Test Run Life

     Sometimes I feel like I am always the guinea pig. Do you ever feel that way? When I was younger, I always resented that because the first guinea pigs always get the hardest tests. In testing labs, they usually die the most gruesome deaths. "Oops! I guess we won't try that again..." I just watched a history channel - type video about World War 2's secret weapons and the development of technology by genius individuals. I kinda feel sorry for the test pilots of those aircraft that had never been tested before. It's not like there was a flight simulator available or anything... If they crashed, many times they died.

     But, here's one thing that inspires me about "guinea pigs:" it's all about progress and development. If you find something that you can give your life to, it won't seem like that much of a sacrifice to be a guinea pig. Wanting to develop a way for missions to be done more efficiently and effectively, I've dedicated myself to become the guinea pig doing the test run on this. Why try to encourage others to try what I have not been successful at myself? With that in mind, I am eager and zealous to do something great in the local church that I am part of. This realization has been sobering too, but it has been an encouragement to work with Daniel (the Pastor's son) here who is also somewhat of a visionary. We see the great potential that Grace Baptist Church has to grow and expand in the community. Can I be completely honest here? It's completely by faith in what we believe God can do through two individuals willing to serve and obey God. When we are successful, not a single future missionary can use as an excuse that their church is too small to send them. We can point back to what God did (will do) with Grace Baptist Church. In light of what we believe about God, Daniel and I are planning on getting ready for future growth.

     Along the same lines of being a guinea pig, God will never lead us into a situation for the purpose of hurting us. God doesn't experiment because He already knows the outcome. That's a comforting thought. Every guinea pig experience is a chance to develop. So, starting this Sunday, I will be teaching the teens and it will be my responsibility to handle all of the activities that we do each month. I have never been a youth pastor before - this is gonna stretch me. But that's a good thing. I pray for the young men and women that they will have the patience to stay as I grow into the role. I think the patience-thing will be a two-way street. Without God all over this, I will fail miserably -same with the Gospel Lilypad Project. Here's to being a guinea pig!

Missions Video Published to Youtube!

To be honest, I really don’t have much talent in the way of creating videos, but then again I’m a missionary not a computer expert. In fact, I really wish that someone else would catch the vision and put them together for me. Microsoft’s Movie Maker isn’t the best program, but that’s what I have. And even though it took hours for me to make this four minute missions video, I really feel like it could be improved. Please watch it and feel free to suggest improvements or maybe make recommendations as to who might be willing to do a better job. The cause is that important. Enjoy.


Gospel Lilypad Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_72MPoPZ3I

Click here for our GLP Youtube video! 

Revolution

While driving from Arizona to Pennsylvania, I had some time to ponder how we view missions across the pond. Keep in mind, this outline isn't perfect but should provide some insight into what the first Lilypad concept is about.




Here are the Steps of Revolution:

1. Realize the current failure
A. 67% of missionaries reach the field.
B. 75% of missionaries that reach the field never complete even their first term of four years

2. Calculate the money lost through failure.
A. The estimated $300k - $600k and upwards that is spent to travel on deputation
B. Only 16.5% of all money spent by missionaries actually goes to further missions (67% make it, 25% stay longer than 4 years)

3. Not Biblical vs. unBiblical
A. No Biblical bases either way
B. Just the methodology of the 1950s

4. Need to evolve to something that will work
A . Failure to change will not change the failure.
B. Time and resources are decreasing
C. Defeat breeds defeat
D. Technology, political and cultural atmospheres have changed

5. Expansionist thinking must be used
A. Using the resources of freely giving people cannot but be an asset
B. Being good stewards of what God has offered in the way of resources, talents, and technologies will be rewarded with trust, credibility, and success
C. Prayer, ingenuity, and work will be required to make necessary changes

6. Churches must be taught to operate locally but think globally
A. Prepare for the future by budgeting money away for investment into and preparation of church members
B. If you have ten 5-year olds, you have 12-13 years to save money for Bible college scholarships for as many as will surrender to go. (Families more likely to stay)
C. When young men and women see that their church is behind them, they will be more likely to step out.
D. Following current examples of the local church plan makes the whole process less foreign and more likely to be chosen
E. Bible institutes are first choice and Bible colleges second
F. All graduates would be required to complete a successful internship (bringing 5-10 families, discipling them, taking part in ministry, determining their spiritual gifts and specific place of calling)
G. The pastor would choose a veteran missionary for the intern to work under until language and culture are acquired
H. After one term, the new missionary would start a new work in the language and culture that they have already learned and adapted to.

GLP Community

Last night, we finally received our Photoshop art work from one of our volunteers. We needed the talents of Philip to create some concept art to be used in explanation of Gospel Lilypad procedures. Thank you Philip for your hard work and well-used time to make it for us!

We are also glad to announce that we now have a Google+ Community as of yesterday. Yippee! We haven't advertised it much yet, but hopefully such a forum will allow us a discussion board for future ideas and opinions on plans. Anyone who would like to join and take part can search and find it. Just send us a request to join and we will respond 99% of the time within the next 12-24 hours.

Why Missions Does Not Take-Off

To some this does not apply, but for those to whom it does...

Who would volunteer to dedicate their life to four years of dragging themselves and their family all across the country to beg at churches and hopefully not give any pastors an excuse for not supporting them?
 
Who would want to do that?

That is what we expect our missionaries and their families to do...

Are local, independent, fundamental Baptists able to send their own young men and women out and say, 

"Don't worry, we'll take better care of you than that. In fact, we've planned for God to use you so we saved our money as a church and waited for this day to come."

That seems so foreign to us doesn't it?

We wonder why so many young people grow up and wander away from God's will for their lives.
Imagine with me for just a minute as you think of the last time you watched a rocket or a shuttle launch into the atmosphere. Was it alone standing there on the launchpad? No. There is a launch tower (supplying guidance) or at least a service tower or "gantry" (supplying fuel and and support cargo). Very few of us would sell everything and travel with the Gospel to a people group speaking a foreign language. We would feel stranded and lost the moment we arrived. Why then do we send missionaries (if at all) to fend for themselves. Would you agree that they would need more than a little pocket change from each of us to get the job done?
We may have to give up the Sea-doo, the deer stand, or the beach condo idol that keeps us from serving in and through our local church. But that shouldn't be a problem, right, since we are not our own, but rather bought with a price?


To send some soldiers off to fight overseas in the Great Cause that affects us all, yet do nothing to push the front line back where you live is counterproductive. It has been said that in regards to missions, there are three options, "Go, Send, or Disobey." Surely, we must go when called and support those we send.

We must send in five main parts:

First, we must prepare the children in our churches from the earliest of ages. Sunday school must be taught by prepared and Holy Spirit-controlled teachers. Sunday School is only a reinforcement though for the devotional time that each family has together around God's Word. Each father and mother must be sensitive to God's plan and direction for their child and willing to let that child serve God how and where the Lord decides.  
Second, each church should budget its money in order to save toward sending those future young men and women to Bible college and for what God calls them to do. Bible college should simply be a reinforcement of what the pastor teaches and should encourage that young man or woman to serve in his or her local church.
Next, with a new wave of trained young men and women, the local church can use their pre-established ministries and capacity to start new ministries as a training ground to give their young adults practical ministry training. The pastor should take time each week and train the young men interning part-time for future ministry.
Then, with a good amount saved for God's work through that generation, the pastor and church can send out those who will start new churches both domestic and foreign. With term of internship work bringing in new people who have been converted and discipled, the local church will have a greater capacity to send, the supported young men and women will have proven themselves, and those whom they have converted and discipled will be additional members to the dedicated prayer base for them.
(If one young couple is going to the foreign field, it would be best to have them intern with an independent, fundamental Baptist among that people group or culture. This will provide them an opportunity to adjust to the culture, learn the language, and learn missionary techniques. It is important that the missionary training your young missionary couple has a strong position on the authority of the local/sending church and will support that concerning your new missionary couple.)
Lastly, it will be necessary for the sending church pastor to visit the new domestic and foreign field churches as well. This will keep the vision of church reproduction alive and real in the mind and heart of both the pastor and the home/sending church. 

This is the philosophy of the Gospel Lilypad Project.
Each church is required to reproduce itself. If a church does not strive to accomplish that, then there is a great need to revolutionize its thinking. Once a church grabs hold of their Biblical mandate to replicate in other parts of their country and world, then it will be ready to start with the readying process. When a local church is ready to send their missionaries to the foreign field, it is best to reinforce that which already remains abroad in order that the first-term missionaries can begin relating with and respond to the culture and language before leaping straight into service completely alienated from everything. New missionaries who have acclimated to the culture and language group in the foreign country God has called them to have a much higher success-and-stay rate than those who pioneer with their only support being the knowledge of a monthly check. Please consider helping us help others.

You can catch us on Twitter by browsing for #gospellilypadproject or you can follow us on Facebook.
There is also an RSS feed option via Wordpress and a Google+ Page coming soon...

In a "Ribbit" What "GLP" Means...

In a "ribbit," what is the Gospel Lilypad Project?

It is part of a four-phase philosophy:

Phase 1: Revolutionize the way our independent, fundamental Baptist churches partake in Missions.
                     For more information, visit Need to Reevaluate Missions
Phase 2: Ready our churches to become Biblically, effectively involved in international outreach.
Phase 3: Reinforce already-existing foreign-field works by investment of our resources and by allowing                       them to provide support and training to newly arriving missionaries in that area.
Phase 4: Reproduce with another church, functioning later as another "lilypad" for future missions
                      work.

The Gospel Lilypad Project at this time is raising money to reinforce one such "lilypad" in Kharkov, Ukraine. The scope of this project will affect two future missionary couples in addition to two existing missionary couples. Our goal is $40,000 to reach current missions objectives and possibly complete secondary objectives (such as helping with necessary surgery for one of the missionaries).
We will need many volunteers to give of their talents in many areas: web design, video production, marketing, solicitation of donations, recruitment of new volunteers, prayer, and more. 

When we are successful, we will do this again probably in a different part of the world.
(Your recommendations and prayers as to where would be appreciated.)

To Volunteer, please send an email to: ForWordMissions@gmail.com

Eager but waiting...

I'm biting at the bit to get this all started, but I'd like to first have our project logo. It has to be original artwork - otherwise there would be the danger of copyright infringement. I want to do this project 100% above-board in every area and facet of what we are working toward. I've even thought of taking up acrylic painting again just to get it done!
Praise the Lord that I had a good conversation with my hiking partner named Bob. He's a winter visitor to Arizona here and is from Washington State where I am originally from. He expressed his willingness to help be one of the 100 callers we need to help fundraise and spread the word about the project. That was encouraging.

I've been making sketches of what I'd like to see take place amongst our fundamental Baptist churches today. Every church needs to be the epicenter of its members' lives. I was talking with my wife Katrina about how churches grow so fast their first couple of years but then slow down and agonizingly increase from then on. What's different? Usually, in the early days, a church family will fellowship together in so many more ways than 1-2 church services. Potlucks, softball games, picnics, family activities, etc all encourage more people to visit and join that church community. That's just what churches should continue to do - fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ and give their lost friends something to desire to belong to. Of course, this should not exclude the importance of daily witnessing. I believe that it should also be a church function (after all it is the church's mission). The second thing churches need to do is save money for the future of their young people. What if God calls them to a Bible college and/or to be a missionary: will the church be able to help that young man or woman with their training? Will that church be financially able to send that young person to the mission field or did you think to plan for that?

I believe it wise that we protect our investment. That's why the Gospel Lilypad Project exists. Surely, we will build places for your young people to serve on the foreign field and receive further overseas assistance. With only a very few making it longer than 3 years these days, something has to be done.