VIDEO SESSIONS from FOCUS 2015 (Feb. 6-8)
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SESSION 1 (FRIDAY 6:30pm-8pm)"The Cosmic Mission" - Luke Bray
SESSION 2 (SATURDAY 1:30-3pm)"Know That I Am God" - John Vernon
SESSION 3 (SATURDAY 3:20-4pm)"The Calling of the Disciple" - Luke Bray
SESSION 4 (SATURDAY 4:10-5pm) Panel Discussion "Reaching Muslims with the Gospel of Jesus Christ"
SESSION 5 (SATURDAY 6:30-8pm) "Relationship Issues" - John Vernon
SESSION 6 (SUNDAY 9-10:15am) "The Privileged of Begging" - Luke Bray
SESSION 7 (SUNDAY 10:30am-12pm) "Called To Be A Disciple-Maker" - John Vernon
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FOCUS SPEAKERS
Pastor Luke Bray was called to Jeffersontown Baptist Church in 2008. He served as Student Minister at Prince Avenue Baptist Church in Hannibal, Missouri prior to moving to Louisville. Through his military service in the Iraq War, God gave him a passion to see the nations reached with the Gospel of Jesus. He was blessed to have faithful Christian parents who helped shape his understanding of God at a very young age. He graduated from Hannibal LaGrange University with a BA in Bible in 2002 and in May 2013, he graduated with his Masters of Divinity with a Concentration in Islamic Studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Pastor Luke is a PhD student and is studying in the area of Christian Missions, World Religions, and Islam. Pastor Luke met his wife, Kimberly, at Hannibal LaGrange University. She is his closest friend and the love of his life.They have been married for 13 years and have three children: Caedmon , Hudson, and Violet. They are also in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. His favorite pastime activities include nerf sword fighting or wrestling with his boys and being with his family. He loves to read, write with fountain pens, and He loves the role to which God has called him.
John Vernon and his wife Janet were married in December 1985 while attending School of the Ozarks in Branson, MO. They completed their bachelor degrees in May 1987. Upon graduation, they moved to Little Rock, AR where John worked as a computer programmer and Janet worked as a high school math teacher. Upon the birth of their oldest daughter, Jessica, in 1990, Janet returned to the home as her primary work. In 1993 the family moved to Ft. Worth, TX while John attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. That same year Brittany came along. She was followed by their youngest, Amanda, in 1995 just before the family moved to Central Asia where they spent almost fourteen years coordinating church planting strategies among Muslim peoples. They returned to the United States in January 2008 and served at Miner Baptist Church as their associate pastor of family and children ministries until March 2013. They now serve as the Director of Missions for the Cape Girardeau Baptist Association. John also serves as an adjunct professor for Hannibal-Lagrange University, teaching Biblical Worldview and Fundamentals of Intercultural Missions. He is also a founding partner of Rival Roast, a local coffee roasting company established as a Business As Mission model.
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To the ends of the earth
Article from MaconFBC's quarterly newsletter,
THE DISCIPLE - Winter Edition
by FOCUS 2015 speaker, PASTOR LUKE BRAY
THE DISCIPLE - Winter Edition
by FOCUS 2015 speaker, PASTOR LUKE BRAY
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Laying on a bed burning with fever, Asahel Grant reflected on his life. Years before, he earned his medical doctorate and married at a very young age. But in 1831, his wife died after only four years of marriage. Grant resettled in New York where he built a successful medical practice, but during a missionary conference the Lord changed the trajectory of his life. His heart was inflamed for the Gospel and God called him to reach the Nestorian people in the mountains of Turkey. Grant loved the Nestorians. He sacrificed all that he had for them. He put his life at risk from mobs, bandits, cold, dysentery and near-drowning. His family suffered from illness and tragedy always seemed to linger about them. Before his extensive book on the Nestorian people was published, Judith, his wife, died of a fever. She was loved by all that knew her because of her charity and passion for the Gospel among the Nestorians. Just a few months later, Grant’s twin daughters also became ill and died. Just weeks after their deaths, Grant, weakened by the emotional weight of losing his family, became sick and nearly died in Mardin. But during his trial, the Lord providentially cared for him. While he was out to take a walk for exercise, a rioting mob attacked his residence hoping to kill him, but he was nowhere to be found. His heart burned with Gospel zeal for the Nestorian people, but his faithful efforts to open a mission among them only seemed to magnify their threat in the eyes of Muslims. When the Muslims and Kurds attacked, Grant escaped through the mountains to the city of Mosul in Turkey. There he cared for Nestorian refugees that poured over the mountain. The following year Grant contracted typhus from the refugees that he was helping. He died on April 24, 1844, at the young age of 36. The next day he was buried and the Nestorian people of Mosul wept. Grant saw few conversions during his lifetime, but he was faithful to the mission that God had given him. While the echo of missionary stories should capture our imaginations, we should never think that missions is only the undertaking of the spiritual elite. The call of missions is upon every disciple of Jesus Christ. Issuing his final instructions to his disciples, Jesus said, “As you are going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you (Matt 28:19-20). These words must shape the purpose and plan for our lives. This mission is God’s rescue plan for the world. His name will fall from the lips of every person ever created. From some it will drip from their tongues in bitter rebellion. From others it will be a sweet song of praise. Our mission is to plead with people, “be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:19). We must wage war against the devilish forces at work in our world by prayer and the ministry of the Gospel. Generations come and go, but the mission remains. Only what we do for Jesus and his Kingdom will last. Most of us have probably never heard of Asahel Grant. And a hundred years from now, our names will also be lost among the millions who have faithfully worked to spread the Gospel among the nations. Authors will not write books about our lives. People will not scour the internet to find a quote by us. We will be forgotten. Forgotten by all except for one, God. Live for the mission. Live for Christ so that his good news can be carried TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH! |
FOCUS 2014 videos |