Adventures and Thoughts of Team Cross

The Million Muslim Outreach is one of several current campaigns being run by the dynamic organization Crescent Project.

About Crescent Project

Our vision is to equip the North American Christian community to sensitively share the joy of knowing Christ with their Muslim neighbors. Personal relationships between Christian and Muslim populations are often strained or non-existent because of rampant misunderstandings that lead to fear and distrust. Our goal is to overcome misunderstandings about Islam through education so that Christians take the initiative to build friendships with their Muslim neighbors. Personal relationships open the door for discussion about spiritual issues and personal beliefs.

The overall strategy is genius.  Reach the millions of Muslims who are currently in the US and when they become Christians they will take the Hope of the Gospel back to their home country with them.  Western Christians have a hard time entering restricted countries, but these new Christians are able to return home and share with their family and friends.

Getting Involved

There are actually lots of ways to get involved with the Crescent Project, depending on your time and passion. (I’m going to try and list them from easiest/shortest to longest)

• Prayer – sign up for their bi-weekly prayer e-newsletter
• Research/Resources – reading their books, watching a DVD, listening to podcasts, and much more.
• Oasis Groups – join other local Christians in prayer and outreach at monthly gatherings
• Sharing the Hope Seminars – this is a one-day introduction to Islam, Muslim cultures, and ministry tools. These are held across the country and you can request one for your area. It is also available online.
• The Oasis Conference – this is a weekend long training program held in Indianapolis each year.  The weekend includes speakers, workshops, visiting a mosque, and much more.
• The Sahara Challenge – a one-week intensive training session focused on bridging the gap between Christians and Muslims.  It is also a pre-requisite for the next step:
• Short-term Trips – spend a week in a Muslim country, gaining first hand experience interacting with Muslims and practicing your new skills and information.

Of course you are able to contribute financially to the Crescent Project or any of their ministry activities. They are also looking for new churches to connect with across the country and have a monthly luncheon in Indianapolis to spread the news of the organization. 

Back to the Headline

What is the Million Muslim Outreach?

Our vision is to see that one million American Muslims hear the gospel in 2007. We want that message to come through Christians living for Jesus. We believe in the power of one:

1 Christian committed to sharing the message of Jesus

1 Muslim’s life changed creates a ripple effect among friends and family

We’re working with other Christian groups and churches to make this vision a reality. A Million Muslim Outreach will only be a catchy idea until you choose to act. Get involved today. Share the message of Christ with a Muslim.

You can purchase an outreach packet which contains resources which you can give directly to a Muslim.  The resources help a Muslim connect their beliefs about Jesus with what we as Christians believe.  The packet includes Life of the Messiah DVD, Adha in the Injeel (Sacrifice in the NT), and Is the Injeel Corrupted? (Is the NT Corrupted?).

This is a good easy read for anyone who has a difficult person in their life! Drs. Brinkman and Kirschner identify 10 broad groups of difficult persons we all have faced at some point.  After a few introductory chapters, they provide action steps to help you guide your difficult person towards being easier to deal with!

Not a cure-all, but definitely a quick and easy way to make your day at the office a little bit easier.  They use humor, stories, and informed research to help you.

The ten groups of people are:

• The Tank
• The Sniper
• The Grenade
• The Know-it-All
• The Think-They-Know-it-All
• The Yes Person
• The Maybe Person
• The Nothing Person
• The No Person
• The Whiner

A couple of their techniques used across the spectrum are being a good listener, seeing the intent of a person’s behavior, projecting your expectations, and trying to understand the causes of a behavior.

Check this out!

The deadly genocide in Darfur has continued pretty much unabated, despite growing pressure from the world community.  Sudanese President al-Bashir continues to encourage the violence despite repeated promises for peace and security.  He continues to stonewall and prevent UN troops from entering the region and expects the 7,000 African Union troops to provide security for an area the size of Texas! Already about 400,000 men, women, and children have been killed while over 2 million have been forced to leave their homes. This is sad and ridiculous.

Here are a few videos you can watch and then a few links to actions that you can take to try and help stop this horrific atrocity.

Genocide Intervention Network

Save Darfur

Sudan Divestment Task Force

24 Hours for Darfur

World Vision

Fort Wayne’s Darfur Peace & Development Org

There are so many more resources.  Please take a moment and take an action that has the chance of saving so many lives.

How many more need to die before we take action?

“Testimony may be the most underused force in Western Christianity today.” according to Dr. Tom White in a recent Voice of The Martyrs magazine article. VOM is doing some great work with persecuted Christians around the world.  Here are some additional excerpts from their July 2007 Magazine.

In the Muslim, Hindu, and communist worlds, many are powerfully touched reading about the merciful Jesus in the New Testament, but most of those in extremely hostile villages can barely read.  When they witness the joy of the Christian and hear the testimony of changed lives, many come to Christ.

I think we all get caught up in the mental aspects of faith, needing to know some set of spiritual laws, the Romans’ Road to salvation, or some other type of “trick” to lead someone to faith in Jesus.  All we really need to do is “be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.” (1 Peter 3:15-17)

I feel this is best done in relationship you have with someone, but many are willing to listen to your story, especially if you listen to theirs as well.  It is hard to argue with a story about a changed life, or the power of God you personally have seen.

Let us all take a step of faith and reach out to someone today.  This great story from Revelations should help take away any fear we might have:

War broke out in Heaven. Michael and his Angels fought the Dragon. The Dragon and his Angels fought back, but were no match for Michael. They were cleared out of Heaven, not a sign of them left. The great Dragon—ancient Serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, the one who led the whole earth astray—thrown out, and all his Angels thrown out with him, thrown down to earth. Then I heard a strong voice out of Heaven saying,
Salvation and power are established!
Kingdom of our God, authority of his Messiah!
The Accuser of our brothers and sisters thrown out,
who accused them day and night before God.
They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb
and the bold word of their witness.
They weren’t in love with themselves;
they were willing to die for Christ.
So rejoice, O Heavens, and all who live there,
but doom to earth and sea,
For the Devil’s come down on you with both feet;
he’s had a great fall;
He’s wild and raging with anger;
he hasn’t much time and he knows it.

Revelation 12:7-12 from The Message (emphasis added)

This race is probably the definition of low-key events.  With a 7:30am start, you are able to beat most of the heat typical of mid-July weekends.  This year it was almost chilly at the start due to weird weather patterns.  I feel this event is so low-key that I actually rode my bike the 10 miles from Anderson, raced, then rode my bike back.

All proceeds from this event benefit the CdLS Foundation, which provides support to families who have a child with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. The foundation is located in Connecticut, but this is a personal issue for the race organizers as they have a child with CdLS. They have done everything possible to maximize “profits” than can be sent back to the foundation.

The course is exceptionally flat, and would be a good PR course if it weren’t for the 180 degree turns.  This year there were only 2, but that was because the leaders missed a turn (no one told them where to go, although a map was available at the registration area), the field followed and we all set some amazing times, I passed the mile mark at 3:41. Typically there are 3 180 degree turns, one water stop and a loop around a little park to make the 5K distance, this year’s distance was approximately 2.7 (various GPS watches gave slightly different distances).

Ample water, grapes, and bananas were available at the finish.  An important note is that this race is not scored in the traditional sense.  They give out overall and age group awards but it is based solely on your bib # and finish order. A clock is viewable to get your finish time, but they do not track finish times. This year’s age group awards where blue, red, and yellow (I think) key lanyards. One older runner asked, “Where’s my whistle?!?”

To add to the fun flavor of the event, random awards were given to the 8th place (8th year of the event), 17th place (Conrad’s, the young man with CdLS, age), and 21st place (21st year of the Lapel Village Fair) of each division (men, women, walkers).

This event is a part of the Anderson Road Runner’s Road Race Series, which is where many of the participants come from.

My time was 17:09 overall with 3:41 (.6miles) 6:25, 7:02 (1.1 miles), which is a 6:22 pace, which got me 4th place overall.

CHESTERFIELD RACE RESULTS POSTED

5K 10K

Did you race somewhere this weekend? Tell us all about your experience in the comments section.

Crossposted at Run Central IndianaTeam Cross Runs.

A very intriguing look at what really happens during the presidential primary.  Written in 1996 by “Anonymous” this is a “fictional” story about a presidential candidate and some of the behind the scenes practices during the campaign.

It is a gripping story that sounds similar to the Bill Clinton campaign, but is supposedly all fiction and a recreation by the author. It is interesting to read, in the light of another Clinton presidential primary.

Not a book for the light-hearted or young person, this #1 Bestseller on every major book lists full of vulgar language, sexual content, and other similar adult content.  If it was a movie it would be rated R.  But if you have an interest in politics this is a good place to gain knowledge and understanding about what it takes to “play in the arena.”

We can only hope that politics doesn’t really have dustbusters (to take care of tabloid stories), but we do know that there is plenty of spinmeisters on each campaign who are either helping their candidate or trashing the other.

I enjoyed the read and some of the sense of history that comes with it.  A quick web search shows that Joe Klein is the author of the book, not quite the insider everyone expected, Joe was still very familiar with the campaign since he covered it in 1992 for New York Magazine.