We had the honor of hosting 41 Business as Mission (BAM) missionaries here in Indianapolis last week for two days of training with our friends from the BAM Office at Assemblies of God World Missions. We learned together, we prayed together, we laughed together, and we most certainly ate together!
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Since The Stone Table’s inception, it’s been our dream to invest in our BAM friends this way, so it took a better part of the rest-filled weekend for the smile to finally disappear from my face (the Colts–Cowboys game took care of that late Sunday night…sigh).
I’m deeply moved whenever I spend time with missionaries; people who move their lives and their families to different and often difficult countries and cultures to make sure those with little or no access to the gospel have a chance to hear about Jesus. They constantly thank us, and we constantly remind them that we have the easy part. Yet time and time again, I heard this familiar refrain from my missionary friends:
“I hate when people call us ‘heroes.’ We’re not heroes, we’re just doing what the Lord asked us to do.”
That always hits me funny. I have so much respect for the sacrifices of cross-cultural missionaries. But they’re right. The calling is obedience…for all of us.
What if every follower of Jesus in every sphere of life made faithful, humble, sacrificial — even anonymous — obedience our definition of success? I believe we could move the needle on the Great Commission.
There really is only one Hero of the Story, and we are called to obediently make sure the good news of His gospel reaches every nation (Matthew 24:14). Will you join me?
Accelerating the Great Commission through the Marketplace,
Erik Cooper | The Stone Table
