Tass Saada, Once an Arafat Man, coming to The Bridge!!

Tass Saada will be appearing at The Bridge Community Church www.bridgelife360.com on July 15.  We are partnering with our friends Mike Harrison and Parkland Chapel of Farmington to make this happen.

The following are excerpts from the foreword by Joel Rosenberg of the Joshua Fund to Tass's book Once an Arafat Man that will be available for signed purchase at the event:

Tass Saada was a killer.
Tass and his closest friends murdered Jews in Israel. They murdered civilians and soldiers alike. They attacked Christians in Jordan. Sometimes they tossed hand grenades at their homes. Sometimes they strafed God-fearing homes with machine gun fire. They once tried to assassinate the crown prince of an Arab country. They nearly succeeded. And they did all of this willingly. They did so eagerly. Tass certainly did.  His nickname was was once Jazzar --- "butcher."  It was a moniker he relished.
He was raised in a world of radical Islam and by his teenage years Tass was a cauldron of seething, roiling hatred.  His family was close to the Saudi royal family.  He once met Osama bin Laden.  He became personal friends with Yassar Arafat, a man he once regarded as a hero, and happily killed in his name.

If the story ended there, we would obviously hesitate to bring Tass to The Bridge and into our homes.  But it doesn't end there.  More from the foreword:

In his amazing grace, God gave Tass Saada a second act. And a third.
....a story of a violent revolutionary who was radically transformed one day by the power of the Holy Spirit and became a man of peace.  At its core, Tass's story is a story of the greatness of our great God. It is the story of a man who fell in love with a Savior who loves Arabs as well as Jews....  His love is so amazing , so divine that he actually offers all of us -- Jew and Gentile alike -- the free gift of salvation through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. He wants to adopt us.... He wants to bless us. He wants to take care of us. He wants to heal us and make us like him. And, then he wants to empower us to be a blessing to others.  Tass said yes to that love, and he was changed forever.

Tass will tell us about sharing the Gospel with Yasser Arafat, and even about sharing the Gospel with his parents and brothers, AS THEY WERE ACTIVELY TRYING TO KILL HIM.  The stories of Arabs and Jews who were both violently trying to kill each other before salvation that now hug and work together for the glory of Christ will bring you to your knees.  We will hear of huge amounts of Muslim conversions in the Middle East.  And, we will hear how we need to actively support and pray for folks like Tass and his ministry partners who are actively carrying out the Great Commission in a hostile, still deadly, environment.  It takes great courage to bring the Gospel and to plant churches in the middle of the Muslim world.  I love it.

The is easily the greatest conversion story that I have ever been around, and it just keeps bringing great Kingdom fruit. Folks who attend that love Jesus will be blessed, but I believe that God will do great work in the hearts of unbelievers if they will hear the Gospel from this man.
July 15 at The Bridge.  An evening that I don't think we will soon forget.  Put it on your calendar and invite all that you know.

Checklist for Mission Cell Family Living

I put myself through a checklist for missional cell family (missional community) living yesterday.  This is far from a comprehensive list, but it is a continual battle to learn and then teach out the difference between missional living and "1 hour a week, 1 Bible study a week" living.

Check these out:
1. Did I take time to pray for the members of my missional cell & for the future members of my cell?
Can we really claim to love somebody deeply, as a family member, if we don't pray for them?  I did pray for one specific member of the group this week that is having financial issues.  When we understand community, I understand that their financial woes are my financial woes.  I don't have to stress over them, but understand how the Gospel addresses the stress for us to trust Christ, and let the family know that I care.

2. Did I make contact with the members of my missional cell other than the two hour meeting on Thursday night?
This family thing is 24/7.  This is where we live out the New Testament "one anothers."  You know: serve one another, rebuke one another, love one another....."

3. Did I center my interaction with the missional cell on the Gospel?
The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the centerpiece of all of this interaction.  I don't want to give them good advice; I want to point them to Jesus, to the cross.  I don't want to just pray for them; I want to acknowledge that Jesus is the one to receive glory in HOWEVER He answers the prayers.

4.  Do I even love these people?
Nuff said.  Heart check.

5.  Did I interact with our target mission?
We welcomed new folks into a fresh start missional cell this week, so it is a great time to engage our culture and our missional target which are the neighborhoods around our home and our new church building.  I did ask some folks to come and join us.

6.  Are we planning a party, something social, to make connections with new people and grow our group?
Yes, but are you?  It is a great time to have a neighborhood bbq as the weather changes and engage your neighbors or co-workers with just an invitation to food and drink.

7.  Do I see all areas of my life: work, school, social, play, grocery shopping, etc. as mission opportunities to invite to missional cell?  Where am I developing friendships with non-believers so that they can come into a safe environment and learn about Jesus? And, is this because I truly love these people that I am establishing relationships with or just because I want to have a big group?  A claim to be missional?
We are all loving missionaries all the time.

8. When we did get together this week, did we worship?  Did we learn to obey the commands of God (Matthew 28:20) or in other words Gospel-center the Bible?  Did we get to know our folks better?  Did we point to the Gospel?  Did we seek God in prayer?  Did we just hang out with some food and drink to the glory of God?  Did we observe communion?  Did we love on non-believers in the group without backing off of Biblical truth?  Was there such an excitement about Christ that folks cannot wait to return?  Did we do anything for the children present to teach them the ways of Jesus?

9. Did you have non-believers present?  If not, why not?
We have had in recent weeks, but they did not show up this week, so it is crucial that we make contact this week and love on them in some way.

See how different that is than a Bible study or a Sunday School class.
This thing is hard work, bloody, messy if it is lived out like we see in Scripture, but it is empowered by the Holy Spirit.  And, man, it is worth it when we see people coming to Christ, baptisms, and then disciples making disciples for His fame.