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"If only I had gotten this before going!" You can, at
GO Equipped! Oct. 21-25, Pasadena, CA
In a comedy movie, Chevy Chase plays a spy who is forced to
hide his identity as a famous surgeon. Naturally, he
gets trapped into performing a delicate surgery on a
patient while a room full of doctors is looking on. If
you've not seen it, you can image how humorous this
could be.
But how would you feel if such a "surgeon" was
about to operate on you? Even more, imagine being called
upon to operate on someone yourself without training. It
would be terrifying and ludicrous. No one practices
surgery without years of serving as an apprentice under
skilled surgeons. The same thing applies to airline
pilots, firemen, plumbers, etc. You would never accept a
pilot flying for you who had only read books on flying,
nor a fireman who had only read manuals. To a lesser
degree, this applies to all professions. Academic
training is never enough, especially when it involves
complex, high-risk tasks.
Does this apply to tentmaking? You bet it does.
In spades. Integrating all of life-work, family,
neighbors, community, ministry, etc.-under Christ's
Lordship is challenging. So is leading people to Christ,
discipling them, and nurturing them into simple house
churches. Sadly, many tentmakers and missionaries are
not very effective because they weren't effective before
going; they had inadequate godliness and ministry
skills. We find the biggest need of prospective
tentmakers is to become equipped and effective before
going into another culture. They need to learn under a
skilled surgeon before operating on people, before going
as tentmakers.
Jesus understood this. So he chose twelve "to be
with him and to be sent out to preach." (Mk. 3:14) These
men never received Bible school or seminary training. He
trained them by taking them "with him" on-the-job as he
loved, healed, proclaimed, and discipled. They watched
him and copied him. Only later did Jesus send them out
to "preach." When he did, they did what they had seen
him do and were tremendously effective. They were so
effective that a huge crowd followed them in order to
hear Jesus-a crowd of 5000 men plus thousands of women
and children whom he miraculously fed. After Jesus'
resurrection, these men turned the ancient world upside
down.
Jesus' apprenticeship model worked because imitating
others is the way humans really learn. Paul understood
this, so he told the Corinthians, "Be imitators of me,
as I am of Christ." (1 Co. 11:1) This was his discipling
"strategy," not classroom lectures, not handouts, etc.
He demonstrated what he taught-he lived it. He knew that
godliness is more "caught than taught," that people copy
what they see, not what they hear. In Paul, people saw
joy in the midst of suffering, faith in the face of
mortal danger, unflagging love for failing, even hurtful
people, passionate zeal for God, exemplary work
practices, compelling preaching and teaching, effective
discipling, wise, Christ-like leading, etc. And they saw
Paul do all this as a full-time worker supporting
himself.
They saw the same example in Paul's
co-workers-Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, and the rest. They
were all tentmakers who worked for their living. The
early converts saw everyday working Christians living
lives of powerful godliness and ministry. Paul and his
team showed the supernatural power of God, and made
serious discipleship and disciple-making normal for
regular Christians. Early Christians found it easy to
believe God worked like this through ordinary disciples
because they saw it with their own eyes. To them, this
was normal Christianity.
These stories tell us exactly what training is
ideal to make us effective tentmakers-working as
apprentices to a master tentmaker. This is what Timothy
and Titus did. This is what early church leaders did.
Unfortunately, it's very hard to do today because there
are few master tentmakers.
This model of making disciples through
exhibiting the gospel, working personally with a few,
and leading by example and word, is very simple and
powerful. It works. Regular workplace Christians can do
it. In fact, God is using workplace Christians as
effective tentmakers around the world. But this model
has been largely replaced by an organizational,
impersonal, program-oriented, and academic model. And
this has become our mental model of church and ministry.
And we do what we see. What we need is to replace the
old mental model with the simpler, more powerful New
Testament model. This is why we need effective
tentmakers to show us how to do it. This is also why
there are few master tentmakers for us to work with as
apprentices.
So is there an alternative? What about bringing
some effective tentmakers together to share stories of
how they were effective? Their stories enable us to
"watch" them after the fact. They let us "see" and grasp
a model of effectiveness we've never seen before,
especially as they explain the Biblical principles of
why it works.
If we could gather these leaders for a
concentrated, 4-5 day course, built around the core
principles of tentmaking, then any motivated potential
tentmaker can get this powerful training by simply
taking a few days off. We have done this with the GO
Equipped! Tentmaking Course. We created a course built
around the core Biblical principles of tentmaking using
stories told by effective tentmakers.
Ari Rocklin is one of the tentmakers who will
share his story. But he learned it the hard way, through
much questioning and work. When he joined Global
Opportunities and first helped with our course, he said,
"If only I had gotten this before going!" Other
tentmakers have expressed the same thing.
You can get his training for a fairly small
investment of time and money. And you can sit and talk
with tentmakers who have done it and who keep on
learning from working with tentmakers. Sign up now to
take advantage of this crucial training before you
attempt to perform tentmaking surgery!
What course alumni are saying:
Not only did this course help...for going as a
tentmaker, it also gave me practical advice on how to
start...sharing my faith here at home while I finish my
studies. On my way home from the course, I shared my
faith with a seeker for the first time in my life.
-Participant, Bergen 08
Thank you...for this invaluable course! We are now
serving as tentmakers in an unreached country. Truly,
there is no other course out there that is specifically
designed by and for tentmakers.
-Mr & Mrs. Zee
The Tentmaking course in Bergen in May probably is the
best course I have participated in, ever.
-Oddvar Almelid
I've been thinking about the course in Dallas. So far,
there is nothing that was not covered. The course must
truly have been developed out of years of experience. I
still draw on the [training]-the importance of a prayer
team, jumping right into the culture, living out what I
believe during day-to-day business..., the importance of
opening up the home... I could go on. That course was
truly sent by God at just the right time. -Jon
(tentmaker with an IT business in India)
Oh my friend!!! How can I express my gratitude for the
exceptional program you offered! Thank you indeed! I
told my former "boss" that this course was one of the
best programs for training missionaries I have
participated in. -Mission
leader, USA |
Alan"
and "Rachel" opened their home to people they met in
China and invited new friends to an English language
Bible study. They sang Christian songs, discussed a
specific passage of the Bible, mostly about Jesus,
prayed together, ate refreshments, and enjoyed each
other. Within a few months a couple of people became
Christians. Friend brought friends, the group grew, and
more came to Jesus. They baptized the new believers and
discipled them as they grew, working together with and
mentoring leaders within the group. Even before they
left, the group sent one member to Tibet to reach
people. After two years, "Alan" and "Rachel" left the
group as a small house church in the hands of the
leaders they had been developing. That church reproduced
at least six more house churches over the next five
years! 
