Tenacity

Bible Thoughts - Galatians 1:4

I find it interesting how often the Bible speaks of the state of the world in terms that are, apparently, unpopular today. In this verse Paul refers to this world as "evil." Many other versus can be cited that say or imply the same thing.

However, speaking in such terms today is usually deemed overly cynical, negative, unproductive, hard. A turn off. And the funny thing is, I kind of get it.

There is so much beauty in the world. So much to praise God for. So much to honor God with in being better stewards. There would seem yet so much to smile about, and there is. I think here of even Jesus who, though a "man of sorrows" was also "anointed with the oil of gladness" above others. Who also, in speaking to his disciples, said "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children..." It's clear in that passage that, though Jesus says we are "evil," He does not say we are so hopelessly so that we cannot even do a good deed!

Perhaps this then is the tension we should maintain in reference to "this evil world?" The world itself, it's material physicality, is obviously amoral (a tree cannot sin). The creation made by God is glorious, and cool, and wonderful. But "the world" is still "this evil world" in the condition to which it has been subjected, and under the stewardship of fallen mankind.

From a spiritual and political standpoint the world may be "evil," overtly and oppressively affected by the fallen state of mankind. And yet, in all of this, "God so loved the world;" showing again that there is much to love, much to appreciate, much to give ourselves to and for... just as God, through Jesus Christ, did.

May the Lord help us to love this "evil world" in which we live, and to love the fallen and "evil" people who live in it. People for whom Christ came, lived, died, rose again, and loves today.

Let's Step Up

This is an organizational post primarily to the Philippine Frontline Ministries.  All are welcome to read and participate. But please note that I do not normally use this blog in solicitations.

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God may be good "all the time," as we like to say.  But in truth, He is "gooder" in the worst of times. It is in the darkness we need light the most. It is in the troubled seas that we feel so small and helpless, and recognize our desperate need and dependency on God. It is then we need Him to show up, to bring light or calm the storm. If God is great all the time, He is greater in times of distress.

In this time of despair, with one of our church families suffering the untimely loss of their son Limuel, I pray that we allow God to be greater for our dear friends. That in this time of unforeseen trouble, we will see the opportunities that exist for God to be magnified. The opportunity for this to be not only a bad incident, but a time for doing good, and being the people the Lord Jesus wants us to be.

I believe this means to step up, to lift up, to hold up, and to bind up each others wounds. To encourage, to bless, and to be a strong defense to our friends. To not just say we love Ver and Joji, but to show it in how we support, how we serve, how we defend them... and in how we give. Let this be a time for FWC and the Frontline family to glorify Christ in being the people of God in word and action.

We are committed to helping Ver and Joji move on, and part of this "moving on" includes helping them move to a different house.  They need financial help to do this.  I pray we can all step up and support the Mercado family in many ways, but also through our generosity.

Local Frontline Members and Staff:
Please give your gift directly to Rhoda Beloso (Globe: +63.917.572.9939, Smart: +63.928.505.5028)

USA Donors can send to:
Philippine Frontline Ministries
PO Box 208
Sandwich, IL 60552

CANADIAN Donors can send to:
Lighthouse Church
9827E Horton Road SW
Calgary Alberta Canada, T2V 2X5

ONLINE - PAYPAL:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=SX7YPUQMRM6N4

"To Limuel"

We all know that our FaceBook posts for Limuel are not exactly for Limuel. He is now with the Lord. These posts are mostly for each other; and that's good. To express our feelings and the sadness for our loss and our dismay. They are to share our collective and mutual grief. And of course to publicly salute and express honor to a brother who we loved and cared about.

To each of you I want to say: I believe Limuel knew he was loved. And not only loved... he was "liked" as well. He has loving parents, and many loving, caring friends. I am sure Limuel knew you loved him. And yet, for reasons of his own, this was not enough to keep him here for now. We need not blame ourselves, nor to judge Him. Rather, albeit in grief and pain, we simply have to accept it.

My prayer is that we will now encourage the Mercado family, and hold up one another. As the Scripture says, to “encourage one another daily, while it is called today.” And that each of you would know you did not fail your friend.

"To Limuel" -- We all love you; and we know that you know this. Certainly you will be missed by many, and loved still in our hearts. We will look forward to seeing you again when Christ comes, or when He brings us to heaven. It seems that sadness won the battle this time, and we are sad now too. But the war is not lost! We are the Lord's, and we are His forever. And the Joy of the Lord will be our strength. We will go on, striving for life and love wherever we can, and hoping we will always do better and better for all who need it. For the tough times we had, we thank God for His love and His grace. For the good times, we thank God for all those we had with you. Enjoy His presence Limuel, and we will see you there.

Life for Life... into 2011

As I look back over 2010, I can see that this has been a great year. So many souls have been reached with the Good News of Jesus, and so many lives have been impacted, touched, and changed. They say it takes money to make money. Well, I think in much the same way, it takes life to make life. At Frontline I am proud to work with people who are investing life into life, in order to see God's glory in the lives of more people who need Christ.  I'm proud of the staff, workers, volunteers, prayer partners, and financial donors who, all together, are the composition of the Frontline.  Thanks to each and everyone of you for another great year of "Reaching and Helping People Find Their Way Back to God."  As we head into 2011, my prayer is that in an ever increasing way, we will focus on the glory of investing ourselves into the cause of Christ. Taking no thought for the so-called sacrifice, and giving more thought to the incredible opportunities that God places before us in this fallen, needy, and hurting world.  God bless you all; God bless Frontline; God bless 2011; and a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you! 

On Trying and Perseverance

I really enjoyed this quote today:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose' face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who come up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

I wonder how many times people are deterred from trying, or trying again, simply because of a critic. Or, because of a former attempt at something that didn't pan out as planned; a failure. Or, and perhaps worst of all, the raw fear that failure was even possible! As for me, I would rather dream, believe, and attempt great things than to respect fear or criticism so much that I never try at all. As they say, the greatest failure of all is the failure to try.

Making a Movement Move

I'm proud to be involved in a growing network of churches and leaders called NewThing. We just had a couple days of meetings at Knoxville, Tennessee, and I really enjoy the intentionality of pushing the envelope on the issue of reproducing leaders through apprenticing, which is the basic component that leads to > reproducing of churches > church networks > church movements.

Earlier today, Dave Ferguson presented a straightforward overview of what NewThing believes makes a movement move. I thought I would share my notes here for anyone who might enjoy reading and thinking this through, and possibly providing some dialogue on the issue.

(What follows are only my personal and very brief notes of Dave's talk.)

"WHAT MAKES A MOVEMENT MOVE"

1. Apostolic Leadership:  For many people this is an unfamiliar, or scary concept... that there are "apostles" still on planet earth. Rather than focusing on the issue of the Apostolic office, Dave focused more on the function of an apostolic spirit and gifting. Apostolic leaders:

• see the future more clearly than others
• constantly (perhaps even accidentally?) establish new communities of faith
• embed and guard ideology

In more recent church history (1900 forward?) we seem to have relegated apostolic recognition for merely the "superstars" (leaders of very large and successful churches). Dave shared a great analogy of football quarterbacks where, in the pro league there may be 100 quarterbacks nationwide; while in college there are several thousand; and in high schools there are over 200,000 quarterbacks across our country. We see the pro's, but often fail to realize the many others that are out there in smaller, less public teams. 

2. Shared Dream:  Martin Luther King, Jr. was (as is common) quoted for his "I have a Dream" speech. Apostolic leadership "provides a dream." The man who started Habitat for Humanity (a certain Mr. Miller) said simply to people, "Don't you think every person on the planet deserves a simple decent place to live?" This was his dream. Simple but compelling. Habitat now is the largest builder of homes in the world.  

3. Common Ideology:  "Ideology is the fuel that drives a decentralized organization" (quoted from the book, The Starfish and the Spider).

Some of NewThing's Ideology:

• R for Reproducing (we must reproduce at every level of ministry responsibility)
• R for Relationship (not a denominational structure, but intentional and missional relationships) 
• R for Residencies (apprenticing experiences for developing leaders)
• R for Resources (sharing resources freely) 

4. Genuine Community: A common cause must come first in order to create biblical community. Without a common cause at the nucleus of community, we end up with purposeless community. Without a common cause the church has no mission. Biblical and effective community requires:

• Mission (What are we passionate about accomplishing?)
• Trust (Trust must exist within relationship/community for people to take great risks together)

5. Decentralized Reproduction: The church in China has exploded in exponential growth to over 130 million members! For rapid reproduction we must:

• Model the Ideals (lead a small group yourself, apprentice new leaders...)
• Permit Reproduction (give permission away to those who wish to reproduce.. let go of control)
• Provide/Practice Accountability (keep ourselves accountable to each other in the vision and dream)

But If I Did

"I do believe; help my unbelief." (Mark 9:34)

A man was being led by the prison guards to the chamber where he would suffer his punishment; execution in an electric chair. As they walked slowly through the corridors, a priest was walking alongside dutifully reading scripture passages. At one point the condemned man stopped, turned to the Priest and said, “Do you really believe that stuff”?

 “Well, yes sir, I do,” replied the priest, “Don’t you?”

“No, I don’t. But if I did, I would consider it worthwhile to crawl across England, on my hands and knees, across broken glass if need be, to save but one soul from such a damnation as that.”

This story illustrates what is to me a widespread anomaly; Christians who believe, but who are careful not to take their beliefs too seriously. Like one man said, "We admire the poverty of Jesus, but are quite careful not to share in it." When I consider Jesus on the cross, I see a man who not only was serious about his life and mission; He was dead serious.

In 1980, at age 20, I gave my heart to God and experienced a transformed life. In the next couple of days my heart began to ache for the multitudes of people across our planet that did not yet know God.  And I felt an overwhelming desire --a responsibility even-- to do something about it. As I read through the Scriptures my logical mind concluded, if this be true, then there is nothing more important on earth than the gospel of Christ. Within one week I sold everything I owned, resigned my job, and left my home town of Aurora, Illinois to work with some “Jesus People” on the streets of St. Louis.  Two weeks later I met a visiting missionary who invited me to come with him to a foreign mission field. Five weeks after my conversion to Christ I arrived in the Philippines, where I have served as a missionary for 29 years to date.

Many people find this fast track to mission involvement unusual, and extremely radical.  But my perspective is different. Since I believed the gospel, I have never been able to escape the overwhelming conclusion that the gospel is the most important project on planet earth. My mind cannot resolve the issue to another conclusion.  Call me narrow minded, or fanatic, but I simply don’t “get” less urgent views. When I met Christ, read and understood the Scriptures, my immediate conclusion was, “this changes everything.”  So to me what is really radical is that anyone could actually believe the gospel and not at the same time feel the urgent call to action.

In this respect, the need of a crystal clear “call” as it pertains to commitment and involvement in what is called the “great commission” is intriguing to me.  (In reality, it’s the “only commission” the Church has. Remember? “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them…”). Throughout the years of my travels and ministry I've come across many believers who explain how they are “waiting on God” for a clear "call" to be involved in ministry. I often reply, “That’s great. How about coming out to the Philippines and waiting there? And while you wait you can help us serve the lost, the needy, and the hurting.”

As a genuine Christ follower, you’ve subscribed to some very radical stuff. Just read the New Testament! I'm convinced that it deserves our most serious and thoughtful attention. And that how serious we take it may well determine how God can use us in a world of needy and hurting people.

The Scriptures declare that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; The only way to the Father; That he died and rose from the dead, and that He is coming to earth again; That every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; That the nations of the earth will mourn because of Him; That time as we know it will one day end;  That all people who have ever lived in all of history will be resurrected from the dead and be judged.

Pretty heavy stuff. Do we believe it?

Really?

Giving back to God - Not about the Money

I've had an enjoyable time the past few weeks speaking to our church on the subject of money. It's gone well, and I'm proud to say at  our church sites we've seen a lot of smiles, had plenty of laughter, and some significant breakthroughs in the area of finances. It been very joyful to see our members candidly and courageously engage the topic, and to see them respond so encouragingly.

Each week I've been emphasizing that, "When we talk about tithes and offerings, we aren't really talking about money at all." Just last night I spoke at our first fund raising banquet at the BluBox (Frontline Worship Center). The  theme for the meeting was "Get in the Game" (and we were all required to come dressed up in sports attire). The creative idea was that we need to build the team, deepen the bench, and get everyone "in the game."

An important purpose of the gathering was to not only see and approve a monthly operational budget, but to resource it, in order to keep doing --and doing more of-- the cool things that FWC does. So obviously, the goal was getting money. Right? Not exactly. The opening line of my talk (you know, the inspiration message) was something like, "This meeting has very little to do with money."

Once again I went on to explain that --when it comes to the subject of tithes and offerings-- from God's perspective it has nothing to do with funds. And it also has nothing to do with Him having needs. It has much more to do with relationship, and OUR needs. But from mans' perspective, it is all too often still considered very much about the money.

"I mean, common. you are explaining that we should give 10% of our stuff to God. That's simply a money matter, right?"  Wrong. It's more about vision and the Jesus mission. It's more about such things as passion, dedication, commitment, ownership, and personal identification with the Lord.

In one of our Sunday messages I shared about King David, who (as recorded in 1 Chron 29) gave an offering (not a tithe actually) to the project of building the temple. What David gave (adjusted to 2004 US$) amounted to more than $10 BILLION dollars in gold and silver! Yes... $10 Billion.  And this great offering brought a smile to the face of God.  But an important question is, "Why?" Is it because God needed it? Is it because God had never had that much money before? I don' t think so.

We also spoke of another gift, given by an impoverished widow in the days of Jesus. As Jesus and his disciples watched offerings being given in that great and beautiful temple that David's son Solomon built, a poor widow came forward and dropped a small coin in the offering. Jesus declared to his disciples, "She has given more than ALL the others." Her giving also brought a smile to the face of God. But again, we ask --"Why?"

These two examples simply underscore the fact that giving to God is more about relationship than it is counting dollars and cents. That what makes Him smile is our freedom from the vice of greed and covetousness, and our growth in faith, trust, and love.

An Achy Breaky Heart?

(First, I admit I had to confer with a dictionary on the spelling of achy.)

I have been in ministry for 29 years.Throughout these year I have had the privilege of preaching the gospel message of Christ to many hundreds of thousands, and we have seen such numbers of people also respond to the message (come forward in our meetings, and pray to receive Christ as Lord of their lives). The joy and satisfaction of this work has been, of course, very high.

However, though I had a burden for the lost, for many years I also had an aching heart for the kids I saw roaming streets. I say not just a burden, but a real, physical ache. These poor neglected kids, dirty, disheveled, hungry and malnourished kids, out of school, often addicted to glue sniffing, and always at risk socially (from sexual exploitation) simply frazzled my mind and broke my heart.

When we raised funds and started our Face the Children (FTC) initiative in 2005, the first child we rescued and brought in off the streets was Elmer. I was not prepared for the feelings I would experience from this new work, and this one boy being saved from the streets. When I would see Elmer walking around, playing safely, going to school, and eating well at our ministry center... the joy I felt was beyond all the good sermons and altar calls I had ever administered.

And I remember wondering if that was a bit "messed up?"

I mean, the Bible says that all of heaven erupts in praise when one sinner repents, right? And I do too; and yet I found I personally got a greater charge out of seeing one child rescued from danger, harm, hunger and abuse. Is that "messed up," or does it point to something important?

To me this speaks of the unique passions and callings that God places in each of us, and that not all such passions are created equal. And that when you feel so strongly about something that you would rather die than not do it, or be involved in seeing it done, than you should probably get to doing it. If something makes you ache, you probably need to do something about it. You just might find some of the most meaningful work, and greatest joy of your life is so doing.

By the way, FTC has ministered to hundreds of kids, but has about thirty former street children (or abused, neglected, or orphaned kids referred to us by the Government) living full time at our FTC center. They are cared for, given Godly love and leadership, and go to school every day. Some will be graduating high school and going on to college in the very near future. More joy to come.

As for Elmer, he has become a part of the Pessina family, having lived with us for more than three years. If his report card (just released yesterday) is any indication, He's doing pretty good, and we are very proud of him.

(A special thanks to all of you who support FTC and sponsor the kids! You share in this work, and we could not do this without you.)

Where's Jeff! I'm Freaking Out!

I realize that after all this time gap between my last several posts, many of you now look like this; totally consumed with apprehension over what has happened to Jeff Pessina. I know you have been daily checking this blog... several times a day, in the middle of the night even, fasting and praying... and generally just freaking out over what has happened to Jeff and his comments on all things under the heavens. I am very sorry for having this effect on you as I know you have enough other things in life to stress you out without the panic attacks brought on by a lack of blog posts by me :)

The truth is less humorous of course. I've not been asked by a single person, "where did you go?" And never expected to. And no one has missed any meals, any sleep, or damaged their central nervous system over my disappearance.

At the risk of dating myself, allow me some historical meandering for subject matter. When I came to the Philippines, it was a wild a wooly place. Martial law under the Marcos dictatorship, and a strong and growing communist insurgency had the country in the grip of fear and anxiety, not too mention the smog, the garbage, and a host of social, political and economic turmoil. The term "economic difficulty" was an understatement. And there was no internet...

Can you still imagine? No email?  Communication in such horrendous and scary times was still by written or typed letters delivered in these things called envelopes through a thing called the postal service. However, delivery was by airplane and auto, not horse and carriage, thank God. Messages that now cross the oceans in seconds, were lobbed back and forth by delivery time intervals of 3 to 4 weeks! How did we ever survive? There was no paypal, and wire transfers were risky. We always prayed when we put the key into the postal box door... "Oh God, let there be a check in the mail! Because if not, we will not eat." Though times were incredibly tough, and faith was required from morning to afternoon, much less day to day, we never went without a meal. The post office was our technology; our tool for communicating with the outside world, and the only delivery method of God's provision from the people out there on the other side of the world who prayed and cared about us. It was limited, but it was pretty simple.

Nowadays, communication means are so abundant, it's become almost impossible to keep up. Email, blogs, text messaging, cell phone, voice over IP (internet calls), web sites, social networks (ever heard of FaceBook?), and on and on and on. And I propose that we live now in an age where there is so much "voice" out there, coming at each of us every minute of the day, that we now have the problem of too much communication. How do we assimilate and respond meaningfully? I can now have and "stay in touch with" thousands of friends through socail network technolgies like FaceBook. But Is that really true? Is it really possible to field and respond to, to maintain that much communication and relationship?

My concern is that, while we embrace, use, and even leverage technolgy (as I believe we should), we may become overwhelmed and exhuasted by it. That our life may become not just as James said, "a vapor," but a  twitter or a text. And I'm concerned at times that we could possibly know too much. And that in the midst of this unbelieveable ability to post, text, twit and blog we actually become less capable and less skilled at... of all things... communicating.

Sometimes it is true that more is less, and less is more. But how do we know what to cut? Is reading this post a part of the noise you need to eliminate? Has it taken another bite of your time that should be/have been directed to something more immediately important than what Jeff Pessina thinks about technology? Where is your child? Your spouse? Your Bible? Your devotional schedule and time with God? Your friend nearby?

I am simply suggesting that in todays world it has become more important than ever before that we take cautious care of our time and priorities. But my experience is that it is not easier to do so. It is rather, harder all the time. But still and always possible.

Now stop wasting your time here... and get back to what it is you were supposed to be doing :)