I had the privilege of traveling with Bryan Pinson (Missions Minister) & Journey Roddie (Girls Minister) to India for 10 days and I learned a lot and witnessed a lot. It has taken nearly a week of being home to actually process everything we saw and heard. But I wanted to take a few minutes to share some things I learned with our students and parents (and anyone else who feels like reading this).
First, God is God. Forgive me for a second, I know that most of the people reading this know that God is God, but knowing that in our head and experiencing that in ministry are not quite the same thing. I saw God work in ways in India that we don't see every day here. Not because God is different there, but because culture, peoples, and situations are different there. The pastors we worked with as we partnered with FAMM experience on a weekly basis casting out demons, healing people through prayer, and new conversions. God does mighty things in India and I got to be a part of his work. But it's the same God here in American. We witnessed God begin the process of transforming villages and families, we saw lives changed. God is the same God here, he can and does that here in Midland, TX. It's just that sometimes we forget and we don't take the initiative to be a part of it. So trust God, he is God after all, and step out in faith to participate in his work right here in Midland. God can change your school, your neighborhood, and our city. He can, I promise he is big enough.
Second, the name of Jesus has power. We use the name of Jesus so casually here that I sometimes forget that his name how power. Sometimes we even use his name as a curse word and while I normally am pretty good about that and event about calling the students on it, we are just a little too casual with the name of the most high God sometimes. The very first time we prayed over someone in a village Bryan prayed over a young woman. Remember we were working through a translator so she had no idea what we were praying until it was translated, but as soon as Bryan pronounced the name of Jesus, there was an extreme and immediate reaction. This happened to me again later, praying over a woman without a translator at all, and yet as soon as I spoke, the name of Jesus over this woman, the reaction was immediate and profound. I cannot be 100% sure what these women were experiencing or what was happening in their heart at the moment, I simply know that by bringing the name of Jesus into that place, the reaction was profound, because the name of Jesus has power. We need to speak the name of Jesus with authority into our schools, homes, neighborhoods, and city. His name has power.
Third (and last for now), our work is urgent. The urgency of the gospel message is lost on many believers. But it is urgent. There are somewhere around 7 billion people on earth and the vast majority of them need Jesus. There are still places where the name of Jesus has never been heard. There are people here in Midland who have no real concept for who Jesus is or the hope that he promises. Our mission is as urgent now as it has ever been. Maybe you can't travel to India, but I bet you can walk next door, or sit with someone missionally at the lunch table. Our mission is urgent. Don't forget we are called to go and make disciples. Everyone who has believed in Jesus is called to go and make disciples.
