“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I never really gave much thought to these words but these days, “justice for all” is taking on a great meaning for me. When I think about justice, my mind usually goes straight to the Jesus’ mission found in Isaiah 61: “To heal the brokenhearted, and set the captives free…” Ever since I was a child, I’ve resonated with the principle of justice in the context of defending the broken, the needy, the poor and the abused.

I wanted to do something about the injustice.

I wanted to contribute.

I wanted to change things!

I wanted to be like Superman who stood for truth and justice.

I sensed God offering us a chance to trust Him more than we had. I wanted to attempt something that could fail big without God.

But what could I do? I was too small to change the world, too fragile to leap off a building, and didn’t have a big enough allowance to buy food for all the homeless. But I remember an instance when was about nine or ten years old. My dad sent me to the local store to buy cream for his tea. As I was leaving the store, I looked down and saw a dirty, unshaved homeless man. At that moment, something happened in my heart. I wondered, “Why is this guy sitting on the sidewalk in filthy clothes, unshaven, unhealthy looking, and apparently hungry?

Right then was my moment! This was a chance to seize the opportunity for justice! I walked over and gave him all the money I had (which was actually my dad’s money that I was supposed to bring back to him). Then I just walked away without saying a word. I walked away tall and content. It may have been only one meal for one person in a small city in Florida, but it was an enormous and dramatic experience for my young mind.

I remember other similar experiences in the 28 years since then. I still want to be like Superman—bringing justice to the bad guys and saving the victims. I want to be part of a cause bigger than myself. I want to be part of something that will outlive me.

The University of Oregon

After graduating from the ARISE Cornerstone Program, I agreed to take part of the ARISE Internship Program. My team’s mission is to do ministry on the campus of the University of Oregon. Baffled and overwhelmed at the 20,000 student body campus, I began to look for God’s leading. The University of Oregon is very secular compared to the Bible belt area from where I’m from. This intimidated me. What could the four of us do? I didn’t want to get swallowed by the giant. It was my Goliath. I wasn’t interested in doing things by my own power. I wasn’t interested in doing things that I could accomplish with my own skills like a mild mannered Clark Kent Bible worker, having a few quiet Bible studies amidst the masses. It seems we settle too often, living quiet lives of desperation. I sensed God offering us a chance to trust Him more than we had. I wanted to attempt something that could fail big without God. I desired something that required God’s hand; isn’t that more exciting? With my trusty partner Alex, we set out without a plan of attack. We had no idea where to start. We had no specific marching orders. We were willing. We took this on by faith and asked for guidance. Some days seemed like a waste. Some days we had little success. Most days it rained.

Justice Week Was Born

After hearing about the Justice Conference, I researched justice in the context of human sex trafficking. I learned about an organization called International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. They now have 300 professionals working for justice in their own communities. I downloaded their Justice Week Tool Kit. This was the basis for the idea of a Justice Week at the University of Oregon.

We spent hours on our knees writing on sidewalks with chalk about the issues of justice and raising awareness of the sex exploitation of children in our communities. We passed out thousands of flyers highlighting the issues and our planned events. We set up tables, a tent and made display boards telling about the atrocities of sex trafficking.

We screened a documentary on campus about the sex exploitation happening right here in our very own backyard. We invited the founder of a local charity, Hope Ranch to speak about her desire to establish several houses where former sexually exploited women could go and receive healing. We also heard from a survivor, a lady who was formerly a prostitute. Hers was not a PG rated story; it was disturbing and motivating. And by a divine miracle, we gained access to a gymnasium in the center of campus to hold our pinnacle event, a free concert with a message of justice weaved throughout the songs. God answered our prayers in a way we never could have imagined

With God’s help, we were able to bring awareness about some relevant justice issues and encouraged lots of people to take some small steps in brining justice to our community. This was definitely just the beginning but we’re excited to see what the Lord will do in the near future.

If you’re interested in bringing awareness to some of these issues in your area, be sure to visit IJM’s website. They have plenty of suggestions for everyone including churches, students, professionals, prayer partners and artists. Learn how you can get involved here.

Remember, God is not necessarily asking you to change the whole world, but He is asking you to do the little that you can with what you have to bring justice to all those around you.

But God, as He so often does, surprised me with an unexpected blessing and message.

That blessing and message? Freedom! 

As we drove and walked from place to place, I was repeatedly confronted with this most basic longing of the soul––American, or otherwise. The famous Boston walk is called The Freedom Trail. From Lexington and Battle Road, to North Bridge and the site of Paul Revere’s capture, the whole land is steeped in the grand quest for freedom.

God made us free to be free.

The human soul longs to be free, and in this sense American history is everyone’s history. That freedom is a universal and fundamental longing is easily demonstrated. One need only grab another human being suddenly and firmly by the arm and begin to pull them somewhere, anywhere. What will happen? The person will reflexively resist, and likely will try to break free from your coercive dragging.

Why? The answer is as simple as it is human: they want to be free. In this case, free of your discourteous yanking.

Given a choice, people always prefer freedom. And when no choice is given, and the human spirit is pushed too far into the corner of coercive submission, freedom will be fought for. The colonists grew weary of England’s king and of his taxes. They felt constrained and coerced. Naturally, they resisted. Their resistance became an ideal, and that ideal became a country.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty [Freedom!] and the pursuit of Happiness.

As I walked with my family and friends along the Freedom Trail, a single Bible verse kept echoing and reechoing in my mind: “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1 ESV).

Think that through for a moment. For freedom Christ has set us free. That is, the purpose of freedom is freedom. God made us to be free, first and foremost because freedom is virtuous and beautiful in and of itself. Yes, I know that God desires us to love Him supremely and our fellow man sincerely, and that this requires genuine freedom, but freedom is not merely the means to another thing––in this case, love––it is also the point itself!

God made us free to be free.

The founding fathers of the United States understood freedom could not come from a human document, be it The Declaration of Independence, The United States’ Constitution, or, later, The Emancipation Proclamation. They understood that these documents were simply articulating a deeper, more fundamental reality: that freedom is a gift (and a responsibility!) that comes from God.

Jesus came to announce and secure this freedom, which had been lost to sin, death, and Satan himself. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Thank you Jesus for freedom, true freedom.

And for Boston.

“My name is Kathy by the way.”

“I’m Adi. Nice to meet you!”

“We should run together some time.”

“That’d be great!”

Numbers were exchanged, and an appointment was made for a morning run later that week.

As spring turned into summer, Kathy and Adi’s morning run turned into a weekly engagement. Before long they were training for races together. As the miles passed under their feet they talked about life, family and God. Kathy would express her faith in and love for a God who sustains her in the most difficult of times. She shared, not in a calculated or formulaic way, but in tones as natural as the air they were breathing, and as honest as the ground they were running on.

After about a year of running together Kathy became pregnant with our second child. While the morning runs were less frequent, the friendship formed remained strong. Adi couldn’t shake this feeling that there was something more to life than she had known. Growing up Catholic, she had always believed in God, but hadn’t experienced Him in the ways Kathy described on their runs. So she would stay close to Kathy, and hope for answers.

…the Kingdom of God shows up, not just at the concert or evangelistic meeting, but also, and especially, at the playground.

Another year passed and this time it was Adi who became pregnant with her second child. A handsome blue eyed, blonde haired boy was born whom they named Ryan. Because he was such a healthy boy, it troubled Adi, when after several months he seemed to be losing weight. After several doctor’s visits and misdiagnoses came the crushing news: Leukemia.

As Adi shared the news with Kathy they both cried. “If there was ever a time for answers, it’s now.” thought Adi. So she asked Kathy why this happened to her son. Kathy didn’t have an answer, so she asked me…the professional. “Er…um…books! Yes, let me find some books on that.” The answer, it turned out wasn’t as important as the fact that Adi was reaching out, opening herself up to God. So what did these two suffering, searching moms do?

They ran.

But this time they ran for Ryan. In his name. For a cure. And as they ran, they prayed. As they ran, they cried. As they ran, they hoped against hope that he’d be well. And after running, they studied the Bible. They learned about God’s creative ideal, the fall of man, the destructive power of sin, and the redemptive power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Last Sabbath another child was born… again. But just before she got baptized, Adi and her husband dedicated their child, Ryan to God. Full head of blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and cancer free.

Adi being prayed with before her baptism.

My wife, like so many moms I know, has gone through life painfully unaware of the gift she is to the world. On this Mother’s day, I am grateful for her, and all the moms like her. And for the lessons they’ve taught me in soul-winning. That the Kingdom of God shows up, not just at the concert or evangelistic meeting, but also, and especially, at the playground. The Kingdom dress code consists of running shoes and shorts as much as it does skirts and suits.

So, the next time I’m on playground duty I’ll be sure to keep my eyes, and heart more open. Meanwhile, I’ll be working on my running pace. It’s hard to witness when you can’t breathe!

Angelo Grasso is the Seventh-day Adventist representative to the Harvard Chaplains in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He finds great joy in ministering with and on behalf of Adventist young people from around the world who pass through Boston as students, or who choose to lay some roots as young professionals. Angelo serves, with his wife Katherine and two children (Eliah 6, Emma 3) as part of the Campus HOPE Fellowship ministry team of the Boston Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church, and would be happy to welcome you the next time you pass through.

Have you seen the new Digma videos? If you haven’t, go watch them immediately at digma.com, then share them with your social network. I’m serious. Stop reading this blog because someone on your “friends” list is waiting and needing to hear one of these messages. And the good news is, they are so well done that he, or she, will actually listen! After you’ve completed this modern mission trip, come back and read the rest of this article, and I’ll share with you another effective way to use these visually engaging and contemporary videos. OK, ready? Go to digma.com and I’ll see you in a few…

You’re back, great.

So here’s my own Digma story.

I was looking for a way to lead my junior Bible class into a discussion about theodicy; that is, how God can be all-powerful and yet allow an evil world to exist. The discussion would lead into a Bible study on the great controversy motif of Scripture, which they could then share with others. That was the plan.

I’m supposed to be here. I know I am. God called me here.

For some time I had wanted to attend ARISE and learn from David and Matt, the Rosario brothers and all the great teachers that grace the whiteboard. But then, when I realized it was going to happen, and that the calendar date for the Cornerstone Program would soon be upon me, all I could do was question my motives.

“Why do I want to go?”

Did I want to flatter myself by being among men of God and showcase my talents? Was I merely following the footsteps of my best friend, a subconscious mimicry? Did I expect a fix-all-my-problems-and-spit-me-out-as-Mark-Finley treatment? Doubts, questions, and fears hung above me as I packed my suitcase, as Delta Airlines brought me to Eugene, and even as the dean picked me up at the airport. Trepidations floated around in my mind until the opening week of prayer. Matt Parra exhorted the class to test uncomfortable teachings and wrestle with them.

“Don’t be fixated on new light,” he preached while slapping his thigh to the rhythm of his statements. “Don’t be hostile to new ideas. Be a Berean and search the Scriptures for yourself.”

…the Spirit told me to not expect a magic fix.

At that moment I knew I was where I needed to be. However, I haven’t been able to express why until now, as Cornerstone has begun its ending process.

The why involves ideas like a shift in my spiritual paradigm that has greatly empowered my experience with God. This being brought about by the love, mentorship, and teaching from the ARISE staff which have led me to expand my perception on spiritual matters. I have been submerged into an adventuresome exploration of the depths of God’s character and have found Him to be beautiful. I have searched the Scriptures and found a Story about a suffering God who wants to establish a new creation and a new reality both now and forever. Moreover, I have realized this Story is being told today, and God is inviting me to take an active role in the writing of that Story.

The passing days plainly etch this realization into my mind and heart and only increase my desire to be a part of God’s Story.

Coming to Light Bearers for the ARISE Cornerstone Program has not been a magical voodoo potion that transcends the effort, suffering and hard work that goes into growing in Christ. My story here began that night when Matt Parra spoke and the Spirit told me to not expect a magic fix. In my chair, the Spirit let me know He had something better in store for me, something much more meaningful. He always does.

Each time Matt’s crippled right arm rose and fell to slap his thigh, I knew the Spirit would show me how to acquire the strength these men have rather than leave me to feed off their strength.

And He has.

And He will.

It is no secret to those who know me that I regard New Zealand as “the best country on earth.” I’ve been there four years in a row, and have no plans or desire to stop my annual visits. My most recent visit, which I’ve just returned from, was a wonderful blessing, as it afforded me many opportunities for ministry and fellowship.

Christchurch is New Zealand’s second largest city, and it was my first stop. I was looking forward to catching up with some of those who had been baptized as a result of our efforts over the past few years. As providence would have it, I was able to reconnect with more than a dozen of them. What a joy it was to see their bright, happy and energetic faces at church on Sabbath morning. I hadn’t alerted any of the three churches I visited about my arrival, so my presence was a genuine surprise. A good one, I hope!

My heart leapt with joy to see Debbie and her mother sitting in church soaking up the sermon. And Theresa and Collin both looked so content and settled in their new faith. James was making excellent contributions in Sabbath School class, and Colleen was smiling and putting distance between her and her depression. Renee and Isaac were smiling and attentive, clearly enjoying the service. Amos is a regular missionary and powerful young preacher. Adrian and Kate are sharing their love for Jesus with whoever will listen.

Yet that’s exactly where I find myself, surrounded by beautiful people from other countries who don’t know the true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Or even worse yet, they’ve been given a horrible depiction of Him by the media, and other poor messengers as we’ll see here in a few moments as depicted in the book of Ezekiel. But God works in mysterious ways, and upon returning to my home area for a funeral, after being gone for a couple years, I was offered a job to work with a multi-cultural community center which is a church-supporting ministry. This ministry (The Old School Community Center) focuses on meeting the needs of those from other cultures in their native language by using interpreters. It focuses on using community service programs and friendship evangelism to win their hearts.

The local church here has a total of twenty-four members from: Haiti, Ghana, Indonesia, Jamaica, China, Dubai, Nigeria, Zambia, Colombia, Bolivia and Romania. The Spanish speaking church that meets just down the hall has members from Mexico, Cuba and Ecuador.

The other day I went to our Adventist Campus Ministries booth in the student center at Southern Illinois University with two church member friends from Ghana and Dubai. We had a discussion with a young Hindu man from Sri Lanka about the big picture themes of the Holy Scriptures. I went back to work where I heard Spanish with accents from Colombia, Bolivia and Mexico. After dinner, I headed to prayer meeting which is held at the home of one of the Haitian families. They told me they have a single-mother neighbor who is a Catholic from Madagascar and in need of prayer. We went to her house to sing some hymns and pray with her.

God’s plan for the nation of Israel was for them to evangelize the world through their example.

A Schwinn bicycle helped spread the Good News to these parts of the world. Sure, I could have spent thousands of dollars to fly overseas; spent hundreds more paying for immunizations, lodging and food; spent months learning the language and building trust with the locals; then finally be to a point where I could competently share the gospel in a foreign land. Instead, the Lord saw fit for me to get on my bike and ride to the local public university to share with those from other countries. We can do a great work far more cost effectively, in our home country without having the barrier of being an American that is just trying to win souls and go home. Unfortunately this stereotype exists in many parts of the world.

I find this intriguing because God’s plan for the nation of Israel was for them to evangelize the world through their example and His mighty providential hand. Unfortunately, they did not faithfully fulfill this duty. In fact, in Ezekiel 36:22-32 God pleads with the children of Israel who have profaned His name among the nations with their behavior and disobedience. He vows to sanctify His name to the world in spite of what they did to profane it. The neighboring lands wouldn’t put their faith in Israel’s God because of their poor example.

So what’s that got to do with you or me? A lot actually. Our country exhibits some of the similar characteristics of the children of Israel in the Old Testament. This country was providentially raised up with good intentions and the favor of God was upon it and the Gospel has been shared with many lands as a result. But if you turn on your television or look on any news websites, you will see what type of picture the world is being given of America here and now. The image of the “Christian Bastion of the West” isn’t quite as flattering as it once was. I find it to be strikingly similar to what we just read in Ezekiel 36. People in other lands are not putting their faith in the Fear of Isaac because of the bad example of those who profess to be the people of God. Thousands, yea millions, won’t consider Christianity because of bad “Christian” examples. In fact wasn’t it Gandhi who said something along the lines of “The whole world would be Christian were it not for the Christians”?

Now I want you to bear with me, and know that this is by no means intended to discourage doing mission work overseas, or diminish the work that the Holy Spirit accomplishes through those who have the willingness to answer the call and go. But Satan is using America’s poor image in the world to dissuade others from receiving the gospel. In a day and age where the economy is in constant flux, gas prices (which will transfer to plane tickets and food prices) are skyrocketing, there needs to be a supplemental, and sustainable strategy to reach the world that will go alongside our existing mission programs.

The good news is that there’s no need to gather a bunch of scholars, ministry consultants, statisticians, or accountants to make a grand plan on how to achieve this. Just go to your local Adventist Book Center and buy the book Evangelism. Then turn to page 570 and read the advice we were given 100 years ago:

“God would be pleased to see far more accomplished by His people in the presentation of the truth for this time to the foreigners in America than has been done in the past. . . . As I have testified for years, if we were quick in discerning the opening providences of God, we should be able to see in the multiplying opportunities to reach many foreigners in America a divinely appointed means of rapidly extending the third angel’s message into all the nations of earth. God in His providence has brought men to our very doors and thrust them, as it were, into our arms, that they might learn the truth, and be qualified to do a work we could not do in getting the light before men of other tongues. 

Not all the means that can be gathered up is to be sent from America to distant lands, while in the home field there exist such providential opportunities to present the truth to millions who have never heard it. Among these millions are the representatives of many nations, many of whom are prepared to receive the message. Much remains to be done within the shadow of our doors–in the cities of California, New York, and many other States…

Wake up, wake up, my brethren and sisters, and enter the fields in America that have never been worked. After you have given something for foreign fields, do not think your duty done. There is a work to be done in foreign fields, but there is a work to be done in America that is just as important. In the cities of America there are people of almost every language. These need the light that God has given to His church.”

Another book that drives this point home is called Revolution in World Missions, by K.P. Yohannan, a native Indian missionary, and founder of Gospel For Asia. His theory is that natives of closed and unreached countries can do much more for the kingdom much more cost effectively and efficiently. If we prioritize the use of mission funds to train people and send them out to do the work in their own country, they will be accustom to the living conditions, fluent in the language, able to comfortably live on much lower wages than a transplanted missionary; then they don’t have to contend with the stigmas that westerners would have to face. The overall cost and time for evangelizing in a country drops exponentially. Again, that doesn’t let us off the hook for doing the work of God in foreign lands, if anything, it shows us that there are additional ways in which we can engage in, and support His work.

Pentecost is another fitting example. People from the known world were in Jerusalem and heard the truths of the gospel, and in conjunction with missionaries, they went out and shared with those back home. God afforded the gift of tongues (which is a functional gift that is to be used for sharing the gospel to foreign lands) and the known world was taken by storm. These dear souls that are visiting our country know more than one tongue, and should be encouraged and equipped to advance the kingdom in their home lands. If you know more than one language, it’s not just a neat recreational use of your time. God has given you this precious gift to reach people whom others that don’t know that language cannot. Use this blessed gift to win for Him a kingdom. Buy a Bible in that language and begin to share.

There is a great work the people of God can be doing here in America by befriending those that are here from foreign countries, by sharing with them the precious truths that we hold so dear. Most of them don’t know anyone if they haven’t brought family, or come with friends. Their first instinct is to find others from their country, continent or faith, and stay in those small esoteric groups. Many have no American friends. But a good amount of them are open to hearing these truths that we possess, and they come from cultures where family and friends are so tight knit that the gospel will not just change the life of one individual, but a whole neighborhood or village. When they share that they have learned of this hope in America, from the American people, we can begin a process of re-branding the nation and the Christian message.

The people I have met who are believers from other countries also seem to be less prone to exhibit symptoms of the Laodicean virus that is more commonly found in Westerners. Most of them have a fire and a passion for God that many of us would covet. I believe converts from other lands would exhibit a similar zeal. Not to mention the fact that there are so many blessings awaiting us by learning about other cultures and the common threads that bind us together. The food is pretty good too… Just saying.

He’s calling me, and you, to reach the world.

So what does this look like? It can start with finding these people and engaging in simple conversations and encouragement. Maybe offering them a ride to the doctor or grocery store. Share with them the reasons for the kindness that you are showing them. Tell them that Jesus loves them, and died for them, and that He has asked you to be their friend. So what if you don’t know their language. Smiles, hugs, acts of kindness, and most importantly, love, transcends language. Small steps like this can make a world of difference in someone’s life (pun intended). They can lead to spiritual conversations. You can also focus time and energy in training Adventists who are here from overseas to go and share in other areas back home. Teach them how to share our doctrines and how to defend them. Many lay people don’t share because they don’t know how. You can help with that. If you feel like you are in that category then plan to attend ARISE or one of the other institutions like it, to sharpen your sword and empower you for this mighty work.

I have been truly blessed to make the acquaintance of so many beautiful souls that Jesus bled and died for, and I know that He has brought them here to learn what you and I have come to know as life changing truths, and to encourage them to share with those back home. Jesus said in Matthew 24:14 that, “…this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations”, and the context of that statement is His imminent return. I don’t know about you, but I really want to go home. And if carrying out His work means sharing time with beautiful people from foreign lands, and eating good food is a part of that process, to ensure that this gospel does get to “all the world,” then I’d say it’s more than worth it. I now have brothers and sisters from the world over that I’ll know for all eternity. It doesn’t get any better than that.

I thought God called me here to do His work of reaching Carbondale. But now I’m beginning to see that it’s much bigger than that. He’s calling me, and you, to reach the world.

So where’s your Carbondale?

Dee Casper is a graduate of the 2010 Cornerstone Program and is currently working as the Disaster Preparedness Coordinator at The Old School Community Center, he is a trainer for ACTS World Relief, and he preaches and teaches at the Carbondale Seventh-Day Adventist Fellowship in Carbondale, Illinois.

After learning of our assignment, we set out to explore the university and become familiar with the campus. After receiving some information about starting student groups and wandering around with the team for a little bit, I strayed over to a radical environmentalist meeting called “The Survival Center.” I curiously looked around at the array of literature and pamphlets that were organized on bookshelves and surveyed the room strewn with banners, provocative protest signs and various themes displayed to awaken the attention to serious problems in the world. I could tell without even meeting the group that these people were all about making a difference and they meant business.

A very nice girl welcomed me to the club and introduced herself. I asked her what their association was all about. She explained that their club oversees all the different radical clubs on campus and draws people’s attention to the problems of this world and how we can do something about them. Their literature is all about how we as individuals can team up to stand for justice and do what’s right.

…one of the biggest blessings we can receive is helping people for the sole purpose of helping them.

After explaining their mission, she asked me why I was interested in their group. I  told her that I was a Christian attending an untraditional Bible college along with a few others, and that we too are protesting the injustices of this world. I also mentioned that we as Bible-believing Christians are sick and tired of the injustices that Christianity is often associated with . The word “Christian” and “Jesus” are, to many,  closely tied to persecution, torture, war and oppression. But this is the complete opposite of what Jesus stood for.

I told her that we are part of a movement dedicated to making right all the wrongs that people have committed in the name of God, and we would do so by revealing and illustrating the character of Jesus through our lives while respecting the freedom of religion that each human being deserves. We both seemed surprised but satisfied with that response. I accepted her invitation to attend their next meeting.

At the meeting, we explained that we wanted to get involved in helping people in any way possible and were interested in any community service projects sponsored by their club. They introduced us to a program called Food Not Bombs, which was founded in 1980 to call attention to this fact: the amount of money that the U.S. government spends on weapons in a week could feed the whole world for a year.

Each chapter collects food that would otherwise go to waste from grocery stores, bakeries and markets, and then prepares vegan meals, which are served for free to anyone who is hungry. They work to call attention to poverty and homelessness in society by sharing food in public places and facilitating gatherings of poor and homeless people. At the time, they were feeding people every Friday and wanted to start feeding people every Sunday, so we jumped at the opportunity. Within a week, we got everything cleared with the health department (which was a miracle) and started serving healthy, free meals every Sunday to anybody that is hungry. God has blessed us incredibly and we haven’t had any trouble finding food since we started. In fact, we are overflowing with food!

They’re looking for anyone who is interested in them as individuals.

I’ve found that one of the biggest blessings we can receive is helping people for the sole purpose of helping them. Too many poor and homeless people have been turned off to religion by our very zealous efforts to feed them and clothe them while scheming to make them religious. The moment they’re sweet-talked into a religious situation, they close up because dishonest people with an agenda have burned them in the past. They’re tired of flattery and they can smell insincerity from very far away. Zeal for evangelism is great and I think we need more of it. But our zeal needs to be driven by sincerity and love for whomever we share with.

Sometimes we get so zealous in showing them their spiritual needs that we completely miss the fact that these are people with emotional and physical needs. They’re looking for anyone who is interested in them as individuals. Through our actions and our genuineness, their hearts will be touched.  Instead of driving them away, they’re more likely to come back knowing that we like them for who they are; and we truly do! Most people living on the street have incredible life stories and colorful personalities, which we usually walk past and  miss out on the beautiful friendship we may have with them.

Through this ministry, we’re learning a lot about our motives in outreach and Jesus’ motives in outreach. Jesus said that when we feed the hungry, we’re actually feeding Him. However, the groups of people fit for Heaven are the ones that fed the hungry without knowing it was actually Jesus they were feeding. They fed them because they were hungry.

Nick Hausted, 20, is a graduate of our 2011 Cornerstone Program and is currently participating in the ARISE Internship Program. Nick is an amazing artist who has chosen to use his talents and youthful energy to serve God.

Too much said, I know, but sometimes the words just fall out of my mouth before I can stop them.

Once a man came to my house to make a repair. He commented: “It’s weird to come into a house that doesn’t have a TV on in the background that I have to talk over. It seems oddly quiet in here.” I thought to myself, “Huh. Are we at a place where it’s just ‘normal’ to live with a constant backdrop of TV murder, lust, profanity and deceit, and it’s weird to have a quiet atmosphere where conversations between the inhabitants can occur?”

I’m not picking on TV or on the barbaric dietary plan most of the world regards as “normal.” Those are just a couple ready examples that serve to point out how oddly abnormal the “normal” state of man happens to be.

From all appearances, it’s “normal” to make the promise, “till death do us part,” and then walk away when “I’m done” or when someone more “for me” comes along. It’s “normal” to objectify and exploit female sexuality and call it “business” or “advertising” or “entertainment.” It’s “normal” to massacre millions of living fetuses in the womb and call it “pro-choice,” or worse yet, “family planning.” It’s “normal” to create chemical concoctions that destroy health and call it “food.” It’s “normal” to hoard obscene amounts of money in banks while tens of thousands of children drop dead of starvation each day and call it “success.”

And yet the truth is, all of this supposed normality is insane and evil by any rational assessment.

I’ve got three points I’d like to offer about being “normal” and not being “weird.”

1. Be comfortable being “weird” by the world’s standard and seek God’s approval alone as your personal criterion for “normal.”

“Normal” is one of those shifting human concepts that elude stability, like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. Who defines it? By what criterion do we measure it? And once “normal” is defined in any given culture or clique of human weirdoes, you won’t have to wait very long before it changes. “Normal” moves like the wind. You’ll never be able to keep in sync with the world’s ever-changing view of normality, coolness, beauty or success, nor should you even care to.

So stop trying.

The whole psycho edifice is sick and “passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31, NKJV). “Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out” (1 Corinthians 7:31, The Message).

I’d like to suggest that the only “normal” worth pursuing has nothing to do with “sameness” or “culture” or whatever “fashion” or “fad” the advertising agencies happen to be pushing at any given moment. To the contrary, being a “normal” human, as humans were meant to be, has everything to do with being totally “abnormal” compared to the standard of normality our sick world projects through its various media outlets. Look right past all of it and live with an entirely different orientation.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).

2. To become radicalized for God is to become normalized as a human being.

Ask yourself, Is Paul exaggerating when he says,“Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36)? Another translation more lucidly renders the text, “All things find in Him their origin, their impulse, the center of their being” (Knox). Paul’s words only seem an exaggeration because we are so far removed from the natural state in which God originally created us.

Scripture knows nothing of life having any component that occurs without reference to God.

In actuality, only when we are completely immersed in, devoted to and consciously acting toward God, are we exercising our humanity with normality. We could say, using the modern vernacular, that anyone who is not totally “sold out” to God is “weird.” The problem is, our true identity as human beings is so foreign to our very selves that we consider anyone who is totally into God as weird, extreme or fanatical.

But the truth is, human life is essentially and necessarily spiritual.

It is, therefore, “normal” to be spiritually alive, focused and motivated, and abnormal to be anything less that totally on fire for God.

We were designed and created to be habitable temples for the indwelling of the living God (Ephesians 2:21-22), to be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). And yet, it has become popular to think of life as having a spiritual “part” distinct from the other aspects of life that are secular. The word “secular” means, “not religious or spiritual in nature; not concerned with spiritual matters” (Encarta World Dictionary). People speak in terms of their “spiritual life” as if it were in some sense distinct from their “professional life,” their “family life,” their “social life,” their “secular life.”

But the distinction between spiritual and secular does not actually exist. It is an invention of the fallen human mind designed to evade God’s presence in everyday life. In fact, there is no word in the Bible for “secular.” Scripture knows nothing of life having any component that occurs without reference to God. Every aspect of life is concerned with spiritual matters, because we are spiritual beings by definition. We are always in either a positive or a negative spiritual state.

So don’t think of your relationship with God as one part of your life. Rather, think of your life as completely spiritual. Do all that you do—job, educational pursuits, relationships, life-goals, recreation—within the spiritual framework. “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Which brings us to our final and most ontological point.

3. Self-giving love is the only “normality” worth pursuing.

Our native state, pre-Fall, was one of complete other-centeredness. The human heart was made to move outward every moment of every day in vertical and horizontal deeds of selfless love.

Never inward.

Always outward.

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16, NIV).

That’s what it really means to be human, and therefore “normal.” To the degree that we forget ourselves and live for the wellbeing of others and for the pleasure of God, we are “non-weird” by heaven’s standard.

Anyone who is not totally “sold out” to God is “weird.”

Everything we do is in favor of one or the other of two antagonistic principles: either selfishness or love. Paul summarizes the fallen state of humans with the word “self-seeking” and he informs us that “in the last days. . .men will be lovers of themselves” on a descending scale that becomes “worse and worse” (Romans 2:8; 2 Timothy 3:1-2, 13). That’s our world, and it’s not “normal,” except in the sense that we’re used to it. God fashioned humanity in His image (Genesis 1:27), to love like He loves (1 Corinthians 13). To live in God’s love is the one and only rational and sustainable mode of living there is. Its violation is the source of every wickedness and every hurt that plagues the world. When we receive Jesus as our Savior, He immediately engages in the transforming work of restoring His self-giving love to hearts and lives. In other words, He restores us to our normal state as God’s image-bearers. From that moment forward, every decision we make that reflects His love contributes to the normalizing of our humanity.

So this message is simply an invitation—no, an admonition—to be normal. That is, to throw off this world’s pressures to fit in and embrace your true identity as a child of God whose whole life is meant to be a reflection of His amazing love.

Thankfully, now that we have our own facilities since our recent merger with Light Bearers, we now have an opportunity to provide a longer program of training, discipleship and mentorship.

This is the ARISE Internship program. A 12-month extension of our Cornerstone Program. A select number of students are enrolled in this graduate program to continue learning in class and applying what they learn in the community.

David Asscherick teaching the ARISE Interns.

The eight interns that are part of this internship program are actively engaged in frontline ministry. They are serving in local churches giving Bible studies and preaching, conducting training for the laity, organizing small groups, visiting backsliders, integrating into the overall life of the churches, and targeting the University of Oregon (which has over 20,000 students) with outreach ministries. We’re excited to see young people committing their lives for Gospel ministry and being used by God in real ways to impact real people.

Meet the interns

Please pray for our interns as they continue their training and do ministry in the Eugene community.

Left to right: Nick, Stephanie, Liz, Alex, Bryant, Gabriel, Katelyn, and Josh