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by Charlie Wolcott

*tune starts*
Please don’t send me to Africa.
I don’t think I’ve got what it takes.
I’m just a man, I’m not a Tarzan,
To like lions, gorillas, or snakes.
I’ll serve you here in Suburbia,
In my comfortable middle-class life.
But please don’t send me out into the bush,
Where the natives are restless at night.

This song by Scott Wesley Brown does a great job at showing the stereotype Americans have regarding missions. Most picture missions are going out into the middle of nothing to reach a tribe that hasn’t even entered the Bronze Age. Such stories abound. Bruce Olson reached the Motilone Tribe of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Don Richardson reached the Sawi Tribe of Papua New Guinea. There are many more. The stories of the missionaries are worth the read, of fighting out countless diseases, near-death experiences, in some cases death, but in the end the Gospel arrives at the tribe.

Is everyone called to go on foreign missions? No. But I will say everyone is called to be involved in the spread of the Gospel. For some it may be local; for others it may be foreign. But for all, it must be about Christ and his Kingdom. William Carey went to India. Hudson Taylor to China. William Booth to his own backyard in London. With this post and the next two, I want to discuss the mission field. Who goes? How do you go? Who do you take with you? I’ll start by talking about my own experiences.

I grew up on the mission field. I was born outside Denver, Colorado, where my family has deep roots. I am fifth generation Boulder County, Colorado. Very few of my extended family does not live in the Denver/Boulder area. Yet when I was six years old, my parents began to work with International Family Missions. The goal and purpose of IFM was to train families how to do ministry as a family unit. We would take groups of 30-40 people for one week at a time to El Paso, Texas and enter Juarez, Mexico daily to serve the people there. After doing this for nine years stationed in Colorado, my parents and I moved to a facility IFM acquired to manage the base. From there we housed and facilitated numerous mission teams for an additional 13 years.

Because I grew up involved in ministry, I got to see what God does. I also got to see the many problems and challenges involved with serving God. When we moved from Colorado to El Paso, my brother and I got hit hard with mosquitoes that were living in the ducts of the room we had while we waited for our mobile home to arrive. Both of us looked like we had chicken pox. Yet, despite the challenges, watching miracles take place and people get saved was always worth it. I’ve seen food multiply, people healed instantly, weather change suddenly, re-directions for what exactly needed to happen, and more.

Worldview Warriors president Jason DeZurik is also on the mission field. He did not go to a foreign nation or a different culture. In the same way my dad quite a well-paying job, Jason quit a comfortable job so he could follow where God was taking both him and his family. Jason got to stay in suburban USA, but he certainly left a life of comfort and ease to walk in faith in the Lord. When I read Jason’s testimony in his book “How Being Consistent Changes Everything,” I saw many similarities between his story and mine. My parents were called to assist teams going into Juarez, Mexico (we have since moved on to a new thing he is working with them). Jason was called to start Worldview Warriors. Different settings, different vocations, but same calling: to build the Kingdom of God.

My personal calling is still different than my parents’ calling was. God has called me for two purposes: to minister to the upcoming generation, the youth of our nation, and to strengthen and prepare them for what may be the End Times. I have been working towards that goal. I completed the Cadre, an intense seminar on how to teach on Biblical worldviews. I write for Worldview Warriors, often regarding Biblical authority. And I am also a teacher, engaging with high school students daily. That’s my calling. Will God sent me to China, to Africa, to Europe, to an indigenous tribe who has never seen civilization before? Very well could be.

But what I do know is this: God’s Kingdom is to be established in all parts of the world. And disturbingly enough, one nation that needs the Gospel just as much as any other is the great US of A. It is commonly believed among many churches that 75% or more of every church’s congregations are not saved. How can a church be sending when ¾ of their own members do not know God from a duck? How much more so when the pastor himself is not born again? No matter where you go these days, preaching the Gospel is not going to be popular. However, God has prepared the hearts of countless others and they are just waiting to hear the truth. Some may fight, other may fight to keep you from reaching others, but are they worth it? Is just one soul worth it?

Why do we go for missions? Why do we go out and spread the Gospel? Paris Reidhead summed it up so simply: “So that the Lamb that was Slain may receive the reward of his suffering.” Jesus did not die just to make us feel good. He died for so much more. He deserves mankind as a whole. He purchased us from sin and death with his blood, but so many let that sacrifice go to waste by rejecting what he has to offer. Is not God right and just to send his wrath upon those who spit in his face despite what he has done? We are called and sent as ambassadors of God’s Kingdom. We called to offer terms of peace with the lost so that they may have it before God’s army comes in to administer justice. We cannot negotiate the terms, only offer them. They are God’s terms of peace, not ours. If there is just one person who comes into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, then our efforts are worth it. Parties are thrown in heaven when just one person repents. How much more when many others are as well?

In the next two weeks, I’ll explore this concept of evangelism and missions further. Do we go short-term or long-term? And what about if you have families? Should you send your kids, wait until you are empty-nesters, or should your children be exposed to it? Stay tuned.

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