Ministry

March Madness has struck our house. How about yours?

Kay really gets into March Madness — both women’s and men’s brackets. She has her bracket pages printed out and is faithfully recording winners as they advance. We’re watching more basketball than we do at any other time.

Campus Crusade for Christ is the #3 ranking among corporate networks in Facebook’s March Madness contest. If you have a Facebook account, log in then go here to see the updated rankings. I didn’t participate, but it’s interesting to watch others.

Back at Superbowl time, I mentioned the BeyondTheUltimate.org evangelistic outreach sponsored by Athletes in Action, the athletic ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.

They are doing it again. This time it’s March Madness. Visit BeyondTheUltimate.org. Watch some videos and read personal stories from John Wooden (won 10 national titles coaching UCLA, including 7 consecutive titles 1967-1973), Clark Kellogg (CBS Sports broadcaster), Ruth Riley (center for Detroit Shock), Luke Ridnour (guard for Seattle Supersonics) and others.

But even better, tell your friends at work and at achool about BeyondTheUltimate.org. Oh, and they can also watch Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith talk about their personal faith journeys. Good stuff. God stuff.

Our measurements conference is going great! It is so fulfilling to work with a team of highly-motivated, competent people who are seeking to honor God by creating systems to help count what God is doing. Here we are in the East Asia Area of Affairs office. Click the photo for a larger version. I’ve blurred some faces for security.

We are a multi-national team working together globally on local needs. We are a team from Singapore, Indonesia, U.S., Hungary, Mali, India, and the big east asia. We have needs to measure ministry results in each area. We have banded together to solve the problems for all of us by working for each of us. This is an amazing way for a global technology group to work. Normally, information technology (IT) solutions are developed top-down and rolled out to users. We are working middle-up and middle-down to develop a flexible solution that meets needs but also everyone feels ownership.

It’s amazing to see the things internet technologies are allowing us to do. One night, I was sitting in a local Singapore McDonalds with some of these team members. It was a noisy place, but they do have free, high-speed internet! Tom (who lives in Hungary) was watching a U.S. television show via a Slingbox device on his dad’s TV in Orlando. Mark (traveling with me from Orlando) was talking to his family via Skype internet telephone. I called my dad on his birthday (in Texas) to wish him happy birthday (by Skype telephone).

I was also responding to seekers who are exploring how to follow Jesus. I corresponded with 14 seekers that night. While on a business trip to Singapore. Sitting in McDonalds. Talking about Jesus with Vasantha in Sri Lanka, Ed in Ohio, Ntando in South Africa, and IriNe in Indonesia.

While here in Singapore, I met with Rev. Jeong Insoo the director for our East Asia area of affairs. East Asia AOA includes Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and maybe a few others. Huge populations. Huge economies. Huge need to know Jesus. Signficant barriers to overcome.

We plotted together how technology can help. I invited Insoo to speak at our MinistryNet 2007: Bangkok conference in April. His area is sending a number of participants to learn to use the internet for effective ministry.

I enjoyed time with Richard Lim, the technology leader for this area of affairs. He is helping lead this significant area of the world. He is also on the planning team for MinistryNet 2007: Bangkok.

This has been a very fruitful trip. God is giving us bits and bytes. He is giving us communication and travel opportunities that have never existed before. It is a blessing to work with this group of highly-motivated, competent missionaries who are blending years of ministry and technology expertise to advance the gospel and help fulfill the Great Commission.

I am in Singapore at Campus Crusade for Christ’s measurements conference. This is about 20 leaders from every area of the world who are working together to create and implement a measurement system.

My boss, and the Vice President of Operations Roger Bruehl, shared his heart with us yesterday as we opened this week together. He pointed out that measurements are important to God. Some of his thoughts:

• There is an entire book in the Bible called Numbers.
• Twice the Bible records huge feedings. But it doesn’t just say that a crowd was fed. It records 4,000 were fed and 5,000 were fed.
• There are 14 times in the book of Acts where a report was given.

I remember something I heard from another Campus Crusade leader in the Middle East. He was addressing the issue of measurements, counting, and reporting. He said, “We in Campus Crusade count people because people count to God.”

Roger asked us to break up into small groups and answer two questions.

Why are measurements important to God?

Our group had these thoughts:

• We are encouraged when we see growth. God already knows. Counting is for us.
• Measurements bring clarity. Measurements require us to be specific and precise. What should be included in the count? What should not be included in the count?
• They provide a testimony to future generations. They document the works of God for the next generation.
• Counting shows us the personal nature of God. He sees people as individuals, not just a crowd. He knows the number of hairs on our heads, not just the color of our hair or lack of hair!

I especially liked the thought that counting shows us the personal nature of God. That is powerful! He doesn’t just see us as a group — as Christians, as a local church, as Campus Crusade for Christ. He sees each of us individually. He knows me as an individual.

Why are measurements important to helping us in Campus Crusade accomplish our mission?

Some of our thoughts:

• They help us determine and use fruitful methods.
• They help us separate results from activity.
• They build our faith to trust God more when we document what is doing.
• They help us be effective stewards of the donations God entrusts us with.

I’m looking forward to more today!