The Mission Exchange is the largest evangelical association of missions organizations. And so I was especially pleased they featured my book, The Longview: Lasting Strategies for Rising Leaders

In their monthly “Leaders Edge Book Summary,” they did a nice job pulling out some of the major ideas.  You can read the review HERE

They also did a 35 minute interview about the book, and that can be heard HERE

Or if you’d like to see my 3 minute video summary of the book it is HERE

This afternoon we hosted guests from Kosin University in Busan Korea for a signing of a sister school partnership we’ve been developing during the past year.

Kosin is a strong Presbyterian school of 5,00 students. They build a understanding of vibrant faith into all their curriculum and teach from a Reformed perspective.  In many ways, they are like a Korean version of Belhaven.

Along with Belhaven, they have partnership arrangements Daystar University, Kenya; Dordt College, USA; Mongolia International University, Mongolia, along with four universities in China.

They have some wonderful exchange opportunities for our undergraduate students, and they offer in English both an MDiv and Master of Christian Education.

Below is the picture of one of their board members, Rev. Bae, exchanging the agreement today.  Joining Rev. Bae were his wife and two of his three sons – all three of which are studying at RTS here in Jackson.

Some of you have asked me more about the Lausanne III Congress in Cape Town, and the meeting of the US delegates meeting in Dallas last week.

Below is a summary of that meeting from Lausanne, and you’ll especially be interested in the six key issues of the Congress which will frame the discussion.

In preparation for the Congress, Lausanne is hosting 12 “Global Conversations” across the United States.  Belhaven University will host one of of those conversations, on April 13th.  This will be the focus of our chapel on that Tuesday, and then in the evening, the Global Conversation with Lausanne leaders will be held at First Presbyterian Church.

Here is the summary from Dallas:

Summary Report
Cape Town 2010 US Participants Meeting
Dallas, TX
January 25-27, 2010

Nearly 300 men and women from 175 organizations— local churches, denominations, mission agencies, schools, businesses, and foundations— gathered at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas for a foretaste of this October’s Cape Town 2010 and the Lausanne Global Conversation that will lead up to and ripple out from it.

In October of this year, 400 US participants will be in Cape Town with some 4000 other participants from 200 countries.  Many at this Dallas meeting commented on the beautiful diversity of the participants in age, gender, ethnicity, region, ministry focus and denominational affiliation – a diversity that will also be reflected in Cape Town

The Dallas gathering was intended to catalyze relationships between the US representatives and other leaders identifying with the Lausanne Movement, to begin discussion around the six themes of Cape Town 2010, and to look beyond Cape Town 2010 to collaborative evangelistic efforts in the US leading toward 2020.

Throughout the three days participants met around tables of six to eight. The core of the program consisted of six extended conversations related to the key issues of the upcoming Congress:

1) Making the case for the Truth of Christ in a Pluralistic, Globalized World

2) Building the Peace of Christ in our Divided and Broken World

3) Bearing witness of the Love of Christ with People of Other Faiths

4) Discerning the Will of Christ for the 21st Century World Evangelization

5) Calling the Church of Christ back to Humility, Integrity and Simplicity

6) Partnering in the Body of Christ Toward a New Global Equilibrium

Each topic was introduced by brief, incisive comments by Nikki Toyama-Szeto, complemented by video clips and/or thought-provoking insights from Os Guinness and others.  Woven around the lively table discussions were presentations of the genesis of the Cape Town 2010 idea and of the Lausanne Global Conversation and the supporting technology that would enable participation of thousands of Christians around the world— before the Congress through the Internet, and during the Congress itself through 250 Cape Town GlobaLink sites.

Other highlights included meditations on Paul’s prayers in Ephesians guided by Lindsay Olesberg, worship songs in several languages, live greetings through Skype from Rick Warren, an enthusiastic invitation from Lon Allison for US delegates to regather in March 2011 to tend the flame and to plan for the coming decade of evangelization, and Doug Birdsall’s reminder of the “spirit of Lausanne” as expressed by Dr. Billy Graham: “the spirit of fellowship, humility, study, prayer, partnership and hope.” The spirit of Lausanne was evident throughout the days in Dallas – a gathering that contributed powerfully to the growing momentum for Cape Town 2010.

Last week I was in Dallas for a meeting of the 400 United States delegates who have been selected to attend the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town in October, bringing together 4,000 Church leaders from 120 nations.

Ligon Duncan has also been selected to participate, and since we only have 400 coming from the US, it is wonderful we had  Mississippi represented.

Lon Allison of our Board is chairing the evening plenary programs, and Scott Dawson, also of our board will be leading the evangelistic services across Africa the month before the Congress.

Attending that meeting in Dallas was the pastor of a large church in the city.  Two days ago his story was published in the New York Times. Especially for those among us who are dealing with difficult struggles, it will encourage you to read about Matt Chandler

Suffering Well: Faith Tested by Pastor’s Cancer
Published: January 31, 2010

DALLAS (AP) — Matt Chandler doesn’t feel anything when the radiation penetrates his brain. It could start to burn later in treatment. But it hasn’t been bad, this time lying on the slab. Not yet, anyway.

Chandler’s lanky 6-foot-5-inch frame rests on a table at Baylor University Medical Center. He wears the same kind of jeans he wears preaching to 6,000 people at The Village Church in suburban Flower Mound, where the 35-year-old pastor is a rising star of evangelical Christianity.

Another cancer patient Chandler has gotten to know spends his time in radiation imagining that he’s playing a round of golf at his favorite course. Chandler on this first Monday in January is reflecting on Colossians 1:15-23, about the pre-eminence of Christ and making peace through the blood of his cross.  MORE

The news from Haiti is starting to roll off the front pages, but the recovery will take years.  Here is a report from our friends at Somebody Cares.  Doug’s wife Lisa Stringer is in Haiti and gives this look into the challenges and recovery work:

This morning we made our way onto the airport grounds where many Humanitarian groups from various countries are camping out, unloading and storing goods and supplies for those in need.  We saw flags from Turkey, France, Israel, Great Britain and the USA to name a few. I met soldiers from Uruguay, Portugal, Brazil, as  well as a few others. The nations are ever present and the UN has troops everywhere. The US military has a strong presence as well.

My observation is that the locals tend to have reservations about the UN since they do not have access to news sources and do not know the great effort made by many to assist them. I met people today that have only had a few crackers to eat in the last few days and have begged for them.

The downtown area of Port-Au-Prince was a disaster and looked more like a war zone. Four-story buildings are now just a pile of rubble. The area is quite dusty, the air smells of death and people are digging through the rubble in hopes of finding anything they can use or sell to survive.

Thousands of people lined up around the Presidential palace in hopes of receiving something to eat from the UN troops that are guarding it. We saw one desperate man drink from the dirty and probably contaminated water along the curb. We desperately wanted to give him our own water but to do so would cause a riot. People who are desperate do desperate things.

In front of the main, historic, and now destroyed cathedral we met two (now homeless) ladies that were attending service and ran out when they felt the Quake. One said her niece was in the rubble along with hundreds of others.  She escaped with a few scrapes which our field medic, Craig, treated. They have lost everything. They only own the clothes on their back and have decided to call the sidewalk next to the destroyed church their home for now. Although it is unsafe for us to pull anything out, I found a way to leave her my lunch (an orange and
fruit cup).

A teenager we met shares that he lost his parents and some siblings and now is the only caregiver for his younger brother. He lost a tooth yesterday trying to get a gallon of water and is desperate for food and shelter.  In a few hours our team will head out to get in line at the port and wait for a barge to arrive that has food.

We are in hopes of getting anything to help the pastors and the 10,000 people they represent.  One pastor, now homeless, sleeps in the driveway of the guest home where I am staying with a mere sheet as a bed. Now homeless, other friends of the ministry sleep on the patio, or wherever there is space.

At one mission, our team helped dig a military style latreen in  the “Tent City” as the 2,000 people that are living under sheets and in cardboard boxes have no restrooms.  A few hundred yards away, the medic on our team assisted in the medical clinic helping amputate the tip of someone’s finger as the patient watched.

I am blessed to be a part of something so much bigger than  ourselves. I am with a group of people that love the Lord and are  demonstrating to the Locals that Somebody Cares. Please continue to pray for our health and strength. Pray that we find favor with  those in charge of food and water distribution. Pray for the many teams that are here and those that are on their way.

To have the heart of Jesus,
Lisa Stringer
Somebody Cares America/Int’l

P.S. It is now the evening of January 27th and the team was able to secure the needed food, water and other goods to help the pastors and those they represent.
www.SomebodyCaresHaiti.org <http://www.somebodycareshaiti.org/>
www.somebodycares.org <http://www.somebodycares.org/>