GlocalNet

#1 - It’s all about the Kingdom - not a force from without - but a passion from within of the living God flowing through me doing his work - it’s Kingdom in - but not stopping there - it’s kingdom out.  What good to be at peace internally and content with nothing when all Hell is breaking loose in this world?  Kingdom flows OUT!

#2 The Kingdom expands and moves forward by disciples - Discipleship is not educating, and informing.  Discipleship is teaching people to hear and obey in the moment.  How do they hear God’s voice?  How do they obey?  These are the critical questions.  It’s life on life with worship, community, and mission all happening simultaneous. 

#3 The grid on which we operate is the society.  It’s the disciple and society - not the preacher and church that will change the world.  The job of the preacher is to make disciples.  The church is the result of people finding Jesus.  When we focus on church -that’s all we get.  When we focus on Jesus, the Disciple, the City, then we get more churches than we know what to do with - I KNOW THIS ISN’T AMERICAN - this is what my global pastor friends have shown me and I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

#4 Church comes and is the result of the community of disciples on mission together.  You don’t make the community and then find a mission - the community is birthed out of the mission.  The Great Commission will not be fulfilled apart from the church and the only way that will happen is for all 3 expressions of the church to unite.  Cell - where the body operates, gifts are manifest, evangelism is captured.  City - where the cells come together for strategic engagement beyond themselves.  Global - where the church connects globally to fulfill the Great Commission.  When the Great Commission is fulfilled it will not be because we have missionaries, mission agencies, et., but because the ENTIRE BODY OF CHRIST GETS ON THE PLAYING FIELD. 

#5 EVERYtHING IS GLOCAL.  This was one of my first lessons and it is becoming even more true today in the context that we live.  We’ve got it all wrong - it isn’t us against them.  It’s us amongst them and them amongst us showing the love of Jesus not in words but in actions, relationships, and a prayer soaked life.  The following article was in the paper Sunday - NEVER in a million years would I have ever planned on being involved in multi-faith stuff - I was so disconnected in how I saw the Great Commission and how we talk.  We live at a moment in history like no other - Hope will not be found in running with the masses but in courageously taking the mountain, moving up the path in steady courageous, thoughtful, and sacrificial movements.

To all my little brothers (you are not my sons - we have the same father)  out there - starting churches, loving your city, building relationships with domains, people, and even other faiths - move forward - don’t stop.  You will win, you are on the right path and right side of history.  Should Christ not return by the time you are old men and women - you will remember the time in which you lived as earth shattering and you will remember what you went through in harboring a single conversation globally and how God used it.  Martin Luther King was one tribe among a nation, that provided a model to the world.  You are a dispersed nation of citizens in the world, belonging to the Kingdom of God who exist for his glory to emulate justice, mercy, and love here in this life pointing to an eternal kingdom and heavenly Father where we will all one day sit down with our Father - laugh, grin, eat chicken friend stead with cream gravy, eat blackberry cobbler with Home Made Blue Bell Vanilla, and then get up , suit up, and tackle whatever worlds our Father would want to create, or activities he wants to do.  To sit still in heaven for eternity - how did we ever come up with that? 

Baptist pastor in Keller takes faithful approach with Muslims
08:55 AM CDT on Monday, September 13, 2010

A prominent Dallas pastor denounces Islam as an “evil, evil religion.” A pastor in Florida does him one better and roils the world with plans for a Quran burning.

But another conservative, evangelical minister in our area takes a very different approach to Muslims – friendship and respect.

“I’ll be candid with you,” the Rev. Bob Roberts Jr. told me last week. “If I hadn’t worked around the world, if I didn’t know Muslims, if all I had to go by was what I saw in the papers and on television, I might be scared to death, too.”

But Roberts’ mission-minded ministry has taken him into Muslim countries. He has studied Islam. His NorthWood Church in Keller has met and worshipped with local Muslims.

“Muslims and Middle Eastern people are some of the most gracious and kind people. We just don’t know them,” he said.

“Yes, there are radicals. There are terrorists. They have their full-blown nut cases, just like we do. But the vast majority of the people are just like any other people on the face of the Earth.”

Also Online
Live Chat: Discuss Americans’ attitudes toward Muslims and Islam with Steve Blow and other panelists at noon Monday.
Contrary to the dire e-mails that circulate so widely, Roberts, 52, sees nothing inherently evil or dangerous in Islam. But he sees tremendous peril in the growing hostility toward Islam.

“Direct vilification of another religion will destroy us,” he said. “It’s a horrible approach.”

Now, don’t assume Roberts is a loosey-goosey “Kumbaya” kind of Christian. His traditional Baptist roots run deep – a preacher’s son, Baylor University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

In fact, it’s his very traditional theology that drives much of his attitude toward Muslims.

“I’m a passionate believer in what’s called the Great Commission,” he said, referring to Jesus’ instruction to carry the gospel to all people.

“If I want someone to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, I’m not going to go to that person and start by insulting his culture, insulting his practices, insulting his views of God,” Roberts said.

On the contrary, he said, you earn the right to share your faith by building genuine friendships first. And you maintain those friendships even if beliefs remain unchanged, he said.

“Even if you never become a Christian, you and I need to be friends because we are in this world together,” he said. “There is a common good that we should all work for.”

Earlier this year, Roberts arranged for members of his church to worship and have dialogue with members of a Jewish temple in Dallas and a Muslim mosque in Irving.

They have since cooperated on other projects, including women’s cooking classes and some home makeovers for families in need.

An even more ambitious effort is set for November, when NorthWood Church will host the Global Faith Forum, bringing important religious leaders from around the world to talk about their faiths.

“Instead of talking about each other, we’re going to talk to each other,” Roberts said.

But don’t call it an “interfaith” event. Roberts said that term often means focusing only on shared beliefs and staying mum over differences.

He prefers to talk about “multifaith” gatherings, meaning everyone is encouraged to talk freely and plainly about their beliefs – differences and all.

Roberts believes such honest, loving conversation is the key to creating a world of religious freedom and peace.

“I tell my Muslim friends that I hope to baptize them one day. They love it,” he said.

“They tell me I would make a great imam.”

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