Throw in the Towel or Throw Down the Gauntlet?

Here's a terrifying stat: In 20 years, 4% of todays youth will be committed followers of Jesus Christ. What are we going to do?
Two options: throw in the towel or throw down the gauntlet (mid-evil metal glove).

I recently read a great quote from Rev. Jesus Urteaga:

“Amid the ruins and debris of our pitiable humanity there are still women and men who hold the secret of that solution. And don’t say there are hardly any left. There are enough to found a new race, a noble race, of human being. These are people whose hearts are saturated with God: courageous men and women; passionate followers of Christ; ‘crazy’ people bursting with faith, bursting with hope, bursting with love. They alone have the secret which others vainly seek.”

There's no need to throw in the towel, but it will take a concerted effort to change the tide. In 1993, I heard the voice of Jesus. He said: "Will you risk everything for the next generation?

I've tried to live my life since then with a focus on radically investing in young adults.

For the last 3 1/2 years I have served two ministries: The Expansion Network and The International House of Prayer. I direct The Apostolic Mission School in Kansas City. I get to pour my life into fathering a generation of young people who are saturated with God.

This year, it has been difficult to live as a missionary to the next generation. We trust in Jesus and depend on partners who will help support us.

WOULD YOU CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH US THIS COMING YEAR?

You could give a monthly gift or a one time gift.

We receive tax deductible support at:

The Expansion Network

4513 East 110th Terrace

Kansas City, MO 64137

I trust that this year you will be bursting with faith, hope and love!

In His Amazing Grace,

Rich Stevenson

PS. If you hurry and get your check in the mail by the 31st, you get tax credit for this year! (It would really help us as well!)

Top Ten Things to Say About a Bad Christmas Present

10. Hey! There's a gift!
9. Well, well, well ...
8. Boy, if I had not recently shot up 4 sizes that would've fit.
7. This is perfect for wearing around the basement.
6. Gosh. I hope this never catches fire! It is fire season though. There are lots of unexplained fires.
5. If the dog buries it, I'll be furious!
4. I love it -- but I fear the jealousy it will inspire.
3. Sadly, tomorrow I enter the Federal Witness Protection Program.
2. To think -- I got this the year I vowed to give all my gifts to charity.
And the Number One Thing to say about a Christmas gift you don't like:
1. "I really don't deserve this."

Am I a Missionary?

I live in a great house on a cul de sac in the suburbs of Kansas City. Can I really be a missionary?
If I had to defend my case, I could describe visiting 10 nations in the last 12 months. I could describe the young missionaries I am investing my life in through the school that I direct.
This is not a job like most have. Our ministry, The International House of Prayer, functions as a "missions base." We have a university with over 1,000 students attending. And a young adult can attend all four years for the price of one semester in most colleges.
How do we do it?

My generation has surrendered to a "missionary lifestyle" so that tuition can be extremely low. We trust Jesus to move in the lives of faithful partners so that our needs are financially met by others.

Do I like it?

Most of the time, no. I have not fully surrendered to the humility necessary to always ask, or to the vulnerability of having our finances totally out of my control.

Am I growing spiritually because of it?

Yes. God is after our dependence and this lifestyle forces me to pray and to believe.

Do we need more partners?

Absolutely. I am committed to asking more and more this year. Here goes: Would you partner with us?

You can send your support to:

The Expansion Network
4513 East 110th Terrace
Kansas City, MO 64137

Or you can use paypal by going to http://www.paypal.com/, clicking "personal" and using this e-mail address: richstevenson@ihop.org.

Thank you so much for your willingness to partner with us.

Rich

KC Christmas

This is a great picture of the Plaza in Kansas City at Christmas time. There are 80 miles of lights with over 280,000 multi-colored bulbs. That's a lot of holiday cheer!

There might be only one display that had to be greater: "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests'." (Luke 2:13,14)
Can you imagine how all those fiery angels lit up the dark Bethlehem skyline?
The Plaza is breathtaking...the angels announced the coming of the "breath of life."

Jesus Stays Up!

Lately I’ve been thinking about Peter’s experience in the boat when he saw Jesus walking on the water. Do you remember? Jesus had sent the disciples on ahead of Him while he prayed. In the middle of the night, a furious squall came upon them while they were on the water. Perhaps Peter, more than any other, knew the danger they were in. He had probably seen bodies wash up on the shore from storms like this before. Can you imagine the panic of the disciples, especially the white collared guys like Matthew and Thomas? Peter must have had his hands full keeping both the boat and the men steady!
All of a sudden, there he was. . .Jesus was walking on the water! Right there in the midst of the waves and the wind, Jesus was WALKING ON THE WATER! One of the best lines in the Bible is when Peter says to the Lord, “If it is you, tell me to come.” Isn’t that great?!? Peter is not going to get out of the boat for just any Joe walking on the water in the fourth watch of the night! He wants to be sure that it is Jesus.
Jesus tells him to come, and then it happens. . .Peter gets out of the boat and he WALKS ON WATER!
Don’t jump too fast to the part where he looks around, taking his eyes off Jesus and sinks. Don’t move too quickly to the wonderful reality that Jesus snatches him from the waves and saves him. Peter WALKED ON THE WATER!!! The same power that was in Jesus went into Peter. AMAZING!
Do you think that Peter showed exceptional faith? I’m not sure. What if Peter’s thought process went like this: “This boat is going down. . .and Jesus is staying up!” Where would you have gone?
There is something in that story for us right now! It seems like so many things are going down all around us. The economy, morality, your retirement investments. . .
I want to remind you that no matter how strong the wind and the waves get in this present storm, JESUS IS STAYING UP! And if you will respond to Him in faith (i.e. get out of the boat), the same power that is in Him will flow through you!

An Age of Rage

Not too long ago, I was reading an article that described the culture that we are living in as "an age of rage." Apparently, one in seven of us are right now on the verge of exploding in an act of rage.
At his moment, I am sitting in a room filled with 27 people...that means that roughly four of us may be ready to blow our top when pushed.
I guess I better be careful!

Most people recommend that people who struggle with anger issues receive "anger management" treament.

Is that the best we can do? Manage our anger?

I believe that we can experience healing for our anger. One of the keys to this experience of healing is this: refuse to presume someone else's motive.
We are often really ticked at someone because we have played out the whole scenario and we assume that we know exactly why someone treated us badly.

Train yourself not to presume motive. You can never really know someone else's heart.

But the best key to anger healing is this: real forgiveness. It's not emotional...it's doing what you know is right regardless of how you feel. It's always harder than the sermons make it out to be...you will be miserable before you are free. But once you push through as an act of your will...you can be healed of anger!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Find Out What It Means to Me!

I've done a lot of weddings over the years, but as I prepared to give a meditation in my son's recent wedding, I saw something that I had never seen before.
In Ephesians 5, one of the challenges given to the bride is to "respect" her husband. What does that mean?
The definition that most of us are aware of has to do with admiring or having esteem for someone. But what about the literal definition?

The Latin root of respect means to look and to look back again.

Think about that. . .the same Latin root is in our word: spectacles (eyeglasses). Wives have a major responsibility to watch and keep watching their husbands. What should they see? They should see a husband who loves his wife just as Christ loves the church.

Who you think the husband then has to be watching over and over again?

Wow! Respect is huge in marriage! Where is Aretha when you need her?

Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)

A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)

Whoa, babe (just a little bit) A little respect (just a little bit)

"Jacob, it's in you!"

I think it was the best wedding I have ever been to. I'm probably not objective. I officiated as pastor, and it was my son's wedding. OK, I'm definitely not objective.

Lena, the bride, was sweet, holy and radiant. The crowd was reverent and engaged. The worship was powerful. Jake's grandfathers (both pastors) had authority in their prayers. The vows were heartfelt.

My meditation focused on Paul's words to husbands and wives from Ephesians. When I got to the charge for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church, I looked right into my boy's eyes and reminded him of this: "Jacob, it's in you."

When he was young his favorite movie was Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood." I'm sure he loved all of the swashbuckling action. But do you know what his favorite part of the VHS movie was? This was the part that he would fast forward to or rewind to watch again and again. . .

He loved the Bryan Adams video of the song "Everything I do, I do it for you" that came at the end of the film. Still today, he says that it's his favorite song.

What an awesome, sovereign God! I believe that as a boy, God was putting within Jacob an understanding of the kind of love that He had for him and the kind of love a man is to have for his wife. Some of the lyrics to that song are:

Take me as I am take my life

I would give it all I would sacrifice

Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for

I can't help it there's nothin' I want more

Ya know it's true

Everything I do, I do it for you

Over and over again, while Jacob was young, he encountered through that video the kind of love that Jesus has for those who believe. A love that was willing to give His life for the one that He loves.

Is an understanding of that kind of love in you?

Under the Fountain

Here's a quote from D. L. Moody:
"A great many think that because they have been filled once they are going to be full for all time. But oh, we are leaky vessels! We have to be kept right under the fountain all the time in order to stay full. What we need is a fresh supply, a fresh anointing, fresh power. And if we seek it, and seek it with all our hearts, we will obtain it.”
Have you positioned yourself so that you are continually receiving from the Holy Spirit? A past experience with Him is not enough. As Moody put it, we are leaky vessels! You receive from the Holy Spirit in a number of ways: prayer, worship, scripture, service, fasting, tithing. . .
But the most amazing way to receive is simply to ASK. If earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, HOW MUCH MORE will the Heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to His children who ASK! (Luke 11:13)

The Apostolic Mission School

Preparing a generation to serve the

end-time purposes of a Sovereign King

We are in the process of interviewing our first class of students for The Apostolic Mission School at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. These young people are signing up for three years of rigorous training in missions and prayer. They are signing up to spend 10 months of their training in a middle eastern nation learning Arabic so that they can impact the Muslim world. They are signing up to be a witness for Christ and a messenger for His Kingdom. The Greek word for "witness" is the root word from which we get the word "martyr."
These young people are signing up to give their all to Jesus. I am not worthy to be running with them.
But Jesus is worthy of their sacrificial love!
I know that He is watching with glistening eyes and a beating heart. He is going to pour out His favor on these precious forerunners.
Will you sign up to pray for this first class first class? You can join Team 1:11--A prayer network for The Apostolic Mission School. It's based on Malachi 1:11. We believe that through intercessors like you and students like the ones we are accepting, the earth will be filled with the glory of God.
For more info on Team 1:11: ams@ihop.org

The Changing Church in America

When we talk about the church today, we can no longer use the same old denominational categories. It's no longer the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals and Catholics. The Church in America has a changing face.
Here are some thought-provoking statistics from a study of the church in America that included the years 1990 through 2000:
Islam increased by 42%
Buddhism increased by 109.5%
Hinduism increased by 237.4%
Wicca increased by 1,575% (that's not a typo!)
Over this same period, the Christian church in America continued to decline. What has happened to a movement that had as few as 25,000 in AD 100 and grew to up to 20,000,000 in AD 310?
If we keep doing what we are doing we will end up where we are going. Something has got to give! Will you join me in believing that God is changing the expression of the Church as we approach the end of this age? Will you pray with me that there will be a remnant who are alert, sensitive and willing to risk everything to see the Bride radiant and powerful as we prepare for Christ's triumphant return?

The Devil's Tactics

After the fall in the Garden of Eden, God prophetically declared that His seed (Christ) would wound the head of the serpent. Maybe you remember that powerful scene in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," where Jesus stomps on the head of the snake in the Garden of Gethsemene. I shouted in the theater when I saw that the first time!
I think one of the outcomes of that head wound is a little bit of brain damage...
The devil is dangerous and he is certainly out to destroy as many as possible. But he is not very creative. He uses the same strategy over and over again. He has three main weapons that he uses against the church, they are the three prongs to his evil pitchfork: persecution, theological error and immorality.
"In every age it has been the same. The devil's tactics do not change. As we look round the world today, the same pressures are harassing different churches. In some areas of the world open hostility to the gospel is accompanied by physical violence. In others, the church is wrestling in intellectual combat with an insidious idealogy or a materialistic philosophy with which it cannot come to terms. Elsewhere the struggle is in the moral field, as the world seeks to cajole the church into comformity to its own ways." (John Stott, "What Christ Thinks of the Church")
How is the enemy working in your church? Which prong of his pitchfork is against you? You are not meant to sit idlely by while he seeks to destroy Christ's precious bride. Today, put on God's fighting armor and defend Christ's church. As we approach the end of this age, the church will stand against persecution, error and immorality and she will march over the enemy's gates.
Let's begin today.

A Blind Beggar. . .

There were two beggars in a crowded city with several things in common, but one thing that was very different. They were both completely blind. They both located themselves on a busy corner of a very busy street. They both had a big tin pot to hold the money that those passing by gave them. And they both held signs asking for contributions. The one thing that was very different was the amount that they received daily in that tin pot. One barely made enough to live on and the other was provided for generously. His tin pot overflowed.
What made the difference? It was what was printed on their signs. The beggar that barely scraped by had a sign that read: “I am blind.” And the beggar that had an overflowing cup had a sign that read: “It is springtime and I am blind.”

Are you surrounded by signs of spiritual life, but unable to see them?

The Next Step

I have been greatly influenced by John Wimber (Founder of The Vineyard movement). I admire his commitment to "do the stuff" that Jesus did and his pursuit of a life characterized by faith (spelled R-I-S-K). This quote has been a catalyst for some of the most important decisions I have made:

“The economy of the Kingdom of God is quite simple. Every new step in the Kingdom costs us everything we have gained to date. Every time we cross a new threshold, it costs us everything we now have. Every new step may cost us all the reputation and security we have accumulated up to that point. It costs us our life. A disciple is always ready to take the next step. If there is anything that characterizes Christian maturity, it is the willingness to become a beginner again for Jesus Christ. It is the willingness to put our hand in His and say, ‘I’m scared to death, but I’ll go with you. You’re the Pearl of great price.’”

A Dangerous Manger

I just happened upon a headline that gave some details about Congress embracing Christmas. Wonderful. The debate whether to display the traditional symbols of Christmas in public places has been with us for years now. We are all very aware of the issue. For most of this debate, my position has been "What is the harm in displaying a scene in which a baby is lying in a manger? Does it really hurt anyone?
Recently, I had a change of thinking. The manger ought to create a great deal of tension in a post Christian society. The declaration behind the manger is this: "Unto us...a Savior is born..."
You don't need a Savior unless you need saving! You have to be in a great deal of trouble to need a rescuer.
Maybe there ought to be a whole lot of tension. Maybe those who don't embrace Jesus have a better grasp on the significance and power of the manger than those of us who do embrace Jesus. I'm just thinking. . .

The Father and the Dance

I'll never forget that Sunday. I was standing on the platform while our church was in the midst of intense worship. When I opened my eyes, I saw my daughter, Corrie Emma, front and center in that sanctuary. She was caught up in the most beautiful display of worship. She was wearing a new dress and her beauty was shining both inside and out. She was dancing for Jesus.
As I watched, everything in me wanted to move from that platform and gather her in my arms and dance with her. Unfortunately, I am not as uninhibited as Corrie Emma is. I just stood there weeping and thinking about how much I loved her.
Before the worship set ended, I heard the Heavenly Father. It was inward, but it was audible. He said, "That's how I feel about you!"
Can you imagine? The Creator of the whole universe has that kind of deep emotion over me! Not just me, but you as well. And He's not inhibited with His love.
Join Him in the dance today.

On Beyond Zebra

Said Conrad Cornelius O'Donald O'Dell
My very young friend who is learning to spell:

"The A is for Ape. And the B is for Bear.

The C is for Camel. The H is for Hare.

The M is for Mouse. And the R is for Rat.

I know all the twenty-six letters like that. . ."

"Through to Z is for Zebra. I know them all well."

Said Conrad Cornelius O'Donald O'Dell.

"So now I know everything anyone knows.

From beginning to end, from the start to the close.

Because Z is as far as the alphabet goes."

Then he almost fell flat on his face on the floor

When I picked up the chalk and drew one letter more!

A letter he never had dreamed of before!

And I said, "You can stop, if you want, with the Z.

Because most people stop with the Z, but not me!

In the places I go there are things that I see

That I never could spell if I stopped with the Z.

I'm telling you this 'cause you're one of my friends.

My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends!"

. . . So on beyond Z! It's high time you were shown

That you really don't know all there is to be known.

Dr. Seuss

In our culture, we are masters at "reduction." We can reduce tons of information into digital bits that are easily manageable. We control words, images and movies. And we can store them on a flash drive that we keep in our pocket! We control everything. . .from A to Z!

Everything except God. The farther you go in engaging Him, the more you must embrace mystery. Even His love surpasses our knowledge (Ephesians 3).

You really don't know all there is to be known. . .Thank God.

Is It Time to Love?

Her name is Jessie and she is everything you would want in a daughter! I absolutely loved having two sons. Besides all the pride and joy stuff, having boys is a built in excuse for Dads to keep buying toys! But when Jessie came, something inside of me changed. I will never forget looking into those deep brown eyes when she was a baby and feeling such tenderness and responsibility.

When she was a a child, almost every day she would pull on my pant leg or tap me on the arm and with a great big smile ask: "Daddy is it time to love?" No matter what I was doing, I would look at my watch and answer: "Jessie, how did you know? It is. . .it's time to love!" And then she would climb up in my lap and squeeze me with a hug until I thought I was going to "pop!" I'm not sure you have ever been officially hugged until Jessie has hugged you. If you have a princess like that, you know that you can't put a price tag on those moments or memories.

I'm learning more about the love that my Heavenly Father has for me. It's so much more intimate than I ever thought before. He feels stronger love for me than I even feel for Jessie, but that love that I feel is meant to be a mirror. Although it is deeper, it carries the same DNA. I want to be as faithful to Him as Jessie was to me. Each day, I want to engage Him.

It's time to love!

"I just fell in love with Him!"

A young Russian girl who grew up under the Communist regime had never been to a church or had never heard of Jesus. She found a booklet that included the Gospel of Luke and after reading it, she became a follower of Christ. A neighbor heard of her new commitment and took her to a secret church. The pastor watched as she worshipped with tears streaming down her face. After the service, he questioned her about her faith. "How did you come to know Jesus?" The pastor asked. The young girl explained about the booklet and then said concerning Jesus, "I just fell in love with Him!"

Faith is spelled: "R - I - S - K" (John Wimber)

We have now lived in Kansas City for 15 months. This has truly been a life changing experience for our whole family. We've learned so much about ourselves and our God. First, He loves it when we have no where else to turn but Him. I am in a place of ministry in which nothing that I have done to date fully prepares me for what is ahead. My file of good sermons is useless here. My experience in pastoring and preaching in "church as we have known it" doesn't earn much interest here. My ability to provide for my family has been stripped away. We must trust in God and be dependent on the loving support of others.
So much of what I used to take pride in has vanished. In its place are oodles of opportunities to risk in ministry. That translates into the rush of pioneering adventure and the panic of perceived failure. We are in the process of brainstorming about a new school that will launch in August of 2008: The Apostolic Missions School.
We are believing that God will bring to us hundreds of young people that have heard the Lord invite them to plant a House of Prayer, a church or a compassion based ministry. This school will focus on students who have graduated from our program or have had similar education or life experience. We look forward to investing into these proven leaders and then sending them to the ends of the earth to see the exploits of God in the last days.