Prayer in the "Now What?!"
Prayer in the "Now What?!”
I shared with excitement in my last update that we are currently funded for 2019, so I am finally able to make the shift to leading the new ACTIVATE(D) community!…a long-time dream that is now being realized. Here is an invitation video I’ve created for this community:
[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w49PWhRtsQQ&w=854&h=480]
So what am I doing? Alongside my on-going role with Novo’s mobilization team, currently coaching 7 potential new missionaries, and leading the ACTIVATE(D) team, I am hard at work designing a cohort experience.
What is a cohort? It is a group coaching process for reFocusing’s Missional Pathway participants after they attend the Missional Pathway workshops. Said another way, a cohort is a discipleship experience focused on helping people effectively launch and live out their new missional initiatives. The business world would call this a start-up accelerator for entrepreneurs. We call it a “missional incubator” for missionaries. Cohorts will consist of no more than 8 people and a coach. Cohorts meet for 10 sessions (about 4 months). Participants from around the country will watch video lessons that I’ve created before each session, and a coach (initially me) will facilitate a 2-hour discussion via video conferencing (or in person) every other week. I’ve designed it to be something I can easily train others to facilitate. I will begin by training my team, and work to inspire others to take the model and run with it.
Why cohorts? Our team’s vision is to see new disciples of Jesus made because the Good News of his love is made unavoidable in whole neighborhoods and networks. In order for God’s people to effectively make new disciples of Jesus, they need help experiencing ‘how’ to intentionally do so and an ever-deepening sense of ‘why’. The why is a Gospel-wrecked identity in Christ, rich with affection for him. God wants to renew their sense of being, and then equip them for a life of doing. He wants to grow His kingdom in them and through them: kingdom in and kingdom out. But for many followers of Jesus, life-altering affection for him remains minimal. And many people simply don’t know how to make disciples or launch new ministries. So, in order to see whole neighborhoods and networks come to Jesus, his followers must be discipled in an ever-increasing kingdom in and kingdom out life that restores their biblical identities in the Gospel, and practically equips them to effectively reach the lost. Cohorts provide a space for this.
I need prayer…
Designing a cohort experience is a great creative outlet for me. I love thinking about discipleship and leader development, and how that produces passionate Jesus-sharing people. But I feel the weight and significance of the opportunity I have. I want the Spirit to use the videos I am creating and the questions being offered up for discussion to drive people to becoming Gospel-saturated missionaries. Pray for myself and these people.
And please keep me in your regular prayers especially regarding my health. I am dealing with a lot of unexplained joint pain that is proving to be very distracting and discouraging. My knees, hips, and back are almost always in pain. I am scheduling doctors appointments to get it all looked at.
I’m so grateful for your prayer and partnership!
Nick