January, 2013 | Release the A.P.E.

Six Marks of a Prophet

10 responses
January 18, 2013

sign post

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

My husband and I recently became foster parents of a baby boy. We picked him up from the hospital when he was just 2 days old. His life, very unknown to us, stretches out like a blank manuscript, waiting to be written.

When a smile breaks across his face, I sometimes think about all the things ahead that will make him laugh, bring him joy. When he cries, I know all too well the possible heartbreaks he may face, already having braved a traumatic entry into this world. His life is one big deposit of potential. He could be an artist, a teacher, a criminal, or a revolutionary.

God has marked us all, built in each of us the DNA that will shape the rest of our lives. Here at this blog we talk a lot about apostles, evangelists and prophets. I believe these are both gifts God gives people at certain times for certain purposes, but also ways that God has hard-wired some of us to be. This “wiring” can be seen throughout our life, if we look closely. The journey of our lives often shows us marks, or signposts, of what God is calling us into becoming.

The life of John the Baptist reveals such marks, they are the fingerprints of God’s call on his life and also obedient responses from John and his family. The marks on John’s life as a prophet are clear from the beginning, and stretch throughout his life, giving us a glimpse of what marks may exist in our own lives or in the lives of those around us.

Here are six marks of a prophet in John’s life that pave the way for his life purpose.

A Prophet’s Life Verse

no responses
January 17, 2013

Jeremiah

This is a guest post by Nick Price. Nick is a teaching pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lisle, Ill., and a student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield. He is the proud father of two kids and happily married to his wife of four years, Jenny. He writes regularly on his blog, Prodigal Preacher.

Since becoming a Christian I’ve heard lots of people talk about having a “life verse”. Usually it is a passage of Scripture that they feel embodies their own journey with God. It could be something that they received at their baptism or during confirmation, but whenever they discovered it has (hopefully) become a motto for how they live as a follower of Jesus.

[Do you want help writing a life purpose statement? Here is a great resource to help you do that]

For a while I was unsure whether I had a life verse or not. There are tons of passages in the Bible that I love, but a “life verse”? I wasn’t too sure about that. And then I attended a staff training event with InterVarsity. During one of our sessions together we were encouraged to pray for each other. Eventually it was my turn to be prayed for by my team, so I sat in the middle of the group as the others gathered around and began to pray.

Suddenly, one of them said, “I’m getting the sense that I should pray a verse over you.” And this is what she read:

What Do Jesus & Pete Carroll Have In Common?

one response
January 16, 2013

photo courtesy of @ The News Tribune

By Beau Crosetto

I know this sounds ludicrous that I would mention the two names in the same sentence, but there is one main thing here that I want to draw our attention to.

If you know me I bleed blue and green and just absolutely love the Seahawks and now Pete Carroll. People close to me know he is probably the #1 guy I want to meet in this world because I am fascinated with the way he goes about building a culture and team. He is dogmatic in his approach to building a program. And one clear-cut part of that approach is what catches my eye!

Some of you can’t stand Pete Carroll but don’t write this article off because of that!

He and Jesus have a one thing in common.

*I don’t know anything about Pete’s spiritual beliefs. I am simply using him as a leadership example and not in any way saying he is a Christian leader.*

What My Father-in-Law Taught Me

2 responses
January 14, 2013

barrel

By Beau Crosetto

A lot of time we, as leaders, don’t do what we need to do because we don’t like doing it.

I think this is a growing trend today especially with all the “focus on your strengths” material that is circulating our country.

But my father-in-law (Steve) and I had a great discussion today about doing things that you don’t want to do so you can go to the next level in your leadership and organization.

Is Reaching LGBTQ People Worth It?

6 responses
January 11, 2013

Gay Pride Flag

This is a guest post by Kate Vosburg. She has been on IV staff for almost 15 years, on 6 different campuses. She loves serving alongside her husband, Dave, who is a professor on the campus where she serves. With him as a faculty, on the inside of campus, there have been some amazing opportunities to share the gospel. Kate is an evangelist who loves to be on the front-lines with her students, finding ways into unreached communities and sharing the Gospel. Dave and Kate have 3 kids (Nate 6, Isabella 4, Diego 4) who keep Kate on her toes and laughing at their creative, crazy antics.

So, is reaching LGBTQ (Lesibian, Gay, Bi, Transgender, Queer) people worth it? Many evangelical Christians seem to say no. Not explicitly, of course. But when we don’t actively reach out to people in the LGBTQ community and proactively address homosexuality in all its complexity, we basically opt out of LGBTQ ministry. There are very few LGBTQ people who will enter a Christian space that has not made it clear that they’re welcome. And I don’t blame them; everyone “knows” how Christians treat gay people (a stereotype that is grounded in many years of countless experiences).

The Deep Need

However, there is a deep spiritual hunger in the LGBTQ community, as far as I’ve found. There are many gay people with Christian backgrounds, but they feel they were ostracized from Christian community once they came out. There are many other gay folks who are spiritually curious and hungry, but they discount Christ because they have heard that his followers don’t want them unless they’re straight. (And of course, there are also many of us Christians in Christian communities who have LGBTQ sexual desires and don’t know how to work deal with these desires, fearing to ask our Christian communities for help.)

Who will reach this lost group of people? These people whom Christ loves and has come to rescue? Who will help our Christian brothers and sisters who struggle alone?

Multiethnicity: More than a Value

one response
January 10, 2013

multiethnicity

By Eric & Stacy Rafferty

[This is the start of a four part series on multiethnicity in the missional church. Unfortunately when we look at many of our churches, even missional ones, there is not much diversity among them. This series hopes to prophetically challenge the church and its leaders to cross cultures and build multiethnic communities!]

If you can’t tell from our tiny little picture, we come from different worlds. While a White guy from Nebraska falling in love with a Mexican

American girl from East LA sounds like the start of a romantic comedy (and a lot of the time it is hilarious), our cross-cultural relationship and the broader context of multiethnic community have been the deep waters of God’s discipling work in our lives.

Multiethnic community is where God called us each to jump ship and follow him in a new direction. It’s where He exposes our sin, selfishness, and cultural blinders every day. And it’s where God has revealed something of what his Kingdom is like.

Multiethnicity has become for us something more than just another value that Christians are supposed to care about. It has become a picture of the Kingdom at work in a community on mission together.

Here’s our story:

The Fan Is Spinning But The Light Is Out

8 responses
January 9, 2013

fan

By Beau Crosetto

When some of us were at Urbana we got together for our first ever A.P.E gathering and we had a great time sharing, praying and encouraging each other about all things apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic.

[Make sure to subscribe to our A.P.E. Newsletter so you don’t miss the next one! Here is the last letter I sent out with some apprentice resources not found on the blog.]

One of the things that was prayed out was an image of a fan spinning but the light was out.

The interpretation on this image was that the temptation for us as catalytic leaders is to lead and be busy, essentially spinning around, but not be fueled by the constant light of Jesus.

We appear active and “on” but there is no light!

Daddy I Really Want to Get out of Here!

4 responses
January 8, 2013

pool

By Jon Hietbrink

“When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

It wasn’t their first interaction, but it was the definitive one. In the course of an afternoon, Simon went from a fisherman hanging around the fringes of Jesus’ ministry to a fisher of men following his Lord, and this exchange became the fulcrum on which Peter’s life pivoted. Jesus’ command was simple but ludicrous; Peter’s response was hedged but obedient; the result was abundant but terrifying. Invited into this encounter by Luke, we see far more than an isolated event, but a paradigmatic experience of what it means to follow Jesus: He often asks us to step into deeper water than we are comfortable with, and He does it to show us more of Himself.

Isn’t this “deep water” experience the regular testimony of Jesus’ disciples in the gospels? Consistently engulfed by the destitute, increasingly combatted by the elite, inexplicably commanded to feed thousands, prematurely (it would seem!) sent to proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom, and ultimately entrusted with God’s message of salvation to the ends of the earth, the disciples’ journey of following Jesus was regularly akin to jumping into the deep end of the pool and learning to swim. Being “over their heads” wasn’t an exceptional circumstance, it was relentlessly normal.

FROM HAMBURGER HELPER TO MOVEMENT MAKER!

no responses
January 6, 2013

By Dave Ferguson

We like to say when we discovered Troy McMahon he was working the third shift making Hamburger Helper. And it’s true! But is also true that he was working at General Mills, and they had him on the fast-track to upper-management. While he was successful in the marketplace, he also had a great passion for Jesus and helping people find their way back to God. Troy is just one example of someone who over the course of several years went from being a small group apprentice leader, to moving through a leadership path, to leading a network of new churches, and today is on his way to launching a movement. Let’s re-trace his steps on this simple leadership path:

leadership path