Cost of Discipleship

I just finished teaching in two Discipleship Training Schools – One in Bangalore, India and the other in Bandung, Indonesia. I was encouraged to know that God used me to challenge students & the staff. One of the students said, ‘I have never been challenged so much before.’

I was challenged too.

One of the girls who is doing her University DTS in Bandung asked me an interesting question – ‘What happens when someone lives out the worldview the Bible talks about? ‘

Life becomes fruitful. I replied.

Worldview can be compared to roots in a tree. Someone rightly said, ‘if its in the fruit it must be in the roots’ One of the temptations for us today is to talk about series of truth and see truth in compartments. We need to learn to see Truth in its totality. Truth is best expressed in relationships for truth to a Christian is not a set of doctrines alone isolated from real living.

Truth affects our core.
Truth creates.
Truth builds.
Truth produces.
Truth refines.
Truth liberates.

When we live with a framework of the Biblical view of life we cannot but come under the influence of the Truth in the person of Jesus Christ. He enables us to be fully Human. We do not need to strive to be religious, spiritual or some crazy out of the world creature….we were designed to be walking the Earth before we spend eternity with God – it is here that we need to enjoy fruitfulness. And when we talk about fruitfulness, our consumeristic mind can easily think we are talking about our success – No, its much more than that.

Are we fruitful in our relationships? Do people see us as people of integrity? Is there substance to the way we think, talk and make daily choices? Is our lives guided by an internalization of the precepts of the Bible? Do we dare to live on the edge in terms of living a life marked with peace that passeth all understanding?

Let us pray that our lives will be reconnected to the Holy Spirit who alone can fill our baskets with His life giving fruit.

Over half of the world’s population is under 25 years old – that’s a staggering 3 billion plus people. The critical mass of teenagers is over 1.5 billion – more than ever before. With more access to the Internet, money, technology, and other advancements, they could be the most powerful engine in the merging global cultures. They have the greatest opportunities to shape cultures and worldviews. This is not just a global phenomenon but a reality in India as well. Although much of India is in a rural state, the mega trends in India raise various missiological implications for the Church today – especially in urban settings. Think of the spread of connectivity and awareness, the growth of the youth population, the increasing size of the middle class, the effect of globalization, and India’s openness to the world. Of all these mega trends, the rise of the dominance of young people poses the greatest level of crisis and opportunity. The last two decades have witnessed tremendous economic growth in India. The next two decades may witness exponential growth along with its share of challenges to our society and the Church. Our young people will be the most impacted both in the urban and rural setting. How are we planning to face the future and lead our young people?

Growing Options and Choices

We live in a world full of options and choices, whether it is news channels, brands, music, career, or even spiritual experiences. This is a generation that is chasing experiences through travel, spirituality, or whatever. We believe only the Gospel offers an authentic experience that appeals to the mind and the heart. How are we going to present it so that they see it not as an option but as the only option? How can we keep the purity of the Gospel clear in our lifestyles, making sure we are not merely urbanizing youth but discipling them?

Growing Issues of Boredom and Suicide

The Times of India carried an article on the 9th August 2009 which discussed research showing that young people drink when they’re bored. The survey claimed that almost 1 in 10 teenagers aged 16 and 17 drank alcohol at least once a week because they had nothing else to do.

It would seem that with the world full of entertainment we would not need to worry about boredom. Unfortunately this isn’t true. We are now surrounded by one of the most bored generations of all times. Boredom can be the result of many things. One key reason is a lack of purpose and meaning in life. Nothing can fill the vacuum that meaninglessness produces. Young people are living with holes in their hearts that they are unable to fill. That is perhaps one of the major reasons why depression is on the rise and suicide is now the fourth largest killer among teens. Today, more adolescents die of suicide than AIDS. More and more teenagers feel alone. At a time when all is set for happiness, deep within there is emptiness. How are we going to meet this need? There are many opportunities in the areas of counseling and hospitality, rebuilding lives, and offering hope.

Growing interests about a Cause and a vibrant community

Global young people get passionate about a cause. They are angry at corruption, double standards, sex trafficking, and bio-ethical concerns, ready to fight for just causes. Unfortunately they don’t see the Church doing much in these areas. Young people are also attracted to community that is vibrant, real and passionate – a community that values innovation, ethnic cultures, and ideas. Young people are tired of being a part of a big Church that does not care for them or others. They are not impressed by clean and nice linear teachings. We need to re-look at the Mission of God and grapple with the meaning of what ‘integral mission’ is all about. We need to work toward developing sound youth theology and developing a sacred community in every secular city – a community that doesn’t just look inward, but engages the world with a very clear biblical life perspective. We need to be a community that disciples nations and takes on issues of injustice.

Louis Luzbetak says it right, “The undeniable truth is that the Gospel will not be accepted by any society unless the ‘wares’ offered by the church be presented as missing in the culture, as the preferable solution actually demanded by the existing lifeway itself.”

We need to pray that God will raise cutting-edge leaders who will understand the times and be prophetic voices to our young people in leading them to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The new leader must be willing to let go of old paradigms of positional influence and instead become an expert in emotional intelligence and excel in the art of relationships. We need leaders who will impact their generation.

Billy Graham did it by his simple and anointed sermons.
Steve Jobs does it by creating excellent products.
Narayan Murthy by creating employment opportunities.
Azim Premzi by educating children.
Bill Gates & Warren Buffet by being great philanthropists.
Loren Cunningham by championing young people to co-create with God.

How will our next generation of leaders accomplish the dreams of God?

A grateful heart is one that everyone cherishes. If there is one thing we can learn to pray everyday, it should be, “Lord help me to be grateful” Being on a recovery process from a terrible accident was actually a blessing in disguise for us -Our shoulder slings, my cervical collar, my kids head stitch and other bandages after all was there as a strong reminder that our life is in God’s hand. As a family, we counted God’s blessings and were surprised that we are truly blessed…here is our list….

1. We are alive and have recovered so well so soon…this is simply God’s grace
2. There was an Orthopedic surgeon right at the place where we met with an accident – God arranged the right people to be with us.
3. Our family and friends that stood with us by praying, giving and practically helping ~ it was amazing to see how big God’s family is.
4. Our family times became more meaningful and we started to rely on God more.
5. This has become an amazing incident to share with our friends who are not Christians – a testimony to the glory of God.
6. We are learning to see life from a deaths perspective ~ we were able to talk with our kids about death without any fear ~ Hope is real!
7. We have come closer to one another and to the Lord.

It is easy to forget the above and carry on with life. Modern life is one busy occupation. One needs to be connected with God and our modern life and the tyranny of time does not allow us to do that. Another problem is that we can easily forge to be grateful. The art of being grateful comes when we take time to reflect on life, on relationships & on God’s grace upon us. But, I have discovered in more than one ways, that gratitude is best expressed by living generously. For example, we need to master to the following:

1. Enjoy possessions God gave us without being possessed by it.
2. Learning to give things away – de-accumalating is a good thing for our sanity.
3. Living a life of simplicity ~ this does not mean to live poorly or carry a poverty mentality but it simply means to live in freedom.

May the Lord bless you as you think of expressing your gratitude through generosity…

It was fun driving as a family from Bangalore to Hyderabad. The roads are very good except for a few things here and there. There were, I think 4 Toll gates costing us around Rs 280. I don’t mind paying them as long as the roads don’t go below the standards maintained right now. Great Roads requires great people too. Driving on National highways can be fun but its very annoying when you see the cool power windows rolling down of a fast car ahead of you and out comes a hand throwing of something that should go into a trash can somewhere. Not cool at all. I almost felt like speeding up to that uncivilized man and giving him a lecture…

Then a few minutes later we are behind this nice looking car (expensive than ours) at the Toll Gate. We impatiently waited for 10 minutes before he cleared off from the Toll Gate – the reason it took 10 minutes was because he was demanding to be excused from paying Rs 43 – his rationale – he claims to be a Irrigation Officer. When I heard this I was like, ‘What?’ How can someone be so arrogant and foolish to even think he can be excused in paying the toll fee just because he claims to be some officer. A rule is a rule whether it is an ordinary person or an officer. If there is a legitimate exception proper documentation needs to be shown – apparently this guy did not have any documentation to justify his demand. But he kept insisting that he be excused of that mere 43 rupees. I am not sure if thats pride, arrogance or ignorance or a combination of all three. Its not enough to travel in a nice care its also important to travel with great sense of dignity and attitude.

NH 7 was great except for the drama of this arrogant & insensitive government officer.

If you live in Bangalore and are not at the Slingshot from Dec 16-18 you are something dynamic. Make some time and join us for these 3 quick days…it will ruin you for the ordinary.

What is Slingshot?

Slingshot is a vision that is growing into a movement challenging young people to rise up and take on the Goliaths of our generation.

The name and the theme of Slingshot is derived from the story of a young shepherd boy named David who rose to the challenge of defending the Isrealities against a Philistine army. David equipped himself with a simple, yet powerful tool, the sling, supported by five smooth stones and went on to successfully defeat the Philistine army led by a giant named Goliath.

The goal of Slingshot is to equip a generation of young men and women with their own sling and their own five smooth stones so that they would go out into the world, into the families, into the marketplace, into the health care centers, into the educational institutions and bring down the giants in our societies and in our nations.

Slingshot aims to target five major Goliaths in our society:-

1) Spiritual Poverty
2) Physical Poverty
3) Pandemic Diseases
4) Extreme Illiteracy
5) Ego-centric Leadership

This generation of well-equipped young David’s can accomplish history-making feats by rising up to meet the challenges of today’s global society by equipping themselves by picking up their own five smooth stones. The five smooth stones are namely:-

1) Identity in Christ
2) Intimacy with God
3) Integrity in Life
4) Influence in the World
5) Involvement in Missions

These basic, yet integral and powerful tools will enable young men and women from all walks of life to pursue their God given dreams and passions and go on to be History-makers and nation-changers in this generation.

I am a part of a group in Bangalore which is passionate about the transformation of our City. Illiteracy is a huge giant our society is facing. Many Individuals, Families, Organizations and Churches are working toward eradicating this giant from our nation. But Education is to set people free not to enslave them to a survival mentality. I was impressed with this video and would like to share it with you. There’s something each one us can do to eradicate illiteracy from our society. Lets be inspired and make a difference.

If you want to know how you can be a part of what we are trying to do in Bangalore, please contact me at aldrinbogi@gmail.com

Story Behind “God of this City” (double click the link here) God Of This City

Chris Tomlin and his band were in Belfast, Germany for a concert event. It was early in the afternoon and Tomlin’s guitarist was the only one not doing something. So he decided to go out and “support” the local bands there. While he was listening, the band started singing a song that gripped his heart. He ran to get Chris out of the dressing room to come hear this song. By the time Chris got to the stage, the song was over. So Chris and the rest of his band met with this local Belfast worship band afterwards. They gave him MP3s of all of their songs and he listened to that one special song. Tomlin said that he was so moved that he just had to ask them what inspired this song.

Their band and a few other members of their church went on a mission trip to Pattaya, Thailand recently. In Pattaya, there are over 30,000 female prostitutes over the age of 18! (That is not counting the ones under 18, or even the male prostitutes there) While they were walking around the town, they walked into a local bar there called….”The Climax Club”, which was looking ofr bands to play. They agreed to give it a try and asked how long the owner how long he wanted them to play. The owner said, “As long as your friends continues to buy cokes.” So they ended up buying cokes for 2-3 hours.

So for over 2 hours this band sang Jesus over these prostitutes who had no idea what they were singing! All of the sudden this song “came down from heaven,” as one of the band members recalls. Then spontaneously they started singing:

You’re the God of this city
You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation
You are

You’re the light in this darkness
You’re the hope to the hopeless
You’re the peace to the restless
You are

For there is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done here

Chris Tomlin then asked if he could play their song for the up-coming Passion tour. They agreed and then Chris sent the that song along with some other potential songs to Louie and told him to listen. He said that there is one song that ruined him but wouldn’t tell him which one. Louie listened to the songs and quickly wrote him back asking about “God of this City”.

Now you know the rest of the story.