Disciples making Disciples WORLDWIDE

OK. Thrice is no longer coincidence. Months ago, as our missional cell family studied through Radical, I had a stark realization that I (and maybe our entire faith community) were not doing enough to directly bring the Gospel to people world-wide. Within a few days, God made two potential opportunities available for me to go to India and train & encourage pastors from the persecuted church and preach the Gospel to some folks who have never heard it. I am looking forward to making that trip with Mike Harrison (the lead pastor of Parkland Chapel in Farmington that is sponsoring MAN UP in July), who is also feeling pressed to get the Gospel out to the world into populations that are growing up and dying without ever having heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. So, this was encounter number one -- OK, Tim Gray, what are YOU personally going to do to get the Gospel to some people who have never heard it? Kelley and I are going to make a very difficult and dangerous trip to India in September to see.

The second encounter (which actually may have been the first) took place in a very quiet moment at the house as I was reading a book written in 1962 that was given to me by one of the pastors at The Bridge named Lance Smith about world missions. I don’t remember the name of the book or the author, but I remember the epiphany. As I read the description of the importance of ALL Christians being concerned with getting the Gospel to the ENTIRE world, I originally reacted poorly, thinking this dude was some whack dispensationalist who was trying to put some goofy things in motion that would try and manipulate Christ into returning. I have to confess that I am overly sensitive to things like this since we have whackjobs out there trying to funnel MILLIONS of dollars to the secular nation of Israel to get all of the Jews back home there and rebuild the temple because they mistakenly believe that Christ will not return until those two things happen. This Spirit-filled author though was giving a correct analysis of Matthew 24:14 which states “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The author’s correct premise was that there were many people groups (obviously nations here mean people groups as nations have changed borders and names thousands of times since Jesus uttered these words) in 1962 that had not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ; therefore, our lack of attention to the commission of of Christ to preach the Gospel to the entire world, to make disciples of ALL PEOPLE GROUPS, had in effect made the fulfillment of this prophecy to be delayed. Jesus is clear that He will not return until all people groups have been exposed to the preaching of the Gospel. The church has a role to fill, and it has not gotten the job done. I immediately began praying for God to reveal the role of The Bridge in this mandate.

The return of Jesus is something that we should all pray for as John did as he closed out the Bible in Revelation 22 as he prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus.” So, I was still rolling around with the ramifications of this as I started reading Platt’s Radical Together, and here came punch number three. Platt brings up Matthew 24:14 again and declares that the disciples of God (all of us) MUST be daily concerned with not only discipling our families and our neighbors -- important stuff -- but with the Gospel being preached and disciples being made in every tiny corner of the globe. ALL OF US. Then, he had the punch in the gut. As Americans, we cannot imagine there being many people who have not heard of Jesus, but all of his research points to a fact that there probably about 6,000 people groups in the world right now that have not been exposed to the Gospel. And, some of these are going to be dangerous and TOUGH. The church worldwide is going to have to develop some true amazing disciples to get the Gospel into these places, and he brings back up the point that it MUST be the concern of all of us to do so. So, I thought immediately, “Is The Bridge Community Church, the church that I have the awesome privilege to lead, making the kind of disciples that will not only pray for this effort, but become actively engaged with resources AND personal investment into this commission?” Well, are we?

It was a great honor and privilege recently being involved on mission in Joplin, MO in the aftermath of the horrible tragedy there. We are called to serve people in need and the need there is great. It is the right thing to do, and I pray that Jesus will be made famous with our efforts. Upon returning though, I had a local church member (won’t say from where) telling me how glad he was that we went and did that because we were taking care of “our own.” I had to just walk away because I was livid -- downright angry. What is “our own?” Missourians? Americans? A quarter of a million people died in the tsunami in Indonesia - maybe near that many in the earthquake in Haiti! They are OUR OWN also! In Biblical terms, were their lives less important? How about Rwanda? Millions slaughtered by evil. The aids epidemic in Africa; the death of the real church in Europe -- the list is endless. Did this person mean that the American church had less mandate to bring the love of Jesus, the good news of the Gospel, to those situations than Joplin because the God-image-bearing people of those regions were less ‘our own.’ Different skin color - different nationality, what? This statement needs to be prayed over as it is not only offensive to God, but borders on downright racism sin. Look at this passage from Acts -- “Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’” (Acts 10:34-35) I am glad that we are able to help in Joplin because the need is great and its proximity allows for participation by a LOT of folks, and I feel hugely blessed by living in America. However, Missouri and the US are NOT our only mandate.

What has happened since God started blowing us up about this?
1. We have partnered with a church (TVCC of Paris, TN) to help plant a church in northern Haiti. This has also led to strong relationships with two mission/church planting organizations in the Cap Haitien area of Haiti.
2. Bridge members, Michael & Melissa Goldsmith, and their two children - Emilee & Seth - are headed to Haiti for the next month to work on these projects. We are not only sending money; we are sending people.
3. We have developed a relationship in India with CV Vadavana, the author of a book called Mission Fields (http://www.truthintlusa.org/page/page/7456871.htm), to help him support, encourage, and train pastors all over that country of 1 billion people that contains hundreds of the 6,000 people groups that have not heard the Gospel. This has been initiated by a blooming relationship with Parkland Chapel in Farmington. Kelley and I will be making our trip to India with Mike Harrison, the pastor there, and CV will be in the Parkland in July.
4. We have mission teams headed to Costa Rica and Nicaragua this summer.
5. We may have a couple beginning to work toward church planting with Stan Jackson & Ernest Ehabe in Cameroon, Africa.
5. We have planted multiple missional cells (home church missional communities) in St. Francois County this year.
6. We are supporting Journey Community Church in Herculaneum, MO and The Bridge Community Church in Nixa, MO as they plant missional communities in Jefferson County and Christian County.
7. Kelley and I, along with other current Bridge members, will be moving into the Arnold area starting in August (Kel & I will go in November) to start missional communities there with the intention of planting a full Bridge campus that would meet for its first worship celebration on March 18, 2012.
8. When the tornado hit Joplin, we sent teams in immediately and continue to have people go.
These efforts mean that we are involved in taking the Gospel and compassionate works to (Acts 1:8) Jerusalem (SFC, & surrounding counties), Judea & Samaria (Herky, Arnold, Nixa, Joplin), and to the ends of the earth (Haiti, India, Cameroon, other?).

I think we are getting it!
Disciples making disciples WORLDWIDE!

I started this blog (finishing days later) almost feel guilty as I sat 16 stories up in a high rise condo complex at Pensacola Beach, FL preparing to marry my niece. I looked at hundreds of people moving about below me like ants on the beautiful sand beaches that God has provided wondering if any of them are EVER concerned about the 2 billion people on the earth who have never heard the Gospel, let alone their friends and family that they profess to love. It was a good day with God, but I long for spending more time training up His people to GO and DO what He has really called us to do.