Aslan is on the Move!
At my place of business, we have an office meeting just about every Thursday just before lunch, and I won’t lie, sometimes I don’t want to go. Most of the time, after being there, I’m glad I went, but it’s right in the middle of my day and other excuses.
The thing is, that time is spent getting updates from the other teams and seeing what’s happening within our organization. Which, as uncool as it may sound, turns out to be fairly inspiring most days. Very much UNLIKE my four years at the HD where our store meetings were spent like a pep rally at a high school trying to “boost our confidence” in the company as if it were our life blood. Remember that party in Office Space where they’re meeting the inquisitor people? Yeah, that was a very muted version of the HD.
Did I mention that those meetings were at 6am on Sunday? Everyone hated those meetings. Everyone.
So maybe it’s that mentality that always clouds my view our our “Roundtable” meetings (which is completely misleading because there are no tables anywhere in that room for our meetings). I’m not sure what it is, but it happened to me yesterday. I dreaded going to this meeting.
Once I got there, we did our usual praise and worship time, and I wasn’t really feeling it, but sang along. I’m okay with stuff like that.
But then, our boss, the US Director of Pioneers, Steve Richardson got up and began talking about something that made me rethink this meeting altogether. He got up and said, “Do you realize that what we do is ‘worth it’?”
I sat there, thinking. Yeah, I mean, I guess. I can see that. Of course, comparing working at a missions organization to working at HD, of course I can see the difference. But I wondered if I really knew how much it was worth it.
He then went on to describe a sermon that he had preached about missions and what God was doing all around the world through missionaries, and said that a few people came up to him after and thanked him. One even said, “I’ve been giving to missions my whole life, and no one has ever told me that it was worth it.”
I’m not sure if you’re into missions. I’m not sure if you give to missionaries. But, you should know that it’s worth it. God is moving all over the world. From big cities with crime, drugs, violence and prostitution to huts in a jungle with spirits, magic, and darkness God is there.
In the book The Treasure Principle, Randy Alcorn says, “I’ve heard people say, ‘I want more of a heart for missions.’ I always respond, ‘Jesus tells you exactly how to get it. Put your money in missions—and in your church and the poor—and your heart will follow.’”
Recently, as my wife and I have been struggling with raising support for the ministry that my wife is involved with here at Pioneers (the EDGE - check it out!), we both got an itch to start giving back to missionaries that are out on the field, and like Alcorn says, “Suppose you’re giving to help African children with AIDS. When you see an article on the subject, you’re hooked. If you’re sending money to plant churches in India and an earthquake hits India, you watch the news and fervently pray… As surely as the compass needle follows north, your heart will follow your treasure. Money leads; hearts follow.”
It’s totally true. Before we began giving to the missionaries that we give to, even while working at a missions organization, I still wasn’t terribly into it. I couldn’t explain it any better than Alcorn did. If you want to see what God is doing throughout the world, then do it. Join missions, go on a short term trip, or just start giving and praying for some missionaries.
There are plenty of ways to give and go. I’ll plug Pioneers because I work here, but I also know of the great work that other organizations around the world are doing. Here’s three that are all right down the road from me (including Pioneers).
Pioneers, Wycliffe, Campus Crusade for Christ
Well, what are you waiting for?
