Just got word from a local crisis pregnancy center that yesterday’s May snow storm stopped a girl from going to her scheduled abortion. Instead, she came into the clinic. She thought she was just a few weeks along in her pregnancy, but at the clinic learned that she was really fairly late in her pregnancy. She changed her mind and made the choice for life for her baby!

We can’t know all the purposes of an unseasonal snow storm in Iowa, but we can know the One who orchestrates history for His glory. This is a good reminder to resist complaining and to give thanks for all things, because it is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus, (1 Thess. 5:18).

One hundred years after Roland Allen’s immensely popular book Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? was published, Robert Plummer and John Mark Terry revisit the insights of Allen from a modern perspective in their Paul’s Missionary Methods: In His Time and Ours. The book has chapters from several contributors and the editors divide the material into two sections: Paul in the New Testament and Paul’s Influence on Missions.

Paul in the New Testament: this section focused on Paul’s message in the first century context.

Paul’s missionary work focused on regions with certain similarities: “provinces that contained a Roman administration, Greek culture, and Jewish influence and that bustled with commercial activity.” Allen speculated that “these centers were the more conducive to promoting the gospel in its wide environs.” Though Paul went to Gentile regions and communicated in ways that were understandable to Gentiles, he identified himself as Jewish teacher and often began his work in an area at the synagogue, spoke in the international language of Greek, and seemed to engage anyone who would listen, “men and women, rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles, in the synagogue and in the marketplaces and in homes.”

Paul sees missionary work as “laying the foundation” through proclamation, but reminds readers that God causes the growth. His goal is boldness and faithfulness to the message to win as many people as possible, not pragmatic effectiveness.

Benjamin L. Merkle’s chapter on ecclesiology is especially helpful for cross-cultural ministers. For some reason the disorientation that comes from living cross-culturally causes workers to either assume that their home church structure should be wholly adopted into the new culture or wholly ignored as irrelevant to the new culture. Merkle offers clear New Testament handles that are especially useful for cross-cultural ministers as they give instruction in a context where the gospel has not been established.

Christoph W. Stenschke’s chapter on the mission of the church gives practical instruction for churches in being involved in mission. His insights on a church’s mission commitment, financial maintenance of missionaries, supplying co-workers, prayer for unbelievers, and prayer and encouragement of missionaries are useful for any church.

Paul’s influence on Missions: this section focused on Paul’s strategy in missions. Did he really have one and does it apply today?

David Hesselgrave’s chapter focused more on continuing Allen’s principle of “Generational Resubmission” (a re-examining of ministry principles in the context of a new generation) that were relevant to Allen’s work in 1912, but even more in around 1960 when his book become much more popular. For today Hesselgrave recommends resubmission for examination such current issues as: Evangelicals and Catholics Together, New Perspectives on Paul, The Emerging Church, Supersessionism and “Replacement Theology”, and Revisionist Holism.

The authors draw principles of missionary strategy from Paul’s teaching and example. He saw his role as an itinerant church planter that worked on a team, went to more responsive people within hub cities in concentrated area, appointed and developed local indigenous elders to lead churches that are properly contextualized to their culture according to God’s Word, and financed with local (and not dependent upon outside) resources.

The only beef I have with the book is that it tries too hard to both be the new “Missionary Methods” for today and at the same time honor Roland Allen. At times when reviewing a missions principle, the authors seemed just as concerned to confirm that Roland Allen would have agreed as the New Testament.

I recommend this book to those who have enjoyed Roland Allan’s Missionary Methods and those who want to get a handle on New Testament principles in cross-cultural ministry.

Brandon Hatmaker in Barefoot Church shares his church’s values and his experience in serving an urban community. Hatmaker stays in the radical middle between the “missional” and “attractional” constructs of church. He is not attempting to promote one or the other, but simultaneously both. He makes it clear that he views evangelism as distinct, though not separate from social action.

In his church, Hatmaker created a structural necessity of community service by expecting all of his church’s small groups to spend half of their time serving together. He claims that if small groups focus on community rather than mission they may get neither. However if a small group focuses on mission it will likely get both community and mission. This is the best insight of the book in my opinion.

Barefoot Church also is highly decentralized. Hatmaker regards community service that is organized primarily by church staff as non-sustainable. The more people mature in Christ the less they should need motivation and structure provided by someone else.

For Hatmaker, community service is much more than helping the needy or obeying the instructions of Christ. Service is a way to help the church get into the community so that the community doesn’t withdrawal from the church. Unbelievers are far more likely to join together with a church service project than a worship service.

I disagreed with Hatmaker in at least two ways:

One disagreement is with his statement that in order for a church to reach a community, it needs to be attractive to all of the community. While I get the desire to be sensitive to the whole community, it is rare that I church can be a good fit for every population segment. Trying to accommodate the needs of every audience will work as well as an FM radio station that plays every kind of music. Instead of being a good fit for everyone, it will be a good fit to no one.

Another statement that I disagreed with was Hatmaker’s recommendation to church leadership to highly regard the opinions of those outside of the church on how church funds should be used. While these opinions may have some value, I don’t think that a church should feel compelled to highly regard the opinion of unconnected people or opinions that are not biblically informed.

Hatmaker has boldly created an environment that emphasizes service in his context. While I believe he overemphasizes some of his points, Barefoot Church provides some helpful insights for any church leader.

This is a spoof, but pretty close to reality!

Took a spin through the first few chapters of Revelation today. Often we focus on each church’s commendations and rebukes, but today I noticed a repeated pattern in all seven letters… I know your… this pattern reveals what Jesus notices in churches. Take a look:

In Ephesus: Jesus knows your true commitment to holiness. “I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil.” Revelation 2:2

In Smyrna: Jesus knows your true spiritual condition. “I know your affliction and poverty, yet you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:9.

In Pergamum: Jesus knows the reality behind the scenes of the context that you are in. ” I know where you live — where Satan’s throne is!” Revelation 2:13.

In Thyatira: Jesus knows the growth of your faithfulness to him. “I know your works — your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. Your last works are greater than the first.” Revelation 2:19.

In Sardis: Jesus knows the difference between your reputation and reality.  ”I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.” Revelation 3:1.

In Philadelphia: Jesus knows your faithfulness in the midst of weakness. “I know your works. Because you have limited strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name, look, I have placed before you an open door that no one is able to close.” Revelation 3:9.

In Laodicia: Jesus knows the real strength of your commitment to follow Him. “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.” Revelation 3:15.

Jesus knows us in our past, present, and future. Nothing can be hidden from him. This should give us both comfort and caution as we evaluate our faithfulness to Him.

Today we commissioned four staff families and others to move to Cedar Falls to start a church in the fall. Here is more information, introduction of staff, and key dates.

Below is the map of our current churches in our church planting network and plans. Blue pins are existing churches in the network, green are 2013 church plants, and red & gray are future plants.

The era of modern societies makes up only a tiny fraction of human history. To understand how humans interacted for most of history it is essential to understand traditional societies. In the last century some of the last traditional societies that have been untouched by modern societies, e.g. in Papa New Guinea, were contacted and often transformed by modern societies. In The World Until Yesterday Jared Diamond examines and contrasts traditional societies with modern societies.

The book’s sections touch on conflict resolution, warfare, child-raising practices, religion, treatment of the elderly, handling risk, the effects of multilingual environments, and diet in traditional and modern societies. Diamond does not idealize traditional societies’ practices nor immediately dismiss them either. For example, in his conflict resolution section Diamond highlights the priority of relationship repair in traditional societies that is missing from the formal court cases handled by third-party intermediaries like attorneys in modern societies. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages.

I greatly enjoyed Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel.  His Collapse was only so-so.  I give The World Until Yesterday 4 Stars for readers who are already predisposed to enjoying anthropology. If you aren’t a fan its 512 pages will seem too long.

On the site, you can select any country to see which countries people emigrate from or immigrate to. Immigration to the USA is below, the lines are linked to the countries where the people come from. This may give you some ideas for your church’s ministry. Click on either graphic to check it out!

This book greatly upgraded my reading experience. It includes a guide for various types of literature and various levels of reading, e.g. elementary, inspectional, analytical, and synoptical. I highly recommend it, you’ll wish you’d read it many books ago.

Restoring America One County at a Time was a fun read. I was expecting some tactical manual for political action at the county level, but McDurmon’s book was much more than that. He has much to say on taxation, education, currency, markets, national defense, and more. McDurmon examines the biblical basis of government and then describes how America’s governmental role got started, got off track, and ended up as the lumbering behemoth that it is today. The historical material is refreshing, not the conventional material covered in high-school text books designed for today’s government schools.

Let the reader understand: Restoring America does not call for a few tweaks on the current system. Though McDurmon promotes restoring America to the values of its past, I’m not sure that the America that he describes ever even existed after its beginning. His approach calls for maximum personal liberty and minimum government.

I recommend the book, it is a refreshing and radical departure in governing philosophy from the two nearly identical big government political parties that exist today. Ron Paul would be proud.