Until All Have Heard

“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15

Have you seen my feet? Beautiful? Not by the look of them. They’ve seen some battles and come out the other side defeated. It’s a good thing Paul wasn’t talking about the shape, size, or smell of feet when referring to their beauty.

Beautiful feet support and move the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth. The good news is the Gospel —the message of forgiveness. After Jesus was taken up to heaven, angels reminded the disciples, “repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations …”. This is wonderful news the world must hear.

YWAM is called to make God known throughout the whole world, and into every arena of society through evangelism, training and mercy ministries. We believe that salvation of souls should result in transformation of societies thus obeying Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations. (YWAM Foundational Value #2)

The second part of the motto in Youth With A Mission, “to know God and make Him known,” identifies our desire to share the good news to all nations. There are still 2 to 3 billion people on earth who’ve not heard the Good News and that’s a problem.

All of our adult lives, Amy and I have been in some realm of Christian ministry. When I finally said, “YES!” to God’s call on my life to preach, I really didn’t know to what extent our family would experience being messengers of good news.

Spring Hill, Kansas marked us forever serving as youth pastors to young people who needed to know God loved them. Starting a church in Greenville, South Carolina opened our eyes to the power of the Gospel to transform lives. Living in Thailand for six years revealed the sacrifice it takes to evangelize cross culturally. Now, in East Texas, reaching the lost has a global perspective.

We are empowered by Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19-20 to, “… go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” That two-letter word, “GO” says it all. It’s the distinguishing characteristic of a missionary.

However, Paul in Romans begged the question, “And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?” From the Greek translation this is where we derive the world apostle — one who is sent. So who is doing the sending?

Youth With A Mission’s second foundational value is to “make Him [God] known.” When we send our training schools and short term ministry teams on outreach or when we plant long term missionaries on a mission field, we are making Him known to the nations.

This may sound audacious, but we believe God is raising up hundreds of thousands of people to be sent to the nations. One strategic goal is to see 200k Gen Z sent to every sphere in society and to every unreached people group. With current technology advances and ministries partnering around the world, we will have a portion of the Bible in every language in a few short years. But there is one hindrance — people saying, “Yes, I will go!”

Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Ralph Winters, a missiologists, shared in a public gathering the important influence of mobilizing the church into missions. He said, “Suppose I had a THOUSAND college seniors in front of me who asked me where they ought to go to make a maximum contribution to Christ’s global cause. What would I tell them? I would tell them to stay home and mobilize. ALL of them.”

It seems counterintuitive to have the mandate from Jesus to “Go,” and yet determine to stay as a better option. Winter is suggesting a multiplication effort which I have adopted for myself in this season of life as a missionary. Sure, I could go to a foreign land, and Amy and I work hard to evangelize a particular people group. As God would call us, we would go. But what if instead God wants me to empower 1000 to go? Wouldn’t that advance the kingdom more radically than if I just went myself? Isn’t this part of Paul’s cry of who will send them?

Everyday I step into my office space and work with my team to figure out how we can better mobilize the next generation into missions. We are utilizing every tool we can handle, from Instagram, TikTok, Google, emails, web traffic, videos, phone calls, and face to face invitations for the sole purpose to equip and send missionaries to the nations.

Recently in Kansas City, tens of thousands of youth took off their shoes, held them above their head and declared they would go. Our teams were there to mobilize. In 2019 Brazil filled three enormous stadiums across the country and over six thousand people responded to a call to missions. Our teams were there. Outside of Dallas just a few weeks ago, nine thousand from Generation Z showed up to a convention center to boldly express their commitment to following Jesus to the ends of the earth. Our teams were there too.

The call of God to go to the nations is as clear as ever. My hope is we will disciple those who respond to Him and send them equipped to change the world.

The feet of those young people are beautiful, but they are not beautiful all on their own. They were made beautiful by others. You made them beautiful. I made them beautiful. Every student who shows up at our campus to know God and make Him known got here because God’s equipped us, and we faithfully serve Him.

Our vision is to see 200 students attend our Discipleship Training School by the end of 2023 and to be launched into missions because discipleship is the key to transforming nations.

We can’t mobilize them without you.

Your prayers and financial support keeps us sending the Gospel to the nations — and it’s beautiful.