing in this vast universe.

Ty Gibson talks about this in the Digma video “Pale Blue Dot“.

I am really liking the style of these videos. Not just the content, but the artistic composition.

Watch it and share it.

ThisGeneration Ohio Housing Update

Today I was talking with the pastors from the Centerville SDA church, and they opened up the door for the mission trip to be housed at the church. I’m so glad that we were able to find a solution! That’s really good news. The facility will work great.

I’ll be traveling down to Southern this weekend to look for other mission trip staff (deans/outreach assistants). I hope to have other good news to share!

Goodness, Suffering and God

I listened to a debate yesterday between Pastor Nathan Renner and Professor Timothy Elizondo at the Columbia College.  The debate was about the possibility of an entirely good God existing in a universe of suffering and pain.  It was tremendously edifying.

I thought the debate was riveting.  Nathan Renner did an excellent job of articulating his arguments in favor of God’s true character and values, while responding to the arguments of Dr. Elizondo.  The interesting thing, is that for all the brain power that went into the debate, the arguments are followable.  There are some subtleties in the arguments that take some sophistication, but the main thrusts of each side are rather plain.  I also enjoyed the question from the audience about Hell.

I thought it was curious that Dr. Elizondo did not seem to understand Renner’s definitional argument, nor accept the natural laws of cause and effect.

I’ve included a Dropbox link to the file because I don’t think the Light Bearers download works.

Listen to it and let me know what you think!  It’s 90 minutes that are well worth your time.

An Unexpected Weekend Blessing

I traveled to Andrews this last weekend on a mission to recruit staff for ThisGeneration’s summer program in Dayton. I made plans for the trip prior to knowing what was happening there. I discovered that GYC Great Lakes was going.

I was a bit worried that the people I would want to talk to would be preoccupied with other things. Nathaniel Gibbs certainly was (but that was because he was so involved). However, I found the overall experience to be a blessing (and I still was able to do some recruiting; thanks Kamil and Emily!).

Ty Gibson was the main speaker, and he was presenting on his normal, favorite subject: the love and character of God. Even though I have heard a few things of his, it was still a large blessing. Having Jesus presented as the great drawing force in my personal life is so much more attractive than preparing for the second coming on a fear basis.

It’s the kind of thing that makes me want to be a Christian. To stand up and be a defender of God’s honor.

I salute Ty and the Light Bearers/ARISE combo. I hope for great things. Courage.

An Unbalanced Ministry

And remember that those who know the truth for this time and yet confine their efforts to their own churches, refusing to work for their unconverted neighbors, will be called to account for unfulfilled duties. – {9T 34.3}

This strikes a chord with me. I see a lot of effort being confined solely within the context of believers. I’ve done a lot of that myself. Yet it’s an unbalanced ministry. The messages that we have of who God is, the realities of sin, and the imminent return of Christ to end the world need to be shared with those that don’t know.

It’s much easier to talk with believers, and to try to improve the spiritual lives within the church. There’s plenty of work to do there, I know. I feel it. But Christ said:

Mark 2:17 – When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

This is what Christ died for. It’s not as easy to do things this way, but it’s imperative.