April is an exciting time of year for us. As many of you know, I have always had a soft spot and a particular passion for missions. Some of Jesus’ last words to his disciples are recorded in Matthew 28:19-20:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Last April I was privileged to be able to take a team from South Carolina down to Anapra, a suburb of the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez to work alongside a team of church planters there who have been there for years and have become friends of ours. This year, we have been blessed with the opportunity to return the first week of April and we are excited to serve, even if it means we will have to miss April’s first Sunday lunch. We have to make sacrifices, sometimes right? Our hope and prayer is that God will allow the door to remain open for us to continue to return every year, so while we ask that you pray for us to serve effectively and for the gospel to be clearly proclaimed, we also ask that you pray personally about joining us next year!
Often when we think of missions and making disciples and spreading the gospel we think of faraway places and foreign countries and those are definitely mission fields that need the hope of the gospel. However, these are not the only mission fields. There are opportunities to serve and engage here in our own community as well. We are partnering with the school’s backpack program, collecting food items such as pop-tarts, beef jerky, and peanut butter crackers to send home with kids on the weekends who may need food for the weekend simply as a gift of love from the church. We will have an opportunity starting this month to provide some supplies and gifts for foster families in our immediate area and Kelly will be spearheading that effort. These are easy ways to get involved in reaching out to people in our own community, but it is also important to pray that through these, God will provide opportunities for the gospel to be shared.
In an even more direct way, summer is fast approaching and with summer comes VBS. Though we are not exactly sure how VBS will look this year just yet, those details are being ironed out and will be announced shortly. Each day of VBS is a day when all those in attendance get to hear the message of the gospel. Be praying and looking for ways to get involved and help out with that.
On top of these “events,” God has placed each of us in a specific sphere of influence. We have access to family members and friends and coworkers, and none of those relationships is by happenstance. There are lots of good reasons why many people can’t go to Mexico and that is totally ok! However, because you can’t go to a faraway place to an unreached people group, doesn’t mean you can’t do missions. There are many opportunities right here at home and we are surrounded by people we have contact with on a daily basis who do not know the Lord. That is our first and foremost mission field as Christ followers, and if you will notice Jesus’ words to his disciples, this was not optional.
The results of mission work and sharing the gospel are 100% in God’s hands, but he has chosen to use people as the means to proclaim the good news of Jesus. We are not responsible for the response to the gospel, but we are called to proclaim it! I want to challenge and encourage you to examine your routine and your daily life and look for ways to be intentional and engaged in both showing people the love of Christ, and proclaiming the message of freedom from sin found only in Christ. I pray that the Lord would lay on your hearts a burden for the lost all around you and provide each of us with opportunities to share the message of Christ, the only source of hope! May the Lord bless you and keep you!
– Bro. Adam
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