I met with Tim today for about an hour. He is on staff as an administrative leader with e3 Partners who have launched things like I Am Second and handle all the international ministry for churches like Watermark Community Church. Rather than get into all of their credentials, I’d like to focus on Tim and his story. As excited as I get about movements and dreams that are being realized, I find that it’s much more powerful and encouraging to hear someone’s story. After all, it’s still one person with just as much time as I have.
My meeting with Tim was really a chance happening and ended up giving me way more to think about than I ever expected. Over the last several years, Tim has helped partner e3 with Watermark and handles all of the church’s international mission trips. His goal isn’t to just be a travel agent, but to train, equip, and send willing people to go to areas that need help. Through his facilitation, he is able to oversee proper training and follow up. This isn’t a random group of people that have this mission experience, and go back to their homes that are states apart. This is a church body that goes together and comes home together.
As I listened to him tell a little of the history and vision of the organization, light bulbs just began to go off in my head. Here is an organization that is doing exactly what I would love to do. Not only is Tim’s heart for mobilizing people to go overseas, but he also wants to see the local church do it together. There’s something to be said about not just having a community to do this with, but YOUR community that does it with you. Not only do they bond together as they serve, but they get to bring the culture home.
Before going into this conversation, I had no idea mission organizations did anything like this. Sure, I knew that mission organizations led trips, obviously, and that they helped facilitate churches to some extent, but not like this. If there’s one thing that I learned in this conversation, it’s that no matter what the dream is, there are people out there to learn from. Let me explain this point a little.
I feel like one thing the business world has over the church is the idea of training and apprenticeship. People believe that good intentions and a pure heart will always facilitate a successful ministry. Does that ever happen? Sure. But more than likely, good intentions launch out with an incredible idea and often fail due to a lack of training and preparation. Why do you have to work your way up in every other aspect of life, but expect that natural charisma and passion can make anything work automatically on the mission field? Even Jesus waited 30 years and kept his disciples in his back pocket for another three (I don’t believe that’s because Jesus needed it, I just think he set the standard).
So after today, I encourage people out there to seek out others that are doing something similar to what you want to do. It’s the easiest principle that seems to be in every other area of life, but won’t translate here. It may look like no one else is doing what you want, but you can learn SO much from someone that has “been there”. One thing that is echoed in the book of Proverbs is “seek Godly counsel”. Some of that has to do with decisions, but it mostly just a life lesson. I fear my generation is falling prey to pride and are not willing to learn from people that know. Seeking advice should never paralyze us, but it also shouldn’t be neglected.
I’m 24 and God-willing on average, maybe a third of the way through my life. I won’t waste today, but I won’t lose sight of the long term either. And I will constantly remind myself that I still have a lot to learn…
