Moraga, CA
Spring 2015
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Perspectives Hosted in Moraga - Spring 2015
You are invited to join a unique course of Christian study and discipleship. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement is an adventure of a lifetime that will give you a new and deeper understanding of God's story and His desire for you to be a part of it.
Perspectives is a 15 week class that will change the way you view the world. From the cities and suburbs of America, to the villages, rain forests and deserts of distant lands. Whether you are single, married, student, homemaker, professional or retired, and whatever your current engagement in the church or its ministries, you will thrill to explore God's heart to restore His Glory among All Nations, ransoming His people from every tribe, language and culture! (Rev 5:9)
Sundays, 6:00 - 9:00 PM -- January 11 thru May 17, 2015
Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church
Course cost: $250.; includes Readers & Study Guide Books. Buy the eBook Reader & Study Guide from Amazon to receive a $30 discount! Please contact the Class Coordinator about discount.
Additional Family Members taking the class together receive $25 off! Alumni Pricing - $30 to upgrade to Certificate Level, all other alumni FREE! [For information on undergraduate and gradate level academic credit and pricing, contact Class Coordinator.] You will learn from 15 Different Instructors [live] over 15 weeks. All of them excellent and all of them passionate about this course. Some rank among the most highly-regarded missions leaders and mentors in the world and many will travel great distances to join us. They will challenge and inspire you with their wisdom and experience, opening your eyes to a new vision of God's Mercy, Greatness and Love. Check out the What is Perspectives All About YouTube video. Still not sure? Come the first night for FREE to check it out: Sunday, January 25, 6:00 to 9:00 pm (last chance).
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Registration & Orientation
Introduction: What is Perspectives?
Registration & Orientation
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Instructor
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Date: Sunday, January 11, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Alvern Vomsteeg
International Leadership Institute, Diamond Springs CA
Al served 24 years as a pastor in USA, 7 years missionary pastor in Brazil, and 7 years leading The Mission Society, and retired after 16 years serving with the Int'l Leadership Institute (ILI) training but still active.
Christian leaders worldwide. Retired 12/2018 b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, January 18, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Ziad Srouji
San Mateo CA
Pastor Z. Samuel Srouji came out of war torn Lebanon in the ‘70s and encountered Jesus at the age of 16 through the truth that “the grave is empty and Jesus is alive.” Since then he has been captured with the Father’s heart of love for the nations, and miracles have followed his ministry of worship and preaching around the world. For twenty five years he has pastored on the peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, January 25, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Gretchen Jill
Frontiers, Salinas CA
Perspectives (1995) first opened Gretchen's eyes to see how her lifelong interest in understanding and enjoying different cultures connected with God’s purposes and glory. She and her husband, David, coordinated the inaugural San Francisco class (1999) and subsequently joined the full-time ministry of Caleb Project, for 7 years, then to the Muslim world with their two children (then 2 and 4), for another 7 years. Returning to the US to battle cancer (2013), Gretchen is now (cancer-free), and is in the Training Department for Frontiers, helping others thrive on the field with effective langua-culture skills. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, February 1, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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).
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Instructor
Ben McBride
Empower Initiative, Oakland CA
Ben is a native of San Francisco and a longtime activist for peace and justice in the Bay Area.
Ben has a history of spiritual leadership, beginning as a youth pastor and continuing throughout his term as collegiate pastor for Greater St. Paul Baptist Church and Shiloh Church. In 2008, Ben relocated his family to a difficult neighborhood in Oakland known as “The Kill Zone.” During this tenure, he also served as Executive Director of Cityteam, a Christian non-profit providing rescue and recovery; medical and financial; educational and spiritual opportunities to hurting and homeless Oakland residents.
As a result of Ben’s zeal for social improvement and judicial restructuring, Ben founded the Empower Initiative in 2014. Empower provides faith-based technical assistance concerning public safety and training for suburban community members around issues affecting the urban core. In 2014, Ben was visibly involved in ministering justice and non-violence in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting. Ben, along with a bevy of clergy and national leaders, were extolled for their message of reconciliation, peaceful protests, and empowerment strategies during the height of racial unrest and social chaos.
Ben and his wife Gynelle have been married for 15 years and they reside in Oakland, California with their three beautiful daughters: Brittani, Jasmin and Symonne. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, February 8, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
T.V. Thomas
Centre for Evangelism & World Mission, Regina Not in USA
Originally from Malaysia, Dr. T.V. Thomas studied in Malaysia, India, Canada and the United States. He is Director of the Centre for Evangelism & World Mission in Regina, Canada where he makes his home with his wife, Mary. For over three decades T.V. has enjoyed trans-denominational and transcontinental ministry of speaking, teaching and networking. From 1984 to 1994 Dr. Thomas served as the Professor of Evangelism for the Murray W. Downey Chair of Evangelism at Canadian Theological Seminary. He currently serves on numerous national and international boards including being Chair of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship of Canada and Ethnic America Network; Vice Chair of Global Diaspora Network and Board member of InterVarsity USA. T.V. is Co-Chair of the International Network of South Asian Diaspora Leaders and is member of Perspectives Canada and Perspectives Global Leadership teams. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, February 22, 2015
Time: 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Sam Earp
Church Resource Ministry, San Jose CA
I have an extensive background in every facet of church missions. Currently consult with several Bay Area California churches. I founded the National Association of Mission Pastors and currenlty seve as a network consultant for the Bay Area Mission Network. Consultant for the Californai Assoiciation of Mission Pastors
Preach, teach and consult in mission related fields. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, March 1, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Viji Cammauf
Little Flock, Oakland CA
Viji Nakka- Cammauf is the President of Little Flock Children’s Homes a ministry to orphans and widows
.She is on Faculty at a Christian school in India called the Sam Higginbothams University of Science , Agriculture and Technology in the School of Theology. She teaches doctoral students in the filed of Christian Studies.
She is a lecturer and Professor of record for the Perspectives Study Program in Northern California.
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, March 8, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Dana S
Clovis CA
Dana served from 1983 to 1993 as a church planter in Northeast Brazil alongside her husband Larry. She also taught in a theological seminary in the area of Christian family and spiritual life for several years.
In 1993 she moved to Albania for hands-on involvement in a country that had been known as one of the top unreached people group geopolitical areas of the world. This post-communist, atheistic nation provided a context of nominalism in three religious traditions. Ironically all three included a hefty dose of atheism. She developed numerous friendships with people being exposed to the gospel over a period of years. Her joy was to see people's lives being transformed. The particular movement of churches that Larry and Dana served now includes several congregations in the southeast of the country.
Since 2011 Dana has concentrated on reaching out to diaspora populations in California and across the nation. More recently she has taken on a role with an Albanian think tank dedicated to using historical research as a key to the Albanian soul. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, March 15, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
John Becker
AIM/3P Ministries/Activate Global, Redwood City CA
John serves as Global Strategy Director for AIM and the Vice President for Global Networking and Partnerships for GACX. Currently residing in the San Francisco Bay Area, John Becker has lived and ministered in Africa and the United Kingdom with his wife and four children. John and his family love to live in community, practice hospitality and practically display God’s love in the community, especially to those displaced by war and violence.
John has been a contributing author of several books, two of which are: From Seed to Fruit: Global Trends, Fruitful Practices and Emerging Issues Relating to Muslims and Where There Was No Church: Postcards From Followers of Christ in the Muslim World. John has a heart for Kingdom collaboration and has co-founded a dozen global networks and regional partnerships to serve the least reached communities of the world.
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, March 22, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Colleen Wong
Deoworks , West Hills CA
Colleen is currently on staff with Deoworks as the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Platforms, with a focus on national leadership development. Deoworks is a Gospel-centered consulting non-profit company connecting the body of Christ and accelerating the ministry of the Kingdom of God, seeking to incubate ideas to contribute the furthering of the Kingdom. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, March 29, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Tim Svoboda
Youth With A Mission, San Francisco CA
Timothy Svoboda is currently the International Urban missions Director for Youth With A Mission and also serves as the City Coordinator for YWAM San Francisco and the Bay Area. Tim, his wife and children have served in India from 1983 to 2007. Tim was the National Director for YWAM India, the South Asia Urban Ministry Coordinator and the Chennai City Coordinator. YWAM Chennai has developed into a decentralized movement of 17 focused teams that are living incarnationally and reaching out to leprosy patients, slum dwellers, university students, urban middle class people, Muslims, and into other sectors of society. Tim also was one of the founders for Chennai Transformation Network which is a movement that unites the Christians of the city for transformational ministry. Tim and his family currently live in San Francisco giving leadership to the ministry of YWAM there and around the world in cities. Tim also serves on the Global Leadership Team for YWAM international, the Global Urban Missions Network which is a broad consortium of City Missional leaders from various organizations around the world and locally Tim serves on several San Francisco faith initiatives. Tim earned his Doctorate in Ministry from the Bakke Graduate University in 2007 and is an adjunct professor for BGU for their courses in San Francisco and India. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, April 12, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Ron Binder
Wycliffe Bible Translators, Santa Ana CA
Ron and his wife, Kathy, worked in Panama and Colombia for 23 years with Wycliffe. They completed a New Testament translation among the Wounaan people and also did extensive work in developing literacy materials, training pastors, teachers and artists, community development and ethnomusicology. They have published some 80 books in the Wounaan language besides the New Testament and have seen God raise up some 15 churches, all of which are led by Wounaan pastors without the presence of missionaries.
Ron has been a speaker in Perspectives classes since 1994, has coordinated several classes himself and is Professor of Record for many of the classes in which he teaches. In the U.S. he is a speaker and events coordinator for Wycliffe, but he and Kathy also help facilitate ongoing ministry goals determined by the Wounaan church leaders by traveling to Panama 2-3 times a year. These goals include creating new media and written resources in their language for evangelism and outreach ministries. Currently working on Old Testament translation, discipleship materials and a bilingual dictionary. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, April 19, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Lee Bridges
Jonathan Project, Yuba City CA
International Coordinator for the Jonathan Project ministry. Instructor has 40 years experience in Church Planting ministry with extensive experience doing evangelism and church planting particularly in restricted access contexts. He also trains others to do the same. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, April 26, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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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. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, May 3, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Joni Brinkley
OM - Operation Mobilization, Dickson TN
Joni has been serving the Lord with Operation Mobilization for over 30 years. She and her husband Norm were involved in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting in the USA for a few years before moving overseas with 1st baby in 1978. Together they have ministered in over 30 nations, leading teams, founding and running a missionary base for N. Africa, and serving as country and field leaders in OM.
With TOEFL certification, she also taught English as a Foreign Language in the Middle East while providing “Member Care” for workers there. She presently mobilizes and mentors university students in California to “get out there” into unreached nations. Speaking at universities, churches, and conferences, she loves to share from her heart about the work of missions, intercultural issues, the world of Islam, worldwide opportunities, and raising families. She currently lives with her husband in California and is developing ministry among local refugees from Muslim nations.
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, May 10, 2015
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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