This is a video we put together for an event called Breakaway. It's an annual event for university students all across Oklahoma. We were asked to come speak about missions but we weren't able to attend. We made this video instead.
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7-Year-Old Missionary
We met a great guy named Tate at Christ's Legacy Church this morning. He's 7 years old and already has a feeling he'll be a missionary some day! It's so refreshing when the next generation sees the importance of making Jesus known.
I remember when I was a little kid I saw missionaries come visit our church and freaked out every time - it was always sermons interlaced with stories about malaria, weird food, and killer bugs. This is just shooting from the hip, but I do believe telling stories about eating monkey brains is not the best selling point on missions for 9-year-old girls. I was definitely not on board for the missionary life!
Since then, I've been to various places around the world doing mission trips. It took years for God to gently bring me around to the fact that I needed to obey Him...even if it meant coming in contact with a scary bug along the way. The more I realized that God wants me (and all of us, for that matter) to share in His grace for humanity by participating in missions, the more I became excited about it. It would have been awesome to have had such an enthusiasm for missions at a very young age...like Tate!
To all the young guys and girls out there exploring the plans God has for you - missions starts now! Everywhere you are, there are people needing to know that Jesus loves them. God values obedience more than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). As for the monkey brains...just be praying that God has you coming to work with us in Ireland. :)
The Great Commission or The Great Omission
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Matthew 28:19
As I've been speaking to churches over the past 8 months, the Holy Spirit repeatedly brings this scripture out. So much so, I've just started putting it in my notes.
Some people delineate the work "GO." Some focus on the word "MAKE." The phrase that has been ringing out in my spirit is "of all nations." So many times (especially in the American church), this phrase is ignored, passed over, and many times even omitted (at least mentally). This scripture is a call to go and make disciples...OF ALL NATIONS. When we omit this, we are no longer following the Gospel God gave us. We rewrite it to fit our comfortable American dream.
The Great Commission is not a call for the preacher, the pastor, the missionary, the evangelist...it is a call for ALL BELIEVERS. You cannot omit the call to go. You cannot omit the call to make disciples. And there is no way you can omit the call to all nations. Every believer is called to participate in missions. Every believer. All of us. All.
So, I challenge you. Don't just skip over phrases like "of all nations." You might just be narrowing the reality of your calling, the reality of your potential, and might just being saying no to a person who was counting on you to receive the Gospel.
Should everyone sell their houses and move to Africa? No. But every believer on earth should be sending and going. Give sacrificially of your finances to missions. Pray for missions. Go on missions trips. And don't EVER omit the reality that we are all missionaries in our communities.