Have you considered who Timothy’s faithful reliable men were? Imagine with me; Paul has died and his exhortation in II Timothy 2:2 loudly echoes, bouncing all around the walls of his heart and soul. And, more than that….the living God, the incarnate Jesus Christ risen from the dead, and the Holy Spirit Himself now dwells within him! Incredible!

Set apart, telling to the generations to come God’s praises, His strength, and His wonderful works; let us be diligent to not be like some of our forefathers with stubborn and rebellious hearts who spirits were not faithful to God. God established His Word and commanded our spiritual fathers to make known to their children and the generation to come His commandments, even children yet to be born.

“If people can’t see what God is doing they stumble all over themselves, but when they attend to what God reveals they are most blessed.” Proverbs 29:18 (Message)

Paul’s words again instruct us; “I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future He has promised to those He called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance He has given His people. I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of His power for us who believe Him.” Ephesians 1:16 – 19 (NLT)

Paul did not consider “prayer” something you “do” as a follower of Christ. I don’t think prayer was “a spoke on Paul’s wheel illustration” but more like breathing. How else could he practice what he preached, “praying constantly” exhorting us to do the same? Therefore, beloved ones, “continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.” Col 4:2

Have you guessed why I’m writing??? April 4th and 5th the MLT and a group of folk are gathering at Glen Eyrie to select the final candidates for the US Military Mission Director. Relax! Do not fret but trust in God and do good by standing in the gap asking God’s wisdom and presence to protect, direct and guide those gathered.

Ron Holechek has stated that “one of the clear purposes of our time together is to seek the Lord and partner with the Holy Spirit and one another in identifying the final three ‘Acceptable and Willing’ Candidates from those nominated for this role—who have chosen to remain in the selection process for prayerful and active consideration. The overall goal for our time is to discern ‘what God is saying to us’ on this very important selection, and who are the candidates God seems to be ‘setting apart’ for this consideration.”

My appeal is that we all consider Psalm 46 connecting our hearts with God’s heart knowing that the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Like yesterday, I well remember former US Senate Chaplain Lloyd Ogilvie reading Psalm 46 to our nation immediately after 9-11 bringing comfort from God’s Word.

“We sing this Psalm to the praise of God, because God is with us. God powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends His church and His Word against all fanatical spirits and against the gates of hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the assaults of the world, the flesh, and sin.” (Martin Luther 1483-1546)

Those serving on the Candidate Selection Committee are as follows: Rusty Stephens, Ron Holechek, Tom Bourke, Rich Robinson, Phil Partin, Pam Darnell, Gregg Elmendorf, Pete McKay, Patriece Johnson, Ana Perry, Larry Sherbondy, Wes Drake, Mike Darnell, Lauris Shepherd, and Dave Mead.

Here’s the challenge! Set apart 30 minutes Saturday morning and Sunday sometime focusing on God being “our” refuge, a very present help, knowing that He will be exalted among the nations and exalted in all the earth praying through Psalm 46.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge!

By way of reminder, the Military Mission director selection process will not conclude with the council meetings on April 4th and 5th. On April 19th, the National Field Leaders Group (NFLG), led by Rusty Stephens, will make the final selection of the next US Military Mission Director from the candidates identified from the candidate selection process on May 4th and 5th. Phil Partin and Pam Darnell of the MLT will join the NFLG for that process, as will Ron Holechek who serves on that team.

Ask God’s wisdom and guidance for the Field Leader’s meeting beginning Monday 6 April running through Wednesday the 8th as well as for the MLT as they continue meeting through Saturday morning.

Honored to be His servant along with you all,

Mike Darnell (USMM Prayer Coordinator)

John 17:20-23

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

Lord Jesus, first I want to say that I agree with your prayer here in John 17. I’m deeply challenged that your desire for us is to experience the same unity you experience within the Trinity. Lord, as we make adjustments to become more and more “one work” across the US, may you pour out your glory and power to enable us to go to beautiful places of unity far beyond anything we have experienced before. And may you receive all the glory for our unity. Lord, would you form our reputation to be one of oneness and unity. May the world see our unity and be drawn into your kingdom. May it be so, Lord, according to your own High Priestly prayer.

Isa 54: 2-3, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.  For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.”

Mt 9: 36-38, “When He saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’”

Mt 20: 13-16, “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you.  Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?  Take your pay and go.  I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.  Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?  Or are you envious because I am generous?’”

Are we a “roomy” organization?  Is there space for people to get into the tent with us heart-to-heart, and then work the fields with us shoulder-to-shoulder?  How spacious is our corporate heart to be inviting and inclusive of those not like us, those without a Nav pedigree, those who come late into the mix?

Can we be “risky” to welcome “outside” descendants and laborers into Navigator tents and Navigator fields?  Can we remember that the tents and fields are not ours at all, but His?  Can we release dearly held traditions, methodologies, territorialities, and petty personal preferences in order to see a new movement of your Spirit in us and through us for the lost to the ends of the earth?

Oh Lord, pry open and soften our hard hearts to be welcoming and accommodating to those who want to join us in our calling.  Help us serve and sacrifice to bring along the next generation, to decrease and die that others might stand on our shoulders to flourish. Oh God, would you give us the privilege of having your descendants and raising up your laborers to the end that we take possession of the whole earth for You?

Is. 54:2-3 “Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your pegs. “For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations, And they will resettle the desolate cities.

Ezek. 36:36-39 “Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it.” ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock. “Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”’”

It is compelling to consider William Carey kneeling with Isaiah 54:2-3 in mind and then saying, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” Reflecting on William Carey, Dawson Trotman claimed this passage for the work of The Navigators believing that the fruit of their faith, prayer and labors would impact our nation and the nations. LeRoy and Virgina Eims in 1958 prayed Ezekiel 36:36-39 in that same mode of faith for the “official” launch of the Collegiate work of The Navigators at The University of NE. Over forty years later Tom Yeakley prayed this passage asking God to reinvigorate the Collegiate work.

Both passages speak to God restoring Israel after her refining exile in order to bring glory to His name, good to His people and impact to the nations. God has graciously restored the work of the Collegiate ministries. We are grateful, but it is too small a thing in light of our needy world. May He flow, no, rather may He flood our cities and the nations with hundreds and hundreds who have their spiritual beginnings in the military and student work.

Won’t you pray with me this week that we as the Navigators believe God and are used by God to send a torrent of Christ lovers to live and labor next door to everywhere?

Father, thank you so much for breathing life once again in the Collegiate ministries of The Navigators. It’s amazing. But, we know that Your heart does not stop beating at the campus. We are desperate for Your power to see people going from the campuses to the cities and the nations.

Help us to see life as a grand adventure where we can join You in the every day current of the mundane and meaningful to fully live life for You wherever You place us. Enable us to join with those of like heart to be You to those lonely, broken people all around us. Help us to see them as You do. And love them as You do. Then, please enable us to enable others to live out this vision, Your vision.

Our beloved Savior You told us to ask our Father, the Lord of the harvest, to send workers into the harvest fields. When you saw that group of broken every day people almost 2000 years ago your heart was drawn deeply toward them. Turn to us as you turned to your friends so long ago. Say to us “Pray. Pray that our Father compels workers to flow into the harvest fields.”

Show us how we can work together as The Navigators for the sake of those in our ministries so that whatever their location, whatever their vocation …  they see themselves as “full time” in the harvest fields. Show us how to integrate what we do as Navigators so that we can be a great resource to many who will become light and life to those for whom You died. Fulfill your promises once again, Campuses, Cities, Nations for Your glory.

There is an awe that should envelop us as we see the creative expression of God in the most mundane of things. Once we see them our eyes are opened to His glory. His creation is ongoing! Let us rejoice.

Psalm 104: 21-24 “The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God. When the sun rises they withdraw and lie down in their dens. Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until evening. O Lord, how many are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your possessions.”

The Psalm 104: 21-24 passage calls our attention to the idea that God has given Man work, not the lion. This culture-building work is one distinguishing aspect of man over the animal. N.T. Wright aptly states this in his book Surprised by Hope, (pp 223) “To make sense of and celebrate a beautiful world through the making of artifacts that themselves are beautiful is part of the call to be stewards of creation, as was Adams naming of the animals.”

Pray that as our students and next generation enter the work place that they will see the beauty of the works of heir hands. Pray that they will see the Kingdom in the cooking of a meal, the cleaning of a floor, the administration of an office and the launching of a rocket. Pray that they will be filled with awe as a leaf sweeps by in silent flight. Pray that their work will take on all the beauty of the King. Pray that we as leaders will draw into our own being Gods view of work and beauty.

“Almighty God of creation, You created us to be creative, in Your image. Help our students and the next generation enter the work place and see the beauty of the work of their hands. May they see the Kingdom as they cook meals, as they clean floors, as they function administratively in the office place, as they launch rockets. May they be filled with awe as a leaf sweeps by in silent flight. May their work take on all the beauty of the King.

I pray that we as leaders will draw into our own being Your view of work and beauty. Lord, I ask You to weave Psalm 91:17 in to my life and into our lives, ‘that the favor of the Lord our God would be upon us, confirming for us the work of our hands.’

And Lord, I’m reminded of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s expression, ‘Earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. Only he who sees takes off his shoes.’ Oh Lord, do a work in us that would cause us to see as You see, and to take off our shoes in worship of You.”

2 Samuel 23:2-4
“The Spirit of the LORD speaks through me; his words are upon my tongue. The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘The person who rules righteously, who rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of the morning, like the sunrise bursting forth in a cloudless sky, like the refreshing rains that bring tender grass from the earth.”

Isaiah 32:1-2
“Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him. He will shelter Israel from the storm and the wind. He will refresh her as a river in the desert and as the cool shadow of a large rock in a hot and weary land.”

Isaiah 60:17b-18
“I will make peace your governor and righteous your ruler. No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.”

When we think of our broad Navigator community, what does the on-looking world observe and experience when they come near? If we, the Navigators – our staff community, our leadership communities, our headquarters community – were a city, what would the banner on the wall or the writing on the gate say about us? What culture would we be known for? What would the aroma of our city be?

Would we be known for peace… or strife? Would we be known for critique … or for affirmation? Would we be known as a safe, secure place of salvation … or as a place that is dangerous because there are dangerous staff or leaders around? Would we be known for our unity or for our factions? Would we be known as a place of praise for God … or a place where people are the center of attention?

Won’t you pray with me this week that the Navigators, in all its expressions, would be a “city” that people would flock to because the aroma of Jesus and His kingdom are present in our relationships?

Sovereign God, your son Jesus prayed in John 17 for a unity that is seen in the Trinity. Would you break strongholds and the works of the enemy that cause us to divide rather than unite? We long to be a place where we love and are loved, a place of safety and peace. Lord, teach us new ways to love one another, new ways of working well together, and new ways of reflecting kingdom relationships to a watching world. Father, convict our hearts and bring us to a deeper repentance for when we have become instruments of division and strife, rather than peace and love.

In the days and years ahead, Lord please make the Navigators a fragrant aroma of the gospel, an attractive place that will woo those who are harassed, helpless, and without hope. May our neighbors, friends, and co-workers be drawn to Jesus and the kingdom because they see you in our relationships. Develop us as leaders and kingdom citizens who work together to develop a kingdom culture that reflects your heart. Glorify yourself King Jesus through your servants as you make us one as you desire!

1 Samuel 16
Vs 1 – God says to Samuel, “Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons.”

Vs 12,13 – The Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.

As a leadership community, The Navigators are facing an unprecedented transition in national leadership. Doug Nuenke has recently become our new US director, leaving the National Metro Leadership role open. Fred Wevodau is temporarily filling that role. Mike Jordahl is stepping down from the National Collegiate Leadership role. Ron Holechek will be stepping down from the National Military Leadership role. Rod Beidler will be retiring from the International Ministries Group Leadership role. Lauren Libby is stepping down from the Chief Operating Officer Leadership role.

All of these transitions in leadership create a ripple effect in the lives of many people.

Would you pray with us for the weeks and months ahead as we seek the Lord to select and anoint the new leaders of His choosing?

O Lord God, truly, “even though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet we will rejoice in the LORD, we will be joyful in God our Savior. You, O Sovereign LORD are our strength; You make our feet like the feet of a deer, You enable us to go on the heights.”

Precious Lord, we seek Your face for the very best leaders to fill these critical roles. We bless Your name for the amazing job done by the men who are stepping aside from these roles. We ask for Your selection and anointing of those who will fill these roles. And with so many lives touched by the ripple effect of these roles being filled, may we cling to You, rejoice in You and turn to You for our strength.