This Sunday we honor fathers around the world. There are so many things that can go right or wrong depending on the decisions father's make. When fathers:

Stay. When fathers stay faithful to their commitments, it produces a stability in their families. Regardless of the setbacks, disappointments, and the failures we may experience, eventually things will turn around if we stay faithful. So many times men can quit right before the breakthrough comes.

Obey. Obeying God means we as fathers have to do what we ask our children to do. We tell our children: "You must obey your Mother and me regardless of what you feel like". In the same way we must obey the Lord's commands. When we diligently obey the Lord, the Bible says " ...all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you."(Deut 28:1)

Pray. When a father prays, tremendous things happen. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that there is nothing higher that a father can do than pray for his family, as well as his friends and the world around him. At times, we can feel helpless with all the pressures surrounding our lives. Yet, we are never without hope when we pray.

We are thankful for the fathers in this season and remind them to not forget to utilize the greatest privilege and opportunity at their disposal: prayer.

I have been on a vacation from Multiply over the last few months, but I am making a comeback. The biggest thing on my heart these days is to see Bethel and the entire EN movement take the call to pray to the next level.

In the past, we have set aside the first Thursday of every month for prayer and fasting for all our Churches and ministries around the world. At Bethel World Outreach Center in Nashville, we have made a commitment to pray and fast every Thursday. We gather at our Brentwood congregation on Thursday night at 7pm to pray together as a Church family.

We are seeing God's healing hand at work in these Thursday prayer meetings as well as a strong sense of His presence and grace. We invite all Bethel members and their friends to come us every Thursday night for these important times of seeking the Lord.

"It is time to seek the Lord." Hosea 10:12

We will begin a teaching series at Bethel World Outreach Center in Brentwood, Tn. following our Easter services on the theme: Winning Your Battles. There is no greater task for a Pastor than to help as many as possible to come to grips with the issues they are facing in life and learn how to overcome according to God's Word.

God's answers to our problems are not always easy to implement, but are the tried and true path to peace and freedom. The series will focus on the fact that though everyone has some sort of challenge they are dealing with, God has provided the wisdom and strength for any and every situation.

I believe we are entering an important season of preparation as Christians in America where we must make sure our foundations are solid and that we are living righteously. The clear message of the New Testament is that the "righteous will live by faith" (Romans 1:17)  Learning to live by faith should be our top priority as we face the turbulent times ahead.

Whether it is the battle for your marriage, children, relationships, or simply the inner battles that threaten to erode your faith and joy in life, in the words of Winston Churchill, "Never give in."This means that we must know the Lord and trust His promises and not surrender to the fear that seems to stalk so many.

  We will devote the month of April to this special series of messages with the sincere conviction that the grace of God will begin to flow into every needy situation.

As we opened the New Year we embarked on an unusual series in our Sunday services at Bethel World Outreach Center: “IF” It might just set the record for the briefest message title in history.  

As 2008 unfolded I kept hearing many bold pronouncements about how great this year would be. Being a positive person I love to hear good news. Yet, the more I thought about it , the more I was reminded of how conditional the promises of God really are. As much as God wants to bless His people and do marvelous things, there is a part we are to play. God will do great things if we will do what He asks us to do.

For instance, John 15:7 says, “If you remain in Me and my Word remains in you, ask what you wish and it will be done for you”  So many want to start the “asking” part without fulfilling their part of the “If”, which would mean to  spending consistent time in reading and meditation in God’s Word (and obedience to it, of course).

Another great “If” in Scripture is the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people who are called by name will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.”
There is an opportunity to see America healed, or any other nation, but it starts with the statement, “If My people…will humble themselves and pray”

Look for the messages on either audio or video on our website, BWOC.org.

In this coming season we are focusing our efforts on preaching the Gospel and winning the lost. It sounds simple, but it seems to be the most critical piece missing in the American Church. Over the last two months I have been apart of two conferences for leaders and both of them have laid out the reality that the greatest crisis in our country is not the economy or the war in Iraq, but it is the lack of evangelism.

Bottom line: More churches are closing than opening each year...the rate of conversion is not keeping up with the population rate. These two statements should jolt us into action. Here in Nashville we have formed a ministry called ICECAP. (International Center for Evangelism Church Planting and Prayer). ICECAP is dedicated to helping local Churches of all denominations. The first priority is to train believers to share their faith as well as train those with a call to evangelism as a ministry.

This July we will be holding a conference in Nashville to focus on this area. We are hoping to end the conference (the last week of July) with outreaches where two new congregations are planted in the city.(Currently we have six). Make plans to attend and be prepared to return home with a fresh fire and passions for reaching out to the lost and planting new Churches.

Jody and I want to wish all our dear friends around the world the most joyous, Christmas ever.
We are so thankful for all of you and pray that this season will encourage you and bring you into greater fellowship with our Savior and King, Jesus Christ.

My parents will be spending Christmas with us in Nashville this year. My Dad just turned 83 last week. I am grateful to God for him and my Mother and all the love and support they have shown us.

Last night, Pastor Steve Murrell hosted a Filipino party at his house in Nashville. It was a wonderful moment. The only problem was that all the songs we sung were in Tagalog.
Check out Steve Murrell.com for pics of the party.

My Christmas wish? You know...."every nation in our generation"

Pastor Jack Hayford, the International President of the Foursquare denomination, will speak at Bethel World Outreach Center’s conference on the theme, “Israel, the Church and the Nations”, October 18-20 in Nashville.  He is joined by Kay Arthur, and Robert Stearns along with many other special guests in this very important gathering.

Kay Arthur, an internationally respected Bible teacher will speak Thursday, October 18th at 7:00pm. Pastor Jack will speak on Friday night the 19th and Robert Stearns, the executive director for Eagles Wings Ministries and the co-sponsor of the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem will speak Saturday night.

Local Nashville pastors will speak during the Friday and Saturday morning day sessions. Registration is required for the morning meetings, but the nightly gatherings are open to the public.

I want to encourage all the members of Bethel as well as our friends to attend these meetings. For more information go to BWOC.org or Eagle's WIng's conference homepage.

We are happy to announce that Bethel World Outreach Center in Nashville, Tn.  is now video casting it’s messages. Our current Winning in Life series, Blessed to be a Blessing, can be seen by going to our website at BWOC.ORG.

Join us live in Nashville or online for a special nightly series from Sept.19-22nd. In these mesages we will focus on the promises made to Abraham that we are now heirs to because of Jesus Christ.(Galatians 3:29)

In order to have extraordinary faith,  we must necessarily hear, meditate, and obey God's Word in an extraordinary way as well. This is why we are setting aside these special nights for this purpose. Regardless of your circumstances, now is the time to pay extra attention to the Word of God and make it the priority of your life.
 
God promised that He would bless us in order to bless the nations of the world. (Gen 12:3). This is His eternal purpose and we have an opportunity to be a part of it.

Six years ago we all sat in disbelief as the images of the toppling twin towers in New York City played over and over again on our TV sets. A handful of extremists had carried out an unthinkable plan to attack innocent civilians. Not only did three thousand lose  their lives but the world lost something as well: another piece of freedom.

Now, we all live lives that are constantly overshadowed by the specter of terrorism. From the new reality of virtually undressing to board an airplane, to the ever present awareness that the same forces are at work plotting the next moment where they can seize the world’s attention through a dramatic act of violence.

We vowed to never forget what we saw during those days following September 11, 2001. What were we supposed to remember? The brutal nature of the enemies of freedom? The horror that our own countrymen experienced, or maybe the frantic searching of thousands of people for lost loved ones?

We as believers must remember that what the world experienced on that fateful day 6 years ago is exactly what the Bible predicts in terms of the potential of human nature as well as the events coming on the earth. The book of Luke states, “Men will faint from terror, apprehension from what is coming on the world…”(Luke 21:26)

However, we must ultimately remember that our Lord tells us constantly to “fear not” and that though the nations will be shaken (Hebrews 12:26-27), we have received a kingdom which cannot be shaken.(Hebrews 12:28)

May we remember to remember that the Lord has allowed us to be born at an amazing time in history, and that our calling to share His love and power has never been needed more. May we remember that He has promised us again and again that if we trust Him we will be delivered.(Psalm 91)

Finally may we remember that we are  in a spiritual battle and that it is “not against flesh and blood”.(Eph 6:12) Hopefully when we come to a  landmark like 9/11, it will remind us to be more frequent and fervent in our prayers as well as more determined and focused in our mission.

On September 4th,1982, Jody and I were married in Dallas Texas at the Highland Park United Methodist Church.  Steve and  Deborah Murrell were married two weeks earlier.

After a two week honeymoon in Hawaii- we launched out into a world-wind of traveling to the nations to preach the Gospel. 25 years later, here we are still in love with Jesus and one another.

Last night, our friends Larry and Doris Tomczak hosted a small gathering of friends in honor of the occasion and encouraged us greatly by their love and support. We so appreciate all of you who have made an impact on our lives and inspired us to greater things

Thank you Jody for standing by my side, putting up with me and most of all, serving the Lord with me. You are more beautiful today than when we first met, and much smarter too!

Our prayer is that all of the marriages in our Church as well as the Every Nation family will come into a season of greater strengthening and encouragement.

The Bible many times uses animals to teach humans about life. Whether birds, fish, donkeys, cattle(the ones on those 1000 hills). Here is a true story of how God used a dog to teach our family several important lessons.

It all started last year when our family broke down and bought a little puppy.(never mind what kind, just stay with me.)  It was a trying time of teaching the dog to not sprinkle the carpet and bark all night. Pretty standard stuff when you are “house-breaking” a dog.

Our two youngest children are 8 and 11. They were delighted to have a little dog, but were realizing the energy needed to take care of it. The most difficult part was whenever someone opened a door in our house, the dog would dart out the door and run off into the neighborhood.

The real problem came when it ran repeatedly into a neighbor’s yard.(not our next door neighbor). One day, I received a call that this neighbor had our little dog in “custody”(in their house) and that I must”personally” come down to get our dog back. Our children told me how they were scolded by the neighbor and told how “bad” they were for letting the dog get out in the first place.

So off I go to get our dog back, not knowing the kind of reception I would receive. True to form, this woman met me at the door holding our little dog and without giving me any chance to even thank her for taking our dog in, proceeds to lecture me on what “bad dog owners” we are. I simply stood there, enduring the tirade trying to remember that as a Pastor I must show the ultimate restraint.

I did manage a little apologetic that our children were not negligent, but that the dog simply ran out the door before they could react. My explanation seemed to fall on deaf ears. When I returned, our children were upset because this woman had scared them with her actions. Of course, it was a great moment to talk about love and forgiveness and our Lord’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

I figured that was the end of the story- until today. While enjoying a morning cup of coffee with my wife Jody, she looked out the front window and saw a cute little dog in our front yard.(You probably already know what’s coming). We opened the front door and it ran right into our house, almost like it knew where it was supposed to go. We picked up the dog and looked at the I.D. bracelet and wrote down the address and phone number of the owner. It began to dawn on me that this might be a strange "coincidence”.

Sure enough, when we checked the address, it was the very neighbor that had lectured us so strongly about our dog getting out. The children began to cheer, (shades of the Wizard of Oz) and then I too was forced to restrain my joy. I picked up the phone and let our neighbors know that we had their dog and they could come and retrieve it. Of course, the woman that gave me the lecture didn’t come. When her husband got out of the car I greeted him with my little children standing by with a smile on their faces.

I told him that I hoped this could bring some peace between us because “these things happen”. He was obviously embarrassed and totally at a loss for words. I told him that it was no trouble taking the dog in and if it got out again we would not mind bringing it back. He was a very nice man and I'm sure they are both fine people.

When we closed our door and talked about it as a family, the other lesson was glaringly  obvious. “Judge not, lest you be judged.” It’s easy to be a critic and to find fault with the mistakes of others. It’s better to be forgiving and merciful. That lesson is not just for our neighbor, but for all of us.

This past week our Bethel staff met for three days and strategized for the coming months about how to reach our city (Nashville) for Christ. We were assisted by Kevin York, the executive director of Every Nation Churches. I could not exagggerate the impact of Kevin's insight and wisdom for us as a team. He is a gifted servant of God.

Anyway, he helped us to clarify our vision as a team as well as the values that we all hold dear. Sometimes, you assume everyone is on the "same page", only to find out later how divided people really are. The blessing for us is that as a result of our time together we were able to solidly reaffirm our common faith and dream for God's purposes in our region.

We have been unified in the past, but this time took us into a greater place of agreement. You can  sense the promise of Jesus that if "any two of you agree about anything they ask, it will be done for them.."( Matt. 18:19) will be a reality for us.

 Though we have many areas of need to address as a Church, it is an easy yoke and a light burden when the Spirit of God is moving in your midst. Psalm 133 promises that when "brothers dwell together in unity", that it is like the experience of the the anointing oil being poured out on Aaron, the priest.

A major reason that we are experiencing the grace of God is this unity that is present. It says in the book of Acts 2:1 , "And when the day of Pentecost had come they were all togehter in one place". The Greek text reads that they were all "together, together". They weren't just in the same geographical location, they were also together in heart and soul. One translation says they were "in one accord".

I feel that this is why the World Conference was so powerful. We came together and renewed our mission together as a people. The spirit of unity and agreement we felt at EN07 was truly amazing.This type of unity produces an atmosphere for miracles and unleashes the power of God in our midst. 

This unity was the prayer of Jesus in John 17 as well as the prayer of Paul in Phillipians 2.  May it be our prayer as well!

I wanted to write this note to bring a much needed spotlight on the Children’s ministry of Bethel. When you think about our calling as a Church to see families restored, disciples made, and nations transformed, it all starts with our children.

There is no higher calling than to minister to the heart of a child the encouragement and grace of Jesus Christ. The rewards of helping children develop lives of faith are vast. The children will forever remember the kind and encouraging spirit that comes from a teacher or worker that shares Christ love with them.

In the coming days we are trusting that God will give us the laborers we need for this harvest field. That’s right, the children’s ministry  represents the most open and fruitful harvest field we could hope for. Trusting little hearts are the most fertile soil for even the smallest seeds of faith.

 When we think of missions we imagine heroic men and women braving the dangers of land and sea to bring the Gospel to a needy people at the ends of the earth. While this is critical, there is another needy area of the world that is no farther than a few steps from our Church sanctuary. While our hearts tell us that we would be willing to help the great needs in other places, we can begin by proving ourselves faithful right where we live.


If we are to be true to our calling as believers, we must demonstrate our love for Christ through our acts of service and love to those around us. This must begin with our children. Let me say it plainly:

If we want to change the world, it starts here!


So let me ask this question: What can we do to make this the most exciting and excellent ministry of the Church?

It begins with me as the Senior Pastor. It is my job to lead us as a Church under the ultimate leadership of Christ. I am praying that the preaching and teaching will produce a people that possess a servants heart and deeply understand the importance and priority of ministering to children.

It also means that the people of God rise to the challenge that is before us. As the culture grows more and more spiritually bankrupt, we are in constant danger of becoming jaded and insensitive to the most obvious and pressing of needs. When adults become self-absorbed, children suffer. We must resist the temptation to turn our backs on our responsibility as believers.

Here is a simple way to see it.: If you have ever sensed a need in our children’s ministry or spotted a deficiency of any kind, it was probably God speaking to you to help. Specifically, we need the full weight of the spiritual gifts, as well as the creative talents of our church to step up and contribute.

More bluntly, if you have children who utilize any aspect of children’s ministry you are definitely called to help.  Whether it’s teach a class, or change a diaper, every one can make a contribution.

In the coming months there will be literally hundreds of new people coming to our Church, Bethel World Outreach Center, to visit for the first time. Whether in Brentwood, Nashville,  Franklin, Spring Hill, Clarksville, or Murfreesboro.  Quite possibly, their entire perception of Christ and us as His followers could come down to the presentation of those in the children’s ministry.  I trust that not only will they be encouraged by what they see, but we will exceed their expectations for the Glory of God.

We deeply appreciate Pastor Wayne and Lynn Headley and all the staff and volunteers in all of the six Bethel congregations that work tirelessly to make this a reality. Let’s rally around them with united hearts and  watch the blessings of God fall upon us all.

The final request we are taught to pray in the Lord's prayer is to be delivered from evil.This might be the most basic of all human desires. The desire to be protected from evil. I am immediately struck by the fact that our Lord is the one that instructs us to pray this. The reason? He is against evil as well and desires we be shielded from it's impact.

The most common reason for people to reject God and the fact that He is loving and merciful, is the existence of evil. That it even exists to some means that either He is not all-powerful (because He can not abolish it) or He could remove it, but doesn't care enough to do it. The human mind seems scandalized that God would even allow evil to be an option.

According to the Bible, God's ultimate desire was for evil to not be apart of the human situation. In the creation of man and woman in the image of God, they were given the gift of volition or choice. The fact that there was something called "good" meant necessarily the opposite was at least possible. God never intended for evil to be more than a possibility. In fact, He gave strict orders for even the knowledge of it to be avoided.

Because the Lord is holy, He has forbidden evil from the beginning to the end. Ultimately evil will be punished and eternally abolished. In the meantime, He has called us to pray to be delivered from it. He is powerful and can help us defeat it in our lives and empower us to help others defeat it as well. That is why our message to others is called the "good news".

We hope for some super hero to come along and rescue us (or maybe even Jack Bauer) but in the end, Christ is the only true source of help from the merciless, relentless foe called evil.

Remember the Titans is one of the all time great movies on my list and Denzel Washington is one of my favorite actors. I have never met Denzel, but I do know Pastor Brett Fuller.  Pastor Brett gave a message to our leaders in Manila that reminded me of a speech Denzel gave in the movie, Remember the Titans.

In the movie, a high school football team is divided because of ethnicity. Black vs White. As the coach,he brings them to the civil war battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa. and charges them to let go of their division and come together as a team. They heed his message and go on to win the championship.(true story)

Pastor Brett, called us to that same unity at this past World Conference. As a ministry, our challenges aren't loving different ethnicities, but rather loving each other and standing strong together to accomplish the dream God has given us as well as His purposes in the earth.

The essence of the message was to "guard the dream". The dream that we as leaders have to reach every nation in our lifetime. The dream to see young people finding and fulfilling their calling and purpose. The dream to also walk together as brothers and sisters in Christ with love, loyalty and unity. We'll I can't do it justice, you'll have to listen to it yourself.
http://www.ygbc.org/podcast/index.php?id=142

You can also look for Pastor Brett's message on the EveryNation07recap.com website (it should be posted by Friday). Whether it reminds you of the Remember the Titans moment or not, I trust you will be encouraged. Let's heed our Lord's call to unity that was voiced by Pastor Brett and come together to win the world for Christ! ENIOG.

We are so excited to bring the faith  and vision from the ENO7 conference back to our cities and Churches. I don't believe any of us will ever be the same after this past week. I will continue to write about all the great things that happended or ideas that came out of these amazing meetings.

Back in Nashville, our prayer series continuies at Bethel as we look at the prayer Jesus taught us to pray. This week we consider the instructions to pray that we are not led into temptation. Over the past few weeks we have studied each phrase of the Lord's Prayer and looked at the full meaning of the instructions He gave.

We come to Him as Father, we reverence His Name, we ask that His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are taught to ask for our needs to be met when we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread". Last week our focus was to ask for forgiveness for ourselves as we at the same time forgive others.

What is the importance of praying that we are not led into temptation?

First of all, there is a diference between temptation and sin. Jesus was tempted in all points as we are , "yet without sin."(Hebrews 4:15) However, getting into a condition of temptation is very dangerous. Jesus told His disciples to "rise and pray, lest you fall into temptation."(Matt.26:41) When someone is in a moment or period of temptation it is like being caught in a trap. The ultimate end is to destroy you. Unless you can get out, failure(sin) is only a matter of time.

We are to pray that we could avoid temptation. Basically, our strategy where temptation is concerned is to stay away from it. There is a huge difference between escaping from a burning building and learning to prevent the fire in the first place. The prevention part is what we are doing when we pray, "lead us not into temptation". Once we have entered into temptation, escaping becomes the focus. God always provides a way of escape
(1 Cor.10:13), but sadly and tragically it isn't always taken.

We avoid temptation by realizing that temptations are:
Predictable- No temptation is taken that is not common to man.(1 Cor. 10:13) In other words, everyone is tempted by sin. However, for most it is like getting hit by a 2 km an hour train. We should have seen it coming!

Avoidable- We can learn to avoid the things that we know will be a temptation. If we know there is a traffic jam up ahead we can take a detour. Through wisdom from the Word of God, the leading of the Spirit, and common sense, we can avoid the situations that threaten to push us into temptation.

Cyclical- if they happened before they will happen again. The enemy knows the weaknesses of our flesh and will be patient to set a trap that takes years to unfold. The Bible warns us to take heed if we think we stand, lest we fall.(1 Cor.10:12) If anyone is caught in a trespass you who are spiritual restore such a one, ...looking to yourselves lest you be tempted.(Galatians 6:1)

Escapable- As we mentioned, there is a way out of temptation. It isn't a foregone conclusion that if you are tempted, you will eventually fall. However, many don't ever escape from the burning building, so to speak, but give in to the pressure. We will look next this week and next at the power of deliverance from evil.

The other kinds of temptation
For many the term temptation is synonymous with areas of iimmorality and impurity. While these are certainly serious areas of temptation, there are other kinds that are devastating as well. For instance, Jesus was warning His disciples to pray that they would not fall into the temptation of fear and unbelief in the face of the coming persecution surrounding His death on the cross. We as well must do the same to stay strong and not allow the enemy to "steal the Word from our hearts" (Mark 4) so that we can remain strong  in faith in these important times.

There is also the rampant dysfunction in the area of relationships. If we don't pray and trust God's grace we will see the enemy destroy once trusting relationships with family, spouses, and friends. The widespread dysfunction in the body of Christ in this area is proof that we are not being vigilant to protect our God-given relationships.

We must learn to guard ourselves and our relationships through prayer. The practical side of this prayer is to teach us to stay away from everything that could potentially hurt what God has birthed in our lives. This will be the goal of this week's message. To give us the wisdom and strength to win in the face of these enemies. We look forward to seeing you at any one of our locations in the Nashville area.

There were many remarks made about an example I used in my conference message on Sat. night, "to the ends of the earth". These comments centered around the example of how the world really looks when reduced to 10 people. This example was referred to by Bill and Amy Stearns in their book, "20/20 vision". The example was originally used by a  speaker they heard at a missions conference in Colorado Springs.

Before I explain it here in this post, let me echo the amazing reports of all that God is doing around the world. Though the lack of growth in the western world has led many to assume that Christianity is declining, the worldwide picture offers great hope. A quick report: 74,000 people are coming to Christ everyday. Over 3500 Churches are opening worldwide every week. There are hundreds of testimonies of people in the Muslim world being converted because of a vision or dream of Jesus Christ. Africa is almost 50% Christian! However, there is much work to be done.

If you broke the world down into 10 people here is what you would have:
There is one committed believer. This is a genuine follower and disciple of Jesus Christ. There are two nominal believers. These are people who would profess some type of affinity to the Christian religion, but not be genuinely converted.(For those that might be confused, being a true follower of Christ doesn't depend on joining a particular Church or denomination, but is a result of trusting Christ alone as your Savior and Lord and HIs death on a cross and subsequent resurrection from the dead three days later. He promised that we would be "born again"- (John 3:1-7; II Corinthians 5:17).

There are four out of ten that are unreached(non-Christian) from nations that are potentially open in the sense that there is a Christian witness or ministry that could make contact with them. These four might be pictured as an Indian(India will pass China as the world's largest nation in 2015). A Chinese. China is approaching 10 percent Christian, but with over a billion people there is a vast sea of humanity that must be reached. A Japanese. Japan has over 130 million people and very little Gospel witness. A Thai. The word "Thai" ironically means "free". Thailand is opening up to the Gospel, but there are very few laborers for the harvest.

The last three of the 10 are from nations that are "officially" closed to the Gospel. This would be the nations in the Muslim world. Though the Church once flourished in this part of the world two milena ago, the Light has grown dim. Many refuse to call them "closed" nations, but rather use the term, CAN (Creative Access Nations). Indeed it will take enormous creativity and courage to see inroads made in these places.

The point is that there is a huge responsibility on the "one" to make a difference in the other "9". The two nominal believers must be awakened in this crucial time, and help reach the four from the nations that are within reach right now. Every Nation has established ministries in all of these four regions. Our pastor in Japan, Scott Douma is on Multiply. Pastor Kevin Menezes in India, and the ministries in China and Thailand can be contacted through the Every Nation website. We will continue to press the issue until we reach "every nation in our generation!"

Our theme at the EN07 World Conference in Manila has been: "To the ends of the earth". This call to the nations has been our call as a ministry since our beginnings in 1994. The phrase, "Every Nation in our Generation", has been repeated over and over by multitudes around the world. We celebrated the fact that we are currently ministering in 56 countries! We certainly give God the glory for all He has allowed us to do.

The conference has been highlighted with intense praise and worship by the 14,000 delegates. A world class production team led by Julius and Eilleen Fabergas has given nightly dramatic presentations illustrating the call of Acts 1:8. The media staff led by Mae and Carlos have been incredible and the videos from this great event will be released in the coming days.

Pastor Rafe Young of Bethel in Nashville led an outreach team in ministry before the conference and Pastor James Lowe and his wife Debbie were featured in the conference for their work with the Youth Life Learning Centers.

I want to thank all the Manila team starting with Pastor Steve and Deborah Murrell, Joey and Marie Bonifacio and a cast of all-stars for their amazing work. The church in Manila now has a weekend attendance over 26,000 people with and counting the other churches in the Philippines have a national attendance of 37,000! It is considered one of the great success stories in Asia. We are honored to be a part of this great work.

On Sunday, July 15th I ministered in the morning in one of our congregations in Manila that meets in a shopping mall. What an incredible strategy to have a facility right in the midst of the places where a majority of the people in a city congregate, and from the managers of the malls standpoint a huge drawing card for their businesses as well

.Altogether there are 5 malls with Victory Christian Fellowships with a total of 29 services meeting there. In one mall there have 7500 people attending in 14services. It is becoming almost as popular as the movie theaters! At the same  time they are meeting in locations that are their own facilities as well. The strategy seems clear: to utilize every key facility possible as you expand to reach a city for Christ.

More important than the facilities they utilize in Manila are the leadership teams that  operate them. If fact, besides the hundreds of leaders that help operate the 60 weekend services that take place in 12 different venues, they have over 3650 Life Group leaders serving over 4000 Life Groups.This proves that if you are faithful to make disciples and train leaders, there will be an abundance of people who will share in the work of ministry. A multiplication of leaders is a vital need to advance the kingdom of God.

 At Bethel in Nashville, we are in a season of focusing on helping connect our members into Life Groups, which are small groups of people that meet in various places for building friendships and growing spiritually. In the days to come  we pray that ever member has the opportunity to   We are also utilizing a similar strategy to minister in a variety of locations. We meet in traditional church buildings as well as community centers and a YMCA.

We are trusting God to spread out and practically reach our city for Christ. May God grant us the vision and the heart to transcend the American mindset of consumerism and self-absorbtion and a embrace a strategy that will help more people come to know Christ. We are grateful for the example that the ministry in the Philippines has set.

After a long journey we are all kind of crashed out here in the Tokyo airport. Jody didn't sleep much due to the record 4 movies she watched on the plane. William, Wyatt, and Charlie are wondering if we ever left America due to the fact that one of the first things they saw when they got off the plane was a McDonalds. I am happy because there was internet connection here in the terminal.

Already, there is an anticipation for God's help and strength as we approach this gathering. I am reminded of how He usually blesses us when we take the time to assemble together. Our minds tend to think that we can skip church services and conferences with the notion, "You can listen to the messages on CD or online." Yet something happens when people make the effort to come together.

One of the most important things that I know will happen to us in Manila is a renewed passion for God's purposes in the earth. The importance of living an "inspired" life can not be underestimated. Time and time again, these moments have brought a clarity and a renewed hunger to see the reality of Christ fill our lives and the lives of those in our cities.

Even as we prepared to come here there was a website I read by one of the Filipino leaders, Michael Paderes (michaelpaderes.multiply.com). In that blog he spoke about the significance of reaching international students inorder to ultimately reach nations. I know that during the conference next week we will come away with a new world-wide emphasis on reaching those who themselves have traveled a long way as well.

Well, I am going to venture over to the coffee machine and see if I can push the buttons that are in Japanese. We land tonight in Manila. They tell us it is rainy season there. Sounds rather prophetic.