This is the Truth Network. Kingdom Pursuits, where you hear from ordinary people instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into kingdom pursuits.
Now, live from the Truth Booth, your host, Robbie Dilmore. Surprise, surprise, surprise. I'm not Robbie Dillmore. Robbie is on a men's retreat this weekend. With um A bunch of men down in Georgia, and I'm sure it's going great, and I'm sure they're being blessed, and their time will be well spent, and they'll grow closer to our Lord and Savior.
This morning on Kingdom Pursuits, well, first of all, I'm going to give you the phone number because it is a call-in show: 866-348-7884. I'm Jerry Mathis with Ray's Body Shop and Record Service. Usually. The hour preceding this with Christian Car Guy Radio, but you get me to linger over on the weekend sometimes when Robbie is not in town.
So. This morning, we got a. I'm excited about this show because I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna learn something, and this really doesn't take much for me to learn something because there's so much I need to learn. But we're gonna be talking about perspectives, and I got Tim Hanauard. I'm gonna get him to introduce himself.
In just a moment, but I did want to take as we go into that, before we get into it so I don't forget it. Um If you've been reading the paper, been looking at the news and stuff, and it's always an uptick in this event, which is suicide during the holidays. But it has got where it's I mean, it's everyday prominent people you hear that have commit suicide, people that, you know, never, what could they have that they would be depressed about and that kind of stuff.
Well, with that that those issues a good friend of mine fond of Does a suicide prevention training. And I just wanted to take the opportunity to just mention it this morning because on December the 13th, that's Saturday, December the 13th. She'll be having her last Suicide Prevention Training Online course. And that is, when I say last, the last one for 2025. It is a free course.
Seminar online, which Fonda will lead it, and it's on Saturday, December 13th. From 12 noon to 2, I encourage you: if you're struggling or you know somebody, or you're in an organization or you deal with a lot of people. Man, this is w just an. Unbelievably strong course and something you'll find out a lot and learn a lot about other people. And also, I've been amazed.
I've known Fonda for years. I work with her in a lot of different things that she has going on with suicide prevention. And one of the things I was always amazed of when she gives I've been online courses and I've done live courses with her. Is how many people will take that course and will mention that they did not realize some of these tendencies they had stern deep down and have dealt with. And now they know they need to go ahead and address them and get help for them, or at least to be aware of them.
So you know what, you take that course, you may save somebody's life you don't even know, and it may be your own life.
So I encourage you to do it. The information on it is Wellness Action Recovery, which is her nonprofit organization, Wellness Action Recovery. And if you want information on it, it's just spelled out wellnessactionrecovery.org, you can go there and it'll have an events. Link when you click on the events, it'll bring you to the flyer for the suicide prevention on December the 13th. Or you can contact Fonda on Yahoo with the Isfanda Just spelled out F O N D A N C underscore forty at yahoo.com.
Again, it's a free seminar, suicide prevention, or you can just fond of Bryant, you can put that in and it'll bring up all of that information. I encourage you, if you have the opportunity, it'll be the best two hours you can possibly spend.
So that's sort of my shameless Public address announcement this morning. Also, one more for because it is Thanksgiving, and I mentioned it last hour. If you're in the Winston-Salem area, Pondale does a Thanksgiving Eve. service, more of a praise and worship service. On Wednesday.
Um Which is coming up the day before Thanksgiving. I know in Tim's part of Pinedale, also. When that first came out and Matthew suggested doing it, I was wondering: you may get 100 people show up because it's the day before Thanksgiving. Everybody's busy. We were in the old sanctuary and we.
Filled it up, standing room only.
So then last year we moved to the main sanctuary and a lot more seats and stuff. great turnout, and I expect the same thing this this coming Wednesday for the Thanksgiving Eve service.
So I'm just, if you're in the Winston-Salem area, Pinedale Christian Church on Peters Creek Parkway, come down and join us. Tim, introduce yourself and a little bit about I mean, this is a man that has a... The background is lengthy and deep and stuff. Been on the mission field, been part of Pinedale for I don't know how many years now. It's been 27.
27 years. Seems like yesterday. I mean, I must have been still just a little kid. I wish. Tim, go ahead and introduce yourself.
Well, Tim Hanauer, my wife Martha. I've got two boys, three grandkids, and loving life. 63 years old now, and I actually. Work at Pinedale as the discipleship minister, and I also continue to work for a couple of three days a week doing landscape design. And I've had a company for years doing that.
So it's really fun, like you, to be in business and to really be grinding it out with the public, and then to just. Really, life doesn't change. My days, and in fact, I had the pastor with me the other day, and we were driving down the road, and someone called up that was a client. And then the client started thanking me about talking to him about Christ, and it was kind of some off-the-cuff discipleship happening. And it was interesting that the pastor looked at me later and he said, your day really doesn't change, does it?
I said, no, I I draw landscape plans, but I'm there representing Christ. And and uh so it really is a a a fun life and I really don't want to retire. I love doing what I'm doing, both both discipleship and and uh landscape plans. Are really fun. I think when we can let those intertwine, I mean, it brings joy to both sides of it.
Especially the work aspect of it. That's right. Work is worship. Absolutely. Work is worship.
And and this morning what what Tim's going to be in here, we're talking about the perspectives course. And and and from what I see, and if I'm wrong on this, it looks like there's four areas that are covered around perspectives. One, the biblical perspective. historical perspective, cultural perspective. and strategics perspective.
And we're going to kind of hit on all four of those. Before we even get started on that, just sort of the overview. What is Perspectives about? And then we're going to kind of dive into it. But also I'd like to know what, you know, what is it the course really about?
And And where is it offered? And we'll go ahead and then we'll back back up at the end. We'll go back over some of this stuff: where it's offered at, how do you get signed up? How much does it cost? And I know that during the slides, we've seen them and stuff, and it always mentions that it also carries college credits with it.
So that may be interesting to somebody who's needing to get those credits. But I'm going to throw that out there, that the sort of the to lay out the groundwork moving forward. I mean, it's a course that's been around since the 70s. Years ago, there were conferences called the Urbana Conference. They pulled during the Jesus Revolution time, if you remember the Greg Laurie movie, about that time, Urbana would host these conferences, and they pulled as many as 80,000 students in.
InterVarsity hosted the conference, and There was a great need for education afterwards, and so the full name of the course is Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. And the idea is to take people, not just young people, but all walks of life. and to say let's take a big giant look at the how God and what God has been doing in the world. from the time basically of not just Adam, but starting really with Abraham. and see how God has been working the message of redemption through all nations and all peoples.
And so the the perspectives on the world Christian movement is kind of the overarching title. And as you mentioned before, those four perspectives is how we'll dive in.
Now, it's an intense class. If you've always wanted, and I tell folks this, if you've always wanted to take a Bible College course and you've just never had the opportunity to, this is the one to take and it is offered all over the country.
So at perspectives.org, someone can go find. A course where they live and jump in. All right, we'll come right back and dive into that. Once again, this is Kingdom Pursuits. If you have any questions, just give us a call at 866-348-7884.
I'm Jerry Mathis with Ray's Body Shop and Record Service. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits. And again, if you have questions about perspectives class and the course and stuff. We'd love to hear from you.
866 348 7884. I'm in the studio with Tim Hanauer. We were just kind of diving into Um A little bit about what Perspectives always kind of the initial thing is about what it was about, and you were fixing to get into how to get signed up and about the. College-type course, it is, and we'll just kind of pick up from there.
Well, it would be considered a three-credit course. Currently, Liberty offers college credit. By just taking the course and going through the certificate level of the course. And when you go to perspectives.org, you can kind of read in detail a lot of those things. And you can also find locations of the class where it would be in your area.
The cool thing about the course, though, and it never ever loses its edge, the first time, Jerry, I took this course was in 1983. and I took the course from the people who helped write it.
So the two primary authors, Ralph Winter and Steve Hawthorne, were my first two instructors. And I was hooked. And it was two and a half hours. The course basically lasted along with a little break in between.
So it was two hours of teaching. And I was psyched. I couldn't sleep at night after reading this. In fact, I found after I seemed to have had a new Bible. I saw the Bible very differently after taking the course because I suddenly realized the Bible didn't rotate around me.
It didn't revolve around me and orbit around me. It really orbited around God Himself, and I was beginning to see both the scriptures and history from a way better perspective than when I first came to Christ.
So that's one of the cool side things that happens when you take the course. You get a brand new Bible, you begin to see things in it you've never seen before.
So, for example, when you go into the biblical perspective, there are five words that will hold the entire biblical perspective together. They're really threads that start in the Old Testament and carry you all the way through the New Testament. The first word is blessing, and you'll find, like if you read the Abrahamic covenant, I'm going to bless you, and I'll bless those who bless you, and those who curse you, I'll curse. And all. the nations of the earth will be blessed through you.
And the Course will take that word and show how it runs like a thread completely through Scripture. And by the end of the evening, you're going, oh my goodness. I never realized that the blessing of Abraham came not just through Israel, it ended up through Christ, and now it comes to me, and God expects me to take it to the rest of the nations. He expects me to take it to the people that live around me. And so suddenly the word blessing takes on a whole new dimension.
And then the second word is glory. And I've always thought, well, glory was just something an old preacher would yell at the end of the service. You know, well, glory. And that's all I thought it was, was an expletive. And it wasn't, it was something that.
God is intrinsic to his nature. is wants to share with us. And so the word glory starts early in the Old Testament and goes all the way through to the book of Revelation. And when all the nations of the earth are brought before the throne of the Lamb, they are glorifying Christ with the glory that he poured back onto them. And when you read John 17 and Jesus' prayer, you realize: you know, Father, glorify with them with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
The third word that comes, and that's really dead center of our show today: kingdom. The word kingdom Even though it doesn't show up, the word kingdom doesn't show up in Genesis chapter 3, the idea that Adam and Eve were designed to rule. is kingdom language. And suddenly you realize that the entire Bible is held together with kingdom language. And what was the very first thing that Jesus said when he started his ministry?
Behold, the kingdom of God is near. And so the kingdom, uh the those And then we find the word mandate. the idea of the Great Commission and how the Great Commission is that concept that basically is given to us, but it's actually a commission that started with Adam and Eve. And they lost the ability to take the commission. But Jesus gives it back to us.
And so these biblical concepts, these words that hold the Old and New Testament together are words that suddenly. Will become part of the learner who takes the perspectives course. They begin to see these words. and they begin to weave into your theology and you begin to see life, all of life, including your work life. In a really different perspective.
I'm going to be redundant now and use that word. And that's the beauty of the course. We've got Jamal on the line. Jamal, how are you doing this morning? I'm doing fine, Brother Matt.
How are you all doing over there? We are doing great. Jamal, how are you, brother? I'm doing fine, Brother Tim. I thought I recognized your voice over the radio, so I just had to call in.
You're awesome, man. I've heard you a few weeks ago. You did a great job.
Well, thank thank you. I appreciate that. Just trying to learn from great guys like yourself and Brother Mathis, and I take that everywhere, including the radio. Uh and and I actually um had a question But listening to you, you were. Weaving one story in and weaving another one, and talking about Adam and Eve and how they rule and kingdom and God's grace on us.
And I was like, Man, I just lost my train of thought. I was just caught up with them. Oh, it, it, it, uh, it's almost dizzying. It's like for 15 weeks, you'll drink from a fire hydrant, and then the rest of your life is ruined for the ordinary, which is great. I mean, that's exactly what discipleship is.
It should be: that Jesus just shows up and just totally scrambles us. Yeah, definitely. And this is the second time this morning I heard about Pinedale Church.
So I go there as well and listen audience. If you haven't been to Pinedale, I recommend going. You will not regret it. They have so many ministries going on going on over there. Great preaching from Pastor Sink.
He's Bible line by line, does not play around. And it comes with such an intellectual base from that as well.
So you can get the. Get fed intellectually as well as spiritually, and if you got Brother Tim teaching a Bible study on top of that. You're not going to miss out. You've got Brother Jerry Mathis over there. He's an elder.
So they have so much stuff going on over there at Pondale.
So you got two Pondale guys on the radio today. Check out Pondale. We got three of them right now. What are you talking about? We got three.
That is true. You do have three. And thank you for reminding me about Perspectives class. I am looking forward to taking it.
So thanks again. It's going to be great having you, brother. And I really can't wait to download with you after those 15 weeks. We'll have to spend an evening around the campfire talking about it. We'll burn a lot of wood.
Hey, Jamal, I just want to say one thing real quick, man. How proud I am of you. I mean, thank you. I've known your family and I think the world of your family, and I think you know that. And I tell you what, in the last, just a conversation we've had, man, I've seen your growth and stuff and just thinking where God is leading you.
And I just look forward to seeing what God does with you for the rest of your life. I appreciate that, Brother Matthews. That just gives me fuel to keep on going.
Well, keep on going. Yes, sir. I'm not going to hold up the line too much longer. Thank you once again and take care. God bless.
If I don't see y'all, happy Thanksgiving. Thank you, brother. You too. Thank you. All right, Tim.
Okay, you laid out the you wet the hook, you put the put the bait on the hook now. How would you get signed up? What's the cost of it? And I mean, Reginald before we dive into some of the different areas, It was just a schematics of that. Yeah, well, the sign-up is easy.
Just perspectives, make sure there's an S, perspectives.org. And once you've gotten onto the website, most of the courses, the areas. will range anywhere from about $250 to $300. Normal college credit type stuff, actually on the low side really. And then the books are probably another $30, $40 after that.
So it would be like taking a college course. And again, you're going to get 15 different speakers. In most of the areas, those speakers. have taught the course many times. I teach lesson 12.
I've taught lesson 12 about 35 times, and it is part of my background and my school background of international development.
So they only want speakers who've really come in with experience and to be able to, and that's what keeps the course exciting. Every night you can expect a different person.
So our course, for example, will be on every Tuesday night. But depending on where you sign up, your night will be that night that you'll look forward to. And it'll be hard to sleep after you get home. I can assure you that.
So you can go to Perspectives and it'll give you, if you're not listening, the Winston-Salem area. It's going to give you what's available in Ohio or Utah or wherever it may be if there's something available and give you a date that you can get signed up. That's right. And if you are in the Winston-Salem area, you can also just go directly to the Pinedale site. And I think there's a link there, isn't there?
That's right, right on Pinedale.church. If you go to Pinedale.church, I think it's about the third advertisement there. You just go down, you'll see it, and you can click there, and that'll take you right in. There's one in Greensboro, right around the block. I think there are about six or seven in North Carolina this year.
Well So I encourage you, if this interested you, and we're going to go ahead and just kind of take the next step and dive into it. Go a little bit, and you kind of hit on the biblical perspective. Why don't you kinda go a little bit deeper, dive into that and stuff, and then we're going to hit on off Four of those major areas, and then we'll double back and come back to how to get signed up again.
Well, again, I think the things that hold the course together, those words that I've already kind of mentioned: blessing and glory and kingdom and mandate. Those those words are good hooks. But scripturally, getting a perspective of what God is up to, and I think that's one of those deep breath things. What is God up to in the world? because a lot of times we think very passively that it's up to us.
And it's not. God is actively at work. And so as we come back, I'll just share with you historically where we next land. is what's happened in the church and what's happened in the last few Centuries and what's led up to where we are today. Absolutely.
I think we can all say churches and the church movement has changed dramatically. We go back 20 years. Five years. I mean, we've got also. You're listening to The Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.
Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits. I'm Jerry Matheson in the studio with Tim Hanauer and we're talking about Perspectives course. We're just now just kind of following up or or finishing up with the biblical perspective and stuff and why that's important and stuff. But then I think we're wanting to Tim wanted to kind of drift on over to the historical perspective and stuff. And I think that is, to me, that's something that excites me to hear about and stuff because You know, history is something I enjoy and So many times we can see what forms us and what makes us and molds us is our history.
And that sometimes can be a good thing and a bad thing. Right.
Well, you know, the Bible history, as we pick it up, and you go to, for example, Genesis 11, we understand that the Tower of Babel, God scatters the nations and the languages. And we always see that as just some little piece of story. But then remember, God reminds Abraham, all the nations will be blessed through you. And of course, we recognize now that all the nations are being blessed through Abraham. Abraham because of Christ.
And so Christ, when he appears on the scene and he basically initiates the kingdom of God, the kingdom movement among the nations. That's where we find the Great Commission really makes sense because the nexus of the word kingdom and the word nations comes together in the Great Commission. All authority in heaven and earth is given to me. Therefore, go make disciples of all ethne is the Greek word. It's the word basically for nations or people groups.
And the best way to understand that is, is they have both a common language and a common culture. And so you might meet a person who speaks English, but they might not have the same culture as you. And so when you take ethne, you take both of those as an individual group. And so the Jews, of course, had become very ethnocentric. And so Jesus' mandate is very critical.
In fact, Acts, and this is one of the cool lessons in the Perspectives class, there's a hidden message in the book of Acts. And the hidden message is, is that in the first eight chapters, the the kingdom never spread past the Jewish people. And then suddenly we begin to see that God is moving through Peter to go reach Cornelius. And then finally, it's not until Acts 13. That there is an intentional move to take the gospel to other nations.
And that's where we see the calling of Paul and Barnabas out of the church at Antioch. And so the movement begins.
Now, when you get to the end of Acts, Acts 28, we're done, right? No. Then the historic perspective takes on because the job now becomes ours. All the apostles have been martyred except for John. Of course, he dies in his old age.
But the kingdom continues to advance.
Now, here's an interesting fact, Jerry. The number of nations reached by a total worldwide, the number of nations reached. by um 1900 was only 12%. of the world's nations, actual ethnic groups. had received the gospel.
But today it's over 70%. of the nations of the world have actually received the gospel.
Now, how did that happen? And there are really five basic movements throughout the history from Acts 29, from the first century to today. There were five great moves. of the gospel. The Roman period which you've got St.
Augustine, you have the growth of the initial eastern and western Catholic Church and that had its ups and downs. There are some interesting things that happen, and there are also some things that we can learn from. You know what happens if you don't learn from history? You'll repeat it. Yep, comes back.
It does, it comes back. There are things that Jesus wanted us to know about the movement of the church. In fact, I would say this: it's incredibly important to. Think when Jesus said, I will build my church. Church.
Was he talking about an institution or a movement. And I think if you think Jesus was talking about an institution, Then you probably have read into Jesus' word improperly. I think what he's talking about is a movement. And so we want to study the movement. How did God take, for example, and I'll just give you one of the examples that'll come up in the book, and it's in the earlier period, it's in the Viking period, actually.
The third movement. God actually used warriors to spread the gospel, and you say that's a strange way to move the gospel. But here's what we find out: if you are not, as a church, as a people, Of God, not taking the blessing to someone else. God will bring people to you. And cause the gospel to go back to them.
And that's how the Vikings came to Christ. The Vikings actually invaded England. they took servants out of England who were Christians. And these servants, and one little servant girl in particular, was integral in leading the Viking warlords to Christ. And eventually the gospel made it to the Vikings because the English were not proactive in taking the gospel to them.
And it's a history lesson that we learn over and over and over again. And so most of Christian history, we are very passive about. taking the gospel to other nations. But In the nineteen hundreds, the 12%. And today, 70% of the world's peoples have a witness in their own language and in their own culture.
And so we are fast reaching that time period where Jesus said, this gospel. of the kingdom will be preached to the whole world. as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. And I know my hearers know that. I mean, you look around, you see those signs, you see, you read Matthew 24, and you go, we're living in it.
We are. But what are we doing about it? See, and that's the message. The message is: if we're not proactive in taking the gospel to other people, guess what God will do? He will either bring them to us.
In fact, there are four mechanisms. That God uses to cause the gospel to move around. There's the involuntary go. Let's say Jerry some someone called and said I want you to start a body shop franchise uh over in um in Saudi Arabia. You know, well, that would be an involuntary go.
That's a mechanism where you could actually take your faith. but you're just invited to go do business there. Or there's the involuntary come.
Someone comes and invades you, like the Vikings, for example, and the gospel spreads that way. Then there's the voluntary go. That would be what we consider missions where someone goes. But then there's the other involuntary come, which is we have refugees all around us. God.
Has brought the mission field to us. This happened at Pinedale a few weeks ago. We had 23 nations getting dental work. in one of our footbridge dental clinics. At Pinedale and Dentists from all over the area, different churches involved in blessing and ministering and sharing the gospel with these nations.
So God's constantly at work. Bringing the nations into a knowledge of his son. And that's the, we suddenly watch history come alive. When we realize that we can obediently be in the center of what God is about. And I think, and I'm sitting here hearing you, and I think.
we go back as as followers of Jesus Christ and stuff. the world we live in now, the the technology and stuff, it's hard unless We really step back and look at it, it's hard to imagine that 30% of the world has not. know about Jesus Christ and and heard the gospel. You know, we look back as we were our parents grew up, it seemed, yeah, the logical part, maybe only 20%, maybe only 30%. And it got to because of the technology wasn't there.
But now we kind of lean into thinking that everybody should know, which to me, Just reinforces the fact that we need to continue to do our part. That, as you said, Acts didn't stop them. We're living it, and so we need to continue to write the next chapter. That's right. And in fact, one of the most exciting places, and everybody's church can be involved with us, much of Western missions has shifted from being just sending missionaries to supporting Indigenous workers.
For example, we have somebody who trains pastors right now in Thailand. And we support that man. He trains. about a hundred men and women per year. In being gospel agents, people who share the gospel, who are pastors and community leaders.
the people group that he works with. 50 years ago, there were no Christians. Today, It's almost 90% Christian.
So very exciting to be involved this way and to see where are we at in history now in the spread of the movement. When we come back, we're going to hit on the last two, the culture part and the strategic perspectives, and then also we're going to follow back up on how to get involved in the courses coming up in the Winston-Salem area, Greensbury area. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits. I'm Jerry Mathis with Tim Hanauer.
I'm going to kind of talk the last. Two areas of the perspective course, which is the culture part and then the strategic part, what moving forward. And then before we get off the air, I want to make sure we do talk again about how to get signed up and the opportunity to do it and just how important it is. Because one thing I'm sitting here, and as I said, I'll learn. Goes um I think the deeper we get, ourselves, then the more we're able to give to others as far as the love of Jesus Christ and reflect it and stuff.
And I know that, and I've told Tim this, I think, when I've shared it before, probably one of the things about. Me, my growing, and what I'm most proud of is going on the mission trips. And the fact that out of those mission trips, I have guys that were in my VBSs that we do once a summer and stuff that grew up in them, and I've talked to them about Christ and And I've watched them grow in Four of them in the ministry now. And in Jamaica, in broad leaf, that is a. That's something that, not that I'm proud of it for Jerry, I'm proud of it for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's right. Everyone needs to experience that. You know, in America specifically, we are very culturally myopic. We're very nearsighted. And we just don't understand culture very well.
In fact, the big joke, I mean, the big joke in other parts of the world, especially Europe, is, you know, what do you call a person who knows three languages? You know, well, they call them trilingual. And what do you call a person who knows two languages?
Well, they're bilingual. And what do you call a person who knows one language? You call them an American.
So we just were very ethnocentric. And God's kingdom is not. God's kingdom is people from every nation, tribe, people, and language. And God loves culture. In fact, He desires worship.
From all the nations. And I think that's one of the dimensions that as we learn what really it means to glorify God and bring glory to Him, we realize there is a cultural aspect to this, that we don't want to go in and destroy culture at all. And that is part of why we study the cultural side of this in the perspectives course. And we do some really fun, deep dives where we actually try to what it is like to learn another culture in another language. And so there are some exercises we do, and some of the speakers bring out some fantastic points.
But what it all comes down to is one of the great commissions, Jerry, that Jesus gave. It's the one really my favorite is John 20, 21. As the Father sent me, so send I you.
Now Think about that. How did God send Jesus? He didn't just show up as a mature human being. He just showed up as a baby. And for 30 years, he never said anything.
He learned language, he learned how to eat, he learned culture, he lived in a culture. And that is kind of the same model that each of us have to follow if we're going to be serious about taking the gospel into another culture. We have to become babies. We have to start off and then grow up. and learn that culture.
And it's a fascinating, fascinating thing to do as individuals. And it, like you say, it challenges your faith. Whenever, and I, I, we want, we want everyone to go on a short-term mission trip at our church. We want them to experience the gospel. Displayed in lives, and you learn so much about yourself and about your own faith.
And actually, one of the things I learned about myself is I'm I am Too proud. I think I got it all right and I'm not, you know, there's a humility that's brought when we sit at the feet of other cultures and become learners first.
So the culture aspect is super big and super important to the class. Yep, and then How do you, strategically, how do you make that happen? I mean, what is the book? Is this going to teach you the blueprint of making it in this one size fits all? No, absolutely not.
In fact, it's an amazing launch pad. One of the coolest things that comes out of this course is suddenly you realize, like, for example, your story or my story, you realize that God has been working. uh your whole life on getting you to a place where you can effectively reach another culture and not even realize it. God has used my gifts in landscape design and international development. And suddenly he pulls me into different countries and I'll be a part of projects.
People have business skills that can be used all over the world. And so, business's mission is very strategic in that. Our work. Is part of our worship, and God wants to use, as He did with Paul in the second missionary journey, He used Paul's tent-making skills to deeply impact the Thessalonican church. And it could have never happened that way had he not been on a work platform.
In fact, there are three platforms that the first three mission trips were on. And you'll learn what those platforms are and how strategic they are, especially that second one, the work platform, is one of the strategies. There are a lot of other strategies, things that, how does God use our churches?
Some of our churches, and this is a huge thing to me, Jerry. You realize that less than one-tenth of one percent of all the American funds and resources. That are collected in our offering plates go to reaching people from other nations. All right, as we close out, Tim, real quick, how do you get signed up? And I know you go to Pinedale.church, but also other opportunities.
Perspectives.org. And again, Fonde Brandt, suicide training, you type in Fond de Brant, I'll send you right there. Jesus Labor of Love, an opportunity to give to those widows and is expanded. Go to Christian Card Guide and there's a link for Jesus Labor of Love. Love for you to be able to contribute to that.
Been a great morning, Tim. Thank you for being here. Thank you, brother. I'm Jerry. And for Tim, I hope to see you in church tomorrow.
No matter where you're at, there's a church around the corner. go ahead and join them. Thank you. See you next week.
