http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111101650.html?referrer=email&referrer=email
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 12, 2005; Page A06
A
private missionary group has assigned a pair of full-time Christian
ministers to the U.S. Air Force Academy, where they are training cadets
to evangelize among their peers, according to a confidential letter to
supporters.
The letter makes clear that the
organized evangelization effort has continued this year despite an
outcry over alleged proselytizing at the academy that has prompted a
Pentagon investigation, congressional hearings, a civil lawsuit and new
Air Force guidelines on religion.
"Praise God that we have been allowed access by the Academy
into the cadet areas to minister among the cadets. We have recently
been given an unused classroom to meet with cadets at any time during
the day," the husband-and-wife team of Darren and Gina Lindblom
said in
the Oct. 11 letter to their donors.
http://home.navigators.org/us/collegiate/index.cfm?Entity=12&Department=92&Dept_Order=2&This_TopicOrder=3&This_SubtopicOrder=1
Following
allegations of religious intolerance at the academy, the Air Force
issued interim guidelines in late August that caution senior officers
against discussing their faith with subordinates. But the guidelines do
not limit "voluntary, peer to peer discussions," and they do not say
whether Air Force officials can provide office space or other
assistance to professional missionaries who train cadets to evangelize
among their peers.
The Lindbloms' letter was made
public by Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein, a 1977 Air Force Academy
alumnus who was a White House lawyer in the Reagan administration. He
has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Air Force of violating the
First Amendment's establishment clause by fostering evangelical
Christianity over all faiths.
Weinstein, who has
been joined in the suit by four recent graduates of the academy, said
that some other religious groups are allowed onto the academy's campus,
but only during certain hours and under close supervision by Air Force
chaplains.
"The only group that gets 24/7
unrestricted access to cadets is this fundamentalist, born-again
Christian group," Weinstein charged.
The Lindbloms
are not chaplains hired by the military. They are private,
full-time
ministers assigned to the Air Force Academy by the Navigators,
a
Colorado-based group whose motto is: "To know Christ and to make
Him
known." It began in 1933 as a ministry to sailors and now has
missionaries in 104 countries, according to its Web site.
Reached
by telephone at their home in Colorado Springs, the Lindbloms declined
to comment on their letter or their missionary work.
Lauren
Libby, senior vice president and chief operating officer of the
Navigators, said the Lindbloms were assigned to the academy earlier
this year, replacing a previous young couple. He said the Navigators
have placed full-time staff members at the academy for more than a
decade. "We're there as a spiritual resource to cadets," he said.
"We've had a very good experience there."
Libby also
said that the Navigators are following the Air Force guidelines, which
have been criticized as infringing religious freedom by more than 70
members of Congress and several Christian lobbying groups, including
Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition. "Those are the
guidelines, and we honor them," Libby said.
In their
letter, the Lindbloms referred several times to the guidelines and to
Weinstein's lawsuit, saying that "we are vitally aware we are in the
front lines of a spiritual battle."
They included photos of the Navigator
Cadet Ministry Team, a group of cadets who "have shown an interest
in
receiving training and development to have a personal ministry among
their peers at the Academy," the letter said.
"Please
pray for unprecedented wisdom for Gina and me as we coach these cadets
to live among the lost, sharing the Gospel in the midst of this current
climate. We must be so careful. Yet we do not wish to squelch the
passion of men like Daniel," a cadet who has vowed to "impact the lives
of 200 men with the Gospel" before he graduates, Darren Lindblom wrote.
In a postscript, they said, "We respectfully request that you
not share this letter publicly. Due to the lawsuit recently filed, the
contents of this letter are confidential."
A
spokesman for the Air Force Academy said the Navigators are one of 19
outside religious groups -- including Buddhist, Jewish, Catholic and
Mormon organizations -- that hold voluntary meetings on Mondays from
6:30 to 8 p.m. in a program known as SPIRE, for Special Program in
Religious Education.
The groups are invited on
campus at the request of cadets, and each is assigned a room, but only
for that 90-minute period once a week, said the spokesman, John Van
Winkle. "They can't just use the room whenever they want. That would be
a violation of the memorandum of agreement they have to sign," he said.
Asked
about the Lindbloms' assertion that they recently were given a
classroom to "meet with cadets at any time during the day," Van Winkle
said he would check. He called back to amend his statement, saying the
academy's chaplains had set aside an extra room that any SPIRE group
could use for counseling cadets at other times.
Weinstein
said the academy was "furiously spinning." He said he had been told by
people on campus, whom he declined to identify, that the room was
Fairchild Hall 2D11, in the academy's main classroom building, and that
only the Navigators have been using it. Van Winkle said he did not know
the room number or which other groups had used it.
The
Rev. MeLinda Morton, a Lutheran chaplain who resigned in June over the
religious climate at the academy, said the Navigators "used to have
an
informal agreement that they could meet cadets in the library." But
because that location was "too visible," she said, they were told this
year not to use it anymore.
Morton said the SPIRE
program, which is limited to a few hours a week, should not be confused
with the Lindbloms' efforts to be in continual contact with cadets
throughout the week. "This Navigator thing is a whole different thing,"
she said.
========
http://www.mentoring-disciples.org/revement.html
...
Dawson Trotman was President of the Navigators, and on
the Board of Wycliffe Translators and World Vision. He originated
the successful individual counseling and follow-up ministry, while a
member of the Billy Graham Team. I vividly remember hearing him
share at a conference about a recent change of course in a certain
matter. “Let me tell you how the Lord has been teaching me recently.
I’m a board member of a new organization called Campus Crusade.
The President is a wise, young businessman named Bill Bright, who has
started university evangelism at UCLA.
“Recently,” Daws went on, “Bill privately asked to talk with me, and
then confronted me hard. He had heard me speak negatively about the
lack of spiritual commitment of college and seminary graduates. Many of
those I had discipled while in the military, started to college and
graduate school after WW II. A lot of these men began to drop their
disciplines of Scripture memory, quiet time, and daily witnessing.
Since then I’ve not wanted potential Navigator staff to be in higher
education. But God used Bill to change my mind.”
“Bill asked me quietly, ‘Daws, could you use 20 new workers with
college and seminary degrees, who are in the Word, disciplined, and
winning others to Christ, and who have a great work attitude?’ ‘Sure,’
I told Bill. Then Bill said, ‘Guys are joining us who are just like you
want, and they all have college and many have seminary degrees. Daws,
you’ll never get close to this kind of man being so negative about
education! It’s like you’re trying to recruit people and then hitting
them over the head with a baseball bat.’” Then Daws smiled: “You can
learn a lot if you are open to listening to a guy. Bill was right. I’ve
seen that education doesn’t make or break a man; it simply reveals
him.”
Trotman immediately changed his recruiting focus. At that time I was
one of only two Nav staff with a seminary degree. As a result of that
decision, that Fall Daws sent me, a single guy, to start a
Navigator training home in Dallas, TX. The young Bill Bright was a
reverse mentor, learning from Board member Trotman; but Bill also made
a major contribution to Trotman’s ministry.
The next day Daws took me aside and said, “You had preaching classes at
seminary, didn’t you?” “Yes, I did take two courses.” Daws then shocked
me, “I want you to critique my next message; help me speak better.”
“Who am I to critique you, Daws?” “I want you to help me do better. I
never started to college. Watch me, O.K?”
I agreed. I gave great attention to his total message, gestures, and
voice. After the message, he motioned me forward. “I know you saw
something. What was it, Waylon?” “It was nothing, Daws. It was
insignificant. Your message was empowered.” Daws insisted, “Tell me
what you saw!”
“Well, your hand gestures are excellent, yet you kept putting one hand
in your pocket and I heard coins clinking from the third row.” “Ooooh,”
Daws groaned, hurting. “I really thank you.” He instantly removed the
change and dumped it into his back pocket. Giving me a hug he then
invited me to eat. I never heard him rattle change again the next 40
messages over a 5-year period. Daws remains in my heart, the most
consistently effective communicator of Scripture and its
application to life I’ve ever heard.
Daws had experienced reverse mentoring. What is it? It happens when the
mentoree mentors the mentor. When someone in a level of management or
authority is open to learning something deliberately from a younger or
lower-level management employee. This person whose experience levels
are high listens to gain an insight, learn a craft or a skill, or see a
totally different perspective than his current track. When he or she is
open to someone with less experience, that’s reverse mentoring. Wise
mentors are always open to the Lord and to others. They are continual
learners. They want God’s best, so they are open to change. The mentor
recognizes when God is working through someone younger, less known. The
mentor is not afraid of reverse mentoring; rather he encourages
it and grows.
Reverse mentoring in the Bible
God uses the unnamed, the “little” mentorees in the lives of major
people in the Bible. It’s reverse mentoring. Recall the servant girl of
the wife of Naaman the leper? This mentoree taught her mistress about
the prophet, Elijah, and about God’s power. Soon the remarkable Naaman
was healed (2 Kings 4:1-8).
Consider the unnamed servant who gave David, a young sheepherder, an
introduction to Saul. The recommendation was so strong (though not all
true) that David was immediately brought from the pasture to the king’s
court (1 Sam. 16:16-20). Later on, David, a country mentoree to the
house of Saul, found a peer mentor, Jonathan. The king’s son loved
David, and was superseded by him as the next king and poet of the
greatest hymnal, the Psalms.
The mentoring pictures of Paul and Barnabas stretch through Acts. The
mentor, Barnabas, has a pupil, mentoree Saul. Later “Barney”
has a peer relationship with Paul as they travel in ministry.
As the story unfolds, through God’s grace, Paul becomes a pacesetter
to Barnabas and others. Read how the former mentoree at Antioch stands
against the Apostle Peter and mentor Barnabas. They were afraid to eat
with Gentiles, choosing the law and Jerusalem over grace and Antioch
(see Galatians 2:11-20). Sometimes the mentoree’s ministry is gifted to
be deeper and broader than his mentor’s. What a thrill to see those I
mentor move beyond my limitations. It’s also true that reverse
mentoring doesn’t always work. Peter’s advise to Jesus to miss the
cross (Matthew 16:21-24) was rejected as Satanic counsel.
Surprises in reverse mentoring
Many large-church pastors, including Andy Stanley in the Atlanta area,
have immediate staff evaluations of each sermon and of the worship
service. For years, Billy Graham has used different Research Assistants
as mentorees. Their ministry was to read, collect and organize quotes
and notes on many topics. These were discussed with Dr. Graham and some
became part of his sermons and books.
Ed Young, Jr., pastor of Fellowship Church, Grapevine, Texas, has over
15,000 attendees listening to his messages on a weekend. I heard him
say that his sermon preparation involves discussions of up to five
hours with six chosen staff about each message. They start with a topic
or need. Then any of the group may offer comments, questions, and
Scriptu
re suggestions....
========
http://www.wycliffe.org/history/WCT/WCT-Life.htm
important timeline on Cameron Townsend's life
Dec 14 The Townsends fly to Dallas to spend Christmas with
their children. #24766
1968
...
Sep 11 Ground breaking for SIL’s new International Linguistic
Center takes place in Dallas, Texas. #942520 #28177
...
Aug First academic sessions are held at SIL's International
Linguistic Center on the newly developed campus in Dallas. #942520
=========
http://www.natpresch.org/mission_urban.php
http://www.natpresch.org/mission_urban.php#marymorgan
Mary Morgan
International Linguistic Center of SIL, International
7500 West Camp Wisdom Road
Dallas, TX 75236
972-298-5003 (H)
972-708-7400, ext 2294 (W)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.Wycliffe.net
Mary received her field training with the Summer Institute of
Linguistics at the
University of Oklahoma and the University of Washington. She was
accepted into
Wycliffe in 1964. Over the last few years, Mary has been a part of a
staff of "trouble
shooters," people able to go anywhere in the world on short notice to
meet special needs.
Mary is currently based at the International Linguistic Center of
SIL, International in
Dallas, Texas. She is recuperating from a muscle disease, but has
the energy and strength
to help in the training of new members of Wycliffe Bible Translators
and other missions,
not only in Dallas, but also in other SIL schools. This past summer she
was at the
University of North Dakota. She is teaching a course on literacy
principles for future
translators in Dallas this fall and goes to the Canadian SIL in
Vancouver, B.C. in January.
She will return to North Dakota next summer.
========
Harriet Miers' religious
connection--Pioneer Bible Translators--acts as a cover for missionaries
to Papua New Guinea. She was on the original board of directors (1976)
with fellow law partner (later judge) Nathan Hecht, though she was not
baptized into the church until 1979 or 80. I find that very strange if
it's legit. In order to understand what is actually going on here, it
really helps to have read Gerard Colby's book, Thy Will Be Done:
The Conquest of the Amazon.
(See
http://www.balaams-ass.com/journal/prophecy/rockyaho.htm
)
... Multinational corporations had
arrived in the Amazon more often with missionaries than with soldiers,
driven by competition and their own struggles with debts to dominate
nature's last refuges. Their domination of resources and their
free-trade exchange of products threatened to sweep away national
barriers and in so doing, to establish a new world order where cultural
homogeneity, rather than diversity, would rule." (p. 685)
...From the turn of the century when fundamentalists began to emerge as
a viable force in the modern church, the Rockefeller family began
selectively funding more moderate evangelistic groups, sometimes with
millions of dollars. This selective funding furthered their
corporate interests in locations where missionaries and their oil
drilling coincided . Missionaries were often used to pacify the
Indian tribes while their land was being raided for oil or mineral
reserves.
The book documents how the Rockefellers began
overseas drilling, and exported the concepts and approach developed by
their controversial General Education Board around the world .
As the Rockefeller empire expanded to a global conglomerate, it became
important to continue the practice of pacification of native tribes,
especially in the totally uncharted regions of the vast Amazon. It
became expedient to utilize American missionaries, especially Wycliffe
Bible translators who were trained in modern anthropological
methods and linguistics, and who conducted
intensive surveys of
uncharted tribes and lands. In return Wycliffe began enjoying the favor
of high government officials, agents and corporations who contributed
huge amounts of money, expensive airplanes, land and equipment to the
organization.
Rockefeller developed his own version of the CIA,
called the CIAA, in the Roosevelt administration during WWII, which had
intelligence oversight of the South American continent. For the
remaining decades of his life, Rockefeller maintained an entangled
relationship with corporate and intelligence networks that furthered
his agenda. His goal, like that of taming the wild west, was to take
control over the natural forces of the continent. He planned major
highways spanning the Amazon jungle, dams, lakes, ranches, etc. The
Amazon jungle was ripe for mining, drilling, harvesting and ranching.
The cost in terms of human lives was inconsequential to him. The
governments of South America began to be managed and manipulated
extensively by the CIA, often with Rockefeller's complete control or
endorsement -- a revelation which is still unknown to most Americans.
Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/
Please let us stay on topic and be civil.
OM
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
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