[Jim Stier : 불가능을 넘어서서] Don’t Stop Now / YWAM.org Article Library

Don’t Stop Now
Are we willing to commit to the next step that God wants us to take?
By Jim Stier

Our fortieth anniversary coincides with the beginning of a new millennium and the air is full of portents. Opportunity beckons, and expectancy is high. Mediocrity and disaster hover in the wings, and we can sense the prickle of danger. What are we going to do?

Are we willing to commit to the next step that God wants us to take? Will we embrace the danger of obedience as we have in the past, or will we settle for what we’ve already got?

I can clearly remember the sweaty palms and butterflies in my stomach when I sat down to sign a rent contract on a big house in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in February of 1976. Pam and I didn’t need such a big house. The rent was more than our total monthly support. How could I sign that contract?

Then again, how could I not sign it? We had felt from the beginning that God wanted us to mobilize and train Brazilians so they could be a part of reaching the world for Jesus. If we were to have them with us, we needed to have a big enough place, but as I sat there looking at that contract it surely seemed impossible.

Since we had gotten to Brazil, everyone, from expatriate missionaries to Brazilian Christians, had told us that what we wanted to do was unworkable. There wouldn’t be enough finances for it, and the Brazilian young people weren’t suited to this kind of life.

At that moment, all of those voices echoed through my brain. Were Pam and I embarking on a doomed endeavor? It would be so easy to just change course a little and do what was possible. I had started to get invitations to speak in churches. People liked us. Surely we could have a good personal ministry in Brazil. Our support had grown to a level where we could rent a little place for the two of us and work out of there, speaking, teaching and exhorting in a normal way. It seemed so tantalizing.

That wasn’t what God had defined as our inheritance, though. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants leg, gripped the pen, and signed the contract. I’m so glad that I did! Last month we had a national staff conference in Brazil and when we counted our workers there were over fifteen hundred. They are on all of the continents of the world preaching the gospel, planting churches, reaching unreached people groups, caring for the needy, establishing schools, succoring orphans, etc. What an inheritance!

When I risked everything to sign that contract in 1976 it really wasn’t so hard. ‘Everything’ didn’t amount to much. Will we do it now?

In Genesis 11, God calls Abram to leave and go to a land which he didn’t know. With Abram were his father and his nephew, Lot. According to verse 31, "they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan." On this long journey, Abram and Lot prospered, and finally the land couldn’t support them and all of their animals together. Their servants had started to fight over scarce resources, so Abram had a serious discussion with Lot.

Abram let Lot choose, and the Bible says that Lot saw the well-watered plain of the Jordan and chose to go there, while Abram proceeded to Canaan. It doesn’t seem like Lot did much wrong here. He had been traveling since he was a boy. He saw in the well-watered plain the prospect of comfort, security, prosperity and a better life for his family. He wasn’t going to abandon God. He was just going to move to Sodom. In 2 Peter 2:7, he is even described as a righteous man during his time in Sodom.

The trouble is, Sodom wasn’t meant to be Lot’s destination. It was just a stopping place along the way, and not his inheritance in God. It became a comfortable, secure, and prosperous alternative to the real plan of God for him. It looked like a reward for all of the years of wandering with Abraham, a deserved rest from risk and conflict. The result was corruption in his family and the loss of everything.

I think YWAM is at a similar crossroads. God is pointing towards Canaan. He doesn’t seem to really define what is there, so everything seems a little distant and not very clear. It’s risky to go on. Our battles up to this point have carved out a pretty good place to rest. We’re a big mission and can be proud of what the Lord has done through us. We have a lot of properties and ministries to take care of. Our reputation is at least as good as it has ever been. Will we put all of that on the line and commit to the next challenges, difficulties, and risks needed to move on to take our true inheritance?

Do we really need fifty thousand workers? Isn’t that a lot of trouble? Can we really disciple nations? What does that mean anyway? Do I have to multiply my ministry? Can’t I just be satisfied with taking care of what I already have?

In the answer to these questions and others like them we will determine whether or not we will go on to Canaan, or whether we will just settle for having been a pretty good mission.

We’re not there yet. We’re still east of the Jordan. We’ve subdued some kings, but the land is still unconquered. Will we turn aside like Lot, or will we press ahead like Joshua and Caleb finally did so many centuries later?

I believe we will move ahead. I believe the best is yet to come. We just need to believe and obey God and He will give us so much more than we have now.

[Jim Stier : 불가능을 넘어서서] Extending Ourselves / YWAM.org Article Library

Extending Ourselves
It seemed like a heavy burden for God to remind me of our obligations with the ends of the earth when we often didn’t know how we were going to eat or pay the bills.
By Jim Stier

I’m greatly encouraged by the response of YWAM to the challenge of the unreached over the last several years. We have bases and ministries all over the world who have adopted people groups. They have researched and know a lot about these groups. They talk about them. They pray for them. They carry them in their hearts.

Many have launched works amongst these peoples, and YWAM’s contribution to the completion of the Great Commission amongst the unreached has become significant. This is a source of great encouragement to me.
However, this is more a time for vigilance than for self-congratulation.

Most of our adoptions still seem to be at the level of the conversation my friend and I had recently about fishing. We have some memories. We have some testimonies. We have some warm feelings and expectations. In reality, though, we haven’t actually fished yet.

It would be a great tragedy if we were to stop here. The fish are still in the river.

Inertia will have a natural tendency to dampen our enthusiasm as we come up against the initial resistance. The early excitement dies down. It’s easy to get involved with new projects and forget the people group we adopted; to think that maybe prayer was enough.

Whatever ministry you are in, you must extend it to finally include adopting the unreached and whoever you adopt you must extend the adoption until you attain the Kingdom amongst them.

Recently I was with a group of enthusiastic young workers from Newcastle in Australia. They were full of excitement about what they are doing to reach their generation. It was so good to be with them and see their dynamism.

Then I asked them what plans they were making to extend what they were learning in Australia so that the unreached could profit. They were a bit perplexed at first because they had never really extended their thinking. They had done outreaches, but hadn’t thought of those as the beginnings of something permanent. The idea quickly caught their imagination, though. The energy and creativity of the ideas that flowed could only have come from a divine anointing.

In the LTSes which I run, we now ask every student to include in their project a projection of how their plans will finally impact the unreached. There is no implication that they should work in the 10/40 instead of fulfilling a vision closer to home. We must do both.

Years ago, at a moment of enormous difficulties in our Brazilian work, God gave me a word that it was too small a thing for us to reach Brazil. He wanted us to take His salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). This had been the initial vision when we went to Brazil, but had been obscured in the midst of our struggle to survive and win souls in Brazil itself.

It seemed like a heavy burden for God to remind me of our obligations with the ends of the earth when we often didn’t know how we were going to eat or pay the bills. We took on the challenge, though, and now there are many Brazilians working amongst the unreached on every continent of the world.

A while ago, I was in a tough tennis match, and was getting pretty badly beaten. A friend who is a very good player watched for a while and then coached me. In my tense desire to survive in the match, I had frozen up a bit and stopped following through on my strokes. As a result, my balls were mostly going out, and I was getting massacred.

Let’s not make the same mistake in our adoption of people groups. Let’s follow through with confidence. We have started well so let’s not let anything hinder us in reaching the peoples of the earth with the gospel.

[Jim Stier : 불가능을 넘어서서] Values - Living with Freedom / YWAM.org Article Library

Values - Living with Freedom
Value Seven: Be Broad-Structured and Decentralized
By Jim Stier

     In 1975, early in my YWAM career and pretty early in YWAM's history, Pam and I were allowed to go to Brazil and begin our efforts to pioneer our mission there. I was 24 and she was 21.
     We weren't given a job description or told what to do, but we were given a rich foundation of teaching on the character of God and on the values this produces in our lives. We knew and trusted our leaders and had a good understanding of YWAM's general goals. We had received deep, practical teaching on how to get our guidance from God.
     With this foundation, decisions regarding details in our adaptation to the Brazilian reality were left to us. We tried to recruit and train people who could function under similar liberty in the context of healthy relationships, and who could take creative, effective initiative. There were many difficulties and setbacks, but now there are something like 1,500 Brazilians in YWAM.
     The broad structure and decentralized nature of YWAM is very effective as a strategic posture that produces innovation and initiative, but this value goes much deeper than that. It comes from the very nature of the Body of Christ.
     Jesus taught that wherever two or three are gathered together, He is present (Matt 18:20). He gives no hint whatsoever that a certain level of leadership is necessary to legitimize such a meeting. His teaching is very minimal, describing relationships that are horizontal and democratic. Any two or three believers can enjoy His presence, including His power, love, guidance, and the mind of Christ. Why can’t two or three make quality decisions according to His will? Must they have a headquarters that has to initiate everything or set narrow parameters? Of course not!
     Jesus cautioned us very strongly that we should not see leadership as the world does (Matt 23:10; Jn 13: 12-17, 1 Pet 5: 2,3). He gave this warning because there is something in mankind that wants to give the responsibility for decisions over to leadership. There is also something in leaders that finds such control over people seductive.
     It seems like Jesus' vision of leadership has nothing to do with authoritarian control and everything to do with the transmission of values, inspiration, motivation, and teaching. That's much harder than imposing control, but pursuing Biblical leadership is certainly worth the extra effort.
     The concept of the universal priesthood of believers (Rev 1:6) is behind our deep respect of people's freedom to pursue the dreams that God has given each one. It's so good to belong to a movement where such respect and freedom is guaranteed in our foundational values, within the protection of shared values and eldership.
     Most innovation happens in companies with 25 or fewer employees. With over 16,000 staff, YWAM can become a centralized monstrosity or it can continue to produce hundreds and thousands of free initiatives. We will fulfill the dreams that God has for us as a mission to the extent that we are able to release and support the enormous creativity and insight that will always be there in the people who God gives us. I believe that as we continue to set them free to seek His face, they will find thousands of ways to see His will done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jim Stier is YWAM’s Americas Field Director

2007-10-하늘,바람,낙옆,그리고책

총 4개의 상품이 있습니다.

고맙습니다 성령님
손기철 지음 / 규장(규장문화사) / 2007년 7월
11,000원 → 9,900원(10%할인) / 마일리지 550원(5% 적립)

양탄자배송

내일 아침 7시 출근전 배송

2007년 10월 31일에 저장

짐 콜린스의 경영전략
제임스 콜린스.윌리엄 레지어 지음, 임정재 옮김 / 위즈덤하우스 / 2004년 12월
15,000원 → 13,500원(10%할인) / 마일리지 750원(5% 적립)

2007년 10월 23일에 저장

절판

피터 드러커의 자기경영노트
피터 드러커 지음, 이재규 옮김 / 한국경제신문 / 2003년 4월
13,000원 → 11,700원(10%할인) / 마일리지 650원(5% 적립)

2007년 10월 11일에 저장

구판절판

불가능을 넘어서서
짐 스타이어 지음, 김원주 옮김 / 예수전도단 / 2007년 8월
9,500원 → 8,550원(10%할인) / 마일리지 470원(5% 적립)

*지금 주문하면 "6월 3일 출고" 예상(출고후 1~2일 이내 수령)

2007년 10월 08일에 저장

총 4개의 상품이 있습니다.

첫장을넘기며 - 불가능을 넘어서서

불가능을 넘어서서
짐 스타이어 지음, 김원주 옮김 / 예수전도단 / 2007년 8월

한사람의 위대한 도전기, 그의 삶을 볼 수 있다는 것은 정말 흥분되는 일이다. 이전에도 전도자의 삶에 경의를 표했지만, YM DTS 전도여행 이후로 이러한 삶에 대해서 더욱 마음으로 감동을 느끼는 것 같다. 정말 이렇게 살 수 있을까? 나는 어떻게 살아야 하는가? 질문하면서 다시 한번 전도여행에서 놀랍게 역사하신 하나님을 기억하게 한다.