Series: Jesus Manifesto
Message: Getting Clear About Christ
Preacher: Jenniffer Ogden
Reflection: Japhet De Oliveira
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Lydia Svoboda
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Colossians 1:15-23 in The Message (MSG). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: I was at the Adventist Health Strategy Summit a few weeks ago. The room was rather electric with leaders from other health systems like Loma Linda and Advent Health. Presentations from Bill Wing, David Banks, and Joshua Cowan, and challenges laid by Dustin Aho, Alex Bryan, Shelly Trumbo, and CEO Scott Reiner captured the idea that change is necessary for our mission. At the close of the Summit, Bill Wing, President of Adventist Health, hosted a conversation with Andy Waldeck and John Poulin. Andy and John are from Innosight, and they shared their philosophy known as Future Back. This is a process that effectively asks this question: If you had a blank slate how would you vision the future?
This is what happens to all of us who enjoy strategic thinking. As someone is sharing an innovative idea, we immediately apply it to all the models we have experienced and map it out in real time to see if it fits. It is like a giant game of chess. You imagine the move the other player has and then you start to move forward. The greatest chess players are said to think 15-20 moves ahead. As I sat furiously typing notes, I was mapping out what Future Back looked like in my life. How many times have I said to leaders “Imagine a blank slate. Do not let the current model shape what you want to do. Imagine what Jesus is calling you to.” My unfortunate or fortunate habit (depending on your perspective) is to create a blank slate if needed. That disruption is welcomed by some and is frightening for others. The blank slate is paralyzing to some and liberating to others. Those of you who know me understand that I am never short of ideas. My problem is that I like to take action with my ideas.
Can your company handle Future Back? Can your school handle Future Back? Can your church handle Future Back? I know that when we started the One project, our tribe could not handle Future Back. We started with a blank slate. We created from a blank slate. The only driving force was to lift up the name of Jesus and to make Jesus. All. known.
The apostle Paul was a Future Back thinker. He saw Jesus as the call and permission to dream of a different way. Faith in Him meant life was never going to be same.
Recalibrate: When you think about your church local and global, is it future back or present forward?
Respond: Pray for the opportunity to serve.
Research: What other stories exist in the Bible that demonstrate future back thinking?
Remember: “Through His power all things were made—things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen” (Colossians 1:16, ICB).
Japhet De Oliveira is administrative director for the Center for Mission and Culture at Adventist Health in Roseville, California.
With your little one talk about what today is. Today is Tuesday. No matter what is on our schedule today, Tuesday is the only day that we have. Let’s listen and look for Jesus everywhere we go. Look for someone being kind—that’s Jesus. Listen for someone helping someone else—that’s Jesus. If we cannot see or hear either of these, maybe today is the day that we bring Jesus to our world. Today is the day to bring kind and good to your neighborhood. Enjoy!
Make a treasure hunt for your family or friends. You can write clues or draw big arrows, making sure that your seekers can see them. Hide the treasure and then place your arrows or clues so your family and friends can find them and eventually find the treasure. Jesus is the best treasure ever! When we love Him, everything that we do should be like the arrows and clues that point to Jesus.
A few years ago, I was leaving Vista Ridge Academy after playing volleyball when I accidentally left my phone on top of my Jeep. Without thinking, I took off out of the parking lot and made my way back home to Boulder. At some point during the drive I recalled hearing a strange sound on the roof, but just assumed I had driven under a low-hanging tree branch and kept driving. It wasn’t until I went to bed that night and reached for my phone to set my alarm that I realized my mistake. A sense of dread fell over me as I realized what I had done. Just like that, all of my email, text messages, phone numbers, and apps were gone!
I felt lost.
In that moment, I’m not sure I would have felt comforted by Paul’s words in Colossians. He says in Verse 17 that God is, “before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
And here I thought it was my phone . . .
It was tragic to lose that device and it certainly changed the way I lived and operated for a week after it flew off the roof. But it wasn’t the end of the world. Really, it was an opportunity to refocus where I thought value lies. And I spent more time praying, reading, and studying without the distraction of my phone. Wouldn’t you know it—my cell phone provider called a few months later and said that someone had turned the phone in after the snow melted and there it was!
What do you count as valuable in your life? Where does it rank in importance when you compare it to your faith? Your relationship to Jesus?
“And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). Both the course of history and the course of the future alike are held in His hands. The planet is literally held together by Him. His handiwork is evident in nature. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” He holds everything—both the things you are able to see and the things you can’t see, the things you can understand and the many things you can’t understand. Find peace in that knowledge.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
J. Murdock is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on youth and young adult ministry.
Lydia Svoboda is a junior theology major at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.