Make Disciples of All Nations

August 10, 2015

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

This summer has been exhausting, but also really incredible. I've been able to see with my own eyes the way God is making disciples of all nations. Whether it's here in Mississippi at Pear Orchard where I work, my home church Highlands, Washington state on an Indian reservation with Sacred Road Ministries, or in Trujillo, Peru with Peru Mission.

-I've been with Pear Orchard for a little over a year and a half. I've gotten to a point with my students where we have the basis of a relationship where now we can go a bit deeper. Instead of me always being the one approaching them to hang out, they're initiating and asking me to talk. I've seen the way God has answered prayers and opened doors in conversations allowing me to speak the truth of the Gospel into their lives. I see students wrestling with the brokenness in them and around them, I see students in awe of the Lord's work, I see students hungry to learn more.


-As I wrote in my last post, I got to go back to Yakama a couple of weeks ago to serve with Sacred Road for a week. I've gotten to see the way God has grown the ministry and worked in the lives of the Native American people there. I see leadership in the kids and teenagers. I see Sacred Road's vision of them wanting the church to be a safe place where people can come learn about Christ becoming a reality. I see growth in the people's knowledge and love for the Lord when years ago some had never heard of Jesus. 



-This past week I got to go to Peru on a mission trip with Pear Orchard. It was cool to jump in on a ministry that's been going for 15 years. To see their church plants, the work happening to open one of their clinics, and our team helping with the foundation for one of their classrooms for their school. To hear the Gospel preached in Spanish, reaching an entirely different culture. To hear my students understanding the world outside of their Mississippi bubble and to see them laughing and working alongside the Peruvians of Arévalo church. To see our Christian community reaches much farther than we thought.

-Yesterday, I got to go to the dedication service of the new sanctuary at my home church Highlands. My family was one of the first families involved in starting Highlands in 1993. I went there my whole life until I started working at Pear Orchard. In the bulletin yesterday morning they had a timeline printed of all the pastors that have been a part of the past 22 years. It's so neat to step back and look at all the people God has used in growing his church.

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 1 Corinthians 3:7 

There are people in Ridgeland, Yakama, and Trujillo that are planting seeds. There are people in Ridgeland, Yakama, and Trujillo that are watering seeds. But only God causes the growth. I've seen a lot of planting, watering, and growing. And it's every tribe, every tongue, and every nation. God is good.

I feel so very small in this world when I step back and see that I'm just a tiny piece of each of these ministries. We live in a world where we want everything to happen instantly. But I see the beauty of how it takes years to get people and places where they need to be. The beauty of each stage and how things keep moving. I'm living in between the already and the not yet. Jesus has already come and taken my sins but we're not yet through with the battle. I'm waiting for Jesus to return and make all things new.