Passionate Mission

He sat across from the table from me at lunch. It was the first time I had ever met him, but I had heard his name on several occasions. As we talked about his ministry, this gentlemen with tears in his eyes said, "I want to start a ministry in the poor section of town. I just want to wrap a towel around my waist and get to work."
In a deserted hospital room at 5:00 in the morning, I visited with another gentleman who, once again with tears in his eyes, talked to me about speaking the very words of God in his ministry. If you listen to me preach on Sundays, your going to get a little of my sermon in this blog today. I don't like the word evangelism. It's not found in the Bible. There's nothing wrong with the word and I admit that it's my own bias. But for me, the word conjures up everything that we've done wrong about spreading the gospel. It's coat and tie and slicked back hair and door knocking and duty. It has nothing about a desire to save lost souls, but it has everything to do with another notch on our belt of salvation. "Yes siree, we baptized another one." Then we go and leave them to fend for themselves in a world that doesn't care about them. In the meantime we're going to find another one to baptize. It has everything to do with "have to" and nothing to do with "want to."
Maybe we ought to change our language. Jesus told us to go make disciples. We've completely ignored that step. We go directly to the slam dunking. I want us to have the same heart as the two I mentioned above. Perhaps we should call it our passionate mission.
It is what we are. It is who we are. We can't stand the thought of another lost soul dying without knowing Jesus. When we have this passionate mission, the person becomes real. It's a soul who God loves and not just another convert. Passionate ministers draw people to them by their care and concern not by their slick sales techniques and closing tactics. Passionate mission. I like it. Have a great day.

By the way, I know I'm not usually here on Fridays. But I did what I advocated. I went to Starbucks and got my chai and sat and enjoyed the morning. Then I came here to catch up on a few things. I have my Green Valley Bible Camp T-shirt on, my jeans, and my tennis shoes. My wife is at work, my son is in school, my daughter is with her husband, and I'm by myself. I'm enjoying the day. Have a good one yourself. JW