[This post is part of the A.P.E. Theology series. Read the rest of the posts here!]

You do not have to look far to discover that Christendom still maintains a stranglehold on the mindset of the American church. Many leaders still maintain that minor tweaks in the why we “do” church brings the possibility of attracting new people to the programs and activities of the church. They simply have not fully grasped the reality that we no longer live in a place where the church is the dominant seat of culture. The shift from a Christendom to Post-Christendom society is nearly complete; and the corresponding challenges are great.

But what is an appropriate response to the challenge?

The solution is to recognize the church’s relationship to the culture in terms of a missionary encounter. In other words, to see that in a Post-Christendom context the church is once again placed in an alien world. The mission field is no longer located somewhere else, instead it surrounds us on every side. And the greatest problem with making cosmetic changes to the church, is when we falsely assume those changes will some how help the church grow and we therefore put our time and energy into those practices instead of equipping and releasing people into this new, and rapidly growing mission field. There is no final answer or perfect solution to transitioning the existing church in a missional direction. But if there was one—a silver bullet—it would be the formation of every church member into a missionary.

Continue Reading

Here we are again for our next book give away!

The last one was great and we had awesome participation!

Let’s do it again!

This week we are giving away “The Permanent Revolution” by Alan HIrsch and Tim Catchim.

5 COPIES!!!!

And they are really nice and hard back! I am tempted to steal one and not give them all away…that’s how good they look!

This is a great book on apostolic leadership and it really makes the case in an in depth way for why we need to release and empower the apostolic vocation in the church. If we want a “Permanent Revolution” then we need the apostles released.

You think I like this book 🙂

THIS BOOK gives great attention to the apostolic vocation and goes in depth with describing it and giving us language.

I am really excited for you to get this book!

Also, if you are in LA area this Friday and Saturday, there is a great event at Fuller Seminary, LA 2012, where Alan will be presenting his book and JR will be presenting his. It is really cheap to come. Like $20 for a whole group! Check out the event here

Here is how to enter yourself for the drawing…

Continue Reading

[This post is part of the “Non Conventional Places A.P.E. Giftings Show Up” series. Read the rest of the posts here!]

Ever wondered how your spiritual gifts play out in your parenting style?  It’s pretty easy to assume the way you parent is due to your wonderful planning combined with the 55 gajillion parenting books you’ve ingested.  Ever considered that the healthiest aspects of your parenting style are all bound up with your spiritual gifts?  Well, duh.  I hadn’t.

Like most areas of my life I hadn’t realized I was “leading” my children out of my spiritual gifts because a) I tend not to notice the things I’m doing well that I haven’t horded enormous effort into and b) the connection between spiritual gifts and parenting styles is talked about so infrequently.

Due to all the duty and responsibility wrapped up in being a parent it can seem daunting right to figure out which is which? But, we are leading our kiddo’s and we may as well do that in an informed way.  We need to do that in a way that lovingly invites them to share with us in our work to expand the Kingdom of God.  When the hubs & I parent R1 & R2 with these intentions in mind we are shepherding their gifts as well as watching them learn and risk alongside us.

Today I’m kicking off a 4 part series on four non-conventional places A.P.E. gifts show up: in parenting, marriage, blogging & friendships.  On our Belief page, we describe the Apostolic gift set as “leading in a sent way” to reach those in the fold or to expand the Kingdom of God where it is not yet.  Since I’m a stronger A than P or E I’ll explore how we can apostolically lead in these 4 areas in a sent way with a little P & E thrown in for good measure.  (And yes, apostolically is my very own made up word.  Can you handle it?)

So.  How can we model A.P.E. giftings while shepherding our kiddo’s into their unique gifts and callings?

That is why we are offering a different picture of life in the church than most of us are seeing.

Obviously we have set up this blog to push hard for the vocations of Apostle, Prophet and Evangelist in the church. To some this can seem like favoritism, to others like competition.

I have already fielded a few emails and comments wondering this very thing.

This is a fair question and one that must be answered.

In short, we are not saying that A.P.E. is favored or better. We fully believe we need the whole council of vocations found in Ephesians 4 to be a healthy church.

But the church in the western world has done such a poor job at teaching on Ephesians 4 and we have not differentiated enough, so the A.P.E. has been covered up big time…by clones!

Cloning

I would argue as Alan Hirsch does in his book, “The Permanent Revolution” that we have fallen into an act of cloning in the Western Church!

Continue Reading

“Yes you did laugh.”

Sarah, in Genesis 18, laughed when she overheard the Lord tell Abraham that she would give him a son in the next year.

When the Lord asked why she had laughed, the scriptures tell us that she lied because she was scared and said, “I did not laugh.”

But Lord, said, “Yes you did laugh.”

I have been journeying through Abraham’s story and meditating on him as I have moved to LA and this new land. It has been a rich time for me.

In light of the recent breakthroughs in our funding and just reflecting on all that God has done in our life and ministry the last month, I sense God calling me out today.

“Yes you did laugh, Beau.”

You see, God has given me some incredible breakthroughs the last few weeks, but just before that I was living in some great anxiety.

Two of these breakthroughs not mentioned yet is that God has started a Greek InterVarsity in the Asian Greek Council at USC (pic below) and also provided me leaders on the Panhellenic and NPHC (Historically Black Sororities) Council. We could potentially have Greek InterVarsity in every council at USC by winter and that would be unprecedented in our movement. I am praying and believing for this move of God!

The first Greek InterVarsity on the Asian Greek Council at USC. 8 members showed up to dream about a space for God in these fraternities and sororities!

I am taking some time this week to reflect on these breakthroughs and ask God what he wants to teach me about trusting him when I can’t see the outcome.

One of the questions that I am reflecting on this week is

“How does God want to shape me more like Abraham?”

Continue Reading

Jesus talking with Peter about the great catch

Raising support is a huge part of any missionary, pastor, or A.P.E. leaders life. I would venture to say that especially for apostolic leaders that are either going to oversee the mission of an organization or leave and go start new things, support raising and trusting God for provision will be a huge part of their life and calling.

I would also say that apostolic leaders in the marketplace, many who are entrepreneurs, are going to have to raise capital and trust God for financing in many projects.

Apostolic leaders risk big by God’s leading and many times those risks are financial.

I hope this story below really encourages you to stay the course and follow God into your calling no matter the financial ramifications or amount of trust you have to exercise.

Challenges in Fundraising

In a previous post about God calling us onward, I explained the joys and challenges of leaving your life behind in one city to go to another. I laid before you the difficulty of moving to Los Angeles and losing $25,000 of support in our transition.

As I shared with people the vision, some moved on because they felt called to other things. That is totally understandable and expected.

One person who stopped supporting our mission asked me,

“when do you get too old for this?”

Ouch.

After a number of people leaving our team, and not having any new people say yes to funding our mission to LA Greeks, it was hard many days to keep the faith and believe in our calling. As strong as you want to be and no matter how much you know you are called and heard from God, this kind of repsponse can be discouraging.

On my worst days I needed people to remind me of my call and not to give up as I dreamt about other jobs.

On my best days, I was full of faith, reminding my self that I do not live by sight but by faith and that God would provide what we need. Just hang in there and keep doing what you are doing. Be faithful in the little things every day.

However, the reality at the end of every day the last three months was this:

We were in LA now: a more expensive city, a bigger ministry, and more money to raise.

Because I took a director position I wasn’t just responsible to oversee my own support, but the other staff in the ministry and all the operating costs as well.

Breakthrough in Funding

Well just last Friday I got a game changing call!

Continue Reading