Author Archive
Be Still And Know
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42
Stillness (or solitude) is one of those spiritual disciplines that has been lost for many of us. We live our lives with such drive and frenetic energy it really shouldn’t be a surprise we have a tough time resting in the presence of God.
John Piper said that one of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove that prayerlessness was not from a lack of time. It’s painful to think how much I can relate to that statement. Lately, when attending meetings, I have started to watch how long it takes people to check their email or how often they do. It’s truly remarkable. If we can’t be still before one another, how can we expect to be still before God?
A few months ago, our family was bothered by how hard it was for us to do this. We were feeling a little overwhelmed and somewhat overcommitted. Between work, travel, ministry, school and kids’ activities, there was little time for much else. What we truly wanted was to settle down and rest in “silent and undisturbed union” with Christ. That’s it.
But silence is a rare commodity in our home. With 4 kids, by definition it’s never silent and I’m generally disturbed most of the time – at least that’s what my wife tells me! Yet without silence there can be no stillness. The difficulty lies in finding stillness amidst the craziness. I’m convinced it’s possible but it takes intentional and deliberate action. Jesus was very deliberate about this and frequently took time for solitude and prayer.
So at the beginning of this year, our family deemed 2013 the year of “no.” We decided that this is the year we say “no” to some good things, in order to focus on the great things. Unfortunately, society doesn’t seem to value this. Our culture makes it hard to pull back and rest. Statistics abound at how bad Americans are at taking vacation. If you desire to rest, or practice any form of moderation and temperance, you may be viewed skeptically. Or you may experience an underlying sense of guilt for not doing enough (whatever that means). Saying “no” is just difficult.
But it’s worth it. Whether you work at home, in an office, or on the mission field (perhaps especially if you are on the mission field) and no matter how crazy life may be, we all need to cultivate a stillness before our Father and rest in those periods of solitude with Him. There are no hard and fast rules. Ultimately, it’s more of an attitude. A posture. A disposition of the heart manifested in practice. And one well worth nurturing no matter who or what you have to say “no” to.
A Time To Laugh
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Eccl. 3:1
This past week our first mission team of 2013 was in Uganda. As far as mission teams go, this one may have set a new standard. On the first day as we headed to M3, our van had an unfortunate encounter with a very large manhole cover. The van lost. One of our tires all but disintegrated.
The good news is that we had most of the equipment to replace it. The bad news is we couldn’t get the tire on because the van was too close to the curb. No problem, the team simply lifted the van high enough to get it on. Let me repeat that, they… lifted… a… van. There must have been at least a dozen potential accidents as folks drove by watching 6 muzungus lifting a vehicle off the ground.
As awesome as that is, it’s not what made this team special. What was special about this team is that it was made up of Godly men who love Jesus. So often men are absent from the lives of these children and they rarely see Godly male role models. This team displayed that real men love and serve.
They not only showed the tough gritty side of manhood, but the tender sweetness of fatherly love. They prayed with the kids, sang with them, sat with them and simply talked. They also built one of the coolest forts I’ve ever seen.
Before this trip, the children at M3 really didn’t have an area to play in. The swings and seesaws were rusted and broken and that was basically all they had. Now at M3, the kids can be kids. New swings were installed, the seesaws were repaired, and a rockin’ fort with a climbing wall was built.
On our final day at M3, we had some praise and singing time. After we finished, about 120 kids tore off running to the playground to enjoy some fun. The team just sat back and savored it all. The children were finally able to do what they rarely get a chance to do – just be kids.
Thank you guys. The love of Christ in you was felt by all.
Surrender
“In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne until he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross he remains on the throne.” A.W. Tozer
Not that long ago, I had the joy of having my car broken into and my briefcase stolen. When I say “joy” I truly mean that. A security guard showed up in my office late one afternoon, and I knew immediately what had happened. It was unfortunate because I was supposed to be at a dinner with some men that night which I was really looking forward to. But God had other plans.
Instead of my usual irritated response, I chose to trust what God was doing and roll with it. There was no telling who I would meet or what opportunity God was giving me so I didn’t want to waste it. As I walked down to the car and saw the shattered window, I had absolutely zero expectations of what might happen. The moment was His, the car was His, and the briefcase (wherever it was) was His. In one glorious instance, I was fully surrendered. Not a care in the world, and it was totally liberating.
I wish I could say all my days are like that (except for the grand larceny part). That I’m fully yielded to God. But instead of an empty vessel, I typically feel more like a cargo ship with all my junk on board. Christians often talk about “being surrendered” but if we’re honest we haven’t really turned over (and maybe we really don’t want to) things like our schedules, our pocketbooks, our possessions, or even our dreams. We sit on our thrones clinging to most of that stuff with a death grip that inevitably ends up killing us.
A.W. Tozer talked about the glaring contradiction between the theology and lives of professing Christians. We worship Christ and are drawn to tears over the cross, yet we recede into the background when it’s time to put our faith into practice. We want the salvation Christ offers as long as He does all the dying.
But Christ bids us come and die too. He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and trust Him. When we fail to do that, we are the ones robbed of true joy and the liberation that comes with complete surrender.
Our dear friend Dan leaves his job this month to work full-time with SixtyFeet. God had a different plan for him and Dan was willing to accept a call that precious few would. He is surrendered. The road may be hard, but I know from my recent experience that a surrendered life is a joyous life. I pray more of us come to know experientially how liberating it is to truly turn everything over to Him and start following His lead.
Just as an aside, I got the briefcase back.
And Justice For All
“For the LORD is a God of justice…” Isaiah 30:18
As we’ve said before, the words “imprisoned children” simply don’t belong together – ever. What drove us to Uganda in the first place was the stunning realization that there are children who live in prison for years with little hope of getting out.
They live in conditions that are deplorable – they are neglected, lack adequate food and medical care, and miss formative years of education and social development. Worst of all – they have no voice. They are the weakest of the weak. They barely have access to the judicial part of the system that confines them and there’s no one to take up their cause… until now.
We can’t stand by any longer.
For over two years, we have worked to bring relief and rehabilitation to the children: relief for those who are confined and rehabilitation for those who could be removed. Along the way we’ve seen firsthand many children mired down in a system that simply doesn’t have the capacity to handle them. No matter how you look at it, this is unjust.
When it comes to justice, Scripture doesn’t mince words. There are well over 2,000 verses that speak to God’s passion for justice and His utter abhorrence of injustice. In fact, it’s so basic to the faith that indifference to justice and the plight of the poor raises serious questions about salvation. As John Piper has said, when the Gospel takes root we care about all human suffering – both present and eternal.
So SixtyFeet is adding another pillar to the ministry. In addition to relief and rehabilitation, we are adding an unwavering pursuit of justice for these children. With all of our being, we will passionately take up the cause of the fatherless and defend the rights of the needy.
What will this look like? So far it’s taken on two forms.
In 2010, we were introduced to Bob Goff at Restore International. Bob introduced us to one of the Deans at Pepperdine Law School (Jim Gash). Through these relationships, we have had the privilege of participating in a pilot program that Dean Gash and others developed called J-FASTER (Judiciary Facilitating Access to a Swift Trial and Efficient Resolution).
The main goal is to introduce plea-bargaining into the juvenile justice system and provide the children access to the courts so their case is heard and quickly resolved. Two separate sessions were held this year with great success (which we will share in a separate blog post in the coming days). In connection with this, we were able to bring on our first legal intern – Abby Skeans from Regent Law School. Given the initial successes, we truly pray this program is allowed to continue and expand into the other remand homes.
As J-FASTER was rolling out, it became clear that a database would need to be created to monitor the children and track their cases. Currently, there is no such tracking system in the remand homes (other than paper records). In collaboration with Pepperdine Law School and the Ugandan government, SixtyFeet is working to create a national database that can be used to better track the children once they enter the system. The information gathered (such as biographical, medical, and criminal history) will also permit us to provide better care in the remand homes and support the resettlement efforts when they are released.
The database will facilitate organization and efficiency in the system but may also have uses outside of juvenile justice. Once established, it could even be introduced in other countries that have similar needs.
If it’s not obvious, we’re a little excited about what God is doing, the partnerships He has formed and the prospects for bringing justice to the children. And we wanted to thank you for being a part of it! Your donations are supporting one of the most ambitious juvenile justice projects we know of, the ripple effects of which (we pray) are felt throughout Uganda and beyond.
“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24
The Harvest
“My greatest joy in giving is seeing the fruit of the gift. Seeing people blessed, seeing Bibles printed and distributed, seeing missionaries going to the field. The giving itself is a blessing, but the deepest levels of joy come when I see the fruit.” Randy Alcorn – Money, Possessions & Eternity (quoting an anonymous source)
We couldn’t agree more with this, which is why we want to share some of the fruit God is producing through SixtyFeet.
Since the ministry began, many things have happened that we never expected. For instance, we never thought we’d still be doing this two-and-a-half years later. We certainly never expected selling some cupcakes would raise over $150,000. And we definitely never thought we’d get crazy emails from people who would want to drop everything to help us in Uganda, but we did.
Jesus said, ‘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.” Matt. 9:37-38. We’re here to tell you God raises up laborers to send out into the harvest.
Very early on, we got emails from a number of people who were willing – even longing – to support the mission of SixtyFeet. They may not have had a lot of money but they had a passion for the Gospel and a heart for world missions. Frankly, we weren’t sure what to do. We didn’t expect this little ministry to be sending out missionaries. The very first email we ever received came from these young ladies.
As of this week, they have lived and worked in Uganda for one full year pouring themselves out in some of the most difficult circumstances, including fostering three children.
About six months after Kelsey & Kirby moved to Uganda, we met with Erin and Kathy.
They’ve now been in Uganda for nearly six months and have taken on the monumental task of overseeing our sponsorship program. And now it looks like we may be sending another four missionaries to the field before the end of this year, including a pediatric nurse and a school teacher.
And let’s not forget Dan & Shelly Owens, who have decided to join them State-side. As many of you are aware, Dan has resigned from his long-term position in the corporate world to take the helm of SixtyFeet in the coming months.
Nor should we forget the many Ugandans who work daily, tirelessly, to carry out the work of the ministry. Not only do we desire to minister with our hands and feet, in addition to our wallets, but as much as anything else we want to work alongside and empower Ugandans in and through the process.
In short, a little really goes a long way in sharing the Gospel. Your donations that have supported the ministry have in turn supported sending out these missionaries into the harvest. And has it made a difference? Unquestionably.
Here’s a powerful note we received just today from a young man in one of the homes where our team spent a lot of time this summer. Now this is what we call fruit.
LET THE STEADFAST LOVE OF JESUS CONTINUE BEING ON THE SIXTY FEET GROUP.
I thank God for bringing Sixty Feet, I am now going to school. Lord bless them abundantly for what really they have done for me in academics surely they have simplified my education.
PLEASE LORD JESUS MAY YOUR STEADFAST LOVE BE UPON THE SIXTY FEET BECAUSE THEY ARE DOING WHAT YOU [DESIRE].
I am “Robert” extending my greetings to you the Sixty Feet members. I’m really very happy with you for what you have done for me. Truly I was going to be homeless when I am set free and would not determine my future because nobody would help me in paying my school fees.
I am so pleased with you the Sixty Feet for putting me in such a happy home and a place where God’s word can easily be got and giving me sponsorship. I had really spent almost one year and six months without studying because of the satan oppression and prison issues but now satan has no way to my education because God’s love has come upon me.
The book of Exodus also tells that when God saw the suffering of the Israelites, he used prophet Moses to set them free from suffering and I also thank God for using the Sixty Feet to stop suffering in the Remand Home by giving mattresses and other things and fighting hard to see that children are set free. For sure it’s because the Sixty Feet members had already given me sponsorship that is why the judge released me. So let Lord Jesus make his abode in the Sixty Feet. Lord please make Sixty Feet grow bigger and bigger. Bless its work in making many glorify your name.
AMEN!
Thank you for your continued support of this ministry. If you have not already, would you please consider a one-time or monthly gift to Sixty Feet which will allow us to continue with the work God has called us to?
Sentiment Is Not Enough
“Americans spend far more on pet food – and chewing gum! – than on the cause of world missions.” Randy Alcorn*
We have had the privilege of sharing the mission of SixtyFeet with thousands of people. It’s honestly hard to believe the message has spread to so many. Across the spectrum, the response is the same – shock, sadness, outrage, tears. The reactions are deeply heartfelt.
Recently, I was in New York attending a dinner with some very influential business leaders. Since the gathering was for philanthropic reasons, our host asked if I would share some of the work SixtyFeet is doing in Uganda. Everyone was sincerely interested and one of them asked about our budget. When I told him our annual operating costs, he about fell out of his chair. He said “that’s nothing!” He was amazed we could accomplish so much with relatively little.
He was right. It honestly does not take that much to share the Gospel and make a meaningful (oftentimes eternal) difference in the lives of those who desperately need the body of Christ to come along side them. But sentiment is not enough.
One of Jesus’ many miracles was the feeding of thousands with only a few loaves of bread and two fish. After blessing the food, He gave it to the disciples to distribute to the people. Imagine if instead of distributing the food, the disciples kept all the food for themselves until they were completely buried under mounds of it while the crowd was starving. No doubt Jesus would have rebuked His disciples and instructed them to feed the people.
And yet… in many ways we basically do the same thing. The amount of money that Christians and the American church give to world missions relative to how abundantly God has blessed us is staggering.
Ponder this:
- In 2000, American evangelicals collectively made $2.66 trillion
- While estimates vary, roughly $50 trillion will pass from older Americans to younger generations over the next half-century
- 80% of the world’s evangelical wealth is in North America
- Yet, giving by North American churchgoers was higher during the Great Depression than it was after a half-century of unprecedented prosperity (roughly 3.3% compared to 2.5%)
Meanwhile:
- Roughly 27% of the world’s population has yet to hear the message of the Gospel.
- More than 90% of the average local church budget never leaves this country.
- 5.7% of giving to Christian causes goes to foreign missions (and of that amount 87% goes to reach those who are already Christians!).
- According to studies, Americans could double, triple or even quadruple the amount they now give simply by making wiser spending choices.
It’s hard to fathom these figures. But when you cut through all of them, the truth is that a little goes a long way in sharing the Gospel. Imagine – if only 1,000 supporters committed to give just $10 per month, a significant portion of SixtyFeet’s annual operating budget would be funded. We’re praying this may soon be a reality: check out our $10 Per Month comparison.
Also, over the next week we want to share 3 ways that your donations have made an enormous difference in the lives of imprisoned children this year, and a glimpse of what we are seeing God establishing for the future. So please be sure to check back – you may be surprised.
“There is no greater way to invest our money in eternity than in the cause of world missions.” Randy Alcorn
* For a fantastic resource on money, possessions & eternity, please check out “Money, Possessions & Eternity” by Randy Alcorn. It’s one of the best books (and most comprehensive) that we’ve read on the subject.
Another Year Older (and Wiser)
“I have given Him my faith, and sworn my allegiance to Him; how, then, can I go back from this, and not be hanged as a traitor?” Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan
The other day I was talking to a friend who works at Reformed Theological Seminary here in Atlanta. I asked him how they prepare students for ministry. He wasn’t sure what I was getting at so he asked me what I meant. To be blunt, I said, how do you prepare your students for war?
Two years ago we embarked on what has become the most audacious and awe-inspiring journey of our lives – a journey to reach imprisoned children in Africa for Christ. It didn’t take long for us to realize that the mission field is also a battlefield.
Although we expected attacks, we weren’t fully prepared for them. There is a profound difference between reading about persecution and tests, and actually enduring them. Not to mention they came from some unlikely sources.
While the first year of SixtyFeet was marked by tremendous joy, hope, and a few tears, the second year has been marked by significantly more trials and testing. Like never before we’ve felt the resistance to the spread of the gospel. We’ve seen discouragement, competition among the people of God, and the havoc that rumors and gossip create. There have been attacks from nearly all sides.
As many of you know, we’re just regular moms and dads passionately pursuing Jesus. We go to work each day, tend to our families, and generally live life together. Nothing super special.
Yet for some reason many people have questioned our motives and intentions. Sadly, the most painful attacks have come from within the body of Christ.
If we’re honest, some days we have felt like throwing in the towel. It can feel like too much of a sacrifice for our families, our time, our wallets, our friendships, our jobs, and our health. Could we just go back to life the way it was before the ministry started? Would we even want to?
No and a million times no! A year ago we wrote this: “’No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62. Our hands are firmly set on the plow. We know our lives will never be the same. Frankly, we pray they never will be.”
That was true then and it’s true now. Our lives haven’t been the same… and we don’t want them to be. This light momentary affliction is nothing compared to the eternal glory that awaits us. This is especially true when we consider what God has done this past year. It’s all too easy for us to get turned in on ourselves and sometimes miss the miraculous work that God is doing in the midst of a little pain:
* Over 100 hundred children have come to faith in Christ
* Dozens upon dozens of children reunited with families and removed from the penal system
* Over a thousand children received consistent medical attention
* Participation in a thriving church plant that has seen Muslims and witch doctors come to faith in Christ
* The beginnings of a justice initiative to provide children with a voice in court
* Almost 100 children sponsored and receiving an education
Who in their right mind would turn back from this work? The Kingdom is advancing. The gospel is proclaimed. Salvation has come. Jesus is exalted.
It’s been a great year! Thank you for helping to make it possible.
Cupcakes And Comfort Zones
Our dear friend, Stephanie, graciously offered a testimony at the {Beloved} film event in Atlanta two weeks ago. It was so inspiring we had to share. As a follow up to what you’re about to read, it looks like Stephanie and her daughter are headed to Uganda!
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Isaiah 58, a dangerous prayer, and cupcakes – 3 ingredients, mixed together by the sovereign hand of God, that have me standing here in front of all of you, way too many of you, tonight. Let me explain.
It’s May 2010. I’m listening to a John Piper sermon and minding my own business until the words he’s reading from Isaiah 58 stop me up. They pierce me strong. They make me weep. And for several days I meditated over the words of this chapter. And the Lord WOKE ME UP. It was a rude awakening.
It was a rude awakening from my complacent-North-American-I’m-OK-so-everything’s-OK slumber.
It was a rude awakening from my oblivion to the reality of life for 80% of the world; and to the reality that the number of orphans in the world equals the population of four Canada’s.
For a full year I wrestled with the Lord about this scripture, this awakening. I wasn’t fighting it, I wanted to DO something. Now. Right NOW. Before I fell back to sleep. For a year I searched, watched, prayed, learned about world missions, waited and waited some more. I KNEW what I was to be doing was connected to orphans, but I just couldn’t find it. Nothing fit.
It’s now April 2011. Enter a dangerous prayer. Challenged by another sermon, I prayed with all my heart these words: “Lord, here I am. Use me. Take me out of my comfort zone, make me uncomfortable, put me in over my head. Then I will know it is YOU doing this thing and not me.”
I speak from experience when I say that the Lord does not waste time answering a prayer like that.
Blog hopping a few days later I found a post which was encouraging all who read, who wanted to DO something but didn’t know what to do, to go here. I qualified, so I linked up and landed on the website of www.SixtyFeet.org
The Lord captivated my heart almost immediately. I read through the website and the blog. I watched the videos. I cried because what I saw, it broke my heart. Then I waited a few days and prayed. While I was praying the Lord took me back to the scripture he had used to wake me up one year earlier.
Is 58:6-11:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”
As I read these verses, I realized that the work of Sixty Feet was fulfilling all of these commands in this passage. And better still, they were doing it in the name of Jesus. Bringing the gospel of hope to abandoned children – hungry, oppressed and left with no hope. I knew this was it.
Enter The Cupcake Kids.
One of the main ways people were helping these children was by raising money through cupcake sales.
Simple enough. Easy to manage. Safe. You know, comfortable. Something I can handle. So my daughter and I decided to have one roadside cupcake sale to raise money for Sixty Feet.
But God.
Oh, But God. He said, “ah, No. I don’t think so! Remember your prayer? I’m about to answer it.” And He plucked me out of my comfort zone, from my home-made box – nice and neat, small and warm and cozy. And safe. And He placed me in a different box – big, cold, open, vulnerable, uncomfortable. Actually it wasn’t a box at all. It didn’t have any sides.
But He didn’t leave me. He held my hand and said “Watch this.”
And He did immeasurably more than I could have ever imagined over the next 3 months. As He did, He stretched me, stretched my faith, changed my life, and changed the lives of some around me.
- “Take it to the kids” was His whisper. He had me write and teach a Sunday school missions lesson about Sixty Feet to two small churches. In it the kids set a fundraising goal for the summer. (Can you say “impossible”?! That’s what I said.)
- “Take it to the church” was His request. He had me take Sixty Feet to the congregation of these churches. (Somewhere along the line I said I would never do public speaking). In these presentations to the churches, I challenged them to make small sacrifices (give up a coffee, latte, restaurant meal, etc.) each week and bring that money to the Sixty Feet donation jar I placed out. And they came on board in support of the fundraising effort for the summer which resulted in:
- 5 cupcake sales
- 1 coin drive
- 1 cupcake parade float
- Many small sacrifices
- Lives changed
- The funds raised (goal reached!)- pocket change to some I’m sure. But to these small churches in a small and dying town, a big deal. To children languishing in a prison of a dusty land, these funds, multiplied by God’s gracious hand, give life. Hope.
And now tonight. The Lord has not finished answering that dangerous prayer because I am SO not comfortable right now. My comfort zone is somewhere back in the icy cold north of the Canadian border. I am so far in over my head right now I can’t see the light of day and except for the Lord keeping me standing, I should have passed out or run off in fear at the first sentence.
The Lord is amazing. I don’t need to tell you this. You’re here because you’ve seen His mighty hand at work in your own church or life as you have served the beautiful but abandoned children of Uganda. His hand is all over the work of this ministry – the lives changed for eternity, hope given in Jesus name, and now homes about to be built. I’m most humbled, yet thrilled to be a small part of this work of our great and awesome God. May we continue to spend ourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed and do it in the mighty name of Jesus. For His glory alone.
A Living Faith
Last year, Garry and I went to Uganda to do some SixtyFeet work and visit some of the other remand homes we had heard about. The week was intense as we crisscrossed the country visiting 6 of the 7 facilities we knew of.
On Friday night, towards the end of the trip, we were out trying to decompress after a long week when I got a phone call from Pastor Boaz. We were planning to worship that Sunday at Pastor Ernest’s church and Boaz was calling to ask if I would be willing to “preach.” It was intimidating but I agreed to share the word. There’s no way I was going to turn down that invitation.
But I had no idea what to say. To be honest, I was looking forward to learning more about faith and prayer and worship from them. This was one of those moments you just trust God will give you the words. Thankfully He led me to a passage of Scripture and I put together a short message.
The night before the heavens had opened up. It rained like you couldn’t believe. And at the time, the church didn’t have a roof or a floor. It had a small tarp to cover it but it blew off during the storm so there was thick mud everywhere. I only say that because it didn’t matter. The crowds showed up and we worshiped God every bit as powerfully as if we were seated in the most glorious cathedral on earth.
That Sunday, Pastor Ernest also had a visitor from the Congo. He was a man Pastor Ernest had known for a long time. He didn’t speak much English and we didn’t get to meet until after the service. Before church began the pastor from the Congo taught Sunday school to the adults while Garry and I visited 3 separate Sunday school classes – all of which were being held outside under a tree.
You got to love that! As caught up as we get in our children’s programs in the U.S. they had Sunday school outside… under a tree. There weren’t professional caregivers, or elaborate presentations, or entertainment. They had a bench and the word of God. Everything they needed, plus a bench.
So church starts and I deliver the message. After I finish Pastor Ernest comes up and says the “Spirit has testified.” He went on to say that the Pastor from the Congo and I had never met or even spoken to each other. Yet the two of us came together that day (from different countries, different backgrounds, different languages) and taught from the exact same passage of Scripture. James 1:22-27:
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
Of all the passages of Scripture we could have spoken on, we both picked the same one. God had a message for the church in Bwerenga that day, and He has the same message for us here in North America. Faith calls for action. A living faith is an active faith. There’s no way around it – genuine faith is accompanied by works.
You may not have any idea whether you can do something God has called you to, or how in the world you’re going to accomplish it. But rest assured you are adequately equipped for the task and He won’t leave you to fend for yourself. You may not see the fruit or know the ripple effect – but your faithfulness will not be in vain.
So the next time you’re asked to preach in Africa, don’t bat an eye. You never know what God may have in store.
Live The Talk
A few weeks ago the SixtyFeet team went to the Georgia Dome to attend the Passion Conference with about 45,000 college students. In addition to feeling incredibly old, we were incredibly encouraged and inspired. Hearing the likes of Louie Giglio, Francis Chan and John Piper will do nothing if not encourage and inspire you (with a heavy dose of conviction thrown in!).
One of the performers was LeCrae (who by the way is part of an awesome Church plant here in Atlanta) and one of the songs he did was “Go Hard.” It resonated so much with us that it’s become one of our mottos.
When SixtyFeet began, we were so hungry. We just wanted God – nothing more nothing less. We were exhausted of the ho-hum, run-of-the-mill American version of Christianity. Been there done that. It was time to live the talk. We were ready to experience the power of Christ in tangible and miraculous ways.
And He answered our prayers – abundantly. After nearly 2 years, SixtyFeet continues to work in ever-increasing ways, reaching imprisoned children in Uganda and proclaiming the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ. In our own little corner of the world, we have been privileged to watch God do the impossible. We have been honored to walk closer with Him than ever before. And He continues to stretch us beyond what we think we are capable of.
And so we want to continue to go hard. He’s worthy of our best. He’s worthy of so much more.
Jesus didn’t say that others would recognize us by our words. He said that all people would know we are His disciples by our love. John 13:35. That involves more than just talk. A living faith is an active faith. We are to be doers of the Word. James 1:22, 25. Not because we have to or out of obligation, but because we love Him. John. 14:31.
There’s a lot of talk out there. But as they say, talk is cheap. What does your life look like? Like the world or like Christ? As LeCrae says:
If you didn’t know Him would your life look the same? Can they tell you value Jesus by the way you rep His name?
