212 Degrees Turkey: Day One: Training Begins

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Day One: Training Begins

After months of preparation, prayer and God's sovereign hand the 2011 Turkey team met for the first time today and began their journey together. For 3 weeks this team is going to be laying down all they have to see what God has in store for them and the people they come into contact with in Turkey.

Pray for the leaders...wait......pray for the students!

Today we were all challenged by Jake (Turkey Team Leader) to ask ourselves the one question many seek in this world; who we are and what are we doing here? Since we have a God who is not a God of coincidences, we have all been brought to this point in time for a reason. Now it is up to us to be willing to listen to God, seek him, and through these next weeks and beyond, give over all we have to him. Like as the begger...we don't want to be left with the regret that we didn't give him everything.

So as we journey together these next few days we will be challenged in many ways and we will be encouraged to fulfill three greats. The greatest accomplishment: to know and love God, the greatest lifestyle; to intentionally and passionately live like Christ, and the greatest legacy; to live in light of eternity. And we do this all for the glory of the gospel through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!

As we travel, study, serve, love and reveal God's truth may God go before us and prepare our hearts for all he has planned for us.

Please pray with us and worship our Lord with us as we serve the Turkish people.

No comments:

Post a Comment

2011 Team Mission

"To share Christ exalting truth by being light and salt for God through the passionate and humble pursuit of Christ, in hopes that the lost will be drawn to Him."

Team Verse: "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you" -Philippians 4:9

Team Motto: "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

Discipleship.

Over 2000 years ago when Christ came to earth to bring the
message of His father, he didn’t have the ease of Google search and cell phones
to get the “good news” to every one who needed to hear. He relied on the mouths and lifestyles of 12
men, and when he left to return to heaven with His Father he gave us the same
charge He gave His followers, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”

What does discipleship look like today? How can we live it out as Jesus and his disciples did in
the 1st century? As we walk this journey
together we will see the great importance of being a part of a community, studying
the Word of God, and being intentional with whom you pour your life into and
who you allow to have influence in your life. As leaders, we will live out II Timothy 2:1-2 and intentionally pour
into and equip you to be able to go home and serve God in whatever sphere of
influence he calls you to in life. We will also give you “spiritual” tools for
your ministry tool box so that you can pour into the people God asks you to
influence.

Evangelism & Missions

We will see the God of Christianity on a world-wide scale
as we work alongside the Turkish church and among the Turkish people. We study
various styles of evangelism (friendship, servant, lifestyle, etc.), and will
we learn how to incorporate the various styles into our ministry in Turkey, as
well as how they will apply to our lives at home. We will also discuss how to
share our faith cross culturally in a way that is sensitive while at the same
time clear and effective. We pray that
those we come in contact with will see our passion for the truth of the gospel,
understand the love of our God the creator and come one step closer to knowing
more intimately their Savior Jesus Christ.

Biblical Training

We will experience the atmosphere of the early church, see
the beauty of Christ’s love for His people, touch the rich history of the land,
taste the power of sin’s oppression in our world and hear the powerful message
of truth from the Word of God. We will
travel throughout Turkey to many of the 7 churches of Revelation and to many
parts of Paul’s missionary journeys. You
will rediscover God’s Word as you personally experience the cities, the sights
and the letters of the Bible by studying the archeology, the geography, the
history and the culture of 15 first century cities.