Lives Changed

I’m writing today to thank you for the work that you did in putting together Mission 119. The pastor who came out for our last Team Time (read Field Forum) introduced us to the idea, and we decided to work through the series as a team. We read on our own four days a week and get together on Wednesday nights to read and discuss as a team. We are currently on Week 24, and the timing of this particular portion could not be better. Though I have neither the time, nor the freedom to share all the details, you should know that Joshua is seeing our team through a very rough period of transition. I’ve read that book many times, but Joshua has never seemed so very real nor so powerful as it is to me, and to my team, right now. As we work through the Word together, we see it shaping us, our thoughts, and our plans. Reading through the Word together has been beneficial on an individual level, but even more so on a team level, as the Holy Spirit draws us closer and closer together. It is amazing to see how what we are studying at any given time impacts our conversations in the hospital. We see the Word being directly applicable to the planning of surgeries and the building of new eye clinics. It changes how we see and respond to one another, to our national colleagues, and to our patients. Even the children on station look forward to hearing you speak and are learning alongside us.

Thank you for your love for and knowledge of the Word. Thank you for all the time and effort that you poured into this project. Thank you for providing us with this tool. To God be the glory!

Our missionary team started Mission 119 after a visiting pastor suggested it to us at a team retreat 77 weeks ago. Since then we have grown both as individuals and as a team. It is remarkable to see how the Spirit speaks to each of us through the same passage of Scripture each day. Two years ago, I would never have imagined myself actively agreeing as the Chief of Surgery outlined the solution to our problem with sterilization based upon a passage from Ezekiel! Now that sort of thing seems to be a regular occurrence as we continue to grow both in our knowledge of the Scriptures and in the unity of the Holy Spirit through using Mission 119 together.

Then, Pastor John Soper visited our church and ruined (challenged) everything. He witnessed the fast growth and saw our Lord doing great things, but cautioned me that our church was "a mile wide and an inch deep." “Bobby,” he said, “grow the well deep!”

We took his advice and started to deeply evaluate our ministry and saw we were losing people as fast as we were gaining them; the new believers were leaving once the honeymoon was over. We tried different ways to help our new believers grow with little success beyond the basics of our faith. Very few of our people could afford formal Biblical training, and the resources available never seemed to fully give our people the solid Biblical foundation they desperately needed.

Then came Mission 119, "Know The Word.” This has quickly become one of the most powerful tools for transformation within our congregation. Since incorporating this tool into our arsenal, we have commissioned 9 pastors, 14 elders, planted two daughter churches, restarted three churches, and equipped missionaries and church planters. Without Mission 119, those works would have been based mostly upon the latest Christian fads, which likely would have ended soon after beginning. Instead, we have seen a longevity and maturity in our leaders (most, never formally trained) that have withstood the test of time. We highly recommend Mission 119 and believe God will use it to transform your church and leaders, as it has ours.