City Impact Roundtable
November 1-2
San Diego, CA
Opening Session 4:00 p.m. Monday afternoon
Worship music was led by Steve Puleo, from Santa Rosa, celebrated in a group of approximately 40.
Phil Miglioratti asked the group to pray in pairs, first praying for each other individually; then asking for the filling of the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ, collectively, as a City Impact Roundtable (CIR).
Phil welcomed all who have come to this CIR. He summarized preparations for the meeting, explaining that invitations had been extended to veterans and strategic thinkers who have been at cityreaching for at least 5 years. Hopefully, for most, we will move into the Mission America Coalition (MAC) Roundtable with strategic thinking and planning. Phil shared his enthusiasm for the synergy between the MAC and the CIR.
Tom White began by saying, “This is the North American roundtable. Barry Boucher is with us from Ottawa, Canada.” The invitation concept came out of 15 years of long-term perseverance, seeking an honest time of discernment and assessment, a need to hear from the Lord. There is value in veterans getting together without a heavily structured agenda. We will have open opportunity to share, but have not planned structured presentations. We need to connect, seek God’s face, and ask what He is saying to us as veterans, radical city-reaching men and women.
Tom continued: A question I keep asking myself: How can we more effectively build the one church in a city and gain sustainable societal impact, transformation, city-reaching – not just inspiring language, but how the power of God is released through our obedience to change life as we know it.
We also will build a foundation of leadership, identifying what we will target in the spring CIR. We need to decide here what is most relevant for those we would invite in the spring.
Much of my context in the past few years has been outside the U.S. doing Prayer Summits and consultations in what is now called the ”majority world” (not third world). Those who read and tune in to email reports know there are spontaneous works of God happening out there, perhaps more than inside the U.S. We need to discern the heart of the Lord toward North America, determine where we go to stir His heart and return His favor. No one is finding it easy in this cultural context to discern where God wants us to go.
We are so stuck in our cognitive way of seeing and doing things. Our fallback position in North American culture, that is, when things stall or slow down, we fall back on our North American ingenuity. Let’s do this – try that. I think we are at a point where we need to fall back afresh, into dependence, brokenness and humility on the Lord himself. Psalm 27:1 is my soapbox: “Unless the Lord builds the house…” All of our efforts are in vain without Him - all our energy, effort, money, time spent for a huge meeting. When the meeting is over, lights are out, everyone gone … how do you harness that in a sustainable way to keep moving forward? I personally believe our posture at this critical crossroads in the U.S. is to navigate this journey together, seeking His face. We choose to be dependent upon God. We will look to Him. We are here to hear. This may sound hyper-spiritual. We are here to turn our ears, the eyes of our heart, to hear God and how He is working.
Many of us have been in prayer summits and prayer retreats. One principle we have learned is that when we make it a priority to get into the Lord’s presence, when we break through into that place where He dwells, then He does speak, He gives fresh revelation. I believe He may be waiting, hovering over this gathering to give us fresh revelation, to make clear the way forward. That’s worth waiting for. That’s tonight. We’ll do roundtables tomorrow, talk together, share in a free atmosphere. Some of you are quiet, letting strong extrovert personalities do the talking. Some of you are sitting on nuggets. Some of you come with a treasure. Don’t walk out of this door tomorrow at 5 without sharing that treasure. We want everyone to have a sense of liberty.
Tom asked the question, “What’s on Your mind” as you come to this CIR?
Ron Thaxton, Charleston, WV: Building the house of the Lord. Righteousness/justice are the level and vertical. We have justice over here and righteousness over there. We need to see them “married.”
Harold Hendrick, St. Louis: Increased participation, inclusivity in city movements.
- How to enable the Church to see that it is only a part of the city, the need to partner with others in the city to reach the whole city. Strategic partnerships.
- How do we de-program the Church? Churches are so program oriented, almost seem to de-program the Holy Spirit.
Doug Small, Kannapolis, NC: How do we intentionally give place to the presence of Christ? Not simply praying, but bringing mission into life. A new construct. A relational reformation of the Church that is much bigger than I thought when I started.
Mike Greenberg, Nashville, TN: How do you know if it is you who is building the house or if the Lord is building it. Tom responded: By looking back to see what is standing. Ephesians 2:21 describes the house of the Lord as “rising” (in creative process), indicative, present tense.
Bishop George McKinney, San Diego: How can the Church impact this culture of death, i.e. destruction of children?
Dennis Fuqua, Portland, OR: It seems there are different personality types -- relational, activist, etc. In some places it seems that those groups are moving away from one another. How do we value the part that someone else brings?
Lynn Heatley, Chino, CA: Assessment: Where has the loftiness of language slowed us down? What is really happening on the grassroots level?
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After the brainstorming, Phil summarized: We have had national and regional CIRs in the past. It’s important to understand our connection to the MAC. He introduced Glenn Barth and Jarvis Ward, National Facilitators for Mission America City/Community Ministries.
Glenn Barth, Minneapolis: Phil has modeled the theme verse we chose years ago, when we gathered as a small group, less than 10, for our first meeting in Atlanta. He read, "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Phil 2:1-4
We have with us the Vice Chairman of the MAC, which is composed of 81 denominational leaders and approximately 350 executive leaders from across the nation. We have discovered in a recent survey that denominations and ministries want to serve cities. I say all this because we have a great leader among us. When I visited his church years ago, he said, “Come out of that pew and come up here.” I’ve got to ask Bishop McKinney to get out of the back row and come up here. Bishop McKinney, you have been such an inspiration to us, serving St. Stephens Church here in San Diego for 42 years. Mission America is built on city reachers who have been at it for a long time, and you are one of those heroes, doing this for 42 years in an urban and difficult area. Would you offer a word of greeting to these city reachers who are seeking to break down the disunity in cities?
Bishop McKinney: I greet you in the precious Name of Jesus. If you’ve heard that God has forsaken the city, it’s not true. He loves the city, and it is his concern. He is in love with all kinds of peoples. God is concerned for the city because of the potential, demonstrating to a watching world what grace can do for those who flounder in darkness. I welcome you here to San Diego, and pray that this will be a time for spiritual reflection and re-firing, inspired with fresh ideas to continue bringing light to the dark corners of our cities, and hope to the hopeless.
Jarvis Ward, Pearl, MS: Please understand that when we sent out invitations, there were sincere efforts made by the planning team and by some of you fellow laborers to intentionally involve more ethnic leaders. There is history going back to the North American city-reaching forum at Simpsonwood.
Glenn and Jarvis explained that this is a peer-to-peer learning forum. That’s why we invited folks who came from a veteran city-reachers background, looking for people with experience to bring the church together, to identify leaders of leaders. We come together to learn from one another and grow. It’s not top down, but a bottom up thing, part of the ethos of the MAC. It is our desire to identify, connect, resource and empower transformational leaders who are seeking the unity of the church. We try to identify what God is doing, not recruit. We ask, who is God lifting up in your city?
We seek to connect those folks. Some city leaders felt all alone, as if they were the only ones doing it. You are not alone. We initially said, “Let’s have a meeting.” But not everyone can come to a meeting. The CIR is a face-to-face meeting. Then we found out about conference calls. We can give you tools – you can do a free conference call. We look for connection points: face-to-face CIRs, conference calls. This year we have met with close to 600 people in regional CIRs. They are “y’all come” events. Initially we had one monthly conference call, but now there are 4 calls. Barney Field does one the first Thursday of the month on “what is working in Cities?” The second Tuesday Daniel Bernard and I get on the line and interview a guest like Ted Haggard. Each third Thursday, Jarvis and I get on the line, this month on November 18th with George Gallup Jr. Last month we interviewed David Bryant. On the last Tuesday of each month, Dennis Fuqua and Phil Miglioratti look at a model city that is bringing pastors and leaders together, sharing about that city and then doing Q & A. We can also open a chat room with a guest associate on conference calls. That’s what we do in terms of connecting.
This is also resourcing – providing a cost effective resource. We are able to put materials on the website, www.cityreaching.com with links to things like Barney’s new book “Your City for Jesus - 3 Easy Steps”. We have Tim Keller’s address from last year’s New York City, one of the best presentations on the theology of city reaching you’ll ever hear.
We are working behind the scenes to make your work easier. That’s why we are here at this annual meeting. We’ve been working with denominational leaders and parachurch leaders to tell them they need to listen to city leaders. The survey demonstrated that, and now we need to do the work to help them release their pastors and find new ways of measuring their pastors’ success in city reaching rather than just growing their own churches.
Jarvis: There is a balance in those 4 concepts, identifying, connecting, resourcing, and empowering city leaders. If we are veterans, there should be a reflection of what we are going towards in our work, how the whole church is unified in our cities, expanding circles relationally. We are encouraged at how God is working. The MAC statement on its logo was “serving together.” We see our role as City/Community Ministries staff as serving together with you in this vision of the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole city/community/nation and to the world.
Tom invited the group to stand and several lead out in prayer, asking the Lord to speak to us as we draw near to Him, asking Him to build the house lest our labor be in vain.
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II. City Impact Roundtable
Evening Session
Nov. 1, 2004
Participants introduced themselves by name and ministry or city. The focus of the evening is to seek God, especially in the context of the needs of our nation and cities. Tom White strongly affirmed the fact that “you are leaders of leaders in your cities.” We in North America need a clear word from the Lord.
It might be a Scripture that the Lord “quickens in you.” Some people get images, word pictures. Charismatics get visions or dreams; evangelicals get “dynamic mental impressions!” The Holy Spirit may give you a prayer burden. You may have a sense of “I can’t leave this room until I share what is on my heart.” But first let’s rejoice. We are on the eve of an historical election. There is a tendency to dwell on the negative. We will enter his gates with thanksgiving; spend time in worship and praise. Let’s begin with thanks for specific things, pile up some stones of remembrance. Many have prayed for specific things God has done in their cities and lives, acknowledging that it is God who has done these things.
Steve Puleo led in a time of praise and thanksgiving in song, followed by prayers of intercession.
Tom shared how Jeremiah 2 spoke to leaders in a recent prayer summit. The priests did not ask “Where is the Lord?” (v. 8). We need to ask this question afresh. Lord, are you in what we’re doing?
Verse 11 talks of changing gods.
11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glory for worthless idols.
13 "My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
The group spent the remaining time in prayer.
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Session III
City Impact Roundtable
Morning Session
November 2, 2004
After a time of worship and prayer, Tom White invited participants to share reflections from the time together the previous evening.
George Saunders, Muncie, IN recalled 3 things: (1) The need to ask the right questions (2) We get hung up on models. Scripture shows the best model. (3) We need to pray the right prayer, really listening to the Father.
Glen Weber, Spokane, WA expressed appreciation for Doug Small’s description of Abraham’s response to God’s warning regarding Sodom and Gomorrah. Instead of being judgmental, Abraham interceded…
Becky Ray, Fresno, CA recalled the importance of making it a priority to be in God’s presence.
Phil Miglioratti, Chicago said he felt a gentle rebuke from the Lord to prioritize genuine praise. He desires our praise, and is worthy of our praise.
Donna Danhelka, Chicago We must keep “coming into the Lord’s rest.” He wants us to wait on Him.
Laurie Huffman, El Paso, TX “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain…”
Doug Small, Kannapolis, NC: Coming out of New York City last year, I felt we weren’t on the same page in city reaching. As in Nehemiah, we started building, but found more rubbish. But yesterday I heard micro-stories, like connecting with the Mayor in Santa Rosa, and the lowering of crime rates in El Paso. There have been break-throughs. We are not where we were 10 years ago. It’s hard to quantify, but I sense we have turned a corner. God calls us to see His faithfulness. He is the ultimate city reacher. We can move away from anxiety and feeling burdened to focus on His faithfulness. We need faith in His character, His love, not just in His power. We can rest in Him, worship Him, and partner in obedience.
Copi Valdiviez, Toledo, OH: City reachers may talk about when a movement began, but they are thinking of when they got into it. That is a lie. It began with God. He has been working in every city since the beginning. We showed up and got the vision along the way, but it’s His gig. It takes the pressure off when we ask God what He wants us to do…then do it. It will go on after we are gone. We need to be careful not to get in His way.
Eric Swanson, Boulder, CO: Bonhoffer preached about God building His church at a time when it looked as if it was being torn down. We have an election today, but whatever the outcome, God is still building His church.
George Saunders, Muncie, IN: In II Corinthians, Paul wrestled with his care of the church. He had a mandate, a responsibility, and it was wearing him down. He sensed his inability to accomplish it, his weakness, but God said, “Paul, it’s not about you.” When we get stressed out, we can hinder what God is doing.
Preparation for Roundtable Dialogue
Tom White asked the group, “What are we learning from the majority world (formerly called third world) outside the west? At a prayer summit in Fiji in August, those leaders heard the call of God. There is intentionality among government leaders who are believers. In India, there is a prayer awakening. They believe prayer turned their election, turning out the Hindu government. Tens of thousands of Hindus are rejecting Hinduism, coming to Christ.
Majority world believers …
1. Are in need, and they know it. We, on the other hand, are like Laodicea in Revelation 3.
2. They are sacrificially obedient. They have lost limbs, eyes and life, but they demonstrate real joy. In Indonesia, 700 churches were burned last year, but they persevere.
3. They look for life before developing organizational structure. There is an intentional rejection of hierarchy.
4. If they experience the touch of God in a prayer time, they depart from the ordinary to share it with the congregation on Sunday.
5. There is an explosion of corporate prayer. Last May, 56 African nations organized stadium prayer events. In one day 20 million believers focused on corporate prayer. They plan to fill stadiums on Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2005 for corporate prayer, preceded by 10 days of round-the-clock prayer.
George Saunders, Muncie, IN: In China, believers are taught to reproduce. The house church movement flourishes in rural areas, but they are aware of the need for structure in cities. When asked, “What do you want from the west?” Chinese believers responded, “Send us your gray hairs.”
Dennis Fuqua, Portland, OR: In Slovenia, there is tremendous opportunity, but the church is small and already divided. One congregation has already split 6 times. A man from Modesto saw the need 6 years ago to build unity and love among the believers there in Slovenia. In Macedonia, 50% of the pastors in the country came to a Prayer Summit.
Sam Williams, Boulder, CO: I saw in Latvia – churches very strong, initially seems to be positive. Minority party but the Minister of Families and Children in government is a Baptist pastor. All 5 national newspapers ran articles on the campaign. European Evangelical Alliance meetings last week show us where we might be in prayer. International prayer council in Bangkok – prayer leaders from Europe are depressed. They feel like the Holy Spirit is working elsewhere, the culture has abandoned
God. In Berlin, State church and evangelical pastors are coming together, Mexico City pastors coming together. In China, we previously tried to protect pastors, but we need to believe God is in charge, not the State. We are initiating city-reaching movements in 30 cities in China. Dynamics of house church network don’t work as well in the city.
Tony Danhelka, Chicago: We just returned from a Black Sea Consultation. 70 million people live in Turkey. In 1980, there were 30 known Turk Christians, and now 3000. We met 100 of them. 90% of the 3000 have come to know Christ through direct revelation. This encourages them to face persecution. The workers (missionaries, about 1000) spend most of their time discipling people Jesus has brought to himself, and spend very little time on evangelism. Sadly, in this area, as believers find each other in cities, they have already split into 3 evangelical groups.
Barney Field, El Paso, TX: I have been inspired by visiting Colombia. It has been called the fastest growing church in the world. I believe the key is sitting in our pews – need to make disciples. The work in Colombia, now 50,000 believers, began with a pastor who discipled 12 believers. When someone finds Christ, he is put into a family of 12 and motivated to bring others in to get saved and join their 12. Our first time there, when the invitation was given, and it was like a tidal wave. 2000 were saved on a weekend. Preach to the multitudes, heal the multitudes, but disciple 12.
Tom: Now let’s go to work. As you discuss around your table, spend 30 minutes on each of these 2 questions:
1. Identify attitudes/actions that honor God, attract His favor, create momentum and result in John 15 fruit.
2. Come up with 2 concrete ways to measure societal impact. (Spiritual transformation – righteousness and justice) i.e. measurable growth.
Table responses:
• Humility (God resists the proud) rather than unity. We must spend extended time in God’s presence, allowing Him to work in us brokenness/humility
• Dependence on God, love for God and neighbor. Start acting like the bride, attracting Christ’s presence. Look for “Emanuel rather than a manual.”
• Serving a city’s felt needs. Prayer is the key to heaven but compassion is the key to your city.
• Relationships attract the Lord. We may need to sacrifice time for relationships.
• Kingdom vision rather than local church vision.
• Listen to God.
• God inhabits the praises of His people – local - congregation – city
• Serve the community together. Go slow to go fast.
• Right attitude produces right actions that attract God’s favor. Leaders need to model inter-dependence.
• Bottom line is 2 Chron. 7:14. God is not obliged to respond because of what we do. He is the initiator. We have a responsibility to do the above, but God continues to move in the process.
Tom summarized responses to the first question: We need---
• Humility/brokenness
• Servant spirit
• Intentional relationships
• It’s about the intangibles (ethos) – character, attitude
• Unless I am being transformed, I am a hypocrite and fraud in promoting it to my city (“we must be transformed agents before we can be effective agents of transformation”)
• Choosing to honor and prefer one another
• Irrigate all we do with the incense of unceasing prayer
** Copi Valdiviez shared the following insightful summary: “Would you agree that nothing above is new? What is new is US. We are being transformed, so we understand this in a new way. Our ideas are more incarnational. There is an increased, common consensus that the Lord builds the house. We are leveling the playing field. Theories have met reality – we’ve learned on the front lines. We’re understanding principles vs. just buying into the latest model or best practices. This is a good thing!”
Question #2: Concrete ways to measure societal impact.
Feedback:
• Souls being saved & discipled
• Changing attitudes in people groups being reached
• Marketplace is driving change in the city
• Easterner leading movement in Canada (David Damian from Egypt)
• Local churches cooperating, ministering to each other.
• Churches combined effectiveness…serving together.
• We used to measure the church by “noses and nickels.” Not transfer growth but conversions.
• A healthy church will have impact, bringing favor with God & man & the community.
• Reconciliation, racial, generational, gender, justice – genuine relationships.
• Acts 2: the Lord added to the church daily.
• Measuring: You either count things or tell stories. Perhaps we should choose 10 cities where there has been an impact, and pay someone to tell the story.
• Momentum produced by prayer summits, intercessory movement, ongoing relationship among pastors, consistency of commitment, and investing our lives in others.
• Move from tolerance to active appreciation of those different from ourselves.
• Measurable decrease of crime.
• Church would attract the attention of the city and be seen as relevant
• When the non-Christian community speaks of what the church is doing.
• In San Diego, there were devastating fires last year. The church excelled, went beyond government financially in serving. The church is still united and serving here.
• When homosexual marriage became an issue in the Pacific Northwest, pastors called for a unity meeting. The homosexual community panicked. They noted that the church was united on the issue, unlike other issues. When we pull together, it makes a difference.
• The church must first be transformed before community transformation can occur. An ecumenical meeting saw how pastors groups were growing (prayer, relationships), started mimicking what was happening, and now groups have joined together in Tampa area.
• Bottom line-- the % in my city who are actually becoming disciples.
• How do we improve what we’re doing? How do we learn from each other? Phil responded that the regional CIR events help to answer that question, and the spring CIR meeting will have a wide invitation.
Phil closed in prayer, seeking God’s direction for application.
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Session IV
City Impact Roundtable
Working Lunch &Afternoon Session
November 2, 2004
The Mission America Coalition (MAC) hosted lunch for the City Impact Roundtable (CIR).
Paul Cedar, Chairman, MAC: Leaders seeking direction after the Lausanne Conference in 1989 decided to take a year to pray. It became clear that God was beginning a prayer movement in our nation. Joe Aldrich reported on what was happening. The second thing they saw was how God was working in cities, as leaders learned from one another, were strengthened by one another, seeking to discover what God wanted us to do that could be better done together than alone. From the beginning we called ourselves “facilitators.”
The framework coming to this particular Annual Meeting is different from anything we have ever done. We have returned to roundtable format. This will be a working, praying consultation with various streams coming together. There are loose documents we will pray over. The interesting thing is the focus, loving our cities and communities to Christ.
The MAC has primarily been a coalition of national and regional evangelism leaders. The action is at the grass roots. We need city reachers involved at the tables. We are grateful for all God is doing through you. We want to encourage you and help in any way we can. We are your servants for Christ. Blessings on you all.
Tom White recalled a woman’s prayer from the previous evening: “Lord, we are presumptive in calling ourselves city reachers. We should be city lovers.”
Lunch Assignment: What is the Lord touching? Where do you see Him working?
Results:
• Compassion, God-directed ministries touching felt needs of people & cities.
• Marketplace ministries.
• Younger generations involved, youth-led 24/7 prayer.
• Righteousness and justice blended together.
• Walls coming down; little things happening many places.
• House to house movement (organic, simple churches)
• Creative outreaches, i.e. “The Lord’s Gym.”
• Moving beyond comfort zones.
• Developing relationships, deep connectivity.
• Example of Shreveport/Bossier Community Renewal program which intends to make an industry out of love. They are developing software to track the depth of relationships. Congress is allocating money toward it. They are making an industry out of “love your neighbor.”
• Pastors group in San Diego, including wives for past 7 years; develops deeper relationships.
• Purpose Driven Life, Alpha, Christ Renews His Parish (Catholic, Methodist Church, then Episcopal).
• Children moving into ministry.
• Prayer Summits
Phil introduced Ron Thaxton for an update on the “Righteousness and Justice” Task Force. Ron has been a member of the Charleston Black Ministerial Fellowship for10 years.
Ron shared that he is learning from these brothers about the goodness and justice of God. Transformational is what lasts. Righteousness is the plumb line; justice is the level. Jeremiah 22:13 says: "Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.” (NIV) Jer. 22:15b-16 continues: “He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD.”
We seem to suffer from spiritual bi-polarism, righteousness over here, and justice over there. The election is an example. African Americans will vote seeking justice. The white evangelical community doesn’t understand them. II Chron. 7:14 is contingent on building the house of the Lord, the place where He hears and answers prayer, and meets man where justice and righteousness have come together.
Coach McCartney’s book, Blind Spots, has motivated Ron. “We’ve done a conference call, a few people are planning to work on this. Any of you who are interested in being part of this, I would encourage you to bring someone from an ethnic community with whom you have a deep relationship.”
Jarvis: A couple of years ago at a CIR, we looked around the table and asked, “Where is the rest of the church in our city?” We formed the “Expanding the Table” task force, and the ripples went all the way to the MAC Facilitation Committee, which promised to spend at least two hours of their meeting time focusing on how we can encourage “the whole church” to take the whole gospel …Jarvis expressed regret that a number of ethnic leaders who were invited to this meeting were not able to come. He affirmed the belief that this is where we need to go with intentionality. If God is leading, this may be part of our agenda in March.
Tony Danhelka: We need to learn how to get these leaders to come to our meetings, and plan our meetings so they will want to return. We have reconciliation events, but not consistency.
Glenn cited Charleston, Nashville, and Muncie, IN as cities where some progress has been made. Perhaps some from those cities should be involved. We need to take up issues important to those ethnic communities. If we make their agenda our agenda, it works.
Copi: City reaching is far bigger than Mission America. Are there other apostolic leaders of other ethnicities? What would be an effective “y’all come” multi-ethnic, city reaching training for city teams look like?
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Guest Presentation (following lunch) “Transformation Africa” video
Steve Hawthorne introduced Dawie Spangenberg, a businessman from South Africa, where marketplace saints are leading the way in prayer mobilization, believing that God is leading Africa to be a light to the world. “Transformation Africa” is a video, available at www.transformationafrica.com or www.globaldayofprayer.com
Africa is inviting believers from around the world to join them on Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2005, for the Global Day of Prayer.
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Roundtable Planning for Spring CIR (proposed dates, Mar.7-9 & April 10-13)
.
Folks prayed in pairs, asking God to lead a “design team” for this meeting. Phil clarified that he is stepping away from his role as CIR Convener. Tom White is taking up this responsibility. He will take initiative to form a planning team that will be inclusive and diverse. We must endeavor to involve ethnic persons, women, emerging leaders, and leaders from both large and small cities.
Tom presented 3 Questions for discussion regarding the spring CIR meeting:
1. What kind of presentations or presenters, subjects or “foci” are we wanting?
2. What is the most efficient format?
3. Who do we invite?
Results:
- Consider different tracks for differing needs, and to go deeper. Relate to (1) those committed to worship and prayer, (2) those who focus on relationships and (3) those whose focus on strategic thinking. Profile ahead of time. Put them together by passion and experience. Peer relationship can flow. Plan times when they come together. Provide what they want as well as what they need
- Presenters: veteran city reachers who speak from hands-on experience
-Subjects: what’s really working to bring societal impact
- Format: open presentation of a city reaching history, current issues followed by questions. Could 7 veterans form a panel like the last hour in NYC? There was definite “chemistry” there.
- Best practices in fund raising for city reaching.
- International presenter, what does transformation look like in the “majority world?”
- Hispanic, Asian, African-American leaders who tell us how they see the city.
- Understanding the times (sons of Issachar)
- Spiritual warfare (strategic level, dealing with principalities)
- Intercessors – how & where they fit into the city movement, interface with pastors, etc.
- Coaching, mentoring from city to city.
- How to more effectively bridge the ethnic gaps
- Governmental leaders in our mix. Governor, educators, policeman, etc.
- Specialist in reaching people from other faiths and/or emerging generations.
- Find existing veteran city reachers in the host city, honor them.
- Suggested presenters: John Dawson, Star Parker, Ed Silvoso, John Perkins, and Robert Odom.
- Format ideas: roundtable
- Invite: don’t dilute
- Be inclusive on regional level, inviting leaders who are interested in unity, ministerial alliances, people of influence, leaders of leaders, directors of Evangelism for denominations
- Format: We need to hear one another’s stories including good and bad; more in-depth.
- Consider who is invited in designing format. Roundtable might not work for some.
- Format: open Q &A without time constraint. We don’t need national speakers. We want city reachers from the front lines.
- Roundtable, panel, possibly divide by city size, culture, city type (i.e. capital, university, gateway, industrial, recreational, etc.)
- Present materials ahead of time; reading list
- Include Scripture study within presentation
- Include marketplace, political people, and health care field.
- Field trips: visit local sites of city impact (or via a 12-15 minute DVD)
- Is it time for the macro city reaching conference we’ve never had? Partner with other organizations in city impact, even around the world?
- Bring reps from different tracks. Balance the cerebral with nuts and bolts.
This would be a year away. Many affirmed the idea. Many organizations are working, but there is little connection between them. Something like this is being planned by Luis Bush to begin weaving streams together (Transform World, Jakarta, May 2005).
The question was asked: What is the mission statement for March meeting? Why do we need to come together? What is our chief purpose? Our burning issue? How do we more effectively become a functional city church, with sustainable, measurable impact?
Tom asked the question, “Why did you come to this meeting?”
- To be a more effective cityreacher/city lover. May not have the answers, but asking the right questions.
- The joy of collegial koinonia.
- We have a stewardship to the movement, to give, not just receive.
- To keep our feet on the ground, be realists, seeking breakthroughs.
\- Iron sharpens iron. We need to come together, deepen relationships.
- It enables continuity in our own ministry.
- Henry Blackaby said we missed our 911 opportunity. Our nation needs to hear a clear, covenant voice. CIR stands the best chance to speak with one voice.
- Mission America provided the platform for us to find each other and be able to speak with one voice. City/Community Ministries provides conference calls, resources, and support. We need to value the treasure in each other so we can impact our nation. We share this responsibility when we come together with common burdens for our communities and regions.
Final sharing:
Copi Valdiviez: Those who were in Colorado Springs in 1997, the pre-meeting survey, broke up into groups by city size, roundtables. Vocational city-reachers met together. It was very profitable. Groups were small, relationships birthed. Those friends are resources and referrals. I suggest we group by city size, i.e. 100,000 or less, 500,000, etc. The bigger the city, the more complex. Issues are different for pastors, cityreachers, and volunteers. Glenn helped to plan that 1997 event, and could help with this one.
Jarvis: In early days when we were called the North America City Reaching Forum, we were focused on the relationship between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. We need to strengthen our own continental relationships. Also, on the international level, remember that 60,000 a week die of AIDS in Africa, and in our cities, there is a ticking time bomb with people in our churches who have the virus and it isn’t known. The pray-care-share component must be done now, not wait.
Tom: In Canada, the city-reaching movement is ahead of us regarding the relationship of the Gentile Church to Israel. That issue will be increasingly “in our faces” -- American foreign policy re: the support of Israel, and how we understand the covenantal relationship with Israel, our Gentile church role, etc.
Barney Field: When I started in city reaching years ago, there wasn’t a term. In 1977, God spoke to me about preparing for His return. In 1992, I heard of a meeting in Phoenix. In 1997 there was a meeting in Colorado Springs. For a long time I have wanted to pass on to others what I have learned the hard way as a fulltime, battle-scarred city reacher in El Paso and area. It’s called Your City For Jesus - 3 Easy Steps it’s free – the kind of help I looked for. 69 pages – everything I know. It’s at www.cityreaching.com.
Glenn: If you are looking for ideas on calling together the prayer movement in your city, to increase or strengthen your pastors fellowship, how to integrate projects so the movement builds – there are great ideas in Barney’s book. A valuable part of the book is called “Other Nuggets” – about raising funds, developing accountability structures, “12 by 12” structure. It is practical wisdom. Novices as well as experienced city reachers will enjoy the read.
Tony Danhelka: I want to encourage you. I hear over and over as I visit city reachers, a cliché from Dutch Sheets: we’re into microwaving, and God is into marinating. We need the resilience and persistence God calls us to. Noah preached for years before the ark was finished. You can go to almost any city and find a man or woman God is calling to the task.
Ben Sanders: It’s been 4 years since I’ve been part of this group, but I feel like I’ve come back home. You have encouraged me greatly.
