The Power of Experience | the Reach March 2024

Where to begin?

Kansas City? Pasadena, California? Frankfort, Indiana?

Mexico? Haiti? North Macedonia? Uzbekistan? Saudi Arabia? Bangladesh?

How about Paola, Kansas – a town of about 6,000 people– a half hour south of Kansas City, where I was working as an associate pastor with an emphasis on missions, taking several groups of men from our church to fix wells in Haiti, and most of all, serving on the EPC World Outreach Committee, which oversees our denomination’s mission work across this massive planet.

I think this was the place of convergence for God’s clarion call on my life: to accompany leaders to see and experience least access people groups in hard places. Then, to share our experiences for the purpose of bringing the church to these peoples. That is the aim of strategic trips.

A few terms to clarify:

• Leaders: This doesn’t refer only to pastors or elders. If you have any sphere of influence and want to share with others what you’ve learned on a trip, this is for you.
• People group: Any group of people who call us, us, and them, them; technical definition
• Hard places: Well, you can probably imagine, but if not, join me on a trip to see for yourself.
• Least access: You can imagine this: think about every social network you belong to, your family network – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.— neighborhood network, vocational network, various friend groups, past and present, and so on. Now, what if, out of every single one of those social networks, there was not one single person who had any knowledge of this Jesus we talk about? Not only had they not believed in his message, they had no idea that Jesus and his message even existed. That is least access.

As I prayed about God’s next call on my life after serving as a pastor, he gave me the idea of exposing our church leaders to cross-cultural workers who were serving Jesus in the 10/40 Window. My reasoning was that although some people might want to go see this kind of work, not many of us are going to simply decide one day to just do it, but they might if a leader invited them. That’s where I come in. So far, 19 people have now come with me to seven different countries in my first 15 months on the job.

I get excited as these leaders experience light-bulb moments; we talk about who and what we are seeing, and then how to pass along what we have seen and heard in a way that people back home can understand both what God is doing among these people groups, and the overwhelming reality of what still needs to be done.

Example of Good Results: Each of my teammates on our 2023 trip to Saudi Arabia have spoken to various groups and churches. The results have been encouraging—new prayer and financial support for Egyptian workers on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, a business connection to enable cross-cultural workers to gain long-term visas in this isolated country, and growing support for several ministries which train cross-cultural workers to live, work, and share Christ in this MENA region (Middle East North Africa).

The people who have come with range in age from 22 to 70; entrepreneurs, truck drivers, pastors, etc.; mostly well-traveled, but a few greenhorns; introverts and extroverts and in-between-troverts (a fairly accurate description of me); Type A’s and Type B’s. I suppose you could say they’re all over the map.

Bottom Line: If you are seeking God, have a heart for the nations, and are willing to share what you experience, let’s talk. The Lord may want you to come and see.

Places we are considering in 2024 & 2025:

• Kyrgyzstan: Special Needs Camp: Summer 2024
• Indonesia: Sea Cucumber Farm: Fall 2024
• India / Turkmenistan: 2025
• Pakistan: 2025
• Tunisia: 2025

Yep. Hard places. God may want you there too.
Come and See. Then Go and Tell.