I really like what I read about  Aquila and Priscila in scripture. God used these marketplace workers in some special ways.  They were tentmakers. Paul writes about them several times. Luke also mentions them in the book of Acts.  The key for me in how these marketplace workers lived their lives was that they lived with intentionality.

As marketplace workers, their intentionality was crucial. No matter where they lived, they were engaged in the work of the gospel.
They were coworkers with Paul in Christ Jesus. (Romans 16:3)
They risked their lives for Paul. (Romans 16:4)
The church was extremely grateful for  them. (Romans 16:3)
They assisted Paul in Ephesus.  (Acts 18:18-28)
They hosted a church in their own home.(1 Cor. 16:19, Romans 16:3-5)
They instructed Apollos privately to help him to learn more about Jesus. (Acts 18:26)

John Polhill writes in the The American Commentary of Acts “Here is a perfect example before us – by Christians like Aquila and Priscilla traveling the routes of trade and commerce and carrying their faith wherever they went,” (p. 283, The New American Commentary, Acts)

When you get a chance today say a prayer for these men and women who work internationally. They have awesome opportunities to share their faith as where they work, live and play.

Thinking of going into missions? Why not pray that God will open the doors for a transfer with your company to live abroad.

Recently I was having a conversation with a Skybridge Community member (www.skybridgecommunity.net) who served effectively with a mission organization in Europe. This person transitioned from being a full time Christian ministry worker to a marketplace worker. Here is what they said that really stuck with me.

“I  am part of Skybridge because I  am completely sold on encouraging and empowering this kind of “non-missionary missionary.” Marketplace professionals who are fulfilling their call to missions through their careers and choose to live in Europe, on purpose.”

I believe there are thousands of marketplace workers like this. People whom God has strategically placed in this world.

In her book, Tentmakers, author Ruth Siemens writes this about life on the mission field:

”The secular job is not an inconvenience, but the God-given context in which tentmakers live out the gospel in a winsome, wholesome, nonjudgmental way, demonstrating personal integrity, doing quality work and developing caring relationships.” (Siemens, Tentmakers, D-247)

Turks moving to Germany
Algerians to France
Moroccans to Spain
Chinese students to the USA
Iranians to Sweden

The list could go on and on and on.

This year one of my blog themes will be to discover people like this and tell their story. I hope my readers will do a few things with these post.

- Share these stories with their pastors. Pastors need to hear stories like this so they can empower and release their congregation to the marketplace here and abroad. They need to see how these marketplace workers are a strategic part of proclaiming the gospel to the nations.

- Most importantly I hope these will be an encouragement and challenge to you as the reader that as a follower of Christ you can be salt and light as this worker is, and you can do it in a any where in the world.  As we process a call to missions, we often think that we have to quit our day jobs. What if we first thought about how we can keep our jobs and get a transfer?

Due to the nature of my job I am traveling constantly. I feel like I actually live between two continents. So as I read the news and listen to people talk I am troubled by something. I know that illegal immigration is an issue. I am all for being legal. It is something that I highly value as I live overseas. We go to great lengths to stay current and legal. It is important for a lot of reasons.

Here is a thought though. I feel like I need to love our immigrant population just as much as I am concerned about their legal status here.

Silence fell in the room but I think the point was taken. If we let the media influence us we can become dangerously close to having hatred stir up in our hearts against foreigners who live among us. I do not think this is something that should happen. If we do then we miss opportunities to live out the Great Commission in our own neighborhood.

If you have ever lived overseas and you are trying to learn a new language then you know what I mean.

going to the bank

going to the doctor

going to government office building

not being able to read the labels at the store

when the phone rings and it is a local call

All of these can be stressors in a foreign setting.

They can create anxiety in the life of the foreigner.

I also have much more compassion with the person who is from another country that now lives in the states.  Have you ever offered your help to them in the store or in another situation?  This type of love for our neighbor can go a long way in gospel presence.

I want to try to do some posts on this topic but I need to start out with one that is just funny to me and really is not that profound. One of the first things we did when we returned  back to the states for this 12 month sentence was to join the cheapest gym around. The one we joined had a great deal so we joined. It also has a steam room, sauna and whirlpool. That for sure was a plus. My favorite part of the work out is rewarding myself with some steam room time and whirlpool time. So over these last three months I have made some interesting observations about the steam room.

Three of my list of five I would have never thought belonged in a steam bath but I see this all of the time. These things make me go “hmm”

1. One guy always wears his eyeglasses in the steam room. Should I be surprised when he tripped on the way out the door last time?

2. Another guy (this is not the same guy with the glasses) brings his paperback novel into the steam room. I guess it is a steamy novel (bad joke). It seems to me the life of that book will not be very long.  I sure would not want to buy that book used on Amazon. Do they have a special category for that? Used and in poor condition due to the steam bath? I keep wondering if it gets to be hard turning the pages after 10 minutes in the steam room but he keeps on reading. Speaking of, how can one read in a steam room? Is it not too steamy to read?

3. I see all kinds of people texting and listening to the iphones in the steam room. Are iPhones really made for that kind of use? Will       Applecare cover steam room use?

The next two are a bit more cultural.

4. Clothes seem to be required in the steam room here in the states. I must admit that is a little different than Europe.

5. People do not seem to say “hola”, “guten tag” or even “hello” or “hey” when they enter. They never say “goodbye” either.  It did take a little getting use to in Europe to always say hello and good bye in a sauna but they do it there.  “Hellos” and “goodbyes” are important culturally there even in a private space. I am learning here that maybe I do not need to talk to everyone who comes in.

More soon.

It is a good book especially for existing  churches exploring becoming more missional in their orientation. One of the conversations we have been having as a family this summer has to do with blessings.

How do you bless a person?

I have heard  various people talk about ways they do this. One church tries to get their members to bless three people a week. So they break it down:

1) Bless another person in the community,

2) Bless a person who is not yet a believer.

3) Bless someone you do not even know.

It might be a good way for a church to make that a normal behavior.  You need to figure out if that works for you or not. As we talked about this as a family we really tried to dive into how we can bless a person? What does that look like?

• Being generous
• Praying specifically for them
• Doing something meaningful for them

The list could go on but that was a good start for us. We decided it needed to be something that was as natural and normal as possible and that having a list would not be the best way to practice this for us. (I am the main list person in the family, grin)

But something happened along the way…

This summer we have been on home assignment. I am doing my job but doing it from Knoxville, Tennessee instead of Europe. While I miss Europe I am trying my best to get plugged into our community here. An interesting thing has happened to us while here this summer. We have been amazingly  blessed. We have been the recipients of some friends who have intentional decided to bless us in numerous ways.

It was  undeserved. It was a surprise. It felt amazingly good.

Sometimes I have  struggled in  receiving a blessing. I would prefer to give.  But my eyes have been opened at how God uses others to bless us.

Thank you friends.

How do you do at receiving a blessing?

How important is blessing to living a missional life?

Here are some samples.

Mexicans, Chinese, Indians, Peruvians, Guatemalans, Ecuadorians, Iranians, Algerians, Moroccans, Pakistanis, Iraqis, Egyptians, Jordanians, Nigerians, Ivorians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Karen and Chin.

What is so cool about this list? These are not missionaries sent off to a foreign land. These are people here in the states being salt and light and sharing the gospel with the peoples of the world next door. I was blown away by the list and humbled to be amongst people like that. I am praying for them this week. Praying for the opportunities that they will have. Praying that more people will catch that vision.

We often look at the progression of the Great Commission in Acts 1:8 ESV

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

In today’s world the Great Commission is HERE and THERE.  A church has the nations in their neighborhood but at the same time they need to go to the nations. One does not exclude the other.

What do you do when you find yourself in a new place?

What does it look like when you know you will only be in that location for one year?

What are the first things you do?

What do you not do?

What does it look like to connect in some sort of local ministry for one year?

What does church involvement  look like for that year?

All of these questions and more are going through my mind. Would love to hear how you have approached this or would approach this.

I want to learn.

We are in the very beginning phases of this project. I am excited about it because I just like to be a part of something new. smile. We are hopeful in our plans for next year but we know the very first thing is prayer.

This morning as I was spending some time walking around this village I was reminded of a post I wrote several years ago. To me these are not only first steps but also a great way to live my life.

I call iPOC3

Living missionally doesn’t come down to a formula, but I must admit: I was inspired by a certain brand of computers in regards to how to think and live missionally wherever I am. This little non–formula is called “iPOC3.” I am not a huge fan of acrostics, but iPOC3 reminds me of some basic things that I can do on a daily basis, no matter where I am, to work toward that end:

Pray: Prayer should be the foundation for all we do. Through prayer, I have seen people who were previously closed to spiritual things really open up. I have seen hard–to–reach areas become receptive through prayer. Prayer is the essential piece for living a missional life. We often make time for prayer during our quiet times, but prayer should also be an active part of the rest of the day. As you move about in your daily life, pray. Pray for open doors. Pray that God will show you people with whom you can talk. Pray for opportunities. Pray that God will open up the hearts of the people wherever you are.

Observe: As you pray, you also observe where God is at work. Observe the people and discover possible needs that you can meet and ways that you can connect with them.

Connect: This final point can involve almost anything as you relate to people. Connecting with people can be striking up a conversation with a post office clerk. It can be walking with an elderly person as he or she crosses the street. It can be helping someone carry his or her groceries when it’s clear the load is a little too heavy.

At the end of the day, I believe evangelism today is more than a simple formula. It is your actions toward people. Evangelism is highly relational, and God will provide you opportunities to connect with people.

Continuously seek to have spiritual Conversations: The second and third Cs of iPOC3 would drive home the importance of continuously seeking to enter spiritual conversations with people as you connect and as God opens doors. You may even be able to strike up a lasting friendship with someone you connect with during a typical day. If that’s the case, who knows? You may even find that the person is interested in spiritual things and might be open to hanging out regularly to talk about life and spirituality. From my experience, that is a much better, less threatening, often more sensitive option than simply taking that person to a local church in order to be taught more. That’s because I believe that, as followers of Jesus, we are all equipped with the ability to speak truth into their lives and tell them about Jesus. If that sounds intimidating, go back to that Acts 1:8 thing. “You will be my witnesses,” Jesus says. He will give us power and help us in this. He promises.

To recap, iPOC3 comes down to …
I pray
I observe
I connect with people Continuously Seeking to have spiritual conversations

In conclusion, I need to add that iPOC3 is not a program or something else to do in your church. For me it has been an easy way to remember what I should be doing as I go about my day, but there’s no magic formula. Living missionally is about who we are and what we are becoming. Pray and seek out what God might want that to look like in your daily life.

This area is sometimes called Hampton Roads and then at other times  it is known by  the distinct cities it represents. The area is highly affected by the amount of people in the military that live here. I am intrigued about what ministry looks like in these type of places.   I greatly respect these men who are leading their churches to minister to here. Thanks for spending time with me.

My observation:

What a challenge to pastor in an area like this!

What an opportunity to pastor in an area like this!

Potential Challenges -

The transitional nature of the community and how that affects the church.

Building continuity amidst transition.

Caring for families as they are separated due to deployment.

Potential opportunities -

Your church members move all over the world.

Empowering your members to live missionally wherever they are sent.

Being able to minister to the families in the community during times of transition and tragedy.