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kristin myers design

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= communication

Frame your message with design.

Graphic design is metaphorically like framing artwork. Art does not have to be in a frame to be seen, yet when framed and hung, it becomes set apart and attracts a new level of attention and respect. In the same way, when content or a message is visually communicated through quality design, the message becomes clearer to better connect with an audience and motivate action.

With a background in communication design and fine arts, Kristin Myers has five years working experience with non-profit organizations. She can help you identify and structure your message and create quality design to meet your communications needs.

The question is, what do you want to say?

ish-based World Values Survey in 2000. But as one Parisian pastor told Witcher: “The primary reason is because the French see church as boring and irrelevant. Not because they don’t believe in God.�

France Mission reports that 350,000 now frequent evangelical churches, compared to the estimated 50,000 in 1950 – a growth spurred in more recent years by Pentecostals. In the last 35 years, a new evangelical church has started once every 11 days. Even so, there’s still only one evangelical church per 32,000 people in France, and most range from 25-50 people. It’s a fledgling minority compared to France’s 40 million Catholics, only 5 million of whom are monthly churchgoers.

As they share Short-Cycle in American churches, Witcher and his wife, Gina, field comments like, “Do they all hate Americans?� Or, “I’d go anywhere but France.�

That sums up Witcher’s feeling, too, at first: France? Missions? “No way. I wanted to be a pastor of First Baptist fill-in-the-blank. I’ve come a long way,� laughs Witcher, who met Gina in 1996 at Southeastern Baptist Seminary in North Carolina. While in school, Gina took a shortterm mission trip to France, while Ken studied France’s medieval church history. Neither sensed a French connection. A logic-driven IT specialist, Witcher figured his conservative politics weren’t quite European chic.

And yet, as they immersed themselves in local church plants and conferences, experiential postmodernism suddenly seemed like “the best missions opportunity in 2,000 years,� Witcher says.

TENSIONS? TOUCHÉ!

There was a time in America, starting with France’s support during the Revolutionary War, when friendly Francophilia was all the rage. Soon after the rallying cry, “Give me liberty or give me death,� rang through American Colonies, the French Revolution mantra – “Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death!� – reverberated with Patrick Henry-like fervor.

France marked America’s centennial celebrations in 1886 by bequeathing the Statue of Liberty, designed by an engineer of the Eiffel Tower, which was erected three years later. Together, the two beacons became icons of the free world (although it took years for many French to warm up to a tower they first bitterly lampooned as an iron eyesore.)

But WWII gave off a Francophobic vibe. The feel-good atmosphere of post-Liberation France wore off so quickly that the U.S. military published a diplomatic primer – 112 Gripes About the French – to ease tensions between GIs and locals. A republished version was a hit in France several years ago, under the more tactful title Our Friends, the French.

Think politics as a pop-culture pacesetter is passĂŠ? Just remember the bandwagon clamor for politically-correct “freedom fries,â€? which a congressional vote briefly “de-Frenchedâ€? from Capitol Hill cafeterias after France opposed the 2003 Iraq invasion. The same un-French etiquette is as American laissez-faire as a recent Burger King TV commercial: the one where an office worker derided as “le Ethanâ€? says, “I don’t like French things.â€? All for the sake of selling croissant sandwiches.

Hmmm. Is the issue simply that the French are as ethnocentric ‌ as Americans? If it’s not French politics sticking in someone’s Camembert, then it’s the grab-bag of stereotypes within all-too-easy reach: “Those ___ French.â€? Elitist. Atheist. Humanist. Socialist. Materialist. And the French have their own fill-in-the-blanks for les AmĂŠricains: those imprudent, imperialist, moralistic, unsophisticated bruts.

So when Avant missionary Jeremy Wedel says he’s grateful for his Canadian permanent residence card, he’s only half-joking. Now 28, Wedel was raised as an Avant “missionary kid� in France and later French Quebec. A 2006 graduate of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, he’s returning to his birth country this year as a member CONTINUED ON 23

10 | avant | www.AvantMinistries.org

roll CALL

2007 IS A RED-CARPET YEAR FOR “SHORT-C YCLE CHURCH PLANTING� TEAMS

France.Two (2007) This 7-member team combines two veteran Avant missionary couples from two continents – team leaders Sheldon & Laurie Rempel from Mali (West Africa) and Jim & Debbie Shoberg from Ecuador – along with several young newcomers. The link: the most dynamic church growth in France comes from Frenchspeaking West African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants.

Eventually, the Shobergs will leave France.Two in Paris and slingshot into southern France to lead a third Short-Cycle team to this country. The France.Three team is still being recruited. liberatingparis.blogspot.com Katie Scofield freelybreathing.blogspot.com

Serving five-year terms, these highly trained teams use Avant’s Short-Cycle strategy for rapidly developing mature and reproducing churches led by nationals. Each team uses five core principles defined by the acronym “SHORT.� What does that look like? Well, it depends on where you are.

S-H-O-R-T CYCLE S | Simultaneous activity: the non-sequential mode of church planting

Poland.One (2004) R | Restricted scope In the university town of Poznan, this Short-Cycle team has discovered a unique church-planting vehicle: AfricanAmerican gospel music. As secular “soul music� workshops are all the rage in Europe, team members joined the local “Gospel Joy� choir to make friends. It soon became a stage to teach Poles about the songs’ spiritual roots. Workshop participants are invited to follow-up Bible studies, such as the “Word Zone� group that’s growing into a Polishled church. Word Zone leaders now organize Gospel Joy workshops as a ministry, and the 7-member Avant team has taken a mentoring role. Workshops have expanded to five cities, drawing 1,200 in 2006 – including 450 last December.

Turnout this year is expected to jump 50 percent.

H | High trust: the interdependence on God, teammates & nationals O | Overt witness: evangelize early & often R | Restricted scope: involve nationals early to eliminate missionary control & dependency T | Tactical advantage: use creative leverage to accelerate church planting

teampoland.avmi.org

Graphic by Kristin Myers

France.One (2007) S | Simultaneous activity Unlike the traditional step-by-step approach, ShortCycle’s church-planting phases happen concurrently – from language and cultural adaptation to witnessing and leadership development. Leaders Ken & Gina Witcher are multitasking even before their 5-member team hits the field. From support raising and survey trips, they already have a dozen non-Christian French connections awaiting the team’s Paris touchdown. One idea: to plant churches in movie theatres near metro stops.

Czech.One (2007) In the first partnership of its kind, Avant’s leadership joined pastors from First Baptist Church in New Philadelphia, Ohio, on a 10-day, church-planting survey trip to the Czech Republic in October 2006. The church is recruiting and helping to support an Avant-trained Short-Cycle team, led by Sam & Laurie Sulzener, which is scheduled to deploy this fall. The survey team met with Czech contacts and gathered research in cities like Prague, Plzen and Ostrava.

www.teampariswest.com Ken Witcher kenwitcher.com Vanessa Vannoy nessa-lyn.blogspot.com

Spain.One (2005) O | Overt witness New life began with a dying woman. Within weeks of landing in Spain, two team members led an elderly neighbor to Christ.

In the process, two of her caretakers overheard the gospel and professed faith. And when “Paquita� died six months later, they met another former caretaker at the funeral – who soon came to faith and is now being discipled.

So goes the ripple effect of the 9-member Team Spain. Within the first 18 months, the team has seen almost 50 new believers – while discipling many to share their newfound faith. In several fledgling churches in the Målaga area, the team is instilling the vision of a reproducing church. But it’s also seeking more organic church plants led by new believers.

Jerrih Silva www.jeosilnews.com

Italy.One (2007) H | High trust Although the church was less than three years old, missionary Tim Kroeker recently handed over the Avantplanted Nuova Speranza (New Hope) to trusted nationals in Bologna. This fall, the Kroekers are leading a 9-member ShortCycle team into Genova, a university town of 900,000 with only 15 small evangelical churches. Avant is also recruiting a second Short-Cycle team for Italy, possibly in Milan.

Phil Pace paceparakaleo.blogspot.com

T | Tactical advantage In a former Soviet Republic bound by Islam, this 6-member team will gain access by partnering with a disaster relief organization when they land this summer. But the resolute mission is church planting. (See “Team Anatomy� pg. 14) Miles Gleaton themword.typepad.com

KEY

MAPPING OUT THE MISSION

For teams taking the Short-Cycle route, church planting strategy can show up in movie houses, relief work and gospel choirs. Take a Short-Cycle tour through the team websites and blogs of some Avant missionaries.

Active teams For a longer spin on Short-Cycle Church Planting, check out AvantMinistries.org/SHORT-CYCLE

CentralAsia.One (2007)

2007 landings

Exploration phase areas

Countries with current & future teams

Photo & Video Journal: teampoland.avmi.org/choir Choir instructor Brian Fentress (left), a new Avant issue | avant | 11 missionary, has joined the team Poland.One, where he leads music workshops in cities like Szczecin (top).

Touchstone Visiting the Normandy memorial last year in France (left), Witcher read the engraving of comrades known but to God. “But did they know God?� he asks. “Planting churches is the only way I know to prevent a similar tragedy in the future.�

(Opposite) A city square in the Beaubourg district of Paris.

This is the heart of Avant’s Short-Cycle Church Planting: equipping young nationals to rapidly launch reproducing churches. Short-Cycle is a focused, five-year strategy employed by synergized teams – three of which are preparing to deploy to France.

The question is whether a spiritual “French revolution� will marshal supporters like Ball, who still resents that France didn’t protect its Christian heritage any better than defending its Maginot Line against Hitler’s advancing Third Reich.

The new battle line: It’s on the home front, where a “10/40�-focused North American Church is still recalibrating its worldview to see France as “unreached.� “France is at a turning point. There’s a ripening here,� said David Rowley, president of France Mission in Paris. “The older generation, steeped in Catholicism and institutional tradition, is moving off the scene. Now is the time to present the gospel to the younger generation. It’s a powerful moment to be in Europe.�

So, is the Church ready for France? Is France ready for Short-Cycle?

WHY FRANCE? WHY NOW? The gospel is more fashionable to a generation seeking less-foreign relations. Missions ĂĄ la mode, anyone? story by Christopher Lewis

In the spring of 1945, U.S. infantryman H. Curt Ball rode the first assault wave that crashed ashore on Okinawa during World War II. Entrenched in a rice patty during the South Pacific’s bloodiest battle, the enemy engaged Ball in an explosive “game of catch� – until one hand grenade landed next to him.

A year earlier, on the faraway shores of occupied France, the capture of another famous beachhead had turned the tide for the Allies.

Today, the D-Day invasion at Normandy is marked by scrolling rows of silent white crosses, staked into 172 acres entombing 10,000 of Ball’s American comrades.

Not that Ball ever visited this memorial. Decades later, on business trips to France, the veteran avoided reminiscing about a war prolonged, in his eyes, by spineless Vichy French collaborators and obstinate French resistance leaders. Ball still has souvenir shrapnel in his shoulder. And in his mind, the French haven’t changed – from General de Gaulle’s 1966 NATO pullout (his ordering American troops to leave French soil prompted U.S. President Johnson to ask, “Does that include those in it?�) to President Chirac’s anti-war stance on Iraq. “The French are not my favorite people,� says Ball, in his stern Texas drawl. “God loves ‘em – I don’t know why.�

BREAKING WINDOWS

PHOTO: Hughes Leglise-Bataille

frenchREVOLUTION

All this to say: heaven help the poor missionary who approaches Ball about funding a church-planting team ‌ to France. With a mission that borrows its name from a French word, to boot. As Avant forwards its avant-garde church-planting strategy to France, you’d expect Ball to say, “You’re not getting a single ‘freedom fry’ of my support.â€?

That didn’t faze Avant missionary Ken Witcher, who’s leading a ShortCycle Church-Planting team to France this year. Emboldened by their “Aggie connectionâ€? as Texas A&M alums, Witcher asked Ball for a monthly donation ‌ and he said “yes.â€? “I feel like the French had their chance,â€? said Ball from his Houstonarea home. “But the Great Commission doesn’t say we can pick and choose which country to go to. They all need to hear the Good News.â€?

Missiologists and demographers are forecasting a faith renaissance in Europe, positioning France for what Witcher calls a gospel “reclamation.� Less than 1 percent of its 60 million are evangelical Christian. “We’re about to see a big move in Europe. I believe God is going to reach hundreds of thousands of French in the next decade,� Witcher says – through a grass-roots stirring of new French believers.

For almost a generation now, the 10/40 missions limelight has shone from West Africa to East Asia, where 90 percent of the world’s unreached “people groupsâ€? reside. It illuminates much of Spain but fades away at the Pyrenees Mountains, before reaching the nation that de Gaulle once proclaimed as the lumière du monde – “light of the world.â€?

Within this 10/40 window, Witcher believes, the challenge of penetrating closed Muslim countries generated “creative-access� missions – but with little creative energy left over for postmodern Europe.

Indeed, the 10/40 “closed-country� label is also a European one, says church history professor Ed Smither of Liberty University in Virginia.

A former Campus Crusade missionary to France, Smither mused that a suitcase full of Bibles smuggled into Morocco would be gone in two hours. But distributing them in “open� France might take two years. “France has religious freedom,� said Smither, who left in 2002. “But spiritually, it’s very closed. I’ve found it easier working with Muslims than the very reserved French. That someone like George Bush would talk openly about his faith is seen as ridiculous.�

Evangelism is so foreign a concept in most French churches that it makes strategic missions an unwitting cause cĂŠlèbre. Evangelicals are sometimes labeled a cult – cursed by commoners and hassled by government officials. “We’re losing ground in Europe, the Mother of our faith, because missions there is so traditional,â€? says Witcher, 38, of Youngsville, N.C. “We’re not doing anything new – just repeating the same mistakes.

We’ve settled for the status quo.�

During a trip to the Czech Republic in 1999, Witcher’s church group stuffed mailboxes with “Jesus Film� flyers and handed out sophisticatissue | avant | 7

6 | avant | www.AvantMinistries.org

ish-based World Values Survey in 2000. But as one Parisian pastor told Witcher: “The primary reason is because the French see church as boring and irrelevant. Not because they don’t believe in God.�

France Mission reports that 350,000 now frequent evangelical churches, compared to the estimated 50,000 in 1950 – a growth spurred in more recent years by Pentecostals. In the last 35 years, a new evangelical church has started once every 11 days. Even so, there’s still only one evangelical church per 32,000 people in France, and most range from 25-50 people. It’s a fledgling minority compared to France’s 40 million Catholics, only 5 million of whom are monthly churchgoers.

As they share Short-Cycle in American churches, Witcher and his wife, Gina, field comments like, “Do they all hate Americans?� Or, “I’d go anywhere but France.�

That sums up Witcher’s feeling, too, at first: France? Missions? “No way. I wanted to be a pastor of First Baptist fill-in-the-blank. I’ve come a long way,� laughs Witcher, who met Gina in 1996 at Southeastern Baptist Seminary in North Carolina. While in school, Gina took a shortterm mission trip to France, while Ken studied France’s medieval church history. Neither sensed a French connection. A logic-driven IT specialist, Witcher figured his conservative politics weren’t quite European chic.

And yet, as they immersed themselves in local church plants and conferences, experiential postmodernism suddenly seemed like “the best missions opportunity in 2,000 years,� Witcher says.

TENSIONS? TOUCHÉ!

There was a time in America, starting with France’s support during the Revolutionary War, when friendly Francophilia was all the rage. Soon after the rallying cry, “Give me liberty or give me death,� rang through American Colonies, the French Revolution mantra – “Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death!� – reverberated with Patrick Henry-like fervor.

France marked America’s centennial celebrations in 1886 by bequeathing the Statue of Liberty, designed by an engineer of the Eiffel Tower, which was erected three years later. Together, the two beacons became icons of the free world (although it took years for many French to warm up to a tower they first bitterly lampooned as an iron eyesore.)

But WWII gave off a Francophobic vibe. The feel-good atmosphere of post-Liberation France wore off so quickly that the U.S. military published a diplomatic primer – 112 Gripes About the French – to ease tensions between GIs and locals. A republished version was a hit in France several years ago, under the more tactful title Our Friends, the French.

Think politics as a pop-culture pacesetter is passĂŠ? Just remember the bandwagon clamor for politically-correct “freedom fries,â€? which a congressional vote briefly “de-Frenchedâ€? from Capitol Hill cafeterias after France opposed the 2003 Iraq invasion. The same un-French etiquette is as American laissez-faire as a recent Burger King TV commercial: the one where an office worker derided as “le Ethanâ€? says, “I don’t like French things.â€? All for the sake of selling croissant sandwiches.

Hmmm. Is the issue simply that the French are as ethnocentric ‌ as Americans? If it’s not French politics sticking in someone’s Camembert, then it’s the grab-bag of stereotypes within all-too-easy reach: “Those ___ French.â€? Elitist. Atheist. Humanist. Socialist. Materialist. And the French have their own fill-in-the-blanks for les AmĂŠricains: those imprudent, imperialist, moralistic, unsophisticated bruts.

So when Avant missionary Jeremy Wedel says he’s grateful for his Canadian permanent residence card, he’s only half-joking. Now 28, Wedel was raised as an Avant “missionary kid� in France and later French Quebec. A 2006 graduate of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, he’s returning to his birth country this year as a member CONTINUED ON 23

10 | avant | www.AvantMinistries.org

roll CALL

2007 IS A RED-CARPET YEAR FOR “SHORT-C YCLE CHURCH PLANTING� TEAMS

France.Two (2007) This 7-member team combines two veteran Avant missionary couples from two continents – team leaders Sheldon & Laurie Rempel from Mali (West Africa) and Jim & Debbie Shoberg from Ecuador – along with several young newcomers. The link: the most dynamic church growth in France comes from Frenchspeaking West African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants.

Eventually, the Shobergs will leave France.Two in Paris and slingshot into southern France to lead a third Short-Cycle team to this country. The France.Three team is still being recruited. liberatingparis.blogspot.com Katie Scofield freelybreathing.blogspot.com

Serving five-year terms, these highly trained teams use Avant’s Short-Cycle strategy for rapidly developing mature and reproducing churches led by nationals. Each team uses five core principles defined by the acronym “SHORT.� What does that look like? Well, it depends on where you are.

S-H-O-R-T CYCLE S | Simultaneous activity: the non-sequential mode of church planting

Poland.One (2004) R | Restricted scope In the university town of Poznan, this Short-Cycle team has discovered a unique church-planting vehicle: AfricanAmerican gospel music. As secular “soul music� workshops are all the rage in Europe, team members joined the local “Gospel Joy� choir to make friends. It soon became a stage to teach Poles about the songs’ spiritual roots. Workshop participants are invited to follow-up Bible studies, such as the “Word Zone� group that’s growing into a Polishled church. Word Zone leaders now organize Gospel Joy workshops as a ministry, and the 7-member Avant team has taken a mentoring role. Workshops have expanded to five cities, drawing 1,200 in 2006 – including 450 last December.

Turnout this year is expected to jump 50 percent.

H | High trust: the interdependence on God, teammates & nationals O | Overt witness: evangelize early & often R | Restricted scope: involve nationals early to eliminate missionary control & dependency T | Tactical advantage: use creative leverage to accelerate church planting

teampoland.avmi.org

Graphic by Kristin Myers

France.One (2007) S | Simultaneous activity Unlike the traditional step-by-step approach, ShortCycle’s church-planting phases happen concurrently – from language and cultural adaptation to witnessing and leadership development. Leaders Ken & Gina Witcher are multitasking even before their 5-member team hits the field. From support raising and survey trips, they already have a dozen non-Christian French connections awaiting the team’s Paris touchdown. One idea: to plant churches in movie theatres near metro stops.

Czech.One (2007) In the first partnership of its kind, Avant’s leadership joined pastors from First Baptist Church in New Philadelphia, Ohio, on a 10-day, church-planting survey trip to the Czech Republic in October 2006. The church is recruiting and helping to support an Avant-trained Short-Cycle team, led by Sam & Laurie Sulzener, which is scheduled to deploy this fall. The survey team met with Czech contacts and gathered research in cities like Prague, Plzen and Ostrava.

www.teampariswest.com Ken Witcher kenwitcher.com Vanessa Vannoy nessa-lyn.blogspot.com

Spain.One (2005) O | Overt witness New life began with a dying woman. Within weeks of landing in Spain, two team members led an elderly neighbor to Christ.

In the process, two of her caretakers overheard the gospel and professed faith. And when “Paquita� died six months later, they met another former caretaker at the funeral – who soon came to faith and is now being discipled.

So goes the ripple effect of the 9-member Team Spain. Within the first 18 months, the team has seen almost 50 new believers – while discipling many to share their newfound faith. In several fledgling churches in the Målaga area, the team is instilling the vision of a reproducing church. But it’s also seeking more organic church plants led by new believers.

Jerrih Silva www.jeosilnews.com

Italy.One (2007) H | High trust Although the church was less than three years old, missionary Tim Kroeker recently handed over the Avantplanted Nuova Speranza (New Hope) to trusted nationals in Bologna. This fall, the Kroekers are leading a 9-member ShortCycle team into Genova, a university town of 900,000 with only 15 small evangelical churches. Avant is also recruiting a second Short-Cycle team for Italy, possibly in Milan.

Phil Pace paceparakaleo.blogspot.com

T | Tactical advantage In a former Soviet Republic bound by Islam, this 6-member team will gain access by partnering with a disaster relief organization when they land this summer. But the resolute mission is church planting. (See “Team Anatomy� pg. 14) Miles Gleaton themword.typepad.com

KEY

MAPPING OUT THE MISSION

For teams taking the Short-Cycle route, church planting strategy can show up in movie houses, relief work and gospel choirs. Take a Short-Cycle tour through the team websites and blogs of some Avant missionaries.

Active teams For a longer spin on Short-Cycle Church Planting, check out AvantMinistries.org/SHORT-CYCLE

CentralAsia.One (2007)

2007 landings

Exploration phase areas

Countries with current & future teams

Photo & Video Journal: teampoland.avmi.org/choir Choir instructor Brian Fentress (left), a new Avant issue | avant | 11 missionary, has joined the team Poland.One, where he leads music workshops in cities like Szczecin (top).

07

Client Avant Ministries Project Redesign in 2007 of the organizational magazine, and continued design.

French Revolution

Message The members and supporters of Avant Ministries are aware, active and involved in the world’s needs.

Church planting? In France?

Social unrest provokes a new generation’s spiritual renaissance.

issue one 2007

avant

publication

page t wo

avant magazine | issue •

features 6

pi o n eer s pi r i t

2 | avant | www.AvantMinistries.org

Two mission specialists prime the field for church-planting team.

11

Paddling upstream doesn’t mean you are headed in the wrong direction.

The race was set: Paddle the kayak down river, around the buoy and back again. First prize in this family competition was more valuable than any trophy – this was about bragging rights.

As I vigorously whipsawed my paddle downstream, illusions of grandeur filled my mind. My kayak, aided by the flow of the current, glided effortlessly. But then I rounded the buoy. Suddenly, the current fought my every move. I dug my paddle deep into the waves and churned across the finish line – but not without a fresh appreciation for the upstream journey.

In the same way, Avant By playing a strategic role on a might look countercurrent to mainstream dynamic church-planting team, our missions. But we know missionaries are free to focus on we’re paddling in the direction God has called results: new churches, changed lives. us. Here are three of the ripple effects ‌ Middle stream: Short-term missions is the rage today, although research shows its impact can also be short-term. If you’re unsure about making a long-term commitment, Avant offers a “defined termâ€? of five years.

It’s a chance to leave a legacy, without the longevity.

Five years is enough time for our highly trained “Short-Cycle Church Planting� teams to successfully develop a mature, reproducing church. By playing a strategic role on a dynamic team, missionaries are free from both the discontinuity of short-term work and the unyielding tether of career-long service. They’re free to focus on results: new churches, changed lives.

Last year, 32 of our 34 candidates opted for something more than short-term, and 19 of our 21 new church planters signed on with Short-Cycle teams. It’s a commitment contrary to mission trends today. Young people like 27-year-old Katie Scofield of Deerfield, Ill., who joined one of our France teams, have found the “defined term� an appealing middle stream. It fulfills Katie’s passion for urgently reaching the lost, while providing a natural space to evaluate her future.

Wider window: The unreached “10/40 window� is the missions hotspot today, and Avant has a growing presence in this Africa-Asia region. But we cannot

French Revolution

overlook Europe, where the spiritual desolation, with few exceptions, matches the dark void found in most 10/40 countries.

Perhaps the material prosperity of Europe blinds us to the spiritual poverty there. Perhaps we’re fooled by the memory – now five centuries old – of a Churchdominant continent. Maybe we’re scared away by the expense of ministering in a European culture. But the numbers don’t lie: Kenya has more evangelical believers (13 million) than all of Western Europe. The unreached don’t just live in Calcutta and Cairo. They also live in Paris and Prague, where four of our Short-Cycle teams are heading. (See “French Revolution,� page 6.)

Soul food: Relief-oriented organizations are multiplying today; in fact, we’re partnering with one in Central Asia. (See “Team Anatomy,� page 14.) Even there, however, Avant is staying focused on who we are: innovative church planters.

We acknowledge the desperate conditions of humanity. But the only antidote to systemic social issues is that which transforms a person’s heart.

Providing bread for the body is vital – as a means of establishing the Body of Christ. So, with compassion, Avant has invested in planting God’s change agent for this world – the Church – where it does not exist.

That means finding people with a heart for church planting. Our team-focused philosophy turned heads recently at the Urbana 06 missions convention in St. Louis. In the pulsating exhibitors hall, I talked with dozens of passionate students who sensed the ShortCycle vibe in their own calling: “I’ve been looking for something like this ... You guys actually have a strategy ... This just makes sense.�

Recognizing their God-given shape, they were seeking the best fit for their gifts and abilities. Gripped by the global need, they humbly offered themselves for Kingdom work. Some have already signed up for our candidate training in Kansas City in July.

We’ll welcome them to the family – and hand them a paddle. There’s one waiting for you, too.

Dr. J. Paul Nyquist President, Avant Ministries

ROLL CALL

12

Flight Delay

14

Team Anatomy

In this complex era of support raising, timing is everything.

13

ROADRUNNER

High-impact missions starts not on the field, but with a churchplanting team’s strategic design.

real field Hands of Time: Murder mystery undone Church Economy: Split in Muslim Africa ‘What about you?’: URBANA calling

dispatches Taxi stories Italy on point Hebron hand-off Lit Center lift-off

regulars Cover French students marched against riot police in Toulouse last year, as protests escalated nationwide over a new labor law.

PHOTO: AP/Remy Gabalda

2 4-5 30 31

PAGE 2 VOICES

pioneer spirit brazen faith & letters

REFLECTIONS MY BECOMING

foretelling field issue • | avant | 3

environmental

Client Avant Ministries Project Environmental graphics for industry conference.

Message Avant is an innovative leader in church planting, welcoming new members.

identity

Client Miners Club Productions Project Identity and short film DVD Jackets.

Message Miners Club Productions produces creative and relevent media projects for young adults.

9 EB @ G ; 8 FB < ?

O F F E R I N G S

This is an excerpt from of a longer version of Solider Girl. Visit http://artsconcerns. wordpress.com to read the full version.

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mind pictured the little box, the walls closing in. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I, uh, missed my friend Anna,â&#x20AC;? I blurted over the image. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Lord is an ever-present help in trouble. Call upon your friend Jesus to comfort you,â&#x20AC;? the priest reassured. Jesus, help me not vomit on this kneeler, I prayed in response, or else Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve not yet known trouble. It was a selfish prayer, I knew, but I was getting desperate. It got so quiet in the box, I could hear Father Thomas breathing. Why didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t he say anything? In college, my journalism professor reminded us again and again that sometimes it is better to remain silent than to continually question. People hate silence, feel the need to fill it. The best stories come from nervous people filling the silence. But I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know that yet. I only knew I would pass out if someone didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say something. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I hate my father,â&#x20AC;? I said suddenly. I heard a thump as Father Thomas dropped his Bible, and my eyes popped open, shocked at my own words. I stared through the screen and watched Father Thomas fumble with the book. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I hate him,â&#x20AC;? I babbled. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I really do. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so big and commanding. He never hugs me or tells me I make him proud. He wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let me make mistakes or decisions or be independent and try new things. He scares me and he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t love me and I hate him I hate him I hate him.â&#x20AC;?

And then I started to cry. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean the beautiful, silent tears of the old movie stars. I broke down in heaving sobs that made my body shudder and my throat ache. I cried until I choked. I stumbled out of the box and into the last church pew. I needed a daddy right then, not a father, but a daddy to hold me and tell me it was okay. But no one came. Not Father Thomas, not Dad, not even Father Patrick. They were all too far away. When my sobs reduced to hiccupping sighs, I made my way to the little soldier-girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s room and washed the tearstains off my face, wishing all the while I had onions in my pockets. I looked at my puffy eyes in the mirror and decided to tell Dad Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d had an allergic reaction to the incense. It still happens sometimes.

I walked slowly back to the sanctuary. Father Thomas stood at the alter holding a long match. He watched me approach him with an odd look of something like compassion. Pray for your enemies, my mind whispered. My heart ached for Father Patrick. But it was Father Thomas who handed me the match and stood silently as I lit a candle in front of St. Joseph. I blew out the match and stood for a moment watching the smoke whisk my prayer up to heaven. When it dissipated, I turned slowly, walked down the steps and out of the sanctuary to wait in the sun for Dad.

â&#x20AC;˘ selah

rĂśd sandstrand Jason M. Ippolito

Offerings â&#x20AC;˘

event branding

Client Art Concern Committee at Fuller Theological Seminary Project Materials for Arts Fest week including identity, posters and publications.

Message The art community celebrates Arts Fest week in Fuller’s 60th Anniversary year with the theme, “From the Soil.”

Office of Social Justice| Christian Reformed Church OSJ Idenity Collection| 4.7.08

Horizontal and Vertical identity shown with and without denominational mark

Colored and Reversed Options

Elements for use as needed

Kristin Myers | design@kristinmyers.com | 530.321.5779

identity

Client Office of Social Justice (OSJ) Christian Reformed Church Project A flexible identity system to be used with or without the denominational mark, in both horizontal and vertical solutions.

Message OSJ serves as an important bridge between social justice needs and their denomination.

Style Guide for the Brehm Center at Fuller Theological Seminary

Alternatives

The logotype is meant to be a versatile piece of identification for the Brehm Center, and can be used in the following ways to adapt to specific needs. For situations not addressed here, please consult with the Brehm Center communications coordinator.

One color alternative Use when projects require only one color ink.

Reversed alternative To be used only when necessary.

Fuller mark When publications need to show a link to the parent organization, Fuller Theological Seminary, use of the Fuller logo in one color is advised.

Institutes

The Brehm Center is made up of five institutes, each with their own area of study and art. The following guidelines give each institute greater flexibility to stand alone, with each other and with the Brehm Center identity.

Institue identity Where appropriate, specifically in the Brehm Center materials, use the logotype files for each institue with their apporpriate color, shown here.

EMERGING CHURCH INSTITUTE OF THE EMERGING CHURCH

VISUAL FAITH

INSTITUTE OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE

FRED BOCK INSTITUTE OF MUSIC

For one color printing, use a 30% grey.

LLOYD JOHN OGILVIE INSTITUTE OF PREACHING

EMERGING CHURCH INSTITUTE OF THE EMERGING CHURCH

With Brehm logo When showing both the insititue and the Brehm Center logo, pair them as shown.

EMERGING CHURCH INSTITUTE OF THE EMERGING CHURCH

EMERGING CHURCH INSTITUTE OF THE EMERGING CHURCH

REEL SPIRITUALITY INSTITUTE OF MOVING IMAGES

identity

Client Brehm Center Fuller Theological Seminary Project Identity redesign and style guide Message The Brehm Center is a hub of innovative artistic action at Fuller Theological Seminary and beyond.

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kristin myers design design@kristinmyers.com www.kristinmyers.com Š2008