NLDC BACKSTAGE: March 2008

Missions Perspective

It was a sunny day in Medellin, Colombia and we were there, taking in the beauty of it all. The beauty of nature, the city, the culture, the people, and most of all the beauty of what Christ was doing in all of the above. We were in a park full of playing children and their parents. We went to the park that day in hopes that we might be able to lead a few people to the Lord, so we set up and did a few sketches. Before we knew it, at least one hundred and fifty people had gathered to watch. They were captivated by the story of Christ displayed through drama. With the help of our translator we presented the gospel message and gave an invitation to receive salvation. Over half of the crowd responded! Again with the help of several Spanish speaking believers from a local church every one of those people prayed to receive Jesus into their lives!

I believe that God ordained that moment. He brought those people to that park for that moment. He brought us all the way from the United States to that park for that moment. Moments like those are what make all of the planning, all of the fundraising, and all of the stress of a missions trip worthwhile. I pray that moments like those make it worthwhile not only for myself, and the others on my team, but for those that sewed a financial seed into the trip as well as those who were interceding for the trip.

I’ve heard Christians say that they are excited to go on a missions trip because they are going to “take Jesus” to their destination. I understand where they are coming from and I’ve probably said it myself, but I recently read a different perspective on missions. In his book “Velvet Elvis”, Rob Bell says, “Missions then is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of a God who is already there. It is almost as if being a good missionary means having really good eyesight. Or maybe it means teaching people to use their eyes to see things that have always been there; they just didn't realize it. You see God where others don't. And then you point him out.”

After all, isn’t God everywhere? Paul says in Romans 1:19-20 “…Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

I believe that I have seen God at work through short-term missions, so I decided to join him. If you believe that God is at work in this area, I encourage you to get involved as well. If you don’t have the time or resources to go on a trip yourself that does not mean you can’t get involved. Many of us can give of our finances to help spread the gospel overseas. What better cause to give to than the furthering of God’s Kingdom? If you are not able to go, or to give, you can certainly pray. Also, find ways that you can get involved in your own community. God’s mission is to every nation and the United States is actually the third most un-reached nation. So, ask yourself, or better yet ask the Lord how you can get involved. Where have you seen God working? In what ways can you join him?

~Erika Blue
NLDC Missions Coordinator

Testimony from the Road

My team had a youth service on Friday night. Honestly I would consider it more of an outreach service because many of the youth attending the service were unsaved. The youth normally come in about 6:00PM they then have the opportunity to hang out, play pool, basket ball and other things like that.

I was playing basketball with some of the kids when a fourteen Year old boy, named Mason, challenged me to play one on one. So I agreed and we played, and we had a great time. I really got to level with this kid and get to know him.

Later that evening we did the service and gave an alter call, and Mason came up for prayer to be saved. I got to lead him to Jesus which was awesome!

It was really cool because right now I’m reading a book by John Maxwell called “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” and in that book it stated that you have to reach a person’s heart before you can ask for their hand. Because I had the chance to talk with him before and connect with him by simply playing Basketball God used me to get to his heart so later I could lead him to God. I was able to take what I was learning from a book, and really see it in action.

So basically to sum it all up God rocks and He can teach us a lot from the little things if we let him.
~Jonathan Harrell