We have just finished a remarkable Leadership Training Camp with some remarkable young people. This past Sunday our young ladies spoke to a ladies class and our young men spoke at our Sunday morning auditorium class and at our worship. It was thrilling to see the progress being made by each of them. Brayden Gilles challenged us to be more fruitful and I would like to share with you three comments from his lesson.
“It’s not very hard to bring someone to church, just ask them.” At first glance this might not seem especially important until we consider that so many are not doing this now and so many more have never done it at all. Let me ask you, when was the last time you “just asked them”? Have you considered the worst thing they could say to you is that they are not interested. That line from the movie Field of Dreams, “If we build it they will come,” probably doesn’t apply to a church building, but Brayden was simply saying, “If we ask them, they will come.”
“That second of embarrassment can change their lives.” When I heard Brayden say these words I thought of the hesitancy we have in talking to others, and how our fear of rejection compares to the price others have paid. Remember that He left heaven, endured the extreme cruelty of men to change men’s lives. Our timidity is meaningless when compared to what He did. The end result also shows the foolishness of our fears and our failure to extend ourselves. Compare the fifteen seconds it takes for us to ask another to come with us to the eternity lying before them and us.
“You don’t have to go to Europe or South America to be a missionary. Just stay in your home town and reach out to others.” It frustrates me that we cannot see the truthfulness of these words. Another way of looking at being a missionary is to remember that mission work starts at your front door and extends around the world. Properly understood, every Christian is a missionary. You don’t have to go on a mission trip to do mission work. You are on a mission trip. The concept of “going on a trip” lasts about two weeks, the second concept lasts for a lifetime!
Thank you, Brayden, for touching our hearts. But this cannot end with having our hearts touched, we must take his words and make them an active part of our lives. Brayden taught the truth. It’s not hard. A few seconds effort can touch eternity. We all live in a mission field.