Quote of the Week

Today's quote comes from John G. Paton, a Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides Islands in the 1800's.  I love this quote because, to me, it sums up the heart of what we do and the joy that comes from bringing the Gospel to those who have never heard.

"At the moment I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of glory that well nigh broke my heart to pieces.  I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus himself." John G Paton

John G Paton

Where is the money?

A couple weeks ago we looked at the percentage of missionaries working among unreached people groups.  Today we'll look at one of the reasons I believe that number is so low.  One of the primary reasons missionaries leave the field is lack of finances.  This is also a big reason why others never make it there.  With this in mind, let's take a look at some stats* related to giving and the unreached.

• Total annual income of worldwide church members - $30.5 Trillion
• Amount given towards missions - 0.1% ($31 Billion)
• Amount given towards work among unreached people - 0.01% ($310 Million or 1% of all missions giving)
• This is the same amount ($310 million) that, in 2011, Americans spent on Halloween costumes for their pets!  

A simpler way to look at the $310 million is that for every $100,000 Christians earn, one dollar goes towards reaching the unreached.  Percentage wise, each dollar Christians give has the same odds of reaching the unreached as an individual has of dying from a bee sting or being injured, as an adult, by a pogo stick.   

Let's end with a quick look at the financial feasibility of reaching the unreached. For this we'll look solely at evangelical Christians.  Evangelical Christians annual income is approximately $6.72 Trillion.  If these Christians gave 0.03% of their income towards work among unreached people there would, hypothetically, be enough money to plant a church in every remaining unreached people group.  Experts say the church has three thousand times the resources needed to complete the Great Commission at it's disposal.  I bring these stats up not to invoke a sense of guilt, but rather to make people aware of the disparity that exists in Christendom in regards to supporting work among least reached peoples.

*stats taken from the Traveling Team's website

DTS Outeach

Next week our Fall DTS will be returning from the outreach portion of their school.  After spending twelve weeks learning more about who God is and growing in their walk with Him, these students have spent the last eight weeks bringing to gospel to unreached people in the 10/40 window.  This is always an exciting time for the students as they begin to see how God can use them and discover what their role is in seeing the Great Commission completed.   Below is a video made by a previous DTS outreach team, describing some amazing experiences they had.

Quote of the Week

Looking back, last week's quote was quite heavy so this week we're going to enjoy a look at the lighter side of Spurgeon.

"Growing a beard is a habit most natural, scriptural, manly and beneficial." - Charles Spurgeon

As a fan of growing beards, my response to this quote is a loud, "Amen!"  I've included a few of my favorite personal beard pics in honor of this quote :)

Photo credit: Lyla Herrema (4 yrs old)

The Big 3-0

Today is Vanessa's 30th birthday!  I have been so blessed to have her in my life, and she has played such a large role in the person I've become.  She is incredibly talented and I can't wait to see what Father has for us down the road.  Below are a few shots from our journey.

Engagement Photo

21st Birthday

22nd Birthday

30th Birthday

 

Small Thoughts

Below is an interview with Lyla, our five year old daughter.  I was interested to hear her thoughts on what we do with YWAM Jacksonville.

Quote of the Week

"Let me be as the bullock which stands between the plough and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be, 'Ready for either.'" - Charles Spurgeon

 The concept of suffering is one I've been thinking on quite a bit recently.  It was brought back to my mind after reading Michael Ramsden's chapter in John Piper's book Finish.  It really hit home again last week upon hearing that one of our YWAM Frontiers regional coordinators, a Muslim background believer named Abdi, was gunned down in E. Africa.  I never had the privilege of meeting this man, but the news struck a chord nonetheless. In addition, within the past year a close friend had to evacuate the Middle Eastern country he was working in after a fellow worker was martyred.  It feels like these stories are coming more and more frequently.The amazing thing is that in the aftermath of these events, Father always seems to move in an amazing way.  It seems like, in many cases, before a breakthrough occurs someone first must pay a terrible cost.  To me it brings truth to the words of Tertullian, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."

When I hear stories like these my first thought is always sadness.  That feeling, though, is quickly replaced by a feeling of being challenged.  Am I willing, as Spurgeon states, to be used in whatever way will further the Kingdom of God?  My hope is that these words provoke similar reflection in your life.

Charles Spurgeon

Where are the workers?

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."  Matthew 9:37-38

The other day I posted about how YWAM Jax Beach focuses on sending people to bring the Gospel to the unreached people groups living in the 10/40 window.  One of the driving forces behind this vision is the lack of people currently working among unreached people groups.  There are roughly 2.84 billion people (40% of the world population) living in unreached people groups. Below are a few stats related to the allocation of Christian missionaries (both Catholic and Protestant) that blow my mind*.

• There are 419,500 missionaries in the world.
• Of those, only 2.4% are working among unreached peoples (10,200). This number is down almost 2% from ten years ago.
• The current ratio is 1 missionary for every 278,431 unreached people!
• Conversely, there are 95,000 Evangelical Christians for every one unreached people group.

The final number that astounds me is that as a Christian today, you have as good of a chance of being in an airplane crash (.0005%) as you do of working long-term to bring the Gospel to an unreached people group. With this in mind, the verse above carries as much significance today as it did when Jesus first said it.  God is moving in amazing ways among unreached people groups,  but imagine how the harvest could grow exponentially if the number of workers increased. With that in mind, please pray for Father to raise up more people to work in these fields.

* All stats taken from Thetravelingteam.org

Quote of the Week

Every week I will be sharing a quote that has either inspired or challenged me.  The sources range from modern to historical figures.  When possible, I will provide context and back story as needed. 

Today's quote comes from Count Nicolaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf.  He was one of the primary leaders of the Moravian mission movement in the 1700's. 

"I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone.  The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ." - Count Zinzendorf

I love the attitude of willingness to do whatever needed to be done to advance the Kingdom. The Morvians were so committed that often times when heading out to the field they packed their belongings in coffins.  As a group they also held a time of continuous prayer that ran uninterrupted, 24 hours a day, for a hundred years.

Count Nicolaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf

The Heart of YWAM Jax Beach

While many people have a general idea of what YWAM is, not many people realize that each YWAM base is given the autonomy to pursue the vision that God has given them.  Here's a brief look at the vision Father has given us at YWAM Jax Beach.

YWAM Jacksonville Beach exists for the purpose of inspiring, equipping and sending people to share the good news of Jesus with those who have never heard.  

This is the heartbeat that drives everything we do here at YWAM Jax Beach, from offering short-term outreaches and running Discipleship Training Schools (DTS), to running the School of Frontier Missions (SOFM) and sending long-term workers overseas.  It is all aimed at bringing the Gospel to people and places where it has never been heard.  During our time in China we experienced this first hand.  There were multiple times when we would share with someone about Jesus and get responses along the lines of, "Is he your Lama (Tibetan spiritual leader)?"  Or, "That's something they say in American movies when they get angry."  Unfortunately, there are too many people that still have never heard the name of Jesus, much less the Gospel.  Every day, close to 70,000 people die without having had an opportunity to hear this amazing Good News.  The vast majority of these people and people groups (more on this later) live in an area known as the 10/40 Window.

This is why we do what we do, and why we focus on it so strongly.  The feeling is not that our vision is better than those of other ministries or YWAM bases, but rather that we know what we've been called to focus on.   In coming days I will expound on some of these ideas and share a variety of statistics as well.  For now, I just wanted to give you a brief introduction to the heart behind what we do at YWAM Jax Beach.

The 10/40 Window