STORIES from a Missionary LINK-UP

• Do you have a missions-based post?  
• Do you have a STORY of how the Lord is moving in your life or in the life of others?  
• Do you want to share how God is using you to fulfill the great commission?
• Do you have an old post from a past mission trip?

Link it up here!

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My #STORY:
I have only ever been on one mission trip, but I like to think that my life is on big mission; at least, that is what I am told by Jesus in Matthew 28:19.  

I went to Vancouver, Canada in December 2012 with Pine Lake Starkville.  I had no idea what to expect.  I decided to go at the LAST possible opportunity, because it was the FIRST time I had heard about it.  I felt burdened to go, so I decided that I was going to go. 

As I was driving home after making that decision, I started to doubt.  How was I going to raise the funds in just over TWO WEEKS? How can I spend nearly all of my Christmas break AWAY from my family who I barely get to see anyway?  Why would I be useful on a trip that I don't know a single person?  How could I be good at mission work if I don't even know what I going to do?

All of these doubts filled me, but all were satisfied ad put to rest in Jesus.  

Philippians 1:6 tells me that Jesus is not just going to leave me on my own.

Hebrews 13:21 tells me that Jesus has equipped me to do what he wants me to do.  I don't have to rely on my own strength, praise God because I am so weak.

Once I got to Vancouver, I realized that it was the PERFECT place for me.  He had put me on the team to be an encouragement.  To be a loud voice in the midst of a big city.  To be an outgoing weirdo who isn't afraid to talk to anyone on a subway, not even someone who doesn't speak english.  To see his faithfulness at work.

I would not trade this trip for the world.  In fact, I still keep in contact with a few people I met in Vancouver through Facebook.  

Though the trip was nothing that I expected, it was everything I needed to grow my relationship with Christ and open up my eyes to the incredible ways that God has provided, equipped, and uniquely made everyone.  

If you are hesitant about signing up for a mission trip because you are shy, don't have money, don't know anyone, don't like to fly, or can chalk up any other excuse. stop.  You are missing out on one of the biggest blessings of your life time.  It will encourage you to live missionally in your every day life and emboldened you to see people through the Christ-like lenses.

It's time to go. 

STORIES from a missionary: YOU

Matthew 28:19 says "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Acts 1:8  says, "but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."  

There have been so many encouraging stories this month.

Jerusalem→right here in our own home town 

Nicole

Audrey

Joel

Judea and Samaria→in our nation and surrounding states

Rachel

Nathan

Ends of the Earth→across the world

Kelly

Megan

Justin

Sean

Hannah

Luke

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So where do you fit into the mix?

Maybe you can't pick up and move to another country.  Maybe you are not called to work a summer camp.  That is not the issue.  The issue is where are you right now?  As Christ-followers, Jesus commands us to make disciples everywhere.

This series has been challenging for me just as much as it has been for you, I promise.

What can we do in our own cities, towns, homes, and places of work to build relationships and share the gospel?

• Create goodie bags with various items and a hand written note for teachers and deliver to local schools
• Bake cookies with a hand written note and deliver to local businesses or apartment complexes
• Intentionally live in an area outside of your comfort zone: in an international area, or lower income level.  
• Ask your neighbors over for dinner and share the gospel.
• Visit nursing home residents and ask to pray with them
• Become friends with your local barista.  Hold conversations with them, invite them into your home
• Ask your church about home-bound people and offer to do tasks around their house and visit for a while
• Bring coffee to your coworkers or to workers/STAFF at a large event
• Go to local police and fire stations with handmade holiday cards with the message of hope inside
• Host an international hour at your house or visit an international club 
• Gather old clothes, go to an area you know could use them, and pass out the clothes.  

My church has done several of these and I was so excited to be apart of them.  All of these are meant to provide you opportunity to encounter people you normally would not.  All ages can participate!  I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how welcomed you will be and what kind of conversations will be sparked because of simple kindness.  We have got to start getting out into the real world and stop holing up in the comfort of our own skin.  These ideas are meant to give you a way to share the gospel while demonstrating the love of Christ to those around you.  When the church is actually the church, people are shocked because it is a kind of love that is remarkably unfamiliar, but ever so delightful.

We can't be silent.  We have the cure for death, and that was never meant to be hoarded for ourselves.

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What mission projects or events are you apart of?

What other ideas have you done around your own town?

How have you seen local mission projects affect your relationship with Christ?

How have you seen local mission projects influence your outlook on people in your community?

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STORIES from a missionary LINK-UP Saturday, February 28
Grab this button for your mission-minded, faith-based posts, and then link it to Saturday's post

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My Prayer Life Sucks

If I am going to be completely honest with you, my prayer life has always sucked.  No pretending, it's just was flat out awful.  It wasn't horrible because I wasn't good at praying or didn't have anything to pray about, but because I just didn't do it.  I was faithful to pray at meals and if someone specifically requested something, but rarely would I ever go to the Lord in prayer to meet with him

I have never made an effort to make praying a spiritual discipline.  In December, I decided I was going to get up early each day and pray.  I challenged myself, but found myself exhausted and overwhelmed and half-asleep: Why Don't We Pray

About 3-weeks ago, my husband began leading me in morning prayer and reading a few verses.  We would diligently pray for the students in my first block class (another story in its self).  Since then, it has been INCREDIBLE and REMARKABLE and FLAT OUT AMAZING how I have seen God show up in first block.

When you see prayers answered, it makes you excited to keep praying.

This Lenten season, I struggled with deciding what to "give up" and shrugged it off.  I knew if I was going to give up something, it would be rash, half-hearted, and probably easy by day 3.  (So not the point).

My women's small group decided that we would each pray fervently for 40-days for something specific.  At first, I jumped on this idea because, uh, yeah we are supposed to pray.  But then I found myself anxious and unsure of how to start this 40-day prayer pursuit.  I knew that I would be held accountable and that my friends would ask me if I had been praying.  I couldn't lie, so I had to start praying.

I find that my mind wanders during prayer if I am not 100% tuned in.  I get distracted by my own loud thoughts crammed inside my head.  I have to write down my prayers.  This is beneficial not only for focus, but it is a good way to document prayers so you can see them answered.

I have found that using scripture to pray makes your prayers meaningful, transparent, and incredibly deep. No longer are you just flinging up prayers, but you are using God's word to talk to God.  I encourage you to use scripture to pray.

Examples:

2 Thessalonians 2:13-15

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

God, thank you so much for choosing me as your daughter.  God thank you for sanctifying me by the Spirit.  God, you called me out of darkness.  I don't deserve your love, but I thank you for loving me so much that you would take my place in death.  God help me to stand firm in your truth.

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2 Thessalonians 3:3-5

But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

God, thank you for being faithful in my life.  I have failed you so many times, Father forgive me.  You are faithful still.  God please direct my heart to your love and toward the steadfastness of Christ. Guard me from the enemy Lord.

How do you pray?

Are there specific times you pray?

Is there a method you like best while praying?

I am so excited to see the fruit from this 40-day prayer, I literally am crying imagining it.  Glory to God forever.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Father, forgive me for not giving you my all.  Forgive me for not lifting my prayers to you.  Thank you for your faithfulness and the power of the cross to cleanse me from this unrighteousness.

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If you are joining in the STORIES from a missionary LINK-UP on SATURDAY, feel free to grab this button! 

I can't wait to read your encouraging and inspiring mission-minded posts!

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STORIES from a missionary: Luke Smith

matthew 28:19 says "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  Luke Smith shares his story of traveling from village to village through the mountainous terrain of Nepal.  Read his story below:

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“for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” -Romans 10:13-15

One of the questions I have encountered most when it comes to Missions is why? Why go on Missions? My straightforward answer would be that we’re commanded too. In Matthew 28 and Acts 1, Jesus makes it pretty clear that these commandments are not only for certain Christians, but they are for every single person who claims to be a follower of Jesus. It’s a part of the job description. Missions and making disciples isn’t a job for the professional Christians, but a profession for all Christians.

So, this past summer I got the opportunity to go to Nepal.  Honestly, I had no idea what to expect going into the summer. I had been to India the summer before, so I knew what to expect from the cultural aspect; however, I didn’t have a lot of information about what I was supposed to do, so there was a lot of uncertainty going into the summer. I knew I was going to be going into villages, but that was about it. My partner and I had heard that we might be gone for 2-3 weeks at a time hiking through the mountains with limited food and water. We also heard that we might only be gone for 3-4 days at a time. All of this led to leaning and trusting on the Lord more than I ever have in trying to prepare for this.

After getting into Nepal, we met with our supervisor to learn exactly what we would be doing. Luckily, it was not going to be quite as intense as we had previously heard, for the most part. We were stationed in the capital, and we would be traveling out from the city with our translator. The trips lasted anywhere from 3 days to 12.  For some background on Nepal, less than 1% of the 28.7 million are known Christians. The unreached population(the number of people who have had little to no access to the gospel) is 28.4 million. We actually got the opportunity to try and decrease this number a little bit.

This trip out of the city would actually be the bulk of my summer. I ended up having to leave after about 30 days in Nepal, and this trip lasted for 12 days.  For this trip, we had one village that we wanted to go to.  This village was full of people who had never heard the name Jesus Christ. Our connection to this village was a national pastor that grew up in this village. So, we went to pick him up and headed towards this village. The thing about this village is that there is no road to this village, so the only way to get there is about a two day hike up and down mountains in the middle of the Himalayas. After taking the bus (buses were another story in their own.. just imagine riding in a school bus on dirt/gravel roads for roughly 10-12 hours, then multiply that by like 100 and you have how bad these bus rides were) as far as we could, we slept in a church for the night. The next morning, we left around 7 am and took off towards our village. After about 2 hours of hiking we come to a clearing where our translator points to a village that’s about 4 mountains over from where we are and he told us that’s where we’re headed. Now, this would not have been very difficult if there was a bridge or something that connected each mountain where we could just walk across. But the only way to get from one mountain to another is to go all the way down the mountain you’re on, then most of the way up the next mountain just to go right back down it and so on until you reach your desired mountain.

We started our up and down trek to the village, and I would be lying to you if I sat here and said that it was easy or fun. The only way to put it was that it was miserable. I’ve done my fair share of playing 6 or 7 soccer games in one weekend in the middle of the Mississippi summer and all types of weight lifting while in high school, but I’ve never been as physically exhausted as I was during this trek. I had to be in constant prayer for strength just to make it. My prayer was basically, “God, if you don’t help me up this mountain, I’m not going to make it”. So, we’re having to stop every 10-15 minutes so my partner and I can catch our breath and drink some water. However, our pastor friend never used this for just a break, every time we stopped to rest, he would flag down the first person that passed by to share the gospel with them. At first this was hard to get used to because when we left, I was thinking that we have this one village we’re trying to get too, and then once we get there we can start sharing the gospel. This seems to be a pretty common way of thinking in America, that we have to wait until we get to where we’re going to share the gospel, but that’s not the case at all. The idea behind “Go” in Matthew 28:19 is not go and once you get there to make disciples, but rather as you’re going, you need to make disciples. This is exactly what our pastor friend was doing. We did have an end point that we were trying to get too, but he was sharing the gospel as we were going. Our pastor made me rethink how I view the Great Commission.

After spending the night in a guest house we started hiking again, and after about 4 hours, we arrived in our destination village. We dropped off our backpacks at our pastor’s parents’ house and started our rounds through the village. We spent the next 4-5 hours walking around the village to different houses so our pastor could share the gospel with the people living there. This was also kind of hard for me at first because my partner and I were hardly talking at all; we were really just sitting there for most of the time. It kind of hit us after a little while that we could spend this time in prayer for the people that were being shared with. So most of our day was actually spent saying nothing, but just being in a constant state of prayer for the conversations our pastor friend was having. We spent that night in his parent’s house, where we had pigeon for dinner (which wasn’t actually that bad). The next morning we started our trek out, and we headed to a local school where our pastor knew the principle. After about two hours we arrived at the school, where we got to share the gospel with over 100 children!

So, over the course of two days, we were able to share the gospel with roughly 120-130 people who had never heard the name Jesus before! This fact alone made every bit of the miserable hiking completely worth it. Even if only one person who had never heard the gospel heard it during this trip, it would have been worth it. My discomfort, my pain, 8 days without a shower, all of it was worth knowing that a small handful of people now have heard the greatest news they could ever hear. While we didn’t see anyone decide to follow Jesus, we were obedient to go and share with them. That’s all we’re called to do, our success isn’t determined by the number of people who decide to follow Jesus, but rather by the number of people we share with.

Thank you for taking the time to read this; it was definitely a summer that I will remember for the rest of my life. I would highly suggest anyone who has the chance to serve somewhere to take that opportunity and go, you will not regret it!

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To get connected with Mississippi State University's Baptist Student Union, click HERE

To get connected with the BSU Summer Missions, please click HERE

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up next: Gracie Irby tells us about her future trip with JOURNEY

STORIES from a missionary: Hannah Knight

matthew 28:19 says "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  Hannah Knight, a newly-wed and religion major, relives her 6 trips to Zambia and reminds us that it is God who changes hearts and it is God whose timing is perfect.  Read her story below:

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Jesus commands us in Matthew 28 to “GO” and make disciples.  The word “Go” in its Greek form actually means, “as you are going”.  Mission does not happen on just one trip, one summer, for one week.  It happens in the daily goings-on of life.  It happens when I speak to my coworker in a way that builds them up.  It happens when the Lord presents opportunity for me to become a conduit of His grace to another person.  Mission overflows from True Life being breathed into us.  
In 2007, we were blessed by the presence of the Zambian Orphan Choir at my home church in Memphis, TN.  After the service, I had the opportunity to speak with the children and their choir director.  After church that day, I found myself telling my dad that I wanted to go to Africa—particularly Zambia—to work with orphans.  My dad-being the amazing parent that he is-made that happen.  

We took our first trip in the summer of 2007.  We had no clue what to expect, only that we had a contact from our church in Zimba (a city in Zambia), and she was going to show us around.  We visited a handful of different orphanages—most run by one or two people having no need for teams to be brought in—which is what we were hoping for.  We had one more orphanage to visit on our list, and we were supposed to go there the next day.  While we were in the Shop Rite in Livingstone, we ran into a couple wearing Georgia t-shirts.  As we talked to them, we found out that they were working at the exact orphanage we were to visit the next day.  It is so cool how God orchestrated that whole encounter.  We visited Global Samaritans Children’s Home that following day and from that moment forward, embarked in a continuing relationship with the people there.  

Since then, I have had the privilege of returning to Zambia on five other occasions—even interning at Global Samaritans for 6 weeks one summer.  During these trips, we have the joyous opportunity to do men’s, women’s, and children’s ministry in the surrounding villages.  Every time I see the children in Zambia, I always think of Jesus’ words, “Let the little children come”.  They have so much joy and so much desire to learn about Jesus.  I remember on my trip to Lusaka (another city in Zambia) I had around five little children holding each of my hands.  It has been such a joy to be able to leave Zambia and come back to the relationships that I’ve made with the people there.  It gives me great joy to see my brothers and sisters again.

One of the biggest things that I have learned from my experiences in Zambia has been to take time to build relationships.  Time is what these people really want—because sometimes that is all that they have.  They crave relationships.  Mission is not about how many souls we can save, but about building relationships that God can use to bring that person to communion with Him.  In America, we get so comfortable with the “Hi, How are you? Good? Good.” interactions.  You will never find yourself having one of those short, somewhat-present conversations with a Zambian.  How different would our world look if we invested with the same intensity that these people do?  What if we set aside our to-do lists and decided to love people by investing our lives into them? 

My trip to Zambia in 2012 taught me this in a real and tangible way.  I went to Lusaka with a team that my dad was leading.  A group of school leaders had come together to plan a sports outreach soccer tournament, and we were there as an extra set of hands.  I remember thinking that I wasn’t doing enough because all we were doing was sitting and watching these soccer games and playing with the children.  By the end of the week I realized that it wasn’t my words that made an impact on these people, but my time.  You have to invest your time and yourself into another person’s life in order to really grow them up in discipleship. 

In 2013, I returned to Global Samaritans where I was supposed to be the Lead Intern for 8 weeks.  This trip turned out to be a learning experience of a different kind.  Earlier that year, I had been diagnosed with chronic migraines and had just started to take new medication to prevent these.  That summer I learned that just because I had been called before and God had placed Zambia on my heart, didn’t mean that every opportunity that I can go is His timing.   My health prevented me from being the best tool that I could be for the glory of God and the exultation of His name.  I ended up coming home five weeks early that summer simply because the Lord had bigger plans for me in Memphis. 

Mission is a very important part of walking in Christ-like faith.  It is important to pray for the ability to discern the Lord’s timing and purpose for it.  Your mission may be discipling a group of girls.  It may be investing into the life of a broken coworker.  In any case, God be glorified in us and through us. 

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To learn more about Global Samaritans, click HERE

To learn more about Global Samaritans Children's Home in Zambia, click HERE

If you are in the Memphis area and need a church home, visit Christ United Methodist Church.

If you are in the Memphis area and looking for Local & International Mission projects to be a part of, click HERE for an incredible list

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next up: Luke Smith details his summer in of trudging up and down the mountains of Nepal.

STORIES from a missionary: Audrey Masterson

matthew 28:19 says "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  Audrey, my sister, surrendered her life to christ in the fall of 2014.  since then, she has been actively involved in leading a high school women's group and been faithful to invest her time wisely in those around her.  it is with such joy in my heart and tears in my eyes that i am able to post this.  Read her story below:

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“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens, a time to be born and a time to die, to plant and to uproot, to tear down and to build, a time to be silent and a time to speak."

Mission work has always intrigued me, but mostly because I have a desire to travel and see the world God has created for us to enjoy, not necessarily because God has called me out to do it. Selfish, I know, so I’ve never gone. But while following hard after God, trying to work diligently in corporate America, trying not to complain in doing it, trying to surround myself with other Christ-followers, and trying to show others the love of Jesus, I have learned so much about the character of God and what he says about me- who I am and what I am supposed to be doing. Amidst all this trying, I understand that he is calling me out to do mission work, wherever I am. 

I work in sales, which is weird because I am an introvert. 

I’m not an introvert because I don’t like people. I work in hospitality because I love people, but I’m an introvert because I’ve formerly lacked confidence in myself and have never been good at expressing my thoughts on what I am passionate about. So I kind of would prefer to just keep quiet. Nevertheless, God put me right into a sales position, where He has nurtured my confidence in talking with complete strangers about things I truly believe in. In this case- my hotel. I sell it like I don’t know of anything else. 

God put work on his people, and it is beautiful. Work isn’t broken, we are broken. What we fail to realize is that work takes us all over the place and creates reasonable and necessary interaction with other people. In my work, I go to people locally and people come to me globally. Some of those people have traveled halfway across the world, some across the country, and other just from across the state. What an opportunity I have in my line of work to share the love of God. This is mission work. Like I mentioned before, I have a passion for people’s hearts, but I never really knew how to respond to this feeling until God chose to reveal it to me. God has placed this restless yearning in my heart for people to experience the kind of love that can only be received by God in his perfect timing.  I am forever indebted to the opportunity I have to be alive in God’s kingdom; obeying, serving and working according to his plan.  

^“So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot.” – Ecclesiastes 3:22 

It all started with fearfully accepting a job in sales.  I’ve learned how to approach people and how to handle their objections. I’ve learned that it’s not personal (John 15:18). I have learned that everything I do happens in its proper time, appropriate place, and is all God-permitting.  Most of all, I have learned to be patient; to wait on people as God has waited on me; to love all people even when it seems impossible; and to accept the mission God has bestowed upon me. My job in hotel sales is preparation for bigger missions, but right now there is work to be done right where I am.

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to catch up with audrey, follow her blog Trembling Before the King

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next up:  Hannah Knight humbly shares her experience in Zambia and transparently shares the hardships of her journey.

discipleship trio

discipleship is such an essential part of a christ-follower's life, but we throw the word around so casually. what is discipleship?  many times we can be focused on sharing the gospel, but fail to live life with one another.  we get holed up in our own lives, focused on our own problems, and aimlessly wondering about our own lives trying to figure this whole "christian" thing out, alone.

that is not the way that the christian life was designed.

jesus himself is a relational being: three in one.  father, son, and holy spirit in perfect union and perfect community with each other.  

2 corinthians 5:19b-20a tells us that as christ-followers, the message of christ is our responsibility to share.

"...and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  therefore, we are ambassadors for christ, God making his appeal through us...."

in 2 timothy 2:1-2 , paul says to timothy, 

"but you, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in christ jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witness entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."   

in matthew 28:18-20, jesus tells his disciples, and jesus came 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 of the son, and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that i have commanded you. and behold i am with you always, to the end of the age."

and 1 thessalonians 2:8 reminds us that we are to give ourselves, not just the gospel,

"so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us."

this is discipleship.

you don't have to have it all figured out. you don't have to know a bunch of stuff. you don't have to be an expert teacher.  you just have to be willing to walk beside someone and see them grow.  we can take the perfect example from jesus.  who called a group of 12 guys, not a mega congregation.  he walked beside 12 guys day in and day out, seeing that they grow in their relationship with the father.

let's look at our own lives.  discipleship, living life side-by-side, is essential to our growth and spiritual maturity.  we need a paul, a barnabas, and a timothy to meet with each week.

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paul

a wiser christ-follower who invests in your life

barnabas

a christ-follower our age and same spiritual maturity to help hold you accountable

timothy

younger christ-follower you commit to walk beside and see grow in their relationship with christ

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i currently need a paul in my life.  i have barnabas and timothy, and what a blessing they are in my life.  but i desire to have a paul come along side and help me grow.  it takes courage to ask to be discipled.   

you are a PAUL to someone, you are a BARNABAS to someone, and you are a TIMOTHY to someone.  

if you don't step out and take a step of obedience in discipleship, you are preventing someone of having a discipleship trio. here, i am guilty. let's grow together.

STORIES from a missionary: Nicole Lee

matthew 28:19 says "go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  Nicole, a college freshman at Mississippi State University, shares her experiences of living missionally in her everyday life in her local town: coffee shops, bus stops, and everywhere in between.  Read her story below:

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As a started thinking about what to share with you I thought about how many times I’ve seen Christians gather to talk, write, and read about what the Bible tells us to actually do. I was once one of those people. I got so tired of sitting in my comfortable Christian circle and not putting any of what I talked about into practice. I’d like to tell you about how my idea of Christianity was completely shattered. There isn’t some complex formula and there’s no secret spiritual gift either. It started when I began obeying the Bible no matter the cost.

About a year and a half ago I wasn’t experiencing the power and presence of God daily, and I felt like my walk with Christ had hit a wall. Naturally, I started looking around at my Christian friends’ lives and seeing where mine wasn’t adding up. What I found was that my life looked exactly like theirs. So I shouldn’t worry right? Something still wasn’t sitting well with me as I read the word. I had this burning desire to walk deeper with Christ but I couldn’t figure out what was holding me back. Then I came across Philemon verse 6, 

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” 

I knew my obedience in sharing the gospel was my problem. Something had to change. My walk with Christ has never been the same after I read that verse. I started thinking about why I didn’t tell people about Jesus. Why have I never shared this with anyone? Was it that I didn’t know where to begin? Probably. Or could it be that I was the problem all along? You see, my complete lack of obedience was a direct result of what I like to call spiritual selfishness or- if we’re being real here- hoarding the gospel. This is by far the most devastating aspect of the church today. I was keeping the gospel to myself. 

I remember praying after reading that verse and begging God to forgive me for all of the years I hadn’t done anything with the gospel. I didn’t really know where to start after that so I simply prayed for God to give me boldness.  The next day I went out and shared the gospel with a complete stranger. I sat down with this lady who I didn’t know and I asked her about Jesus. What I found was that when I stepped out in faith God was already waiting to back me up. I didn’t have any training. I didn’t have anyone go with me. I prayed and then went out. After that day I was hooked. I wanted more. I started sharing the gospel every day. I remember telling God, “I’ll do whatever you ask of me. I’ll speak to anyone you ask me to I just need you to help me.” This message is too great for me to do nothing about it. I started praying each night for whoever the Lord would lead me to witness to the next day. I found that through prayer my heart truly changed. God gave me a genuine love for the people he led me to and for those people I still have yet to meet. I want to hear their stories. I want to know about their families. I want to tell them about Jesus. 

Every day I was experiencing a new side of God’s heart for the world because I was able to see people as He sees them. Through daily surrender and obedience God showed me that everyone is worthy of hearing the gospel. Let me repeat that: everyone is worthy of hearing the gospel. You read that and you probably agreed right? Does your daily life agree with that statement? Does your life show that you believe everyone is worthy of hearing the gospel? Through my reluctance to share for so many years, I was somehow rationalizing that a person God created was not worthy of hearing the message of hope simply because I didn’t feel like talking. Friend, I pray that God will show you that when we don’t share the gospel, our mindset is exactly that. Don’t say you love people if you won’t tell them about the One who loves them. 

I would like to briefly share with you some of the awesome things that God did. One time someone overheard me sharing the gospel in Starbucks and asked me about how I witness. I shared with him that I sometimes buy someone a cup of coffee and simply ask them about their life and then I share with them about how Jesus changed my life. After our conversation, he handed me a $100 gift card and said “Use this to buy more coffee for more people. Keep doing what you’re doing.” Another time after witnessing to a Vietnamese man, I went to buy him a Bible and when I returned to give it to him he was gone. In the disappointment of that moment the Lord comforted me, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11) This man who had just gotten to the US had heard the name of Jesus for the first time and for that, the opportunity was not wasted. A few minutes after that, a guy came up to me and said he saw the Vietnamese man leave the coffee shop and he could have stopped him but he didn’t. He told me, “I’m ashamed I didn’t do something.” Then he handed me $20 and said “Buy another Bible for someone else.” I went the next day to buy some Bibles and the worker at LifeWay asked me what I was doing and when I told him he handed me $10 and said, “Buy more Bibles.” No joke. God is awesome! After I bought the Bibles I asked the workers if we could pray over them. The manager asked me who the Bibles were going to and I said I don’t know that’s why we need to pray. After praying, the manager said, “What if I bought you a box of Bibles?” She bought me about 60 more Bibles. Sometimes when I think back on that day I laugh. God is so cool!

All of this happened while I was in high school. I’m in college now and sometimes I go to the atheist meetings on campus to get to know them. One day they asked me how I knew God was real. I thought back to days like the day I just described and I’m able to say with confidence that my God is real. I have personally experienced the power of God in my life and because of that it doesn’t matter what any atheist asks me. I know whom I have believed. (2 Timothy 1:12)

There were days of great spiritual victory but there were also lots of days where I felt alone and I was discouraged by believers more than anyone else. One time in particular, a man came up to me in Starbucks after overhearing me share the gospel. He told me that I shouldn’t be sharing the gospel. I asked him if he was a Christian and he said yes. “Yes, I’m a Christian.” I asked him if he read the Bible. He told me that witnessing was a pastor’s job and if I wanted to witness to someone I should take them to my pastor. I was really confused about why this guy who claimed to be a Christian would discourage me from sharing the gospel. We obviously didn’t see eye to eye. I left that day with a very heavy heart. A few days later I saw the same guy in Starbucks so I immediately wanted to avoid him. Sadly, I saw him walking toward me. What he said next blew me away. He said, “I wanted to apologize for what I told you the other day.” He said after thinking about the verses I told him he had an opportunity to buy a tank of gas for a stranger and felt led to share the gospel with him. He told me he didn’t know really how to share the gospel but he just started speaking. He was smiling as he told me the story. He then told me he had to go because He was meeting with his pastor to learn about personal evangelism. Revival was happening in this man’s heart! It’s possible for you too. It wasn’t anything I said to change this man’s heart, I let the word of God do that. Every day is a new adventure when you walk with Christ!  

Maybe you’re wondering what I’m up to today. I’m now a college freshman at Mississippi State University. This summer I’ll be going to South Korea to teach English through the International Mission Board. I can’t wait! I have a whole new mission field anywhere I go and so do you!! One thing that has helped me spiritually in college are the times of complete loneliness I walked through before coming here. I didn’t understand why God would have me feel spiritually alone for a time in my life but it was then that I learned to stand on my own with God. I admit that I don’t know everything but I can say learning to rely only on God is something every Christian must learn. God taught me then how to be faithful even if I’m the only one. I have a good friend here who is an atheist and we were talking once about Christianity and witnessing. She said, “Christians make it easier for me if they just sit in their church but you know what’s weird? Even though I don’t believe in God, it frustrates me that they would claim to believe something like the Bible and not do what it says. They believe salvation is within their grasp but they won’t do anything to reach it out.” My lost friends encourage me to share the gospel more than my Christian friends do. I beg you to open your eyes. I beg you to get out of your Christian clique of friends and go to the lost. 

Friend, who is going to be in Heaven because YOU invited them there?

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To financially support Nicole in her trip to South Korea or contact her, email her at NCL74@msstate.edu

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Check out Nicole's blog All of Asia

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next up: Audrey Masterson (my sister) shares her story of never having gone on a mission trip, but faithfully serving at her work place.