It is estimated that of the 7.5 billion people alive today, 3 billion of them live in unreached people groups with little or no access to the Gospel, and with less than 10% of missionary work done within these groups. So clearly we must prioritize reaching the unreached in obedience to Christ’s words in Matthew 24:14,

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

And yet a logical question is, “Why bother going to countries where there are churches?”

The answer lies, first in the fact that it need not be an either/or choice and, secondly, in the statistics below:

– There are an estimated 2-3.5 million pastoral leaders worldwide
– Only 5% of which have been trained for pastoral ministry
– So…95% of church leaders worldwide have no theological training, according to The Center for the Study of Global Christianity, 2015

So…among reached people groups are there churches? Yes.

However, is the church leadership normally equipped to fulfill its God-ordained mission? No.

And therefore, the following foundational, biblical principles are not at work:

-2 Tim. 3:16-17 – “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
– Titus 1:9 – “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”
– 2 Tim. 2:2 – And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

Therefore, churches in Reach People Groups need to be…

Strengthened

After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”… 41 And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15:36, 41)

Encouraged

“Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts.” (Col. 4:7-8)

Equipped

“for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” (Eph. 4:12)

The opportunity for short-term mission teams:

– The role of visiting, short-term teams is to encourage and empower local long- term ministries by joining their ongoing efforts.
– For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. (Romans 1:11-12)

So…missions: unreached or reached people groups. Answer: yes.

Last month I had the opportunity to share the gospel at our church’s Vacation Bible School with the teenagers. While I wasn’t asked to do so until I arrived, I had anticipated the opportunity might present itself, and so I had prepared a brief outline before heading inside. When the pastor asked me to help, I smiled, agreed and remembered the words of Paul to his student Timothy,

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2)

The following was my outline:

I showed the students my graduate school class ring, explaining that it was the culmination of 20 years of education (12 grade school, 4 undergrad, 4 graduate). However, I explained that when I was their age I had made the most important and wise decision of my life, when I chose to believe the Gospel and trust Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross for my sins. At that moment, by the grace of God, the cross went from foolishness to the power of God to save me from my sins.

1Corinthians 1:18 – For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

I then used Paul’s words to the church in Corinth to explain exactly what we mean when we use the term “Gospel.”

1 Corinthians 15 – Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

I went on to explain that until we receive God’s gift of salvation through his Son Jesus’ death and resurrection we are essentially a “Dead Man Walking,” the term used for death row prisoners, as Paul makes clear that we are dead in our sins, headed to an eternity separated from God, which we know as hell, but through Christ can be made alive until salvation.

Colossians 2:13-14 – When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

However, Jesus himself indicated that faith in Him enables us to cross over from spiritual death to eternal life.

John 5:24 – I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

We then prayed through Romans 6:23,

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.

And I offered them an opportunity to, in their owns words in the quietness of their hearts reaffirm or for the first time, trust in Christ and make that all-important spiritual transaction between them and their Creator, remembering that,

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

I then challenged them with the following words of Paul,

Just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith. (Colossians 2:6-7)

And recommended that they do the following three things, if they had made a profession of faith this week:

– Tell a leader/parents
– Get a bible and begin reading The Gospel of John
– Begin faithfully attending a Bible-teaching church

While only the Lord knows those who, in that moment, “produced fruit in keeping with true repentance” (Matt. 3:8); however, we trust the Holy Spirit’s continuing work in their lives, remembering Paul’s words,

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:6)

Enjoyed last weekend’s McLean Bible Church Global Impact Prayer Summit, which included visits from faithful servants around the globe.

John Piper writes in Risk is Right,

“We can rest content in casual, convenient, cozy, comfortable Christian lives as we cling to the safety and security this world offers. We can coast through a cultural landscape marked by materialism, characterized by consumerism, and engulfed in individualism. We can assent to the spirit of this age and choose to spend our lives seeking worldly pleasures, acquiring worldly possessions, and pursuing worldly ambitions—all under the banner of cultural Christianity. Or we can decide that Jesus is worth more than this. We can recognize that he has created us, saved us, and called us for a much greater purpose than anything this world could ever offer us.”

The power of a visiting missionary to impact lives and call others to the field is evident in the examples below.

Amy Carmichael

Amy attended the Keswick Convention, a gathering of Evangelical Christians in England to promote Bible teachings and missions. It was there that she heard Hudson Taylor speak about his work with the China Inland Mission. His speech so moved her that she realized mission work was her calling.

Jim Elliott

As a small child in Oregon, Elliot listened carefully as visiting missionaries described life on faraway missions fields. He asked questions and dreamed about being a missionary himself some day.

David Livingstone

The reading of the biography of Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia, stirred his heart to give to missions. However, after hearing Karl Gutzlaff speak on the spiritual needs in China, Livingstone was moved to go, stating, “It is my desire to show my attachment to the cause of Him who died for me by devoting my life to His service.”

Jonathan Goforth

While in college, Goforth heard Missionary George Leslie Mackay present the call to missions in a powerful way. Jonathan described that meeting as such, “I heard the voice of the Lord saying: ‘Who will go for us and whom shall we send?’ and I answered: ‘Here am I, send me.’ From that hour I became a foreign missionary.”

Hudson Taylor

Hudson was so impacted by the ministry of distant missionary George Muller, to orphans in Bristol, England, that it is reflected in his obituary.

Hudson Taylor is no more. A prince of Israel has been gathered home. He died in China, the land he loved more than life. In his way he was as great a man as George Muller. Like him, he had more faith in God than man. The China Inland Mission, of which he was the founder, was run on similar lines to the orphanage at Bristol. What the writer of these lines owes to Hudson Taylor will never be known.

Praying that, perhaps, the Lord would us the missionaries’ presence at the Prayer Summit to call new faithful servants to serve the Kingdom around the globe.

Hello all!

My name is Hunter Lied. I am 18 years old, from Millsboro, Delaware, and am currently a senior at Delmarva Christian High School. I am attending Delmarva Christian High School for the sole purpose of a solid Christian education. Lord willing, I will attend Lancaster Bible College this upcoming fall to major in Business and Intercultural Studies. Intercultural Studies will educate me for better potential missions work after school. I also love to do video editing on the side whenever I can. I was able to intern with Empowering Action through an opportunity offered by my school. Every year following the Christmas break, we are offered a two-week period off for J-Term. This is an opportunity for the students to take extra curricular classes or attend trips that our school doesn’t normally offer such as, mission trips, aviation classes, home construction with Habitat for Humanity, participate in the annual short film, internships, and much more. I chose to do an internship again as I had done for the past 3 years. This year, I decided I wanted to do it with Empowering Action.

I have had a burning passion to do missions work since I was about 14 years old. God had provided opportunities for me to do local missions through my church, Bay Shore Community Church. The local missions I did were both out of state. The very first one to Campbellsville, Kentucky and the second to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. God had more planned for me. My first encounter with Empowering Action was when I went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic in August 2016. Bay Shore Community Church, as well as Homes of Hope, went to the outskirts of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to fabricate their first container home. This is when the Empowering Action encounter came about. They were asked to choose a local church in the area that would then choose the family that needed this home the most. It was a life changing experience for sure. I was the youngest member to go on this trip, and at the age of 17, it was pretty cool being able to get out of the country for the first time. After this trip to the Dominican Republic, I felt a call to go back. God provided and this second time back happened to be my internship with Empowering Action.

I chose to go back with Empowering Action because I saw the impact they were making through the local churches in the Dominican Republic. Kent Husted, the Executive Director of Empowering Action, previously attended my church and I do not know anyone who is more devoted to changing lives than him. The most important piece of Empowering Action is how they work through the local church. This is the most effective way to serve for short-term trip participants who aren’t able to be present for all 365 days of the year. The local church is always there, so therefore it is the most effective tool for impacting lives for God’s kingdom. That is why I chose Empowering Action to intern with. I wanted to see how they do this firsthand. Arriving on Sunday, January 8, and staying there for a week, couldn’t have been a better timing. Escaping the 8°F weather, a foot of snow that Delaware got hammered with, and being able to land into 82° sunshine was amazing. That isn’t why I was there though. I was there to see how God is using Empowering Action, and how I may be able to serve for just the small amount of time I would be there.

Carlos, another member of the Empowering Action staff, was there to pick me up from Las Américas International Airport and take me to where I would be staying for the duration of the week. “We are headed to Quisqueya”, Carlos told me. I had been to Quisqueya before on the previous trip, and couldn’t have been more excited to be going back. Upon my arrival to Quisqueya, I saw kids playing baseball in the streets, people riding horses, and motorcycles weaving in and out of every obstacle. The car stopped, and we parked in front of Iglesia Arca de Salvación. This is the church that Jose Lorenzo pastors. Jose is on staff with Empowering Action as well. That is whom I stayed with for the rest of the week, Jose and his family. Helping out in his church most of the week, as well as doing home visits throughout the community to make sure people were doing well, were only a couple of the things I got to do.

Tuesday was the day that the Empowering Action staff returned back to work from the holidays and the New Year. Waking up at 5 am to ride a couple buses and taxi’s to get to Santo Domingo at a reasonable time was quite fun. Being crammed in a tiny bus, meanwhile being the only American, was very fun. Jose and I ventured out to attend the planning meeting at the Empowering Action office in the capital, Santo Domingo. Getting to meet all of the staff was incredible. That in itself was enough to just reflect on how God has blessed this organization. In order to have that many staff, there must be a lot going on. With Empowering Action, I can promise you there is always something great going on! This was my only day in the office, but that did not mean I wasn’t interning.

The most amazing part of my internship was being able to see how Jose gathers his information he needs from the planning meetings, and takes them back to Quisqueya (which is over an hour outside of the city), and applying the new information throughout his community. He didn’t just show up because he was there to do his job. He showed up to gain more knowledge on how he can serve his community in a better way. The next day, Jose, Henry (EA Staff), and I went around the community to film testimony videos for the Abundant Life program. Henry translated for me and it is just amazing to see another successful way that Empowering Action is being able to advance God’s kingdom through the local church. Pastor Domingo said in his testimony that, “the Abundant Life Program helped to motivate and mobilize the church to use the resources they have to grow and serve the community.”

For the remainder of the week, I got to play with Jose’s children as well as other friends from the community, and experienced multiple times of laughter and fun. Teaching them the game of dodge ball had to be the most entertaining event I may have ever seen in my life. Using my translator app on my phone, I was able to instruct them on how to play. Even though it was with a flat soccer ball and a very small foam ball, they made it work. They couldn’t have been happier. The thrill of them being able to fire a ball at an opponent and call them out of the game, left them with smiles from ear to ear. With baseball being their most popular sport, Dominicans can hurl a ball quicker than I’ve ever seen. After the games, Jose, his children, and I set up for an outside service of worship. We constructed a small stage and moved all of the pews to the outside just so the community could be openly invited. Unfortunately, a rainstorm came through and we had to relocate everything back into the church. The worship continued inside of the church, because honestly, rain will never be able to stop God from moving no matter what country you are in! I remember hearing Jose saying, “Gloria a Dios” multiple times that night because he wanted to certainly give glory to God for the high attendance that night. The night of worship was my last night there, and God couldn’t have sent me home with a better memory.

Empowering Action is doing amazing things in the Dominican Republic and I couldn’t have chosen a better organization to intern with. I pray that you may be inspired by this and hopefully God will provide for you an encounter with Empowering Action to see all of the great things they are doing for His kingdom.

Dios te bendiga (God bless you),

Hunter Lied

The Lord promised the nation of Israel in Isaiah 43:2,

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

It’s been rightly noted, “God’s presence in the trial is much better than exemption from the trial.” The reason for this is that God is at work, and, while we see things in part and imperfectly (1 Cor. 13:12), His plan is grander and greater than we could imagine.

DL Moody in The Overcoming Life reminds us of how this concept is clearly and powerfully evident in the life of the Apostle Paul,

Think of Paul up yonder. People are going home to be with the Lord every day and every hour, men and women who have been brought to Christ through his writings. He set streams in motion that have flowed on for more than a thousand years.

I can imagine men going up there and saying,

“Paul, thank you for writing that letter to the Ephesians. I found Christ in that.”

“Paul, I thank you for writing that epistle to the Corinthians.” “Paul, I found Christ in that epistle to the Philippians.” “I thank you, Paul, for that epistle to the Galatians. I found Christ in that.”

I suppose they go up to Paul all the time and thank him for what he did. When Paul was put in prison he didn’t fold his hands and sit in idleness. No, he wrote. And his epistles have come down through the ages of time. They have brought thousands upon thousands to a knowledge of Christ crucified. Yes, Christ said to Paul, “I will make you a fisher of men if you will follow Me.” And he has been fishing for souls ever since. The Devil thought he had done a very smart thing when he maneuvered Paul into prison. He was very much mistaken. He overdid it for once. I have no doubt that Paul has thanked God ever since for that Philippian jail, his stripes, and imprisonment there. We will only know when we get to heaven what an impact Paul had on the world.

Yesterday’s photos of our most recent class of Abundant Life Program graduates and this reading from last night combined to remind me of two things:

1. God’s presence with those church leaders in the midst of their trials
2. God’s graciousness in permitting them and us to “set streams in motion that may flow on for years.”

The gospel of John contains the story of Jesus healing the blind man, in which Jesus states,

“We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:4)

In keeping with that calling and urgency, Scottish 18^th century minister William Arnot said,

“The very fact of a Christian being here, and not in heaven, is a proof that some work awaits him.”

However, the good works, which God prepared in advance for each Christian to do (Eph. 2:10), are as unique as we are individuals, often varying with the seasons of life.

Enter Ken and Mary Anne O’Malley, who arrived yesterday in Santo Domingo to serve as full-time missionaries with our team, with Ken focusing on construction initiatives, utilizing his 35-years of project management experience with Exxon Mobil, and Mary Anne, leveraging 8-years of teaching experience, to serve the special needs community within our ministry network.

Please keep both of them in prayer in the days to come, as they transition to a new culture and ministry setting and follow, in obedience, the Lord’s leading.

The late missionary Amy Carmichael wisely noted, in distinguishing between the Israelites’ Red Sea and Jordan River crossings,

“You and I may be called again and again to walk right into our own ‘rivers,’ whatever they may be-to wet our feet in them. We may be called to do what nobody understands except those to whom the word of guidance is given-and with it, His promise too.

But understand this: The word must come first, and also His promise. You and I must be sure of what we are called to do, with an inward conviction that absolutely nothing can shake.

In my own case, again and again, I have had to wet my feet in the water. Only God and those who have to walk in that path know how hard this kind of faith-life can be. But He does know. And when the people around us don’t hear the words and the voice we have heard, and only say, ‘It thunders…’ then He comes near, and we know Him as we never knew Him before….

If only the next step is clear, then the one thing to do is take it!”

Welcome, Ken and Mary Anne! We are grateful to the Lord for including EA in this next step in your walk with the Lord, and are anxious to see what He does both within you and through you, as a result of your obedience to His call.

Ken O’Malley  – komalley@empoweringaction.org

Mary Anne O’Malley – momalley@empoweringaction.org

This summer we had a number of visitors, who had previously invested time serving with EA, again carve out space, often in the midst of very busy summer schedules, to return to labor alongside our staff, as we serve the local church.

Two reasons come to mind:

1. There is joy in sacrificial service through “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Pastor John MacArthur alludes to the joy of Kingdom Work in his book, Alone with God, stating:

“Many of us come to God with personal pronouns in our prayers: I, me and my. We tell The Lord about our needs and problems without thinking of others in the body of Christ. But we need to be willing to sacrifice what seems best for ourselves because God has a greater plan for the whole.”

2.  There is contentment in participation in the ongoing ministry of the local church as it “does good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:10)

Overwhelmingly, Empowering Action’s visiting service teams join in with existing ministry. They don’t come to do FOR the local church, but serve WITH the local body of Christ. This encourages both the American and national church, as well as dispels the notion of all solutions/resources/expertise originating in the U.S. and the falsely perceived need for the American to ride in on the white horse and save the day.

As I read this letter below from one such recent visitor, I could identify amongst his reflections this joy of sacrificial service and contentment from participation in the strategic efforts of the global church.

“I had a tremendous experience this year on my third trip to Dominican Republic with Empowering Action. This year was different for me because rather than serving with my own church from New Jersey, I had the opportunity to serve alongside two new churches as a member of the EA team. Throughout the service trip I had the pleasure of experiencing the strong relationship between the U.S. churches and EA’s local church partner – Iglesia de Convertidos a Cristo. As a result of this collaboration, I was able to interact with many great people of God. In addition, this fellowship gave me the opportunity to be able to grow in the gospel, while also serving and introducing new people to the Word of God. It was a pleasure to serve with EA’s staff and I look forward to the opportunity to return in the future”

– Jacob Zirinsky, St. Lawrence University

“Ice cream? But we haven’t done anything yet!”

That was the response of a recent trip participant when I suggested that after lunch we go patronize a participant in the Abundant Life Program who had launched an ice cream business from her home. She and her family were, by the way, exemplary mission trip participants: spiritually mature, prepared, passionate, and relational. So her question provided a great opportunity to highlight the value of relationship building in short-term missions work, and the danger of packing along an American, task oriented “Martha mentality.” (Luke 10:38-42)

That morning we had, in fact, accomplished quite a bit, having:

• Spent time fellowshipping with the pastor and leaders of his church
• Enjoyed an impromptu time of worship, comprised of musicians from the local church and the visiting group
• Shared recent triumphs and challenges of our respective churches
• Conducted visits to community members whose homes we, alongside the local church, would be painting the following day, learning about them and praying with them
• Shared the gospel and our testimonies of how the love of Christ had compelled us to travel so far to encourage and serve alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ
• And…enjoyed lunch with our Dominican brothers and sisters in Christ.

The truth is that, while there is certainly a time and place for hard work that produces tangible results, it is also essential to recognize the value of simply being versus doing, and the significance of one’s mere presence. This is a concept clearly evident in Paul’s words to the church at Thessalonica:

“Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8)

And it’s also clearly visible in the photo below, taken during our ice cream stop, where American visitors, our host Dominican pastor, our bus driver, and translators enjoyed a lively discussion about…NBA basketball. When I witnessed the debate amongst believers in process, I smiled and whispered to the visiting group leader, “that’s relationship building…that’s ministry.”