Class Info

Date: Monday, January 20, 2014

Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

Location: Buffalo Randall Church 6301 Main Street Williamsville NY 14221

Contact:

• • Registration & Orientation

    Introduction to Perspectives!

    Registration & Orientation

  • Instructor

    

    Tom Brunner

    MissionNext, Strongsville OH

    Tom Brunner is the National Mobilizer for MissionNext (a Perspectives partner). He has served as Church Planting Diretor for the Christian & Missionary Alliance in the Washington DC area, was Lead Lead Pastor of The Syracuse Alliance Church (a multi-cultural church of 15 people groups in a city that was 97% unchurched). He has transitioned older churches, planted a church, and has served as a singles, missions, and youth pastor. He and his wife have ministered to missionaries in Mali and Mongolia. After taking the Perspectives Course at the USCFWM on their honeymoon, they started the first Perspectives course in the C&MA and the New York City area. He holds degrees in Biblical studies from Asbury University, Evangelism & Theology from Asbury Seminary, and has done doctoral work at Drew University and Fuller Seminary. 3 of his daughters have lived outside the US and a 4th is considered medical missions.

    
    

  • Date: Monday, January 20, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 1

    The Living God is a Missionary God

    God's purpose is three-fold: against evil—kingdom victory; for the nations—redemption and blessing; and for God—global glory in worship. God's purpose revealed in promise to Abraham. Exploring God's purpose for the nations: Blessing to the nations described.

  • Instructor

    

    Grace Fabian

    Douglassville PA

    Grace tells her amazing story in her book, Outrageous Grace. You’ll be inspired to hear how our Almighty God brings life out of death. Grace Fabian, whose missionary husband was slain while translating the New Testament into a Pacific island language, could easily be excused if she were to carry to her grave the conviction that the loss was meaningless. “Couldn’t I also, in a gesture of adoration and faith, offer my husband’s blood as a precious ointment to my Savior?” she asked after reading in God’s word about a woman who, in an act of worship, poured out expensive perfume over Jesus’ head. She along with her husband, Edmund, lived in an isolated Nabak-speaking village in Papua New Guinea, learned the language, devised an alphabet, produced literacy materials and translated the Scripture for the 25,000 people speaking this language. God’s kindness was poured out on this family, and after Edmund’s death, Grace, along with dedicated Nabak men and women completed the translation. In 1998 the Nabak New Testament was dedicated to the glory of God. Now Grace resides in Pennsylvania where she speaks, teaches and writes, hoping that others will be inspired to join in the work of reaching Bibleless people groups around the world.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, January 27, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 2

    The Story of His Glory

    Exploring God's purpose for Himself: How God has been steadily unfolding a plan throughout all nations and generations to bring about His greater glory, ultimately drawing to Himself the worship of all the peoples. Passion and prayer for God's glory.

  • Instructor

    

    Luke Kuepfer

    The Truth Made Simple, Prospect Heights IL

    Luke Kuepfer is a keynote speaker, workshop leader, and co-author of Becoming a Leader Worth Following. Having founded and directed a non-profit in Southeast Asia, he now serves as president of the Reverb Network, a non-profit organization committed to growing missional leaders and starting serving leadership movements around the globe. Primarily focused on the business world in North America, Luke facilitates workshops on Serving Leadership, The Art of Listening, Employee Engagement, Teamwork, and Winning at Customer Service. He has a Master's degree in Leadership and has taught a class on Foundations of Management and Leadership at Colorado Christian University. As a leadership developer and life coach, Luke helps business and non-profit leaders understand how to maximize their God-given potential to lead and serve others. His newest venture in the experience economy integrates leadership development with high-mountain trekking adventures. You will find Luke online at LukeKuepfer.com, thetruthmadesimple.org, and ReverbNetwork.org.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, February 3, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 4

    Mandate for the Nations

    Jesus shows great strategic interest in Gentiles; wise strategic focus by initiating a global mission on a few disciples among the Hebrew people. The Great Commission and the ways of God's sending in relational power. Dealing with the ideas of pluralism (all religions the same) and universalism (all persons saved).

  • Instructor

    Saturation Church Planting, Denham Springs LA

    Kody is a missionary serving with Saturation Church Planting. He and his wife are currently in the process of being mobilized to move to Bangkok, Thailand where they will work towards planting churches in Bangkok and training church leaders throughout Asia.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, February 10, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 3

    Your Kingdom Come

    Exploring God's purpose regarding evil: How God has accomplished a defeat of evil powers in order to open a season of history in which the nations can freely follow Christ. The kingdom of God as the destiny of all history. Christ's mission seeks a hindering of evil to bring about a sign of the coming peace of the kingdom of God. Our prayers contend with evil in order to bring about the transformation of society with Christ's kingdom in view.

  • Instructor

    

    Phillip Nelson

    SIM, Charlotte NC

    Rev. Dr. Phillip Nelson pastored for over thirty years. He has served as a mission mobilizer for over ten years and, in addition, began teaching Perspective classes 25 years ago. He is the husband of one wife and father of five saved adult children. He is a preacher and teacher of the Gospel for 45+ years.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, February 17, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 5

    Unleashing the Gospel

    The first followers of Jesus: obedient in costly, foundational ways. The climactic act of the book of Acts is the freeing of the gospel to be followed by Gentiles without Jewish traditions as a requirement. A foundational act of God which speaks to the situations where the gospel is hindered today. Strategic suffering and apostolic passion.

  • Instructor

    

    Mark Mihalyov

    LOUISVILLE KY

    Mark has been a passionate advocate for strategic ministry to unreached people groups since attending the Urbana Missions Conference in 1981. Married to his wife, Aimee, since 1983, Mark and his family served a staff term at the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena in the early '90's. Over the past thirty-five years Mark has served God as a local church elder, pastor, mission mobilizer, Christian school and missionary school teacher, and in general done whatever it took to spread the word that the Great Commission can and should be completed.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, February 24, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 6

    The Expansion of the Christian Movement

    The story of God's purpose continues relentlessly from Abraham's day until the present moment. An overview of the largest and the longest-running movement ever in history—the world Christian movement. How the gospel surged through the peoples and places of the world. Important insights for our own day.

  • Instructor

    

    David LaRavia

    Missions Door, Lacombe LA

    Josh received his Bachelors of Arts degree at Louisiana State University in history and a Masters of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in Biblical Languages. Before leading Randall Church, Josh lead the college ministry at The Chapel on the Campus (2002-2011 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana). Josh is married to Allison LaRavia and they have three wonderful children. Josh believes the Great Commission and the Great Commandment provide the church with its mission, and these imperatives are unchanging and timeless.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, March 3, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 8

    Pioneers of the World Christian Movement

    Today we anchor the race by continuing what others have begun. It's a day of finishing. All the more reason to learn the wisdom and the heart of ordinary people who did extraordinary things in earlier generations. Reading the writings of William Carey and other leaders to discern what these people have left to us. Exploring the contribution of women in missions throughout the centuries.

  • Instructor

    

    John Mansfield

    , Williamsville NY

    
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, March 10, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 7

    Eras of Mission History

    The greatest explosion of growth ever has taken place in last 200 years in three "bursts" of activity. Why we could be in the final era of missions. The global harvest force comprised increasingly of non-Western missionaries.

  • Instructor

    

    Mark Mihalyov

    LOUISVILLE KY

    Mark has been a passionate advocate for strategic ministry to unreached people groups since attending the Urbana Missions Conference in 1981. Married to his wife, Aimee, since 1983, Mark and his family served a staff term at the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena in the early '90's. Over the past thirty-five years Mark has served God as a local church elder, pastor, mission mobilizer, Christian school and missionary school teacher, and in general done whatever it took to spread the word that the Great Commission can and should be completed.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, March 24, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 9

    The Task Remaining

    God's pressed His purpose forward until the present hour of amazing opportunity. Understanding the concept of "unreached peoples" to assess the remaining task. Recognizing the imbalance of mission resources shapes strategic priorities. The basic minimal missiological achievement in every people group opens the way for working with God against every kind of evil so that the gospel of the kingdom is declared and displayed with clarity and power. The need and opportunity of urban mission.

  • Instructor

    

    Joshua Rolf

    Lynchburg VA

    Joshua grew up in Honolulu Hawaii, the cultural melting pot of the pacific. He was educated at California Baptist University (where he took perspectives under Jeff Lewis), before finishing up a seminary degree from Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX. Joshua spent the following 13 years serving and leading the Missions Ministry for Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. He was responsible for over 50 trips sent out by the church nationally and internationally. In addition to mobilizing short-term, he has been involved in the development of many long-term overseas strategies including the development of a Bible Institute along the Amazon River, training indigenous leaders theologically to plant/shepherd village churches and vocationally to provide for their families through government co-ops. Joshua has also served on the advisory council of a number of different non-profits including Seed Effect, an evangelical Micro-Finance Ministry in South Sudan. Currently he serves as the Director of Church Relationships for Launch Global - helping local churches recruit, train, and send Long Term Missionaries to the unreached peoples of the world. Joshua and his wife Maria live in Lynchburg, Va.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, March 31, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 12

    Christian Community Development

    A survey of world need. Dynamic balance of evangelism and social action. Hope for significant transformation as a sign of Christ's Lordship by Christian community development. Exploring the charge that missionaries destroy instead of serve cultures. Healing the wounds of the world between the peoples.

  • Instructor

    Mike Rufo

    Pioneers, Manlius NY

    Mike and Dorene recently sold the company they founded and operated for 17 years and now serve with the Pioneers Orlando Base. Mike is the assistant to the president for marketplace ministries. Marketplace ministries includes equipping and assisting missionaries in starting and operating businesses; and mobilizing and equiping professionals to participate in the great commission while working as an expat in a full time position.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, April 7, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 11

    Building Bridges of Love

    The incarnation as a model of missionary humility. How missionaries can enter appropriate roles in order to form relationships of trust and respect to develop a sense of belonging, and thus to communicate with credibility for understanding. Explore the intricacy of identification in another culture. Explore the even greater complexity of presenting identity with integrity in a globalized, terrorized, pluralized world. Recognizing the dynamics of social structure in order to initiate growing movements of ongoing communication throughout the society.

  • Instructor

    

    Susan Patt

    Frontier Ventures, Exton PA

    Sue Patt has worked as a mobilizer for more than 40 years (since 1982) with Frontier Ventures, formerly the US Center for World Mission. She has served as a Perspectives Regional Director (13 years) and as the Perspectives National Program Director (7 years). Her current assignment is Chief Strategy Officer with FV. She has been developing deliberate friendships with Muslims since 1980, and Hindus since 2005. She is married to Fran Patt since 1986. They have 3 adult children and live in Exton, PA in the Philadelphia suburbs.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, April 14, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 10

    How Shall They Hear?

    Culture and intercultural communication of the gospel. Communicating the gospel with relevance at the worldview level helps avoid syncretism (blending of cultural error with God?s truth) and also enables powerful movements of the gospel. Sensitive missionaries will look for ways that God has preserved or prepared people to hear the gospel, often finding redemptive analogies for God's truth.

  • Instructor

    

    Brian Hogan

    Disciple Making Mentors, Fayetteville AR

    Brian and Louise Hogan have served in mission since 1987. From the Navajo Tribe to Outer Mongolia, their passion has been to see Jesus glorified and lifted up among those who have never known Him. From 1993-1996 their team pioneered a church planting movement in Erdenet (AIR-DUH-NET), Mongolia that continues to grow under fully indigenous leadership to this day. Their Mongolian disciples are now training and sending out their own missionaries to other unreached people groups. The story of the work in Erdenet can be read in Brian’s book: There’s a Sheep in my Bathtub (Asteroidea Books), and in the case study article – “Distant Thunder: Mongols Follow the Khan of Khans” – on page 695 of your Perspectives Reader.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, April 21, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 13

    The Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches

    Look beyond institutional features of churches to understand churches as dynamic movements of Christ Himself being followed. Such a view of churches as organic, living things opens up the practicality of seeing them multiply rapidly as movements and also flourish in society bearing the fruit of social transformation. Churches as counter-communities, acting as salt and light, bringing change to their cultures. How movements multiply by connecting with entire families and larger social structures.

  • Instructor

    

    Dan Trippie

    Amherst NY

    After ministering in the Southern US, Dan returned to his hometown of Buffalo, NY in 2008 to plant his second church, Restoration Church. Dan received two degrees from Moody Bible Institute and is a Master of Divinity Candidate in Great Commission Ministries with a concentration in Church Planting at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dan has traveled to seven countries for mission and church saturation endeavors. In addition to church planting, he has a passion for marriage and family ministry. Dan and his wife, Gina, recently published their first book, He Said, She Said, God Said: Biblical Answers to Marriage Questions. They have twin teenage sons.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, April 28, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 14

    Pioneer Church Planting

    The hope of planting churches among unreached peoples. How the breakthrough of the gospel in an unreached people requires that the gospel be "de-Westernized". The difference of contextualizing the message, the messenger and the movement. Distinguish and appreciate people movements, church planting movements and insider movements.

  • Instructor

    

    Bradley Buser

    Founder Radius International, San Diego CA

    Brad came to faith in Christ at 17 and soon after was challenged with the need of unreached people groups. He began training for this directly after High School. Beth is from St. Johns MI., her Mom and Dad love the Lord Jesus and raised her with a heart for the world. They met, had two boys and left for Papua New Guinea in January of 1979. Soon after arriving they moved in among the Iteri people who live in the headwaters of the Sepik River Basin. After 4 years of studying the language and culture of the Iteri people they were fluent and began to share Christ with them for the first time. The baby church was discipled and in a few years leaders were ordained. The Busers worked on the New Testament translation and by 1999, after 20 years in the village, with the translation done, the church up and thriving, their need to be among the Iteris was over. Upon returning from PNG he and other men saw the need for appropriate training for missionaries who would be sent to Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. In 2010 he helped found Radius International as a ministry to do such training. Radius is currently the largest training program for those going into Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Tribal peoples. For those who desire to do church planting among the least reached it is the premier training available.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, May 5, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Lesson 15

    World Christian Discipleship

    What it means to integrate life for Christ's global purpose as a "'World Christian". Into the great story for His glory: a Person-driven life as a way of. pursuing a purpose-driven life. The basic practices of world Christians: going, sending, welcoming and mobilizing. The essential disciplines of World Christian discipleship: community, giving, praying and learning. Simplifying your lifestyle as if in "war-time". Exploring the practical ways of pursuing God's purpose. Business and mission. Short-term mission. Welcoming international visitors. Wisdom in working with local churches and in partnership with Christians in different parts of the world.

  • Instructor

    Saturation Church Planting, Denham Springs LA

    Kody is a missionary serving with Saturation Church Planting. He and his wife are currently in the process of being mobilized to move to Bangkok, Thailand where they will work towards planting churches in Bangkok and training church leaders throughout Asia.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, May 12, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Celebration

    Celebration Night! We'll enjoy a meal together and share what we've learned over the course of the class.

  • Instructor

    

  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, May 19, 2014

    Time: 6:15 PM to 9:00 PM

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