Becoming One

I recently married another young couple and it was once again a privilege, a joy, and a timely reminder.  I have not performed dozens of weddings, but just enough to remember how significant each one has been and that so far, 100% of them remain married! 

I vary the wedding ceremony depending on the couple's wishes and on their personalities - what I know of them, to waht degrees, and what I believe the Lord is wanting to be said on their special day.

But all the weddings I've led - if I remember accurately - always include at least this one truth:  God calls marriage a mystery.  The world says two incomplete people become one; in other words 50% + 50% makes 100%.  It's the Jerry Maguire heartwarming moment, "You complete me."  Well that's all romantic and such, but it's not a mystery.  It's just good math.

A mystery is when two whole, real people, 100% each, come together to make ... 100%.  It's not 50+50 = 100, nor 100+100 = 200.  It's not math, it's mystery, and the mystery is that out of the two whole, one new whole emerges.  And this new whole is beautifully unique, a perfect blend of two complementing one another as they merge 2 wills, 2 backgrounds, 2 perspectives on everything ... into 1 mind, heart, and soul.

I am so glad Kristi came into my life.  I love who she has been and who she is becoming.  Check out her latest blogs, http://imaginehomelife.blogspot.com/ and you'll see a glimpse of how we are increasingly becoming one.

For the glory of God, and the good of mankind. 

The Purpose of Imagine

I recently posted a question on Facebook that generated many responses, "What is the purpose of your life?"  This is a serious question which can produce long answers, or simply honest 'I don't know's'.  It's a challenging question which compels me to ask it again of myself, and of Imagine.  While my life's response may focus more on the journey, the question posed to the ministry leads me to focus on desired outcomes.

SO what is the purpose of the Imagine Network?  What do I hope to see accomplished?  In no particular order, I believe Imagine can:

• Build bridges of partnership between local churches and God's global mission movement. 
• Specific Goals:  10 churches newly engaged by the end of 2010; 20 churches by the end of 2011.

•  Be a rallying point for the unity of the world-wide Body of Christ. 
• Specific Goals:  12 global partnerships by the end of 2010; 24 by the end of 2011, including at least one in each strategic region of East Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Europe, China, India, SE Asia, North America, Central America, South America, West Africa, and North Africa.  These partnerships will be based on common goals and vision - namely to be tools for the Spirit of God to bring holistic transformation to their communities and nations.

• Catalyze awareness and opportunity that results in a greater number of Christians being mobilized to serve in global missions - part-time and full-time - using their skills, talents, and every day experiences.  
• Specific goals:  To mobilize people from 8 different domains into short-term mission opportunities over the next 12 months, from the areas of Education, Health, Business, Agriculture, Social Services, Science & Technology, the Arts, & Sports, in addition to church-based ministries.  We desire to see 200 proffessionals serve short-term in 2010-2011, using their gifts and practical experiences on the global stage, and I believe we can see 3 churches begin to send their own long-term mission teams by the start of 2012.
• Specific related goal:  To facilitate the mobilization of 100 Latinos, Africans, Asians, and others from the emerging "majority world" church as front-line missionaries in the hardest places remaining.  I believe God has raised them up for such a time as this and it is our role to help them GO.  Imagine could be one of the first truly Global mobilization agencies by focusing mission movements with Internationals and not just North Americans.   

• Through these global partnerships, create change that will endure and see the "tide turned" against the global giant challenges of: 
• HIV/AIDS - infection rates reduced to a mimimum;
• Child-Orphans - rescued into homes and discipled into future leaders; 
• Endemic poverty - solutions created and sustained through creative use of local resources; 
• Islamization of the globe - training effective and genuine Christians to share the liberating message of the love of Christ for all people;
• Unengaged people groups - targeting efforts to plant churches in places where no church exists using a wide range of creative entry points such as clean water projects, health development, etc.  

We'd love to have a team of 50 prayer-partners and 50 regular financial contributors to launch Imagine to the place it can be.  For two and a half years we had no overhead costs so 100% of funds raised went to our projects.  Even though we now have personnel, we still aim for 90% and above to go towards projects and partnerships. 

Well, those are some of our aspirations.  So much can happen if we can build our organizational and spiritual structures on a solid foundation.  Imagine ... the global church united, changing the world.

Will you join us?



 

Everything Matters

A poster.  A random mail package.  A citizenship lost.  A "four-legged" insect.  An English speaking family.  And every Friday night. 

What do these six things have in common?  This is not one of those "super I.Q. tests" that challenge us to find the commonality in a random sequence.  This is no mental gymnastic.  It's everyday, real life. 

The common denominator for the apparently random list above is simply this:  everything matters.

Romans 11:33-36 puts it this way:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!


"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"


"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"


For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

All things are from Him, through Him, to Him. 

Now, this won't be a theological treatise on why God even allows evil to be introduced into our lives.  Tonight there's a much bigger question to ponder:  Why does God use apparently random, meaningless, mundane situations to introduce Himself - in all His majesty and glory - to human beings, even those who are not looking for Him?!    

This one stumps me far more than the evil-in-the-world question.  The only plausible answer are the last 7 words of Romans 11.  But tonight I won't try to figure it out.  Instead I will just skip and dance and sway in the wonder of it all:

•      The miracle of how God uses a "cheesy" poster of Jesus at the U.N. to stir an Egyptian man to know Him;
•      The wonder of how a French version of Luke winds up mailed to the door, and into the heart, of a Moroccan Berber;
•      The Jobian way in which a man is stripped from his only passion, the Kurdish land he lives to fight for, in order to receive a far better citizenship in the City of God;
•      The mesmerizing intricacy of Hebrew scripture saying insects have four legs (when the scientific Muslim mind knows they have six and therefore the Bible can't be trusted!), but oh wait, the Hebrews called the walking limbs "legs" and the jumping limbs something else!  Now the scientific mind turns the tables on other skeptics.
•      The mere hospitality of an American family hosting a Wahabi Saudi student (as pure as pure can get in Islam) practicing English every week, never verbally witnessing, yet ever-impressing Truth and Life into him - a seed that blossoms into a seminary student teaching us about the Trinity today!
•      And the silent testimony of not choosing debauchery every Friday night like other "pagan Christians" showing a Pakistani the true righteousness that comes from grace.  

Simple scenarios sprinkled with small acts of obedience that yielded Eternal consequences. 

God loves Muslims.  Gloriously.  He proved it to me once more tonight through the lives of these men I have met.  And the beautiful thread for me to hold on to, that for God:  Everything matters.         

What did you put on today?

Sorry, it may be a personal question, but this Sahara Challenge week is getting up close and personal and I'm just sharing my week with you cause I wish you were here!  You're welcome to make it flow both ways.  I am SO grateful that this training is NOT about making us experts in Islam or Arabic!  One week would be so insufficient. 

A major emphasis of this week is our own Spiritual Formation.  Do those two words seem strange to you?  Do they spook you because they rhyme with Transcendental Meditation?  That was random Dave.

The reason I am so encouraged this week is because as we are training to reach Muslims, the first and most important step for us to take is to examine our lives and make sure we are really walking with Jesus!  Spiritual Formation is sadly a lost practice in many Evangelical cirlces, but it's essentially a set of practices that are tools for us to strengthen our daily walk with Jesus.  It's about helping us be better disciples.  All of our grace-alone/no-law theology has unwittingly stripped Christendom of our spiritual disciplines and the result has been an anemic witness that can not withstand the normal stresses of American life - much less the pressure of witnessing to Muslims!     Spiritual Formation is the re-capturing of the thriving Christian life enabling us to witness constantly, "and when necessary - use words." 

Which leads us back to the question, "What did you put on today?"  I am proudly donning my black Imagine Network polo shirt, my latest jeans, appropriate undergarments, and sandals.  I wear contacts and usually, today included, I wear deodorant (stick and spray).  But I put on something else today, which if I'm half as smart as I claim to be, I will do it habitually - daily - just like wearing clothes and body sprays.  I need to put this on as part of my Spiritual Formation: 

Ephesians 4:24 - "Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." 

Did you see that?  We have a "New Self" - the antidote to all of our self-loathing ways; "Created to be like God" - a new self we can wear that actually makes us reflect Jesus; "in true righteousness and holiness" - and this new self is 100% legit - it is TRUE rightness with God and man, and REAL holiness. 

You may think you already put this on some time ago.  Or you may think you can't really live that way in day-to-day life.  The fact is you have a daily choice to make, as seen in the previous verses: "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self..." From verse 17 on, Paul is admonishing - who? - the CHURCH - to "no longer live as the Gentiles do" with futile thinking, darkened in understanding, separated from the life (ways/purposes) of God and given over to sensuality...!  Paul is admonishing the Church to choose wisely in the way they "dress" because unfortunately, so long as we live in a fallen world, we have to get dressed daily. 

I hope you will begin to ask yourself every morning along with me, "What am I putting on today?"  Let's memorize Ephesians 4:24, and for you overachieving friends of mine, start with verse 21, and let's covenant to "put on the new self, created to be like God" every morning.  If we choose to consciously dress that way, perhaps we will find ourselves living as witnesses and not even knowing it.  Then Muslims and others will approach you and enthusiastically say, "What are you wearing today and where did you get it?"          

So here we are at a 6-year old's birthday party and the theme is ... Michael Jackson! Really. Yes, I said six year old, not 36, which would make more sense.

Now by "theme" I don't mean napkins and cupcake sticks. No, we're talking event tent with a crystal ball (!), karaoke with a full-sized faux electric guitar, a stage, and - here's the funniest part - people my age and older ready to win the 80's dress up contest!

And the 6 year old birthday boy? He's enjoying the good ol' fashioned moon jump and trampoline, which begs the question: why do we "grown ups" do these things?

Maybe you're done asking those kinds of questions, but I'm just getting started. How much do I do which on the surface appears to be for others, but down at the core is really all for me and my gratification? Worse thought still, is much of what I do "for God" actually a clever cover for my own devices?

My prayer for Imagine is that we will transparently serve the global church, with the only goal being the maximum glory for the King - that's Jesus, not Michael or Elvis. One day, even their stories will be forgotten, but there is one Story that will be told for eternity. Will you have a role in it?

Time to go, moonwalk contest is starting and I think I have a fair chance!