July 01, 1999 by Dave Geisler

Now You Can Be Experiencing God on Mission

Millions of people worldwide have been impacted by the study of the book Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God. The book by Henry Blackaby and Claude King has sold over two million copies, plus another two million copies of related resources such as a specialized Bible.

This summer Blackaby and Avery Willis (Vice-President for Overseas Operations for the SBC International Mission Board) will be using many of the key concepts from Experiencing God at a special conference designed to mobilize Christians to get involved in Missions.

Blackaby says, "Christians often ask the wrong question: What is God's will for my life?" What they should be asking instead is simply "What is God's will?" He further writes, "When God is about to do something through you, He has to get you from where you are to where He is."

The idea of joining God as He is at work around the world will be one of the key concepts of the Experiencing God on Mission Weekend which will be taught by Blackaby and Willis. The course will be part of the International Missions Week at the Glorietta, New Mexico Baptist Conference Center.

The missions week conference which takes place July 24-30, 1999, is sponsored by the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. It will allow Baptists to interact with 300- 400 missionaries, witness the appointment of new missionaries and attend special On Mission seminars.

"God is at work across the world," says IMB President Jerry Rankin. It is Rankin's hope that people will attend this conference to "Join the IMB in mobilizing Southern Baptists for missions in the new millennium."

Experiencing God has functioned as a 13 week interactive discipleship course/workbook for use in the Southern Baptist Convention. Beyond that the concepts of Experiencing God have allowed it to move easily among many denominations.

The course has been used by at least 17 other denominations including Assemblies of God, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Vineyard and Mennonite churches. The workbook emphasizes that the key to a deeper relationship with God where a believer can know Him intimately requires knowing the Bible. People who have gone through the study often develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of God's work.

Experiencing God on Mission is being targeted as a shorter course lasting five or six weeks or it could be taught intensively over a weekend. Hopefully, the shorter course will have the same type of powerful life- changing impact that Experiencing God has had for many people.

Experiencing God:

The Album

The concepts of Experiencing God were recently used to develop an album of music which aims to serve as a resource tool for small groups or individuals going through the Bible study.

The Experiencing God album contains eleven original songs all of which were written by Nashville- based songwriters Lowell Alexander, Dave Clark and Tony Wood. This three man team, inspired by the Bible study, committed to prayer and meeting weekly for a year. The result is a collection of songs which honestly communicate and parallel each of the seven Biblical realities from Blackaby's study. This characteristic of the album makes for both a practical application for listeners and sets it apart as the first recording to be perfectly correlated with it's namesake's study.

"Our desire is for God to glorify Himself as He uses this music to help move His church closer to where He is," said John Mays, senior vice President for Star Song Records.

Songs on the album include "The River" to show that God is always at work. "Unrelenting Love" shows that God pursues a love relationship. "Heart for Your Desire" shows God inviting us to become involved in His work. "Where The Silence Breaks" shows that God still speaks to us today. "If It's Gonna Get Done" shows the Crisis of Belief concept.

"Revelation of a Sailor" illustrates Major Adjustments. "The Day I Lay My Isaac Down" and "All Your Works Are Wonderful" show Obey and Experience.

The most powerful song on the album is sung by Steve Green, "Calvary is the Sea." The song illustrates the Crisis of belief concept, but leaves the listener with a feeling of awesome reverence for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Green, who grew up as a missionary kid from a Conservative Baptist background, devotes about half of his time to doing concert evangelism among Spanish-speaking peoples all over the world. The song "Calvary is the Sea" is the kind of song that can be used to encourage a person to give their life to Christ and missionary service or to support mission projects. The song is sure to become a standard at Steve's concerts and in churches. The songs on this album were written with church choir soloists in mind, and an Experiencing God songbook is also being published.

The album features the talents of other top artists in contemporary Christian music including Susan Ashton, Point of Grace and Michelle Tumes.

The Experiencing God book and course have already touched many people from all over the world. Letters have come from Saudi Arabia to Slovakia, praising Experiencing God. "It has been a tremendous blessing. God is good.... We represent about 12 cultural groups and many denominations but the Holy Spirit has applied your message to all our hearts," wrote a woman from Saudi Arabia.

"It was a very hard time for some to live here during the last years of Czechoslovakia...then I got my hands on the book Experiencing God! It was a very strong guiding light for my life. While studying this book ,the presence of God became very evident to me," wrote Peter Synovec a Slovakian pastor.

To order this new tape, please contact your local Christian bookstore.