Here’s a huge question that has been stalking me for weeks now. If we brought every US Alliance international worker home and started all over again, where would we go? In other words, if we could make a fresh start today, to what countries would we go? What countries would we not go to? Let’s ponder this question in our hearts for a few moments . . .  
 
In some places where we have people today, we’d continue. In other places, we’d say, 
 
Having missionaries in this country last century was important, but it’s not as needed now. Today there are Alliance churches and many other partners there who can carry on the work. In alignment with the heart of the Apostle Paul and A.B. Simpson, let’s go to places and peoples where access to the gospel is critically low . . . that those who have not yet been told about him will see, and those who have not yet heard will understand. 
 
If we’re in countries we would not go to, we should put a transition plan in place and with resolve, graciously, gradually exit. History tells us those churches will get along much better without us than most of us would think . . . because even though we are no longer there, God is! And the more they depend upon him rather than us, the healthier they’ll be. 
 
The result of thinking through this strategic question well helps us see where we need to be going to push back the darkness!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Most who read this blog will never meet my Mother. She's 85 now, frail, with deteriorating eyesight. Recently she signed a power of attorney so that I could help her with her bill paying and banking. 
 
As I got into her financial records, I noticed a mysterious, monthly withdrawal of a relatively substantial amount. Concerned, I asked her for an explanation. "Oh, that's what I give to the Lord each month. I have a missons pledge, a building fund pledge, plus I give to support the on-going ministry of the church." I was shocked . . . the amount in question was nearly 40% of her very limited monthly income. 
 
I wanted to blurt out, "But Mom, that's too much. You're giving more than you can afford!" 
 
Before I could get these words out, Mom reassured me, "Bob, God has always taken care of me." 
 
Upon further reflection, I realized this kind of giving has been a part of Mom's heart and practice for years. She's obsessed with Jesus, and this is an expression of that holy obsession. Now it's up to me to not only be challenged by her example, but to follow in her footsteps. 
 
Malachi 3:7-10 puts the challenge before us: 
 
"Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty.  
 
But you ask, "How are we to return?" 
 
"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me." 
 
But you ask, "How do we rob you?" 
 
"In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-- the whole nation of you-- because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." 
 
I'm grateful for this heritage of giving!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Over the past few days we've had the agonizing experience of a personnel reduction of thirty missionaries. We worked feverishly over many months trying to avoid this. It got to the point recently where we realized we had no choice, especially in light of the economic challenges impacting our nation. As we shared this news, our missionaries (including those impacted)exhibited tremendous grace. It said so much about who they are and their trust in the God they serve. I'm convinced He is going to provide for them in amazing ways in the days ahead, continuing to use and bless their lives. 
 
A very articulate C&MA missionary, Tim, recounted some interesting facts from the past: 
 
DURING THE DEPRESSION 
 
-C&MA missionaries first entered Cote d'Ivoire in 1929-30, planting the first churches among the Baoule people. Today there are some 2,200 churches there with over 300,000 Alliance believers. 
 
-In 1929 Alliance workers went to Laos, out of which God called the Hmong people en masse to Himself. Due to war and persecution they have emigrated all over the world, taking the gospel with them. 
 
-When the depression was at its height, Robert Jaffray established the first congregations of the Kemah Injil Church in Indonesia, which now numbers about 2,500 churches and over one half million constituents. 
 
DURING WORLD WAR 2 
 
The Alliance refused to retreat under the pressure of war, pledging in 1942 to send out 250 new missionaries. Within four years, this goal had been achieved! 
 
DURING THE VIETNAM WAR 
 
2008 marked the fortieth anniversary of the ultimate sacrifice of Bob Ziemer, Ed and Ruth Thompson, Ruth Wilting, Betty Olsen, Carolyn and Leon Griswold, who died during the Tet offensive. Already in 1962 the Viet Cong had taken Archie Mitchell, Dr. Ardell Vietti and Dan Gerber from the Banmethuot Leprosarium. Today the Vietnamese C&MA (Tin Lanh) numbers over one million believers! 
 
DURING THIS RECESSION? 
 
What if the Alliance had turned inward during those trying times and followed the natural tendency to give less for fear of lack? What if we had retreated from a world in turmoil? What incredible opportunities might have been lost forever?  
 
Tim concludes his thoughts saying, "I am convinced that, during these hard times, history will record another remarkable advance of the gospel if we do not fall back!"  
 
While some might characterize the reduction of our missionary force by thirty persons as a retreat, my deepest longing is that His power be displayed so that we have greater impact than ever before. May we not shrink back. Thirty people is 5% of our Great Commission Fund-supported force. May He multiply our efforts and impact. May we be so consumed with passion for Him and His mission that we advance, even during these challenging times! 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

It's no secret. Our economy is heading southward and there's no quick, easy solution. Things are likely to get worse before they get better. What will be the impact of tough economic times when it comes to Alliance missions? Bringing international workers back to the homeland? Making major, ministry-impacting cuts in expenses? Being overwhelmed with fear, discouragement . . . even panic? 
 
Historically some of the greatest advances of the Church of Jesus Christ have taken place during tough times. That's when we're forced to rely on God rather than ourselves (2 Corinthians 1:9b). Whether it's been the economy, government opposition, an opposing belief system, or the failure of Christian leaders, God has enabled strength to be birthed in his people in their times of intense distress and weakness. 
 
Here are a words of hope for these challenging days: 
 
THIS SITUATION IS NOT A SURPRISE TO GOD - "Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all." (1 Chronicles 29:12). 
 
EVEN WHEN OTHERS ARE OVERWHELMED BY WHAT'S HAPPENING, BY KEEPING OUR EYES ON THE ETERNAL WE CAN BE REVITALIZED DAILY IN THE MIDST OF THIS TEMPORARY TREND - " . . . we do not loose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light a momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) 
 
GOD CAN DEMONSTRATE HIS POWER DURING OUR MOST VULERABLE TIMES - "'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power can rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness . . . in hardships . . . in difficultures. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) 
 
WE ARE TO BE PRAYERFUL, PEACE-FILLED HOPE BROKERS EVEN IN THE MOST TRYING OF TIMES - "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7) 
 
In tough times, solutions to longstanding problems are discovered. New, impactful models of ministry are developed. Bold faith risks are taken. In all of this, God prunes us in preparation for new growth. 
 
In light of these tough economic times, what's the future of Alliance missions? Change is inevitable. Trust in the Lord of the harvest is intensifying. Calmness is prevailing. Our ears and hearts are inclined towards him. . .  
 
BECAUSE "the God of all grace, who caled us to his eternal glory in Christ, after we have suffered a little while, will himself restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Peter 5:10-11) 
 
For God's people and his work, there are difficult but great days ahead!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

A recent picture I saw made me feel great angst and distress. It was taken in a country where the persecution of Christ followers has risen dramatically in the past year. A radical persecutor bent on destruction and death was standing on top of a church building. He was committing a lewd, vile act with the cross on the front roof of the church while others were cheering him on from below. Moments later another picture was taken showing this church building being torched by the persecutors. I felt my gut wrenching as I looked in shock at these pictures. 
 
Where is God in all of this? He is not asleep. He sees and knows what's happening, and His patience has limits. Because of who He is, there is hope. 
 
Here is a word for persecutors of those who worship Jesus Christ: "Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One . . . " (Isaiah 37:23). 
 
We know from Revelation 6:9-11 that a time will come when the blood of those killed "because of the word of God and the testimony they maintained" will be avenged. We also know that vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:19), that it is His to repay. As for us as Christ followers, we are to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21), loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). 
 
What do I do with my reaction to this man defiling a cross on top of a place where Christ followers worship? I must understand there's still time for him to repent, believe and acknowledge Christ as Lord. Like Saul of Damascus in Acts 9, this man's life can be radically transformed by Christ. Forgiveness and grace are richly available, even to persecutors. This seems counter-intuitive, yet it's true. 
 
At the same time, this forgiveness and grace will not last forever. The blood of Christ followers spilt at the hands of persecutors will be avenged in God's way, in His time.  
 
Lovers of Christ, take hope! 
 
Persecutors, respond to Christ's grace now . . . or face Him as the the rider on the white horse whose name is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11-16). He will avenge, He will bring judgment and justice in His time. 
 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Today I'm in the cold northern part of our country, and I've run into some areas where my cell phone coverage is not very strong. In fact in a few places I've been, I can't send / receive calls due to lack of coverage. When I'm in dead spots, it feels frustrating. 
 
In looking at our world, there are dead spots. They lack coverage. The people living in these areas have never had opportunity to hear, understand, and believe the good news of Jesus Christ. This Christmas, there will be no celebration in these dead spots. While we talk about the second coming of Christ in our churches, these are places where people have never heard about his first coming in Bethlehem. This both grieves and motivates me. 
 
In dead spots, many people are walking in darkness not because they have rejected the light. Rather the light has never shone where they are. They've lacked access to it. God can use us to turn this situation around! 
 
Through God's work through us, and our obedience to him, may the people walking in darkness see a great light. May a light dawn on those living in the shadow of death (Isaiah 9:2).  
 
Christmas began in the heart of God. It is not complete until it reaches the heart of man.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

The early church had the idea that there were three kinds of martyrs, and that in one way or another every Christ-follower can live out one kind: 
 
1) Martyrs in will and deed - like Stephen in Acts 7, a lover of Christ who gave his life for Christ 
 
2) Martyrs in deed, not in will - like the baby boys in Bethlehem in Matthew 2 who died for Christ without even knowing it 
 
3) Martyrs in will, not in deed - like John the apostle, who was the only one of the twelve disciples not to die a violent death . . . yet he loved Christ passionately and would have laid down his life for him 
 
While most Christ followers will not face 1 and 2 above, we all can be martyrs in will. We can be so in love with Christ and so full of his Spirit that everything we are and have is his. Then if in his loving sovereignty greater glory would come to him by our becoming martyrs in will and deed, we're ready. Rather than detracting from the impact and witness of our lives, dying for Christ as martyrs in will and deed adds a powerful exclamation point to our witness. 
 
"Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." (Luke 9:24)  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

A car jack enables leveraging. When I need to change a tire, the jack enables me to multiply or leverage my strength to lift up the car. The jack enables me to do more quickly and with greater ease and effectiveness what would otherwise take four or five really strong men much more effort to do. 
 
When thinking about leveraging, I realize there are opportunities to put this idea into practice in kingdom work. But I must be constantly on the lookout, asking God to show me leveraging opportunities, that which will give tactical advantage, that will multiply my efforts and effectiveness. 
 
Jesus used this principle in his interaction with the Pharisees in Matthew 22. As they tried to trap him in his own words regarding matters in the law, he asked them, "Show me the coin used for paying the tax" (Matthew 22:19). When they brought a coin to him, he pointed to the picture and inscription of Caesar stamped on it. He went on, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" (verse 21). He immediately overcame their arguments. He could have chosen to just state this principle. But he wisely saw a leveraging opportunity to convey it in a powerful form that everyone listening would quickly understand. By leveraging, the impact was much greater. 
 
A local church wanted its senior high students to get engaged in giving to God's work. A missionary came wanting the church to be a part of her support team. A wise leader saw a leveraging opportunity. "We'll match up to $500 over the next twelve months any money you can raise from our senior high youth." As a result, the missionary was moved to focus her efforts on the senior high students, impacting them and getting them engaged in supporting missions. And for every dollar she raised from them, the church added another dollar for her support.  
 
As you look at your investment in the work of the kingdom, ask God to give you eyes to discern leveraging opportunities. They're there . . . we just have to see them and use them wisely for that advance of the cause of Christ.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

The news again today was not encouraging. The price of crude oil is up, the stock market is down. The US Congress is wrestling with a massive bailout plan for the US financial industry, which is in deep trouble. Housing foreclosures are at unprecedented highs. It looks very distressing and feels downright overwhelming. 
 
While I'm not wishing or wanting this, what if we lost everything? What if our investments and retirement accounts became worthless numbers on paper? What if the US financial system collapsed? What if our personal net worths were reduced down to zero? 
 
This horrendous scenario would create chaos and conflict. But there would be one positive benefit that may not be easy for our greedy hearts to discern. Losing everything would take us back to what's most important in life. It would force us to either despair, or transition our trust from money to God. We'd sense pointedly our temporal, finite, vulnerable position in relation to a God who is eternal, without limits, and invincible. In spite of the pain and hardship all of this would entail, could it be a good experience for us? My answer is yes. 
 
In the midst of rising prices, declining property values, and a overall sobering economic picture, what's most important? Where should I be investing? Even in these challenging days, I can invest my time, talent, and treasure in what will last forever. I can give sacrificially and boldly of my resources for the building of a Kingdom that will not fail, that will never pass away. This is the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ!  
 
"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" -Jesus Christ, Matthew 16:26  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

We all know the Verizon commercials: one person talking on a cell phone . . . followed by a whole host of people who provide the network, who make it happen. 
 
This is 21st century missions. It isn't one person out there alone. It's all about the network . . . it's about international workers doing missions WITH the sending churches, not FOR the sending churches. It's about that international worker bringing others on board, using their gifts, training, and connections to make a strategic difference in kingdom ministry. It's about network synergy.  
 
What types of skills/gifts could we bring to bear, even on a short term basis, to expand God’s kingdom? Who do we know that brings a unique gift set/life experience to the table? And how could they work with others on the front lines of Alliance missions to make a difference? 
 
When I begin to imagine the possibilities, I say "Wow, God. What an incredible network You've created in Your people. May we use the network well, connecting the dots and the people so that Your kingdom advances . . . far beyond what we could ask or imagine!" 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Incrediblly inspiring. Amazingly creative. Absolutely fantasic! No question about it, the Chinese presented a breath-taking opening ceremony to an estimated 4 billion viewers from around the world! 
 
As I watched nearly 11,000 athletes enter the stadium in a parade of nations, tears came to my eyes more than once. Here was a kaleidoscope of skin color, culture, and language! Sensing the beauty of a humanity united by the olympics, the commentators were making statements like: 
 
- "Isn't this wonderful seeing the peoples of the world, with all their diversity, celebrating together!" 
 
- "No conflicts, no wars here this evening. Isn't it great the most bitter of enemies can put aside their differences for this very moving celebration!" 
 
- "This is the way it is supposed to be!" 
 
The human spirit longs for a day when peace will reign on the earth, when people from every ethnicity and nationality will be united and celebrating together, when envy, strife, and hatred will be no more. 
 
This longing can be rightfully understood from the perspective of a biblical worldview. Its ultimate fulfillment is a major part of the final chapter of the human story. There is coming a day when our Lord God Almighty will reign! He will wipe every tear from the eyes of the redeemed. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. The old order of things will have passed and the new order under God's righteous reign will have come! To learn more read the last four chapters of the book of Revelation.  
 
What a privilege to help others be ready for this grand celebration! None of us can gain entry on our own merit. By turning from our self-centeredness and sin, confessing our need of a Savior, and putting our faith in Jesus Christ, we become the recipients of God's grace. As forgiven people, our relationship with God is restored through Christ. And we can rest assured that we'll be a part of this greatest of celebrations for which the human spirit longs!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

An amazing leadership secret is tucked away in 1 Samuel 30. After being pursued for many months by Saul, David and his men were among the Philistines. Even though David had done nothing wrong, the Philistine rulers asked him and his entourage to leave. They departed, marching three days to Ziklag where they anticipated being reunited with their wives and children after a long separation. 
 
To their horror, they arrived at Ziklag to find the city in ashes, and their wives and children gone. The men "wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep" (30:4). Adding insult to injury, David's very loyal men were so upset that they "were talking of stoning him" (30:6). Physically spent and emotionally distraught, these men were in the midst of a horrible situation. 
 
Now here's the secret: "But David found strength in the Lord his God" (30:6b). While the text doesn't tell us how David did this, it's clear David's inner strength was renewed in a moment of desperate need. 
 
How can we do this? I imagine David retreating to a quiet place away from the pressure of leadership . . . for prayer, for renewing his identity as a God-follower and experiencing an intense sense of God's loving presence. I think of David engaging in that which recharged his batteries and refreshed his spirit. He took time and was intentional about finding strength from a source beyond himself . . . God! 
 
What follows is incredible. After inquiring of the Lord, David and his men pursued the Amalekite raiders who had plundered Ziklag. David led his men in recovering everything. All their wives and children were safely returned to them, with no indication of even one casualty on the Hebrew side. 
 
Psalm 78:72 gives us the epitaph of David's leadership: "And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them." One of the secrets resulting in this assessment is David knowing the secret of finding strength in the Lord his God. May we know and practice this same secret! 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Esther and I were in Ottawa, Canada on July 1 for the General Assembly of the C&MA in Canada and while there enjoyed the Canada Day festivities. It was a wonderful celebration topped off with a $100,000 fireworks spectacular! We sang or heard sung the Canadian national anthem "O Canada" at least five times while there. It includes, "God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee." 
 
We spent the first half of July 4 in airplanes heading back to Colorado. The second half of that day, we celebrated America's birthday. During the beautiful, clear evening, we sat on a hillside overlooking Colorado Springs as four different fireworks displays lit up the night sky. 
 
In thinking about the freedom and resources God has entrusted to Canadians and Americans, I was reminded of an important truth. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48b). 
 
Did God in his loving sovereignty provide freedom and resources to be used primarily for ourselves, or did he have in mind for these gifts to be used in expressing his love to the world? Could it be that he desires for all peoples on earth to be blessed through us? And if this is true, how should it impact how we live out our lives? 
 
As we look at redemptive history as expressed in the pages of the Bible, a defining principle comes into focus. When God's people align themselves with his purposes, he blesses them so that they can be a blessing to others. When his people turn their hearts away from him worshipping other gods and living contrary to his purposes, he withdraws his blessing. 
 
May Canada and America be in a blessable position, using our freedom and resources to bless the world! The greatest way to do this is by knowing Christ and making him known.  
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

We use suitcases to take what we need when going on a trip. Last week my wife Esther and I challenged new appointees at Pre-Field Orientation to make sure they pack the right things in their suitcases. All of them are headed out for cross-cultural service this summer with their first assignment being the learning of language and culture. They have some huge challenges just ahead, and having the right things in their suitcase is essential. 
 
There are some items that should not be taken with us regardless of where we're going. Fear, the goal of upward mobility, an inflated need for affirmation, a sense of being superior, and self-centeredness are just a few of the many things we urged new appointees to not pack in their suitcases.  
 
Other items should definitely be packed. A heart for God and love for people should go in every person's suitcase. Security in who we are in Christ needs to be near the top of our packing lists. There should be room for humility, love for the imperfect, earthly expression of the Body of Christ, a grateful heart, and the Bible (to master it so the God through His word masters us). It never hurts to pack some comparison vaccine, so that instead of comparing self with others, we rejoice in the gifting and blessings they have. Small open spaces in our suitcases can be filled with words of encouragement to pass out after arriving at our new destination. 
 
There are restrictions on the size, weight, and number of suitcases a person can take. That's why making sure we have the right things packed is so incredibly important. Our impact for Christ depends on intentionally leaving certain things home . . . and making sure we take other things with us. 
 
Knowing those of us following Christ are pilgrims in this world, do you have the right things packed in the suitcase representing your life?  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Financial support for US Alliance international workers comes primarily from our family of local churches. They provide this support through the Great Commission Fund. Instead of each one raising support individually, we all work together to raise our support corporately. 
 
Some missionaries are great when it comes to fund-raising. At the same time, some Alliance workers who are very good in their cross-cultural ministry are not strong when it comes to raising money. Nonetheless, their support is graciously provided through the Great Commission Fund. 
 
The important deliverable International Ministries provides is sending an appropriate amount of support to each missionary in a timely manner. The amount of support for Japan and Ecuador are very different . . . each is based on the actual cost of living in the respective country. Getting support from the US to over fifty nations around the world is no small task; it can be very challenging and complicated. Funds are sent monthly. Accounting, receipting, and reporting structures are in place to comply with all US and local government regulations. This support delivery infrastructure is a huge and much appreciated service! 
 
If you'd like to help support Alliance missionaries, you can give through a local Alliance church or make your gift on-line at www.cmalliance.org. I urge you to invest, knowing an appropriate amount will be safely delivered in a timely manner to our missionaries around the globe. 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

A big challenge when a local church sends out its missionaries is supervising them. A Chinese proverb says, "Beijing is very far away, and the mountains between here and there are very high." In other words, it's difficult for leaders in Beijing to supervise what's going on out in the provinces. In a similar way, it's very difficult for a local church to supervise its missionary personnel half way around the world. 
 
A key deliverable provided through the C&MA's sending structure is supervision. Through regional and field directors, and field leadership teams, personnel are held accountable to fulfill their assignment. If performance problems are discerned, those in leadership are responsible to work them out. The preferred result of good supervision is healthy resolution of the problems. When after significant effort it becomes clear this cannot be attained, transition from the field is arranged. 
 
Holding workers accountable through good supervision is critically important. To do this well is good stewardship of very valuable personnel.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

"If we go to country X, can the C&MA assure us of our safety there?" Just as it was impossible for the US government to assure the safety of American citizens in New York and Washington on 9/11, it's impossible for the C&MA to assure 100% the safety of its personnel. However, the C&MA as a missionary-sending family of churches works hard to provide sound advice and helpful guidance when it comes to missionary safety. 
 
Here are three key elements of this effort: 
 
1) The principle of not intentionally putting personnel in the path of martrydom is strongly embraced. 
 
2) Healthy, strong connections are maintained with good sources of safety-related information. That information is then passed along as needed and appropriate so that wise precautions can be taken. 
 
3) A broad network of people pray regularly for God's protection over C&MA personnel involved in cross-cultural ministry around the world. 
 
While these and other safety-related steps are designed to help assure safety, risks cannot be eliminated. Acknowledging that ultimately the lives of God's people are in His hands, the C&MA will continue to be diligent to do all it can to help assure the safety of its personnel.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

An African proverb describes a group of hunters getting a hippo. The big task is to drag the huge carcass back to the village where it will be butchered, then divided. After tying ropes to various parts of the hippo, they start to pull . . . but in the confusion of the moment, they pull in slightly varying directions. A village elder steps forward stating they'd never move the hippo unless they all pull in the same direction. Once this correction is made, the hunters are able to get their prize back to the village. 
 
A strategy helps everyone pull in the same direction, toward the same objectives and goals. Through field and team structures, C&MA workers develop their shared strategy in concert with leaders of the developing church. Regional leaders help hold them accountable and adjust that strategy for increased effectiveness. A strategic field review every five years sharpens the strategy and strengthens the accountability even more. The aim is to see healthy, reproducing, missionary churches . . . Christ-centered, wholistic, communities of faith . . . established. Those with least access to the good news about Christ are of greatest concern in all of this. 
 
This is a very important deliverable. Without it, the hippo is never pulled back to the village! Stay tuned for another deliverable in my next entry.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Shepherding, or pastoral care, is another key deliverable provided through our C&MA missionary sending structure. Some of the many delivery channels / methods are pastoral care couples from US churches who help care for a specific field team, a developmental assessment process designed to help missionaries in their personal growth and development, and professional caregivers who provide specialized help in response to specific needs. The US C&MA seeks to care well for its missionaries! 
 
A Member Care Team helps oversee the shepherding of US Alliance missionaries. This team has put together a paper describing a helpful model of member care, and is working to improve the quality of this care for missionary personnel. 
 
Through a member care audit, more than twenty specific elements of current member care were identified. Many people in the US and around the world contribute to the provision of these various expressions of member care. 
 
Each year member care specialists gather for a "Mental Health and Missions" Conference involving many US-based mission agencies. The C&MA participates in this event. Papers are presented, ideas are shared, and networking is done at this event with the goal of improving the quality and delivery of member care. 
 
How can we best come aside personnel in their personal growth and development journey? What do we do when a missionary encounters serious personal or relational problems? What does gracious intervention look like when a missionary is struggling with effectiveness? These and many other issues are a part of the shepherding equation. May God help us shepherd missionaries well . . . they're too valuable to lose! 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

A local church trying to do cross-cultural mission overseas on its own would need to figure out how to answer these questions: 
 
1) How much money each month does our missionary need, and how do we get that money from here to our missionary? 
 
2) What do we do about health insurance and health care when this missionary is serving outside the United States? 
 
3) What about some kind of a retirement program enabling our missionary to prepare well for the later years of life? 
 
4) We want our missionary's children to have a quality educational opportunity preparing them for an eventual transition to life / college back in the United States. How can we best work this out? 
 
5) What's the best way to obtain visas for the country in which our missionary will serve? 
 
6) If our missionary gets into trouble or needs specific, focused help while on the field, to whom do we turn? What do we do? 
 
7) How do we handle all our missionary's finances in a way that meets with the approval of the government of the country of service as well as the Internal Revenue Service? 
 
8) If our missionary wants to ship some needed household items and supplies to the field, what's the best way to do this? And if the shipment has to go through customs, how does that work? 
 
These and a myriad of other questions emerge in missionary sending. Over many years, the C&MA has discerned best practices in responding, providing high level, quality services for missionaries and international workers around the world. Highly trained, deeply committed people . . . very committed to Christ and his mission . . . serve within the C&MA's infrastructure to provide these and many other much needed, greatly appreciated services! Without them and the services they make available, missionary sending can be very complicated indeed! 
 
I'll talk about another deliverable in my next posting.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

One of the questions I've wrestled with is, "Why a missionary sending structure? Why not just have every church send its own missionaries instead of a using a sending structure supported by Alliance churches across the country to help with the sending process?" I see at least seven key deliverables that our sending structure provides . . . all are critical and valuable. 
 
Deliverable #1 is SELECTION. An assessment process has been developed and fine-tuned over many years to select those missionary candidates who have high potential for impactful, cross-cultural ministry. Some make it through this assessment process, others with good reason do not.  
 
The danger is that sending everyone who wants to go . . . and has the financial backing to do so . . . can result in people being sent who have not-so-easy-to-discern issues in their lives that often preclude effective cross-cultural ministry. It could be rigidity . . . or physical problems that can't be treated well in many overseas settings . . . or low potential to learn a new language . . . or unresolved personal / family history issues which unaddressed hinder effectiveness . . . or psychological issues that tend to be magnified with the stresses of cross-cultural living . . . or relational difficulties. These and many other dimensions of a person's character, ministry gifting, track record, physical / mental health, and history are important to assess. The end view of the assessment process should be answering the questions, "Does this candidate have what it takes to make a positive, helpful contribution in a cross-cultural ministry setting? Are they likely to thrive . . . or just barely survive?" 
 
An objective assessment including the hard questions is difficult for those in a local church context to do on one of their own. That's why having a third party assessor who has lots of tools and experience to do a thorough assessment is a huge, much-needed deliverable. 
 
The C&MA has this . . . and its purpose is to serve the local, sending churches. They are still the senders . . . and this deliverable enhances the effectiveness and impact of their missionary sending! 
 
I'll talk about other deliverables in future entries.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

A few weeks ago I was sitting in the living room of some US Alliance workers living in Ecuador. They serve in regional ministries helping train leaders in several Latin American countries. The US C&MA is in the process of transition from Ecuador because our family of partner churches there has shown very encouraging signs of strength and maturity. While the idea of transition is very difficult, while missionaries don't want to leave and we want to continue a healthy relationship with the Ecuadorian Alliance, we are intentionally moving forward with transition from Ecuador. A key reason for this is access. 
 
The concern is having access to the good news about Jesus Christ. And here are the specifics this couple shared with me that evening in their living room. "If a person walks out their front door in Ecuador to seek someone who can share how to be reconciled to God through Christ, that person has to talk to four or five people before finding someone who can do this. In Spain, a person seeking the same help has to talk with five hundred people. In (a North African country), it's thirty thousand people."  
 
What does this mean? Relatively speaking, the gospel is quite accessible to the people of Ecuador. The accessibility factor is much lower for the people of Spain, and extremely low for the people of (the North African country). Where, then, is the greatest need for help in making the gospel more accessible? In (the North African country). 
 
It's essential for the Church of Jesus Christ to understand this reality . . . and respond to it with the heart and passion of Christ! In doing this, we need His grace, resiliency, wisdom, and courage. There will be a cost, but He is absolutely worthy! He is the resurrected Lord.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

In a May 2007 study done by the Joshua Project (www.joshuaproject.net), Central Asia was put forward as the region of the world with the highest concentration of least reached peoples. The report indicates that 96.3% of the people of Central Asia are "least reached". (For North, Central, and Latin America, the number was less than 1%.) This means for Central Asia to be reached, it's necessary for Christ-followers to cross ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and even national boundaries to present by Word and deed to the peoples of Central Asia the good news about Jesus Christ. Otherwise, there aren't enough Kingdom resources among the peoples of Central Asia for them to do this on their own. Outside help is absolutely essential. 
 
Here are some honest questions as I think about Central Asia. Would I be willing to go through the pain and hassle to move there with my family, to learn the language and culture of a Central Asian people so as to be one of Christ's representatives among them? Would I be willing to have my children educated in Central Asia instead of North America? Would I live in a small, somewhat Spartan apartment where frequent cuts in electricity are common? What about being far from the excellent medical care available in North America? Would I accept life in political and economic situations that are much less stable than my own country, where security is far from being assured? The restaurants and recreational, leisure activities I enjoy now wouldn't be there. Many I love would not be there with me . . . they'd be thousands of miles away. Most of the people of Central Asia would not even want me there . . . some would overtly oppose my coming and could even be threatening to me. How would I respond? What would I say? 
 
Could it be that the comfort, great opportunities, and security my generation in North America enjoy could be lulling us to sleep? Bottom line: If these mean more to us than anything else in the world, God will have to call on others to reach Central Asia . . . or wait for a another generation like the Alliance workers who headed to Vietnam in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.  
 
Some of those brave, committed souls never came home. They're buried in Vietnam. And the Alliance family of churches there now numbers over 1,000,000 believers as it continues to grow.  
 
As they laid themselves in the line for the peoples of Vietnam, may we today be ready to lay ourselves on the line for the unreached of Central Asia . . . and wherever they're found throughout the world! This is our mission, given by Christ . . . who is worthy of our giving our all for Him. He died to redeem these people, and we're the ones called to bear this message. 
 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

One of the new wineskins God is using in increasingly powerful ways in 21st century mission is business. Christ-adoring business professionals are using their training, entrepreneurial skills, and spiritual gifts in missional business ventures. These are being used by God to: 
 
1. Help the poor in Christ's name, providing desperately needed jobs in challenging economic contexts. 
 
2. Give legitimate, helpful rationale for Christ-followers to be in places where intentional barriers have been established to keep missionaries out. 
 
3. Provide opportunity for Christ-followers to make connections in the market place with people far from God. 
 
Christian business people are a part of the laity . . . and over 99% of the Christian church around the world is comprised of laypeople. A mistake some clergy types like me have made is to look at business laypeople as the source of financial support for "our" ministries. They can do so much more . . . God's plan A for reaching the world is for everyone to be involved, and there is no plan B. There is a place for business people in the mission of Christ! 
 
This comes into sharper focus when we refuse to see what's done from 9 am to 5 pm as secular, and that which we do in "ministry" on evenings and weekends as holy. No such dichotomy exists in God's book: "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it ALL for the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31). Business is holy when done for God's glory! 
 
There's a growing group of committed people seeking to do business as mission in collaboration with the C&MA around the world. More than just collaboration, they're a part of us. They're a part of Christ's body. And I believe they have a huge part to play in completing His mission!  
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

"Let us never forget the special calling of our Alliance work. It is not to form a new religious denomination. It is not to duplicate a work already done. It is not to advocate any special system of theology. It is not to glorify any man or men. It is first to hold up Jesus in His fullness, 'the same yesterday, today, and forever.' Next, to witness to the imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as our millennial King. And finally, to encourage and incite the people of God to do the neglected work of our age and time among the unchurched classes at home and the perishing heathen abroad. God will bless us as we are true to this trust." -from the pen and heart of Dr. A.B. Simpson, The Alliance Weekly, November 11, 1899 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

What kinds of international workers are we looking for to establish prevailing churches (or holistic, Christ-centered communities of faith) among the least reached where all the odds are stacked against us? Here are the characteristics I long to see: 
 
"We want men and women who are thoroughly converted and know it.  
 
We want men and women who are fully consecrated to God, sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit—so saved from themselves that they are at leisure to work for others. 
 
We want men and women who are burning with a love for lost people and are longing to lead men and women to Christ. 
 
We want men and women who have already begun to work for Christ and have led many to the Savior. One of the first questions asked a missionary candidate is, “How many have you led to Christ since you were saved?” The best place to begin foreign missionary work is at home.  
 
We want men and women who can live simply, endure hardship, deny themselves, put up with every discomfort, who are not particular about their outfits, who do not want things “just so” for their wardrobes, who do not need two or three trunks and a great amount of baggage, who can travel with a knapsack like a soldier and sleep in their boots without grumbling about it, who have gotten over the romance and novelty of travel and are going to foreign countries for one thing only—to win people for Christ. 
 
We want men and women who are easy to get along with, who have died to self and self-will, who can keep sweet and can submit themselves to their senior missionaries until they have learned the language and become qualified to be leaders, who can keep rank as David’s soldiers did, who are adjustable, good-natured, ready to meet persecution and insult without getting angry, and who can live the gospel of Christ among the unbelievers even as the Master did. 
 
We want men and women who are strong, vigorous, rugged and healthy; or at least have such a hold of the Lord for their bodies that they are not afraid of climate, hard work, inclement weather and physical pressure; who now are having victories in their bodies and are able to stand strongly against exposure and hardship and do real work for God. 
 
We want men and women who know the Lord so well they can have His joy under all circumstances; who will not be afraid of loneliness nor privation; who ask no greater recompense than the privilege of serving and pleasing Him; and who go out not wanting sympathy, but rejoicing in the name of missionary and the privilege of enduring suffering or shame for the name of Him who died for them. 
 
We want men and women who have such a distinct call to the mission field that they cannot stay back, and that even if we do not send them they will go somehow. 
 
May the Lord send us a thousand such men and women." 
 
These words, published in 1892, are from the heart and pen of Dr. A.B. Simpson, founder of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. We continue to look for people living out these characteristics today!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Often important truth can be powerfully communicated through metaphors and images. One that gripped me as I recently pondered it was the starving baker. When I think of a professional cook or baker, I think of a person who enjoys food so much that he has become jolly and plump. I'm even comforted when I see an overweight person in a restaurant kitchen preparing my meal or dessert. "Surely this will be delicious," I reason observing that this person obviously enjoys food. 
 
Yet the image of a starving, skinny baker is about a person who is constantly close to food yet never eating. I encountered it in Tim Elmore's book Habitudes: Images that Form Leadership Habits and Attitudes (2004, Growing Leaders, Inc). 
 
The starving baker represents the person who is so busy feeding others that he neglects feeding himself. In other words, sometimes leaders put so much into the people they lead that they fail to nourish their own lives. Eventually this kind of situation can deteriorate to the point where the leader's talk is great while his walk becomes increasingly fake.  
 
How do busy leaders avoid this tragic condition? By feeding themselves before feeding others. The airline industry understands this well. They instruct adult passengers, "Put your own oxygen mask on first before helping others." Why? So that able passengers don't die from lack of oxygen while helping those less able access oxygen. 
 
In preparing for 2008, how can you get enough soul-food to keep growing as a person in Christ . . . so that you can lead and help others who want to follow Him? What does it profit a person to gain the whole world yet forfeit his own soul (Mat 16:26)? Don't become a starving baker! 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Amy, an Alliance missionary from Africa, was ministering in a C&MA Church in Massachussetts. With her was Nyagali, a believer and partner in ministry from the Alliance churches of Burkina Faso. They were excited to be visiting several Alliance churches together in the northeastern United States to report about God's work in Africa. 
 
Herm and Helen were their hosts during the days at the church in Massachussetts. An older couple, Herm and Helen had faithfully supported Alliance work for many years. This included prayer for the Red Bobo, a people group in West Africa, asking God to bring many Red Bobos to himself. 
 
Over a meal in Herm's and Helen's home, Herm leaned forward and asked, "What about the Red Bobo people? Is there anything much happening among them these days?" 
 
"Oh, yes," exclaimed Amy with excitement. "In fact, Herm, Nyagali is a Red Bobo. Her father is an Alliance leader in Burkina Faso who has helped plant twenty churches among the Red Bobo people, right Nyagali?" 
 
"Yes!" Nyagali responded with a huge smile on her face, thinking fondly of her aged father. 
 
"What was that again?" Being hard of hearing, Herm leaned closer. Amy repeated what she had just explained, this time with increased excitement as Herb strained to catch every word. As the story became clear to him, tears welled up in his eyes. Seeing her husband's tears, Helen began to cry, too. 
 
"Helen and I have been praying for the Red Bobo people for over forty years. A missionary by the name of Bowman came through here years ago asking us to pray for the Red Bobo. We've been praying ever since. God has wonderfully answered our prayers!" The tears now flowed freely expressing joy over what God had done. Even Nyagali was deeply touched seeing the love Herm and Helen had for her people. 
 
What examples Herm and Helen are of faithfulness in intercession! How wonderful what God has done among the Red Bobo people, an ethnic group among whom there are now hundreds of churches and thousands upon thousands of Christ followers! How magnificent is our God! 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

"This movement stands pre-eminently for the supernatural." These are the words of Dr. A.B. Simpson. He believed in the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Simpson was committed to the filling of the Spirit, leading to holy living and passionate love for Christ and his mission. He held that the Spirit's power and presence are manifested both in the believer and in the church. 
 
When under the illumination of the Spirit we apply our minds to the understanding of the Word, discerning from careful study what the original authors were saying then applying it, God is honored. His powerful Word is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. But if we're just Word with little emphasis on living the fruit of the Spirit while experiencing the power of the Spirit, we risk drying up. 
 
When our exclusive emphasis is on the Holy Spirit, seeking experiential manifestations evidencing his power, we can become hyper-emotional. It's easy for us to fall in love with sensational experiences, creating the impression we're spiritual fanatics. When we do this, we risk blowing up, even destroying churches. 
 
Modernity has resulted in the questioning, even the doubting, of anything supernatural. Yet emphasis on both Word and Spirit are biblical and a part of our spiritual heritage in the C&MA. So why not live out both with Christ-centered balance, integrating them in a manner leading to growth and missional synergy? Isn't it possible to avoid "charisphobia" (over-emphasis on Word) and "charismania" (over-emphasis on Spirit). . . leading us to Christ-centered lives that could be described as "cautiously charismatic without chaos"? 
 
"If it's just the Word, you dry up. If it's just the Spirit, you blow up. If it's both the Word and the Spirit, you grow up." I gleaned this from REKINDLE THE FLAME, a gathering of Alliance people interested in rediscovering our spiritual roots and heritage. 
 
We'll be stymied on the homefront and in our missions outreach around the world without careful work to understand and apply the Word coupled with the power of the Spirit, the supernatural. Jesus lived these out in an impactful integration. I desire to do likewise, longing for the same for Christ's church everywhere!  
 
Let's not dry up. Let's not blow up. Let's grow up!  
 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

"Do you really think God can use me?" I could see the tears welling up in her eyes as she asked me this question. She went on to explain that her life was a string of poor decisions, one compromise with sin after another. Her sense of regret and brokenness was palpable. As our conversation progressed, it was clear guilt returned to visit her often, making her feel unuseable in the Kingdom of God. 
 
Similar questions have been voiced to me by other Christ followers, especially ones in their twenties and thirties. Looking at their tarnished pasts and the struggles they've had, they sincerely wonder if God can use them. Overflowing with remorse, they express honest doubt about their contributing anything of lasting value for Christ. 
 
Oh, how I yearn for them to be freed! How I long for them to grasp God's grace which is so much greater than all their sin. My deep deisre is that they be overwhelmed by this truth: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our trangressions from us" (Psalms 103:12). 
 
Having doubts about whether or not God can use you? He specializes in using broken, clay vessels to display his glory! No matter what your past is, his redemption is real. You are a new creation in Christ . . . and he can use and empower you in incredible ways for his purposes! 
 
In humility and dependence upon him, give him all of yourself . . . and then stand amazed at what he can do in and through a wholly devoted follower! 
 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Recently a friend doing some research in the US C&MA archives called to my attention a disturbing reality. Back in 1952, the C&MA made a decision to no longer send "colored" missionaries. I read the documentation related to this decision in disbelief. 
 
Five years later a decision was made to rescind the 1952 action. There was an expressed willingness to send "colored" missionaries on a limited basis, with certain restrictions in place. While this was an improvement over the 1952 action, it still was marginalizing. 
 
While several African-American personnel have been sent in the decades of the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and since 2000, I am troubled by the 1950's action. That's why this week at the meeting of the C&MA's Board, I'm recommending that in a spirit of repentance, we commit as a US family of churches to sending personnel of all ethnicities. 
 
My dream is for our force of overseas workers to reflect increasingly our US family of churches . . . which is one third non-Caucasian. We have a ways to go for our overseas force to reflect this. To see it happen, we'll need to make some changes, including having more and more non-Caucasians in key leadership roles. 
 
When the Apostle Paul said, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news" (Romans 10:15), I'm convinced he envisioned multi-colored feet. May this increasingly be true in the C&MA! 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Last Wednesday I was at Quest Church in Lexington, KY. I had heard about Quest, learned all I could about it before going . . . but wasn't quite prepared for what I experienced. It was so exciting! 
 
Quest is all about seeing unconvinced people become fully devoted followers of Christ. This is not something they just talk about or have hanging on a plaque on the wall. It's what they live! 
 
On Wednesday Quest was packed out. The congregation was celebrating the ordination of one of their pastors. When it was time for the laying on of hands and prayer, the senior pastor invited all those who had been led to faith in Christ by this younger pastor to please come to the platform to participate. Immediately more than a dozen people got out of their seats and went to the platform. Fantastic and so encouraging! 
 
A young man came to me saying, "I just gave my life to Christ three weeks ago. He's helping me overcome addiction to alcohol. Everything you said tonight resonated with me. How can I get involved in Alliance missions? Serving God in this way is exactly what I'd love to do." I was blown away. 
 
Quest is on a journey to become a "glocal" church . . . representing Jesus to people locally while at the same time investing in his mission globally. With the average age of the congregation at 29, there are very exciting days ahead! May the Spirit continue to make them an Acts 2, revolutionary church impacting Lexington, other cities in Kentucky and southwestern Ohio, and the world!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Recently I learned of a church where a rapid, sweeping change was made in worship style. Exit piano, organ, and hymns. Enter drums, guitars, keyboard, and worship choruses. It all happened quickly. Sadly, more than one hundred of the faithful (mostly over fifty-five) exited. 
 
Culture is changing . . . worship teams and choruses are in . . . so shouldn't we expect these people to adjust? Why shouldn't they learn the new style of musical worship? Aren't they being the insensitive ones? 
 
The issue is culture. For these sincere followers of Christ, the hymns they've been singing for decades touch their hearts. They feel a connection with God when they sing them. If this opportunity is insensitively ripped away from them in one church, they're likely to look for another where they can feel comfortable and connected once again. 
 
Wise, culturally sensitive church leaders have figured out how to offer opportunities for hymn lovers and chorus lovers to co-exist peacefully. They don't alienate either group. Instead, they have a mix of traditional and contemporary. Or they have one service designed for hymn lovers and another for chorus lovers. They're being culturally sensitive. 
 
Sadly hymn lovers have often felt alienated, even forced out. Many of them are faithful supporters of Alliance missions. Too often they're leaving Alliance churches so offended that they discontinue their investment in Alliance missions. For sure, they've not always been gracious in this process. But can't we avoid this painful scenario by being culturally sensitive? 
 
It's not a matter of one style of worship being right and the other being wrong. It's giving everyone opportunity to worship in a style that feels comfortable, that connects them with God. My plea is this: Let's be culturally sensitive! This helps everyone win. 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

You've accused cross-cultural workers bearing the name of Christ of being agents of colonialism. Granted, at times this has been true. You've said that people on mission for Jesus have been imperialistic. There's some truth in that accusation as well. And yes, there have been acts perpetrated in the name of Christ that are a shame to the Church and to Christ himself. 
 
At the same time, historian David Bosch writes, "The missionary movement made a prime contribution to the abolition of slavery, spread better methods of agriculture, established . . . schools, gave medical care to millions, elevated the status of women, created bonds between people of different countries, which war could not sever, trained . . . the leadership of the nations now nesly independent" (Bosch, Transforming Mission: Orbis, 1991, pg. 294). All of this is the result of God's transforming, redemptive power at work. 
 
In addition, the power of Christ at work through the missionary movement has resulted in millions of people crossing over from spiritual death to life. In the words of Jesus, "Whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life" (John 5:24). Coming out of the dark night of the soul into the light of the gospel is the greatest journey anyone can take! Thanks to God's work through the missionary movement, as imperfect as it has been and still is, people continue to find new life in Christ. This is priceless . . . it begins during our earthly journey, results in the kinds of dramatic changes described above, and lasts for eternity!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

More than 99% of the C&MA is laypeople . . . they've not gone through a licensing or accreditation process to be formally recognized for ministry. Yet without them there'd be no C&MA! 
 
Recently Esther and I were at a banquet to celebrate the 100th anniversary of a local church. The pastor stood up and said, "We have a number of VIPs here today." Sitting at the two front tables were Dr. David Rambo, former president of the US C&MA, the district superintendent and his wife, a pastoral couple who had formerly served the church, some other visiting pastoral couples, and us.  
 
This pastor was right on when he introduced the VIPs . . . he presented the key laypeople in the church who had worked hard to make the special weekend celebration happen. He paised the laypeople involved in various parts of the church's ministry. This pastor gets it! Esther and I were elated that none of us at the "head tables" were introduced at the banquet . . . we had been introduced previously in other parts of the weekend celebration and certainly didn't need another introduction. 
 
Paul describes in Ephesians 4:12 the work of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. They are "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up". This pastor not only understood this principle, he and his people were practicing it! Esther and I were greatly encouraged to see this and again gave thanks for the 99+ percent of the C&MA who are faithful laypeople! 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

This week Esther and I are visiting five local churches in Pennsylvania. While size, style, and philosophy of ministry vary, all are interested in local outreach and overseas missions. In a word, they desire to be "missional". 
 
We've been talking about building deeper connections between their congregations and Alliance missions. The best way to start is nurturing a relationship with a missionary. There are also short term missions trips, partnerships, focused intercession, and financial investment. 
 
It's possible to connect relationally with a missionary in Cambodia . . . take short term missions trips to Mexico . . . establish a partnership with Alliance work in Mali . . . pray for a ministry initiative in Ecuador . . . and give money to help with a project in Russia. But wouldn't it be more effective to align all of these? 
 
What if a congregation was intentional about a relationship with a missionary in Cambodia, sent short term missions teams to help that missionary, built a partnership with Cambodia, prayed specifically for Cambodia and that missionary's efforts there, and focused its Great Commission Fund investment on the support and work of that missionary? Would there be power in this kind of alignment? Would this result in synergy? 
 
YES! For help with the short term missions piece, talk to your missionary, go to www.cmalliance.org/stmo or contact Matt Peace at peacem@cmalliance.org. To explore a partnership, interact with your missionary or get in touch with Don Sappington at sappingtond@cmalliance.org. To exchange specific prayer concerns, get an e-mail connection going with your missionary. To invest financially in that missionary, give specifically to support him or her through the Great Commission Fund. 
 
There is power in this kind of alignment! If you don't believe it, just try it. I'm convinced you'll feel a deeper, more satisfying connection with God and what He's doing through Alliance churches involved in Alliance missions.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Bridges of connection are essential when it comes to Alliance missions. Mission flows out of the local church to its Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Local church leaders have to work at building bridges to those they help send to distant places, and sent ones have to work at keeping connected with their sending churches. Bridge building has to be intentional in both directions. 
 
A new tool is being effectively used in local churches to build bridges. On a screen in the front of a Sunday morning congregation is a live video feed from an Alliance worker in another country. Questions to be discussed are shared ahead of time via e-mail. The pastor or another church leader interacts live with the Alliance cross-cultural worker. They end the ten minute. real time interaction with brief, encouraging prayers for one another.  
 
With the pressing need for regular connections to keep Alliance missions alive in our local churches, wouldn't it be great to see this tool used more and more? The essentials are software available at www.skype.com/download/features/videocalling and a computer camera (less than $50 at an electronics store) . . . and intentionality when it comes to connecting! This is a powerful tool. Let's use it well to CONNECT!  
 
 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

My son David and I have been interacting about a metaphor that is helping both of us. It has to do with firemen and gardeners. 
 
God gives each of us a certain amount of "water" to use during our earthly journies. Your "water" is your time, your energy, your spiritual gifting, your passion . . . all of which you choose how to invest. 
 
Some choose to use their "water" to put out fires. They run from one emergency to another in an anxious state. With a sense of urgency, they dump their "water" on problems. They have a fireman mentality. 
 
Others use their H20 in gardening. They "water" seeds they or others have planted, nurturing life, health, and growth. When used wisely and well, this "water" can bring multiplied glory to Christ as seeds bear fruit . . . which produces more seeds capable of yet more fruit. 
 
Each of us is given so much "water" by God. We can choose to use it like a fireman or like a gardener. When the fireman's day is done, he often stands before ashes, perhaps smoldering embers, possibly only light damage if the flames were doused early enough. Tomorrow his focus is on other fires needing more "water." 
 
When sun sets on the gardener's day, there's life and hope for tomorrow if his "water" has been used well. The recipient of the gardener's work is "a tree . . . which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers" (Psa 1:3). 
 
Are you a fireman or a gardener?  

Posted by: bob Fetherlin

Today my friends David and Margot left Colorado Springs to go to another country as Alliance workers. They went to share Christ, make disciples, nurture churches, and help the team of C&MA workers serving in this nation.  
 
For the last several months, David and Margot have been on a transition journey . . . putting their home on the market, selling two cars, going through everything in their house to decide what to keep / give away / throw away / take with them in their suitcases / sell, getting visas and passports and power of attorney papers in order, etc. It's been a tiring journey leading up to their getting on the plane today. They're just one couple among many Alliance workers who have been through this exhausting transition process in recent months. 
 
David usually has a key ring in his pocket with several keys on it: one for the house, one for the mailbox, two for cars, and some other miscellaneous keys. These keys symbolize his responsibilities, his possessions, his person, in a sense even his earthly significance. But today he had none of these keys in his pocket. They're all gone. David and Margot have left their keys and all they symbolize to go to a place where many least reached peoples are concentrated, where huge odds are stacked against them, the church, and Jesus Christ whom they represent. 
 
Over the coming weeks, David and Margot will accumulate some new keys in their new setting. But the lessons of having no keys in their pocket today will remain clear: 
 
Having lots of keys is not what's really important in life. Knowing and loving Christ, belonging to him, is. 
 
Keys represent life in this temporal world through which we journey. We have only one life to give, and giving it in service to Christ is worth it! 
 
In order to leave one culture and go to another as Christ's representatives, we have to give up our keys. Sacrifice is involved in this process. 
 
When all is said and done, accumulating and holding on to keys is an act in futility.  
 
"Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweights them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen . . . (on all the things related to keys) . . . , but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). 
 
Remember, the keys in your pocket or purse represent a temporary world. They are not your signficance. The world represented by those keys will not last . . . only what's done for Christ will endure!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

A friend of mine once quipped, "We evangelicals have lots of meetings. When it comes to what's really important on God's agenda, we talk much but act little." 
 
I've been thinking about how many of us sit around talking about fishing, but how few of us have our lines regularly in the water. We promote fishing, teach fishing, analyze fishing, and even urge others to fish. But for many of us, it's been quite awhile since we actually caught a fish. Could it be this is because we talk lots about fishing but do little actual fishing? 
 
Jesus said, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Let's move intentionally from talking about fishing to getting more of our fishing lines in the water. It's critical for us to fish in order to complete Christ's mission!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

You may have heard about the idea of MAKEOVER . . . it started in International Ministries and has now spread more widely in the US C&MA as we seek God's guidance and help in an important journey. The journey is in the direction of broader impact and greater effectiveness for Jesus Christ as we seek to carry out his mission. 
 
Frankly, if this is just a National Office journey, it won't go very far. It has to be a journey in which many participate. And you're invited to give your input and ideas. 
 
How? By logging on to "MyCMA", then going to "e-community" and entering the forum focused on MAKEOVER. There our web team has done a great job of setting up an interactive forum where you can post ideas, critiques and responses to ideas already posted, and even dialogue with others about MAKEOVER possibilities. 
 
In the future, this MAKEOVER will become even more accessible as it is taken out of the password protected area of the website and moved to a more public forum. That will make it possible for even wider participation. 
 
In the meantime, you're invited to get involved. Thanks in advance for your contribution to the MAKEOVER journey!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Friday, July 13 
Libreville, Gabon 
 
Gary Benedict and I arrived here in Gabon on Tuesday of this past week. Since that time we (including Chris and Marcia Braun and Al Stombaugh, Gabon Field Director, and leaders of the Gabonese Alliance) met with various government officials, plus we've been on the local television news. The big story is after a US missions investment of more than seventy years (since 1933)involving more than two hundred personnel, there's a family of Alliance churches here who can continue on with strength with decreasing US mission investment. This church shows several exciting signs of health and maturity: 
 
They are fully organized with official recognition from the Gabonese government. 
 
They are able to support financially their own pastors and leaders. 
 
As the largest family of evangelical churches in the country, they are taking initiative to plant new churches and reach into new areas with the gospel. 
 
They have a training / equipping strategy in place with a beautiful Bible institute campus and a stong theological education by extension program. 
 
They have a world missions center focusing on cross-cultural ministry and have sent out their first missionary couple to Cameroun. 
 
On Saturday, there's a "transition celebration" where we acknowledge with the church this major change. Then over the next two years, our US mission personnel will be transitioning to other countries. As plans now stand, we will not lose one missionary in this transition process. While the church doesn't want to see missionaries leave, they understand this transition journey and have embraced it. We are talking about how to continue the relationship even after missionaries leave . . . without the church feeling abandoned. On Sunday, I'll be giving them the challenge of increasingly moving full circle from being a recipient of Christian missions to being partners with us in Christian missions. As they send out missionaries, it will increase the investment of Alliance World Fellowship member church resources on unreached peoples. The Gabonese church can make a major contribution to all of this. 
 
On Monday we'll be at the Bongolo Evangelical Hospital with the team there. They will be staying until 2015 in that there are still some major transition issues to work through there requiring more time. 
 
Tonight I'm giving great thanks to God for the faithfulness of His servants who have invested so much, so well, here in Gabon! 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

A people share a common history and identity. Often they are united by ethnicity and language. In urban contexts, a people's sense of being tied together may be influenced by socio-economic factors. Our world is made up of an incredible mosaic of peoples! 
 
Why should a significant portion of the missional activity of the Church of Jesus Christ focus on least reached peoples? Here are five reasons:  
 
1. Some peoples have little if any access to the good news about Jesus. They haven't been given the opportunity to hear about him. Giving them access is critical. After all, is it fair that we can sit in our churches talking about the second coming of Christ when least reached peoples haven't yet heard of his first coming? 
 
2. God wants lost people found (Mat 18:10-14). 
 
3. The Church of Jesus Christ has been given this responsibility (Mat 28:18-20). 
 
4. Love demands it. We are called by Jesus to "love our neighbors as ourselves" (Mat 22:39). We can love least reached peoples, our global neighbors, by doing whatever it takes to get the good news to them. 
 
5. The end will not come until least reached peoples have been given opportunity to hear, understand, and believe (Mat 24:14). 
 
These are reasons why we as the US C&MA are focusing a considerable portion of our missional energy on least reached peoples, even if huge odds are stacked against us as we pursue them for Christ. And we're excited about partner churches around the world joining us in going to where the church isn't . . . in other words, among the least reached. This is ultimately God's agenda, not ours. He will bring this essential part of his redemptive work to pass. He empowers, we cooperate in quiet trust and unswerving obedience. 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Recently phone conferences took place between C&MA leaders in Colorado Springs and overseas regional / field directors. These conversations were a part of our desire to connect and listen well so that we can "live the call together." During that call, one of the field directors put forward the idea of funding the call together. 
 
A part of "living the call together" is funding it together. Everyone who receives support from the Great Commission Fund can help raise the money. To assume others will do it while we benefit is not good thinking. 
 
Everyone has to put their shoulder to this load so that we bear it together. It's just too heavy for a small group to carry. 
 
If you receive from the Great Commission Fund, I'm calling you to two action steps. First, "as you have freely received, freely give." It only makes sense for you to give. Second, put your shoulder to the load . . . take action to help raise the funds. As we "live the call together" let's also fund the call together!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Ever feel overwhelmed by e-mail? I do quite often. Many days I've worked as fast as I can for two or three hours at a shot trying to answer a big pile of them. By the time I finished, my inbox was filling up again. It’s an unending cycle. I have frequently felt like e-mail’s slave instead of taming it as my servant. 
 
It’s odd that I’ve spent two to three hours many days on e-mail, yet often have struggled to invest a solid, quiet hour in prayer and the Scriptures. My pattern has been to spend lots more time on e-mail with believers than I do building intentional relationships with unbelievers. Something is definitely wrong with this picture. 
 
How can I tame this insatiable beast that’s crept into my life, doing its best to dominate me? I know I’m to have no other gods in my life before the God of all creation, the God of the Bible. Frankly, I don’t have a formula to follow that tames this intrusive, electronic beast well. But I am trying to discover ways to avoid its deadly grip that can dominate me, my time, my energy. Here are some the ideas I’m trying to implement: 
 
1) Give the best hours of my day to what’s most important in my life . . . not to e-mail. 
 
2) Limit my time with the e-mail beast. For me, it's ninety minutes a day. I'd like to get it down to an hours. This beast is usually hungry for much more. Denying it takes intentionality on my part. My ninety minute limitation makes me hit the delete button more often and write shorter replies. 
 
3) Unsubscribe / untangle myself from being on lists resulting in lots of unhelpful e-mails piling up in my box. I avoid these lists like the plague. 
 
4) Forget e-mail for more important, higher impact communication. Either see the person face-to-face or pick up the phone and call. 
 
5) Do unto others as I would have them do to me. When I don’t stuff their inboxes with junk, they’re less likely to send junk my direction. I neither want to become an e-mail junkie nor do I want to help others become junkies. 
 
You may have some other ideas that can help me tame this beast. I’d love to hear about them. Most importantly, I want to invest well in people and relationships, especially life’s most important relationships with God, my wife, my children, my coworkers, and those unbelievers God has brought into my life. How sad it would be to have all my e-mails caught up and miss out on these more important, weightier opportunities.  
 
When e-mail has its death grip around our necks, may God give us the wisdom and discipline we need to slay it, breaking its control so that what’s more important in our lives can flourish!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

"A great fear has been at work in my mind and God has used it to arouse me to prayer. I knew a mighty man, filled with God's power. Then I saw him ten years later . . . embittered with a dead soul." 
 
I wrote this quote in my journal as I listened to Gordon McDonald describing the resilient life. It was a wake-up call for me as I realized how easily we can slip from vibrancy to embittered despair. I've watched a couple of people spiral downward in this painful journey, and it's looking like they'll finish their lives embittered . . . with dead souls. I wish I could rescue them but my efforts to date have come to naught. They're no fun to be around. Rather than attracting people to Christ, they repel them. How sad. How tragic. 
 
How do I guard my heart against this danger? What can keep me vital, energetic, and full of passion? What allows me to live and serve with joy, gratitude, wonder and praise? 
 
While I don't claim to have all the answers, here are four postures of heart that help me: 
 
1) Ask God to expand the margins of grace in my life. This enables me to forbear with others (Eph 4:2b)and be quick to forgive (Mat 6:14-15). 
 
2) Keep no record of wrongs (1 Cor 13:5b). When I keep playing over and over again in my mind a record of wrongs committed against me, I become fertile soil for seeds of bitterness to sprout and take root.  
 
3) Guard my heart against envy. Envy rots the bones (Pro 14:30) and is contrary to the way of love (1 Cor 13:4b). 
 
4) Do the dailies. The dailies are those practices in my life which refresh me, recharging my batteries. Though outwardly I am wasting away, yet inwardly I can be renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16b). An essential daily for all of us is to fix our eyes on what is unseen, knowing what is unseen is eternal (2 Cor 4:18). Prayer and time in the Scriptures are a part of this daily. 
 
My prayer is that God will help me avoid this deadly trap. May He help you as well. There's too much at stake for Christ and His kingdom for us to be walking around with dead souls. Instead may we be attractive people of exciting vibrancy, giving life to others, as Christ is seen in us!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

In the early stages of my talking about a makeover, someone asked, “Bob, why are you doing this?” That question has reverberated in my heart and mind over several months now. My response is embedded in an experience I had while in Dakar, Senegal. One afternoon I was taken by boat from Dakar to Goree Island just off the coast. It was from Goree that somewhere between ten and twelve million slaves left Africa for the Americas over a period of more than two hundred years. It was usually a 6-12 week trip on boats that were eight by thirty meters. Wanting to maximize their profits, slave traders would pack 300-400 slaves on each boat. Between 20 and 30% of the slaves who left that island died while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
In the slave house on Goree Island my heart was deeply moved. To my horror, I learned that the value of young female slaves was based on the size of their breasts. They could become free by becoming pregnant to white slave traders. I walked through the spacious, well-lit quarters where the slave traders stayed while on the island. Then I went down the stairs to the dark, musty slave holding cells. I saw the room where male slaves were weighed to be sure they were at least sixty kilos before making the long trip to the Americas. I stood in the center of the yard where new slaves were auctioned off to the highest bidder. It was there, I learned, that often family members ended up being sold to different buyers creating situations where they were separated, never to see each other again . . . husbands ripped away from their wives, teenage and young adult children being torn from their parents, brothers and sisters . . . not just for a year or two, but in most cases for the rest of their lives.  
 
Then I turned and saw “the door of no return.” It was through this doorway that slaves were crowded onto ship after ship after ship. Once a slave walked through this door, he or she would leave African soil never to return again. 
 
Just as the slaves who passed through Goree Island were in a desperate situation, those without access to the gospel are in an absolutely desperate situation. What an incredible privilege it would have been to declare FREEDOM to those millions of slaves who left Goree Island. I would have given everything, even poured out my blood, for that privilege. But that privilege was never mine.  
 
The privilege of declaring the gospel to those without access to it is within the realm of possibility for all of us today. Jesus made it very clear, “If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you FREE!” (John 8:32). He went on to proclaim, “If the Son sets you FREE, you will be FREE indeed!” (John 8:36).  
 
The main reason behind the makeover is rooted in a burning passion to see us make the good news about Jesus Christ accessible to as many people as possible. We’re losing in the C&MA some of our effectiveness and capacity when it comes to taking the gospel to people who today don’t have access to it. If some of the present trends in the C&MA continue, we’ll wane as an effective missionary church. I don’t want to see this happen. 
 
The main motive behind the makeover is to declare with greater effectiveness to those enslaved by sin that through Jesus, they can be set FREE . . . to concentrate more resources on those people without access to the gospel, where all the odds are stacked against us, proclaiming FREEDOM in and through Jesus Christ. 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

In our changing times, some have advocated doing away with the Great Commission Fund (GCF). For me, this would be a huge mistake. A great strength of Alliance missions is that our international workers don't have to raise their own support. It's provided through the GCF. 
 
Why kill a goose that lays a golden egg year after year? The last fiscal year, this GCF goose laid an egg of $38.9 million. It looks like this year's golden egg will be about $39.7 million. That's not a goose I want to kill. 
 
Why not do away with the GCF? Here are ten reasons articulated by a C&MA missionary who has served in Chile: 
 
10 Spiritually vital - It is a faith-promise based ministry which challenges individuals to seek God and obediently respond by faith. 
 
9 Freedom to minister - When I visit mission conferences, I do not have to concern myself with the bottom line of having to reach my needed support level and I can freely challenge our people to be involved in the Great Commission world-wide. 
 
8 Clear focus - The purpose of the GCF is not projects or strategies or even "missions". It is about fulfilling the Lord's command to make disciples of all nations. 
 
7 Team spirit - When I encourage churches to give generously to the GCF, I am supporting my colleagues in the country I serve and all around the world. 
 
6 The ultimate in connectivity - I can visit any Alliance church and with total sincerity thank them for having sent us to Chile because they are shareholders in what we do. 
 
5 Mutual support - I don't have to "compete" with other missionaries for the missions dollars of our churches because we are all working together. 
 
4 Efficiency - I know that my giving is being used for strategic ministries in the US and among unreached peoples of the world. 
 
3 Meeting personal needs - The GCF puts bread on our table, a roof over our heads and clothes on our back. It provides our health care for us and education for our children. 
 
2 Ministry - The majority of our ministry overseas is fueled by giving to the GCF. 
 
1 Great diversification - My own faith promise giving makes me a shareholder in the ministry of every Alliance worker on every field. It lets me touch the world. 
 
IF YOU'RE ALREADY GIVING, THANK YOU FOR GIVING TO THE GREAT COMMISSION FUND! IF YOU'RE NOT GIVING, I URGE YOU TO GET INVOLVED TODAY. (For more information, consult a local Alliance church or the home page of this website.)  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

There are now 2,506 local Alliance churches in the Philippines. This makes the CAMACOP (C&MA of the Philippines) larger than the US Alliance when it comes to number of local churches. The definition of "church" being used is an assembly of at least 25 baptized believers organized with elders and officers. CAMACOP's goal is to continue planting churches to reach 3,000 congregations by 2010. 80% of these church plants are being launched from already existing churches. 
 
CAMACOP now has 54 missionaries it has sent out. Many are "tentmakers" requiring only partial funding or in some cases no funding. In addition to the 54 missionaries, there are thousands of CAMACOP believers employed outside the Philippines who take their faith in Christ with them wherever they go. Many of these Filipino believers are in countries closed to professional missionaries. 
 
The Alliance Graduate School (formerly called Alliance Bible Seminary) now has 16 centers established where modular courses are taught. The aim is to take the seminary to the local church, providing opportunities for those serving in the local church to continue their education at the master's level without having to leave their ministries, families, and homes. In the next three years, the goal is to have 1,500 students enrolled in this innovative program. 
 
While visiting with CAMACOP leaders recently in Manila, we talked together about some of them coming to the US General Council and LIFE in Orlando. Some of them are coming with a desire to connect and encourage one another. If you're at one of these events, I hope you can meet them! 
 
Thank God for the faithful investment of so many US missionaries in the Philippines. Thank Him for the partners He's raised up there, the CAMACOP! 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

I'm currently with Gary Benedict and two leaders from Simpson University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Yesterday I asked our C&MA partners from the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (Tin Lanh) about how many believers they thought there were now in their family of churches here. They stated that there are now more than 1,000,000 believers associated with Tin Lanh. That means the Alliance-related family of churches in Vietnam is now the largest of any of our partner churches around the world, and more than twice the size of the Alliance family of churches in the USA! 
 
I thank God for the vision and passion that brought Alliance missionaries to Vietnam back in 1911. From then until 1975, they poured themselves out among the people of Vietnam. Churches were planted, men and women were nurtured in Christ and taught the Scriptures, loving compassion was demonstrated, and leaders were trained. In 1975, there were about 125,000 believers associated with Tin Lanh. From then until now, this family of churches has grown more than eight-fold . . . without the help of foreigners. This is so encouraging! 
 
While here, we've had meetings with the Bureau of Religious Affairs and Tin Lanh leaders to explore a partnership between Simpson University and Tin Lanh. The purpose of the partnership is to help with the training of Tin Lanh church leaders at the master's level. The training delivery is being designed so that church leaders can stay in their places of ministry. With the government's permission, Simpson University will offer some courses in Vietnamese in Vietnam, in partnership with and at the invitation of Tin Lanh. Some students from Vietnam will apply for government permission to study in Redding, California on the campus of Simpson University as well. Distance learning options are also being explored as a part of this partnership. 
 
While here, we've visited the land granted by the government of Vietnam for the building of a new campus for Tin Lanh's Institute of Bible and Theology. Building plans have been approved and preparations are being made to construct this new campus. At present, 115 Bible and theology students (15 of whom are from the north) are in training in temporary facilities to serve as Tin Lanh church leaders. It is hoped that the new campus can create opportunity for the number of leaders being trained to expand so that the leadership needs of this growing family of churches can be met well. 
 
Bureau of Religious Affairs leaders shared with us the document detailing the new government policies on belief and religion. We are encouraged by progress being made, and are grateful for the Tin Lanh family of churches in Vietnam!  
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Earlier this week I was in Seoul, South Korea where I witnessed fire burning in the hearts of Korean believers in a partner church there. They were incredibly passionate about Christ and his mission. It was greatly encouraging to be with Jesus-followers who were so on fire for him! 
 
Regardless of our ethnic or national origin, the danger when we have this kind of fire in us is that we end up intentionally, or more often unintentionally, burning each other. In our passion, we end up being insensitive to others. We can press our agenda and our way of doing things in the work of the kingdom so strongly that we inflict pain on other Christ-followers. They get burned. 
 
How do have fire burning brightly in our hearts for Christ and his mission without burning each other? We put into practice 1 Corinthians 13:4-5: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." When we live out this kind of love for one another in the body of Christ, we don't burn others. 
 
Dr. A.B. Simpson wrote in 1900, "God's methods in matters of outward form are flexible enough to allow for exceptions and adjustments." This counsel helps us have fire without burning each other. 
 
Augustine also offers wise counsel: "Unity in things essential, liberty in things non-essential, and charity in all things." 
 
As we engage in a variety of partnerships to advance the cause of Christ, including international ones, we'll need to remember the 1 Corinthians 13 words of Paul, the exhortation of Dr. Simpson, and the wisdom of Augustine. They can help us have differing opinions without pressing our views aggressively in a controversial spirit. Let's stoke the fire of passion for Jesus without burning each other!  
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

When we know there's a tiger in the area, we are extra careful to avoid it. When it's at our front door, its intentions are more obvious and we have reason for great concern. 
 
At the moment, the US C&MA has a tiger at the door. A documented problem that's more than a decade old, healthy giving to the Great Commission Fund (that keeps pace with increases in local church income), is standing there. Its presence is being acutely felt by missionaries facing 7% allowance cutbacks with district superintendents and national office leaders facing 10% ones. With ministry costs rising and incredible opportunities before us, the latest is we'll be preparing a flat budget for the new fiscal year, possibly even a budget that's 2% less than last year's. This is because of the tiger. 
 
What's the response when the tiger shows up? The easiest response is to do nothing . . . or just run away and hide. Another common reaction is to try to chase the tiger away. Some would even suggest a plan to kill the tiger. While all of these are possibilities, they assume the tiger has come for destructive purposes. 
 
But is there another way of understanding the tiger? I believe there is. Just seeing him there puts me on my toes. I tend to think differently when he's around. I'm sharper, more alert and creative. My attitudes and behaviors are more circumspect. I'm forced to trust God more fully than when the tiger's far away. His uncomfortable presence at the door results in my having the courage to try that which I would not do in times of ease. 
 
"Thank you, Father, for the tiger at our door. While I don't like having him there, I realize you may have reasons for allowing him to come. Give me eyes to see what you want me to see, and teach me what you desire that I learn. Give me a sensitive, discerning heart during these days. I'm ready and willing to change, under your lordship, to better spread your fame and reknown. And don't rescue me until you've fulfilled your purposes for sending the tiger. In the name of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Amen." 
 
written from Conakry, Guinea  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Several years ago a Romanian pastor was being harassed in an effort to shut down his influence. In the midst of this, he came to the point of all-out commitment to Christ, even if that meant losing his own life. After that commitment, he preached without fear or inhibition. Increased threats and harassment soon followed. 
 
One day as he was questioned, his interrogator threatened to kill him. "Sir," the pastor replied, "let me explain the issue to you. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. You know my sermons are all over the country on tapes now. If you kill me, I will be sprinkling them with my blood. Whoever listens to them after that will say, 'I had better listen. This man sealed it with his blood.' My sermons will speak ten times louder than before. So go on and kill me. I win the supreme victory then." The interrogator released the pastor and sent him home. 
 
The pastor then realized that for years, he had been overly cautious and low-keyed in his ministry. He had accepted all of the restrictions placed on him because he wanted to live. Now he wanted to die and those in power were unwilling to put him to death. 
 
His freedom in ministry dramatically increased after the above-described incident. The pastor lamented, "For years I had wanted to save my life and I was losing it. Now that I wanted to lose it, I was winning it. Somebody had said those words before, but they had not sunk into my mind." 
 
Want to increase your ministry impact exponentially? Embrace the way of thinking, the posture of heart demonstrated by this Romanian pastor. Then watch what happens! 
 
[This true story was taken from "Partners in Suffering: How Christ Builds His Church Through the Crosses of His Servants" by Joseph Tson (Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Center for Pastoral Renewal), pg. 28.] 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

On Sunday, February 25, we gathered as family at Esther's mother's apartment just north of Pittsburgh. There were twelve of us. Knowing Mother has an asbestos-induced lung cancer with only a short time to live, our purpose was to honor and thank her, expressing our love. We said the kind of things that would normally be said at a funeral.  
 
We began by gathering around the piano to sing her favorite hymns as she accompanied. The first one was "Like a River Glorious." She sang and played heartily while the rest of us wept, singing as well as we could as the tears flowed. Then we sat in a circle in the living room, four generations of us, to share wonderful memories and thank Mother for her faithfulness to Christ, us, and the church. It was impact time because the joy of loving and following Jesus, of living out Christ-honoring values, of being worshippers, of pouring out our lives in service to God and others . . . all of these were powerfully reinforced in our lives. It was a never-to-be-forgotten time. 
 
The journey of trusting God continues. We know that Mother was exposed to asbestos. Her children were probably exposed to it as well during their growing up years in the same houses. This means an elevated risk that this same kind of cancer could appear in our family again in the years ahead. With this troubling reality, we are driven once again to trust our heavenly Father. 
 
We are so, so thankful to have Christ in our lives . . . to be able to face death with overwhelming hope . . . to know that to die is gain!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

My wife Esther and I received last week the very difficult news that her mother has advanced lung cancer. She appeared to be quite healthy when she was with us before Christmas. Now we're told she has about two to six months to live. 
 
As a family we're headed to Pennsylvania this weekend to have some time with her. We're grateful we'll have opportunity to articulate our love and appreciation face-to-face. Instead of awaiting a funeral to express these deep hearted feelings, we want her to hear them now. This will truly be an extraordinary family gathering with children, grandchildren, and even an infant great grandson gathered around her bed. 
 
Mother has decided to not have chemo or radiation therapy. Now in her eightieth year of life, she's ready to go be with Jesus. "The sooner, the better," she says.  
 
As Christ-followers we have tremendous hope in the face of death. We can boldy declare, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? . . . Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57). We can state emphatically, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). 
 
The even more extraordinary gathering will be when all who know and love Jesus . . . from every tribe, language, and nation . . . are gathered around the throne worshipping Jesus forever! This will be THE GATHERING of all history. On the basis of Christ's finished work on the cross and his resurrection, and my response to him in repentance and faith, I'll be there. What about you?  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

We as evangelicals tend to be quick in launching new initiatives, seeking to advance the cause of Christ. Our motives are good. We invest time and energy in these new efforts hoping they’ll work well. Every local church, every ministry has a track record over time of lots of these initiatives. 
 
While I’m grateful for them, I think we need to ask a hard question a year or two down the road (with on-going evaluation thereafter) after a new initiative is birthed. Is it working? Is the intended impact being realized? If not, what do we do?  
 
Whether a ministry initiative is working or not, do we too often allow it to live on without accountability? My observation is we usually either fail to ask this question or ask it years too late. If an initiative is not working, we need to ask why . . . and either change it so that it’s moving toward fruitfulness as originally intended or lovingly put it to rest. 
 
Some may argue, “Killing an initiative is inappropriate. Be gracious by letting it die a natural death.”  
 
For me, the most gracious and loving response to a well-intended effort that’s ineffective is to face it honestly. Rather than continuing to use Kingdom resources in ways that make little or no difference, why not look for the most strategic ways to invest them? This may mean the most godly response is to put to death (with as much sensitivity to those concerned as possible) an initiative that just isn’t working thereby freeing up people, time, and money for more effective investment. This in my thinking is what God-honoring stewardship is all about! 
 
To interact with Bob Fetherlin about this idea, e-mail him at makeover@cmalliance.org. 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

How do we connect Alliance missions with people in the pews of our US family of Alliance churches? Here are some of the many ways connections resulting in increased ownership, deeper relationships, and greater involvement by local churches can be made: 
 
Short term teams 
 
• Providing English language skills training courses of one to two weeks 
 
• Sending computer technicians with donated computers to set them up and train local people how to use them 
 
• Recruiting medical personnel to hold medical / dental clinics in a manner that elevates the local church in the community and leads to opportunities for the advance of the gospel 
 
• Encouraging business professionals to go to a field to give seminars on effective business principles thereby making connections with business professionals in the overseas ministry context 
 
• Deploying speakers, worship leaders and children’s workers for field forums 
 
• Finding coaches / sports teams to lead clinics with local youth, play against local teams, and interface in local schools in a manner that advances the kingdom 
 
• Putting together vision trips of pastors and church leaders from US Alliance churches 
 
 
Partnerships 
 
• Building “webmaster” partnerships for fields, teams and individual missionaries working with them in establishing and maintaining quality websites 
 
• Nurturing relationships with clusters of churches / individual churches / church leaders out of which natural opportunities to build partnerships follow 
 
• Working together so that a local church can adopt a people group, a missionary family or a special project 
 
 
Finances 
 
• Funding the work of Alliance missions through the Great Commission Fund 
 
• Having a financial planner visit the field to help missionaries with their personal finances, retirement planning, etc. 
 
• Helping a field or cluster of fields do an annual audit of their books 
 
• Taking responsibility to raise the funds for a specific approved special related to an overseas ministry project 
 
Communications 
 
• Having a videographer / video production person or team prepare video segments on field ministries for promoting the work 
 
• Helping a missionary produce quality communication pieces enabling strong connections with that missionary’s sending churches 
 
 
Prayer 
 
• Recruiting a prayer team to go to a field for specific, focused intercession 
 
• Inviting a district or church or individual to exchange e-mailed prayer requests and answers to prayer with a missionary or a field thereby creating a two-way exchange of prayer support 
 
 
Leadership Development 
 
• Having gifted Bible teachers, seminary and Christian college professors, and others go to a field to teach on specific subjects and in response to specific needs 
 
• Sending people who can help with short-term projects related to the work of C&MA-related Bible schools 
 
• Connecting with an overseas, C&MA leader-in-training to provide encouragement and help, including some funds for tuition in a ministry training program 
 
 
Why not explore how you and the people of your church can better connect with what God is doing through Alliance missions? Strong connections enable the "sent ones" overseas and the "senders" at home to live the call together in carrying out Christ's mission! 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Here’s an interesting picture: 
 
• The North American family of Alliance churches (the US and Canada) represents the majority of financial resources within the Alliance World Fellowship. 
 
• More and more Alliance churches from economically challenged areas of the world in Latin America, Africa, and Asia are catching the vision to send out their own missionaries. 
 
• The US C&MA is now investing in missionary training for young men and women from our partner churches in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. 
 
• The main barrier to deploying and sustaining trained missionaries from Latin America, Africa, and Asia is financial. 
 
• Missionaries from Latin America, Africa, and Asia can access some peoples of the world more easily and in some cases more effectively than North Americans. 
 
Strategically, what is the best response to this picture? In my vision, it’s figuring out how to enable the missionary sending of our more economically challenged partner churches of the Alliance World Fellowship in a way that leaves as much sending authority and responsibility with them as possible. The models developed to carry out this objective must be sustainable in a manner that does not create unhealthy dependency. I can envision ways this can be done that will hasten the completion of the Great Commission thereby hastening the return of our King! 
 
This vision calls for some bold yet sensitive conversations leading to the development of some experiments, some pilot projects. As models that work are discovered, they can be adapted for other contexts in other places. The bottom line is contained in Romans 10:15, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” In the last century the predominant understanding in US Alliance churches was that it would be primarily white American feet that would bring the good news. In this vision, it will be feet of many colors from many different nations and ethnicities as we move toward greater and greater internationalization. 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

How can we unleash laypersons who are business professionals to help in Alliance missions? Many of them are already traveling to do business in countries where Alliance missions resources are being invested. Rather than asking these C&MA business professionals to just show up at their local Alliance church on Sundays to pay for and pray for missions, why not have them engaged in front-line, missional activity? After all, they’re like lions all week in their businesses. Why should they be treated like lambs when they show up at church on Sunday morning, often relegated to the sidelines with the expectation that as long as they behave and write big checks, they’re “in”? When their hearts are overflowing with a love relationship with Jesus and their passions align with His mission, ways can be discovered to engage them in front-line, missional work. 
 
What might some of these opportunities look like? Here are five ways Alliance business professionals with love and devotion for Jesus Christ can help carry out His mission overseas: 
 
• Use their profession as a basis for obtaining visas for themselves and others in areas of the world with high concentrations of unreached people – This would help establish presence in countries closed to professional, clergy missionaries. Business professionals involved in this could live their lives and conduct their work in ways prompting questions to which Jesus Christ is the answer. This would fit into the growing “kingdom professional” and “business as mission” models of cross-cultural ministry. 
 
• Go short-term to a country to work with the “on the ground” team of missionaries and church partners in building relational connections with business professionals in that setting – In urban church planting among middle and upper class professionals, missionaries not of these socio-economic classes find it challenging to build relationships with local people who are of these classes. Having US Alliance business professionals make periodic, short-term visits to build relational bridges with local professionals can open doors in very helpful ways for “on the ground” personnal. 
 
• Invest in beginning a branch of their business in an overseas context thereby providing opportunity to be witnesses while helping local people have jobs – In many impoverished areas of the world, unemployment runs at over 50%. This results in economic hardship for communities and the developing churches within them. Having increased job opportunities directly helps the local economy and indirectly can breathe greater fiscal health into the church. 
 
• Provide business seminars (values-based business, best business practices, etc.) in overseas contexts in a way that opens doors for Christian witness and relationship building – This would be accomplished by US Alliance business professionals going to a country short-term for this purpose. Again, these would be settings in which relationships could be built opening the door for eventual opportunities to introduce people to Jesus Christ. 
 
• Develop micro-enterprise loan opportunities among the poor – This would be a way of helping people enslaved by poverty help themselves with the goal of improving their own lives and living conditions. With over half the world’s population living below the United Nations-defined poverty line, there are tremendous opportunities to infuse capital and build the necessary infrastructure for this to happen. As the poor are recipients of this kind of compassion, their hearts tend to open to the message being carried by those helping them.  
 
I recently had a business professional join me for a trip to a country in Latin America. I was overjoyed as I watched him build connections with people in the community where a future Alliance church is envisioned. This worked well . . . and can undoubtedly work well over and over again as business professionals are invited and encouraged to use their skills and gifting to be a part of Alliance missions! 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

The Extreme Makeover team goes into a distressed, inadequate housing situation, captures the story of the people living there, then with fierce intensity goes to work to bring about mind-boggling change. Walls are knocked out, new rooms are added, new bathrooms and kitchens are installed. Professional decorators add their creative touches. When the project is completed, the people whose house was made over are brought back to see the finished product. That’s a great moment of tearful celebration and exuberant gratitude. 
 
Alliance missions has been around since 1884, when Dr. A. B. Simpson sent out the first workers associated with what eventually grew into The Christian and Missionary Alliance. The Matthew 24:14 core purpose of Alliance missions hasn’t changed in more than 120 years. However, the world of the 21st century is very different from the world of the 19th century. 
 
The pace of change is constantly increasing. As seismic shifts shake our culture and the world in which we live, we must be prepared to change as we seek to advance the cause of Christ and His Kingdom. 
 
Alliance missions needs a makeover. The changes of the last 25 years alone call for us to rethink some of our priorities, policies and practices. Like the men of Issachar (1 Chron. 12:32), we must discern the times and adapt our structures and strategies to maximize our impact on the Kingdom in the contexts where God places us. 
 
In achieving a makeover, we can increase our impact by discerning the best responses to these changes:  
1. Many Alliance World Fellowship partner churches have matured. As churches birthed by God’s work through Alliance missions in the last century mature, new paradigms for partnering with them are required. 
 
2. Most responsive people groups now have access to the gospel. With most of the easy-to-reach places covered, new models for being Christ’s ambassadors are essential in the difficult, less responsive areas.  
 
3. North American Alliance churches want to do more than just pay for and pray for missionaries. When it comes to missions, more and more C&MA churches are calling for increased opportunities for ownership, relationship and involvement. 
 
4. We must grapple more than ever with the question, “What will it take to reach the least reached?” While a cognitive presentation of core, propositional truths of the gospel is absolutely vital, Christ-compelled compassion must be integrated with it.  
 
5. Members of the emerging generation think in new and different ways. Because requirements for being an Alliance missionary seem so long and complicated to them, a fresh look at the pathways to service is important. 
 
6. The demographics of our North American church family look very different from the demographics of Simpson’s day. More than 30 percent of Alliance churches are composed of ethnicities other than Caucasian, and 21st century Alliance missions must increasingly reflect this reality. 
 
7. We’re in dire need of fresh wind and fresh fire. The idea of more structures and policies has to be replaced by more Holy Spirit anointing, power, fervency in prayer and witness and daring faith. 
 
While some makeover moves have already been made, more are needed. Even this listing of changes is far from complete. These are ones that are becoming clearer to me, that I believe God by His Spirit is prompting. But I’m just one person in The Alliance. What is God saying to others in this diverse, growing part of the Body of Christ? More specifically, what might He want to say through you? 
 
Any vision short of reaching the entire world for Christ is too small. What changes would bring about the synergy needed to accomplish great things for God as an Alliance family of churches? What will it take to bring back our King? 
 
I’m inviting your input as this Alliance missions makeover takes shape. Just as it requires a committed group of people to do an Extreme Makeover on the popular television show, this makeover of Alliance missions is going to involve the thoughtful participation of lots of people. There are many dimensions of Alliance missions that are working well and should not be changed. For the seven areas above and others that may be added, the objective is to clearly discern what God is saying and what will best further the fulfillment of His mission, and then to move forward wisely in making helpful changes under His Lordship. 
 
To submit your ideas for changes and to comment on the ones I’ve laid out, send an e-mail to makeover@cmalliance.org. We will carefully consider each suggestion. Alliance partners in Canada and leaders of Alliance World Fellowship will be consulted. The Board of Directors and General Council can help, assuring a makeover that reflects God’s heart and what He wants to do through The Christian and Missionary Alliance. 
 
Most of all, my longing is for us to hear from God in this process. Ultimately, the makeover is not about us. It’s about Him, His glory and His Kingdom. The bottom line is, “Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts” (Isa. 26:8).  
 
 
HEALTH UPDATE FROM BOB - I have been released from physical therapy and am doing better each day. I'm mobile. I don't have nagging back pain although my left leg is still not "up to speed." Thanks to all who have prayed for me during these challenging weeks. 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Last weekend I was in Harlem with my friend Mimsie and his family. Being there with them, spending some time in the community, and experiencing their church was a rich learning opportunity for me. 
 
On Saturday morning we participated in one of the church's outreach teams. We went to a busy street corner seeking opportunities to talk to people about Christ. I was amazed by the number of people we were able to engage in meaningful conversation about spiritual matters. I shared the gospel with West African immigrants, prayed with a man suffering from terminal cancer, and encouraged a lady who said she knew the Lord to get connected to a local body of believers. 
 
On outreach days, the church offers a noon meal to people with whom outreach teams have had connections. Mimsie and I had invited several from our conversations, and they came! Combined with all the others invited by all the teams out on the streets that day, there must have been three hundred there. A drama about the prodigal son was presented just before the meal, and at the end several prayed to receive Christ. Immediately people from the church began to connect with these new believers, getting their contact information and helping them begin the journey of following Christ. Tears came to my eyes as I saw all this unfold. I saw some of these new believers at church the next morning. 
 
At this lunch, I interacted with one of the men serving. I discovered he lived in the church with a group of men who were trying to make a new start in life. Some were homeless, some were former inmates, some had just seriously lost their way in life. Through the church's ministry, they had found Christ and were being discipled by one of the pastors. These men were doing much of the serving and cleanup work related to the meal. 
 
Mimsie took me to the Schomberg Center in Harlem where we saw a display depicting African American history and culture. I was deeply moved as I understood in new ways the realities of slavery and some of the huge challenges African Americans have faced. At the same time, I read stories and saw pictures of African Americans who were agents of redemptive change, who stood tall in the face of difficulties, and who were overcomers excelling in spite of all the odds stacked against them. 
 
The worship experiences I was a part of during the weekend focused my heart on Christ. I was deeply moved as I listened to three choirs, a children's choir, a youth choir, and an adult choir. These people sang with all their hearts. It was so energetic and powerful. The preaching was full of passion and rich insights. Even the medium of RAP was used to talk about walking with Jesus and living in a broken world for Him. 
 
I'd love to return to Harlem and take others with me. I've been strengthened and enriched. Mimisie and I are talking lots about crossing boundaries for Christ, and his church is already doing lots of cross-cultural ministry. They want to continue that missional journey, and I want to do all I can to help and encourage them along the way. It was a great weekend! 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Just this evening the International Ministries leadership team completed an intense week of CONNECTING here at Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary. They welcomed us warmly and cared for us well as we had leadership team meetings for three days . . . did five chapel services and several classes to CONNECT with students . . . spent time with students, faculty, and staff . . . and visited the exciting Manhattan campus. 
 
We enfolded into our leadership team meetings Doug Bortner from the Candidate Development Office, Bill Ramirez from International Accounting, Tim Owen who serves as Superintendent of the Rocky Mountain District, and Frank Fung of the Chinese Church Association. Ralph Trainer and Matt Peace of the Missions Mobilization team were also a part of us. All of these were excellent CONNECTIONS. 
 
Tomorrow I head for Harlem where I'm spending the weekend at an African-American church. My friend from this church, a graduate of Alliance Theological Seminary, and I are on a learning journey together. We're looking at his church's missional efforts in various parts of the world and how we may be able to cooperate together for the advance of the kingdom. He's also helping me grow in my understanding of African-American involvement in Christian missions. I'm excited to learn and be with this brother and his family. It will be an enriching time for me! 
 
I return home on Sunday evening after spending 25 of the last 28 days on the road . . . a more intense travel time than usual . . . but loaded with excellent opportunities to CONNECT with God, His people, and what He's doing!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Dear Partners in Prayer, 
 
Esther and I thank those who intercede for us and for the work of Alliance missions around the world. The past several weeks have involved much travel and responsibility. This continues right up until Thanksgiving. We want to invest wisely and well in this on-going journey, trusting God for His empowerment to be effective.  
 
Here are five present prayer requests we'd like to share with you: 
 
1. With the recent heart-wrenching revelations regarding Rev. Ted Haggard as a vivid reminder, we want to avoid such high intensity in ministry that we burn out or in some other way negatively impact the cause of Christ. We realize how easily we could fail. Will you pray for us in this regard? 
 
2. Our family is deeply concerned about Gordon Meier (Esther's brother) as he has had serious complications after major back surgery. He is not "out of the woods" yet. Your prayers for Gordon would mean so much to us. 
 
3. I have several important encounters over the next two weeks. Tomorrow I join other Alliance leaders to be with the senior leadership of Samaritan's Purse in Boone, NC to explore partnership opportunities with them. On Thursday I leave for New York for a major conference on the Bible, talking about ways to get God's Word into the hands of more and more people on planet earth. I'll be in an Alliance church in New Jersey next Sunday challenging them to greater missional involvement, then on to Nyack / ATS for a week with the International Ministries leadership team. After that, I'll be at an African-American church in Harlem for dialogue about engaging more African-Americans in cross-cultural ministry outside the USA. While all of these are great opportunities, they demand high energy, wisdom that is beyond me, and keen focus to discern God's agenda and how I can best fit in . . . and help others do likewise. All the while, I want to be caring well for my own soul, keeping healthy and growing in the most important dimensions of my life . . . first and foremost my walk with my Redeemer . . . then as a husband, father, and team leader. I so often feel weak, inadequate, and vulnerable and need the prayers of others in all of this. Esther senses this as well. 
 
4. She and I are continuing on an exciting, yet very intimidating, dangerous, and challenging journey of discovering ways to see the good news about Jesus Christ reach areas of the world where He is not yet understood, not yet known. The more we're involved in this, the higher the stakes . . . and the more we feel an inner drive and enablement that's from beyond ourselves. With this comes heavy responsibility, including the burden of caring well for men and women serving in these difficult, delicate areas. Again, your prayers are both needed and much appreciated. 
 
5. Gary Benedict, John Soper, Ken Baldes, several others, and I are working around a thematic goal: CONNECT. The idea is better connecting all the different parts of the Alliance into a unified whole as we seek to complete Christ's mission in our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We want to build bridges instead of walls in this process. In some situations, walls have been built in the past and need to come down. Again, for this to happen will be nothing short of supernatural. Some good steps forward have been made, but there's still lots of work to do. And most of all, we want all of us as believers to CONNECT more and more deeply with the Lord of the harvest Himself. 
 
These are burdens on my and Esther's heart. Thanks for helping us carry them. May God be your encouragement and source of empowerment for all that you're facing today! 
 
Gratefully, 
 
 
 
Bob (and Esther)  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

What is more important, your position or your contribution?  
 
In Alliance missions, there are so many whose commitment, gifting, and investment in serving result in a tremendous contribution to the advance of Christ´s kingdom. I was in Paraguay last week, am in Argentina today, and will soon be in Uruguay. I´ve been hanging out with missionaries and church partners whose contributions amaze me. Thankfully, position is not important to them. 
 
Being able to help these kingdom servants maximize their contributions is a big part of what sucks me out of the sheets in the morning. In so many ways, they´re big and I´m small. And all of us are serving a God who is absolutely majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders (Ex 15:11). May I keep this perspective ever before me. 
 
When all is said and done, we´ll have an ultimate accountability assessment with the God of the universe. I don´t think He´ll care much about what positions you or I have held on planet earth. He will, however, have razor-sharp, perfect discernment to know for whom we´ve lived, in whom we´re trusting, how we´ve lived, and what our contribution to His cause has been. 
 
Since positions held during our earthly sojourns will be irrelevant then, why not concentrate on contribution while not worrying about position? Hearing "Well done, good and faithful servant" will be all about our kingdom contribution. It only makes sense from the eternal perspective, then, to be people of contribution concentration. May this be your and my focus today . . . and for the rest of our days . . . being ever mindful that it´s all about Him, not us!  
 
 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

An Alliance international worker sent by the US family of C&MA churches was in a difficult situation. A break-off group from the partner church in the country where this worker serves was carrying out its separation plan. A church split was in process and it was causing great distress and pain. 
 
This international worker and her family lived in a house built by the US C&MA. While the house was already turned over to the partner church, permission and blessing were given by local church leaders for US C&MA personnel to live in it for as long as needed . . . until the breakaway group started implementing their plan . . . 
 
A part of this plan was to lay claim to church properties in the break-off area. Since these US C&MA workers were living in what was considered to be a church-owned house, they were informed by the breakaway leaders that it would be confiscated . . . by force if necessary . . . as a part of the planned split.  
 
Caught in a difficult, no-win situation, these Alliance missionaries prayed asking God for wisdom. They felt caught between C&MA partner church leaders and the instigators of the breakway movement. Many were praying about this delicate, difficult situation. 
 
When the day came for the breakaway leaders to kick the missionaries out of the house they had been told they could live in, there was great concern. What would happen? What would God do to provide for and protect His servants? 
 
This missionary family did what for me would be very difficult . . . it's counter-intuitive and contrary to human nature. They prepared a beautiful feast to serve to the break-away leaders as they came (possibly with guns and machetes) to claim "their" property. In the spirit of Psalm 23, it was a table God had prompted these missionaries to prepare in the presence of those who saw the missionaries as enemies. 
 
Interestingly, the group never showed up. The missionaries are living peacefully in the house, using it as a base of ministry to a large area and thousands of people. And the church split effort has come to naught. 
 
I love the way these kingdom servants responded . . . they prepared a feast table for those who were bent on doing them wrong. In the end, the agenda of the break-away leaders was foiled and God was honored! May I learn from this powerful example.  
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

I just spoke with a friend whose son and daughter-in-law have a baby boy with spinal bifida. He shared with me some of the challenges they're facing. As he spoke, I was trying to put myself in his shoes . . . How would I respond if I had a child or grandchild with spinal bifida? I can imagine myself feeling lots of pain and disappointment, maybe even anger towards God. 
 
Not so with this family. Tears are welling up in my eyes as I write to share their response with you . . . 
 
"God chose us to be the parents of this very special gift. He in His loving sovereignty knew we could handle it with His grace and help. This little boy is precious to us. We're delighted and honored to be his parents and care for him." 
 
Wow! What an example of trust in a situation where hurt, frustration, disappointment, and anger are the normal responses! 
 
The journey this family is on will not be an easy one. But in the way they're responding, they'll attract people to the Savior rather than repelling them from Him. May we all react to the testings God allows to come to us in a manner that calls attention to His love and goodness. As a result, may many respond in faith and trust to the the One who loves them more than they can even comprehend. 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

"Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" King Nebuchadnezzar thinking very highly of himself uttered this statement from the rooftop of the royal palace in Babylon (Daniel 4:30). 
 
In A RESILIENT LIFE Gordon McDonald helps us understand "that ego has an insatiable desire for enlargement. Left undisciplined, it becomes addicted to expansion." Our natural bent is to grab as much glory for ourselves as we can, to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Left unchecked, our egos become entrepreneurial, racing for recognition and constantly desiring admiration and accolades. We're all infected with this disease. 
 
Realizing my ego, the centerpiece of self, is entrepreneurial today . . . and like yours will continue to crave expansion the rest of my life . . . what do I do? I admit my problem asking God to help me keep it under control, even put it to death. Yet since it can so quickly rise up again, I realize this is an on-going battle in which I must daily discipline myself. I ask Him for the empowerment to remove self from the center of my life, realizing He may use suffering to break self so that He reigns in that central place deep within my being. This means being reduced to realizing how absolutely nothing I am without Him. Trusted others and uninvited critics can also help me in this journey, enabling me see this dark side of who I am and holding me accountable to tame it.  
 
Have I mastered this? No. Will I do battle with my entrepreneurial ego today? Without a doubt. Can God work through me in spite of this problem? Yes . . . He receives the most honor in and through my life when I'm focused on Him and others instead of self. "Father, transform my entrepreneurial, ego-centered expansionism so that your name and renown are the desire of my heart. Redeem this fallen, entrepreneurial part of me so that instead of grasping glory for me, it is focused on bringing admiration to You. AMEN." 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Yesterday I had the joy of sitting at the feet of a seasoned Christian leader now in his late 60s / early 70s. He has served as president of a major ministry. You would probably know of him. What a privilege to learn from him! 
 
He shared what he wished he had received and put into practice in the earlier part of his journey. Here's are the nuggets I gleaned for this conversation: 
 
1) Take large, regular blocks of time in the Scriptures. 
 
2) Realize that every leader I serve under / see up close will disappoint me in one way or another . . . and that I'll disappoint myself at times. No one is perfect. 
 
3) Focus on contribution, not position. Never strive for position. Ultimately, position is not important . . . contribution (regardless of my position) is what will last. 
 
4) Give myself to learning and growing, not comparing myself to others. Comparison, a cancer of the soul, gives birth to envy which can destroy me. 
 
5) Work constantly on character and the clarifying of vision. Make these regular focal points of my time and attention. 
 
6) Guard against any root of bitterness growing in my heart. 
 
7) Allow suffering to build character. 
 
8) Understand that effective ministry must be from the overflow of my personal walk with God. 
 
9) Have a high view of the body of Christ . . . even if I don't resonate with what some other part of the body of Christ may be doing. Love Christ's Church! 
 
These were helpful to me. Next time you have the chance to sit at the feet of a seasoned saint, I encourage you to do it. If it helps you as much as it did me yesterday, it's a win! 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Columbine in 1999, now Bailey . . . high school students gunned down in their classrooms here in Colorado. Emily Keyes' memorial service was held yesterday in Bailey, Colorado, just a little over an hour drive from here. Emily, a 16-year old junior, was sexually assaulted then shot in the head by a 53-year old gunman, Duane Morrison. Emily's last recorded words were sent by text message to her family from the classroom where she was being held hostage . . . "I love U guys." 
 
I feel deeply for Emily's family and friends. I hurt for the Bailey community. And to be honest, I'm angry. 
 
Jay Vonesh, youth pastor at Platte Canyon Community Church, spoke yesterday at Emily's funeral. His thinking convicted me in my anger. "We need to go forward in Emily's name and Emily's honor and turn this random act into acts of kindness. Let's live and love extravagantly in ways that don't make sense, in ways that make other people wonder what you're up to." 
 
That's the example Jesus has already given us. May my anger be transformed into a powerful, extravagant love by God at work within me. May onlookers wonder what I'm up to . . . and may I be able to tell them with passion and clarity that I'm merely reflecting the extravagant love that God has demonstrated for all of us in Christ. 
 
Chances are things will happen in all of our lives that test us in this area. When we're mistreated, when something unfair happens, when we get hurt, what's our response? May God enable us to love extravagantly in ways that can only be explained by the overflow of His love from our hearts to others. May this draw attention not to us, but ultimately to Him!  
 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

A flat tire that's the result of a blowout has had a sudden, unexpected, complete loss of air. This usually destroys the tire, severely crippling the car it's on. Blowouts are extremely dangerous and potentially deadly. Without a major repair or a new tire, the car can't go far. 
 
When it comes to walking in personal purity, "blowouts" happen very rarely if ever. It's very unusual for a person to be moving along the highway of life circumspectly, taking care over many miles to not compromise personal purity . . . and then suddenly have a "blowout" . . . an unanticipated indulgence in sexual fornication or adultery. 
 
ALL SIN HAS A LONG ANCESTRY. A big fall is preceded by lots of smaller ones. They tend to become bigger over time until the seriously compromising, pain-filled, major fall occurs. That fall usually impacts the lives of many, not just the person who goes down. 
 
Instead of a "blowout", the vast majority of moral purity flat tires involve slow leaks . . . almost imperceptibly over time . . . one little compromise followed by another one that's a little bigger . . . until the tire is at the point where the car can no longer move. 
 
What do we do to prevent these leaks? We take seriously the words of Job and Jesus: 
 
"I made a covenant with my eyes to not look lustfully at a girl" (Job 31:1) 
 
"Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). 
 
We understand that the beginning of a slow yet deadly leak is the lustful look. Seeking God's empowerment and help, we avoid like the plague the lustful look. Others are invited into our lives to help us and hold us accountable with regard to the lustful look. We cut ourselves no breaks and allow ourselves no slack in this area . . . because a small, slow leak can eventually incapacitate the entire car. May God help you and me to be steadfast in our commitment to avoid the slow leaks that can eventually result in flat tires.  
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Today's been a demanding travel day . . . a very early morning departure from Orlando where I was at the Southeastern District Conference . . . in planes and airports all day getting to Portland, Oregon. I'm feeling tired after a demanding schedule at the conference, a long trip, and crossing three time zones. 
 
On the way I was reading from Brennan Manning's RUTHLESS TRUST. He made a statement that's had me thinking: "Anyone God uses signficantly is always deeply wounded." How could this be? Why is it God would take people through the school of suffering to make them more fit for His use? 
 
Reflecting on people whose lives I've seen God use in extraordinary ways, I do see a pattern . . . they've been through tough times. They've shed tears and lived with heartache, pain, and disappointment. Not all to the same extent for the same period of time . . . but the pattern is definitely there. 
 
The result? The margins of grace in their lives have widened. Patience and forbearance have increased. They have an enhanced awareness of their weakness and limitations in comparison to God's great power. They have a well-developed longing to be intimately connected to a loving, sovereign being much greater than themselves. I think C.S. Lewis may have been right when he said, "God whispers to us in our pleasure, but shouts to us in our pain." 
 
When my days on earth are completed, I think I'd rather have scars than medals. Medals bear witness to our victories. Scars are indicators of our pain. If the pathway of pain can help me become more like Christ and move my heart toward greater levels of trust in Him, then may I have the grace to embrace it as a gift rather than a curse . . . even when it's undeserved and can't be easily explained or remedied. May I respond with unwavering trust in the One who loves me and does all things well. 
 
"Kind Father, I know there will be pain on the pathway ahead. Use it to mold me into a more useable instrument in Your hands. Help me to respond to it with quiet confidence because of who You are. Instead of grumbling, help me to respond with gratitude. In Jesus' name, Amen."  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Today I'm on my way to Florida. As a part of this trip, I've been invited to meet with the leaders of a sister missionary-sending organization to talk about the 62 . . . the 62 countries of our present world that will not issue visas to Christian missionaries.  
 
Some of these countries are blatantly anti-Christian. Others are simply uncomfortable with foreigners coming to try to "convert" their people. Whatever the reasons, 62 countries are closed to professional, clergy, Christian missionaries. 
 
So what should missionally-minded followers of Christ do? We could just assume that these are closed doors, outside our realm of responsibility. Or we could try to discern ways to reach them. 
 
One thing is for sure. No people can be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). Not even the gates of Hades, viewed as inpenetrable in New Testament times, can prevail against the building of Christ's church (Matthew 16:18).  
 
I want to be counted among those committed to getting the good news about Jesus to all peoples. Everyone deserves the privilege of hearing about God's incredible, awesome Son! To this end, let's press forward. 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

I just returned from Christ Community Church (CCC) in Omaha. Gary Benedict and I were there to connect with their leadership. We expressed great appreciation for their huge investment of time, talent, and treasure in the Koutiala Hospital. They've made a tremendous difference there! 
 
A gracious donor there gave $20,000 in seed money for this project. CCC leaders with the blessing of the donor broke this gift down into $100, $50, and $20 bills putting each bill into an envelope. They then launched a challenge based on the parable of the talents (Matthew 25) inviting their people to invest it so it would multiply. Hundreds of people walked out of church that morning with an envelope in hand. 
 
A shiver went down my spine when they told me the end result. Through creative and strategic investments, the original $20,000 multiplied more that 10X. Over $200,000 was taken in for the hospital project! 
 
A lady from CCC is in the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. She used her influence there to put together a benefit concert to multiply what was in her envelope. Another with connections with immigrants in the area worked with them to plan special meals . . . a Thai meal one night, a Russian one another, etc . . . inviting people from the church and community to come enjoy authentic meals from other cultures. More than $9,000 came in from those who enjoyed the meals. Amazing! The stories go on and on . . . 
 
Granted, I may be more excitable than most when it comes to creative initiatives like this. But when the end result is 10X demonstrating the love and compassion of Jesus through the Koutiala Hospital . . . challenging patients and their families to embrace Jesus as their Savior and Lord . . . I just can't help myself. My prayer is that as God works in our hearts, we'll discover more and more 10X ideas that impact the world for Christ!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

I'm feeling confused. Why would God in His loving sovereignty not keep Pastor David Petrescue from falling off a roof nine-stories to his death? David has been an outstanding shepherd-leader of an International Church in Cairo. The ministry there has flourished under his care. Many have been brought into the kingdom as the church has grown from about 40 in 1992 to more than 1,400 today. The gnawing question I'm struggling with is, "Why, God?" 
 
For the sake of David's precious wife and children, for the church family there in Cairo, for the many others grieving this tragic loss, even selfishly for myself, I wish I had a good answer. I don't. 
 
My only option requires a big leap of faith in the face of honest questions. Is God still trustworthy? Does He still care? Has His love in some way diminished? Did He for some unknown reason leave or forsake His servant in this situation? The leap of faith for me is continuing to trust when I don't understand. 
 
If David were still with us and able to reflect on this very pain-filled situation, I think he would say something like this: "I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds" (Psalm 51:11-12). . . and therefore I will quietly trust You even when I don't understand. 
 
Along with His supernatural comfort and peace, may God graciously grant this quiet trust to David's family and the many others who today are feeling this deep pain, facing these kinds of questions with no easy answers.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Last Monday I interacted with leaders of the Peruvian Alliance about their missionary sending. They have 64 cross-cultural workers with 34 serving cross-culturally within Peru and 30 serving outside Peru. Many more are "in the pipeline" hoping to be sent in the days ahead. While the passion is palpable, there have been huge challenges to providing a sustained support for their sent ones. 
 
I asked, "How can the US family of Alliance churches come alongside the Peruvian Alliance to help, enabling many more to be sent?" I'd love to discover a model enabling the Peruvian Alliance to keep its sending authority and responsibility intact . . . as opposed to our usurping these foundational aspects of their missionary sending. 
 
We committed to taking three important steps together in cooperation with one another and the Alliance World Fellowship: 
 
1) We (probably 5-7 select leaders) will go on a vision trip together to some "least reached" areas of the world. This will happen in the next twelve months. 
 
2) We will develop a plan together to help reach one of the people groups of a jointly-selected area. This is envisioned for late 2007-early 2008. 
 
3) We will keep CLA, the Latin American C&MA's joint sending body, fully informed of what's developing . . . and give an update at the next Alliance World Fellowship Quadrenniel Conference in 2008. 
 
This is likely to involve some new ways of the US C&MA helping with the missionary sending of a sister Alliance Church. Hopefully it will be a reproducable model that can be continually improved for use with other partner Alliance churches having well-prepared people ready to send, yet lacking the means to sustain them long-term. My dream is to discover win-win-win-win situations where the Peruvian Alliance wins, the US C&MA wins, some of the world's least reached people win as they have opportunity to hear and believe the good news about Jesus . . . and God wins as His kingdom advances and His Church is established! May the Lord powerfully work to bring this to pass for His fame and reputation.  
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Today I´m in Lima with C&MA partner church leaders from around Latin America. Sometimes I´m asked, "Why have US C&MA personnel left Peru?" (We continue with one couple here involved in outreach to the growing Chinese population of Peru.) Being here helps me know why all the others have left: due to strategic and faithful investment over many years, there´s a growing family of Alliance churches here who can continue with strength without a missionary presence. In this city of 8 million, there are now 60 Alliance churches with more in the planning stages. 
 
A main topic here is how these churches can express their missionary nature. The Peruvian C&MA now has 64 of its own missionaries spread across the globe, many of them in difficult places. There are hundreds more in the preparation stages, filled with passion and vision for what can happen in and through a life lived with relentless abandonment to Christ. This thrills me! 
 
What about the future? Three things are sure.  
 
1) We will continue to seek out those places, those peoples where the church isn´t yet established with a passion to see communities of faith spring up, have local leaders, and reproduce themselves. 
 
2) The US family of Alliance churches will have more and more "children and grandchildren." Churches planted by missionaries we´ve sent will plant more churches that will plant more churches that will plant more churches . . . 
 
3) As the Latin American churches move forward in expressing their missionary nature, fulfillment of the Great Commission will be accelerated hastening the return of our King! 
 
I get teary just thinking about all of this . . . all the giving, all the labor, all the difficult times and tensions experienced in this process are more than worth it! Jesus Christ is worthy of the investment that´s been made . . . that will continue to bear fruit for His glory!  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Today I head for Latin America where I'll be with partner church leaders from all over the continent for a few days. I'm excited for this connecting opportunity!  
 
I have this vision of hundreds of Latin American missionaries being sent by Alliance churches from the continent. I can see them going to some of the world's least reached people in places like the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. As Latin Americans, they're likely to enjoy a greater affinity with the people of these parts of the world than I as a North American have. In many situations, their passports as Chileans and Colombians and Peruvians will be more of an asset to them than mine as an American is to me. So what's God up to? 
 
I think He's up to something very exciting! He wants everyone on planet earth to have opportunity to hear about His love expressed through His incredible Son. He longs for them to understand the necessity of atonement, the story of the cross, the victory of the resurrection, and the thrill of Christ's return. He's using Latin Americans, Africans, Asians, Indians, and even people like me to embody this fantastic news carrying it to those who today don't have access to it. This is a cause worth everything we are and everything we have! 
 
In a few hours I'll be face-to-face with the President of the Alliance World Fellowship and Latin American church leaders. I'll be asking them how we as a US family of churches can come alongside them to help make this happen. I'm pumped! 
 
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" When it comes to the world's least reached people, the feet of Latin Americans are becoming incredibly beautiful! 
 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

We all have a story . . . a history . . . marked by some painful experiences, family dysfunctions, and major disappointments leaving us with potentially lasting hurts. When we think about certain difficult people and injustices we've suffered, we can relive the hurts inflicted. Even though time has passed, they're near the surface and we feel them. Sound familiar? 
 
These parts of our story can embitter us. While our offenders walk about in seeming freedom, we can end up locked in a cage of unforgiveness. We can stew there, becoming more and more frustrated and angry, hoping they'll come begging for our pardon to unlock the door so we can get out. 
 
Even if the offenders never come to us acknowledging their wrong and asking for our forgiveness, it's still possible to get out of the cage! The door of this self-made cage swings open when we decide to forgive, giving up our right to hold charges against them. In releasing them, we forgive. This is a choice we make, a very freeing choice. 
 
Jesus has forgiven us over and over again. We've not deserved it, yet He has graciously granted it. Let's do the same with our past offenders! It's so much healthier than living with an embittered heart. 
 
"O, Lord, thank You for demonstrating unmerited grace. You are so forgiving. Help me to follow Your example. Thank You, thank You, thank You! Amen."  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

Big-hearted people are generous. They give of who they are, of what they can do, and of what they have. They find joy in giving, they even love to give. 
 
The C&MA is rich in big-hearted people. I've met a gifted surgeon who could be rakin' in the bucks. Instead he's in a jungle hospital in Africa living on a missionary allowance while caring for the sick and dying. For me he's a big-hearted hero. 
 
I know an elderly woman on a fixed income who spends hours praying for people she's never met personally. She gives sacrificially to support the work of Alliance missions. She consistently pours out love on her neighbors and family. She goes to the nursing home to talk to neglected and forgotten people there, listening to them and bringing them hope. Her heart is big. 
 
A friend of mine is a successful businessman who travels internationally. He often plans an extra day in his trip to visit with Alliance missionaries serving in tough places, taking them out to nice restaurants and encouraging them. His gains in business are used to advance the kingdom. Another big heart! 
 
There are many, many more examples. The lesson is this: "Lord, help me to have a BIG HEART! May I crucify self with all its passion to gain more for me. As self is pruned away and withers, may there be increasing space for You to reign as Lord. May selfishness be replaced by Christ-like selflessness. Like you, Loving Father, may I have a BIG HEART!" 
 

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin

This morning I felt like crying as I talked by phone to a friend and ministry partner in Beirut. He was so weary, having worked to provide meals for over 500 refugees today. He told me about going to the Sri Lankan Embassy where he and co-workers found 3,500 Sri Lankan domestic workers from southern Lebanon who had fled there. They were sleeping under the carport and along the streets near the embassy. There was no water and they had no food. My friend and the team working with him made 1,000 sandwiches to help them. The people there are essentially hostages in the current conflict, stuck with no way to return to Sri Lanka, no safe, reasonable way to get out of Lebanon. They are at the mercy of whoever will help them. Thankfully some followers of Jesus are working overtime to help meet this and other pressing needs all around them. 
 
 
 
Without taking sides as to who is right and who is wrong in this conflict, I would like to ask you a question. Would you like to help? Our partners on the ground are trustworthy believers who are committed to pouring themselves out in Jesus' name to help. You can support this effort by sending a "Middle East Relief" contribution to CAMA, PO Box 35000, Colorado Springs, CO, 80935. I can make two assurances regarding any money given. First it will go to help with compassion and integrity people in desperate need. Second, there will be a sensitive effort to accompany these acts of compassion with good news about the Hope-Giver, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. So many there need Him more than anyone or anything else. Thanks for considering this important invitation.  

Posted by: Bob Fetherlin