This article is cross-posted on ABWE.org. Several years ago, when I was contemplating a transition from my role as a youth pastor into missions mobilization, one of the questions that gripped me was: Am I deserting my “flock”? How many of the young adults I’m leaving behind will make shipwreck of their faith? As I … Continue reading Why Risk Is Still Right
5 Ways to Pray Missionally
We restless North Americans struggle immensely to prevail in prayer. I struggle in prayer. I see impoverished, persecuted believers in other parts of the world praying with fervor, corporately and individually, and I marvel at my own ineptitude when it comes to conversation with God. Yet prayer is an inescapable concept. Desperation of any sort produces dependence … Continue reading 5 Ways to Pray Missionally
The Power of God in Missions
Don’t have time to read? Listen to the sermon as it was preached on March 1, 2020 at Mount Calvary Church. Note: The following is a sermon manuscript and may contain typographical errors. The church of Jesus Christ is commanded to disciple all the nations, proclaiming the good news and brining all the peoples to … Continue reading The Power of God in Missions
Fruit Salad Diversity
Human beings are obstinately visual creatures. By this statement, I am referring not to all the typical examples of our visual nature—our propensity for art, the male species’ hard-wired infatuation with the optics of the female form, the fact that Baptist churches split over the color of the drapes, or. I am speaking, rather, of … Continue reading Fruit Salad Diversity
Pray This Missions Prayer in 2020
Note: This article was originally posted on ABWE’s blog. Goals and resolutions are helpful tools in the discipleship toolbox. The Christian life demands self-discipline and an orientation towards the future (Philippians 3:12-16). But resolutions aren’t without their difficulties. Often, we, like Israel, pledge obedience and fail to deliver (see Joshua 24:24). The power of our … Continue reading Pray This Missions Prayer in 2020
Great Commission Christianity Is Cosmic-Redemptive Christianity
Charles Spurgeon famously commented, “Of two evils, choose neither.” Well, to borrow from the prince of preachers, I’d like to argue: Given a choice in a false dichotomy, choose both. Recently, an scholarly evangelical voice took to the web to denounce what he termed “Great Commission Christianity,” defined loosely as “a truncated view of the … Continue reading Great Commission Christianity Is Cosmic-Redemptive Christianity
Why Do Missions When Our Own Nation Is in Flames?
Author’s note: This article is cross-posted on ABWE.org. If you’re anything like me, it’s been hard to pray for the nations when our own is in such turmoil. I speak from the perspective of an American, but I recognize that this conversation extends to people in any number of Western countries. As I write this post, the state of New York has … Continue reading Why Do Missions When Our Own Nation Is in Flames?
3 Reasons Definite Atonement is Basic to Biblical Missions
“Sit down, young man. When God decides to save the heathen, he will do it without your help.” These were the words of John Ryland to a passionate, young English Particular Baptist named William Carey, now known to us as the father of the modern missionary movement. Since then, the temptation to pit Reformed theology … Continue reading 3 Reasons Definite Atonement is Basic to Biblical Missions
Learn How to ‘Adult’ Before You ‘Missionary’
Author's note: This article is cross-posted on Founders.org and ABWE.org. Every head bowed, every eye closed. Good. Now, do you feel a stirring deep in your soul when I talk about missions? If so, stand up. If you’ve spent any time in evangelicalism, you know all too well this familiar scene, when the trajectory of one’s life boils down to a single, mystical moment … Continue reading Learn How to ‘Adult’ Before You ‘Missionary’
The Great Commission Isn’t a Farewell Address
Can you identify the sources of these famous last words? “Money can’t buy life.” “I’m so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.” “Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.” The answers are Bob Marley, J. Gresham Machen, and Karl Marx, in that order. A person’s deathbed words are … Continue reading The Great Commission Isn’t a Farewell Address
