Off to the 10/40 Window?

In my mind Mike is incredibly missions-minded. His number one concern is for the lost. When an opportunity presents itself, he drops whatever else he has going on to attend to a person’s needs. This is his mode of operation.

He lives and works in a third world country as both a pastor and a volunteer for several ministries. Daily he works with the poor, helping them with material necessities and giving them spiritual counseling and guidance.

Sound like a missionary to you? Yes, to me too. Yet he doesn’t think he is a missionary. You see, Mike’s real name is Miguel, and he’s Mexican. So according to me he’s a national missionary in Jerusalem and occasionally around Judea (Acts 1:8).

Recently Miguel spoke to a recently returned missionary from China. The missionary was in a city of 40,000 people where no Christians exist. He cited the following statistics to Miguel. “A person in the U.S. hears the gospel 380 times per year. A person in Mexico hears the gospel 500 times per year.”

Matthew, Mark, and Luke cite Jesus as saying, “If any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them” (Mark 6:11). Essentially, this says to make the most of your time. If people are not willing to accept the Gospel, move on and share with someone who has open ears.

Miguel has put the last two paragraphs together and is burdened by the statistics in light of the calling. Although many short-term mission trippers feel Miguel is the model missionary, he feels that he is not doing enough. He is considering leaving Mexico and heading for the 10/40 Window.

We’ll soon see where God leads Pastor Miguel. For there is a chance he’s off to another third world country (Acts 1:8).

This entry was posted on Monday, June 26th, 2006 at 8:19 pm and is filed under Missionary Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.