Two Cities With One Heart

This article appears in this month's Foursquare Missions Advance magazine.

Conversations with God

We have a tendency to mystify prayer. This tendency creates a barrier between people and God. We forget that God is "omnipresent" (always there). A good relationship with God (which is what the message of Christianity is all about) is characterized by good communication. It can be spontaneous, subconscious, a part of our thought process. It can include the expression of all of our emotions which words cannot describe. It can include questions, demands, doubts, laughter and praise. It can become a stream of consciousness that may reflect the writer's intent in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 when he wrote, "Pray without ceasing." Regarding this aspect of prayer Martin Luther wrote, "There is no Christian who does not have time to pray without ceasing...if he will he can, while working, speak with God in his heart, lay before Him his need and that of other men, ask for help, make petition, and in all this exercise and strengthen his faith." Our prayer lives cannot be judged by time. So begin and continue a conversation with God! When we pray, the heart and the conscience must not pull away from God because of our sins and our unworthiness, or stand in doubt, or be scared away. When we pray we must hold fast and believe that God has heard our prayer. It was for this reason that the ancients defined prayer as an Ascensus mentis ad Deum, "a climbing up of the heart to God."
See the above link for a blog that is devoted to prayer, written by Joey Bonifacio, pastor of a dynamic church in Manila, Philippines. At Eastside, Pastor Jim Hayford has just began a series of messages on prayer.

Hat Yai & the Long Journey Home

I just returned to Bangkok from a visit to Hat Yai.

Hat Yai is in Southern Thailand near the Malaysia border. It is near a great deal of unrest (last weekend there were 50 bombings not far from there), but it is also the site of what may be the fastest growing Foursquare Church in Thailand.

Pastor Simon is doing a great job. After three years there the church is several hundred people strong. They have a great facility, community development projects, small groups, and much more. Last night we visited a home group in a village which will likely become a church plant. Pastor Simon took us to a community garden the church has made (mini-farm) and a fish farm that they are building. They are in the process of planning a children's crusade using a curriculum called "Kid's Quest". Gary introduced them to the program and we also spoke at the small group. The church has also had a considerable amount of property donated which they will develop over time.

After returning to Bangkok we met visited the Good News Church and the World Base. They now have final approval to begin building a new seven story building that will house the church, the school (now they have over 800 students learning English), the World Base, and the many programs of the church (including a travel agency and a mini-market). Tonight Gary and Paula are teaching English classes. Kelly (the national missionary) expressed gratitude to EFC for their contribution towards the new building.

Tomorrow I return to Manila for a lay-over, and then I head home to the US on Thursday.

Thanks again for your prayers! All is well and this trip has been full of divine appointments, good ministry opportunities, and encouragment and partnership.

In Bangkok

I am now writing from Gary and Paula Hay's condo. We are preparing for the small group that they host here which will be starting in about a half an hour. Kelly and Angie Hilldebrand (Foursquare Missionaries) are a part of the group, along with some Thais. Tomorrow Gary and I are travelling to Hat Yai were we will meet with Pastor Simon. He has a growing church in this Muslim/Chinese area near the Malaysian border. He is opening a vocational school there which will provide women an alternative to the notorious sex trade that is pervasive here. We will stay there overnight before returning to Bangkok. Gary and Paula have a nice condo that they remodeled. They are gracious and hospitable. I hope to post some photos later. Pray that the Lord would use us to encourage the pastors (like Simon) that we are meeting with. We also will be visiting the Good News Church here in Bangkok where they teach English as a second language to 600 Thais. They are in a building project and received a grant from Eastside through the Legacy Tithe program.

Completing the CPI

Here are some of the planters with their certificates of completion after the CPI...

Today we wrapped up the CPI. The commissioning service was a powerful conclusion as the 21 church planting teams moved one big step closer to launching out on this new endeavor. Many of the teams are in really tough areas...I took photos of all the teams which we will be making into prayer cards for distribution on the last weekend of the month. It is a strong group of new leaders...at the end of the day I rode back with about ten of the leaders in a van. It took us 2 1/2 hours to make the typically one hour drive back to Manila. Now I'm ready to crash for the night. Tomorrow is my one "free" day - I'm looking forward to it before leaving for Bangkok on Sunday morning...I'm at Pete and Tina's right now -- Pastor Jim caught his plane home this afternoon. Good night for now.

PhotoWith Cassie Forras

Thursday morning - Snapshot

This morning I was awakened at 5 a.m. by the shrill sound of a whistle. It was Pastor Bodie, announcing to the men at the retreat center that it was time to get up if they wanted to play in the morning competition between the SE and SW Luzon Districts in basketball. Tossing aside my sheet I put on my one pair of shoes, some dress socks (my luggage should arrive today…), shorts and a T-shirt. They loaded into a small bus and drove 1.5K to a court where in the darkness, wearing flip flops on their feet, they began to gracefully jog around the court, stretch, laugh, and warm-up. It was fun being there with them, even though I don’t play basketball. I was able to jog, stretch, and continue to build friendships with these leaders. I thought the neighbors around the court must have been wondering where these 20+ adults came from, being here waiting for the sunrise, on a Thursday morning. Cows grazed nearby and a vendor came out of the darkness with some warm bread which we bought as a mini-breakfast.

As the darkness in the sky began turning over to light, I continued my run by jogging back to the retreat center with Pastor Bear. He had been up since 3:30 a.m., jogging, and praying, as is his custom. We avoided the fast jeepneys which would occasionally force us onto the narrow shoulder of the road.

Once off the highway I picked up the pace, running alone, and enjoying the surrounding palms, flowers, hills and beautiful surroundings. After 40 minutes of running I returned to the retreat center where I found coffee in the kitchen and strolled about the grounds, enjoying the solitude, and eventually coming across Pastor Roy Villanueva (Head Coach of the UCPP), with whom I had a nice conversation recounting the events of yesterday.

For breakfast we had rice, dried fish, and eggs (sunny-side up), and some sweet bananas.

All around the grounds during the morning people could be seen praying, singing together and fellowshipping.

Our presenters today included Dr. Mel Luna of University of Philippines (also on faculty at Bakke Graduate University), Val Chavez (President of Foursquare Philippines), and Jim Hayford. For lunch we will be meeting with the members of the Task Force, who are the leaders of this project.

Tonight I will be playing an MP3 recording of Kelly Olson’s song (Toy Cars and Lullabies) with slides of pictures from the project. I expect it will really impact these workers as it is such a great song…

Although I am teaching at several sessions, my additional roles here include bringing encouragement to the leaders, building relationship with them, and helping them with their projects including articulating their vision and strategy…I also am helping with some aspects of the logistics of this training and will be speaking at the final session tomorrow night.

My luggage is supposed to arrive today at 1 p.m. It’s been OK not having many things to wear – all I have to do is remember the Philippinos playing basketball in flip flops and my internal complaints are silenced. Once it is here I hope to be able to post some photos.

The people here thank-you for your prayers and they ask about the many team members who have been here in the past. Thanks also for helping this project happen. Mars Rodriguez (Project Director) is doing better after not feeling well yesterday. Pastor Jim will be leaving tonight and heading back to Manila where he has a meeting tomorrow.
http://www.ucpp.org/.

Tuesday in Manila

We had some great training yesterday -- going over personal values, core values and vision. Today we continue to take the church planting teams further along the road of having a well thought through strategy and vision. I found out today I'll be speaking on Friday night at the final "commissioning" service. I'm looking forward to it and was able to give it some thought and prayer when I woke up this morning at 4 a.m. thanks to jet lag. A group of guys were up at 5:15 a.m. to go play basketball. I joined them for a fun morning workout. Still no baggage, so no photos. Pray for the health of the workers here as many seem to be battling a flu bug. Thanks, Matt

Manila & Thailand Mission

Monday in Manila!
I arrived this morning at 4:15 a.m. Manila time. My flight was uneventful and not too bad...except that both my bags didn't arrive with me. All it seems to take is one transfer and the airlines can lose them. No big deal. They should catch up with me in a day.

Pete drove me to Tagatay where the CPI is taking place. We made it in time for today's first session. There are 21 church planting teams here. Pastor Jim does a couple sessions this afternoon and I will be teaching this evening. I will not be able to post any photos until my camera arrives (in my luggage). The conference center has nice grounds and very modest rooms. Pray that the jet lag doesn't hit me until after I finish tonight's session.


On Sunday evening, February 11th, I will be leaving for Manila around 8:00 p.m. On Tuesday morning I will arrive in Manila, Philippines, where I will join approximately 100 men and women who will be gathering for a week long training event called the Church Planters' Institute. This group will be establishing 20 churches during 2007. This is their kick-off, training event. Please pray for myself and Pastor Jim as we assist in this process. Pray for these leaders as they make huge changes and sacrifices to move onto the front lines of ministry.

On the following Sunday, February 18th, I will travel to Bangkok, Thailand where I will be meeting with Gary and Paula Hays (missionaries from Eastside) to see the progress of the Foursquare Church there, as well as in some outlying communities. Our church recently gave a large sum of money from our building project, to help the Good News Church of Bangkok begin construction of a new facility. I look forward to seeing the progress of that project while also meeting other leaders who are making a difference in Thailand.

I will try to blog and post photos while I am gone. Come back to this website periodically for updates.

Overcoming Growing Pains

Acts 6: 1In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
5This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 6 records a tipping point in the growth of the early church. How would they respond to the challenges of growth and conflict within? This passage gives us insight into that specific situation and demonstrates to us our own need to empower people, to delegate, to focus on calling, to care for the poor, and to do what is right.

I will be speaking on this passage this weekend. Here are some notes from my conclusion:

Are there any Stephens among us this morning? Today is the day for you to say “yes” to being a part of the solution. I wonder if there are people here who are overwhelmed who need to stop trying to do things on their own? Maybe you’re the leader who needs to be a releaser and a multiplier. There is a Stephen waiting in the shadows. There is Philip. There is a man or a woman who is an emerging leader with untapped potential and calling, but you hold the key to the door that needs to be opened.
I know there are ministries that are overwhelmed right now. I know that in the city of Seattle there are ministries that are in desperate need of men and women who are full of the Spirit and wisdom. I know there are people our circles of influence whose lives could be touched if we just reached out.

This passage shows us that when people are released to serve, the Word of God spreads.

The Word of God spreads as a result of shared, expanding, multiplying, leadership. It takes food servers and apostles and everything in between.

Most of you have heard this kind of a message before, but the Lord wants to make it come alive for you today in your specific situation. There are really two different ways that this could be applied.
First there are some of you that need to get into the game. To step up. There are some of you who are called to serve. To get involved. To do something simple -- To meet needs in Jesus name, realizing that this is what you are called to do. It will transform your life. You’ll find tremendous fulfillment doing this. As you do this it will unlock something great in you, in this church and in this world.

Others of you are in the role of the apostles. You have become busy, distracted, overburdened and overwhelmed. You have compromised and set aside your true calling.
It is time for you to release someone. It is time for you to delegate. To give someone else an opportunity and to go back and begin doing what God called you to do in the beginning.

As we conclude our service today would you address these questions: #1: Have you become distracted and overwhelmed trying to do too much? Have you neglected the things the Lord has really called you to do? If so, it’s time to let go and it is time to find a Stephen. Second question: Have you been sitting on the bench minimizing and dismissing the role you can have in making a difference in the church and in the world, and today, the Lord is challenging you to take a new step by committing yourself to serve in some new way? Which of these two questions has the most to do with where you are at right now?

Defining "Church"

For most people, “church” is one of those stain-glassed words. It conjures up images of dank buildings, organ music, choirs and clergy and a mix of memories from our past. The typical use of the word “church” is a far cry of the biblical use of the word. For one thing, church buildings didn’t even exist in the early church. What is the “right” definition of church?
One problem is that we have worked with faulty or incomplete definitions of “church”.
– We have defined church as buildings where people meet to worship God.
– We have defined church as people. Although this is true, the “church” isn’t just people. It has to do with particular people.
– Ekklesia. This is the Greek word for “church” is a good place to start a study. This is the word translated "church" in the Greek New Testament.

For ancient Greeks, this word was used to refer to “the convened assembly of the people” of the city (i.e. Athens). The ekklesia consisted of all the citizens of the city who had not lost their civil rights. Their decisions had to conform to the laws of the state, but, within that framework, its powers were unlimited. It elected and dismissed its officials, it declared war, it made peace, it made treaties and alliances, it elected military officers, it was responsible for all military operations, it set budgets…

Its meetings always began with prayer and sacrifice.

It was a true democracy.

Its two great watchwords were “equality” and “freedom”

Within the assembly everyone had an equal right and an equal duty to participate.

SO, when God inspired His Word and the word ekklesia was used by early Christians, they would have had a definition and an expectation that was influenced by the common use of that term.

But now, this new ekklesia, wasn’t an assembly of the citizens of a city, but instead was understood to be “God’s assembly” of His people. The convener and the leader of the Church is God Himself.

Some have broken down the Greek word ekklesia, and have said that it means “called out ones”. Although this is a literal break-down of the word, it is not how the word is used. It is not a word that emphasized exclusivity. Yes, God calls out to people to join the ekklesia of God, but His call is universal – but it is up to people to respond and to join the ekklesia of God. The church is a group of people who summoned by God to meet together.

The church is a body of people, assembling not by choice (primarily), but assembling because God has called them to himself – they gather to worship, and to respond to Him.

In the NT the church refers to all of the following: the universal church, a local church, as well as the assembly of believers in any place who meet together for worship.

Within Greco-Roman culture, an ekklesia of citizens always understood it was part of the State governance. Within the Church, a local gathering always must understand that they are one part of a great unity (all Christians).

As a part of the Church of the living God, we have both rights and responsibility. We are invited to assemble together for worship, to receive direction, and to respond to Jesus Christ who is called the “head” of the Church.

More could be said on this topic, but I thought the historical background of this word would be of interest to some.

Take Down the Flag?

To decorate for missions month at our church we display flags from nations around the world.

These flags serve as a reminder that God loves all people and has called us share the Good News of Jesus Christ with all all people.

A young boy who is part of my church approached me after service today...I think he is about ten years old. He approached me with an innocent smile on his face and said, "Do you know what the words say on the green flag?" I said, "Do you mean those really strange characters?" He nodded his head, and then knowingly replied, "It says, 'There is no God but Allah'".
So I replied by saying, "Wow -- That is seems like an odd statement to have hanging at the front of a church. Do you think we should take it down since it says that?" He nodded his head...I told him I would think about it and I appreciated him pointing this out to me. I then proceeded to tell him that we totally disagree with what the flag says, but we know that God loves the people who live in the nation that is represented by the flag -- and that we could use their flag as a reminder to pray for them even though we disagree with their belief and that statement.

Tonight I read the following:
Saudi Arabia's flag uses green to honor the country's puritanical Muslim Wahabi sect, and also because green is widely believed to be the prophet Muhammad's favorite color. The white, centered script, the shahada, is the Muslim Statement of Faith, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God". The sword represents Abd-al-Aziz.

So, what do you think? Replace the flag with that of another nation, or leave it there at front of the church as a reminder to pray for the lost people of the world?

My First Thought

Eternal Father of my soul, let my first thought today be of You, let my first impulse be to worship You, let my first speech be Your name, let my first action be to kneel before You in prayer.

For Your perfect wisdom and perfect goodness:

For the love with which You love humankind:

For the love with which You love me:

For the great and mysterious opportunity of my life:

For the indwelling of Your Spirit in my heart:

For the sevenfold gifts of Your Spirit:

I praise and worship You, O Lord.

Yet let me not, when this morning prayer is said, think my worship ended and spend the day in forgetfulness of You. Rather from these moments of quietness let light go forth, and joy, and power, that will remain with me through all the hours of the day;

Keeping me chaste in thought:

Keeping me temperate and truthful in speech:

Keeping me faithful and diligent in my work:

Keeping me humble in my estimation of myself:

Keeping me honorable and generous in my dealings with others:

Keeping me loyal to every hallowed memory of the past:

Keeping me mindful of my eternal destiny as a child of Yours.

Through Jesus Christ my Lord.

Amen.

John Baillie