I'm Back!

I recently went on a mobilization trip to Western Canada to inform Christians about the Great Commission (Matthew 28:28-20) and East Asia's need for the gospel. This is my account of the experiences I had:

The first destination was to Trinity Western University. This was my second time visiting this Christian school. I have to admit, I was not particularly hopeful about the number of students I would talk too. Last year, not many students were available to talk, nor did it seem like they were interested. Understandably, they were concerned with their studies and perhaps overwhelmed by the sheer number of mission reps attending their mission week. This year, it was pretty much the same. I gave a seminar on "When Mom and Dad Say No!" and two people showed up. One thing was certain, not that many people there wanted to get involved.

I also had the honour of helping my co-worker train some Serve Asia workers (short term workers) in Comox. Comox is a beautiful place with fantastic weather! But even more awesome were the people that were planning to go to Thailand to serve Third Culture Kids. The pastor, Bob Verret, and his team were truly edifying. Though they are of a different tradition from what I am used to, I enjoyed my time with them. It was encouraging to see such a God centered group so involved.

The next event was Missionfest Vancouver. I have to admit, I really like going to this particular conference because it seems like there are so many solid Christians there. However, my mood was a bit dampened by the fact that Tony Campolo was the plenary speaker. Dr. Campolo is a great advocate of social justice issues, don't get me wrong. But a priority for me is the gospel. I've read some of his books and I have been saddened by his lack of focus on the gospel. I would advocate for social justice for the goal of spreading a passion for Jesus. Nevertheless, I will cease my rant and say that I had a chance to challenge people to get involved in my seminars and conversations with people.

Lastly, I went to Briercrest in Saskatchewan. There, I was incredibly blessed by the worship that was held. Eight hours of worship is glimpse into what it would be like in heaven. But being on earth and in the flesh, I was exhausted by the end of it! After that first day, it was great to talk to a number of students and share the needs of East Asia. If anything, this experience was entirely different from TWU. Students openly shared their desire to be involved in missions.

This whole experience got me wondering. How many of my friends and family are involved? I'm not just talking about missions, but I'm talking about actively being involved in their life of faith.

I came home and one of the first things I did, apart from giving my wife my love, was work out. The discipline of exercise requires active involvement. And you can't force yourself to do it without a motivating desire. You need to cultivate that desire in order to be motivated to force yourself to do it!

Sometimes our spiritual lives are like that. We need to pray and seek and hope for God to cultivate that desire in us, so that we can be involved and actively live lives of faith. No guilt trip here. Just a call to faith.