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Farshid

My friend Farshid is currently in prison in Iran because of his faith in Jesus. I was touched by a letter he sent a few days ago...

To the fathers and mothers who lost their precious children in the Connecticut tragedy,

I really don't know what word in the world could comfort you, what relief could be helpful for your broken heart, and which hand could clean the tears which fall from your cheeks. I just want to say: I am so sorry and you are in my prayers.

I am sure these high walls cannot stop my prayers for you. Before this tragedy happened, I was thinking about my suffering that I'm going through because of my Lord Jesus Christ, especially being far from my lovely kids. But when I imagine how hard your pain is I forget my sufferings. Because I know by God's grace I will see my kids at the latest in 2017 when I come out from prison. But unfortunately you have to wait a bit longer. So I would like to express my deepest sorrow for your loss.

I believe we will have enough time in heaven with our lovely children forever. There is no gun there, there is no prison, and there is no pain.

In the hope of that glorious day.

Your Brother in Christ from prison in Iran,

Farshid Fathi

17 December 2012

CHRISTMAS

Josh is a 20 year old guy that I serve with on Sunday afternoons. This past Sunday, he asked me to pray for an elderly, homeless woman he had befriended. She was attacked and beat up badly the night before. I saw a picture and couldn't believe anyone would do that to a defenseless old lady! It's disgusting! It is hard not to get angry when you see this kind of wickedness. Josh went back to her that night to see if she would be willing to stay at his friend's house. She didn't feel comfortable going anywhere. So Josh decided to sleep on the sidewalk near her, to protect her. He has spent the past three nights sleeping on the streets to make sure nothing happens to her. I get emotional when I imagine this scene. I am honored to serve alongside guys like him, whose lives paint a beautiful picture of Christianity, and Christmas. "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Philippians 2:5-7

Please Pray!

I'm so excited about this weekend. At this point, we have about 100,000 people from 99 different countries who will be joining the live Multiply simulcast! We sensed that The Lord was stirring people towards actual disciple-making. This confirmed it. I'm looking forward to being encouraged by other believers who are trying to overcome their fears and tell the world of the greatest news on earth.

Pray that this time would be real and not contrived, Spirit-led and not based on human wisdom.

MULTIPLY

Almost two years ago, my family and I were in Asia trying to figure out where the Lord wanted us to live and minister. While apartment hunting in Hong Kong, I had a strong sense that God wanted me to return to the US. There was more I was supposed to do in convincing Christians to make disciples. It was all a bit overwhelming as I couldn't fathom how I could change the mindset of the millions who believe that being "fishers of men" and making "disciples" is the pastor's job. At the same time, I was excited about pursuing a vision that was too difficult for me. I told the Lord that I could not do this on my own, but also that I would not "recruit" anyone. I trusted that if He wanted me to do this, then He would bring people my way. Right after I returned to the States, I spoke at the Passion conference. It was there that I met David Platt for the first time. We immediately hit it off, and when I asked him what he felt the Lord was leading him to do, I was shocked by his answer. He spoke about how he believed that every believer needed to be a disciple maker. He shared about his desire to create material to train believers to disciple others. He wondered about ways to spread this message through books, videos, gatherings, etc. He considered new expressions of church where disciple making was central and every member understood their responsibility. In short, he expressed everything the Lord had been laying on my heart. After several conversations and prayer, we decided there was no reason for us to do this separately. It made more sense to pursue this as a team. So after a year and a half of prayer, planning, and work, we are ready to launch "Multiply". You can learn more at our temporary website: www.multiplymovement.com Consider joining us at one of our free gatherings on Nov 9 or 10!

NO WAY!!!!!!!

Many of you have heard the story of what happened a year ago when we decided to do a conference here in San Francisco… In short, we were going to have hundreds of people show up in the inner city to pass out thousands of meals to the poor and homeless. A few days before the conference, the rescue mission staff had a meeting where the leader expressed concern because they had no meat and no money. Two hours after the meeting, Trader Joe’s (the local market) called to tell us that their refrigerators had just shut down and they needed to give us all of their meat! Shortly after, truckloads of meat came to our front door!

Well… We are having our conference again this Friday. We just had a staff meeting this morning and our kitchen manager expressed concern that we might not have enough food because of the amount of people coming this year. Guess who called half an hour after our meeting. Yes, you guessed it! Trader Joe’s just had a power outage!!! Are you kidding me???!!!

We are all here shaking our heads in disbelief, celebrating, and laughing! So I just wanted to share it with the world...

Good News!

Shortly after writing my previous blog post, the Lord blessed me with a great opportunity to share with someone who actually loved hearing about Jesus. 15 minutes into the conversation, my friend Christian was so intrigued by it all that he began filming us.

There are so many people like my friend Ricky who have heard the name "Jesus" but have no idea who He is. This video is for those of you who don’t talk about Jesus because you feel like you don’t know enough about the Bible. There are so many who just need someone to tell them the basics.

http://youtu.be/h6iom5JlSs8

Discipleship is NOT Sexy

It has been a long time since I have written anything. I have spent most of my days developing new friendships and trying to explain to them their need for Jesus. I wish I could tell you a bunch of stories of lives that have changed as a result. I wish I could tell you that hundreds have repented and are now serving the Lord faithfully. Instead, I’m pretty sad as very few of my new friends are ready to ditch their lives to follow Jesus. Some are not convinced they need to repent. Others are not convinced He is worth it.

The good news is that I regularly see God do supernatural things (too many stories to write out). I expected these miracles to result in conversions, but now I understand what Jesus meant when He said, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:31).

Jesus never promised revival; in fact, He told us to expect the opposite (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Even when people saw the supernatural, it usually didn’t lead to repentance (Luke 10:13). What Jesus did promise was that we would have His presence with us as we made disciples (Matthew 28:20). This I have definitely witnessed. Supernatural answers to prayer never get old.

Like most speakers/pastors, I like to share about conversions and victories! But by only sharing those stories, it may make people think that something is wrong if they don’t see a lot of fruit in their efforts. Maybe this post is a strange word of encouragement for those who have been sharing Jesus and not seeing much result. We may not often see repentance, but we do experience God being with us; and we do enjoy the peace knowing we tried. And that makes it all worth it.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

My friend Daisy

Please pray for the Merrick family. For those who don't know Britt, he is one of the most effective Christian leaders in our nation and a dear friend.

http://prayfordaisy.com/

Twenty Seven Million

My friend, Matt Redman, just released a song "Twenty Seven Million" where the hope is to shine as much light as possible on the problem of human trafficking.

I encourage you to download the song. Twenty Seven Million people in modern day slavery is an outrage! Be a voice for the voiceless.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/twenty-seven-million/id500399945?i=500399948

The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. Psalm 25:14

We may be too quick to separate our fear of Him from our friendship with Him.

I'm so bad at this...

So much has happened over the past few weeks, but I never know when to update and when to keep silent... I'm still trying to understand the balance between leading by example and serving in private.

At any rate, I wanted you all to know of a new ministry that I've been working with in starting a school to train people to reach the unreached people groups around the world.

Check it out if you get a chance- we start our first semester this Fall!

www.radiusinternational.org

The banquet we threw was wonderful! I loved it! We were able to fit about 100 people, and everyone loved it! We had a photographer take some pictures of the guests. We printed them out and framed them and will be taking them to their apartments tomorrow. Pray that we have great opportunities to share the love of Jesus with them!

I’m Finally Obeying, and I Love It!

This is really sad... Many years ago I was deeply convicted while preaching through the book of Luke. When I got to Luke 14:12-14, I knew what I was supposed to do. I planned on doing it. I just never got around it. Sound familiar?

In this passage, Jesus is speaking to the man who was hosting Him for a banquet…

He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

It seems like Jesus is saying we should literally have banquets for those who could never repay us. It seems like it is good to have feasts for those who are rejected by others. Yet I have spent my life taking friends out to dinner who often pay me back, inviting them to my house for dinner and letting them return the favor. Sure, I gave money to rescue missions to feed the poor for me. But I had no idea the blessing that would come from doing it myself!

On Sunday night, some friends and I are throwing an elaborate banquet for people we have met in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The banquet hasn’t even happened yet, and I’m already overwhelmed by the blessings I have received.

1. The excitement I see in the faces of people when I tell them I want them to come to a banquet. The shock when I tell them I’m bringing in chefs who will cook WHATEVER they would like to eat. Steak? Fish? Lobster? Anything.

2. The women blushing and teary-eyed when I tell them my wife will take them shopping (Lisa’s spiritual gift) before the banquet. “I haven’t gone shopping in years!” is a typical response.

3. The fun of going the extra mile in making this memorable- getting photographers, decorations, live entertainment, expensive gifts… We do this for donors, why not the least of these?

4. The opportunity to tell them that this is a tiny glimpse of the riches He has in store for us in Heaven.

5. The joy of resembling God as I offer grace to people who may reject it. I have worried way too much about giving to people who may not appreciate my gifts or may squander them like a prodigal. There’s certainly a time for prudence, but don’t miss out on opportunities to pour out undeserved favor.

The biggest thrill came yesterday as I was explaining the upcoming event. I was giddy as I spoke about how these people have no idea what they are walking into. I want to have so many surprises waiting for them when they arrive. Then it hit me: Is this how God feels about the banquet He is preparing for me? Is He thinking, “Francis has no idea what I have in store for Him!” I have always struggled with understanding and deeply believing His grace towards me. God is using this event to put me in His shoes for a moment. I can taste a bit of the thrill of being a grace giver.

Who knows? Maybe those invited will get busy and decide not to come. Then we’ll have to pull others off the street, clean them up, and bring them in. That might end up being a blessing as well (Luke 14:15-24).

EXCITING TIMES!

After a great time of searching, learning, experimenting... I'm excited to begin a new phase in my life. While I've been ministering in a lot of different places and will continue to do so, I am now helping to launch a new local ministry here in San Francisco. I have throughly enjoyed the past couple of weeks, participating in a ministry that makes me feel alive and at peace. The risk and unknown has caused me to depend deeply on Him!

We are launching on November 6th, and I would love your prayers. You can get a glimpse of it at http://sfcityimpact.com/#/volunteer-center/adopt-a-building

Spent last week in Korea. Had a great time. Possibly my favorite speaking engagement ever! Such gracious and loving people, and it's amazing how exhilarating it is to walk into a room where they spent hours and hours on their faces in prayer.

One of my favorite parts of speaking at this gathering was that the pastor had the whole congregation sing a song of blessing upon me before I spoke. Pretty humbling, but it also took a burden off my shoulders. Pray for the Lord's blessing upon your pastor this week. Go to your house of worship with a desire to bless rather than to critique!

South Dakota?

I was recently speaking at a Christian event in South Dakota. I had a great time, and they estimated that over 100,000 people attended. It surprised me when I found out that there are only about 800,000 people in all of South Dakota. The city of San Francisco has about the same number of people as the whole state of South Dakota!

San Francisco is the second most densely populated city in the U.S. (second only to New York City). It has been a challenge to figure out how to reach people in a city where there is no room to build a giant sanctuary. Pray for us this fall as we are launching discipleship focused smaller gatherings while maintaining a biblical leadership structure. These have a real potential of multiplying to reach the thousands in this city who are missing out on Jesus.

I came across this verse the other day.

“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” Hebrews 5:7

It struck me as odd that Jesus was “heard because of his reverence.” It has caused me to raise the level of reverence in my prayers. I hope it does the same for you.

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