Insights: The RightNow Conference

Earlier this month, two members of the Cafe 1040 US team traveled to Dallas, TX, to attend the RightNow Conference.  This gathering was an opportunity for church and missional leaders to come and be fed, hone in on the foundation of why we all do what we do, and remember what is behind it all.  The Gospel, God's love and grace, and our blessing in order to be a blessing!  Here are Nikki's thoughts on this great event:

We heard speakers/pastors from all across the nation from Francis Chan and Matt Carter to Matt Chandler.  They led us in ideal, authentic community, our rhetoric versus the reality, social justice and even hell.

One talk particularly grabbed me (although it was hard to pick just one).  Matt Chandler gave a talk entitled 'Rubbish and Rescue.'  He compared the rubbish we tend to hold on to, but the rescue that is awaiting us.  Let's take discipleship for instance.  He said, "discipleship is often a practice of repression rather than allowing the gospel to conform you."  We tend to simply guide people to repress their fears, repress their sins, repress their desires in order to be more Christ-like.  But that's not it al all.  Our pursuit of righteousness is great, trying to get rid of all of the crap in our  lives is great.  But repressing it doesn't work because its with the wrong motivation.  It's the Gospel, the yearning for Christ to be supreme that rids us of our dirt.  Instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us, we try to conform to a pattern of religion which is exhausting and the worst trade off ever.  Our righteousness or goodness is nothing compared to the relationship the believer has with Christ.  Our sin dies when Christ becomes more desirable than that sin.

"What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ." Philippians 3:8

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Isaiah 64:6

My prayer is that we strive to know Christ, to be more enthralled by Him, rather than try to make ourselves good enough for Him.  My prayer is that we wholly submit to the Holy Spirit to come in and transform us, rather than attempt to become righteous through our own means.  

This is the Gospel we preach; this is what brings the nations to Him!

What GREAT INSIGHT!  Going beyond just the American Church, what does this principle mean for missionaries working cross culturally inside the 10/40 Window among unreached people groups?  This means that it is the job of the missionary to share Christ and the job of the Holy Spirit to transform lives/families/communities/people groups.  No missionary working from their own righteousness can bring salvation to anyone, rather it is the power of the Holy Spirit that transforms lives!  It will be by the power of the Holy Spirit that 'every nation, tribe and tongue' will praise the Lord!

The Celebration of L'Eid Kabir

A Special Post From Our Staff in North Africa


On November 7th, all of North Africa will be celebrating what they call L'Eid Kabir, or The Big holiday. This is the holiday that represents when Abraham went to sacrifice his son, but God provided a lamb in the place of his son.  As Christians, this story has huge significance as it is a foretelling of Christ being given in our place as the blood sacrifice for our sins.  To the billions of Muslims around the world it is only a celebration of Abraham's faith and the saving of their lineage.  (They say the son mentioned in the story is Ishmael, while we believe it to be Isaac.)

During the celebration, every family will get together and sacrifice a sheep.  Even now the market places are becoming full with potential sheep to buy for the slaughtering.  It is usually the Father or man of the household who slits the throat, then everyone waits for the blood to drain before continuing to skin and gut the animal.

Right away they take out the liver, lungs, heart, and pancreas, wrap them in the animals fat and cook them on a small grill.  The family will share in this small feast of organs for lunch and continue to talk and relax until evening when they have couscous usually with the should of the lamb.

Please pray for our friends [and all Muslims] during this time.  That they will see the blood shed by the lamb as something more than a traditional holiday.  Pray for us, that we may be given more opportunities to share our faith in the Ultimate Sacrifice during this time of year.

We spent what?

By Michelle G.


I was SHOCKED to read in the news this week that Americans just spent $6 billion on Halloween - decorations, candy, costumes!  Roughly $2.27 billion of that was just candy alone - ohhhh the cavities!

Now I have no intention of debating with anyone the merits (or lack) of Halloween - there are plenty of people writing this or that about Halloween.  No matter what you think of this  holiday, it was the amount of money Americans spent on it that shocked me!  Over $2.27 billion on candy alone?  Add costumes and decorations and we spent an estimated $6 billion!  This got me thinking...

What if instead of spending $2.27 billion on candy we had given just 10% of that money to missions in the 10/40 Window?  Or better yet, what if we had given 20% or even 50% of what we spent last week on candy to reach those who have never even heard the name of Christ?

It isn't that I don't like candy.  3Musketeers are my favorite, so are Twix, Twizzler, Pretzel M&Ms.  Ok so I like candy a lot but we could all get by with half the amount of candy we bought this past week.  Other than the lack of a stomach ache, we probably wouldn't even notice.

And what if we didn't buy  new costumes from the stores each year but shared with our friends those we already own, purchased costumes from consignment shops or used items already in our homes to make something just as cute?  What if we didn't buy any new decorations for just one year?  What if instead, we took what we would spend on costumes and decorations and we used that money to support a missionary going to a unreached people group in North Africa?

Just a thought, just asking "what if...?"