Pastor Youcef's Letter and the American Church

Check out this letter written by Pastor Youcef from prison.

Pastor Youcef's letter really gives us some perspective about American christianity. Here are some thoughts I have about American christianity after reading Pastor Youcef's letter:

1. Does how and what your church teaches you from God's Word prepare you to be willing to lay down your life for the sake of the gospel? Does your church teach you to GLADLY suffer for the gospel?

2. Those who worship in American churches tend to be horrified at the idea of suffering for the cause of Christ, but Pastor Youcef, in the tradition of our first century brothers and sisters, considers it a high honor. Are you willing to lay down your life for Christ? If not, why not?

3. Is the standard of salvation we practice in America the true measure of salvation? In the early church, people were willing to lose jobs, property, and even life for Christ on the day of their salvation. In Iran, you have to be ready to suffer for the faith starting on the day of your salvation. In America, we declare people born again after they have accepted a very simplistic explanation of the gospel and recited a prayer without ever having taken the time to count the cost of becoming a Christ-follower. Why have we separated the two ideas of "Savior" and "Lord"? If you haven't confessed Him as Lord of your life, how are you of Christ?

4. Pastor Youcef mentions to his congregation in his letter that he wants to remind them of the verses they study together EVERYDAY. The Korean church gathers early every morning for prayer. In America, believers wont show up for a weekly or montly prayer gathering at their church. Beyond that, we struggle with choosing between baseball games or going to worship on just one morning a week.

5. While our brothers and sisters around the world practice a christianity that expects them to lay down their life for the cause of Christ, we are asking questions like: "what progams do you have for my kids?", "how does that pastor make me feel?", "what color is the carpet?", "how long are the services?".

6. What are we communicating to our brothers and sisters in places like Yemen, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and China when we are too scared to go on a one week mission trip to Estonia or London, never mind the Middle East, and yet they have to live permanently in those spiriutal climates?

The American church is soft and weak. The metaphor holds: we build cruiseships and not battleships; we pamper customers instead of preparing soldiers. In many ways, I'm ready for persecution to come to the American church. If Billy Graham is correct in claiming up to 80% of Southern Baptists are actually unbelievers, and I tend to agree with him, then our churches will be cut by up to 80% when persecution comes. We will know who is truly of the Lord. Growth formulas, program driven models, and glitzy pomp and circumstance pastors conferences will be gone. We will be exhorting each other to remain faithful even during the moment of our hanging or beheading. We will be figuring out how to support our church members who are unemployed and homeless because of their stand for Christ. We will be reminding each other that Jesus is worth it when our children are taken from us "for their own protection". This is the reality in which many of our brothers and sisters live. To us, their plight is a distant phenomenon, to them, it is simply what it means to be a Christian.

I'm grateful for Pastor Youcef's example to me as a Christ follower. I'm praying for him so much. I'm in awe of him. His joy and confidence in the midst of his suffering, his strong letter of encouragement from his prison cell to his flock, and his determination all indicate there must be a special dispensation of grace given to the martyr by Christ in the final hours. It reminds me of Stephen smiling from ear to ear while being stoned to death. If and when we are ever called on to lay down our lives for the cause of Christ, it will be difficult to be sure, but there will also be the grace of Christ like we have never known it. We would truly participate in His suffering. I pray I will have the faith of Pastor Youcef. God is good.

The Thompsons Are Here

We welcomed them in person in midweek worship last night, but I want to get the word out even more: Tom, Jennifer, Emma, Eliis, and Ella are here. They are members of NEHBC and missionaries to Estonia. They are here with us for two months. The Lord is going to use them to encourage us and exhort us to "Love the World" even more. I pray we are able to be an encouragement and blessing to them also. At the end of October, they will return to Estonia. If you want to have them over for dinner or coffee, email: assistant@nehbc.com.

new church plant in Haiti

I just heard from NEHBC's good friends Doc and Dee that a visit to Haiti in the last two weeks resulted in a church plant for the deaf in one of the "tent cities". Glory to God.

Paris Update

Yesterday was very beneficial. We met extensively with "Team West Africa-Paris", a group of friends here in Paris with a great vision for reaching the more than 500,000 West African immigrants in Paris. Then we had a really good meeting with a group of men from Sati village in remote Senegal; Wolof people who are 99.99% muslim and thus an unreached people group. These immigrants are sent by their villages to Paris where they live in very poor conditions in order to send most of their paychecks home where the money is used to build schools, irrigation systems, water wells, and mosques. These immigrants are also viewed as the leading men of their villages and so they wield tremendous influence. These men stay closely connected to the villages; calling home several times each week and deciding how the money is spent in the village. There is a real opportunity to reach remote West Africa by reaching these men here in Paris. I was able to share Jesus Christ as God's provision for mankind with 8 leaders from Sati village and Pastor Sonny led us all in a great time of prayer. Our main objectives were to meet the group of friends in Paris and then engage with Wolof people to determine the opportunities for church planting and reaching a very unreached region of the world; God is gracious to have given us a very profitable visit.

Team Greece I Update

Nicole's latest update.

video from this morning's Missions Moment

Several have asked about the video in this morning's Missions Moment. Here it is.

NEHBC, did you know you are feeding thousands of Pakistanis right now?

Over 1,500 Pakistanis have perished and thousands more have been displaced by horrific flooding. Southern Baptists, one of the 3 largest disaster relief agencies in the world, have money, resources, and personnel at ground zero where we are feeding and housing thousands of people. Those resources come from our Southern Baptist churches, including NEHBC. If you give financially to NEHBC, you are feeding and housing Pakistani flood victims right now. Isn't that incredible? It's an awesome thing being a Southern Baptist. Here's a report.

the back side of 2010 Sturgis mission trip

The Lord has given Team Sturgis an amazing experience. They have had gospel encounters with believers and unbelievers. They've talked with bikers who are atheists, agnostics, demon possessed, homeless, very wealthy, violent gang members, "weekend warriors", suicidal, and the list goes on and on. (You ought to be praying now about going on the 2011 Sturgis mission trip. It is an incredible experience--the 2009 trip deeply impacted my life. If you want to know if you truly love people, the Sturgis trip is a good litmus test.)

Last night in midweek worship, Micky Roden, one of our team members called into the service with an update. Wow. Can't wait to hear their team report this coming Wednesday in midweek worship.

Today is the team's last full day of work. Please pray for strength and courage. Tomorrow they begin a two day drive home. Please pray for safe travel.

Team Sturgis, I love you, I'm proud of you, and I miss you. We can't wait for y'all to get home.

must read

This update on Team Oklahoma from Pastor Tim is why I can't wait for my kids to get into the NEHBC teen ministry.

For skeptics who would respond to Pastor Tim's advocacy of door-to-door evangelism as a "bible belt" strategy, we've proven it works elsewhere also: Criswell-Oregon, The University of Oregon, Waterville-Maine, Littleton-New Hampshire, Upper Peninsula-MI, Chicago, and New York City just to name a few. It's just my opinion, but I think the real issue people have with door-to-door evangelism is the issue of courage, or lack thereof. Since the beginning of the local church era 2000 years ago, courage has been the biggest need among Christians when it comes to evangelism--Acts 4:29-31.

I believe door-to-door evangelism is the greatest way to instill boldness and courage in Christ-followers and the most effective way to train people to live for the faith outside the walls of their church building.

Bring your teens to NEHBC so we can supplement your efforts to turn them into the special forces in God's army. We can't guarantee your teen's safety--not when we intentionally send them to do evangelism in ghettos, inner city settings, and countries with political unrest. But, what we do guarantee is the opportunity for your teen to become sold out to the cause of Christ. We can't guarantee your teen will be entertained--not when we intentionally take them deep into the Word of God and teach them how to think through issues that matter. But what we do guarantee is they will have the opportunity to understand and learn to defend the faith once for all delivered to the saints. We can't guarantee tons of activities to keep your kids "off the streets and out of trouble"--not when we think your teen ought to be out and about where the lost teens are--your teen's local mission field. But, what we can guarantee is the opportunity for your teen to build the kind of relationships with other NEHBC teens that only develop among those who have been to battle together and "had each other's back".

Our teen ministry is by no means perfect, but it's headed in the right direction. I'm so proud of our NEHBC teens.

Team Oklahoma Update

This morning, a few of our teens got picked up by security at The Promenade Mall in Tulsa, OK, for handing out tracts and taken to the mall's security office. By the security's own admission, our teens were not picked up for being disrespectful, rowdy, or causing any disturbance. The teens were picked up for doing evangelism. Our teens were questioned in the security office and released to Pastor Tim, our Associate Pastor to Teens, and asked to leave the mall, but not before those teens shared the gospel with the employees in the security office who busted them for doing evangelism. We have teens with courage and conviction and who are unashamed of the gospel. The Lord will do a great work through them this week.

Pray for Greece Partnership

This morning, I spent more than two hours in a meeting re: our church planting plans in West Thessaloniki and specifically the two teams we are sending this fall. A good bit of the time was spent video conferencing with partners on location. Any time two organizations are partnering to work together, there is much to hash out. I thought we had a good initial meeting this morning. We have a lot to work out, but both sides are committed to the same objective of planting local churches. I'm anticipating two great NEHBC trips this fall.

a word of commendation for NEHBC from the pastor of another church

NEHBC's Team Southlake will soon be reporting to NEHBC about how the Lord moved on their recent trip. Meanwhile, the pastor of the church we served has posted a kind word about NEHBC on his blog. It's always great to hear that our teams represented the Lord and NEHBC well. Glory to God.

Pray for Albert

This 21 year old man, born and raised in Pasadena, Texas, is heavy on my heart right now. He sat next to me this morning on the plane from Orlando to Houston and he allowed me to share the entire gospel with him, and more. He listened as long as I talked and I talked for a long time about the message of salvation and the meaning of life. The look on his face while I was talking and the questions he asked made it clear he is not a Christ follower. Yet at some point in his life somebody pronounced him "saved" so he believes he is going to heaven when he dies.

It reminded me that we need to be very careful before we pronounce someone born again. People aren't saved because they pray a prayer, they are saved when they make a life changing decision to believe on Jesus Christ. We don't define the standard of salvation, we uphold it and call/encourage others to it. It was so frustrating trying to communicate to Albert that he isn't saved because someone declared him to be, but that salvation requires a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Please take a moment to pray for Albert's salvation. He has heard the good news. May be believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

Update on Doc and Dee

For those at midweek worship, please continue to pray for Dee.

Great news: an MRI today revealed there are no other tumors in her spinal column AND the tumor is not the kind that will require post surgery radiation. The doctor should be able to cut it all out. Praise the Lord.

Doc and Dee are in great spirits. Godliness is best seen in times of crisis and Doc and Dee are putting God's glory on display through their attitudes and confidence in the Lord.

If I get anymore updates, I'll post here.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

a friend of mine shares about his recent mission trip to Africa

"Our Motivation" for NEHBC's Glory to God vision is the call of God to go and the cry of the lost to come. I pray that this brief article will develop "our motivation", NEHBCers.

Team Southlake

In the midst of all that is going on at NEHBC, we must not lose sight of a very important upcoming Kingdom ministry--NEHBC is sending a team up to the metroplex for a week to work with First Baptist Church Southlake, Texas.

FBC Southlake has an outstanding pastor, Scott Berry, who is a good friend of NEHBC. He has personally assisted us in 3-4 of our mission trips as well as promoted missions at NEHBC so it's our turn to return the favor. Our team leaves on Monday.

Please pray for Team Southlake. We will commission them out this coming Sunday. We are praying for a movement of God as we try to contribute to the ministry of this local church.

Zimbabwe and "Love the World"

Lots of people are asking about how the Zim trip went. I'll be sharing soon, but I'm still getting the ducks lined up in a row. Three men went with me on the recon trip to see if God is calling NEHBC to commit to long term church planting among the remote, but friendly Tonga people. I don't feel like the Lord has spoken clearly on this yet, so there's currently nothing of substance to report.

The "Love the World" aspect of our "Love our City, Love the World" missions strategy is in a transitional phase. In our Glory to God vision, NEHBC has been called by God to plant churches from our city to the ends of the earth. As we've learned, God's primary plan for making disciples is churches planting churches and NEHBC is called by God to be a church that plants church planting churches. For two years, I've been praying and asking God for three international locations where NEHBC can commit to church planting. We will not commit to these locations forever; we will be committed to these locations until a critical mass of church planting churches have been birthed and then we will move on to another location and expect those churches we planted to reach their people group with the gospel. That means we might be with a specific people group for 2 years, 10 years, or 20 years, but when we have, by the grace of God, established a critical mass of church planting churches, we will move on to take the gospel where it has not yet penetrated spiritual darkness.

I am looking for specific indicators to identify these three locations. For example: 1. Are there a critical mass of healthy churches present in the people group? If so, the resources are already in place for that people group to be reached for Christ and NEHBC isn't needed. 2. Are other Southern Baptist churches committed long term to reach the people group--if so, the Lord has already provided the resources for that people group to be reached with the gospel. 3. If there are missionaries on location, are they passionate about church planting? If they aren't passionate about church planting our hearts and vision will not be one. 4. If there are indigenous believers on location to work with, do they see NEHBC as an opportunity at a handout or do they sincerely want to develop spiritually healthy, church planting churches.

I believe the Greeks of West Thessaloniki are one of our three international locations. Our first two teams go to Thess this fall. We went to Zimbabwe last week to see if the Tonga people are one also. We are still doing our homework and don't yet have an answer. An investigation of a third location is already underway. I've been praying for an opportunity for NEHBC to plant churches in a Muslim country and the Lord might be showing us the place. We love all missionaries and will continue to believe in the work of missionaries everywhere, but the Lord has called NEHBC to the task of planting churches.

Would you join me, our staff, and a group of involved NEHBCers in praying for God's direction in these matters. We are seeking to bring every aspect of NEHBC in line with our Glory to God vision--and that certainly includes our mission strategy. How amazing it would be to wake up twenty years from now and see thriving NEHBC church plants from our city to the ends of the earth!!!

Team Portugal Video Update

Team Portugal is wrapping up their last day of work even as I type and they return to Houston tomorrow. Please pray for safe travel home for the team. I can't wait to hear a report of how the Lord moved in and through our team to push back darkness.

opportunity to play a key role on a long term, international mission team w/o leaving your home

I received this email from a missionary team in a secure country. If you are interested, email me at nlino@nehbc.com:

"One of the more important ideas for our team is that we are looking at developing a web site to allow us to follow up with people who respond to our broad gospel sowing efforts. Some of you have already seen my request on facebook, but we are currently in need of a web designer to help us create this web site in the very NEAR future. Do any of you know a professional web designer who would be willing to help us design this site? We need a quality site and relatively quickly (within the next few months!), but we do not have a huge budget. Ideally, we would find someone who does excellent work and is completely on board with what our team is doing here. Also, it might be more beneficial to all of us if this person takes on this project as an ongoing commitment to our team and this city. Because of the content, we need this to be a believer and someone who can be counted on to help us soon. I know this is an ambitious goal, but we feel like the Lord is leading us in this direction. If you know of anyone or can point us in a direction, PLEASE let me know as soon as possible."

Reaching Muslims for Christ VII

This post is a continuation of a series. The prior blog posts of abbreviated interviews introduce some of the challenges that Islam brings to the church even, or especially, in what is considered to be a western, Christian church environment. The two prior posts about fallacies related to reaching Muslims will help sharpen the church's efforts.

Additional advice to the western church would include the following:

Intentionally welcome Muslims into your midst.

Overcome the stereotype that Muslims are the enemy. Lostness is the enemy.

Reach Muslim immigrants in the western world as though they were still in their home countries! Become a wide- eyed realist by accepting the fact that Satan may hold more tightly to those whom he has a greater chance of losing. Pray in their neighborhoods, and around schools and homes and places of business. Shop where Muslims shop. Learn about their countries of origin and become conversant in the current events from their home countries. Ask often concerning family members remaining in their country of origin. Be a respectful learner of culture.

Implement families reaching families, seeking to reach the leaders of the family and Muslim community. Make every effort to share meals, break bread, in the homes of Muslims. Make them welcome in your home. Let them have a clear look into Christian homes. Be sure always to include single adults in your outreach to Muslim families. Many Muslims in the United States admit that they are lonely in our midst.

Learn all that you can about Islam. Make it a habit to take gifts to their homes, especially during Islamic holidays.

Prepare converts from Islam for the biblical reality of persecution. Persecution is not geographically specific. Persecution is absolutely normal for those who become the first believers in Jesus from their family and religion wherever they might live.

Lose the—attitude that says, "You are in America now; speak-English." Agree-to
teach your Muslim friends English and American culture — and then ask them to teach you their language and culture.

Understand that young Muslims are often attracted to the forbidden. They are often "low hanging fruit." Work through this, doing everything that you can to use these young seekers as an open door into their extended families. Be careful not to circumvent Muslim parents in the sharing of your faith. Be wise and bold in your witness to those with status within Islamic communities.

Within your own church, be careful in publicizing ministries to Muslims. Choose team members carefully. Treat what you talk about publicly as if it were originating in Somalia, Turkey, or Afghanistan. Take care not to treat any Muslim converts as public trophies. Win families and social units without publicity or fanfare.

Be seen as a believer who loves only One God and His Bible. From the beginning, be known as a holy and moral person. Express genuine love for your body of Christ while avoiding church property-based ministries.

Bathe yourself in prayer. Prepare for spiritual warfare. Go in two's for strength and accountability.

Muslims are coming to our country and neighborhoods in unprecedented numbers. Often they fear the corrupt influences of the West and are isolated and lonely. They can be made to feel like they are "a lion in a den of Daniels." Think about it: our "Jerusalem" is their uttermost parts of the earth." A loving witness, incarnated in their language and culture and centered in homes, will partner with the Holy Spirit. This kind of witness will allow Muslims residing in the West to have a clear choice in regard to Jesus.

May God teach us as we share the gospel with Muslims in the West so that they may hear, understand, believe, be baptized in their family settings, start churches in their homes, and export their faith appropriately back to their home countries.