THIRTY NATIONS – FIVE HUNDRED STORIES
There are thirty different nations represented here. I didn’t realize there were that many. Each of the representatives are people who have some mileage as advocates or associates of the idea that it is in the heart of God to transform a town, region, city or nation.
After a great piece of Bible teaching from Exodus, George Otis spoke about the fact that, while they had told less than twenty of the stories that were out there of places around the world that had been changed by God, they actually had records of more than five hundred similar stories that they had not had opportunity to follow up or validate let alone tell. He presented an ambitious bit exciting program called Fire Quest that would seek to use different methods to visit, film and report as many of those five hundred stories using the web to feed video and data information about what God was doing. He said that this would have four benefits: a. it would pass on the story in the way stories that inspire faith need to be passed from one place to another and from one generation to another b. it would teach more people more of the ways of God c. it would contribute to people having a larger vision of God’s work and d. provide a form of antidote to the spiritual of hopelessness that often came upon believers when all they heard was the world that comes in through the mass media..
In the midst of all this we heard a story of a baptism time in the Euphrates River right in the middle of Baghdad where people were lined up a hundred deep waiting to be baptized as new believers in Jesus Christ. Here are some stories worth the telling. We also learned of the hundreds of churches that are currently being planted among the Kurds in the northern part of Iraq and also in remote parts of adjoining nations, including one in the news lately in association with atomic weapons.
There was some considerable discussion about the ways this could take place and the ways it could be spread to believers around the globe. It tells a story of the power of the life and message of the kingdom of God that changes cultures from the inside out and brings hope and life where there is none.
This evening we views the latest Sentinel video. George called it a provocumentary. It is a thirty minute version of what is happening in the world, what different groups in the community propose to do about the problems and issues that are out of control, and what the church is doing while all this is happening in a 360 degree radius of its facilities. It is a powerful and (as proposed) provocative challenge to the church to take its role as the custodian of its constituent communities.
All very stirring stuff. Lots of processing going on and it is very stimulating to process what is being shared with people from a whole range of different cultures and nations. The humility and love between the leaders here is profound and allows for discussion and dialogue that doesn’t have the taint of pride and arrogance and one-up-man-ship that often happens when Christian leaders are together. There is the sense here of handling things that are holy. Everyone’s story is so above and beyond what a person, a denomination, a theology or a culture could produce that people talk about these issues with a derived sense of humility and reverence. There is also a common experience here of great suffering. All except the people from western nations have experienced the grace of God in the midst of very grave difficulties and struggles. That also breeds a sense of awesome gratitude to the God who has made such a difference. It is so far from the denominational rubbish that goes on in a lot of places I have been over the years. It is also a long way from the idea that some local congregation should begin to think of itself as having either the answer or worse still, the best answer. These people have also been delivered from that.
I find this environment very inspiring. My love to you. I’ll be in touch with you again soon
Brian
There are thirty different nations represented here. I didn’t realize there were that many. Each of the representatives are people who have some mileage as advocates or associates of the idea that it is in the heart of God to transform a town, region, city or nation.
After a great piece of Bible teaching from Exodus, George Otis spoke about the fact that, while they had told less than twenty of the stories that were out there of places around the world that had been changed by God, they actually had records of more than five hundred similar stories that they had not had opportunity to follow up or validate let alone tell. He presented an ambitious bit exciting program called Fire Quest that would seek to use different methods to visit, film and report as many of those five hundred stories using the web to feed video and data information about what God was doing. He said that this would have four benefits: a. it would pass on the story in the way stories that inspire faith need to be passed from one place to another and from one generation to another b. it would teach more people more of the ways of God c. it would contribute to people having a larger vision of God’s work and d. provide a form of antidote to the spiritual of hopelessness that often came upon believers when all they heard was the world that comes in through the mass media..
In the midst of all this we heard a story of a baptism time in the Euphrates River right in the middle of Baghdad where people were lined up a hundred deep waiting to be baptized as new believers in Jesus Christ. Here are some stories worth the telling. We also learned of the hundreds of churches that are currently being planted among the Kurds in the northern part of Iraq and also in remote parts of adjoining nations, including one in the news lately in association with atomic weapons.
There was some considerable discussion about the ways this could take place and the ways it could be spread to believers around the globe. It tells a story of the power of the life and message of the kingdom of God that changes cultures from the inside out and brings hope and life where there is none.
This evening we views the latest Sentinel video. George called it a provocumentary. It is a thirty minute version of what is happening in the world, what different groups in the community propose to do about the problems and issues that are out of control, and what the church is doing while all this is happening in a 360 degree radius of its facilities. It is a powerful and (as proposed) provocative challenge to the church to take its role as the custodian of its constituent communities.
All very stirring stuff. Lots of processing going on and it is very stimulating to process what is being shared with people from a whole range of different cultures and nations. The humility and love between the leaders here is profound and allows for discussion and dialogue that doesn’t have the taint of pride and arrogance and one-up-man-ship that often happens when Christian leaders are together. There is the sense here of handling things that are holy. Everyone’s story is so above and beyond what a person, a denomination, a theology or a culture could produce that people talk about these issues with a derived sense of humility and reverence. There is also a common experience here of great suffering. All except the people from western nations have experienced the grace of God in the midst of very grave difficulties and struggles. That also breeds a sense of awesome gratitude to the God who has made such a difference. It is so far from the denominational rubbish that goes on in a lot of places I have been over the years. It is also a long way from the idea that some local congregation should begin to think of itself as having either the answer or worse still, the best answer. These people have also been delivered from that.
I find this environment very inspiring. My love to you. I’ll be in touch with you again soon
Brian
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