Calling or Sending?

(This may contradict the last post in some ways, but oh well, I learn out loud.) Here is what I have observed in missions over the years: generally speaking, people can only "GO" after they've been "called". Get a nation. Get a word from the Lord. And then, and only then, we can send you.

Here is what I see was more common in the pioneers of our faith: We want to GO to this region or that. And so we "send" people to those places.

And I am bothered. Sure, a few people get a clear word to go to a clear place, but most do not.

I am tempted to conclude that we have personalized mission way too much, robbing the church from vision for mission and missing out on a LOAD of people dying to go out, but with no idea where or how because they haven't had a "word" or "call" yet.

My suggested solution: "Send" everyone. Send people to places in our hearts. Ask people: "We would like to send you to Baltimore or Iraq, would you go?" They'll be so thankful. So empowered. So relieved. They'll feel so included. So needed.

Just dreaming here, but I wonder if many followers of Jesus are simply stuck waiting on a revelation they aren't supposed to get.

But this just opens up a whole different can of worms about asking God for things that he already gave us....we are all called, all sent. So, what are we wanting to hear now?

What do you think?

Dad's Business

A friend of mine in Cape Town named Kevin recently shared this status update on Facebook. It gave words to some of what has been germinating in my own heart these days. So, I thought I would share.

In my life, I've only met two people who have actually sparked a legit Church Planting Movement, and one of which was last night. The message was great, but it's so much bigger than my old paradigms ever allowed. Creating strategy is one of my most loved activities. The last couple years I've really become a CPM nerd, viewing Church Planting Movements as the holy grail of missions, the epitome of a Great Commission grand slam.

Admittedly, the notion of being given a geography, region or culture of which to ignite the rapid spread of the Gospel excites me at a level which few things rival. However, the closer I live by the Spirit, and the more I hear from the Father, I soon realize that all my strategy, intellect and models are worthless when measured against the Holy Spirit.

I am learning to lay everything I've been taught on the table, surrendering my own hopes to Him. He is showing me who I am. I am a son of the living God. He is a true Father. My identity is not in what I do, but in whom I love. He is so much bigger than our ideas. If we approach the Great Commission as finishing a task, we fundamentally miss the core of who He is and what He is after.

He is way bigger than our formulas and structures. When we create low risk systems that don't depend on Him, we place ourselves under a glass ceiling, which may feel secure, but inhibits us from flying at the levels He designed.

I know He's deposited something so precious inside me, the desire of His desire. I cannot be satisfied with one serving, or even the full course. I want it all, and will settle for nothing less, all the days of my life, for He who lives in me.

This world is His possession, and how blessed am I that I may journey together with Him, bringing the Kingdom to the forgotten places, which He never forgot. The Father's business is to reconcile those who are lost, heal the broken, and restore the corrupted to their original design and intent.

I'm in my dad's business.

"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you!" - Jesus

Big News from the Kaye Family

Major things have been happening in our loves over the last few months. Below is the letter we sent to all of our supporters a few weeks ago. Now, we thought it was time to go even more "public" with our news. Read the news below! ----------------------

In the same way that Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi, we write to you and say that “we thank our God every time we remember you. In all our prayers for all of you, we always pray with joy because of our partnership in the gospel from the first day until now…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it to the day of Jesus Christ."

We write to you with lots of joy and excitement in our hearts.

First of all, we are excited about what is fresh on the horizon for the next several months. Tricia is 3 weeks (now 5) into Home Schooling Davis, and they are doing fantastic. We are doing so well as a family…feeling healthy, close and alive. Saturday we start our 5th CPx! 21 leaders (now 25) from 7 nations will be landing here Saturday (they are here). For the next 5 months, we are committed to pouring our lives into them to see them grow in passion for Church planting and making disciples of Jesus among the lost.

Amidst all of this action, we carry in our hearts a deep sense of relief and excitement. Relief because after having been actively asking the Lord his heart and will for us regarding our future as a family, God has spoken. Excitement over what He has said.

So, what is the big news?

We are moving!

We are in our 5th and final year in Cape Town! We sense that this INCREDIBLE season is to come to a close at the end of September. Even though we will leave with some sadness because we have loved and been loved, we have heard from God that our time in Cape Town is coming to an end.

So, what’s next? That is the question we held before the lord as we considered multiple possibilities of missions fruitfulness around the world. Above all and through all, we cannot escape the clear sense that the Lord has prepared us and highlighted for us East Africa. Our time on this great continent is not over! We are already deeply invested into Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda...with growing passion for several other nations in East and the Horn of Africa. The dream in our hearts is to coach and mobilize leaders and churches in East Africa to make disciples of Jesus among the lost. So much vision is growing in our hearts. We cannot wait to share more.

Where will we live? We will decide in July when we travel to East Africa as a family. We are leaning into Tanzania, with Kenya still on the table. We will dedicate the first season of time there to learning Swahili and acclimation as cultural learners.

Here's the timeline: We will leave Cape Town the end of September and return to the USA where will take an extended home leave as a family (5-6 months). Our family is very excited about times of deep connection in the states during this time and looking forward to mobilizing many to join into what the Lord is doing in East Africa. We will likely return to the field in March 2016.

Would you send us your thoughts? And your questions? But more importantly, your prayer and continued support? We do not take for granted the sacrifice of so many of you in keeping us placed where the Lord has sent us.

We cherish you and would LOVE to hear from you as we listen to the voice of the Lord in this transition!

Thanks for journeying with us as a family!

Noah, Tricia, Davis and Lily

Not a Coincidence

imagesIn recent years the unrest, war and terror in our world have been sharply increasing. I have to be honest. I don't really get the Middle East. I'm gonna guess I'm not alone. I bet many of you don't either. I don't fully understand all the issues. All the underlying brokenness. All the fighting. All the riots. All the different strands of Islam. And why they fight each other. What I do understand is this: Jesus wants to see his name worshipped in every corner of the earth!! And it's not happening yet. I also understand that any peace outside of the peace of Jesus is a counterfeit peace.  And any love outside of the love of my loving Father is a counterfeit love. So, regardless of all I don't know and don't understand about the complexities of our world's conflict and the political turmoil right now, I'm here. Writing this from the very center of where bombs and swords and hatred are taking lives. And regardless of all I don't know....I DO know that Jesus is the only hope for healing. And so we've gathered. To storm the throne of God for breakthrough.

The timing is not a coincidence. On the very week that the kingdoms of this world (even my country of origin) decide to take violent action to solve the problems, we gather to admit that we cannot solve the problems. It's not a coincidence that just after nations decide to conquer, we gathered to surrender. As citizens of this upside down kingdom, we can't take matters into our own hands, we have no option but to place things in God's hands. And this is no coincidence. Actually, I think it's a divine symbol.

The bottom line is clear and simple: the world is in desperate need of healing and peace...and it can only find it in Jesus, the prince of peace.

So, we are praying like crazy and strategizing with the help of the Holy Spirit. We need people to GO! Maybe it's you?