Jesus Loves Me This I Know..

This is going to be a "venting" blog. So if you are a sensitive church leader, you may want to stop reading and go to more uplifting sites. But this needs to be said.
We came close to missing our annual Mexico Mission Trip. Apparently it was pretty dicey up until just a few weeks before we left. The elders at the little church we traveled and worked with agonized over the practicality of sending about 40 members, teenagers and adults, into a "dangerous" situation. I had faced this before at another church, and watched as the youth minister fielded parent's questions about the safety and security of going to Mexico. I distinctly remember talking to a dad about letting his two teenagers go, he was wanting to cancel, I was telling him that me and my bride were going.
"Would you let your kids go, if they were here?"
"Absolutely, we would all go."
"What if they were to get hurt or killed? Can you live with that?"
"It would devastate me, but, yes I could live with them being hurt or killed doing Kingdom work. Mission has never been about safety, but about sacrifice."
He walked away, from both the conversation and the moment to teach his kids that sometimes sacrifice doesn't fall into our concept of security.

It is my feeling that this unhealthy obsession with security is at the heart of what is wrong with American Christianity today. You can see it in the preaching from the past 50 years. We spend more time preaching about salvation than about sacrifice. Here's a little hint from scripture, mustard-seed-size faith buys the entire salvation package. But we focus on it because it is part of our portfolio. We worry more about the house, cars, furniture, job, savings, investments than we do about kingdom work.
This little church in eastern Oklahoma put up their building on a second note for the church in Monterrey Mexico to buy the land. Would your church, or mine do that? I don't think so. Could they have lost the entire thing? Yes. Were they willing to take that risk? Apparently. I love that attitude about the little church. They squelched the "security" inclinations to do what was...right. Do you think their kids learned something about faith-living? Do you think there is a different view of what God can accomplish through them, and ultimately for them?

Have you ever put the entire bundle on the table? Bet the entire thing? Have you risked your career, home, marriage, respect for kingdom work?
Would you like to feel like the "salvation" issue is a minor issue instead of a major concern. Then roll the dice, take a step out. THEN your faith means a little something.

More than half the groups from years past cancelled their trips to Mexico because it was too dangerous. Elders couldn't bear the thought of putting their members at risk. And they sent a clanging message into the world that they don't believe that God's promises are true. Either covertly, or overtly they taught their congregation to bury the talent, they provided the shovel, and instructed them in how deep to dig. Every Elder who made that decision should go before the congregation and confess their faithlessness. Better yet, resign and let the visionaries, the faith-walkers, the Spirit-led decide who goes into the battle and who doesn't.

It was close with the little church in Oklahoma, but the leader of the mission trip said, "Well, Kinney and I would be going if it was just the two of us." I wanted to tell him that he would have to stop in Dallas and pick up Bev and I anyway, we were going, regardless.

Yes, indeed, Jesus Loves me, this I know..becuase he provided mission and purpose for this life, and sancuary for us in the next.

This journey is not for the timid, but for the bold. God expends fully those he loves the most. Find a book that tells the traditional ending for the apostles, most died a martyr's death..not very secure, but very faithful.

Godspeed
Don