This is an often quoted piece, originally penned by an American pastor. According to legend it was found crumpled in the hand of a young African pastor who was martyred for his unswerving commitment to faith in Christ. I like to call it The Relentless Creed…
“I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, position, promotion, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.
My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me.
And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me, for my colours will be clear!”
Wow so much has been happening since we left Australia 10 days ago. We have been scampering from city to city with brief chances to connect to wifi – primarily to video skype our kids at home. There hasn’t been much opportunity to blog unfortunately, but here’s a quick catch-up for anyone who may be remotely interested!
Day 1: DUBAI. What an incredible city! Sooo hot, and full of intriguing people. We stopped over for one afternoon and night to have a rapid tour of Dubai’s endless supply of massive shopping malls and opulent hotels. Also helped to re-set our body clocks before landing in UK. Alana’s first time outside Australia.
Day 2: MANCHESTER. Caught up with Glyn & Sophie Barrett, Matt Deaville and the team at !Audacious City Church. They are building an influential church in one of the UK’s most significant cities. Until now no church in Manchester was larger than 400 people (this in a city of 2 million+ people!). The Audacious guys are living up to their name, and are about to start their 4th Sunday service to be able to fit everyone in. Last weekend they had 390 people in the Sunday night service – only problem is they only have 280 chairs! They are believing for a breakthrough with a new building to be able to keep building a great church.
Day 3: BRADFORD. I stood in the pulpit in the cathedral where one of my ancestors was the Vicar in the 1800′s – he built schools, helped the poor and tried to bring change to a city which really wasn’t interested. Had the honour of preaching at Rocknations, the youth ministry of Abundant Life Church, Bradford. Amazing night, with many first time decisions and inspiring stories of radical lives changed. Got to hang out with Steve Gambill, and Dave & Abs Niblock. These guys are changing the city with the life of Jesus! Alana nearly got caught in the middle of a mini-riot in a shopping mall – police, security, gangs, screaming girls, and Alana hiding behind the jewellery display!
Day 4: CROYDON. Caught up with my sister, brother-in-law, 2 nieces, brother & sister-in-law who all live here. Roast dinner and Yorkshire pudding!
Day 5: KINGDOM LIFE CHURCH. Steve & Nicky Sutherland have planted a growing, energetic COC church in Croydon. We were so impressed by the quality of the people and the service. Planted 8 years ago from scratch, these guys are building a great multi-racial church. 4 people made decisions, and all of my resource got bought out! Now I’ve got nothing left for the rest of the trip! Just as well I built this site.
At night we visited Hillsong London. My goodness, that is church!! Not only is it full of life, packed with thousands of people (who have to queue to get in) and has the wow factor, the team are working so hard on connecting people and creating community. We were so privileged to be looked after by the team and get to hang out with them.
Day 6: LONDON. Shopping, Buckingham Palace, shopping, Thames, shopping, Hyde Park, shopping, MI5, Harrods. I love London!
Day 7: HILLSONG LONDON STAFF MEETING. Again we were honoured to see a bit of the inside workings of this great church. Really loved connecting with them, especially Kris & Kalleigh Mikkelson (Executive Pastors). They are two wonderful people who we just clicked with. Getting to know them was actually the highlight of our time in London.
Day 8: PARIS. Oui Oui Paris! Brendan White (Hillsong Paris pastor) gave us the lightning tour and caught up for lunch overlooking the Eiffel Tower. To his great delight I indulged in a Parisian delicacy of Steak Tartar – it’s a raw meat patty. Brendan & Camille are also building a great church in one of the world’s most secular, humanistic cities. So inspiring to hear what they are doing. At night we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower – this is one monument which actually lives up to the hype!
Day 9: PARIS ON FOOT. We spent the day taking in as much of Parisian life as possible, before sprawling on the lawn in front of the Eiffel with French wine and cheese, and watching the sun set slowly (at 10pm!) with hundreds of young French all around us. They all smoke so much, I’m sure I’m going to start craving nicotine – urgh!
Day 10: YORK. According to Rich Martin from Global York, this is simply THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD EVER! I have never met someone more passionate about the city they are called to! York is truly a cool place and we had so much fun with Rich & Jules, who are executive pastors for Dave & Shelley Shore. Global Youth went off at night with around 20 young people saying Yes to Jesus – many for the first time. Then we did a Q&A with their youth leaders, who had some very intelligent questions!!
We talked long into the night with our hosts Matt & Amanda Stephens, who are also key leaders in the church. Two years ago Matt brought a cheque as a gift to Kings to sow into our building fund, as Global are also believing for a building breakthrough. We were able to literally walk through the reaping of their sowing – they have been given the rent-free occupancy of a whole school complete with dance studio, computer labs, sports hall, cafe and more rooms than they know what to do with! This is an amazing miracle of blessing and provision!
Day 11: WIGAN. Leadership morning with Today’s Community Church, led by Dave & Helen Belfield. Another good church with an excellent building and a young, passionate team. Had a great time with Dave & Bek Cadman, two of the key pastors with a powerful story of God’s goodness, and looking forward to preaching in church tomorrow.
Now it’s off to dinner with Dave & Helen. Au revoir!
PS You can check out some photos at facebook.com/artieshepherd
Continuing to make the case that 33 is a significant number (I’m not old OK…I’m 33 and dangerous!!), here’s an excerpt from the latest post on The Resurgence.
R. Albert Mohler Jr. was too young to lead the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He thought so. Everyone thought so. But the board was impressed by his youthful vigor and clear plan to restore the seminary’s confessional identity. He was only 33 years old when he assumed the presidency in 1993. Soon thereafter at least 96 percent of the faculty of the largest Protestant denomination’s flagship seminary’s left. Not that the faculty’s many liberals and moderates had much of a choice. Mohler had the audacity to enforce Southern’s Abstract of Principles, derived via the Second London Confession from that landmark Reformed document, the Westminster Confession.
More than 15 years later, Mohler has attracted one of the strongest evangelical faculties in the country. Enrollment has surged to more than 4,300 students—which makes Southern the largest Southern Baptist seminary, and likely the largest U.S. seminary overall.
You can find other significant 33′s here in an archived post.
You can download mp3 messages via PayPal as well as some free ones. My blog will now be here, and soon a video blog, plus some written and audio messages by some next-generation leaders.
It’s a work in progress, so let me know your thoughts!
You can read the full series on The Resurgence (www.theresurgence.com).
Joel writes:
Corporate Prayer Do you have a church prayer meeting? Who comes? Are there lots of men? Would you go if you weren’t the leader? Often these are attended by women (whose husbands “sent” them), a few faithful men, and a handful of “eccentrics.” I am extremely glad for all the women attending our weekly prayer meetings, but I am haunted by Paul’s words: “I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarrelling.” (1 Timothy 2:8)
A robust prayer meeting is a place to see true masculinity on display. If that seems unlikely go back and read Acts. In fact, I was so eager to aim for this that when it came to launching our Saturday morning prayer meeting a couple of years back, I started with just men. I wanted a manly meeting, so I handpicked some blokes to join me each week at eight o’clock in the morning-about 25 to start with.
For a while it grew unofficially under the radar, like a Gnostic cult (except the pastor was running it). I’d have guys in their twenties trembling and whispering the request, “I have heard about this prayer meeting. Do you, ahem, mind if I join?” I’d say, “Who told YOU about it?!” It felt like the movie Fight Club where the one rule is, “No one talks about Fight Club.” Some called the meeting “Prayer Club!”
It was perfect: a testosterone-fuelled and Holy Spirit-filled set up for the weekend, and when we got the momentum we wanted, we knew we were ready to invite the whole church. Now, I am usually confident that guys will take a strong lead, praying for the gospel to be successful every week in our city (we barely ever get knocked off this focus). And if key guys are not vocal, they get mercilessly picked on afterwards!
Intentionally gather guys to seek God. They will rise to it, and the church will follow.
Preaching Dr D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was asked publicly why the churches of his day had so few young men in the pews. He instantly shot back, “Because there are so many old women in the pulpits.” Preaching should either send men away angry or turn them in heartfelt repentance. The one thing it must not do, but too often does, is dull them.
Jesus gathered men by preaching straight, and so did Chrysostom, Luther, Wesley, Spurgeon, Moody, and Billy Graham. If you want to reach men, follow their example and preach boldly. Men get nauseated by preachers who apologize for every point they make, sharing platitudes and leaving sinful get-out clauses for every application. My favourite encouragements come from guys who spend the first two-thirds of the sermon wanting to hurt me, and then come to repentance before the day is over. It means a great deal more than, “That was a nice talk.”
If you would like to be notified when the book is released, email your request to pastor@summitchurch.cc.
Preface, Breaking the Islamic Code: Understanding the Soul Questions of the Muslim Heart
The last day I lived in a Muslim country will be forever etched in my memory.
I had spent the morning doing the final preparations to leave the place and the people whom I had learned to love, so that I could come back to finish my schooling in the United States. It was a sad day.
Around noon, a close friend, Ahmed, came over with his brother to visit me. Ahmed had been, for about 2 years, one of my closest friends. He had befriended me at a time in my life when I felt like I had no other friends. We talked, travelled, studied, and fished together.
I had tried a number of times to bring up Jesus to him, but Ahmed, though always polite, seemed eager to leave the subject alone. He was as committed a Muslim as I had ever met. He was kind of like an Islamic “youth pastor,” volunteering his afternoons to serve and love underprivileged Islamic youth. When I would talk about Jesus, he would smile and say, “You are a good man of faith. You were born in a Christian country and you honor the faith of your parents. I was born in Muslim country and I honor the faith of mine. You were born a Christian and will die a Christian. I was born a Muslim and I will die a Muslim.”
Before I left, I knew that I had to have one final conversation with him. How could I call him my friend and not make clear to him what I believed about Jesus Christ?
I told him that, according to the Bible, only those who have believed on Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins can enter God’s Kingdom. For about 15 minutes he sat politely and listened as I poured my heart out to him. When I was finished, he thanked me for my friendship, and left.
I did not see him again until the day I was preparing to return home. When he showed up that day at noon, I could tell something was on his mind, so I asked him about it.
“Our conversation,” he said. “After we talked the other day, I thought about how much I appreciated you for telling me so directly what you believed. But then I didn’t think much of it… ‘You are a Christian, I am a Muslim,’ I thought, ‘that is how each of us was born, and that is how it always will be.’
“But seven days after our conversation I had a dream.” He interrupted himself to say, “After first I thought it was one of those dreams that comes from eating strange fish. But I’ve had those kinds of dreams. This was different… In my ‘dream,’ I was standing on earth and suddenly, open before my feet was the ‘straight and narrow way’ leading to heaven (he used a technical Islamic term for the ‘the straight path’ which applies only to the road to heaven).
“And as I looked up along this pathway to heaven,” he said, “you were on it! You arrived at heaven’s gates, but the way inside was blocked by huge, brass doors. I thought to myself, ‘That is where his journey ends. Who has the power to open those doors?’ But then, as I watched, someone from inside knew you, and they called your name. The doors then swung open wide for you, and you went in… and then my heart broke because I really wanted to go with you. But then, the doors opened again and you came back out, walked back down the path a little ways, and stretched your hand out to me down here on earth. And you pulled me up to heaven with you.”
He then looked at me and said, “What do you think my dream means?”
Now, understand that I was raised in a traditional, Baptist home. Dreams were not a part of our standard religious repertoire. But, not knowing what else to do, I said, “Brother… You are so in luck. Dream interpretation is my spiritual gift!”
For the next hour I walked him through Romans and Acts, showing Him how Jesus had come to earth, lived the life we were supposed to live, died the death we were condemned to die, rose again, and offered salvation to all who would believe.
I would love to tell you that he became a believer. Sadly, he did not, and, to my knowledge, he has not. I think it was still just too much for him.
But what he said next is something I can never, ever forget. He said, “I know why Allah gave me that dream. He was telling me that you were sent here by God to show me the path that leads to heaven. You were to teach me God’s ways and explain to me His Injil (Gospel). But today, my friend, you are going home, and we will probably never see each other again. You are the only Christian that I know. Now who will teach me the ways of God?”
I am writing this book in response to that question.
The fact that you are reading even this prologue is an answer to prayer. You may have picked this book up because you have become friends with a Muslim and you want to talk to them about Jesus but you don’t quite know where to start. Maybe you are preparing to live in a Muslim community and you want to understand how you can best live out Jesus in front of them. Maybe you have picked it up because you feel a strange tugging in your heart whenever you hear about the Muslim world. Maybe you just want to understand.
Whoever you are, I am grateful you are holding this in your hand. You are an answer to prayer. Most of the 1.9 billion “Ahmeds” in the world will never meet a genuine Christian. Most Muslim college students studying abroad in the United States will never, almost without exception, step foot inside of a Christian home while they are in America. Though over 1/3 of all the unbelievers in the world are Muslims, only .05% of all the Christian workers in the world have Muslims as their focus. Most Muslims, like my friend Ahmed, will die without ever having had someone explain the Gospel to them.
For the Muslim you know, you are probably the only Christian they will ever know. I hope this book will help you present Jesus to them well.
Ahmed and I have corresponded several times since I left, but I lost contact with him after many of his family died in the Southeast Asian tsunami of 2004 and he was displaced to a refugee camp. I know that he is still alive, but have not yet been able to locate him. I trust, by God’s grace, one day that I will. Ahmed, my friend, this book is for you. I hope we find you.
We have to. We are your only hope.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 12:56 pm. Add a comment
Maybe you have received one of the emails or YouTube links doing the rounds at the moment about the rapid growth of Islam across the globe – specifically focussing on the way that laws and cultural norms are changing in the face of pressure from Islamic groups or just sheer weight of numbers.
The most common reaction from many Christians I know is one of fear and helplessness. Others want to block any Muslim from immigrating to our nation. They see Muslims moving to the community as a FEARFUL OBSTACLE.
I wonder if Christians in the Western world, which is experiencing waves of Muslim immigration, have an incredible FAITH OPPORTUNITY. The majority of the Islamic world is very closed to the Gospel and is shrouded in a prevailing culture which is anti-Christian (anti-American). It is extremely difficult to be able to take the Gospel of Jesus to the Muslim world, but the rapid growth of Islam in most Western nations is due to migration and the birth rate – not conversions. Perhaps God is bringing the Muslim world to us?
What a great opportunity to demonstrate the life and love of Jesus to Muslims without fear of reprisals!
This promotional campaign, by advertising agency KesselsKramer, paints the Hans Brinker budget hotel in Amsterdam as dirty, uncomfortable and lacking basic necessities such as beds. Yet it has been a huge success with travellers. Click here for the full article.
I am intrigued by this thought by Dave Bell, Creative Director and Partner at KesselsKramer. “Everybody is always trying to be the best, but there are merits in being the worst. Maybe more people should strive to be the worst at something. When you’re the worst you have a lot more room to be creative and do your own thing.”
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 10:35 am. Add a comment
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