The Missionary Sender

Picture from Justin Bullington

(This is a second post on thoughts I have after reading "A Holy Ambition" by John Piper. The first post is here.)

As John Piper puts it, "There are only three kinds of people: goers, senders, and the disobedient" (168).  I heard this quote a couple of years ago, and it's always caused me to pause and think. Of course, Ben and I plan to be "goers," but while we have been in the early parts of training, we have been working. We might not have much, but we've still had enough to be senders. And later on down the road, we may be senders as well. So this post challenges me just as much as I hope it will challenge you.

This past year we have been incredibly blessed by the body of Christ. I have seen what a dynamic giver looks like on several occasions, and I am more confident than I ever was before that God intends for some people to stay put and send. And the people who are obedient to this calling and recognize it as an actual calling by God are really darn good at this calling. I feel, so, so blessed by these people and praise God that he has called them to be senders.

I do think all people must be open to going... but God will not call everyone to go... for good reason! "In God's eyes both the goers and the senders are crucial. There are no first and second class Christians in God's hierarchy of values. Together the goers and senders are 'fellow-workers with the truth' (3 John 8)" (Piper 168).

Some people can't go (usually because of health), but many people can and just aren't called. Just like I'm not sure why God calls certain people to go, I'm also not sure why he calls certain people to stay and send. I know some people who are extremely business savvy and have had businesses making the big bucks, but God has called them to go. Why not have them stay and send with all of the money they bring in? I guess because it's not about the money. God doesn't need rich people to get the gospel to the nations. Some of the best givers are those who have little. On the other hand, I know some people who have awesome gifts and talents who I think God could use incredibly on the mission field, yet he calls them to stay. And I wonder why. I guess it's because God doesn't need the most gifted and talented people as missionaries to get the gospel to the nations. Sometimes ordinary people have the greatest ministries. Basically... God knows what he's doing, and he certainly does it different than how I would. Good thing I'm not God.
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"To send in a manner worthy of God is to so recognize the supreme importance of proclaiming the name of God in word and deed among the nations that we will do whatever we can to support those who go out for the sake of the name -- spiritually, practically, emotionally, financially" (Piper 166).  (3 John 6-8)

"Conviction #10- We are called to a wartime lifestyle for the sake of going and sending. To send in a manner worthy of God and to go for the sake of the name, we must constantly fight the deception that we are living in peace time when we think that the luxury of self-indulgence is the only power that can break the boredom. O may God open our eyes to what is at stake in the war raging between heaven and hell.
  The spirit of the great missionary, Paul, must grip us more and more. 'I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ' (Philippians 3:8).
  In wartime everything changes. The luxury liner, Queen Mary, became a troop carrier, and instead of bunks three high they were stacked seven high. Resources are allocated differently in wartime. And we are in a war far more devastating than World War II.
  A wartime lifestyle presents itself not as a legalistic burden, but as a joyful acknowledgment that our resources aren't entrusted to us for our own private pleasure but for the greater pleasure of stewarding them for the advancement of the kingdom of God (Acts 20:35; Matthew 6:33)" (Piper 166-167).
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That second quote really gets to me because it doesn't just apply to those who are sending but also to those who are going, and to be honest, there are some pretty comfortable missionary positions these days. It could be pretty easy to live a luxurious lifestyle even as a missionary. I have to fight against desires, wants, and materialism just as much as anyone else

With this post, I want to express how ENCOURAGED I am by those who have been called to send and have embraced this calling. I want to express how CHALLENGED I have been to recognize what a difficult position being a sender is. Ben and I have talked before about how we have the easier position in some ways. By going, we don't have all of the pleasures at our fingertips, so we have less to say no to. We understand how difficult it is to live in America as a Christian. The materialism and luxuries and opportunities and gadgets and distractions are constantly knocking at your door. We understand. And because we understand, we are even more grateful to see people give up these luxuries in order to expand the reach of the gospel.

If you're reading this and you're not a "goer," I want to give some practical exhortations. I hesitated on whether I wanted to do this, but I think for some of you this may be helpful since you may not be sure where to start. These aren't necessarily in any order.

1. Make sure you're open to going. This doesn't mean he will call you to go, but allow him to work in your life in this area if you're currently closed to the idea.
2. Pray about how you can help get the gospel to the nations.
3. Become familiar with the missionaries your church sends. If you're in a small group, maybe you can "adopt" one. Or maybe you personally can "adopt" one.
4. Pray about how you can give of your finances to further the kingdom of God.
5. Pray for missionaries whom you know.
6. Encourage missionaries in other ways... email, snail mail, care package, hosting when they're home, etc.
7. If you have kids, help your kids to encourage missionary kids and to have an understanding of world missions.

Seriously, we are so thankful for the missionary sender. Without such a person, we would not be able to be a missionary goer. God uses the body of Christ in incredible ways, and we're glad he designed it to function together rather than separate.

A Messy Paintbrush

One thing I have really enjoyed about this year off from training is the time I've had to read good, quality reading material... books of my own choosing. I really enjoy John Piper sermons and books. Regardless of whether you agree with his doctrine or not, I think it's hard to deny the fact that he loves the Lord intensely. Whenever I read or hear him, I am challenged in my faith. The book I just finished is called "A Holy Ambition" and it is a collection of sermons on missions by John Piper.

While I enjoyed the book as a whole and was challenged and encouraged in many areas, there were 3 areas that especially stuck out to me: the people God sends, the position of a sender, and suffering as a missionary. I'd like to do a blog post on each of these, but I'll start with the people God sends:
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I'm a perfectionist. I'm also a people pleaser. Combine these two, and I hate, hate, hate for anyone to see my imperfections, even myself. Frankly, I just try to do all the right things so that everyone can like me... including God. I could write a whole chapter on how this has affected my life and my relationship with God and about how God has changed me and worked in me through this, but I'll just suffice to say that while I know that I can never be good enough for God (Jesus' blood is the only thing that makes me worthy of his love and forgiveness), I like to think I can be. And there are many times in my life that I have felt satisfied that I am doing all of the right things to be good enough.

How ironic then that being a missionary is what has made my heart truly begin to grasp how imperfect I am. I can't tell you how many times I talk to others about what we're doing or spend time preparing a presentation on our future plans and just feel overwhelmed at my imperfections.

Being a missionary is humbling. It's humbling to know that our lives are on display for all to see. It's humbling to know that others will be giving up their hard-earned money to support us (and it's humbling to ask for money). It's humbling to know that because of this, others will have expectations of us. It's humbling to not own a home and to move around so often. It's humbling to share that God has called us to be among those who go.

And I often wonder why us? I don't really know the answer to this, except that God has given us the ability to do so and the desire to do so, so we will.

Below are the quotes from John Piper's sermon collection that really encouraged me in this area:

"The brushes he uses are messy, ordinary people who have seen the unsearchable riches of Christ and are willing, and often eager, to take these riches to the nations. The brushes are broken, sinning, ordinary missionaries" (Piper 93).

"God intends to use ordinary, messy, small paint brushes on the canvas of the history of missions because every minute stroke of his brush matters" (Piper 93).

"No missionary feels sufficient. But 2 Corinthians 3:5 says, 'Our sufficiency is from God.'" (Piper 102).

"There are no perfect missionaries. Help me [Lord]. To love you more than money. To be real and sincere. To speak your word. To fear no man. To get all I need from Christ" (Piper 104).

Blog Makeover

That's right... I decided it was time to give our blog a change... for several reasons:
1. A change every now and then is always nice
2. To make our information and what we're planning to do easier to access
3. To make it look more professional

So, with that said, here are the changes you can look for:

1. New colors and a new layout - yay! This is mostly just for fun and for ease of the eyes.

2. We've added more pages to help our blog to stay more organized and to give you a better idea of what we are up to or how you can partner with us for our missions work. Click on any of the page links at the top of this blog page, and you can read through them. We'll periodically update these pages, particularly the "prayer needs" one, so feel free to check back on them from time to time.

To the right of this post, you'll see what looks just like the screenshot above. ^

3. We've added a "search this blog" button-- just incase you want to. Or incase we want to :)

4. We've added a way for you to subscribe to our newsletter, via our blog. We'll most likely send this newsletter out 1-3 times a year, so we won't spam your email box too crazily. 

5. We've added a "Follow this Blog by Email" button. You enter your email address and then you'll get an email everytime we write an update. I write blog updates anywhere between 1-6 times a month, usually, so beware that signing up for this will fill up your inbox a little more. We've added this button by special request of one of our mothers though, so we know at least she will like it. :)

In other news, we just sent out a new newsletter and prayer card! There are still some in the mail and on their way (and a couple that I misplaced that will go out on monday), but hopefully many of you have received them by now! If you have not received a newsletter from us and would like one, please let me know, and we'd be happy to get you added to our Newsletter List and send you a copy. For now, we have enjoyed sending out copies by snail mail. It certainly takes more time... and more money... but I loved that it gave me the opportunity to pray over every name individually that was receiving a copy. (Below is just a screenshot of our newsletter, so you won't be able to actually read it unless you can squint really small.)

If there are any other ways we can make our blog easier to navigate or our information more available to you, please comment and let us know!

June too Soon

In my opinion, June has come far too soon!

There are reasons I'm excited that June is here...
1. My best friend Abbey and her son, "Baby Wesley," are coming to visit from California!!
2. My sister is due at the end of this month with her son, Blake (I'm finally going to be an Auntie!)
3. The ladies in my Life Group are doing a fun pamper outing in honor of one who is pregnant among us :)
4. It's summer!!!!!!!!!

There are other reasons I'm NOT excited that June is here...
1. I'm getting my wisdom teeth out (not too scared since they're already through, but not looking forward to the bill. Honestly, if you could pray for my teeth, I would be appreciative. We've spent way more money on them in the last 2 years than we would have liked to... thankfully, Ben has awesome teeth).

But mostly, I just can't believe that June is already here!
We're nearly half-way through the year!
My baby is already 4 months old!
We leave in 2 months to pack up our lives again and head out to Missouri (we're SO excited about continuing our training toward tribal missions, but saying good-bye is never easy).

Ben and I have a very packed summer and intend to pack it with even more (we're starting to meet with individuals and small groups about our missions' plans... if you'd like to hear more, don't hesitate to ask- we ARE busy, but this is the stuff we need to be busy with). Between work (he's working lots of hours at the RV factory and I'm babysitting), church (we're involved in several extra things over the summer but we are now done teaching senior high youth group- a bittersweet thing), kids (those two pretty girls God has entrusted us with), summer fun things (the 4H fair, camping, graduation parties, weddings, a 2-day getaway for our 5-year anniversary, the zoo, a 25K/50K bike ride my sister just talked us into, family pictures), sharing about our missions' plans (our state-side partners are so crucial to getting the gospel to the nations), moving (story of our lives), and people (lots and lots of people- loved ones galore that we want to see before moving 10 hours away)... these next two months are going to be crazy!

We praise God for our health that we CAN do all of this... but we pray that we would not let our relationships with the Lord suffer as a result of our busyness. We also pray that we will ENJOY these fleeing moments.

Remember when summer was a break???

Memorial Day Camping

Every Memorial Day we go camping with my family... Ben and I love to camp! I admit, camping was much easier before I had babies... these days, I spend half of my time putting a baby or toddler down for a nap or for bed or making sure a toddler isn't running by a fire... but it's still nice just to get away. I love the campfires and s'mores, I love ALL the camping food, I love playing games with my family (which I didn't get to do this year), I love bike rides and walks, I love spending time with people and not having the internet. This year, we joined 3 families from our church and had an especially fun time camping. We hope to get one more camping trip in before heading to Missouri in August!

Refine Me: Destroying the Idols

As I think on the past month, I am thankful for all that God has been doing in my heart regarding this "idol" area of my life... particularly my facebook usage. I just finished reading "Not a Fan," as I mentioned in my last post, but I've also begun reading through "One Thousand Gifts," and I'm so thankful for how God is using these books in my life to encourage me and challenge me in this area. One of the big areas both of these books has challenged me is by reminding me of the importance of  discipline. I will not magically begin spending less time on facebook by simply hoping to... I must be diligent in destroying this idol. Here are quotes from both of the books that have reminded me of this truth:

Kyle Idleman's "Not a Fan"
"Confess the sin of acedia in your life and then start doing the things you did at first [Rev. 2:4-5]. Get on your knees next to your bed and talk to God about your day. Turn on some worship music in your car and sing along. Grab a one-year Bible and start reading and meditating on God's Word. Even if you don't initially feel like doing some of those things it will begin to stir the fire that has grown dim... Recommit your love to God and then passionately pursue him." (ch. 9)

Ann Voskamps' "One Thousand Gifts"
"Daily Discipline is the door to full freedom" (pg. 84)

I truly desire to make my moments matter more for eternal purposes... to spend time with people, with God, and with my family ... rather than mindlessly scrolling through facebook updates or online parenting advice or pinterest pictures. I know it's worth it to get a grip on my life in this area, but I know it's also not easy to remove the idols that we've allowed to dominate our lives. I'm still struggling in this area, but God has been refining me in many encouraging ways... but it hasn't happened without discipline or without purposeful changes. So I'd like to share some of the practical decisions I've made to help me as I seek to destroy this idol:

Prayer - I can't expect my heart or my will to change on my own. I need help from the Holy Spirit.
Time with God - I've made a rule that I must spend time with God before getting on the internet (reading and prayer).
Pandora: There's something about good worship music that puts your heart in the right place.
Internet Usage Manager: I've downloaded "WasteNoTime" which allows me to make different settings. I've made my settings so that I can only be on facebook for a certain amount of time each day. There's a ticker at the top of my browser that I can look at to see how long I've been on facebook for. I'm constantly reminded of how much time I'm wasting. How's that for intentional monitoring?
Only Important: Did you know that you can individually edit what updates you see from people? Before, I had it so that I saw "most updates" from all of my facebook friends. With 1000 friends (I'm not really that popular, I've just gone to 5 different schools in my life, lived in 3 different states, and traveled to too many countries to remember), I could seriously spend hours a day scrolling through updates. It was ridiculous but tempting. I've narrowed it down so that now I only see "important updates" from most people other than family and close friends (so if you announce your engagement, pregnancy, new job, new hairdo, new dog, your kid sleeps through the night... anything that gets facebook excited and gives you lots of likes... I still see it. That's really the reason everyone loves facebook anyways right? Those exciting life updates from people you never see anymore...). Anyways, my facebook newsfeed wall is incredibly boring now. Kicked that time waster right out the door.
Accountability: I have several friends who know I'm working on this area of my life and aren't afraid to ask me the tough questions. They know I hate them a little bit for doing so, but it's the type of hate that's done out of love. :)
Out of Sight, Out of Use: If I don't have my laptop, then I can't use facebook... or at least, it's much trickier (I don't have a phone with a data plan which helps!). So when I go to hang out with family, I don't take my laptop unless I'm absolutely going to need it (I used to always take it). The other night was a long day and Ben wasn't home and I just wanted to sit down and waste time on the internet, so instead I packed up the girls, and we drove to the park. Some times, you just need to run away.

And you know what? The more I work on this area of my life and "improve," the more I realize I still need more work... I'm still so far from loving God the way I should, the way he deserves.

Some encouraging and challenging verses as I allow God to work in my heart in this area:

Colossians 3
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in your: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

Matthew 6:24
"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."

Galatians 5:16-26

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."

Lord, Refine me. Even when it hurts or when it's hard, I pray that you would refine me. Do not allow idols to rule my life. I pray that my heart and soul would long after you and you alone.

Idols: A Reflection Post

This past week I've gone without facebook. It's a little silly... and embarrassing... how hard it has been. The first couple of days, I kept automatically going to facebook when I got on my computer, so I had to log out of facebook so that I wouldn't keep going to my facebook page. Then there were a couple of times that I wanted to tell someone something but realized I didn't have their phone numbers. So I thought, "Oh, it'll be ok if I just go on facebook to message them to get their numbers." But then I thought about it and realized what I wanted to tell them wasn't that important. They were things that I could wait to tell them until I am back on facebook. I only thought it was urgent because I'm used to being able to communicate with people at the click of a button. I'm not used to having to wait.

Here's my honesty: Through reading "Not a Fan" (Kyle Idleman), spending time in the Word of God, prayer, and interactions with fellow Jesus followers, I've felt convicted in the amount of time I spend on facebook. At first I ignored the conviction for several reasons.
1. It's such a small thing... you know, compared to drunken parties and worshiping money. But I know deep down that's not true. An idol is an idol. And the first commandment says, "You should have no gods before me." 
2. Everyone's doing it. Everyone is on facebook... plus most people have a hundred other social media outlets too. There are tons of Christians "worse" than me. I mean, I don't even have a smartphone, so that's got to be a point in my favor. But God doesn't compare. He couldn't care less how "good" I am compared to others. He just looks at my heart alone and says, "Alisha, do YOU love me more?"
3. There's good parts about facebook. It's not like looking at pornography where there's nothing positive about it. I mean, I'm interacting with people... communicating with friends and family who live far away. But there are many things in this world that are good that can be used wrongly. 
4. I hate admitting that I'm not perfect. And this is an are where I'm certainly not perfect.

And as God was working on my heart, I realized that because I was trying to justify my use of facebook, this proved that it had become an idol.

So it does me no good to just take a week off of facebook. That's only good for one week. But I haven't felt convicted to completely give up facebook either. I knew during this time off, I needed to come up with a game plan though so that I didn't let facebook be an idol in my life.
I realized a big part of my problem is that I log on facebook first thing in the morning, and from there, I spend several hours online until I "catch up" on my social life. In order to make sure God is first, I'm now staying off of my computer until I have spent my time with God for the day. Ben and I are reading through the Bible with Bible Gateway's Reading Plan. So each morning, I will start my day off by reading the passages listed and praying, before logging onto my computer. I guess by writing it on my blog, I have a pretty large crowd to keep me accountable.

What idols are in your life? What things are your struggling to let go of? What things take up your time? This song below, by Jimmy Needham (called "Clear the Stage") is convicting and beautiful. Listen to it!