Gilson Family News

I (Tom) am in Orlando this week to initiate two new large projects: strategic and organizational assessments of our U.S. Human Resource function and of our “Marketplace Ministry,” our ministry to adult professionals in cities across America. We have two new team members working with us on this project — experienced in ministry, but new to our team. My usual working partner, Clark, was unable to make the trip here this time. Please pray for God’s guidance as I lead these new initiatives.

Meanwhile Sara, Lisa, and Jonathan are on the home stretch for the March 13 community youth event. Please pray for their final preparations, too.

We’ve just posted our latest newsletter today, with updates on a community youth event coming on March 13, being organized by Sara, Lisa and Jonathan; upcoming Campus Crusade organizational work that Tom is beginning to dive into; and an apologetics conference at which Tom will be speaking, also on March 13.

On November 13 and 14, 2009, about 4,000 people gathered for the National Conference on Christian Apologetics (NCCA) in Charlotte, NC, hosted by Southern Evangelical Seminary.

On the evening prior to the conference about 40 men and women took part in an invitation-only strategy session for Christian thinkers, led by Tom Gilson of Campus Crusade for Christ; Alex McFarland, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary, Steve Bradford, Program Director for BreakPoint (Prison Fellowship); and Brad Bright, president of Bright Media Foundation.

This meeting grew out of two separate roots. In the background there was an initiative begun by Charles Colson at the previous year’s NCCA, the forming of “The Kingdom Movement” to unite Christians to be effective in responding to cultural issues.

The direct impetus of this meeting, however, was prayer laid on Tom Gilson’s heart in February 2009, supplemented by encouragement given by Josh McDowell. In August 2009 Tom met with Alex McFarland to suggest an apologists’s strategy session, and McFarland agreed that it should take place in association with this year’s NCCA. McFarland recommended that Bradford be brought into the planning because of his association with the Kingdom Movement, and Tom Gilson recommended that Brad Bright be included because of his unique approach to strategies for linking thinkers with church and culture. (Brad Bright was already on the NCCA schedule as a speaker for a Friday VIP luncheon.)

Attendees at the meeting included about 40 pastors, authors, speakers, and ministry leaders.

Alex McFarland opened the meeting as host and laid a groundwork of the purpose of the discussion. Tom Gilson then laid out the strategic issue of the evening, which in short form was, “Much of the crisis of our day can be viewed as a crisis of truth. Christian scholars and apologists have a remarkably strong handle on what is true, and on answers that can encourage the church and impact the culture. But it’s not working.” The question was directed primarily to the pastors: What can scholars, academics, and apologists do to serve you and your church better? Discussion focused primarily on developing pastors and youth with what is required to be effective learners and thinkers. The group was united in a very, very deep concern that if our work in this area does not improve there will be continuing serious losses to churches and to culture. It is a serious problem; they are willing to work on it.

Steve Bradford led a discussion on what to do next in terms of continuing communication, and the strongest opinion expressed was that there need to be continuing meetings on this topic. Alex McFarland closed with a wrap-up and a prayer time.

Over the next day or so, Tom Gilson interviewed persons who had been at the meeting to ask whether it had been fruitful. The consistent answer was that it was very positive; and that it had especially been an encouragement to pastors. At the Saturday VIP lunch for conference speakers and other leaders, Charles Colson (who had been at another conference on Thursday and was therefore unable to attend the session in Charlotte) singled out the Thursday evening session as a sign of encouragement and hope that the church can work together in making a difference in America’s culture.

What difference was actually made there? It was only a two-hour session, so expectations were not that an action plan for change would be developed. What happened instead was as positive as had been hoped, however: a strong united agreement among a very diverse group of Christian leaders that this is worth putting significant time into working on together.

No plans were made for the time or location of the next meeting, or who would lead it. Contact information was collected, and the leadership group for this session will take it from there.

Tom: Our Operational Advisory Services team has been working with ministries all around Campus Crusade for Christ, assessing their effectiveness, accountability, and stewardship, and helping them improve in those areas. Campus Crusade’s senior leaders asked us this year to report on any Campus Crusade-wide trends and themes we were uncovering. Tom led the team in writing that report, and it was delivered to leaders just before Thanksgiving. These findings and recommendations in this report affect the very core of Campus Crusade’s leadership. We believe this could be the most significant work we’ve done to date.

Tom also recently led an effort extending far beyond Campus Crusade, a strategy session for pastors, ministry leaders, and Christian scholars in conjunction with the National Conference on Christian Apologetics. The question was: Christianity has great answers even to the hardest questions and most difficult challenges, but are the answers really reaching the people who need them most? How can we do better at this? We’re praying that the work that flows out of this will reach every church in America.

Sara and Lisa: Sara is leading both Jonathan and Lisa in developing some significant new ministry and leadership skills. In particular, Lisa is working to book a Christian band in several venues in our area in March.

Jonathan is doing a twice-weekly computer internship with Campus Crusade for Christ’s Military Ministry this semester.

We need prayers for health—Tom and Jonathan both caught the flu, most likely swine flu since Tom was immunized against the seasonal flu. Both Lisa and Sara had emergency room visits in the past few weeks (they’re fine now). Even our animals have been to the doctor much more than usual; our cat is recovering from a serious attack by another cat on our property.

Here is something very significant God has been doing in my (Tom’s) heart as an extension of my work with Campus Crusade for Christ: Reclaim the High Ground. Please pray for God’s guidance in this.

God is opening doors for us such as we have not seen in a long time, if ever:

• Tom is heading up an analysis of Campus Crusade leadership needs (finishing that in the next week or so)
• And also leading the upcoming strategy session for Christian apologists in Charlotte;
• Sara is helping to lead First Priority clubs in local schools
• Both Jonathan and Lisa are also involved in leading those groups
• We are co-leading another Truth Project group starting this week
• There are more Campus Crusade strategy projects on the horizon.

And as often seems to be the case, we feel like we’re wading through mud to get to all these opportunities. Lisa had a sprained ankle a couple of weeks ago, which was just a couple of weeks after she had to go to the ER for a bad head bump (it turned out to be just painful, not serious). Sara has had a stomach bug that took her to the hospital for fluid replenishment last weekend. Our pet rabbit had unexpected surgery on Monday for a parasite problem that was, well, not just a health problem but also very disturbing to see on him.

We’re excited about what God is doing but we do request your prayers that he would smooth out our paths. Thank you!

Some things we’re working on as we look ahead to the fall:

• Strategies and planning with Bright Media Foundation in Orlando
• Strategic planning follow-through with the Christian Embassy and Here’s Life Inner City in New York
• Broader connections with Campus Crusade’s global strategic direction, by connecting with leaders and planners in other areas of responsibility
• Working with global leaders to help develop better ways to track how well Campus Crusade’s worldwide office teams are doing in their behind-the-scenes operations: finance, human resources, information management, and so on.
• Opportunities to teach and encourage other Christians through speaking and writing

We’re all back home again! Jonathan returned yesterday afternoon from 50 days on a mission trip to Orlando, where he was part of a Creative Arts ministry team sharing Christ at tourist attractions, in churches, and at Give Kids the World. Sara, Tom, and Lisa were in Colorado for a nine-day conference with all the U.S. staff of Campus Crusade for Christ.

Jonathan came home very much in need of sleep, so we haven’t heard a lot of his story first-hand yet. It was a great time for him, anyway; we know that much already. He made some great friends, and God used him personally to lead at least one person to Christ, in addition to what was accomplished through the team working together.

The three of us who went to Colorado would all say it was our best conference there in many years (we have this conference every other year). Campus Crusade is adjusting its methodology to the 21st century, adding social networking (blogs, Facebook, Twitter) to our means of connecting with lost people and anyone we may be working with. Although I (Tom) am a blogger, it’s taking me a while to get used to the other methods, but I’m learning.

This does not replace face-to-face ministry, though; in fact, through pastor Timothy Keller and some of our own staff we were strongly reminded of the need to express love through tangible acts of service wherever we minister. This is both an expression of God’s character and an evangelistic strategy. In fact, we’re finding that non-believers are often eager and willing to join us on humanitarian trips, and there they see Christ at work in Christians’ hearts. It even works the other way around: some of our ministries have joined with secular-sponsored humanitarian efforts and shared Christ with their fellow-workers.

Is there a danger in this, that we’ll focus on giving immediate aid and let it substitute for sharing the message of Jesus Christ? The answer is yes: we’re seeing that tendency especially among college students we’re working with. Part of our purpose at this conference was training and discussion on how to keep the Gospel message central to our outreach.

Jesus Christ left us with both the Great Commission (to make disciples of all nations) and the Great Commandments (to love God and our neighbor). They are inseparable.

Finally on the conference, both Sara and I did considerable networking among the many staff and ministries of Campus Crusade for Christ. Our ministry has long been focused primarily on “ministering to the ministers,” as we have put it, and the connections we made will open relational and organizational doors to help keep us busy and fruitful for quite a while to come.

I had to get this blog entry posted early today, because later today the first sentence won’t be true. Lisa will be taking off for a Youth Evangelism Conference later this morning, an overnight trip to Richmond, along with other members of our church’s youth group. Sometime tomorrow afternoon, we’ll really be all back home again.

Thank you for praying for our time here in Colorado at the Campus Crusade for Christ staff conference. It has been a mix of biblical encouragement, prayer, worship, connecting with friends, and discovering new connections with strategic needs we can help with, many of which we will be working on over the next 12 to 18 months.

Our plenary conference sessions have been filled with reports of progress, including significant partnerships among mission organizations and Christian denominations to finish the task of reaching the world for Christ. I especially wish I could share with you some of the first-hand reports we heard this evening from staff members working in some of the most difficult and dangerous parts of the world; how God has rescued them from danger, and with what joy they are continuing in ministry there. We’ve been encouraged and received guidance through discussions with other leaders here, and we’ve received training in handling new opportunities (especially via the Internet) and sensitive issues.

Lisa has been experiencing a mix of teen fun and ministry in her conference. Today she and the other high schoolers at this conference packaged food sufficient to feed 245 hungry children for a year through Campus Crusade’s Global Aid Network ministry. They’ve been learning about evangelism, and tomorrow will be going to various locations around the Front Range of Colorado to practice sharing their faith.

And the three of us had a chance yesterday afternoon to take a short hike on a mountainside in the Poudre River Canyon, experiencing God’s glory in yet another way.

We have three days to go yet, and we’re looking forward to more good progress here. Since our ministry is primarily with Campus Crusade strategies and leaders, this has been and will continue to be one of our best opportunities to do the work God calls us to do. Thank you for praying with us!

Jonathan is on mission to Orlando this summer, and loving it. He’s part of a creative arts ministry team, reaching out to youth and children in local churches, and at least once a week also doing performances and sharing their faith at one of the popular Orlando tourist attractions.

Sara and Lisa are once again taking part in the local mission trip to Lackey. In teamwork with a friend from the African-American church we partner with, Sara was able to help lead a 14 year-old boy to the Lord just a couple of days ago. This is the third annual mission to Lackey (map), and members of the team say they are sensing an increasing openness to the Lord there each year.