Class Info

Date: Monday, January 20, 2020

Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Location: Citylight Benson 5612 Corby St Omaha NE 68104

Contact: Robin Laney

(402) 990-3866

• • 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

    

    Tom Steller

    Bethlehem College and Seminary, Minneapolis MN

    Tom Steller, M.Div. Academic Dean, Vice President Tom was born in Excelsior, Minnesota. He grew up Roman Catholic. When he was 16, he committed his life to Christ. After he graduated from Bethel College with a B.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies, he pursued further training at Bethel Seminary (St. Paul) and Fuller Seminary Steller_2009_small(Pasadena, California). He graduated from Fuller with an M.Div. From 1980-82 he worked part-time with college students at Bethlehem, taught Greek at Bethel College, and finished his seminary studies at Bethel Seminary. In 1982, Tom was ordained and came on Bethlehem’s staff full-time as Pastor for Students and Adult Education. In 1984, his position was changed to Pastor for Students and Missions. In 1989, his position was changed once again to Pastor for Missions and Leadership Development. In 1990-91 Tom and his family served at the Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary. After returning to Bethlehem, Tom resumed his position until 1996, when he was asked to devote some of his time to developing and serving in the position of Executive Pastor. In 1997, after Bethlehem called its first full-time Executive Pastor, Tom was given a study leave at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois, where he designed The Bethlehem Institute for Bible, Theology, and Missions. In 1998, Tom returned to Bethlehem and implemented the vision for TBI. Upon the arrival of Bethlehem’s first full-time Foreign Missions Pastor in the Spring of 2002, Tom’s pastoral heart and missions passion began being expressed as Pastor for Leadership Development and Dean of TBI. In 2009 TBI became Bethlehem College and Seminary where where Tom was appointed to serve as the Academic Dean for 10 years. He is now serving as Dean of Global and Alumni Outreach and Associate Professor of New Testament, while continuing his pastoral duties with the church. Tom and his wife, Julie, are the happy parents of Hannah, Ruth, Katie, Nate, CJ, and Emma. He and Julie are now glad to be grandparents as well. The Stellers live in the Elliot Park Neighborhood, just a few-minutes walk from the church.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, January 20, 2020

    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

    Brother Ben

    WoT, Lincoln NE

    Nebraska native that met Jesus in Middle School and started a wonderful journey under his loving Lordship. Perspectives and other discipleship during college years opened my heart to God's glory among the nations. Other roles I am currently enjoying are husband, father, church member, ESL teacher, and cross cultural community developer.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, January 27, 2020

    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

    

    Kerry Relihan

    Midwest District EFCA, Lincoln NE

    Pastor Kerry Relihan served as Lead Pastor of Stromsburg Evangelical Free Church for over 28 years before becoming a church consultant in the Midwest District EFCA. He has had local, regional, national and international experience in mobilizing churches to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, February 3, 2020

    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

    

    Tara Rye

    Audio Scripture Ministries, Omaha NE

    Tara’s love for a good story makes her heart sing. She incorporates biblical storying along with inductive Bible study methods in small groups at church, in a homeless shelter, on mission trips, on the radio, and at speaking engagements. Tara is the Training Coordinator for Global Friends, a ministry that reaches international students on college campuses. She is an adjunct professor at Nebraska Christian College. She is also an Executive Coach with Cru and the President/Founder of Cultivating Hearts Ministries. Tara is an author and speaker. She was the former Dean of Women at Grace University and the professor for Orality. Feel free to contact her at www.tararye.com.She was the former Dean of Women at Grace University and the professor for Orality. Feel free to contact her at www.tararye.com.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, February 10, 2020

    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

    

    Mike D Schmidt

    Global Friends Omaha, Omaha NE

    Mike is the director of Operations for Global Friends Omaha, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to international students in Omaha. From 2012 to 2018 he served as an associate professor and director of the Intercultural Studies department at Grace University. Before coming to Grace, Mike served with his family in Niger for 18 years with SIM. His ministry experience includes church planting among different Muslim groups, overseeing food security ministries, giving leadership to a large mission hospital and discipling Nigerien church leaders. He did his undergraduate studies at Grace University, a ThM at Dallas Theological Seminary and a D. of Missiology at Biola University.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, February 17, 2020

    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

    

    Jordan Schlake

    Lincoln NE

    Jordan grew up in a small town church with a big heart for missions. That global outlook has continued with him in his career in international trade development where he gets to see God at work in people and places around the world. He has a particular heart for the Japanese people and he enjoys using his language skills to get to know the Japanese community living in Lincoln. When not traveling for work, he enjoys spending time with his wife Trisha and their one-year-old son Roen.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, February 24, 2020

    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

    

    Darrell Racey

    Christar, Lincoln NE

    Darrell and Ruth worked in the Middle East for 26 years, witnessing and gathering believers into fellowship groups. They now work with Arabic speaking refugees in Lincoln, NE, from Muslim, Yazidi, Christian and Sabean (followers of John the Baptist) backgrounds.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, March 2, 2020

    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

    

    Joshua Johnson

    All Nations Family, Kansas City MO

    Joshua is the Executive Director of All Nations Kansas City – a missions training and sending organization that oversees church planting work in 25 countries. He is also a core team member, coach, and consultant for 5Q, an organization that unlocks and releases the potential of five-fold ministry in the body of Christ and part of the mDNA Training Ecosystem team that is a part of Movement Leaders Collective. Joshua spent 7 years in the Middle East and Asia catalyzing movements to Jesus and saw many Muslim background people get baptized, say yes to following Jesus, and start simple reproducing Jesus communities amidst their own culture. He loves to coach and train others to ignite movements to Jesus. He is also the host of the podcast Shifting Culture. He loves movies, traveling the world, being surrounded by nature, and spending time on the golf course. Joshua lives in Kansas City, Mo. with his wife Meredith, who co-leads All Nations Kansas City. They have one son, Luke.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, March 9, 2020

    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

    

    Mike Neterer

    Bethany Gateways, Minneapolis MN

    Michael Neterer helped to mobilize 1,800 volunteers to “share Jesus with our Somali neighbors through literacy & friendship” as director of SALT - Somali Adult Literacy Training for 18 years. This ministry continues under Arrive Ministries Minneapolis, but now Michael has joined Bethany Gateways to "take the church where it is not, and help others do the same" because Jesus is worthy to be loved and obeyed in Somalia. Michael and his wife Sara met at Bethany Global University in Minnesota. In 1993, they served an 8-month internship in the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. They intended to return to the “field” after completing training, but in 1999 the Lord made it clear that their calling was “across the street.” Michael taught ESL at various Twin Cities institutes until he started SALT at the invitation of a Somali pastor in 2003. In 2010 he published his MA thesis, “Love Our Somali Neighbors,” as the capstone for the Organizational Management graduate degree at Concordia University St. Paul. He finished a second MA in Applied Anthropology from the Wycliffe affiliated Dallas International University focused on the “bible-less” languages of Somalia. Michael and Sara raised three boys to love and serve the Lord in the inner city of Minneapolis where they live, work and go to school.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, March 16, 2020

    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

    Gene Daniels

    Fruitful Practice Research, Jacksonville AR

    Gene Daniels has a passion to spread the fame of Jesus in the Muslim world, something he and his family have been involved in since 1997, first as church planters in Central Asia and now as a mission researcher. Daniels has his doctorate in Religious Studies from the University of South Africa. He is also the author of several books and dozens of articles on mission. (Gene Daniels is a pseudonym)
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, March 23, 2020

    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

    

    Lindsey Sprague

    TMS-Global, Norcross GA

    Lindsey received her degree in Anthropology where she gained knowledge and love for peoples and culture. She served in the Middle East a few years after college where she gained more insight on culture and passion for God's mission. Lindsey, also served with Perspectives Global as the Associate Director serving the Perspectives movement in over 30 countries. She currently works with TMS-Global as the Director of Mobilization and Candidacy where she is able to journey with people as they explore leveraging their gifts, talents, and skills to come alongside God and His mission.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, March 30, 2020

    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

    

    Pamela Franks

    Embrace the Nations, Founder, in Omaha, NE www.embracethenations.com, Omaha NE

    Pam began her call to missions in Guatemala, Central America. She led medical missions for a large Christian organization during a time of civil war in that country. After five years on the field, the family relocated to Omaha, NE. As Missions Director at Glad Tidings Church in Omaha since 1998, Pam has been able to share her passion to see Jesus lifted up among the nations and has built relationship with people from all over the world. As a Registered Nurse, she has used her experience to instruct healthcare professionals and other groups in cultural awareness. In 2009, Pam began a Christian non-profit called Embrace the Nations. The main focus of this ministry has been toward refugees living in the city who are from unreached parts of the world. Embrace the Nations exists to bring the gospel to refugees so they may know and glorify Jesus. We do this through empowering families, discipling cross-culturally and mobilizing the church toward prayer and action.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, April 6, 2020

    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

    

    Doug Schaible

    Ethnos360, Wichita KS

    Doug & Cheryl Schaible were church planters among the Solong people of Papua New Guinea from 1991- 1998. They were able to see believers raised up as a result of learning the language and culture, building relationships and teaching and translating the Scriptures in the native language.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, April 20, 2020

    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

    

    Jim Capaldo

    Converge Heartland, Sioux Falls SD

    Jim Capaldo and his family spent 11 years serving in a pioneering church planting movement among the Tuvan tribe of Siberian Russia, a land where Shamanism and Buddhism have the prominent religions for centuries. Jim took a holistic approach to church planting that involved both the spiritual elements of evangelism and discipleship as well as addressing the the physical elements through community development and business as mission. Following his missionary career, Jim has served as as the Outreach and Teaching Pastors at ChangePoint Church in Anchorage, AK and Central Baptist Church in Sioux Falls, SD. He currently serves as the District Executive Minister of the Converge Heartland District (formerly known as Baptist General Conference) working to see a gospel-centered church bringing transformation to every Heartland community. The Converge Heartland District spans from ND to KS, Jim and his family are based in Sioux Falls, SD.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, April 27, 2020

    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

    

    Jon Hardin

    Frontiers, Highlands Ranch CO

    Dr. Jon Hardin is the National Communications Specialist for Frontiers. He has served in full-time missions work for over 25 years. Jon regularly speaks and teaches in churches, conferences, and various training events around the world--he has taught over 35,000 Perspectives students. Jon has a passion for seeing local churches and ordinary Christians step into strategic roles in the global missions enterprise. Jon is an ordained minister, holds a PhD from the VU University in Amsterdam, and did post-graduate studies at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague. He is also a graduate of Denver Seminary. Jon is a CPA and prior to going into full-time ministry he worked for IBM Corporation for nine years.
    
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  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, May 4, 2020

    Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

• • Celebration

    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

    

  • Class Info

    Date: Monday, May 11, 2020

    Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

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