Steve Addison's Blog, page 12
February 28, 2024
Where is God when all hell breaks loose?
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12
A few thoughts about the interview with Chris who was a pioneer for a movement of disciples and churches somewhere in Asia when all hell broke loose.
The first attack came through a leader Chris had promoted without first being tested. The local believers were suspicious but couldn’t say why. The fruit of his influence was conflict among the disciples.
So Chris did a background check and discovered this leader was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. So Chris confronted him and confronted his followers who had slipped in to undermine the movement and promote a false messiah.
When wolves show up it’s time for the shepherds to fight.
The second attack came through violence and intimidation. God kept Chris and his family safe from serious injury but the attack was overwhelming. Chris discovered he was out of this depth. He turned to God, he turned his weakness into faith, and while two demonized people screamed abuse outside his home he took to prayer. For three days he sat before God with an open Bible.
On the third day, he still did not know what to do, but he did know that the risen Lord has authority over evil spirits. He walked outside and in Jesus’ name commanded them to stop! They fled in terror.
Not only had God won the victory, but Chris was a different man. He had stepped into his authority in Christ. In his weakness, he experienced the power of God and would never be the same.
What Satan meant for evil and the destruction of a movement, God meant for his glory. When all hell broke loose, God refined and purified his people and won the battle.
February 26, 2024
North America Tour
Throughout March I’ll be working my way east to west across North America talking about Acts and the Movement of God.
Check out the links below to find out more.
March 2024
February 22, 2024
322-When all hell breaks loose
What happens when all hell breaks loose on a growing movement of disciples and churches? That’s our topic of conversation with Chris who served somewhere in Asia.
February 21, 2024
Making a start in the Arab world
James and Hope live in an Arab city known for its riots and revolutions. They know the smell of burning tires. But the explosion that ripped through the city killing 100 people took the danger to another level.
Most mission agencies would have evacuated them. Instead their mentor turned up with a small team and began working beside them. It was to be a turning point.
With limited Arabic James and Hope prayer walked the most devastated neighborhoods. From 6-8:00 am they walked and prayed in neighborhoods that no foreigner would normally be in.
Soon they made connections. All they had to offer was prayer and the people welcomed them. They met CC who had been seriously injured and whose house was barely liveable.
Sitting outside drinking coffee she asked, “Why are you here?” They answered, “We’re praying for the community in the name of Jesus and asking for God’s blessing.”
CC wept as they prayed for her.
A few days later they returned to discover an aid agency had chosen her as the first one in her community to have her home restored. The work was completed in three days. It was better than before the explosion.
CC told them, “This is because of our prayers!” She became the first new disciple James and Hope baptized.
Soon eight women were meeting in CC’s house to listen and discuss the stories about Jesus.
James and Hope would meet with their language teacher in the morning and learn the stories in Arabic then share them with the group with some questions they’d memorized. Coco would lead the discussion but James and Hope had no idea what their responses were.
Coco shared the gospel with her 85-year-old mother. Who told them, if you pray my son gets a job and God answers, I’ll believe in your God. The next day he had a job as a security guard, she turned and believed and was baptized.
In the aftermath of the explosion James and Hope learned how to enter a neighborhood. How to pray for needs and see God answer. How to be invited into homes for coffee. How to tell a Bible story to Arabs. All this while they were still learning the language.
Meanwhile God was preparing them for an open door in another part of the country.
Mohammed was from a region dominated by clans engaged in crime. He’d been a drug dealer for 30 years. He had spent ten years in jail for murder. In prison, he’d cried out to God to make himself known. Now released and at home, God woke him up one morning and told him to go and wait outside for his messenger.
Meanwhile a German missionary on his last day in the country who had no Arabic. As he drove through the region, his rental car company was tracking his movements and became concerned that the car had been stolen. They remotely disabled the car and it rolled to a stop outside Mohammed’s house. Through a translator, the German shared the gospel, and Mohammed believed and was baptized.
Soon after James and Hope were out sharing the gospel in the city, they met a local disciple who doing the same. She was the translator for the German missionary. Through her, they heard Mohammed’s story and the next day, the three of them drove out to meet him.
They not only met Mohammed, they also met his two wives and sixteen children.
One of his wives explained I wish you’d come earlier. Since meeting Jesus he no longer gets drunk, he no longer beats us he’s given up cocaine.
Immediately James and Hope trained Mohammed to identify his relational world, pray for them, and share his story and the gospel. Then they went with Mohammed to meet his sister, her husband and her family. They all turned and believed and Mohammed baptized them the next day.
When their jihadi son came home and discovered what his parents had done, he took a rock and threw it at his father narrowly missing him but hitting Mohammed and putting him in hospital.
Mohammed became known in the village as, “Our very first infidel.”
He responded with forgiveness and love and didn’t stop talking about Jesus.
His story has spread to other villages and now he is known as a man of forgiveness.
In his village, twelve families have become disciples and there are baptized disciples in 35 villages in the region. Mohammed has trained a coworker and they are out most days sharing the gospel and making disciples. They’ve set a goal to have at least one church in every village in their region.
If they can reach their district it will open the door to reaching every district. Already the gospel is traveling through their disciples to other Arab nations.
Mohammed is the last person you would ever choose to be an apostle to the Arab world. The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.
Podcast interview: 321-James and Hope: The Work
February 7, 2024
321-James and Hope: The Work
The second conversation with James and Hope about their call and how they are going after NoPlaceLeft in the Arab world.
February 2, 2024
How God calls movement catalysts
I’ve been thinking about my conversation with James and Hope on their call to the Arab world. There are at least five gems buried in this story that shed light on how God calls movement catalysts. They’re not rules, just patterns that we can learn from.
God chooses unlikely peopleJames was a depressed eighteen-year-old when his sister handed him a bible and told him, “Read this.”
He took her advice, read the Bible, and put his faith in Christ. Immediately, James thought, “If I believe this, I need to do something about it.”
His sister told him, “You need to meet Zach.”
2. God will lead you to your ZachZach Medlock was engaged on college campuses sharing the gospel, making disciples and planting churches.
Zach trained James in telling his story and sharing the gospel. He taught James how to draw up a map of his relationships and set him loose on his college campus.
James teamed up with another student, Trey, and they began planting churches on and around the campus. James learned this is what disciples do.
The fruit was multiple generations of disciples and churches meeting in dorms and homes, made up mostly of African Americans.
Hope’s father is a missions pastor. When she was in her teens, she told him she wanted to be a missionary. He told her, “If you’re not making disciples where you are, you won’t make disciples somewhere else.” But she didn’t know anyone making disciples in her world.
Then she heard about Zach’s ministry to students and signed up for a one-month outreach. That’s when she met James.
Through Zach, she learned how to share the gospel and form new disciples into gatherings. Through Zach, he met James.
In her first semester of college, she shared the gospel with around 100 people on campus.
3. Get busy and the call will find youJames planted a church in his dorm. That church started other churches with new disciples, most of whom were African Americans. As he studied the scriptures his heart was drawn to Muslims. He read David Garrison’s Wind in the House of Islam and was disturbed by the lack of progress in the Arab world.
Reading Jeremiah he he felt overwhelmed with the challenge like Jeremiah who prayed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am too young.’“
God answered him from the passage ‘Do not say, “I am too young.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.“(Jer 1:6-7)
Encouraged by that word, James enrolled in an Arabic class. On campus, he met Saudis, Yemenis, and Syrians. He would greet anyone who looked Middle Eastern with, “assalamu aleikum” (peace be upon you). Soon he was drinking coffee and being invited into homes. He visited the university mosque and eventually every mosque in town to learn, understand and share the gospel.
His heart was on fire whenever he got to share with someone from the Middle East. He studied the Bible with over fifty different Arabs. Although none of them came to faith, his calling to the Arab world was established.
Meanwhile, Hope was also studying Arabic and launching discovery studies with over twenty people on her campus.
James and Hope began dating on a mission trip to the Middle East. They knew they were both called to reach Muslims. They decided to marry and then move to the Arab world.
4. Seek wisdomThey sought out advice from Steve Smith, a movements catalyst. He advised them to:
Identify a family of unreached peoples who share a common trade language.
Move to a leading city.
Learn the trade language.
Get busy sharing the gospel, and making disciples.
Keep learning and stay open to God as he leads you to the gaps of unreached and unengaged peoples.
5. Wait on GodAfter their marriage, they spent time waiting on God in prayer. As they listened James saw a picture of the Middle East and a great key inserted into an Arab nation and it lit up and then all the countries in the region lit up around it. They took this to mean that a movement of God would begin in that nation that would touch the region.
That Arab nation is where they live today.
A few final thoughtsJames and Hope were not self-made. God called them to himself and this work. God brought them together. People played a role, but God oversaw the process. There’s no formula for creating movement catalysts but there are patterns of how God works.
He calls people who are devoted to doing his will. He links them with mentors who provide training and coaching in disciple making movements wherever they are. He guides people who are already doing something with what God has given them. He speaks through his Word and the Holy Spirit to confirm his calling. He speaks through the wisdom of Godly and experienced counselors.
Full interview: 320-James and Hope: The Call
January 29, 2024
320-James and Hope: The Call
A conversation with James and Hope around their call to the Arab world.
January 11, 2024
319-Matthew’s Story
A conversation with a young man we’ll call Matthew. He and his friend Hugh spent three months in a Muslim-majority country sharing the gospel and making disciples.
January 5, 2024
318-Finding God when I lost Michelle
Our last trip together.
A conversation with my friend Dave Lawton on losing my wife Michelle and finding the goodness of God.
Over 700 people have now watched Michelle’s funeral.
December 17, 2023
What’s next for Steve?
Steve and Jasper
Thank you for the encouragement and support of so many people worldwide.
Over 600 people have now watched Michelle’s funeral.
People have been asking, What’s next for Steve? Well, I’m not sure, but I do have a plan.
Between now and Christmas I’m sorting out the legal and financial issues that arise when someone dies. It’s been good to be active without being too busy. And yes, Michelle left me a list to work through! I’m also spending some time with our children and grandchildren in Melbourne and Sydney.
Then on New Year’s Eve, I will fly out to Athens where I’ll be for two months. I have good friends and partners who are based there and serve movements of disciples and churches across the region — North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. It puts me back in the field learning from and supporting pioneers.
I don’t know yet if I’ll be writing. I don’t know if I’ll be putting out more podcasts. I feel I need to step back a bit and see what God brings to me in this season.
Then I’ll come home via North America visiting ten cities on a tour to promote my book Acts and the Movement of God: From Jerusalem to the Ends of the Earth.
That puts me back in Melbourne around Easter. By then I should be clearer about what God has for me in a new season of life and ministry without Michelle. What won’t change is the calling we shared — multiplying disciples and churches everywhere to the glory of God.
