Posts Tagged ‘Missions’
The Crisis of Missions
(or, The Way God Can Use One Man) Uncle Tom’s Cabin first appeared in 1852 in serial form and was later published as a book, setting sales records. Its emotional portrayal of the suffering of black slaves in the south captured the attention of the country. A decade later, during the early days of the…
Read MoreWhen Is a Church Plant Finished?
Church planting seems pretty simple. Just evangelize and find a place to meet. Right? Actually, there is an important element still missing from this equation. A key component of a successful church plant is the training and appointing of leaders who can shepherd the church and carry out the Great Commission when the church planter…
Read MoreAdvancing God’s Work through Training Nationals
Some 30 years ago, a missionary friend of mine was talking to another missionary. The other missionary believed that the only valid missionaries were church planters. So my friend asked him who pastors the national churches that are planted. He answered, “Nationals.” Then my friend asked where these nationals are trained. He answered, “Bible institutes.”…
Read MoreThey’re Saved. They’re Baptized. Now What?
I sat on a colorful straw mat and looked around at the faces of thirteen newly-baptized believers eagerly waiting for me to lead them the next step toward becoming a fully-functioning church. Life in the provincial town of Pursat in 2006 was still hard for these first-generation Cambodian Christians. Most were uneducated. Although we were…
Read MoreHow Trials Erode the Christian’s Commitment to Gospel Work
Recently, bursts of machine gun fire echoed across the lobby of a hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. Al-Shabab had struck again. In 2013, 67 were murdered just across the street from where last week’s siege took place. In 2015, 148 students were also casualties in this continuing religious war between Somali terrorists and the Kenyan government.…
Read MorePraying Biblically for Your Missionary — Protection (Part 2)
The world is a dangerous place, especially for a Christian. Recall the battles, enemies, and temptations that Pilgrim faced in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress as he made his way to the Celestial City. In our last issue we considered some of the dangers as we noted that the fearless Apostle Paul asked prayer for protection,…
Read MorePraying Biblically for Your Missionary — Protection
Have you ever been shipwrecked? Probably not. Have you ever been robbed? Maybe. Have you ever been stoned for your faith in Christ? Not likely. But besides some of these dangerous experiences, Paul could truthfully and almost matter-of-factly say that he had been “in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine…
Read MoreFaithfulness When Progress is Slow
In 2010, I attended a funeral at Victory Baptist Church in the rural town of Whiteville, NC. I did not know then that in December of 2013, I would become the pastor of this small church and begin praying that God would bring new life to this congregation. But before that could happen, God needed…
Read MoreStrengthening Our Churches
John’s six-verse letter to the Ephesian church in Revelation 2 gave several commendations to a fifty-year old congregation. They labored diligently for the cause of Christ, willingly suffered for their faith, remained steadfast despite their trials, decisively defended the truth, and separated themselves from worldly influences. The church of Ephesus looked like many of our…
Read MoreIt’s About the Resurrection!
My phone rang, but the call was from an unknown number. The voice on the other end was a 25-year-old man named Daniel. He had received my number from a local Christian radio station and asked if we could meet. Daniel was in the midst of some dark and lonely trials and was even contemplating…
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