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11.11.11 Webinar, When Missions Vision is Bigger than Missions Budget
Sixteen:Fifteen Welcomes New Church Coach Curtis Brickley
Q & A with Curtis Brickley
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1615: How did you learn about Sixteen:Fifteen and its church missions coaching ministry?
CB: As I think back a few years I can’t tell you exactly when or how I initially heard of Sixteen:Fifteen. I think what is important is that I initially rejected church missions coaching. I thought Sixteen:Fifteen wanted to come in and tell us how to “do missions” at Hoffmantown! I thought to myself, “they [Sixteen:Fifteen] don’t know us, our values, our polity or our people”.
1615: You are leaving a growing church missions program that is focused in having a greater impact in the world. Why do you sense the Lord is leading you to join our team rather than stay with Hoffmantown as its mission pastor?
CB: It is because of God’s clear leading and a strong conviction that a shift is happening in the church, that the beautiful Bride of Christ is reclaiming Her role to reach the nations, ALL PEOPLES, every tribe and tongue! I am not leaving my family at Hoffmantown Church; God is extending the ministry that He has begun here. He is allowing this body of believers to join Him in assisting other churches to navigate the unfamiliar waters of change as they lean-in toward the forgotten and marginalized peoples who do not yet treasure the Son of God; those who live each day in captivity, in bondage, without the Hope of a Savior, without an anchor for their soul. (Heb 6:19)
1615: Is there a scripture or passage that has influenced you on your personal journey and current course your life is taking?
Yes! Jesus feeding the multitudes… “Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.” Matthew 14:19-21
Today, more than 2,000 years after Christ told us to pass the bread so that ALL would eat; those in the back have yet to receive it! They can see it from a distance and smell its sweet aroma but still, it remains out of reach. Why is this? Because we have simply failed to do what we are told…today, the church is filling itself with the bread of life but too many times neglecting to pass it to the back rows! If I were to repaint this beautiful picture of God’s great provision, I would tell it like this:
“Those who were in the front ate and were satisfied as the loaves and fishes passed in front of them over and over again. After everyone in the front few rows were completely filled, including their pockets, purses, handbags and even a wheel barrow or two; they became tired and sleepy, so much so that they neglected to pass the loaves and fishes to the people in the back who had not yet eaten even one bite of food. The people in the back could see and smell the bread of life, but only from a distance. Some waited patiently, others worked very hard to earn this life-giving and life-sustaining bread…but it never reached them! Meanwhile assuming all had already eaten, the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over and stored them up for future use when those who were filled in the front became hungry once again. The number who actually ate was very small when compared to the number who died in the back of the crowd, including women and children, having never tasted the bread of life.”
This status quo is no longer acceptable! There exists in our United States today, tens of thousands of evangelical churches and only about 6,000 unreached peoples. Unreached peoples that God loves and sent His Son to die for; unreached peoples that He is drawing unto Himself! Unreached peoples saying, “Pass the Bread!”
It is so exciting to see and be a part of passing the bread to the back rows, to forgotten peoples in far off places! God is awakening His people and stirring their hearts with a divine discontent to fulfill His purposes, to make His name known in every corner of the world! The beautiful bride of Christ is awakening once again…GLORY!
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