Would you like to see hundreds of people in your community hear the gospel in a winsome and practical way for the first time in their lives?
Would you like to see new people walking in the door of your church with their families, hoping and expecting to have their lives changed?
Would you like to see people throughout your community learn how to engage in respectful conversations as they discuss the political, racial and cultural issues that divide our country?
Would you like to be one of the people whom God uses to bring about these kinds of changes?
If so, I encourage you to follow the example of a friend of mine named David Mason.
David pastors a church in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Wanting to find ways to share God’s love with people outside his church, he contacted business owners in his community and offered to provide free introductory lessons on relational wisdom (RW), a biblically grounded form of emotional intelligence. To his surprise, one business owner after another gladly accepted his offer. Here are just a few of the reports David has shared with me as the Lord opened more and more doors to him.
My first values-based (secular) workshop in a local business went very well. This is a great way to serve small business owners who can’t afford expensive training. Two other business owners in my church have asked me to do sessions for their employees.
The Lord recently gave me the opportunity to teach RW to fifty teachers in a nearby school district. I got a standing ovation, not a dry eye in the place. I did the values-based version but mentioned that God-based material was available at the end of the session … every item was gone in minutes.
I just did a seminar, openly Christ-centered, with community service directors in NW Missouri. It was wonderful. I am doing a seminar with college students this weekend. As word about the practical value of RW spreads, I’m getting more and more opportunities to talk with unchurched people and tell them about Jesus.
I was teaching RW to 200 couples on an Air Force base when there was a loud explosion. With all the recent violence on military bases, you can imagine the instant fear and tension. We soon learned it was only an electrical transformer exploding. After a quick prayer, I explained how the intense “fight/flight” reaction we’d all experienced could save lives during combat … but do great damage in a marital conflict or quarrel with a teenager. I had their complete attention from that point on!
We are making great strides in penetrating our community with the gospel through RW. I did two more businesses recently. We’ve just invited nearly 600 people in a basketball ministry to receive this training. I cannot express how much this ministry has blessed me, my family, my church and my community!
God recently allowed me to minister to a family that just went through a terrible disaster. They lost their home to a tornado and the mother was having health problems. I could tell her problems were stress related, but she only knew to go to a doctor and get meds. I used RW to help her understand stress and how to listen to her body. She accepted Christ while we were rebuilding her house!
Since I began teaching RW in our community, many individuals and families have come to our church and begun to follow Christ. I just received another request from a bank in Kansas City to present RW to their leadership. I’ve now got my foot in the door with the two largest employers in St Jo. I love telling people how RW has improved my walk with the Father in amazing ways!
Yesterday I taught RW to 63 employees at a national insurance company. It went really well. I got two applauses and lots of positive feedback. They even recorded it for employees unable to attend.
While most churches in my area are declining, divided or dying, my church is growing and united. I’ve seen the religious landscape change so much lately, and not for the better. God has used relational wisdom to keep our church unified and relevant when so many others have abandoned the gospel for public approval.
Last week I presented values-based RW to a 42 person professional team with such serious problems that several people were about to lose their jobs. Yesterday the leader called to report that the training had triggered a major breakthrough. She then asked me to do a follow up next month.
RW is one of the best ‘church growth strategies’ I’ve ever seen. Almost every time I do a workshop in our community, I see some of those people walk into my church the following Sunday.
Would you like God to equip you and others in your church to carry out this kind of ministry in your community? If so, I encourage you to ask a few friends from your church to join you in attending our upcoming 2023 Sowing Peace Conference, which is scheduled for November 2-5 in Billings, Montana.
Through this gathering, you can be inspired and equipped to model and teach relational wisdom and biblical peacemaking in your family, church and community, just like David Mason has been doing.
You could also receive training and resources that enable you to lead the way in establishing a Peace Sower Team in your church, which could promote peace and unity in your congregation and equip more of your members to join you in taking these concepts out into your community.
I hope you will join us here in Montana in just a few weeks and become a channel of God’s wisdom and the gospel itself to the many people who live near you every day.
~ Ken Sande
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© 2023 Ken Sande
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