Becky & I are sincerely humbled and honored by the new responsibilities that you have entrusted to us. We are grateful for the outpouring of appreciation, encouragement and prayers that have come from many of you. We value the privilege of representing and leading a community with such a wealth of wisdom and resources. And we pray that God would be pleased to use World Team as an extended community of believers to bear fruit for His glory.
As we begin our journey together, we are aware that there are important issues we must address as we envision a hope-filled outlook for World Team. But, we are also aware that the responses are found in something other than just well-laid project plans.
World Team is a community rich in missionary history (cf.: Drumbeats That Changed the World, by Joseph Conley, William Carey Library, 2000). Many developments merit celebration as new churches have been established among the unreached on a number of our fields. Recent statistics indicate that 1900 churches have been established through the God-inspired efforts of WT members or partners. We should rightly give thanks to God for how He has used our community to further His mission in the world. Will you take 2-3 minutes the next time you pray with your spouse, colleague, team or small group to praise God for what He has done through WT?
As we move into this time of transition in leadership and the understandable uncertainty that results, one question is on the lips of many: “Where are we going in the future?” Some of us would want to respond by crafting a vision statement that expresses our hopes. Others of us might emphasize the organic nature of our work and call us to wait more upon the Lord for His leading. Both responses have great merit and desire to look beyond human resources. Our hope-filled future is found in the promise[s] God has made to us.1
One expression of this promise is given to us in Isaiah 40, a familiar passage to all of us. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The call to ‘prepare the way’ was made when a king or royal dignitary was en route to one’s region. Roads were often full of holes and other obstacles which made travel difficult. The local residents were called upon to ‘prepare the way’ by fixing the holes, moving the obstacles, and smoothing out the road. When John the Baptist (John 3) applies this text to Jesus Christ, he means to encourage us to ‘prepare the way’ for our King by dealing with those issues in our hearts that create obstacles to His rule. This promise was fulfilled initially through the coming of our King, Jesus Christ. But, Isaiah in telescopic fashion looked even farther into history when our King would come a second time.
It is upon this promise that our mission, life, work & ministry is built: “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord God comes with might.” Our biblical calling, based on this promise, is to share with others from all nations the ‘good news’, the tidings that our God has come and is coming again. Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing this story, in discipling others, in gathering those disciples into communities of believers, and in developing & releasing those believers to reproduce other communities … till Jesus the King comes again!
Only God knows the ultimate outworking of His plans for us. But, because our hope and dependence are in Him, our first calling is to turn to Him and ask for His wisdom, His grace and the courage to step boldly by faith into this hopeful future that He, our King, has designed for us.
We will continue to explore some of these ‘next steps’ in the March edition of “Thoughts Along the Journey.”
1 “The promise is not an incidental theme that appears from time to time in the Bible when the writers wished to use an interesting illustration from history. Its theological implications reach far into the future. The promise touches lives today and provides the foundations of redemption for all who by faith are the descendants of Abraham.” McComiskey, Thomas, The Covenants of Promise, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985, p. 15.
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Thoughts Along The Journey 