PIU Ministry Equipping Conference

PIU’s 5th annual Ministry Equipping Conference was held last week at the Palm Ridge Hotel. The conference is designed to help pastors, ministry leaders, teachers – basically anyone doing ministry (which should be all Christians) be better prepared and equipped to do it. This year’s theme was “Taking Theology to the Streets.” We tried to deal with the questions “how do I make my theology practical?” and “how do I do my ministry in a way that consistent with the way Jesus did ministry and with biblical truth?” The conference was well attended, the attendees expressed several times that the conference was very helpful to them and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I did miss the first day because I was sick but I managed to grab Samantha’s pictures from the PIU Facebook page. In the future we are planning to do some mini versions of the conference more regularly to provide continuing education credits to the community.

Our speakers were Dr. Brad Boydston (in green on the left), former PIU administrator and instructor, and currently Pastor of MasterPiece Church in Laveen, Arizona; and Mr. Chip Riggs, Missions Pastor of First Baptist Church Woodstock in Atlanta, Georgia.

PIU faculty led the conference in an exegesis exercise in the Gospel of Luke and then joined the conference speakers for a panel discussion

We enjoyed discussion time with local pastors, missionaries, chaplains and church workers

and with the many PIU students who joined us

Reading Exodus with Goldingay

Chapter 5 of Goldingay’s, Old Testament Theology is entitled God Delivered – The Exodus and reflects theologically on the story of the deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 1-18) within the context of the Old Testament. The story is not concerned so much with individuals and families (as in Genesis) but with the founding of a people and a nation. This section of the Bible will set the tone by showing the character of the God who rules the nation and delineating the mission they will carry out. Thus, it is a pivotal section for the understanding of the message of the Old Testament and ultimately the fulfillment of it in Jesus Christ.

The first section of the chapter is entitled God Who Creates and Delivers. He is making the point that the deliverance from Egypt is an act of creation that connects the birth of Israel to God’s creation of all humanity and His desire to bless the world. Thus, Israel begins with the mission to bless the world in mind. The kind of deliverance God gives to the Israel is a “model for the nations” blessing.

God's involvement in history is designed to further the fulfillment of God's creation purpose. It is when that is imperiled that God needs to act to deliver and restore, but the world's blessing is the norm, and deliverance is the exception. Creation looks forward to deliverance, deliverance restores creation. 293

The second section is titled, God Who Remembers. “Remember” here is not just a cognitive or feeling word. It is an action word. It reminds us that Yhwh knows what is going on when his people suffer and acts forcefully, according to his plan to deliver them. God does hear the cry of suffering people and acts (it seems the OT plan would be to act through his people) to deliver them. This is the basis for hope.

A central normality of the First Testament is that "this community has a bold voice for hurt and that this God has an attentive ear for hurt." (But,)... Both immediate hearing and long delay have been the experience of God's people at different times. The story (of Exodus) invites hearers to look for response even when it does not come immediately. 300-301

God has more important things to do than sympathize with Israel. Sympathy is what we show people when we are in no position to do anything about their pain. The covenant imposes on God not sympathy but action. 304

The 3rd section is about God Who Works via People. In this section Goldingay pictures God as a king who normally rules through his officials, who would be out in the community doing his delegated bidding, but occasionally comes out himself to bring justice or defend his people from attackers. He works both through the normal means (the Hebrew midwives) of people who just do the right thing. He also works through very normal inadequate people that he empowers for leadership (Moses, Aaron) 

There is of course a sense in which God is always with us and always acting, and a sense in which we experience this presence, but the presence and activity that the exodus story describes is a more dynamic and vigorous one that we do not experience continuously.There is nothing wrong with that: God's calling is to live and rule in the palace, our calling is to live and work in the city. But sometimes the king has reason to come out of the palace. 306

Moses is reluctant to be drafted for a hazardous-looking commission and wishes God would use someone more obvious, but the really impressive Israelites who would have made more plausible leaders are unfortunately dead. This may matter little, because Yhwh is capable of working with unpromising material. 310

But God is also the God Who Does Signs and Wonders. “God works via nature and also works in supranaturalist ways.” (313). The entire created world is at God’s disposal to accomplish his will. It demonstrates to both Israel and Egypt that God has the power to accomplish what he promises.

Moses promises not that they will be able to fight successfully, but that Yhwh will fight for them. They will only have to watch... Israel no more fights its way across the Red Sea that it fights its way out of Egypt. 319-320

Section 5 is entitled God Who Insists. God actions of deliverance are designed to bring his people into a service relationship to him. God has reclaimed his “son” and restored him to his household duties.

Yhwh's service is perfect freedom, but Exodus sees no need to make the point when it fails to describe Yhwh's rescue of Israel as an act of liberation. The exodus does not take Israel from serfdom to the freedom of independence but from service of one lord to service of another. 323

The next section is about God Who Reigns. The big point is that Yhwh is God and Pharaoh, despite his claim to be god, is not. Human kingship is without “insight,” “morality,” and is always ultimately oppressive. Only God is qualified to be king, because only Yhwh has the power to do it.

The story does not concern the deeds of some individual human beings and the way God relates to them... The story is about YHWH and Pharaoh... Human kingship is shown to be ambiguous (a resource and a peril), unwise, amoral, but finally helpless when YHWH decides to act as king. 327

The next section focuses on How God is Revealed in the first half of the book of Exodus. God reveals himself to and through people – Moses in this case. God reveals his character in his Name and in revealing his Name invites Moses, and the people, into relationship. The “One who is” is this powerful God who defeats Egypt and “is” as a relational being. He calls people into a relationship of allegiance and worship to him.

The exodus story suggests that revelation involves person, words and deeds... Its content concerns a person, and the revelation comes in the context of a personal meeting... The process of revelation involves recognition of the God who has spoken and acted, and testimony to this God and these acts. 333

The 8th section of the chapter focuses on How God Relates to Foreign Peoples. Israel’s story is not just about itself. Israel will come into contact with foreign peoples who are related and unrelated to them. Though the foreign contact brings conflict and judgment there is also that foreigners who respond favorably (Jethro) will share the blessing.

From the beginning Israel lives with permeable boundaries. The boundaries are important; if Israel becomes indistinguishable from other peoples, God's purpose through Abraham cannot be fulfilled. Yet, the permeability is also important for the same reason. 349

One of the big hermeneutical/theological issues in Exodus is how one interprets the “hardening” of Pharaoh. This is the main issue in the next section: How God’s Resolve Relates to Human Resolve. his conclusion is that God’s plan is much more than just fore-knowledge. God will “move heaven and earth” to make his plan happen, but he does not make the king, or Israel, act against his own will. He sees most of the “hardening” of pharaoh as “relentless human stupidity.” (356) The same quality is displayed in Israel, and in us as well.

In this story the sovereign God is always in dialogue with human beings in their sovereignty, and the God who is in ongoing dialogue with human beings in their sovereignty remains the sovereign God... So Pharaoh is responsible for his acts, yet they take place within Yhwh's purpose. 356

The final section is entitled How God’s Act Relates to the Future. “Yhwh’s deliverance of Israel sets patterns and principles that promise the completion of Yhwh’s act, patterns, and principles that Israel may challenge Yhwh to live by in the future, and patterns and principles that Yhwh challenges Israel to live by in the future.” God calls Israel to be a nation of loyal, obedient worshippers who expect him to deliver in the future. The pattern of God’s people calling on God, leading to God intervening and delivering will set the tone for the rest of the biblical story.

Yhwh so acted because Israel had cried out to Yhwh out of its travail and Yhwh had responded. The least Israel could do is respond with enthusiasm and not merely compliance to Yhwh's expectations of it... by the act of deliverance Yhwh earned the right to declare what Israel's life should look like. 365

Dine With the Tide

Last Wednesday PIU held its “Dine With the Tide” fund-raiser/mixer at the “Top O’ The Mar” facility. We invited many old and new friends to come, celebrate with us and learn about what PIU is doing. We enjoyed good food (Mongolian barbecue), good music and good fellowship. Even though I was not 100% health-wise it was an enjoyable night for me and we had a lot of fun. I shared a little with the group about the mission and core values of PIU. We had a silent auction and received some donations. Most important we continue to get out the word on Guam about how PIU is and can be serving the community. I am thankful for the new partners in our efforts here. On the left, Joyce and I pose with Greg (MC for the event) and Irene Calvo and Pastor Chip Riggs. On the right, PIU Provost Dr. Sam Mabini gives info for how the evening will go.

PIU graduates agreed that the food was excellent

There were student made, faculty made and donated items for sale in the silent auction

It was great to see so many friends there

Reading Through the Gospel of Mark #1 (1-8)

I am continuing to read through the commentary series The Bible Speaks Today, edited by John Stott, and post quotes from my NT reading 3 times per week on my Facebook page. The past few weeks I have been reading through the Gospel of Mark, accompanied by the second volume in the series, The Message of Mark: The Mystery of Faith, by Donald English. The quotes from the commentary are in blue below and I have also written in some of my comments from my own reading of the Gospel. I especially like the applicational nature of this commentary. The quotes below show the very practical, pastoral approach taken by English.

Mark was probably the first of the 4 gospels to be completed and it gives the reader a bit of the experience of the disciples as they were confronted with the actions and words of Jesus for the first time and had to reflect on what was happening around them. Basically the Gospel of Mark presents JESUS AS THE ULTIMATE SERVANT WHO IS ABLE AND WILLING TO MEET EVERY NEED OF HUMANITY, INCLUDING THE GREATEST NEED- FORGIVENESS OF SINS THROUGH THE RANSOM OF HIS OWN DEATH, AND THAT THOSE WHO WOULD SHARE IN HIS KINGDOM MUST REPENT, BELIEVE IN HIM, AND FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE OF SELFLESS, SACRIFICIAL SERVANTHOOD.

In the first 8 chapters, Mark records the events of Jesus’ ministry to demonstrate that the Son of Man came to serve man with his ability, as God, to meet every human need, so that those who wish to be part of His kingdom would put their faith in Him and would become His disciples by following His example of total self—sacrifice. Jesus’ early preparation, presentation by John the Baptist, preaching, and miracles to introduce Jesus as the “Holy One of God,” able to meet the physical and spiritual needs of man, so that his readers might repent and trust in Him. (1.1-2.12)

It is only as religious belief and practice truly engage with the affairs of everyday life that they can be seen to be authentically from God who is the God of all the worlds... There is no room in Christianity for a ‘spiritualizing’ process which influences ‘the soul’ but not ‘the body’; devotional life but not behaviour at work; church life but not home life. 1.5, 32.

We today too often expect unbelievers to make all kinds of adjustments—in dress, initiation into our ways of worship, language and thought form—before a proper conversation can begin. We build up our strength where we are, and invite outsiders in to our setting, one by one, so that they are at their weakest and least comfortable. In so doing we put so many obstacles between them and the simplicity of the gospel itself. We have much to learn about starting where people are. Mark 1.16-20, 53.

The ease with which Jesus crossed social and religious boundaries is breathtaking... A life dominated by divine love does not need to work out the comparative influence, or prospective success or failure, of a particular word or deed. Love says or does what is necessary and works out the consequences later. Mark 1.40-45, 63–64.

The intrinsic unity between the forgiveness and the healing in this story is crucial to our understanding of mission... Christians are called to oppose everything which threatens full humanity, and to do so in the name of the kingdom of God. Evangelism, social caring, justice issues, bodily health, ecological concern, racial harmony, affirmation of women as well as men in our society are all issues for the Christian. To limit our perspectives is to miss the point of this passage and to fight only half-heartedly for the kingdom in the struggle against evil. Mark 2.1-12, 68.

Jesus’ ministry was something new. It was not based just on Jewish tradition (2.13-27) Instead, Jesus showed that he had kingdom authority and was in obedience to God’s will as he amended Jewish tradition (3.1-35).

Whether we are aware of it or not, much of our spiritual life is sustained by rules, regulations, practices and rituals which give shape to our daily existence, not least in difficult and dry days. They become like boundaries and goal posts to a playing field, or white lines down the middle of a road. Our dependence upon them becomes so great that when anyone begins to alter the boundaries or move the goal posts or paint new lines, our whole spiritual life seems to be threatened. Mark 2.23-28, 76.

One major purpose of Mark’s gospel was to make sure that readers and hearers understood that the most important thing about Jesus was neither the parables nor the miracles but the obedient acceptance of the way of the cross, and that this is the prime model for discipleship.  3.7-12, 83.

There is an excitement about being launched out into deep and choppy waters in God’s service. Sadly so many churches and Christians miss it by playing safe. 3.20-35, 91.

Jesus’ parables taught believers that the kingdom, which will consist of those who receive the Word of God, will start small but will grow into a great kingdom. (4:1-34) The miracles of Jesus demonstrated His power over nature, spiritual forces, disease, and death so that the readers would realize His ability to meet all their needs and turn to Him. (4:35—5:43)

The servant of Jesus is also the servant of the gospel in the sense that he or she never controls either the gospel or its effects... The preacher, evangelist, and witness must remember that too. He or she plays a part, but it is only a part. To play that part is to risk oneself every time, with the possibility of frustration and failure or fulfilment and success. 4.1-20, 96–97.

The parables are... theological statements about how life is, because God made it so. They also imply that they reflect God’s way of working in every area of experience—nature and grace. The same principles apply because God is the originator of both... It means, for example, that Christians are not called to be ‘world-renouncing’ in the sense that everything ‘outside the church’ is somehow suspect. Art and science, music and philosophy, economy and ecology, politics and pastimes are all part of the gift of the one God to his creatures, and are meant to operate according to the same principles. 4.21-25, 99.

At the personal spiritual level there is a deep lesson to be learned from the stilling of the storm incident. For the disciple it should be enough to be with the Lord, whether life’s seas are running smoothly or not. Forms of Christianity which encourage and promise a life of continual success, excitement and growth will not only lead to frustration and despair; they actually point the disciple towards the wrong goal in the Christian pilgrimage. 4.35-41, 107.

At political, social and economic structural levels, as well as in cultural, family and individual areas of life, the demonstration of the power of Jesus to set free through his disciples is still awaited while too often the disciples are hidden away in our churches or comfortable subcultures. The sense of God’s transcendent power in the midst of society, expressing itself in lowly liberating love, is not known because his disciples, the chosen avenues of that powerful love, are largely absent. 5.1-20, 112.

If Jesus remains with you, there is no ground for fear. Trust the person, not the circumstances. Jairus had just witnessed a lonely, sick and shunned woman manage to do this very thing. He must also believe, because Jesus had shown his intention to make the girl well...For true faith is self-risking trust in Jesus himself. 5.21-43, 115–117.

Our Lord’s pattern is one of bringing the power of love to bear on all such situations and relationships, loosening the grip of evil, and setting people free. The path for that victory is the lowly one of self-giving as he gave, risking ourselves as he did, dying and rising daily with him. A church so committed is set to be used to establish God’s kingdom by his power.  5.21-43, 118.

The miracles of feeding and healing, amid misunderstanding and rejection, demonstrate the superiority of the kingdom of the servant over any human kingdom, and of the servant over any human king, so that men will put their trust in Him. (6:1—8:25) It is interesting to see how Mark weaves the miracle stories in with the growing faith of some but the growing opposition of the majority to Jesus.

(Mark)is underlining the way in which Jesus does not stand apart from individuals and groups, ‘throwing miracles at them’. He becomes deeply involved in relationships with them, and the miracle is performed within the context of the relationships, both corporate and individual. Where that relationship is one of near total animosity on the part of the crowd, the setting is not right for healing intended to provide an opportunity for perception of who he was. Mark 6.1-6, 120.

Churches may be mistaken who provide for every part of the cultural life of their members. They need to be exposed more to life outside the church, where they will prove the power of the gospel rather than the safety of the church...Our failure to address the biggest modern issues, from a proper gospel basis, may well be one major reason for our not being as effective as we ought. A safe church is rarely an influential one. 6.6-13, 126.

Even Jesus has to adjust according to new developments. The result is a major miracle of divine provision... Strategies, plans, time charts and objectives are all necessary in the on-going life of the church, but they must all be made as possible rather than essential developments. Some of the most effective moments come when events do not work out as planned, and we are completely wrong-footed but trust God in the unusual circumstance. 6.30-44, 136.

In sharing in the feeding of the crowd they had first hand experience of this God feeding his people miraculously yet again, through Jesus. This is the link they ought to have seen, for the Old Testament also speaks of God walking on or through the waves...the experience of any one of these miracles ought by now to be for them an avenue for perceiving that the one with whom they are dealing, Jesus their teacher, is endowed with the kind of power they normally expect only of the God revealed in their Scriptures. 6.45-52, 139.

Ceremonial laws will be brought to an end, for Jesus’ death will provide the secret of forgiveness, cleansing, and purity. The social regulations will no longer apply because God’s people will be newly constituted, not according to physical birth but by new birth through the Spirit’s action in response to faith in Christ. The moral laws will receive new depth as Jesus reveals their original intention in terms more of inner attitude than outward standards. 7.14-23, 145.

The Christian church must see itself as committed to breaking down barriers which prolong human need or prevent the needy from being helped. One does not necessarily agree with another person’s theology, nationhood, life style, nor outlook by meeting their need. One simply shows the love of God to another human being. The world needs to see Christians following their Master more clearly at this point. 7.24-30, 150.

The method of the healing is not unique. Such practices were used by other healers. The uniqueness lay in the person performing the healing, and therefore in what the healing signified—the coming of God’s kingdom... The battle against evil is joined in this man’s healing. 7.31-37, 150–152.

Daily work well done in service of Christ is a sign...The Christian testimony is that serving Christ is neither an endless succession of exciting experiences nor a dull round of taking life at its face value. Between those two is the point where ordinary elements in life are invested with divine purpose and significance. 8.1-10, 156.

Peter manages to play both the role of disciple and obstacle in this transition section (8.26-38) of Mark. He was correct about Jesus’ identity as Messiah but wrong in trying to stop God’s plan that Jesus suffer and die before he came into glory.

Cross-bearing as a follower of Jesus means nothing less than giving one’s whole life over to following him. And here comes another surprise. This is the way of total freedom. If you clutch your life wholly to yourself, protecting it against all others, asserting all your rights, needs and privileges, you lose it because it isn’t life any longer. If, however, you acknowledge that life is not yours by right, that all is privilege, and that it is to be lived in the love that the gospel story reveals, self-giving love, then you possess it wholly. 8.27-9.1, 161.

K2 Day 3

The final day of the K2 student retreat (which was also the first day of November) began with some ice-breaker games on the basketball court, continued with a morning worship session and ended with a beach day and barbecue at the beach. I think a good time was had by all. I ended my three teaching sessions with some reflections on the story of Esther. Esther is very encouraging to us in two ways. First, is that God can use very unfaithful people (Esther and Mordecai) to do important work. Even though they are in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing (Mordecai is basically pimping his niece to the Persian king), never pray, praise or read the scriptures God brings them to a point of crisis where they need to be willing to sacrifice their own interests for those of God and his people. Even though they do this in a strange way, God uses their sacrifice. Second, the real focus of the story – the returned exiles in Jerusalem - are saved before they even know they are in danger. It is a good picture of how we can be sure that God is working to accomplish his promised purposes even when we can’t see him doing it.

The games got us ready for the morning

The worship team was already in their beachwear. I like preaching in a bathing suit

The Owen family enjoyed some water activities

There was some scuba diving happening too – some introductory lessons given

The cooks did a fine job

And I managed to snatch many of the pictures the students posted to Facebook

K2 Day 2 (and I’m Back)

For those of you wondering what happened to me the past week or so, I am back. I thought I was down with the flu, but it turns out that I had a “nasty” (in the word of the doctor) ear infection. This is good news to people I was in contact with last week since, as it turns out, I was not and am not contagious. With the antibiotics I should be back up to speed in a couple days. In the meantime, I will get my blog caught up with things that went on the last 9-10 days. I left off after the first day of the K2 retreat. The 2nd day was the first full day of the retreat. It began with two service projects done by students and staff. The first was a clean up down south in the village of Umatac. The second was a clean up in PIU’s home village of Mangilao. It was a good morning to hang out with the students and serve together. Joyce made pancakes for the Mangilao group. After some afternoon rest time we had a second session in the evening. I spoke from the life of Moses about how God uses dysfunctional leadership. God did not need Moses’ talents, although he created them for his use. If God was able to deliver Israel from the mighty empire of Egypt by using little things, like a walking stick, frogs, flies, gnats and locusts, he can deliver and lead through any person. What made Moses effective was not his talents and abilities. Instead it was his time spent in the presence of God.

The Umatac team worked hard all morning

The Mangilao team enjoyed pancakes after their morning of work

We finished the evening with our second session

K2 Day One

The annual PIU student retreat, “K2 or “koinonia squared,” began on Thursday night with an after-class session at 9.30 PM. After seeing the enthusiasm and great response from the students to the first session I am thinking that we may want to change chapels and classes to late-night start times. This would not be good for me, who goes to bed every night between 9 and 10 and wakes up at 5am, but it would appear to better fit our dorm students’ schedule. I began my series of 3 messages with a comparison of Peter and Judas from Matthew 26. Both Peter (desertion) and Judas (treason) committed “capital crimes” in the kingdom battle. Both were in despair on Friday and Saturday. The main difference was that Peter went to his fellow-disciples while Judas tried to deal with the guilt and remorse on his own. Thus, Peter was still around for the resurrection and was able to come to Christ for forgiveness. The first point is that we only come into the presence of God based on the forgiveness Christ provides. The second is that, also, we only continue in Christ, serve, and live based on that same forgiveness. It is never based on what we have done, only what Christ has done.