

The manual for Christ's campaign
What every team member needs to live by
The Bible is not your typical campaign manual. It does have some policies and instructions, but if you read it as an instruction manual, you will miss most of it.
The Bible is mostly stories about how the CHB campaign (Connect, Heal, Bless) has gone over the past 4000 years--what people did, what God did, and what that tells us about participating in the campaign today. The Bible also some other things not usually found in manuals, like poetry, prophecies, detailed descriptions of dreams, and letters to local campaign chapters.
But don't take the Sunday School view of the Bible, like it is just a stack of stories that have good morals for us. The Bible is actually one long story about God's campaign to save the world from itself. Step 1 of playing on Christ's campaign team is to start getting a feel for that long story.
A two-minute way to do that is to read any one of these seven stories. Each one summarizes the whole Bible from a different angle in about 800 words. Skim through for the big idea of what this whole CHB campaign is about and how it works.
In all seven versions of the Bible summary, Jesus Christ is the central figure even though he does not enter the story in person until about 80% of the way through the Bible. Then he takes the whole campaign to a new level.
As Campaign Director and Spearhead, he coordinates the campaign right up to today, preventing the chaos that many other campaigns run into. He doesn't expect team members to memorize the manual or perfectly comply with it. He does expect them to know what campaign they are in, who is in charge, and what basic non-negotiables he has laid down.
He also expects them to keep learning from the manual, getting better at campaign work. He is furious when team members get casual about the manual or start putting their own agenda above his.
SYNC tools help campaign team members appreciate and live by the manual.
-
Daily Bible readings take you through the Bible once in a year
-
Just Do It Groups bring you together with 2-3 friends/family weekly to listen to God and Scripture
-
Seven "Life Verses" repeat the basics in simple form for daily review
To See Yourself iN Christ (SYNC) is to see yourself in the flow of the story of the campaign he is spearheading. As you see yourself that way, a lot of things will be obvious to you even before you read them in the manual.
For example, if we see ourselves as life-bringers, channels of the water of life, we won't gossip. Gossip never brings life. It cuts people down. It does not heal--it creates new wounds! It goes against the campaign goals of connecting and blessing people. It works against the very things Jesus gave his life to promote! Long before we master the campaign manual, we know for sure that gossip has no place in the life of a campaign team member.
FAQs on having to live by a manual
1. If we live by a manual, doesn't that kill our human freedom?
We lived in Colorado for a while, and I learned one thing about skiing. When beginning skiers get out of control going down a slope, they never shout, "I'm free! I'm free!" On the ski slopes, control and freedom are partners not enemies. Because the veteran skiers know how to control their skis, they are free to enjoy the challenge and the spectacular scenery of the double black diamond ski runs (the most exciting and dangerous ones).
Same with God. The more we are under his control, the freer we get. His control is liberating. We can try to get out of his control, but that isn't "freedom." It's an out-of-control crash and a "free" ticket off the ski slopes, hauled off on a sled by the ski patrol.
2. Only bigots give unquestioning loyalty to a campaign manual. Are we supposed to be Bible bigots?