Missionary Directions Today

Message Delivered at the
2009 National Convocation on Associations
by David Smith, Director of Missions
Austin Baptist Association, Texas

In the fall of ‘99, while serving on the DOM search committee for the Austin Baptist Association, I was captured by the impact that an Association could have on a geographical area. That realization and the amazing opportunity for Kingdom expansion is what excited me to accept the role of Director of Missions.

One of the men I invited to prayer with me, for God’s direction, described this position as God giving me the opportunity to paint on a larger canvas. My translation of this pictorial image was that I would continue doing what God had commanded me to do, namely the Great Commission (making disciples), but in this role I would involve myself on a larger scale.

So, the question becomes, how does disciple making become the core of what I do in giving leadership to my association? And, what does disciple-making look like from the view of a DOM?
While the Great-Commission of Christ should stand at the foundation of every believer, church, and Christian entity, today I invite you to look back at a text that pre-figures the Great Commission.

In Luke’s gospel, we see Jesus first sending out the 12 (Ch. 9), and in Ch. 10 we read that he commissioned another 70. Luke 10:1-9 (NAS)

1Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. 2And He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. 3"Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4"Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. 5"Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.' 6"If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7"Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. 8"Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

So, why another group, and why 70?

The OT background is clearly Genesis 10-11. In these chapters, we read of the 70 nations that represent “the world” at that time. Luke is pointing out Jesus’ intention for the worldwide (gentile) mission.

A second reference to 70 chosen is in Numbers 11:16-17 Moses is commanded by God to select 70 men, in whom God would pour His spirit. These men would help Moses carry his role in leading the children of Israel.

We don’t have to decide which of the two backgrounds works here. Luke probably intended both. Jesus as the second Moses is calling a new taskforce of laborers whom he appoints to share His responsibilities.

Jesus’ canvas now expands to more than Israel, He is prefiguring a worldwide horizon, and in that sense, this text prepares us for the Great Commission.

How would we segment the world today? There are now at least 194 recognized countries. 6,912 languages spoken. 16,351 people groups. (Of those people groups 6,641 are considered unreached)

As DOM’s, Disciplers Of Many - How do we cast a vision for our Associations to join in the task of Discipling an entire world?

1. By seeing the largeness of the harvest.

If anyone is in a position to see the harvest, we are that person. We have been called upon to paint on a larger canvas than one local church. What is the reach of our Association of churches?

This agricultural image is used to show urgency.

What does your vision of the horizon include? Do you see the harvest? Is it large? Jesus saw it larger than the disciples realized it.

The University of Texas has a motto – “What starts in Texas changes the world” How tragic if a state University were to have a greater vision for changing the world than we do.

How are you presenting the vision of lostness to the churches in your area?

In Austin, it has been estimated that 90 - 95% of the population does not attend church.

Of the 1.2 million people, living in Austin, only 1.727% or 20,730 people attended a Southern Baptist Church last year. (170 SBC churches)

Catching a vision for discipling our Associations would translate into transformed lives, strengthened churches, and new church plants or simply the advancement of the Great Commission.

2. By praying ...

a. For more workers: Interestingly, Jesus told them not only to see the harvest, but also to see the workers: they are few

Even though this is the second sending, of “another 70”, the laborers are still not enough. Why didn’t Jesus just send more?

The reason Jesus didn’t send more is because he was building his Kingdom on reproduction. The disciples He sent would disciple the next generation of disciples

All of a sudden, these rookie laborers are entrusted to ask for more laborers. It is not simply about praying for more, but it’s about an attitude of responsibility.

And instead of praying for an easier job, they are to pray for more laborers to join them. It is not a call for more spectators to pray for more laborers… those that are doing are to pray.

b. For a missionary mindset. We can encourage missionary thinking in our churches, which will impact our cities, our states, and our world.

Missionaries take the church to the city instead of asking the city to come to the church. They incarnate the gospel. Make it real, tangible, like Jesus. They get on common cultural ground and ask everyday questions in order to offer concrete, gospel answers.

The missionary thinker asks several questions:

• What is it like to be an Austenite and not to believe in Jesus?
• Where is our city broken and how can the gospel address the need?

I get the sense that if praying to God for more laborers would indeed be the burden of our hearts, we would have greater effectiveness in helping others see the lostness of our cities, and the opportunities for harvest.

c. For a capital "K" Kingdom mindset

When our churches begin to see themselves as part of a larger body of believers they can then really begin to engage an area for transformation.

I think it important and timely to point out that the association does not exist to keep the churches “engaged” with “the association”. We exist to help churches be “engaged” in the harvest.

One of the ways we accomplish this engagement is to create an environment where the churches work together. The Associational staff or leadership works to facilitate this network.

The churches of the ABA work together on 3 distinct fronts.

1. In the area of church strengthening, we encourage the churches to take active ownership in growing one another. We empower the churches to do the training.

For example, a church requests training for their children’s workers. We ask the requesting church to host the training and we will bring in children’s leaders from sister churches (who are excelling in this area) to provide the training. In this case, we brought in Bannockburn Baptist church that has an outstanding Children’s program. In turn, the host church will open its doors to any church needing help in this area.

2. In the area of church planting. We have said that every participating church will partner to plant a new church every 3 years. This might mean that a larger church provides a bigger portion in the area of financial resources but that a smaller church might provide prayer support or help with smaller ticket items.

We have even had smaller churches, like Skyview Baptist, that have so catch the vision that they have deeded their church building back to the Association as a incubator for new church starts. The original group though small continues to meet but have agreed to move to a smaller area like a fellowship hall to allow the largest group meeting to have the sanctuary and the prime time. This is our Legacy Church plan. At the newly named Skyview Ministry Center, we now have four congregations meeting rather than just one.

3. Finally, we as an Association have said that we want to be about City transformation. This means that we will partner with other Kingdom minded, Evangelical churches to see Austin changed for the cause of Christ.

As a result of the issues faced with the Katrina Hurricane, the city of Austin has asked that the Faith Based Community take on the role of directing the 88 shelters in Austin. Because of the geographical distribution of churches they felt we might be the best equipped to handle future catastrophes. Thru prayer, God lead Daniel Geraci, a member of a non-denominational church in the city to lead what we have established as the Austin Disaster Relief Network. ADRN. It is made up of over 100 participating churches whose primary task is to serve the city and refugees in the event of a natural disaster. Taking on this challenge has put the Faith Based community in the Command and control center. We believe that we can reach a city through service. (This seems right in line with the Lk. 10 sending)

3. By being in the harvest ourselves.

We can only help others do it, if we are doing ourselves. We need to be out into the harvest, doing the job ourselves, and not simply directing it. We can’t be on the sidelines and just cheer others do to it.

This point was driven home to me one evening after one of our monthly pastors meetings.

We have a large population of homeless people that “live” around our office. We have made it a practice to offer food, assistance, and bus passes to help these individuals. This is our way of participating in the Great Commandment to Love and up until recently was about the extent of our ministry to the homeless.

There seemed to be something missing. If I were to lead by example, how could I engage my world? The place where I spent a great deal of my day? How could I be a part of discipleship in this setting? So I began praying that the Lord would show me who I was to engage. Realizing that I had an unreached people group at my doorstep, I began to develop relationships with these people. I have begun to know them by name.

One evening after a very busy day and one that I might add was pretty successful from the “I have done my DOM job well” perspective. I encountered Richard standing in the middle of Harmon Street, which is right next to our office, with a can of government issued chicken. He was asking if I had a can opener that he could borrow. Somewhat frustrated I turned to go back in the building that I had just locked, to honor his request.

From the back door to the middle of the workroom, a matter of feet, I sensed the Lord saying that if I missed this opportunity to serve Richard that this would be the defining moment of my day. That all the DOM stuff that I had done would be for naught if I missed this opportunity. With tears in my eyes, I apologized to Richard for not immediately serving him. I called Julie to let her know I would be home a little later and then I encouraged him to invite his friend Trudy to dinner. I microwaved some of the leftovers of our Executive Board meeting earlier that day and I can tell you that the impact of that one event has impacted my role as a DOM.

Since we have shifted from just being a hand out to the needy, we have found a new sense of purpose. Others come by and drink coffee and request prayer. We even have a barber come buy and cut everyone’s hair. We have seen a few folks confess Jesus and we hope to disciple them to be fully functioning followers of Jesus.

We are just content with making disciples and we haven’t given much thought to what we would do with all these folks in terms of having them congregate in a larger group. We feel that we need one of their own to lead them in this next step.

About a month or so ago the Lord brought Myron our way. A homeless man with a very obvious relationship with the Lord. Could he be the pastor of this new group? It is too early to tell. What form will this new church be? There won’t be any big offerings! But the Lord will lead us at that point. He told us to make disciples He will take care of the rest.

Often when asked, we DOM’s offer a “can opener,” when we could respond with a meal.

As DOMs, we have a unique position to help churches realize the largeness of the harvest and all its opportunities. But unless this is the burden of our hearts and of our prayers, we will not get far, because only the Lord of the Harvest sends them out.

4. By trusting that the Lord will provide

Did you notice that the Lord told them what they should leave behind? Jesus doesn’t tell them what to take, but what not to take: purse (moneybag), traveling bag (luggage), and footwear. Why? In order to learn to depend on the Lord of the harvest.

I know that all of us find ourselves wondering how we will fund our Association. Our Churches our strapped and it is easy for them to cut us a little. The state conventions are strapped and it’s easy to cut us. We can bemoan the fact that we are not in the CP mix. But men we need to trust that the Lord will provide. That He will resource what is at His very heart. And those whose hearts are completely His. And if we will be faithful to serve His bride, the church He will meet our needs. “But my God will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
In the parable of the Feeding of the 5,000, Jesus was not interested in what they needed. Jesus is never at a loss for what is need. (The disciples had spent the day calculating what it would cost when they should have been listening to Jesus.) When they tell him what he already knows – that it is getting late and the people are hungry. He tells them to feed the people. When they say they can’t He asks them, What do you have?

What do we have? All we need, we have Jesus?

This “Harvest” business is not just a test of obedience, but also a test of dependence on the Lord: trusting that the Lord of the Harvest will provide.