The Seabourns

Ministry

Living an adventure

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What an adventure Kay and I are living!

This year we both celebrated 65 years of life, 40 years of fulltime ministry with Cru and in a few days, we will celebrate 45 years of life together in marriage. Who would have thought that high school sweethearts from a (then) small town on the edge of Dallas would be on their sixth passport filled with amazing ministry engagements, would have friends and ministry in over a hundred countries (we haven’t visited that many but we’ve made friends and enabled ministry through conferences and communications) and would have a powerful team of ministry partners who have enabled it all!

And we are not ready to retire, but feel that God is blessing and leveraging our gifts, skills and experiences in additional opportunities.

As Kay and I move around the world helping advance the good news through trainings or leadership conferences or even personal evangelism opportunities, I am reminded of what the angels said on that first Christmas, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Everywhere the good news goes, there is great joy. As people realize that this good news is for them, joy settles and often erupts.

This is why Kay and I train church planters to connect with the lost and to plant churches that multiply. This is why we develop training curriculum. This is why we develop digital technology tools to expand the scope and engage more people in the Great Commission.

Kay and I are honored to be a part of this with a team of ministry partners. Undergirding with prayer is important. I invite you to pray for every village, every neighborhood, and every high-rise apartment. Click on the Shine link and watch the Shine video while praying. In 2017, we want to train and plant and engage even more so that the good news which brings great joy will come so that no place is left behind.

Sharing Your Story

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Paul before Agrippa

I met Joseph last Sunday. He was easy to spot. The Sunday School class I was visiting is helping him walk the path back into connectedness after some time on the street.

Kay and I were speaking about our ministry with Global Church Movements. He asked if we could talk. He wants to influence people he knew while on the street but doesn’t feel he is getting through to them. He wanted to know how to get into ministry more like Kay and I described.

I encouraged him to develop his personal story into a powerful tool that he can share with those he has known. We talked through a shortened version of one of the sessions we teach on sharing your personal story (testimony). I asked him to read Acts 22 and Acts 26. Paul shares his story. I encouraged him to look for this structure in Paul’s story: 1) my life before receiving Christ, 2) how I received Christ and 3) my life after receiving Christ.

I asked Joseph to read Paul’s story out loud and time how long it took using a clock or watch. I told him that most readers can read Acts 22 (about 400 words) in about 3-4 minutes and Acts 26 (about 600 words) in 5-6 minutes. So if Paul can tell his story in 4-5 minutes, then why can’t we also work to develop a version of our story (about 400-500 words) to share in 3-4 minutes?

I encouraged him to think of one word that best described his life before Christ, one word that described how he come to know Christ, then one word that describes his life after receiving Christ. Then write 3-4 sentences expanding thoughts for each word. This will help him write a story that is focused around these 3 big ideas and flows smoothly. I suggested he practice telling this story until it is natural and he can tell his friends. I reminded him that, like Paul, he is not preaching a sermon but telling what God has done in his life.

Joseph was encouraged. He said that he’s tried telling his friends but he got lost and used too many words. He likes this idea and will work on it.

What about you? Do you have a 3 minute way to tell your story?

Reaching 5 billion

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Over 7 billion people that share our planet today. About 2 billion of them claim to share our faith in Jesus Christ. Not all share exactly what we believe, but let’s keep it at 2 billion for a nice round number. That leaves 5 billion. They do not wake up each morning looking forward to walking through the day with the creator of all days. Many have never heard his name. Others have heard, but not in a way they can understand.

Paul shared this same concern when he wrote:

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

That is where Kay and I come in. We have been sent. And we are also in the sending business. What if we can mobilize the 2 billion to reach out to the 5 billion?

What would it take to develop a systematic outreach among the 5 billion in every language, every demographic group, every business? It would take a permanent group that meets regularly, that loves Jesus, and is committed to living righteously and telling others about him. This a church.

We have thought this through. Most rural villages are about 1,000 people in size. Most suburban neighborhood developments are about 1,000 people. Most urban high-rise apartments are grouped into about 1,000 people. So if we  put one of these missionally-focused churches among every 1,000 people, 5 million churches are needed among the 5 billion. We need them evenly distributed so there is a light among every cluster, so that the church of Jesus is available to every person that shares our planet.

That is why we have set a goal of 5 million new churches, a church in every urban high-rise, every suburban neighborhood, every rural village, and every digital community.

Entrusting others

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Cameroon mapI hugged Kay goodbye outside the Orlando airport and walked inside. This adventure I will have alone. I’m in JFK airport in New York on my way to Cameroon, West Africa via Paris.

Ahead are 65 Cru staff and local pastors from 16 French-speaking countries. Some countries have exotic names like Burkina Faso whose capital is Ouagadougou. Some countries are known by their initials like DRC and CAR (Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic). Some have been broadcast into our living rooms through horrible events their populations have sustained like Burundi or Mali.

In spite of their different names and locations and governments and economies, these countries share in the plan Jesus announced 2,000 years ago when he said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

We will be together for 10 days preparing and training in how to build His church. Participants will return to their countries and churches as trainers who will multiply themselves into the lives of others.

One of our goals is finding 2 Timothy 2:2 people: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” We are looking for leaders who will make a heart commitment to be a reliable person who determines to qualify himself this week to teach others. When we identify them, we entrust.

I think the key to this verse is the verb entrust.

What are you entrusting to others you are leading? In your ministry? In your family?

Feeding a Missionary Soul

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Even missionaries do it. I did it last Monday.

We don’t take advantage of opportunities to talk about Jesus.

I have long said that the airline seat assignment system would be God’s appointment system for me. So last Monday, why didn’t I take more initiative to talk with the man from New Zealand about Christ? Flying to Dallas, he was talkative. We talked about the economy (he is deeply concerned). We talked about political instability in Nigeria (he has done business there).

But we didn’t talk about Jesus. And I didn’t even get his name. I was not very friendly or engaged!

After the flight, I talked with God about it. I told him I felt unable to turn the conversation to spiritual things. I haven’t felt that unable in a long time. Kay and I have been traveling together most of the time lately so I’m not engaging another seatmate. I must be out of practice.

So with a renewed dependence on God’s empowering, I took my seat on this morning’s flight home to Orlando.

And I had a wonderful conversation with A—. She grew up an active follower of Jesus and even thought of mission work but has become engrossed in her career since college. She no longer attends church. Her parents have split up. She told me she is drifting.

But in her story, I heard a heart for Jesus. Her eyes danced when she talked about a missionary friend’s emails from Ghana and a college friend’s job in Kenya.

I left her with a challenge—find an accountability partner who will ask her hard questions to help her stop the drift, someone who will hold her accountable to find a group that can feed her soul. I challenged her to save $3000 and join a mission trip to Ghana or Kenya and come back a changed person because she’s seen God at work in a place very different than she’s ever experienced.

To give her something tangible to feed her missionary soul, I showed her the Jesus Film app on my mobile phone with films in hundreds of languages. As we taxied to the terminal, she had already downloaded the app and eagerly showed me the app on HER phone.

A— is reconnecting to a seed God planted many years ago. The worries and cares of the world have been growing and choking it out. My prayer is that the garden tending of yesterday will help the seed to grow and bear fruit.

And once again, the airline seating system provided a divine appointment, as long as I’m willing to talk about Jesus!

Who can you talk about Jesus with today?