With this past month in Candelaria and now being in Jinotepe for debrief before we leave for Thailand tomorrow, these are the words to describe this squad and my specifically my heart. Being here at debrief, with my amazing squad, these words are being affirmed more and more….
We have decided that teaching the gospel without demonstrating the Gospel is not enough. Good doctrine, good teaching, being good people is not enough. We have decided that having a good church club is not enough. Good fellowship is not enough. Just being a member of that club is not enough. We have decided that having good bible studies is good, but not good enough. That just making it to heaven is not our goal. That knowing about God without knowing and experiencing God is not good enough.
We have decided that having good programs is not enough. That change without transformation is intolerable and that staying the same is not an option. We have decided that giftings without character is futile. We have decided that singing songs without worshiping is hallow and having meetings without God showing up is pointless. We have decided that having faith without works is not enough and having works without love is not acceptable. That our function comes out of our relationship first with the father and second with each other.
We have decided that reading the book of Acts without living the book of Acts is unthinkable. We have decided that confident faith is good, bold faith is better. We have decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly. That believing in His presence without seeing it manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy. That believing in healing without seeing people healed is absurd. That believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous. We have decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit lead, and Holy Spirit empowered anything less doesn’t work for us.
We have decided to be the ones telling the stories of God’s power and not the ones hearing them. We have decided that living saved but not supernatural is living below our privilege and short of what Christ died for. We have decided that we are a battle ship not a cruise ship, an army not an audience, special forces not spectators, missionaries not club members. We have decided to value both pioneers and settlers, pioneers to expand our territory and settlers to build on those territories. But we are not squatters, people who take up space others have fought for without improving it.
We have decided to be infectious instead of innocuous, contagious instead of quarantined, deadly instead of benign. We have decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers. We have decided that we are a mission station and not a museum. Therefore we honor the past but we don’t live in it. We will be in the present with our eyes on the future. We see past events, successes and failures as stepping-stones not stop signs. We pursue learning in order to be transformed, not learning in order to know. We are people of engagement not observation. We focus on what could be, not on what is or has been. We are not limited to the four walls of this building. Our influence is not restricted by location. Not even the nations are out of bounds. We are more concerned with how many people we send out to the world then how many we convince to come into the building. This building is meant to be filled but not be the measure of who we are or the measure of our effectiveness.
We rise up world changers, not tour guides. We train commandos, not committers. We are a people of our destiny not our history. We have decided that it is better to fail while reaching for the impossible, that God has planned for us, then succeed in settling for less. We have decided that nothing short of His kingdom come, His will be done in our world as it is in heaven will satisfy. We have decided that we will not be satisfied until our world freaks out and cries out that those who turn the world upside down have come here to.
These are some of the decision that define who we are as a community and how we live our lives. These decisions are not destinations they are journeys. Journeys along the nation path. We have not found some new way, but rather discovered the path as old as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The same path followed by Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, Paul, John, and Peter. The path followed by the 1st century church, a church that revolutionized the culture of the 1st century and beyond. It’s a path of the world that we live in today. It’s a path of bold faith, believing that what God says is really true and acting on it. It’s a path of outrageous generosity, giving our life away in order to demonstrate His kingdom. It’s a path of radical love; loving God with everything in us and our neighbor as ourself. It’s a path of liberty, freedom, and healing. On this path, you will find significance, purpose and destiny. It is a path less traveled however. Its not a path available only to a select few but to whoever so will may come. It’s for people of every nation, tribe and tongue, for those in any occupation or vocation. No matter where you are in life journey there is room in this path for you.
-Words from Grahm Cook
Love you all. Pray for us as we head to Thailand tomorrow to fight for justice in human trafficking
Much Love
