By Hasmik Babayan

Hasmik is a member of the international facilitation team for SVM2 and currently lives among the unreached.

Let us begin with the following story:

Indescribable Son of the one and only God-
What is impossible for me is easy for you.
What is beyond my reach was put there by you.
What is inaccessible for me is close to you.
What is hidden from me in my fallen state
is within view for your beatitude.
What is impossible for me is done by you.
What is incalculable for me is already tallied by you, who are beyond telling.
What is despair for me is consoling for you.
What is incurable for me is harmless for you
What is sighing for me is rejoicing for you.
What is heavy for me is light for you.
What effaces me is written for your power.
What is lost for me is conquered for you.
What is inexpressible for me is comprehensible for you.
What is gloom for me is radiance for you.
What is infinite for me you hold in the palm of your blessed hand.
What is somber for me is refreshing for you.
What sets me to flight, you withstand.
What holds me in check, you handily turn back.
What is fatal for me is nothing before your
almighty essence. (Narek)

And the story continues….

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.” (The Message)

As Isaiah indicates, the difference between God and us is huge. The way He thinks isn’t the way we think. The way He sees isn’t the way we see. The way He reasons isn’t the way we reason. The way he teaches his children isn’t exactly the way we teach our children. The way He sees us isn’t exactly the way we see ourselves. In short, the way God views the world isn’t the way we do!

How much does it take for a human being to see the world from God’s perspective, an eternal perspective? How much does it cost the human being to develop an ‘eternal vision’ that is in tune with God’s vision? The kind of vision that is able to see the temporary through eternal.

The price to enter God’s reality is equal to the price that God paid in order to enter our reality, the incarnation into human flesh. He emptied himself of divinity, and yet never stopped being divine. He left his divine culture in order to live in human culture.

Although emptied of divinity, He never forgot the divine purpose. He allowed close friendship with the Father and yet kept His boundaries. He respected the human culture and yet criticized the injustice, corruption and lie (Luke 11:37-54, 12:49-56). This principle of approaching the different culture let us call the  incarnation principle.

In Luke 20:25 we read, “Then give Caesar what is his and give God what is his.” (The Message)

In order to incarnate into the new culture justly and lovingly, we need to adapt and adopt the incarnation and the Caesar principles. We should give the culture (proper respect) what is due to culture and give God what belongs to Him (holiness, justice and etc.).

From Human to Human Culture

Who we are very much depends on where we were born, in what country, in what historical context, in what family, etc. Generally people grow up with particular a particular religious background, in particular peace or war situations, in particular poor or wealthy countries.

Consequently, as people grow, they face lots of challenges and changes, blessings and curses, hurts and loss, healing and pain, and love and hate. As a result, people develop their unique understanding of life, death, and God. Therefore, when a message bearer desires to serve and share God’s love with people of different cultures, he should be careful to first understand the people and their culture.

In Isaiah 5:20 we read, “Doom to you who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness in place of light and light in place of darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

The message bearer should be careful not to confuse between evil and good or sweet and bitter in a foreign country. In other words, like the incarnated God, the message bearer should have a very close relationship with the Father in order to fulfill the task entrusted to him by the Father.

By Abdul Asad

Abdul Asad means “servant of the Lion.” As a follower of Isa al-Masih (Jesus Christ), Abdul’s passion is to see people and nations blessed and transformed by the power of His gospel.

Willingness to Minister in the Power of the Spirit

I don’t care what your church background is, when you work with Muslims on a regular basis, you need to be open to ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Most of the Muslim world is built upon a foundation of animism. In fact, Islam actually breeds an animistic worldview – even in places where Islam is supposed to be “pure” like Saudi Arabia.Muslims are very in tune with the spirit world, and the majority of them are terrified of it.

As Christians, we have something to offer. We do not need to be terrified of the unseen world. In fact, Christ has given us authority over it (Luke 10:19). This is why Jesus told the disciples to “wait until they had been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49) before commencing with the Great Commission.

Sharing the Gospel is hard work because we have an unseen enemy who wants to stop us – and nowhere is this more evident than in the Muslim world, where Satan has freely pranced about for a millennium and a half.
We need the Holy Spirit to guide us and protect us, but also to empower our witness (John 14:11).

There have been times where I have had the best apologetic answers you can imagine in debates with Muslims. But usually this just leaves them even more closed. But when I pray and something happens it gets their attention!

Just one quick example – one day I was walking down the street and I saw a father sitting holding his handicapped and mute son. I felt the Spirit urge me to turn around and pray for him. So I turned back and asked the man if I could pray for his son.

As soon as I told him I was a Christian, the boy began screaming and convulsing violently. He was foaming at the mouth and shouting curses in slurred speech. The father was very scared. The people on the street were scared.

I was scared too – until I realized that a demon was manifesting itself in this little boy. So I began to pray in the name of Jesus, loudly and forcefully, that the demon would leave him alone. And then, after about ten seconds of prayer, the boy immediately relaxed and began to smile.

The father was really shocked now. The onlookers were shocked. I was not. I knew what had happened, so I told the father that his son had been tormented by a demon, but in the name of Jesus it had just been cast out of him.

He was stunned. But when I asked the previously mute and unresponsive boy if he knew that Jesus loved him, he smiled and said. “Yes!” as clear as day, while taking my hand.

If Muslims are to receive Jesus, they need to see that His power is greater than the fear they live in. They need to know that Christianity is not just words on a page, a good argument, or good doctrine. Rather, they must experience the power of God firsthand (1 Cor. 2:4).

Willingness to Walk by Faith in God’s Promises

I won’t lie to you; a lot of what you may have heard about sharing the Gospel with Muslims is true. It does seem like impossible work sometimes.

But our job is to do the possible and let God do the impossible. It’s not up to us to change hearts, that’s God’s job. Our job is to boldly, and faithfully, proclaim the Gospel to everyone, and let the cards fall where they may.

Sometimes when you live surrounded by such darkness and unresponsiveness, you begin to believe the lies of the enemy that no one wants Jesus, and you should just keep quiet, or at least not try to “go for it” with your Muslim friends.

There’s only so many times you can hear career missionaries tell you that they’ve only seen one person come to Christ in twenty years before you start to lose faith that this will change. Recently a colleague of mine challenged me not to let the negative talk of other missionaries get to me.

He said that he had decided to just walk by faith in God’s guarantee that many are to be saved from this nation, and had started to really “go for it” with the Muslims that he knew. He told me that three men had personally received Christ in only a few weeks of this newfound bold approach.

I figured he was right, why was I listening to negative human talk over the promises in the word of God?

So that week I set out to take every conversation with Muslims as far as possible – perhaps all the way to salvation. Sure enough, in just one week of walking by faith in God’s promises over against a long history of failures in this part of the world, three men came to faith!

Now I don’t mean to imply that this happens all the time, because it doesn’t. The fact remains that most people in this world don’t want Jesus or the holy life he demands (Mt. 7:14), and that goes equally for people in your home country as well.

But if just one week of faith-filled boldness in sharing the Gospel with Muslims can yield three lives turned to Christ, just think what a year or two, or a whole lifetime lived with this kind of faith can do?!

This article is by no means an exhaustive list of all that it takes to reach Muslims with the Gospel. Rather, as I tried to put myself in your shoes – as if I was 21 and zealous to bear the name of Christ in a foreign land among Muslims, – I have tried to give you just a few other things to think about.

As I said, I have learned these things by trial and error, by victory, and certainly by failure. And now, “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Heb. 13:20-21).

For more information about Muslim ministry from this author, go to his blog.

By Abdul Asad

Abdul Asad means “servant of the Lion.” As a follower of Isa al-Masih (Jesus Christ), Abdul’s passion is to see people and nations blessed and transformed by the power of His gospel.

So, you want to share the Gospel with Muslims? Great, praise God! We need more young people who are zealous for Jesus and want to embrace the challenge.

But zeal, important as it is, will never be enough to see Muslim peoples reached with the Gospel to the point where indigenous, self-reproducing churches begin to spring up. Drawing from my own experiences (and failures), I’d like to try and share with you a few more things it takes to reach Muslims with the Gospel, besides zeal.

Willingness to Suffer

Nobody told me about this one, at least not when I signed up. I thought suffering was for all those missionary heroes of the past, like Mary Slessor and George Patton, to name but a couple. They were the ones who buried family members and colleagues overseas in shallow graves.

They were the ones who caught mysterious diseases and nearly died on a regular basis. They were the ones who were hunted down and targeted for death by hostile people. But me, well, this is the 21st century and those days are long gone, right? Wrong.

Jesus repeatedly warns us in the Gospels that those of us who are his disciples, who desire to carry his name and his message in this world will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12). Paul even goes so far as to say that suffering is not just a byproduct of our witness, but is actually part of God’s plan to spread the Gospel (Col. 1:24).

I live in a Middle Eastern country that is very hostile to the Gospel. In the past few years, I have had more than a few colleagues martyred for their faith. Every day when I walk out my door, I say a quick prayer as I open the door, because I know there could be a bullet waiting for me on the other side.

One time a man with a gun threatened me just because I was a Christian. Then all his buddies joined in. But God delivered me. Another time, a man with a knife tried to kidnap me. But God delivered me. Then there’s all the times I have had to watch my children suffer with some strange bacterial or viral disease that is so common over here.

One radical group even threatened to kill all the foreign women and children in our area. Try dropping your kids off at school with that knowledge every day!

But despite the above things, or perhaps even because of them, my family has a closeness to Jesus that we would never have had if we didn’t live among Muslims every day.

Furthermore, because of the above things, I have had the chance to share the Gospel because suffering is usually not unnoticed, and people are curious as to why we would put ourselves through such stress. The answer is that Jesus is worth it. And as a result, some have believed.

Willingness to Humbly Focus on the Essentials

I don’t think anything teaches a Christian how to be humble quite like living among Muslims daily. When you live in a country like mine, where 99.99% of the population is basically brainwashed from childhood with lies about Jesus, the Bible, and Christians, you learn quickly that much of the theology that you thought was so important isn’t really that important in the beginning.

Islam has taught me to focus on the essentials. Therefore doctrines like the atonement, the deity of Christ, and the Trinity have become dearer to me than ever before. And instead of having a wide theological knowledge that is a bit shallow, I have found it far more important to have a narrower theological focus that is quite deep in the areas where we need it most.

This doesn’t mean that I am unconcerned with other important aspects of Christian theology, such as creation or the end times. It just means that I need to major on the majors first, and for a long time. Once people have a firm grasp on the essentials, I am free to move on to other aspects of Christian theology.

Please don’t misunderstand me – I am all for having a solid grasp on Christian theological concepts. But I want to let you know that you will spend the vast majority of your time dealing with things that you have always taken for granted, such as the Trinity, and almost none of your time dealing with other points that you might think are interesting or important.

So brush up on the person and work of Christ, and on the Trinity. In fact, you should be willing to fight to the death, so to speak, for those two things.

But as for the rest, well, you’ve got to learn to be humble about some of the prized theology that you thought was so important but your Muslim friends don’t even know or care about!

By Russ Mitchell
Russ is field director for One Challenge (OC International) in Romania – www.oci.ro.

The Challenge of the Least Reached Peoples

In 1800, those who had never heard the Gospel were almost 75% of the globe’s population. By 1900 Because of missionary effort this percentage decreased to 50%. Today the percentage of those who have never heard is 29% (or three in ten) which is a major move forward.

Still this means about two billion people have not heard the Gospel message even one time! Per hour of ministry, the least reached peoples are the most responsive to the Good News. But only one out of ten foreign cross cultural missionaries work among least reached peoples, and only fifty cents from $100 of all Christian giving supports frontier mission work.

Theologian Carl Henry once said, “The Gospel is Good News only if it arrives in time.” For people who live in areas of the world that are least reached, the Good News is not arriving in time. Each day 66,000 people die without having the possibility of hearing a relevant presentation of the Good News.

Where are the least reached peoples? The 10/40 Window

Where do we find most of the least reached peoples today? The majority are found in a geographical zone called the 10/40 window. The 10/40 window is an imaginary belt between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north of the equator, and extending from Western Africa across the Middle East and Asia.

This part of the world is home to the majority of the world’s Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims. 4.4 billion people live in this part of the world. 2.67 billion are least reached peoples.

How can they believe unless someone tells them?

From John 3:16 we know that God loves these people; he does not want them to perish, but to have eternal life. But in order for them to have eternal life, they must believe in Jesus. And in order for them to believe in Jesus, someone must tell them.

Here is the great challenge for those who believe in Jesus today. How do we mobilize ourselves to take the glorious message of John 3:16 to those who consider themselves Christians, but have not yet come to a personal faith in Jesus Christ? How do we persuade those who do not yet believe in Jesus to turn to him and be saved? And how do we take the Good News to those least reached peoples who have yet to hear about Jesus?

Enter the Harvest Force

One in three Christians – or one in ten people in the world — is considered a Great Commission Christian or, in other words, a part of the Harvest Force. Great Commission Christians are true believers who are aware of the implications of Christ’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), who have accepted its personal challenge for their lives, and who seek to influence the Body of Christ to fulfill it.

Unfortunately 70% of the 707 million Great Commission Christians have never heard about the 2 billion least reached peoples of the world who have never heard about Jesus.

A New Wave of Message Bearers

Believers in the Global South are catching the missionary vision. Already half of the world missionary force is made up of believers from the Global South. In the next 15 to 20 years it is likely that China will send 50,000 new missionaries; the Philippines, 20,000; India, 40,000; South Korea, 30,000; Nigeria, 15,000; Latin America, 18,000.

While the missionary sending is increasing in the Global South, it is declining in the Global North. For example the number of foreign missionaries from North America decreased from 65,000 in 1988 to 35,000 in 2008 – 45%!

Having all this in view, the initiative of the Student Volunteer Movement 2 to raise up 100,000 new message bearers among the student generation to serve at least two years among the least reached peoples is highly strategic.

After all, when God looked at the world, he saw a serious problem: people perishing! His love motivated him to get personally involved. Should we not do the same?

Here I am. Send me!

In 1980 I was an engineering student at Penn State University. Our campus student fellowship was infected with a vision of God’s glory among the nations. We studied about God’s heart for the nations. We prayed. We met regularly to learn more about the world God loves.

As I began to discover how “rich” the United States was in Christian workers and the needs in other parts of the world, I offered my life to God like Isaiah did saying, “Here I am. Send me!”

Little did I realize where that commitment would take me. Six months later I enrolled in Bible College to prepare myself to be a message bearer in another culture. I served five years in the Dominican Republic.

After this I served a season on the church staff where I grew up, secretly looking forward to the time when my wife and I could go overseas again. The last thirteen years I have served in Romania working to catalyze a mission movement, mobilizing Romanian believers to serve among the least reached. All this came from the decision: “Here I am. Send me!”

But my story is not an isolated case. Over a period of ten years, literally hundreds of students from Penn State devoted their lives to serving Christ among the least reached. Some of these have become significant leaders in the world mission movement.

Now we better see how God was at work among us raising up a new generation of message bearers. I believe God wants to do the same among today’s student generation. Because when we understand God’s love for the world, we can not sit comfortably on the side lines. We have to get involved.

God so loved the world that He gave…What are you willing to give so that others can have eternal life?

By Russ Mitchell
Russ is field director for One Challenge (OC International) in Romania – www.oci.ro.

Perhaps the best known verse from the Bible is John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

These 25 words well summarize the message of the entire Bible. God loves all the people of the world. He does not want anyone to perish, but to have eternal life. God gave his Son, Jesus, to deal decisively once and for all with the consequences of sin which cause people to perish. But only those who believe in Jesus have eternal life.

Not only is this Good News for perishing people, but for those of us who already believe in Jesus, it helps us view the world from God’s perspective and helps us understand our part in God’s eternal plan. So the intent of this article is for us to look at our world from God’s perspective and consider our response to God’s amazing love.

What do you know about the world God loves?

The world that God loves has over 6.8 billion people and daily grows by 229,000 people – over 80 million people a year. Let’s try to visualize 6.8 billion people. If everyone in the world stood shoulder to shoulder, the line would circle the globe 85 times. Or if you were to shake hands with all these people at the rate of 100 people a minute, it would take you nearly 130 years to greet each person. That is a lot of people! Yet God loves them all and knows each one.

So what do you know about those who believe in Jesus?

Today people are believing in Jesus at an unprecedented rate.

• An average of 178,000 people a day hear the message of redemption in Christ for the first time – 65million people a year.
• Every hour, more than 3,500 people decide to follow Jesus Christ.
• Each day 85,000 people across the globe come to faith in Christ.
• In China 25,000 per day accept Christ as Savior.
• In Africa 20,000 each day believe in Jesus.
• In India nearly 20,000 people a day turn to him.
• More Jewish people have embraced Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah since 1967 than all the years between 100 AD and 1967.
• More Muslims have come to faith in Christ in the last 30 years than any time in history and most of these have come to Christ since 9/11.
• The number of Evangelical Christians is growing two times faster than Islam and three times faster than Hinduism or Buddhism.
• On average 3,500 new churches open every week around the world.

Thus we are living in a time of great global harvest.

The Growth of Christianity in the Global South

The last 100 years saw incredible progress in the spread of Christianity. In 1910 80% of all Christians were found in Europe and North America. Today, due to the growth of Christianity in the Global South, over 60% of all Christians are found in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The “center” of Christianity has moved out of Europe and North America and now rests in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the last ten years for every one new believer in North America and Europe, there are 30 in the Global South. Amazingly Spanish is the most common language spoken by Christians.

Several areas have seen a profound transformation in terms of Christian growth.

In 1910, 9% of Africa was Christian. One hundred years later nearly 50% of Africa is Christian. In the middle of the African continent the change has been more dramatic shifting from 1% to nearly 80% Christian.

In 1900 Latin America had 50,000 Protestants. By 1980 they grew to 20 million Protestants. In 2000 there were 100 million Protestants in Latin America.

In 1949 China had less than one million Christians. Today officials in the Chinese Government estimate that there could be as many as 130 million Christians in China. There are now more Christ followers in China than in the United States!

In 1900 South Korea had no Protestant churches. Today 30% are Christian and some of the largest mega-churches in the world are in South Korea.

In 1979 there were 500 believers in Iran. In 2008 there were one million.

In India the number of Christians has doubled in the last 7 years from 50 million to 100 million.

In spite of this amazing progress, there still remains much to do.

Just how many people do believe in Jesus?

If the world was made up of ten people, and we were to ask each one, “Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” we would hear the following responses:

Three would say “Yes, I am a Christian.” These represent 2.2 billion people in the world today. This is not to say that all these are true believers having eternal life. A good number of these are Christians in name only. They have some association with a church. Perhaps they were baptized as an infant or occasionally attend a Church service. They know something of the message of the Bible. But they do not have a personal faith in Jesus that results in having eternal life. The largest concentration of nominal Christians is found in Europe and Russia.

Four others would say, “No, I do not believe in Jesus.” These 2.6 billion people have heard of Jesus, but have not yet said “yes” to his offer of eternal life.

But three would ask, “Who is Jesus?” This group of two billion people has never heard of Jesus. In fact, they have very little opportunity to hear about him. Where they live there are very few churches and few Christian workers. It is likely that these people do not even know a Christian. Perhaps the Bible is not even in their language. These are the least reached, cut off from the influence of the Good News.

What is the conclusion of our survey? More than seven out of ten are perishing! Three have never heard of Jesus. Four say they do not believe in him. And in the most optimistic case, three out of ten people in the world might be true believers, having eternal life. How do you suppose God feels about this situation?

By David Frazier

David is a veteran message bearer serving more than 20 years in an unreached Muslim nation.

Message bearers desiring to minister effectively must come in as servants, following the example of their leader, Jesus Christ. Message bearers who hope to bring lasting change will display servanthood by entering with a mindset that they are guests to this new culture.

Just as Christ came, they must come to serve the locals, laying aside any superior attitude of leadership. When locals in many countries are asked what message bearers can do to more effectively minister the gospel, they often suggest that the message bearers not think they are superior to the locals.

Why are some people, who say they intend to serve, perceived as having attitudes of superiority, paternalism or neoculturalism—all opposites of servanthood? The reality is that many of us want to serve from our own cultural context. That is, we believe that servanthood everywhere else probably looks like it does in our own culture (Elmer 2006, 16).

A true servant spirit requires “a conscious effort to choose one direction over another and one set of values over another,” gained by humbling oneself to learn the other’s language and culture (Elmer 2006, 20). “Others can’t see our motives, only our actions” (Elmer 2006, 28).

Effective message bearers live out servanthood by making the goal to empower the nationals to reach their own people with the Gospel. Message bearers serve by leaving models and tools that benefit the local culture best.

“Field and ministry strategy should not be developed on this side of the ocean; rather it should emerge from the social context. Any strategy development done here should be held loosely and tentatively” (Shultz 2005).

Message bearers with humble, teachable attitudes who enter new places to serve and empower do not come with preconceived strategies, unrealistic goals or rigid time-tables. Does much stress and attrition stem from poor strategies and false expectations put on themselves and the peoples being served?

Servant message bearers who are equipped for effective cross-cultural ministry must have already grasped the power and influence of their own culture on their worldview, their behavior, their ministry approaches and even their interpretations of Scripture.

Effective message bearers have come to grips with their earthly and heavenly identities because “at the very core of Christian identity lies an all-encompassing change of loyalty, from a given culture with its gods to the God of all cultures” (Volf 1996, 24).

They know that a true message bearer calling involves a call from God that “entails rearrangement of a whole network of allegiances” (Volf 1996, 25). Only then can message bearers truly operate with servanthood, unencumbered and free to embrace a new culture enough to impart the gospel.

Message bearers desiring to sustain long-term ministry on the field must have perseverance. This perseverance is displayed by preparing for long-term presence on that field through diligent language and culture study. It is difficult for message bearers and their families to establish a long-term attitude of perseverance if they or their mission do not put a priority on these foundational tasks during the early years on the field.

Short-term goals produce little language acquisition; poor language skills bring shallow adaptation; superficial acculturation inhibits relationships; surface involvement with the people and culture leads to detachment from the community; disengagement can end in early departure from that field. When message bearers do not learn the language and thus the culture, they can experience culture shock or “become worn down by the constant adjustments to different ways of doing, thinking, and speaking” (Allen 1986, 120).

The only real cure for culture shock is a forced-drafted, purposeful pushing on ahead. The way to get over it is to work at making new persons and new ways familiar and known; to return to them again and again until all the strangeness is gone.

Brooding about the situation certainly will not improve it. The real danger is that, at this early stage, the change agent will reject the local culture as inexplicable, then turn to his fellow countrymen and to familiar activities, as being the only sensible ones (Arensberg and Niehoff 1964, 189).

Message bearers who exhibit perseverance minister with a strategy that does not expect quick results. Working to renew worldviews, which have completely different assumptions about God, man and sin, takes time and rarely comes quickly in cross-cultural work. Deep lasting work is done also by leaning on God in faith and prayer as He brings the fruit of the labor in His timing (1 Cor 3:8-9; Lk 8:15).

Some must labor for many years “until Christ is formed” in the locals (Gal 4:19). For message bearers to be able to persevere for a long term of service, they must put loved ones and home comforts on the altar and accept that the normal family life most have back home will not be their own.

While keeping in touch with family, church and friends is important, learning to endure without a lot of communication, acclimating to their new home and building new relationships help message bearers to persevere in long term service.

Often the most common problems among message bearers and the ones that can cause early departure from the field involve relationship conflicts (Taylor 1997, 14). Message bearers who desire to avoid frustration and failure will learn to live with humility, servanthood, and perseverance.

Message bearers who depart for a field without strong marriages built on mutual humility, a servant spirit, and deep commitment to persevere in the tough times usually find the mission field a pressure cooker that only exasperates unresolved emotional and psychological issues.

Satan can often put message bearers out of service when they neglect their families and fail to humbly lead and lovingly serve them. Message bearers who lack the humble servant attitude toward co-workers will not persevere to see agency and team problems resolved.

A proud worker is counter-productive and ineffective, but reconciliation and cooperation can be established when message bearers, “with humility of mind” consider co-workers above themselves and the others’ perspectives more important than their own (Phil 2:2-3).

By David Frazier
David is a veteran message bearer serving for more than 20 years in an unreached Muslim nation.

Research and Principles

Missiological (the study of Christian cross-cultural mission) research suggests that while most message bearer attrition is unpreventable (i.e., health problems, children’s education, normal retirement, lack of support, elderly parents, change of job, political crisis), much of the attrition seems preventable. These are the important issues that warrant research.

One such research project suggests the most common causes of early departure from the field are related to commitment/calling, relational problems with co-workers, marriage/family conflict, spiritual immaturity, poor cultural adaptation, problems with local leaders, inappropriate training, lack of job satisfaction, and immorality (Taylor 1997, 89). These issues are about Christian character, approach to ministry, personal worldview, ministry experience and spiritual maturity.

There is no guarantee for preventing all problems encountered by message bearers on the field; however, do most of the preventable ones stem from qualities that can and should be developed and tested at the local church level, during message bearer selection and candidacy?

Evaluating the lessons learned from ReMAP (an authoritative missiological research project considering attrition), Bloecher says, “Perseverance and humility are essential for an ambassador for Christ: learning the language, understanding the culture, and walking alongside new believers as Jesus did” (Bloecher 2005, 229). Research and experience suggest that message bearers who do not leave for the field with certain proven character qualities which undergird the necessary ministry skills and the cross cultural understanding struggle to achieve long-term, effective cross-cultural ministry.

Therefore, message bearers desiring to minister cross-culturally must enter their host culture with a heart of humility. Humility is crucial in order to labor diligently to learn the host language well. “Language learning and cultural adaptation is basically becoming as a child again” (Hile 1979, 2). Humbling oneself to learn a language “is a voluntary act requiring a special kind of maturity” (Brewster 1976, 6).

True humility enables message bearers to exhibit the “rigorous discipline and self-effacement” needed to play the role of a learner and gain cultural and spiritual insight from locals (Allen 1986, 121). “The goal of the message bearers is to become as much an insider as is necessary to be credible” because “living on the periphery of the culture as an outsider drastically reduces effectiveness” (Roembke 2000, 87).

Moreover, without understanding the local culture, message bearers have no way of discovering the underlying worldview of the host people. “The key that unlocks the secrets hidden behind the doors of another culture is language (Hile 1979, 2). Most of the problems faced by Christians today come from a worldview not impacted by Christ. Only a humble listener and learner will work patiently over time to gain this invaluable insight.

Humility is also demonstrated by listening to experienced foreign workers on the field. A constant attitude of humility is vital for every Christian, but its significance seems larger when a foreigner enters a new place and is attempting to incarnate a new faith into a new culture—a new worldview that has at its foundation the principles of child-like faith, servanthood, and other-centered agape love.

The message bearer Paul said to the brethren in Corinth, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor 2:3) and to the Thessalonians, “Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thes 2:8).

By David Frazier

David is a veteran message bearer serving for more than 20 years in an unreached Muslim nation.

In light of what has been learned about missionary (from this point forth I will use the term message bearer instead of missionary) attrition (message bearers leaving the field) over the recent years, it would be beneficial to know what enables some message bearers to achieve long-term, effective cross-cultural ministries. Candidates must be grown, trained and proven in certain ministry and cross cultural skills prior to the field; however, are there certain qualities that form a foundation on which these skills can be laid?

From biblical examples and missiological (the study of Christian Cross-Cultural Mission) findings, what are the character qualities that must be developed, tested and proven in potential message bearers pre-field, mainly at the local church level, to sustain long term, effective cross-cultural ministry? In short, once they get people on the field, what makes them stick and be effective?

Christ Our Ultimate Example

Jesus Christ, the ultimate example for life and ministry, exemplified the key qualities for every effective message bearer: humility, servanthood and perseverance.

Jesus declared Himself to be “gentle and humble at heart” in Matthew 11:29, but more importantly, He exhibited it in His life

• by taking on human nature (Phil 2:7; Heb 2:16),
• by being born in a lowly stable (Lk 2:4-7),
• by living in subjection to His earthly parents (Lk 2:51),
• by living as a carpenter’s son from Nazareth (Mt 13:55; Jn 9:29),
• by submitting to the Law (Mt 3:13-15),
• by refusing honor from men (Jn 5:41; 6:15),
• by washing His disciples’ feet (Jn 13:5),
• by obeying His Father (Jn 6:38),
• by submitting to sufferings (Isa 50:6; Acts 8:32; Mt 26:37-39),
• by exposing Himself to reproach and contempt (Ro 15:3), and
• by laying down His life for others.

The Apostle Paul summarizes Christ’s humility in Philippians 2:5-8 and gives all disciples of Christ a clear model to follow. A message bearer who seeks to declare the Gospel with more than just words will live “with humility of mind” and “regard one another as more important than himself” (Phil 2:3).

While not denying their own cultural identity, message bearers who seek to be effective cross-culturally, must “think more of the interests of others” and the others’ culture (Phil. 2:4). “The church is not made up of spiritual giants; only broken men can lead others to the cross” (Bosch, 1979, 82).

Furthermore, Jesus exemplified servanthood. Though He could have clung to His own heavenly “culture,” He “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant,” in order to show the mode of operation in His kingdom. Jesus could have come and completely dominated people with His personality and power, having had the right to do so.

As God, He knew everything and could have done anything He wanted by Himself; but instead, He humbled Himself to be helped by others, engaged them in His work, and served them that they may serve others (Jn 4; 6). His humble servant spirit gave its ultimate demonstration when He “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8).

He didn’t come to simply impart principles, set up ministry programs or be served by others, “but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mat 20:28). The Cross is usually a truth to be proclaimed more than one to be appropriated in one’s lifestyle. Effective message bearers take up their crosses, deny their rights as servants and leave their ethnocentric attitudes at home. If they do not, “a strategy of the cross can become academic and the person forgets the fundamental posture of our Lord as He walked on this earth (Soltau 1998, 33).”
Jesus also exemplified perseverance. Message bearers who seek to be effective in the host culture must persevere long enough to be able to demonstrate the love of Christ in a way that can be understood by the locals in their language and cultural context. Today’s new message bearers mustn’t forget the importance of perseverance in faith and ministry.

Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, .., and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:1-2).

Paul tells Timothy to “pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things; for as you do this you will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you” (1Tim 4:16). God chose the incarnation of Christ as the strategy to bring His people to Himself.

To say that God acted incarnationally is to say that God entered our history, enfleshed Himself in our nature so that men could comprehend in the clearest way the meaning of the gospel, and respond to Him. This truth, while generally understood and accepted by the Christian community has not been widely recognized for what it says about message bearer methodology (Soltau 1998, 30).

Incarnational witness is born out of a humble and servant spirit and preserves hardships to make the message known.

“Justification by grace is communicated through incarnational witness” (Guder 1985, 20). Incarnational witness is born out of a humble and servant spirit and preserves hardships to make the message known. “Paul’s greatness lay in the fact that through personal embodiment and message he was able to present a Jewish Jesus, the Messiah, as a live option for Greco-Roman culture” (Shenk, 1980, 176). Message bearers can learn from examples of incarnation and the Cross that humility, servanthood and perseverance are vital if they desire to be effective cross-culturally for many years.

By Daniel Hyde Appiah

Daniel is the president of Full Stature Missions based in Accra, Ghana. He is also a member of the SVM2-Ghana Advisory Council.

Most Christians don’t pray for global mission as they ought to because they do not know how. Praying for global mission is a military campaign. And just as it is essential for an army in order to have success in any warfare plan to systematically, consistently and sporadically bombard some specific target from the land, air and sea, so it is for us to systematically pray for global mission with all understanding.

Praying for global mission is not begging God to do what He’s not willing to do; rather it is enforcing Christ’s victory over Satan.

Further still, people don’t take praying for global mission and message bearers serious because of some misgivings and misconceptions.

From the answer to questions, discussions and contributions given in various working sessions, following points were considered as reasons why people don’t pray for global mission.

1. Ignorance and Lack of Information

Many people are unaware of what global mission is all about; global mission is the primary reason for the existence of the church on earth and it is the very heartbeat of God. Therefore people perish for lack of knowledge (adequate information).

2. Inferiority Complex

Some people feel inferior to pray for message bearers because they consider them (the message bearers) as superior and super-spiritual human beings who should rather pray and bless them. Therefore, they see no reason of praying for them or the work.

3. Background

People don’t pray for global mission and message bearers due to poor church background. They have not been taught of the critical place of global mission and their churches rarely talk of praying for global mission and message bearers.

4. Lack of Commitment

Lack of commitment particularly on the side of the church to pray corporately, the members also will not see the importance of the need of being committed as individuals to pray for global mission and message bearers.

5. Selfishness or Self Interest

People, most of the time are self-centered and have no interest in praying for the need of other people, simply because they themselves are already burdened and discouraged due to the pressure of personal problems, hence they forget to pray for global mission and message bearers.

6. Laziness

This is also another reason why people fail to pray for global mission. During a teaching period about prayer, people are geared and stirred up to pray, but as time goes on the interest or zeal begins to wane, and thereby many stop praying.

7. Inconsistency

People don’t pray always as they ought to. They are not consistent. Sometimes they remember to pray, other times they forget to do so.

8 Wrong Assumptions

People don’t pray for global mission -the heartbeat of Almighty God, because they assume that someone else is already praying for them. Asking individuals whether they pray for global mission or not, a majority will raise their hands saying that they do. While many people on the other hand, will give reasons for not being consistent or not praying at all due to some of the above mentioned reasons

Why Pray for Missions?

Read the following texts and identify the reasons.

1. Romans 15:30:32
2. Galatians 6:7; 11 Corinthians 9:6
3. 2 Corinthians 1:10-11
4. Colossians 4:2-4
5. Luke 10:2, Matthew 9:38

Global mission is more than God’s people obediently serving Him. It is God at work. Either He is working in and through His people to accomplish His purpose, or nothing of value is accomplished.

Think of Paul at Philippi in Acts 16. He had followed God’s leading there, and he was faithfully witnessing and teaching about Jesus when Lydia believed. Lydia was one “whose heart the Lord opened,” Scripture points out. God led this message bearer to the right place, empowered him for witness, and created openness in the heart of the hearers so that “she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul.”

Dennis Lane, OMF director, in an excellent booklet on prayer, God’s Powerful Weapon, describes the situation that is recorded in Matthew 9: 36-38 as “facing an impossible task with an inadequate force.” The impossible task involves multitudes of people – people who are harassed and helpless, described as sheep without a shepherd. They represent vast unmet needs.

When Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful,” He was painting a picture of an immense task, of much work to be done. Now the great tragedy of this situation is the inadequate work force for bringing in the harvest. Laborers are few, Jesus lamented.

What is to be done in this tragic situation? What is Jesus’ remedy for the fact that too few are willing to get involved in the task? “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.”

He commanded this! The answer is to call upon God to be active in the situation, to ask Him to torch hearts and to call His people to commitment and active involvement in the harvest.

The Apostle Paul, that great message bearer of the cross, often urged God’s people to pray for him. Obviously he clearly linked the success of his mission to the faithful prayer support of the saints of God. One of the clearest passages to bring this out is 2 Corinthians 1:8-11. Here it is in the New International Version:

“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered, in the province of Asia. We were under pressure far beyond our ability to endure, so that despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayer of many.”

Notice the phases Paul uses to describe some of his experience as a message bearer: “hardships we suffered,” “under great pressure,” “beyond our ability to endure,” “despaired even of life.” But then he goes on to speak triumphantly of God’s deliverance. “God has delivered us,” Paul says. He is confident that God will continue to deliver “as you help by your prayers.”

Did you notice that last phrase? “As you help by your prayers,” Paul says. God is active in our lives – protecting, delivering, and using us for blessing others.

Then in the same verse Paul goes on to state, “that many will thank……for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” Do you see it? Do you see the inseparable link between prayer and global mission?

I do not presume to know where God wants you to serve in His global mission program. Whether He wants you to go – or rather, where he wants you to go – is something you must discover from Him. But I can confidently state it is His will for you, child of God, that you be involved in global mission through prayer.

None of us should dare to shirk from this opportunity and responsibility. Pray! And “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). “Men ought always to pray and not faint (Luke 18:1b).

How to Pray for Global Missions

Even though we know that God is so committed to seeing people saved, we still need to pray, and pray often and with considerable passion, enthusiasm and perseverance.

First, We Must Pray For Ourselves:

• For our minds to be opened to the reality of lost. (Revelation 20:11)

• For passion for the lost. (Luke 19:10)

• For doors opened by God. (1 Cor. 16:9, 2 Cor. 2:12, Acts 14:27, Col. 4:3, Rev. 3:8)

• For sensitivity to God’s guidance, (Acts. 8:26 onwards)

• For wisdom, as opportunities may not come where we expect and we often look in the wrong place.(James 1:5)

• For courage. (Eph. 6:19, Acts 4:29)

• For freedom for the Holy Spirit to do his work of convicting men. (Acts 1:8)

• For his words. (Isaiah 59, 21, Jer. 1:9)

• For a mentality of growth and harvest. (Matthew 13: 1-23, Isaiah 53: 10-11)

We Must Always Pray For People

Prayer is an expression of our love. The best kind of prayer picks up the longings of God and expresses them back to him with words. Paul guides us how to pray for people in 1 Tim. 2:1-3. “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.” 1 Samuel 12:23

We Pray in Spiritual Warfare

Although the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, prayer will open those unseeing eyes and rescue men from Satan’s power so that they may be forgiven by God and join his family. 2 Cor. 4:4, Acts 26:18. We have to pray against Satan’s work to hold back men, money and materials to advance the gospel. Ephesians 6:12.

In fact, so tight is his grip that Jesus told us to ask God to thrust workers into the harvest fields. Thrust is a word that implies some pushing forward! 2 Corinthians 2:11; Matthew 9:38

God is absolutely sovereign over all history, and yet He has set up His Kingdom in partnership with His Church and, in general, will not move apart from her committed involvement. There are times when God intervenes in spite of the actions of His body, yet these are the exception and not the rule.

This is not to say that God needs our finances, as it is all His from the beginning. (Psalm 50:10; Haggai 2:8) He is, however, in red-hot pursuit of our joyful and voluntary commitment with Him. If this is true, and God calls us to be wholeheartedly involved with Him in financing the greatest rescue effort of all time, then what are some of the underlying issues of why we are not doing so?

“And He said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses!’” – Luke 12:15

“And do not seek what you should eat or drink nor have an anxious mind (about your provisions). For all these things the Gentiles seek after and your Father knows you have need of them. But seek the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you!” – Luke 12:29-31

A Look Back

Over 100 years ago, a cross-denominational and cross-organizational global missionary conference took place in New York. The following statements were but a few spoken, relating to the capability of the Church in that day to accomplish the Great Commission:

“If members of protestant churches in Britain and America gave in like proportion [speaking of the historic Moravian movement], missionary contributions would aggregate a fourfold increase…. if the roughly six million members of the young people’s organizations were properly educated and guided, they would be able to raise each year enough money to support all of the foreign missionaries!”

“Great as are the results of foreign missions, over which we rejoice and give thanks, they would have been a hundredfold greater if the Church had been what she ought to be in the two great matters of prayer and giving!”

Partnering With Jesus

Notice the word “if” in each of the above comments. Such a word indicates that there is something amiss in reference to the church’s faithfulness in following Jesus’ command to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

These statements are as applicable to us today as they were when spoken in the year 1900. As we allow our hearts to consider Jesus’ commands in comparison with how most of us are living, we come to the same heart-wrenching conclusions as those who spoke the above comments. Our high calling in the realm of giving is critical to the plans of the Lord to bring forth His purposes in the earth.

An Indicting Statistic

Today, 5.4 % of all giving in the church of Jesus Christ globally goes toward mission activities. Of this amount, only 1% goes towards those works serving among the unreached. This reality confirms that today, we are no different then what was spoken in the year 1900.

There are message bearers and pastors serving in difficult areas of the world at this very moment, living on just a few dollars a day. Yet they are adorning the gospel faithfully and living in sacrificial simplicity.

What is so heart-breaking is the number of these servants of God who get sick and die due to the squalor and inhumane circumstances where they live, simply because of a lack of funds. These are our brothers and sisters responding in obedience to the mandate of carrying the love of Jesus to the lost.

Our Calling as Stewards

Let us consider our calling before the Lord as stewards of the material blessings He gives to us. We should view our responsibility to manage the resources God has entrusted from the perspective of stewardship, rather than personal ownership. He is the owner, and we are those who have been entrusted (Luke 12:42).

As such, stewards are to be faithful to accomplish the will of their masters. (1 Corinthians 4:2) God’s will is not left ambiguous in the Bible regarding material blessings. His purpose in blessing is motivated by His burden for others spiritually. We are blessed in every way, including materially to be a blessing, as we find so clearly articulated in God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis. (Genesis 12:2)

God desires and intends the wealth He provides to His people to be used for His glory, by making His name great and worshipped in all the earth and among all peoples. (Proverbs 3:9; 2 Corinthians 9:6-12) Thus, stewards are empowered by the Lord to use their material blessings for one purpose alone.

Called To Inter-Dependence

It is God Himself who has given us the capacity to make money. (Deuteronomy 8:18) Apart from His enabling, we can do absolutely nothing. (John 15:5)

We are never to see our wealth as a sign of superiority or a reason for arrogance toward others. We have all received from God’s hand alone, and it should be seen in light of what He wills as its purpose.

Furthermore, Jesus has mandated that His people live in complete interdependence with other members of His body. Our completeness in the Lord comes as we walk together with others and receive the benefits which they add to our lives and ministries. (1 Corinthians 12:14-26) Paul recognized the central place that finances played in this type of “fellowship” in Christ’s body. (Philippians 4:14-20) Even Jesus Himself was supported from the livelihood of the women who followed Him. (Luke 8:3)

As material blessings range from season to season within the body of Christ globally, the abundance of one member is intended to help meet the needs of others, in order to maintain the important measure of equality. Such a calling from God does not in any way rely on one being poor or rich. Each is able and called to give, though not necessarily in the same proportions. Though the rich may give in greater amounts, the sacrificial giving of the poor is given special significance in God’s upside-down Kingdom.

The Early Church’s Example

In Scripture, we find that only thieves (Malachi 3:8-10) and rich fools (Luke 12:16-21) believe it to be profitable to acquire as much as possible, and to hoard this instead of sharing it with others in need as God commands. We are called to be those who put others needs above our own. (Philippians 2:4) This includes the material needs of people.

I am reminded of the example of the early church which had “all things in common.” (Acts 4:32-37) Their action was motivated by the deep and fervent love these disciples possessed for each-other. They were of one heart and one soul, and were willing to forsake their individuality for the good of the community. The desire for possession of property, which the world is jealous for, was laid aside in favor of the hope of a greater inheritance in the age to come before the Lord.

No one clung to property or land, and it is important to grasp that they were never forced to live this way. Peter nor John ever drew up a policy that such a communal way of living was to be the norm. The people were simply indifferent to their possessions, as they realized they had forsaken all to follow Jesus and given up all rights to things, consistently expecting them to be stripped due to their faithful adherence to following Jesus.

Living For the Temporal or Eternal?

What we as individuals, churches, and ministries do with the money God has entrusted to us shows more about our loyalty to Him than anything else. I have been challenged in my own life to see dollars as individual people, served with the love of Jesus and won to Christ’s Kingdom. This mindset has changed my entire approach to giving.

God is watching ever so closely to see how we’re spending our finances, what we are giving away to others, what lifestyles we’re choosing, and so on. Let me be as clear as possible that these items are very important to the Lord because He is ever aware of the negative grasp of money on the human heart and soul. He is assessing such things constantly under His watchful gaze. This reveals whether or not we are living for the temporal, or have caught His vision of living our lives with eternity alone in mind.

If we are looking honestly within and finding ourselves struggling with allowing our resources to be fixed on eternity, we can inevitably pinpoint our greed and covetousness as the reason. Yet these are not easy sins from which to get free. It takes consistent action and daily choices to allow the Spirit to untangle the web of false security found in money.

These areas of sin are often based in a root issue of fear. The enemy seeks to enslave us with a spirit of fear in every way possible, and fear over not having enough finances is chief among these. This fear causes us to hoard and hold finances close instead of releasing and giving them away. It is a principle of Jesus’ Kingdom that when we give, we will receive sufficiently back. (Luke 6:38; Mark 8:35) Faith-filled action, in direct opposition to the spirit of fear, destroys the greed and covetousness spawned by the fear. Let us repent of our deep-seeded fear, resulting in greed and covetousness, and cling to Jesus as our one and only reliable source.

What is God Saying?

In the current economic climate, it is important to ask some questions of the Lord to gain understanding. I have been posturing my heart to grasp His understanding and wisdom. We know of His promise that He will shake everything that can be shaken. (Haggai 2:6) This refers to the judgment of God toward the various “idols” in our lives that crowd out our abandoned devotion to Jesus. We can expect that in time, our jealous God will knock out from under us such crutches that we rely upon too heavily.

Could our trust as believers in the global community in our material blessings, instead of in Him alone, have provoked Him to action? Could our greed and materialism finally have required the Lord to respond?

It is my conviction that greed and covetousness among believers is one of the greatest areas of sin and brokenness affecting the expansion of God’s Kingdom globally. It seems that Satan has come in with his half-truths, and caused multitudes of believers to hunker down in preservation mode when they are called to be cheerful and extravagant givers. He has sown confusion regarding the purpose of wealth in Jesus’ body, and caused many to cling to selfish and inward-looking stances, justified by a false understanding of the purpose of God’s “blessing.”

The Place to Start

The Bible tells us that anything that is not done in faith is sin. Faith and trust in God regarding one’s livelihood demonstrates a full surrender and abandonment to Him. This is what He is after, yet most of us find ourselves living far from such a standard in practicality.

The tithe is obviously the place to start in our giving. Yet, there is a mentality today that 10% is all God asks of us. This is a wrong way to understand the biblical call to giving and to understanding the implementation of His command to tithe given in the Old Testament Law.

Ten percent is the bare minimum of what God requires. This is Christianity 101. Because God knew our hearts and our proneness to self, He instituted the tithe to help us see that He is our source and that we are not to fear but to give joyfully and extravagantly. Our giving is never to remain at this level, but to continue to increase according to our corresponding levels of faith (not our incomes). Through the tithe, we are given the opportunity to not only give back to God in joyful gratitude, but to exercise a measure of trust in His capacity to provide for our needs. As we faithfully give at a particular level, our hearts are buoyed up within us to be able to trust Him for an increasing level.

I’ve known people who increase their tithe 3-5 percentage points each year. By the time they are in their 60’s and 70’s they are living on only a small percentage of their income and giving the rest to the Lord.

Learn Lessons Now!

Students and student ministries are in a prime time of life to learn these lessons of giving and trusting God. Such habits instilled now will bear fruit for 5, 10, 20 and 30 years down the road. Learning to live by faith with a little now will prepare the way for a potential job as a doctor or lawyer later, where you can give 50-60% of your income to the poor serving as Jesus’ hands and feet around the world.

What if for one year, 1,000 students in your nation who love God committed to give the equivalent of $5 every month to message bearers or pastors serving in an unreached area of the world? This alone would provide $60,000 to such servants of God.

Remember, let’s see dollars as souls served and reached with the love of Jesus. What a wonderful potential return on $5.