Missional Living

If God called you right now to go... would you go? What do I mean by go? I mean: quit your job, sell your house, move your family,... I mean go. Like, not stay. To not live a comfortable suburban lifestyle. Not some short two day trip or even two week trip. I mean for the remainder. I was talking about this with a few teammates a few days ago. Here's my thoughts. If God called you... you'd go. You'd probably argue at first. You'd find every reason to not go, but eventually, you'd go. The question is, when people say "God told me to do ____," was it really God or did they just want to do whatever it was they did? It's really a deep question. Unless God physically appears to someone how could they know right? But wait. We live by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit. The spirit absolutely communicates through us wouldn't you say? So, how do we know what to do? There is a man named Francis Chan who told me to find out for sure you have to test the Spirit inside you. Here is the example Francis has set. Francis was a pastor of a large church in California. Probably one of the fastest growing churches in America. Francis had written a book called Crazy Love that had gone viral and people were flocking to see him preach on weekends at his church. His selfless way of preaching the gospel had made a huge impact on his church and millions of people across the nation and world for that matter. He had obtained everything a pastor leaving seminary could ever dream of. His own pastorate, and a large crowd every sunday that was growing rapidly. A book deal that was bringing in some serious coin should not be forgotten here either. Francis was becoming a rock star among pastors. So what did he do with it? He gave it all up. Yep, he left. Francis started to feel a voice inside him telling him he was missing it. The pull got so great that he and his wife and five kids sold their house, quit their jobs, and moved. Moved across the lake. The big lake! They left and went to Asia. They went to China and India and a few others all the while asking God "Is this where you want me God? Cuz I'll stay. If this is where you want me I've got nowhere else better to be." After staying over in Asia for quite some time Francis has returned to the states with many amazing stories. He returned I think because he realized that we Americans are the ones who don't get it. I was talking to a man the other day about Haiti, and naively I said "man, how come these third world countries don't follow our lead." The man said that he had a friend from Haiti that visited him. One day they went to the grocery store and the man from Haiti said "wow, I feel sorry for you people"! What he meant was that we seemingly have no reason to rely on God. If we need something we just go to the store and get it. Where he lives they have to rely on God to provide everything. So what is Francis doing now? He picked one of the most dangerous un-evangelized areas in San Fransisco to base his ministry. He isn't preaching to people in a church right now. He's hitting the streets. He and a few team members are walking around evangelizing to the beautiful people of the Tenderloin in San Fransisco. The tenderloin is where most of us would never go. It's where you drive through and purposely don't look at the people you see. Myself and several teammates got to wander those streets when we visited San Fran this year and I came away very affected. Imagine walking into a building and knocking on doors, and building relationships with complete strangers in the worst part of town, and praying for those people, sharing your heart and then telling them the reason you're there, and loving people...really loving them... that's what they're doing. Francis and his team live every day with one purpose... to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone who would listen. Amazing. What was clear to me was that God thinks those people of the tenderloin are pretty special too. God's Son Jesus died for those people too. God's Holy spirit is doing battle in those streets and apartment buildings everyday. The devil is using his tricks of drugs, and alcohol, and lust abundantly. But Jesus' name is beating back the darkness. It's a great thing they have going there. Did Francis really give it all up? Or did he get so much more by giving? You'll have to ask him yourself. Here is my question to you.... where is your mission field? To go might not mean to Asia for you. Maybe it means to go to the cubicle next to you. Maybe it means to go home and share with your family under your own roof. Maybe it means to hit the streets. Ask God to reveal that to you. But one thing is for certain... ALL OF US HAVE A PLATFORM. Find it, use it......

-Waino