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These past few days have been very rewarding. I’m in southern California for Home Missions Board meetings and I’ve told several people that this has been the most enjoyable Home Missions meeting I’ve ever attended (and I’ve been on the Board for 16 years).

My lasting impression of Montevideo is the tremendous need for the gospel there.

What does evangelism look like? How do we know we are being faithful to the great commission when Jesus called us to go into all the world and make disciples?

Why are we taking on this new task of offering English as a Second Language classes? The purpose of ESL ministry is to share the Good News of Christ in word and deed. In Matthew 25, Jesus describes some of the characteristics of his people. These good deeds are not the basis of their salvation, but the evidence or demonstration of it: “The King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…”

Have you ever dialed 9-1-1? I will always remember, in vivid detail, the night our middle daughter had a febrile seizure. She had a spiking fever, convulsions shook her little body, and her eyes went blank as she dribbled saliva and vomit out of her mouth. Our world fell apart. We thought for sure we were losing our baby girl.

Sharing the Gospel depends heavily on three priorities in a church: speaking, praying, and eating. These things can seem so common to us (perhaps with the exception of prayer) that we can underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit...

In one of the most captivating stories in the Bible, a prophet is held up, not as an example of the faithful messenger and mouthpiece of God, but as one who opposed the mercy of God to sinful rebels. In Jonah 4:1-4, the prophet explains why he ran from God when told to preach to Nineveh and call them to repentance. “I knew you were a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah was angry at God’s grace. He knew what the Ninevites had done, what they deserved. Jonah was only willing to be a preacher of condemnation. He wanted to hear justice fall on the Ninevites, but had no taste or desire for God’s mercy.

It’s striking that one important preparation for being a compelling witness to the world is gratitude. In Philippians 2, Paul connects putting away our grumbling with becoming a compelling, shining light of the Gospel to the world. Christians are contented people who joyfully thank God in all circumstances and, because of this, present a striking contrast against the landscape of a grumbling world.

In case you missed it, this previous Sunday we hosted four different outreach ministries during our Sunday School presentation. The vision driving this is simple -- a desire to connect Harvest members to outreach efforts that are already happening in our community and beyond. Paul explains to the Ephesians in chapter 4, verses 5-6, that there is only one Lord, and this one Lord has gifted and called Word ministers to equip saints for a variety of different forms of ministry. You can view the recording below to see the different ways you can support and get connected with Harvest brothers and sisters who are already engaged in different important areas of outreach.

In a recent conversation, we got to talking about reasons people in our churches have mentioned it’s hard to speak about Christ with people who don’t yet know him. People have a number of reasons why they hesitate to share the gospel. I don’t want you to have the impression that I don’t flounder and fail in these areas myself as well. I’ve felt these obstacles and not testified enough about Jesus because of some of these reasons. Here is a look at the most often shared obstacles.