If you are reading this, you have most likely read my first two posts (Day 1-2 click here, Day 3-4 click here)about my time in the Philippines. I am wrapping up my time here and will be heading home soon. Day 5 and 6 of my time here focused on the S4 Conference hosted by Global Surge, a ministry of BBFI missionary Greg Lyons. This conference was the primary reason for my trip and it was definitely worth the trip. S4 points toward four areas of synergy … speak, scale, sustain, and scope. Keynote speakers included Keith Gandy (missionary to Germany), Greg Lyons (missionary to the Philippines), John Morgan (pastor of Pinon Hills Community Church), and Elmer Towns (co-founder of Liberty University). Other speakers included missionaries and ministry leaders from around the world. I don’t have the total number of attendees, but I am confident it was over 500 from at least 11 different countries. All of the messages from the conference will be available soon on both the S4 Conference website as well as www.bbfi.org and the BBFI mobile app.
There are so many things I have taken away from these two days. It is a challenge to point out a few but I will do my best. Some of the takeaways are specifically from a message and some are more generic from the two days.
God is at work all over the world. This is something that most Christians know, but it is great to see. Speaker after speaker shared what God is doing in their area of the world. It is easy to get so focused on your little corner of the world that we forget this. I was floored to hear what all God is doing in Cambodia and Thailand and even China and Pakistan. There are areas of the world not easy for Americans to get into, but God is still at work.
Don’t be so consumed with technology that you miss the moment. Ok, this one is more personal. I packed more technology than I probably needed for this trip. I brought multiple cameras, multiple microphones, a drone, and a gimbal to go along with my laptop, tablet and phone.
I wanted to share as much of this meeting as I could live. I assumed the WiFi would be as good as Korea where I was a few years ago. Long story short, I wasted several hours of my time and pulled several others into trying to help me.
What I needed most was to take in the moment. About the same time, I was realizing this I saw this photo come across my Facebook page. I want to be like the elderly lady. Far too often I am afraid we try to capture a moment and don’t simply take in the moment.
The Philippines has gone from a mission field to a sending field. I first heard Daniel Kim make this statement about Korea. The same is true of the Philippines. Yes, the Philippines still needs missionaries, but it is also sending out missionaries. It was exciting to see 24 new missionaries be approved at the second anniversary of the Global Missionary Clearinghouse. Many of these new missionaries are recent graduates of Baptist Bible College Asia and heading to countries difficult for American missionaries to get in to.
To excel in ministry oftentimes requires you to have to say no. This is a message I need to hear often, but I think most of my friends do as well. Marc Buxton stated, “The difference between successful and very successful people is they know what to say no to.” I want to be very successful, so I have to figure out what I need to say no to.
We have to understand the importance of speaking into our current culture. Tarl Reeves and I have been friends for a long time. Keith Gandy and I have been friends since serving as BBC trustees together several years ago. Both of these guys are serving in post-modern Europe. When either of them speaks on the topic of communicating and connecting with modern culture I want to listen. Each of these guys shared on the topic during the S4 Conference. A truth that we must accept, whether we like it or not, is our world is changing and we have to know how to speak into this culture.
Is your ministry scaleable? If you only listen to one message from the S4 Conference take 30 minutes and listen to Greg Lyons. (Another great message on the same topic is Vincent Vicencio, founder of ToughGuys International, who spoke at the conference right before Greg.) This was the first time I have ever heard him preach or teach. What I appreciated is that the emphasis wasn’t just to grow big. The emphasis on growth was the realization that the world needs to hear the gospel.
It is amazing what volunteers can do. This is something I have already written about the last couple days, but it is worth repeating. Whether it is the camp ministry, the small group ministry, or even the production team for this large-scale event, it is volunteers that make it all happen. I love what Pep-C Macadangdang shared, “Volunteers are not worth less, they are priceless.” In a world where it is becoming more common for “professionals” to “do” ministry, it was refreshing to see volunteers “do” ministry.
God wants us to have a global mindset. 
We serve a big God. We serve a global God and He has given us a global mission. If the mission of our church is simply our town, or even out state or country then we are not adequately fulfilling the Great Commission. We must keep world evangelism and discipleship in front of our churches year-round.
The answer is church planting. You might ask, “What is the question?” It doesn’t really matter. For most things the answer is we need more biblical churches. How are you going to reach more people in your community? Plant more churches. How are we going to reach more people around the world? Plant more churches. How are we going to revitalize a network of churches? By planting new churches. How can you bring unity to your church? By focusing on helping new churches get started. The math and science are simple, more people are saved in new churches than older churches. If you do the research, it is clear. Really the only question is, “How can we work together to get more new churches started?”
It has been a great week in the Philippines. I look forward to returning sometime in the not to distant future.
Here are a few quotes from the S4 Conference. Remember, you will be able to watch/listen/download each message from the conference either on the S4 Conference website, the BBFI website, or the BBFI mobile app.
- To excel in ministry, you have to say no. – Mark Buxton
- The difference between successful and very successful people is they know what to say no to. – Mark Buxton
- You have to find your divine ideal. – Marc Buxton
- Evangelism is a process. – Tarl Reeves
- In evangelism, we stress a conversation, not a presentation or a proclamation. – Tarl Reeves
- When speaking you always need to add value to the listener. – Keith Gandy
- The post-modern listener needs to be engaged with both intellect (head) and emotion (heart). – Keith Gandy
- Two great tools in Communication are humor and sorrow. – Keith Gandy
- When you are fishing, what determines the bait you use … the fish or the fisherman? The answer is the fish. – Keith Gandy
- Impossible things can happen when we have faith in Someone bigger than ourselves. – Jay-R Rufin
- Think big. Believe big. Results will be big. – Jay-R Rufin
- God desires us to be global because He is a global God and has given us a global mission. – Vincent Vicencio
- If you want to be global you can’t do it by yourself. – Vincent Vicencio
- How you perceive is how you perform. If your mindset is only for a small size. If your mindset is global you can go global. – Vincent Vicencio
- People see the success, but they oftentimes don’t see the process. – Vincent Vicencio
- Three reasons why some churches do not scale, man’s myopic vision, man’s fear, man’s excuses. – Greg Lyons
- Some people see the harvest while others just see the hardness. – Greg Lyons
- The power of our words will eventually be the excuses we embrace to justify failure. – Greg Lyons
- Don’t take the excuses of other people and apply them to yourself. – Greg Lyons
- There is no failure of the gospel, only slow germinating seeds. – Greg Lyons
- Some people chase the harvest, others complain about the lack of harvest. – Greg Lyons
- Don’t’ let people who do so little for you control so much of your mind. – Greg Lyons
- Only God can scale ministry, but you can choose to be the kind of leader that God can scale personally. – Greg Lyons
- It’s all about vision, not money, not buildings, not vehicles, etc. – Greg Lyons
- Surround yourself with visionary leaders. – Greg Lyons
- The best ministry is one you can give away. – Greg Lyons
- The is no excuse for laziness. – Greg Lyons
- Slay the dream slayers. – Greg Lyons
- When recruiting volunteers, you share vision not need. – Tiffany Lyons
- People repeat what you celebrate. – Tiffany Lyons
- God uses a changed life to change other lives. – Pep-C Macadangdang
- One way to evaluate a person’s life is by how many other lives are changed. – Pep-C Macadangdang
- We should never be limited by a volunteer’s ability. We can train them. – Pep-C Macadangdang
- Volunteers are not worth less, they are priceless. – Pep-C Macadangdang
- There is a big difference between just looking for an opportunity and creating and developing an opportunity. – Luke Lyons
- Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What, you too? I thought I was the only one. – Luke Lyons quoting C.S. Lewis
