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Why Go On a Mission Trip?

Be The Change That Changes You

Why should you go on a mission trip? It’s the best way to discover Jesus’ heart for a lost world…and his will for your life.

Why go on a mission trip?

Listen to the emotion in his words as he talks to us about lost people in Matthew 9:

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38)

When you and I hear Jesus’ appeal, we’re obligated to pray, “Lord, send me.” That’s how the prophet Isaiah responded to God’s call:

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isa 6:8)

God is still looking for “Lord-send-me” people to go to the ends of the earth with the Good News. His heart still bleeds with compassion for unreached souls who are harassed, helpless, and hopeless.

I’ve found that the best way to take Jesus’ heart as your own is to go on a missions trip…a gospel plunge in the under-served world to share, show, and spread the Good News of Jesus.

Years ago, on a trip to Africa with my eighty-four-year-old spiritual mentor, God dislocated my heart for the lost world.

Since then, we’ve taken other pastors, and they say “It’s made me a better pastor back home.” We’ve taken auto-mechanics to train others how to make a living repairing cars, they say, “I never knew God could use my job to do missions. We’ve taken doctors, dentists, nurses, carpenters, electricians, students who say, “it’s made me a better Christian.”

If you’re a pastor, we invite you to take a trip with us. It’ll not only transform you, the change in you will transform your church. If you’re a Christ-follower, go with us on a trip. You can be the change that changes you.

Like me, you’ll go as a citizen of your nation but return as a missionary to God’s world.

Get into the harvest—it’s ripe. You’ll make a difference. You’ll be changed. And you’ll make Jesus do a happy dance! Really! In Luke 10, Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples. They came back bursting with excitement for what God did through them. And we’re told,

“Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father.’” (Luke 10:21)

Now get this: the Greek word suggests that Jesus was “shouting and leaping with joy.” So yes, when you get into the harvest, and in some capacity serve as a conduit for the gospel—I don’t mean this irreverently—Jesus does a happy dance!

Check out our mission trip opportunities … let’s be the change that changes us… and makes Jesus pretty happy too!

This is how we change the world!

You Are Invited!

Learn More | Apply Today

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You Can Trust The Shepherd

God Alone Satisfies

SYNOPSIS: Given the track record of the Shepherd’s goodness, why would we ever harden our hearts to the Good Shepherd’s voice? It doesn’t make sense, does it? And yet that is precisely what we do when we wander off on our own or want things that aren’t good for sheep or worry over stuff that the Shepherd has under his control (which is everything, by the way). I hate to admit it, but sometimes I am just a dumb sheep—and I have a feeling that you are, too.

Trust the Shepherd

Moments With God // Psalm 95:6-7

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…

Sheep. Not the brightest animal on the planet. In fact, some would call them downright dumb. They are defenseless, too. They have nothing within themselves to fight off their enemies. And not only are they dumb and defenseless, but precisely because they are dumb and defenseless, they are totally dependent on the goodness of the shepherd.

Sheep. That’s what we are. And from the description above, perhaps that is exactly why the writers of Scripture chose this particular animal from among all the animals on the planet to describe the people of God. Not bright enough, not strong enough, not sufficient enough to survive apart from the goodness of the Shepherd.

Yes, we are the flock under his care. And that is a good thing because the care of our Good Shepherd has always been sufficient. There has never been a time when the Shepherd has not led us to green pastures or kept us on the safe path or stood guard over us through the night watch or preserved us from the attack of the enemy or brought us through the valley of the shadow of death. In fact, the Shepherd is so good that he even laid down his life to provide eternal life for dumb, defenseless, and dependent sheep like us. There has never been a time when the Good Shepherd has not been more than sufficient for us, nor will there ever be.

So then, given the record of the Shepherd’s goodness, why would we ever harden our hearts to the Good Shepherd’s voice? It doesn’t make sense, does it? And yet that is precisely what we do when we wander off on our own or want things that aren’t good for sheep or worry over stuff that the Shepherd has under his control (which is everything, by the way). I hate to admit it, but sometimes I am just a dumb sheep—and I have a feeling that you are, too.

But today is a new day, and you have a fresh reminder of the goodness and sufficiency of the Good Shepherd. So listen to his voice and follow his command, for he will lead you to that place where sheep do best.

Where is that? I don’t know—I am just a sheep, too. But the Shepherd knows, so just listen and follow.

Take A Moment: Tell the Shepherd everything that is worrying you or that you are wanting today. Then leave it with him and exercise trust!

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Keep Hope Alive

Biblical Hope Enables You To Not Only Endure, But To Victoriously Overcome

SYNOPSIS: Biblical hope is not just a vague and lofty concept; it’s actually a very practical thing. Just like a football player puts on his helmet for the game, or a soldier puts on his helmet for battle, we’ve got to put on the helmet of hope, particularly the hope of our salvation because it is what enables us to endure life’s battles and come out victorious at the end of the day. That’s called practicing hope. So how can you literally put hope on as a helmet? First, quit being passive about hope. Hope is not just going to happen for you, you’ve got to practice it. Second, develop patterns of thinking that are founded in hope. The fact is, there are not only ways of thinking that will kill hope, there are ways of thinking that produce hope.

Keep Hope Alive

Moments With God // Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Hope is an incredible motivator in life, a powerful sustainer of love, and arguably, it is the most effective instigator of spiritual growth. On the other hand, the loss of hope is arguably the greatest devastator of life a human being can experience. That’s how profoundly powerful hope is. Speaking of the power of hope, Martin Luther King, Jr. said,

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

He is absolutely right: we must never lose infinite hope. The Contemporary English Version translates Proverbs 13:12 this way: “Not getting what you want can make you feel sick, but a wish that comes true is a life-giving tree.” That’s so true, isn’t it? Hope is that powerful.

We’ve all been there—the loss of a job, the breakup of a relationship, the crushing of a dream—it takes your legs right out from under you. It tempts you to give up, shrink back, curl up in a ball and just quit on life. There is no pain quite like the loss of hope.

But when you have hope you can survive and actually thrive through just about anything. When hope is stoked, even when what you’re hoping for is still a far-off expectation, suddenly there is energy, drive, focus, and patient endurance.

That’s how powerful hope is, and that’s why we got to practice it. Huh? Practice hope? Yeah, that’s what the Bible says. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 says we’ve got to exercise hopefulness…we’ve got to practice being hopeful…we’ve go to put on hope:

But since we belong to the day let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

You see, hope is not just some vague and lofty concept; it’s actually a very practical thing. Just like a football player puts on his helmet for the game, or a soldier puts on his helmet for battle, we’ve got to put on the helmet of hope, particularly the hope of our salvation because it is what enables us to endure life’s battles and come out victorious at the end of the day.

So how can you literally put hope on as a helmet? First, quit being passive about hope. Hope is not just going to happen for you, you’ve got to practice it. Then second, develop and nurture patterns of thinking that are founded in hope. The fact is, there are not only ways of thinking that will kill hope, there are ways of thinking that produce hope.

Let me illustrate: Suppose you were to receive a phone call today from an old friend who enthusiastically says, “Friend, I have good news. You can take a 7-day trip to Hawaii with my company that won’t cost you a dime. We have room for two more…but here’s the catch: we leave tomorrow evening at 9:00 PM. The boss is taking us on his private jet, and we’ll be staying at his beachfront villa in Maui.”

You say you’ll call him right back, and the minute you get off the phone, you and your spouse, who was listening in, start thinking and planning. Out comes the pen and paper, and you begin to prioritize what you need to do to make this happen. Then you call the friend back, and tell him you’re in.

Now here’s the deal: I’ll guarantee that you will begin to ruthlessly align your life over the next 24 hours to pull this off. Am I right? You see, the hope of Hawaii tomorrow will change the way you live today.

There’s something even better and more permanent that Hawaii. It’s called heaven. The most important hope of all—the hope of your salvation—is promising you a better tomorrow. So, start aligning your life today for eternity with Jesus—and be ruthless about it—and watch what hope will do for you!

Take A Moment: For the next seven days, right before you go to sleep and then again when you first wake up, think about what heaven will be like. That’s practicing hope.

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Winning Souls As Missions

The Wisest Use of Your One and Only Life

Giving yourself to God’s mission is simply the wisest use of your one and only life. Proverbs 11:30 says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and those who win souls are wise.” Soul-winning makes you wise because it exerts your greatest impact on eternity. It’s one of the few things that survives from earth to eternity, and when you share Christ, it changes people’s eternal trajectory.

Winning Souls As Missions

William Carey, known as the father of modern missions, said all we need for knowing God’s will is “an open Bible and an open map.” The will of God is missions — the exaltation of God’s glory in all the earth.

Missiologist Ralph Winter said, “The Bible is not the basis of missions; missions is the basis of the Bible.” That means missions must be the core business of every church, including yours, and every Christian, including you! And giving yourself to God’s mission is simply the wisest use of your one and only life. Proverbs 11:30 says,

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and those who wins souls are wise.”

So, let me unpack that proverb by using two key phrases in it: “tree of life” and “wins souls.”

“Tree of life” is used only in Genesis and Revelation, the beginning and end of the Bible.

  • Genesis says God created the tree of life for sinless humanity but sin cursed it into perpetual dormancy.
  • Revelation says God restores the tree for redeemed man with perpetual access to its healing properties.

Between Eden and Eternity, Proverbs says the righteous are that “tree of life” through the life-giving power of their words. And nothing’s more life-giving than leading a soul to Christ through the witness of your words!

The second phrase, “win souls,” not used other than here, doesn’t refer to traditional evangelism. Here it means influencing another to righteousness — again, that’s missions!

So how do you do that? Three ways:

One, through persuasion — the compelling guidance of a reasoned opinion.

God gives insights for influence, so share your insights respectfully to attract others to Jesus.

Two, influence also happens through your example — an attractive lifestyle.

Titus 2:10 says that by your godly example you actually “make the Gospel of God more attractive.” Henry David Thoreau said, “People will believe what they see. Let them see.” So use your example to win souls to righteousness.

Three, influence happens through investment: the generous use of money.

Listen to Jesus in Luke 16:9,

“Use your wealth to gain friends so they’ll welcome you into your eternal home.” (Lk. 16:9)

Without apology, Jesus says to use your money for what’s eternal — winning souls. As you invest in missions, God easily turns your earthly money into helping people find eternal life.

Jesus turned water into wine; he has no problem turning worldly wealth into saved souls. Think of it this way: a missional investment plunders hell to populates heaven! Want an unbeatable ROI? Your missions’ investment yields a never-ending return. So give to missions—if not through Petros, then somewhere!

Final word on this verse: it not only assigns obvious benefits to a soul saved, but also to a soul-winner.

Soul-winning makes you wise because it exerts your greatest impact on eternity. It’s one of the few things that survives from earth to eternity, and when you share Christ, it changes people’s eternal trajectory.

But soul-winning also makes you wise because it bends the trajectory of your future. Daniel 12:3 says,

“Those who are wise will shine like heaven’s brightness and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”

The soul-winner is wise, and apparently pretty bright, too! I want my place among the stars of heaven; I want that for you, too!

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Too Much Stuff

Don't Measure Life By What You Have

SYNOPSIS: One day, sooner than you think, you will stand before God. None of the things you have collected during your earthly journey are going with you. The only thing that will go with you into the next life that will do you any good is what you have done for God. Jesus said of the rich man in the parable, “You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?” As the poet said, “Tis one life, will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Too Much Stuff

Moments With God // Luke 12:15

Then Jesus said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

We don’t use words like covetousness or greed a whole lot these days, but we should. We Americans are a pretty greedy lot—me included. Our whole economic system is predicated on the hopes that you and I will grow dissatisfied with what we’ve got and go buy something newer, better, and bigger.

For instance, since Jesus told the story in Luke 12:16-20 about a man who thought his property was too small, let’s just take a look at our insatiable thirst for bigger homes. Did you know that the average home size in the United States was 1,000 square feet in the 1950’s, and while the average number of household residents has shrunk since the 1960’s, home size has grown to 2,467 square feet by 2015.

It was a whole different picture when I was growing up. My mom, dad, three other siblings, and a couple of family pets all lived comfortably in a home that was 1,200 square feet, if that. We shared bedrooms, bathrooms, clothes, didn’t have a garage to park our car in, and only one TV—with no remote control! We actually had to get up and walk across the room to change the channel, if you can imagine that.

And we didn’t think anything of it. We didn’t feel poor or cheated or even realize what we didn’t have. We were content! We spent a lot more time together as a family. We ate together. We all drove together in the same car, even when we were teenagers—a family of six crammed into an AMC Gremlin! Or was it a Hornet? Whatever—it was a really ugly car that should have never been made. My point is, we were happy as a lark—we didn’t know what we didn’t know.

We were content—and emotionally healthy. We had discovered what G.K Chesterton said, “True contentment is a real, even active virtue—not only affirmative but creative. It is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it.”

As a society, we Americans would do well to read Luke 12. It is a tough one, but what Jesus had to say about the deceitfulness of wealth, the debilitating worry over stuff, and our ultimate accountability before God for the stewardship of what we possess is much-needed medicine for the greed that ails our society these days.

One day, sooner than you think, you will stand before God. None of the things you have collected during your earthly journey are going with you. The only thing that will go with you into the next life that will do you any good is what you have done with and for God through faith. Jesus said of the rich man in the parable, “You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?”

As the poet said, “Tis one life, will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Take A Moment: Here is a novel idea: Give away some of your stuff this week to someone who really needs it—and don’t replace it!

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Be Kind To Animals

You Father in Heaven Kindly Cares for Them, Too

SYNOPSIS: Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” His main point is that if God cares and provides for even the birds of the air, how much more will he care and provide for me, the highest of his creation. But don’t miss the lesser point as well: God cares and provides for the birds of the air. They are his creation, too, as are all animals. To treat them kindly is simply Christianly.

Be Kind to Animals

Moments With God // Proverbs 12:10

Good people are good to their animals; the “good-hearted” bad people kick and abuse them.

What I love about the Bible is that it leaves no stone unturned as it digs into my life. Now, to be honest, I also don’t like that it times — but I’m grateful that it does. God cares about my life — all of it. Yours, too! Jesus said in Matthew 6:26,

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store
away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?

The main point is that if God cares and provides for even the birds of the air, how much more will he care and provide for me, the highest of his creation. But don’t miss the lesser point as well: God cares and provides for the birds of the air. They are his creation, too, as are all animals.

Now here’s where the digging gets a little personal. When I mistreat, neglect or abuse an animal, I am not only disrespecting their Creator, I am offending him. Why? Aren’t they just dumb animals? Are they not created without an eternal soul, and thus not truly valuable in his eyes?

Yes, they are just dumb animals — yet he still cares for them. They have his life within them, and above all else, life is sacred to the Life-Giver. Does that mean we should treat animals on the same level as human beings, become vegetarians, and never wear leather, as some with extreme views have concluded? Not at all. God himself has provided that certain animals were “good for food” and clothing, or to be used as “laborers” to help man accomplish his task.

But he also declared some to be off limits. And some he has created for human companionship, for comfort and joy. Yet toward all animals, no matter what their created purpose, God has put his stamp of life upon them, and thus he forever established the sanctity of life. God cares about even about the animals — and so should we.

Though we in the protestant, evangelical tradition do not venerate the saints, we do honor their lives and respect their tremendous influence upon the civilization of the world. Francis of Assisi was one of those whose contribution we admire. Francis is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment. Many legends have sprung up around his life, one of them from his death. It was said that on his deathbed Francis thanked his donkey for carrying and helping him throughout his life, and his donkey wept.

Though Francis treatment of animals might have been greatly exaggerated, his attitude toward the created world was simply the conventional Christianity of that era. It’s too bad that has diminished in our day! To Francis, God created and provided for all life, and therefore all creation was to praise their Maker. And as the highest of God’s creation, man was to assist the Creator as a steward of the earth by providing and protecting that which could not provide and protect itself.

The Humane Society has established an annual “Be Kind To Animals” week. As Christians, we are obligated to that every moment of every week for all of our lives. Animal kindness is simply Christianly.

Take A Moment: Take five minutes to read the following article on St. Francis of Assisi: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/news/2007/sept13.html.

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Bridging the Gap Between a Loving God and the Repulsiveness of Sin

Full Of Grace And Truth

Synopsis: How do we bridge the gap between the love of a holy God and the repulsiveness of the sinner’s sin? Grace and truth, that is how. That’s what Jesus perfectly and continually modeled. What we find is that Jesus, as Walter Trobisch said, “accepts us as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.” There it is: grace and truth. Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge it by full confession and humble repentance, he graciously and forever forgives it. Only grace and truth can do that for sinners. Perhaps that’s why prostitutes, publicans, and other sinners like you and me responded to Jesus so readily. At some level, they recognized their sin. That was why truth wrapped in grace was so appealing in Jesus’ day…and still is today!

Jesus - Full of Grace and Truth

Moments With God // John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Not too long after my wife and I had moved into a home we had just purchased, our next-door neighbor’s live-in girlfriend asked me, “what do you do?” I told her that I was a pastor. So she said, “Oh, I’m looking for a church…one that doesn’t get all weird and condemning about sin. What about yours?”

I said, “My church—hey, we accept everybody just the way they are—unless you’re shacking up with someone!”

No—I didn’t say that! But it was an awkward moment for me as I scrambled for a way to minimize the offense of the gospel to a person who was far from God and build a bridge that might lead us at some point into a spiritual conversation. I didn’t need to offer condemnation by my words, in the tone of my voice, or with my body language. I didn’t need to convince her of her sins, she was already dealing with that herself. Besides, it is not my job—it is the work of the Holy Spirit to do that. (John 16:8).

Jesus wouldn’t have done that either. Remember, in this very same book, right after the most famous verse in the entire Bible, John 3:16, Jesus goes on to say, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”(John 3:17)

But let’s keep in mind that neither did Jesus come, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, to tell the world that everything was quite alright! Obviously, the world needed a savior—that’s why Jesus came. People need a savior because sin holds people captive. To keep the bad news about sin and the good news about a Savior from them would be the most hateful thing we could ever do.

So how do we bridge that gap between a loving God and the repulsiveness of the sinner’s sin? Grace and truth, that is how. That is what Jesus perfectly modeled. Take, for instance, his interaction with the adulterous woman in John 8. Picture the scene: This sinful woman is standing in the center of a circle, surrounded by self-righteous religious leaders who want her stoned. Imagine her humiliation, caught in the very act of adultery—a private act now a very public sin. Nothing can hide her shame—and make no mistake, sexual sin is shameful, degrading to the people involved, destructive to the innocent family members it affects, and it is odious to a holy God.

This woman is standing before Jesus, exposed, humiliated, tears dripping to the sand. She has been used by men all of her life, and now she will pay for it with her life. She sees the stones; she knows her guilt. Now, all eyes are on Jesus—what will he do?

After some time, Jesus speaks and says to those who want her executed, “Ok, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” And with that bombshell, one by one, from oldest to youngest, they walked away, leaving only Jesus and this sinful woman face-to-face. What now? Would Jesus give her a good moral tongue lashing? No, he just gently asks, “Where are your accusers? Has no one judged you guilty?”

She replied, “No one, Sir.”

At that, Jesus offered these grace-truth words that would utterly right this sinner’s upside-down life: “Then I don’t either. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Behind this amazing display of grace and truth, as Walter Trobisch said, what we find is that Jesus “accepts us as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.” Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge it by confession and repentance, he totally, graciously, and forever forgives it. The adulteress went away forgiven, with a new clean heart and a brand new chance at life. Only grace and truth can do that for sinners.

Perhaps that is why prostitutes, publicans, and other sinners responded to Jesus so readily. At some level, they recognized their sin. That was why forgiveness was so appealing to them…and still is!

What does the world need more than anything right now? What does your sinful next door neighbor so desperately need? The same thing you need: A whole lot of truth and a big dose of grace!

Take A Moment: Spend time today to memorize and meditate on this very important verse from John 1 that likewise reveals the great grace of God: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)