I once heard a gentleman give some good advice to a young man who felt he was called to be a preacher. He said, “A call to preach is a call to prepare.” That is so true. My years of preparation before becoming a full-time missionary taught me a lot. One thing I learned was that missions is going to take three things: 1. Obedience to the word of God 2. for a very long time 3. with great focus on what the Lord has called us to do and how He says to do it.

Missions is about obedience to the Word of God. We get our marching orders from Jesus. When sending the disciples out into the world He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Jesus wants us to go and make disciples of who? All the nations. Jesus did not have in mind the geopolitical nations as we know them today. He literally means all the ethnic groups of the world.

What does He want us to teach them? Everything that He ever taught. All of it! And teach them to observe it. He wants to see them knowing it, believing it, and living it.

Missions is about time. A lot of people ask us how long we are going to be in Belize. Lord willing, we’ll be here until the He calls us to heaven or to a different location. What if we serve here for years without seeing anyone saved or sanctified? We will continue to obey God’s prescribed way for growing His church; the plain teaching and preaching of His word? Should we not change our methods to draw bigger crowds using the latest church growth strategies of the day? After all, we have 300,000 people to reach here in Belize, how are we going to reach them all?

Missions is about focus. Let me first tell you what we won’t do. We won’t share the gospel with as many people as we possibly can as quickly as we can. But sharing the gospel will be part of our plan. We won’t try to get as many decisions for Christ as we possibly can. But encouraging people to repent and receive Christ will be part of our plan. Lastly, we won’t try to draw large crowds by using entertainment (face painting, balloons, clowns, music) then dropping the gospel on them at the end. But sharing truth with crowds will be a part of our plan. So, what are we going to do? What did Christ do?

Jesus had the whole world to reach and only 3 ½ years of ministry to do it. Did he throw thousands of parchment gospel tracts from the top of the temple? Did he just give a simple ABC presentation of the gospel once He had the big crowds around Him? No, He focused on 12 men. He poured Himself into 12 men for 3 ½ years.

You may never read of large numbers of converts in our newsletters, or of multiple churches being planted. But you can be assured that there will be a handful of people who we are devoting ourselves to and building up in the truth, just like Jesus did.