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April 1, 2009 Vol 10, Issue 11

Baton passGet Ready to Lead!
"It's simple. We're just changing the world."

The good news really is good

Greetings!...

April 1. Whew. 2009 is flying by and that is no joke.

Exciting news: several PTB trainers just returned from Indonesia where they trained leaders to deliver the Passing the Baton training. This is big! More below.

Meanwhile, sorry to leave you in suspense. Two weeks ago I shared a link to blogger Michael Spencer's op-ed on evangelical Christianity's impending demise. I've been out of the country or out of pocket since then.

Dozens of readers responded. Surprisingly, the general mood was, "Modern Evangelicalism is collapsing? GOOD!"

Here's their blunt argument: "Evangelicalism" has failed to pass the baton of godliness because it sold out in an orgy of self-satisfaction and materialism. Revival and reformation begin with repentance, and modern evangelicalism must be repented of.

Consider these quotes from subscribers:
  • Kathy: "I think this article should be mandatory reading for every Christian."
  • Don: "Is the right answer fear or reforming the body of Christ into proper spiritual offensive?"
  • Bren: "All in all I am pretty excited, having not been into 'church as usual' for a long long time."
  • Tracy: "I think a sleeping giant is waking up."  
  • Charles: "There are far too many 'tribes' acting differently to be judged so harshly, equally and concurrently."
  • Rene: "We have immersed ourselves in the culture and instead of changing it, it has changed us."
  • David: "I find it difficult to believe that we can continue on our current path without at least a couple of wheels coming off."
  • Tommy (in reference to Time Magazine's article on the rise of reformed theology): "Evangelicalism may be collapsing, but there is a revial beginning...and it is reforming the hearts and minds of young people..."
  • And finally, a bracing reminder from Kim: "God never loses."
We've loved the feedback and have started testing a discussion board/blog/project software that our subscribers can use to interact with and collaborate with one another. More on that in a couple of weeks!

--Jeff

Jeff Myers, Ph.D., President (email me)
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The launch is coming
Indonesians prepare to Pass the Baton through Christian education
Indonesia is a vast nation of more than 17,000 islands, the fourth most populous nation in the world. Over the last couple of decades Christianity has grown rapidly and now constitutes about 9% of the population. At the same time, though, the nation is becoming more "Islamicized" and Christian groups see an urgent need to pass the baton of godly faithfulness to the next generation.

Indonesia-presenting the PTB workshopPassing the Baton's involvement started with our Philippines project in 2006. Through a partnership with the Association of Christian Schools International, Passing the Baton was able to train the teachers in 300 Christian schools, from small rural preschools to urban schools with thousands of students.

Our Filipino brothers and sisters embraced an exciting vision: "God is reaching out to the nations and He is using Filipinos to do it!"

That vision became reality this last week as two of our Filipino trainers (Julius Tajale and Lilibeth Garcia) accompanied Passing the Baton's Sean Bevier, ACSI's Asia director Janet Nason, and ACSI's Indonesia director Ishak Wonohadidjojo to train 12 Indonesian educators to deliver the transformational Passing the Baton content throughout Indonesia.

Indonesia-listening to the Bahasa translationOver three intense days our Indonesian colleagues absorbed the Passing the Baton training material, framed it in the Indonesian context, and translated it into Bahasa Indonesia, the national language.

By the end of the training our English speaking colleagues were able to listen to the Passing the Baton workshop presented for the first time in a language used by nearly 250 million people. The baton passed to the Filipinos has now been passed to the Indonesians. Get Ready to Lead subscribers have been instrumental in supporting the Philippines project through prayer, encouragement and finances--this is your victory to celebrate!

Indonesia-PTB training groupPray with us as God supernaturally arranges opportunities for our Indonesian brothers and sisters to train thousands of teachers, and ultimately millions of believers, in how they can be purposeful and intentional in passing the baton of godly faithfulness to the next generation.

Small victories like this are the seeds of mass movements. In our current dour times we must not forget the words of the old hymn, "This is my Father's world, O let me ne'er forget: That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet."
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