The "M" Word

New Book

Have you ever picked up a book and just couldn't put it down?  This week that happened to me.  This week I picked up the new book by J. Paul Nyquist called There is No Time about Short-Cycle Church Planting.  The book is told as a fable.  The main character is a fictional missionary named Dave Peterson who has a life changing experience in a typical yet fictional African country.  This event sends Dave on a quest to discover a new way to plant churches quicker.  Dave invites four of his closest friends from college who are all successful in their perspective fields to explore the question of planting churches faster in todays changing world.

This book is an excellent read and clearly lays out the thought process behind Short-Cycle Church Planting.  Don't let the fable fool you.  The problems in this book are real and the consequences of the slow pace of church planting in the world today is a Christ-less eternity for millions and millions of people.  This our generation and our responsibility.  Thank God for men like Dr. Nyquist who are not willing to let a generation go to hell with out fighting for their lives.

You can get this book by ordering it through our website at this link:

http://www.avantministries.org/thereisnotime

Update

It's been a while since I posted just an update.  Blogging is not an exact science and I am constantly faced with dilemma.  It is not writers block, but writers overload.  There are so many things I want to include in my blog that I don't write anything.  Enough of that!

Over the last few weeks we have had a team retreat, traveled together as a team, and have prepared for our departure as a team.  One of the unique things about our ministry is the centrality of our team.  Short-Cycle Church Planting is about God's Power flowing through a team using five operating principles.  The articles about praying for a missionary are all about unlocking God's power.  Doing our part.

Yet in the midst of the power and the principles is the team.  We can be certain that God's power is real and eternal.  We can also be sure with a growing body of evidence that the operating principles are sound (learn more).  The variable in the equation is always the team.  It is the "human element" as the new Dupont commercials advertise.  This is the wild card in the deck.  We cannot predict human behavior nor be certain of outcomes when it comes to the decisions of others.  What we can do is learn about each other and approach each other as precious gift from God.  That leads to a whole other series I need to write about, the "one-anothers" in Scripture.

This week we buy plane tickets to travel across the sea in just 32 days!  Keep praying!

Our Project gets a New Face

Avant Ministries is launching a campaign to transform Central Asia by planting rapidly reproducing churches.  Many godly men and women have labored in Central Asia sowing the seed necessary to see a true harvest of people coming to Christ.  Our team wants to be part of this harvest!

We believe that the time is right and the door is open (Col. 4:3) to start rapidly reproducing churches.  Our team has been trained, we are ready to go, all that lacks now is the final funding for this five year project.

Would you follow the link below and find out how you can help TRANSFORM CENTRAL ASIA!

Transform Central Asia

The Avant Magazine

Hot off the presses!  The new magazine from Avant Ministries is now out.  If you do not already receive the Avant Magazine, I want to tell you how you can.  Click on the link below and just follow the directions.

This issue has a great article about our team! 

Send me the Avant Magazine!

Short Cycle is a powerful force

Yesterday, a teammate and I sat in front of a missions committee for a large church in the San Diego area.  This event was significant for a number reasons.  There is the obvious reason of potential support for our team.  Then there is the personal reason of being able to get to know Christian men and women in the place that I only know from by BC (before Christ) days.  That was huge for me.  What stands out most to me though is the significance of what Short-Cycle Church Planting is to churches. 

Here is a church that has supported ministries all around the world.  Despite what most missionaries think, these churches know what happens on the mission field.  They know that we fill our letters with lots of trivial activities so that we can report our minimal successes with as much flowery language as possible.  Come on guys, reality check: teaching a Sunday School class in a third world country is NOT the best use of missions resources.  Doing it for years is just poor stewardship.

So here comes the Avant Missionaries.  We are no better than anyone else.  Our halos are not straighter.  We do not have a glow about us from all the time we spend in the presence of the Lord.  What we do have though is exactly what churches are craving.  A results oriented ministry with built in accountability to the successfulness of our task. 

This missions committee asked us some great questions and seemed genuinely pleased with the principles as well as the concept of a metric to measure if we have a mature church or not.  Now we just pray for the church to decide to support us financially in this adventure we call Short-Cycle.

Keep praying for us while we seek the support of those in the Body that the Lord has set aside for us.

Support Raising for New Canidates

COP here at a Avant is an exciting time.  We get to meet the new men and women who are joining our ranks as missionaries and fellowship with them for two weeks.  During that time we get to pour into them all that they need to start their careers as successful missionaries.

Today was my turn.  I am teaching a seven session class on support raising for the new recruits.  As we examined the Bible and what it has to say about missionaries and support, I was once again moved by the scripture.  Missionaries constantly face difficult questions about money and how to raise it.  We face a plethora of emotions from excitement to shame while raising support.  It is very comforting to know that no matter how we feel, God affirms us through His word.  He wants the workers in the harvest field and He moves on the hearts of the faithful to give towards the cause.  No matter what happens, we know that God is in control.

Today I had the class make a list of the their top ten prospects.  I could see the anxiety on their faces and they realized next week they will need to be talking to others about their needs.  I listened to their voices as they looked at their calendars and heard the clock ticking toward their departure.  They are nervous because the trends say it is an up hill battle to raise support rapidly. 

So what can you do?  The next time you talk to a missionary, listen carefully to what he is saying and then listen for that voice of the Holy Spirit.  He may be prompting you to be the one to sow into His work around the world.