Category Archives: Missions

The Privilege of Living Dead

As I am challenging myself with John Wesley’s work on entire sanctification, I am meeting incredible people who live out the heart of Wesley’s message on a daily basis. They are people I can’t even name on a website because of the sensitive work they do.

Their call is incredible. One organization challenging the Christian community with reaching the unreached in East Africa is called Live/Dead. You can learn more HERE.

This morning I am beginning a 30 day journey through their “Live/Dead” journal. The first challenge is to tithe my time to Jesus. To abide in Jesus is to spend extravagant time with him. It is to know him. That is prayer. That is reading the Word. That is listening to him. A tithe of my day! (I get exhausted just thinking about it.)

But the question is this: Is Jesus worth it?

When I am around incredible people like some of these friends who put together “Live/Dead,” I know the answer. They spend extravagant time with Jesus. And it is beautiful to see.

The Spirit of Generosity

A new survey going around Facebook shows that churches are more stingy than ever. It’s the kind of fodder we seem to like. For cynics, it’s just another bullet in the gun for them. For Christians, it’s yet another way to beat ourselves up.

For the church I pastor I want to say this survey is not the rule. For those in my church, I want to thank you from the depths of my heart. You are shining examples of what it means to care for the Body of Christ and reach out to the world. We have witnessed amazing miracles to help those in need.

We are also entering a time of emphasizing missions and I can happily report our missions giving is UP. This last year we increased our budget to missions through your faith promise giving. We even added a missionary. As we enter into this season of prayer and dreaming for missions, please do not let up. Let your generosity stay as a shining example to the world around us.

May this survey never be true of this church!

Hidden Heroes

The recent eruptions in the Middle East and North Africa have caught the world’s attention. While there was quite a stir regarding Egypt, events in Bahrain, Iran, Yemen, etc., don’t seem to capture much of the blogging fancy these days. Maybe Egypt was “sexier.” Maybe something going on for over two weeks stretches our attention span…

With that in mind, I’d like to bring up something else that doesn’t capture much of our attention: missionaries.

There are great people serving in these tough areas, but are hidden because of the extreme culture. Being hidden is almost “death” to many missionaries because they can’t get word out and “market” themselves to raise money.

So, if I may toot a couple of horns for some great missionaries, here it goes: I know one veteran missionary who is truly an apostle in every good sense of that word to a “closed” nation. He has worked in this area of the world for over 20 years. He is now in danger of NOT returning to the land of his calling because there is a lack of support.

I know of another missionary family. They are heading into a brand new place where there are no missionaries. A new team is forming and they have the opportunity to do truly apostolic work. Again, their budget is difficult and they are in danger of not making it to the place of their calling.

Could I invite you to prayerfully consider joining these great people in an ongoing partnership? Monthly support at ANY level is incredibly helpful. If you could pass this post along to friends and if we could prayerfully (and may I add CAREFULLY) consider supporting them, I would greatly appreciate it. So would they.

I don’t want to endanger their status, so in contacting me I would hope I could establish the desire to truly help them so I could get you in contact with them.

We have hidden heroes in very sensitive parts of the world. Let’s pray for the Church in these areas of upheaval, but let’s also rally to support our hidden heroes as well.

Blessings!

Compassion and Conservative Christians

Who knew? Obviously, no one had any idea “conservative” Christians could be compassionate… that is until someone like the New York Time officially recognizes that, hey, conservative Christians actually do some good! Okay, NOW, conservative Christians can be considered as compassionate. (It was like the media “discovering” Pentecostals in 2006, the 100th Anniversary of Azusa Street.)

Nicholas Kristof gives a slight tip of the hat to the compassion of conservative Christians, and their amazing generosity. He still needs to take his digs at that crowd. (But, hey, I still need to take my digs at him as well.)

Kristof does make an excellent point that is overlooked so often by many people:

A root problem is a liberal snobbishness toward faith-based organizations. Those doing the sneering typically give away far less money than evangelicals. They’re also less likely to spend vacations volunteering at, say, a school or a clinic in Rwanda.

The media may be finally waking up to the hard work, the generosity, and YES, the compassion of conservative Christians. Of course, there is no way they will attribute that phrase to George W. Bush and his work. Why be overly generous?

Still, it’s nice to see some kudos for some very hard work going on in Haiti, Africa, and other parts of the world.

Paul and the Athenian Experience

As I have prepared for the college class I teach on the Book of Acts, I am re-examining Paul’s ministry in Athens. I have never been comfortable with Paul in Athens. I personally think it didn’t go well. However, when I was in college the huge thing in that day was “apologetics.” The insistence was on learning how to debate intellectually, because God gave us a brain. The model for this method was Paul in Athens.

Reading through these passages again, I am more convinced Paul was out of his element and it just didn’t go well. It’s not to say that the method was wrong. It just didn’t fit Paul at that time. He had too many things taking him out of his areas of strengths and the results weren’t so great.

Maybe I am missing something on this one.

The World Was Not Worthy of Them

Hebrews 11:38 ends the passage on the “hall of faith” with that phrase. People who believed God and suffered greatly for their faith. They believed, even though they might not have received the fullness of their reward in this life. The world was not worthy of them.

It was only fitting that All Saints Day landed on Sunday. I was able to be with my church… and when we are believers in Christ, we are all truly “saints.” And our body of saints heard from missionaries representing two very different parts of the world. One family spoke of God’s amazing healing power as they came through some severe trials during their last term. Another family spoke of lands that cannot be mentioned in too public of a place and their names cannot be published because of the nature of their ministry. I came away from both missions services full of gratefulness to the Lord. I was truly around people of faith. The world is not worthy of them.

The ones serving in a land that needs to go unnamed freely spoke of their willingness to put it on the line, even it if meant their lives. The reason is quite simple: You can’t get harvest from a place you haven’t sown seed. We’ve left huge areas of the world alone as the Church because we assumed it was unreachable. Then, we don’t see harvest. Our conclusion is that it’s a hard area. This family’s contention is that it’s hard because no one is plowing. They are willing to plow. They are willing to plant.

This All Saints Day was amazing. I have been around people who are walking with God. My church represents that, and I am grateful. Those missionaries represent that, and I am impacted deeply.

May we dare to sow seed where it has not been sown before.

Important New Study on Islam

This report relates findings from an in-depth study done on Islam around the world. Statistics show that almost 1 in 4 on the planet are Muslim. It also shows what has been true for decades: Islam is not predominantly Arabic. The largest Muslim nations are not in the Middle East.

I write on this because I have a heart for Muslims. Unlike some other evangelicals/Pentecostals, I do not want to see Muslims as a threat. Since 9/11 the deep-seeded fears have caused us to step back a little from engaging Muslims. The city where I pastor has a significant Muslim population and I count many Muslims in my community friends. I have helped them in many areas of business and government. They have come to my aid at times in significant ways.

The field is ripe for harvest. We have an opportunity at our door. It is never time for fear. Not for the saints of the Most High. It is always time for faith. It is time to see the beauty of Jesus in our lives, come to a place of total surrender to our Lord, and get busy in the harvest.

The War We do not Want to Talk About

It’s not Iraq. It’s spiritual. As Christians, we have become lazy once again, blind to the spiritual war around us. The ones getting hurt the most are our missionaries.

Missionaries we currently support, or new ones trying to get to the field, are not getting their financial support raised. Our common response has become, “Just give more money!” Small churches like mine have given, and we keep giving, but there is only so much to go around.

It’s more than that, though. It is the enemy mocking our missionary families. It is the enemy blocking missionaries from getting into countries where the gospel is still not influential. There is much at stake and we are not praying.

In all the appeals I have seen from missions leaders, not ONCE have I seen an appeal to prayer and fasting. It’s just, “Send more money!”

God, forgive me for not praying more fervently for these friends! Forgive me for not fasting and praying for breakthrough in their finances and lives! Forgive me for not taking on the enemy and making sure he is crushed through the power of prayer.!

Lord, please crush the enemy in these countries and get our missionaries in! Cover them with your Spirit. Call the Church to war once again.