• Practice that requires high levels of training, experience, discipline, fitness and surface support.
• Control of movements, intentionality
• Timing, rhythm, going slower than usual
• Trust as you navigate the difficulty to see in the unknown or unclear
• More beauty and wonder than you can imagine or see from the surface

We hope this photo will be an encouragement to you as well as a reminder to pray with us in 2020. We know that many will join us on the Deep Dive while others will be our much needed surface support. Either way, you are a part of this Deep Dive with us.
 

Two of my bigger take aways from the gathering:

1. Michael, a South Sudanese brother, said “You can not have church planting without trauma healing.”
2. Ommani, a Kenyan brother, who helped develop the trauma healing materials that I use, said “We were presenting trauma healing incorrectly to churches in Africa. We started communicating trauma healing as discipleship and pastors understood it more.”

I told both of them that we in the West have a lot to learn from them about trauma healing, church planting, and discipleship.

Here are some of the highlights with details below if you desire.

• Frank and Bibles – When praying for the 22 participants before arriving, God continued to put Frank on my mind. I did not know why. I thought I had never met Frank before. I also never thought I would talk to Frank about Bibles. But as Frank said after talking with him, “This is a God thing!” I agreed. So could you help with Bibles to Sudan?
• The Breaststroke – While getting ready Thursday morning and asking what does the Spirit want to show me, swimming came to mind. Then the breaststroke. So I googled “the breaststroke” and watched this video The Lord use this video and Part 3 to show me much about Him.
• Tracey – During a time of praying for one another, Tracey said that she had a vision to share about me. After sharing about a tangerine tree, she said I do not know what all of this means. I told her in that moment that I know exactly what it means.
• Provision for my flight – I was grateful and humbled to be invited to this gathering much less be asked to assist in the planning. Angela and I believed the Lord wanted us to be a part of this gathering even though it “did not fit in our budget”. While praying at the gathering, I asked the Lord to somehow cover the cost for the flight since all my other costs were already covered. Honestly, it was not a long prayer. Just asked for the cost of the flight to be covered. He answered.
• George the Uber Driver – As I arrive back in Nashville, Angela could not pick up due to kids sleeping. Also 3 of my friends who normally could help were unable due to various matters. I rarely to never take an Uber in the US but I needed to this evening. Since I am unfamiliar with the Nashville airport and the Uber pick up, it takes me a minute to navigate the area. By then my Uber app had to reset so now I am waiting a little longer. No worries.

Frank and Bibles – My friend and I are waiting to pick up another man at the airport named Jacob. My friend then says we are also picking up Frank. I tell him that’s interesting because of what I shared above. My friend shows me a picture of Frank and I say that I know him somehow. Frank sees me and says that he knows me. It takes us a minute or two but while riding the shuttle to get our rental car I remember that we met in Lebanon about 3 years ago for trauma healing equipping.

As we talk more, he tells me about his work with Sudanese and an immediate need to get Bibles in a particular language. I tell him that he needs to talk to my friend Mike. I text Mike at that moment to talk to Frank. This is when Frank says – “this is a God thing”. Long story short, they talk and in Frank’s words – “We are now committed to raising $120K before June in order to provide a container of Nuer Bibles to South Sudanese refugees.”

The Breaststroke – Did you watch that two minute video? If so this will make more sense. If not then it might still make sense. The breaststroke is one of the most complex and different of the strokes. It is about timing and movement (or position). The pull is short and quick. No point to continue the pull because little leverage, create drag and lose time. It is about creating as little drag as possible at every single stage. Time to get your hands together and push forward as fast as you can. Part 3 is about the glide and not going to fast or slow or working too little or too much but swimmer who master the breaststroke glide appropriately. Both of those videos spoke to me about God’s timing in my and Angela’s current situation. Timing as the wisdom of the snake and knowing when to strike. Rest, relax, alignment, swim fast, enjoy the glide, know when to let go.

Tracey – In November many of you prayed for my time in Louisville at GMHC. At the end of that gathering, my friend Carol texted me to tell him that she was at the conference. She and I sat together for the last session and spoke briefly afterwards. In that conversation, we discussed my upcoming time in Dallas. She immediately said that I need to invite her friend Tracey to this gathering. Since I know and trust Carol, I invited Tracey.

Provision for my flight – The next evening, I get in a car to go to dinner with supposedly 3 other people but 2 others rode with someone else. While driving to the restaurant, my friend says to me, seemingly out of the blue to me, “I would like to cover the cost of your flight.” I am stunned and even say that he does not have to do that. He says that he wants to do it. I do not tell him my prayer but thank Jesus for his generosity and being the answer to my prayer.

George the Uber driver – I see his name and face and literally think, “this is who God wants me to ride with tonight.” I get into the Uber and George immediately says, “I have excellent, great and good news to share with you”. What?? Who says that? Even more, when was the last time an Uber driver said that to you? He shares his stories which were excellent, great and good. A few minutes later I tell him that I have some good news to share with him. I tell him the above story and that I asked Jesus to cover my costs and He did. I then say, “thats pretty cool”. He says. “no that is not cool. That is awesome. We need to hear more stories like this. Thanks for sharing. This was encouraging to me”.

Through conversation, I tell him that I follow the Way of Jesus and learn that George does as well. Still more to the story . . .

George says that he was getting gas while watching “the surge” on Uber so he gets paid more. He drives around waiting but the surge never changes as he hoped. He then decided that he will go ahead and pick me up. He even says, “as God as my witness, I thought this is the ride that I should take”. We both were able to encourage one another.

Side note, George just happened to be in Nashville from Florida this past week helping his daughter.

The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb ~ Jamin Goggin & Kyle Strobel

The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb is an excellent read about the power in weakness for love and suffering along the way. The interviews conducted with sages provide much needed insight for us, the church, today. One particular quote – “Groups are loosely held together by a common vision but real Christian community is bound in love.”

The Cure: What if God isn’t who you think He is and neither are you ~ Lynch, McNicol, & Thrall

Team of Teams ~ General Stanley McChrystal
Furious Longing of God ~ Brennan Manning
The Dip ~ Seth Godin
The Valley of Vision
Whiter Than Snow  ~ Paul David Tripp
Seven Practices for the Church on Mission ~ David Fitch
The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home ~ Russell Moore
Is God anti-gay? ~ Sam Allberry
Liturgy of the Ordinary  ~ Tish Harrison Warren
How People Change ~ Timothy Lane
Gay Girl, Good God ~ Jackie Hill Perry
The Gospel Comes with a House Key ~ Roseria Butterfield
The Common Rule ~ Justin Whitmel Earley
Evangelism as Exiles ~ Elliot Clark
A Million Little Ways ~ Emily P. Freeman
Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family ~ Tripp
Dare to Lead ~ Brene Brown
Multipliers, Revised and Updated: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter ~ Liz Wiseman

Next on list:
Prodigal Prophet ~ Tim Keller
Spirit Walk ~ Steve Smith
Canoeing the Mountains ~ Tod Bolsinger
Suffering and the Heart of God ~ Diane Langberg
Together for the City ~ Powell & James
Talking to Strangers ~ Gladwell
How We Love ~ Yerkovich

New Wine  – Hillsong
Spirit of the Living God – Vertical Worship
Love on Fire – Jeremy Riddle
Defender – UpperRoom
Surrounded (Fight My Battles) – UpperRoom
Spirit Lead Me – Michael Ketterer and Influence
Im Listening – Chris McClarney
Lily of Valley – MuteMath
Way Maker – Leeland
Yes I Will – Vertical Worship
You are my champion – Dante Bowe
Ever Be – Kalley
Tremble//What a Beautiful Name – Phil Wickham
You’re the only one –  Chris Renzema
Afio Mai/Peace
Broken Prayers – Riley Clemmons
Fighting for Me – Riley Clemmons
Run to the Father – Matt Maher
Nothing Else – Cody Carnes
Remind me youre here  – Jason Gray
Make Room – Jonathan McReynolds
Gallows – Jess Ray
Angels we have heard on high – Phil Wickham

During the first break, I called over all four of the women from Rapid City. I told them the story from my time in Louisville. We were all encouraged by God working in the hearts of the people in Rapid City. Later in the week, one of the women emailed the following, someone “mentioned that you have Ugandan connections. We have many questions about taking healing groups to the Hands of Love ministry in Uganda as early as next May. Our hope is to share it to the staff on their two campuses. The 180 staff members serve more than 2200 orphaned and abandoned children. Is there any way we may talk with you tomorrow before the afternoon session starts?”

Needless to say, we talked. As many of you know, God continues to place Uganda in my path. I have yet to travel to this country even though I had tickets purchased earlier this year. All in due time.

In that brief conversation, God brought about numerous Kingdom connections including my friends Dorothy Taft with The Market Project , Mike Studdard with Africa Bible Project, and more. I told these ladies that God keeps bring Uganda in front of me. Then these God-fearing women of God said, “yes of course. We were praying last night about you joining us in Uganda in 2020”. So we are prayerfully considering what God would have us do together for His Kingdom purposes. Please pray with us.

Below are a few quotes from participants of the Denver trauma healing equipping session. The Spirit was moving in remarkable ways. Praise His Name.

• As a domestic abuse survivor this curriculum gives me hope. In my own experience as well as that of many of my friends who are domestic abuse survivors, the church’s handling of abuse can be just as damaging, if not more so than the original abuse. This curriculum is an encouraging resource to help churches start to do a better job of dealing with a complex and very often dangerous situation.
• My initial intent was to gather information to take to a specific group in the missions field. However, I find this training is so valuable in everyday life. We all know people with “heart wounds” who can benefit from this model and curriculum.
• Instead of just coming to learn and hear information, we were allowed to experience the training through personal application. This would translate into us knowing the information provided in the course deep in our souls.

I had no idea what to expect about this conference. I did not know if 5 or 500 people would attend the breakout sessions. People are extremely interested in trauma healing and Jesus graciously allowed 200-300 people to attend the two breakout sessions. People from all across the US and around the world.

Read below about Jesus: The Ultimate Dot-Connector!

Chris and Rebecca*:
They approached me after the first session with other people gathered around. They had a medical emergency while in South America with their youngest son. They thought he was dying and even died. Thankfully he is ok now but they are unable to travel back overseas at this time. They have three older kids who saw the whole situation. They asked for trauma healing for the kids and for them as they help their kids. I told them we offer such things and to contact me.

They walked away and planned to contact me later. I went to hear another speaker. However while in the session I thought how I should have prayed with them. So The Spirit told me to leave the session and go find Chris and pray with him. Mind you that we are at a church building that hosts 26,000 people on Sunday and over 3,000 people are attending this conference and breakout sessions are happening.

I am on the second floor but can see the first floor. I walk out of the session and look down at the main lobby. Yep! You guessed it. Chris is standing downstairs with a man and two women. I assume it is his wife. As I get closer, I realize he is talking with two of my friends.

Chris kindly says that the breakout that I shared was why God brought him to the conference. Praise Jesus! I tell him why I walked down and offered to pray with him. He graciously allowed me. As tears roll down his face, I hug him and tell him that I love him. Keep praying for healing for this family. I plan to see them in early 2020.

Deborah:
From Nigeria and working there. She attended both sessions even though they were the same info. She wrote this email to me: “I am a pastor’s wife, I am a trained counselor with specialty in trauma healing ( interfaith ) From Rwanda. I feel so privileged listening to you talk about faith base trauma healing and I believe God has a purpose for connecting us.” She told me in person that she needs this training even though she is a pastor’s wife and trained counselor.

The previous week I was in Philadelphia for a small gathering for 30+ people from roughly 12 countries regarding trauma healing. One of the men attending . . . from Nigeria. I have already connected him with Deborah.

Other in-person responses who want trauma healing training:
One woman asked for Arabic materials now because she is traveling to Syria, two women working with Somalis – one in MN and one in KS, a Kenyan woman working in Kenya, organization working in Gaza and need for member care, a Christian university in California, university in Nashville, inner healing organization in FL, orphanage in Cincinnati, healthcare clinics, and more. Not to mention all the emails, phone calls and text messages.

I thank Jesus again for your prayers. Keep praying with me!

Dave is a practicing Buddhist who was born and raised in the South yet by his own admission “never experienced Christianity”. When I asked him back in January what he is hoping for in 2019, he answered to “deepen my spirituality.” Later that week, I met with Dave to discuss several matters and give him a Bible per his permission. However, when we met that Friday, he brought his girlfriend, which was great but unexpected.

Much of our conversation centered on me and Amanda getting to know each other. She too was raised in the South, read the Bible for undergraduate projects, and grew up with Hindu friends and enjoyed playing with saris. The discussion included questions about what they thought about Jesus and the Bible to them answering my questions related to Buddhism. I asked Amanda what she found appealing about Buddhism. She responded, “Steve that is the wrong question. The fact that you asked that question implies there is an answer.” As you might imagine, I was left a little confused and wondered what questions I could and could not ask.

At one point, I asked Amanda if she thought this moment and we were real. Her answer will stick with me for awhile. She said, “the idea of this moment is real.” We continued to talk for about two hours. Fun, engaging, mind-boggling conversation. At the end of the conversation, Amanda said another interesting thing. She clearly and directly stated, “I would like to come visit your house some time.” That was shocking for this well-travelled yet still Southern boy. I do not think I have ever had someone invite themselves to my house. We made plans to have dinner with them later in a few weeks. Afterwards, without Amanda around, I gave Dave his first Bible and encouraged him to read Mark and Ecclesiastes. We planned to talk about it later.

Over the past two and half months, Angela, my friend Andrew, and I have visiting with Dave and/or Amanda on multiple occasions. We had dinner with them one evening along with other friends. It was an enjoyable evening of laughter, good food, and silly stories. In February, Andrew and I joined Dave and Amanda for Sunday prayers at their local monastery. Andrew and I observed several new things and asked numerous questions. Side note: one of the most troubling scenes at the monastery was the array of practicing Buddhists – most from Vietnam had been practicing from generation to generation and several others were like Dave and Amanda – born in the South but “never experienced Christianity” as Dave told me previously.

Probably my most encouraging and truly enjoyable times with Dave have been while the two of us sit together at a coffee shop and ask hard, challenging questions of one another. He told me recently that he does not feel like I am trying to convert him. I immediately said, “that’s right. I am not. If I could convince you of something, then someone else could come along and convince you of something else.”

I have been reminded recently that we have a responsibility in proclaiming the Word (Romans 10:14, Mark 16:15) but also that “no one can come to me (Jesus) unless the Father who sent me draws him. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” John 6:44-45. Also I have been reminded that countless have tried in multiple ways to gain salvation/eternal life/enlightenment but “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12.

Pray that Angela, Andrew, others, and I will love Dave and Amanda as ourselves (Mark 12:31) and they will see our love for one another (John 13:35).

More to come. Pray for Dave and Amanda now. May the Spirit of The Living God move in their lives.

So I became aware. Aware of God’s desire for all peoples to know Him. Aware that the Bible does not center on me or man but on God’s glory. Aware that I and you are commanded to make disciples of all peoples. Aware that one day people from every tribe, language, tongue, and nation will gather around the throne to worship the Lamb. Aware that missions exists because worship of the One True God does not.

In that same year, some friends of mine made me aware of unreached peoples (3.6 billion unreached people in the world today) and the 10/40 Window (Of those 3.6 billion people, 88% live in or near the 10/40 window). These particular friends were working among Muslims (In the 10/40 window there are 724 million Muslims). They invited me to travel in the summer of 1998 with them and a team of other college students to a country called Azerbaijan  I thought Azer-bai-what?? Where is that located? I was given a book called Operation World which provides an overview and prayer needs for the different countries and peoples of the world.

My time in Azerbaijan had challenging living conditions and I was sick a lot. However, God chose to expose that small team to amazing and life-altering experiences. We were able to meet several people of peace and even enter into a small town that only had Westerns visit once previously. During that time, we were invited to stay with the leaders of that town and eventually give them their first ever Bible in their language. God opened and continues to open the hearts of men and women around the world to His love including Muslims.

I truly believed that God called me to make disciples among Muslims for the remainder of my life.

So in 1999, I moved to Egypt to learn language and culture as my team traveled throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East assisting in various tasks and projects. Needless to say, God used this time to expose me to numerous peoples, experiences, and a life-time full of stories. During my time overseas and in the years ahead, God made it clear that He still wants me to make disciples among all peoples but He was refining that vision.

God wants me to make disciples of young adults who would go to Muslim peoples everywhere they might live.

So over 20 years later, I continue to do the same thing just under a different entity. Angela and I long to equip the church to love and serve the nations here, there, and everywhere.

Dr. Piper’s message at Passion 1997 – Passion for the Supremacy of God