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Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these? " "Yes, Lord," he said, "you knoyv that I love you," Jesus said, "Feed my lambs. "Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me? " He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. " Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep. " (John 21:15-16) The silver morning mist arises from Galilee, as we see Jesus speaking to His disciples after His resurrection. Jesus looks at Peter and three times asks, "Do you love Me more than these?"...

Yesterday, 29 April 2008, at 3:32 PM, the United Methodist Church formally and explicitely rejected it's long held and Biblically-based mission to make disciples of Christ by saving souls, and declared officially that its mission is to transform the world. This codifies in the Book of Discipline of the UMC, its book of law, what was already the de facto case in practice. Here's the new text: The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.Here's the previous text: The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ....

Some weeks ago I spoke to a gathering of pastors about engaging the cultural battles of the day. Afterward, the pastors had a lot of questions—but they were also a bit confused. One asked: “But won’t engaging the culture this way interfere with fulfilling the Great Commission? Isn’t this our job—to win people to Christ?” That people still think this way left me momentarily speechless. “Of course we’re called to fulfill the Great Commission,” I replied. “But we’re also called to fulfill the cultural commission.” Christians are agents of God’s saving grace—bringing others to Christ, I explained. But we are...

William R. "Bill" Bright, Founder of World's Largest Christian Organization Dies ORLANDO, Fla., July 19, 2003 —William R. “Bill” Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, the world’s largest Christian ministry, died today from complications related to pulmonary fibrosis. He was 81. Fueled by his passion to present the love and claims of Jesus Christ to "every living person on earth," Dr. Bright spent more than five decades building and leading the Orlando, Florida-based Campus Crusade for Christ. As the world’s largest Christian ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ serves people in 191 countries through a staff of 26,000 full-time employees...

Growing numbers of Evangelicals are trying to spread Christianity in Muslim lands. But is this what the world needs now? By David Van Biema Posted Sunday, June 22, 2003; 12:31 p.m. EST She wasn't a Muslim, but she would do for now. Last March, at just about the time American troops were massing outside Baghdad, she shuffled, dressed in a dark burqa, into a cramped schoolroom in the New York City borough of Queens. The class she was addressing was organized by the U.S. Center for World Mission and packed with eager evangelical Christian students wanting to learn how to...

A new flock of missionaries has launched a campaign to take the Gospel to Islamic countries. But will they inspire more backlash than belief? She wasn't a Muslim, but she would do for now. Last March, at just about the time American troops were massing outside Baghdad, she shuffled, dressed in a dark burqa, into a cramped schoolroom in the New York City borough of Queens. The class she was addressing was organized by the U.S. Center for World Mission and packed with eager evangelical Christian students wanting to learn how to be missionaries in a foreign country. The black-clad...

June 10, 2003 Giving God a Break By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF God must be feeling dizzy, listening to American evangelicals pray for help in converting Muslims from their vile faith while Muslims appeal for assistance in stomping out bloodthirsty Christian infidel invaders. So maybe God, along with all of us, will find relief following a milestone last month: some leading evangelicals called on their own prophets of pugnacity to zip it. We can, er, pray, that responsible Muslim leaders will follow that wise example and similarly rein in their own extremists. The "loving rebuke" by conservative Christians of their fire-breathing...

In this otherwise stagnant economy, one growth industry is making headway. It emanates from the evangelical Christian community and it is aimed at converting Muslims to Christianity. One can understand the attraction to clearly drawn lines and the “we’re right, so they must be wrong” approach of evangelical Christians to Islam. Clear lines and, best of all, an opponent one is willing to fight for God’s sake, make life easy to figure out. Otherwise, contact among world religions can be a difficult undertaking, requiring great understanding, patience, study, respect for other traditions and a willingness to allow actions rather than...

GROVE CITY, Ohio — On a recent Saturday in a church fellowship hall here, evangelical Christians from several states gathered for an all-day seminar on how to woo Muslims away from Islam. The teacher urged a kindly approach: always show Muslims love, charity and hospitality, he said, and carry copies of the New Testament to give as gifts. The students, scribbling notes, included two pastors, a school secretary and college students who said they hoped to convert Muslims in the United States, or on mission trips abroad. But although the teacher, an evangelical preacher from Beirut, stressed the need to...

GROVE CITY, Ohio — On a recent Saturday in a church fellowship hall here, evangelical Christians from several states gathered for an all-day seminar on how to woo Muslims away from Islam. The teacher urged a kindly approach: always show Muslims love, charity and hospitality, he said, and carry copies of the New Testament to give as gifts. The students, scribbling notes, included two pastors, a school secretary and college students who said they hoped to convert Muslims in the United States, or on mission trips abroad.

Next month I've been asked to speak at a local church for their Missions Sunday and to speak in their adult SS class. I'd like to do a PowerPoint presentation for the SS class that gives some basic information about the Great Commission, Unreached People Groups, the task remaining, how people can get involved, etc. I've seen some good PowerPoint presentations available online from Joshua Project 2000 and Caleb Project, but the ones I've found are at least 6 years old and not as up to date as I'd like. If you know of some websites with good information...

Time magazine is working on a major cover piece to tell a story many evangelical missionaries don't want told – of their covert efforts to preach the gospel to the Muslim world. The mission groups say the primary reason for keeping their work low key is to avoid the risk of imprisonment, torture or death for Christian workers in the Middle East, according to a report by World magazine. Nevertheless, Time editors have sent a four-page e-mail to their reporters worldwide explaining their wishes: "We are planning a major piece on the flood of Christian missionaries, most of them evangelical,...