8 Hours in Gospel, Community, Mission

We have developed this IDENTITY series at The Bridge that shows our identities as a faith community.  There are lots of ID's of every faith community, but for us, they all center around Gospel, Community, & Mission. And, those three all point to the person and work of Jesus.  All of our material is online at The Bridge Church Website.

Yesterday, we witnessed these three function in an extraordinary way.  Our Imperial Missional Cell (Community) has begun to serve the community on MISSION at a local pregnancy center.  A young lady came in to pick up some maternity clothes as she has found herself pregnant with her fourth child.  The first three children are 12, 8, and 4.  She also got assigned to be counseled, and our cell member and the counselor had the great joy of presenting her the GOSPEL.  They talked extensively about the sinless life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus for the redemption and restoration of sinners.  This young mom was cut to the heart.  She repented and believed the Gospel and received Christ.

In all of the tears and laughter of this extraordinary turn of events, it became evident that she has no COMMUNITY.  So, she received an invitation to the Imperial cell last night.  She showed up with three children in tow and they ate "with glad and sincere hearts."  And, we studied the "Apostle's teaching, we prayed, we hung out and talked, we found common ground." (Acts 2).  This community scattered, this missional cell family, will be life for her in her pursuit of Christ as she works on Sundays and so her ability to join the large group community gathered will be rare.  However, she will be able to go on MISSION with us in her new life of a 'disciple who makes disciples.'

Within 8 hours, we saw the Gospel take root from the Community going on Mission.  But, if this young lady had met Christ and not had a place to connect, where would she have gone? Instead, we saw the Community re-introduce the Gospel as the means by which the Holy Spirit will raise up a disciple as she was invited to join a family.  This is truly one of the most astonishing things I have seen since planting a church, and I have seen a glorious God do extraordinary things - things that Him famous - Glory to God.  Gospel, Community, Mission - all pointing to Jesus - Wow!

Persistence with Gentleness & Respect

There are models of how to love well as you evangelize.  Let me tell you about one, and this is like Jesus - it would a take a library to tell stories like these if we recorded all the ones out there. Through the entirety of my college coaching career at Mineral Area College, Murphy Thomas was the scorekeeper at the basketball games.  I am a little embarrassed about that now as this serious man of God had to think, "What is he doing?" as I would rant and rave at officials and players, using some language that I can't even think of now, but I am sure flowed out.  I do want everyone to know that I was calling those officials to repent; I was just unsure of how to go about it.  I guess commenting on their mother's status was a bad evangelism method.  Murphy was so patient and so sweet; he was excited when I did show up to church, even if I spent the majority of the time drawing basketball plays on the offering envelopes rather than experiencing the majesty of Christ.

He did go out of his way on occasion.  If he did not see me in church for a while, he would ride his bike to my house which was as death-defying as planting a church in Somalia or Iraq because if you have ever ridden a bike down Hillsboro Rd - which people think is I-25 - it meant that he really cared.  He would ride up and just pretend to talk about basketball or the weather, but church and the Gospel were on the back of his tongue.  I so appreciate it now, but in those dead in my trespasses days, on occasion, I would hide in the closet and pretend not to be home. It is a good thing that God is merciful.

He was just so winsome (I really don't care about the Bridge-Arnold folks who don't like that word), so persistence with gentleness and respect.  (By the way, for you B-A clowns that word means to win over with a child-like charisma, like a 1 year old wanting her daddy to pick her up, good word). But, Murphy just stayed the course. I hope it felt good to him when I was regenerated in 1996 and answered the call to shepherd God's people in the Gospel, and then later to become a church planter.  He has been there every step of the way, from cleaning up half eaten fried chicken and whiskey bottles (not mine) as we set up for church in the banquet center to welding the caps on the beams some 40 feet off of the floor in a small elevated bucket - he is in his late 70's - when we did all of our own construction work on the new Bridge building.  He now sits on the second row enjoying the glowing song presentation and Scripture proclamation of his precious Jesus with most all of his wonderful family around him.

I have never met anyone with such a heart for lost people.  I have seen him invite waitresses at Ryan's to put on a ballcap and go to a men's conference with us to  hear about Jesus.  Just this week as he was having a rather serious heart attack in the hospital, he turned his pain-ridden face to the side and winsomely asked the nurse, "Do you have a good church? Do you know God?" Same as he was being prepped for his quad-by-pass surgery - wearing the doctors and nurses out with talk of church and a glorious Gospel. He loves Jesus, he loves his bride, Mary, really well, and he loves Jesus' bride - the church.  I am glad he is going to be with us for a while.  He, more than any other human, probably had more to do with my redemption than anyone; he is like a dad to me; he is my friend; he is my partner in the Gospel. I hope he feels much better very soon because I love him very much.

Sin is Crouching at the Door

OK!  There are no super Christians.  There are only jacked-up sinners full of wickedness and selfishness, some of whom have been changed and redeemed by a glorious Jesus.  Anything good comes from God, and sin is our natural way.  I say that because pressing into that glorious Jesus is the solution to going to war with this sin that 'so easily entangles us.'  And, a slide can be subtle.

If I had been scheduled to preach last Sunday, I would have needed to decline because I was in midst of the equivelent of a small self-absorbed child that has just been denied Twizzlers in the check out aisle at Wal-Mart.  Spiritually, I was on the floor throwing a fit of self-absorption -- NOT pressing into the Gospel, NOT realizing the grace and Spirit that had been gifted me made this thing called not about me.  Sin can be defined as me forgetting that I am dead.  Well, like most of us, our worst sin happens in private in our minds, and so I did not blow anybody up or act a fool except in my own mind and somewhat with Kelley.  Basically, I spent three days alone and while I was not alone (thank goodness that Christ never leaves me or forsakes me regardless of what an idiot I am), and I should have taken advantage and just spent time with the sufficient Christ. Instead, Satan got a little foothold on a pity party and my remnant selfish heart chimed right in.  The result was a depressed state of funk.  There was no porn fest (have no temptation with that stuff). no inappropriate interaction with the opposite sex, no drunkenness. But, I ended up not being worth anything to the Kingdom until I confessed all this sin, repaired damage with Kelley, and pressed into the Gospel on which I stand and live.  Grace is a great thing, but sin crouches at the door for all of us, so let's press in close to that which we know.

Life Lessons #3

What stirs your affections for Christ?

What robs your affections for Christ?

I have never really had a lot of hobbies.  I dabbled with the old cars a little bit just to have something to with my dad when he was alive.  I have thought about doing that again with Justin, but there is just no desire there except to spend some time with him.  I played a little golf, but never like everyday.  My idolatry extended to my career success and my personal glory, but hobbies were never a big deal.  Competition can be an idol because I DEPLORE LOSING - in the past, did most anything, short of serious cheating, to avoid losing.

The only hobby I fool with at all anymore is fantasy baseball.  I know. I know.  Sounds stupid, but I have always loved baseball statistics.  When I was five years old, I knew the batting averages of all of the Cardinals, and honestly a lot of all of baseball.  So, when the world of fantasy baseball started where all of the competition is based on player stats, I really enjoyed it - really fun. Yeah, I know, NERD!  But, this is one of those morally neutral items that does not appear to have any inherent sin traits.  I mean if I go out on the street and buy heroin and shoot up, that is clearly not morally neutral.  If I cheat on my wife, that is not morally neutral.

I had never competed and won a fantasy baseball league where the players were really serious.  But last summer, I found myself with a good team and a chance to win.  Suddenly, I found myself not just enjoying the hobby, but obsessing over balls and strikes of games that did not even involve the Cardinals.  This was now not morally neutral.  Robbed affection for Jesus.  I wasn't getting high or lusting, but I was lusting, wanted to WIN.  And, I won the league.  I don't know if that was good or bad.  God did not care if I won or lost, so He obviously did not supernaturally move some pitches around so I could have success.  But, he did care how if it got between me and Him, and how I reacted to the win.

Hobbies can actually stir your affections for Christ.  They can rob also.

Life Lessons #2

As I contemplated the meaning of Independence Day yesterday, I thought of one of the great honors of my life.  My dad, Lester Gray, was a WW2 hero.  He sat in tail of a B-17 taking flak for 37 missions.  I don't mean the kind of flak a pastor takes if he preaches too long and the Baptists beat us to the buffet.  I mean rip you to shreds kind.  He saw a lot of tail gunners, not carried out of the plane, but flushed out of the plane by a giant waterhose upon their return.  One of them was his commanding officer who bumped Dad off a mission. I guess I am a little lucky to be here.

So, in 2004, our entire family, plus the famous Cole Allison, traveled to Washington DC with Lester for the dedication of the lifetime-awaited WW2 Memorial.  Dad actually fought a little with senator Bob Dole to get 20-some tickets when each person was only supposed to have 2.  Man, that dude could negotiate the price on a car and get things done - Ferris Buehler way before time.  At the ceremony, there were lots of wheelchairs and walkers, but thousands of WW2 vets made it in for what was a beautiful day and a magnificent celebration.  I don't think I have ever been such a proud American.

I have always been a proud American -- never flinching at saying that I would fight and die to fight tyranny in any form.  Isn't that really what the patriots did in the 1770's to bring about the signing of that great Declaration?  I even cry when some weed-head like Michael Phelps has the Star Spangled Banner playing over his gold medal ceremony.  I get excited when the US even scores a goal in World Cup soccer even though I have never seen a soccer match in person. I want kids to know the Pledge of Allegiance, and I don't want the flag touching the ground, let alone burned.  I love this nation!

That being said, I am a citizen of two Kingdoms.  America is a neat thing, but that citizenship will never take precedence over being in the Kingdom of Light.  Let me put that in perspective for you. I was asked the other day why we did not have an American flag on stage at The Bridge. Let me answer that this way -- I am very proud that the church we planted in on American soil.  This affords us great opportunity.  But, if we were to put up flags inside the church, they would be from every nation on earth because God does not see an American superior in any way and so in Kingdom work, we cannot either.  We must be just as vigilant about bringing all nations, races, and peoples to the throne of the most High God as we go about Kingdom of Light business.  The Gospel does not cry at medal ceremonies. It penetrates hearts and never sees the color of skin on its way in.

Last thought -- I hear people say that they feel so lucky as Americans to be free to worship.  I have news - the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be suppressed, even by tyrannical nations such as North Korea or China.  Lovers of God will express their love for God no matter if it is under a light bulb in secret in the state of Orissa in India where persecution is at an all-time high. Can't stop the worship of God, and after worshiping with them, I think they appreciate God more than the average American church-goer.  Much more than freedom to worship, what we Christians have been given by these great patriots of the past are the freedom AND the resources to go on mission and carry out the GREAT COMMISSION.  This is the great American blind-spot.  When General Washington gave orders to cross the Delaware into Trenton on that frosty winter day, they did not have many resources, but they had courage, perseverance, and belief in their cause. Christians should set down their I-Pads and contemplate the orders of the glorious Lord Jesus, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)
For the American, there has been a lot of blood spilled to make this possible, both Holy and honorable blood.

Life Lessons #1

I am going to write a series of blogs chronicling my life experiences of the last 50 years.  Although I did not repent and believe the Gospel until I was 36 years old, I see God keeping His promise in Joel 2:25 "I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,...."  Kelley & I notice all the time that God used life lessons to help me understand God, to contextualize the Gospel to sinners, to relate to narcissistic people, to love lost and hurting people, etc.  Some stories will be fun, some tragic, some awful, some funny, some downright scary, some without clarity, some not redeemable about a man lost in sin without Jesus, but all part of who I am when looked at through the lens of redemption.

In 1979, I was a nineteen year old kid, and my dad lost his mind and sent me to New York City into Manhattan to help supervise a crew that was doing the cost estimation on building the entire cable television system into the entire NY metro area (all the boroughs) - about a $1 billion project.  This was my summer job between my freshman and sophomore years in college.  He sent me with a whiskey drinking partner and his own car, stating that if I returned the car without dents after driving there for a month, there would be a bonus in it for me.

The stress was unbelievable.  I did not drink in high school at all as I was a really serious basketball, but when I did not play much at the beginning of my freshman year (too thin and couldn't guard a kitchen chair), I figured, "what the hell, might as well fit in with alcohol and weed, not getting to live out my sports idolatry anyway." My morals were not as a result of God transforming me; they were circumstantial. Desire to be a great athlete - all about me - no drugs or alcohol.  Really kinda homely and too skinny - no sex.  So, back to the story, as we drove off the island everyday into Queens, the Bronx, or Brooklyn and back, taking almost two hours to go ten miles and then seeing the insane things we saw trying to do the job (another blog later), when my partner suggested a lot of bourbon as we ate dinner in bars to calm each day, I was in.  Even though I thought I was a Christian AND had led my church youth group, it was easy to fit into a Greenwich Village lifestyle of relying on anything but Christ to handle getting the job done and the speed of the city -- the stress.  The speed of the city was just a 'little' different than House Springs and even St. Louis, where I had grown up. Same nation, different world.

Those were some blatant negatives.  Some apparent positives were that my self confidence soared, I realized that I was very capable and talented, and that I could handle a lot of responsibility.  I remember jumping on the subway to find a street basketball game in the Bronx. I handled the city AND the game (the brothers had never seen a white dude dunk quite like that), and my opinion of myself soared. I found that while the job was difficult that I had enough natural talent to get it done. My opinion of myself soared as a I never gave a second thought to God. One day right before we were to return to Missouri for a couple of days and while on Coney Island in Brooklyn, we saw boats come in full of lobsters.  We found coolers and negotiated with owners of boats bigger than Leadington for a cooler full of lobster to take home to family and friends (who does that?). And, we worked in neighborhoods that more resembled war-torn Beirut at the height of war there than an American city. We never prayed over that - we just became street savvy and capable, once again presenting the facade that I did not need the power of God. The world loved me, cheered for me, paid me well. This only heightened my idolatry of self and drove me farther from the Gospel.

There are funny stories about accidentally straying into gay bars, not noticing that there were all men in the place until we had talked to at least 3 or 4 dudes, and into 'Devil's Kitchen' after dark that reveal the providential protection of God's sovereignty. I should be dead. Not from the gay bar - that was actually just very interesting, but from some violent places. I "escaped from New York" with a great sense that I was pretty awesome, and no sense of any need for God in my life because of my awesomeness.

God has used a lot of the life experiences here now though as He has redeemed the time. The Gospel makes us fearless, and by His grace, I am given some opportunities to occasionally preach the Gospel to Muslims and Hindus on THEIR turf.  If I have a moment of fear about that or boarding an in-country plane in India (not real confident in their maintenance programs), God has fun reminding me that he took care of me the day that when I was playing on a court that no sane person would have been on.  He says, "I was taking care of you when you were paying no attention to me. Be bold -- The Gospel eliminates fear - I got you."

10 Places God's Money Goes From The Bridge

We give because Jesus gives. Jesus is the ultimate giver, so if we going to be like Him, we must give also. Jesus gave His very life upon a cross to give glory to the Father by giving a way of redemption. We give not to impress God or attain any righteousness -- Jesus gift handled all that -- but, we give in response to what has already been given. I believe that a believer is way on his way to the Gospel working out a new heart in him, when this open handed generosity with our financial means becomes a 'get to' instead of a 'have to.' So, why do we give? What do we give to? Why do more people need to give? Why do we need to become more sacrificial, generous, and cheerful? I noticed that Mars Hill this week kinda gave some general ideas of how our financial giving assists God in the Gospel "growing and bearing fruit all over the world." Colossians 1:6 So, here are our ten in no particular order. Here is where the money that is worshipfully given and collected at The Bridge goes:  

1. New Christians
One reason that we plant new campuses and help churches plant churches that plant churches is that more people come to know Christ in new efforts. Money creates MANY venues where people can hear the Gospel proclaimed from missional communities (cell families), air war Sunday celebrations at church plants, Bridge Kids events, and missionary trips and church planting all over the world. We must preach Christ crucified, the Gospel, the resurrection as the only hope to a dying world. Churches that we support have baptized new believers on 3 different continents, the Caribbean, and Central America. It takes money to get churches planted and the Gospel to people who have not heard it.  

2. Our Families
We have a real passion for young families with young children. We budget and staff as much as we can to provide the Gospel in Bridge Kids and training for parents to do the real work of teaching their children the Gospel, then discipling their children in the Gospel. We deeply desire young regeneration, not just moral behavior. This happens by presenting Jesus Christ as the change agent to a beautiful life and eternal life for our children.  

3. People Just Across the Street
We invest heavily in staff and training for our cell families (missional communities). People come to Jesus where the Gospel is proclaimed in homes. People are best discipled to make more disciples when they are LEARNERS of the Word, SERVANTS of each other and people in need, FAMILY with a smaller body of Christ, and MISSIONARIES to their missional target. It takes money to send high schoolers or college students on mission even down the street because they don't have any.

 4. People Across the Globe
We support the taking of the Gospel 'to the ends of the earth.' Acts 1:8 We invest heavily in India where there are many people groups that have never heard the Gospel. We fully fund two pastors there of church plants in states where it is illegal to proclaim the name of Jesus. They eat and have a place to sleep only because we send money in the name of that same glorious Jesus. We help plant churches and support an orphanage in Haiti (James 1:27). We help bring the Gospel to Project Chacoente in Nicaragua. And, we have big efforts in the African countries of Liberia and Cameroon. The big news is that we are working at planting campuses of The Bridge in Bangkok, Thailand in 2013. "For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:13-15 ESV)  

5. People Just up the Road  
'And, in Judea & Samaria.' Acts 1:8. We will continue to plant churches all over our region. Some of these will be campuses of The Bridge. Some will be like our assistance in helping to plant Journey Church in Herculaneum. But, we are going to plant churches that plant churches. This takes money. We will have partners on the endeavors, and the churches will eventually self sustain and start to plant churches themselves, but it takes faithful giving from established churches to get these started.  

6. The Music to Our Worshiping Ears
We have music that rivals the largest churches in American. The excellence (why would we do it any other way?) comes at a cost. We want to not only present excellent music that brings people into the presence of God, but we want to write and produce music that brings the listener - both the regenerated believer and the first time visitor that God has not redeemed - into that same presence.  

7. Technology That Takes Us to the World
Because we broadcast our celebrations live and then share them via social media, by the end of the year, thousands of folks have seen our broadcasts of the Gospel. We have accomplished this on a shoestring budget, but even though we have not overspent here, we have spent and will continue to spend. We will do just about anything short of sin to get the Gospel and the Glory of our Great God in front of people.

8. Teaching Church that Helps Other Churches
God has blessed us with excellent training in the Bible, so I think we teach it well. It was a joy to go and show pastors in India how the entire Bible is about Jesus and the entire Bible is God's story that He invites us into. Also, we are willing to do just about anything to help folks help folks meet Jesus. We can help guide a church plant. We can help a fledgling church in music and technology. We can help show what Gospel-centered and missional means. We can train about how cell families (missional communities) make disciples that make disciples. We have never charged any church for any training. We have a Kingdom view and so we joyfully give so that Jesus may be glorified in other churches. We want other churches to grow.  

9. Future Leaders Trained
The Bible is clear that God must have qualified leaders, and it is God's desire that all good churches have quality leadership. We are very intentional as we have invited men into elder track, women into discipleship training, cell family leaders into training, and folks from other churches into training in CA, missional community leader training, elder training, and church planting training that we are serious about doing this. We are very serious about planting churches, so we are using partnerships and many training venues to train up future church planters. Some churches try and make money off of these efforts. We give away all of training, so our generous giving makes this possible.  

10. Meeting Places and Spaces
We own some of our facility in Leadington (the bank owns the rest), and we rent facilities in Arnold so that the Gospel may be presented to as many people as possible. We are good stewards as all of our facilities are not showy, but are useful and simple.

Our Marching Orders - How are We Doing?

I have come to a stark realization. God has blessed the peoples of this great nation that we live in TO FULFILL HIS GREAT COMMISSION -- that is ONLY reason that He would ever make a people this prosperous if He is only into the business of making much of His Great Name throughout the nations. Think about it. The United States is the most prosperous nation in the history of civilization AND there is a church on every corner AND Jesus gave us our marching orders, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” When you put those things together, God has blessed the US with the resources to accomplish his marching orders which is to make disciples that reproduce disciples in ALL nations. It appears to me that we doing lots of other things with the resources. So, that begs the question, “How are we doing?”

Let me personalize this because if there is failure in this endeavor, it is due to bad leadership, so I need to seek my own failures to model this as a leader. I met a young man that does not attend The Bridge (the church that God has challenged me to lead) a few nights ago who was wanting to go to India to teach the Gospel to unreached people groups. So, if I am of God’s Kingdom, is it not a legitimate question to ask, “Is it acceptable for this young man (who is willing to risk his life to do what we have been commanded to do) to maybe have to turn down the opportunity due to lack of funds while I pay for cable tv and wireless internet in two different homes?” You can plug your own idolatry into that equation. First, this young man needs to dig deep into his own world of western materialism and fund as much of his trip sacrificially as he can, but then the richest nation needs to step in. What the western church has done in the past is force this young man to spend 18 months going around begging for money or throw 20 ‘chicken & dumpling dinners’ to raise money for HIS mission trip. Whose mission trip is it? Well, first it is God’s and then God charges you and me to understand that it is ours. God doesn’t directly fill this young man’s bank account with resources to go do what he has asked him to do. And, it is no more the responsibility of the local church that this disciple attends to send him than it is that of The Bridge. God asks ALL of His people to send this young man -- generously, cheerfully, and sacrificially. God says, “Get him there. People are dying and going to hell.”

The challenge to all local churches is this: “Are we developing the kind of disciples that will go short term, intermediate term (Platt calls this the Mormon-length mission of two months to two years), or long term to people who have not heard the Gospel, and are we, as the richest civilization in history, funding these folks?” I don’t want to seem dismal; there are great things going on out there. The sovereign God is working. I recently told The Bridge about bumping into a set of newlyweds who were on their way to plant churches in Iraq to spread the Gospel among the Islamic people. The young man, (24 years old and his beautiful 23 year old wife may die doing what God has asked them to do) said to me, “Your church sounds like the kind of place that is developing people that might join us,” and he gave me his card. I asked the folks of The Bridge, “Well, are we? Will we raise up people whose lives are so caught up in the glorious Gospel of Jesus that they will go and will the church properly fund them?” I don’t know about Iraq, but I think so; however, there are next steps to take. We have had many, many people now go short term. And, these accumulate and multiply over time. We had a family ready to go Mormon-length (trust me, that is just a term of mission length, the Mormons do not have the correct Gospel of Jesus Christ and we are sending folks who do) into Africa, but instead God directed them to move their family to the Arnold church plant to raise up more disciples for now. The Buckinghams show a nice balance between global and local missions. We raise up disciples locally to fund and send them globally. And yet, I bet they end up in Africa at some point. Also, we see Michael and Melissa Goldsmith now going to Haiti for two months this summer and bringing down short term teams to work in CHURCH PLANTING AND DISCIPLE-MAKING there AS they take care of widows and orphans as well. Who is next to go from short term to intermediate or from intermediate to life-long?

Here are a couple of facts from David Platt and, in closing, a couple of thoughts from me. The average church member in America supposedly gives 2.4% of his gross income to the local church. Besides the fact that that is the joke of all jokes and must grieve God, I believe the figure is probably more like 1.5%. Then, if you figure that the average local church only gives 1% of their budget to world missions, and probably only 1% of THAT goes to places where the Gospel has NOT been proclaimed, and then when you figure that 70% of THAT goes to administrative costs to the organizations that are supposed to get disciples on the ground, my rough math skills tell me that about 3-5 cents out of every $1000 that a Christian makes actually get missionaries face to face with unreached people groups. America may have missed its God-ordained call. Think about this - the fastest growing disciple-making in the world is going on in China. Is it coincidence that China is also one of the fastest growing economies in the world? This may clue you in. A huge contingent (HUGE) of Ugandan/Chinese Christian missionaries have landed in New York / Los Angeles / Boston in the last two years. Is it possible that things have shifted to where God considers the US to be the unreached people group?

Missional in One Minute

God is a sending God, and we are a sent people. Another way to think about IT is that if Jesus was sent by God as a missionary to redeem His people; then, if we are going to incarnate here on earth, be Jesus in the flesh, then we are going to have to be sent like He was. Basically, that all boils down to that every believer in Jesus Christ is a missionary, or is missional. That gives us a good definition of missional. It is any time that we incarnate as Jesus and act like the missionary that he was. Sometimes that is looking after the sick, the poor, the widow, and the orphan, so there is a lot of social justice to be missional like Jesus because He was definitely into social justice. But, Jesus was a missionary way beyond social justice. All of the good works were to point to the Gospel -- the good news that the Messiah has arrived to take away the sins of the world. So, we cannot be missional without being first Gospel-centered AND willing to share that Gospel in every missionary outpost that God sends us which includes everything from family reunions to our place of employment to school to ALL social settings. The question is how do we effectively share the Gospel in a world that apparently hostile to the Gospel and in cultures where everyone think they know all that there is to know about it (when actually they probably know nothing).

I have been training some folks that past couple of weeks -- missional cells in Arnold and membership classes at The Bridge -- something stolen from Pastor Ying Kai from China that we got to lay our eyes on at The Verge Conference in Austin -- on sharing the Gospel in a very simple non-threatening manner.

I hope I have your interest, but let me back up on two things that must be in place as we understand this. First, we do a nice job at The Bridge in creating landing places for not-yet-believers (folks who have not repented and believed the Gospel) to land in areas of community where they can hear what the Bible really says about Jesus and His incredible Gospel. These havens of team evangelism must be established where a not-yet-believer can sit around a dinner table and a group of people use their Spiritual gifts where some shower concern, others are hospitable, others are giving, and still others are to teach and preach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. That way we are not out there on our own as the Holy Spirit works through us to regenerate a man or a woman.

Also, our correct theology frees us from the pressure of selling someone on the Gospel or talking them into praying a prayer of "God come into my heart." (Which is nowhere in Scripture by the way). God regenerates lost people and He brings them to repentance and belief. He is the Savior of lost souls. Romans 10 tells us that our role is to be the the missional means by which he does His thing - the Gospel public address system. He tells us to love people and the main way we do that is tell them about the Gospel.

Pastor Ying says that we should tell them the Gospel through our story (how God did heart surgery on us) in one minute. I think he may know something about mission as he is responsible for a missional movement that has brought MILLIONS to Christ in 150,000 church plants in just past few years. Let's learn from the best. He says we can do our job in one minute.

So, here is what I have been teaching folks to do.
1. Develop a one minute testimony of your life that matches the Gospel.
Goes something like this:
a. I once was....(selfish, addicted, immoral, etc. or all the above - haha)
B. But, God....Jesus redeemed me
C. Now I am....... (quickly list the changes)
D. BUT, I still struggle with....
Write it out and practice it. It is essential that the name of Jesus be used instead of generic statements like "I met God" or "I started going to this cool church." It is the name of Jesus and His Gospel that the Holy Spirit will use to move in a person's soul. "D" is optional, but shouldn't be. Not-yet-believers are put off by church and its pseudo-holiness. I think it is essential that they understand that we understand that we are only sinners saved by grace that still struggle with sin.
2. Tell this 1 to 1 and 1/2 minute Gospel/story to your friends and family. Then, watch God go to work. You have done your job.
3. Then, move out to co-workers, neighbors, the nurse at your doctor's office, etc - the people that you see all the time but are not close friends with. Talk about other interests and then throw in the 90 seconds, then move on. You do not have to seal the deal - that has already been done. You have given the Gospel in a story form and used the name of Jesus. That is what you have been called to do.
4. Then, watch for the opportunity to invite to one of the landing places that a team will enhance what you have started like missional community (cell) or church where all the other gifts come to play on this person (including psycho preacher Jesus freaks like me). All we will do is give them the same Gospel; there is only one.
5. The next step is what I call the "Corrie Ten Boom Step." When feeling empowered by the Holy Spirit, start giving it to the check out lady at Wal-Mart, to the Muslim cab driver, the person next to you on the bus or plane -- anybody that you have two minutes but may not see again. You may not know until you get to heaven what God has done with these encounters.

Last point - we can talk about every believer is a missionary, or we can really step up and do it. Jesus spent all of his time talking about Himself or taking care of needs. Let's incarnate - be Jesus in the flesh - and do the same.

In the next post, we will discuss being missional by being a blessing.