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Acts: The Missionary Roadmap

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One of the things I’ve done is to take a seminary-level study of the book of Acts taught by Trinity Evangelical Divinity School professor John Nyquist. This “bible study” came complete with

  • 382 pages of textbook reading
  • 28 chapters of Acts reading
  • a summary book chart of Acts giving titles to each chapter and paragraph
  • a 10 page paper

All this in 5 days of class( plus one day of writing the paper)! It was great. It was rewarding. It was refreshing. It was revitalizing.

The Holy Spirit reminded me of four major themes in the lives of the disciples and the early church:

  • Engaged in evangelism
  • Empowered by the Holy Spirit
  • Prayerfully dependent on Christ
  • Unafraid of persecution and sacrificial suffering

I wrote a paper to help me process my thoughts. You are welcome to read it if you want. It is in Adobe Acrobat format, so if you do not have Acrobat Reader, you can click here. It is free!

My paper is Acts-The Missionary Roadmap.

In case you can’t wait to get to the conclusion, I wrote:

What does this mean?

There seems to be a tendency to reduce the missionary enterprise to training, to strategies, to tactics, to methodologies. Acts is a reminder that at the core of the missionary enterprise is the commissioning of God to go, the empowering of the Holy Spirit for supernatural effectiveness, the communing of prayer for wisdom and direction in daily decisions, and the role of suffering in the “presentation to the nations of the sufferings of his cross in the sufferings of his people” (Piper).

Tell me what you think?

My birthday

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Last Friday was my birthday. I’ve celebrated all weekend.

Keith & Kay at Dowdy lakeOn Friday, Kay and I went fishing with friend Peter Culver. We didn’t catch anything, but the scenery was great. If you’re fishing but not catching anything, at least it was at 8,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies with pine trees all around! There are worse places to not catch anything!

Keith in sombreroWhen we returned, we went to eat Mexican food. My “friend” Peter promptly announced to the waiter that it was my birthday. Nothing happened, so I thought I was safe. Then at the end of the meal, I got to wear a sombrero while they sang in Spanish to me. At least we got free sopapillas out of the deal!

On Saturday evening, Kay took me for a steak and a movie. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (the new one). It was OK, but it was over 2 1/2 hours, so it seemed long.

After church, we came home and cooked our trout. That was great!

Tonight (Sunday evening), we had about 12 friends over for coffee, cake and ice cream. It was Blue Bunny ice cream, which is OK. We couldn’t find Blue Bell ice cream here!

I’ve decided that 56 is starting out really good.

Yes I am

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Yes, Karin, I’m reading this! I’m black coffee also, but not a Starbuckshead (except when I drive by one, or when I need a pick-me-up, or when I want to be a great husband and treat my wife to a chai tea latte and of course join her with my coffee!). I agree, you are low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable. And a joy to work with!


You are a Black Coffee


At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable

At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty

You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it

Your caffeine addiction level: high

Mom’s eternal home is about done

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From a friend: Mom’s eternal home is about done…

A friend’s son wrote this. It is one of the most eloquent, God-trusting announcements I’ve ever heard someone share that his mom is nearing death.

Our friend is a retired SIM missionary we first met in Nigeria. She and her husband served in Zaria in Nigeria. When they retired from the mission field, they launched into their second mission career working with international students at Texas A&M University and made Grace Bible Church their home church. Grace Bible is the church that sent Kay and I off to Nigeria.

Mom’s spirit and strength are such an inspiration. As many of you know, Mom has, since Dad passed away 12 years ago, stayed so very busy here in Sebring. She has continued to serve God by serving others in many different capacities such as teaching young children to ministering and helping the elderly, both here in the village and at her church. God has quite suddenly asked her to change directions in her life. Mom has handled this difficult directional change with such fortitude and grace. But after all, it’s really God’s grace and strength and unending love that we’re seeing every day. Jesus directed Mom, and all of us, in John 14, “Do not let your hearts be troubled”. He promised her that He would be preparing a place for her. Mom’s eternal home is about done and I think I know one person by the name of [Dad] who is getting very excited!

Sobering week

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Today was kick-back-and-relax day. A week of conferences is over. We depart Thailand about midnight tonight. I spent time reading, including reading and watching some of the Virginia Tech stories.

Campus Crusade for Christ has a website relaying up-to-date information of what is happening at Virginia Tech through the Campus Crusade movement there. It is interesting to hear how students are responding.

My friend Shannon documents two amazing stories. You must watch these news clips from ABC and Fox. Their stories are amazing, but it’s even more interesting to watch the TV news commentators trying to grasp the spiritual solutions these two people are displaying. In the first one, Molly Donohue, the first to find the bodies, talks about the role her Bible study group is playing in her recovery. In the second one, Lauren McCain’s father talks about the importance of forgiveness.

There are also sobering news clips of interviews with Molly, a VT Crusade student who was the first to find the dead bodies on her dorm floor. In all, four Crusade students have died. Please pray for the VT students and for the Crusade staff as they minister during a time when they too are reeling from shock and sadness themselves. There are excellent articles that you might find helpful in ministering to your friends who are shocked and confused by the tragedy.

These are must-view clips.

We also received word this week that 3 Christians were found in eastern Turkey with their throats slit. The worked in a Christian publishing house.

At our MinistryNet conference, we were asked to pray for a large number of Christians in a Southeast Asia country who have been arrested for “defamation of Islam”.

I am excited to see our internet ministries learning to take advantage of opportunities that God gives us to interact with hurting, seeking people. At our conference this week, someone shared that crises are God’s opportunities to help people come to know him. During crises, people often realize that their worldview does not work very well. They become open to seeking how to make sense of the crisis, and it often leads them to God.