Disciples making Disciples WORLDWIDE

OK. Thrice is no longer coincidence. Months ago, as our missional cell family studied through Radical, I had a stark realization that I (and maybe our entire faith community) were not doing enough to directly bring the Gospel to people world-wide. Within a few days, God made two potential opportunities available for me to go to India and train & encourage pastors from the persecuted church and preach the Gospel to some folks who have never heard it. I am looking forward to making that trip with Mike Harrison (the lead pastor of Parkland Chapel in Farmington that is sponsoring MAN UP in July), who is also feeling pressed to get the Gospel out to the world into populations that are growing up and dying without ever having heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. So, this was encounter number one -- OK, Tim Gray, what are YOU personally going to do to get the Gospel to some people who have never heard it? Kelley and I are going to make a very difficult and dangerous trip to India in September to see.

The second encounter (which actually may have been the first) took place in a very quiet moment at the house as I was reading a book written in 1962 that was given to me by one of the pastors at The Bridge named Lance Smith about world missions. I don’t remember the name of the book or the author, but I remember the epiphany. As I read the description of the importance of ALL Christians being concerned with getting the Gospel to the ENTIRE world, I originally reacted poorly, thinking this dude was some whack dispensationalist who was trying to put some goofy things in motion that would try and manipulate Christ into returning. I have to confess that I am overly sensitive to things like this since we have whackjobs out there trying to funnel MILLIONS of dollars to the secular nation of Israel to get all of the Jews back home there and rebuild the temple because they mistakenly believe that Christ will not return until those two things happen. This Spirit-filled author though was giving a correct analysis of Matthew 24:14 which states “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The author’s correct premise was that there were many people groups (obviously nations here mean people groups as nations have changed borders and names thousands of times since Jesus uttered these words) in 1962 that had not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ; therefore, our lack of attention to the commission of of Christ to preach the Gospel to the entire world, to make disciples of ALL PEOPLE GROUPS, had in effect made the fulfillment of this prophecy to be delayed. Jesus is clear that He will not return until all people groups have been exposed to the preaching of the Gospel. The church has a role to fill, and it has not gotten the job done. I immediately began praying for God to reveal the role of The Bridge in this mandate.

The return of Jesus is something that we should all pray for as John did as he closed out the Bible in Revelation 22 as he prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus.” So, I was still rolling around with the ramifications of this as I started reading Platt’s Radical Together, and here came punch number three. Platt brings up Matthew 24:14 again and declares that the disciples of God (all of us) MUST be daily concerned with not only discipling our families and our neighbors -- important stuff -- but with the Gospel being preached and disciples being made in every tiny corner of the globe. ALL OF US. Then, he had the punch in the gut. As Americans, we cannot imagine there being many people who have not heard of Jesus, but all of his research points to a fact that there probably about 6,000 people groups in the world right now that have not been exposed to the Gospel. And, some of these are going to be dangerous and TOUGH. The church worldwide is going to have to develop some true amazing disciples to get the Gospel into these places, and he brings back up the point that it MUST be the concern of all of us to do so. So, I thought immediately, “Is The Bridge Community Church, the church that I have the awesome privilege to lead, making the kind of disciples that will not only pray for this effort, but become actively engaged with resources AND personal investment into this commission?” Well, are we?

It was a great honor and privilege recently being involved on mission in Joplin, MO in the aftermath of the horrible tragedy there. We are called to serve people in need and the need there is great. It is the right thing to do, and I pray that Jesus will be made famous with our efforts. Upon returning though, I had a local church member (won’t say from where) telling me how glad he was that we went and did that because we were taking care of “our own.” I had to just walk away because I was livid -- downright angry. What is “our own?” Missourians? Americans? A quarter of a million people died in the tsunami in Indonesia - maybe near that many in the earthquake in Haiti! They are OUR OWN also! In Biblical terms, were their lives less important? How about Rwanda? Millions slaughtered by evil. The aids epidemic in Africa; the death of the real church in Europe -- the list is endless. Did this person mean that the American church had less mandate to bring the love of Jesus, the good news of the Gospel, to those situations than Joplin because the God-image-bearing people of those regions were less ‘our own.’ Different skin color - different nationality, what? This statement needs to be prayed over as it is not only offensive to God, but borders on downright racism sin. Look at this passage from Acts -- “Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’” (Acts 10:34-35) I am glad that we are able to help in Joplin because the need is great and its proximity allows for participation by a LOT of folks, and I feel hugely blessed by living in America. However, Missouri and the US are NOT our only mandate.

What has happened since God started blowing us up about this?
1. We have partnered with a church (TVCC of Paris, TN) to help plant a church in northern Haiti. This has also led to strong relationships with two mission/church planting organizations in the Cap Haitien area of Haiti.
2. Bridge members, Michael & Melissa Goldsmith, and their two children - Emilee & Seth - are headed to Haiti for the next month to work on these projects. We are not only sending money; we are sending people.
3. We have developed a relationship in India with CV Vadavana, the author of a book called Mission Fields (http://www.truthintlusa.org/page/page/7456871.htm), to help him support, encourage, and train pastors all over that country of 1 billion people that contains hundreds of the 6,000 people groups that have not heard the Gospel. This has been initiated by a blooming relationship with Parkland Chapel in Farmington. Kelley and I will be making our trip to India with Mike Harrison, the pastor there, and CV will be in the Parkland in July.
4. We have mission teams headed to Costa Rica and Nicaragua this summer.
5. We may have a couple beginning to work toward church planting with Stan Jackson & Ernest Ehabe in Cameroon, Africa.
5. We have planted multiple missional cells (home church missional communities) in St. Francois County this year.
6. We are supporting Journey Community Church in Herculaneum, MO and The Bridge Community Church in Nixa, MO as they plant missional communities in Jefferson County and Christian County.
7. Kelley and I, along with other current Bridge members, will be moving into the Arnold area starting in August (Kel & I will go in November) to start missional communities there with the intention of planting a full Bridge campus that would meet for its first worship celebration on March 18, 2012.
8. When the tornado hit Joplin, we sent teams in immediately and continue to have people go.
These efforts mean that we are involved in taking the Gospel and compassionate works to (Acts 1:8) Jerusalem (SFC, & surrounding counties), Judea & Samaria (Herky, Arnold, Nixa, Joplin), and to the ends of the earth (Haiti, India, Cameroon, other?).

I think we are getting it!
Disciples making disciples WORLDWIDE!

I started this blog (finishing days later) almost feel guilty as I sat 16 stories up in a high rise condo complex at Pensacola Beach, FL preparing to marry my niece. I looked at hundreds of people moving about below me like ants on the beautiful sand beaches that God has provided wondering if any of them are EVER concerned about the 2 billion people on the earth who have never heard the Gospel, let alone their friends and family that they profess to love. It was a good day with God, but I long for spending more time training up His people to GO and DO what He has really called us to do.

Heroes of the Faith

Just wanted to take a second on this rainy Saturday morning as I wait for my last MAC graduation before retirement and THANK OUR HUNDREDS OF VOLUNTEERS who serve the LORD so faithfully at The Bridge. If you go over to the church this morning, the lawn has been mowed and weed-eated and looks great. The bathrooms are clean and carpets vacuumed. The Bridge Kids area is ready for hopefully 120-130 kids tomorrow. The music has been rehearsed. Lots of needy people in our community received financial support, prayer, and love this week. Cell homes were cleaned and folks prepared food to make our missional cells launching pads for the mission of God. Our teens were taught Bible and taught to go on mission by VOLUNTEERS. Tomorrow, hospitality folks will be up early to prepare food and drink for guests, our greeters will meet regulars and guests with a smile and a handshake, around 40-60 volunteers will put off an amazing morning of Bridge Kids (and we need 25 more as the children just keep pouring in), and our tech team will prepare to broadcast the magnificent Gospel of our Lord Jesus live to hundreds of people. Counters will have a very late lunch as they very professionally get God's money counted and deposited in the bank. Our prayer team will also have a late lunch as they pray over EVERY prayer request before they go home for a Mother's Day lunch. Volunteers have been to Jefferson County, the CSC, the county jail, and the Farmington to deliver Conquering Addiction and the hope of the Gospel to trapped people -- all this week. The entire building was constructed by the hands of volunteers. I could go on and on, and I know that I have missed somebody.

Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you and PRAISE GOD for you!!!

What does a local church look like?

What should we be seeing in a local church that is filling the Great Commission of Christ?? Every individual believer and every local church are commanded to go and "make disciples who make disciples," baptizing them, and teaching them to obey God's commands. How do we really do that?

These are not in any particular order, but these are things that we should be seeing.

1. The local church should be developing foreign missionaries and FULLY funding their time in the mission field. These missionaries don't spend time fund-raising; they spend their time preaching and teaching the Gospel, church planting, and training pastors in the field. Their sabbaticals back home are to rest and study, not fund-raise. This is the one that God has been hammering me with. The Great Commission to the whole world is vastly more for the local church than sending a check to a denomination. Missionaries must be cultivated, trained, supported, and sent.

2. The local church should be developing ordained campus pastors to plant new campuses and churches in the United States. If we are Biblically discipling, a new elders should be raised up. In this pool of elders, some to lead new local churches should arise.

3. The local church should assist developing churches with resources and training to become Gospel-centered and missional. The Bridge is currently doing this with churches in Leadwood, Nixa, St. James, Kansas City, and Herculaneum.

4. The local church should be developing qualified elders to oversee this entire effort. GET THE MEN! GET THE MEN! GET THE MEN! These overseas missionaries, pastors, and missional cell (community) leaders will come out of a system of developing elders from 1 Timothy and Titus. I am believing that this level of training may be the key step in fulfilling the Great Commission.

5. The local church should be developing missional cell leaders (Biblical deacons) who will plant missional cells to redeem local communities for the cause of Christ. The Bridge - Leadington should be planting about 10-20 a year in St. Francois County and surrounding areas.

6. The local church should be baptizing about 10-20 percent of the average attendance a year as new believers. The Bridge nearly reached the 20% in 2010. Strong Gospel-centered teaching in missional cells if not-yet-believers are being invited to homes will help accomplish this. Preaching Jesus and the Gospel into primarily expository preaching will be a primary catalyst for the Holy Spirit to call His people also.

7. Developing women who actively making disciples who make disciples by being obedient to Titus 2:3-5. Our Spirit-filled women also should be filling many ministry roles around the local church and our missional cells.

Lots more to say, but I believe that is a good start to what it looks like to be Gospel-centered and missional in the local church. The keys of course are to developing Jesus Freaks (people who are absolutely blown away by the person of Jesus lifting high His name), and a commitment to doing all things according to Holy Scripture, and a massive commitment to prayer for the freeing of the power of the Holy Spirit of God to accomplish all these things. This is not a matter of human effort, but of submission to a powerful God who can make the impossible seem possible. Then, when submitted, we "GO."

Thought you might like to see the responses that I put together to the directives of Jesus about what this fruit of the Spirit that is presented in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. These responses are just prayers to a Sovereign God for Him to bring us into line with his commands, so that we love instead of hammer as we use our spiritual gifts.

Love is patient. Response: Lord, make me patient with your gifts.
Love is kind. Response: Make me kind to difficult people.
Love does not envy. Response: Make me satisfied in YOU.
Love is not selfish. Response: Lord, make me a giver like YOU.
Love is not angry. Response: Keep me calm so that people will see YOU.
Love does not record wrongs. Response: Lord, help me to forgive like YOU forgave.
Love is not evil. Response: Protect me from the evil one.
Love rejoices with the truth. Response: Lord, fill me with YOUR truthful Spirit.
Love protects. Response: Help me use my gifts to protect, not destroy.
Love trusts. Response: Lord, help me to fight jealousy.
Love hopes. Response: When people see me, let them feel hope.
Love perseveres. Response: Lord, keep me at the table no matter what.

May the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified!

Missional Cell Prayer Challenge

Just sent my missional cell a prayer challenge. Thought you might like to see if you have the guts to pray it with us.

I challenge you to do something immediately. I want you to stop and pray this right now wherever you are.

"God, we desperately need You."
"Oh God, we love you and are willing to listen to Your heart's desires."
"Oh God have mercy on us, the wretched sinners that we are." "Forgive us for seeking our own way."
"We love you for your Gospel."
"Thank you for Jesus." "We love you and worship you alone, Jesus!"
"We love Jesus and will serve Jesus alone."
"Bring the power of your Holy Spirit to bear on our daily study this week."
Pray it again -- "Bring the power of your Holy Spirit to bear on our daily study this week."
"If we discover that I am being disobedient in ANY WAY, give us the the faith the power to repent and obey your commands."
"We love you."
In the magnificent name of Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amen

Did you mean it? Do you want all of His Word? All of His desires? All for His Glory. Pray for more faith. He grants every ounce of faith that you have. You don't conjure it up -- that is why we worship HIM. Pray for more mercy. Repent and believe the Gospel. Really believe. Put it into practice. Give something away today that you don't think you can live without. Stop protecting your stuff -- you don't have any stuff. Pray that he reveal His gifts to you and that you POWERFULLY put them into practice today.
Some of you want to pray about all of your problems right now. Get the focus off of you and onto the One and Only, and your problems will minimize. You can address those problems with Him later. Look at Jesus right now; not your earthly problems.
Keep praying for the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT all week. You cannot say it too much.

Did I mention praying for the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
We are weak. HE is strong. HE will give us what we need, not what we want. HE is all we need!

Aren't you glad I had some time this morning.

Love you more than you know,

tim

Time to get IT Done!

I dream of a church that is so in love with Jesus that it sacrificially gives so that the church can give away 50-75% of its budget to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, take care of the orphan and widow, AND pay a Godly competent staff (to love on broken people) what it needs to live and give at the same time. Sound radical? We are headed there.

That was my Facebook post today. I don't know where it came from. I had not been sitting around thinking about this stuff. A whole bunch of Scripture verged, I think. Now, I am in a panic because if you are going to write something like that, you better be ready to model it personally -- because each of us, individually, make up the church that would willing to do such a thing. Each part of the body must do its part to bring such Biblical things to fruition. Yikes! Gotta get to work!

There is probably a Biblical model for church that makes this look calm. This would be a good start for The Bridge though.

I think we have gone from about 5% in 2006 and have gone up about 5% each year since. And, that was in the middle of a building program. As soon as we dump this mortgage, we will be on our way. To God be the Glory for the things HE has done!

New Year's Day Testimony

The Bridge baptized a beautiful, young lady named Diana at our Christmas services. I thought you might like to kick off your 2011 with her testimony. I bet it sounds similar to many of you somewhere along the way -- sounds very familiar to me.

There's no way possible that this could be part of my plan. My heart is broken and the pain is unbearable. How can anything this horrific be part of some supposed 'beautiful plan'? That was me every time something went wrong in my life. If I knew then what I know now, I would have spent more time praising God in those 'horrific' times. Once you finally get it(and I don't mean just get it, I mean smack you square in the face kind of get it) you look back in awe. Everything finally starts to makes sense. All of the events from your past slowly start forming a huge puzzle. Sorting through each piece, you start learning the lessons and seeing the amazing beauty in each event.

I was raised in a small tight knitted congregation where almost everyone was related in one way or another. They all knew just the "need to know" stuff about each other, and were content with that. I don't remember ever hearing the weekly church gossip from the chatty elderly women. Everyone genuinely loved and cared for one another. I attended that church until I hit about 13. At that point in my life, God didn't seem as real to me than the life I was currently living. Boys started to look more interesting (and real for that matter) than Jesus did to me. Soon enough I began to dress a little differently, and before you knew it I started talking, acting and even looking different. My life started to take a turn at that point and people started noticing me. Although it may not have been in a positive manner, I still yearned for that attention. As the youngest of 4 children, you would think I would have gotten plenty of attention. I did, but it was never enough to fulfill this 'different' attention I was in search for. Eventually I would start turning to men to fulfill these needs that I had finally pushed to the surface. Those years were the hardest years of my life. At one point, I had actually named those years as some of my favorites. Today, they are no longer hard to look back on and I am blessed to be able to see the beauty in them. To my peers, I was the one almost always smiling and making people laugh, but on the inside, I was in deep pain. I kept searching for ways to fill this hole that kept getting deeper throughout my search for love from the world. Alcohol, sex and even drugs on occasion, seemed like the only way to make me think I felt good about myself. Every so often I would change my life and turn to God. I would briefly embrace God's Love and learn a little more each time He would bring me back. But it seemed that slowly my idols would creep into my life and I would run to them. I would then be right back into the lifestyle of searching for love from the world. I would think I found the love I needed in alcohol, male attention, and drugs. I see now that the pain I felt always seemed to disappear when I was on the narrow path, following God. But when I was walking down the wide path, the pain only grew deeper. The wide path was full of people wanting to help you ease your pain with a drink or a drug or in my experience, sexual attention. At the time the those idols seemed more fulfilling than trying to pray.. Those back and forth games I played with The Almighty Lord were what paved the way to my redemption. Every time I would have my 'good girl' act on I would retain more and more information that would eventually open my eyes to see what God had been doing all around me. Lately it had seemed that every time I would fall, the devil would pull me deeper each time. The last 'fall out' I had with God nearly led me right into the pits of hell. That's how I knew that God had different plans for me this time around. I was finally submissive enough to let Him completely into my heart. It didn't happen overnight though. I was given an amazing first-hand encounter with the presence of The Lord, but yet I still fell hard, once more. I still had to test it for some reason. I didn't trust in Him yet, much less trust myself completely. Slowly I started letting go and just letting Him catch me. The more I let go, the more peace, joy and love I felt in my heart. It was like I was the grinch before, and now my heart was growing. I started smiling at the little things that I had forgotten how to notice before. My relationship with my son was better than it had been in a long time. I genuinely started seeing the good in people and when I saw the bad, my heart longed to help them find this joy that I had been exposed to. My family seemed to take a whole new form right in front of my eyes. I saw how they all deeply loved me, and loved each other for that matter. Not the love where they feel obligated but the pure love that they had been given from The Lord. All these things began to flash in front of me and in an instant, I felt that Light flip back on in my heart brighter than it had ever shined. I am now aware that I am not in control of my life nor will I ever be. I know that when I fall, I need to turn to Him rather than the world. He is the only one who can save me from the darkness. Slowly but surely, I will be able to walk strong on my two feet but until then, I know that God will be delighted to carry me along beside Him. I know God has great plans for me and I can't wait to finally seal the door to my past and turn it into a window.
For a window is only for viewing and a door is to enter and exit. I know I don't want to use the door anymore. It’s time for reconstruction on my life, so that the walls in my heart are torn down and The Light can shine through. Never again do I want to hide that Light deep inside me.
Although I'm not sure where to start, I know He will pass his great carpentry skills on to me to assist me in building that window.

Diana's fiancee, James, was baptized at Christmas also. I see beautiful things on their horizon because of Jesus. I believe that they want to make Him famous. Time will tell.