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The Gateway District of Foursquare Churches serves Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Missouri: States that conjure up for me images of the Marlboro Man, the “God Made a Farmer” Super Bowl commercial, a rival football team (the Denver Broncos), a sprinkling of “People’s Republics,” and, at least in Colorado, a strange smell that reminds me of “coffee shops” in Amsterdam.
I have enjoyed working with District Supervisor Sam Rockwell. His partnership has been critical in our development of Foursquare in Russia and Ukraine. And I have the deepest respect for Peter Henderson. His work as the District Missions Representative is exceptional, worthy of a J.D. Powers “Best in Class” award.
So, I was looking forward to being with them in Keystone, Colorado for their annual conference, September 15-17.
The conference theme was “Bloom.” Taken from Isaiah 35:1-2, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like a desert flower, it will burst into bloom.”
The setting was incredible. The sessions were exceptional. But there was something more: an essence that it took a few days of observation to wrap my head around.
There was something portending a greater destiny: Gateway was not just the name of the district; it was a prophetic calling they were positioning themselves to fulfill. They are positioning themselves to become a Gateway for the Advancement of the Mission of God. I watched. I prayed. I reflected. And I saw Seven Indicators of Greater Days Ahead. Here is what I observed:
- A Culture of Honor.
Never in more than 25 years of ministry have I see people so honored. Here are two examples:
They way they honored the missionaries from their district (paid their way to get there, then honored them in each session).
They honored those who were receiving their 25 and 50 service awards. These faithful servants were brought onto the platform and the whole gathering celebrated their service.
It was the kind of honor only humility can produce.
- An Atmosphere of Celebration.
God was celebrated. People were celebrated. Faithfulness was celebrated. You never got the feeling it was one of those performance-driven churchy things were only the mega-church was seen as important. The attitude was “Let’s celebrate following Jesus regardless of where He leads.”
- A Nurturing Community.
The Gateway District is making serious investment into its pastors and leaders, seeking to nurture them to become the best version of themselves.
- Passionate Pursuit the Mission of God
These men and women are intent on fulfilling the mission of God in their communities, state, district, nation, and world. They are “all in.” They have skin in the game.
- Hunger for God and His Kingdom.
It was evident in the depth of worship, their hunger for the Word, and their openness to radical expressions of the love of God for ALL peoples. I hope the sessions are going to be made available. They were that good. But you better buckle up and open up before you start listening.
- Serving Others Lavishly.
They were living out Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
- Call it Authenticity, Transparency, Missional, Incarnational, or any of those trendy words teetering on the edge of impotency because of over-use. For me, I can best describe it as “The Beatitudes Personified.”
No prancing. No prating. No pretense: Just humble shepherds following their Chief Shepherd. Blessed indeed.
I am leaving the Gateway District Conference with a renewed heart to honor, to celebrate, to nurture, to pursue, to hunger, to serve, and to personify the beatitudes because I want the parched lands of my life to flourish.
Autumn is settling upon the Rockies but within the Gateway District of Foursquare Churches I see the blossoming of spring’s promise to bloom.
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In the first episode of All In, I interview Pastor Ralph Moore from Hawaii. Through Ralph’s ministry over 1200 churches have been planted. Ralph opens up about who he is and what God has done in his life.
You can find Pastor Ralph at his Website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
Here are the resources that Ralph mentioned in the interview:
- New Testament Fire in the Philippines, you can download it here.
- Dream Big: The Henrietta Mears Story
- In Search of Excellence, Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman
- You Could Write for Amazon, Ralph Moore
- Defeating Anxiety, Ralph Moore
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Podcast, and if you enjoyed it leave a review on iTunes to help spread the word!
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*This post may contain affiliate links. Products purchased through these links help to fund missions work.
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Somewhere along the way a crazy idea lodged itself in my head: I should start a podcast.
A podcast. Yeah, right. I can’t stand the sound of my own voice. I have tried to listen to recordings of myself. I cringe every time.
But I decided to do the podcast anyway. I thought it would be fun. I asked my daughter Elizabeth to help me (i.e. do all the work), and she said yes.
A friend recorded a theme song.
We worked with a designer for the show cover.
I recorded a few shows.
Then five days ago I had a meltdown and almost pulled the plug on the whole idea.
What happened? What could cause me to want abandon it before we had even begun?
Well, it’s simple really: I listened to the podcast.
I thought, “This is so lame. No one will listen. This will not help anyone. What a waste. I hate the way I sound on here. It sucks!”
I was in Kyiv, Ukraine. I worked out a time to do a Skype call with my producer (ahem, my daughter Elizabeth), I told her of my frustration with the program. I told her, “I sound terrible!”
She said, “Oh, Dad, everyone hates the sound of their voice.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I know. But this is different. This is my voice. I really do hate it.
I was being paralyzed by self-rejection and the fear of failure.
These two destructive currents have shipwrecked many lives that set out with good intentions.
Talking it through with Elizabeth helped. I climbed off the ledge and I put away the sharp objects. I told myself, “We can do this. It may be helpful to others. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained.”
I took a deep breath and said, “OK, let’s do this.”
I had the desire to do something more to help others, to advance a cause, and to make a difference. Then a two-headed monster walked right into my head. Their twin mouths crippled me with fear and almost talked me out of taking action. It all sounded so rational. It felt like good advice.
I could keep my good intentions that someday I would do something that makes a difference for someone.
I was free to dream all I want for tomorrow. Intend all I want for tomorrow. Hope all I want for tomorrow. Just don’t act on these things today. Nope. Fear and self-rejection tag-teamed to defeat life at the only place it can be lived: Today, in the nitty-gritty of now.
[Tweet “God’s purpose is too great for small living and wilted thinking.”]I had to tell myself, “Hating your own voice and fearing failure never helped anyone do anything great.”
Then I told myself to:
- Embrace your voice. It may not be perfect, but it is what God gave you. Now, use it to the fullest for His glory.
- Face your fear. Call it for what it is and deal with it. You may need some help. A good conversation with a friend can do wonders.
- Take action. What is the one action you need to take right now to overcome the fear that is belittling you? Define the action. Now, go do it.
Done. Done. And Done. Self-rejection and fear were left on the floor in Kyiv. The podcast starts Monday, September 15, 2014.
Maybe you can relate to my struggle. What new venture is in your heart? What act of self-rejection is stopping you? What fear is paralyzing you? What one action do you need to take right now to liberate your imprisoned dreams and say to your paralyzed life, “No more! Today I will act!”
It’s your life, now go live it.
Here is a video introduction for the podcast. Look for it in iTunes on Monday, September 15, 2014.
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Photo Credit: PhotoJonny via Compfight cc
I have spent the vast majority of the last 15 years traveling. I have experienced my fair share of travel problems, things like:
- Pick pocketed in Athens (they got Debbie’s passport and wallet out of my shoulder bag)
- Stolen credit card in Kyiv
- Identity theft in Chicago, only to have the credit card company send the replacement card to the thief.
- Forgetting to renew my Russian visa only to discover it as I was standing at the passport control in Russia.
- Hotels with rats eating my food in the middle of the night.
- Showing up at the wrong terminal at Heathrow (even at the right terminal Heathrow is terrible). Missed that flight by five minutes.
- And a host of missed, cancelled, and over booked flights, questionable taxis, and hotels spewing brown water from all spouts. (And let’s not talk about that embarrassing episode in Istanbul.)
Yes, travel can be this glamorous.
Then, this morning I added to my list: I lost my shoes. My shoes people! My shoes.
I was packing away, getting ready for my flight from Sochi, Russia to Kyiv, Ukraine.
Everything was going as planned. Then a question rose in my mind, “Dude, where are my shoes?”
Please understand, I have been in Sochi for three days and it has been very hot. So I have been wearing running sandals rather than shoes. But now that I am heading to Kyiv to conduct a pastors’ seminar and speak in a church, I needed my shoes.
I looked all over the room. Nothing.
Then I remembered that when the hotel moved me to another room, because the air conditioner was not working,I forgot to grab my shoes.
I contacted the front desk. They were very friendly. They called housekeeping. Nope. Sorry, no shoes. What? They didn’t just walk off by themselves.
Maybe they were still in the room and somehow housekeeping just didn’t see those size 12 shoes hiding in the corner. After all, they didn’t see the bed had been slept in and needed to be made. Surely if they didn’t see the bed they may have overlooked my shoes. So I asked if I could check the room myself. “Yes, of course.”
The room (and the bed) had been cleaned. No shoes.
How could they just disappear? I reminded myself, “This is Russia, and strange things happen here.”
I went back to my room, looked all over the place again. Nothing.
It goes to show that no matter how many mindless things you do in your life, you will never cease to amaze yourself, sometimes without even trying.
Now, I am heading to Kyiv as a shoeless preacher standing on the promise of Scripture, “how beautiful are the feet of those who preach Good News.” Standing on the Word of God is a great thing with or without shoes.
Check out this short video about a new podcast I am launching on September 15, 2014
Debbie and I serve as the FMI Global Associate Director for MENACA and Europe. We focus on cultivating disciples, leaders, and church planting movements.
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