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I’ve written before that churches should be training and sending. It’s the heart of the church’s mission (Ephesians 4.11, 12). But a story from a new friend, Jerry, highlights another lesson: sending IS training. 

Regarding “Are you ready?” I met the Lord at a little church in California during the Jesus Movement in 1972. One week later a leader took me down to the beach to do some witnessing. He told me to go one way on the strand and he would go the other way. I told him that I didn’t have any answers. He said to just write the questions down and tell them you will get back to them with answers. That may not be a method endorsed today, but within 4 or 5 weekends of doing this, I had answers to all the basic questions.

I wrote in the “Are you ready?” blog he’s referring to, “I find that most people in most churches will be ‘ready’ after they’ve had ‘one more course.’ By contrast, Jerry’s leader and Jesus himself trained BY sending:

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” And he called to him his twelve disciples… These twelve Jesus sent out. (Matthew 9.37 – 10.5)

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Coming on the heels of yesterday’s meditation on power, it’s the first day of Lent, and one purpose of Ash Wednesday, according to John Stonestreet at Breakpoint, is to remind us of our mortality.

That’s a good word for June and me as we each enter our third week of a respiratory illness. As of today, we’re both on the upswing, June, after finally getting an antibiotic for a sinus infection, seems to have turned the corner. 

We keep asking ourselves what we’re supposed to learn during such an illness. Here’s a simple answer: we’re mortal! We won’t live forever, and we’re not even guaranteed full functionality while we’re here!

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil. (Hebrews 2.14)

And here’s another answer: we should be grateful for our health every day that we have it!

And the third answer is: since we are mortal, we don’t have forever to do the work God has for us here. So best we be about it (as soon as we get well)!

The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. (Hebrews. 7.23, ESV)

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In the story of Jesus and Peter walking on water we nearly always jump to the part where Peter saw the waves and began to sink. We forget that before that:

Peter shouted out, “Lord, if it’s really you, then have me join you on the water!” “Go for it!” Jesus replied. So Peter stepped out onto the water and began to walk toward Jesus.(Matthew 14.28, 29, Passion Translation, emphasis mine)

What are the implications that Jesus in some way shares his divine power with people? It’s one thing that Jesus was able to walk on water. It’s quite another that through Jesus, Peter was able to walk on water too. And heal people (see Acts 3 and Acts 9.32 – 35) and raise the dead (see Acts 9.36 – 42). 

I’m still processing this, especially in light of scriptures like these:

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14.12, NIV)

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1.3, 4, NIV)

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I was disheartened to hear that Navigator ministry colleagues of mine were leaving a church staff position after less than two years. They had been called to help a church become intentionally disciple-making; they sold their long-time residence and moved across the country. Now, less than two years in, the church has decided they really didn’t want their help. 

I’ve written before about the challenge of church change, but today I want to focus on the personal cost to my friends. In addition to the sheer difficulty of moving the older we get, there’s the issue of “Why, God?” “Why bring us all the way across the country to not succeed?”

Here are a few simple observations which may help us not lose heart when things don’t go quite as we had hoped.

• “Success” is not always guaranteed. Neither Isaiah, Jeremiah, nor Ezekiel succeeded in turning the nation. 
• My friends did leave behind “good seed” in the form of people they discipled. And those people will continue to bear fruit whether in that church or somewhere else.
• We don’t know the next chapter in my friends’ story. It may be that where they go next requires them to be in the “neutral” position they are now in.
• The bottom line is that we don’t know why things happen the way they do! A principle I discovered years ago in Proverbs 20.24 applies to so many situations. Some of us think that because God is in charge and we’re following his direction, everything will make sense. In fact, the opposite is true:

The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way? (Proverbs 20.24, NLT)

The Passion Translation does a nice job: It is the Lord who directs your life, for each step you take is ordained by God to bring you closer to your destiny. So much of your life, then, remains a mystery!

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“God gave me a message to preach and a horse to ride.  But, alas, I have killed the horse and cannot deliver the message.” — Robert Murray M’Cheyne, as he lay dying at age 29

I thought of this famous quote when I received a letter from a missionary friend in east Asia. He wrote:

Please pray for me as I have contracted another bacterial infection that has made me very weak.  Per doctor’s orders I have stayed inside all week long, and although I am a little better it is so slow.  It has taken most of my strength to prepare this newsletter and email.  I am supposed to travel on Monday for two days of meetings and coaching next week and I hope to be strong enough to do it.

The reason I thought of M’Cheyne is that when I received the note from my friend, I was laid up myself! I had completed an 11-day road trip, coming home with a cold. But I laid low for several days and was feeling better so that I was able to take the 4-day road trip to Key Men’s Invitational that I’ve been writing about. I returned home Sunday night, woke up sick Tuesday, and as I write this, I’m still sick.

I’m sure my friend is sicker than I am, but he really wants to make that trip, just as I did. I hope he will practice appropriate indifference and trust the Lord’s leading. In the meantime, let’s all pace ourselves!

“I’d rather burn out than rust out! –a pastor

“Either way, you’re out! –Howard Hendricks, Internationally known Bible teacher and professor at Dallas Theological Seminary until his death in 2013.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. (Psalm 23.2, 3)

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Recently a pastor of a large church that is committed to two different worship styles on Sunday said something like, “The Contemporary Service is not an experiment and the Traditional Service does not have an expiration date.” Sounds good, but, in fact, worship styles change. There will be a time when the world-class choir that supports the traditional service won’t be there any more.

But here’s a ministry that truly doesn’t have an expiration date: investing in people, bringing them to spiritual maturity and sending them out to do the same. Paul told Timothy:

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. (2 Timothy 2.2)

I know the ministry has no expiration date because I’ve seen people in action. At his 100th birthday party, Jim Downing introduced us to Diane Derby, a local news anchorperson. He had invited her to do Bible study with him when he was 99, and she said, “I’ve always believed, but I became a true believer on March 30, 2013.” Jim met with people regularly until his death at age 104 1/2. Someone told me recently that he has a recent picture of Jim sitting at a table with a guy–not surprising–but what is surprising is that the picture was made at 1:00 a.m.!

At the Key Men’s Invitational, that I’ve written about the past three days, Len, the man that I brought with me, said one of the highlights for him was seeing Max Barnett, age 82, meeting one-on-one with a young man.

I was at a memorial service a few years ago at a large church, and my Navigator hero, Skip Gray, was there. I connected him with one of the young staffers, a musician who is transitioning over to pastoral ministry. Skip was giving him some counsel on how to preach. A friend of mine observed that here is Skip Gray, in his late 80s, still pouring into people at every opportunity.

I’m “only” 72, but I’m still asking God for opportunities to meet with men, and June is actively investing in women, some local, some elsewhere, across the U.S. and in Africa! This is the ministry with no expiration date! And, it’s open to anyone. See Max Barnett’s comment in Wednesday’s blog, first bullet point!

We’ll close with a promise:

¹²  The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
¹³ planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴  They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
¹⁵ proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (Psalm 92.12 – 15, NIV, emphasis mine)

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One distinctive of an old-fashioned Navigator conference such as the one I attended last week, Key Men’s Invitational (see the previous two blogs), is that you hear challenges you don’t often hear.

Steve Presswood, Nav Rep at Oklahoma State, delivered the last sermon Sunday morning on the topic “Why don’t we have more laborers?” Jesus defined a laborer in Matthew 9.35 – 10.5 as someone who is actively shepherding people:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”…These twelve Jesus sent out. (Matthew 9.36 – 38, 10.5)

Here was my key takeaway from Steve: We have tolerated mediocrity instead of training for maturity. 

I was just starting to work with a man and had introduced him to the daily quiet time. He said, “Bob, I want to hit my marks; how many days per week are we shooting for?” My response was, “How many days in the week are there?” Of course, I believe in grace (and practice it!), and I am well aware that we are not saved by having seven quiet times per week. That said, why we would set the expectation for less? 

Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, in his classic sermon, “Born to Reproduce,” listed immaturity as a cause for not reproducing (physically and spiritually). Leroy Eims, a Navigator patriarch, in a sermon entitled “How to make an Impact,” told how his ministry teams had standards, and you couldn’t be on the team unless you met them. (Both these sermons are worth your time (48 minutes for Born to Reproduce and  74 minutes for Leroy’s How to make an Impact). 

In the meantime, let’s press on to maturity and help others do the same!

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4.11 – 13, NIV, emphasis mine)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, NIV)

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As I wrote yesterday, a highlight of the Key Men’s Invitational (KMI) men’s conference that I just attended was listening to Max Barnett, 82 years old, talking about quiet time and scripture memory. He said, “I wish I could convince all Christians to practice these two disciplines.” Yesterday I captured a bit of what he said about quiet time. Today I’d like to say a word about scripture memory.

Whenever I’m around the old Navigators, like Max, they all say the same thing when asked something like, “Why are you still following Jesus and making disciples in your old age?” They always say, “Quiet time and scripture memory.” In my book Live the Adventure, I tell about Navigators Skip and Buzzie Gray, now in their late 80s, and Jerry White, now in his late 70s saying that very thing. Well-known author Dallas Willard wrote that if he were limited to one discipline, it would be scripture memory.

I encourage you to add scripture memory to your spiritual disciplines, and Max has a plan that makes it doable! He recommends memorizing one verse per week. You could choose it from your week’s quiet times, or from a sermon you want to remember, or any of a number of inspirations. You repeat it often the first day (Max says 35 times) so that you can say it perfectly, then you review it every day for 60 days. Then you’ll have it!

And here’s the good news. If you memorize a verse a week and review it daily for 60 days, the number of verses you’ll be reviewing daily is only eight! Again, that’s doable.

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You! (Psalm 119.11, NKJV)

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A highlight of the Key Men’s Invitational (KMI) men’s conference that I just attended was listening to Max Barnett, 82 years old, talking about quiet time and scripture memory. He said, “I wish I could convince all Christians to practice these two disciplines.” Here are some highlights about the daily quiet time:

• When you believed, Jesus came in. That’s a fact. You are qualified to make disciples because Jesus is in you. You should feel inadequate. But Jesus is adequate (John 15.5). If you took a branch off a peach tree because you wanted peaches every year, the next year all you would have is a stick! 
• God lives in me. The disciplines are tools. Even if there are periods that I can’t do the disciplines (e.g., Marine boot camp!), I still have Jesus. I don’t trust my quiet time. I don’t earn favor with God by the quiet time. I already have favor with God.
• God is the power. Every one of us can be fruitful if we will learn to trust him (2 Corinthians 12.9).
• I want time with God every day. I need God. 
• The principle is to have fellowship with God. Quiet time is a method.
• God desires our fellowship before service: (Mark 3.14, Acts 4.13 (“with Jesus”))
• Sometimes we don’t have much hunger for God. Some are always on their phone! Feed what little hunger you have with the Word.
• Don’t expect an outstanding experience every day. But “keep your head in the trough.” Find the time every day. First thing in the morning is best, but if not, find another time.

These are good words, and Max encouraged me to renew my commitment to spend quality, intentional time with God. You can download my quiet time template here–it’s similar to what Max taught when he came to sharing his method. Max also recommended following a daily reading plan similar to these: The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan gets you through the whole Bible in a year and 5x5x5, just the New Testament.

Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15.16, NKJV)

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I’m writing this from the Key Men’s Invitational KMI) men’s conference, put on by the Oklahoma City Navigators. It’s an unusual conference in that everyone there is either discipling someone or being discipled by someone–hence, key men’s invitational.

One of the highlights is the singing. It’s one of the few times I’m in a crowd where nearly all are singing AND you can hear them! (Click here for a sample.)

I’m a strong proponent of John Piper’s view that the predominant musical sound in a congregation should be the people singing, and that matters more than whether we have a praise band or pipe organ.

It’s one thing to decide we want to hear the congregation singing and make the necessary sound board adjustments. In today’s culture, it’s another thing for the congregation to actually sing. I believe KMI illustrates a fundamental principle: people that are close to God in their everyday life are more apt to sing when they come together.

⁵  For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.
⁶  And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. (Psalm 27.5, 6, ESV)

¹  Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
²  Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100.1, 2)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3.16, ESV)