Reflections on Graduation

Xaiver at special brunch for students
receiving doctorates

Bakke Graduate University 2012 Commencement reflections:

Things I heard at the ceremonies where my friend Xavier received his doctorate (Doctor of Transformational Leadership):

What is your city?

Go love and serve your city in the name of Christ.  (the charge each doctoral graduate received).

Theology is the science of being blessedly loved for eternity.

I am from, Holland, Ethiopia, Philippines, Myanmar, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, California, India, Pittsburgh, Liberia, Hong Kong, Sierre Leone, Washington, Florida....(there were more!)

My dissertation was the Theology of Work and the Alleviation of Poverty in Mozambique.

Service in progress

Work came before the curse, work is not a curse.  The word for 'work' is often translated 'worship'.  Whatever our work, we need to do it well for God as it is a way of serving Him and worshiping Him.

We were created to work.

Christians are embracing their humanity in new ways as God did through Christ.

Xavier being hooded - my camera chose this
time to freeze up on me.

Evangelical Christians try to climb a ladder to God but they need to learn to go down the ladder as He did and find peace in that journey.

We need to love every church because God loves every church.

The CRU Global Church Planting Program through a global alliance plans to plant 5 million churches by 2020.

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

A pair of Docs

Homes are shattered throughout the world.  Leadership begins in the home through Christ and extends into the community.

There are 10 million overseas workers from the Philippines.

As graduates you need to:

1.  Love the God of Jesus and continue to mine the scriptures as you go forward.
2.  Love your family and friends in a fresh way.
3.  Love God's mission and His church.
4.  Improvise.  Love God's projects in history but improvise into the future.

We need to improvise missionally:

1.  The world will always be changing and we are today in a new context; we are in a post-secular, post colonial world.  We to learn to live in these new contexts.
2.  'ONLY live your life in a manner worth of the gospel of Christ...' Live in this manner so that there is  NEW context for the world to see.
3.  We need to know God and see him in the missionary context (He sent Jesus to us).  We need to love this missionary God and follow him into pain and suffering.  
4.  We need to live the new Gospel, which is simply stated:  "Jesus is Lord".  A lord has a reign and is a king we should follow into the cities.
5.  We need to remember that the church was always intended to be mission and we need to improvise missionally so He gets all the credit, to God BE the Glory.

We need to learn to simply 'be'; to be in His presence.  Everything else flows out of this, and thus, Him.

Dave and Dr. Massingue

Congratulations Dr. Massingue and vai com Deus amigo caro.

Blessings

Dave

The completed table where each graduate (Masters
and Doctorate graduates) lighted their candle from
the staff's three candles

"Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  1 Philippians 2:9

"Take my will and make it Thine, It shall be no longer mine.  Take my heart, it is Thine own, It shall be Thy royal throne."  (Hymn, Take my Life)

What is YOUR city?

This is the balcony of the church where the graduates
went after the service and together sang to the
audience.  It was beautiful.

Seattle

Tonight I am in Seattle, looking forward to being with Xavier as he receives his doctorate degree from Bakke University tomorrow.  It is a privilege to be here with him and to present him with a congratulatory letter from the mission President.  Xavier is currently a professor and the Registrar for the OMS Seminary in Maputo.  He has an impressive resume that includes heading up the Bible League in Maputo, overseeing church planting work in a variety of countries in Africa for the Into-Africa Project, church planting work in Mozambique, church planting work with OMS seminary students, and initiating special classes on the Theology of Work and Alleviation of Poverty.

Ann and I have always been very fond of Xavier and his wife Marta and it is a privilege to be here in Seattle with him.

I enjoyed meeting some of his fellow students from various countries in Africa.  They all said the same thing, it has been a long and challenging road but they are all very happy to have finished well.  These are a few photos from our day today.

I look forward to seeing what how God will use him to change Mozambique for Christ.   He is an amazing fellow for whom I have a great deal of respect.

Much love.

Dave


"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way."  Ps 37:23

Xavier (middle) and some Doctoral Classmates