Fulfilling The Mission: The Next Generation...
"For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your brothers but have carried out the mission the LORD your God gave you. Now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan." Joshua 23:3-4
It was 3500 years ago, that God sent Moses out on a mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promise Land of Canaan. Through great faith and continuous cries for help God showed his power and sent ten plagues on Pharaoh that led to the freedom of the Israelites. But God was not finished displaying his power for the Israelites as he would go on to part the Red Sea and cause water to flow from the rocks. Inspite of all the miracles God did among them, the Israelites began to take their eyes off God and grumble against the Lord and his servant Moses. It was at this time that God found a two faithful servants in Joshua and Caleb and decided that he would use Joshua to fulfill his mission and lead the next generation of Israelites into the Promised Land. God set Joshua on a mission to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land of Canaan and Joshua faithfully completed Gods mission.
It was 2000 years ago when Jesus laid out his mission to make disciples of all nations. Although this mission began thirty years ago and amazing things were done through the first, second, and third century churches as well as the Church of the East, by the sixth century God's movement had all but died out. Though several attempts were made throughout the centuries to return to the unity and commitment of the first century church, divisions and lack of commitment continued to stifle God's movement. Forty years ago, however, God brought together a movement of "souled out" disciples to continue the mission of making disciples of every nation. God did amazing things through the prayers and obedience of brothers and sisters who gave up everything to follow Jesus. The commitment of our brothers and sisters to fulfilling Jesus' mission has led to thousands of people on every continent becoming "souled out" disciples of Jesus. However, in recent years Satan raised his hand against God's movement and began to try to slow it down.
Today God is raising up a new generation of disciples in campus ministries all over the country to fulfill his mission of going to all nations and making disciples. God has started a revival in the International Churches of Christ all over the world. Mission teams are being sent out again in increasing number.
This past week after months of planning and prayer for God to open hearts, the Austin campus ministry (Alpha Omega) embarked on a spring break mission trip to Lubbock, Texas to start a campus ministry at Texas Tech University. With a specific prayer to meet someone who would become a disciple in three days, the Alpha Omega campus ministry traveled to Palo Duro Canyon for two days of camping and spiritual preparation. God showed his amazing power the first night as we prayed under the cloud-filled Texas sky. During our prayer, God parted the clouds directly above our circle. By the time we finished praying you could see the stars shining brightly above us.
As we pulled into Lubbock we were treated to a pot-luck dinner by the 10 faithful disciples that make up the Lubbock ICOC. The next morning Ben Borland led our hearts in a ministry quiet time. We hit the campus with four evangelism teams of four people. We reached out to over 400 people the first day! Cameron Prather and Anna Aleman, (who is one week old as a disciple and bound to a wheel chair) inspired our faith and called us higher by reaching out to over 80 people! God blessed us with two people who studied the Bible, one of which was named Tim McClellen. Tim studied for 3 1/2 hours, all the way through the "Light and Darkness" study. The next day God displayed his power in a way that blew us all away. We started the day tired as a result of camping in freezing temperatures and having evangelized all day the previous day. At 6:00 a.m. Alex Hammond led our hearts in an inspirational quiet time encouraging us to "go in the strength we have." We hit the campus running and God poured on the fruit. We had five guys attend our noon Bible-talk. Afterward, all five guys studied the Bible as well as Tim McClellen and another student whose brother had recently become a disciple in the Boston campus ministry. The student union was filled with people studying the Bible! The sisters also studied with two girls who came out. At 4:00 p.m. our group headed back to Roddy and Mary Oaks' house to eat and get ready for midweek service.
The midweek service of the Lubbock ICOC was incredible! Seven guys visited our service from Texas Tech! The singing was fiery and the atmosphere was electric as everyone was so fired up. Roddy preached a powerful message entitled "True Christianity" in which he challenged everyone to forsake all other calls and answer Jesus' call to go anywhere do anything and give up everything to fulfill Jesus' mission. After midweek four guys studied the bible right there in the church building. Tim counted the cost and was baptized at midnight that night. However, God was not finished! One of Tim's friends who came out decided he wanted to study the Bible and Cameron Prather and Fernando Gomez studied the Bible with him until 1:30 a.m. ! All in all, seventeen people studied the Bible in two days, seven came to church and we had a total of twenty-five Bible studies. God led us to the open hearts!
God completely answered our prayers over spring break. We are convinced that God is going to do even greater things through the next generation. God opened the hearts at Texas Tech and there are still hundreds of thousands out there looking for God. Please join us as we pray for revival and success in fulfilling Jesus' mission of making disciples of all nations through the next generation!
In Christ
Jeremy Lindley
P.S. We want to send a special thanks to the Lubbock and Amarillo churches for serving and hosting us!
