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Ralph Winter: Outspoken, Focused, and Fearless

The Ralph D. Winter Story by Harold Fickett (Kindle Version)

While the book tended to enthusiastically go long on Winter’s theories towards the end, I closed the last page inspired to persevere in my own field. The Ralph D Winter Story was written by a friend of his who lovingly shared about Winter’s life. How did it inspire me?

“He had to grow into his own identity, see its usefulness, and then embrace it despite what others might think. This took a long period of acting on what he did without seeing the big picture.” As I raise support to serve in this new field, I am stepping into the unknown and wondering what this will all look like when I am at 100% support. Right now, God is moving the pieces in place, and while I wait, I am serving at a day job where God has placed me. It is my intent to serve them honorably so they succeed. I am learning a lot in my day job. While working the day job, I am talking to numerous people about what I do with WorldVenture. This often gets a variety of responses. The reason it takes so long to raise support is because of people who need help seeing the vision more clearly on what a social media ministry may look like and how it can help the church.
“That was who Ralph was. After a lifetime of zeroing in on this elusive identity, he used virtually every moment of his last years to live it out without compromise, and without regard for the consequences.” A ministry that compromises on total obedience doesn’t succeed. Keeping the vision ever in front of me, I intend to get to 100% support so I can put myself fully into this work. My husband says, I am catching up on wasted years. This is true. I want the rest of my life to reflect the growing faith in the Lord and to share the hope and joy we have in Jesus with others. This will be done on a variety of media and in the face-to-face world.
“Ralph’s sense of life as a spiritual battle deepened.” Winter pursued the theory of evil intelligent design following his wife’s death to open up conversation with those who believe in intelligent design. What he meant by this was to pray against the evil of disease. If an intelligent designer like God created the world, what if Satan uses “intelligent design” to create the viruses, diseases, and death in the world to fight God? In my own journey, I could share stories on what I felt was evil targeting us as we worked to serve with WorldVenture more strategically and whole-heartedly. This new direction in my life is different from any other program or act of service.
Conflict and disagreement will happen, even in the best of organizations. Winter had his conflicts. He was outspoken. His theories weren’t always welcome, and his mannerisms were said in the book to offend people. In Guatemala, a nurse didn’t welcome his ideas on cross-cultural communication. She followed closely with traditional approaches. What if the church explored the creative side of evangelism and missions and supported this financially, prayerfully, and actively through implementation? We can support solid truths by simply changing how we share those truths.

No matter what obstacles I face, I am praying Matthew 4:19 (CEB) for the Lord to continue to show me HOW to reach those with no hope, no joy, and no future with the Good News of the Gospel. A former pastor once said that a person coming to love the Lord is a “supernatural miracle.” We must first serve on our knees, before we serve with our hands.

Support this vision by clicking here. Or to schedule an appointment with me, leave a comment or use the comment form here to connect with me. It would give me joy to share the full vision with you.

Thoughts on Ralph Winter and His Life

“Of the three faculty members and those who would join them, Winter was the person most involved in new initiatives during his time at SWM. His ideas rarely sparked interest in or involvement from the greater Fuller community. There were just too many of them (ideas)!” (The Ralph Winter Story; location 1322; by Harold Fickett)

I still recall when Andy Andrews said, “Read as many biographies as possible.” What he meant, or what I interpreted from that, was how much you learn from history. In reading, The Ralph Winter Story, I am encouraged as a ministry leader with WorldVenture.

Ralph Winter used his creativity to make massive changes to global missions. He didn’t find his calling until late in life (like me!). While I don’t compare myself with someone of his stature, I do find encouragement in reading his life story. He is quoted a lot in the Perspectives course.

In trying to carve new roads to missions, I felt I needed to understand Ralph Winter’s life story.

A quote from his friend, Trotman is now on my Facebook profile:

“Don’t do what others can do or will do if there are things to be done that other can’t do or won’t do.”

Winter’s struggles to establish new thought processes in missionary work wasn’t always welcome. In one situation, his wife, Roberta clashed with a fellow nurse, Ruth, in Guatamala. Ruth insisted that medically trained missionaries, “…should decide what medical work should include.” Winter and Roberta studied the culture and noticed how the tribal people went to Shaman’s for medical and spiritual advice. To this people group it was strange to separate medical advice from spiritual advice, and Winter or Roberta had observed how often they came to the medical clinic to get marriage advice. However, the author states that Ruth was more traditional and fought them. The book asserts Winter found a way around that obstacle.

Winter had so many ideas and this meant that his creativity had him serving in many different kinds of projects at the same time. In fact, the book suggests his parents may have worried about his constant so-called “lack of focus.”

Tony, my husband, worried for a time about this. Since becoming a believer in 2002, I wrote skits for Solid Rock Christian Fellowship, directed dramas from the stage, ran a women’s tea and coffee for four years (randomly inviting people from the directory to my house which oftentimes meant women meeting other women they didn’t know attended SRCF), a prayer ministry, and helping in set up and take downs of SRCF’s third service. I also had author aspirations and wrote two novels during this time. One received a partial manuscript request from an agent and the other wasn’t fully ready before it was submitted by request to a small publisher. All of this was training for where I am now. Winter had a weakness, too.

With so many ideas, he didn’t fully commit to learning the language the mission board asked him to learn. The downside to having so much creativity is spreading yourself too thin. Winter didn’t really have a job. He got his education through the GI Bill, lived at home, got married, served as a missionary, and had odd jobs. Again, I am not finished reading it yet so I have not learned his whole story. Steady employment may have come later.

With a full time day job and working active online ministries, I am always careful not to do so much that the ministries I have worked hard to build fail due to lack of attention. This is why I read books about people from the past so I can learn from their mistakes and find encouragement in their struggles.

Would you consider financially partnering with me as I serve to empower the church to do more than market their programs, but reach their communities, even on a global scale? Click here to learn more.

How We are a Citizen of Heaven #Christian

I’m on a social media fast today in a hotel somewhere in Phoenix. This means I fast from all social media so I can rest, study, and even write without distraction while I focus on God, worship Him, and focus on who I am in Him. I am reading, “How to Read The Bible For All It’s Worth,” by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart.

Page 109 through 110 brought me up short. So far, I had been reading about Hebrew narrative and how the Old Testament narratives implied things, definition of what is cultural and what is truth, and what something meant then and what it means now. As I read, Redefinition, I knew that this is the kind of truth that I am trying to share in my life with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in America:

“Redefinition. When the plain meaning of the text leaves people cold, producing no immediate spiritual delight, or says something other than what they wish it said, they are often tempted to redefine it to mean something else. An example is the use often made of God’s promise to Solomon as it is narrated in Chronicles (2 Chron. 7:14-15). The context of this narrative clearly relates the promise to “this place” (the temple in Jerusalem) and “their land” (Israel, the land of Solomon and the Israelites). Understandably, many modern Christians yearn for it to be true of their land wherever they live in the modern world–and so they tend to ignore the fact that God’s promise that he will “hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” was about the only earthly land God’s people could ever claim as “theirs,” the Old Testament land of Israel. In the new covenant, God’s people have no earthly country that is “their land” –despite the tendency of some American Christians to think otherwise about the world. The country all believers now most truly belong to is a heavenly one (Heb. 11:16). (emphasis mine)”

Pastors periodically talk about examining ones spending habits on their checking account to see if God is a priority. What do we spend most of our money on? Are we investing in God’s Kingdom or in pleasure? The same should be said of auditing our own social media profiles. What is posted most often on your social media expresses the depth of your faith, your heart, whether it bleeds from pain and anger or oozes political angst. Do we wish death on our enemies even in a joking way?

“Sarcasm is anger gone underground and come back up in a clown suit,” says Patsy Clairmont, a Women of Faith writer and speaker. Our citizenship is in Heaven as believers. How can we reflect this in our postings and honor the country in which we live?

Horror and the Bible: A Commentary

In our deeply divided country, Mike Duran is one of the few who can challenge our culture without being inflammatory or divisive. In reading his latest book, Christian Horror: On the Compatibility of a Biblical Worldview and the Horror Genre, the book goes beyond surface arguments and shows us how the church should embrace the horror genre.

The book delves into various horrific details of Bible stories, art history, and how some don’t believe a devil exists. The book also presents a compelling argument how Christians have white washed everything. “Thus, Christian art became an alternative to ‘worldly’ fare, often defined as much by what it didn’t have, as what it did,” the book says on page 53. My favorite story shared in the book was about Christopher Hitchen’s brother, Peter, who became a believer when he viewed Roger Van Der Weyden’s painting, Last Judgement.

The horrific images portrayed in the painting caused, “Peter to see himself, ‘among the damned.'” Peter Hitchens became a believer because a painter didn’t hold back about heaven or hell. The book is a think-outside-the-box kind of thought process that inspires a Christian like myself to not put such narrow boundaries on how to reach the unreached, the unloved, and the unchurched. The book makes a strong case how horror should be an accepted genre among Christians.

Finding Love in a Book Shop

How to Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry is an interesting menagerie of stories written in third person from various points of view. The main story threaded throughout is from the point of view of Emelia, the daughter of a deceased bookstore owner, who loved his daughter, the books, and the town of Peasebrook.

Emilia’s mom died during her birth leaving Julius to raise her on his own. He wasn’t a savvy businessman as Emilia would discover following her father’s death. He gave away as much as he made in books that the debt left behind hung on Emilia’s heart like a millstone. The tension in the story comes from Ian Mendelip who sends his employee to seduce Emilia to sell the bookstore because the property would allow expansion. The charm of Emilia and the bookstore work its magic on Jackson. The books cause him to re-think his life.

How to Find Love in a Book Shop is You Got Mail meets Sleepless in Seattle. Love writes its own stories as the town of Peasebrook faces the past and the future, embraces change, and mends relationships. You can’t help, but smile in the end.

*Book given by publisher to review.

Finding Out What Really Matters

A book review of, We Stood Upon Stars by Roger W. Thompson

We Stood Upon Stars by Roger W. Thompson attracted me because of its cover of a VW van and a star-covered night sky. The advertisement of 32 maps was a bonus. I had never heard of the author, but an outdoor-themed devotional was attractive to this backpacker.

The book is a memoir of collected memories separated into quick chapters with a hand-drawn map of the areas the book describes in that particular chapter. It is a book that expresses worship in God, adventures in dating, marriage and fatherhood with humor, deep conviction, and a beautiful narrative. Threaded throughout the book are references of his grandfather and their motorcycle adventures. The book is a meditation of relaxation in the middle of a busy day, to get lost in the book’s narrative and dream of adventures yet to come.

Loss is especially poignant in the book. My eyes suspiciously watered a few times in which I blinked and tried to push down the knot in my throat. Some chapters hit too close to home like the loss of their dog and when the author said goodbye to his grandfather. The only drawback to the book was the lack of Scripture references. If there were any, I didn’t catch them. The maps are wonderful for decoration, travel tips, and reminiscing; or perhaps pieces of art that one could blow up into a print and frame.

My husband read the book first. He sped through the pages like a child eating his first cake. “Easy reading,” He mentioned to me. When I reached parts of the book that made me laugh, he would turn to look at me and ask me what part I was reading. The book was memorable to him. While not marketed to men (that I saw anyway), the book is ideal for men’s groups or young men. The wisdom in its pages are timeless. Whole families are difficult to find and young men need good mentors. Any young man might enjoy this book purely for the inspiration to get up from the couch and go somewhere.

*book given by the publisher to review.

Book Review: To The Farthest Shore

To The Farthest Shores by Elizabeth Camden brings out some notable themes: Forgiveness, betrayal, and complicated relationships not so easily solved by a few glib words.

Jenny sees Ryan and rehashes in her mind the hurt of his abrupt break up letter. Trust is broken, but she still loves him. She is compelled in spite of her reluctance to seek out answers to his long absence and his sudden loss of interest in her. What she discovers is a little Japanese girl and bitterness suppresses every ounce of compassion when she learns that he not only went to serve overseas, but found a wife and had a daughter. It’s not just a present hurt that keeps her from seeing clearly, but a secret from her past she can’t forgive.

Jenny is a complicated woman—A nurse during World War II who prides herself on running a tight ship as a nurse helping wounded warriors. She struggles with a distrust that goes back to her childhood, built on a foundation of guilt. What’s interesting are the secrets Ryan keeps as he attempts to restore the relationship.

People, in order to protect others, tend to hide pertinent information. We do the worst harm avoiding the uncomfortable to keep others from distress. Ryan’s attempt to avoid reality nearly gets him killed and sends Jenny away again. Jenny’s resentment towards Ryan’s small daughter causes the reader to get momentarily angry at Jenny. To The Farthest Shores is yet another example by Elizabeth Camden how one can write realistic characters in fiction to deviate from the predictable cookie cutter personalities found in some fiction.

*Book given by publisher to review

3 Ways to Suck It Up When Things Go Wrong

I’m reading, “No More Faking Fine,” by Esther Fleece. In one chapter, she talks about being told to, “suck it up,” during a fragile and difficult time in her life. I have experienced a similar wording. To me, those words represented their backs turning toward me and their feet walking away when I most needed friends. Situations do occur when you have no choice, but to suck it up.

A situation may require you to not be you. You may be in a situation where faking fine is the only option. Without an outlet, faking fine will kill you.

Here are three ways to fake fine that has worked with me:

Connect with friends: Find a couple of friends you can talk to, hang out with, or do Bible Studies with so you can unload, laugh, and have someone on your side. Faking fine leaves you in isolation, blaming yourself, and binge eating. When you connect, choose healthy places to eat that won’t tempt you to dig into high calorie foods to bring you comfort. Stay away from online or real life shopping situations if you are tempted to do retail therapy. Have friends hold you accountable for your actions.
Get into exercise and the outdoors. Self-discipline will grow you spiritually through regular exercise. Walking through the woods or in the desert will bring you peace. Use those moments to talk to God about how you are not fine. Read some Bible verses and pray. I run and it helps to shake off frustration, diverting my emotions to my feet.
Find a creative outlet. A friend paints. It brings her peace and helps her cope. Painting, writing, building, etc., are wonderful therapeutic options. Watch movies that make you cry. Read books that challenge your static thinking. Do something creative that challenges your abilities.

If you are faking fine in your marriage, seek out a marriage counselor. You should not be faking fine with your spouse. He or she should be the one person you are you with, and able to shake off the day at the front door, like mud from your boots. Home should always be a place of love; a retreat away from the world where faking fine is sometimes the norm.

Upcoming Book Discussion: Fish Tank Startups

TRC Magazine is having a book discussion on Kevin Cullis’, “Fish Tank Startups.” I met Kevin at the 2016 Hackathon at WorldVenture. His heart is to help empower someone with biblical business principles to start their own business. Besides Arizona’s S.C.O.R.E., I don’t know many who have a ministry to help people get out of the rut and start a business to help make ends meet.

I’ll be doing the book discussion. Kevin may be present in the chat area. Join us on Friday, February 3 at 4 PM MST here.

New Book Review: No More Faking Fine

“The beautiful nature of lament is that it has a beginning and an end. No one is meant to live forever in grief and sorrow, yet without it, our life loses all meaning and our sense of immeasurable joy that is intended for our journey. Without lament, there is no joy.” Pg. 15, No More Faking Fine by Esther Fleece.

The book arrived in the mail. I am always interested in books that help an individual develop intimacy with God. This appealed to me because, in my own lament, so many chose to shuffle into their generational comfort instead of being a true friend. Phrases like, “I don’t want to hear it,” followed by absolute disdain for the pain I was feeling pushed me into isolation.

In healthy community, we are meant to share the burden together, not silence the hurt, cram it down into the dark secret spots of your heart, and suffer indefinitely because it makes someone else feel uncomfortable. Church, in my mind, has always been a symbol of community, of family. It hasn’t always been that way for me though.

I will write up an interview of this book in the next few weeks. Because it was mailed late to me, I get a few weeks past the January 31 deadline to write it up.

If you need to talk, you can message me on social media or by email. I always respond.