Jonathan Enns

Moving Towards a Goal

// August 6th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // ministry

Sometimes I think about goals in ministry. Perhaps one day a tribal church planted, or that tribal church sending out its own missionaries. To get there I had to first reach the goal of being equipped and ready to dive into that ministry. Yes these are goals, and they may even be good goals, however they are not THE goal. God has increasingly been realizing this truth upon me…the goal is Christ, to know Him, to glorify Him. Christ must come first, before any ministry goals.

It is interesting, because I was challenged in this not too long ago, when I received an email asking me to prayerfully consider joining Light in Action, a ministry in Brazil which close friends of mine started some years back. To be honest I did not even want to consider changing my plans…I was excited to head into NTM training in Durham, ON, with my sister Gina, to be stretched, challenged, and grown during the two years of training there, then head out to start striving toward the goal of a Tribal church plant! I knew I had to pray about it, but I didn’t want to. I was scared God my change my course…I sat in bed wrestling with genuinely considering and praying about it, but finally began to be open with God and consider if He would have me partner with Light in Action (LIA).

Light in Action was started by former New Tribers who saw a need for chronological bible resources in video format to be used to reach people groups globally. Why chronologically? Because a firm foundation is necessary to understand the Gospel properly (see my blog post on this). So LIA set out to professionally direct and film Tetelestai, a 12 episode series of dynamic teaching videos explaining the Gospel from Creation and the Fall, to the event of the Cross, all the way through weaving the truth of the promised Messiah, the character of God, and the history of man throughout the teaching.

And so?

So, through time in prayer and seeking input from friends, church, and family, I fully believe God is leading me to

1. Partner with LIA to aid in the production, editing, and marketing of this Bible resource
   1. I have experience in photography & web design so I will be using these skills and learning more about video production
   2. Engaging contacts, churches, and missionaries worldwide who we can partner with to use these resources to get the Gospel heard & understood
2. Partner with my home church and the local church in Natal Brazil to see Christ & His word spread & understood
   1. First of all, we as a team want to be personally kept accountable before eachother & God. When I join with them I am excited to be challenged and to grow with the team as we sharpen eachother and dive into the truths of scripture and see how our lives line up with it
   2. Secondly, LIA is heavily involved with local churches and the community through ministries to lower income families, bible studies with various groups, and discipleship with local believers. I am excited to get involved here to better learn portuguese and to be able to express my heart & teach Brazilians, and also grow and learn from my Brazilian brothers & sisters.

My long-term vision still includes New Tribes Mission, however for the next few years I am excited to partner with LIA in Natal, Brazil. The ultimate goal? Christ. That I  might know Him more. That He might me glorified. I press on toward the goal of His calling.

Please, pray.

James explains that the effectual fervent prayer avails much! I know personally I tend to doubt my own prayers…if they have effect. But we have a GREAT HIGH PRIEST, who takes our prayers, INTERCEDES for us, and presents them perfect & holy before the Father! Yes! PRAY! I need your prayers!

How?

• Pray I will maintain priority on my personal relationship with Christ, in my prayer life, and daily Bible study. It is so easy to slack.
• Pray that I will be able to find a way to get all the equipment I am bringing down to Brazil (a new camera, computers, etc). I am limited in my baggage, and the cost to ship it is bordering insanity.

This rock house will double as a set piece and a real house for one of our couples on the team!

The driveway at Light in Action. We are headquartered just minutes outside of Natal on a former coconut farm!

This is the team at LIA. I will be joining them on October 5th, and another couple is joining us Lord willing in 2011.

5 Foundations of a Truth-drenched Youth Ministry

// May 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // bible, ministry, word of life

The following is notes taken by Abraham Piper at Kempton Turner’s session yesterday at the Children Desiring God conference. Great principles to practice when developing any program in a Christian context. Word of Life has a similar philosphy of ministry, starting with biblical principles, building biblical people, and lastly coming up with a biblical program on top on the foundation of the principles and people. All of WOL’s ministry resources and youth programs are developed with this philosophy.

1. Be a truth-drenched example.

1 Timothy 4:16

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

The example of your life is the hammer that drives your message home. If your life doesn’t exemplify what you expect, your message will not be believable.

2. Have a truth-drenched marriage and family life.

1 Timothy 3:4-5

He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?

We shouldn’t see if someone is fit for the ministry by how they do in seemingly less important ministries. Rather, we should see what kind of husband and father he is. If he leads his family well, then maybe he’s fit for the ministry.

Paul assumes that a church leader first leads his family. A truth-drenched youth ministry will get the overflow of the youth minister’s leadership of his wife and kids.

3. Cultivate a truth-drenched staff.

Acts 13:2-3

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Gather as a staff mainly to go vertical. Meet with God and see what strategy comes from this worship.

4. Preach and teach truth-drenched messages and lessons.

Hebrews 13:7

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

The main thing your youth should think about when they remember you is how you spoke God’s word to them.

Don’t replace teaching truth with games, media, skits, etc.

5. Develop and implement a truth-drenched vision and philosophy of youth ministry.

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Picture youth ministry as a mountain. Develop a plan that puts the cross at the top with all the other good (but less important) things below. Then the truth of the gospel will flow down that mountain over everything you do, drenching your ministry.

See original post at the desiringGod blog.

Video/Photo Shoot

// April 22nd, 2008 // No Comments » // bible institute, ministry, photography, update

Part of my job here on campus is helping out when needed with photography & media. We are working on a new video promoting the importance of having a biblical foundation, and how study of the Bible will change your life. Today we went down to Toronto to shoot some video footage and some photography for it.

A team of 6 of us went down. Scott, our marketing guy (above, on left) shot video footage, while I took still shots and helped with lighting. Four students here at the Bible Institute were the subjects of all our shots.

Ginger (above), is a french student from Quebec. Our final DVD will have both a French and an English version, as we have an awesome French ministry in Quebec, including a full Bible Institute and French Immersion program.

Before heading to Toronto we brainstormed locations to shoot. So yes, this idea was definitely ripped from Newsboys’ “Adoration” album.

Jay (above), graduated university with several years of Animation & Design under his belt. He has an awesome testimony of how he went through university pursuing his dreams only to realize he had no eternal purpose. He made the decision to study God’s Word here for a year and had his life changed by God. He will be coming on staff with us next year in our media & design department and is planning on using his skills in media in full time ministry. This “purpose idea” will be talked about in the video to challenge people to get into God’s Word.

We were at Union Station in downtown Toronto when security approached us and informed us that we couldn’t use any tripods in the building for security reasons…which kinda was a bummer first as we were trying to take some time-lapse video of the business there. So we did our best without a tripod and resolved to add the “shaky” effect in post-processing to cover up our amateurness .

Just under a year ago God blessed us with the funds to purchase this video camera. We share it with our Quebec campus and the rest of our Canadian ministry in an effort to increase the quality of our promotional and ministry video productions. It’s Scott’s baby.

And finally here I am in a shot. Stunning, I know. Most of the time I was behind a camera, but here I am helping reflect some light while Nigel (guy on right in the “newsboys” overpass shot) stole a few shots.

We still have at least another full day of shooting in some rural and suburban locations. I’ll put some more photos up later and maybe some video clips.

Please be praying for the ministry of the Bible Institute here in Ontario, and for the lives we can impact in our circle of influence! I was really encouraged this week while attending a student worship and sharing time called “focus”. Just hearing the many testimonies of what God has been doing in their lives and how excited they are for the future really motivated me to do my best for Christ in my ministry here. It is exciting to see the numbers coming in for next year! We have a record number of applications for the fall of 08, and are gearing up for another great student class!