By Shanna DiPaolo, September 2007

Paul’s Fable: Avant President, Paul Nyquist, addresses the philosophy behind his new book

A kidnapping, political upheaval, and a miraculous rescue - and that's just in the first two chapters.  Paul Nyquist, President of Avant Ministries, sat down with avant to discuss the release of his new book, "There is NO TIME."  An allegory about a new way to conduct international missions, the book explains Short-Cycle Church Planting®  while clearing up misconceptions about the method and helping define Avant's intentions.

avant: Where did the idea to write "There is NO TIME" come from?

Nyquist: It was a need-driven decision.  We [members of Avant Ministries' leadership team] wanted to be able to explain Short-Cycle Church Planting to all the people who are interested in it. We needed something we can give to people that will explain Short-Cycle in a simple, cogent way.  Hence the decision to put together a book.

avant: Who is the main audience of the book? 

Nyquist: There are two audiences. The first is those who have heard about Short-Cycle but don't know much about it.  The book is a tool that we can give them, and hopefully, after reading it they will have a good grasp on the philosophy behind Short-Cycle. 

A second group is those who have never heard about Avant Ministries or Short-Cycle. This material will educate them about who we are. It is a good way to explain Avant as an organization.

avant: What were you hoping to accomplish?

Nyquist: I was excited about the chance to explain the innovative approach we are taking to cross-cultural church-planting.  While Short-Cycle Church Planting® is a fresh approach; we've found people tend to jump to wrong assumptions about it.  "There is NO TIME" gives us the chance to get accurate information out to people. By reading the book, they'll hopefully see the missiological and theological underpinnings behind it.

avant: It can act as a representative of the philosophy when you or another member of Avant's leadership are not there to represent it.

Nyquist: Correct. It may not answer all their questions, but it will answer most of the major questions that tend to immediately surface.

avant: The book is allegorical. It tells the story of Dave, a fictional missionary, and a meeting that he has with some old friends.  Together, they hash out a new method of church planting, and that's where you take the opportunity to explain Short-Cycle.  Why did you use an allegory format? 

Nyquist: I've been influenced by some of the books published in the leadership and business management area, authors like Patrick Lencioni and Ken Blanchard.  The parable is a popular format for presenting information in a way that's enjoyable to read and not pedantic. When I decided to write the book it was natural to write it as an allegory because it's an effective form of communication.   

avant: The heart of the book explains Short-Cycle Church Planting®. What were some of the criticisms of Short-Cycle and how does the book address those?

Nyquist: We found most of the criticisms were based on wrong assumptions.  Some of the common misconceptions were these are short-term trips, or the missionaries don't attempt to learn the language and culture, or they're going to leave an immature group at the end of their term. This book attempts to correct those criticisms.

avant: Some of the characters in the book challenge the Short-Cycle philosophy.  They ask tough questions.  Were these actual questions you have encountered?

Nyquist: We've presented Short-Cycle Church Planting® in many different settings now. We've fielded a lot of questions.  I don't think there's anything we haven't heard.  Most of the questions that are raised in the book are the ones that people initially ask.

avant: Have you found that the book is helpful to address those questions now when they're asked of you?

Nyquist: The book seems to be effective at answering those questions because after people read the book, they don't ask them. They get the book, they read it, and they seem to understand it.  They still might have a question or two, but they're not the same questions as before.

avant: In one chapter you specifically address the question "Why?" You give several reasons why it was important to develop the Short-Cycle philosophy.  Why did you share those with the reader?

Nyquist: Anytime you roll out something new, the first question that occurs to people is, "Why?" There is no question the traditional missionary church planting enterprise has been effective. If you look at the spread of the church over the last 100 years you have to admit the things that have been accomplished have been good.  So people wonder, "Why do we need to change it?"  You have to address those "why" questions before you ever get to the "how" questions.  If you don't, people won't be interested in learning about the "how."  There are some very compelling answers to the question "why?" And those are explained in the book.

avant: I really enjoyed the concept of team, a group of missionaries who work to together, each with his or her own role.  How does that concept of team translate to the field?

Nyquist: This is the unique role Avant is serving in the missions world. No one else is quite doing "team" the way we're doing it right now. We carefully select a team based on the gifts and talents of the individuals, and intensely train them as a team before they go out to the field. We think this approach is absolutely necessary if we want to have a high performance, high impact team on the field.

avant: The book suggests that a team can create a sense of urgency by limiting the time they're in a certain field.  They have five years, and at the end of that time they should have a church that is able to sustain itself. How is this fundamental to Short-Cycle?

Nyquist: There are two elements that legitimately create urgency in missions work.  One is the immanency of Christ's return.  It is reality, it's biblical, and it creates its own sense of urgency that we tend to ignore. The second is the unraveling political scene.  In many of the most unreached countries the political climate is extremely unstable, presenting short windows of opportunity. Those two elements create urgency.  We can choose to ignore them.  But if we do, we severely limit our effectiveness.

By limiting the teams to five years, we're trying to create the same sense of urgency that is dictated by those realities.  It is an artificial deadline but it forces them to think intentionally and strategically about every day, knowing that time will pass quickly and they have a job to get done.

avant: Did writing this book help you to personally process the idea of Short-Cycle?

Nyquist: It did, because it required me to correctly identity the different rivers of thought that feed into Short-Cycle.  There were elements from the Bible and theology, parts that came from missiology, and other elements that we borrowed from secular business literature and lean thinking.  We didn't create the elements, but we did package them together in a unique way.  That is why it is different than anything else currently out there.

avant: Your daughter is an avid writer and blogger.  Does it run in the family?

Nyquist: I doubt it, although we did have books published on the same day. I anticipate that this is probably my only contribution to the published world, but it's something that she loves to do and will continue to do.  She's developed a passion for it.

avant: So you have no more books in the works?

Nyquist: Not authored by me, but in the "There is NO TIME" series we are planning two or three field guides.  While my book explains Short-Cycle philosophy, these field guides will provide practical help.  Dave Rathbun is working on one right now about how to effectively train Short-Cycle teams.  There is another one planned about how to apply the Short-Cycle principles in a cross-cultural setting.  Eventually, we plan to have a whole series of books for people who want to know more.