expanding our vision

this past weekend was critical in the life of our church. we held our first ever missions conference. our two guests are intimately involved in the work with our adopted people group. as our congregation was confronted with life and ministry in central asia, you could see the light go on for some of our folks. two areas in particular caught our congregation's attention.

first, in a "closed" country missionary visas are not given, nor is it legal to openly preach or seek to prostelytize. in the minds of many southern baptists, this means that missions is impossible in those countries. if we cannot pass out tracts and invite folks to a graham-style crusade - well then we're not "doing missions". our friend from central asia painted this picture of life and ministry, "we're just seeking to plant our lives in that culture, to do good work among the folks and let our light so shine before men that they glorify our father who is in heaven." in that context, the folks who comprise our adopted people group ask questions and lots of them. spiritual conversations are not taboo in their country and the gospel can be shared - repeatedly. missions can be done, but in an incarnational and relational way. so much so that one of our members commented to me, "pastor, that's the same thing we try to do here. trying to live consistently and present the gospel to our friends, family, co-workers and neighbors." our congregation is beginning to understand that evangelism, and the discipleship process that follows conversion, must be relational.

second, our folks are beginning to understand that this is not about building southern heights - this is about building the kingdom. there is a profound difference. some time ago, a large sbc church in our area sent a team to iraq. following their return, the news and pictures of their trip were in just about every associational and state publication you could think of. it was a pr trip as much as a gospel trip. we must at some point make the decision that what God is doing is more significant than what He is doing in our church - that the kingdom extends beyond the four walls of our congregation. thankfully, shbc is coming to see this.

may God grant us the grace to be focused on His kingdom and not our own.