Why do we value reporting and tracking?

Many people here in South Asia (and in general) struggle with the concept of reporting progress on church or ministry growth.  Today I'm having a meeting with some people to bring better understanding on this issue.  Why have we emphasized reporting and tracking so much in Frontier Missions?  For some it can feel controlling.  Others think it isn't loving.  Some feel it isn't necessary.  It can feel too business like and not very spiritual.  Some think we are obsessed with results and don't care about people. 

As I was considering this the other day I asked myself "Is the value reporting and accountability? Is that really the core value?"  As I thought more about this I concluded that it was not.  The core value is not reporting or accountability.  The core value is our deeply held commitment to be obedient to the vision God has given and to the calling He has placed upon our lives and the part of the broader YWAM organization which we call Frontier Missions.  Because we are so committed to that calling we need to measure and evaluate how we are doing in making progress in fulfilling our vision for the release of movements among the unreached.

An example came to my mind that helped to clarify this.  As I've gotten a bit older, its been a lot harder to stay healthy and especially not to gain too much weight.  I've had to work hard at the goal of being healthy.  Sometimes I do better than other times.  Sometimes I exercise and am careful about what I eat.  Other times its more difficult to live in a way that keeps my goal of staying healthy in mind. 

Recently our daughter got married and we had a month with a lot of celebration.  That meant lots of good food!  I ate more than I should have and gained some pounds.  When I came home, I really didn't want to step on the scale and see what I weighed.  It would have been easier to not measure, to not know where I was at or to ignore my goal of being healthy.  But, even though I knew I wouldn't be pleased with the result, I was willing to get on the scale.  Doing that forced me to re-order my priorities, to examine my behavior, set some new short term goals and get back on track.

This is what reporting does for us as church planters.  If we are not willing to regularly check our results, measure and look at where we are at in the goal of movements, we may never see them happen.  We may never reach that goal.  Reporting helps us examine the facts.  I might think I'm doing okay with my weight (as long as I'm only wearing Indian style draw string pants I may not feel my clothes tightening much! :)) but once I step on the scale reality hits.  This can be discouraging in the short term but is critical in the long term. 

Lets not be afraid of reporting.  Lets be willing to step on the scales, so to speak, in our church planting work and to look at the key indicators.  We have a God given vision to pursue.  Our deep commitment to seeing that vision come about makes us willing to report, first to ourselves and then to others who can help us get back on track or overcome obstacles we are facing.

Obedient to the Vision

God given vision.  It is the foundation that incredible progress and miraculous movements are built upon.  God loves to partner with His people and release his dreams into their hearts.  Sometimes these dreams grow in our hearts through a process of ongoing revelation.  Sometimes we have “Damascus road” encounters with God where He more dramatically speaks to us, calling us to a particular people, purpose or dream.  What do we do with that vision?  Many talk about the vision.  Some begin to work on it.  Continuing to persevere through the trials and continuing to steadfastly pursue the dream and calling God has placed on your life or organization isn’t easy.  Many do not do this.  Obstacles come up, various things distract or discourage, and that vision fades into the background.  They are not able or willing to press through until they see the fulfillment of all God has called them to and promised.

In Acts 26:19 Paul stands before King Agrippa to make his defense in response to the charges brought against him.  He boldly declares, ““So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.”  On that road to Damascus, the master had given him a dream and a calling.  It was a costly one, to take the good news to the Gentile world.  But Paul boldly stands before Agrippa and defends what he has done and why he has done it.  The basis for all he has done is his deep commitment to be obedient to the calling on his life, to the vision God showed him.  Many didn’t understand.  Many attacked him, spoke against him and excluded him.  But his commitment was unwavering.  He would not, indeed, he could not turn back from that calling.  He had to obey God, not please people. 

God has called some of us to a very specific vision- the vision to see Supernatural Increase and the release of movements of Jesus followers among the unreached.  As we pursue this dream, to truly see a 10 fold increase, to see multiple generations of believers reproducing in organic ways, to see thousands come into the kingdom, it is not easy.  Many misunderstand us.  Why are you always collecting reports? Why are you not doing things in the ways other churches do?  Why are you so committed to contextualization?  Why aren’t you more committed to coming to our meetings and conferences? The list goes on.  

Our answer, our defense must be coming from the same place Paul’s did.  It must come from a deep heart commitment to be obedient to the vision God gave.  Our passion, our desire is to be found faithful by our Lord.  How deep is your commitment to the dream God has given you?  Like Paul, are you willing to be misunderstood when you do things in ways that are radically different from others around you?  Or when you pioneer new approaches in order to see something different result from what we’ve seen in the past?

I pray that I may be obedient to the clear call God gave when He spoke to me from the parable of the Minas- to ask Him for, and to work for a ten fold increase in the harvest.  Will you join me to press in to our unique calling to see Supernatural Increase and Greater Fruit among the unreached?

Are We Still "Setting them Apart"?

What does it mean to be "set apart"?  In Acts 13:2 its says "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'” ESV

In this context, the Holy Spirit challenged the local church to

dedicate certain people to a special and unique task, that of seeing His Kingdom expanded among the Gentile world.  In similar ways, those who are called to take the gospel to the last, least and lost must be "set apart" for that task. Churches, families, communities, and even mission organizations must be willing to set them apart.


In the early church, there must have been many important leadership gaps that needed to be filled.  Barnabas and Saul were mature and gifted men of God.  The church in Antioch was growing as was the church all over.  It was a sacrifice to release these men, to dedicate them to the task of going to the Gentiles.  Yet, that was what the Holy Spirit directed the church elders to do.


Are we willing to send our best leaders to pioneer in new places?  Are we willing to release them to go and follow the calling God has for them? Might we even encourage them to consider leaving us and going to those who have never heard good news?  That is the first step.


After they go, are we willing to continue to release them?  Maybe even from some of the normal meetings, reports or administrative duties that others are required to participate in? Its a true challenge for us!


If we know we have been called to be those sent ones, lets make sure we continue to stay "set apart."  Set apart from all the things that distract and deter us from our focus and calling.  Things like; social media, many kinds of conferences, extra overseas travel, status based positions on leadership teams and boards, obligations that we aren't necessarily called to but say yes to anyhow.  If God set us apart for a particular calling, we have a responsibility to stay focused on that and learn to say no...to ourselves and to others too.


For those of us who are leaders of those who are set apart to go to the unreached, or have sent them out, let's pray for them to stay focused on the task. Let's do whatever we can to help them be released to devote themselves to reaching the lost rather than to administrative or organization obligations we think might be good for them (or for us). 

He commanded us to PRAY earnestly!

This month many of us around the world have been joining together to pray for and with our Muslim friends.  It is the month of Ramadan when Muslims around the world fast and pray with great diligence.  As Jesus followers, we pray for God’s work among and blessing upon the huge populations of Muslims around the world who do not yet know of God’s incredible love for them.  If you aren’t yet joining in the 30 days of Prayer effort, please do join now! You can see daily prayer focus info at https://www.facebook.com/30daysprayer.

 Praying for the unreached, the poor, the needy, the last, least and lost is not only a good thing to do, its something Jesus commanded.  In Matt 9:38 He said “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  How often do you pray for the unreached, that laborers would GO to them?  Are you praying earnestly today? I believe you are!  Jesus said the harvest was ripe and ready, but the laborers weren’t enough.  Many more people need to Go!

I heard a message the other day about Jesus’ return being around the corner.  As the pastor said, we are truly at a place where Jesus could come back any time.  People from every tribe and nation have almost certainly heard and come to faith.  We are really, really close to the fulfillment of those words Jesus said “And this gospel shall be preached in the whole earth, and then the end will come.” 

As I heard him speak, while a part of me longs for His return and for Heaven, another part of my heart cried out within me “Not yet, Jesus.  Not yet!”  I thought of the millions of Yadav people in Jharkhand and Bihar state who still haven’t heard of Him.  I thought of the millions of Shaikh Muslims in Telangana who still have no known believers among them yet.  I thought of the ripe harvest waiting there if only some people would go there and take His message to them. 

So, today, I ask you to join with me to pray earnestly to the Lord to send out laborers to those who have not yet heard the good news and encountered God’s love.  Who will go?  Who will send?  Time is short.  Pray that God would enable us to quickly start many new teams that will go to those who have never heard, to the New Pioneer Areas.  Pray that harvest workers would soon take his message to these places that are so desperately in need both spiritually and physically. 

Its not a fair comparison! America's spiritual poverty and India's

Sometimes I hear people say things like “Soon missionaries will be coming from Africa to America.” Implied in these statements is the thought, “maybe we don’t need to go or send anymore, maybe America’s needs are so great we should just stay here.”  It’s similar to saying, “With so many losing their jobs in America, poverty has grown here and now we don’t need to help those in other nations who are starving.” It just isn’t comparing apples to apples.  There is simply no comparison you can reasonably make between my friend who lost his job at Target and was 9 months without work, but still lived in his beautiful home, had plenty of food to eat, still had two cars in the driveway, and received compensation for being let off…well, you just can’t compare him to someone in India who is a day laborer working for $2 a day, who lives in a shack and when they lose their job they literally don’t have food to feed their 4 kids even a simple meal of rice and lentils anymore.  Its just not apples to apples.  That’s not to say it wasn’t hard for my friend who was unemployed.  It was, for sure.  But it can’t be seen as the same.

That is what it is like to say America needs missionaries too so we don’t need to think about the rest of the world.  Yes, it does.  Yes, indeed there are many people these days in America who are unchurched and haven’t heard the gospel, so many more than there were years ago.  Yes, America is a mission field too.  But, it just can’t compare with a place like India, or with Thailand, or with Sudan, or Bangladesh.  There you have millions and millions who have NO GOSPEL WITNESS. The likelihood of them encountering someone who could possibly share the gospel is extremely low, simply because there are no Christians among them.

I’ve been in Duluth, MN the past few weeks.  We’ve been here for our daughter’s wedding and also a bit of a vacation.  Its struck me often as we’ve driven around how many, many churches there are here.  Granted, many of those churches need revival and renewal.  But they are here!  When I think of India’s newest state, Telangana, and their Muslim population of almost 84,000,000 with not even one Christian among them…it’s just not the same level of spiritual poverty.  (For more info on the need in Telangana, check out http://www.ywamfrontiermissions.com/Telangana.pdf). They don’t compare!

So, Im not saying America doesn’t need the gospel.  It does.  But there are many, many hundreds of thousands of Christians here already! They simply need to be activated to share good news with their neighbors for them to hear.  In Telangana, there is no one to activate, someone has to go!  Someone has to be sent!  If not, they will die in their spiritual poverty, having never heard good news. 

Please my friends, let’s not compare the poverty of America and our unemployment issues and recession, to the poverty of India or Bangladesh or Nepal.  It’s just not fair.  And let’s not compare the spiritual needs of America with those of the unreached in India.  It’s just not fair either.  Let’s not be blinded to the extreme need of the unreached overseas by our growing awareness of the needs around us.  Instead, let’s see them both for what they are and allow God to fill our hearts with His heart, with a compassion that compels us DO SOMETHING about those needs both at home and abroad.

Lord make me an Abundant Seed Sower!

I'm convinced. Abundant seed sowing works. I'm a little slow but I think I've finally got this one. 

Over the past few months in many places in South Asia we've seen a major increase in what we call "abundant sowing." What does that mean exactly?  Its pretty simple, a lot more people are hearing the good news and a lot more people are sharing their testimonies more often.  What is the result?  More people are coming to Christ.  Sound basic?  It is, but for some reason we are slow to "get it" on a personal level. 

The fact is (and this is very much backed up by my own experience!), we often share with two or three people and they don't believe or reject us or something happens where they show interest at first but later get offended or...something! You've maybe been there.  I know I have. Then we tell ourselves the lie, "See, I'm no good at this."  Or, "See, it doesn't work, the harvest isn't really ripe around me."  When instead, we just need to keep sowing more seed. Our seed just didn't yet find that good soil.  The more "seed" we "sow" the more chance we will find that person of peace, that person who is really hungry and waiting to hear the message and who will eventually lead many others to faith too.

Jesus talked about this in Matthew 13, the parable we all know but forget- the Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed.  When we read this parable, it actually seems like he wasn't a very smart farmer.  Why didn't he just sow in the good soil only?  The key wasn’t being smart about where he sowed the seed.  The key was sowing seed everywhere, wherever he went.  Naturally some seed (3/4^th in fact) didn’t end up leading to fruit that lasted.  But because he sowed enough, some did and those seeds produced the incredible multiplication he wanted.

I’ve been praying lately, Lord make me an abundant sower.  I know that if I share with 20 or 30 people, at least some of those efforts will find good soil! If I stop with 3, maybe not. 

In one place I know of a few disciples shared last month with 252 people. 23 believed.  In another place, another group shared with 80 people and 14 believed.  Abundant sowing works!  Don't stop sharing if you don't see fruit right away or it grows but withers.

Concentrate! Do your work!

In a recent training, the author of Training for Trainers (T4T) reminded all of us "Concentrate!  Do your work!"  It reminds me of Paul in 2 Tim 4:5 when he writes to his disciple Timothy, "But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."

It is easy to be distracted from our primary responsibility as Jesus' disciples - to make more disciples!  We can easily get busy with meetings, structural issues, strategy discussions, relational conflicts, family issues and church activities.  Our time and energy goes toward these things and we no longer do what is actually our main calling. 

How much time each month do you devote to sharing Jesus with others?  Is it 5% of your time? 10%? 30%?  How much time I focus on the Lost whether in prayer for them, in building relationships with them or sharing good news (in word or deed) significantly reflects how much I actually value Lost people.  Its easy to say that we are passionate about reaching those who don't know Christ, but does our behavior and time management reflect this?

I'm challenged in my daily personal life (other ministry responsibilities aside!) to create space for what is important to me and what I truly feel Jesus has called and commanded me to do. Reach Lost people! The harvest is ripe.  Lets make time in our lives to go and bring it in!