Photos by Ralph Freso/Slideshow/Chapel stream
Caravans of Grand Canyon University students regularly drive the 25-30 minutes to Jody and Amy Marble’s Peoria, Arizona, home for Bible study.
Well, not just any Bible study.
“We don’t do a book study,” Amy said. “We literally teach them how to open up the Bible and read the Word.”
She was standing in the Missions Week booth for Heartfire Missions, whose president, Dr. Jeff Dyer, had addressed Chapel moments before in similar fashion. He taught what mission trips are really about by issuing this challenge:
“We face a choice every day. Do I choose Jesus or the world?”
For the second consecutive year, Dyer was at GCU Arena to kick off Missions Week with a stern talk about why missions are critical to Christians. He called it “Is Jesus just my Savior?”
There’s a difference between “Lord and Savior” and just “Savior,” Dyer declared. And nothing speaks it more clearly than Matthew 7:21-23, which Dyer calls “the most chilling passage in the Bible.” In it, Jesus said:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and in Your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!’”
The majority of American believers fall into this category, Dyer said: They believe. They pray. But they don’t act.
He noted that mission trips were almost nonexistent for centuries until Adoniram and Ann Judson set sail for India in 1812. They were driven out a few months later and escaped to Burma (now Myanmar), and Dyer used their work to point out five lessons for mission preparation:
1. Expect to follow Christ in His sufferings
The Judsons didn’t receive a warm welcome in Burma. Adoniram was charged with being a British spy and was imprisoned for 21 months, and after working tirelessly to try to keep him alive on what was designed to be a death march, Ann died of smallpox in 1826.
If you want to be a world-changer, you need to let go of your need to see the ROI (return on investment) on this side of heaven.
Dr. Jeff Dyer
2. Understand Satan’s schemes
Dyer listed three: Think of all you’ll leave, you’ll fail and no one else is going. Adoniram didn’t give up when Ann died, Dyer pointed out.
3. Prepare for the long haul and never give up
Simple math: Ann knew 25 believers when she died. Adoniram knew 8,000 believers when he died in 1849. Today, there are 4 million Christians in Myanmar.
4. The eternal perception of return on investment (ROI) is different
Dyer put it this way: “If you want to be a world-changer, you need to let go of your need to see the ROI on this side of heaven.”
5. Trust God … by starting immediately
This is where Dyer fully broke down the difference between “Lord and Savior” and just “Savior.” He said 100% of God being your Savior falls on Him, but 100% of God being your Lord and Savior falls on us.
He hoped his talk would provide the students with metanoia, a change-the-world discovery he defined as a metamorphosis that occurs when we understand something we didn’t previously know.
He cited Acts 1:8, in which Jesus is quoted as saying:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
And Matthew 28:19:
| NEXT CHAPEL SPEAKER (11 a.m. Monday, GCU Arena) |
| Wendell Vinson, CityServe co-founder |
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Last year, even though the Missions Week booths were upended by a hailstorm (yet another challenge), Dyer said Heartfire enlisted 90 GCU students to go on trips. This year, it’s shooting for many more.
But its presence on campus, which included an introduction to its Mission Acceleration Program on Monday evening, was meant to support any organization doing this work.
“We’re a big cheerleader for all missions,” Marble said while taking time out to greet a student who went on a Heartfire trip last year. “Our passion, our vision is to raise up the next generation of world-changers.”
Not just any world-changers. They’re seeking hundred-percenters for the Lord and Savior.
Contact Rick Vacek, Senior Manager for Internal Communications, at (602) 639-8203 or [email protected].
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