Christ demands that we put people over prestige or pulpits or publications. Do others really know that we love them? By our deeds and not just by our words? I suppose this is why Jesus never walked up to anyone and said, “I love you.” You see, if you have to tell people that you love them, they tend to suspect your genuineness. Evangelicals, let’s stop just saying that we love the nations. They can judge whether we love them or not.
Last year’s 20/20 Conference was hugely influential in the lives of many Southeastern students and visitors, and it’s coming again next February. Here’s what SEBTS has to say about it:
God’s church always finds herself in the midst of a broader human culture. Though the church is a part of that culture, she also bears witness to a Reality greater than the culture. For this reason, we as believers have the great privilege and responsibility of finding ways—in our colleges, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities—to display the truth, goodness, and beauty of God and his gospel. Come and join us as we explore ways of bearing witness to God and his gospel in the midst of a skeptical, morally confused culture.
The 2010 20/20 Collegiate Conference, A City Within a City, will be held February 5-6 on the campus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The cost of the conference is $35. Southeastern students may attend for a discounted price of $30.
Speakers will include: Danny Akin, Matt Chandler, JD Greear, Clayton King, David Platt, Dave Owen and more
It’s Thursday morning and as I write this article I’m bouncing back and forth on the train to Manhattan. I almost always find riding the subways interesting, but crossing the Manhattan Bridge has certainly been the highlight of my morning commute for the last few days. I think I enjoy this part of the daily ride the most because—even if for just for a few moments—we are all offered an escape from the dark, empty tunnels and given a grandiose view of the city itself. The sky is enlarged. The sun is exposed. There is something to actually gaze upon.
As I sit here on the Broadway Express, though, I can’t help but notice the countenance of those individuals surrounding me. In almost every direction I notice exhausted eyes and fatigued faces. They’re tired.
As we’ve served the Gallery Church this week, it seems that each of us has had at least one great, encouraging story to share with the group. A story that moved a New Yorker out of the dark, empty tunnels and into the light—even if just for a few moments—as the greatest Story of all was told. A Story of Exposure.
Over the past several years God has been preparing me (in many ways) to be an urban church planter. This has certainly been a journey—one that can be measured by several marks and milestones—yet I am continually amazed at how God exposes more and more of his plan for my life. Opportunities like this week inevitably contribute to an increasing zeal to reach the world through the great cities. As I witness the Gallery’s efforts to expand the kingdom of God, I rejoice in the spread of God’s fame—and become increasingly excited about expanding the Church to other great cities, as well.
Following graduation this May, I will begin a new phase in the journey as a church planter. Together with seven other teammates (3 seminarians, a nurse, a computer pro, a horse trainer, and a 2 year-old), we will be transplanting to Denver, Colorado as missionaries for Jesus Christ. As we prepare for the coming step, I consider opportunities to learn from planters such as Aaron Coe, Jeff Getz, Freddy Wyatt, and Ellis Prince absolutely invaluable. Hearing words of encouragement, warnings and cautions, practical wisdom, and spiritual guidance has been both a blessing and a challenge. I think more than anything this week we’ve all witnessed at least a peek into the daily lives of church planters…and I continue to thank God for the privilege of participating in such a mission.
I guess at some point in time the Manhattan Bridge loses its flair amongst the natives. The familiar becomes ordinary. And the ordinary…well, more or less disappears. No one looks up. No one opens his eyes. It’s just one more stretch of the morning commute. One more stop closer to the destination, really. When I think of the story of God, I don’t want it to be like the Manhattan Bridge to those who have crossed it a thousand times. A familiar sight…an ordinary stretch. I want it to be like a view of the city seen by a first-timer. A view where the sky is enlarged. A Story where the Son is exposed.
This week I’m in NYC with a group of students from SEBTS serving the Gallery Church. The Gallery Church was planted in 2006 in the heart of Manhattan and held their first service in a new location (Broadway and 27th St).
Please be praying for:
1. our team – strenth, courage, and boldness
2. the church – influence, service, and unity
3. the city – open ears, hearts, and minds
This is Bryan again, chronicling the travels of Andy’s trip across the country. I talked to him last night for about fifteen minutes – he was just preparing to head into California. It’s crazy that he’s made it across the country by motorcycle in a matter of days!
He said that tonight they’ll finally be able to enjoy the comforts of a bed, a roof over their heads, and a real meal, as they’ll be staying with a friend of a friend in San Francisco. It sounds like the last few days have consisted of sleeping in all sorts of crazy places and meals consisting of either bagels or peanut butter crackers. Ah, life on the road.
Here’s the text I got from him yesterday morning he wanted me to put on as well:
Made it out of Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and Jackon Hole today. They were absolutely astonishing, spent last night in a small mountain town behind a church. We got poured on all through the night so much that we were floating inside. Needless to say, we didn’t get any sleep and were drenched by the end of it. Had a meal with the breakfast club to warm up – first purchased meal in 3,000 miles! Drove through the rest of WY, some of Idaho (very nice), and then Utah (incredible). Saw the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake, Tahoe, and a suburb called Bountiful. I guess that was the Mormon version of “loaded” – million dollar homes surrounding the temple everywhere! Spent the night in Wendover, a casino town on the border of UT and NV. Sleeping in the parking lot in a casino. It’s like trying to go to bed with every single light in your house on. And music. Tomorrow we have about 400 miles to Lake Tahoe to Reno, NV.
Sounds like a great trip to me – I’ll keep updating as I hear more, but good to see that Andy is alive and well, and enjoying being out West – it’s beautiful out there!
This is Bryan – I’ve been assigned the responsibility of updating Andy’s blog to let his concerned readers know that he’s still alive. Johnathan Edwards once wrote a book called The Life and Diary of David Brainerd where he edited and commented on the life of his good friend, Brainerd, a missionary to the Native Americans. My task here, as I edit and comment on Andy’s ridiculously long text messages, is nothing like that.
I got this text from him today:
Sioux Falls, SD… free lunch at O’Reilly’s auto parts for Customer Appreciation Day. We stuffed ourselves knowing we wouldn’t eat that well for a while. Almost cut my finger off trying to make a funnel to change my oil with (thanks for REALLY sharpening that blade mr. calvin white). Visited the corn palace in Mitchell, SD. Whoa. Weeeeeeeird [see picture below]. Learned a lot about the history of corn palaces and this prairie town dating back to 1892. Also fell asleep during a documentary video telling the corn palace story. Was so exhausted. Spent the night in the Badlands. Arrived after dark so we couldn’t see a thing (nor did we have to pay!) but woke up in the morning and were completely astonished at how beautiful the sight was. Absolutely amazing [see picture #2 below] We drove the 42 mile loop and then jumped back on I-90 to arrive in Keystone, SD. We got up to the entrance and realized we could see everything from there, so once again we chose not to pay, but took pics from the road, jumped the guardrail, hiked down towards the base, saw a bobcat and took some more pics. Did the same for crazy horse. Got there, could see it from the distance, didn’t go in. Went to deadwood for Mr. Calvin. Interesting little cowboy town. We were so tired we fell asleep in the parking lot. Then we drove through WY – beautiful state. Green hills everywhere. Rocky mtns in the close background, buffalo all over and coal trains passing through. Spent the night behind a church last night. Headed to Yellowstone today. Pray the bikes continue to perform well, we get some opportunities to share the gospel, and we stay warm and dry in the mtns. We’re doing great though and having a blast!
[Note: I've completely erased this blog entry about 5 times and restarted again. I'm trying to work on being more concise. It's not easy for me...]
Perhaps my greatest concern with short-term mission trips is the tendency for them to become Christian vacations coupled with hit-and-run evangelism for the masses.
I’m not exactly sure how to work through the tension of the first half of this dilemma, either. On one hand I think it’s good (and important) for people to experience another culture and have the opportunity to see new sights. I really do think there can (and possibly should) be some room for that.
But when touring the city is given higher priority than engaging the streets, taking photos of the homeless is given greater emphasis than loving them, and dining at the indigenous restaurant is more important than sharing the bread of life…something is out of balance.
Fortunately, this was not an issue we had to face in Nicaragua. All the sight-seeing we did was in the midst of work! What a blessing. By the end of the week, I heard numerous people saying something along the lines of, “I know we spent all week at the market, but I don’t think I ever even stopped to look around. I was too busy looking for an available person to share the Gospel with!”
PRAISE GOD!!! What a mission-minded group! I am so thankful for such strong attitudes and intentional church members, and am proud to be a part of the Oak Grove Baptist family.
I think I’ll save my thoughts on the second half of the “short-term mission trip dilemma” for the next entry…
Perhaps my favorite aspect of the entire trip to Nicaragua was the work we performed in conjunction with the local church–Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva (New Life Baptist Church). The Managua site is actually a church plant from Vida Nueva’s home campus in San Salvador, El Salvador.
In coordination with Good News in Action–a mission organization dedicated to the Metro America 0-20 area (from Ecuador to Mexico, including Central America and the Caribbean)–Vida Nueva-Managua was launched in the last year or two.
Check out the Good News in Action website for more pics from the trip. I made the front page! Ha! (For those of you who look, you’ll see Daisy, one of my translators, and I sharing the Gospel with a young woman and another little girl. They both were excited to accept Christ and join the church!)
Sharing the Gospel with others should be a natural overflow of the Christian’s heart, but that’s not always the case. In fact, for many of us…that’s far from reality. Last week we didn’t rebuild churches, feed the poor, hand out Bibles, or run any medical clinics (all of which are good means to an end). We shared the Good News. We told about Jesus. We preached Christ crucified.
But…
We didn’t always do it eloquently. Sometimes it was rough. Sometimes it was pathetic. And sometimes we desperately relied on our translators to bail us out. Through those experiences I think we all learned how to pray harder, trust in the Holy Spirit to empower us more, and (especially) our need to be able to communicate the Gospel in a clear and honest manner. Many people struggled with this. Some didn’t even know how to start.
Watching many church members have such a difficult times presenting the Gospel prompted much personal reflection. I began to ask myself why someone who has professed Christ as Lord for years is incapable of sharing that with others. Why is it that they cannot communicate such a simple message? What causes a lifelong Christian to freeze up when communicating a few simple truths?
[Enter the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.]
I then sensed the deep pride and depravity of my heart–as if I were better or more righteous. I shared the Gospel perhaps 60 times over the course of the week (maybe more or less). While I’d like to think of myself as someone who understands the Gospel and is comfortable communicating it to an unbeliever, I’m almost positive that I walked away from every single conversation realizing that I either underemphasized or completely neglected a different element–sometimes crucial element–of the Christian faith.
Me! The guy who loves the church, the Bible, and the good news of Christ (and who has studied “professionally” for the last 2 years) is completely capable of missing the basic message of our faith.
Me! The one who judges those who don’t share a “full” gospel.
Me! The one who balks at certain evangelistic methods and mocks their empty, incomplete, or inaccurate messages.
Sometimes I think I can sympathize with Paul when he writes in Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am!”
Communicating the Gospel well is imperative. I think we all left Nicaragua with a new spiritual fervor…which is great! Even more exciting is to see how many of us have gained a fresh understanding of the importance of being able to communicate the Gospel more effectively. Each of us was challenged. Each was stretched. Each was used by God. To him be the glory!
