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by Charlie Wolcott

People who have missions experience or are interested in the lives of missionaries may have read Peace Child by Don Richardson. He wrote another book in 1983 that I just finished reading: Eternity in Their Hearts. This book is as old as I am and typically only the generation before me knows about it. This is very unfortunate, because what I saw in this book is very important for anyone who is trying to defend their faith in Christ.

Don Richardson wrote Eternity in Their Hearts with a mission perspective. He wrote the book to show how the world is already prepared for the Gospel and how the Gospel was prepared to go out into the world. But when I read it, while I understand the mission-driven point of view, I saw the worldview side of it. This post is a review of this book and I am going to say this is a MUST have for any Christian apologist.

The topic: Eternity in Their Hearts covers the stories and legends of 25 different tribes and people groups around the world from the Greeks, to the Canaanites, to the Inca, to tribes in India, China, Korea, Burma and more. Each of these tribes have things woven deep into their culture that strike an incredible resemblance to the Bible’s teachings, particularly Genesis 1-11. What kind of things?

Richardson’s first chapter covers different tribes, many of whom were polytheistic, who had a concept and idea of an ultimate supreme being who was above any of the other gods the people worshipped. The first story Richardson addresses is about Epimenides, a “prophet” who was aware of an unknown god without a name the Greeks had not appeased. He proposed a sacrifice of a “clean” animal quite similar to how the Jews did it, and offered it to the nameless god. This is the account Paul used in Acts 17 when addressing Mars Hill. He knew of the story and revealed the name of this unknown God to the Greeks.

Pachacuti was the king of the Inca shortly before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived. To the Inca, the sun god was the chief of the gods. However, Pachacuti realized that the sun could be covered by a mere cloud and was only visible half the time. He discovered there was a single omnipotent God who was above and beyond all the others. Unfortunately the Incas had no one who brought the Gospel to them before the Conquistadors wiped them out.

My favorite account in the book was of the Santal of India. When missionaries Lars Skresfrud and Hans Borreson arrived, they heard of the stories of their history. The Santal has an account of Thakur Jiu, the Supreme God, interacting with an “Adam and Eve” who listened to “Lita” by making rice beer, getting drunk, and waking up realizing they were naked. Then the people then the people had to flee to Mount Harata to escape a flood. Those people settled in a plain, Sasan Beda, before Thakur Jiu scattered them. If you are remotely familiar with Genesis 1-11, this is quite spot on. The Santal tried to cross the mountains (likely Himilayan) and began to serve other gods to pass through and knowledge of Thakur Jiu was lost to legend but always stuck around.

I would go on and on, but one thing Richardson kept pointing out was how all these tribes had within their culture the things that pointed to God. These peoples were lost, but many of them longed for and sought the answer that was promised. Some were known to be waiting for “the book from God.” Others had very strange cultural practices that just so happened to be similar to those of the Hebrews. The Asmat of Netherlands New Guinea had a “scapegoat” tradition AND a “re-birthing” tradition. There was no need to try to explain what being born again meant to the Asmat because they already knew it. Richardson makes explicitly clear that all these legends and traditions were not “gospel truth,” but mere pictures of what God had in store for them, shadows of what Christ was to do. It is actually little different than what the Hebrews had. They had numerous pictures of what Christ was to do, while the picture itself was not the fulfilling promise. The difference between the general revelations of the different tribes and the special revelation of the Hebrews was that God had a direct hand in giving the Word to the Hebrews and validated it in numerous way that I do not have the space to get into here.

Richardson then also shows how through the entire Bible, God shows that the intention of giving the Hebrews his Word and his standards was not to make them “special” but so they could be the instruments to take it to the whole world. And through most of the Bible, we see a heavy reluctance in doing that.

Missions is Richardson’s driving point in this book. His goal and purpose was to encourage people to get out of their comfort zones and fulfill the “bottom line” of the original promise to Abraham (to bless all nations). However, what I see in this book is how the Biblical Worldview shows to be true. If the accounts of Genesis 1-11 are true, we should expect to see the different people’s tribes to have stories of the global events of Creation, Sin, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel dispersion. And we do. Richardson actually takes a whole chapter to address how the worldview issue has been attacked.

He addresses Edward Tylor who used Darwinian thinking (and the predecessor theories) to suggest a complete different history than what is actually there. Tylor suggests that monotheism came from polytheism which was just an invention to explain the soul and emotion. This theory also suggests that all peoples are “running a race” and the most advanced people group (Europeans at this time) had the right to dictate the standards for everyone else. Instead reality shows each people group is running a “different race.” Tylor theory was complete debunked but it has numerous “children” which are rampant today. The modern history textbooks, Evolution, and general secular humanism are all fruits of what Tylor compiled together and all of it has a specific purpose - the blind the eyes of the next generation from the actual history - which all points to Genesis 1-11.

Eternity in Their Hearts rang a lot of bells with me. With each section that lightbulb of awe lit up. I now know how to address how these people groups could be saved without hearing the Gospel: by looking forward to the coming of the Message, the same way the Jews before Christ were saved. This book is one I strongly recommend. Richardson is well-read and well-researched, and what he reveals matches precisely what we should expect if we take the Bible as truth. If it is not in your library, add it.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Charlie Wolcott

This will be my last post on this mini-series on missions. I’ve written about why we go and whether short-term or long-term is better. Today, I will address who goes with you. Answers in Genesis had an article about missions and whether children should go with you and one person had a very emotional-driven comment about how one should never bring their children along on the mission field because you will not be able to focus on the missions. Is this true?

Who should go with you to the mission field? Who do you take with you? Do you wait to be empty nesters and your kids are gone? Do you send your teenagers? What about your grandparents? What about the handicapped that want to serve? I come from a very unique perspective because International Family Missions was perhaps the only organization in the world that actually focused on family missions - how to do ministry as a family unit. We took everybody on our trips: toddlers, kids, teens, adults, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, physically handicapped, and if possible even some people with special needs. The majority of mission groups out there may allow couples to take their children, but the children were more seen as extra baggage. They were not implemented into ministry plan. IFM, however, explicitly plugged in anyone and everyone who came.

I have a good friend who is severely physically handicapped. He can barely walk on crutches and is often wheelchair bound. Yet when he would come on our trips, he often had kids flocking around him. Image how much of an impact that has. He can’t walk and yet he comes into the desert, sits in the dirt with the kids and just loves on them. He has a major physical weakness and yet God uses him greatly.

One of the greatest moments of my missions experience came when I was just eight years old. I had my own challenges growing up and being off my routine had devastating results. Anyone who has been on a mission trip knows that “routine” is just not going to happen. I was not very popular among the other kids on the trip and I was often left out of the activities they were doing. So I was just hanging around the bus while the leader of our team spoke to several local pastors in the area explaining what we do. Our leader asked me to grab a “Wordless Book” and show how we can explain the Gospel using a five color felt booklet. The pastors were amazed how a child of my age, not even knowing my background, could explain the Gospel so simply.

Now because of the age and physical limitations of many of IFM’s groups, we did not do a lot of work projects, but rather did “visits in Jesus’ name.” It was much more relationally focused. Again, there is nothing wrong with work projects, and there is nothing wrong with helps. I have nothing against groups like Mercy Ships who come to provide medical attention to many desperate people. And it can be a challenge for children to come along with those types of things.

Those who refuse to allow children to come, however, tend to have other things in mind besides “focus on the ministry.” They think of the child’s safety. They think of typical American family life rather than letting the children see a lifestyle other than their own. Two stories come to mind that many mission organizations would find completely outrageous. Two children, Steve Saint and Bramwell Booth, were exposed to missions at an early age. And both were in places no “normal” or “wise” parent would ever take them.

Steve Saint was just a boy when his parents, along with Jim Eliot and others, sought to bring the Gospel to the Wadoni Tribe of Ecuador, a very violent tribe on the verge of self-extinction. Most people would consider the move to be extremely foolish, but not as foolish as what his mother did after Nate Saint, Jim Eliot, and three friends were killed: the widowed wives went into the jungle with their kids in tow to directly minister to the tribe. The story re-told in the movie “End of the Spear” is one of courage and obedience to the Lord, no matter what the cost.

William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, did not travel to the jungles of the Amazon or to China. He went to one of the most impoverished civilized areas of the world: the East End of London, where just a mile away, the West End was one of the wealthiest areas of the world at the time. William Booth sought out the destitute and the worst of sinners in London. It is reported that at least one occasion, William took his son Bramwell into one of the pubs in the East End, showed him the decadence and told him, “Bramwell, these are our people.” Bramwell was 11 years old at this time.

Most people in their right mind would never consider doing that. Many God-fearing, Bible-believing people would never consider taking their children along on mission trips where they might be exposed to the darkness, the drunkenness, the violence, the language, the smell, the decay, the death. But one thing I have learned in my own missions experience: following the Lord in obedience is often ridiculous. It often sounds stupid and foolish and unwise. My parents were told repeatedly not to take me to Juarez with IFM, and their response was this: even after I had regressed tremendously as a result of the first trip, they said they would take me again, and again, and again. And because of that, I am able to do what I am doing today and I have the heart to expand the Kingdom of God that I have today. The people who told my parents not to take me were well meaning. But they were thinking in the natural, they were not thinking as God was thinking. And had my parents listened to that advice, I would truly be held back from where God wanted me to be.

Now to be absolutely clear, I am NOT by any means suggesting everyone should take their children with them on missions. That is something between them and God. Not everyone is called to go out to the jungles or to the deep inner city. Everyone has a job to do in serving the Kingdom and some of those jobs are to be the financial basis for those going out. My purpose of this post is to not let fear and the natural mind keep you from taking who needs to go with you. If you have kids and God calls you to go, you need to go. He is not just calling you; he is calling your kids as well. My parents were called to serve in Juarez for 22 years. He did not just call them; he called me too. Even though I was just a child, I was called to go too. Even though I did not know I was being called at the time, I was to go. And it was one of the wisest decisions my parents ever made for me growing up.

Wherever you are, whoever is with you, wherever God takes you, the best place to be is in the center of God’s will. If you are obedient to the Lord, you are safer in the middle of a war-zone in God’s will than you are in the comforts of your home outside of his will. God has called us all to make disciples of all nations. He has called us to preach to Gospel to anyone we can. And let those around you see how it is done. Because if you don’t, how will they know?

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Charlie Wolcott

Last week, I wrote about the need for missions, the need to go share the Gospel. Today I want to expound upon that and address how we should go. One of the more popular methods for going out and sharing the Gospel is the short-term mission trip. There are many perks to the short-term mission trip, however, there are also many concerns. I wrote last week how I grew up with my parents serving with International Family Missions. My family was there long-term, but most of the people we worked with were there short-term. So I know and understand both sides of this debate.

First, let me examine the perks of short-term missions. For those who like the comforts of American life, short-term mission trips can offer the chance to go share the Gospel, but in the back of your mind, there is always that “expected date of return.” You know when you get to go back home. You get to experience the life of others, but know you get to return to what you have grown accustomed to. Other perks include being helpful to the other people without staying so long that you are a burden to them. While you come to bless others, you often find yourself being blessed even more. And the greatest joy is getting to see people come to Christ.

However, there are some catches. While I mentioned the expected date of return, such a mentality can very easily make the mission trip becoming nothing more than a memory just a matter of days to weeks after the trip. Being there for such a short time does not leave room for discipleship and continual training. So it is easy for such trips to be more about making converts and receiving proclamations of faith when you really don’t know if such a decision actually carried anything real with it.

I have seen many great things take place with short term mission trips. I’ve seen food multiply. I’ve seen many people get authentically saved. And I’ve seen people who were not called to Juarez, Mexico long-term return home changed people. One family that came on IFM trips took the model we used in Juarez and moved to Cambodia long-term and used that model there. Another family soon stopped coming with IFM because they could do it on their own with ease. They founded the Lifelight Music Festival, one of the largest Christian music festivals in the nation in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That festival is a fruit of what God did through short-term mission trips. Another family still was locked into a hyper-conservative church - suits/ties and dresses only, only an organ for music (guitar was considered blasphemous). This family came and saw other cultures and they left that church (as did others) and were free to follow God as they were led.

However, I have seen the dark side of it as well, when the concept is used wrongly. There were a number of people on the trips that treated it as a vacation. They came as tourists and instead of seeking to meet the needs of the people of Juarez, they sought to bring their American ideals and comforts as they came to visit. The people being “served” can tell very quickly if someone comes with an authentic care for them or if they are there to “do their good deed.”

Another problem is when the focus becomes on work projects. Not that helping the people with their buildings and property is bad, but I’ll never forget a comment the kids of an orphanage we visited who had many groups coming said: “The other groups build our houses and paint our fences, but you are the first ones to just come and play with us.” I am not knocking work projects entirely, but it does not take long for that to become the focus and the relational side of things are ignored. Sure many of these groups will do VBS camps and preach the Gospel, but how many of these groups would do something like visit an orphanage so the staff could have just a few hours of breathing room? Not many.

There one other major problem with short-term mission trips. Jesus told us to make disciples of all nations, not converts. The short-term trips do not take long for the people to seek as many fast decisions and proclamations of faith as possible, when in reality there is no evidence that such a person ever was born again. That is a dangerous product of American church culture: the false conversion, making a statement of faith, saying a prayer, and being declared saved, when there is no regeneration, miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. My post two weeks ago about if your salvation is real is important to understand here. In short-term trips, how can you be sure those you are witnessing to are saved? The answer to that one is to use the long-term missionaries or the church staff who can continue with follow up. So what about long-term missions? The perks are interesting. You get full commitment to the area you are ministering to, and saying goodbye is not as hard of a chore, because you know you will be back. You get to disciple and train people to become followers of Christ. You get to know their culture and know better how to reach them. You get to see the fruit of your works more often than with short-term trips.

There are challenges as well. Long-term missionaries do not get to return quickly to the perks of comfortable life. It could mean putting your life on the line. One long-term missionary I know is a church planter. During one service, a gun man came into the church, pointed the gun into his face at point-blank range, and fired. The gun did not go off. Five times he tried and it never went off. But when he ran outside and engaged with Juarez police, it worked just fine. Another worship pastor’s son faced other gunmen and took 38 bullets before going down. Several others lost their lives, but the only reason the entire team was not wiped out was because they ran out of bullets. Long-term missionaries tend to get the diseases. Some do not see fruit for decades.

Which one is best? The answer is neither. The real secret to missional work is just obedience to the Lord. Go where he sends, when he sends you, and with whom he sends you. If you go short-term, use that experience to give you a missions-minded perspective and think about how you can use that wherever you are. Your very neighborhood could be your ‘long-term’ mission field. But remember that the real reason for missions is not to “help the people” but rather to serve the King.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

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.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

“You stole our land, and I hate white people! Leave us alone!”
 
These words were quite a rude awakening to hear as the leader of our mission trip to minister to the homeless in Toronto, Canada. I can only imagine what the high school students thought who were with me.
 
The man who spoke those harsh words was a Native American in a wheelchair with a cast on his leg. He was a very large man who didn’t look, talk, or smell like the five students I had with me from a small town in Ohio. I pretty much had nothing in common with this man either. He was accompanied by a Native American woman who must have been his wife, girlfriend, or sister but I am unsure.
 
Before he told us to leave, we tried talking to them about life or whatever they wanted to discuss, but he was pretty angry at the world and put most of the blame on society and everyone else. He wouldn’t let us touch him and neither would his companion. I’ll just say this: witnessing to them about the love of Jesus Christ wasn’t going well, for they wanted to hear nothing about it. We did our best just to be civil and loving toward them but soon moved on.
 
After our amazing day at an intersection with a bunch of street kids (you can read about this in a previous blog), we needed to head back to meet up with our group.  We only had about 10 minutes to make a 15 minute walk, so I knew we had to hoof it.
 
On our way, one of the youth in our group heard someone say, “Help, help us please.”
 
I heard it too and almost kept going, but the student stopped and looked so we all stopped. It was the Native American lady from earlier in the day. She said, “Ronnie’s hurt. He fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t get him back in it. He’s behind that wall and I think he’s hurt pretty bad. Please help.”
 
We all knew our group was waiting for us but it didn’t matter. Why else had we gone up to Canada in the first place but to show people the love of Christ? Our group would have to wait. We hoped they would understand.
 
Not only were we able to help this man into his wheelchair, but also they both were willing to have an enjoyable conversation with us. They were even receptive to hearing the Good News about Jesus Christ and His love for them.
 
We were able to pray with them and pray for the healing of Ronnie’s leg. We even were able to share some food with them as well.  By both our actions and our words, we had the privilege of being witnesses.
 
Acts 1:7-8: Jesus said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
 
Were lives changed on that trip? Yes! And I’m not just talking about the two people from Toronto. I’m sure that our interactions on that mission trip left a lasting impression on the hearts of the students just as they did on mine.

Due to the current state of the economy in the United States, in which funding seems to be drying up all over the country, many churches and ministries are trying to find places to cut spending. One area that churches seem to cut are youth group mission trips.

But I want to stress the importance of sending our youth out into the world on mission trips. A wise friend once told me that short-term mission trips are not only for the people you are going to see to tell them about Jesus, but also for the students and adult leaders that go on the trip. That intrigued me because I really didn’t understand what they meant until I saw it in action myself.

On a mission trip I led to Toronto, Canada, our whole group was pretty nervous. I think it was partly because I was leading my first mission trip, and many of the adult leaders didn’t know if I’d be a good leader or not. Honestly, I wasn’t too sure about it either. Would I be a good delegator and not micro-manage this trip, or would I need to have everything go through me? Did I train everyone enough for the trip? Were we really ready for this ten-day trip?

The answer to this last question was yes and no.

You see, we were trained and ready but then we needed to act! We needed to have the courage to do what we had been trained to do. We actually went onto the streets and not only found the homeless, street kids, and outcasts of society, but also sat down with them and listened. We touched them, gave them hugs, and shook their hands.

The small group of students that I had with me was a shy bunch that had major potential for leadership but needed to be challenged into action. As we walked the streets of Toronto, we came upon some street kids at a very busy intersection of the city. I think there were about five of us and about fifteen street kids. They didn’t look too rough, but it was obvious that we weren’t the type of people with whom they would associate.

After awhile, we struck up a conversation about what they were doing. When the light turned red, several of them would run out into the street and wash the windshields of the cars waiting at the red light. I asked them, “Why are you doing this?”

One of them answered, “We are working and this is how we make money. Want to try?” He shoved the squeegee (which was obviously stolen from a gas station) toward me. I looked at the students that were with me and saw that they were as freaked as I was. I grabbed the squeegee and said, “Sure.” I must admit I was thinking, “What am I doing? Am I being a good example right now?”

I was 28 years old and, I admit, was a little scared to run out into the intersection and wash a stranger’s windshield. But when I was done, the driver cracked his window open and gave me $2 Canadian. Then the street kids started yelling at me. I thought they were cheering me on, saying good job, but they were actually yelling at me to get my butt off the street because the light was about to change green. From what I had learned that day, most of the drivers looked at these kids as a nuisance. Thankfully, I made it off the street in time, and we continued to hang out with the kids for a few hours.

After the first hour, these street kids asked us what we were doing in Canada hanging out with them. I looked at them and said, “We came up here to spend time with people on the street and tell them about the love Jesus has for them.”

One of the street kids said, “You want to show us love, huh? Then go get us some bottled water because we are almost out and won’t be able to make any more money today.”

The students with me were all for that! In fact, they even pooled their meal money together to help these street kids. I don’t know how much money was made that day or if any of those kids ever turned to Christ, but two things I do know: 1) people learned of God’s love that day in and through us and 2) the group of students I was with, from a small town in Ohio, were changed forever.

James 1:27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I Corinthians 9:19-23: Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

"Always do everything you ask of those you command." - George S. Patton Jr.

In my first year as a youth minister, I took a group of students and adults to Toronto, Canada for a mission trip.

The mission organization’s group leaders took us to a park that, in the evening, was known for immoral activity but during the day was safe. So we took our group of high school students and adult leaders to this park and began to worship God through music and interacting with the few people that we could see in the park. As we began to play music, something very interesting happened: people we hadn’t seen in the bushes and surrounding areas came out to join us. It was obvious that many of these people were homeless or didn’t have anything except for the clothes on their backs. Some of them began to worship with us and others just needed someone to listen as they talked.

Before we left for Canada, I had trained our students and adult leaders as well as I knew how and was very pleased with how well our group from our small town in the United States was doing in this situation. I was excited because I could see these students and adults really getting into helping and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with these people.

I had no idea that what we were about to experience was not only going to change our youth ministry but also change me forever.

While we continued to worship, I noticed a man coming toward us who looked as if he had been in a fight not long before our arrival in the park. As he came closer, I realized that this man was covered in blood. To this day I do not know if it was his own blood or someone else’s, but I will tell you what went through my mind:

- I immediately thought of the safety of these students and adults for which I was responsible.
- Since I didn’t know what he needed or if he was dangerous, I immediately began to consider how I could keep this man a safe distance from everyone.

- I thought of my wife whom I had married 10 months earlier, our relationship, and our first child with whom she was pregnant.

I was very afraid as I thought of my new family, for I didn’t know if I would contract some sort of disease from this blood-covered man.

Then it happened! As the man approached me, he stuck out his hand to shake mine in friendship. I was frozen for what seemed like a minute, but I’m sure it was only about a second. What should I do? Then my spirit heard the voice of God say, “Jesus would touch this man.” I knew I had only a split second to obey or disobey God’s leading. I could either touch this man and quite possibly ruin my life, or I could keep him away from me and everyone else so that we were safe but still getting him help. Or I could touch him as Jesus would have touched a leper and welcome him into the group.

I am pleased to say that God gave me the strength to obey His leading. I stuck out my hand. We shook hands and then embraced. We talked for a while, and our group not only got him something to eat but also got him to the right people to get help.

I tell you this story so you understand the importance of your actions and obeying God’s voice when He asks you to do something for Him. You see, your life is not your own. It belongs to God.
I can also tell you, I believe, that that one event in a large park in Canada changed the entire scope of the youth ministry at the church I was serving and in the surrounding community when we returned home.

Why?

Because I heard and obeyed God’s voice, those students as well as the adult leaders knew that I was completely sold out to Christ. They knew that I was willing to put my life on the line to not only help others for the Lord but also to further Christ’s Kingdom.

I am pleased to say that this one event started a revolution in many people in our community that continues to grow throughout the world.

All I did was follow Jesus’ example in ministry! We all need to do the same right now. We need not fear humans or the circumstances we are in; we only must fear and respect God. Only when we grasp and live by this concept will we start to see some progress in society. Jesus trained His disciples by being with them and showing them how to live. He sunk His life into them. If you are a youth leader, pastor, or other Christian leader in your community, who are your disciples? Are they learning how to live the way of Christ or the way of man?

Write down at least three people you need to spend time with and disciple. If you are already meeting with these people, then start spending even more time with them.

Read God’s Word, listen for His voice, and obey His leading. This is all that matters in life. Once we put ourselves behind God and, without fear, put others before ourselves, we will see and experience a mighty work of God. Until that happens, we will continue to live our boring lives sitting in front of the television and computers watching life go by day after day. It’s time we live the adventure.

For further reading on learning Christ’s ways, check out:

Luke 10:1–24 Read carefully and put into practice what Jesus does here. Start learning how to train from the greatest leader ever. He sunk in to the few to further His Kingdom and He is STILL followed today. After all, He walked the earth over 2,000 years ago. He must have done something right.

Luke 10:25–37 How should we treat others? Let’s follow the example of Christ.