3 Jul 2017

Short term missions are not the race

by | posted in: Missions | 84,249

I am always amazed at the excitement and nervousness from those going on their first short-term mission trip, most of the time they don’t know enough to know what they need to be nervous about. There is an excitement in their eyes as they head into the unknown. They prepare testimonies and lessons, not knowing how God will use them or if they will be effective. They pack what is recommended and wonder if it will be enough. They comfort their parents and loved ones, and try to reassure them everything is going to be alright, while at the same time not knowing what the future holds. But through leading and prayer, the journey begins.

 

A lot of mission team members, especially those who have never been on mission before usually become broken spiritually sometime during the week of the trip. They discover a new outlook on sharing, faith, trust, and God. Why is this? It is simple, during the week they are constantly hearing the word of God either from others sharing or through the preaching or their own study. They also see the word of God come to life. That doesn’t mean that the bible gets up and starts walking around. But they see the Spirit of God begin to work in the lives of the people they come in contact with. They walk the streets with a single purpose, to find the person of peace with whom they can share the good news of the gospel. Some are hit with the hard truth that not all will accept the gospel, so they plant a seed not knowing the condition of the soil. Other times they begin to pour out water onto unknown soil, unaware that a seed exist and has been waiting for the moisture that God will use to bring it to life. They get excited and don’t know what to do when out of the ground springs forth life. A miracle, they get to see cold dead bones come to life. After that experience, they have a drive to share and no longer need to be pushed in front of people to share with. Oh what it would have been like in Acts to walk the streets and see God work, bringing people to life through the proclamation of the Gospel. But wait, could that still happen? And could it happen here?

After returning home and a couple weeks of rest, life returns to normal. The mission was accomplished, people were saved and now we are back comfortable, safe, fed, and loved. Or are we? There is always a sense of completion at the end of a mission trip. Not that that would be wrong in the short term, but there is a since of that was where we were on mission at, but now we are back and we have things to get done. Real stuff, school, work, friends, problems, and you know life. Right?

One of the greatest tragedies we have is short-term missions. I know you saw a bunch of people get saved, and God really “showed up”, but stay with me. There is a since of awe and wonder during the week of a mission trip. And we look forward to the next year when we can go and feel that same since of awe and wonder. But let’s compare it to a race shall we. Anyone who runs foot races understands that you have different splits. These are markers throughout the race to gauge your progress, and to ensure you are on pace. A short-term mission trip is sort of like a split. It is a time to see if you are where you need to be in your spiritual life, in your reading and study of the word, apologetics, doctrines, and if you can articulate them to the world around you. The shortness of the week gives you the opportunity to push yourself hard and to evaluate yourself. The tragedy is that the short-term is looked at, as the race itself. We return with a sense that we ran and will rest up to run again next year.

The race however is not over. In fact it is just beginning. When you return home, it is like passing the first mile marker. The street is no longer filled with cheering fans, the road narrows, and the reality of the race sets in. Here is where we must work our hardest. This is where we must pull from prayer and scripture, the strength to press on. Where most might sit and rest, we must run to win. We don’t just return to normal life, we return with a renewed sense of awe for what God has been doing and we must now trust even more so that He will continue His work. We saw on foreign soil God work in others lives. Now we must trust that He will work in ours for His glory and to reach those around us. We are home; this is where we must turn from our sins, where we must love God more than mother and father, more than friends and things. This is where we live out what we preach, if we believe that which we have taught. Did we believe it? Do we believe it? If so, then are we disciplined for the miles ahead? Paul tells the church at Corinth “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified”. Are we disqualified or are we still in the race?

There are no short-term missionaries; there are only missionaries in different context. When we return to our Jerusalem, let us seek the hope that is only found in Christ. Let us not lean on our own understanding, our own wisdom, which is foolishness. Let us not fall victim to busyness and the lure of shiny objects that promise fulfillment. Let our knees be worn out for those nearest to us. Let our time be determined by the cross and His call, trusting that He will provide the time for work, family, fun, and ministry, as we continue the race. We have found our greatest joy in walking by faith; let us not check our faith with Homeland Security as we return home. But let us be reminded daily where our ultimate security is found and where our joy is greatest. Wherever you woke up at, wherever you find yourself, wherever you stand today, then that is your mission field. Time to get running.

84249 Responses

  5. memek becek
    | Reply

    Have you ever thought about including a little bit more
    than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and
    all. Nevertheless just imagine if you added some great photos or
    videos to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images
    and videos, this blog could certainly be one of the greatest
    in its field. Fantastic blog!

  7. australia eta business or tourist
    | Reply

    Good day I am so delighted I found your blog, I really found
    you by accident, while I was searching on Yahoo for something
    else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say kudos for
    a remarkable post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the
    moment but I have bookmarked it and also added your
    RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to
    read more, Please do keep up the awesome work.

  13. Douglasaxori
    | Reply

    1xBet
    The best 1xBet promo codes are those that offer the highest value, such as large deposit matches, numerous free bets, or free spins. These codes can significantly enhance the betting experience by providing more opportunities to win.

  17. Casino bonus
    | Reply

    Great beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your
    site, how can i subscribe for a weblog site?
    The account helped me a applicable deal. I were tiny bit familiar
    of this your broadcast offered shiny clear idea

  19. 다산 성인 피아노 학원
    | Reply

    May I jus say what a comfort to uncover somebody who
    actually understands what they’re discussing online. You certainly understand how tto
    bring an issue to light and make it important.

    A lot more people need to look att tyis and understand this side of
    the story. I can’t believe you are not more popular ssince you certainly possess the gift.

    다산 성인 피아노 학원

  20. ngentot istri tetangga
    | Reply

    hello there and thank you for your information – I have certainly picked up anything new from
    right here. I did however expertise some technical points using this site, since I experienced to reload the site a lot of times previous to I could
    get it to load properly. I had been wondering if
    your hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish
    loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can damage your quality score if ads
    and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for much more of your respective exciting content.

    Ensure that you update this again soon.

  22. click resources
    | Reply

    My brother recommended I might like this website. He was entirely right.
    This post actually made my day. You cann’t imagine
    just how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!

  23. Jav Mama Muda sayang anak tiri
    | Reply

    Great beat ! I wish to apprentice even as you amend your site, how can i subscribe for a weblog website?
    The account helped me a acceptable deal. I were a little bit acquainted of this
    your broadcast provided bright transparent idea

  24. car porn
    | Reply

    Outrage porn (additionally referred to as outrage discourse,[1]
    outrage media and outrage journalism)[2] is
    any type of media or narrative that’s designed to make use of outrage to provoke sturdy emotional reactions
    for the purpose of expanding audiences, whether or not conventional tv, radio,
    or print media, or in social media with elevated internet site visitors and
    online attention. The term outrage porn was coined in 2009 by political
    cartoonist and essayist Tim Kreider of The new York Times.[3][4][5][6]

  25. Alysa
    | Reply

    However folks as seasoned (or cynical) as I am are always questionable of a bare checklist of benefits. Few points come without an expense, and choices about architecture and procedure are generally a matter of trade-offs. This is only semi-integration since each designer incorporates the changes on mainline to their very own neighborhood branch. Full combination can’t happen until a developer pushes their changes, causing an additional round of semi-integrations. Also if Rebecca and I both draw the same changes from mainline, we’ve just integrated with those adjustments, not with each other’s branches.

    These contractors have repeatedly seen homes next door crack or collapse. Accountability is scarce. – The Philadelphia Inquirer These contractors have repeatedly seen homes next door crack or collapse. Accountability is scarce..

    Finally, if the side with only one party holds the property civil liberties (so regarding stay clear of the holdout trouble), Coasean bargaining still falls short, as a result of the free-rider trouble. When the numerous events on the other side all advantage rather just as from the outcomes of the arrangements, after that each of the events has the motivation to free-ride, to withhold their payments and withdraw from the settlements since they can still receive the benefits despite whether or not they add economically. In 2016, Ellingsen and Paltseva [17] modelled agreement negotiation games and revealed that the only method to stay clear of the free-rider issue in situations with numerous events is to apply obligatory involvement such as through the use of court orders. In resultant scholarship using economic designs of analysis, prominently consisting of the Coase thesis, academic designs showed that, when purchase costs are decreased or nonexistent, the legal appropriation of obligation decreases in value or goes away entirely.
    Policy: A Limiting Example
    If a financier gets a corporate bond, the capitalist is lending the corporation money. Like a lending, a bond pays interest occasionally and pays back the principal at a stated time, known as maturity. The cost of the roof covering material and mitigation strategy is an essential component of this research study, and extra local research studies taking into consideration the mitigative possibility and corresponding costs can be undertaken. The radiative capturing and energy conservation equations for the roofing, wall, and ground were solved in the WRF/SLUCM.
    Product Or Services

    [1] A legal representative whohas served or is presently acting as a public officer or employee ispersonally based on the Guidelines of Expert Conduct, including theprohibition versus concurrent conflicts of passion mentioned in Policy 1.7.

    If you have pet dogs or youngsters that use your outdoor rooms and may create disruptions for others, consider building a fencing to provide personal privacy and a border in between yourself and neighboring home owners.

    You may likewise be required to have a surveyor or city authorities “draw” or “paint” the lines of your building so you will understand precisely where the boundaries exist. Consistently participating in the neighborhood, like keeping up to day on all HOA interactions and taking part in community conversations, improves the bonds between citizens. Great next-door neighbors produce a helpful setup where people delight in favorable and equally considerate living conditions. This creates a culture of connection and can lessen prospective conflicts.
    EmailMost everybody has an email address and HOAs can use a professional email address that the whole boar has accessibility to so all communication is considered expert communication instead of utilizing an individual e-mail address. Here are some winning actions any type of HOA can require to resolve disputes quietly. Isn’t funny just how the glimmer and glow of a holiday decoration is so enticing in December yet becomes fairly unsightly by April.
    Mean you didn’t employ an attorney at closing and now locate on your own in the center of a land dispute. Frank Schneider, the swimming pool owner, recognizes that he doesn’t in fact own any one of the land behind his home. While he got a land survey prior to closing, he didn’t know how to read it. While there is a 10-feet easement straight behind his house that he may use and maintain, as a new home owner, he really did not realize that the fenced-in backyard where he constructed the pool wasn’t a component of his residential or commercial property. Reviewing any adjustments or improvements near the residential property line beforehand can protect against problems from developing in the future. Common arrangement on maintenance duties can even more reinforce neighborly relations and lower the possibility of disputes.
    Open up interaction, active listening, keeping a calm demeanor, and seeking mediation can be efficient techniques in resolving next-door neighbor limit disputes amicably. Mediation acts as a useful method to deal with next-door neighbor border conflicts amicably. It includes a neutral 3rd party facilitating discussions between next-door neighbors to reach an equally acceptable resolution.

  33. dildo
    | Reply

    Hey superb website! Does running a blog such as this require a
    lot of work? I’ve no expertise in computer programming but I was hoping to start my own blog in the near future.

    Anyways, should you have any suggestions or tips for new blog owners please share.
    I understand this is off topic but I just needed to ask.
    Thank you!

  35. Party Wall Legal Responsibilities
    | Reply

    Exist any previous coatings that need to be removed or exist significant repair services that need to be carried out prior to the system being set up. As an example, if you are dealing with a failed cut edge corrosion system, there will certainly be a great deal more work involved to eliminate the existing system and the boost can be as high as 25-50%. Appropriately or incorrectly as a Chartered Building Land Surveyor myself, there comes a time when we require to seek this details, whether it be for a dilapidations routine, spending plan costs as part of a TDD or any other workout. A topographic survey does not vary from a geodetic one; the distinction in between geodesy and topography is only in the specifics of the topic of the survey.
    Can You Check Your Very Own Land?
    This record will outline any kind of flaws, referrals for repair work or renovations, and an overall assessment of the structure’s problem. They are accountable for examining the problem and stability of structures, supplying vital details to stakeholders, such as homeowner, architects, and developers. Their primary objective is to make certain the safety, conformity, and performance of buildings. As a proprietor or financier, selecting a building surveyor can aid keep an eye on a job, undertake a pre-purchase survey, worth functions completed or required, give upkeep coverage and assist with conflict resolution.
    Throughout The Study: What To Anticipate
    We’ve highlighted the two surveys, and what they cover in more information listed below. We provide walk services as basic and give comments personally on potential concerns and enable you to address inquiries concerning your home purchase at no added charge. Subject to the lease being entered into, a renter must have an in-depth document of a structure’s condition when they initially move in, whether it’s a new office, store, warehouse or other organization properties. It offers a photo ‘photo’ in time that links to any kind of future dilapidations suggestions– helping with prospective arguments over any issues– and resulting cost and problems mitigation. Customized pre-acquisition surveys are taken on to evaluate the technical risks for residential or commercial property procurements.
    Survey Or Valuation – Which Do I Require?
    A property surveyor who can describe intricate searchings for in a clear and easily accessible way is necessary for guaranteeing that clients totally recognize the analysis. This document is a less-detailed design illustrating the present structures and harsh measurements of home boundaries. This study details information like limits, topography, utilities, zoning restrictions, easements, rights-of-way, and possession aspects. An ALTA study is usually a prerequisite for title insurance policy and industrial property purchases.

    Power Saving Capacity Of Chilled-ceiling Integrated With Dessicant Cooling In Hot And Moist Environments
    These 2 variable expenses together offer us total variable prices of $.051/ copy. It’s greatly handy to think of cost actions when we need to make decisions concerning just how to create and money programs. Consider this straightforward instance based on the formerly mentioned HPM program. It serves to think of a program or solution with reference to these major expense behaviors. In fact, we can position most programs/services/organization units right into one of 6 expense habits groups.
    Instances And Sorts Of Efficient Useful Degree Method For Business Assistance
    Where controlled by the SEC, appropriate entities have the phrase “security-based” contributed to certify “swap,” yet or else the interpretations are identical to those relevant to the CFTC for other swaps. For meanings of “Swap Dealership,” “Security-Based Swap Dealership,” “Significant Swap Individual,” “Major Security-Based Swap Participant” and “Eligible Contract Individual,” see 77 Fed. The banking companies and the SEC issued a joint last guideline Restrictions and Limitations on Proprietary Trading and Particular Passions in, and Relationships with, Hedge Funds and Private Equity Funds, 79 Fed. 5,536 (Jan. 31, 2014) (to be codified at 12 C.F.R. pt. 44 (OCC); 12 C.F.R. pt.
    You Intend To Drive Adjustment?
    Age was noted as a significant affecting factor in the research study area with none of the respondents under 25 suggesting they had “a great amount of expertise of PLFP steps” even when they declared their residential properties to be in danger of flooding. Assistance and support is especially advised to those who are not able to handle their own flood risk for e.g. social housing/rental occupants. It has shown how CBA/FR analysis would certainly be performed if– asadvocated by some participants of Congress, the D.C. Circuit, and legal academic community– thelaw expanded the present needs that exec companies participate in CBA tofinancial companies, and needed those firms to generate as component of their rulemakingquantified CBA that can be based on review under the requirements of theagencies’ licensing statutes and the APA.
    By 2007, yearly SO2 discharges had declined by 43% from 1990 degrees, regardless of electrical energy generation from coal-fired power plants increasing more than 26% throughout the very same period. This is displayed in blue and gauged from the right-hand axis, so it climbs from the best origin as B participates in even more abatement. Firm B utilizes a much more emissions-intensive innovation to create its product, and as a result its marginal price of reduction is greater than for Firm A. On the other hand, if the firm could announce a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum, it would certainly reduce expenses whilst making sure the residents do pass by to leave town at Emin. This gives all the mixes of salaries and environmental high quality that would be just hardly sufficient to induce a depictive person to remain. Work through the analysis in Number 20.15 to see how the selections of the people and businesses are modelled.
    Once again, the formula is a/( p-b), or $800,000/ ($ 1,800-$ 400), or 571 customers. To recover cost at that somewhat affordable price and payment margin ($ 1,800-$ 400, or $1,400), the program will certainly need to serve significantly extra clients than it has actually offered lately. Overall paper prices were $10,000, so the per-copy cost for paper is ($ 10,000/ 248,000), or $.04/ duplicate. Total printing cartridge expenses were $2,700, so the per-copy expense for printing cartridges was ($ 2,700/ 248,000), or $.011/ duplicate.
    They likewise recognize the cost at which they sold that plane and the earnings the company made on that sale. Boeing’s executives anticipate their supervisors to understand this information in actual time if the firm is to remain rewarding. If you’ve ever before flown on an airplane, there’s a likelihood you recognize Boeing. The Boeing Business generates around $90 billion every year from selling hundreds of planes to commercial and army consumers around the world. It uses around 200,000 individuals, and it’s indirectly responsible for greater than a million jobs via its vendors, specialists, regulatory authorities, and others. Its primary production line in Everett, WA, is housed in the biggest building on the planet, a colossal center that covers virtually a half-trillion cubic feet.

  36. ngewe di kosan
    | Reply

    Good day I am so excited I found your website, I really found
    you by accident, while I was searching on Bing for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to
    say cheers for a fantastic post and a all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it
    all at the moment but I have book-marked it and also added your RSS feeds,
    so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do
    keep up the fantastic jo.

  38. Immediate Wise
    | Reply

    Today, I went to the beach front with my kids. I found a sea shell
    and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear and screamed.
    There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.

    She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off topic
    but I had to tell someone!

  41. penipu
    | Reply

    Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you
    relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about,
    why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?

  43. Тайвек
    | Reply

    Having read this I thought it was extremely informative.
    I appreciate you finding the time and effort to put
    this informative article together. I once again find myself
    personally spending way too much time both reading
    and leaving comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *