Don’t you just love those days when God sends you affirmation and encouragement? This morning at church the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Danny Akin, came and spoke and it was phenomenal! Of course I was excited to hear what he had to say because he focused his message on missions and I was soaking up every word. He drew from Romans 15:14-24 and showed us how Christians are to be focused on the nations, a Christ-centered people, Gospel saturated, passionate for unreached people, and helpful to those who God sends to the hard places. He explained that we have a mandate, a message, and a Master that impel us to go.
One thing Dr. Akin talked about was the Joshua Project. The Joshua Project has discovered 16,594 distinct people groups in our world. Each people group has their own language and culture; some have their own religions. Out of the total number of people groups in the world, 6,871 have little to no access to the Gospel and are considered unreached. This makes up over 3 billion people! It was extremely hard for me to not sit there and just weep before God during many parts of this service. Dr. Akin also told us about his son who served as a missionary in Turkey. In Turkey there are estimated to be close to 3,000 believers out of 72 million people in the country; yet in North Carolina there are over 4,000 Southern Baptist churches!
He explained to us one of his theories: The closer you get to Jesus, the more committed you will be to the Great Commission. Revelation brings responsibility. I loved how Dr. Akin said, “You don’t pray ‘Lord, should I go?’ You pray ‘Lord, why should I stay?'” He also talked about all of the programs set up by the IMB and how females are outnumbering the males on the mission field in every program.
I get so excited when I think about where God is going to take me in the next couple years! Some days the waiting on his timing is tough, but I know that I must be prepared in order to fully follow through with his plan. Pray that God will continue to prepare me and that I will not give up when it becomes difficult. Pray that God will give you a burdened heart for the nations and that he will show you where he wants you to go. Pray that God will equip future missionaries and that those who are called will be fearless in making God’s name famous all over the world. Pray that we will begin to see a change in the statistics and that a revolution will take place, a revolution so great that only God can be credited for it. Pray and ask God why you should stay where you are right now. Allow God to burden your heart and ask him to strengthen you to act upon that burden. He is more than willing and capable to do so.