GodChasers Guest Pastor Blog

Ever Done a Dorky Mission Trip?

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:30:59 CDT

I just thought that all the friends of GodChasers ministry would enjoy this blog from a great pastor, Peter Haas. He pastors Substance Church in Minneapolis MN The missions organization he is blogging about is OneHope led by my good friend Rob Hoskins. This is the mission organization that I went to Chennai India and often work with overseas.

Tommy Tenney

by: Richie Allen
http://peterhaas.org/

Have you ever been on a dorky missions trip where you didn’t really do anything? I have a friend on the mission field who used to host various mission teams. And over time he started calling them “vacationaries” rather than missionaries. Like many other Christians, he knew that there had to be a better way of doing short-term missions. And over the years, I’m starting to agree.

To make matters worse, there’s such a dizzying array of mission organizations vying for our attention. I’ve been on many great trips with organizations like Operation Serve. But I’ve also been with a few other organizations that were mediocre…at best. Of course, every other week, we’re approached by a different organization wanting us to send a team somewhere. Certainly, I’m excited that everyone is passionate about bringing Christ to the nations; yet, I’m also deeply concerned that our lack of strategy is becoming quite wasteful. That’s why, just recently, we called up our friend Rob Hoskins and One Hope organization to do some strategic consulting.

For those of you unfamiliar with OneHope.net, they are one of the most thoughtful mission organizations on the earth. With hundreds of employees around the globe, they’ve engaged over 600 million youth with the scriptures in 125 countries. In fact, they’ve done some of the best missiological research I’ve ever seen (see www.SpiritualStateOfTheChildren.com …it will blow your mind). You simply name the country, these guys have a pretty well-informed strategy and network to reach it. So, who better to help develop Substance’s very own missions strategy!?

One Hope was generous enough to fly up five of their brightest minds from their headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. (Of course, the thought crossed my mind that we should have reversed the location : ) To be honest, our executive team was a bit nervous hosting such a brilliant crew. I felt like the dorky 7th grader asking the popular girl to dance. But all is well. The One Hope crew is a riot. (I think we’re even “going steady” now : ) But seriously: These guys rocked my world. I’ve never in my life heard such a fantastic and strategic approach towards global missions.

For example… most people think of “missions” as merely a budget of the church, not an extension of the churches’ greater calling. In other words: Every church has a strategic “missional gift-mix.” For example, some churches have a large quantity of construction workers, videographers, or medical practioners. Yet, very few churches develop their missions strategy in light of this gift-mix. Even worse: Church mission trips become nothing more than wasteful vacations that put a huge burden on the foreign mission base – yet do little to actually grow the churches in those countries. Even worse: Some countries are far more strategic to reach than others. Yet, many churches mindlessly take trips to countries that are already over-saturated with aid. And just as bad: Many mission trips aren’t even connected to thriving indigenous churches. And if they are connected to churches, they rarely serve the strategic needs of those churches. In the end, there’s very little thought given to “What are the most strategic churches to be serving.” And the reason is usually because, very few missionary organizations are as well connected as One Hope. Thus, everyone seems to go with their aunt’s cousin’s mom & pop missionary church. Yet, just down the road, there may be a wildly more fruitful church to be serving.

But at Substance: When we spend our missions dollars, I want it to be on the most effective kingdom efforts on earth. And if we take short-term mission teams, I want to use Substance’s strengths and go to strategic nations and then work with carefully selected churches who are fully capable of fully utilizing our short term efforts for long-term gain. Even more, I want to send teams to foreign churches that are fully capable of healthily converting our short-term missionaries into one or two year missionaries. But many churches are incapable of healthily absorbing westerners without harming the church or the well-intended missionary. Yet none of these things will ever happen if American churches are constantly distracted with mediocre mission-trips to mediocre countries doing mediocre things with mediocre foreign-churches with out any long-term measurable goals.

Of course, many church strategies work through one or two of these things; but, I’ve never met an organization like One Hope who can create an elaborate missiological business plan that factors in all of these things. (Can you feel my excitement!!!!) DUDE! I am so pumped!

Perhaps it’s because, I believe that we are designing far more than just a church missions strategy. I feel like we’re designing an entirely new way for American churches to do missions. Every ten years, there’s a new “missions bandwagon.” There are a lot of mission projects that “preach well”… like disaster relief or trafficking. (Both of which I whole-heartedly support). But I sense God’s heart is crying out for more from us! We need ”God-ideas” not “good ideas.” And the only way we’re gonna discover this is if we do our homework and then bathe all of it in a good amount of prayer. Make sense?

But one thing is for sure: I believe God wants Substance to be a model of thoughtful missional outreach. So keep praying Substance! We’ll be unveiling our new strategies over this next year. But remember: this is just the beginning.

P.S., Get your passports ready! We’re going to the ends of the earth! : )

The Intersect – The Answer to Fulfillment

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:05:45 CDT

by: Richie Allen
www.nonegativitynow.com

Miserable? Most of us have been there, some more than others. If you haven’t been there, pack your bags. Your time is comin’…

(Great way to start a post about no negativity, huh?)

I know this post isn’t dripping with positivity just yet, but let’s take a little time to be brutally honest here.

Have you ever felt like you’re not where you should be in life? Maybe you’re working a job you hate only because you have to make ends meet. I know there are many people who fall into this category. I’ve been there myself. Maybe you’re even involved in church ministry, wondering why you don’t feel fulfilled even though you felt “called” to do the work of God.

There’s got to be an answer to the misery and dismal condition many of us find ourselves struggling with on a daily basis.

Here’s a few questions you need to ask yourself first…

Question 1: Are you passionate about what you’re doing?

Passion is a big subject – way too big for a single article to cover. But it’s important to recognize whether you are truly passionate about what you’re doing. What would you be doing if money were no object? The answer to that question (and it shouldn’t be “laying around watching TV all day”) will give you some indication of what you’re passionate about.

Question 2: Where do your talents lie?

Have you ever sat down and written a list of the things you are good at doing? You might be surprised at how difficult that is to answer. There’s a wonderful book and assessment called StrengthsFinder 2.0 that helps you to pinpoint your strengths and narrow down where your strengths truly lie. I highly suggest going through the guide. It will definitely open your eyes.

Question 3: Where did your current direction come from?

When I was growing up, there were several people I admired that wanted the best for me. Some of them felt led to tell me what God wanted for my life. They meant it sincerely, but they should have allowed room for God to speak to ME about it, as well. You may have experienced something similar.

Were you really “called” by a well-meaning family member or friend instead of truly being prompted by the Holy Spirit? Be brutal with the answer to this question. This could be a part of the problem.

So, you have the answers to the questions above, but you’re probably still wondering, “What good does all this (possibly depressing) information do me?”

Not much good just yet. Hold on a bit longer.

The Intersect

The answer to the questions you have about your purpose lies in what I call the Intersect. The Intersect is the “magical” place where the favor of God resides and fulfillment is achieved. It’s that seemingly unattainable place that we spend much of our lives searching for.

We’ve made finding our place in life (the “will of God”) more nebulous and difficult than God really wants it to be for us. He didn’t design His will to be unachievable! He desires the best for His children.

“If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!” - Matthew 7:9 (AMP)

There’s a school of thought that says desire is all that is needed to do the work of God. I disagree. Despite what you may think, talent and abilities DO count in the will of God. Why would God give you abilities that aren’t in line with His will for you?

He wouldn’t.

He gives us our abilities and “bents”, even our idiosyncrasies, for a reason.

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” - Frederick Buechner

So then, the favor of God exists at the intersection of your talents, your calling and the need for your abilities.

If you find yourself in a situation where you are doing work that is unfulfilling, dreary, and passionless, reexamine your talents, strengths, personality, and passions. Step back and realize that God made you unique, to fulfill a unique position in His kingdom. It may not be a “platform” ministry. So what? If you think church work is the only real calling of God, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

Are you good at finances? Music? Speaking? Information technology? Art? Do you have a passion for any of those things? Follow that. God placed it in your heart for a purpose. It’s YOUR purpose.

Measuring Spiritual Formation

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:39:31 CDT

by: Pastor Pete Wilson
www.withoutwax.tv

We’ve found a lot of different ways to measure spiritual formation over the years.

church attendance
clean language
dressing the part
paying for indulgences
memorizing Scripture
serving in the church

There is obviously nothing inherently wrong with any of these things in and of themselves. A matter of fact some of them may be foundational for spiritual formation, but not the way in which we should measure it. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of believing one can somehow measure their spiritual maturity by checking off how many of the “do’s” have been performed and how many of the “don’ts” have been avoided. However, real spiritual formation isn’t evaluated by how well we perform a list of tasks on a check-off list. Jesus said…

John 13:35 35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Matthew 22: 36″Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In other words Jesus said, spiritual maturity is measured in the context of relationships. Are you interested in how you’re doing at having Christ formed in your life? Then take at look at how you’re loving God and loving people.