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On the Road Again...
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
2 Corinthians 5:16-17
I just made it back to Orange County after essentially 3 weeks of traveling for various things. The last week of June, the NCP team was on retreat to discern and cast vision for the next 5 years of NCP's ministry. In this retreat, we prayed about and discussed many things related to this ministry including the primary goals we, as a team, will work to accomplish these next five years. These goals describe what our relationship will look like to the established Church as a ministry, how we intend to best reach the 1 million unchurched people in North Orange County through multiplication, and how we cultivate a culture of prayer throughout our entire ministry - operating as the undergirding glue for everything we do. We also got to have a great time of extended fellowship while on retreat, which is always cherished and refreshing!
After returning from the retreat, Viany and I had three days before packing up and flying to Kansas to visit family and friends, attend and provide a ministry/training report at MidAmerica Yearly Meeting, and I had the privilege to stay slightly longer and also celebrate the marriage of Cassi and Thomas Moore! Above in the photos you can see some pictures of our time in Kansas in some of the various places we went.
At Ministry Conference, Viany and I were asked by the Home Missions Board to come and give a report on my recently completed apprenticeship in which they generously supported me financially as well as where we are heading next. Nick, Viany, and I were grateful to be able to share with them a summary overview of what I've learned and been trained in over the previous 18 months as well as what we desire and anticipate doing in the coming season. Something that has been presently on my heart is how I can best share what I've learned and found effective with the people in MidAmerica who desire to reach their communities evangelistically. This desire has also been shared by Nick and Viany, so we, in addition to the report, provided the Home Missions Board a proposal of things we can offer that we believe could greatly benefit individuals and churches for reaching their own communities in their unique contexts. Our proposal naturally came with some limitation as we live and primarily work in North Orange County currently, but we are excited to explore how we might make the best use of our limited in-person time for those who live and minister in MidAmerica!
As you can see pictured to the left, Nick and I were also invited up during a main session one night to share about what we do and how they can partner with us in various ways. This was a part of the conference theme, Better Together, as they highlighted a number of different ministries and individuals that have demonstrated the strength in partnership of ministry done together. In addition to the specific things we came to share, the conference sessions were profoundly edifying and ministered to us greatly. We had the pleasure of hearing from James Bryan Smith, the author of the Good and Beautiful series among other things, as he spoke about the power of transformation rooted in accurately placed identity: That we who are in Christ are those in whom Christ dwells and delights and that we live in a strong and unshakable kingdom. There was so much richness in what he shared that I'm probably doing a disservice to it in my brief summary, but all to say, it was such a wonderful time of being challenged and edified by the Body of Christ as we are sent out to work with Christ in His harvest!
While on our way to drop Viany off at the airport to head back to CA, we stopped to fill up on gas before taking off. As I was pumping the gas, a gentleman from the nearby stall walked over to me to ask me something. He expressed that didn't want any money or anything, but just needed gas to get him and his wife to a town about an hour away. I wrapped up our car and headed over to help him out, and he began to tell me some of their story. I learned that his name is *George and his wife's name is *Teresa. They previously lived in Oklahoma where they raised four boys that are now finishing high school and entering college age. They were moving to join their boys as the place they previously had been living in Oklahoma had a recent increase of drugs and violence, and wasn't suitable to live in. *George also shared that he was on disability due to a deadly car accident that he was in a couple years ago that should have killed him. He began showing me the many scars and malformities from the accident and many surgeries following. Responding to my surprise, he told me that it was a real miracle that he lived. I took advantage of this comment to ask if he is religious or not, to which he said he has been here and there, but recently hasn't been very involved religiously as he's been moving. We talked about that for a little bit before noticing that the car had long been done filling up, so we began to wrap that up. But before leaving, I asked *George if I could pray for him and *Teresa, to which he quickly accepted. I prayed for them, thanking God for miraculously preserving *George's life, praying for their journey to join their boys, prayed for the protection and guidance of God for their boys, and for their relationship with God to be enriched as they seek Him. It was a sweet gift that God gave me, unexpected, unsought, just an easy opportunity to minister to someone given to me. It makes you wonder how many simple opportunities we pass by each day in our everyday, mundane activities to demonstrate relational care and practical provision to someone around us. Both of us left blessed and encouraged, and I pray that God might continue what He'd begun in *George and *Teresa long before I'd ever met them!
I read the book Messy Grace, by Caleb Kaltenbach, on my flights back from Kansas and, upon reflection, it seemed to express something of this idea in such a profound way. This book is written by the child of two gay parents (both mom and dad remarried homosexually after divorcing) that intimately knows those in the LGBT community and how he has wrestled with how to love people well in the midst of it all - which he describes as the tension between grace and truth. It's certainly not that they are posed against each other, but that there is a tension between them on the ground. He found this to be very true as he became a Christian much to the demise of his parents and community. The book is a wonderful and easy read that I would highly, highly recommend as a unique insight into how we engage with people in ministry and everyday life - gay or not. It seems that one of the main points the author pulls out is that many people fear being transparent about how they feel or are struggling with because so often the response to sharing these things results in a retraction of relational closeness or rebuke. It can be really hard to be transparent and honest if you feel that the communal and relational security you have is at jeopardy. We, as Christians, can have a really hard time doing what Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
The gospel must do an interesting thing to the way we view and engage with others. Like James Bryan Smith was saying, we can have a peace and security in the identity we've had given to us apart from what we do, and that is radically important not to forget. Otherwise, we begin to find our identity in our ability to do righteous things. The scary thing about that happening is that anytime we dip below what we percieve our righteousness should be, our identity is immediately threatended at its core because it's based on our own doing. But if our identity is that we are one in whom Christ dwells and delights, then, like the story of the prodigal son reveals, God has made provision at His own expense that we can be reconciled to Himself, regardless of our performance. It seems easier to comprehend on paper than on the ground. But this also should influence the way we view other people in their sin, remembering how God so mercifully dealt with us. We didn't need to get ourselves clean before entering His presence, but instead it was His presence that made us clean.
Too often we can view righteousness and holiness similar to the religious leaders in Jesus' day. When presented with a leper, they would flee what was unclean out of fear of likewise becoming unclean; however, Jesus didn't seem to have this same view. Strangely, it seems that the most righteous man to ever live, in His perfect holiness, was actually drawn to touch the leper. Instead of holiness fleeing uncleaness, it was now drawing near the uncleaness. And what was the outcome? The holiness was contageous, not the uncleaness. It seems that the ministry Christ has given us is one of drawing near to the socially "unclean" so that Christ's holiness might shine through us and cleanse those around us. Instead of being scared of the uncleanness, we should probably remember that we, too, were unclean and deeply in need of Christ's righteousness.
And now that I've rambled for some time, it seems that a profound ministry we can provide anyone - inside the church or outside the church - is one where we learn to view them as recieving the righteouness of Christ undeservingly, and remembering that we are also recipients of that unmeritted gift. It's not that change isn't in place, but that the way we get there starts from accepting that we have an irrevocable identity given to us by Christ in which we experience the true Sabbath rest in Him.
Thank you so much to those of you who faithfully partner with me on my financial and prayer support teams!
Your role in this ministry is crucial!
I am currently in the process of support raising my new role as an NCP full-time staffed employee. I have switched from the EFM apprenticeship and am now under NCP as an employee. With that, a different giving portal is used for those who would like to partner with me in that way. I would ask that you prayerfully consider joining my and/or Viany's support teams as we are still looking to raise support to live and minister here in SoCal! If you feel led to partner in this way, use the following link to join the team:
https://app.clovergive.com/app/giving/nort1499743
I am also looking for those who feel led to partner with us on our prayer team. This is likewise a crucial aspect of our ministry, and we would ask you to consider joining our team that prays with and for us regularly. Fill out the form linked below to sign up as a prayer partner or to sign up for when I send out email updates. You might also notice that Viany's newsletters are now accessible through this blog site. Feel free to check those out and enjoy how much more visually appealing they are than mine!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSedn442uUgsCZRuzcSkFJu065ZJ2xA6x3plSG5SwEGNwVfDug/viewform
Please reach out for any questions about partnering and we will get back to you promptly!
Phone: 316-558-4993
Email: penroseivan@gmail.com
With love and peace,
Ivan Penrose
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