Anyone who follows this blog must know that The Summit begins in the morning. Today, however, has been quite a day. This post will have two distinct parts – Chile and The Summit.

Very early this morning I was finishing getting dressed and ready to head out to teach my mission class in Shepherd School when the news flashed across the TV of a massive earthquake in Chile. The epicenter was near Concepción. I was just there last August. Vivid images flashed through my mind – friends, places, memories. Santiago was affected – airport closed, hospitals down, major highways and bridges ripped apart. At that moment they only had 80 some confirmed deaths. Then, I heard that it ranked 8.8. I stopped in my tracks and grew quiet.

If you know anything about earthquakes, you realize how extremely rare a quake of this magnitude is. As horrible as the Haitian quake was, this is many times more powerful. I don’t expect the same loss of life simply because Chile is a modern country with solid infrastructure and strict construction codes to withstand earthquakes. But 8.8!!!!

When I got done teaching  I sat down at my computer to try and sort things out. By this time the tsunami warnings had been issued. Having just been in both Concepción and Santiago and with many friends there from over the years, my thoughts quite naturally fell to them and their families. Having just been in Argentina last month for a major student mission congress (CIMA2010), over 400 students from Chile participated and I must have met most of them!

Thank God for Facebook! Over the course of the day I heard from a number of my friends, especially from Santiago. To this point, all are well that I have heard from. Some I have not. I still have no word from Concepción. I continue to pray for Chile and ask you to join me.

The other part of the day was a contrast. Most of our special speakers arrived today and this evening we all went to Jack Stack for some great KC BBQ and fellowship. There were 16 of us in a private room and the conversation flowed like water from a fire hydrant. A couple of times I sat back and looked around the room in amazement. Sitting in the same room were men who are working in some of the most challenging situations on earth. The many connections, common friendships and shared vision filled the room with great energy and anticipation. Hearing what God is doing in their respective areas was, as I said in my previous post, like going back to the first century.

It’s going to be a great week.

We often lament that we are living in the age of the Laodicean Church, taken from the seventh letter that Jesus Christ dictates to the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2-3. Many see these seven letters as being prophetic of seven stages of church history leading up to the Second Coming of Christ. The Lord accused the church in Laodicea with being lukewarm, neither cold nor hot.

Certainly the charge of being lukewarm could be leveled against many churches in the North or West. Looking no further than the church in the United States, there are legitimate concerns – materialism, self-centeredness, superficiality and more.

I fear we are sometimes so ethnocentric and egocentric we fail to notice that the church in many parts of the world is actually in its first century as the Gospel is arriving for the first time. As we have covenanted together to partner with those working with least reached peoples, we have the privilege of catching a glimpse of first century Christianity.

The Summit starts Sunday! The theme is Enter the Story. That’s exactly what we will do as we hear stories of first century Christianity in today’s world from some of the most amazing speakers of whom you have never heard. Remember, this conference cannot be recorded and posted on the web. Be there! And, don’t forget the day sessions.

One of the features of the upcoming Summit I am most excited about are the day sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 8:30 until a little after noon. In years past we have had a good number of out-of-town visitors and some KCBT people got the idea that these sessions were only for visiting pastors and leaders. Not so.  Never really been so. Especially not so this year!

As we have focused more and more on reaching the least-reached with God’s love, we have wanted to gear The Summit even more toward training our own people. We will still have visitors with us next week and we are extremely thankful for them. But, most of these classes are offered primarily with us in mind. Check out the sessions offered by clicking here.  There is no charge for these workshops, but we would appreciate it if you would register online so we can get a count for the brunch.

Also, Thursday morning on the same schedule we are hosting the annual meeting of the alliance of churches working together to be God’s friends to the K people. This would be a great opportunity to learn some of the exciting things that are happening in this effort. Again, anyone is welcome.

Remember, due to the sensitive nature of the topics and people involved, none of the sessions – day or night – will be recorded.  Be there  or be square!

After a satisfying early morning coffee at one of my favorite haunts, I headed to the office to do some video work with T-Rave, who is piecing together the final videos for The Summit. He was telling me about some of the stories he has down on tape and I was getting very excited.

Wednesday evenings are Spanish Bible Study times for me. For the past three weeks we have been doing a study of the Lord’s Prayer leading up to The Summit. During this series we have closed each study with a prayer time much like we have during our Prayer Ministry on Tuesday evenings. I repeated for them a lot of what I had said last night about asking the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into his harvest. Speaking of Tuesday night prayer, it has been gratifying to see an increasing number of Hispanics participating.

As the Hispanics broke into prayer groups, I sprinted out the door and headed across the street to The Point where it was Worship Wednesday tonight with assembled students from Junior High to College and beyond. There I had the chance to share my heart a bit about all that is coming as The Summit begins this Sunday. Can you believe it? Don’t forget to sign up online for the Tuesday and Wednesday morning sessions next week!

It’s almost here – The Summit. Prayer ministry tonight was electric with a sense of anticipation. After all we have seen God do these past couple of years, connecting the dots in so many areas and relationships, we absolutely believe that this is a very critical moment that is coming up.

Tonight we prayed specifically for some of the short term mission trip opportunities coming up this next year and beyond in accordance with Jesus’ instruction to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send workers. Also, we prayed for over half a dozen open doors for six months to a year to work with some of our partners in various places around the world. We are trusting that over the course of this next week God is going to be at work, calling out specific individuals to fill these needs.

This morning I was reading Numbers 23. God speaks through a carnal prophet by the name of Balaam who is being coerced by King Balak to curse Israel. God is not going to let that happen. Instead, he is going to use Balaam to bless Israel! Remember, this is coming off of 40 years of carnality and rebellion in the wilderness. Here is what God puts in his mouth to say.

He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! (Numbers 23:21-23)

Israel has a 40-year track record of sin, yet God has chosen not to take that into account. He is counting them as righteous, as he has with us due to the finished work of Jesus Christ. They are worthless, yet God says they are priceless.

Why would he do this? I think we have a hint of an answer right here. It is so it might be said of Israel, “What hath God wrought!” It’s not about Israel and what they may or may not have done. It’s all about God!

This is my prayer for The Summit. When it is all over, that people might not say, “What wonderful speakers, what marvelous praise,” but that they might say, “What hath God wrought!”