John Gunter

Thoughts on Life and Living

What One Bridge does

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Picture from out of window here in West Asia
(This is the view from my window)

As I write this, I am at a conference center in West Asia, where approximately 500 Christian leaders from the Middle East and Central Asia have gathered. Most are local to these regions, as I am one of only a handful of Westerners present.

This gathering, held in a “safe location,” is a time of corporate worship, teaching, mutual encouragement, and collaborative planning. Participants seek new ways to partner in advancing the Gospel within some of the world’s most unreached and persecuted areas. I am grateful to be here, invited because of One Bridge’s mission to foster Gospel-centered partnerships. Meeting and interacting with these incredible men and women of God, representing about 20 countries, is a true privilege.

With this backdrop (and my lingering jet lag!),  I wanted to take the time to write another article regarding this organization named One Bridge. 

In my last article, I covered the needs One Bridge is addressing and the heart/motivation behind this new organization. Now I will speak to what we are actually going to DO as an organization. 

Overview of One Bridge

One Bridge is a network of committed Christian individuals, organizations and churches who are focused on growing the global body of Christ. Simply stated, One Bridge is about “connecting people and resources for the growth and thriving of the global church.” 

Globally, we connect resources with strategic partner ministries working in unreached areas. Domestically, we foster spiritual growth among American Christians and churches by engaging them with the global church. Our work unfolds through three distinct but interconnected paths: Increasing Resources, Curated Learning, and Engagement Opportunities.

Path 1: Increasing Resources

Addressing the problem of DISCONNECTED RESOURCES, One Bridge proactively surfaces opportunities for Gospel advancement in unreached areas and matches these needs with willing partners.  We are “connecting the dots” from people, places and organizations of abundance to those with specific needs in getting to their God-given visions. 

We are primarily asking two questions;

  • “What is happening in the unreached areas of the world?” 
  • “Who would like to be involved?”

One Bridge is proactively “matching needs with those who want—and would be blessed by—giving.” We firmly believe that many people in America and the West have a deep desire to be a part of the expansion of the Gospel in regions like Central Asia and the Middle East. Often, we simply don’t know how to get involved. 

In places across the unreached world—like where I am now, in Turkey, where there are just 8,000 Bible believing Christians among 86 million people—there are faithful leaders laboring for the Gospel. Many could be greatly helped with just a little more support: technology, skills, finances, or other resources.

There are people, churches and organizations in places like Los Angeles and Atlanta which are teaming with said know-how and resources. However, they have no way of knowing the needs and opportunities to be meaningfully engaged. One Bridge is working to help bridge this gap.

Additionally, we believe that in being involved in these works, getting to know Christians from around the world, serving places of need through our gifts will in fact be good for “the giver.” I know personally, I am a way better person in all aspects of my life for serving in these areas, with these ministries, and alongside these Christians around the world. I learn from and grow through this process personally, and have seen this to be the case with many others, many times over. 

For instance, just a few hours ago, I had dinner with two Christian leaders from Kazakhstan. After discussing partnership potentials for an hour, I simply asked them how they became Christians. For the next two hours, I was mesmerized by their stories of faith in Christ! Both of them had come out of Islam to embrace Jesus in their 20s. Each had endured severe persecution for their decision to become a Christian. One was beaten by family members, while the other was attacked by members of the community—beaten within an inch of his life. The second had even been jailed.

I walked away tonight deeply and profoundly encouraged in my own faith, having sat with these dear brothers—whom I had never met before just a few hours ago. Their examples to be of faithful obedience to me taught me in new and fresh ways. I long for this type of learning for our entire network of One Bridge.

Yes, there are ways that One Bridge can—and, I pray, will—help these men and their strategic, well-run ministries. However, what excites me most is all that people like me and my friends throughout America can learn from brothers and sisters in Christ from places like Kazakhstan—just as I did tonight.

This moves into the second path of One Bridge; Curated Learning.

Path 2: Curated Learning

Did you know that some of the most influential theologians alive today are not from America or Western Europe? I firmly believe this to be true. For example, Pastor Wang Yi, a Chinese theologian, has written an exceptional book—Faithful Disobedience. It was translated into English about two years ago. Despite its profound insight into the theology of suffering, very few people are aware of this book or its author. I consider it to be one of the best works on this subject of suffering in print today.

Did you know that while the church in America is shrinking, the church in regions like the Middle East is experiencing historic growth? Over the past two decades, more Muslims have come to Christ than in the previous several hundred years combined—perhaps even more than in all of history prior to the year 2000!

Did you know that in the past 130 years, South Korea has witnessed the largest percentage-wise expansion of the Gospel in the history of any country or people? In 1890, there were only an estimated dozen Christians in the country. By 1970, over a third of South Koreans were Bible-believing Christians. Today, South Korea sends out the highest percentage of missionaries of any country in the world—by a wide margin.

Capturing (and curating) the real-life accounts, lessons, and theology of the global church is the second path of One Bridge. The American church is in a state of struggle and confusion. We are grappling with challenges in all aspects of life and society, unable to provide the godly answers and care that those around us who are in desperate need. We find ourselves at a loss when it comes to offering clear and honest answers to the legitimate questions that our friends and children have about faith and Jesus in relation to their lives. Now, more than ever, we need the wisdom of the global church.

One Bridge seeks to work with a broad network of individuals, churches, and organizations to curate the voice of the global church by;

  • platforming the resources of the global church which already exist, yet are difficult to find
  • developing original content from global partners
  • providing learning opportunities such as trips, events, and online discussions

Honestly, I only have vague ideas of how this is going to unfold. After ten years of serving in executive leadership within the American church, though, I feel strongly it must happen. 

We as the American church desperately need the global church to teach us in so many areas, even if we don’t yet realize this. There are groups doing excellent work in this space already. Groups like The Center for House Church Theology, Help the Persecuted, Cru City Global to name a few. 

Despite the excellent work of these and others organizations like them, it remains largely unknown to the broader American Christian community. Additionally, each of their efforts are often confined within the scope of their respective organizations. I am hopeful that One Bridge can at least contribute to a larger effort in helping the American church learn from the global church.

Path 3: Engagement Opportunities

This is the aspect of One Bridge that ties it all together. This addresses the need of DISCONNECTED RELATIONSHIPS. We are bridging the gap through creating high-touch opportunities for faithful partners to engage deeply with the global church. Through meaningful travel, direct interaction programs, and a variety of connection avenues, One Bridge strives to foster vital relationships within the global church.

One of the best ways to serve those in difficult and unreached areas is simply through building genuine connections—sometimes even lasting friendships. 

I remember like it was yesterday meeting with a very effective, yet often persecuted house church pastor in Asia over tea. At that point, he had already been arrested three times.  I told him about a small church in South Carolina that knew of him and his congregation and that they were praying regularly for him. I thought this would encourage him, but I was unprepared for the depth of his response. His eyes welled up as he expressed how deeply moved and relieved he felt. It was as though the weight of his burden had been lightened, just by knowing that others, halfway across the world, cared.

From that meeting on, I have consistently seen just how lonely many of these leaders are and, conversely, how uplifting it is for them to receive prayer and kindness from Christians from around the globe. This is why One Bridge is committed to building real relationships of mutual care and learning through various and sundry ways with Christian leaders among the unreached.

Ultimately, my hope is that you, too, will experience what I did just a few hours ago with my Christian brothers from Kazakhstan. By engaging in mutually giving and committed relationships, we all grow stronger in our faith and mission within the global church.

Conclusion (from Asia)

So this is what One Bridge does. We are “connecting people and resources for the growth and thriving of the global church.” We are doing this through three distinct, yet overlapping paths; Increasing Resources, Curated Learning, and Engagement Opportunities.

Let’s do this together! Your partnership in this network begins here.

Tom Priest: remembering my friend

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(This is the last pic I have with Tom. He is sitting to my left. It was over Korean BBQ celebrating Sam Shin’s birthday about 18 months ago.)

Tom Priest was one of my oldest friends. We celebrated his life yesterday and grieved his sudden and unexpected passing. Though he passed into eternity a month ago,  I’m still in shock.

We went through elementary school, high school, and college together. We traded baseball cards in 3rd grade. Ran for student council together in 8th grade. We started Georgia Tech on the same day. Played intramural basketball, including some epic battles with the BSU (we triumphed). Post college, we would get meals together whenever we found ourselves in the same city. Tom gave me my most helpful advice when I was considering business school. I followed it to the letter. I’ve been grateful since.

When I moved to LA, Tom came through town a few times on business. Those times were highlights for me. He was kind, intelligent, loyal, and always hilarious. He was a man of deep faith. We always checked in on how we were processing Christ and the things of life whenever it was just the two of us.

Though Tom was one of the most accomplished, gifted and talented people I have ever known, he was also among the most humble. He was ALWAYS present, engaged and caring. I was in a better head and heart space whenever we parted. I ALWAYS wished we had more time. I ALWAYS looked forward to our next meet up.

Tom and I were texting each other on a Saturday a month ago. We were making jokes at the expense of a mutual friend (sorry Andy Hamilton) and trying to set up a time to connect. It had been way too long. Around a year and a half since our last meal. I was looking forward to seeing him soon.

About 72 hours later, Phil Autry called with the news. I cried. I hurt for his wife and three kids. My first thought was, “I can’t imagine life without Tom in it.” I was deeply sad. I still am.

This weekend was truly a celebration of Tom’s incredible life. Dear friends flew in from around the country. It was wonderful. A few went to the Georgia Tech game on Thursday night. We wept at a beautiful service of remembrance yesterday morning. We had a cookout at my house last night. It was wonderful.

Constantly humming in the forefront of my mind, though, was “this is great. I wish Tom were here with us to enjoy it.” He would have been the one smiling the biggest, laughing the loudest, and enjoying it all the most.

Tom Priest loved his wife and kids exceedingly well. I admired him immensely for his depth of care, tenderness and commitment he had for them. He revered his three older brothers. He was a world class leader of industry, as was evident of his accomplished career. More so though, his impact was clear by the scores of his employees and colleagues who showed up for his funeral yesterday. 

Tom was a true follower of Christ Jesus.

Tom Priest was my friend. My life is better by a long way because we had a lifetime of friendship. I am grateful beyond words for Tom, his life, and the joy he brought to me and so many others.

I will miss Tom. I look forward to seeing him again.

Confession & Prayer: My First Exposure to Racial Discrimination Against Black Friends

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(Above picture: Prayer time this week at Grove Park in Atlanta. Powerful time of praying for our city and sin of racial discrimination. Social distancing, of course. photo cred: @DannyWuerffel)

I awoke this morning at 4:10am. This seems to be my new norm, unfortunately. Last night, as has been the case since Friday, my sleep has been robbed by the events which are tearing up people I love and two cities which are intimately part of my own story, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

The images of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd are seared in my brain. My heart hurts. The earlier events such as those in Baltimore and St. Louis were egregious as well, but personally, I was either living in Asia or Los Angeles at those times. They seemed far removed from both me and the people I was around. This time is different.

This time feels different, as I am now back in the city of my birth, Atlanta. I am working for a church who cares deeply for “redemptive unity” among all the people of this city, but in particular for this to be experienced between the white and black communities.

I’m not sure what should be done exactly, but I am certain that we must do something. Change is long overdue. I am not any type of an expert in this area, so I won’t pretend I am.

However, what I can do is share two incidents when I realized that the world is just different for my black brothers and sisters. It is unfair and sinful. It must be named, processed, and changed.

My first observation that the lives of my black friends were different than my own came at the local mall. The mall was close to both my home and schools. As a result, I had been there countless times by the time I entered high school.

However, by that time, I had pretty much only been to Northlake Mall with either my family or friends, who at that point, were only white or Asian. Northlake was always a safe and happy place to just hang with friends. As early as 5th grade, my friends and I would have our parents simply drop us off, where we would walk around for hours. It seemed safe. It seemed happy. It seemed like a comfortable small town in the midst of major metropolitan city. I never thought anything of it. It was just part of my life.

By the time I reached 10th grade and could drive, my friend pool had widened. I played football, where many, if not most of my teammates were black. Rich, beautiful friendships soon followed.

On a September Tuesday evening  after practice, I went to Northlake Mall like I had hundreds of times before, but this time, I was THE white guy in the midst of all black kids. I had always been a white guy in the midst of white and Asian kids. There were no quantifiable differences in the groups themselves. We were all just kids, being kids, doing kid stuff. We laughed, played video games, walked in endless cycles around the mall, and dreamed of a day when we could afford Chick-fil-a all the time, not just on special occasions (and when Mom and Dad would buy it!). However, this time, the first of many such times, I was with a group of my black friends entering the mall, as opposed to a group of my white/Asian friends.

We walked through the food court and I could feel the stares. Though subtle, there were stares nonetheless. We walked into a late 80s clothing store I had been in countless times before. The clothes were ridiculous, but somehow we were blind to the point of thinking they looked cool on us. However, unlike the many previous times I had entered this store with my white/Asian friends, this time the security guard took notice. He followed us. Every step we took, he was close by watching us.

We went to the next store and it was the same. We were watched in nearly every store we entered. It was nerve-racking for me, but my friends didn’t seem to notice it. Even being the meathead, self-absorbed 10th grade athlete which I was, I noticed. And it was messed up. It made me tense. It made me sad for my friends. I wondered if they even noticed. To this day, I still wonder if they knew they were treated differently because of the color of their skin. I assume they did, but if that is all they knew, who knows?

Fast-forward two years. I’m in the football locker room on a Monday getting ready for practice. Two of my teammates/friends started summing up their weekend. They talked, rather nonchalantly, about their Saturday night.

My friends were simply walking around their neighborhood. They were doing nothing other than wasting time on a Saturday night. Out of nowhere, two police cars pulled up and started yelling. Apparently they fit the profile of people who had done something wrong in the area. My two teammates had no idea what was happening. The next thing they knew, one of them was face planted on the hood of the cop car, while my other friend was circled and questioned by the other two police officers. Eventually they were released with no charge (as they had done NOTHING wrong), but the emotional trauma caused was left as collateral damage.

Sitting there listening, I was shocked and horrified. Equally startling to me, though, was the response of the other guys listening. No one seemed to be phased. To the contrary, several told of their own stories of being thrown up on the hood of cop cars, for no apparent reason. I was appalled. When I questioned them about this, the collective response was something along the lines of “it is what it is.”

The next year, I went to college where most of my friends were white and Asian. Unfortunately, I lost contact with most of my black friends from high school. We check in from time to time over social media, but 19 years of living outside of Atlanta has provided little opportunities to keep those friendships alive. I deeply regret this cruel reality of the passing of time.

However, I have thought of these stories often over the years. I think of them whenever there is another story of  clear racial injustice. As a result, I think of them often. This time has been George Floyd. Recently, it has been Ahmaud Arbery.

I don’t know what the answers are to these horrible problems of systemic racism, but I do know that a starting point is simply acknowledging that they are real. They are not imagined.

So tonight, I am lamenting all that is going on in my beloved cities of Atlanta and Los Angeles. I am grieving seeing the pain and chaos. As I type, I am hearing the shrill cry of multiple sirens, as has been a constant unwanted companion over the last several days. All I know to do right now is pray.

Lord Jesus, please heal our land. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Lord Jesus, please guide me and the rest of my fellow white Christian brothers and sisters. Help us to see the problems and sin all around us. . . the sin within us. Help us to know what to do today. Give us the courage to do something about it. Forgive us for not speaking up louder and more boldly in the past. Please give us courage and wisdom in doing this more and more effectively in the coming days, months, and years. Give us energetic empathy, even in the midst of fatigue.

Father, I pray that we will actually change things in this generation. Grant us endurance, wrapped in the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Your Child,

John

Six reasons I believe in and support short-term missions. . .my favorite is #6!

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This is a short-term team I served on in 1998. To see which one I am, see point #6 below!
As summer is rapidly approaching, those of us involved in church  often receive letters from friends and family asking for prayer and money for short-term mission trips. As a matter of fact, I am helping to lead five groups this summer from our church to serve with a ministry in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

With this summer coming soon, the value of short-term missions is on my mind. Many people within my tribe (protestant Christians) often question the need and effectiveness of these types of trips. However, after 15 years of serving overseas and hosting many of them, I am an absolute believer in short-term mission trips.

There are many reasons why I financially support people going on these trips each year. However, the following are the six main reasons I see great value in short-term mission trips (and why I am excited about my summer in particular).

1. Short-term mission trips serve a specific and REAL need

If a church/group is doing missions effectively, they partner with ministries who have genuine and specific needs which can realistically be addressed through short-term mission teams. This was always the case for the groups I hosted in East Asia and this is definitely the case for our teams going [Read more…]

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