ie:missional teaching. glocalizing. living. serving. repenting. incarnating. loving. repeating.

December 17, 2007

A Christmas Tale Report

Filed under: Gospel,Missional,Music,Photos — Marty Duren @ 8:52 pm

A while back I wrote of our opportunity at Lake Lanier Islands Magical Nights of Lights. All the performances are now behind us, so I can reflect on them in hindsight.

The first weekend had weather that could not have been more perfectly ordered. The Saturday night performances (there were four each night) had short-sleeved audiences as the temps stayed in the mid-50’s until about 9:30. It was amazingly comfortable for the second week of December. It had also been dry the entire time which made stage construction and rehearsals go well.

Friday of the second weekend was picture perfect again for weather. The forecast in the first part of the week had not been encouraging, but God gave us fair weather again. Saturday night was when He chose to answer all those prayers for rain…again. It rained from the late afternoon virtually all through the performance times, so we were forced to cancel. Sunday was very, very cold, but we were able to do three performances before it dipped into the 20’s with a strong wind making it simply unbearable.

All in all we think we had somewhere north of 1,000 in attendance even with the cancellations and the bitter cold of the last night. Remarkably, some of the most encouraging comments came from the park employees themselves with whom we were able to interact repeatedly. We’ve been told that Lake Lanier Islands has received a large number of calls commending the performances and we’ve now been asked if we can do something for Easter Sunday.

I’m very, very grateful for such an amazing church–it is humbling to be in partnership with such a people. I’m also eternally thankful that God allows His people to be in partnership in the missio dei. Below are a couple of photos from a dress rehearsal (sunglasses notwithstanding) and you can check out my flickr slideshow–A Christmas Tale 2007. (If you’ve never viewed a flickr slideshow, click the “i” in the middle of the slide to activate any comments on the photo.)
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Michael Chassner as a shepherd. You’ve never had chills until you’ve heard a Jewish believer in Jesus sing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel! Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to thee O Israel.”

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Abigail Duren in performance costume standing in front of the “Christmas” banner.

November 27, 2007

A Christmas Tale

Filed under: Culture,Gospel,Missional,Music — Marty Duren @ 12:10 pm

Each year the resort known as Lake Lanier Islands, which is a mere 1 mile from our campus, hosts a very popular Christmas attraction called, “The Magical Nights of Lights.” Thousands upon thousands of people pack into cars, vans and buses and pay a hefty amount to drive through a million light display commemorating partridges in pear trees, elves, and the birth of Christ among other things. One feature of recent years has been a living Nativity Scene sponsored by a local church about 10 miles from us. I think that they do it nightly for about 3 weeks leading up to Christmas.

Last year for our New Bethany Christmas presentation, we did a musical drama called, A Christmas Tale, which won rave reviews from our church. The house was pretty full for the three nights that we held it. This year, as a result of the vision of our Worship Pastor, Dan Brothers, we will be doing 24 performances of A Christmas Tale at the Magical Nights of Lights–four performances a night for two consecutive Fri-Sun weekends. A total of three casts, a choir and live band (not to mention sound and lighting personnel and more than 30 volunteers for greeting and inviting). Our performance area will be across from the area known as, Santa’s Workshop, the home of shops, eats and the Holiday Carnival which is a small amusement ride area. Performances have been promoted both in the local news paper and yesterday on the morning show of on of the major Atlanta news channels.

This type of ministry opportunity is exactly what we are regularly hoping to do–it’s outside the walls, it’s different from what people expect and it speaks the cultural language.  We really don’t have any idea what to expect as far as crowds go; we could play for as few as 25 or to a full house (about 300 portable chairs) at each performance.  Our hope is that by being where people are that the glory of God will be displayed and the gospel declared in a way that breaks down barriers, overcomes disillusionment and plants seeds in the lives of many.  Who knows, we might even get to experience a harvest!

November 14, 2007

Great Mission Conference

Filed under: Gospel,Mission — Marty Duren @ 10:18 am

I returned Tuesday afternoon from dropping of one of our M’s at the airport, which was the official close of our Mission Conference on Sunday. Our first one that we have done during my pastorate, we did a simple all day Sunday meeting with lunch provided and breakout sessions. We were blessed to have Joe and Linda from Townsend, TN, who are resort M’s with NAMB, Tara Jonick and Cheryl Elkins both of whom minister in “inner city” areas of Atlanta, Pastor Jay Juan (and his family) from 1st Papago Baptist Church in Sells, AZ, Joe W who lives in Belarus and Jim Capaldo and Scott Gilbert from T–a.

Jim brought our message on Sunday AM, beginning by quoting the book of Titus.  The then elaborated on holistic evangelism using Paul’s emphasis on “good works” throughout the book as a basis.  It was exceptional.  Our meal and afternoon breakout sessions were well attended and I’ve heard nothing but good things in response.  A relatively new believer said to me this morning, “I’ve never really thought about the fact that there are people in the world who don’t even know who God is.  I just took it for granted that everyone knew something about Him.”

Our adoption of the T—n people is moving forward and gaining speed.  We now have two churches partnering with us and I am talking with another pastor in a couple of weeks.  If you would like to discuss your church being a part of this network of churches, please let me know.  Ten to fifteen churches partnering together will make a difference in this entire people group.

September 19, 2007

The Future of Mission

Filed under: Gospel,Mission — Marty Duren @ 9:06 am

A recent Christian Post article entitled Should Churches Tithe Membership to Reach the Lost? piqued my curiosity as it touched on some thoughts I had recently been turning over in my mind. From the article:

The IMB is urging Southern Baptists for 3,000 more active missionaries around the world for a total deployment of 8,000. There are currently 5,000 missionaries and 200 new missionaries are scheduled for dispatch to overseas mission fields in 2007-2008.”Adding 3,000 new missionaries might be a difficult task if we were starting out with no resources, but the truth is that those 3,000 new missionaries are already sitting in our churches, and the finances to support them are already in our pockets. Itâ??s not a hard task,” Fort said at a Southern Baptist missionaries gathering last week, according to the IMB.

Questions: Are Americans best suited to serve as M’s in closed countries?

With the greatest transfer of wealth taking place in the current passing of generations, what does the influx of that money have to do with world mission?

What is the best use of that money?

What is a workable strategy when many willing people are in countries that have less affluence and less financial support?

Is the role of churches to provide M’s through agencies or to connect more directly?

Thoughts?  Anybody know where all of this is heading?

August 1, 2007

Brazil, Part 3

Filed under: Gospel,Leadership,Mission — Marty Duren @ 7:27 am

Without a doubt, one of the most exciting, passionate-for-the-kingdom churches I have ever attended is First Baptist Church of Campo Grande, Brazil. Located in the western state of Mato Grasso du Sol (South Mato Grosso, which borders both Paraguay and Bolivia), Campo Grande is a bustling city of 7-800,000. Near the city center is the campus of FBC, led by Senior Pastor, Gilson Breder.

Breder, pastor for the past 16 years, is a 54 year old with enough energy to power most of the city. He has both vision and passion to reach the lost in their city (primarily through cell groups), to plant churches and to send out missionaries, all of which they have done and are doing. My primary reason for going was to learn about their cell group ministry, but I received so much more.

Eight years ago, one of the pastoral staff, Pastor Leo, was burdened that the church could do a more effective job of evangelism and ministry if it moved to a cell group model. Beginning with a single cell group of leaders the church now fields 160 groups each week with a goal to begin 95 or so new groups within the next year. If there is one word that pervades the cell ministry it is multiplication-everyone talks about it. They truly understand that expanding the number of groups gives the most people ministry opportunities and creates more relational opportunities for evangelism. From 42 year old mission pastor Djalma Alberquerque to 29 year old cell leader Andrea to 23 year old leadership supervisor Yuri Breder to 18 year old cell leader Marissa, everyone knows that multiplying their group is the best opportunity to reach the teeming masses of Campo Grande.

Another thing that I learned is that at least one Brazilian church has learned to implement leadership principles while many American Christians are still debating whether business principles have any place in church. FBC Campo Grande is a leadership training machine. The leadership conference that was part of the weekend was attended (on average) by more than 10% of the normal attendance. Each of their 160 cell groups has an assistant leader that is being prepared to lead a group.

In the music ministry, multiplication is also a core value. Of the 5 or so sessions of the leadership conference, they never had the same praise team singers or band members twice. Not twice in a row, but twice! And, though the majority of attendees and participants are young and single, the entirety of the conference was attended by one particular lady who appeared to be in her 60’s along with her mother who was 92.

Prayer times both in cell groups and in the normal “worship service” are marked by passionate beseeching with tears flowing easily and pervasively across the room or auditorium. When I compare the many rote prayers of North American believers (often my own), I can see why God is so busy south of the equator. If you ever get a chance to visit FBC, I would encourage you to spend your annual convention money to go.

One story: The first time on the campus, I noticed a hippie-looking guy sitting outside the door selling trinkets (bracelets and anklets) that he had made. I thought, “That’s pretty cool that they allow him to do that and don’t run him off or call security on him.”

The next day we drove by and Pastor Gilson excitedly exclaimed over his shoulder, “Did you see the hippie?!” “Yes,” we responded. “He’s a believer in Jesus and a member of our church!” Sure enough, I was able to locate him in the crowd each session for the rest of the weekend. Later, they enlarged on the story. When “the hippie” got saved, the members of the church tried to get him job training and help him move up the ladder of social and economic productivity. His response was, “I could do that. But, if I do I will lose contact with my people. If I don’t reach them, who will?” His goal now is to go back and finish high school, then go to seminary and prepare to be a missionary in his culture.

Yes, Todd and I bought a bunch of stuff from him!

I thank God for the opportunity for this trip and for making provision for me to be able to go. I trust that our church will be able to implement some of the principles that were passed along and gain the passion for the lost that so many people at FBC Campo Grande have in their lives.

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