THE ROLE OF THE SUPPORT TEAM
It has been interesting in the past few months not only to learn new ways and areas of my life in which to trust the Lord, but also to see Him working through the generosity of my supporters and other members of my church family. The Lord has always provided for me by giving me the finances to obtain what was needed to sustain my physical life and then some. First through a full-time job strait out of high school and then through the GI Bill during college. But coming into this season of preparation for Spain beginning to raise support, I had some anxieties and doubt, all be them subconscious, but nevertheless I had discovered an area of my life that stillneeded to be surrendered to Him who made the heavens and the earth. Well, needless to say, God showed His faithfulness, just as I had hoped. At one point last week, I looked in my section of the refrigerator and saw that I had no more room for food! I looked in the freezer and realized the same thing. Because of the many generous people who had been inviting me over for dinner (some whom are reading this right now with you) and through my weekly Gospel Community group, the Lord is showing Himself to be faithful and good in ALL things.
I am confident that the Lord is in this and that he wants to see a people who are concerned for the success and liveliness of their missionaries. If you are supporting me either in prayer or financially, then I am your missionary. And I am so incredibly thankful for that! My supporters are a people who offer up whatever the Lord has given them in order to bring about the reconciliation of His children to Himself and to equip the Church in their daily service to the One who saves. I just get to be the boots on the ground. And one thing I have realized through my time in the United States army as well as God’s army is that a soldier is no good without his team.
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Financial Update: As of today, I have passed 86% of my monthly financial support goal! Part of this is due to a change in my budget requiring me to raise less than I anticipated, but all the rest is due to faithful supporters like many of you reading this! God is so good and I am forever humbled by the grace given to me in this way.
Assignment in Granada: I have received more information about my specific assignment! This still has yet to be confirmed, but my team leader is solidifying the details of assigning me to a church just outside the city to work with the youth and a university ministry. Nothing is set in stone yet, but please be in prayer for this to happen soon so that I can receive the necessary paperwork for my visa.
Visa Application: And so begins the craziness. Know anyone in Los Angeles? I will be flying to LA for my appointment for visa application. There is no way around it. Please contact me if you know anyone who would be willing to take me in for a night or two during my visit to the Spanish Consulate in December/January.
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So, just how does a support team participate in saving the lost and encouraging the saints?
We participate in the Mission of reconciling God’s people in three major ways:
1. Our own personal witness
2. Our financial and instrumental support that allows another's witness to reach where we can't; and
3. Our prayers, lifting up those in need of a right relationship with our creator and the laborers for their good.
Personal Witness
We know the importance of our faithfulness to sharing our faith with others. Jesus Himself told His disciples in Mark 16:15-16, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” In Romans 10: 14-15, the apostle Paul pleads with the congregation, “How will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” The need for individuals to share this Gospel is apparent throughout scripture.
Financial and Instrumental
There is often a need for individuals to give their full-time efforts for establishing and/or building up the body of Christ. Paul, contrary to popular belief was not only a tent maker. In fact, he only did that out of necessity when the church of Corinth would not support him. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul argues quite convincingly for the need to support missionaries and “church-workers.” Speaking of himself and the other apostles, in verse four he asks, “Do we not have the right to eat and drink?” and in verse 11, “If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?” “Nevertheless,” he says in verse 12, “we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.” Paul hammers it home when he says in the next two verses (referring to the Levites), “Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.” The need for financial and instrumental support is clear as well and we see in other places in scripture the ways the Lord has chosen to provide for those who work for God’s people for a living (see Num. 18: 11-14; Lev. 23: 20-21).
Prayer
Prayer is needed and actually works. The lord certainly hears the cries of His people and we have found favor in God’s sight by the work Jesus has done in taking the punishment for our sin. Our heavenly Father does not ignore the needs of His children. John writes “this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5: 14-15). Jesus says to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9 37-38). The laborers are all of us and we pray for those who are laboring that their witness would be heard and used by the Lord for His purposes. This is how the support team prays. This method of appealing to God is another way the Lord has chosen to bring about His plan to save His people from their sin: witness, support for other's witness, and prayer for the lost.
Regardless of the means by which the Lord accomplishes His will, we all serve the cause of saving others from eminent destruction. In Matthew 16:15-19, the well-known scene plays out where Jesus asks his disciples who they say that He is, to which Peter valiantly responds, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then Jesus says “You are Peter, and on this rock (the words rock and Peter sounding alike in Greek) I will build my Church.” What is interesting is what he says next. There has been some debate over this, so take it with a grain of salt, but depending on what Jesus actually meant, the role of the Church can become something entirely different than most of us are used to. One view is that what the Church is built on is the witness of those who declare that Jesus is indeed "the Christ, the living son of God." Those who confess Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God” become not those simply defending the faith but those who actually assault the gates of hell! Jesus says, “the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” If Jesus is referring to his Church then the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. As many pastors and scholars have noted, gates are not an offensive instrument. So, who is really on the defense? And who are the ones who are to be aggressively storming the other's gates?
The kingdom of hell has a foothold in this world; undoubtedly in Europe. And one man attempting to win the world to Jesus alone is not effective and simply isn't God's plan, that is why He has assigned His Church. It is against a Church unified and built on the saving knowledge of Christ, that the gates of hell will not prevail. This is the witness that we bring to Spain and that I will encourage my fellow Christ-followers to share with the 48 million people in Spain who do not walk in a personal relationship with God. Those who confess Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of God” are going out everywhere to declare the Gospel and to encourage others in their faith. Those who do this for a living are supported in one way or another by God through His Church. When we are faithful to the mission to equip and send others to do the work of our Master, we fight together “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
Pray With Me:
- That the Lord would send more missionaries to reach the Lost in Spain
- That the Lord would encourage and strengthen His Church in Spain
- That nothing would stand in the way of this laborer getting to the field
*To support this ministry through financial contribution please see the green link on this page: "Support This Ministry"
** For More information on my specific assignment, see the following link to Avance España: https://gocorps.org/tracks/placements/n/9087556?platform=hootsuite