“If you are not continuing in your discipleship, then you are not a disciple of Christ.” Dr. Hartford was drawing a hard line in the sand while making this statement in class, dashing to pieces the perspective I’ve had for so long that there are three different kinds of people: the lost, the normal Christians, and those serious about discipleship. What Hartford was saying is that there are actually only two different kinds of people: the disciples of Christ and the lost.

Lecrae said it well in a song: “Paul said if Christ ain’t resurrected we wasted our lives, would that imply that our lives drift around Jesus being alive,”. He was referencing 1 Corinthians 15:12-19.

You’re either going hard or growing cold. After all, there is no half-way point in pinning yourself to a cross. You are either drawing closer to Christ or drifting farther away. There is no in between.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RWEllqh5J0

When I told people that I was going from Mississippi to Minnesota,the looks of shock that crossed people’s faces were quite amusing. I mean,what fresh-out-of-high-school eighteen-year-old actually does things like live eighteen hours away from what he calls home? Wouldn’t it be difficult to live so far away from everything you knew? Yes, it could be, but I knew that God called me here.

The transition of actually going from way down south to way up north was always on my mind. I mean, I seriously have gone from super hot to crazy cold. Snow in Mississippi comes like only every few years (if that), and when it does snow, it’s like a mere frost.

Homesickness was on my mind a little bit. When I got up here, I was so afraid that I wouldn’t be accepted or I might get homesick. Was I ever wrong! Ever since I stepped foot on this campus, God has just blown my mind away.I’ve had utter peace despite being the farthest from home I’ve ever been before.

Bethany might be a college, but it is way more than that. It is truly the body of Christ and the family of God coming together and accepting you no matter where you’re at in your life. You constantly have people lifting you up in prayer while you’re here. The love for God these people have is absolutely incredible.When I read on the Bethany website about experience, I didn’t give it much thought, but in my daily walk with God, BCOM has become an amazing experience that He’s placed along the way.

If I could sum up my transition from what I call “home” to BCOM, I would sum it up with what I told one of the other students here, “If I could, I would never want to graduate from here because of the amazing experience I’ve had.”

Everyone knows the commonly used missionary verse in Matthew 28:16-20,

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

After Hartford had a student read this text he asked the crowd of aspiring missionaries, “What stands out to you in this passage?” Some people said this, others said that, but the answer he was looking for inevitably came when someone queryingly said, “go and make disciples?”

It was the topic of making disciples that he wanted to expound on.

The function of the church is to make disciples, but we have somehow and for some reason left discipleship sort of in the dust. Hartford lead us into seeing that the Great Commission was not to go and evangelize, but was to go and make disciples. Discipleship therefore must be the pinnacle of church purpose because churches are a result of missions. And missions is the result of Matthew 28:16-20.

Knowing now this call to make disciples and not just to evangelize shifts the thinking of a missions minded individual. What then does it look like when you go out to other countries? Perhaps it looks a little less like stump preaching or speaking engagements and a bit more like living a life of love, peace, brotherhood, truth, integrity, endurance, conviction, and so on.

Besides, what’s more impressive than talking the talk? Is it not walking the walk? People won’t always believe what you say, but they will always believe what you do.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQXxQjVP4f4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkBPJCZQgy4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF4tahRt-94

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjmhjkbbRlg

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9DlIT0cGsE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBv5CrRXQ0w

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd37wmIj-vs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWM0F5nCEn0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOIbD9gAwaM

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OTliDIoypg

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-TYvmDyPuk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn29oo82tOA

It was those words that helped propel Pastor Hegre and his team further into ministry. It convinced him that though he wasn’t able to do everything; he could still do something. One can feel depleted and crippled at the weight of thinking you have to evangelize the entire world but to think that God truly delights in you doing what you can do is a relief.

In a meeting this week, someone told me that Christianity is not about changing systems so much as it is about changing people. As long as your desire is to share the love of God with people, the avenues of ministry are absolutely limitless. Begin with something small and start with what you have. Do you have a guitar? Do you have an easel and some canvas? Do you have etc. & etc.? Do it for God.

What helps jump start a successful endeavor of any kind is not so much the resources you presently have as much as the determination you have in your heart to see it done. Do what you can now. You take care of the quality and, if it’s good and pleasing to Him, God will take care of the growth. But how does one begin their work when they have a heart for overseas-missions? Start by researching an overseas people group and praying for them daily. Research their culture, research their beliefs, consider what redemptive analogies you can come up with for them, and pray for them consistently.

The history of Bethany International itself is a story of people enduring criticism because they were doing what wasn’t normally done. If there is anything I’ve learned from the Bethany story is to not let the people who criticize you deter you from following the Word of God.

All ginormous trees were once at the same height as the grass blades. Be a grass blade missionary and God will take care of the rest.

Below is an example of two stellar people who made it happen. I met these two on twitter and since then have been listening to their work. They didn’t start with as much as they have now (resource or talent wise); they just started with what they had.

Keep up the good work you two.

@LaurenandLucas

When you have the life-giving “thing” of Jesus, you cannot help but share him any way available to you, including twitter. If you use twitter, you’ll understand this post. If you don’t use twitter, you’ll probably be in the dark. Sorry.

Imagine this, you are the pastor of a cyber church on twitter.

-Your sermon is concisely limited to 140 characters.

-Your followers and those you follow make up your congregation.

-Your direct messages make up your one-on-one pastoral ministry.

-And your favorites reflect your ideals.

This is an interesting perspective behind twitter; the point of it is this: be mindful of what you tweet. Before you tweet something, ask yourself if it will be the source of your criticism by unbelievers. The last thing you want to see on your mention list is, “Hey @your.name! I thought you were a Christian! What’s this?”

With the progress of technology, we see the doors to different parts of the world flinging wide open, enabling more people to hear the gospel through cyber-witnessing. Remember that you represent Jesus; you are a twitter bird carrying a mustard seed in your beak. So get out there and keep tweeting for Him!