Missions

So often we find ourselves overwhelmed by missions. “Save the heathens!” We try and become the Holy Spirit and try to convert people to Christianity, but that is not our job. We look at the numbers and become overwhelmed. What happens when the masses are concentrated down to the face of a little boy, a little boy who has no home, does not speak or hear, a little boy who feels alone in the world? When we focus on numbers, we do nothing, but when we focus on each individual soul, lives are changed.
I know I have been called to foreign missions, to go into all the world, but it has always been me thinking of it being my responsibility for people to change. It’s not though. A few weeks ago I asked God to give me a heart like His. I found myself torn up by campers who went home, and I found myself overjoyed when just one camper came to Jesus. This week missions hit me hard in the face. Meeting the little boy, and having to learn how to communicate to him is just a small picture of what reaching the unreached will likely be like. Having to learn how to communicate, build relationships, and teaching them little by little. I have seen such amazing things this week. Some of us were talking and it became evident the work that God had from the beginning. All of us put together we cover all the bases as far as relating to kids, if we took even one person out we would be less effective. Truly God put this team together.

Missions

I do not know how many times I have posted about missions. If you have not guessed it is something about which I am passionate. Up until about 45 minutes ago I believe that after I graduated from Wayland I would spend the rest of my life in missions in Nicaragua... Oh no, see tonight as I was sketching the life cycle of bread mold I was only about halfway focused (I know) because I was thinking and praying about Nicaragua and missions. Then out of nowhere I felt God saying, "I have a much bigger plan for your life then what you have planned." Well ok initial reaction (please no judgements) can we please save the epiphanies for after I am done with biology, a little irreverent? yes. Minorly sarcastic? have you met me? Of course I thought about what had just happened and started to realize, yes I will be going to Nicaragua, yes I will be ministering to the deaf, but that is not the rest of my life, that is just the beginning before going to the "ends of the earth" Not entirely sure where else God has planned, but I know that His plan is a lot more elaborate and a lot more extensive then just one place.

Missions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTVpyUOR_fI

You know I am really getting more and more frustrated here. I live in the Bible belt, roughly 30 congregations that claim Jesus as Lord in my town of 3000. I am not only frustrated that the body of Christ is dismembered into 30ish segments in this town alone, but I am also frustrated that the Great Commission "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." which was the last thing Jesus said to his disciples does not seem to be carried out anymore. I see churches whose focuses seem to be on reaching those inside the church or else those with the city. There are occasions when they support a single people group that is considered unreached, but why do we only focus on one group of people. If there are 3o congregations in my town, it is probably safe to assume the number reaches somewhere close to 100 in a larger town 30 miles from here. What if every single church in America that had a congregation of lets say 150 or more chose to train and sponsor missionaries to unreached people groups? What if people instead of focusing on making the church bigger, better, or prettier, started moving, started denying themselves and went into the world and reached those people?

A biggerr piece of the picture

I have known for a while that God wants me in missions, last year He gave me the where (Nicaragua), then a couple weeks ago He gave me the who, the deaf. If you don't know I am going to school to become a teacher. So I started researching and I found a couple who works at a deaf school in Nicaragua. I am beginning to correspond with them and in a few years hopefully in a few years I will be down there. check out their site
makingadifferenceinnicaragua.org

Missions

Matthew 28:19 says to go into all the world and teach the nations. He did not say, "I call you to be a missionary." No He said it to everyone. I was reading on the new this morning that the death toll in China is about 3000, Haiti was in the hundreds of thousands. I can guarantee (that took 4 tries to spell correctly, Mrs. Morris) you that not everyone who died this past year was Christian. Why aren't we being effective, why are we sitting back, twiddling our thumbs thinking, "well maybe tomorrow..." James warns about boasting about tomorrow, as does Proverbs 27:1. The time is now not tomorrow. You don't know what could happen tonight or tomorrow. If you were to die tonight whose fault is it that your unsaved friends do not know about Christ. Maybe you are reading this and thinking, "well I don't have any unsaved friends." Ha! well it sounds like a good idea to go out and make some friends. A few months ago I didn't have any unsaved friends. Guess what I prayed and now I am now working with more unsaved people then I could count. Many of whom are now friends. James 2 states that faith without works is dead. If you claim that Christ changed your life you should be out there proving it.

Spiritual Gift

I took a spiritual gift test. Here are my highest along with their description. The first two were tied as the highest.

Missionary: "the ability to communicate across cultural barriers and plant churches where there is no knowledge of the gospel. It is usually acompanied with a distinct calling and a miraculous lifestyle. In Greek (apostolos) 'a sent one', or 'a messenger', a Missionary. Sometimes called the gift of Apostle, although true apostles were required to have seen the risen Lord."

Prophecy: "speaking what God wants said with clarity, creativity, and power. It is also caled the gift of Preaching. The primary ministry in this gift is not prediction, but in confronting people with the truth about God and man - with conviction and repentance as the result."

Serving: "a gift which expresses the love of Christ by taking care of lowly or time-consuming tasks to allow others to be more effective ministers. Similar to the gift of Helps, but here the work performed is menial rather than skilled."