If you had a dream of going somewhere in the world where you have never been—seeing something with your own eyes instead of seeing just tourist photos—where would it be? It’s a bit of a “what’s on your bucket list?” question.
- A cruise through the inside passage to Alaska?
- The tropical islands of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean?
- The fjords of Norway?
- The glaciers and penguins of Antarctica?
- The Gobi Desert of Mongolia?
- The Great Wall of China?
- Machu Picchu in Peru?
- The Isle of Bali in Indonesia?
For many of us, those faraway places would be our dream trip. Nothing wrong with this at all. God gives us experiences that bring delight to our human fascination and dreams. But I think we go terribly wrong when we see missions as fulfilling a tourist-style itch to drop in for a time, take some photos, then move on to the next place. Some people actually call this “tourist missions.”
This Sunday, October 16, I will be teaching from three passages of scripture that help us understand that God really is a GLOBAL GOD, which is what we have been learning on recent Sundays. But now, out of God’s global heart, WE as his followers have been given a global mandate —a global calling.
As you prepare for this Sunday, I would ask you to read and contemplate these important passages that I will highlight in my teaching:
Ask yourself this question: What is God trying to do by sending us to parts unknown?
This next week is our official Global Impact Celebration week (GIC). If you miss this week, then you will entirely miss not only what LifeWay Church exists for, but also the understanding of the global God we worship.
Officially running October 19-23, we will actually begin this Sunday with daily GIC emails. In addition to sharing the GIC schedule for the day, each email will highlight one Frontier [Unreached] People Group (FPG) with cultural information and prayer points.
(If you already subscribe to the newsletter, you’re all set—just watch for the first email on Sunday morning! If you aren’t subscribed, make sure to sign up for the daily emails on the GIC info page.)
On Wednesday, we will have a kick-off celebration service and meet our guests from around the world, and the celebration will continue through the following Sunday, October 23.
Our global God has a global mandate. Do you understand it? Are you ready to participate in it? Or are you just going to be on a cruise ship that passes through the fjords while you snap a few photos to put in your vacation album?
See you Sunday at 10 a.m., and I will see you throughout all of next week for the GIC.
