If you are new to this blog....

Welcome! The primary purpose of this blog is to explore and encourage around what it means to be winsome and sent into the world for God's glory. If you are new here, the definition of "lighthouse-searchlight" or our missional journey is a good place to start. Come peruse the blog and add me to your RSS feed!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

the prime directive?

Several friends and family have asked me for a definition of the "missional church". In a compelling summary of the recent Presbyterian Global Fellowship (PGF) conference, Quotidian Grace quotes speaker Michael Frost:

Just as God reveals Himself through Jesus as the sent and serving God, His Son and Spirit sends us into the lives and needs of others. We need to abandon the church attitude of "come to us and see Jesus" for going into the world to represent Jesus and to invite others to be disciples. The issue is about the stance we adopt to the world around us.
This is indeed a good definition of being the "missional church."

HOWEVER, as I responded to Michael Frost previously, Jesus' "sent-ness" is not the only revelation or reality in scripture. God is worthy of our worship, adoration, praise, obedience, and service. Worship and mission are integrally related. Jesus, sent into the world, nonetheless had regular times to retreat, be alone, pray, and worship.

The missional church movement is a needed response to country-club church and narcissistic Christianity. But, as needed as that pendulum swing is, my prayer is that it not swing us away from a biblical and vital worship relationship with God.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

spheres of influence

At our annual church family retreat last weekend, we studied Acts 1:8 and Jesus’ promise that believers will receive the Holy Spirit and be empowered to be witnesses “in Jerusalem… in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

We explored what this means personally. Each of us has “spheres of influence” – our own mission fields that God calls us into. This graphic shows a few of these and the expanding circles of influence radiating out from ourselves to those nearest (Jerusalem) to further away, but sharing some commonalities (Judea/Samaria), to the furthest reaches of influence (remotest part).

What are your spheres of influence? …the golf course? … the YMCA? … your children or grandchildren? … ‘virtual’ friends on the Internet? Consider who you are closest to and how God would have you shine Christ’s light in those relationships. Seek those who are further out from you, but with whom you share interests. Ask God to use you for His purposes. And tell me what happens!


Thursday, August 02, 2007

concentric circles

This will be brief... I wanted to get something up before being gone for 10 days to church family camp at Bonclarken, then vacation. When I return, I'll flesh this out a bit.

At church family camp, we are going to study Acts 1:8, where, having been filled with the Spirit, the early believers are charged to carry the message to Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria, and the ends of the earth. I am going to lead the campers through a personal and church exercise on our own "Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria, ends of the earth" as we think about personal ministry and mission.

Before that, though, we are going to talk about God's promise to pour out His Spirit and the ways that sin keeps us from fully experiencing the power and presence of the Spirit. These are a reverse of the Jerusalem-Judea-etc... concentric circles.

At our furthermost "boundary" we miss experiencing the Holy Spirit because we get distracted. We grow blind, deaf, and dumb (like the famous "Pinball Wizard"!) to God's Holy Spirit because we stop "setting our eyes on Jesus" (Hebrews 12:1). We become deaf to God's prophetic Word.

Closer in to home, we disobey God and those sins keep our back turned toward God. We lose sight of His face and lose our vision.

Closest to our core, we keep committing what many consider the basest Sin - idolatry, particularly self-idolatry. We fail to yield our will to God's will, and we dream our own dreams rather than those of God's Spirit.

My use of "prophecy, visions, and dreams" from the Pentecost passage is broad in application of those specific concepts, but illustrates how we block ourselves from the promised and poured out Holy Spirit. Without that Spirit, we cannot join God's mission to the world (or even our Jerusalem).

First, before missions, we must repent and throw ourselves again on God's mercy and grace; then,
empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are sent out, blessed by God.

More, with graphics, when I return.


** Does anybody use a blog-reader (is that the same as an aggregator?)... I've just discovered Google Reader and it makes keeping up with the 25 or so blogs I used to randomly access a piece of cake. All new posts from all of them in one place, with the ability to tag, forward, etc... Is this old news to some of you, or do you use something similar?


Wednesday, August 01, 2007

lighthouse sports

This is to community development and tennis what being a lighthouse/searchlight for Jesus is all about... and it's my dad.

Original Article in the Greenville News HERE

Text follows:


Bobby Austell
Kroc Center organizer is a pro at fundraising


Published: Wednesday, August 1, 2007 - 2:00 am
By Abe Hardesty - CITY PEOPLE WRITER



Bobby Austell gets watery-eyed when he contemplates the possibilities that the planned Joan Kroc Center will provide.

"It's inconceivable, how many lives this will touch," says Austell. "This is not a five-year project -- this will help people for generations."

The planned Kroc Center, which can become a $50 million reality if local organizers can raise $15 million, will provide country-club amenities at affordable prices for all Greenville County residents.

"Fifteen million to bring in $50 million? That's the investment of a lifetime," says Austell, who, after a 40-year career in investment banking, knows a great deal when he sees it.

The potential in this deal energizes Austell, who envisions tennis programs that will unite new, young players with experienced instructors -- in a scenario that was beyond Austell's dreams when he learned the game of tennis 50 years ago. In fact, the Kroc Center is beyond anything Austell or other tennis lovers could have dreamed of just five years ago.

Austell is a passionate co-chairman of a campaign that needs $600,000 to reach its goal -- a considerable sum, but one that seems small in comparison to the $50 million of benefits that it can bring. That rate of return is certainly attractive to Austell.

Austell also knows, better than most, that the competitive sport of tennis can have a significant long-term impact on the life of a South Carolina youngster. In his native Spartanburg, Austell began playing tennis at age 15 and continues to play it today in senior amateur competition.

In an era when teaching professionals were rare in Upstate South Carolina, Austell learned his tennis with little coaching.

"I learned by watching good players. It was not until college that I had someone helping me," says Austell, the top player at Davidson College in the early 1960s.

Austell graduated from Spartanburg High in 1959 and majored in economics at Davidson. He served in the U.S. Army, earned an MBA and came to Greenville in 1966 to work in the investment division of the Liberty Corp.

That potential for quality instruction and the opportunities to play on 16 well-maintained courts is the stuff of Austell's latest dreams.

"We'll have a professional staff that will be able to teach the game to a lot of kids who might not otherwise get the opportunity," says Austell. "I'm excited about that. I'm passionate about the opportunity to do outreach programs to those living nearby."

Austell, a tennis coach at Christ Church Episcopal School, has long been inspired by the tennis exploits of the late Arthur Ashe -- whose raw talent was spotted on a tennis court in Richmond when he was a teen. Ashe later emerged as a Wimbledon champion and one of America's greatest players of his era.

"There could be some Arthur Ashe or Venus and Serena Williamses right here on the West End, who have never had a tennis racquet in their hand. This will bring tennis to these kids and it will help them the rest of their lives," says Austell.

With 16 courts, the Kroc Center will have the capability of serving about 3,000 tennis players a year.

"If only 10 percent of them take up the game, that's 300 new players a year. Then those kids will get other kids interested. It will help kids for years and generations."

Austell envisions clinics throughout the year and summer programs that will bring college players to the Kroc Center to serve as volunteer tutors for an audience of young people who do not have economic access to country clubs.

"For me, it's more than exciting -- I'm passionate," says Austell. "On top of that, there's an amazing endowment that will allow this to happen for many, many years -- for centuries."

The Kroc Center got Austell's attention two years ago, when the Salvation Army of Greenville made its bid for what was then a $46 million gift. Austell called Ben Crider, a close friend, to congratulate him on the Salvation Army's efforts.

He also wondered if the Kroc Center plans, which included swimming and golf, could also be amended to include tennis. Crider informed him that while tennis had not been addressed in the initial proposal, it could be added to the plan if the local organization could convince the Kroc Foundation of the need and explain how any additional costs might be covered.

Austell responded with a report that used USTA statistics to point out that Greenville presently has one public tennis court for every 13,000 residents; Columbia and Charleston, by contrast, offer one public court for every 7,000 residents.

"It was easy to prove there was a need," says Austell, who co-chaired a steering committee with Ralph Walker.

After agreeing to co-chair the steering committee, Austell was asked to co-chair the total campaign. "I don't know if that was a weak moment or an inspired moment," Austell says of his decision to accept that role.

"The timing was right with some things going on in my life," says Austell, who had recently retired from the banking business. "A year earlier, I couldn't have done either (role)."

The addition of the tennis program, which was later approved by the Kroc Foundation, raised the value of the planned local facility by another $4 million. Austell, who also serves on the Kroc Center board, headed a group that raised $1 million.

By late July, the Salvation Army had raised $14.4 million.

"We're coming down the third-base line. We're almost there," says Austell. "This is one of those things that seems too good to be true -- but it's really going to happen."

As Austell and others try to find the remaining $600,000, he also ponders the possibilities. He's held discussions with NCCAA Director Dan Wood about the possibility of staging the organization's national championships at the Kroc Center's 16 outdoor courts, and the possibility of a summer program that would enable students from those Christian colleges to serve as volunteer tutors at the Kroc Center.

"It just gets better and better," says Austell.

"It's all about helping people use sports excellence to help people. How many will get college scholarships 10 years from now because of this? There will be some. I can see it happen."

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