April 25th, 2010 by Joe

The missions fest ended today with the last of four worship services at Heritage Christian Church. What an incredible weekend turnout and response! So many people committed to spend at least two years in a foreign country evangelizing! Many others quickly committed to short term mission trip; Heritage had many great trips to great countries to choose from. As for me; Hungary will be the destination – we leave in mid June for two weeks. The whole family is going as well; it is time for my kids to see what missions work involves and just how important it is for us as believers. I am really looking forward to the town of Baja, around 3 hours south of Budapest. I believe God is going to to mighty things there, and it is one stop for our band on the trip.

I was appalled at the baggage charge I incurred on this trip – $375 total for shipping my amp both ways. That’s more than twice what it used to be. Part of me is thinking about a different means of bringing my sound with me – to the tune of $900, or raising even more support for my missions activities! The $900 option is a whole new system that would fit in my backpack and sound just fine…we’ll see what happens there…

The speaker at the missions fest was Mike Hack, who flew in from South Africa to speak about the importance of work in the missions field. He told a story of a widow that impacted so many people around her that they continued to donate money to her. She was quite happy to live on her meager income, and so took all of the donated money – to the tune of $4000/year – and gave it to 8 missionaries out in the field! All the while, nobody knew she was doing this! It was discovered after the missionaries came back to their supporting churches and thanked them for the money they had provided over the years. The supporting churches had no knowledge of money going out (!), but the missionaries said the money had come from the lady…needless to say, she made a significant impact on their work!

Mike also told a story of a friend that had been kidnapped by Hezbolla and interrogated for 3 days straight, without breaks. When asked who had sent him, his friend simply replied “Jesus”. When asked who was funding his activities, he simply said “Jesus”. This continued for 3 days, until at last the commander released this man, saying “we actually believe your story, and we will let you go” – unheard of for Hezbolla. When told this, Mike’s friend said he was disappointed in their decision – he had hoped they would have converted to Christianity! As they released him in Gaza, blindfolded to the drop site, the commander expressed his emotion that he would miss Mike’s friend; he had been a man of integrity with them. Mike’s friend told the Hezbolla interrogator and commander that he, too, would miss them, and expressed his love for them as humans and children of God. At this the commander wept, and he was released.

In the next month, 500 shiite muslims converted to Christianity….

If you don’t think you can make an impact, think again…

April 24th, 2010 by Joe

I find myself this week in Westerville, OH, at Heritage Christian Church for their missions fest. This church is unbelievable; ten years ago, the senior pastor made a commitment to God that they would commit 10% of the church revenue to missions, and ramp it up to 20%! During that time, God has exploded the growth of this church, and they have sent missionaries to 13 countries so far. This summer they have no less than 6 trips on the planning board!

The message here is one of commitment – if God can get the money through you, he’ll give it to you. This is not a prosperity Gospel where I tell you to give more to God and he’ll make you rich. What I am saying is to make a commitment to God to live at a certain salary level, and commit to God that any income above that level you will send to missionaries or churches – or any charity for that matter! What happens next will most likely blow you away! My wife and I are doing this right now; looking to define what we really NEED, not WANT and committing the rest to charity. I’ll keep you posted.

Another challenge is that of prayer for the nations. Between 10 degrees and 40 degrees north latitude exists a band of humanity that has no knowledge of Jesus Christ. As Americans, we find it hard to believe this, but there are really people out there that absolutely do not know about Jesus and his resurrection! Our job as missionaries is to get the word out, so that others may know of what Christ offers them. Look at a map sometime in the 10-40 window, as it is known, and pick some small town in a far off land. Start to pray for that town, that a church would be formed and people saved. Watch what begins to happen in your life. See those people in that far off land as children of God; loved by their creator. Forget their politics or current religous beliefs. Forgive their land for worshipping other gods or idols, and pray the name of Jesus will be known and the Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to all!

Keep me posted on what town you pick, and what God is doing through this!