The Power of Love

Most people outside Christianity believe God is just angry with humanity and is waiting for them to step out of line so He can pounce on them and send them to Hell to burn forever. This is partly the fault of Satan influencing the world and people, and partly the preaching from our pulpits.
 
 
Much of it is just venomous spit hurled at people outside of Christianity. This is not how God meant for us to evangelize. He said we should be known by our love. This is most clear when it is demonstrated and not just spoken. Unfortunately, many think works is a bad thing, a show of pride. "Religion is a private matter" - wish I had a dime for every time I've heard that said to me. It's a lie. Religion is highly public; especially Christianity. To remove the intrinsic urgent evangelistic thrust of the gospel is to completely inoculate it, and render it utterly useless.
 
 
Other times people think social justice works are separate from the "real gospel" - i.e., Jesus and the cross. While the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are central to the gospel, the example Christ left us to follow in his footsteps and do works of goodness and kindness are in fact just as valid a part of the gospel. We can't just focus on saving souls, and forget the body and the mind. Our approach must be holistic, because God made us holistic with a command to love him with all our mind, body, soul, and spirit - not just one part over the other.
 
 
Therefore demonstration of the gospel must work hand in hand with its proclamation. We must recover in our preaching both the humanity as well as the divinity of Jesus - 100% both! The mystery and reality of the incarnation is the greatest revelation to share with others to break down this misconception of a mean angry God. John 3:17 is even a greater revelation to me than John 3:16. The fact that God sent Jesus to save the world and not condemn it has been completely under communicated.
 
 
I am so tired of Satan spewing forward this lie that God is angry with humanity. We must dispel it and destroy it with the power of the truth of the gospel - God is crazy in love with us, not because of what we have done, but because of who made us. Only the Creator of something can determine it's worth and value. One aspect of Paul's teaching that resonates with Jesus is Romans - "nothing can separate us from the love of God." Preach that and watch God convict the hearts of people! Love is infinitely more powerful than judgment!

 

Welcome to the Jungle!

Most people don’t understand why I am so intense about my calling. I mean it’s only Italy right, how bad can it be? You get to sip cappuccino and admire the wonderful architecture. It’s not like you are going to the jungle or anything. Well, I wonder if demons prefer to gather more in jungles of leaves or jungles of people and ideas. I would think they would congregate at the intersection of human contemplation, endeavoring to influence people’s thoughts and steal their hearts from God.

Nevertheless, anything we do with God to help snatch people out of hell is risky. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the back drop scenery is when you are focused on the broken condition of human hearts. The work of God will always be intense and dramatic. After all, we are dealing with life and death. Maybe it’s easy for us to not take the words of Ephesians 6 seriously because we are not posing that much of a threat to hell. Ephesians 6:12 (NIV) says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

C.T. Studd, English missionary to China and the Congo in the later 19^th and early 20^th century nailed it when he said, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of hell.” He lived with an intensity that most of us cannot even fathom. We want to say, “hey, dude tone it down a bit. Don’t you think you are taking yourself and this whole Christian thing a little too seriously?” But Studd didn’t let up. His desire was to please God so much that he made himself a threat to hell. He said too, “I want to live in such a way that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am no longer in the fight.”

No one else’s words seem to capture the seriousness and intensity which God has called me forward. So I say to all who will go bravely out into their spheres of influence with the cause of Jesus written on their hearts and boldly spoken from their lips, “Welcome to the jungle!”

Jesus is number F-O-U-R (4)?!

In a recent poll Italians were asked to whom they addressed prayer. Jesus was the # F-O-U-R (4)person on the list - (Jesus is Number 4 video)! It's for this reason that our hearts are committed now more than ever before to get to Italy to live out and teach the saving gospel of Jesus Christ! No matter what it takes to get there and get the work done, we will do it! No matter if anyone else follows us or believes we can do it, we HAVE to go, and WANT to go because God said to do it! He called us to wake up Italy and that's what we intend to do!

Because of what we've learned in the process of getting ready for our calling, we are not afraid of what can happen to us. We are living on the edge of our faith with our kids right there in the mix, and are having the time of our lives watching God work His plan out for us. Like Las Vegas gamblers, we have shoved in all our chips on Jesus, and bet everything that the call He spoke to us is true and is coming to pass even right now.

We have never stopped working to see the reality of waking up Italy to the truth of Jesus happen. Our colleagues are working, evangelizing and discipling and planting new churches. Our ministry partners are helping with their financial gifts and prayers each month. And we are finishing out with fundraising and school (graduating in October). We look forward to joining in the church planting work in Italy soon

Just to let you know where we are right now - I wanted to let you know that to date we have raised 63% of our monthly support budget. We have been increasing every month, and now only need just over $500 in monthly support to reach 70% of our support goal. At this point, we will be able to enter the last phase of our preparation - applying for our religious worker's visas for entrance into Italy!

We will be coming to Atlanta during the week of March Monday, March 25 - Friday, March 29 to meet with local pastors about joining our support team. We already have meetings scheduled, but if you have been praying about becoming a partner in waking up Italy to Jesus, now would be the time to contact us to set up a meeting - stephen@wakeupitaly.org. We would love to schedule a lunch or coffee meeting and tell you how you can be a part of a dynamic explosion of the gospel into the hearts and lives of those living in Italy! It's time to wake up Italy! Will you be a part of making Jesus # 1 again in the hearts of Italians?!

 

 

Transformation is More Important Than Transportation

I've always been somewhat of a perfectionist and people pleaser. I like to have people pleased with me, so I sometimes will push myself beyond normal human limits in order to impress others. This has sometimes caused me to make poor choices personally, and inflict wounds to my own soul and others, too.

Lately, though I have felt God speaking to me as we prepare to go work in Italy that this mode of operation simply cannot be carried over if I am to be successful. The journey to our ministry destination has sometimes taken surprising turns, such as being in graduate school at Wheaton College. I always thought I'd come back to school after we spent a few years in ministry, but God had a different plan.

In preparation for a class on leadership, I recently read a book called Strengthening the Soul of Your Own Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton. Of all the books I have read thus far in graduate school, this book has found its way not only into my head, but into my heart. God has used it to awaken in me a reconnection to his Spirit, reevaluation of my priorities, and a deep conviction that I need to rest more in God and stop striving so much to be all things to all people.

I came to a place where I was pouring out everything I had for everyone else, but not really spending the time alone with God so my own soul could be refreshed. That may sound selfish at first, but if I don't have a connection with God that is personal and meaningful, how in the world can I lead others to experience God in that way, too?

No other statement in a book has impacted me more than what I am about to share with you now. It articulates exactly where I am right now in my calling to Italy. I pray that God will use this quote to strengthen you to stay true to him and the calling he has placed on your life, too.

"The transformation that is happening in us is more important that getting where we think we need to go." I've been so enamored with just getting to Italy to minister that I sometimes get agitated with why it has taken so long to get there. Sometimes I forget that for God to work through me to others he has to first work in me.

Right now I am at a place where I am simply trying to focus on staying faithful to Jesus, pay attention to everything he is trying to teach me, and then move forward when he is ready for me to do so. "As we stay faithful to the journey into the center of our being where God dwells, we are freed from our bondage to the expectation of others and our own inner compulsions, we are less and less mesmerized by human voices, less and less manipulated by the expectation of others and more and more given over to God." Now that we are several years into this journey, I feel God renewing the vision inside me to get to Italy and plant churches, but minus the need to please others and live up to their expectations, either real or imagined.

Lastly, I am finding that, "In our encounters with God we die not only to the expectations of others but also to ourselves - our addictions to performing, to looking good and being perfect, to attaining more status than is good for us." In this journey God has revealed much in my heart, and is transforming me from the inside out. Yes, I am on fire more than ever to get to Italy and begin our work, but I want to do it with my full heart engaged, not damaged. I'll be no good to anyone, if I don't take the time to let God heal my own heart and strengthen me form the inside out.

When I consider all that God has done in us over the last few months, I believe we are now closer than ever to taking the next step in our journey. Italy is not that far from where we are.

If God called you to Italy how'd you end up in Illinois?

 

 

EMPTY CHURCHES, BROKEN HEARTS

 

Sitting here tonight contemplating my future. Knowing where God has called me from, and where he's called me to, but somehow feeling blocked from going forward. Yes, God called my family to plant churches in Italy. It's a calling that does not seem to be necessary or even legitimate sometimes. So if God called me to Italy, how did I end up in Illinois? Well stick around and find out.

First I have to back track and tell you there are so many stereotypes about Italy. The things that first come to mind is it's a nice place for vacation, great wine, great food, beautiful landscapes, beautiful art and architecture, wonderful engineering feats, and fast cars. This Italy does not compute with a call to missions and church planting there. I am sure most people think like I did in October 2008 when my wife came and told me God is calling us to Italy. "Nobody goes to Italy to do missions."

I honestly know now that these thoughts are what's going on in people's heads when I tell them that in spite of a Catholic Christian tradition that most Italians (95%) don't go to church. That's 57 million out of 60 million people. There's a Catholic church in every one of Italy's 33,500 cities, but somehow instead of turning to their Creator for help and answers about life, many Italians turn to psychics. Yes, Italians spend $8.5 BILLION annually asking a madam for advice instead of the King of Kings.

Yes, this sounds like an indictment, and maybe even a little harsh. But that's the reality of the problem. The numbers are not shared out of anger, but out of compassion. Italians are like most people in the West. We have a heritage of faith from Christendom, but it doesn't work practically into our lives and how we make decisions. Instead of the gospel advancing in Europe and America, the Enlightenment has come full circle and produced well-cultured, well-informed disciples of the post-modern, post-Christian reality that we all share in now.

It's clear to me now that there are indeed 2 Italy's; the one we want to see and is indeed real, and the one that God sees that is even more real. I fought the stereotypes, too, but finally surrendered out of sheer evidence of the paganization of the whole continent of Europe. We can no longer be the kid in the corner with our eyes closed and hands over them saying, "No, it's not real. I don't believe you!" We must accept the fact that we have all been the frog in the pot of water. We have allowed the culture of the world to fool us into thinking that we are all alright.

I understand now why people look at me and my choice to follow God with such perplexity. I can read it in their eyes. Even if they can suspend their version of reality long enough to engage the fact that maybe the Italy I am telling them about really does exist, they can't possibly think that my going there could do anything to make the situation better. Sometimes I think I believe them. It doesn't make sense to me at all that God would call me and my family out of Atlanta, GA to go to Italy and plant churches. I don't have a Bible degree. I don't speak Italian. I don't have any prior experience as a cross-cultural missionary. It would seem God chose the wrong family for the mission.


But ever since I said yes to God in this call it has been an uphill battle to convince people of the legitimacy of who I am and the work that God has called me to do. When I have told some people about how much money it takes to live and work there, I have been asked if I know anyone rich. I simply say "Jesus, He owns everything anyway." Other times I have fought anger internally at the seeming complacency of some people's hearts to join in. I have been reprimanded for my tenacity and told to stop being a missionary martyr; making people feel sorry for me and my suffering.

I'm not even sure what that means anyway, but I have kept moving forward with no apology for my passion. I've had pastor's critique my abilities, my church's commitment to me, etc. Still I press forward. I have grown in this process, and although painful, I am grateful that God has counted me worthy of this call. I am not so angry at people not giving to me, as the general deer in the headlights stare that most people give when anyone challenges them to push outside the norms of the patterns of their lives and make a sacrifice to take the gospel into the dark places of their communities.

I ask myself, "God what are we doing posting pics of our new flat screens, and our recent cruise to the Bahamas, or the new truck we just bought, etc., etc. on Facebook while your work goes undone?!" In the previous century our ancestors burned with passion and sacrificed much to take the gospel with urgency to the ends of the earth. Now we have to bait people with prizes and special events to even get them off their couches and into the church. All the while we are breaking our arms patting ourselves on the back for serving in the soup kitchen or dropping an extra $20 in the plate. When are we going to stop consuming the gospel through buying CD's of the latest trendy CCM artist, downloading MP3's of our pastor's last revelation from God, and stop wasting our lives gorging ourselves on the constant buffet of media placed in front of us? When will we push away from the table of indulgence, and say "Enough is enough!" I wanna live the gospel and not some vicarious idealistic substitute. If you are not in these categories, then there's no indcitment here. However, God may in this moment be holding a mirrior up to us all, and asking us, "Is all this clutter in your heart and mind and life really necessary?"

How did I get to Illinois? I got fed up with myself. I got tired of listening to and not doing the gospel. I got tired of being religious and not godly. I got tired of going through the motions of Christianity, and started taking the Great Commission seriously and personally. I asked the Lord to transform me from the inside out. Along the way the worst of my humanity has come out. I have been like Jonah pitching a fit over the small things, instead of being glad God has used me to advance His kingdom on the earth. I have worried more about my reputation and the perception others have of me than in my obedience to my King. I don't count myself better than anyone else. I have no credentials except an encounter with Jesus that I can never forget that day on October 3, 2008 when he told me to go to Italy. However, I do count myself a herald. A voice crying out to a generation memorized by the Piped Piper's beautiful songs. God is calling to us all, "Wake up sleepers, wake up to the reality of who I am and the work I am doing to renew all of creation including you!"

The funny thing is, I'm sure there are people who think I've been dishonest in my estimation of when we are leaving for the mission field. Even though I've tried to communicate faith and certainty in a time of ambiguity, I have had to continually adjust my time line to fit God's as He has chosen a longer path than we could have ever predicted. Why did I end up in Illinois? Because God said to come here and get prepared. I came to Wheaton College to get Bible and leadership training. Still people have probably thought I have taken a detour and lost my passion or will or vision for Italy.

However, I see it this way. Wheaton, IL has become Midian for me; a place of training and preparation that will prove invaluable once our feet are on Italian soil. Someone wise once told me that being misunderstood is the price we pay as missionaries to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Well I am learning to be more comfortable with being misunderstood.

It's exhausting to constantly feel the need to defend my honor and integrity. Right now I have decided to just follow the path God has laid out for me to get to Italy and plant churches, and welcome those who want to share in the work. God doesn't need me to be his public relations guy, offering an explanation for every time the plan He has for me seems to take a misguided step.

I am sure some people think I will never actually follow through with this calling. If that is the case I am here to let them know that they have completely underestimated the God who is so powerfully at work in me. I am not smart enough, strong enough, savvy enough, experienced enough to do what God has called me to do, but I am courageous enough to believe God at his word when He said He called foolish people like me to help bring His kingdom on the earth. What drives me? The voice of God, and the picture of empty pews. When will I get to Italy? I'm already there!