As I was driving home one recent morning from the airport, after being stranded in Detroit overnight on my way back from a meeting in Buffalo (neither, take note, are coveted winter destinations), I ran across a powerful message from Dr. Tony Evans entitled “The Concept of the Calling.”  The message was both relevant to me as an individual and our team as an organization, in “serving God’s purpose in our time” in the same way the Bible describes David,

“For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.” (Acts 13:36)

Dr. Evans wisely reminds us that we MUST have a calling greater than ourselves, which maximizes the Lord’s glory and expands His Kingdom, both of which I believe are at the heart of this new endeavor: Empowering Action.

Pastor John Piper states regarding this passage,

“The people whom God raises up from generation to generation are meant mainly to serve the purpose of God in their generation…It may be our prayer—that the ripple effect of our lives will go on for Christ’s sake after we are dead. But God’s will for us is that the burden of our ministry be on this generation. ‘David served the purpose of God in his own generation.’ His ministry goes on through psalms and through his seed. But they are the providential ripples of a life given to the purpose of God for his generation.”

And so in light of inspiration from King David, Dr. Evans, Pastor Piper and the faithful servants we have the privilege to work alongside in the Dominican Republic, our prayer, as individuals and an organization, is:

• “to serve the purpose of God in this generation”
• “a ripple effect of our lives that will go on for Christ’s sake after we are dead.”