Journal of a Rookie Missionary

I'll Follow You - Kenya Day 1

"Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  And He said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.'  Immediately they left their nets and followed Him."  Matthew 4:18-20

"A certain ruler asked him, 'Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'  'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good -- except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"  'All these I have kept since I was a boy,' he said.  When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 'You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'  When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth."  Luke 18:18-23

In these 2 passages of scripture from the gospels of Matthew and Luke, we see two instances of Jesus telling people to "Follow Him."  And we see two contrasting responses.  The rich young ruler in Luke 18 gives in to the desires of the flesh and of the world (material possessions) and cannot bring himself to obedience to follow Jesus.  However, in Matthew 4 we see two brothers, Simon Peter, and Andrew respond in immediate obedience by following Jesus. 

I believe that Jesus asks each of us this same question and how we respond ultimately affects not only our salvation but also the purpose and direction of our lives in this world we live in.  We each have a choice in the matter and will respond in 1 of 3 ways:

1. We can choose to obey God and His commandments immediately.

2. We can choose to delay obedience.

3. We can choose to disobey God.

The latter two responses reflect a lack of trust and faith in God to accomplish the good things He has promised for all of those who call upon His name.  The first reflects trust, faith, and a yielding to the Holy Spirit.  As I've heard my pastor quote before, "Delayed obedience is disobedience."  I urge you to choose the first response today and then observe how God will honor your obedience to Him.

That first response is how I chose to respond when presented with the opportunity to follow the Lord in obedience to Kenya.  And God has been faithful to honor my obedience to Him by renewing within me a passion and desire to live a life of Godliness and obedience to Him while being yielded to His Holy Spirit.

Below is Day 1 of my journal chronicling my misson trip to Kenya in February 2011:

Day 1 – Leave for Kenya - Thursday, 3 February 2011

As I write this 1^st journal entry, I am sitting on the plane in route from Atlanta to Amsterdam somewhere off the eastern coast of Canada over the North Atlantic.  We have been in the air approximately 3 hours so far with about 4 more to go before we get to Amsterdam.  So far, things are going well on the flight.  I’ve had dinner and watched a movie and am now contemplating whether or not to try to get some sleep.

But before I lay my head down for the night, I wanted to take the opportunity to write my thoughts down.  Brandon Armstrong sent me a text early this morning saying he was praying for me and was praying these 2 passages of scripture for me and our team during the trip – Ephesians 3:14-20 and Proverbs 18:14.  Ephesians 3 is a prayer that Paul uses to encourage the Ephesians in their ministry and struggles for the Lord.  His prayer is the same that I am praying for me and my team as we go to our brothers and sisters in Kenya.  I  pray that the Father would strengthen us all with His power through the Holy Spirit and that we would be able to comprehend the breadth and depth of His love and that we would pour out that love on those whom we meet and serve in Kenya.  I know that love is the greatest emotion and most powerful gift that we can bestow upon others and that we have His love in us, which covers our sinfulness and allows us to be His light.  So my prayer is that we would all be rooted and grounded in God’s love as we go. Proverbs 18 deals with the contrast between the upright and wicked man.  Verse 14 discusses the spirit of a man and how the spirit can endure the sickness that comes upon man.  My take on this verse is that we are about to face sickness (literal, poverty, pain) like nothing we have ever faced but we should take heart in the fact that the Holy Spirit in us will keep us from being sick and allow us to show the love of Christ to these brothers and sisters.  Just like the Brandon Heath song, “Your Love,” the only thing that truly matters is Your love, God.  Help us all to be Your love on this journey!  Transform our hearts and minds into Christ.  As I prayed this morning before I left, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” 

Thank you again Lord for giving me this opportunity and for helping me to follow You in obedience.

Your Son,

Zach

Follow You - Leeland 

You live among the least of these
The weary and the weak
And it would be a tragedy
For me to turn away
All my needs You have supplied
When I was dead You gave me life
How could I not give it away so freely?

And I’ll…
Follow You into the homes of the broken
Follow You into the world
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God
Follow You into the world

Use my hands, use my feet
To make Your kingdom come
To the corners of the earth
Until Your work is done
Faith without works is dead
On the cross Your blood was shed
So how could we not give it away so freely?

I give all myself
I give all myself
And I give all myself to You

  

 

 

 

 

Why We Must Go

"Radical obedience to Christ is not easy; it is dangerous.  But in the end, such risk finds its reward in Christ.  And He is more than enough for us."  David Platt, Radical 

Matthew 28:19-20 - "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

These words of Jesus are what we Christians call "The Great Commission."  These were the last words that Jesus spoke to His disciples after the Resurrection before He ascended to the right hand of God the Father and where He continues to remain today; at least where He temporarily remains until His 2nd coming.  The Great Commission is a commandment for all followers, not just so called "missionaries." You see, in our Christian American culture with all of our religious church activities, we have so many programs and activities that we have separated into their own entities.  And missions has become one of those entities for the ones "who are called of God."  But the mistake so many churches are making is the mistake of not encouraging its people to be obedient to the Great Commission commandment to "go into all nations."

And so it was for me in my American Christian church life.  I was one of those members that came to church every Sunday morning (but you would never see me any other time), gave my 10% tithe, and sat slumbering in my seat during worship each week.  But the Lord, in his timing, began to stir up something in my heart and soul toward the end of 2009.  A feeling that something was missing in my Christian walk.  A feeling that there was more to the Christian life than going to church every Sunday, listening to a sermon, and giving my tithe.  A feeling of just "Going Through the Motions" as the Matthew West song says.  And so I began to pray that God would show me what was missing in my journey.  And he began to awaken me.  He began to use His Word and my relationships with fellow brothers and sisters to show me that there was something more to this life than the American church experience.  He began to transform my heart and my mind as Paul talks about in Romans 12:1-2.  And I began to experience God in a way which I had never done before.  But I would never be one of "those missionaries."  Or so I thought......

Fast forward to the beginning of 2010 - Emily and I began to pray and seek the Lord's will in determining His purpose for our lives.  We had been in a great Life Group (or Sunday School for most of us) for the first 5 years of our marriage, and it was growing tremendously.  But I was feeling stagnant in my growth and felt the Lord leading me to something different, a change of scenery.  So we decided to try out new classes at our church, Bellevue Baptist, in Memphis.  The Lord led us to a class lead by a guy named Michael Harvey.  The first Sunday we visited we were greeted with warm smiles and Christ's love.  The people welcomed us with open arms and we immediately felt a connection with the teacher and the members.  And then it happened.  God used this class and this man, Michael Harvey, to began to stimulate that awakening in my heart and mind. 

The class was listening to podcasts of a sermon series by a young pastor in Birmingham, Alabama named David Platt.  Bro. David was/is the pastor of The Church at Brook Hills.  The podcasts were of a sermon series entitled, "Radical."  They were discussing things like being radically abandoned to the gospel, the call of taking the gospel to all peoples and ridiculous ideas like selling your material possessions and giving the money to the poor.  I was thinking to myself, "What kind of Christianity is this?"  So Emily and I went home a bit dumbfounded but encouraged too.  We downloaded the first sermon, "What the Gospel Demands," and listened to it in the truck on the way to church the next Sunday.  The sermon was so gripping and powerful that I was at a loss for words. As we pulled into the parking lot, Emily and I looked at each other with that blown aware stare and commented to each other - This Concept is What the Christian Life is All About and We Don't Want to Miss It Anymore.  And so we joined the class and began to struggle through some of the hard questions of the gospel that every Christian must ask himself at some point.  

Later, I picked up a copy of this little orange book by the same author, David Platt, called "Radical." For the next few weeks, Emily and I fought over the book as neither one of us could put it down.  So we were challenged to put our faith into action.  God led a client to her, who has become one of our closest friends, who was desiring something more out of her Christian walk.  She and Emily talked about the lack of spiritual growth in our community and how it would be great to start meeting together with other believers in a discipleship group.  Emily and I talked about the concept and in April of 2010 we were led to begin a group with 4 other local couples in each other's homes.  5 couples quickly dwindled to 4.  We started our time together with a study called, "Abide in Christ," which is based on the parable of the vine and the branches in John 15.  We looked at what it means to abide in Christ, and what a fruit bearing Christian looks like.  We encouraged each other, prayed for each other, and fellowshipped together.  It was great but we needed something more.  So our next study was natural to go through the book, "Radical."  We lost a couple and added a few other members and spent the remainder of 2010 going through Radical.  We saw tremendous personal growth among our group members and we began to desire to be obedient to God in the areas of service and being the hands and feet in our community.  We were involved in a few service type ministries in our community that we initiated and we really began to see the Lord transforming us and working through us.

At the end of Platt's book, Radical, he has a section called the Radical Experiment where he issues a one year challenge to any Christian desiring to live a life of surrender and total obedience to Christ. The challenge has 5 components:

1. Pray for the entire world. (Operation World)

2. Read through the entire Word. (which we are doing at my church, Bellevue Baptist)

3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose. (Still praying about this one)

4. Spend your time in another context. (Kenya)

5. Commit your life to a multiplying community. (Covington and My Life Group)

Emily and I began to pray about whether God would have us to commit to this 1 year challenge.  I felt the Lord confirming it in my heart before I had even spoken with her about it.  And so, we made a commitment to do the Radical Experiment in 2011.  

At the same time in the fall of 2010, as the Lord had been working on my heart, I was made aware of a foreign mission trip at my church that would be taken in February 2012 to the country of Kenya on the African continent.  I have never been out of the United States except for our honeymoon to the tourist trap of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and so I was a bit apprehensive about leaving the country. However, I knew that God had placed this opportunity before me and I wanted to be obedient to the call.  I went to the first interest meeting and knew almost immediately after hearing about the purposes of the trip that I was to go on this mission trip.  The confirmation I needed was in the form of a video showing previous trip photos and videos of Kenya with quotes from Radical as well.  I came home and told Emily that I felt the Lord was calling me to follow him in obedience to Kenya. Although the details would need to be worked out, she was very supportive and told me to follow the Lord's calling.  I began praying and seeking the Lord in this ministry opportunity and how he might use me to be His hands and feet and show the love of Christ to my Kenyan brothers and sisters.  The Lord began to prepare me physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for the trip.  I was able to write support letters and family and friends were able to help me with the cost of the trip which was $2,600.  We took some of our money and added to the donations to make up the difference. God was faithful to provide the financial means for the trip.

The few weeks leading up to the trip were filled with many vaccinations and other preparations needed for the trip.  I also had to prepare to share a greeting, my testimony, and a short bible study or lesson in case I was asked to share during our time there.  The week before the trip seemed to go by in a flash.  I began to focus my heart and mind on the task at hand and the Lord gave me excitement and some fear as well about the unknowns.  But I had decided in my heart to follow him in obedience and He had promised to go before and ahead of me and prepare the way for me and my team.

The following posts will chronicle my mission trip to Kenya with a team of 14 from Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee and a team of 7 from Rock Creek Church in Little Rock, Arkansas in support of Light Ministries and Global Field Evangelism.  It is my prayer that these posts would shed light onto the daily situation of the Kenyan people and insight into the way the Lord worked in my heart and faith during my time there and since.

This song from Matthew West sums up my desire to live a life of what the world calls radical obedience but what God calls simple obedience.  "I don't want to go one more day without Your burning passion inside of me."