2012 | Release the A.P.E.

Transfer: Lay a Foundation, Don’t Cast a Shadow

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December 6, 2012

[This is part of a series called “What is an Apostle?” Check the other post here]

“More than any other gift, the apostle delights most when disciples carry the work on to others, and in everything he or she does is designed with this in mind.” [i]

Apostles transfer power and authority to others so they can carry out the God-given mission that is inside of them.

Apostles are what Neil Cole calls “Foundation Layers” and they lay down the principles of mission and the DNA that others then carry out.

A.P.E. Leaders & The Need to Re-Calibrate

one response
December 5, 2012

This is a guest post by Greg Jao. He serves as a National Field Director for the Northeast US for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and is the author of multiple books, including Your Mind’s Mission (an Urbana Onward book), and Following Jesus without Dishonoring Your Parents. A second-generation Chinese American, he helped develop The Daniel Project, a leadership acceleration program for Asian American InterVarsity staff.

In addition, Greg serves as the MC for the Urbana Student Missions Conference www.urbana.org , where 18,000 participants will gather on December 27-31, 2012 to consider again the call to God’s global mission. Since Urbana is around the corner, we asked Greg to share his thoughts on how Urbana can help foster A.P.E. leadership.

“Who among us would make the best cult leader?”

We had collapsed in a lounge after an exhausting day, and we were identifying friends who would be the best (or worst) at various activities. We ran several scenarios involving people in the room. Some of our answers came quickly (e.g., The worst contestant on the television show, “The Amazing Race?” The consensus candidate: a cross-cultural specialist. We imagined him constantly getting distracted talking to locals during international missions). Some answers took time (e.g., the best friend to have after the zombie apocalypse? Did we choose the Asian colleague with multiple refrigerators, the petite friend living in the rural north with a side of beef in her freezer, or the urban leader who knew how to survive in resource-poor cities?)

The Parents of a Prophet

3 responses
December 4, 2012

Zechariah prophesying over lil’ John the Baptist. From Jonathan Case

[This is part of a series on John The Baptist as Prophet. You can read the other posts here!]

I love the Advent season. It is a time of collective waiting, contemplating the arrival of Jesus’ birth. Advent is a time to marinate in the early story of Jesus, and I particularly appreciate Luke’s account. In Luke’s gospel alone are we introduced to the family of John the Baptist.

One of my favorite Advent devotionals is called Watch for the Light, and the introduction writes this about Advent: “Mother Teresa once noted that the first person to welcome Christ was John the Baptist, who leaped for joy on recognizing him, though both of them were still within their mother’s wombs. We, in start contrast, are often so dulled by superficial distractions that we are incapable of hearing any voice within, let alone listening to it.” There is something about Advent that calls me to slow down, and listen to the deep longings within me, the things I wait for.

Travel Guides vs. Sales People

5 responses
December 3, 2012

We are right in the middle of the holiday season with thanksgiving in the rearview mirror and Christmas in front of us. We have a ton of parties coming up and for many of us that means gathering with family and friends that don’t know Jesus.

If you are anything like me I want to see them know Jesus and that can bring a lot of pressure to perform or make things happen.

I want to be on my best behavior, say the right thing, and be bold in the right moment.

But this pressure that I often feel leads me to have more of a sales person mentality and I don’t like how that comes across.

Pushy, pressuring, up tight and a low view God’s sovereignty in the situation.

But Rick Richardson in his book “Reimagining Evangelism” gives us another way

I’ve Hired an Apostolic Leader…Help!

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November 29, 2012

[This is part of a series on “How Do I Develop an Apostolic Leader?” You can read the other posts here.]

“Passionate involvement can make you happy, sometimes, and miserable other times. You want people to be involved and engaged. Involved people can be quiet, loud, or anything in-between—what they have in common is a restless, probing nature: “I want to get to the problem. There’s something I want to do.” If you had thermal glasses, you could see heat coming off them.” – Brad Bird, Director at Pixar

OK, so as a leader you’ve committed to developing and hiring apostolic evangelists and they are now operating at full steam in your organization. It creates an almost overwhelming level of energy and creativity is erupting everywhere. It’s exciting but at the same time it begins to feel chaotic to the point that you wonder if it is sustainable.

How do you prevent the whole thing from careening off the road and crashing?

Here are some guidelines to help you focus the energy in the same direction and keep the movement pressing forward.

The Laborers for the Harvest are in the Harvest!

2 responses
November 28, 2012

The harvest is plentiful!

When Jesus sent out 72 of his followers to proclaim the Kingdom of God in the towns and villages where he was about to go, he commissioned them with the worst motivational speech of all time.

I’m sending you out as lambs among wolves.

You will certainly be rejected.

And you can’t take any of your stuff.

As un-motivating as those promises may have felt, Jesus promised something else as he commissioned his “sent ones” that should fill each of us with hope even 2,000 years later:

The harvest is plentiful!

That is the spiritual reality. The harvest is plentiful.

He may have sent his 72 followers into rejection, complete dependence and suffering, but he also sent them into a plentiful harvest. The fields are ready and an abundant harvest awaits laborers who follow the Lord of the harvest into his harvest fields.

Jesus identifies the one limiting factor to this harvest being reaped: laborers.

Apostle as Sender

4 responses
November 27, 2012

[This is part of a series called “What is an Apostle?” Check the other post here]

“Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.'” – John 20:21

Brad wrote a week ago about the sending language in John, and I got message from someone saying,

“Isn’t this the primary message of all of scripture, not just John?”

It is a great point and I would say Yes! But John is clearly focused on this and you see Jesus most clearly concerned with the sending nature of the Father, himself and even the Holy Spirit that is to come in this gospel.

But the commenter makes a great point and one that flows perfectly into this article about apostle as “Sender”.

YOU CAN START A MISSIONAL MOVEMENT!

2 responses
November 26, 2012

[This post is part of the Start Something New series. Read the other posts here!]

You have everything it takes to start a missional movement. Yes, you. I’m not referring to someone else. You!

My friend, Troy McMahon, is leading a network of reproducing churches while serving as the Lead Pastor of a large multi-site church in Kansas City. But it all started 15 years ago while Troy was still working for General Mills and he was my apprentice in leading a small group.

My friend, Doug Leddon, is the Executive Pastor of our largest campus with over 3,000 attendees. But four years ago Doug was working in the financial industry of Chicago and was my small group apprentice leader. I could give you a list of people who are impacting tens, hundreds and thousands of people in a variety of contexts and ministries who all got their start as an apprentice.

Thankful!

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November 25, 2012

Here is an awesome place I got to go to this last weekend in WA. Hard not to be thankful here!

[If you want to enter into the drawing for one of five free copies of Real Life, Jame’s Choung new book, you can do so here. I will keep the contest open till the end of the week.]

Hey Everyone!

This last weekend was a good time to stop and reflect on what we are thankful for and one of those things that came up for me was this blog and the A.P.E. community that is reading, contributing and commenting here.

I love that we have started this blog and that we have this space to talk about the apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic vocations and their role in the church and mission of God.