May 01, 1986 by Greg Livingstone and Ralph D. Winter

Greg Livingstone explains why

Most of my friends and skeptical acquaintances must be wondering why the general director of a mission agency to the Muslims would be getting himself entangled in this umbrella of mission agencies, the    USCWM.

As I criss-cross the country, I am constantly being asked, "What's happening at the USCWM" My answer at those times and even now is: NOT NEARLY ENOUGH. But what a magnificent obsession! Those of us who are part of the community of cooperating agencies here at the USCWM and WCIU are probably like the handful of people watching the Wright brothers trying to get their airplane in the air. The skeptics have gone; those with hope am saying, "Pretty soon it's going to fly."

Is it possible that the USCWM will finally become the catalyst to "a Church for Every People," even as the Wright brothers were for the aviation industry? Or will it be nothing more than an experiment that failed?

I encourage people to get their eyes off the fact that we're having a terribly difficult time paying for the properties and to look at what happens to the people who spend time here imbibing the vision of unreached peoples, being infected with a "can do" spirit, and filling their minds with all kinds of cutting edge theory. Some of this just might work as they head out to enact a new chapter in church history.

In fact, one reason the Center isn't producing more is because so many of the staff, burdened by what they have learned here, can't resist the call of the masses of unreached humanity called Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus. Agencies like Frontiers have fished out of the pond of hungry young disciples who have come here determined to do something. about unreached peoples.

I encourage people to look at what happens to those who spend time here imbibing the vision of unreached peoples, being infected with a "can do" spirit, and filling their minds with cutting-edge theory.

I see this place somewhat as a war college for unreached peoples. For decades now the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force have been running war colleges (besides their undergraduate academies) dedicated to training men and women who would give leadership in areas where standard procedures won't accomplish the task. In many ways the USCWM and its own specialized international university serve that role.

I am willing to serve as the Executive Vice President of the university (a project of USCWM's Training Division) because I believe in Ralph Winter's basic thrust - a marvelous integration of the best missions thinking ever, with the lives of people who know how to penetrate new people groups, cultivate disciples and plant churches.

We believe there are agencies that will want to encourage their young people to get a "better" B.A. training including two of their four years actually working and walking among hidden peoples, and being tutored under the best, most creative missionaries in the business. Isn't the tutorial method (or apprenticeship) still the best way to prepare effective men and women? (Check the appropriate line on page 19 for more information about our revolutionary B.A. program.)

Some people will want to know about our field based Ph.D. program. Here we have gone back to the classical pattern, using people with Ph.D.s to disciple others until the students can surpass their masters. (For more information, send for "Missions and the Ph.D. Tradition" by Ralph D. Winter.)

Possibly the most exciting thing happening to the USCWM is not happening here in Pasadena at all, but in Austin, Texas, Philadelphia, Bozeman, Montana, etc. This is the so called Perspectives course! We anticipate in the next few months, 63 places in the U.S. and around the world where that potent 200 hour course will be offered.

Our Institute of International Studies sponsors what many have called the most helpful, life¬changing course on missions available anywhere. Perspectives was designed for college students, but we even have testimonies of veteran missionaries who have taken this course after 15 to 20 years on the field, exclaiming, "Where have I been all my life?"

Then, by getting credit through our university, pioneer types have been able to get strategic jobs such as going to work with the Uighirs in Northwest China, the Pathans in Northwest Pakistan, the 20 million Sundanese in West Java, etc.

What's happening at the USCWM and through its Training Division, the Instituteof International Studies (including the William Carey International University)?

People are being prepared to do what hasn't been done in history! It's not all that we wanted to see happen by now, by any means! But it's a lot more than what would have happened if we hadn't been here. And we have not begun to fight!

Greg Livingstone
University Executive Vice President
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Who is Greg Livingstone? He represents the best and the brightest of the new, younger executives in today's mission movement. Gentle, sensitive, and humble in a godly way, he is brash, revolutionary, daring, knowledgeable, and superbly envisioned. His mission Imposes run deep.

After fourteen years working with George Verwer in Operation Mobilization, Greg was called to serve as North American Director of North Africa Mission. He Fulfilled his responsibilities with distinction. In fact, he was so successful, NAM encouraged him to start his own agency. In 1980. he did just that Frontiers, a mission to Muslims. was the result In the last two years, Frontiers has grown faster, proportionally, than any other sending agency we know of. Frontiers has the same get on the ffeld right away spirit that OM has, but it also has standard, tong term mission goals, and as such must mix in formal education.

As with most of those who lead specific mission organizations, Greg is not merely concerned for the success of his own organization. Instead, he sees his agency, Frontiers, as just a small pail of the larger work of the Kingdom. He wants to do whatever must be done in order to make God's cause succeed, God's Kingdom come.

Greg was one of the men invited to be General Director of the USCWM back when the Center was still only a dream. But he was then too deeply involved in designing a mission tailor made for our times. Now, with his creative impulse expressed in Frontiers, Greg is seeking to integrate education and missions.

Ralph D. Winter