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Asian Partners International
PO Box 64419
Lubbock, TX  79464
806-783-8826
[email protected]

Greetings!

 

It is hard to believe that October is already here.  It is an exciting time as the Mega-Conference is quickly approaching in only 3 weeks.  Planning for this conference has been going on now for over a year.  Our team in India has been working hard making arrangements, securing the necessary property and permissions,  training, promoting, and praying diligently for what God is going to do at this conference.

The purpose of this large gathering is to assess what God is doing and give God the glory.  In addition, it enhances the courage and ability of all leaders to continue in the face of fierce opposition and strengthen them in their faith & witness.  Opportunities for 'cross-pollination' among the leaders from various regions will accelerate the church planting movement across north India.

 The gathering fights the mindset of territorialism and the age old practices of control issues. It changes the paradigm and expands the work as led by the Spirit.

We are thankful for your prayers up to this point.  There have been incredible obstacles and opposition leading up to this point, but God continues to show that He is in control.  Please be in prayer leading up to this conference with a focus on the following prayer points:

  • Please pray for the Leadership and the team, even as they work to fulfill God's purpose in Delhi. Pray for their health and safety. Our Urban Youth Ministry Team is fully responsible for all arrangements.
  • Please pray that God would connect more partners for the Mega- Conference.
  • Please pray for the security and safety of all the participants, even as they travel from various parts of India.
  • Please pray for all the preachers who are going to share the word of God in the conference.
  • Please pray for the Security clearance and permission from Police, Fire & other concerned departments.
  • Please pray for favorable weather during the conference.
  • Please pray that God would provide a good and desired number of volunteers for the conference.
  • Please pray for God's provision for the required funding for the conference; we are really short of what is needed.
  • Please pray for all of the committee members and volunteers so that they can work together as a team to make this conference a success.
  • Please pray for the accommodation for the participants.
  • Please pray for the security arrangements.
  • Please pray that this conference will become a source of blessing and as a result we may see the manifold growth in Church Planting, especially in Delhi and in every segment of the society.
  

We are thankful for all of our current partners and remain committed to reaching the unreached as we strive to reach 30 Million new believers in N. India by 2018.  For more info. you can visit our website at www.apii.org.

 

To the ends,

 

Coby Colley 

Asian Partners International
Newsletter - Dance Drop Shadow Image

Viewpoint - September 2011

By Randy Cole

 

When we look at the commands in John 21:15-17 juxtaposed with the command to make disciples in Matthew 28:19, I believe that a better way of stating the Great Commission might be:  

  1. 1.   As you go, make disciples.
  2. 2.   How?  Be a shepherd.

We have a very good picture of the Good Shepherd in John 10, and I can think of no better way to learn how to "shepherd the sheep" than to examine this chapter of the Word.  In the past 3 months, we looked at the concepts of the Fold, the Door, and the Voice.  We continue the dialog this month with this concept: 

 

Comfort Zone

 

John 10 Verse 4a "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them,"(NASB)

 

Let's think about the sheep pen.  First the good:

  • It provides protection for the sheep.
  • It is a safeguard against predators and thieves.
  • It is a place where you know the shepherd is very close by in cases of emergencies and/or attacks.
  • It is a place where you know all of the other sheep!

Then the bad:

  • It is barren and trampled down. 
  • Nothing will grow there, and any water will be polluted by urine and feces.
  • Therefore, the sheep cannot be fed and watered within the sheep pen. 
  • Without food and water, the sheep will wither and die.

The Good Shepherd always knows what is best for His sheep.  Every day, our Good Shepherd tries to lead us out of our nice, comfortable, safe enclosures to places that He has appointed for us, to do the things that he has prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10).  The only way we get spiritual food and water - the building blocks for growth - is to be "put forth", in pastures of His choosing.  He continues to lead us out of our comfort zones. He wants to expose us to places, cultures, religions, countries, and people that are unfamiliar and quite possibly "uncomfortable".  Why? 

  1. To increase our faith, and to make us rely totally on Him to put us in the right place at the right time so that we can make an impact on those lives He leads us to. 
  2. To send us to lost sheep - sheep without a shepherd.  (Matthew 9:36, Matthew 10:6)
  3. To bring glory and honor back to Him. (2 Cor 4:7)
  4. To prepare us for works of service to build up the body of Christ, and so that we grow and become mature. (Ephesians 4:12-13)

But let's be honest.  We resist the leading of our Shepherd.  We are stubborn, selfish, and pre-occupied with our own self-interests.  We indulge in self-pity and boredom.  We want to stay within our comfort zone, even if it is dry, drab, barren, and polluted.  We are deaf, blind, and unfeeling to the needs of the world around us.  We forget the first and last parts of the Great Commission:  "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me".....and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18b, 20b).  So why are we afraid?  Why do we resist?  Do we really believe that Jesus is with us every step of the way? Do we trust Him?

 

All of us are in good company.  Deuteronomy 34:10-12 tells us that Moses (whom the Lord knew face-to-face), was the most powerful prophet that the nation of Israel would ever see in the Old Testament.  But even he resisted the leading of his Shepherd. The Lord called Moses to rescue the nation of Israel from slavery and oppression in Egypt.  In response to this miraculous call from the burning bush, Moses did not want to go.  He offered God many excuses. 

  • He was afraid he would be imprisoned or killed for his previous act of murder in Egypt.
  • Israel did not know God's name.
  • Moses had limited or no power or resources. 
  • He was not an orator. 
  • Moses begged the Lord to send someone else.  (Exodus 3:1-4:20). 

After God's anger burned against him, Moses finally obeyed the leading of Jehovah.  Moses left his comfort zone, and returned to Egypt, totally dependent on His Shepherd.  And we know the "rest of the story".  Moses became the leader that God wanted him to be.  But the Exodus story was possible only when Moses obeyed his Shepherd and left his comfort zone in Midian to return to Egypt.

 

Recognizing and accepting the fact that God has given each believer a "fold", and that we are in fact "under-shepherds" of these folds, what can we do to follow this example of shepherding?  How can we "put out" the flock and lead them as stated in John 10:4? Here are a few ideas:

  1. Be an example.  Follow the leading of the Good Shepherd so that others will follow you.  You cannot ask someone to leave their comfort zone unless you have already trusted God by leaving yours. (1Timothy 4:12,  Titus 2:7)
  2. Members of your fold will ask this question:  How can I know it is God's will?  Your response?
  • Urge and encourage them to be transformed so that they are no longer conformed to the ways of the world. Then they can test and approve God's will for their lives.  (Romans 12:1-2)
  • Pray that they will become filled with the knowledge of God's will for their lives through spiritual wisdom and understanding. (Colossians 1:9)
  • Feed the members of your fold spiritual wisdom and understanding so that they will be filled with the knowledge of His will (Colossians 1:9)

3.  Listen for and obey the Spirit.  When the time is right, send out those that are in your fold for the work that the Spirit has called them to do.  Don't hold on to them. (Acts 13:1-3)

 

4.  As you are going, take others with you.  Teach them along the way.  (Acts 12:25, Acts 20:1-7, Galatians 2:1)


5.  Teach them to teach others who will, in turn, teach others.  ( 2 Timothy 2:2)


6. 
Teach them, disciple them, train them, equip them....and then send them to do the job that they have been called to do with minimal supervision - even in the face of opposition and difficulty. 

  • Titus 1:5 models this concept. 
    • oPaul left Titus behind in Crete to perform a very important job - to appoint leaders for every city where house churches had been established. 
    • oCrete was known as a difficult place to work.  Look at Titus 1:12 - "Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." 
    • oPaul provided the teaching, the guidance, the counseling, and the leadership - and then trusted Titus to carry out and complete the mission without "looking over his shoulder".
    • oThis was not the only time Paul trusted Titus.  He was asked by Paul many times to help him build up the church.  (2 Cor 8:6, 2 Cor 12:18, 2 Tim 4:10)  
  • Paul modeled this behavior over and over again with the people that he was mentoring and discipling.....people like Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Timothy, Tychicus and Trophimus.  (Acts 20:4) 

 

This is a really important concept.  All of us should ask these questions concerning the leadership of our sheepfolds:

  1. Am I trying to make it more "comfortable" for those following me?  Do our churches strive to make things more comfortable? 
  2. Am I afraid to lead people out of their nice, safe, but barren and polluted sheep pens?
  3. Am I actively leading them to "uncomfortable" places where spiritual growth will occur? 
  4. Have I trained, equipped, and then empowered them to do the things that the Spirit has prepared in advance for them to do? (Ephesians 2:10). 
  5. Do I continue to hold on to them, afraid that they will make a mistake or fail in some way?
  6. Do I trust that Jesus, who has "all power and authority" will be with them at all times?
  7. Am I praying for them?