Jeff Adams

I’ve often been told that I have my head in the clouds, so maybe it’s no accident that I sometimes have my clearest thoughts at 35,000 feet while flying. It may also have something to do with no phone or interruptions. I’m not sure.

Anyway, I am in the Houston airport waiting to board my 6-hour flight to Quito, Ecuador. Let me share what I was reading on my flight here from Kansas City. While in Córdova, Argentina last month for CIMA 2007, I met a dear brother named Trev Gregory from the UK. For years Trev headed the European equivalent to Urbana. We hit it off immediately and he very kindly sent me a copy of his book Mission Now: Developing a Mission Lifestyle. It’s a good book and I will review it fully at a later time. But, I did want to share a unique feature of the book.

Many followers of Christ have been blessed and encouraged for over 100 years by the books and writings of Andrew Murray on prayer and spiritual life. Few know (I didn’t!) that Murray also wrote a powerful book on the need for every believer to be engaged in God’s global mission because it is the essence of our purpose and significance. He wrote the book on the occasion of a huge mission conference held in New York in 1900 with over 200,000 in attendance. He was invited to speak but could not attend because of a war that had just broken out in his native South Africa. Instead, he wrote a book, The Key to the Missionary Problem, as his way of participating.

Gregory has included an updated summary of Murray’s work in his own book. It’s amazing how little the world has changed in some ways, even though changes in other ways have been spectacular. Here’s a sample of what Murray had to say over 100 years ago.

“The problem of the theological seminary is this: not how to train an occasional individual for work in cross-cultural mission, but how to kindle a global mission passion in every person who passes through the school, that that person may thereby become an able minister of Christ.”

Hmmmmm. Every member a minister, every believer with a passion for God’s mission. Let’s see now — 207 in 2007. Each of the 207 with 10 prayer partners = 2070 actively engaged in God’s mission now. It’s February, and by God’s grace we are over the 207 with six months to go until September. What can we trust God for next year?