The Seabourns

Ministry

Block party with a purpose

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magdalenaKay and I tried something last night. Along with several of our Campus Crusade teammates who live in our area of town, we threw a block party for our neighbors. We invited about 30-40 households to a movie under the stars. We set up at the end of a dead-end street. We showed the movie Magadelena – Released from Shame.

Shame is the ball and chain that holds many people to their pasts. The power of shame is broken by forgiveness. Many people no longer feel guilt, but almost all feel shame or embarrassment over things they have done. This movie traces the life of Jesus through the eyes of Mary Magdalene, who experience Jesus forgiveness.

We had guests from two households. Including those of us who hosted the event, we had about 15 people. So the turnout to the movie wasn’t overhwhelming.

But, we have met neighbors in 30-40 homes. We have shown them we are interested enough to walk through the neighborhood and invite them to something. We have identified ourselves as Christians. Like a lifeguard at the beach, when there is an emergency, everyone looks to the lifeguard. We hope that we’ll have opportunities to talk further with neighbors as life’s crises occur.

And, it was a great evening at the movie!

Training in India

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Sure glad we had that final cup of coffee
Enjoying coffee and tea

Kay and I are in Bangalore, India. This has been an interesting trip. We missed a connection in Atlanta due to ground fog delays. We had a great time in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Now were in India.

After arriving late, we slept for a few hours then joined the training session. We have put photos online from our first day.

We are helping train staff in the use of our measurements tool where we are capturing statistics of the amazing things God is doing around the world.

Off to breakfast and another day of training.

The biggest sin in your church

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This Brian Proffit interview of Ed Stetzer (director or Lifeway) is very insightful.

Some of the thoughts that I found interesting:

The elephant in the evangelical room is that we’re not making disciples.

Churches need to recognize that ministry outside church is still ministry, and we need to recognize, empower and measure that.

As we move from having successful ministries to having dynamic movements, we’re working through many of these same issues outside the church.

Thanks to Geeks in Action for alerting me.

Transformational Leadership

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As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God

Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem – the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset.

Wow! A friend sent this link to me. I read this insightful article with deep interest. Having lived 15 of my 57 years in Africa, I have seen the same thing.

Another amazing observation:

We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world – a directness in their dealings with others – that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.

In talking about a secular conference about development aid in Africa, he relates a meeting with Zimbabwean aid leaders who were Christians although their development work was secular. He says,

It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man’s place in the Universe that Christianity had taught. [emphasis mine]

Understanding that their is a God, he is the author of a grand story, and I have a place in that story changes the way people think. It changes they way they look you in the eye and the way they engage in owning their responsibility to address their problems under God’s divine leadership.

He concludes his article with this acknowledgement of the limitation of simply educating Africans and providing modern tools and technologies and commerce:

Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.

And I’m afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.

My friend and our Vice President for Africa Dela Adadevoh calls this perspective transformational leadership. Leading in a different way. Leading from the heart. Leading from a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Africa needs transformation. And only Christianity can provide transformation.

Why we do what we do

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Here’s an interesting story of one man’s life. He got involved with Campus Crusade for Christ while at Michigan State University, probably in the 1950s, and was forever changed.

Just a regular college student who saw his life change while in college, became a missionary pilot with SIM, taught school, took care of his parents, served others. The article says that he was in Nigeria in the early 1970s but I don’t know if we overlapped or not. I never met him.

God used this today to remind me why we do what we do. Helping people find purpose and meaning in life, that gives their life a direction that serves others.