The purpose of the “Send Me” Global Outreach Experience is to help every one of us take a next step in serving God’s purpose for our lives. It requires nothing more than an open heart and a desire to hear from Him about His call on each of our lives today.
I can testify from my own experience. Twenty-three years ago I answered a call to spend a week in a small country in the center of Europe. My job was to shoot a video about refugees returning to their homes after a war.
I was a young seminary graduate looking for an adventure, so this felt like an easy step. I didn’t know then that answering that call would lead to a greater pull on my heart to move to this country. But that was the next step, and I ended up living and serving there for a full year.
In that year I learned more about myself and Gospel ministry than I had in all my education and experiences up to that time. I experienced God in ways I never imagined.
When I eventually got on a plane for my final trip home I had no plans, no job, and no permanent place to live. What I did have, however, was more valuable than all those things — a growing confidence that God was preparing me for something else.
Within a couple months God called me into pastoral ministry at a church in Dallas, and then four years later I got an even greater call to come to Browncroft Community Church. God had called me across the country and then across the ocean before he finally called me across town!
What’s important is not how far we travel but how well we listen to God’s call and how obedient we are to go where He sends us.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
John 20:21
My challenge for our church as we enter our final days of this Send Me focus on missions is that every one of us take a next step in responding to God’s call on our lives.
Here are a few practical steps to consider:
Step #1
Set aside 30 minutes to read Scripture and pray. Ask God to speak to you in His Word and through His Spirit about where He is calling you to serve. And as you hear from Him, commit to taking a step in that direction. Passages you could read might be Psalm 143:7-10 or Romans 8:26-30.
Step #2
Attend one of the remaining Send Me events listed on our conference webpage, and consider one of the next steps highlighted there.
Step #3
Step three – Share what you heard from God and what you have decided to do with a friend.
I’m praying God will do new things in your life, in my life, and the life of our church over the next 10 days and beyond.
Praying and listening with you!
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Isaiah 30:21
Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash
