Today, I will be obedient

Yesterday we hosted a follow-up training at the First Baptist Church of Piedras Negras with Pastor Terry Spinelli on church planting.  Wow, that is an understatement.  Yesterday changed my life.

If you have never heard of church planting movements, it is basically a way of thinking about what was really needed to have a "church" according to the Bible.   Not a building or hymnals or an organ, but people ready to believe, grow, and share. With billions of people who have never heard the Gospel or don't know who Jesus is, we have to use different strategies to reach the many people beyond our immediate community.  Terry Spinelli is a master at this and trains on a system used in Southeast Asia where there is the highest concentration of unreached people.  His group, many of whom are Christians for less than a few years, planted over 6000 churches (with about 25 to 30 per church) and shared the story of Jesus with over 138,000 SINCE JANUARY 1, 2010. I have not even brushed my teeth that many times since January 2.  In fact, I quickly calculated that if everyone I know on facebook brushed their teeth twice a day for the 8 months (that is about 480 times per person)  and we added all those up, we would still not have done an activity 138,000 times.  The numbers are overwhelming, but true.

What it all boils down to is that spiritual maturity is based on obedience, not knowledge.  So when Jesus left he told us to go and make disciples, not go and memorize the Bible or go and do a Bible study.  Not that those things are bad....they are important and good.  It is just that to be obedient is to follow what Jesus commands each day, every day, wherever you are.

So I am looking at my day and what puzzle pieces God has put before me.  Church planting information, a leaky kitchen sink that is backing up to the bathroom sink, a whole new world of people I can impact, friends who are praying, endless dust, a wonderful husband and family to serve, people who are hungry for food and a message of hope.  Today I will be obedient.  I will use what he has put before me in this new adventure and make disciples.....after I brush my teeth.