As of July 8th, 2023, we are exclusively using the new Perspectives 2.0 site for new classes.Click [here] to go there!

 
Houston, TX - The Heights    Fall 2015
Looking for your assignments? Sign In

Welcome to Houston Heights Perspectives!

Perspectives on the World Christian Movement is a 15-week discipleship class that will radically change how you view your own story and your place in this world. Your eyes will be opened to the heart and purpose of God. You will see how your life is part of God’s purpose in reaching all peoples. Whether you have a passion to travel to foreign lands or desire to engage in the urban environs of Houston, you have a vital role in a purpose that has been unfolding across all time. Regardless of your place in life and your plans for the future, this course will challenge you like never before to live strategically and be threaded into God’s story.


When:
Mondays, 6:30 - 9:30pm
August 24th, 2015 - December 14th, 2015

Where:
6325 Hurst Street
Houston, TX 77008
2nd floor in the youth group meeting area.

Price:
Click on "Class Pricing" to the right for available options. Certificate level is highly recommended.

First two weeks are FREE (8/24 & 8/31)!

In this course, you will learn from 15 highly-regarded teachers, thinkers, pastors, and missionaries who energize others to embrace the task ahead. They will challenge and inspire you with their personal experiences and open your eyes to see just how big God is. You will explore your role in joining with others to live out God’s desire that all might come to know Him.


Other class options in Houston:

Click here to hear from some of our Alumni!






Class Info

Date: Monday, August 24, 2015

Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM

Location: Grace Bible Church 6325 Hurst Street Houston TX 77008

Contact:

 
    • Registration & Orientation

      Registration & Orientation

    • Instructor

      David Jackett

      Sixteen:Fifteen, Lewisville TX

      After spending 10 years as a professional firefighter/EMT / Fire Marshal in Fort Worth, TX, David left the fire service for full-time vocational ministry. He currently serves as the Director of Mobilization & Operations at Sixteen:Fifteen. David has led more than a dozen trips to Central America doing evangelism, medical and orphan care, firefighter training and church planting. He has helped his church and others develop missionary training and equipping programs and he has spoken to thousands of students and adults across the US and Central America about God’s global mission with a great passion to mobilize the body of Christ to strategic engagement in God’s global purpose.


    • Date: Monday, August 24, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Rick Leatherwood

      Kairos International, Waco TX

      Rick Leatherwood has spent decades doing pioneer evangelism, Bible translation, and development work in the Philippines, Mongolia, and Iraq. Since 2009 he has been pioneering new methods of creating oral Bibles and using them in oral Bible Schools in Liberia and Ethiopia.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, August 31, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Greg Despres

      East-West Ministries International, Cypress TX

      Dr. Greg Despres is the Regional Director of the North American Field for East-West. He lives in Cypress and also directs the Houston East-West Team. Greg has formerly served as a Lead Pastor, Missions Pastor, and Youth Pastor. He is married to Alli and they have 5 kids. Both Greg and Allison have a desire to see people get mobilized for Great Commission service.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, September 7, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Russell Minick

      Houston TX

      Russell Minick, M.A.I.S., M.Div. Church planter and cross-cultural consultant since 1990. Has served in more than two dozen countries throughout Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Currently part of the Houston's First Baptist Church missions team. CrownHeartWorld.com is where he shares his teaching on seeing our stories through God's Story.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, September 14, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Bob Sjogren

      UnveilinGLORY, Mechanicsville VA

      Bob Sjogren (pronounced show - gren) is the president of UNVEILINGLORY, a ministry awakening the Church to new awareness of God's glory in all areas of life, and to seeing His glory go to all the world's peoples. Bob has been mobilizing the Body of Christ to reveal God's greatest glory through reaching all ethnic groups with the gospel. He and his wife Debby have written homeschool Bible curricula. And in 2021, Bob launched a YouTube Channel called, "Maturing The Bride." Bob and Debby live in Richmond, VA.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, September 21, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Jamie W.

      Spring TX

      Jamie was born in Washington, DC, and upon graduating from high school, attended Radford University where he graduated with a double-major in Political Science and Criminal Justice. Jamie then joined the Fairfax County Police Department where he was named Police Officer of the Year and promoted into the Criminal Investigations Section in his second year of service. In Jamie’s fifth year of service he was contacted by the Central Intelligence Agency and offered a position working in the Muslim world. Jamie then earned a Master’s of Arts Degree in English and Intercultural Studies from Columbia International University and held teaching positions at the University of South Carolina; Universitas Mataram, Indonesia; Bandung Alliance School, West Java; Mustansaria University, Baghdad, Iraq; Global Services, Amman, Jordan; and Al-Quz University, West Bank, Palestine. Jamie has been married for 30 years to Donna and they are the proud parents of three sons, two daughter’s-in-law, and two granddaughters. Jamie and Donna currently live and work in Jerusalem, Israel. USA Mailing Address: Jamie and Donna Winship Woods Edge Community Church 25333 Gosling Road Spring, Texas 77389

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, September 28, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Ally S.

      Carrollton TX

      Ally has served the Perspectives Movement in various roles from coordinator to instructor, for the past eleven years in Texas, where she lives with her husband and two boys. Her passion for the nations has been the driving force throughout her Christian walk, taking her into the inner cities of England, the mountains of the Afghanistan and India and the refugee camps of Pakistan, and now the suburbs of North Texas.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, October 5, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Mary Ho

      All Nations Family, Inc, Kansas City MO

      Dr. Mary Ho is the International Executive Leader of All Nations (http://allnations.international), a global Christian missions organization with workers making disciples and doing church planting in 44 countries. Dr. Ho is passionate about finishing the Great Commission in this generation by sharing the love of God among every people and in parts of the world where the name of Jesus Christ is little or not known. Dr. Ho received her Doctorate of Strategic Leadership from Regent University, VA, U.S.A. in 2016.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, October 12, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Rick Seifert

      The Woodlands TX

      Rick Seifert is a businessman by day and a missions mobilizer by night. He has been involved with world missions for the past 30 years. For many years he served as the Missions Chairman of Faith Bible Church in The Woodlands. During the years, his wife, Suzanne and Rick have had the privilege of helping on cross-cultural trips to The Philippines, El Salvador, Dubai, Haiti, Romania, China, Albania, the Gaza Strip, Germany and Turkey. Rick is a member of Faith Bible Church in The Woodlands. He is a graduate of Baylor University.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, October 19, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Richard Gunasekera

      Online Perspectives Programs/Courses, La Mirada CA

      Richard is assoc dean and professor at Biola University CA and Faculty at Rice University, Houston, TX. Richard grew up in a Christian family in old Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He earned his undergraduate degree and a doctorate in biochemical genetics at the Baylor University- Medical Center in Dallas. Richard has served Perspectives Since early 1990s as an instructor, Coordinator, the founding Director of Online PSP Programs and POR. He lives in the Houston, Texas area with his family; wife is an Anesthesiologist and they have two grown children.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, October 26, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      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

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, November 2, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      David Swanson

      College Station TX

      David is an avid storyteller. As a missions mobilizer he uses story to help people understand God’s global purpose and discover their place in that plan. David grew up as a missionary kid in Panama. A graduate of Texas A&M University, David currently works for his alma mater. He also serves as a volunteer with a campus ministry. He has helped lead short-term student ministry trips and has worked with churches and church-planting ministries in several countries around the world.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, November 9, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Steve Vinton

      Village Schools International, Mafinga Not in USA

      Steve Vinton has served for more than three decades as a missionary in Africa, first as a teacher, and then as an adviser to his former students as they worked together to plant churches, to start primary and secondary schools, medical clinics, a teacher training college and a theological college, as well as to launch various community development projects. Steve and his wife Susan took the Perspectives Course together in 1990, quit their jobs in Washington DC and served as missionaries in the Congo until they were forced by war in 1999 to relocate to the neighboring country of Tanzania. In 2005, together with a number of their former students, Steve and Susan founded Village Schools International.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, November 16, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Jerry Squyres

      Innovative Mission Opportunities, Pearland TX

      Four years working with university students in Taiwan, Twenty plus years on church staff with emphasis on missions, Nineteen and a half years mobilizing short-term mission teams...last sixsteen years plus to closed countries/unreached people groups. Founded Innovative Mission Opportunities (www.imoi.org) in 1998. Founded Innovative Humanitarian Solutions (www.innovativehs.net) in 2002.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, November 30, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Brian

      Frankston TX

      .

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, December 7, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 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

      Hudson Smith

      The Traveling Team, Conway AR

      Hudson Smith is from the United States, and grew up in Arkansas, earning a degree in history from the University of Arkansas. For 10 years, he served as the Director of Operations for The Traveling Team. The Traveling Team is a mobilization organization that recruits college students from all major US universities toward Christ's global cause. During his time on staff, he traveled to 49 states and 3 countries and spoke to over 40,000 college students, sharing God's heart for the world. He also spoke extensively at Perspectives classes and missions conferences for churches. In 2021, he and his family moved to Dubai, UAE to serve as the Director of Operations for Redeemer Church of Dubai. He has Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary.

      b

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, December 14, 2015

      Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM

    • Instructor

    • Class Info

    • Class Info

      • Your Assignments


    • Class Info

      • Your Assignments


    • Class Info

      • Your Assignments


    • Class Info

      • Your Assignments











Copyright 2022 Perspectives Study Program.