Spiritual Experience • The Big 10
Missions — Impacting the World
About thirty-five years ago, I was a survivalist pastor. I just hoped we could make payroll. Then a Christian businessman invited a group of us pastors to tour missions work in Mexico. We ended up in Chiapas, in the southernmost part of the country. We walked into a tiny church building. Mayan Indian women were filing in — barefoot, babies wrapped on their backs, some of them having walked across a mountain for five hours just to get there.
They began to sing — in their native language, a language I didn't understand. But I watched their faces. And I realized: they're not crying because they're poor. They're crying because they're worshipping God. It was the purest expression of worship I have ever witnessed in my life. These people had almost nothing. And they were thanking God simply because He was a good God. That moment made a forever mark on my heart.
There are 195 nations on this earth and approximately eight billion people. Jesus looked at His followers and said: go. Not "go if you feel like it." Just go. Make disciples of all nations. That command hasn't expired, and it wasn't only for the first disciples — it's for all of us.
I understand the pushback I sometimes hear: why send money overseas when there are so many needs right here? It's a fair question. But the truth is, most people in our region have heard the gospel dozens of times — at the homeless shelter, at a church service, from a neighbor. There are people groups in Nigeria, Pakistan, India, in the mountains of southern Mexico, who have never heard the name of Jesus even once. They can't believe in someone they've never heard about.
At Church on the Rock, after we paid off our church mortgage, we invested $100,000 into Global Advance to reach three unreached nations — Nigeria, Pakistan, and India. I was told that over three hundred Muslim people in Nigeria alone had been baptized. With $5,000 from our Bible fund, we were able to send hundreds of Bibles to new believers who had never held one before. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing your resources are rippling out to the ends of the earth.
But more than the finances — if you want your heart to truly expand for the world, there is no substitute for going. I was a survivalist pastor until I went to Chiapas. One trip changed me forever. If you've never been on a short-term missions trip to an unreached people group, I want to invite you: come with us. We'll take you somewhere safe, somewhere real, somewhere that will indelibly mark your heart as an American Christian.
"If you want a vision for the world, go on a short-term missions trip. It will capture your heart in ways nothing else can."
Next Step: Talk to us about upcoming missions opportunities. Get your passport ready. And in the meantime, pray for the unreached peoples of the world — and give generously to help send the gospel where it has never gone before.