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This week I have been busy every night and I'm exhausted. It was for good stuff but I'm exhausted none the less.

I was in a learning group that is studying the future of city reaching in Crusade and even asking some more basic questions of how Crusade can be relivant and have an impact in the coming years. In the past Crusade has been at the forefront of innovation within the western Christianity and much of the missions world as well. The Jesus Video, regardless of your present thoughts about it, really is a remarkable project that they undertook and has revolutionized global missions. It is often considered the first mode of evangelism in many places. The 4 Spiritual Laws, the first 10 steps and more programs than flavors of ice cream have changed the landscape of ministry and missions. The questions that are now coming to the table for this little group is, how do we reach people in the emmerging society. They are specifically looking at cities but they are even having to ask the question: "Apart from numbers, why are we looking at reaching cities?". Having been considering these questions for some time, I was entrigued to be a part of the discussion.

Let me say that I was incredibly impressed with this group and I was able to see the flexibility that exists within the system. I don't see that within the whole system but here are a group of people that are looking to change things within the organization. I say well done. However, the endgame is not organizational change, it is what role can Crusade in the future of mission.

To give you an idea of what this looks like let me tell you a little about what is happening here. Crusade here is releasing people to pursue there own projects. They can use our materials or not use them. They pretty much all do not use the name Crusade in the things that they do. Their finances are completely separate from us. What we do is encourage people, offer resources and challenge people to go further in their ministries. Beyond that, we are not afraid of the possibility of church planting. There are good reasons for church planting here and for those, we will consider church planting. When asked why we don't simply call for reformation in the churches, we have to reply that we need to create a new model for church before we can offer anything. If we claim to be experts before we have done anything, we will not be heard.

That was the reason for my silence this last week. Maybe on Monday I'll tell you what I'm excited about right now in terms of what I'm doing in El Salvador and my future in ministry.