In 2011 we celebrated the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream …“ speech, one of the most inspiring events in U.S. history. Walt Disney knew something about having and following dreams. He counseled, “All our dreams can come true … if we have the courage to pursue them.” And Ben Franklin was convinced that the hopeful future a person can “see” is likely to unfold when “your dreams put on work clothes.”
Mission Houston was birthed in 1997 by dreamers. They believed that the One who taught us to pray “Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and who Himself prayed “Father, I ask that they would be one, even as You and I are one” would answer those prayers. And so they dreamed of the day when …
the members of the Body of Christ in Houston would be united, in spite of and across racial and cultural differences and theological distinctives
our city would experience widespread spiritual and social and economic vitality because the healing, liberating presence and power of God they were asking for in prayer would be intertwined with the selfless and sustained works of Christ-followers on behalf of Houston and its residents.
And ever since then, Mission Houston team members have put on work clothes to pursue these dreams.
LaShondra is a third grader living with her great aunt. She’s never known her mother or father, and has only distant memories of a grandmother who was a crack addict before she died. LaShondra revealed recently that she has become a dreamer – not of becoming the next Beyonce or J Lo, but of becoming a teacher, and a youth league basketball coach. She has the courage to dream, she said, because “my mentor told me she would be there at my high school and college graduation.”
Five years ago the Mission Houston staff and Board spoke of a dream we sensed originated in the heart of God, where every neighborhood, school and community of greater Houston was producing whole and healthy children. In 2006 we gave our word, in launching the Whole & Healthy Children Initiative, that we would put on work clothes in order to follow and cooperate with Him in making that dream come true. We invited fellow dreamers to join us as volunteers in the public schools – specifically as mentors and tutors, as work crews providing campus revitalizations, and as friends of local schools where our love for the staff and hopes for the students would compel us to fervent prayer on their behalf.
Today in 8 public school districts there are multiple congregations collaborating in mentoring and tutoring investments in schools and in kids like LaShondra. There are also multiple congregations sharing in after-school efforts in 6 neighborhoods, and in 7 schools. These are simply the collaborative ministries with kids and schools. In addition, there are dozens of congregations who though not yet partnering with other congregations caught the vision and have adopted local schools. Just this year, in June we helped birth a brand new expression of our “work clothes on” commitment. For Houston’s Kids is a growing collaborative network of organizations (including Mission Houston) and individuals who already provide much needed services to kids from age 0 to 19. The goals include fostering a movement that greatly multiplies the number of volunteers who are changing the trajectory of the lives of at-risk kids. For Houston’s Kids is almost ready to launch a website that provides a one-stop location for volunteers all over the city to find serving opportunities that fit their passion and schedule, and will enrich the lives of kids in desperately needed ways.
Four years ago we had a dream of hundreds of teams in neighborhoods and workplaces at work to restore shalom to every segment of our city. The dream led the Mission Houston staff to launch Faithwalking in October 2007. Faithwalking is a multi-tiered process for creating disciples of Jesus who effectively connect Christ-followers to be on mission together in neighborhoods and workplaces. From 13 participants at the initial Faithwalking 101 retreat, there are now 341 persons who have completed Faithwalking 101, and 155 who have completed Faithwalking 201, and 43 who have completed Faithwalking 301, and 13 will complete our first Faithwalking 401 seminar series in December. Of these “graduates,” over 40 have made commitments to help birth “missional communities.” And there are now over 25 missional community teams that include over 100 others who have engaged the Faithwalking process that are in various stages of development and are making a difference serving in and through schools and neighborhoods and corporate offices.
Your prayers, encouragement, and financial support have made possible this verifiable evidence of changed lives, of a Church moving towards unity, and of a city experiencing Life. Thank you for standing with us in the past. And thank you, on behalf of myself and our staff and Board, for prayerfully and financially standing with us in 2012 and into a future filled with hope.
Willing to dream God’s dreams for His Church and our city,
In the late 1990's George Otis, Jr. began filming stories of communities and cities that seemed to be experiencing both societal and spiritual revitalization. The latest in his chronicles of hope will be shown on Friday evening, September 9, 7pm at Grace Community Church on I-45 South. For more information, click here:Appalachian Dawn invite & info
Every child who drops out of school before completing high school costs society on average 2 million dollars over their life time! Will you help stop the bleeding?!?!
The Week of Prayer and Service for Houston's Kids was a great start to a sustained investment that results in whole and healthy kids in every neighborhood and school and community of greater Houston. Still, we've got to put hands and feet into action as supplements to our prayers, and there are multiple ways we can pray and work so that it makes a Life-giving impact in every child and youth. One opportunity to make a difference occurs on Saturday, September 10: join HISD school Board members, teachers, and other compassionately concerned citizens for the Grads Within Reach walk in helping get drop-outs back in to school, and in to the path to self-esteem and lifetime productivity. For more information, and to register to participate, follow this link: Grads Within Reach Walk, Sep 10, 2011
If you absolutely cannot walk with us, please pray for the thousands of kids across the city who have given up on school. And if you live or work in another school district's boundaries, please contact the closest districts's offices to see how you can help reach dropouts in that district, or to find out where you can volunteer in ways that help change the lives of kids in a school near where you live or work!
We are convinced that Jesus meant for us to make children just as much a priority as he did. He loved them with words of affirmation and with arms open to embrace them. He warned us about putting obstacles in their way that might cause them to miss out on God’s invitation to experience Life in His fullness.
That is why we launched the Whole & Healthy Children Initiative five years ago. That is why we partnered with Children at Risk and several other ministries to launch an annual Week of Prayer for Houston’s Children and Youth four years ago. And that is why we are currently engaged in building a collaborative to mobilize 250,000 who annually volunteer their time and talents For Houston’s Kids.
Today we are asking you to expand your efforts on behalf of the kids of Houston, and to help expand the efforts of those folks with whom you share your life and your faith, by participating in what is now the “extended Week” of Prayer and Service for Houston’s kids from August 11 through August 21, and enlisting others to join you. Here are some things you can do:
1. Have the leaders of your congregation, and of ministries to children and youth, attend the Children’s Summit on Thursday, August 11 from 11am to 1pm at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church on Woodway at Sage just west of the 610 West Loop. You’ll get an update by Dr. Bob Sanborn and Children at Risk on seven crucial areas that are needed by all children in order to be whole and healthy. You’ll also hear inspirational stories of changed lives, and of creative ways others are making an impact in kids today. And we’ll have time for prayer. To get more info and to register for the Children’s Summit, Click here.
2. Engage with friends, co-workers, or your congregation in acts of service on behalf and children and youth during the dates August 12-21! There are a number of ways you can do this. For instance, contact the Principal of a local public school this week and ask if you and a group might serve the Administration, Faculty and/or students in a practical way in mid-August by
having a campus improvement workdayproject right before school starts, or
providing a meal during that in-service week for teachers, or
purchasing and distributing gift cards to teachers for teacher supplies and additional classroom teaching aids that usually come out of their own pockets.
In addition, you can make contributions through existing efforts such as
participating in one of the many back-to-school supply drives (like the YMCA’s “Operation Backpack,” Katy Christian Ministries’ “Red Apple Program,” Feed the Children’s “Backpacks to Homeless Children,” or those in your neighborhood or workplace; or
participating in the efforts of the Houston Food Bank to provide additional food in the neighborhoods with the largest numbers of families lacking adequate nutrition.
3. Pray, and get your congregation to pray, in unity with thousands of others for 7 days during the week just before the beginning of the public school’s academic year! A Prayer Guide is available online and by email for you. Click here to download this year's prayer guide.
Let’s make sure the kids and their families see the Light that has shone in our lives, and let’s make sure the Lord hears our cry on behalf of those He holds in His heart and His arms.
“And the King will say, inasmuch as you did it for the least of these, you did it for Me. Come, enter into the joy of your Master!”
Many of you have heard of the invitation for Christians to gather in Houston on August 6 for what is being called “a solemn assembly” – a day of worship, prayer and fasting on behalf of our nation. Some of you know that our staff and Board have had more than a bit of concern about whether to participate in or endorse this gathering. We are writing to tell you that we are going to attend and participate in The Response, with some reservations, and we are inviting you to do the same.
We want to be clear. We believe that it is legitimate (and important!) that those who believe in Jesus Christ choose to convene and pray to God in His name and on the basis of hope in Him. And we certainly see that the Scriptures (and history) tell of times when civic/political leaders initiated requests for people of faith to intercede on behalf of an empire, a nation, a region, a community.
Our concerns about this particular gathering were primarily threefold:
1. Is this call to prayer primarily a political ploy by one or more prominent elected officials to curry the favors and subsequent votes of the nation’s Christ followers?
2. Is this really intended to be a non-partisan gathering of the Christian community for prayer, or is this really intended for those Christians whose views largely coincide with only one political party and will result in more rhetoric than repentance?
3. Maybe most crucial to us: is this a gathering where we Christians will repent of those things we have done, and those things we have failed to do, which have resulted in the brokenness and injustices that exist within our nation, or will we be led to engage in pointing out and denouncing the sins and failures of others?
This is what we have done, and what we have concluded.
We have engaged in several lengthy conversations with other leaders in Houston with whom we have partnered through the years, and whose hearts we trust. We have expressed as clearly as possible our concerns, and we have been transparent about the level of cynicism we have based on some prior events that were supposed to be focused on united prayer and repentance. We have also listened, and discovered that many of the other leaders in Houston share at least some of our concerns … and some have taken actions to try to insure that The Response is non-political, non-partisan, and without finger-pointing to those outside the Body of Christ.
While we do not have a level of trust in Governor Perry nor the sponsors of the The Response (none of whom we know personally), we do trust these leaders in the city … not all of whom we agree with on everything, but with whom we gladly stand in hopes of the transformation of our city through “the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole city.” These leaders, ranging in ethnicity from African to Asian to native American to Euro-caucasian, and ranging in political alliance from Democrat to Libertarian to independent to Republican, are choosing to participate in The Response. And because one of our own core values and core convictions is the relational and functional unity of the Body of Christ, we are going to participate as well.
We have urged the organizers, and Gov. Perry’s office, to not have the Governor speak at The Response, nor to be on the platform, in order to avoid any suspicion of duplicity or mixed motives because of the swirl of speculation about his possible candidacy to be a nominee for President of the United States. We cannot guarantee this will happen. But we have been assured that if he does speak (and he did extend the call to gather) he will not state anything on that day other than his conviction that our hope as a nation is for the intervention of God.
Further, our good friend Doug Stringer has been invited to be one of the two emcee “managers” of the event. Doug cannot guarantee that nothing will be said or prayed that isn’t laced with some level of partisan politics nor some level of judgment. But he has assured us that if any speaker or prayer leader ventures into those areas he intends to humbly, and as graciously as he knows how, step forward and redirect what is being said and restore our focus to prayer and to repentance for the failures of those of us who claim to follow Christ Jesus and say we want His Kingdom of love to come and His will of shalom for all to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We hope you will join us. And we urge you, whether you choose to come and participate or not, to please join us in praying for Doug and the other leaders of The Response, that this event will indeed be one of united prayer and praise and repentance, and will bring amendment of life within the Body of Christ and within our nation.
For more information about The Response, click here.
For more than 20 years millions of followers of Christ have gathered in one spirit on the Global Day of prayer, connecting locally with a global vision to pray strategically. Mission Houston will join in this united, worldwide prayer and wants to inform and encourage those with whom we are connected to join in as well. Here is a summary of the information for the 2011 Global Day of Prayer:
The Global Day of Prayer Strategy includes three parts:
Ten Days of Constant Prayer: June 2 – 11, 2011Beginning on Ascension Day, June 2, individual and groups of Christians will pray night and day throughout the ten days leading to Pentecost.
The Global Day of Prayer: June 12, 2011On Pentecost Sunday, Christians in many countries will assemble to pray. Some will not only pray together in their congregational services but will gather with others from multiple denominations and congregations in order to be united in prayer. Where this is scheduled, we strongly urge you to join!
Ninety Days of Blessing: June 13 - September 10, 2011As in the first Pentecost, transformed Christians transform their communities as they offer themselves to God as instruments through which their prayers can be answered. For those of us in Houston, we are fortunate to have the Week of Prayer and Service for Houston's Children occur during these 90 days when Christians globally are investing in active service to bless and improve the lives of others. You can find more information about ways your congregation or small group can bless kids and their families and local schools here: Week of Prayer and Service for Houston's Children.
As the time approaches we encourage you to join the Global Day of Prayer by:
Praying the Lord’s Prayer. To help us pray with united hearts and minds during the ten days before Pentecost, we’ll follow the prayer that our Lord taught us to pray.
Praying great things. We’re gathering to pray for God to fulfil the great things that He has promised: His transforming blessing in every people, and the life-giving glory of Christ’s Lordship in every community.
Concerning deepest needs. As we stretch our hearts in hope for what God has purposed, He will help us pray with confident clarity for the urgent needs of our families, cities and nations.
You can find the 10 Day Prayer Guide in different formats HERE. You are welcome to adapt the contents to suit your community’s/city’s/nation’s needs.
Youth and Children need to be encouraged to participate and therefore a Youth- and Children’s Guide is also made available.
You will find prayer points for the different nations on the Global Day or Prayer website.
I am grateful to God for Faithwalking. My experience as a Christian spans four decades, which includes fifteen years as a pastor, nine years as a Practical Theology professor, and earning advanced theological degrees. Yet the spiritual and relational impact that Faithwalking has had on me rivals anything I’ve encountered up to this time. Because of Faithwalking 101 and 201, I was able to understand why I keep on repeating the same destructive behavioral patterns that undermine my relationships with God, family, friends, and peers. I was able to see why I stopped myself from progressing spiritually and professionally. Any program or ministry is only as good as the people who do it. I am grateful for the guidance of people like Jim Herrington, Randy Schroeder, Todd and Denise McCombs, Steve Capper and Trisha Taylor. They showed me that to be transparent, to be vulnerable, and to admit one’s weaknesses and sinfulness empowers others to be open to the Spirit of God to bring about healing. I was encouraged by their example to do the same.
Through Faithwalking I became aware that my woundedness as a child led me to three vows that made survival possible but undermined my calling as a Christian. I made a vow to be a coward, to be a bully and to be self-righteous (Pharisee). I know that this sounds contradictory, but if we were able to sit down and I could explain in more detail, it would make complete sense. As a result of Faithwalking I was able to turn to God and my fellow Christians for help. I was able to strengthen my relationships with my wife, my three grown sons, and move in areas in my professional life that I would not have previously pursued.
Through Faithwalking I became aware that too many of us Christian leaders are pursuing the American dream rather than the Kingdom of God. A quote from Faithwalking 201 says, “It is the fundamental assertion of Faithwalking that the Christian community in our culture has replaced Jesus’ vision for humanity with a dummied down vision of what it means to be human – a western, materialistic, capitalistic, vision that is driven by fear, ease, and convenience. It is a vision that has its roots in democracy and 51% majorities rather than in a Kingdom where salt and light transform.”
I believe this is one of the major reasons we don’t see the kind of results we would like to see in the church today. Faithwalking is a call to return to the truth of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It provides a format that incorporates the vital aspects of following Jesus: obedience to Jesus Christ as Lord, commitment to a missional community, and fostering a reflective lifestyle.
I got involved with Faithwalking through my brother, Andy Ramos. Andy is a good friend of Todd McCombs, one of the board members of Mission Houston who helped begin this ministry. It made such a difference in Andy’s life that he recommended it to me. I went and haven’t been the same.
Beginning this fall of 2011, we will be offering Faithwalking as course at the Baptist University of the Americas, San Antonio, Texas. Most of our students are preparing for the “ministry.” I became interested in teaching Faithwalking as a course because of what happened to one of our alumnus. The pressures and the anxieties of being a pastor can be overwhelming. The young graduate took a pastorate after graduation. Four years later he had quit the pastorate and moved out of his house, leaving his wife and three children behind. He eventually divorced his wife. This is someone I personally knew and mentored while he was attending our school. No one anticipated this happening, even his wife. Apparently, there were a number of serious issues that he never talked to me about. I felt badly about graduating a student for the ministry without adequate preparation. My prayer is that Faithwalking will enable ministry students to be healthier people, have a better self-understanding, be more grounded in their relationship with our Lord and their significant others, and be part of a missional community so that, when the stresses and the responsibilities of the ministry come upon them, they will have the resources not only to manage their lives well but also to use those challenges as stepping stones to greater spiritual growth.
I am excited about offering Faithwalking this coming semester and am eager to see what our Lord will do through this wonderful program.
Dr. Mario A. Ramos Associate Professor Director of the Christian Service Program Baptist University of the Americas San Antonio, TX
The annual Week of Prayer and Service for Houston's Children and Youth begins with a Faith Community Summit on August 11! The Faith Community Summit is a gathering of leaders who meet in solidarity around our commitment to the well-being of the children of the greater Houston area. In this Summit you will get the most current information available from Dr. Bob Sanborn and CHILDREN AT RISK* on the challenges and needs of children and youth growing up in the Houston area. You will connect to others who have passion, empathy and a desire for justice for our children and youth. And you will have time to pray, and to consider ways God may have for you and those you lead to become a practical source of Life in the lives of children and youth.
Faith Community Summit
Date: August 11th, 2011
Place: St. Martin’s Episcopal Church
717 Sage Road, Houston, TX 77056-2111 Click here to register for the Summit. 11am-1pm - Summit
Week of Prayer and Service for Our Children and Youth: August 14-20, 2011 The leadership team of the Faith Initiative for Children and Youth, working with local intercessory prayer leaders and utilizing the research provided by CHILDREN AT RISK*, produce a Prayer Guide for the Body of Christ to be assisted in 7 days of informed and united prayer each year during the week prior to the beginning of the public school academic year. This prayer guide is available online and by email. Click hereto download this year's prayer guide.
In addition to praying, this year we are asking Individuals, congregations and ministries, and those whose daily work takes them to private sector businesses and organizations to engage in acts of service on behalf and children and youth during the dates August 12-21. There are a number of ways you can do this. For instance, contact the Principal of a local public school in May and ask if you and a group might serve the Administration, Faculty and/or students in a practical way in mid-August by
having a campus improvement workday project right before school starts, or
provide a meal during that in-service week for teachers, or
purchase and distribute gift cards to the teachers that provide teacher supplies from local stores to purchase additional classroom teaching aids.
In addition, you can make a contribution through existing efforts such as
participating in one of the many back-to-school supply drives (like that sponsored by the YMCA and KSBJ), or
participating in the efforts of the Houston Food Bank to provide additional food in the neighborhoods with the largest numbers of families lacking adequate nutrition.
These are just a few of the possibilities available for adding to our prayers demonstrations of God's love and of our commitment during the Week of Prayer and Service for Houston's Children and Youth. It is our hope that many will choose to engage in long term serving, as well, by volunteering during the school year at local schools and in after-school programs near where you work and/or live.
About The Faith Initiative:
The Faith Initiative is an association of pastors and leaders from congregations and organizations across the Greater Houston Area. You are invited to become a part of this initiative.
Established in February 2008, members of the Faith Initiative and CHILDREN AT RISK* meet to discuss children’s issues, inform one another of local efforts, and explore opportunities for collaboration in prayer, advocacy and service. Striving to build a greater awareness within the faith community and to bring about positive systemic change, the Week of Prayer and Service for Our Children and Youth is a city-wide movement to educate and mobilize individuals across the greater Houston area on behalf of the needs of our children. The Faith Initiative believes that this week of purposeful prayer and service will truly make an impact in the on-going, unfolding process that is needed to help all of our children. The 3rd annual Week of Prayer and Service for Our Children and Youth, in coordination with the Faith Summit, strives to educate and inspire participants to donate their time, resources, or talents to positively impact our youth directly or through advocacy. It also seeks to link up needs with assets that already exist in the community.
* CHILDREN AT RISK is a non-partisan research and advocacy organization dedicated to addressing the root causes of poor public policies affecting children. The organization began in 1989 and has evolved from an organization researching the multitude of obstacles our children face, to one that also drives macro-level change to better the future of our city and state through community education, collaborative action, evidence-based public policy, and advocating for youth at the local and state level.
Mission Houston believes that a purposefully unified Body of Christ, engaged in united prayer for our city and service to our city, is vital to the transformation of greater Houston. We celebrate the multiple cultures in our city and the Church, and relish those times when a gathering of believers for acts of worship or works actually looks like the diverse peoples in our communities and the community of faith. One such event, which has the expressed purpose of asking God to move in powerful ways to heal our city, will take place at Reliant Arena on Friday April 8 and 9, 2011, and you are invited to play a part!
Soulcheck --a FREE all-night multicultural Christian worship and prayer event, starting at 7pm and going until 7am-- takes its name based on Malachi 1:11. At this all-night event there will be no merchandise sold and no offering taken. For more information, check out the website: www.soulcheck.org.
One of Mission Houston’s core values for the transformation of our city is united prayer. We believe that a persevering and focused prayer movement is imperative for every spiritual revival and visible Kingdom advance. As stated in II Chronicles 7:14, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.” We join local congregations and ministries throughout the Greater Houston area in extending the following invitation for “Houston Code Blue for Christ”:
Dear Pastors, Ministry Leaders and Praying Friends
Over the past several weeks a united community prayer walk has been considered for Houston’s historic Sunnyside community. When the word began to spread about a Sunnyside Easter Eve Community Prayer Walk, several other pastors and leaders began to inquire about planning a united prayer walk in their own communities. Thus far we have commitments from leaders in Sunnyside, Third Ward, Fourth Ward, Fifth Ward, Alief, Cypress/Copperfield, Kashmere Gardens, McGregor Palm, Clear Lake, South Park and Channel View, to call praying Christians together. Many more pastors and communities have expressed interest, so on Saturday, April 23rd pastors and ministry leaders from across Greater Houston are calling Christians to gather at various locations (to be determined) to unite, repent of our sins, and pray for the brokenness that plagues our communities.
United prayer topics will include such areas as: children and families in poverty; abortion and human trafficking; the needs of Houston’s at-risk children; the call of the Church to serve and heal our communities; the needs of the elderly; prayer for Houston area law enforcement officers; prayer for local government officials and educators. Each community under the leadership of local pastors will be responsible to determine timely, relevant prayer targets for their community.
Our city is in urgent need of a praying, obeying, united and loving Church! Let’s help lead and call together massive groups of people to pray and care for communities across our city on the Easter Sunday Eve – April 23rd!
All Houston Code Blue for Christ prayer partners will be asked to bring non-perishable food items to their community prayer staging area on April 23rd to help support local food banks or food pantries.
You are invited to join us. Thank you for praying, caring, uniting and believing! May this Easter and resurrection weekend be a time that impacts our lives, the church and our communities with healing, hope and transformation, through the power of our risen savior – Jesus Christ!
On behalf of the Houston Code Blue for Christ Steering Committee,
I’ve been asked why the Mission Houston Board and Staff decided to offer all of the Faithwalking services for free. The short answer is that it has been a deep work of God in our individual and collective hearts. There is a story behind how that occurred.
Faithwalking was launched in 2007. It is not uncommon in today’s environment for individuals with gifts (like talented musicians) or skills (like gifted preachers) to offer those gifts and skills to people beyond a local church. It is also not uncommon for those individuals to place a value on those gifts and skills and then sell them to the public. Whether it’s in a record album or in a collection of sermons that are placed in a book and sold in the market place, this is a common practice.
So when we launched Faithwalking we stepped into that common practice. We developed a retreat and then a small group follow up experience. We placed a value on it, and we sold it to anyone who would buy.
Along the way two things happened. First, virtually everyone who fully completed the Faithwalking course gave testimony to the deep impact that the experience had in their lives.
Second, a large number of people indicated that they could not participate because the cost was prohibitive. Though we were sympathetic to that, we also needed money to pay the salaries of the people (including me) who led Faithwalking, so we just kept charging a fee.
Then on Saturday morning of our December 2010 Board/Staff retreat we had one of the most courageous, authentic conversations about money . . . about our view of money . . . about our practices of stewardship . . . about our willingness to trust the Lord to provide if we would simply obey Him in every area of our life - especially, in the context of this conversation - regarding our money. Though we didn’t make any decisions that day about the fee for Faithwalking, we looked back at that conversation as one of the most powerful conversations about money in which any of us had participated.
Two weeks later - a week before Christmas - we met for another half day to finish up the planning that we needed to do for the 2011 ministry plan. In an unscripted moment of discussion about the budget, someone, I don’t even remember who, said, “How much income did we get from Faithwalking in 2010?”
Someone else said, “I think it was about $50,000 last year.”
Someone else said, “I think God is calling us to give this stuff away, and I believe we can trust the Lord to provide the income that is lost from charging a fee.”
A flurry of conversation occurred in the next seven to ten minutes and the decision was made. We looked at each other in a kind of stunned silence. What this really what God was calling us to do? It was our unanimous sense that He was.
Then someone realized that one of the Board members had left the meeting about an hour earlier. He was the Chair of the Faithwalking Task Force. We couldn’t make this decision without him. So we called and asked him to step out of a meeting he was in. We told him what had just transpired. He said, “Something in my spirit just thinks this is right.” And the decision was final.
So there is a real sense in which we are giving Faithwalking away as an act of obedience to God’s leading.
Faithwalking is a spiritual formation process that God uses to produces personal transformation in the lives of people who love Him and are eager to be on mission with Him. It is now our privilege to offer all the services of this ministry free of charge. If He is stirring your heart to join us, go to www.Faithwalkingonline.com
Mission Houston is excited to announce that our Faithwalking training is now offered free of charge!!
The purpose of Faithwalking is to create a growing community of Christ-followers who experience on-going personal transformation and who live in the kind of relationships while on mission with others that together they help produce transformation in neighborhoods and workplaces. This decision of the Board of Directors of Mission Houston became effective in January 2011, and reflects the ministry's desire to remove cost as an obstacle to participation in Faithwalking by residents of Houston.
Faithwalking exists both for individuals longing for increased impact in and through their lives, and for the leaders of congregations eager to help produce the kinds of saints who are more effective in their works of service as agents of God in every arena of life. Registration for Faithwalking offerings is required, and there is a $75 deposit that is fully refunded to participants at the conclusion of the training they participate in. For more information, please go to our website: Faithwalking.
We solicit your prayers for us in making this step of faith, and we look forward to being with you on this journey!
On behalf of the Board of Mission Houston,
Randy Schroeder
Chairman of the Board
Mission Houston
Randy Schroeder, Chairman of the Board of Mission Houston, announces that Faithwalking will be offered for free: "We don't want money to be an issue for anybody taking Faithwalking."
Houston Graduate School of Theology will host Dr. George Hunsberger on Thursday, March 3, 2011. Dr. Hunsberger’s lecture is titled Contrast and Companionship: The Way of the Church With the World. Book signing will begin at 6:00 pm and the lecture at 7:00 pm. Houston Graduate School of Theology, in partnership with Mission Houston and churches in the Houston metropolitan area, is dedicated to advancing the missional movement in our city. For this reason, HGST has invited Dr. Hunsberger, a leading scholar of the missional church, to present its annual spring lecture. The public is invited.
Born in Pennsylvania, Hunsberger lived most of his early years in Miami, Florida. He received the B.A. degree from Belhaven College in 1966 and the M.Div. degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in 1970. In 1987, he received the Ph.D. degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in the field of Ecumenics, Missiology, and the History of Religions. His doctoral work focused on Lesslie Newbigin’s theology of cultural plurality.
He is Professor of Missiology and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, where he has taught since 1989. He is a member of the American Society of Missiology, serving as its Secretary-Treasurer from 1988-1997 and its President from 2004-2005. Since its inception in 1987, he has coordinated The Gospel and Our Culture Network in North America (GOCN). George is the author of Bearing the Witness of the Spirit and co-author of Missional Church and Treasure in Clay Jars. He is co-editor of The Church Between Gospel and Culture, A Scandalous Prophet, and Christian Ethics in Ecumenical Context.
Houston Graduate School of Theology is located at 2501 Central Parkway, Suite A19, in Houston. For more information about HGST go to: www.hgst.edu
God is doing something amazing at the University of Texas! The Body of Christ, comprised of more than 60 campus ministries and churches, is working together as one united Church to reach all 50,000 students with the Gospel of Jesus. Campus ministries are working together, treating UT like one common mission field. They have broken the university population into 500-700 people groups and are equipping and sending students for impacting the group they are part of as missionaries. Already their influence is being felt broadly. As a result, for the past few years, an average of 500 students per school year have chosen to follow Christ. That’s 1% of UT’s population each year! Over the last 10 years the percentage of students actively participating in campus ministries has doubled, from 5% of the total UT student population to 10%. Mission Houston celebrates this unfolding story and gladly shares it as a current example of what God can do and wants to do through the Body of Christ working together. Here is a short excerpt from one of the college pastors involved in the movement.
It’s been said that 2 percent of an organization, if completely sold out to a particular vision, can change the entire organization. While I am not sure of the veracity of that fact, I can say from experience that just a few college pastors working together on a project (e.g., a mission trip or a campus event), attending a retreat, or uniting in prayer can have a marked effect on the direction of your entire campus movement.
