Kairos Course - Make the world a better place

The 1991 song by Jesus Jones “Right here, Right now” was a song about making the world a better place following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of communism in the former Soviet Union. The chorus states: “Right here, right now. There is no other place I wanna be. Right here, right now. Watching the world wake up from history”.

The men to whom we have been ministering are following a different Jesus, a Jesus who wants to free others from the tyranny of sin and make the world a better place, one person at a time.?

Recently, a few of our men on mission at Freedom Lake participated in a five-day intensive training called Kairos Course. Kairos is a Greek word for “right time” and specifically for a kind of special or opportune time, moment, or season. Kairos Course is a Christian retreat training geared toward deepening one's faith, identity, relationships, and connection to God's role in our lives.?

What does this have to do with you and your business making the world a better place??

Honestly, the world is not in a good place right now. Maybe you’ve noticed it.?

People seem to be short with one another these days. Grace seems to be in short supply whether it is in our businesses and/or our homes. It has a name: Pandemic fatigue. And it has everyone on edge. We just want normal back and, with each passing day, normal isn’t close to being on the horizon.

COVID controversies. Political squabbles. Rising prices. Supply chain issues. And those are just the beginning of a long list of factors that are weighing on our minds to the point that we are all just starting to crack in different ways. And, as the song goes, there’s not much love to go around.

And love is what business we’re in. It’s the love that Jesus taught thousands of years ago.?

But it’s not love as affection that we need more of (though that wouldn’t hurt) but love as action is what seems to be in short supply. It goes beyond wearing a smile as a mask and pretending everything is just fine (when it is really just the opposite) or being polite or showing good manners (just because that’s what we’re supposed to do).?

Love in action is seeing someone else who may be struggling - knowing how that feels because we’re struggling too - and putting ourselves second for a moment to come alongside and ask the struggling person how we can help.?

Maybe it’s an encouraging word. Maybe it’s a sympathetic ear. Maybe it’s helping pick up something he or she dropped. These are small and yet big examples of love in action.

But what if you didn’t know how to love. At all?

Love God. Love thy neighbor. Those are two key components of being a Christ-follower and a disciple-maker. But imagine you don’t know how to love yourself. If you don’t love yourself – not in a vain way but you actually don’t believe you are worth love and don’t like yourself – how can you love others or love God??

For the men to whom we minister and mentor, heart is something that is critical and is somewhat foreign to them.

Many of the men we minister to have been subjected to physical, mental, or emotional abuse – sometimes at an extremely young age – that has not only undermined but obliterated their self-worth.?

Last month, the men we minister to at Freedom Lake attended an intensive, intentional retreat called Kairos Course that rebuilt them from the heart out so they not only know how to be men after God’s own heart but also how to love themselves so they can fully love others.

Kairos Course requires an intellectual acquisition of the subject matter BUT demands a physical expression of the principles.?

This doesn’t mean throwing a hug on every individual encountered but rather means coming alongside people in a meaningful way - depending on each individual’s situation - and God’s love to him or her. This could be helping a mom carry her groceries or the baby carrier to the car or seeing someone in emotional distress and asking if you can help in any way and/or asking how you can pray for her.

Because of courses like this, these men are now able to comprehend what love is as a verb. The next step for them is to translate love from an affection into an action.

And right here, right now, wouldn’t a lot more love in action make the world a better place?

For more information on Freedom Lake and how you can help make the world a better place by supporting our ministry, go to www.freedomlake.org.

Testimonial

I was very happy with the way the men from Freedom Lake were fully engaged in learning and participating. I was able to have several conversations with all three outside of the Growth Group time. Their actions and words spoke clearly of their sincere love for the Lord and their desire to serve Him by sharing His story and their own with others. Will was part of my Growth Group, so I got to know him a little more. He always shared his thoughts and his heart on each topic discussed or question asked. There was a definite focus in his responses upon obedience and developing an intimate relationship with God. He was very outward-focused, wanting to help as many as he could experience Jesus as he had. I could tell that he enjoyed reading the chapters and learning has much as he could. That shared contact information with me about a Taylorsville DMM-er that has led to conversations and a future visit with a 3/3rds group. I appreciated that - just an example of their desire to see the Kingdom grow in every way possible.

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~Mike Tackett