Called to Missions?

How do you sense and know whether you are called to missions? It should be obvious that not everyone is called to pack up and go. When the Holy Spirit spoke to the church at Syrian Antioch to set apart Barnabas and Paul for the work He had for them to do, He did not slam the rest of church for being slackers. Some are clearly meant to go and others are meant to send. Paul understood that truth and teaches it in Romans 10:13-15.

But how do you know what your role is? Oswald Chambers said, "A missionary is one sent by Jesus Christ as He was sent by God. The great dominant note is not the needs of men, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in work for God is behind, not before.” A missionary often senses a pull forward from the needs of the world, the lostness of mankind, the masses of peoples starving for food and thirsting for clean water—those starving for the Bread of Life and thirsting for the Water of Life. Yet, the truly called missionary feels primarily propelled into world missions from behind, compelled by the love of Christ and the Holy Spirit’s leading. The missionary call is both behind and before.

Matthew Henry also spoke of the inward call and the external call. The inner call is a profound and inescapable sense of the shoulds and oughts on one’s life. The external call is the confirmation by dear believing friends who recognize and affirm one’s gifts and calling for missions.

Much could be said about the wisdom of investing one’s life in missions, but the reality of a missionary call is undeniable to those who have it. Many know very well that they once loved the Lord and longed to serve Him in other ways, but slowly and surely a growing conviction became an awareness of a new life calling in missions. The missionary call is both inward and external and it is at once behind and before. It is behind us in the command of Christ and it is before us in the needs of mankind.

Now, you are saved. Your life is before you. And today there are still untold millions still untold. God is calling many to missions. Have you heard Him call? Listen . . .  

The Amazon River-from one end to the other

I was privileged this week to visit and worship with believers in Belém, Brazil at the mouth of the Amazon River. As I prepared for church Sunday morning I reflected that it was just in January of this year that I was at the far western end of the Amazon River in Iquitos, Perú. How the early explorers would have loved to visit both ends of the Amazon as easily as I did without all the dangers inherent in traveling its length by canoe. I was in Brazil visiting with Dr. David Riker, President of the Equatorial Baptist Theological Seminary, and IMB missionary Mark Johnson. Together we explored ways to advance theological education and pastoral training at all of the various levels required in order to reach and teach the lesser-reached, unreached, unengaged, and even uncontacted peoples of the Amazon basin.

We attended church at the Primeira Igreja Batista do Pará, famous for being the first Evangelical church in the Amazon region, started in 1897 by Baptist missionary Eric Nelson. Its pastor, Vitor Hugo Mendes de Sá, explained how the church had recently gone on a ministry trip to a region that had been first evangelized by Baptist missionary Eric Nelson (known as the Apostle to the Amazon). He said that their trip required a flight and then a motorized boat trip of twelve hours. He challenged us to imagine what it would have been like for Bro. Nelson when he first traveled there to preach at the end of the 19^th century. Nelson had first arrived in a boat named Alegría, which means “happiness,” and indeed he was taking true joy and happiness to the people in the Good News he proclaimed. Pastor Vitor Hugo told how on this recent church ministry trip he shared a strong evangelistic appeal at the end of the week. The local Catholic priest had attended the sessions and was seated on the front row dressed in his Catholic vestments. When the invitation to receive Christ was given, he was powerfully moved and his response was among many others who prayed to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. One of the men there that week was from a community 75 kilometers further into the jungle. He emotionally shared that in-depth teaching of the Word of God is what they needed. The cults and health-wealth heresies are decimating the believers. In fact, on that very trip three “apostles” confronted Pastor Vitor Hugo with their arguments.

As the sermon concluded back at First Baptist, the pastor challenged his congregation with those vast needs, saying that the Amazon region was their “Africa.” He said that the people there do not lack food or water but they have great hunger and thirst for teaching from the Word of God. The congregation streamed to the front for corporate prayer and intercession at the end of the service, singing a chorus I know well in Spanish, “Renew me Lord Jesus, I don’t want to be the same anymore, renew me Lord Jesus, put Your heart in me, because all that within me needs to be changed and because everything that is within my heart needs more of You.” I sang . . . and prayed, “Renew me, Lord Jesus. I don’t want to be the same anymore.” Does anyone else want to pray that too? As I prayed I had the deep conviction that if God would give me another life to live, I would give it for this work. If He would give me a hundred more lives, they would all be His. And this would not begin to scratch the surface of all that needs to be done, not to mention all that He deserves. 

I pray that God would use me to impact His world, and if not ALL the world—at the very least—all of the regions from Mexico to Chile, and from the Andes to the mouth of the Amazon. I know; that’s a big prayer, but He is a Great God. And when He answers and this work is launched and progressing, I pray that we may be used by God to reach and teach throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. William Carey challenged us to attempt great things for God and to expect great things from God. I am actively and fervently recruiting missionary families to go reach and teach in the Andes and throughout the Amazon . . . right now. Today. If you’re not sure where or how to start, email me.  

Yes, there are hurdles to clear, calls to clarify, funds to raise, languages to learn, and selves to deny. But there are also millions to reach, sermons to preach, disciples to teach, and our Lord Jesus Christ to honor and glorify. We are all walking down a path in life for whatever season of years the Lord gives us. One day we will step from this life into that which is truly life. As you take that step, and you look back over your shoulder, will you like what you see? As one who is a slow learner but who has learned at last, let me gently remind you not to waste your life on you. It’s not yours; you were bought with a price. Come go with me on a trip and let me show you what I find every time I go. What a wonderful investment of life it would be. 

Today, Together, and To the End of the World

I love to travel and have been blessed by God to travel around this world more than once. It absolutely energizes me. As a wise saint once said, “I may get tired in the work, but never of the work.” I have collected treasured souvenirs in the many rich blessings that God has showered on me during my travels. Recently, I had the choice privilege of being in the International Baptist Church in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where pastor Miguel Núñez and his staff overwhelmed us with some of the warmest hospitality I have ever received. The godly and fervent worship in his church is unsurpassed by any I have known in any country. I had traveled to Santo Domingo with a team from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to participate in the Por Su Causa conference where our president, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. was speaking.

The beauty of this Caribbean paradise will take your breath away. (It was not lost on me that I was able to enjoy it by asking a colleague to substitute for me in New York City that weekend where the city was being battered by the worst snowstorm since 1978. The Lord is good!) The Dominican Republic’s kind people and rich history matched the beauty of the island. We were able to visit some of the historic sites in the city, settled by Christopher Columbus’s brother Bartholomew in 1498, making it the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the New World. You can imagine all of the pirate history, including the taking of the city at one point by none other than Sir Francis Drake. The Catholic Church there is the oldest in the Americas and we were able to go to the homes of Christopher Columbus and that of his son Diego who served as Governor of the Indies from there. The subsequent history of the country with seesaw political turnovers and coups makes the island even more fascinating to the history buff.

The most precious treasure I brought home from this trip was new friends and partners in Gospel ministry. Like the island, the conference itself was a gathering place of people from many countries and cultures. I met a dear brother from Havana whose son I had taught in a Cuban seminary years before (small world!), a brother from Puerto Rico who lives in the States now but ministers often in El Salvador, and Dominican brothers and sisters who long to link arms in ministry. I look back over my journal and smile to think of new friends and co-ministers such as Felipe, Otto, Oskar, and on and on. Indeed, Reaching & Teaching International Ministries has already planned our first pastoral training program in the Dominican Republic, launching a three-year institute in May. Others I met on this trip will join Reaching & Teaching and travel to the jungles of Peru in July to help train pastors and leaders there. I love to see the Holy Spirit morphing the mission field into a mission force and I pray He will always use me to help facilitate that.

The entire world is the Lord’s and He has people in every corner of it. As we embrace others who share our passion for missions, we at Reaching & Teaching find that we are like one of those airline route maps that you see in in-flight magazines. You know . . . those that show all the routes that their airline travels, launching from the hub and touching down in far-flung places, only to take off again and land in other places further still. Some airlines have partner airlines that share corporate mission statements and values, allowing them to do more together than any of them could do alone. That is how we work at Reaching & Teaching International Ministries. Looking at our website to see where we are working is only the beginning of the story. Our map of “flight routes” shows where we are going, but we are launching from there with others we meet and helping them go where God calls them, creating a synergy in which the work we are able to accomplish together is infinitely greater than the sum of the parts. God is doing the work and we are joining Him, and helping others to do the same. If you are burdened to reach and teach others and prepare biblically qualified leadership for Christ’s church around the world, email me. It doesn’t matter whether you represent yourself, your church, or your mission agency. Let’s leave logos and egos at the door and work together to reach and teach God’s world, doing His will His way. When? How? Where? Today, together, and to the end of the world. 

The End of the Road

The local pastor who picked me up the morning after I arrived in Iquitos was to be my guide to Nauta—the village at the end of the road on the edge of the jungle. He grabbed my hand and shook it saying, “I have been so eager to meet you; I’ve read your book!” I knew at once we would be good friends. Imagine meeting a man here in the Amazon who is so discerning in good literature  .  .  .

In Nauta, my new friend and guide introduced me to two other pastors who rather insistently invited us to begin training the village pastors of the Amazon River and its tributaries. We discussed the details and best months for the brothers to gather for the training, avoiding the months when flooding chokes the region precluding travel. Pastor Hugo invited me to preach that evening in the sweet and hospitable fellowship of his church back in Iquitos. I met other Peruvian brothers who work in the Amazon, some of whom are in constant search for unreached, unengaged, and even uncontacted tribes. They preach the gospel and extend the kingdom into the lands of piranhas, jaguars, and anacondas. One of these was a brother named Pedro. Pedro’s brother was on a trip with him into this up-river area when a bee-like insect bit him. Although Pedro was able to get him back to doctors and modern medical care, there was nothing they could do and he died. Pedro’s brother is one more in a long line of those who risked life and everything to take Life and Everything to those in darkness.

At the end of my time in Iquitos, I flew home through Lima and Houston. In the airport in Lima I met with other brothers who are founding members with me on a board that is seeking to reach and teach in Central America. Part of that meeting also included a planning session for my upcoming trip to Cuba where we have also been asked to help train pastors who cannot attend traditional seminary. I arrived home at the end of the trip to still other invitations via email asking us to train pastors and leaders in other areas. Pray with us as we seek to discern and discover what God may be saying through the multiplying invitations we constantly receive to help missionaries and nationals to reach, teach, disciple, and train believers around His world.

This blog concludes several chronicling my two-week trip to Peru and the new ministry opportunities that resulted from it. In the six weeks since I returned from Ecuador, we have solidified our initial teaching trips to both Nauta and Chazuta. We are pumped to expand Reaching & Teaching to jungle communities, being mindful of the tremendous needs in these regions as well as the great history of God moving through similar communities. Perhaps the Lord has stirred an interest in this area of Peru as you have read these posts. If so, check out the trip information on our site here. Let us know if you have specific questions or are interested in the trip.

In the coming weeks I’ll be sharing about other ministry developments that have arisen in the weeks since I returned from Peru. This is an unparalleled time of opportunity and growth for Reaching and Teaching. The needs are many, the opportunities great, and the partners are proving to be faithful. And yet the need for additional workers, time, and financial resources continue to also be part of the great story we are facing. Please pray with us that the Lord would guide each step we take so that it all results in His great glory. Pray for us. Consider going with us. Let us know what questions you have and let’s consider how the Lord might desire to use you among the nations!

Chazuta

I didn’t have long to reflect on my wonderful week in the Peruvian highlands, the fruitful meetings with friends in its capital city of Lima, or how Reaching & Teaching would be able to respond to the opportunities God was sending our way. I said goodbye to the brothers from Comas and walked straight through the airport security process to board my next flight for the opportunities and challenges that awaited toward the steamy Amazon jungles.

From Lima I flew east across the Andes to Tarapoto to meet pastor Jairo who had invited me to help them train pastors in the high jungle of Chazuta. I arrived in a pouring tropical rainstorm, and although the plane landed okay, we had to wait in it for about 30 minutes for the rain to subside before we could deplane. Jairo was shouting my name as I went through the doors to exit the airport. He put both of us—and all my luggage—in a 3-wheeled “motortaxi,” and off we went, holding the handles of my bags as we went to find a car and driver to rent. We then traveled roughly east for about 1½ hours through some of the most beautiful scenery—and about a dozen of the scariest landslides—you could imagine. This is the last of what they call the “high jungle,” although my altimeter on my watch showed it as 700 feet in altitude. The little village we finally came to is poor and very humble. On Jairo’s street there were drunks challenging our car, just for something to do. We diplomatically extricated ourselves from the excitement and he put me in a room of my own in his home. I was thankful that its windows were open since the climate there could best be described as sitting in a steam kettle at full boil. I “deeted up” for the bugs and hoped there weren’t any thirsty bats since I had not brought a mosquito net.

The surrounding area is beautiful and the believers in the church there are sincere brothers and sisters. They train young men in a high school level biblical studies program one week per month, eight months per year, for four years. They explained that the ones who are teaching really need training themselves, and asked us to come once or twice per year to hold intensive workshops for their teachers. Even though most of the people in this area are lowland Quechua, most of the teaching can be done in Spanish. Peru has over twenty Quechua dialects and so training in a common Spanish must tie them together for now. After my rich experience in the high jungle, I was ready to descend to the Amazon River.

Jairo got me back to Tarapoto and I flew to Iquitos where I stayed while getting to know the town and the surrounding areas. Iquitos has an amazing history, having once been a thriving city during the rubber boom, it is still home to over 600,000 people and is the largest city in the world that you cannot drive to; all incoming traffic is by air or rivers. There is one road that goes out of town for about 1½ hour, which then stops abruptly in a village called Nauta. That is where I went—as far as the road goes—and is where I’ll tell you about in the next blog post!

Training Pastors in the Snow-Capped Andes

The Ingleside Baptist Church in Macon, GA invited me to preach at a pastors conference in Huaraz, Peru for the third year. They offer this annual training conference as a component of their ministry among the Quechuas in conjunction with the IMB’s REAP program. Our Peruvian hosts and IMB coordinator, Tommy Smith, were an absolute joy as they took care of every necessary detail for us during our week there. There were Christian brothers from seven different cultures participating. I had the unexpected blessing and privilege to meet and consult with leaders of the Asheninka tribe who came from the jungle to learn in our conference. They strongly encouraged me to come to their area and lead a conference for 300 of their leaders as soon as we can arrange it. What an honor and emotional charge that was. At the end of the week, I rode the 8-hour overnight bus to Lima with the Ingleside team and enjoyed an open-air Bible study in the Miraflores Park to welcome the dawn.

Following coffee with the team, I met with IMB missionaries to discuss theological education needs in Latin America and how The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Reaching & Teaching can help bridge the gap to train crucially needed leaders. The challenge of finding ways to train leaders is now exacerbated by a new Peruvian law that affects every evangelical missions organization that operates there. As of January 18, 2013, no evangelical agencies or organizations are recognized as legal entities unless they can meet certain qualifications. The previous President signed a law on his last day in office requiring all religious organizations to have at least 10,000 Peruvian members to be recognized.

Such recognition is crucially important for three primary reasons: it grants the entity exoneration of taxes on properties and purchases, it permits the entity to receive donations, and it allows the entity to grant missionary/religious visas to foreigners. I think all evangelical groups had hoped that the new President would repeal the law since he is the polar opposite of the last administration in many ways. How these organizations will grant visas, receive money from the USA, or avoid heavy taxes remains to be seen. Pray for a way forward that will allow them to continue their essential work of evangelism, church planting, and discipling. This new law will not affect Reaching & Teaching since we only go periodically and are not based in Peru to receive donations there or grant religious visas. I left our meeting challenged by the opportunities we discussed and burdened by the possible ramifications of the new law.

I arrived at the Lima airport in time to meet with pastor Angel who serves a Christian & Missionary Alliance church in Comas, Peru. He and his church have been given permission to provide chaplaincy for 490 schools in the area; each of the schools has 300-600 students (with families). Because they are not a huge church, they are only able to minister in 27 schools currently, and even this number is overwhelming. They are keenly aware of the open door that they have been given through the government permission to hold Christian conferences, give lectures, counsel students and parents, as well as pray with the students in any way they choose. Sadly, they lack the personnel and expertise to provide and train chaplains, but do not want to miss this amazing opportunity. Pray with us that the Lord will show the way forward.

God has been so good to us and continues to send people our way pleading for training to be done in their area. On paper, it is easy to say, “no,” since I work full time and we are still in our growing and developing stage. There is only so much money and time to go around. However, when I am on the field and see the needs, the opportunities, the open doors, and have to look in their eyes, saying no is one of the hardest things I ever have to do. Pray that God will send workers into His harvest field and that He will provide us funds to walk through the doors He is opening. Pray mostly that I will know and do all His will, in His way. Hudson Taylor said, “God’s work done God’s way will never lack God’s provision.” May each of us be sensitive to know and do His will today and always.

Ministry Expansion 2013

Reaching & Teaching has just completed one of our most agenda-packed, ministry-rich months ever. God is blessing both the ministry and me personally in incredible ways. A quick day-by-day look at the month will give you some idea of what I mean:

January 1- Returned from speaking on ministry among primary oral learners in St. Louis at Urbana 2012. I really enjoyed meeting so many missions-minded folks who attend the triennial meeting hosted by InterVarsity. I especially enjoyed seeing old friends like Dave Howard.
January 2-5- Spent time catching up on campus, writing, and helping a doctoral student with his dissertation defense.
January 6-11- Visited with good friends at To Every Tribe Ministries in Los Fresnos, TX where I taught a week-long orientation session on Contextualization and Intercultural Communication in their Center for Pioneer Church Planting.
January 12-19- Flew to Lima and traveled by bus to Huaraz to speak in the Annual Pastors Conference hosted by Peruvian Baptists, Ingleside Baptist Church of Macon, GA, and the IMB.
January 14- Met with an IMB missionary and a SBTS PhD student to discuss his work in Lima and his rapidly approaching date with his comprehensive examinations at Southern Seminary.
January 19- Met with IMB missionaries in Lima to discuss ways that Southern Seminary and Reaching & Teaching can help meet the need for theological education and pastoral training in Latin America.
January 19- Consulted with Peruvian pastors at the Lima airport to advise them regarding a challenge they face of how to train and provide chaplaincy for almost 500 public schools.
January 19-21- Flew to Tarapoto met with Pastor Jairo and the brothers of the high jungle in the area around Tarapoto and Chazuta, Peru, preaching there on Sunday and meeting with leaders to plan a training program for leaders in their area.
January 21-23- Flew to Iquitos and met with pastors, leaders, and missionaries serving in the Iquitos and Nauta areas of the Amazon River region, preaching in a church and planning training program for the pastors of villages along the Amazon River.
January 24- Met in Houston with fellow founding board members of a newly formed organization seeking to reach and teach in Central America.
January 25-26- Traveled to New York City to teach Introduction to Missiology in the Southern Seminary extension center.
January 27- Spoke at Sojourn Community Church’s missions academy in Louisville, KY on Intercultural Communication, preparing the missionaries they will send out from their church.
January 28- Led the Annual Reaching & Teaching International Ministries Board meeting.
January 29- Participated in the spring semester convocation and new semester launch at Southern Seminary.
January 31- Attended the International Mission Board’s Expo dinner with IMB personnel and candidates for missionary service.

In our annual meeting, the board of Reaching & Teaching decided on several new ministry directions that will enable us to have a larger international footprint to impact the kingdom in exciting ways. We will be launching two new three-year training commitments—one in the Canal Zone in Panamá City and one in the Peruvian jungle town of Nauta, an hour and half beyond Iquitos. You will hear more about these exciting and strategic opportunities in the months to come. Begin praying now about joining us on one of them.

We are also responding to requests for weeklong intensive conferences in other locations in the Peruvian mountains and jungles in a new effort to meet immediate needs before we commit to launching a full three-year program there. We have also decided to expand our ministry by approving experienced candidates to be team leaders, allowing them to recruit and lead their own teams to begin three-year pastoral training programs in areas of their own interest or ministry experience. This will free me to participate with them on a rotating basis and allow us to have greater impact in more places as the Lord leads and provides.

Some of you who follow our ministry with prayerful interest to see what new developments are underway have been asking how these January trips went, and where we are going next. In a desire to answer these requests—without over-estimating your interest—I will be posting a series of 3-4 shorter blogs over the new month with updates on developments from the week in Huaraz, the encouraging results from meetings with the IMB, and the week in Tarapoto, Chazuta, Iquitos, and Nauta.

In the meantime, pray that the seeds planted will grow, relationships begun will mature, roots will sink deep and bear lasting fruit from this rich month of labor in many places, over many hours, and covering many miles. Finally, as I have challenged you before, would you consider joining with us by giving, going, or praying so that God’s people may have biblically qualified and prepared leaders in New Testament churches around the world? How might God use you? What is it that is not being done that ought to be done that you could do, and if it were done, would result in greater glory to Christ and extension of His kingdom? Let Reaching & Teaching help you do it!

Reaching & Teaching 2012 Year End Report

I hope that the Lord is blessing you and your family with a deep sense of His presence throughout this Advent season as you contemplate the incredible miracle of Christ’s coming. We are reminded this time of year that Christ has come, and has now sent us to go and do all that He has commanded of us.

We have much to be grateful for at Reaching & Teaching. God has blessed us with new ministry partners and opportunities to establish training centers to prepare pastors and leaders for Latin American churches who are crying out for discipleship and pastoral training. Many of their missionaries have left for other fields, unfortunately leaving behind undiscipled believers without trained pastors. We saw the need for training pastors in culturally appropriate ways and we began training them in intensive weeks of full-time study, one week at a time, three times per year. In three years we will have conducted nine weeks of study and covered the instruction normally received in a Bible College pastoral training track. We don’t just spout head knowledge; our approach is to prepare the head (Bible and doctrine), heart (character and devotion), and hands (leadership and administration) of the pastors. As other national churches and missionaries have seen how effective this is, they are inviting us to help them by training nationals in their areas.

When we look back over the past year it is overwhelming to consider all that the Lord has done. We have broken ground and begun construction on our first training center, a much needed resource after several years of teaching in cramped, rented, unpredictable locations in Tambo. We have seen the appointment of partner missionaries, Christopher and Carol Sills, who are serving as on the ground coordinators of our work. We have published our first training resource, Reaching and Teaching the Highland Quichuas. And we continue to be amazed at how the Lord has brought other missionaries to partner with us and expand the work of Reaching & Teaching throughout Central and South America.

We are grateful for all the Lord has done in 2012 and eagerly anticipate all He has for us in 2013. We have a glimpse of those plans and hope you will pray and ask how the Lord might have for you to support this work. We have four short-term trips scheduled and several more in development. We are within reach of completion of a desperately needed training center in Tambo, Ecuador as soon as the remaining funds are received. In addition, we have several new potential ministry partnerships that we anticipate could spread the ministry of Reaching & Teaching in Peru, Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Please pray for the provision of all that is required to fulfill what the Lord has called us to do. As you serve and give at the end of this year, might you pray about how the Lord might have for you to participate with us? Our most pressing prayer need is for wisdom as to what additional mission fields to begin to serve. Please join us in praying that the Lord would give us this wisdom. We still have open slots for our 2013 short-term trips and would love to have you join us. Please pray about joining a trip and don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions. Our most pressing physical need is for the $4,200 needed to complete the training center in Tambo. Please join us in praying that the Lord would call out those whom He would have to donate to this very tangible need—and pray about whether He might be calling you to give—no amount is too small. In addition to the building materials we need, we must provide textbooks and travel expenses for carrying on the work. No one at Reaching & Teaching receives any salary or stipend from the work. All of us donate our time and all team teachers pay their own expenses. All that you give—100%—goes directly into this ministry to reach and teach the nations, train national pastors and leaders, and provide sites for this ministry to take place.

I would also ask that you pray for Christopher and Carol Sills this year as it is their first Christmas on the mission field away from family. They are also still raising the necessary funds to obtain a vehicle, which will allow them to serve alongside Reaching & Teaching with much greater availability.

Our vision for Reaching & Teaching is not just to reach and teach the nations, but also to reach and teach those who accompany us on trips. They are able to see on such trips how God can use them in this work. We also want to reach and teach the ones to whom we minister by giving them a passion for regions beyond them. Indeed, every trip we have led has resulted in at least one national brother saying he also felt the missionary call to serve in this way in other areas. God is truly blessing.

We praise the Lord for His faithfulness to call out so many to participate in the work of Reaching & Teaching in 2012 and cannot wait to see how He leads and provides in 2013. May He draw you near and speak clearly to you about how to fulfill the Great Commission through all He has called you to do. Thank you for praying with us, for giving, and for going. May His love, peace, and presence be abundant in your life and family this Christmas season and in the New Year.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The Missionary Heartbeat of God: Day 15

God’s Word to Us:
Psalm 113 teaches us that the Lord is to be praised all over the world, among every people group, and in every language. “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!” That is, all day long and everywhere, as the sun brilliantly shines forth in blazing strength across the entire face of Earth, and as the world revolves to expose every people to its brightness, may the Lord in like manner be seen, known, loved, and praised by His people in every place. “The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens!” The scriptures teach us repeatedly that mute nature is not so mute, and the inanimate objects of the planet are often more animated than people when it comes to praising God. He is the LORD Almighty, the King of glory over all, and He deserves to be praised by everything that has breath. Even the trees clap their hands, the grasslands wave in praise, and the seas roar with jubilation surrendering to their Creator.

Our Prayer:
O Lord, we long to worship You this day. We aIso want to surrender our lives—past, present, and future—to You and Your all-wise administration. Invest our lives, breath, and blood in the ways and places You deem best. Let us be all that You made us to be and do all You made us to do. Pour us out as drink offerings; we give ourselves as living sacrifices. We worship You. All we want is ALL You want. What is it that is not being done that ought to be done that we could do, and if it were done, would result in greater advance of Your kingdom and greater glory to Christ? Show us and then grant boldness, open doors, and zeal to make it so, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Are You the 5%?

I recently posted on social media an observation that 95% of all seminary graduates stay in the USA to minister to 5% of the world’s population while 5% of all graduates go to the world’s 95%. I also mentioned that in the midst of it all is the reality that 80% of evangelical pastors serve within 200 miles of their wife’s Mama. I then watched in absolute amazement as like-minded encouragers retweeted and reposted while others reacted angrily in criticism. Some of the responses were good-natured, some were mean-spirited, and some thought I was trying to use false guilt to get people to the mission field. It’s clearly a fallen world. The Facebook fury and Twitter twaddle was some of the most fun I have ever had in my limited social media experience. So, since I seem to have touched a nerve, let me jump up and down on it for a little while.

First let me explain what I meant since Twitter’s 140 character limit does not permit a full explanation (of just about anything). The sad truth is that 95% of all evangelical seminary graduates stay in their home areas and serve close to family, while only a handful of them go to the world. A couple of folks remarked that I must not be aware that there are also seminaries in other countries. Um . . . I think I am aware of that since I was president of one of those in South America, and work closely with colleagues in seminaries all over the planet. However, the truth is that their statistics are worse than ours since they do not usually have the resources that we have to send people overseas, so of course even more stay home.

Second, I am not judging anyone or belittling any chosen avenue for serving God; I am simply reporting the way it is. Lighten up, folks. Take a deep breath. Several people pointed out that I am a seminary professor in Kentucky and not living outside of the USA, which apparently makes my observation invalid. I understand their angst and to a degree they are right. I also weary of folks calling us to be radical martyrs for Christ’s sake from the context of comfortable homes, megachurch pastorates, and nice retreat centers located in cities with more Christians than people. However, please know that I am not calling for anyone to do anything that God is not calling them to do. I never want to guilt anyone into going to the mission field. If I did, I would have to go with you and keep pouring on the guilt to keep you there.

Third, if you did react out of guilt—false or true—I’d like to ask you some questions. Do all Christians have the missionary call? What is that exactly? Is it a lifelong call? A misunderstanding of the missionary call keeps more people off of the mission field than anything else (although it runs neck and neck with student debt!). So that everyone may know my position, I wrote in The Missionary Call: Find Your Place in God’s Plan for the World, “The highest and best use of anyone’s life is to do exactly what God leads them to do in the places where He leads them to do it.” If God has indeed called you to be a housewife in your hometown, to live next door to your mother-in-law, or to pastor your home church where you were baptized, you cannot glorify Him more by being martyred in Somalia.

But, can we talk? Could we lower our guard for a minute, stop being defensive or proud, and think about the reality? You may know for sure that God has called, equipped, and guided you to be exactly where you are. If so, amen! Praise the Lord! But, think about some missions math for a second. Over a third of the world’s people have never heard the Gospel, without which no one can be saved. This represents over half of the world’s ethnolinguistic people groups. Approximately 50,000 people from those unreached peoples die and go to hell every day, never having heard the Gospel. While there are untold millions still untold, there is no country as blessed as the USA. No country has as many Evangelical churches, Christian colleges and universities, seminaries, and ministries reaching out to the lost, discipling the saved, planting churches, and training the leaders. Yet, we retain 95% of our seminary grads to minister to us, and more than that percentage of financial resources. God loves the USA, but He loves the nations of the world, too. I cannot help but believe that these statistics indicate that there must be some who are being disobedient to His call to go to the nations to reach and teach so that all the nations might glorify Him.

The Westminster catechism states, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” The children’s catechism asks, “How can you glorify God?” and answers “By loving Him and doing what He commands.” If He has called you to career missions service elsewhere and has not led you to the place where you are now, let me encourage you to be afraid, and to be very afraid. I’ll introduce you to Jonah when we get Home and you can ask him how running from God’s call worked out for him.

I am thankful for all the comments on the Facebook post and Twitter feed. The energy generated and expended was phenomenal. People who thought about the missionary call for the first time, or for the first time in a long time, made it all worth it to me. I make no excuse for envying our missionaries and wishing that God would open the door and guide me back to such a place of service. Missionaries are my heroes, and I definitely relate to all of you who wish you could be on the field but family, health, or other issues preclude that as a possibility right now. I burn with a desire to be back on the field or in full time missions work again, but God has me here for a season. Part of me being here is to motivate and mobilize as many as I can. 

Those who know me will tell you that I often remark that when God tells Mary and me to go back to the field, He won’t have to say it twice. I spend about eight weeks per year on the mission fields of the world and it is harder and harder to come back to the USA every time, especially now that my son and his family are on the field. God knows I am trying hard to be “willing to stay” even though I am “ready to go.” Being a missions professor, speaker, and administrator makes me feel like a hypocrite on a regular basis. The devil constantly harasses me by pointing out to me what some of you said. Still, I cannot help but point people to the privilege and honor of missionary service, and will not stop. Please remember that your life is not your own; don’t waste it on you. Very soon you will come to the end and step from this life into that which is truly Life. Don’t go with regrets and wonder what your life would have been like if you had lived it for Him.

If God has not called you do go, then don’t go. That’s pretty simple! Instead, send, give, and pray as if souls depended on you efforts. If He has called you to go, and is leading you there now, and if He used Facebook and Twitter to lean on that comfort-zone building nerve, Great! That was so fun. I hope we can do it again soon.

Update from Ecuador

We had a great week of ministry last week with the Reaching & Teaching team in Tambo and I'm sure I'll write more about that soon. In the meantime, Mary and I are in Cuenca visiting with two (plus one on the way!) of our grandkids and their parents who have moved to Ecuador to serve as missionaries. One of the great things about this week with them has been the opportunity to see my son lead his family on the mission field and begin his ministry in Ecuador. We've also had the opportunity to serve together this week. Serving alongside him has given me such an excitement about the ministry to which God has called them, but has also revealed a need that I want to submit to you for prayer.

Christopher and I went by bus last night to lead a Bible study for a family in a very Gospel-hostile community. Our national helper took us in via a back way and said we could only leave by the main community entrance. It was a very encouraging time and the group with which we met are willing to start a church in their home. The difficult part was that it took us three hours by taxi, bus, and a ride from a national to get there for a 1 1/2 hour Bible study and fellowship time, then almost three hours the same ways to get back home. By personal car it is one hour there and one hour back.

We knew that they were going to need a car when they got to Ecuador, but this one trip really impressed upon me the absolute critical nature of this need for their ability to be faithful to what the Lord has called them to do. As a father and grandfather this is a tremendous burden as Mary and I prepare to return to the USA and know that they will continue to struggle with this need. Please pray that the Lord would provide the remaining funds for Christopher and Carol to purchase a ministry vehicle. In addition to the security concerns it would resolve, a vehicle would allow them to be much more effective in ministry. They have about $8,000 and need about that much more to have enough. You can read more about them and tax-deductible ways to donate to their ministry on the Ministry Partners link on our site by clicking here.

The Missionary Heartbeat of God: Day 14

God's Word to us: Hebrews 12:14 says, "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see The Lord." If we are to grow in holiness, we must yearn for it. We must pray like M'Cheyne who asked to be made as holy as a sinner saved by grace could be. Is that our prayer and desire? More than any idol of silver or gold or even aluminum (complete with labels that say Mac, iPod, iPad, or iPhone?) do we long for holiness? A.W. Tozer said that a man is as holy as he wants to be. Ouch! Yet, he speaks the truth. None of us wants holiness more than God desires for us to have it and we are not held back in holiness by God. We are all just as holy as we desire. To grow in holiness, we should begin by praying to God for a desire for it that consumes all other desires, more powerful than a drowning man's desire for oxygen, and all for the glory of Christ. I am in Ecuador with some godly men teaching pastors among the Quichuas this week. These men need to hear what we are teaching, but more than that, they need to see holiness lived out. Your church, family, business, co-workers, and neighbors need to see holiness lived out. The harmony you desire in life and in your walk with God requires holiness.

Our prayer: O Lord, grant that we might develop a love for and desire for holiness that overwhelms all other desires. May I long to be the most holy man that my hearers have ever known, but more than that, may I be the most holy man that my wife, and children, and friends have ever known. And more than that, may I be pleasing in Your sight. May I be as holy as a sinner saved by grace can be. Amen.