Believing God, Staying in America, and Jim Elliot

What a great Sunday! So many of you who boldly stood up asking God to display Himself in some miraculous way through you... I know we will be hearing many of your stories in weeks to come.

I was also moved at how so many of you have responded to believe God's promise that He WILL make His name famous among the nations. As I mentioned on Sunday, our job as intercessors is not to go and "pray" on behalf of somebody else, as if God needed us to fill His ears with news about others He doesn't know. Our role is to go and BELIEVE on behalf of someone else. Intercessory believing connects someone in need to Jesus' overflowing compassion.

In the past year over 1000 of you have gone out from this trip on some type of short term trip to believe God's promise on behalf of someone else. At least 24 Summit members have left our fellowship to serve in one of our church plants overseas, and 20 more actively preparing to go in the next year. Praise God.

But once again I remind you that taking the Gospel to the "nations" is not a "call" that only a few of us receive. It is a COMMAND to ALL of us. We can't say that certain parts of the Bible don't apply to us. We can't dodge Jesus' directs commands by coming up with some manmade doctrine of "calling": i.e. "I'm not called to obey Matthew 28:19 or Acts 1:8." Our roles in living out that command may be different, but ALL of us have to be obedient to the command: giving, praying, and going. So why not make plans to go on one of our short term trips next year? If your Summit Life group has not adopted an overseas church planter, do it immediately! Email Brad O'Brien and he'll make it happen!

I know some might be tempted to say, "Oh, but there's so much NEED in America, how can we focus so much on what's going on overseas?" I understand. We don't do work overseas to the exclusion of work in RDU. But we do believe that the light that shines the farthest will also shine the brightest at home. I have seen in the last 5 years that the more somebody lifts their eyes to the worldwide spread of the Gospel, the more active they become here.

I'll leave you with the words of two great missionaries... Jim Elliot and C.T. Studd:

Jim Elliot, who in his 20's was martyred by the Auca Indians he was trying to reach in Equador, said in his journals (Shadow of the Almighty): "Consider the call from the Throne above, Go ye, and from round about, Come over and help us, and even the call from the damned souls below, 'Send Lazarus to my brothers, that they come not to this place'. Impelled, then, by these voices, I dare not stay home while [the Quichia Indians] perish. So what if the well-fed church in the homeland needs stirring? They have the Scriptures, Moses, and the Prophets, and a whole lot more. Their condemnation is written on their bankbooks and in the dust on their Bible covers. American believers have sold their lives to the service of money."

And C.T. Studd, who at 50 answered God's call to go to Africa... He had no money and his doctor and church committee told him not to go... Studd responded, “Gentlemen, God has called me to go and I will go.  I will blaze the trail. though my grave may only become a stepping stone that other younger men may follow.”

So enough of the excuses! Let's get on with it! What part are YOU playing?