“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20, NIV (emphasis added)

Why didn’t Jesus tell the guys to bring the Gospel to Jerusalem? Why not just the places that had been the most accepting of His message? Why not just the nation of Israel (they were God’s chosen people)?

Instead, He chose to overwhelm them with the task to create a sense of urgency. He said “go to all nations.” Our passion to be efficient and effective in our ministry has minimized our sense of urgency. Jesus did not say develop the best strategy, although a strategy is not bad. Jesus did not say to be the most efficient, although efficiency is great. He said “GO to ALL NATIONS” or literally, “as you are going to all nations, tell them.”

It was an expectation that the disciples had a sense of urgency wherever they were. But, our sense of urgency has been cloaked by our desire for analysis. Our sense of urgency has been cloaked by believing that numbers do not matter. Our sense of urgency has been cloaked by the size of the task.

I’m reminded of a story that I heard once of a little boy who was asked to define the word all. His answer, “All means all and that’s all all means.”

All nations means all nations and that’s all all nations means. If the church believed that people who die every day really go to hell, we would be doing more about it.

It’s easier to build a strategy, but all means all. I wonder if the people from the nations who were unreached at the judgment will be impressed with our developing, ineffective strategies that were sought after over the simple telling others about the Gospel in all nations?

Today, I begin a crazy journey around the world. I’ll be in Tokyo, Thailand and Australia before returning back to the States. Please pray for safe travel over the next 12 days. Can’t wait to see what God does.

www.dayinscience.unsw.edu.au/

It’s a small(er) world than ever before, and God is desiring for HIS CHURCH to get involved in it. The amazing part: you can go or you can engage it without going. But, no matter what you do, get involved.

At Faith Promise, you will have 12 opportunities to go this year if you desire. Or, you can promote the internet campus to get others connected with Christ.

(I hope you are singing “It’s a smaller world after all” now!)

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36

Jesus was always compassionate, but He did not heal every person in every area that He traveled. Although that thought gets very complex very quickly, it opened my eyes (maybe I’m slow) to something. Jesus places His heart of compassion for different things into the hearts of different people. The struggle is that we want to force the heart that He has given us on to everyone else. So, if I have a heart of compassion for children in Thailand, everyone should have a heart for them or they are not as spiritual as I am. But, Jesus has placed that within me for me to pursue His purpose and plan for those people. As I meet others who have that same heart, I should partner with them. As I meet others with a different heart, I should encourage them to pursue all that God is asking of them.

What are your thoughts?

Micah told Kacie and me that the platforms were only 20 feet off of the ground. Let’s say that Micah is not good at judging heights because the lowest one was 50 feet! Kacie was excited but apprehensive and she continually used the phrase “safety first.” In the video of her, the guy lets her go and acts like the didn’t clip the pulley. It was hilarious!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Then, Micah was asked if he wanted to travel upside down. Of course he did, and I caught some good footage of it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thursday was also the day that we traveled to Canas, Costa Rica. If you missed the post about the band there earlier this week, you can see it here.

God is doing amazing things in Costa Rica. Today I received word that we may be supporting a new initiative there through Open Eyes to reach students and young adults.

Pray about that opportunity with me! We want God’s will!

My trip to Costa Rica included travel with Micah Stephens, our First Impressions Director at FPC. Micah is crazy and will do just about anything that someone asks him to do. We were also partnered with a summer intern for Open Eyes Ministries, Kacie. Kacie is a tennis star who played at Oklahoma Wesleyan University and graduated in May. We had some free time on Thursday and decided to do a canopy tour. The tour was awesome, but Micah obviously got hungry while we were there.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now I know that Tony Morgan can kill some cockroaches and that they love that in Costa Rica, but Tony, can you eat termites? Obviously Costa Ricans love that as well!

PS – there is more video of Micah and Kacie for tomorrow!

In preparation for training the pastors and church leaders, I decided to use some material from Tony’s book, Killing Cockroaches. They loved when the translator said that the material was taken from Matando Cucarachas. People would smile and you could hear them repeat to each other “Cucarachas.” It was hilarious! They also loved it when I said that the church was full of Cucarachas (and it probably was!).

If you haven’t read the book, I would highly recommend it. Tony is a great guy and an awesome leader in the church today. Take time to read his blog, attend one of his coaching networks and follow his Twitter feed. And encourage him to have the book translated into Spanish – we all need a copy of  Matando Cucarachas!

Listen to how awesome they are.

Click here to view the embedded video.

They ended our night of training there by singing, “Toma Tomalo.” (Take it All for those of you who are like me and can’t speak any Spanish!) It was awesome and their faces lit up as we worshipped along with them! They really liked our “Uh Uh Oh’s!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

You may be in a place where you feel like you are fighting a losing battle. You may be doing all the right things but you feel like you only get the wrong results. My advice to you: Listen to what God is saying. Sometimes He says “Go” and other times He says “Stay.” The song in their heart was “Toma Tomalo!”

Here are some things that I noticed about the church in Costa Rica:

• The leaders and pastors that Terry works with seem very willing to help one another.
• The buildings are poorly furnished and not very nice, but the people that fill them appear happy, eager to learn and very gracious. Most of them appeared to be very humble.
• Many of the issues facing the church in Costa Rica are similar to the US church – church structure plagues them, lack of vision, lack of leadership development, etc. The pastor’s there try to do it all instead of delegating responsibility and empowering their people.
• The churches are scrambling to meet the needs of the community and are overwhelmed by the extreme poverty in their areas.

There are obviously tons of challenges facing the church in the US. What do you think is the greatest one?

• The church in Costa Rica
• Toma Tomalo
• Killing Cockroaches
• Eating Termites
• Canopy Tour

It was an awesome week training church leaders. There are some great videos and pictures coming in these posts, so stay tuned!