There Will Always Be A Global Impact In God's Ministry

It's difficult for me to answer this question because I have no idea what I'm going to do, but whatever I do I hope to engage the nations with it. I don't believe there is any reason why my potential ministry couldn't adopt a nation. Whatever I do in my life, I will always be involved both globally and locally, and will take frequent trips to a different country to serve.

Missionary in Everyday Life

I have thought about being a missionary before, and I know that I will be a missionary. Like Roberts said about those in his church who said they believed that God called them to be missionaries, he believed that they really were called, and that God was at work in making a new missions force and equipping the people of his church to accomplish what God had called them to do. In the same way, I know that God is working in my life, equipping me for missionary service to wherever he calls me, whether it be overseas or in Texas, whether it be preaching or coaching, and whether it be in a "church" building or out on the street. I don't know yet what is in store, but I do know that my dreams of being a missionary will continue to be accomplished throughout my life.

Funny Looks From People Walking By

What I do for my quiet time is go to my truck. My truck is like my own personal closet, and the best place for me to focus and meditate on my reading, prayer, thoughts, and worship. I begin by turning on some music, whatever I'm in the mood for, sometimes Chris Tomlin, sometimes Rend Collective Experiment, or Needtobreathe, and sometimes even some Christian rock. Then I normally follow with prayers of praise, also praying about lists that I had made throughout the week, and what is on my heart at the moment. Then I open my Bible to the book and chapter I'm reading, which today was Luke 6, and then I slowly read and re-read and then I read a chapter in another book which I read on the side of my school work, which right now is Be Last, and I finish up in worship while taking notes all throughout the entire process of my quiet time. I love doing my quiet time in the morning, but many times because of my schedule keeping me up late I am too tired to do it in the morning and end up doing it in the afternoon, if at all some days. Like Roberts my quiet time sometimes lacks passion and sincerity.

Mind on the Mission

So far this semester I have studied Luke, Acts, and Jeremiah in depth and it has been mind-blowing! I have been on many mission trips while in youth, but I never had a heart for the poor like described in Luke and Act. However, after studying and reading over and over again how much the disciples and the church poured themselves out as servants to those in need, I have began to develop a passion and desire to do the same. This year I have had more meaningful conversations with people on campus than ever before, I have experienced my eyes and heart being open to peoples needs, and I have been able to serve and talk to the people I see walking down the street while I give them a ride to where they need to go. And this summer I get to serve at Tacoma, Washington where I will be working alongside a church plant to reach the community, to go out to meet the needs of the people, and to live life with them while I'm there. Even after I graduate next Fall I plan on taking my Spring semester off to go serve in Kenya before coming back to school for my masters.

A Process of Awakening

Conversion now-a-days is the changing of ones beliefs, someone can walk down the isle and be converted, and change what the beliefs they once had, but does that mean that they are now saved? Transformation on the other hand is the changing of ones lifestyle, as Roberts puts it, and I would have to agree, transformation begins from the inside and goes out, it isn't just the changing of ones belief but a brand new way of living. Transformation is a process of awakening and understanding that follows the commands of the Lord, not just conversion of belief. A transformed disciple will take the information they have learned and live it out, a converted person will begin to take in information, but will never change their actions.

The Church as a Missionary

Each individual believer as well as the Church as a whole is called to be a missionary to the world. This is kingdom living, following the Great Commission, following Matthew 25 to take care of the "the least of these," and becoming a Church in context with the mission of God. Therefore, I believe that doing missions sounds more temporary than living the kingdom of God. Doing missions is something we say here in our Western cultured church meaning to go for a period of time into the "mission field." But living the kingdom of God is really living a missional lifestyle, not for a period of time, but ever since we become part of the Church, and begin to multiply reaching the world everywhere we go. I have learned that a church was never meant to just fit into a local community, but that the local community is just the beginning point to reaching the world.

A New Century and a New Understanding of Mission

Today, we have different challenges to deal with in mission, due to our western culture we have to deal with an exceeding increase of narcissism due to the advances in technology, science, and industrialization. People have become more self-focused and seek interpersonal relationships that benefit themselves rather than others. The views of Christianity in the eyes of these people does not look appealing in any way, and sadly this narcissistic mind set has seeped into our church. We must understand the need to address these situations in how we do missions, and adapt new ways of doing mission while keeping and expressing the foundational truths of what we believe. Technology is on a continual advance and in the last decade we have new obstacles to adapt to, such as the iPhone, video games, and etc, but we also have new tools such as web pages, facebook, and etc. at our disposal to spread the knowledge of God's mission, which is a new look into a method of doing missions.

Zinzendorf

http://youtu.be/8Rq2Uw9nkJI

Mission on the Hill

I believe in Mission here on the ETBU campus. This is where my mission is here and now. As an RA, my ministry is to live with and love on the residents that I'm around every day. Fry Hall is a mission field all on it's own, full of both believers and non-believers, and as I said before of all different kinds of people. It is an amazing opportunity, and the Holy Spirit is at work! He is at work in my roommates hearts, and in many other people I've been blessed to talk to and share my testimony with. He is leading the way here in Fry, I've not only experienced this for myself, but have also been told similar accounts by other believers in our hall. You don't have to go thousands or even hundreds miles away to do missions, in fact some of the best opportunity for missions is exactly where you live, and with the people you interact with day in and day out.

Fry Hall

Fry is a community in and of itself. It is full of people of different backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities, but who are united within the same hall as brothers. A great representation of how the church is supposed to be, not all perfect, but living life together and among one another whether they like it or not.

Pietists Missional Approach

I believe that of the anabaptists, puritans, or pietists views of missions, the pietists practice of missions is the most theologically sound. They believed a lot of what the anabaptists believed, just without all the persecution of the views of the other churches. The pietists took what the church taught and went out by faith to simply tell people about the gospel. They saw that the Lutheran and Calvinist churches weren't doing it, and that the anabaptists form of "missions" was yelling at how the other churches were doing everything wrong, and that the Catholic system of power influence wasn't reaching the individual  in discipleship as it should, so they took the initiative to do missions in a way that was faithful in following the great commission. This would be the best approach for the church to follow today.

Somali People of Kenya

In the summer of 2014 I am going to Southeastern Africa to the country of Kenya for one month to spread the gospel to the indigenous Somali people. Of the 2.8 million Somali people in Kenya, only a small 8% are christian. The main religion of the Somali is Islam, which 92% of the 2.8 million people profess as their religion. Because of the great number of Muslim influence, and most importantly the heritage and unity of the people, it is very difficult to reach and persuade the Somali to believe in Christ, but it is not impossible. There is a great need for missionaries to this people group, but not people are willing to take the risk. Please be in prayer for me that I can reach these people effectively and share with them the good news that changed my life. I will be living life with these people every day for a month, and I trust that the Spirit is already at work in the hearts of those whom I will encounter this summer.

Living Life With Others

The monks focus of mission was not bent on power but on the model of spreading the gospel through their radical lifestyles of living life with others through the long haul. They would go in and build up a city with roads and bridges and carpentry to show the people of that city that they cared about them, and they would even build a city from nothing and invite people in to live with them. They inspired the poor because they were poor themselves and they would stay that way for their whole lives because of the opportunity to live life with those that didn't know Christ. Christians today in America have a difficult time letting go of everything. Almost every Christian in America wouldn't even think about giving up all their possessions to go live life with other people, especially the poor. I have seen what happens when people actually take advantage of the model that the monks lived out, and it was amazing! I was blessed with the opportunity of serving with a ministry that actually lived with the poor, providing a house for mothers and children that would normally be out on the streets of Atlanta, Georgia with no home, and provided them with them opportunity to live their for six months, learning the Bible, how to manage their money, and other practical ways that would help them in life. They also went out under the bridges to the homeless and every day met their physical needs by providing them food, as well as living life with them. The people that worked with the ministry knew almost everyone we saw by name and would hug them and everything. It was one of the coolest things I've ever been able to help with, and how I think ministry should be.

Eastern Orthodox Paradigm: Courageous Yet Power Minded

I believe that their example of sharing and spreading of the gospel is one of the best examples for us today. Although they put emphasis on teaching certain parts of the Bible, as well as defending the faith through apologetics, many in that day had the courage to speak out even at the cost of them having to lay down their lives either by martyrdom or becoming a monk. So I compliment them on their willingness and obedience of being a church that was united in going out and both sharing the Gospel in a radical form by truly giving their lives for the sake of Christ and the church, and living life with the people around them. My greatest criticism to the Eastern Orthodox church paradigm is its unification of church and state. Making Christianity a political religion was a great mistake, especially for missions because it made the church selfish in a way, and the church's focus became power instead of mission.