This month we attended the annual Finishing the Task conference along with 600 other leaders in world mission. The purpose of this gathering is to strategize toward adopting all the remaining people groups who have not yet heard the good news of Jesus Christ; i.e. ethnic groups who have no Bible, no believers, and no church Body. I am delighted to report, that as of this month’s meeting, God’s people have volunteered to engage every remaining people group. This is an historic moment! Now, that doesn’t mean that all the groups have been engaged; there is still much work to be done, but what an amazing turning point!
This conference was an encouragement to us in other ways as well. We heard several testimonies of how the local church is taking responsibility to reach neighboring countries; the work is clearly shifting from America to the national workers in poorer countries. The future of missions is shifting back to how the gospel spread in the first century; from the well-funded and well-educated West to the common people among the world’s poor. Or as one speaker said, from “the ordained to the ordinary.” Our focus on bringing the poor and the prisoner into the harvest field is at the cutting edge of God’s work.
We connected with several friends we have met during our new adventure at Completion Global. When we came to this conference last year, we didn’t know anyone. This year, it was like a reunion! As we shared about our recent consulting work in Houston, we received invitations to do the same in other cities. God has truly opened doors in a hurry!
Cathy’s influence with prison ministries continues to be off the charts; and I love being free to lead this new ministry. We are hitting our stride!