the 'back row' deserves a chance to receive, too
Thursday, Aug. 30 - Saw something today I’ll never forget: we were over halfway through our “FrontLine Shepherd’s Conference” in Akwanga, Nigeria, teaching church growth and missions principles to about 1,200 hungry Nigerian pastors, when a lady stood up in the aisle near the back of the auditorium and started shrieking something in a language I didn’t understand. I looked around at some of the leaders near me, but no one seemed to know what was going on. Then other voices joined hers, and for a moment I thought a real fight was going to break out among some angry pastors. What was the problem?
Just before she started screaming, one of the leaders had begun distributing some literature and missions magazines to the front two rows across the auditorium, which meant only about 50 of the 1200 present were getting anything. The folks in the back (led by the shrieking lady) were complaining loudly to protest.
Then the Missions director explained that all of this was ‘staged’ – to make his point: that the vast majority of all Christian resources are being spent on the tiny percentage of us who have already heard the Gospel, while those who have never heard receive almost nothing!
Wow – I’ve been stirred by mission’s appeals for over 35 years, but this was different, seeing it before my eyes – the Nigerian’s brought to life just how unfair it is for those of us in the USA to keep hearing the Gospel again and again, via radio, TV, internet, Christian periodicals and books, cassette tapes and CD’s (the list goes on), while there are still people in our world, millions of them, who have never even one time heard!
That’s WHY we can’t put missions on a back-burner at CLC, even while we pursue a larger place to house our ministries – it just wouldn’t be right. And the memory of that lady's screams, and the anger of the crowd, is still ringing in my ears tonight, hours later. Imagine how it will be in judgment when the nations are gathered before the Lord! CLC, we must work while we can, to help see the Great Commission truly become the Great Completion, as this Gospel is preached to every nation and tongue. Even the back row deserves a chance to receive!
Just before she started screaming, one of the leaders had begun distributing some literature and missions magazines to the front two rows across the auditorium, which meant only about 50 of the 1200 present were getting anything. The folks in the back (led by the shrieking lady) were complaining loudly to protest.
Then the Missions director explained that all of this was ‘staged’ – to make his point: that the vast majority of all Christian resources are being spent on the tiny percentage of us who have already heard the Gospel, while those who have never heard receive almost nothing!
Wow – I’ve been stirred by mission’s appeals for over 35 years, but this was different, seeing it before my eyes – the Nigerian’s brought to life just how unfair it is for those of us in the USA to keep hearing the Gospel again and again, via radio, TV, internet, Christian periodicals and books, cassette tapes and CD’s (the list goes on), while there are still people in our world, millions of them, who have never even one time heard!
That’s WHY we can’t put missions on a back-burner at CLC, even while we pursue a larger place to house our ministries – it just wouldn’t be right. And the memory of that lady's screams, and the anger of the crowd, is still ringing in my ears tonight, hours later. Imagine how it will be in judgment when the nations are gathered before the Lord! CLC, we must work while we can, to help see the Great Commission truly become the Great Completion, as this Gospel is preached to every nation and tongue. Even the back row deserves a chance to receive!
posted by Pastor Jerry McQuay at 1:22 AM
1 Comments:
What a visual the Lord provided here...until the whole world knows~
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