• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

Good Friday

Posted on April 6, 2012 by wtdavid

In the Book of Common Prayer, we read for today:

“Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end.  Amen.”

In 2 Corinthians 5:21, we read: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Filed under: Cross of Christ | Leave a comment »

What’s really essential?

Posted on April 5, 2012 by wtdavid

It seems like weeks since I last posted.  In fact, it has been a number of weeks.  Part of it stemmed from the struggles of fighting back from a bad case of the flu or some kind of bug after our last trip.  Part of it was the result of my honest attempt to try and sort out ‘what’s really essential’, what should be my priorities.

Setting priorities is not a task that many of us enjoy, nor one that is easy.  I often hear others say and I often say it myself: “I have so much to do.”  We feel overwhelmed by the amount of work there is to do, and rightly so given that we are concerned with the spiritual and eternal needs of others.   However, we can dissipate our energies by trying to do too many tasks that do not help us to focus on what is really essential.

We actually prioritize more than we realize.  We do it with our budget, our home, and our activities.  We cannot tackle five to six house projects at one time.  We choose to focus on one project in order to see it to completion (funds needed, materials and time). This may mean that we will have to stop doing something in order to give the time needed to this project.  Once the project is completed, then we can move to another one.

This process of setting priorities, of deciding what is really essential in life and ministry, calls for interaction with others.  It’s a journey, it’s a process we engage in together, but it’s meant to help us focus the gifts God has given us towards what is most essential.

“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”  (Luke 14:28)

Filed under: Priorities | 2 Comments »

Side Roads

Posted on February 29, 2012 by wtdavid

Taking the ‘autoroute’ (interstate motorways in France) is quite an expensive proposition given the tolls.  So when we take a trip, we will often take non toll roads to get to our destination.  This is always a fun way to explore the countryside.  However, sometimes despite the best efforts of our trusty map or even a GPS, we find ourselves on a road that doesn’t appear anywhere on the map, or at least the road as it is marked.  Eventually, we find ourselves back on the ‘right road’.  The ‘side road’ or detour doesn’t frustrate us because we know the ultimate destination.  The ‘side road’ can actually lead us to something we might otherwise not have seen.

Fluid planning works in a similar way.  Plans are ‘maps’ showing us where we want to go.  They are not concrete structures incapable of being changed.  The Spirit may lead us to take a ‘side road’ and we need to have the wisdom and discernment to see what He might be showing us as we search to find our way back to the main road.  Perhaps it is a new ministry opportunity we need to consider.  Perhaps it is a divine appointment to bring the message of Christ to someone we might not have met otherwise.  Perhaps it is a way of reconfirming our current focus and priority.

Knowing where we are going serves as ‘rails’ for our life and ministry, but that does not keep us from exploring ‘side roads’ by the Spirit’s direction.  As my friend Chris put it: “A plan is a map for a journey into the future.  It’s essential that I begin that journey knowing how to tell that I have arrived at the future I want.  Sometimes I will arrive early, sometimes late.  But, I can’t know if I’m there yet if I don’t know what “there” looks like.”

This is why the community is important as our brothers and sisters journey with us, and can help us as we together discern how God wants us to serve Him on the road that we are on.

 

Filed under: Community, Planning | 8 Comments »

Techie Prayer

Posted on February 27, 2012 by wtdavid

In a post last month (24.01.2012), I asked the question as to whether you were “gathering for prayer.”  That post was meant to be an encouragement about trying creative or original approaches to “gather in prayer” for one another.

Well, yesterday I saw an example of such an innovative approach.  As the team here in France gathered for their annual retreat, they began their time in prayer and worship.  The facilitators of this part of the retreat said that we would be praying for each one of our ministries in Europe.  Using their computer screen and an external speaker, they ‘skype-ed’ in each one of the leaders of our European teams.  Each person was given a few minutes to share key prayer items.  One of the facilitators translated each request into French.  When each leader was finished sharing, we prayed together with that leader, and then moved to the next leader.

I don’t know how those other leaders felt, but I can tell you that the time spent together not only enlarged the vision of our Franceteam members, but also unified their hearts in ministry with colleagues in other places in Europe who are experiencing many of the same joys and frustrations.

Neither the distance nor the language posed a problem for the Franceteam.  All I can say is “bravo” to those facilitators for coming up with such an idea, and “thanks” to God for allowing us to share with one another in this important way!

 

 

Filed under: Innovation, Prayer | Leave a comment »

Are We Fluid Enough?

Posted on February 21, 2012 by wtdavid

Many of you were praying for us as global leaders as we met two weeks ago.  The main theme of our time together was to review and evaluate our Area project plans for the coming years.  Through small group interaction, we asked the hard questions of each plan as to how it aligned with the larger WT global vision and how it interacted with the guiding principles we drew from the studies on global trends.  Each leader gave critical recommendations to other leaders as to how to improve their plan.  Outside evaluators (from outside of WT) were also given opportunity to give input and recommendations for changes and improvement.

All this was good and your prayers were greatly appreciated.  However, the speed of change in our world is making each of us realize that we as an agency need to be more and more “fluid” in our planning, quicker to respond to new ministry opportunities that present themselves.  One contributor put it this way:

“In a rapid-response world you cannot make a strategic decision and expect it to meet WT’s needs for years (sometimes even for months). Today you need faster – indeed continuous – processes for being proactively responsive in your strategic decision-making in the constantly changing contexts.  That is the flaw in the current state of the art: traditional strategic plans, once complete, are not fluid and organic but static –and they quickly grow stale.  I believe that we need a new paradigm of strategy formation.  The rapid response world in which we live requires organizations like WT to identify, understand, and act upon new information and dynamically changing situations in real time, which means now, not five or six months from now.  Making this shift in thinking will not be easy; it is not easy to break out of the three years planning cycle pattern.   Long-term plans often get in the way of being truly strategic in real time.”

The reason this quote stood out for me was because it was written by a member of our WT community, and one of the senior members of our WT community.  This writer puts it so well in calling us to a more “fluid” approach to planning, while at the same time reminding us that our fluidity needs to result in concrete, specific steps that move us to a proactive response to ministry opportunity.

Much fruit has been borne through the work and ministry of the World Team community over the years, but if we want to remain ‘strategic’ in the future, we are going to need a lot of grace and a willingness to act now.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

One Response to The King and the Cross

Posted on February 17, 2012 by wtdavid

It’s always an encouragement when people engage right away with an idea that has been launched. 

One World Team member wrote this after receiving the invitation to read King’s Cross: “I want to personally thank you for recommending Keller’s book to the World Team family. I just downloaded it into my Kindle and look forward to digging into it and the discussion.  I have been using Keller’s materials with our Skype guys in our Area for several years – A rich feast for all of us and now this.”

I’ve heard from several others that they have already downloaded the book to their Kindle!

Look forward to having you join us as a World Team community in reading this year, King’s Cross, by Dr. Timothy Keller [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kings-Cross-Story-World-Jesus/dp/1444702130/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329136272&sr=1-1]

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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