Class Info

Date: Sunday, January 6, 2019

Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM

Location: Fairlawn Mennonite Church 8520 Emerson Road Apple Creek OH 44606

Contact: Steve Bixler

(330) 621-1368

• • Instructor

    
    

• • 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

    

    Robert Blincoe

    Frontiers, Mesa AZ

    Bob led a Frontiers team into northern Iraq following the first Gulf War in 1991. He is president emeritus of Frontiers USA, living in Phoenix. He has a Ph.D. in History from William Carey International University in Pasadena. He has twice lost on television game shows. He blogs at robertblincoe.blog.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, January 6, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    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: Sunday, January 13, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    Jamie Zumwalt

    Outrageous Love, Oklahoma City OK

    Jamie Zumwalt is the Founder and President of Outrageous Love, an organization that starts Communities of Hope among marginalized peoples. Jamie and her husband, John, served as missionaries in Taiwan among the Hakka and Taiwanese. For 22 years, John and Jamie have been training and sending missionaries out to plant the church among the unreached. She now pastors and a leads a coffee house, church community called Joe's Addiction in a "red light" district of Oklahoma City, doing life together with the poor. She has authored two books: Simple Obsession: Enjoying the Tender Heart of God and Beloved Chaos: moving from religion to Love in a red light district. Jamie travels widely, teaching and inviting more people to plant Communities of Hope. She and John have five children and one grand daughter.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, January 20, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    James Cha

    Crescent Project, Leesburg VA

    Rev. James Cha was born in Korea, but grew up here in the US. He studied electrical engineering at Cornell University, and worked ten years as an engineer. In 2000 he and his wife, Faith, took their 3 kids to Central Asia, where they served ten years as church planting missionaries with Pioneers. They are now back in the US reaching out to the Muslims in the Washington, DC area. James & Faith are Washington DC Area Coordinators for Crescent Project. They also direct ESL ministry in Leesburg, VA. They have three adult children and one grandchild. James recently published a book about their missions journey - Fear Not: Living a Life of No Regrets. Available on amazon.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, January 27, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    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: Sunday, February 3, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    Richard Showalter

    Irwin OH

    Teacher, mentor, and consultant with global south outreach to unreached people groups in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Overseer in evangelical Mennonite congregations in the U.S. Writer. Currently an adjunct faculty member and student at Bethany International University, Singapore.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, February 10, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    Dave Shive

    Frontier Ventures (formerly US Center for World Mission), Catonsville MD

    Dave Shive is a 1968 graduate of the Washington Bible College, a 1972 graduate of Capital Bible Seminary with a Th.M. in New Testament Studies, and a 1994 graduate of Baltimore Hebrew University with an M.A. in Biblical Literature. Dave has spent the past 47 years in full time ministry as a pastor, Christian school director, and college professor. He currently serves with Frontier Ventures (formerly the US Center for World Mission) as a missions mobilizer for the northeast region of the United States. Dave lives in Catonsville, MD, with Kathy, his wife of 52 years. Dave and Kathy have three married children, Dan, Mike, and Becky. They are also the proud grandparents of 9 grandsons and 2 granddaughters.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, February 17, 2019

    Time: 1:00 AM to 1:00 AM

• • 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

    

    Jewel Showalter

    Eastern Mennonite Missions, Irwiin OH

    Jewel Showalter has worked as chaplin at Philhaven Hospital, served as church planter in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, and served as a missionary in Kenya, Turkey, Cyprus, and China. She has worked as writer and editor at Rosedale Mennonite Missions and at Rosedale Bible College. She has worked as a staff writer, trainer/teacher and Middle East administrator for Eastern Mennonite Missions.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, February 24, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    Martha Workman

    Columbus OH

    Martha Workman was born in Pittsburgh, PA and graduated from Penn State. After receiving a calling from the Lord, in 1993 Andrew and Martha Workman moved overseas to share the love of God. In 2011, they moved back to Ohio with their two daughters to continue this ministry serving on the leadership team for SEA and reaching out to Muslims locally.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, March 3, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    Jill Kane

    Wooster OH

    JIll Kane born and raised in Wooster, Ohio. Jill and her husband Kevin now reside in Wooster after returning from the field of Cambodia serving as missionaries. They were with Encompass World Partners(previously known as Grace Brethren International Missions)for 13 years. Jill came to know Christ at the age of 30 and has been excited about sharing HIM since that day. Jill and Kevin have two grown children, Jenny and Jeremy.She enjoys time with her family,grand kids Grace, Emma and Grady.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, March 10, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    Jeff Johnson

    Frontiers, Gilbert AZ

    Jeff Johnson and his wife Roxanne have been working with Muslims since 1988. They have served on and led church-planting teams in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. They have witnessed firsthand the martyrdom of Muslim back-ground believers and fellow missionaries, birthed underground Christian fellowships in war torn countries, and seen the miraculous hand of God throughout the Muslim world. Jeff currently works in Frontiers' International Leadership group as Co-Director of Sending; overseeing 32 sending bases and engaging with indigenous sending partners and churches in the Global South and Majority World. After being arrested and deported from Uzbekistan, Jeff and his wife Roxanne split their time working with Frontiers International Office in London and in Phoenix, where they engage Frontiers' Latino Sending Bases. Jeff & Roxanne also coach and oversee church planting teams in South Asia. Jeff is a popular speaker and preacher at large, specializing in training followers of Jesus to engage Muslims both domestically and globally.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, March 17, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    Paul Wides

    Hudson OH

    
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, March 24, 2019

    Time: 5:30 AM to 8:00 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

    

    Samuel Stevens

    Hudson OH

    Rev. Samuel D. Stephens graduated from the Madras Christian College with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts (B.A.) from the Madras University in 1973. He did his post graduate theological studies with a major in Missions at the Union Biblical Seminary in Central India and graduated in 1977 from the Serampore University with a degree in Divinity. He will graduate in April 2017 with a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership and Global Perspectives from George Fox University. Following his seminary education, Samuel joined India Gospel League (IGL), an organization founded in 1948 by his grandfather and has served God through the organization for more than 35 years and as President since his father’s death in 1988. It is under Sam’s leadership and by God’s grace that there has been unprecedented and substantial growth with over 90,000 new churches planted since 1992. Sam can be described as a visionary leader, an able administrator and a committed activist at the grass roots level. He is an excellent communicator with the ability to pass on his vision with great passion. His life’s ambition is to see the Kingdom of God firmly established. Sam and his wife Prati have 9 children (7 of them adopted) and live with an extended family of more than 400 people on the Sharon Campus of IGL in Salem, Tamilnadu, India.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, March 31, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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

    

    Richard Mendola

    International Friendships, Upper Arlington OH

    Rich was born in Buffalo, NY, the grandson of immigrants from Italy who settled in Western, NY. His mother and father were both raised in the Italian section of the city. Although he was raised in a religious family who attended church, he did not personally know Christ until he was 17 years old. Prior to that, the death of his father at age 13 triggered a search for meaning and truth. This eventually led to studying the Bible, where he discovered that the true purpose of life was to worship and serve God. Through reading the New Testament he learned that Jesus Christ made it possible to come to God because of His sacrificial death for sins. Immediately upon coming to know Jesus, Rich had the strong desire to let others know the good news. Rich attended Colgate University in New York State where he majored in Biology and minored in Education and Philosophy and Religion. After his graduation, he had the first opportunity to pastor and was called to serve a rural congregation . At the same time he served on the Dean’s staff at Colgate University as the Director of Housing. In addition, he studied for a Master’s degree in counseling. In 1979 Rich and Janet attended.the Urbana Mission Conference. There Rich sensed a call to full time cross-cultural ministry. In 1980 he began to work full-time with international students in Buffalo, NY. At the same time, Janet attended medical school at SUNY Buffalo. In 1987 they moved to Athens, Ohio to open a new ministry to international students while Janet fulfilled her obligation to the National Health Service Corp – a program placing physicians in shortage areas. In 1991, Rich and Janet moved to Columbus, Ohio to work with International Friendships. Since 1998 he has served as the Executive Director. He also leads Bible studies and does 1-1 discipleship with students. He has written several Bible studies for internationals. He has served as the Chairperson for the Association of Christians Ministering to Internationals. Rich has also helped to plant two churches. He currently serves as lead pastor for All Nations Christian Fellowship. During Rich’s 29 years of service among internationals hundreds have come to know Jesus and many have returned as effective witnesses of Jesus among their own people. The kingdom of God is advancing among Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and atheists because of the ministry to internationals. Jesus can share many wonderful and dramatic stories of God’s work among internationals. Rich is a regular speaker at missions conferences, evangelistic outreaches, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement and is a lecturer at Vineyard Leadership Institute. Rich and Janet have 6 children: Grace, Danielle, Hope, Philip, Melody, and Paul. Rich’s interests are: Evangelism, Discipleship, trips, chess, and hats. Rich’s spiritual gifts are leadership, exhortation, and evangelism.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, April 7, 2019

    Time: 5:30 PM to 8:00 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 Sovine

    Director of church Planting for Central District of the CMA, Wadsworth OH

    Born and raised in a Christian home, I graduated from Toccoa Falls College in 1990 with a B.A. in Pastoral Ministries, and received my Masters of Arts in Religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. I married my wife, Jill, in 1990 and we have four children: Justin ('93), Christina ('95), Josiah ('99), Mathias ('99). We have served the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the Central District for all 22 years of our ministry life. 16 years were spent pastoring in Canton, Ohio and the last 8 years have been invested as the Director of Church Planting for the district.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Sunday, April 14, 2019

    Time: 1:00 AM to 1:00 AM

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