It's Not About Me!

It's about Him!  And him.  And her.   And that person standing over there and the one sitting on the bus.  And that person right there - the one you can't see because of that house standing in the way.  When I think about it a little bit more, I guess it is also a little bit about me, but its not ALL about me - definitely not ALL about me.   I have heard it preached, said, read and I have even preached it myself that everyone has a hole in their soul that only Jesus can fill.   Nothing else will fit.   After almost 25 years of preaching that message, I still think that is very true.    Almost all of us at one time or another has tried to fill that void with something other than what really fits - Jesus.   On another but very related matter, our churches are even struggling right now with empty spaces, because many of those who are in my line of business see nothing but empty seats where younger faces ought to be.    We understand that if we don't fill those seats with younger faces then at some point in the future our church ceases to be.    It's simple math, and those empty seats are a weekly visual reminder of our church's lifespan, and it seems right now to us to be in serious jeopardy.    As we wonder what we did wrong, some of us do everything we can to make our churches attractional to the younger crowd, because we know of the dire consequences that face our churches if we do not do something.   I can recite a litany of the steps that many of us have taken, but I won't here and now - maybe later.    In some places the steps seem to be working.   Crowds - younger crowds - gather.   We see this and we scramble to do what looks to be working over there, but honestly, in most places though it doesn't work.

I read an article the other day, that said 82% of millennials don't attend church (Relevant Magazine).   I kind of figured it would be higher, because I don't see 18 percent of them in the chairs or standing around in the halls, and I'm in a lot of different churches.   I have also read maybe a hundred articles about why many don't attend.   To me, it really boils down to just a couple or three reasons.  In no particular order those reasons are:

    1) They are disgusted with church.
    2) They have no idea what Jesus through His church has to offer.
    3) They just don't want to!

I get that.   I understand that.   1. Honestly, I too am often disgusted with church.  No not really the church so much, it's the people in the church that bother me.    You see in my position I often see how "good" people treat each other, and my heart breaks for all involved.  That's not Jesus; it's never Jesus; it's just selfishness couched in righteousness.   2. Even though I do have a great idea of what Jesus offers through His church, it still often surprises me as to what extent and length that the church does for good in the world.   Just look at the church's response to Hurricane Harvey in Texas and now as it is getting geared up to tackle the consequences of Irma and the next one coming in called Maria. This response is nothing short of amazing.   In my position I am privileged to hear the stories of actual people giving up their comforts and sometimes their lives so that others may live and find Jesus.   This is just incredible.   But if you don't happen to be in the KNOW about what Jesus accomplishes through His church, it's incredibly hard to find out, so people - especially millennials don't know, and they are steamrolled with tons of information, disinformation, false information or just the lack of it.   3. Don't get me wrong here, because I love the church; I serve Jesus through the church, but sometimes I just don't feel like going to church - my warm cozy king sized bed and a cup of coffee is something hard to get away from on a brisk fall morning.   And if a church goer is reading this and gets upset with me for saying this truth, you can't lie to me, because I know that sometimes you too feel this way.   It's normal.   We're human.

So with all that said, what is the church going to do about "attracting" millennials to itself - to fill those empty spaces with smiling young faces?   My recommendation is - stop trying.    Instead of trying to attract millennials to something they don't deem important - invite them to Jesus.   In the church business we've been trying to sell an address for a very long time, when we are supposed to be giving away a person - Jesus.   Once someone understands that Jesus is the only thing that fills that void in their souls then the church may very well become important to them, but even if that bridge isn't quickly crossed then JESUS is important to them.   Instead of asking a millennial to come hear our band or see our show, invite them with you as you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and love the unloveable.   Because it's about HIM.   It's about them; it's about me, and how all three interact.   You see what's really important are the real people with warm red blood and not brick and mortar or galvanized steel and glass.

Good day,
Steve

 

Africa or Bust

Years ago - about 40 years really - I said, “Yes Lord, I’ll follow you.”  About 20 years after making that commitment, I began trying to figure out what it actually meant for me and my family.    So I began a serious search to put a real meaning into that five word commitment.  I wanted to know what "Yes, Lord" means for the DuValls.  I knew "Yes, Lord" couldn't possibly mean sit in the pew; I wanted to put teeth to the phrase and make sense of my commitment.    So after several months of deep Bible study, prayer and thought, I wrote this simple purpose statement: “I will bring the world closer to Christ beginning with my family.”.  This purpose has guided my family through many decisions both big and small for all these years since.   This statement was written well before we felt called to overseas missions.   I didn't even consider the international portion of that statement when I wrote it; I just didn't feel like personally limiting what God might want to do with us.   The interesting thing is that when we finally felt that call to foriegn missions it made our decision to take our very young daughter and move to a place we had never seen so much easier.   For us it wasn't a leap into the unknown, but rather it was just a new turn in the adventure called “Following Jesus.”  That statement kept us overseas when it was rough being there.   There were times the language acquisition was extremely difficult and quite frustrating.   There were times when we felt terribly alone, but we stayed because that was the purpose of our lives.    We never questioned our decision.   That statement even brought us back to Georgia to care for aging parents when we really didn't want to come back to the states.    You see, Costa Rica was our home by then.   Our purpose has led us to places we never could have imagined nor dreamed possible.     

Recently that statement helped us make another decision.   As most of you know, both of my parents and Deb’s father have passed away.    It's been a long five years of mostly constant care, and as you might have guessed it has been a very hard few years for all of us both physically, mentally and spiritually, but it was worth every minute, not only because we loved our folks, but also because we were fulfilling that part of our lives’ purpose.   Right now we are getting our batteries recharged on the thirteenth floor in a condo in Panama city.   We are getting ready for the next adventure.  

A couple of months ago I was approached by Jimmy Barry, who is the president/CEO of International Missionaries for Christ.    Apparently, a mutual friend Mike Faulkner recommended me to serve alongside Jimmy with his mission agency.   I had never heard of this mission, nor did I know Jimmy Barry.   In fact, I wasn't looking to return overseas.  It was a shock when he called.   Honestly, I had figured in my mind that since the IMB was no longer looking to return us older guys back overseas, that my international adventures would be limited to leading the occasional mission trip, helping to plant ethnic churches here in the US and maybe influencing young men and women to consider a lifetime of service overseas.   I didn't even dare to hope that I would be able to again call myself a real live missionary.   Then out of the blue, Jimmy called and offered to buy my lunch.    We were scheduled to meet for an hour or so, but when we finally called it a meeting almost five hours had passed.   He asked me to consider working with him, and I said I would talk to Debbie and pray about it.    He asked for references and left our waitress a really big tip.   The next week  I did my research on him and his mission agency and came away very impressed.   At the same time he was contacting my references.   I think they exaggerated too much - probably just  to get rid of me - so they made me seem like a reasonable, well-intentioned adult, but whatever they said didn't scare him away.  

A week or so later he asked me to travel to Africa with him to see the work.   At first I hesitated partly because of family issues and partly to continue searching my heart and partly because it is 20 hours in the air.      My first thoughts were: “Why me God?   It's Africa.   What do I know about Africa?   I speak Spanish.”.  I did pray about it, but I found no peace.    I did find the thought exciting though, and it was nice for the old ego to be considered for the position.   When Barry called again, I suggested that there were better candidates.    In fact, I recommended a certain friend of mine.   I told Barry that my friend was fitter, faster, younger, and smarter.    Barry mostly ignored my recommendation and asked to meet face to face one more time.    He said, “I want you.   You were IMB trained.   This mission has continued IMB ministries that were abandoned.   I want you because you can work across the cultures.   I want you because you have been there and done that.  I want your contacts and your spirit.”.   (Actually, that's a pretty good paraphrase of what he said.).  After he said those nice things, I thought for a few moments, and my life’s purpose statement came flooding back into my mind, and I said, “Well then I guess I’m going to Africa.    I don't need to see the work, it's what I’m supposed to do.”.  

This past Sunday I stood in front of people I love with a letter of resignation in my pocket.    I decided not to read it, but rather share from my heart its contents while looking them in the eye.   You see, I love them too much to read a simple letter.   I’ll be with Macland Baptist Church until July 14 or so, and then I’m on a plane July 16 bound for Entebbe, Uganda, Africa.    I’ll work on two continents.   My missionary call and the purpose of our lives wil require me to be both in Africa and here in the US.   I'll let you know more as I know more, but thank you for taking the time to read this note.   Thank you for praying for us.   I'll even ask that you consider joining our efforts in East Central Africa.    I would love to host you - my friends - in your adventure of "FOLLOWING JESUS" overseas in Africa.   Come with me to Kenya or Uganda.   For us - it's Africa or bust.   

Where Have the Years All Gone?

Last Friday, we were listening to the Deans of all the individual schools that make up Shorter University in Rome intently.   Debbie and I wanted to know how they were planning to use our funds to educate our only child.   We didn’t want the work that we have done to be undone, and we were quite impressed with what we heard.  Later we toured the freshman dorms, and saw where our daughter was going to share a space with three other girls - one bathroom.   “That’s going to be interesting,” I thought.   Then Debbie and I sat together in the shade on a rock wall, eating what we lovingly called a $31,000 free BBQ sandwich, while watching a whole lot of university students playing on bouncy houses, volleyball and just chatting each other up.   You see the school brought in the party to give the kids a chance to blow off steam for FINALS week.    Sitting there we overheard some of their conversations.   Some were saying goodbye to each other.    Some for just the summer vacation, while others were graduating and heading off into the sunset on the next chapter of their lives.    One young man was bound for Colorado, another for New York.   We sat there for a little while holding each other’s hands.   We watched our daughter from afar walking around with her new friends and the free cotton candy.    I won’t say, but there may have been a little tear or two in the corners of our eyes.   Time moves on.   It does not stop for no one.   

Tuesday, the phone rang early.   I don’t know the time, but most likely it was way before fishermen even get their hooks wet.   Anyway, it was dark outside.    My mother in law was frantic.  “He’s fallen, and I can’t get him up.”   She said.   I grabbed my Bama baseball cap, threw my jeans on, and to their house I went.   It is just down the road, so it didn’t take me long to get there.   She met me at the door, and took me to him.   My father in law was in the floor.   She had covered him with a blanket and had given him a pillow.   I surveyed the scene and figured out the best course of action.   It didn’t take me long to get him up, so I looked around a bit.   I saw the familiar home where Debbie grew up.   I saw comfortable furniture.   I remembered sitting on that very couch while dating their daughter.   I remembered Christmases gathered around the tree in the den.   They all kind of run together now.   I remembered the picnics on the back porch or by the fire in the back yard.   I smiled remembering when I rebuilt his back deck when it was no longer safe to use.   Then I saw that I need to repair this deck.   It’s getting a bit old.   I looked around and there are quite a few things that I need to fix.   Ok, so I’ll just add all those items to my to-do list.   I finally remembered who I am, so I consoled my mother in law.   As I listened to her cry.  I thought to myself that this must be the first time that she put it together in her mind that things are different now.   I think she saw, that her husband is no longer the big strong man that she married when she was 17.   Yes, he cared for her that long, and time passes.   It does not stop for anyone.   

A couple of days later Debbie received another frantic call early in the morning, but this time the sun was already up.   The call from her mother didn’t really make sense.   She just said, “He needs an ambulance.   He can’t.”    We didn’t know what he couldn’t do, but we knew he needed an ambulance.   I called one on my phone, while Debbie was trying to calm her mother.   Of course the dispatcher wanted more information that I did not possess, so I gave Deb my phone, and off to the closet I went to grab my Bama baseball cap, jeans and tennis shoes.    Off to their house I went, while Debbie and Hannah were still getting ready and calling her sister.   I arrived just a bit after the ambulance and fire truck.  I love fire trucks.   They are so cool - red, shiny and big - what’s not to like I guess, but I digress.     Debbie’s sister had arrived just minutes before I did, and we watched as they carried my father in law to the ambulance from his bedroom.   My suggestion was that the sister get her mom ready while I follow the ambulance.   The EMTs strapped him in, connected some tubes, and pulled away.   As I was leaving behind my in-laws, Debbie and Hannah were arriving at their house.   I waved, and off I went to the ER at Kennestone.   I answered the questions that I could (Somehow I knew his middle name and birthdate -impressive right?).  They decided that the questions I couldn’t answer would not be a deal breaker, so they began working with him.   They began testing - took him for a cat scan.   They drew his blood.   They x-rayed his chest - took his temperature, connected him to the blood pressure machines.   They discovered that he is a good deal sicker than a man full of cancer should be.   You see he has also contracted pneumonia, and it has gone septic.   This big man who took care of so many things for so many people is moving on to a new world - sooner rather than later I suppose.   Then everyone began arriving to the ER.   I hugged my mother in law.    I took Debbie’s sister into the hall.   I told her, “You make the decisions.   Debbie will make sure everyone has something to eat.   If you have to make a decision that no one likes then blame things on me.   I am here for you and have been down this very road recently.”    I saw Debbie and of course she was feeding her dad ice chips.   What a girl!   God gave me a gift you know?   I don’t know what I did to deserve her.   I guess I just caught a break with God.   She looked at me with eyes that said everything, “I can’t go down this road again.   Why does everyone have to die on me?”    

Time moves on.   It does not stop or even slow down for anyone.    This means we as children of Christ have only a finite number of minutes to do the important things in life.   What are the important things?  You might ask.   Well, the important things are relationships.    First, the very most important relationship is the one with Jesus Christ the living Son of God.    Use these finite minutes to check your relationship to Him.   Are you secure in your salvation?   Are you sure?   Use the minutes you have been given to check your family’s, friends’, neighbors’, coworkers’ relationships to the ONE TRUE GOD.   There is no other way to heaven than through Jesus Christ.   If you don’t believe me check your Scriptures.   Or you can just trust me.   I know its’ there.      How about your relationship to others?   Do you really have time enough to spare to use in anger toward others.  Or perhaps in envy.   Wouldn’t it be a wiser use of our very limited time to be kind?   Loving?   Truthful?   

"Go Forward Church, Go Forward"

On January 5, Franklin Graham told almost 2000 chilly Idahoans who gathered at the capitol in Des Moines in his first Decision America event, “I believe we are perilously close to the moral tipping point for the survival of the United States of America.”   Later in his speech he strongly encouraged Christians to put feet to their prayers by becoming politically active, vote according to their Christian beliefs, and run for office, which is all well and good.   We should vote according to what we believe, and we ought to run for office if we think we can accomplish what needs to happen.     However, I am afraid that God’s people have too long been trying to legislate morality rather than working to change hearts.     You see, in the past, we had something called the blue laws, which restricted alcohol sales and movie theater showings on Sunday.   Before that we had prohibition which restricted alcohol sales completely for about 13 years or so.     That’s a nice thought and all, but here is the real deal: No one came to know Jesus because of the laws we encouraged to be enacted.   No life was dramatically turned around because of those laws.   In fact, prohibition encouraged the growth of organized crime. Here in the South it saw moonshining as an occupation, which in a weird twist of fate saw the birth of NASCAR.  There are a few moonshiners in my family’s history by the way, but don’t tell anyone.    It’s all hush-hush.   

Legislation is fine, but all it does is anger the sinner.   It is time that we live according to what we believe.   It is time that we look like a follower of Jesus.    It is time that we have compassion for those who have wrecked their lives because they have chosen worldly ways.     It is time that we befriend them and love them.   Our lives can show them that following Jesus may not offer the same kinds of thrills that a worldly lifestyle offers, but rather a life of following Jesus offers peace where there was none before.   It offers hope of something better.   It offers kindness and a family who will love you even with your warts and all the mess you bring with you.    

I challenge you today to befriend a neighbor, I mean really become a friend to someone who is lost.   Don’t preach at them.   Don’t highlight their ways, but rather show them love and compassion and a smiling face.    Pray for them, and let the Holy Spirit do His thing during your relationship.   You just stay out of God’s ways.   Don’t try to change their ways, before God changes their hearts.   If a heart is truly changed, then their lives will be transformed over time as they get closer and closer to their Savior.    As followers ourselves, we are given a mandate by Jesus to share what He has done with us with others.    It is our duty and our privilege, but I will be honest.   It often isn’t easy.   It sometimes makes us love those who are unlovable.   It sometimes places us in situations where we really don’t want to be.    It is messy doing God’s work, but it’s got to be done.    If we do what He told us to do, then we don’t have to run for office, because the one we reached is.   If we do what He told us to do, then we don’t have to legislate unacceptable behaviors because those behaviors will be changed from the inside.    God told the Israelites in Exodus 14 to quit your praying and go forward.    It’s time for us to “Go Forward.”    

Exodus 14:15  And the LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

Blessings,
Steve DuVall

Are We Practicing Missional Living?

Are We Practicing Missional Living?

Recently I was asked why I am so concerned with missions.   My short answer was, “That’s where the lost people are.” At the time, it did not occur to me to elaborate more, because if you want to know the truth, looking for the lost and figuring out ways to go there is just how my mind is wired. This concept of missions is so wired into my thinking that often I forget, that for most Christians, missions is a program.  It stands up there with Vacation Bible School or a couple of annual offerings taken to send to the missionaries, either foreign or at home. (For us Southern Baptists, one is called Lottie Moon - received for International Missions at Christmastime, and the other is Annie Armstrong - which is being received right now for North American mission efforts.)

I've discovered that there is no real Christian who would deny the importance of missions. “Go and teach, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” is a commandment probably memorized shortly after John 3:16.    Therefore all of us, who know Jesus, know deep down that He commanded missions.   You can read that during the early portion of His earthly ministry, Jesus spoke very little concerning missions, but during the final portion - the period between his resurrection and ascension - He spoke of little else. There were hundreds of matters that Jesus and His disciples could have discussed during the final forty days, but Christ’s mind was filled with encouraging us to take the good news everywhere.   What does that mean though? How do we make that commandment come alive in our day-to-day lives?  I think to many of us it is all just so confusing.  Honestly, I think the kind of church we have built in our culture even helps to obscure the meaning of Jesus’ commandment somewhat.  You see, we get very concerned with budgets, and I know that budgets are important. The power bill does come due - monthly.  We get concerned with attendance numbers, and numbers are important also, because the fourth book of the Bible is called Numbers.  (A lame preacher's joke by the way.)   We get concerned with all sorts of “churchy activities” so much so that our calendars and agendas are completely filled with studying for a lesson we are going to teach, attending choir practice, playing on the church softball team, or going to this committee meeting or that one.   The church and all that goes with being a church builds us a little fortress where we can come and be comfortable, and we come often!   Our friends go to church with us.  We raise our kids and grandkids here.  Our free time is spent taking care of all things church and going to its activities, so we get caught up in very busy and very fulfilling lives.   I think then that maybe we turn inward a little bit too much. You see, when all your friends and relatives know Jesus, it is hard to see the thousands around you who do not know Him, so it is quite understandable that we are confused about what Jesus’ command really means to our lives and how we live our lives under that command.

The only way I know to have Jesus’ command come alive in our hearts is to first seriously pray for the eyes of Jesus.   Pray that God would take away all the things that assault our senses and allow us to focus upon the condition of their souls. Ask Him to help us not see “worldly needs.”  The size of a person’s wallet has nothing to do with whether or not they will go to heaven or hell.  Ask Him to help us not see their level of education, because a few degrees behind someone’s name has never meant they were going to heaven.  Nor does the lack of the ability to read or write mean that one is bound for hell.   Ask Him to help us to look past the color of their skin or the accent upon their tongues.   Secondly, stop wherever you are and look around.   Look into people’s eyes.  Smile at them.   When you do, God will show you lostness.  Then you will see the reality that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This reality means everyone is bound for an eternity spent without the presence of Jesus in a place called Hell unless they call upon Jesus' name, ask for forgiveness and accept it.  This means to you and me that, while walking down the street, almost everyone we see will spend eternity in a place without hope.  This means where you work or where you go to school, the vast majority of those you know will spend eternity in Hell. When God shows you this lostness in your heart it will break.   Your heart will break.   It's then that you will weep in your car, and it is then that His commandment will come alive within your heart.  When that happens you will automatically pray, “God what can I do? Tell me Jesus, what can I do?”   I promise you, He will answer, and when He does, and we accept His answer, it guides what we do, how we do it, and how we think.   By the way the term for this is called “missional living.”   This, my friend, is the better answer to why I am so concerned with missions.  You see I have prayed that prayer.   I continue praying that prayer, and as a result I am always trying to watch, and every day God continues to show me that the lost really are out there.   I guess I need to be perfectly honest though. Sometimes, quite often, I fail at missional living.   I suppose there are a thousand and one reasons why I fail, but the bottom line is always - my selfishness - my sin.  You see, when we neglect the daily opportunities to share the truth about Jesus for fear of rejection, punishment, looking foolish or any other number of reasons, we are not living missional. We are more concerned with self than with others.  What possibly could be more important than the condition of someone’s soul? 

Top 5 Things Missionaries who are Stateside miss about a Thanksgiving Overseas

I've read several posts this season about what missionaries miss about Thanksgiving while overseas, so I thought I would write a short list looking at the same issue but from the other direction.   Here we go with my list of 5 things I miss about celebrating Thanksgiving while overseas:

1) The very clearly defined and deep sense of a truly thankful heart - (There are many things for which to be thankful, but here are a few highlights from those living and serving overseas: your sustenance in lands where plenty is rarely an option; for safety and not from the "Black Friday" mass of holiday shoppers; for signs of movement toward a relationship with Jesus among your people group; for the closeness that being in a foreign culture brings to your immediate family; for the wonderful opportunity that God has given you to truly see and learn about the real world we live in.)   

2) The closeness of your mission "family", gathered together somewhere in true koinonia (fellowship) and worshiping God.

3) The substitute turkey - in the form of chicken if you are lucky.

4) The introduction of your favorite holiday to your "National" Christian brothers and sisters - who always immediately sense its importance, and then watching them introduce this same holiday into their culture.

5) The almost frantic pre-thanksgiving holiday search for any of your favorite thanksgiving foods that you might prepare in order to remind you of "home."

Blessings and be truly thankful for what we have been given.

Steve

   

3 Steps to Penetrate the Community

“With Jesus in my heart and a Bible in my hand, I have more than I need to do whatever Jesus expects me to do.”    And with that phrase ringing in his ears, a rookie missionary was sent to reach the lost among people he had never met, in a language that he didn't know, and in a land that he had never seen.   Eventually that missionary – me – learned that Ken Sorrell was on to something very true.  So the question is: How can a follower of Christ penetrate a community with the life-changing message of Jesus?   

  

1. Get into the community.   I didn't have to learn this, because I knew it already.   I knew that I had to turn the TV off and leave my comfy couch to go into the community.   Few strangers were jumping at the chance to sit on my couch and watch a TV show with me that they couldn't understand.   The cold hard fact is that it is terribly hard to reach someone with a life changing message while you are sipping an iced tea watching the Amazing Race.   (My current favorite TV show, by the way.)   Common sense says, that for the Gospel to be shared one must be in a position to share it.   Paul said it this way in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (ESV)    How can they hear without being with them where they are to share it?   Some will say by internet, TV, print media, and radio.   Well, OK I’ll give you that, but are you absolutely certain that they heard it and understood it?   The message is just too important to leave to a chance encounter with a website.

2.  Connect with the community.  Quite often I would go into communities and hand out tract after tract – thousands and thousands of them over the years literally.   Sometimes as I was heading off to another destination in order to pass out even more tracts I would pass by people reading those tracts.   Good!  The Bible says in Isaiah 55:11, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”  (ESV)  Here is the thing though, after leaving the community I never knew what happened with the truth I shared.   It wasn’t long at all until I realized that I needed to stay awhile in order to see the fruit of my tract distribution.   Also after staying awhile I discovered that I was blessed deep inside somehow when I learned the names of those with whom I had shared a tract.   It might interest you to know what I did while “staying in the community.”  Well, honestly I did what I do best – hang out.   I have to admit, I am always a little bit envious of those missionaries who can bring really cool things to the game.   Some of them play football (soccer) really well, and they will play for hours with people in the park.   Well, I am certainly not an athlete. Others were farmers who know enough to hang around helping in a field.   Others were crafty type people, and can do all sorts of manner of interesting things using nothing more than bits of discarded boxes, palm branches, lip stick and Elmer’s glue.   I am definitely not crafty.   Some would teach English – always a good job hunting skill for those in a foreign land, but if you are reading this then you already understand that English is not particularly my strong suit.   I even know of a doctor or two that will give medical or dental help.   I have a lawyer friend who gave legal advice.   There were some rich missionaries who could give out lots and lots of rice and beans.   And then there was me – about the best thing I can do is drink coffee and make small talk, but people really seem to like it when they heard me mention their child’s name as I prayed for them before heading back to my comfy couch for the night.

  

3. Share the message.   Isn't it amazing what God can do?   The Bible says in, Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”   (ESV)   I am astounded that God even blesses my love of coffee and small talk.     By sticking around a community for a bit I will meet someone and we will drink coffee and chat, and after a while we will know all sorts of interesting things about each other.   Eventually I might even be invited home with them, and before long they want to know why I am their friend drinking their coffee.    And my answer is always this, “Jesus sent me here to be your friend so that you will listen to the message He wants you to hear when I decide it’s a good time to share it with you.”  They inevitably ask, “What’s the message?”  Then the Gospel message that can change their lives they will hear, and many many times they will believe.    And once they do I will tell them, “Now it is your task to share this with everyone you know.”   It is wonderful when they will, and then I can move on to somewhere else in order to meet more friends, drink more coffee and make even more small talk.   The truth of the matter is this: few people will believe a message from a communicator that they don’t trust – some might for sure, but very few.   Trust takes time to develop.   Usually trust comes through a good relationship.   Few of us are in a position where real people with real needs believe that we have the message that can change their lives – perhaps Billy Graham has that kind of reputation, but normal people don’t.   I certainly don’t.   And here is the kicker – when we remain sitting on our couches watching our TVs then they are absolutely sure that we don’t have the answer for their need.   When we drop by their community for a minute or two and just leave something with them, then more often than not they are confused about what just transpired.   When we stay though – then relationships happen.   By staying for a time it may mean that you discover some real needs that you can address rather than what you guess might be their greatest stumbling block to the message of Jesus.   When we stay we are blessed with new friends and usually with new believers who also want to follow Jesus.    

So what Ken taught that naive missionary a long time ago was very true.   It’s not expensive to penetrate a community.   I didn't and don’t need new and better equipment.   I didn't and don’t need buildings or a big budget.   I didn't and don’t even need boxes of Bibles to give away.    All those things were and are very nice and when they come along I will never turn them down, but I don’t need them.    On the missionary field I learned that all I need is the love of Jesus to motivate my going to a community, a cup of coffee to make a new friend while I am there, and a Bible to show others the way to him.    So I suppose after all that I did change a little of what Ken taught, although the essence is exactly the same, so I don’t think he will mind too much: “With Jesus in my heart and a Bible in one hand and a cup of coffee nearby, I have more than I need to do whatever Jesus expects me to do.”   In that sense I have more than the Apostle Paul and the original 12 when they went along their way, which is real good because I ain't in their league.   You see for them the Bible wasn't quite completed yet, and coffee wasn't discovered until the fourteenth century.    

Until He comes… GO and DO!