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State College, PA // S22
Spring 2022
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Sometimes we get a glimpse of unseen realities, and we sense that we're made for more.
More than usual things...
More than the American Dream...
More than we believe we're capable of...
Join us in the Perspectives class as we journey to understand what that means. We're all made to be passionate for God's purposes, and it can make all the difference in the world for your life. Don't miss it!
VIDEO: What People Say About Perspectives!
The class is organized into four sections—Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic—all rich with insight into God’s global purposes:
Biblical. More than a few familiar Bible verses, fully a third of the class talks about God’s purposes from cover to cover—things like reaching all peoples; God’s glory; the Kingdom of God; Jesus, the Lord of the nations; and events in Acts that freed the Gospel to grow in cultures worldwide from Afghani to Zulu!
Historical. Not a list of facts, figures and theological controversies [yawn], but a look at how the message spread organically from Jerusalem to the world and the amazing people that made it possible. How has our understanding of God's worldwide purposes changed over time, bringing us today to the sharpest focus ever on completing the task?
Cultural. They say that beauty is only skin deep, but that’s certainly not true of culture. In fact, culture begins with what we can see, but goes deeper than you may think, to the most basic assumptions of which we’re largely unaware. How do you communicate God’s timeless message to people whose thinking and language are so different from our own?
Strategic. How do we approach a world of need through holistic Christian development? What does it look like when the Christian faith makes itself at home in a culture that’s radically different than ours? And—not least—what does Perspectives mean for your life? God has a "world-sized" role for you in His global purpose wherever you live and whatever you do.
The class is open to everyone, with sessions held: - Sunday evenings, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
- Spring Semester 2022, January 9 - April 17, not including Spring Break or Easter Sunday
We offer two main options for study: Certificate and Key Readings. Most Penn State students take Perspectives at the “Key Readings” level, which requires minimal outside work—about 25 pages of reading each week, and several Personal Responses—short reflections on what you've been learning. The Certificate, on the other hand, is designed to give the maximum return on the investment of time, and is ideal for those who may want to become cross-cultural workers. For additional information, see two main options. | | Certificate | Key Readings | | Weekly Readings | +/- 40 pages | +/- 25 pages | | Five Personal Responses | yes | yes | | Weekly Homework | Open book "Review"
| One optional "Key Question" | | Project | yes | no |
Please Note - Scholarships are available. All you have to do is ask the Coordinator (really!).
- Please contact the Coordinator if you're interested in a graduate/seminary credit option.
If You Have Questions
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Instructor
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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.
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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.
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, January 9, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Byron Zeigler
Living Hope Alliance Church, Bellefonte PA
I Have been in Ministry since 2015 as an accredited pastor with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. I have served in churches in Williamsport PA and Bellefonte PA. I have been Overseas for Ministry purposes many times since 2013. I have been in Israel, Jordan, Germany, France and the Dominican Republic. I have also served in a multicultural ministry at a Chinese Church in State College PA. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, January 16, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
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Lyn Newbrander
International Students, Inc., Philadelphia PA
Lyn has 25 years of overseas missions experience in Japan, The Netherlands, and Germany. Since 2013, she and her husband Tim have worked with international students from all over the world. Lyn's role is primarily at the University of Pennsylvania where she is a chaplain's associate. Over 70 nations have been represented in the Newbrander's home in Philadelphia. Lyn and Tim open their home and their hearts wide to students, many of whom consider them their family away from home. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, January 23, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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).
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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. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, January 30, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Matt Geiger
DiscipleMakers, State College PA
Matt attended Penn State and studied architectural engineering with a desire to apply his education in overseas missions. After he had worked for a few years in Washington, D.C. as an engineer, God opened the door to campus ministry with DiscipleMakers. Matt has served there for 12 years, equipping students to a life of ministry and casting vision for taking the good news of Jesus where it has never been preached—indeed to the uttermost parts of the world. He lives in State College with his wife and three children. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, February 6, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Douglas Batson
Global Frontier Missions, Cross Junction VA
Douglas Batson is a retired Defense Department geographer. With award-winning research and publications, he was an expert on land tenure and international migration.
Also a National Certified Career Counselor, Doug is on the Board of Directors of Global Frontier Missions, which operates a missionary training school in Atlanta, GA. He has been a Perspectives coordinator, instructor, and Professor of Record in the DC area for 25 years. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, February 13, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Andrew Knisely
Eastern PA District of C&MA Mission's Mobilzation Task Force, Elysburg PA
Andrew Knisely is the Pastor of Elysburg Alliance Church and an Adjunct Professor at Crown College. His family served as missionaries in France from 2001-2005, and he helped Glenview Alliance to form a partnership with the Alliance Church in Burkina Faso, West Africa. He is a former member of the District Mission's Mobilization Task Force for Eastern PA District of the C&MA. He earned his Ed.D. in Adult Learning from Penn State in 2011, and holds masters in Education from Shippensburg University and Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary. He has been married to Diane since 1992, and they have two children. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, February 20, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Andrew Knisely
Eastern PA District of C&MA Mission's Mobilzation Task Force, Elysburg PA
Andrew Knisely is the Pastor of Elysburg Alliance Church and an Adjunct Professor at Crown College. His family served as missionaries in France from 2001-2005, and he helped Glenview Alliance to form a partnership with the Alliance Church in Burkina Faso, West Africa. He is a former member of the District Mission's Mobilization Task Force for Eastern PA District of the C&MA. He earned his Ed.D. in Adult Learning from Penn State in 2011, and holds masters in Education from Shippensburg University and Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary. He has been married to Diane since 1992, and they have two children. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, February 20, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
John Pitterle
Advocates for the Unreached; Volunteer with Cafe 1040, State College PA
John is a Penn State grad and currently works at Penn State. John's family spent several months in South Africa and Namibia with YWAM. With the Assemblies of God, his family lived in Madagascar for four years as the Lord used them to help bring the story of Jesus (Book of Hope) to children and then to help start the first Malagasy study Bible. John has been on short-term trips to Ukraine (with YWAM), India (with Global Awakening), and Zambia twice (with Dynamis World Ministries). He is an author (http://AdvocatesForTheUnreached.com/ebook.pdf) and shares regarding the urgency to prioritize the unreached (http://AdvocatesForTheUnreached.com).
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, February 27, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
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Ramy
State College PA
Ramy comes from a Christian family in the Middle East, but has lived in the U.S. for many years. He is in ministry in the Northeast, seeking to reach international students from the Middle East for Christ. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, March 13, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Susan Patt
Frontier Ventures, Exton PA
Sue Patt has worked as a mobilizer for more than 40 years (since 1982) with Frontier Ventures, formerly the US Center for World Mission. She has served as a Perspectives Regional Director (13 years) and as the Perspectives National Program Director (7 years). Her current assignment is Chief Strategy Officer with FV. She has been developing deliberate friendships with Muslims since 1980, and Hindus since 2005. She is married to Fran Patt since 1986. They have 3 adult children and live in Exton, PA in the Philadelphia suburbs. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, March 20, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Ryan Keith
Family Foundation, Newnan GA
Ryan and his wife, Katie, live outside Atlanta, GA with their three young children. He currently serves as a Strategy Director for a new family foundation, with a heart for making disciples around the world. Ryan's focus is on alleviating the risks to children. Previously, he was Community Engagement Pastor at West Shore Free Church in Mechanicsburg, PA, USA. He is also the founder and past President of Forgotten Voices, which he led for 12 years before transitioning to the church. Forgotten Voices is innovating orphan care through local churches in Africa. Ryan is a Praxis Labs Fellow, committed to building Gospel-centered organizations. He earned his Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School, where he was also a Pforzheimer Fellow in the Hauser Center. Ryan is also a proud Falcon, graduating from Messiah University with a BA in Politics. Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ryanmkeith. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, March 27, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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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. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, April 3, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Steve Sanford
Ethnos360, Sanford FL
My wife Sharon and I served as Church Planters with Ethnos360 from 1993 to 2005 among the Joti people of Venezuela. We returned to the U.S. in 2006 after Ethnos360 was forced to leave all church planting works by the Venezuelan government. We have been serving in mobilization for Ethnos360 in Pennsylvania since our return. In November 2023 we will be moving to our home office in Sanford, FL to assume the role of Ethnos360 CEO. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, April 10, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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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.
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Instructor
Julie McElfish
REthink, State College PA
Julie came out of the first Perspectives class at Penn State, and for the last 12 years has ministered in Central PA, encouraging Christians to understand God's eternal, worldwide purposes and to discover the part that they can play. She previously served cross-culturally for 12 years in Kinshasa, DR Congo, and then worked with a non-profit that supports Africans in their ministries. She has traveled extensively, especially in Africa, and holds an MBA, with in interest in ministry sustainability and the intersection of business and missions. b
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Class Info
Date: Sunday, April 24, 2022
Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
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Instructor
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Class Info
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