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Madison, AL F17    Fall 2017
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LIVE WITH PASSION - RUN WITH PURPOSE

We are MADE FOR MORE

Perspectives is a 15-week discipleship course that changes the way you view the world. It's a course in which you will have your eyes opened to the heart and purpose of God, and how you can take part in His work all over the world—from the urban streets of America to the rain forest and deserts of distant lands. 

A fantastic array of pastors, theologians, international missiologists, and mobilizers will challenge and inspire you with their personal experiences that will open your eyes to see just how big God is, and how much He desires that all might come to know Him. Whether single, married, student, homemaker, professional, or retired, you will explore God's heart for every tribe, tongue, and language He created.


When: Mondays, 6-9pm (Aug 21 - Dec 04)

Where: The Brook Church - 8573 US 72, Madison, AL  35758

Cost: $275 for Certificate or Key Readings (includes reader and study guide)

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Family Member Discount: When one family member pays full price, any additional family members receive $50 off!

eReader Book Discount: Buy the Kindle Reader and Study Guide from Amazon and receive $30 off!

Special Alumni Pricing: Alumni can experience Perspectives again for a heavily reduced rate!

You can apply multiple discounts! Please contact  if you have any questions. 



Class Info

Date: Monday, August 21, 2017

Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Location: The Brook Church 8573 Highway 72 W Madison AL 35758

Contact: Mark & Peggy Hickinbotham

360-929-3520

 
    • Registration & Orientation

      Registration & Orientation

    • Instructor


    • Date: Monday, August 21, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Tollie Meggs

      Out of the Boat Ministries, Tuscaloosa AL

      Founder of Out of the Boat Ministries where she is a Bible teacher, conference speaker, and author. Missions Mobilizer at Capstone Church in Tuscaloosa. Tollie leads retreats and conferences around the world, and has an ongoing counseling/teaching ministry to women in homeless shelters, helping them re-establish their lives. A passionate and gifted communicator, Tollie’s mission is: challenging and mobilizing followers of Christ to know Him more deeply and to make His glory known among the nations. She has a passion to help Christ followers discover their gifting and maximize their gifts, talents and life experience for the glory of God at home and abroad.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, August 21, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Steve Elworth

      Baton Rouge LA

      Steve serves at The Chapel on The Campus, a non-denominational church in Baton Rouge LA, as the Global and Local Outreach Director. He helps lead the church in reaching the nations, both in Baton Rouge through International Ministry, and around the world through trips and partnerships. He and His wife Amber have a passion to see the church grasp and act on her God given opportunity and responsibility to make disciples of all nations. After pursuing going to the Muslim world themselves, God has had them stay in the states to help every follower of Jesus see that their lives have been bought and their redemption has been given not just for themselves, but so Jesus will be made known through every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. In 2018, they opened Light House Coffee in Baton Rouge, a coffee shop with the mission to Serve the World Through a Baton Rouge Coffee Experience. They use this business as an opportunity to employ, love, and serve refugees from around the world, and train up global workers to use business to impact the world.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, August 28, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Mark Baxter

      YWAM Jacksonville, Jacksonville FL

      Mark Baxter is the visionary leader of Youth With A Mission Jacksonville, Florida. Mark and Janet started the base in January 2001 because they are passionate about taking the Gospel to places where it isn't. They have 3 children - Daniel, Kathleen, and Jennifer along with 8 grandchildren. Mark has ministered in over 130 nations and he, Janet, and their youngest child lived in Harbin, China teaching English and planted a church among unreached people in 2008/09. Mark is on YWAM's international frontier missions leadership team, is the missions pastor at Redeemer Church, and is part of the NoPLaceLeft network in Jacksonville.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, September 4, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Scott Miller

      Salem Church, McDonough GA

      Scott and his wife, Chris, have been married 40 years and are blessed with two grown children and one grandson. Scott completed a BSBA from Mars Hill University (NC), a Master of Divinity from Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY., and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Seminary in 1995 in Evangelism and Church Growth. After serving as a Lead Pastor for 34 years he has now made the transition to invest 100% of his ministry in Missions as the Pastor of Global Missions at Salem Church in McDonough, Georgia. He is personally involved in mission partnerships on four continents and serves as the Co- Director for Mustard Seed International. He has led 69 short-term mission trips to Asia, Africa, Europe, and Central America. Scott also teaches 6 Perspectives on the World Christian Movement lessons and seeks to weave stories and experiences from the front lines into the time-tested practical principles of the world of missions. He loves helping to mobilize churches and individuals to catch God's vision for the world and to develop ongoing mission partnerships between local churches and believers here with indigenous partners in unreached areas. He loves to teach God's Word in its simplicity and power and has a passion to reach the unreached and to see believers grow in Christ and become pioneers of Kingdom growth.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, September 11, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Nathan J'Diim

      TOAG/Launch Internship and Frontiers, Chandler AZ

      Nathan J'Diim (pen name) is the Founder of TOAG and (semi-retired) Consultant, Instructor and Coach for Frontiers (www.FrontiersUSA.org). Launch (www.LaunchGlobal.org) has since replaced TOAG but carries the same DNA: a year long after-hours internship preparing beautiful feet to serve in the Unreached World. Offered in cities across the US, TOAG/Launch has apprenticed hundreds of interns, many who serve or will soon serve the least reached world wide.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, September 18, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Nathan Jewett

      Huntsville AL

      Nathan Jewett is a follower of Christ, husband to Amber, and mobilizer for the nations. He studied Bible and Preaching in Dallas, TX before moving to Alabama in 2010 to pastor in the local church. His heart to see God's glory among all nations has taken him to Nicaragua, Panama, Rwanda, India, and Nepal. He now mobilizes through his work in the marketplace and advocates for social change around the issue of chronic homelessness in his local community, with the overall aim of seeing God's glory displayed among all peoples.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, September 25, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      David Cashin

      Columbia Int'l University, Columbia SC

      Dr. Cashin is professor of intercultural studies at Columbia Int'l University. He is fluent in Bengali and Swedish. The 1st due to investing 9 years with Bengali speakers (the 6th largest living language). The 2nd, thru marriage to Margareta, pastoring churches and earning his PhD in Indiology at Stockholm University.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, October 2, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Jillian Combs

      Pioneers, West Des Moines IA

      Jillian serves at the US office for Pioneers. One of her passions is meeting and building relationships with new people. She enjoys traveling the US to meet young people and families who are interested in reaching the unreached with the Gospel through going, praying and giving. She and her husband Jared have a mutual love for college football and training for marathons!

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, October 9, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Marco Murillo

      The Heights en Español, Richardson TX

      Marco was born and raised in Mexico City. He lived and studied in Argentina for 3 years. Upon returning to CDMX they met Aubrey Murillo and served together as youth pastors, church planters and in Christian education. In 2010 they moved to Texas with their three children, where they were taught and later taught at the Rio Grande Biblical Seminary. In 2014 they moved to Atlanta, GA and planted a church with the North American Mission Board. Subsequently, Marco directed the new Perspectives program in the United States and collaborated in the leadership of Latin America for 6 years. Marco and his family currently live in Dallas, TX where he pastors a Hispanic congregation and seeks to complete his doctoral studies.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, October 16, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Grant Haynes

      Global Frontier Missions, Lilburn GA

      Grant Haynes founded Global Frontier Missions in 2000 while church planting among indigenous groups in southern Mexico. His passion is to see as many individuals and churches as possible praying, giving, welcoming, and going to the least reached people groups of the earth. Grant spent 14 years serving in Oaxaca, Mexico with his wife and three children church planting, hosting short-term mission groups, running an indigenous Bible school, and starting a missionary training school for North Americans. Grant now serves in Clarkston, GA, known as the most diverse square mile in America, reaching refugees from Iraq, Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, Somalia, Ethiopia, and many other nations.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, October 23, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Dennis Cochrane

      Lexington SC

      Dennis and his wife Nancy served as linguists and Bible translators among the 20,000 Duna people of Papua New Guinea. After devising an alphabet for this previously unwritten language they produced primers and readers, teaching many to read their own language. They then translated the first portions of God's Word into the Duna language. Several thousand Duna came to faith in Christ and today there are many churches among these people.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, October 30, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      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, November 6, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      John Zumwalt

      Outrageous Love, Choctaw OK

      John Zumwalt is the Cross Cultural Coach for the innovative organization, Outrageous Love. After serving as a missionary among the unreached Minnan he returned to America and for over 22 years served as the founder and Director of the Missionary Training Institute, Beautiful Feet Boot Camp. He has trained over 300 Career Missionaries. He has a Doctorate of Divinity from International University for Graduate Studies. John has authored the book, Passion for the Heart of God and travels widely, preaching and holding seminars, raising up activist to go to the ends of the earth. John and his wife, Jamie, also pastor a church in a “red light district” of Oklahoma City. They have five children, Jessica, Josiah, Jael, Jewel and James.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, November 13, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      David Kaufmann

      City Church Network, Nashville TN

      David Kaufmann is the lead pastor of City Church Network. He is married to Rebekah, his high-school sweetheart, and has 4 amazing and wonderful children (William, Gracie, Belle, and Noah). His heart for church planting comes from over 10 years of prayer, experience, and study in the ministry. He first began as youth pastor in Huntsville, AL and then moved on to e3 Partners to become the International Director for Students. After traveling to 15 different countries spanning four years and training international leaders, David received a call to serve as a pastor with Lighthouse Christian Fellowship in Antioch, TN. David planted City Church of Woodbine five years ago with a vision to birth a church planting movement in Nashville, TN that would successfully spread the gospel among all refugee and immigrant communities in the city. David’s hope is that someday Nashville will be known as a light unto the nations (Isaiah 49:6). David is now leading a team of 9 Missionary families to plant churches among the most unreached people groups in Nashville, TN. In addition, he helps train church planters across the United States and India.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, November 27, 2017

      Time: 6:00 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

      Todd Ahrend

      The Traveling Team, Fayetteville AR

      Todd Ahrend graduated from Northeastern State University, has a Masters from Dallas Theological Seminary and a Doctorate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the founder and international Director of The Traveling Team, a national missions mobilization movement. He and his wife, Jessica, have spent almost two decades traveling both nation-wide and abroad, speaking to thousands of people about involvement in world evangelization. Todd has exposure in over sixty countries and has lived in the Middle East. He is the author of The Abrahamic Revolution and In This Generation. Todd and Jessica have six children: Camden, Brody, Axel, Noble, Quincy and Cruz!

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, December 4, 2017

      Time: 1:00 AM to 1:00 AM

    • Celebration

      Celebration

    • Instructor

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, December 11, 2017

      Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

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