Missions Conference 2014 Synopsis

There was a Missions Conference at Moody Bible Institute October 14-17, 2014. I wish all of you could have attended. It was completely free. I decided to make a synopsis so that you could know what happened even though you didn’t attend.

Day I: Tuesday evening session
Speaker: Pastor Oscar
Anecdote: George Mueller
Challenge: 10 hairy audacious prayer topics

This sermon was based on George Mueller. His goal was to live in a way that showed people God can be trusted. He built orphanages throughout England, but never asked for a penny. In the morning he would wake up and tell the orphans that there was no food for breakfast, but they should pray and thank God. Then someone would usually come and bring breakfast because God put it on their heart to serve. He never took a salary. When he was 70, he decided to go out as a missionary and for more than a decade he went out traveling the world and preaching. The Pastor challenge us to pray prayer topics that “make God sweat.” Usually we pray things like: give me an “A” on my exam or in the mall, “Lord give me a parking spot.” But the Pastor dared us to pray 10 hairy audacious prayer topics that God will answer. A few I thought of was WL having its own building and not one more death from gang violence in Chicago. Or praying for my cousin, D, who is a hostile atheist to serve the Lord or C to have a job in finance paying more than 45K a year. These are crazy scary prayer topics and I realized I don’t pray them because I am scared that God will not deliver. But he is God and he can be trusted.

Day II: Wednesday morning session
Speaker: Pastor Oscar
Anecdote: Moravian Missionaries to the Leper Colony
Challenge: Stop living for yourself

His first question was: Are the things you will live for after graduation worthy of Christ dying for? My question to you is: why did Christ die? The answer is in 2 Corinthians 5:15. “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” The Pastor mentioned that God does not want to be a part of our plans; he wants YOU to be fulfilled in HIS plans. He shared about a leper colony. There were 2 lepers working in a field, one had no legs and he was on the back of a leper who had no arms. These lepers were completely cut off from society. But who would tell them about Jesus? 2 Moravian missionaries went out and preached to them. But what would happen if those 2 fell? There were more Moravian missionaries lining up to be sent out. The Pastor also shared that, “No great advances for Christianity were made by men and women who were unwilling to give up their lives.” He also shared John 12:24, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
It is only in dying to self that we can live. He finished by asking us again: Are the things you live for worthy of Christ dying for? Do we have the faith of a mustard seed? Are we too afraid to dream big dreams for the kingdom?

Breakout Session I
Speaker: Kate McCord
Topic: Why does God called us to dangerous places?

Kate lived in Afghanistan. Before she started she said that it would be a heavy session. She started by showing us pictures of a dozen Christian how were murdered in the Middle East. She said this is no joke. She shared how she was in the middle of no where in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at a concert and was talking to a guitarist. She mentioned that she lived overseas. He asked, “Where?” She said, “Afghanistan.” He said, “Do you know Glen?” and his eyes filled with tears. Then her eyes filled with tears because she knew Glen. He was a Christian who worked in Afghanistan and had been martyred. Danger is real. Living for Jesus is not a romantic safe story. Many of Kate’s friend asked her repeatedly, “Can’t you just send a check?” Once on facebook she read a quote, “The safest place is in the center of God’s will.” To this Kate answered, “False, the safest physical place is not in God’s will. The safest place is in Calvary. It is the safest place for my soul. ”

But why does God do this? Why does he take the brightest and best? Those who have fallen were humanitarian aid workers, doctors, linguist, dentist, nurses, eye doctors. They went to serve. She gave a couple of reasons.

First, God loves people. On the final day of the conference there was a US soldier who had been deployed in Iraq. I sat next to him and heard him sniffling. It was crazy to see a grown man in his army outfit cry. But he said he hated terrorist because they killed his brothers and friends. And yet now God was calling him to serve ISIS terrorist. God calls us to dangerous places because he loves the ISIS terrorists and he wants them all saved. God is like the Father on Thanksgiving who says that his table is not full enough. There are families on Thanksgiving who say there are not enough people here, invite more. That is God.

Secondly, Jesus went there first. Jesus does not call us anywhere that he did not go first.
Thirdly, It awakens the church to pray and be unified.

Fourthly, one cannot hold someone’s hand from 7000 miles away. FB is good, but you cannot give someone mourning the loss of their son a hug over facebook. They don’t need an email; they need someone physically there.

Fifthly, it brings us closer to Him. Kate said that it was hard to live in Afghanistan, but harder to leave. She walked with Jesus in those places and those places are precious. She met Jesus in those horrible place. She had a Dutch friend who was married and had 2 small daughters in Holland. On his last day in Afghanistan he was kidnapped. Fortunately, he made it back to his family. But he said that while he was chained to the wall at the hands of the terrorist he felt closest to the Lord. And he misses those moments of intimacy.

I personally saw how we humans are so afraid of pain and suffering, but pain and suffering are teachers. They are the pressure cookers that mold us into the image of Christ. And they are things not to be feared or avoided but embraced and treasure that JC deems us worthy of suffering for his name.

Breakout Session II
Speaker: Agency Remember Nhu
Topic:Can we end child sex slavery in this generation?

The agency is called Nhu in honor of a 13 year old girl in Cambodia. This girl was a Christian because she went to a Catholic school. She made an arrangement to clean the school and to study for free. She was 7 at the time. But when she was 13 her grandmother borrowed 60 $ for groceries. She had to pay it back with the high interest of 20$ per week. She only made 25$ total in a month. So she had no choice but to sell Nhu.

Do you know why human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry? How many times can you sell drugs a ba of drugs? Once. You sell heroine; it’s snorted once and gone. How many times can you sell a girl child in her lifetime? Maybe 7,000 or 70, 000 times. One girl shared how she was raped 15 times a night and they sewed up her private part up so she would still feel like a virgin; they did it twice. In Santa Cruz Bolivia the man who started Remember Nhu saw a 7 year old child dressed up like a doll with shorts barely covering her bottom and a halter top and full makeup. She was emaciated so she looked like 5 years old. She was wearing high heels. And he saw her come up to a grown man and offer herself to him. Once he saw that image he could never get it out of his mind.

We all have a responsibility in some way. There are 1.2 million children sold into sex slavery every year. Thats 2 children per minute. Once they are sold in Cambodia and Thailand, 97% of them contac aid and die in less than 3 years. In Thailand human trafficking makes up 14% of the GNP and in Cambodia 20%. The perpetrators are ⅓ local, ⅓ foreigners and ⅓ government officials. In the Bible Jesus rebuked the religious leaders for ravishing the house of widows. In certain parts of the world political leader literally ravish their people. If human trafficking stops what economic endeavor will take its place. And why would the legislators want to stop it if they are the ones committing it?

Conclusion:
I am so thankful for this conference. It reminded me of how much this world needs Christians living out their faith.