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Ocala, FL S21    Spring 2021
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Welcome to Perspectives! 


What is God's story and what role do you have in it?


Join us on this journey to discover God's heart and purpose for all mankind - a purpose in which you are expected to take part. Discovering this purpose is valuable and crucial for all Christians.


What is Perspectives?


Perspectives is a fifteen week course designed around four vantage points or "perspectives" — Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic. Each one highlights different aspects of God's global purpose.

The Biblical and Historical sections reveal why our confidence is based on the historic fact of God's relentless work from the dawn of history until this day.

The Cultural and Strategic sections underscore that we are in the midst of a costly, but very "do-able" task, confirming the Biblical and Historical hope.

Class Information:

Monday Nights | 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm


January 11th - May 3, 2021


January 4th - Registration/Orientation


Class Location:

First Baptist Church of Ocala

2801 SE Maricamp Road

Ocala, FL 34471

352-629-5683 X 136

Amie Bricker 352-361-5642


First two classes Free:

Not sure you want to the join the class? Come meet the coordinating team and learn more about what to expect in the weeks ahead. Try the first 2 lessons for free. You will get to meet and listen to our first two Perspectives Instructors at no charge. You will also be able to access the first two weeks lesson materials at no charge. Come see what Perspectives is all about!


Enrollment Options:

Key Reading Level - $245

Key Reading gains you access to a diversity of instructors with a wide range of personal experiences and accumulated knowledge.

You will be reading key material in your Perspectives text, participating in class discussions and activities, be responsible for five personal reflections but will have no additional homework requirements. Students will not earn a certificate of completion but will be permitted to participate in future classes at minimal cost.

*There is an additional $30.00 charge for textbooks. Each student will receive an email or text with ordering details after registration.

Certificate Level - $245

If you are looking to get more out of Perspectives we highly recommend the Certificate Level. You receive everything already mentioned in Key Reading, plus more in-depth readings, weekly lessons designed to help you draw more from your readings and interact with a Perspectives Alum assigned to you, five personal reflections, and the opportunity to develop your own mission idea or an idea in conjunction with a classmate.

By completing the certificate requirements you will earn a certificate of completion.

*There is an additional $30.00 charge for textbooks. Each student will receive an email or text with ordering details after registration.

Excelsior Undergraduate Credit $524

If you wish to earn college credit for your Perspectives coursework, then register at this level. This is not "Perspectives credit", but credit earned from the partner institution for the Perspectives coursework. Credit students complete Certificate Level, plus more reading, the addition of a mid-term and a final exam, and a more comprehensive final project. It will be the student's responsibility to check and see if the institution of their choice will accept the transfer of credits from Excelsior.

*There is an additional $30.00 charge for textbooks. Each student will receive an email or text with ordering details after registration.

If you are an alumnus of the Perspectives course and have an interest in participating in the upcoming class (or become part of future coordinating teams), please contact Lead Coordinator Amie Bricker @ 352-361-5642 for details or join us for free at Registration/Orientation night on January 4th.


Available Tuition Discounts:

Early Registration: $25 tuition discount when you register and pay by 12-15-2020


Contact Information:

If you have questions or need more detailed information please reach out to lead Coordinator Amie Bricker.

629-5683 x 136 or 352-361-5642



 


Class Info

Date: Monday, January 4, 2021

Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Location: First Baptist Church of Ocala 2801 SE Maricamp Road Ocala FL 34471

Contact: Amie Bricker

352-361-5642

 
    • Registration & Orientation

      Class overview and Registration

      Registration & Orientation

    • Instructor

      Bruce L.

      Ocala FL

      Lived with wife and children as pioneer church planters and disciple makers in Central Asia for five years. Also worked in strategic research for Central Asia's 371 unreached people groups. Currently living in Florida.


    • Date: Monday, January 4, 2021

      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

      Gus Davies

      Longwood FL

      Pastor Augustine (Gus) Davies is passionate about Perspectives because it is a great and compelling course that continues to advance discipleship and leadership development for the Kingdom. Gus was introduced to Perspectives in the 80’s at African Bible College in Liberia and Reformed Theological Seminary USA. During those times he read several of the articles for missions, anthropology and cross-cultural classes. Gus is serving as pastor at Northland Church in Longwood Florida since 1998. Perspectives course was part of his beginning days as he participated in both local and global missions along with pastoral responsibilities. In the last year Gus’s heart and mind has been re-ignited to reengage in this class as a student and facilitator. Perspectives go deeper in equipping and empowering the Church for the Great Commission.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, January 11, 2021

      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

      Jamie Farr

      Wycliffe Bible Translators, Orlando FL

      I grew up in the South Pacific in Papua New Guinea the son of Translators speaking four languages. I experienced the joy of watching my ethnic people receive the NT and experience the power of God in amazing ways. I later went with my beautiful Wife Anita to Thailand to serve with Wycliffe. On our watch we have seen over 2000 missionaries go to serve among over 1800 people groups in the last 24 years. We are passionate about God's glory to be experienced by all peoples.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, January 18, 2021

      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

      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, January 25, 2021

      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 Simmons

      Third Millennium Ministries, Winter Park FL

      Scott Simmons is currently the Director of Professor Relations for Third Millennium Ministries, a ministry designed to provide theological education to church leaders around the world for free. Scott is in charge of adding video content from seminary professors and pastors around the world into our free, online curriculum. Before this, Scott was the minister of missions and spiritual formation at Chapelgate Presbyterian Church, where he oversaw global church planting partnerships and local evangelism and mercy ministries. Scott is the husband of one and father of three and he loves nature and wildlife photography, jazz and folk music, movies and a good book.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, February 1, 2021

      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

      Bruce L.

      Ocala FL

      Lived with wife and children as pioneer church planters and disciple makers in Central Asia for five years. Also worked in strategic research for Central Asia's 371 unreached people groups. Currently living in Florida.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, February 8, 2021

      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

      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, February 15, 2021

      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

      Sundee Simmons

      Perspectives, Winter Park FL

      Sundee Simmons currently serves as Associate Director of Perspectives Global. Sundee has been serving the Perspectives program since 1991. She has served as a volunteer coordinator, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, East Coast Regional Administrator and the Director of Training for Perspectives USA before joining the Perspectives Global Team. Sundee Simmons is a wife and mother of 3 children, Nathan (1996), Emily (1998) and Julianna (2005). Her husband, Scott, is a ordained PCA Pastor serving Third Millennium Ministries as the Director of Instructor Relations.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, February 22, 2021

      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

      Brigitte Crannage

      Strategy Coordinator, St Petersburg FL

      I was born, raised, and educated in Germany. Saved at 19 and entered full time ministry at 23. With my husband Jeff and son Josh, we served 30 years overseas. 6 years as Director of "Bridge Builders" in Israel, bringing 300 volunteers to serve Holocaust survivors. 4 years working underground with Iran. 12 years with India village church planting

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, March 1, 2021

      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

      Emily Simmons

      Frontier Ventures, Gainesville FL

      Emily has a Bachelors Degree in Linguistics, Arabic, and Hebrew with a Teaching English certificate from UF. She works for Frontier Ventures, a missions organization dedicated to innovating new ways of reaching frontier peoples. She has a few different roles there, though her favorite is her role on the Perspectives 5th Edition Revision Team. She is passionate about learning and teaching and absolutely adores getting to learn from the students as she teaches Perspectives!

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, March 8, 2021

      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

      Keith Patman

      Wycliffe Bible Translators, Waynesboro VA

      Keith has been serving with Wycliffe since 1982 and spent 8 yrs working in Cameroon. He currently lives in the U.S. and provides tools (translation guides) and training in French for Africans who are translating the Bible from French to their own languages. He makes periodic trips to central African countries to offer workshops and consulting to African Bible translators.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, March 22, 2021

      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

      Julie Whitmore

      Pioneers, Orlando FL

      While pursuing her degree, God grew Julie’s heart for missions among people who have little or no access to the gospel. Before even going on a short-term mission trip Julie made a three-year commitment to church planting in South Asia. She loved those years, but afterward God led her to work at Pioneers in Orlando. After four years on the mobilization team, now she serves as a pre-field coach, helping people move into cross-cultural, church-planting ministry with unreached people groups.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, March 29, 2021

      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

      Joyce Henderson

      CP Global Impact Ministry, PALM BAY FL

      I lead medical mission teams to Ecuador in partnership with Servants and Faith and Technology, and have led short-term mission teams, medical, construction and children’s ministry, in the U.S. and to Ecuador since 2003. I became a Christian through the efforts of Campus Crusade at the Ohio State University. In 1986 God called me to work in missions and I began to involve myself and my five children in the activities of my church and community. For the past 12 years, I have led my church’s mission board, now called the CP Global Impact Ministry. I have a diploma in nursing and a degree in history and have been a nurse for 51 years, working in the O.R. and homecare, and as a Faith Community Nurse. I am also a writer, editor and publisher. I am the author of 19 books, including "Who Am I that I Am Called?" a book for short-term mission team leaders and members and Post-Pandemic Missions: Strategies for Churches. My husband and I live on the East coast of FL where we enjoy year-round vegetable gardening, travel, and our six kids and 18 grandchildren.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, April 5, 2021

      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

      Ted Esler

      Missio Nexus, St. Cloud FL

      Ted Esler is the President of Missio Nexus, an association of agencies and churches representing over 30,000 Great Commission workers worldwide. A Minnesota native, Ted worked in the computer industry before becoming a church planter in Sarajevo, Bosnia, during the 1990’s. He is the author of the book, "Overwhelming Minority," about their family's ministry in Bosnia. In 2000, Ted became the Canadian director of Pioneers and three years later moved to Orlando to join Pioneers USA’s leadership team. He was appointed the President of Missio Nexus in 2015. Ted has BS in Computer Science and Speech Communication (Mankato State University, 1985), an MTS in Theology (Heritage Seminary, 2002), and a PhD in Intercultural Studies (Fuller Theological Seminary, 2012). Ted is married to Annette and they have five children. Ted loves sailing, Crossfit, bikes, plays bass, and enjoys eating ethnic foods from around the world. Ted is a part of a church planting network in Orlando called "The Living Room," and serves as a board member for a couple of ministry organizations.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, April 12, 2021

      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

      Jeff

      Strategy Coordinator, St. Petersburg FL

      Jeff is happily married for 30 years with his German wife Brigitte. They have one son, Josh who was born in Jerusalem. Here is the simple timeline: I took Perspectives January 1983 on Pasadena Campus with R Winter, D McGavran, & others. 1. 3 years on OM ship Doulos, sharing about UPGs in 22 countries of Europe and Africa. 2. 6 years in Israel bringing over 300+ German volunteers to serve Holocaust survivors. 3. 4 years catalyzing an underground CPM in Iran. 4. 12 years pioneering CPMs in India alongside D Garrison. 5. During this same time we worked with Burmese refugees in Thailand; mobilized Chinese believers to South Asia alongside the B2J movement; and was part of the original "Storying" team EPIC.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, April 19, 2021

      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

      Jaime Saint

      I-TEC, Dunnellon FL

      Jaime was born in Willmar, MN, into a family with a heritage in missions.  His dad, Steve, is the son of martyr, Nate Saint, a jungle missionary pilot who was speared to death in the Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador, South America in 1956 by the Waodani tribe.  Jaime grew up in a family that participated in mission ventures in Ecuador as well as in Mali, West Africa, in-between businesses that took them from Minnesota to Texas and eventually to central Florida where I-TEC is headquartered. After graduating from high school in 1995, Jaime moved with his family to the Amazon Rainforest to help the Waodani tribe learn to do for themselves what outsiders had been doing so that the Waodani could reach their own people with the Gospel.  After returning from the jungles, Jaime attended the University of Florida, where he graduated with a degree in Marketing.  After his second year of college, Jaime married Jessica Shea, a girl he met just before leaving for the jungles.  Jaime and Jessica have been married for over 24 years and have six beautiful daughters, including one set of twins who became their grand finale. In 2010, Jaime joined the Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Center (I-TEC), which was founded by his dad, Steve.  Since his Dad's injury in 2012, Jaime has become the primary spokesperson for I-TEC, helping people in North America and around the world catch the vision for training Indigenous Christ followers with tools to open doors for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, April 26, 2021

      Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

    • Celebration

      Missionary guest speaker and Next Steps!

      Celebration

    • Instructor

    • Class Info

      Date: Monday, May 3, 2021

      Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

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