Wow, I can’t even express how moved I am by what the Lord has been doing both in my life and in the lives of people we have been ministering to. Our mentor Megan likes to say that, “life is ministry and ministry is life,” and the Lord has been making that so much more evident to me. We as believers should be living with a posture of urgency in the day to day. Here in Cote d’Ivoire, we are working with a ministry that shares the hope of Jesus with truckers from various different countries throughout Africa. These predominantly Muslim men drive into this port for sometimes weeks on end just waiting around until their number is called with a load and they can get back on the road. The incredible men and woman that we have been working with locally go into these ports where the men are sitting around with their trucks and share the good news with them. This is their sense of urgency. There is no way to know from one day to the next how long these men will be there or whether or not that will be the only opportunity to share with them. Some of the members on our team experienced this first hand. They shared Christ with a guy one day, he accepted, and the next day he had gotten a load and was gone back to his home country. But how does that apply to day to day life? Life is ministry and ministry is life. How often do we feel a nudge from the Holy Spirit to speak to someone while we are out running errands or share the gospel with a coworker or friend; what about that complete stranger you strike up a conversation with and have an open door to share your faith. We almost always shy away from these God ordained encounters, at least I know I do, but what if that is our one and only chance? The Lord is going to get the job done, whether you are obedient or not, but how much more will it grow your faith and relationship with the Father to just say “yes” and be apart of their blessing. It is urgent. These are people and we have the good news of a love and hope that the whole world is in search of.
I am already beginning to see the difference in ministry opportunities between short term and long term mission trips. This month has been the longest time I have ever been on the field at one time and the Lord is teaching me alot about intentionality. Intentionality has always been a bit of a struggle for me. Not necessarily in a spiritual sense, but just in the day to day. Over the last few years the Lord has developed a love for discipleship and its affect on the kingdom. However, being in one place for an extended period of time following the same schedule with the same ministry partners has revealed to me more of God’s heart in intentionality. When I spend time with the Father, he doesn’t repreach the gospel to me, make sure I am reading my Bible and invite me to church and then tell me to go about my day. We enjoy spending time together. I was struck when we first started evangelizing by how open these Muslim men where to hearing stories about Jesus and listening to the gospel, but then I realized, half of the reason was because they just wanted someone to talk to. Yes they are receptive and many do accept Christ, but they are also lonely, bored, and just trying to make it through the day. The desire to be seen and heard and for someone to care who they are and more about their life. Because of the sense of urgency this ministry runs by, sometimes its easy to rush conversations or give up and want to move on when someone seems unreceptive. I have had to check my heart and remember that these are lost souls in front of us, but they are also people and the Lord has been showing me how individually He sees them and how we should see them that way as well. The intentionality of knowing their stories, remembering their name and seeking them out each time we go has built beautiful relationships and a greater understanding of how beautiful the family of believers truly is.
One story that will really stick with me from this month is about a man named Dan (name was changed for the safety of the ministry and the people involved). Fridays are evangelism day where when we walk into the ports, our goal is to share the gospel with whoever we come into contact with. This past Friday, several of my team members and I approached a group of men, a little older than we were used to talking too. Matt did a really great job following the steps we had learned to share the gospel with Muslims and they were very willing to have a conversation with us. Several things happened during this conversation which often occurs when spiritual warfare is taking place. The men’s boss drove up just as Matt got to the part where he would ask them to make a decision about what they had heard, there was some push back with some comparison of the two faith’s, and one of the men kept coming and going for various reasons causing much distraction. Eventually none of them ended up accepting Christ, but our translator was encouraging in reminding us that we were obedient in telling them what was truth. On Saturdays, the Jesus film is shown within the port to give the men a greater understanding of the life of Jesus and an opportunity to see the gospel story played out. When we got to the port, the Lord was strategic in having that be the week that the movie was shown in the location our small group had evangelized the day before, but I was the only one attending the movie. When we walked in, we passed the group of men and they all gave me big smiles and a wave. I felt the Lord tugging on my heart, He saw them. After setting up the movie equipment, it becomes a waiting game, (as does alot of the port evangelism) for people to show up. I kept persistently asking one of our translators is we could go find those men. We finally ventured over to them. They greeted us warmly and before we could even start talking, the man that had been challenging the information about Jesus excitedly said how we said we were coming back today and he was glad we were there. He then asked if we were still playing the movie. I wanted them to know that we came back specifically to invite them, and the two that were still there said they would come. When they actually showed up, I was so excited! They were invested and even leaned over a few times and whispered things to our translators. Because they are technically still working, the one that wasn’t terribly invested in our evangelism conversation the day before, Dan, kept having to get up for one reason or another. At the end of the movie, one of the pastors gets up and gives a gospel message. The man that challenged left immediately when this began, Dan stayed until the end. When an alter call was made, Dan was one of the four that raised his hand. I have to admit, I was skeptical because he had so many gaps in the things he heard over the last few days. But he came over afterward and found the translator we had been with yesterday and wanted to tell him that he had accepted Christ. The translator grabbed me so we could celebrate with him together. When I listened to Dan talk, his countenance had changed. You could physically see Jesus working in his heart. We invited him to church the next day. He came in late and brought his friend again. By the end of the service his friend was wanting to leave, but Dan said that he was staying. The original group got to celebrate with him after church and encourage him in the Lord. We went back on Tuesday for follow up with believers that had already accepted Christ. We were directed to two boys and were able to encourage them and tell them more about their new faith. This was exciting, but we were also disappointed, especially me. It appeared as if Dan and his crew had left. The Lord had been working on my heart so much to disciple and equip these new believers as much as possible. That they would feel seen, cared for and loved, and this was my hope for Dan. However, as the Lord does, He brought an exciting surprise. When we had finished a quick soccer game and prayer with the boys, guess who came walking up? Dan. He had seen other members from our group and came across the port to find us. Come to find out, the boys we had been talking to were apart of his crew of which he was actually the manager. I felt like the Lord had put on my heart to encourage the boys in their new faith to cling to each other and others around them that had come to know Christ. These people were going to be their family when theirs were so far away. What a confirmation to find out that God was on the hunt for the souls of Dan and his whole squad. We are still in prayer for Dan’s friend to have a tender heart to the things of the Lord and eventually surrender his life to Christ.
It was such an honor to be apart of Dan’s story and taught me so much about the Lord’s heart for intentionality, pursuit and urgency. God never gives up the chase. He is in search of a willing heart that will surrender to Him and know Him as Father. He wishes that we would be in community with Him, but also in community with each other; to call each other higher and closer to Him. We must make use of the time that we have, the people we have in our life, the circumstances around us, and the truth that we are to share. Where is the Lord calling us to be urgent?
