My mate Mike

I am jetlagged. Returning from a very empowering trip to the UAE and then in the UK, I am sitting here in LA, at 3:00 am reflecting on the trip and its many implications.

Seeing Mike and Charmaine honored was a truly wonderful moment. I met Mike in the 70's when both of us were involved with the Invisible Church in Durban. For him it was a brief encounter before he went off to bible college as God grabbed this thorough sinner and redeemed him for a very large God story.

Look over a person's shoulder to see what fruit trails behind them. When uncertain, see what their life has produced, what evidence there is of their calling. That is what Peter did to Paul. In Galatians 2, Peter extends the right hand of fellowship to Paul in recognition of the grace gift that is upon him to be an apostle to the gentiles.

For Peter that was not difficult. From the first time they met, till they met again 14 years later, Paul planted churches, raised up leaders [church planters, Ephesians 4 gifts and others] pioneered new beach heads in new cities and countries, with great teaching and signs, wonders and miracles. There was no guessing needed. There was no speculation needed. The fruit was there to see.

Mike has a remarkable track record. With Charmaine and the boys, they left their great years with Rheinhard Bonke, [where they learnt so much about the multitudes, faith, healing and evangelism] to plant a church in the inner sanctum of the red light district in Durban South Africa. There they eked out an existence . With no promise of support but a call from heaven, they planted and established a community whose elders looked like poster boys on a most wanted list.

Eventually handing that over to a spiritual son, they moved across town to Durban North where they replanted a most wonderful community amongst the most wealthy in the city - yeh go figure. These again were very amazing years. Fruit there was aplenty. Not only did the church grow in health and salvations but they invested themselves in the call to the nations through the an apostolic team - doing a most outstanding job.

During this time, they in turn began to plant a church in Dubai in the UAE. Isn't this just an amazing story. As the Middle East began to open to them, leading a church in SA was no longer possible. So, they handed over the Durban community to a spiritual son [again] and embarked on their Middle East adventure.

By establishing a strong base in Dubai, they have planted churches into several other key cities in the region as well as Madrid, Paris, Brisbane, as well as working with planters in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. I know, it does sound amazing and I am only giving the headlines here. The soul of this story tells even more beautifully. Right now they have handed this community's leadership to a spiritual son [again] as they want to invest their time with churches, planters and city pioneers. They could be cruising on the back of a very wonderful base church, protecting their life's investment. But that would not be their apo heart. They have handed over captaincy of the church to step into the faith world of uncertainty but confident in their God.

I simply want to honor them. When a group of us E4 friends laid hands on them last weekend, it was not to commend them to a life of potential and promises. It was in recognition of what they have already done in Christ, with the gospel, for the advancement of the kingdom. Surrounded by friends, they were honored and applauded. Of course they have made mistakes. This they will admit readily. But there is much that still burns in their hearts. This new chapter of their lives has just begun.

May it to be a very fruitful and impacting season of your lives, reflecting the past with multiplied fruitfulness. You guys are courageous warriors in an unfolding apo story. Well done. We love you guys and are so proud of you.

Dirty Apo fingernails

"I daily carry the burden for all the churches" 2 Cor 11:28

I am sitting in Reading in the UK. I have loved watching the sun come up on a glorious UK morning. The last two days were spent loving on some pretty amazing men and women. On Friday M and I taught from 10 till around 4 to a group of pastors and wives whose deep love for the church and their nation is inspiring. It has not been easy for them. Several left very high paying jobs to engage on a Jesus journey that has reflected sacrifice and hardship. I love them.

Yesterday, we spent around 3 hours examine the nature of our divine calling with a broader group of leaders. Oh my - these are tough, tenacious God honoring bi-vocational leaders who let the gospel grab their hearts and change their way of thinking. Some were in the doldrums of weariness but left with their heads held high. Put Jesus in the room and watch and see what he does.

There is a clarion call resounding from heaven for the re-engaged role of the Ephesians 4 grace gifts to the church. All are essential. All are necessary. Each in a unique and different way is vital to every church in every city in every country in every part of the world. It is such raw naked arrogance to suggest that we can design the church better than Jesus - that apostles are replaced by mentors, coaches, consultants.

Apostles are known biblically, not as CEO styled leaders of organizations, networks or even movements. Biblically they are driven by a love, deep and sublime for "all" the churches. They are held captive by this love that compels them. They are in a deep love affair that the Father gives them for the churches they serve. They have dirty fingernails because are trench diggers. Paul says that apostles work with foundations... that is what they do. They are not roof wetters, champagne poppers. They have dirty nails from being in the trenches of the churches they love and serve to ensure that the foundations are true, biblical and fully Jesus.

So, how do we know who is an apostle? Two simple ways - look over their shoulders to see what they have built - strong, sturdy, Christ focussed churches that live for reasons beyond themselves; and look at their fingernails - they are in the trenches forging foundations that are essential for each specific church's future. They are intimately involved with these churches, not figure heads or distant administrators.

My pained hearts appeal - let us not lose this great moment of divine restoration again. For the sake of these churches, we simply have to get it right this time.

apostles

When I get home from this trip...

I am going to pour myself into writing a book on apostles...

I would love your help

1. Any books you can recommend?

2. Any thoughts perspectives or questions you may have?

3. Stories that can help?

4. Any help with Church History on this one?

Thanks

Can I trust you?

Thanks for your patience. I have been in my own hiatus. There are times, we need to sit back and reflect more than write, ponder more than pontificate, meditate more that meander publicly with our thoughts.

Blogs aren't meant to be narcissistic self righteous reflections of personal opinions. I think they are there to empower their reader through the challenges of life. This empowerment helps identify the key questions, may help to shape the essential components in the conversation and then watch the reader journey their way to their own conclusions.

There is so much adjustment and divine realignment taking place across the board. So many of yesterday's answers are simply not enough to ritualistically repeat for today's challenges. In the humility of leading through these uncertainties, we can all posture ourselves as students rather than tutors. Only the ignorant will quickly punch out a standard answer.

M and I have discovered through the clouds of uncertainty that the call to 'faith and patience' remains loud and clear. Having walked in a life of faith for some 35 years now, one would think that confidence in the journey would produce a air of boldness that is unstoppable. In many ways that is true, but there is another beautiful part of this mystery for which I am also so appreciative.

The longer we walk with Jesus, the less we are impressed with ourselves, our efforts and our labor. It is almost as if we become increasingly mesmerized with him - and that makes our humanity glaringly lacking. Yet the marvel of grace keeps us from despair and depression. It simply drives us to ever deepening wells of grace. There we find him 'whom our soul loves'. No words can adequately describe this very private walk. As we look into our own eyes and are embarrassed by our frailties, we look into his eyes and discover 'love so amazing so divine'. Faith's foundation is not revelation but love. When perfect love grips our soul, faith splashes our daily lives.

We are all on a journey. We are all on a great gospel story. There are so many promises that he has given us - both textual and prophetic. We will not find them in a pandora box. They are only found at the throne of grace. That is where he quietly asks : "Will you trust me?" Our one syllable answer will make all the difference. Faith and patience are only found where he is...

February Update

M and I will be involved in the following situations this month:

In Sacramento CA with Rick and Cath as they set out on their multi-site journey;

Exploration - 'Pastoring Pastors and Wives' is our current conversation - we are chatting around "Marriage and Ministry", here in Orange County CA;

In Rock Harbor, working with Todd Proctor on many fronts, but the exiting pilot happening, is "The Timothy Project" - an intro to leadership we are holding monthly for the next few months to see the emergence of the next wave of RH leaders;

In Dubai UAE, M and I are honored to be with Mike and Charmaine and the whole Well of Life crew, both in the local community as well as speaking at their church planting conference;

On the way back from the Middle East, we will spend a few days with Sean and Nola and their community in Reading UK, as they explore the 'missional community' route, as well as the pastors that they are journeying with.

Added to this, I am trying to finish my book on 'Replanting', as I write "The Timothy Project" curriculum... oh for more time to write.

Just how biblical... ?

"How biblical do you want to be?" - is a strange question to ask pastors and leaders but never the less one of the most important ones we need to enter any conversation. I hope I am not a pedantic legalist, nor a culturally insensitive bigot, however I simply cannot escape the sheer wonder and mystery of seeking to find God's architectural design for our evolving conversations.

Having been through 3 'revivals' and having savored the richness of 2 church planting stories, I am amazed at what we defined as 'biblical' and therefore essential. Without the slightest ounce of judgement on those days, we were all learning as we leant into the God story as we understood it at the time.

What is imperative is that we use this matrix in our conversations:

• What is biblically / theologically imperative,
• What is prophetically strategic,
• What is culturally essential,

This gives us much space to explore the direction of the Spirit within the integrity of the text. Whatever is not clearly biblical we now examine as:

• Is this 'biblical'?
• Is this 'unbiblical'?
• Is this abiblical [meaning is the bible fairly silent on the matter, so we use other realted pieces to evaluate its legitimacy]?

The use of scaffolding then comes into play. Where there is an 'abiblical' quotient to the conversation, we realize this now enters the scaffolding component. This is not a heaven or hell piece. This is not a 'hill to die on' piece. This is not a 'Paul and Barnabas parted' piece. All that we are talking about here is a seasonal element that we help to put up the building, but that must come down when the structure is up.

Of course there are several things that do get in the way of us fully pursuing a fully biblical form:

• Personal preference,
• Tradition or a reaction to it,
• Culture or subculture,
• History,
• Fear,
• Habit,
• Absence of debriefing / critique,
• Pride,
• Defense of the previous generation / leaders,
• Peer pressure...

I know this is quite elementary, but as we enter the beginning of the year, it is good to honestly matrix ourselves again through the lenses of scripture to ensure we keep shaping our journey through the essence of the biblical text. All else are helpful but seasonal, if it is not unbiblical.

For example:

• Service length and scripting is diverse and creative in the text - one liturgy cannot be seen as 'the' biblical way or being more biblical than any other,
• There is no word to describe the title of the guy who leads the elders. Now we now that there is no leadership egalitarianism either in God or in the text, but there is no defined role for such a person on the E team, so we have to be comfortable with scaffolding of 'senior pastor' [not one I like], 'visionary pastor' [not one I am comfortable with as it implies that all vision comes from them and that is simply not true], 'lead pastor' [one I do like as it speaks of the Rom 12:8 gift that this person seems to have to catalyze the team], 'lead elder' [is good but in some countries this implies a bivocational person who is part of the church's management team rather than the biblical picture of pastoring as well]...

I hope this helps... keep the conversations going - for through them we will find the mind of the Lord 'It seems good to us and the Holy Spirit".

5 Lessons my mother taught me

Welcome back to the new year. It certainly stirs the juices as we engage in a new calender chapter of our lives. The new year often, and rightly I think, gives me permission to revisit my life - what am I doing well, what am I letting slip, what and where should I focus and then of course the most beautiful of all questions: What does the Lord require of me?

My mother is a remarkable woman. She was not born into wealth, nobility or education. However, one would find it difficult to find a more regal, dignified honorable woman. The nature of this honest blog, is not to divulge the private stories of my family. Those we live with. Rather, this about about this amazing woman who refused to lower her head, nor surrender her dignity even in the deepest of life's challenges that were thrown at her. Her story would require another blog to fully account for her journey of faith.

However, her lessons to us were impacting and powerful:

1. "Laugh first" - I am sure why she acquired this gift, but she gave it to us. I am not even sure that she connected it to the text which reads: 'The joy of the Lord is my strength', but her commitment to show us how to laugh as a first response to all situations, was a remarkable act of kindness. When the scripture says that: 'In His presence there is fullness of joy', we realize that laughter overwhelms the gloom of defeat. I have invested that into my children. Now we attach that to Jesus and his victory. There is little else that can so readily defeat the devil than the laughter that comes because of an 'empty tomb' - a true Jesus victory.
2. "Honor your father" - As your read in my last blog, you will know that I have a deep love and admiration about my pops. However there were periods of his life, and therefore ours as a family, that were extremely hard. The weight of life's challenges resulted in stuff that went down that was very difficult. However, no matter what was done or said, my mother simply would not let us speak of nor act in a way that was dishonoring of my father. Here she did quote the scripture - "honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you." You don't have to agree with your parent; they do not even have to be good parents, but we were to honor them in simple bible obedience.
3. "Face your failings" - I must have been about 8 years old, when I left my cardigan at the bank where my mum had gone to attend to business. We got home when I realized the error and promptly told 'Oums'. She got me back in the car and off to the bank we went. Upon arrival, she told me to get out and go in an ask for it. I was distraught. No amount of tears or 'I can't' would convince her to feel sorry for me. I had erred and I had to face up to my mistake. Oh am I grateful for this lesson. Not blame others. Simply acknowledge the mistake, take it on the chin, and fix it.
4. "Get on the stage and sing" - Music was very important to my mother. She used to sing over us babies. She used to sing with us at home and in the car. Later worship filled our world because music was such a natural traveling companion. I loved that. The love for music was a very generous gift. However the related gift that my mum gave me, was that I was not to pander to my moods, emotions, or doing only what I felt like. From an early age she got us onto the stage... whether it was singing in a choir, then singing in solo competitions, she simply would not let us surrender to fragile feelings. We were taught to be confident to get on the stage, to sing because had given us the gift and find the courage to take on challenges even if we were tempted to back away. " No" was simply not an option.
5. "Forgiveness" - There were several key moments in 'Oumie's' life that were painful and damaging. To a lesser woman, these moments, seasons and encounters would have been very destructive. But 'Oumie' forgave. Somehow she found the grace to forgive. I am sure in her humanity, it was not always easy, but most times she valued freedom more important than vengeance, contempt or anger. During some of my ministry years, I have found deep grace and encouragement by her story. How could I who have experienced such little pain, carry unforgiveness, when she who carried much had found her true gospel component?

These are key cornerstone of my life - and for that I am very grateful.