Status Report

I sent this out to my prayer support team, but I wanted to add it here as well so that anyone could read where the Fellowship Project currently stands and what is on the horizon.

1. Two families from two separate local churches have now completed the 2x2 Training and while they are still a bit unsure of where to go from here, they are completely devoted to hearing from the Lord and "Bringing Life to People" wherever they go. They are investing themselves into the lives of people who need Jesus and are sharing principles of the training with other believers in their home churches.
2. During this cycle of training, and again during the evaluation time it became evident that there are some changes needed to the structure of the 2x2 Training to enhance it and allow the people going through it more opportunities to really "catch" the ideas and principles that we are learning. As a result, the next cycle of training will look a bit different and will probably be extended by a few more weeks. The next cycle of 2x2 Training will probably begin in January 2009 and I am already talking with about a dozen people who are very interested in going through the next cycle.
3. I have been working on putting the meat of the 2x2 Training into a written format. It's not so much a manual as it is a workbook. The first draft is almost complete and should be ready by the end of the year. Once it is complete, it will be available for local churches and individuals to use as the Lord leads. I am really excited about this because I have recently had a good number of discussions with pastors and leaders that have followers of Jesus that want to live missionally, but need guidance and training and this tool can help.
4. New opportunities for partnering with local churches have opened up recently. I am in the process of working with ReproducingChurches.com to establish a local gathering of pastors, church planters and other believers who want to gather together monthly for prayer, encouragment, and challenging each other to live missionally and to lead others to do the same.
5. I have recently connected to a local church that is "one church of smaller house churches that meet during the week to grow together in living the way of Jesus." They are a church plant that is still working to completely find its identity and there are many opportunities for us to help each other. I can offer training to their leaders that will equip them to reproduce believers, disciple them, and release them to establish new house churches as a part of their greater community. They offer me an opportunity to see first hand what their church looks like, to see what struggles they are having, and to point those going through the 2x2 Training to another example of how churches can reproduce.
6. A partnership with churches and church planters in Gainesville is on the horizon. Specifically, things are in progress to start a new work on the campus of the University of Florida. I'm not sure how involved I will be with this ministry, but I am very excited about everything I have heard about it so far. Hopefully sometime early next year there will be couples from five to eight local churches that will be trained to plant themselves among the students at UF with the intention of seeing a movement of students coming to faith and walking with Jesus over the next few years. Awesome!
7. I've been in discussion with another local church in NE Marion County about hosting a Fellowship Project Forum in early January. The plan is to have sessions on a Friday evening and Saturday morning and other churches are welcome to attend. More details to come.
8. We are having Advent Celebrations with our neighbors every Sunday leading up to Christmas starting on Nov. 30. Please keep this in your prayers, and pray specifically that my neighbors would find the gift of faith in Jesus this Christmas season.

I'm super-excited about what the Lord is doing and what He is going to do. May you find riches in the love of the King and find warmth in His embrace.

Blessings,

Shiloh

Pray Like a Muslim

Hey I stumbled across this blog post and it resonates with me so much that I had to post it here as well. I hope the Spirit speaks to you through this man's story.
Shiloh

Take it like a Man by Rick Spruill
Muslims

Posted November 8, 2008 at http://www.independentmail.com/blogs/take-it-man/2008/nov/08/take_it_man/

This evening after watching Clemson get so far behind the Seminoles it no longer mattered, I headed over to Target for some bibs for Ella.

Nothing spectacular. Just a random Saturday evening errand.

Little did I know I was in for a sight that very nearly knocked my flip-flops off.

As I was leaving the Target/Lowe’s ginormous parking lot area, I noticed a small man, curled up on a towel on the driver’s side of his small car.

At first, I thought the man was sick, or perhaps even injured. Or, perhaps he’d dropped his car keys and was groping around in the fading light in search of them. Pulling closer, I realized this small man was not sick, injured, or searching for his car keys.

He was praying.

He was facing east. It was dusk. And, he was praying.

Obviously, the man was muslim. The towel was his prayer mat.

He was following the muslim ritual of evening prayer, facing Mecca, before the sun fell below the horizon.

It was undoubtedly the fourth of five prayers this man will pray today before he turns in for the night. Muslims pray at first light, at noon, in the early afternoon, at dusk, and once again after full darkness.

As I sat in my car and watched him, I noticed he paid no attention to anyone, or anything else. Cars passed, gawkers gawked, and this simple man prayed until his prayer was done.

I was at Target to buy bibs. And, he had obviously been at Target to buy something, too. But, when the time came, he stopped dead in his tracks to pray.

I was just hoping to get home in time to watch Alabama finish off LSU.

As a Christian, I do not agree with the theology behind Islam; however, as a man of faith, I cannot help but respect this man’s discipline, purpose, and total disregard for what other’s might have thought of him.

He was going to pray. Location, circumstance, and outward appearances made no difference to him.

I guess you could say that it had a profound impact on me.

I hesitate to raise my hand during worship. Don’t wanna look stupid.

If I dropped to me knees in the Target parking lot and began pleading for the souls of my lost family members, I bet my wife would call 9-1-1 thinking I’d had a stroke. Yet, this man’s wife sat quietly in the passenger’s seat. She was not the least bit surprised her husband was stopping everything to pray.

I guess what I’m getting at is that, while I do not envy this man’s belief system, I’m somewhat envious of how much he is sold out to it.

And I struggle to come to grips with the fact that, while this man believes he must work his way to heaven, I am freed by the work my Savior has already done. And yet, it’s that man who is willing to act out his faith in the parking lot of Target.

What would happen if I stopped in my tracks in the parking lot of Target, fell to my face, and prayed for the guy here in my apartment complex whom I know is searching for the Truth?
God help me. I’m worried about what people think and how it might look. And my friends are dying spiritually.

Lord, help me. My knees are weak. My priorities are completely whack.

What's your aroma?

I have had an old thought buzzing around in my mind over the past few days so I figured I'd try to put it down in this blog and see if that will clear it up some. Did you know that you have an aroma? Now some of you may have a literal aroma that those sitting next to you can really smell, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the "smell" of your life and personality that others see and hear. Some of us have very pleasant aromas like flowers, or freshly baked cookies, or a sweet perfume and others have an aroma like a skunk that just sticks to you and you can't get it off.

The point is this, if we are followers of Jesus we may actually have more than one aroma. We may have the aroma of Christ and our own personal aroma as well. We need to agree with John the Baptist and pray that our aroma would decrease and Christ's aroma would increase in our lives. When people see you and hear you and interact with you, are they smelling your aroma, or the aroma of Christ?

Paul said to the believers in Corinth, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?" Paul encouraged believers to become the fragrance of Jesus to those around them. That didn't always mean that people would enjoy that aroma. To some you can smell just like that skunk, but let it be because you are carrying the aroma of Christ and not because you really smell like a skunk.

All through the Old Testament offerings and sacrifices were made and God was pleased with the aroma of the offerings. Paul encouraged the believers in Rome to, "offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." May our living sacrifices of daily dying to ourselves and allowing Jesus to live His life in us and through us be a fragrant aroma, pleasing to the Lord each day.
Blessings,
Shiloh