In the world, we hear about “the power of one,” the good things that one motivated person can do to bring change. Now imagine that power of one exponentially increased by The Power of the ONE!

 

Mission Days keynote speaker, Johan Candelin, spoke of this God-filled power of one through a simple, beautiful slide set that featured portraits of people from all over the world. Each person was a story of accepting God’s call on him or her and how He is doing mighty works through each one. Some are leaders—but many are not. Simple portraits, everyday people, and extraordinary service, possible through the Lord’s power.

 

Johan knows these people’s stories because of his position as the World Evangelical Alliance’s Liberty Commission and his own ministry to highlight Christian persecution, First Step Forum. Those he spoke of are serving Christ under harsh persecution yet, buoyed by His grace and power, have become agents of tremendous growth for the Kingdom.

The effect of Johan’s three sessions on Mission Days participants was electrifying. The stories opened hearts to what God can do through a willing and ready believer. Immediately after one session, three young Latvian women approached Johan. They offered to begin translating his weekly e-newsletter about the persecuted church, WEA’s Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, into Latvian (available in English at http://www.idop.org/services.html).

 

And later, during one of the prayer sessions, many came forward to stand and kneel on a large map of Latvia—to pledge their hearts, prayers, and very selves towards serving an area of Latvia. How amazing to be in His Presence and watch how He moved through this group. Of the nearly 220 people attending Mission Days, many were young. This gives me tremendous hope for the future of Latvia as a missionary-sending nation.

 

 

 

An important component of every one of BBI/Partneri’s events, conferences, and group consultations are training and small group sessions. We want to inspire, through the great speakers we recruit, then give participants opportunities to begin to find their place of service. And not only to find their place, but to become equipped for effective service.

 

At Mission Days, we provided training tracks and panel discussions, such as the one I led on the Lausanne movement for world evangelization—meat and potatoes for participants readying themselves for deeper commitments. We presented examples of innovative approaches to win hearts to Christ, like that demonstrated by Europe’s top mime, Carlos Martines, creatively sharing God’s love wordlessly.

    

Seated left of me in the above photo is Viljams (he likes to be called “Bill”) Shultz, the Executive Director of the orphan and unwed mother ministry, Pakapieni. During our panel discussion, he made an interesting statement about the value of gathering believers together as we did with Mission Days. Bill participated in the 1989 Lausanne International Congress, which I also attended. He emphasized the importance of networking (the primary intent of the Lausanne movement) and said the experience enabled him to meet several significant people who became important friends to his ministry. And then these friends helped him further, by introducing their networks of friends and colleagues to Bill. This is precisely how my life and our ministry has been impacted by the Lausanne movement.

 

Bill shared a story from that Lausanne event that crystallized his approach to his calling. It was told by Lee Yih, a stock broker from Hong Kong. It’s about frogs (Christian professionals) and lizards (committed lay people).  The frog sits on his lily pad and if someone goes by, he sticks out his tongue, snatches him and pulls him in. But a lizard doesn’t sit. If he did, he would starve to death.  He moves around, up and down, over and under, and is exceedingly creative in looking for where the hunting is best. And he’s quick about it.

 

The point? Too many Christian professionals are like frogs, happy to sit on their “church pads,” waiting for whomever comes by. These frogs will never reach the world. Committed and eager lay people are absolutely crucial to the accomplishment of the Great Commission. New “lizards” must be identified, trained, and mobilized. And that’s the purpose of Mission Days. If you want to read a condensed version of Lee Yih’s paper on evangelism presented at the 1989 Lausanne event, check out http://www.ivmdl.org/reflections.cfm?study=36

 

 

 

Even though Mission Days had a theme that emphasized places (Act 1:8, “…in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”) and facts (percentage of reached and unreached by country, numbers of ethnic groups without a Gospel witness), Mission Days is really all about people. It’s about people catching the vision, and understanding the joy that comes of serving God on the mission field, near and far, full-time, part-time, any time, all the time. People catch this vision and excitement from other people who are experiencing the joy of missionary work and have the gift of sharing about it.

 

I want to tell you a final story from Mission Days. It’s an example of the influence one person can have on many—to jumpstart thinking that leads to serious consideration of mission service. Carole Wille is a talented Child Evangelism Fellowship volunteer, and a friend from when I was her pastor. I invited her to Mission Days to share her expertise in working with children, and to present ideas on how to teach children about missions. Can you imagine how rapidly a missionary movement would expand and grow if children developed missionary hearts from the earliest ages?