Sunday night reflections

Unless you’re a night owl, you’re probably reading this on Monday…but it’s still Sunday night in Chicago as I’m typing this before heading to the airport for the first leg of my journey home.  At any rate, since I was here in Turkey and know absolutely nothing about what happened at CLC today, I’m asking YOU to give me your reflections of Sunday at each campus of CLC.

I’m serious.  Please take a moment below to give me your thoughts about worship… attendance… the preaching… the work of the Holy Spirit… something funny that happened….really, anything that you experienced today: in South Bend, in Shorewood, or in Tinley Park.  Curious minds want to know.  Well, at least I want to know. 

Can’t wait to hear from YOU!

Preaching in Turkey

Well, my last assignment is complete and I’m ready to come home….but this morning’s service in Ankara was a great way to finish the trip.  I had felt impressed to share a teaching I did at CLC last year during our “Heroes” series, specifically the one about how God wants to use us in the workplace.  Now, that may be a fitting message in Chicago, but I really was doubting my own impression, because it didn’t seem like the logical choice of subjects for here, knowing that Turkey is the largest unreached nation on earth.

After I taught, all my doubts were removed, as person after person expressed to me, some in broken English, some in Turkish thru an interpreter, and even some who were fluent enough to carry on a conversation – that the message was exactly what they needed to hear, and that God had used it to minister to them personally!  There’s nothing sweeter for any preacher to hear, so I’m truly grateful to the Lord.

One inside joke for my CLC family: you know how I’ve ridiculed the idea of “deep” preaching, in expressing my deep desire to always be understood by even elementary-age hearers, and do the practical kind of teaching that we can apply.  So it was quite unexpected yesterday at the close of the Istanbul pastor’s conference to have several Turks tell me that “the other guy (Rick Kingham – an incredible communicator, by the way) was crazy and funny, but you were deep!”

I know they intended it as a compliment…..but I’m kinda wondering if that means they found my teaching hard to understand!  Oh well, God is good, and people at the conference and at the Ankara church seem much encouraged, so I feel like I fulfilled my assignment…..and that’s a good feeling, in any language!

One more night in this hotel and then I’m off to the airport in the morning….see you soon in Chicago!

WAIT….I ALMOST FORGOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING….we had people pray to receive Christ after today’s message, too (at least a couple of different men)! Now that’s what I’m talking about!

Waiting…

It’s amazing how much of life is spent waiting, isn’t it?

Yesterday after the Front Line Shepherd’s Conference was completed in Istanbul, I was ready to go.  But I had to wait in the hotel for our transportation to the airport.  Then I had to wait at the airport for my flight.  When I arrived in Ankara, no one met me as I came out the exit door….so I had to wait again.

Now I’m waiting for time to go to church in Ankara, where I’ll preach this morning for Pastor Ihsan.  I’m SURE I’ll be waiting (not so patiently) after that for the night to be over and the morning to come for my return home (I’m missing my wife!).  But before that happens, no doubts, I’ll be waiting some more.

What are you waiting for?

Here’s my sermon for the day: don’t miss what God is doing now while you’re waiting for the next thing on your list!

Too many times in life, I have.  Listen to the voice of experience.  Enjoy the moment. Seize the day!  Appreciate life’s little interruptions….because some of them may be God-appointments or Divine connections in disguise.

Your spouse deserves your devotion.  Your kids will only be young for a short time.  Don’t miss the blessing of now while you’re waiting for something else.

What are you waiting for?

Istanbul Pastor’s Conference, Day 3

Whew!  We just wrapped up the final session and said our goodbyes….it was an emotional time as these precious pastors and leaders really have a way of getting into your heart.  We did 4 sessions this morning and then Rick and I prayed blessings upon each of them….but after we had finished, Pastor Ihsan invited the delegates to pray blessings over us.  Rick and I were both wiping away tears as they prayed…..I guess you had to be here to ‘get it’, but knowing the difficult circumstances so many of them serve in, and how long they have been faithful despite little fruit, seeing their faces glow with renewed hope and courage just really made the entire trip worthwhile.

Thank you, CLC,  for praying for this conference and for us as we ministered……from the reports of all who spoke to us afterwards, it must be considered a success, as the Turkish leaders are returning to their place of labor with fresh strength and renewed vision!

Thank you, Dr. David Shibley and Global Advance, for your vision for these Front Line Shepherd’s Conferences, and for your heart and contributions for this strategic nation that can serve as a gateway to all of the Middle Eastern and Islamic nations.

Now I’m waiting for transportation to the airport for my short flight over to the capitol city of Ankara, where I’ll preach at Pastor Ihsan’s church tomorrow morning.  Then it’s home, sweet home….I’m missing my wife!  (And Jen, and the boys, and all our CLC family, too…..see you soon)

Istanbul Pastor’s Conference, Day 2

Just wrapped up the final session here at the Global Advance conference in Istanbul, Turkey, and I’m ready to call it a day!  Here are a few thoughts before I hit the sack:

• Attendance surpassed all expectations, as we now have 90 leaders registered! (compared to 61 just last year!)
• Really enjoying hanging out with Mark & Michele Moore, missionaries here from Covenant Church in Dallas, where I have several friends on staff with Pastors Mike & Kathy Hayes.  The Moore’s have been in Turkey for over five years, but moved to Kusadasi just over a year ago and have already had great favor, with nine converts in their first year (that’s unheard of for Turkey!).
• Rick Kingham and I each taught three times today, but for some reason the vast majority of the questions in our closing Q&A session tonight were directed at me (I’m guessing Rick made things much clearer in his presentations than I did )
• The conference attendees all seem quite enthusiastic about the encouragement they’re receiving, and just moments ago as I was riding the elevator to my room, one of the delegates pulled out her notes from last year’s conference, to show me her scribblings from my teaching then.  I’m humbled to think they would hang onto our teachings like this, and use them in their own churches as well.
• Thank you, Global Advance and CLC, for allowing me to invest in these precious frontline leaders in such a strategic nation!

That’s it….I’m headed to bed.  Hope our CLC H2H retreat is going to be extra-blessed in Lake Geneva today & tomorrow!

Ask the Pastor

A CLCer recently asked, “Why are there so many bible translations? Is anyone of them better than the other? Which translation is your favorite one? Which translation would you recommend people to read?”

Great questions!  Let’s take them one at a time:

• Until 1881 you could only read the Bible in English in the King James Version, which was translated in 1611.  Of course, not many of us speak the Shakespearan-type English of “thee’s” and “thou’s”, which is what initially led to more and more translations.  So many English words have changed in their meaning over these past 400 years, and, for that matter, all language is constantly evolving, so it is needful for their to be new translations if the average person is going to read the Bible in the common language of everyday use.
• It would be hard to say that any one translation is better than another – they’re just different. Some translations (such as the New King James and the New American Standard Bible) attempt a literal, word-for-word translation from the original languages (The Old Testament was written in Hebrew; the New Testament in Greek) into English.  Others (such as the New International Version and the New Living Translation) use a phrase-for-phrase approach, to help convey the original intended meaning.  Still others (like The Message and The Living Bible) are not actually translations, but rather paraphrases that attempt to convey the original thoughts into modern, contemporary thoughts.  (By the way, for what it’s worth, many scholars agree that the New American Standard Bible is perhaps the most accurate translation of the Scriptures into English.)
• My favorite translation has changed several times as I’ve grown older: initially, I grew up with the King James, and I memorized numerous verses in the stilted old English.  Later, when I was introduced to the New King James, it became my favorite, probably because it retained much of the poetic beauty of the KJV, but updated the English to eliminate the need to talk like Shakespeare.  However, in the last few years I’ve grown to love the more modern, New Living Translation, and I use it almost exclusively on Sundays at CLC.
• It depends on the purpose: if you want a Bible to study, I’d recommend the NKJV (my preference is the Spirit-Filled Life Bible).  For general reading, I personally think you can’t beat the NLT (which is why I use it in the pulpit so much). For a change of pace, I really like The Message, as it has a way of ‘jarring’ me with truth that I might otherwise have overlooked.

As I’ve explained at other times, I personally try to use a different version each year for my daily “through the Bible in a year” devotions.  I’ve found my mixing it up each year, it helps me not to get stale by thinking “I’ve read this before”.

That was fun….hope it was helpful.  Now, what would YOU like to ask the Pastor?

Ask the Pastor

A faithful CLCer wrote: In my prayer team at work a question was asked, “Does God only want us to pray for something one time or can we keep asking until we get an answer?”

First, I love the fact that you have a prayer team at work!  Secondly, this is a great question that I personally think some charismatics have missed….in that I’ve personally heard teaching that basically says we only ask one time in faith and that any request made after that indicates that we are in doubt, and a double-minded man won’t receive anything from the Lord.

I do NOT agree with that.  No, let me rephrase that, since it really doesn’t matter a whole lot what I think…what matters is what the Scriptures teach.  And, at least as I read it, the Bible is clear that persistence in prayer is a good thing!

In fact, in what we call “the Lord’s prayer” (it’s actually our prayer that Jesus taught us), after He had given us that model for prayer (Luke 11:1-4) , Jesus went on to teach us more about prayer by giving an illustration in Luke 11:5-10 that specifically says we should “keep on asking”. In fact, Jesus said there that if we keep on knocking long enough, we’ll receive what we need!

Now, I don’t interpret that to mean that answered prayer only results from repetitive requests, because certainly Scripture is full of examples where we pray one time and God answers.  I also know that sometimes the Lord may impress us not to ask again by giving us a peace that the answer is already on the way, and we should simply thank Him that it’s done!  But in those cases where we don’t see the answer manifest, and we’re still in need, we have every right to continue to ask the Lord in faith and with persistence!

Some other examples of persistent prayer in Scripture would be Genesis 18:22-33, I Kings 18:42-46, Matthew 26:36-46, and II Corinthians 12:1-10.

Please understand that I believe we should pray with confidence and expectation the first time…and I certainly don’t believe prayer is an endurance contest to see if we can ‘wear Him down’ with repeated requests until He finally gives in – nothing could be further from the truth.  But if we pray in faith and the answer hasn’t come, we certainly are within our rights as believers to ask again.  The story in Daniel 10:10-14 certainly indicates the delays we experience in receiving answers to our prayers may be attributed to demonic opposition and interference rather than God’s reluctance….but persistent, faith-filled prayer brings results!

Hope that helps….now, what would YOU like to ask the pastor?

Istanbul Pastor’s Conference, Day 1

Well, the first day of our Global Advance conference here is history…and already we have more people participating than last year (I think 82 was the number today), although I haven’t seen several of the pastors I met last year when we were here.

We started late as the leaders were delayed in arriving, so I only taught one session rather than the two that were scheduled.  As usual, I had all kinds of misgivings as to whether I would relate to these folks who minister under much different circumstances than I’ve ever faced, with blatant opposition and sometimes even persecution against Christians in this country.  Thanks to your prayers, I’ve already heard from some who said they needed exactly what I taught, which was a message on persistence that I’ve never presented before.

And my friend Rick Kingham has really knocked it out of the park in both his sessions today – he used “hand motions” while teaching from I Peter 2:9, and ‘made’ the Turks learn them, like our vacation Bible school days, so it helped to indelibly stamp the truth into our hearts, while having a lot of fun in the process.  I definitely think I’ll learn from Rick as the conference continues, both because of his content and because of his method of teaching.

Jet lag hit tonight during the final session with Pastor Ihsan, so I’m going to call it a day and get some sleep…..I’ll post again after tomorrow’s sessions.  Thanks for your continued prayers for me and Rick, and for our families while we’re away.

The joys of travel….

I know it seems glamourous to some, but I seem to forget between trips how much I hate the travel part of ministering internationally:

• Eight-and-a-half hours cramped into an economy-fare seat on United (or any other airline for that matter) is something you have to experience to appreciate.

• my friend and co-leader of this pastor’s conference, Dr. Rick Kingham, was delayed on his flight from Seattle to meet me at O’Hare, and literally waved from the window as our plane pulled out of the gate for Munich.  That 5-minute delay cost him an additional 9-hours, so he arrived about midnight last night, whereas I arrived in the afternoon.
• I absent-mindedly left my iPhone in the gate area at O’Hare for several minutes, but some kind (and honest!) traveler found it and turned it in for me, otherwise, I would have been phone-less on the entire trip!

• Did I mention the eight-and-a-half hours cramped into an economy-fare seat on United?

• A glitch with AT&T caused my phone not to have service for the first few hours after arrival (until I managed to notify my daughter via email and she was able to get AT&T to correct their error), which meant I was unable to reach my contact at the Istanbul airport, so I wandered around for 45 minutes until we finally connected.
• Did I mention the eight-and-a-half hours cramped into an economy-fare seat on United?
• When I got into my room I realized that I had forgotten to pack my electrical adapter, so either my computer and iPhone batteries can be re-charged.  Communicating this need with the front desk clerks who speak virtually no English was a ton of fun last night….but they had no adapters either and I had no way to visit a store….
• Rick Kingham brought an extra adapter, so this morning I’ve got juice again (that’s why I’m able to do this post)
  
• Did I mention eight-and-a-half hours in a cramped economy seat on United?

Seriously, all is good now…I’ve got bottled water, decent food, good bed, and hopefully about 60-70 hungry pastors and leaders waiting on me to start the first session in just a few hours….so I’m going to get back to some study and prayer in hopes of encouraging all of them in this largest unreached-nation on earth.  Do pray for us, and I’ll post again after the day has ended.

Favor continues!

All of us are being inundated with news media reports about the economy, recession, lay-offs, foreclosures and more, so our newest sermon series is as timely and as needed as anything we’ve ever done!

We’ll continue to look at God’s promises regarding ‘favor’ this Sunday at each CLC campus, and I think this is one of those special opportunities for you to invite a friend or coworker or family member who could use an injection of HOPE!

Don’t forget the Town Hall for Hope with Dave Ramsey tomorrow night at 7pm – it’s a great way to get a jumpstart on Sunday, as we join with millions of other Americans who refuse to participate in this recesssion!

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