One Mission Under God

District Fellowship News
November, December 2002

August 10th, 2002 - The air in Phoenix is stifling as we finally leave the airport in four large 15 passenger vans.  After signing my life away and promising not to use the vans for smuggling, drug running or any other illegal activities as well as understanding that we are not to drive them into Mexico, we could finally load everybody up and head towards Whiteriver, our home for the next 7 days....

Make disciples:
As Jesus was preparing the disciples for life without Him, the command was simple yet grand, “Go and make disciples of all the nations.”  A task had been given that required no special training.  Just the fact that they had decided to follow Jesus themselves qualified them to be disciple makers.  Point others in the direction you were heading, show them the One who you were following, teach them His principles and help them to live them out in their own lives.  First in your own town and then your state, your country, and in the world.

Small brown hands go up in the air to signify a decision to follow the Jesus who has been pointed out to them through puppet songs and Bible stories; an alcoholic leaves his seat and moves to the front of the sanctuary as an invitation to know Jesus is given; a tribal council prays that God will have His hand in their tribal affairs and guide their decisions....

He does not want anyone to perish:
It has been nearly two thousand years since God’s Son walked this earth, touched people, died, rose again, and gave that command.  Surely there has been enough disciple making, enough time has elapsed.  When the issue was brought before Peter that Jesus had not yet fulfilled His promise to return, that God was slow in keeping His promises, Peter proclaimed that God does not want a single soul to perish.  He is not slow, but He is waiting until the disciple making is done.

The night before we leave the Apache reservation and the town of Whiteriver, the local pastor takes us up on a hill that overlooks the whole valley the town is in.  On that hill stand three crosses in an area that has been given by the Apache tribe to the local churches as a place of prayer.  As teens spread out over the hillside and begin to cry out for the town below and the people who are living there it is apparent that  disciple making is not yet complete.  There is still work to be done.

The Choice:
This summer we traveled to Arizona to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. Next year a group of teens and adults will be traveling to Argentina, and Washington, DC.  There will be opportunities to share the gospel in countries around the world as well as in your own back yard, your community, your neighborhood.  The command has not changed in two thousand years, the call is still the same: Go and make disciples.

Stepping off the plane in Boston, it is wonderful to see the faces of our family and friends who have been praying and waiting for us.  We certainly left behind some changed lives  in Arizona, but would we forget?  Was disciple making done for the year?  We all have a mission to accomplish.  Go...