"I Want to Change the World"

"Go into all the world 

and preach the Good News to all creation." 

(Mark 16:15)

That is what Jesus told his disciples and it is known in Church circles as the Great Commission. And if you have grown up in the Church, as I have, then you have seen countless people follow that Commission and travel the world to preach the Good News. We, as the Church, have encouraged our young people to listen for the call of Jesus, follow the call of their heart, and step out in both courage and faith to spread the Good News throughout all the world.

We spend hours and hours teaching them and training them. Making sure they are informed about the dangers, the things for which they should be aware of, how different cultures behave and perceive actions and words. We anoint them with oil and pray blessings over then and we send them out.

Unfortunately, we tend to forget one thing.....it costs a lot of money to travel the world and preach the Gospel.

I had a gentlemen ask me the other day, "You know, we hire pastors to come and work at our church, but why do we make our missionaries raise their own money?" I didn't have an answer for him.

Jesus also said in Mark, to "take nothing with you, no bread, no bag, no money" (Mark 6:8). But we do live in a different world now; a much larger world than the disciples even knew existed. And while our missionaries usually take very little with them, it does cost money to actually get to the place they are going.

Why am I telling you all of this? I know five young people between the ages of 20 and 24 who are leaving in a few weeks for missions trips. Two young ladies are going to a Youth With a Mission (YWAM) base in Hawaii for training before going out on an outreach trip and three young men are leaving in ten days for a YWAM base in Germany, then on to an outreach in the 10/40 Window for three months before spending three months with our missionaries in Uruguay. Between them all, they have had to raise close to $35,000 to "go into all the world."

Unfortunately, all of them are still needing a great deal of money to make this happen. They have sent out sponsor letters, worked all summer and saved every penny, created GoFundMe accounts, and still the means to reach the "world" are not there.

We, as the Church of Jesus Christ, have encouraged these young people to find their passion, their purpose, their calling, and go. But we aren't giving them the means to do so.

Ultimately, God is our provider; He is THEIR provider. But God uses people; He uses the Church.

So, I'm asking that you consider how you can support these young people as they follow the call of Jesus and go into a dark and hurting world to spread the Gospel.

And I'm asking that you pray for each one of them by name:

Teigan Barlow

Emily Horner

Bracken Hibbard, Sam DeVos, Mitchell Ehlert

As you can see, my son is one of them; He's the one that said, "I want to change the world." Maybe that makes me somewhat prejudice and this post somewhat self-serving, but he, like these other young people, has finally found his passion and his purpose. And I want to see him and these other students follow Jesus and “go into all the world.”

There is a new generation of missionaries being raised up by the call of the Holy Spirit. Will you help them follow the call? Each one of them has a GoFundMe account. Or you can send donations directly to them. If you are interested in giving, send me a message and I will give you their information.

Let us be the Church that makes a way to reach out and "change the world."

Blessings,

'Lena

bestillandknow.lena@gmail.com