If ever there was a diagnostically “correct” way to begin a semester at CFNI, it should begin with unification. I’m not speaking of unity in the sense that we are all in agreement about what we believe, who we are, or any of the theological issues that reside within Christianity. I am speaking of the understanding that the student body is united in our pursuit of Christ. More than any other time, the students all seem to possess this one common goal: we have a burning desire to be like Jesus.

With the excitement of new beginnings fresh in our minds, we have this newfound purpose—to forget everything else and be like Jesus.  We have been guided to this idea (by our director, Pastor Adam McCain) that in the end, as long as you’re like Jesus, everything else will take care of itself. Combine that with a teaching from Pastor Mike Cavanaugh about unity within the Body of Christ, and constant edification from Gabriel Allred, via worship and instruction, and you have this beautiful mixture of what Paul was referring to in 1 Corinthians 12:21-27, when he said a united Body of Christ, working together to be like Jesus.

It has created an environment like I have never encountered before. The outpouring of God’s Presence on campus has been overwhelming this semester, and I don’t even think that we understand the magnitude of what we are experiencing. We have such a passion to see the face of God, to not be satisfied with a just taste of His Presence, and anything short of the fullness of God is entirely unsatisfactory. We no longer want just enough of God so people can tell there is something different about us. Our desire is that when people come in contact with us, they will also come in contact with God Himself.  We want to be like Moses when he had to put a veil in front of his face because of the radiance of the glory of God that was emanating from him. Even more than that, we don’t want to just encounter Jesus, but we want to take it a step further. We want to BE an encounter with Jesus. We want our overflow to be Christ Himself.

So here we are, pursuing, unified as one. I’m not so sure that we understand what we are headed into, or that we know where we’re going, or what it’s going to look like when we get there. But what we do know is we want more, and we’re going together. We are moving forward as the complete Body of Christ. We are not satisfied. We are dangerous. We are united!

Have you seen those commercials where some friends are driving a SUV up a mountain road, on a quest to go where no man has gone before (at least in a vehicle)? These auto makers are appealing to your hidden, adventurous side. They’re tempting you to break out of the digital doldrums, where you’re glued to the almighty iPad and iPhone 24/7. For a mere $45,000, you can have that Toyota or Nissan and blaze a new path of excitement in your life!

There was a day when pathfinders risked all and not as a hobby. Living in Kansas for 25 years of my life, I learned about early, eastern settlers who traveled on the wild Oregon & Santa Fe Trails, winding their way through the Sunflower State in search of a better life—way out west. Eventually, thousands of families took to those trails in hopes that where they were going was a better place than where they came from. During those long, dusty days, many read or recited Bible stories about Abraham, Moses, Ruth, or the Apostle Paul, who did similar great travels in search of their “Promised Land” or “Gospel Mission.” Isaiah 43:19 describes God as the original “pathfinder,” 2,600 years before Nissan ever got interested in going that route.

You might be thinking, “I’m not the trailblazing type.” Surprise! You probably already are a Kingdom Pathfinder/4Runner and not even aware of it. You see, this trailblazing stuff is not limited to those who only cross cultural and geographical boundaries. Unless you came from an established Christian family, there is a good chance YOU are the first person saved in your family (or at least an early adapter). If so, you’re a true pioneer and the most important kind.  How does it feel to be on that first Christian covered wagon, heading through uncharted and hostile family territory for a season? My wife, Joanne, and I know exactly what that is like, since both of us were the first ones to come to Christ from our families. You risk being cut off by the very ones you love, or are trying to love. Sometimes, working as a Kingdom 4Runner can feel like you’re all alone, eating locusts and wild honey in a desert, like John the Baptist.

The burden to see family members saved can be overwhelming and even consume your passions for a time. That’s because God knows the initial landing in enemy territory, like it was in the first wave on WWII’s D-day beaches, is the most difficult of all. The persecution and rejection can seem devastating. The tears can flow for months, and even years, but never give up hope! Most of you will experience some salvation fruit with family members (sooner or later), and the joy from it is eternal. My parents and two sisters were saved within three years after I threw the Gospel gauntlet down; however, it was very different for Joanne. A couple brothers were saved within 10 years, but she literally prayed with her Dad as he was dying and her Mom came to Christ just within the last year (after a 40 year wait). No one is saying it’s easy being the first missionary to your family, but souls will come to Christ, as you persevere in faith. It’s not just a “Delirious?” song from the 90’s; you are being a “History Maker” where it really counts. Revelation 5:9 includes your family, and it has to start with someone—YOU!

Remember, God is using you to clear the path and build the foundation for God’s Kingdom to be established in your family, not to complete the whole family mission for Christ. This understanding will give you peace to do your part well, but trust Him for the rest. It’s normal that those who come after you will do the greatest Kingdom work, expanding on the initial spiritual territory you claimed. One day down the road, they will be talking about you as the Kingdom Pathfinder and 4Runner of your generation. Believe God, and make it happen!

Christ For The Nations announces a new Director of the Institute:
A TRANSITION IN LEADERSHIP AT THE INSTITUTE

CFN President, Dennis Lindsay, announced on Wednesday, February 22, 2012, the baton was being passed from Adam McCain to Dutch Sheets as the new Director of the Institute. Adam and his wife, Jami, will be answering God’s call, leading them to new and expanded ministries. Similarly, Dutch and Ceci Sheets received God’s call to return to the place of their roots to lead Christ For The Nations Institute.

The announcement took place at a Spiritual Enrichment convocation of faculty and staff. Those in attendance left the meeting greatly enriched and encouraged by God. Both men were humbled by the enormity of their responsibilities and by the powerful hand of God in arranging this change—accomplished with a great sense of peace and assurance, which all those present knew was from our God.

Adam McCain will continue to lead the Institute until the end of the Spring term, while Dutch Sheets and his wife, Ceci, will begin planning and preparing for their move from Alabama to Texas. Dutch Sheets will take the next season to become familiarized with the Institute, in order to transition into the position of Director of the Institute at the end of the 2012 Spring term. Adam McCain will reposition in roles by remaining on the CFNI team as a beloved adjunct teacher.

Dutch and Ceci Sheets are graduates of CFNI. Since their graduation in the late ‘70’s, they have served the Lord in pastoral and prophetic ministry, while also teaching and leading prayer ministries. Dutch served as Senior Pastor of Springs Harvest Fellowship in Colorado Springs for twenty years. Dutch has written 20 significant books on many aspects of Christian life and ministry, including his widely read book, Intercessory Prayer. He travels extensively throughout the United States and internationally teaching the Word of God.

Dennis and Ginger Lindsay, the President’s Council, Carroll Thompson, and others, joyously asked God’s blessings and anointing upon both Adam and Dutch, as they take these profound new steps in their lives.

Some of the saddest verses in the Bible are Mark 10:21-22…

²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

 ²² At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

In this passage, Jesus presents this young man with the opportunity of a lifetime; the chance to be personally mentored by the Teacher the world has known. What I would give to sit at the feet of the Master! I only imagine what it would have been like to walk with Him and be taught by Him—God in the flesh. Throughout scripture, we see that though thousands of people followed Jesus, He only directly asked a select few be a part of this personal apprenticeship. What would you have done if you were presented such an opportunity? My initial emotional response would have been an enthusiastic “Yes!”

The reality of matter is that many of us have heard the call to follow Jesus, to be trained and developed into a great man or woman of God. And many of us have responded enthusiastically until it came time to make the sacrifices necessary to follow the call. It’s kind of like boarding an airplane. Your baggage must be a certain weight in order to get on the plane. It’s ok to have some baggage, but too much baggage will stop you from boarding.

We all enter our journey of obedience to Christ with a little baggage. Some of our baggage is good. Our baggage represents our life experiences. Before we heard the call, some of us found ourselves in positive leadership positions. Others of us made a lot of money, and the list goes on. God does not want to crush every life experience we had before we heard His call. He actually wants to take some of those experiences and use them for His kingdom. But we all have some negative baggage as well. Our negative baggage could include offenses that have never been healed or wrong attitudes about life and God that need to be corrected. If we don’t allow God to take this hindering baggage from our lives, we will never enter fully into the plan He has for us.

Most of us want to get rid of our negative baggage. But sometimes we don’t like the process God chooses to take us through to get rid of those harmful things. In Mark 10:21-22, Jesus saw a young man with great potential, but too much baggage. Jesus didn’t have a problem with the man having wealth, but he knew that the only way the man could deal with the deeper issues in his life was to lay the wealth down. But instead of trusting Jesus the man chose to weep about what he was giving up instead of what rejoice about where he is going.

From time to time, we will all be tempted with sadness over what we’ve been asked to lay down for the Kingdom of God, but I would encourage you to place your focus on where you are going, not on what you are giving up. When I think about some sacrifices my wife and I have made throughout the years to obey God’s call, it would be easy for me to daydream about the good old days. But I choose to focus on where we are going. Every time I focus on where we are going, I am filled with awe and wonder! This past year in Student Ministries and Summer Internships we have seen demons cast out, the lost saved, and physical bodies healed. This past semester our student body was directly involved in almost 2,000 salvations! I’m not looking back! My eyes are on the prize. My answer to Jesus is “Yes!” Yes to the call, yes to the sacrifices, and yes to not looking back!

As February rolls through the still fresh year, one can’t help but meditate on pink and red hearts. Valentine’s Day is one of the most commercialized days of the year, and it’s not even a holiday. However, a day to celebrate love is worth making a big deal about; after all, who doesn’t want to be told they are loved? The majority of my Valentine memories don’t consist of Prince Charming lavishing me with roses and chocolates, but the most consistent Valentine I received was from my mother. Without fail, every year, my siblings and I would wake to special, handmade valentines and something sweet for each of us. Even though I secretly wished for a cute boy to confess his undying love to me, my mother’s valentines were always enough because I knew I was loved and cherished. But thinking about love that is enough, my mind also drifts to a song we all know…

            Jesus loves me, this I know.

For the Bible tells me so.

Little ones to Him belong,

They are weak, but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

With or without a valentine, I am grateful for His insurmountable love; knowing I am cherished by Father God is incomparable to any love offered on Earth. However, knowledge and awareness of His love is a privilege, and being cherished by my parents is also a luxury. Who knows how many children do not know the love of the Father, and are not cherished on Valentine’s Day, much less other days of the year? While couples run around twitterpated, spending exorbitant amounts of money to express love to each other, let’s not forget His little ones. Love and cherish your children, your nieces and nephews, your grandchildren, the children on your street, and the children at your church. Be a part of showing them that Jesus loves them.

But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”(Matthew 19:14)

On Tuesday, February 8, 2012, at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon, Sgt. Brad Bowman of Christ For The Nations Security was on patrol near the Krickbaum Center. He observed a vehicle, traveling north on Marvin D. Love Freeway (HWY 67), drive off the freeway and head onto the grass. The vehicle then struck another vehicle that was pulling out of the Shell gas station, turning north on the service road. When the vehicles collided they both burst into flames.

Sgt. Bowman and Officer Todd Ignatz responded to the location of the crash. They observed the driver of the vehicle that pulled out of the gas station was able to exit the vehicle. The other driver, however, was trapped inside her burning vehicle. Sgt. Bowman exited his patrol vehicle and ran up to the driver’s side door to try and open it, but the flames and heat were too intense, and he had to move back for his safety. He tried again to make his way to the driver’s side door, but was pushed back by the heat and flames again.

Sgt. Bowman then went to the passenger side door, but found that door was locked. At this time, CFNI student Julian Mahn was driving west down Kiest Blvd. and observed the crash. He stopped his vehicle in the middle of Kiest, exited his vehicle, and ran to assist Sgt. Bowman. Arriving at the location, Mahn looked to find something to break out the window. He picked up a metal pole, and as he turned around, he observed Sgt. Bowman was able to kick the window out and had already entered the burning vehicle. Mahn dropped the pole and ran over to assist Sgt. Bowman in pulling the female from the burning vehicle.

They carried her approximately 20 feet from the vehicle and placed her on the ground. By now, the car was engulfed in flames. The heat from the flames was so intense they had to move the female further away. Officer T. Ignatz helped to carry the female another 20 feet away. Officer T. Ignatz then began to secure the scene by assisting with traffic control, as the incident happened during rush hour traffic. Sgt. Bowman and Mahn stayed with the female until the Dallas Police and the Dallas Fire Department could arrive and take over the scene.

These three men showed the true love of God by being willing to lay down their life for a total stranger. Their actions on this day saved this women from a horrible death. I know each one of these men, personally, and none of them responded to this accident to receive the glory for themselves. They did it because of the call on their lives and their love for people. God has placed a valiant warrior sprit in them. There are great things to come from these men and great things to come for Christ For The Nations.

]]> http://www.cfni.org/blog/2012/02/09/womans-life-saved-by-cfn-security-officers/feed/ 2 http://www.cfni.org/blog/2012/01/16/not-about-feelings/ http://www.cfni.org/blog/2012/01/16/not-about-feelings/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:38:12 +0000 Angela Tranel http://www.cfni.org/blog/?p=394 »]]>

2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”   God has called us and has a plan for our lives, but we play a role in this journey that God is taking us on.  God knows we are not perfect.  The Scripture does not say “be perfect and then we will be approved by God,” it says” do your best”, also translated “be diligent.”  In order to do our best, we must be obedient to the Word of God, seek His ways, and submit to His plans.  We must be able to know truth in order to speak and live truth.  Sometimes it is easiest to just wait for a Holy Spirit experience or feeling to present ourselves to God.  Doing your best can never be based on feelings, because you may not always feel like it.  We do not have to live this life in shame, but can stand bold in the truth that we know about our Lord, Jesus Christ.  It is our responsibility to know this truth and live it to the best of our ability every day.

Night and day, worship and prayer is springing up across the globe and can only be explained as a divine push from Heaven. It is rather astounding, the global worship and prayer movement being raised up. People are praying night and day without stopping. There are thousands of “Houses of Prayer” exploding in growth all over the world. Even here at Christ For The Nations, with the busyness of school and jobs, students at the Gordon Lindsay House of Prayer have raised up a banner of worship and prayer on the campus that consists of some 40 hours weekly.

This is truly not normal, but why night and day prayer? Could it be that we are farther along in the timeline of history than we think we are? Why such an emphasis on prayer in this hour? We could travel in-depth into theological explanations to answer these questions; however, it would go beyond the scope of this blog. What is the simplest answer to the question “why night and day prayer?”

Because.

He is worthy of night and day worship and prayer. The God-man, Jesus Christ, who conquered sin and death, is worth it. The worth of Jesus is immeasurable, and we will worship and praise his name for eternity. Non-stop worship and prayer is normal in Heaven. Why shouldn’t it become normal on Earth? His kingdom come, His will be done. The vastness of Jesus’ beauty and worth is always on display, but not always accessed or gazed upon. To a church that will choose worship and prayer as their first priority, the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be far behind.

The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 1 Peter 4:7

Flashes of green and blue leap out amidst black in stark contrast. My eyes are drawn to the array of vibrant colors. What do I see? It is a rare sight in South Dallas—a glimpse of tropical wildlife. As I have crisscrossed the campus of CFNI, I have occasionally witnessed free-flying tropical green parrots hopping, flying, and mingling among the local black crows. They certainly stand out! When I first spotted a couple of them on the lawn I did a double-take. They are not native to Texas. The only logical conclusion is that they were someone’s pet at one time or another. But now they are free—free as a crow.

Somehow, they now belong in an ecological setting much different than their own original habitat. Oddly enough, the crows don’t even seem to mind them being around. From an outsider looking in, it is obvious that the parrots are very different than the crows, but the crows really don’t even seem to notice. These interesting parrots can teach us some important principles about missions, and really reflect what a missionary is in another culture.

Missionaries, like the parrots, are versatile. They often remove themselves from their “natural” surroundings and go to new, sometimes distant places. Once there, they may have to learn a new language. What used to be easy and considered normal, now becomes intense and frustrating. They have to eat foods that are foreign to them and learn to live life in a whole new way. In short, they must adapt to their new surroundings.

Missionaries, like the parrots, must bond with the new host culture. Birds of a feather need to learn to “flock” with new and different birds. Missionaries, no matter how long they live in another culture, never quite fit in. Their skin doesn’t change its color. Their hair color and facial features remain the same no matter how long they remain. But their interactions, social awareness, and way of life must endear them to the new culture. Effective missionaries build bridges of love and trust into the culture to the point that the locals begin to see them as insiders, even though they obviously still stand out. Effective missionaries don’t want the “crows” to even blink an eye at their tropical green plumage!

What an amazing experience this is for the missionary to finally “fit-in” a completely different culture and environment. It is at this point that the missionary’s message becomes the most effective. People listen and respond to people they have come to love and trust. I bet if those parrots could preach the Gospel, those crows would listen and repent! They are not perceived as outsiders—somehow they have become one of them. And that is exactly what God did for all of humankind. God became one of us, so we could hear and understand His message. Can we do anything less?

So, the next time you walk around the campus of CFNI, look for those rare parrots in the midst of the crows. When you spy them, lift up a prayer for a missionary you know. And remember, missions isn’t for the birds, it’s for all of us.

There once was a Grinch who had missionaries in mind.

He treated them cruelly, so very unkind.

He plotted to hinder them, stop them from going

Away to far countries by way of a Boeing.

With words he would cause them to doubt their true calling.

Too many were listening, too many were falling.

And to those who lacked finances, what would he say?

“You can’t go afar off; it’s here you must stay!”

Oh, how he would tempt them with worldly delights,

And then too quickly they’d lose all their sight.

And if they had passion, he’d work all the more

To steal it by trying to close every door.

That Grinch, was sly and he knew his tricks well.

How could they save souls and not lose them to hell?

One night as he plotted ideas to harm,

In one little missionary there arose an alarm.

The Grinch found in this one his power was dull,

His schemes and his vices were all at a lull.

Something in this one stood up straight and tall.

He couldn’t stop this one from going at all.

This one had a calling, the Word and great vision,

Enough to weaken the Grinch’s cold mission.

This one would not bow down, but stand strong and true.

The Grinch, was baffled to know what to do

Through prayer this one battled temptation from sin.

The Grinch knew that this one attempted to win.

Defeating the Grinch by enduring the trials,

He now proclaims Jesus throughout thousands of miles.