The Seabourns

Thoughts

Stirring up passion

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A posting from John Piper’s blog this morning got me to thinking about one of the purposes of ministry partner development. MPD is the process we in Campus Crusade for Christ as well as other faith-based ministries use to develop the financial funding and prayer base needed to engage in ministry fulltime. Kay and I have experienced God’s faithfulness for 32 years, including raising 3 children who have all graduated from college and two have married. Ministry partners are those who come alongside to engage in the mission through their finances, their prayers, and their notes of encouragement.

Piper’s post reminded me of another purpose in our ministry partner development time. Kay and I are passionate about what we do. I have never gotten over the tremendous privilege we have of engaging fulltime, all day, every day, in a myriad of places in being an ambassador for the King of kings. And as we have met with ministry partners this past two weeks, we’re able to stir up their passion, and hearing from them stirs our passion even more.

Piper calls this

…a God-designed effect on others. This is part of why passion is so good. It is an honor to Christ, and satisfying to us, and transforming to others.

That’s what Paul points out in 2 Corinthians 9:2. With great zeal for Christ, the Corinthians are ready to share in the collection for the poor in Jerusalem. And what is the effect on the Macedonians? “Your zeal has stirred up most of them.” That is the God-designed effect of passion for God.

Bring on the zeal, the passion!

Caught in the middle

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Kay and I attended c|life church yesterday. We went primarily to contact several friends who attend there. OK, I know I’m not supposed to go to church for social life, but to worship God, for my spiritual life. I get it. But we’re in the Dallas area to visit with several of our ministry partners. So, see!! We’re supposed to go to church to see people! We are all so busy that Kay and I have found it best to meet our partners during their normal activities.

Last Saturday, I helped a ministry partner/friend lay wood flooring for a few hours. I like doing stuff like that. And Kay and I might be doing that in a year or two. And I got to visit with partners and friends. Worked really well!!!

Back to c|life. Yes, we did get to visit with several friends. So that part worked well. But we had the added bonus of a great worship time, and a powerful message by co-pastor David Griffin. His topic was Jonah and his roundabout trip to Nineveh. His title was Overthrown. His premise was that we need to allow God to overthrow our lives. Jonah allowed himself to be overthrown, over the side of the ship, as part of his repentance from running the wrong way. The king of Nineveh allowed himself and his entire kingdom to be overthrown by righteousness as part of his repentence for running the wrong way.

This morning, driving to a 7 am breakfast appointment with a fantastic ministry partner, I listened to Casting Crowns singing Somewhere in the Middle. It echoes the cry of my heart. It’s about my heart’s desire to see my small plans overthrown by God’s amazing plans.

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Fearless warriors in a picket fence,
reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end
and we are caught in the middle

With eyes wide open to the differences,
the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His
or are we caught in the middle

Are we caught in the middle

It reminds me of a couple of posts I wrote before here and here.

The focus was a little different, but pretty similar. Life is messy in the middle. And too often, I make choices that leave me floundering in the middle.

In Lord of the Rings 2 The Two Towers, Sam tells Frodo, “It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really matter. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you don’t want to know the end … because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was with so much bad happening? … I think Mr. Frodo that I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back. Only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something.”

Sometimes I’m a fearless warrior behind a picket fence. I wrap reckless abandon with common sense. I want deep water faith, but I want it in the shallow end where I can touch the bottom every now and then just in case things don’t work out like I thought they would trusting God.

Today, I choose to trade my dreams for today for His dreams for today. I commit to holding on to him and his plans. Today, I commit to making choices outside the middle.

High Impact People

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Have you had breakfast with Fred? I’ve been greatly enjoying breakfast with Fred since a friend invited me.

Yesterday, Fred shared these thoughts on high impact people.

  • Link their passion and their uniqueness. They understand that who they are and what they do well correlate.
  • Minimize religion and maximize spirituality. They know that Christianity is about relationship, not ritual.
  • Endure pain to win the gold. They have an answer to the Olympian’s question, “What do you do when you start hurting? High impact people keep going.
  • Understand that discipline is not punishment. Correction signifies concern.
  • Save, Invest, and then Speculate. They never invert the financial pyramid and never go to Las Vegas with the meal money.
  • Control their time. They don’t expect others to spend their time any more than they expect others to spend their money. They understand the power of dramatic moments.
  • Focus. They understand that bigger game is brought down with a rifle, not a shotgun.
  • Are energetic. They have discovered the power of creative energy — its source and uses.
  • Balance their lives. They stay out of the rat race and off rabbit trails. They integrate all the spokes of their life wheel, so the ride isn’t rocky.
  • Nurture their curiosity. They see the magic of life and want to know why.
  • Take calculated risks. They put the odds in their favor. They would rather own the slot machines in Las Vegas, rather than playing them.
  • Capture the concept of plateauing. They know the rules of growing, assimilating, and growing again. They know when you grow too fast, holes occur.
  • Keep stress vertical. They know that vertical stress is positive while horizontal stress causes distress.
  • Have and use a sense of humor. They appreciate the fact that “what you cry about today, you will laugh about tomorrow.”
  • Don’t take destructive action. They may “think it,” but don’t do it.
  • Anticipate. They don’t like and work against surprises. They know how to go “where the puck will be, not where it is” as Gretzky said.
  • Work with cause and effect. They understand the principles of sowing and reaping.
  • Operate and articulate the meaning of life. They have clear internal dialogue that is purposeful and intentional. They know what real life isn’t about wealth and fame.
  • Have emotional control. They have a broad repertoire of emotions and know how to use them. They have a disciplined imagination, are courageous, and eliminate the negative. John Wayne said, “Courage is being sacred to death and still saddling up.”
  • Choose their attitude. They adopt Frankl’s observation that attitude can be controlled even when circumstances cannot.

[Adapted from Breakfast with Fred daily newsletter, April 1, 2008.]

Thanks, Fred.

Salama Alekum

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Salama alekum. “Peace be unto you.”

Kay and I lived in northern Nigeria for a number of years. We learned some basic Hausa, the lingua franca (trade language) spoken throughout northern Nigeria. When you enter someone’s home, you greet them with “Salama alekum.”

Today is Easter. Our Pastor spoke this morning out of Luke 24, where Jesus appears in the upper room. I was reminded of of the AHA moment I observed many years ago.

It is amazing to see the story of the goodnews through the eyes of those hearing it for the first time, or even hearing it for the first time in their own language. For many years, I produced the Jesus Film in languages of Nigeria. I was involved in showing the film many times in rural areas (called “the bush”) as well as cities.

As the Jesus Film progresses, through the crucifixion, people are very anguished. Particularly women and children writhe and sometimes cry in pain as Jesus is tortured and crucified. Then comes the hopelessness of his burial. How could they do this to such a good, loving person? During the burial, the audience frequently sits in stunned silence. Not a sound among hundreds of people.

Then Jesus appears to his followers. He says “Salama alekum.” Peace unto you.

And the audience gasps. It’s an audible, shocked gasp. Yes, he is risen. But I think even more astounding are these words salama alekum, spoken many times each day as a thoughtless greeting. But now they take on power and meaning. They are comforting. Often people clap and shout with joy. He has overcome death.

I’m convinced that for the next several weeks, when Nigerians hear someone enter a room with the greeting “Salama alekum”, the Holy Spirit takes them back to the one who gives peace, the one who overcame death.

This morning, my mind raced back to this scene. I projected the Hausa Jesus Film many times over the years in Nigeria. I always anticipated this moment, when he demonstrates the death of death. Luke goes on to record more from Jesus near the end of chapter 24. Jesus speaks

  • peace into their troubles
  • confidence into their doubts
  • comfort into their loss
  • certainty into their unbelief

And he gently reminds them to get about the plan. Things are happening according to God’s eternal plan. You are witnesses, Jesus says. Repentance and forgiveness is being extended to all nations. You are part of this eternal plan. But first, you need to be clothed with the Holy Spirit’s power.

And the final effect of Jesus appearing to his followers was worship, great joy, and continual praise.

Even today, worship, great joy, and continual praise continue. So does the plan of forgiveness and salvation which is spreading for person to person, until everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus.

Great tutorial on using WordPress

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I found this great tutorial on using WordPress. The focus of the tutorial is on using WordPress for a church website. But the principles are very useful for those of us who use WordPress to manage a website that does more than serve as a blog.

Missionaries frequently ask me for advice on creating a website to communicate with ministry partners. I regularly recommend either Blogger.com because it’s easy to use or WordPress.com because it’s very flexible and powerful.

This series has very helpful topics like

  • Picking / Finding a Free WordPress Theme
  • Personalizing Your Theme and Making It Your Own
  • Two Quick Ways to Make WordPress Look Like a Regular Website
  • Six Handy (And Free) Plugins

If you are looking for a good website publishing tool that is both easy-to-use, flexible, and extremely powerful, look into WordPress.