Copyright

© 2014 by Jerry L. Williamson

THE PULSE OF A NATION
Second Edition
by Jerry L. Williamson
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 978-0-9786792-9-3
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 To Roxanne,
my beautiful bride and best friend
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

have to be one of the most blessed people on earth in the sense that I get to
I work and minister alongside some of the most dedicated, loving, passionate,
and selfless people imaginable. It is the Go To Nations World Headquarters
team, our field leaders, and all our missionaries worldwide to which I owe this
book. It is from them that I have learned so much and have been privileged to
experience so many things on a global scale. My heart will be forever grateful
for their commitment to the cause of Christ and for their determination to make a
difference in this generation.
Much thanks is due to Dr. Daniel and Sharon Williams (the founders of Go To
Nations) for giving me the opportunity to lead this incredible organization since
2000. I will always be grateful to them for giving me this platform to be a voice
to this generation on a global scale.
Words cannot describe the thankfulness I carry in my heart for Dr. George and
Janet Meyers. They have truly been spiritual parents to me and countless others.
Whatever abilities I have today to offer the body of Christ, much of it comes
from the impartation I have received from this precious couple through years of
counseling, mentoring and constant encouragement.
This book wouldn’t be a reality if it wasn’t for the assistance of Sandra
Barfield. It is because of her expertise and investment of time that all the
logistics of creating this book were accomplished. Beverly King, my executive
assistant, has also made a significant contribution.
I want to acknowledge my unyielding devotion and appreciation to my
precious wife, Roxanne, for being such a supporting and loving spouse and
positive influence in my life. I have the liberty to pursue many things in the
ministry (including this book) because of her giving and unselfish heart. She is
truly a priceless gift from God.
Last but certainly not least, I want to acknowledge and honor my Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. What a privilege it is that God allows me to be a part of His
divine, eternal plan. I owe everything to Him. Be forever praised and glorified,
my King!
 What Others Are Saying About The Pulse of a Nation

“Jerry Williamson’s important book, The Pulse of a Nation, is a crucial

corrective and call to action. You must hear the heart of this seasoned, respected
missions leader. He is echoing the heartbeat of God – calling us to bring the
gospel’s healing grace and power to our broken world. This is a ‘must read’ for
every serious follower of Christ.”
—DR. DAVID SHIBLEY, founder and president, Global Advance
“Dr. Jerry Williamson has put his finger on the pulse of the Western church. His
diagnosis is accurate, well articulated, and documented. The cure is equally clear
and achievable if the Church has the discipline and will to apply his prescription.
DON’T READ THIS BOOK… unless you want to be convicted, challenged, and
changed! Dr. Williamson is a modern day prophet crying out in a secular and
religious wilderness. Our response to his message will determine the future of
our nation.”
—DR. CHARLES TRAVIS, general secretary, Communion of Evangelical
Episcopal Churches, and president, Aidan University
“The Pulse of a Nation is an awesome book. Dr. Jerry’s heart as a spiritual father
is evident. He has paid the price through traveling the world fathering leaders
who have in turn fathered others! As I read the book, it was clear to me that the
content it contained could serve any Christian as a life-instructing manual
concerning their call and purpose in the Kingdom of God. The Pulse of a Nation
is a wake-up call to all people of all times as it seems we all unknowingly and
even unwillingly fall into these cycle traps. Thanks for reminding us!”
— DR. MAX FLYNN, president, Covenant Theological Seminary and
superintendent, North Carolina Coastal Division of Foursquare Churches
“Jerry sounds a clear note on the trumpet in The Pulse of a Nation. He speaks
from a lifetime on the frontlines of global missions and a sincere love for God’s
church. His entire life and ministry have been focused solely on the
advancement of the Kingdom of God and finishing the one task given us by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Jerry issues a clarion call that the church in America
desperately needs to hear and heed. He identifies our problem and gives us a
prescription for the cure. If applied, it will awaken a sleeping giant for heaven’s
gain and hell’s defeat.”
—STEPHEN E. VICKERS, THD, pastor, Christian Life Church and president,
Harvest Churches International
“In this day of continued drifting toward a non-Christian culture, the church
needs some answers as to what that means and what to do. This book does just
that!”
—WENDELL SHAW, pastor, Christian Faith Center
“WOW! I wish that every pastor in America could read The Pulse of a Nation. It
identifies the current spiritual problem, gives biblical reasons for change and
then, gives practical advice on how to enter into a new level of spiritual
obedience.”
—PAUL BRANNAN, Assemblies of God (AGWM) and Kentucky Ministry
Network
“The first time we heard the term post-Christian nation related to America was
in our living room in a discussion with Jerry Williamson. As he shared, the
anointing of God was evident. We asked him to visit our church and bring the
full message. It was powerful, timely, and life-changing. After Jerry finished
preaching, we shared with him that it was a prophetic message for the church
that needed to be dispersed throughout America and the rest of the world and
encouraged him to put it in book form. He did and now The Pulse of a Nation is
sounding an alarm. One of the things we loved about the message is that it not
only diagnosed the problem, it provided a biblical, clear prescription for change.
We encourage every pastor, leader and church member to not only read it but
share it with someone they know.”
—RODNEY AND KATHY TOLLESON, Kingdom Life Now Ministry
“From time to time a message comes along that is not only needed, but is so
timely that it is prophetic. This book contains such a message. Dr. Williamson
has taken on several complex issues Christian leaders around the world are now
facing and has reduced them to very straightforward, easy to recognize
problems. He then offers achievable solutions and steps that can be taken to
reverse these troubling trends. I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It is a
must read.”
—DR. DANIEL WILLIAMS, president, Act 4 the Nations

“In his book, The Pulse of a Nation, Dr. Jerry Williamson challenges church
leaders in America to return to the Christ-centered gospel, embracing the biblical
standard of what it means to be a Christian. To do this, will not be easy, he
warns, and church leaders will have to address our post-Christian dilemma with
extraordinary courage—to the point where we will have to put our lives and our
ministries on the line. Jerry writes as a missionary statesman who loves the
church and longs for it to focus once again on Christ’s mandate to make obedient
disciples of all nations.”
—CHUCK HALL, president, World Indigenous Missions
“For such a time as this…clear, concise, and razor sharp. To miss the message of
this book is to miss the heart of God!”
—ROB GOYETTE, pastor, Living Water World Outreach

“Awake, church! Awake! In his book, The Pulse Of A Nation, Dr. Jerry
Williamson has captured a pertinent word to the Body of Christ for this hour.
May we sit up, take notice, and correct the course the self-indulgent American
church is going. The real concern to the church is not the devil or the influence
of the world. It is the people of the Body of Christ getting focused on
themselves, wanting a nice prosperous life instead of fulfilling the focus Jesus
gave in His Word. In this book is clear insight into the purpose God has for His
church, giving it GREAT COMMISSION focus and Holy Spirit enablement to
finish the job of taking the Gospel of the Kingdom to every nation and every
people group. Accurate! Penetrating!”
—DR. JEFF FULK, senior pastor, LaCygne Christian Church
“Jerry Williamson and I share the same missions DNA, and have a passionate
commitment to being part of completing the Great Commission in our
generation. He is concerned about the United States moving into a post-Christian
position, understands what has happened in the United States based upon global
issues, and sees the need to rebuild a strategic missions foundation in America. I
have known Jerry for over 30 years and affirm his personal integrity, character
and ministry. He is a COMMITTED FINISHER. Read this book with open eyes
and an open heart. It will challenge you and give you fresh biblical direction on
where the mission’s movement is in our generation and how we can take
appropriate steps of action to see the gospel go to every unreached people group
on this planet.”
—DR. HOWARD FOLTZ, president and founder, AIMS
“The new world-changing book The Pulse of a Nation by my friend Dr. Jerry
Williamson will absolutely bring a dynamic awakening to the modern day
church. Just as Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book written about the evils of slavery
shook America and helped end slavery, so Dr. Jerry’s book will help bring an
end to the humanism and the man-centered gospel that has infiltrated the church,
and left off the main purpose of Jesus who came to seek and save that which was
lost!”
—BOB WEINER, president, Weiner Ministries International
“I have known Dr Jerry Williamson since 1988. Dr Jerry’s passion to advance
the Kingdom of God around the world is inspiring and contagious. In The Pulse
of a Nation Jerry clearly articulates the challenge facing the church of the West.
As a pastor I was specifically challenged by the idea that even in our churches
(my church included), there is confusion and misunderstanding about every
believer’s role in fulfilling the Great Commission. As always with Dr Jerry, I
was inspired and challenged to make Jesus’ last command my first priority.”
 —BISHOP SEAN YOST, executive director,
Youthquake Live and lead pastor, Christ the Redeemer Church
“This book is like a fresh breath of air coaxing the embers of the American
church back to life: It’s not too late, sound the alarm, preach an uncompromised
Gospel, take up your cross, follow Jesus into the global harvest! Jerry shines a
light on the path to renewal that we so long for. The Pulse of a Nation is strategic
and timely – this message can change your life, your church and the world.”
—JASON BENEDICT, global strategist, Regent University Center for
Entrepreneurship
“Jerry Williamson makes a penetrating case for the underlying causes of
America’s new status as a ‘Post-Christian’ nation. The concerns aren’t new or
unfamiliar, but Williamson writes from a unique global perspective of scripture
and history. In the end he offers a promising solution: an uncompromising return
to the lordship of Jesus Christ and His global mission.”
—J. DOUGLAS GEHMAN, president and director, Globe International

“Jerry Williamson has given a clarion call to the leadership of every church to
effectively communicate to the body of Christ the importance of missions in the
overall goal of fulfilling the Great Commission.”
—DON BARFIELD, headmaster emeritus, Providence School and director,
Biblical Cultural Community
“From the moment I met Dr. Jerry Williamson, his passion for the church was
contagious. In his new book, The Pulse of a Nation, Dr. Williamson goes over
what he sees as reasons for a post-Christian culture in America, offers
suggestions to help us rebuild our spiritual foundations, and lays out a plan to
move forward. This is a ‘must’ read for those interested in the revitalization of
the church of Christ.”
—ABNER ADORNO, lead pastor, Living Word Church
“This book is a bold call to the American church to get back to the main thing, a
focus on building the kingdom Jesus paid for, not building the ambitions of man
but the dream of God. I applaud Dr. Williamson’s clarity that the church must
preach a gospel with potency, conviction and purity. This world needs to know
the truth, Jesus Christ. Let the chips fall where they may.”
—PAUL ZINK, II, senior associate pastor, New Life Christian Fellowship
 AN AWAKENING

Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.
—Ephesians 5:14
 ONE

Fire in My Bones!

n March of 1991, my wife, Roxanne, and I were in Jelgava, Latvia, helping to

I start the first “above ground” full-time Bible training center for ministers in
the history of the Soviet Union. The Bible school was totally illegal, but at this
stage in history, the Soviet Union had bigger problems to deal with than us. So,
even though we were threatened daily by the KGB and various local and
national authorities demanding that we close the Bible school, the government
never took action against us.
Roxanne and I were living in the Jelgava Hotel at the cost of two dollars a day.
The normal room rate was one dollar a day, but we were staying in the only two-
room suite in the hotel. Using the word “suite” is a bit of a stretch, if you
understand what I mean, but we were thankful to have it. And we had the only
television in the hotel. It was an old black and white console television with a
picture that would gradually fade out after ten minutes as the picture tube heated
up.
We were excited to have the half-functioning television because it was one of
our only connections to the outside world. Every day at four o’clock in the
afternoon, we could get CNN International News. That was a huge deal! CNN
International was the only English-speaking program offered. Remember, this
was the Soviet Union in 1991 and before Internet access was offered to the
general public. Sometimes it took days just to get an open phone line to make a
call to the United States.
Being that this was still the Soviet Union, all television broadcasting was
censored by the Soviet government. I remember when CNN would give reports
on sporting events in the United States; the Soviet government blocked out the
picture so the people could not see the real living conditions in the United States.
The Soviet citizens were told they had the best standard of living in the world,
which was far from the truth. At the same time, they were told that the
conditions in the States were horrid and it was a terrible place to live. If the
Soviet people could see the nice sports stadiums full of nicely dressed people
and pristine golf courses in America, they would find out the truth.
I tell you this story as an example of isolation that is almost impossible today.
Because of current technology, even the most remote areas of China have
Internet cafes that make it possible for the lowliest peasant in the village to
connect to the outside world.
The same is true when it comes to the outside world having the ability to look
into what is happening in America. I have talked to national Christian leaders in
other countries who have personally expressed to me their deep and sincere
concerns for the American church. To the point, they can’t understand why we
don’t see what is happening in our church culture more clearly and do something
about it.
These are nations who received the gospel from us first! But from their
perspective, it looks like the American (Western) church has abandoned many of
the fundamental principles that we imparted to them. They see a self-absorbed
Christian society that has lost the very missional focus that brought them the
gospel message.
These emerging Christian nations to which we brought the gospel now have
stronger Christian movements in their countries than we do in the United States.
But we are still referring to them as the “mission field.” The United States has a
greater number of Christians because of its size. But the Christian population in
these other countries continues to increase, and their national churches are
growing in ability to influence their societies. That does not seem to be the case
when it comes to the American church.

Please understand—there has never been a nation like the United States of
America. No other nation has brought the gospel to so many people. A good
portion of the Christian world still looks at the American church as its spiritual
parent. But at the same time, the Christian world outside the United States is
mature enough to realize that the American church is in trouble, so much so that
they are now sending missionaries to the United States. I believe it is time for the
American Christian community to wake up and acknowledge what the rest of the
Christian world can plainly see.
The growing global concern for the American church did not start recently.
Over three decades ago, the late David Watson, a Christian leader from Great
Britain, predicted there would be three major forces at the close of the twentieth
century: communism, Islam, and third-world Christianity. He went on to express
that Christianity in the West would probably be too self-indulgent to be a global
factor.
Douglas John Hall, the emeritus professor of theology at McGill University in
Montreal, Quebec, made these comments concerning the spiritual condition of
America:
I am personally not very much worried about the reduction in numbers
where Christianity … is concerned. I am far more concerned about the
qualitative factor: what kind of Christianity … are we talking about?
The purpose for this book is to address one simple, but critical, question:
How can a strong Christian nation like the United States slip from its Christian
roots to the point that it is now starting to be classified by many missiologists
(those who study missions) as a post-Christian nation?
We desperately need to address this question head on without dancing around
the real issues because we are afraid we will offend our present, so-called
Christian society. The majority of what I share with you in the pages ahead is not
something I have learned out of a book. I am not going to rehash a bunch of
methodology I learned in a church growth conference. The things I share are my
personal observations over thirty years of national and global ministry that has
given me the opportunity to interface with pastors and church leaders across the
United States and around the world.
 I do not claim to be an expert on church culture or on world Christian
movements, but I feel like I can’t simply disqualify myself from expressing what
I have learned out of fear of how it will be received. In some small way, I feel
like I can relate to the Prophet Jeremiah who didn’t want to speak forth the word
of the Lord, but he couldn’t help himself. In Jeremiah 20:9, he declares, “His
Word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding
it in; indeed, I cannot” (NIV).
My years in global missions ministry have required me to confront, interface,
and address the challenges of various types of movements and cultures in
different parts of the world. These experiences are now causing me to speak out
about what I see happening in my own country. My goal is simply to bring
greater awareness to the seriousness of the present spiritual condition of the
Western church.
Much of what I share in this book is to bring us back to one central theme that
is summed up in this statement:
Our goal is not to build ministry, but to complete the mission!

As we venture forward into the pages ahead, be aware of two things. First, the
nature of this book will cause some to label it as a book with a limited shelf life.
This is because it addresses a critical issue we face in this hour. I agree to a
point. But my desire is that we become more aware of the pitfalls and dangers
we face in our Western culture, and then be empowered to address them. Those
lessons are not time-sensitive. What has happened and is happening in the
United States concerning the fact that we have gone from a nation on fire for
God to a nation fighting for its spiritual life is nothing new. This has taken place
many times in history in numerous countries. It would serve us well to learn
from our past and present and correct these mistakes as we look toward the
future.
Second, I do not want you to think that I am discouraged or down on the
church. In America, God still has many powerful, holy, and anointed men and
women who are completely committed to His glory and His purposes. Plus,
when things look the darkest, the light of God shines the brightest. We could be
on the verge of the greatest move of God the United States has ever experienced
if the church rises up and responds to the challenges of the hour in the correct
way.
It is my prayer that the present spiritual decline in America will cause us to
press into God as never before. My heart hungers for a move of God in this
nation and that it would be classified as more than a revival. We don’t need
something that excites people for a season but doesn’t bring a genuine, lasting
change in the culture. We need a move of God that would be classified more as a
transformation of the church, that causes the culture to return to its Judeo-
Christian roots and the re-embracing of the historic creeds.
St. Augustine of Hippo understood over 1600 years ago something about
culture that the Christian community needs to grasp today. Augustine declared:

“Cultures are not reflections of a people, race, ethnicity, folklore, politic,

language or heritage. Rather cultures are an outworking of a people’s creed a
temporal manifestation of a people’s faith… If cultures begin to change it is not
because of fads, fashions, or the passing of time… it is a shift in world view, a
change in faith! What creates culture wars is a people with a commitment to a
faith … a belief!”
It is time for the true body of Christ to rise up and no longer give in to being a
product or participant of our current moral declining society. It is time for a
CULTURAL WAR! It is time for the church to be unwavering in its commitment
to the true faith. Anything less will leave the American church vulnerable to its
ongoing spiritual decline.
 TWO

Looking in the Mirror

Iyoung when it comes to my appearance and my physical ability, even though I

don’t know if this is true with everyone, but I still think of myself as being

am in my sixties. To bring me into some sense of reality when it comes to my

current exterior condition, it simply takes one good, honest look in the mirror.
For the church in the States to see a real change toward being the instrument
of God to reestablish righteousness in our American culture, it will require a
good, long, honest look in the mirror, and then we will need to have the courage
to address everything we see that isn’t right.
There are still many solid, committed, fruitful churches and Christian
ministries in the United States. But even though we can point to several thriving
churches, that is not the norm!
In October 2012, USA Today ran a full, front-page article stating that
Protestant Christianity is no longer the majority group among the US population.
The percentage of people in America claiming to be nonreligious is now at 52
percent. This means that the majority of people in America want nothing to do
with any form of religion. It is simply no longer important to them. In many
ways, our American Christian culture that has been passed down to us for
generations is now dying right before our eyes.
When we take a look at the spiritual condition of the upcoming generation in
America, our teenagers, it is nothing short of alarming. The National Study of
Youth and Religion (NSYR), which was a massive 2003–05 study on adolescent
spirituality in the United States, reports:
“American young people are, theoretically, fine with religious faith—but it
does not concern them very much, and it is not durable enough to survive
 long after they graduate from high school.” The NSYR report goes on to
say,
The religious and spiritual choices of American teenagers echo, with
astonishing clarity, the religious and spiritual choices of the adults who love
them. Lackadaisical faith is not a young people’s issue, but ours. Most
teenagers are perfectly content with their religious worldviews; it is
churches that are—rightly—concerned. So we must assume that the solution
lies not in beefing up congregational youth programs and making worship
more ‘cool’ and attractive, but in modeling the kind of mature, passionate
faith we say we want young people to have.”
It is because of reports like the NSYR and others that have many believing
that the United States could be only a generation away from becoming just like
Europe spiritually.
I believe we do not have to accept these negative predictions, but I also
believe we cannot afford to simply ignore what is happening in our nation and
continue on with “church as usual” and act as if everything is okay.
If any indictment can be made against the Western church, it would be that it
has made its goal the building of great ministries at the expense of losing sight of
the real mission. In America, we have never seen more megaministries being
established as right now. And I thank God for every good thing they do for the
kingdom. But at the same time, the church in America continues to lose its voice
and influence in the culture. What good will it have done to build impressive
ministries but, at the end of the day, the kingdom of God has not advanced?
In some cases, we have made the kingdom of God and the church
synonymous, but they are not the same! The church is God’s instrument to
advance the kingdom on the earth. The goal is not to build “church.” Jesus never
told us to build churches or great ministries. He told us to make disciples in all
nations, and He would build the church.
Kenda Creasy Dean, the author of the book Almost Christian, makes this
bold statement:
 After two and a half centuries of shacking up with the American Dream,
churches have perfected a dicey codependence between consumer-driven
therapeutic individualism and religious pragmatism. These theological
proxies gnaw, termite-like, at our identity as the Body of Christ, eroding our
ability to recognize that Jesus’ life of self-giving love directly challenges the
American gospel of self-fulfillment and self-actualization.
We live in the midst of a Western church mind-set that places a heavy focus on
cultural relativity. The problem is that the church continues to look more like the
world instead of the world being influenced and transformed by the church.
Cultural relativity is not our problem.
Scriptural relativity is our problem!

God has called us to change the world, not adapt to it. This is the reason why
Jesus was never politically correct. Neither was the Apostle Paul. Everywhere
Jesus or Paul went, they either caused revival or riot—nothing in between.
As God’s people, we must be able to properly discern the signs of the times
and act accordingly. We cannot afford to play the religious game and be satisfied
with a certain number of bottoms in the seats to keep the machine running. This
mind-set pushes us into dangerous territory where we can confuse Christianity
with self-preservation. The local church must be more than simply a warehouse
of goods and services. As the people of God, we are destined for a much higher
calling than that.
The current declining state of the American church demands that we take a
bold look at ourselves and be painfully honest. We must realize that size,
affluence, or notoriety does not equal success in the kingdom. That is the world’s
definition of success! And the American church has come dangerously close to
adapting that same definition of success for itself.
Success is measured by simple obedience to a life where Jesus is Lord, and we
live to carry out His purposes on the earth—not ours. It is time for the Western
church to become a leading force again. And that will require us to start being
the “real church” full of resurrection power and genuine holiness and not simply
a politically correct, consumer-driven, emotional pacifier to a dysfunctional,
self-absorbed generation of so-called believers.
I do believe this is a Joel 2 moment where the Christian leaders of this nation
must rise up and be a clear voice that will cause the church to sit up and take
notice. We do not need Christian celebrities that have the ability to draw large
crowds of devoted fans. We need true spiritual fathers that serve as watchmen on
the wall who will
Sound the alarm in such a way
That it will cause an awakening in the church
To bring forth an understanding of the present church culture
That will give us the wisdom to act in this hour.
 THREE

Seeing the Big Picture

eing a part of international, cross-cultural ministry since 1985 that has

B conducted missions ministry in eighty-eight nations has required me to deal
with a broad spectrum of national trends and national Christian movements. This
life experience of functioning on a global scale has led me to this conviction: it
would be difficult for any Christian to truly understand what is happening
concerning Christianity in America, or any place else, without a global
perspective of the spiritual condition of the world and how it keeps evolving.
Every culture is sown into the fabric of a global cycle of spiritual events and
conditions. This can be clearly illustrated by placing the population of the whole
world into three spiritual categories:
Unreached, Emerging Christian Nations,
or Post-Christian Nations.

By using these three categories to identify the spiritual condition of the world,
we will start laying a foundation to learn how a Christian nation can start losing
its spiritual impact in the world and even in its own backyard. By gaining this
broader global perspective, it will hopefully shake us out of our little self-
focused Christian environments and give us the ability to see things more from
God’s perspective. After giving an explanation of each spiritual category, I will
demonstrate in the next chapter the spiritual progressions that take place among
nations—both bad and good.
The Unreached

This category describes different parts of the world where there are people
groups with no replicating gospel witness. There are still 2.7 billion people in the
world that have never heard the gospel message one time. A sample of the
nations that are still classified as unreached include places like Bhutan, the
Middle East, China, India, and Northern Africa.
The most unreached in the world is located in an area known as the 10/40
Window. This is a term coined by Christian missionary strategist Luis Bush in
1990 to refer to those regions of the eastern hemisphere, plus the European and
African part of the western hemisphere, located between 10 and 40 degrees north
of the equator. This area is reported to have the least access to the gospel
message.

Within this window of the most unreached in the world we find:

• 82 percent of the poorest of the world’s poor
• 84 percent of those with the lowest quality of life
• The hub of the world’s major non-Christian religions (Islam, Buddhism,
Hinduism)

Emerging Christian Nations

 These are nations which may have large areas that are still unreached, but, at
the same time, a strong Christian movement is emerging. For a nation to qualify
for this category, it must possess two criteria:

(1) The nation possesses networks of self-sustaining, self-replicating national

churches.
(2) The nation must have strong national Christian leadership that has
emerged.

A sample of different regions of the world that fall into this category include a
large portion of southern Africa, Central and South America, the Philippines,
and even Russia.
Post-Christian Nations

These nations were strong Christian nations at one point. But over time, they
have slipped from their Christian roots until they can no longer be classified as
Christian nations.
When we think of post-Christian nations, Europe usually comes to mind,
namely, countries like Germany, France, Spain, and England. Two hundred years
ago, England was the global hub of the world missions. Today, on any given
Sunday, only 3 percent of the people in London go to church. What used to be a
powerhouse for world evangelism is now dominantly a post-Christian nation.
Another country that is currently following in the footsteps of Europe is the
United States. It is now the fifth-largest mission field in the world when it comes
to population. Many missiologists are pointing out that the United States is on
the same trajectory as Europe was over 100 years ago. For example, in the
1940s, during World War II, over 50 percent of all Americans went to church.
By the 1960s, only 33 percent were going to church. For the next two and half
decades, the percentage of churchgoers in the States flattened out at around 30
percent. But by 1990, the percentage of people who went to church on Sunday
on a consistent basis had dropped to 20 percent, according to a study by the
North American Missionary Baptists (NAMB.Net). Since the year 2000, the
church in the United States has continued its steady decline when it comes to
church attendance. If the United States stays on its current spiritual trajectory,
within less than thirty or forty years, only 4 percent of the people in America
will be attending church.

Because of the age of the Internet, people can surf the web until they find an
article or some resource on almost any subject that will say what they want it to
say or what they want to hear. This is true when it comes to the percentages on
church attendance as well. For example, for the last few years, the Gallup Poll
claims that around 40 percent of all Americans are regular church attendees.
Many of the Christian research groups have the percentage of regular church
attendees at a high percentage level that is closer to what the Gallup Poll reports.
The problem with poll results is the way they go about getting their data. Most
of the data is compiled through phone surveys by asking people whether they
regularly attend church. This is a question to which Christians, even nominal
Christians, have a hard time answering “no.” Even if the people being surveyed
go to church six times out of fifty-two weeks, a large percentage of them will say
they are regular church attendees. The percentages on the graphic above,
charting the last twenty years, comes from surveys that compiled the data by
going to actual church services and counting the number of people in the service.
I realize that no matter what method different surveys use, none of them are
going to be completely accurate. They are simply educated guesses based on
limited information, and that includes the percentages presented in the book. But
the point I am trying to make is this: any person that thinks 40 percent of the
people in the United States actually go to church every Sunday on a regular basis
is delusional. To prove that, simply walk outside your house on any Sunday
morning, except Christmas and Easter, and stand there from 8:00–11:00 AM to
determine how many people on your street actually load up the family to go to
church.
 FOUR

The Spiritual Progression of a Nation

o properly explain the challenges of a post-Christian state requires a global

T understanding of church movements and trends. But anytime someone
mentions “global trends,” the eyes of most pastors and church members start to
glaze over and they immediately start to lose interest in what is being said. After
all, don’t they have enough to deal with in their own backyards without diving
into a discussion about the whole world? The truth is that by understanding the
spiritual progression of nations between the three categories of Unreached,
Emerging Christian Nations, and Post-Christian Nations, we can learn some
important lessons that will equip us to address the current spiritual challenges
facing the American church.
At some point in history, every Christian nation started in the Unreached
category and progressed into the Emerging Christian Nation category. Once this
takes place, the big issue that confronts these nations is the same issue the
American churches face now—how to maintain their ongoing spiritual growth
while avoiding the trap of slipping into the Post-Christian category. Let’s walk
back through each category and observe how one category progresses to the next
one.
Examining the first category, the Unreached, we will notice, as already stated,
that these nations are usually the poorest nations with the highest level of
sickness. They are usually the most unstable with tremendous oppression upon
the people. The unreached are people who live in utter spiritual darkness with no
real hope for a better future. Then the gospel comes in! The gospel releases the
light of God that starts to dispel the darkness. People start coming to the Lord,
and eventually, new churches are planted.
 Along with the gospel message comes the blessing of God. As the gospel
spreads, the nation usually experiences greater stability and an economic
turnaround. As a national Christian movement grows, the country that was
classified as an unreached nation moves toward the Emerging Christian Nations
category.
A powerful example is South Korea. Due to the rapid spread of the Gospel,
this country went from having a small percentage of Christians at the beginning
of the twentieth century to a population made up of 30% Christians today. But
along with the extensive growth of the Christian church in South Korea, this
small country has become a significant economic and spiritual force in the earth.
They now rank as the number one nation in the world when it comes to sending
out new missionaries.
At this time in history, a large portion of the planet falls into the Emerging
Christian Nations category. Even though the Christian movements in these
emerging nations continue to escalate, it usually takes some time for a change to
take place in the way they perceive themselves and their new spiritual condition.
Examples are places like the Central American countries and the Philippines. In
reality, these nations have some of the strongest Christian movements in the
world. But too often they still see themselves as the mission field, and they
expect the rest of the Christian world to be focused on them for the purpose of
supplying ongoing spiritual, social, and economic help. Partial blame for this
mentality belongs to affluent Westerners who create a spirit of dependency
among these emerging Christian nations. This happens because we too often fail
to recognize where these countries really are spiritually in their national
Christian growth.
For generations, the Western church has sown the gospel into these nations,
and the seed sown has taken root and much fruit has come forth. It is now time
to help these emerging Christian nations to see who they really are and to equip
them to be major missionary-sending forces in their own right.
It is no longer the time for the emerging Christian nations to be on the
receiving side of missions. These nations need to be encouraged and equipped to
rise up and help carry the same good news of Jesus to the rest of the world. Not
only is this pertinent to spreading the gospel worldwide, it is also pertinent for
the long-term spiritual viability of these emerging Christian nations themselves.
In these last days, global trends are speeding up. For example, it took almost
two hundred years for Europe to fall into its current post-Christian state. But if
there is not a major turnaround in the spiritual condition of the United States, it
will end up in the same post-Christian condition as Europe—only it will happen
in half the time.
For another example of how global trends are speeding up, we simply have to
look at Russia. This vast nation moved from the Unreached category to the
Emerging Christian Nations category in a short span of one decade in the 1990s.
It was one of the greatest church planting movements over the last few decades.
Even though this massive country is still only 3 percent reached with the gospel,
Russia has strong networks of thousands of churches with strong national
Christian leaders. Some of the churches that were planted in the early 1990s are
now megachurches with two and three thousand church members with hundreds
of outlying churches under their spiritual oversight.
But many of those Russian churches that were planted only twenty years ago
are already showing post-Christian tendencies. The Russian church is already
turning inward and is becoming materialistic and self-absorbed, losing its
evangelistic fire. One of the main reasons for this negative progression is the
issue of “focus.”
In the decade of the nineties, the main focus driving the evangelistic
movement that swept across Russia’s eight time zones was the “Great
Commission mandate.” Everything was focused on the advancement of the
kingdom of God until the gospel message reached every group of people and
every unreached region across Russia.
Once the Russian church reached a certain size and strength, it started turning
a large portion of its attention away from carrying out Christ’s Great
Commission mandate and started focusing more on building large church
ministries. Many of the more prominent Russian pastors made trips to the United
States to study how we “do church” and to learn where we put most of our
energy. For the most part, this was not a positive thing. The evangelism fires
started to wane as the Russian church focused largely on itself. The startling
lesson in all this is:
Russia went from the Unreached category to
an Emerging Christian Nation in ten years.

In less than ten more years, the Russian church

started showing post-Christian tendencies.

To help illustrate how this happens, examine the chart below of the two
common types of church movements. You will notice that both church
movements started out the same. The unreached is targeted for evangelism,
which will lead to people coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. With
the number of new converts growing, we see the establishment of a growing
church planting movement while the gospel message continues to spread.

But every church movement will come to a fork in the road, and the direction
it chooses will determine its future.

The church movement on the right side continues to champion the same strong
Great Commission focus from which it was birthed. This results in the continual
expansion of the kingdom of God. At the same time, the church congregations
within the movement maintain an outward focus that creates ongoing
generational ministry.
The church movement on the left side starts to lose its original focus and
places a majority of its energy and financial capabilities on building their
ministries. At that point, the focus starts to turn inward and post-Christian
tendencies creep into the culture of the church. The result is that the movement
focuses on quality of preservation more than kingdom advancement, and the
movement starts the slow process of spiritual rigor mortis that results in a post-
Christian state.
Every emerging Christian nation on earth must become aware of this deceptive
spiritual calamity. Once a church is successful in building a large congregation,
even a network of churches, it is extremely tempting to turn its focus inward and
use a majority of its manpower and resources to cater to its own. Over time, the
congregation itself starts demanding this to be the case, and the church as a
whole loses its ability to impact the world for Christ.
To help me illustrate this point, I will continue to use Russia as an example. In
2006, I traveled to Russia to meet with thirteen top Russian Christian leaders in
the city of Ufa. The purpose for this historic meeting was to provide me with an
opportunity to share my concern with these leaders about the future condition of
the Russian church. In many ways, the great revival of the 1990s was almost a
thing of the past. The Russian church, for the most part, had lost its evangelism
fires.
As I poured my heart out to these Russian pastors, I told them,
It is not enough to see people come to Christ. It is not enough to simply
plant churches. You must establish churches that are strong Great
Commission churches that are full of strong Great Commission Christians.
Do not lose your passion for the unreached. The goal is not to build
impressive ministries. The goal is to complete the mission! Raise up soldiers
for God, not mere church people. If you allow your churches to lose their
Great Commission focus, your churches will start turning their focus on
themselves. At that point, your church will start showing post-Christian
tendencies just like in the West.
One of the Russian pastors spoke up with tears running down his face and
said, “It is already happening. We are now under the constant pressure to find
new ways to motivate our people to simply keep coming to church—let alone
their winning their neighbors to Christ. Instead, they are focused on their own
happiness and self-fulfillment. And they think that is the purpose of the church.”
 As I mentioned earlier, this is a powerful lesson and warning for all Christian
nations. Any church movement in any country can start sliding toward the Post-
Christian Nations category if the focus is on building ministries instead of on
completing the mission—the Great Commission!
Thank God I haven’t told you the whole Russian story yet. Since that meeting
with those pastors in 2006, over 2,000 Christian pastors and leaders all across
Russia have received specialized training on how to raise up strong Great
Commission churches through a special missions training program for pastors
called Global Pathway. This has helped initiate a national missions movement
among certain church networks, which has relit the fires of evangelism and
created a new focus on the Great Commission mandate of Christ. During one
forty-two-month period, we documented over 100,000 new salvations with over
200 new church plants. All of this was accomplished through Russian churches
raising up Russian outreach or missions teams, targeting thirty-nine unreached
regions, and through funding by Russian congregations.
Even though we have seen tremendous breakthroughs in Russia since 2006 in
confronting the post-Christian tendencies that were “creeping in,” there is still
much work to do to keep the Christian movement in that part of the world on
target. I share what happened in Russia to emphasize the point that the Western
church is not without hope. A post-Christian culture can be changed within a
nation. It is not easy, and it will take more than just praying for revival. It will
require great courage along with a clear understanding of what causes a post-
Christian culture to emerge and know what it will take to confront it and change
it.
 FIVE

The Cause of a Post-Christian Culture

ow can a strong Christian nation like the United States slip from its
H Christian roots to the point that non-Western nations are sending some of
their missionaries to win the United States back to the Lord? These are the same
nations who first received the gospel message from missionaries sent by the
American church. The answer to this question is critical to addressing the current
spiritual condition in the United States. We will never truly figure out the cure
for a post-Christian state until we understand exactly what caused it in the first
place.
It is for this very reason we need to understand global trends. A Christian
nation doesn’t turn post-Christian overnight. It happens over a period of decades
and can be so subtle that it is barely noticeable for years. To properly discern the
true cause for a Christian nation to turn post-Christian, we must look past the
fruit of a post-Christian culture and dig down to the root cause.
When I ask Christians and church leaders what they believe causes a post-
Christian state, the typical answers I receive usually boil down to this list:
materialism, consumerism, selfishness, self-centeredness, pride, greed, moral
deterioration, and a few more similar comments. What I want to submit to you is
that none of these things that I have listed are the real cause of a post-Christian
culture developing. They are simply the fruit or the long-term effects of the real
cause. In other words, this is what the culture will eventually look like and act
like because of the cause.
After dealing with post-Christian cultures in many countries, including the
current spiritual condition in the United States, I have concluded that the root
cause for any post-Christian state to develop in any nation is the preaching of a
faulty gospel over an extended period of time. It is a gospel message that has lost
many of its spiritual underpinnings to the point that the message possesses
inadequate divine power to transform society.
What causes a post-Christian culture to evolve?
The preaching of a faulty gospel!

I am not saying everything that is being preached in America is wrong. That is

never the case when a Christian nation is slipping from its Christian roots.
Blatant heresy is the type of gospel message that starts appearing after a nation
becomes post-Christian. The process of getting there is much more subtle. This
is why the deterioration of the spiritual condition of the United States didn’t
happen overnight—it happened over decades.
Along with post-Christian tendencies, you will always find preaching that
appeals to the intellect. It is preaching that is cerebral! It is educational. It
stimulates the mind. It makes people feel better about themselves and about their
circumstances while not requiring any real spiritual change. This type of
“intellectual preaching” does create a level of cognitive moral discipline, at least
for a short period of time, but it brings forth little or no spiritual transformation.
True discernment, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, wanes and is gradually
replaced with emotionally stimulating methods of church activity.
This is why we can end up with churches full of people that don’t really look
or act a whole lot different from the world when they return home from their
church services. They simply show up at church once a week for the purpose of
receiving some type of emotional high by attaining a little church stimulation
that they hope will get them through the week. These people are more like
church junkies than genuine disciples of Christ.
This is one of the reasons we have so much church-hopping as well. Once the
church stimulation stops having the effect it once had, the church junkie looks
for a new spiritual fix that will provide the emotional high again. The result of
all this is a competition between churches to see who can provide the most
church stimulation without the threat of real spiritual confrontation or
deliverance.
What good is it for the church to create the ability to gather thousands of
wacked-out, dysfunctional, codependent, self-absorbed people every week when
there is no real spiritual change or growth? When it comes to church growth, we
must learn that it is not about megasize but mega-impact that is produced
through the preaching of the word of God with power and anointing.
Once we identify that the primary cause of a post-Christian culture developing
in any nation is through the preaching of a faulty gospel, we realize that the
responsibility of the spiritual condition of any nation falls squarely on the
shoulders of the church and its leaders. God is not going to allow us to blame the
spiritual condition of the United States on the president, the US Congress, the
liberal judges, the liberal media, or even Hollywood. The church is always the
spiritual backbone of any nation.
Why do we put any hope or trust in our government to legislate moral purity
or true genuine holiness? The world simply acts like the world. If the United
States is going to experience a spiritual turnaround, it will require the church to
rise up and be the church in boldness and in radical obedience to the scriptures,
no matter who it might offend! The world will always be offended by the truth.
Because the truth confronts, it establishes a divine moral standard, and it exposes
society’s blatant rebellion against its Creator.
One hard reality that we must face is the fact the many churches across
America are in serious financial trouble. Through extensive building programs
and bad spending decisions, they have accumulated large amounts of debt. Many
times, it is through the accumulation of debt that churches are caused to
compromise the very message that is coming forth from their pulpits.
Many churches get into financial trouble trying to keep up with the church
down the street. Because most American congregations are built on who can
provide the best goods and services, pastors and church leaders feel pressure to
build facilities that will rival any other ministry. But we see no verse in the New
Testament where God’s people are commanded to build a majestic place of
worship so more people will come. Instead, God’s people are told to be the
temple—the place of worship. At some point, there must be a shift from using all
of our energy and resources to build buildings that cater to our own needs to
building a church congregation that is bound together by divine purpose and
calling.
Some pastors have expressed that they feel like they are at the place of no
return. Because of the financial stress that the church is functioning under due to
poor decisions, they feel like they cannot afford to lose church members for any
reason. So out of desperation, the main focus of the church turns to doing
whatever is necessary to keep bottoms in the seats at all cost.
A nationally known minister (who I will not name) shared recently that a large
number of pastors across the United States have admitted to him that they are
afraid that half of the members of their congregations will leave their churches if
they really preach what God is putting on their hearts. This is the condition that
the American church has come to—spiritual compromise! It has come to the
point that the goal is not to proclaim the word of God, but rather, to keep
everyone happy and to outperform the church down the street in an attempt to
maintain the status quo and keep the machine running.
 SIX

Four Variations of a Faulty Gospel

n any country that shows post-Christian tendencies, you will generally find
I four common variations of a faulty gospel being preached. As we make our
way through these different variations, I believe you will recognize all of them in
our American church culture today. My purpose for addressing these variations
is not to single out any particular group in the body of Christ or to give a
comprehensive, expository-like commentary on each point I present. There are
those in the body of Christ that are far more qualified to provide that. What I
want to accomplish is to provoke all of us to a place of introspection concerning
these four variations.
The first variation of a faulty gospel is a gospel based solely on salvation and
not the kingdom of God. There is a big difference between preaching the gospel
of salvation and the gospel of the kingdom of God. The gospel of salvation is
glorious, but it is just a part of the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of
salvation is focused on going to heaven. The gospel of the kingdom is focused
on bringing the realities of heaven to a lost and hurting humanity on earth. We
have to stop confusing our destination with our assignment. A gospel based
solely on salvation creates:
• Individualism
• A lack of understanding and appreciation for the church
• A self-centered, not Christ-centered life
• No Great Commission focus
• A mishandling of the blessing of God

I will talk more about the gospel of the kingdom of God in a later chapter.
 The second variation of a faulty gospel is a gospel that markets “the good life”
more than deliverance from a sinful, fallen state. This type of gospel message
creates:
• A pursuit of happiness, rather than a pursuit of the cross
• A lack of biblical “Lordship”
• Consumerism instead of servitude

A large number of people in America have become disillusioned with the

whole church experience because it wasn’t what they thought it would be. The
cause for the disillusionment is due to their motives for becoming a part of the
church in the first place. Their motives had little or nothing to do with their
desperate need to be delivered from their sinful, fallen state. Nor was their
motive based on service to Christ. But rather, they decided to buy into the church
scene because of the “good life” they were promised.
Evangelist Ray Comfort, founder of The Way of the Master in Bellflower,
California, gives us some insight into this culturally relevant dilemma with these
words:
Those who come to faith through the door of seeking happiness in Christ
will think that their happiness is evidence of God’s love. They may even
think that God has forsaken them when trials come and their happiness
leaves. But those who look to the Cross as a token of God’s love will never
doubt His steadfast devotion to them.
The Bible declares that it was the Father’s good pleasure to give us the
kingdom. But it would serve us well to remember He is the King of that
kingdom, not us. Jesus came to provide us with abundant life. But that abundant
life is to be used to bring Him glory. Somewhere along the line we have
forgotten the fact that we were created for God; God wasn’t created for us. God
is our shield and buckler, not our shield and butler.
Over the last several decades, the American church has created large
congregations of people who are more interested in their happiness than their
holiness. How can a church community impact its culture if its primary focus is
on the quality of life it can create for itself while the spiritual condition of the
rest of the world is a distant secondary consideration or thought?
One of the challenges we confront in our Western church culture is the fact
that we have raised up a generation of believers that measure their commitment
to God based on what God will do for them. Do I believe God will take care of
me? Yes! Can I trust God by standing on the biblically recorded finished work
that Jesus accomplished through the cross? Absolutely! But have you ever asked
this question: what if God never did another thing for you—ever? Would you
still worship Him and serve Him with your life? The truth is that my
commitment to God is not based on what He can do for me. It is based on who
He is. Jesus is Lord—period!
In 2009, I was in India helping to conduct a pastor’s conference with one
thousand pastors in attendance. In one of the public evening services, an
invitation was given for those who wanted to be water baptized. Around twenty-
five people answered the invitation and came to the front of the platform. I
noticed that every person who came forward was ushered over to the side and
asked to fill out a set of forms that reminded me of an application. The Indian
minister sitting beside me explained that pastors in that area can go to jail for
two years if they do not follow a certain legal protocol before water baptizing
someone.
In their province, the person being baptized must appear before a judge first.
The judge is normally a Hindu. In front of the judge, the Christian convert must
denounce Hinduism as their personal religion and then declare that they have
become Christians by their own free will with no bribes involved. The whole
ordeal is very intimidating. But that was just the beginning of the understanding
I received that night about water baptism from my Indian pastor friend.
The pastor went on to explain how water baptism is something that is not
entered into lightly in his culture because it is a public confession of a person’s
Christian faith. Once a person declares his Christianity publicly in front of the
judge, he could go home to find that his house has been burnt to the ground, his
family has disowned him, and he lost his job. All of this is the price every new
Indian Christian convert knows he or she may have to pay for his or her faith. I
learned that in some parts of India, like this particular province, water baptism is
not just a routine Christian ceremony; it is a public demonstration of their total
commitment to Christ!
The Indian minister who explained this to me made this comment, “We don’t
have much of a problem with backsliders in our church culture. That is more of a
Western thing.” Even though he meant no disrespect, the Indian minister was
relating to me the thought that Christianity in America doesn’t require much of a
commitment or any real sacrifice.
As I pondered the words of my minister friend concerning backsliding, I
realized his words were painfully true. Too many times there is a shallowness in
our Western Christian culture that becomes obvious more times than we like to
admit. I thought of all the times I have run across people in America that are
mad at God and have quit going to church because their girlfriends left them or
they didn’t get the promotion they wanted or circumstances to some situation
didn’t turn out the way they wanted them to. When other cultures see this type of
commitment in the lives of American Christians, they wonder whether there was
ever a real commitment to the Lord in the first place. What else are they to
think?
In his book Radical, Pastor David Platt points out that the gospel that Jesus
preached flies in the face of our present American church culture. He states that
when Jesus challenged the twelve men who became His disciples, He didn’t do it
by promising them the good life. He says, “Jesus was calling them to abandon
themselves. They were leaving certainty for uncertainty, safety for danger, self-
preservation for self-denunciation. In a world that prizes ‘promoting oneself,’
they were following a teacher who told them to crucify themselves.”
Needless to say, Jesus would not be invited to speak at any church growth
conferences today. His invitations to potential followers were clearly more costly
than the average crowd would be willing to accept, but Jesus would be okay with
that. Because with Jesus it never was about His popularity or how big He could
build His following. Jesus focused on the few that were genuinely committed to
Him, even when He spoke of a radical Christian lifestyle that comes through
radical obedience to Him. And through the radical obedience of a few, He turned
the course of history in a new direction. Jesus wants to do the same thing today
in America!
The third variation of a faulty gospel is a gospel that promotes justification
without knowledge of the truth. This type of gospel message creates
• Anti-intellectualism
• Vulnerability to false teachings and false religions
• A shallow church generation

For the last hundred years, the church in the United States has been growing in
some ways but degenerating in others. This is because the church in America has
been offering justification without the knowledge of the truth. We have turned
salvation into a shallow religious experience that produces converts but few
genuine new births. Our Sunday morning services are filled with “church
people” instead of “disciples” of all nations. The Lord Jesus, however, calls us to
make people His apprentices, those who learn from Him.
Recovery and pursuit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are keys to
the spiritual turning away of the American church. The reality is that the
postmodern intelligentsia knows that it does not know and cannot know the
truth. For society to become its own god (or its own pilot in life, so to speak),
relativity is the name of the day. All truth becomes relative to the individual and
how they want to interpret the moment. Ravi Zacharias, an Indian-born,
Canadian American, evangelical Christian apologist addresses this issue:
The postmodern worldview operates with a community-based understanding
of truth. It affirms that whatever we accept as truth and even the way we
envision truth are dependent on the community in which we participate.
 Further, and far more radically, the postmodern worldview affirms that this
relativity extends beyond our perception of truth; rather, truth is relative to
the community in which we participate.
Deception runs rampant through relying on force. It has to enslave and
destroy. And all of this leads to intellectual and moral slavery that is now called
“political correctness.” This is the way an ungodly society functions. But while
deceptive words enslave, the truth liberates. It empowers people with a moral
compass that sets a standard for our actions that will be glorifying to God. We
walk as living epistles because our salvation and our inheritance in Christ are
grounded in the truth of God’s word.
Most Christians (church attendees) in America are no longer grounded in
scripture. The systematic impartation of any type of solid Bible theology is
getting harder and harder to find. The Bible training for most Christians in
America consists of a feel-good, thirty-minute message on Sunday morning.
Even the salvation experience of many Christians is not well-grounded in
scripture.
While Pastor Larry Stockstill, the pastor of Bethany Church in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, was speaking to a group of two hundred pastors and ministers in New
Orleans in 2011, he made this statement: “Well, we can now congratulate
ourselves as ministers. We have successfully raised up a generation of spiritually
illiterate Christians.”

Most surveys seem to validate Pastor Stockstill’s statement, showing that

church-going Christians don’t even read their Bibles on a regular basis. It is
scary to think that Bible study for a large number of people in this current church
culture in America has been reduced to a daily devotional scripture on their
iPads.
When it comes to spending time with God in prayer, the practice has almost
become nonexistent. In our present church culture, the average Christian prays
for two minutes a day while the average full-time minister prays for an average
of three minutes, according to Todd Ahrend in his book In This Generation.
In recent years, many leaders have become concerned with the music that is
coming forth from our worship services. Taking a more contemporary approach
with the use of special lighting, special effects, and sophisticated sound systems
that appeal to many, especially the younger generation, is not the concern. It is
more about the quality of the message we are singing. Mike Breen, pastor,
author, and global team leader for 3DM, expressed these concerns in an article in
a Missio Nexus publication in May 2013:
While the quality of music has certainly gone up in the past fifteen years, I’d
argue that the content of the songs has gone down. Way down. We often
forget that people used to learn doctrinal truths and the metanarrative they
could place themselves in by the songs they sang each Sunday. The songs
were even catchy. Charles Wesley put his songs to popular tunes. But have
you read a Wesley hymn? It was chalk full of the truth of what it means to
live in the Kingdom of God. Where are the Charles Wesleys of our day?
When the church promotes justification without knowledge of the truth, over
time it produces a negative impact on a broad sector of society. A Gallup Poll
released on May 29, 2013, showed that most Americans say religion is losing
influence in the United States. The people participating in the survey were asked
this question: “At the present time, do you think religion as a whole is increasing
its influence on American life or losing its influence?” Over three-quarters of
Americans (77 percent) say religion is losing its influence on American life,
while 20 percent say religion’s influence is increasing. These numbers represent
Americans’ most negative evaluation of the impact of religion in the last forty
years.
Because of a lack of a solid biblical grounding of Christians in America,
record numbers are converting to Islam. Ironically, the trend is just the opposite
in other parts of the world. Alex Murashko of the Christian Post reports that
despite the crackdown on Christians living in predominantly Islamic countries,
places like Iran, the number of Muslims converting to Christianity is growing at
an explosive rate, according to the persecution watchdog group Open Doors
USA.
But sadly, this is not the trend in the United States where many American
Christians are converting to Islam. The largest number of new Islamic converts
in the United States is coming from the African American community, but an
increasing number are also of Anglo descent. According to NBC News, twenty
thousand Americans convert to Islam each year.
Jesus made this declaration in John 8:31–32: “If ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and truth shall make you
free.” But this is the very thing we lack in the American church today—the truth
that sets people free. Too often church congregations across the United States
receive from their pulpits a watered-down social gospel in order to be politically
correct and inoffensive to anyone. The primary goal is no longer to preach the
truth but to find new ways to deliver an entertaining presentation that will draw
the biggest crowds.
Bishop McLaughlin of the Potter’s House in Jacksonville, Florida, made this
statement during one of his Wednesday Pastors Mentoring sessions: “Preachers
are preaching for response, not results.”
The fourth variation of a faulty gospel is a gospel that presents a faulty view of
the sovereignty of God. This type of gospel message creates:
• An inability to enter into spiritual warfare
• A dismissal of personal responsibility
• Confusion during times of pain and suffering
• A misrepresentation of the personality of Father God

This type of gospel has put a large portion of the body of Christ in a state of
powerless confusion. Today in America, most Christians don’t know what is of
God and what isn’t. This leaves them with no basis for exercising faith. As I
have discussed this subject with different Christian ministers, more than one
stated that he believed that incorrect teaching concerning the “sovereignty of
God” is causing more harm to the body of Christ in America than any other
subject.
Coming from a country that operates as a democracy, most of us do not use the
words sovereign or sovereignty in most of our daily conversations. As a matter
of fact, they are words we find difficult to define. Perhaps if we lived in a
country ruled by a king or dictator, some of the nuance of these words would be
clearer to us. It is due to our lack of understanding of these words that the body
of Christ is vulnerable to how they are used incorrectly.

Neither “sovereign” nor “sovereignty” appears in the King James Version of

the Bible. It is only found once in the New American Standard Version. Some
modern translations that have become popular with a large portion of the Church
community insert these two words to amplify God’s name. One of the biggest
proponents of this is the New International Version. In 288 verses of their
translation, they substitute the phrase “Sovereign Lord” where it had previously
been translated as “Lord God” or “Lord God Almighty” in the King James
Version and others. There is nothing particularly wrong with that as long as we
maintain an accurate definition of the words in the first place.
Webster’s New World Dictionary defines sovereign as “above or superior to all
others: chief, greatest, supreme; supreme in power, rank or authority.” The Latin
origin of the word sovereign means “super” or “above.” Based on these
definitions, I think we can all agree that God is sovereign.
Where does all the confusion lie concerning the sovereignty of God, and how
is it causing so much harm? The problem begins when people start believing and
preaching that sovereign means that God controls everything, He makes
everything happen, He is the cause of everything that happens, and nothing can
happen without His permission. Some even go as far as to say that man has no
say in whether he will go to heaven or hell nor can man change its outcome. If
those statements were absolutely true, there wouldn’t be a country on earth
whose people would want to serve the Lord. What people would want to receive
and serve a God that kills children, puts disease on loved ones, and causes
disasters that annihilate and wipe out thousands of innocent and helpless people?
Because a large portion of the American church is giving the world a distorted
perspective of God through their “sovereignty of God” teachings, most
unbelievers think God is to blame for everything wrong on the earth, and in fact
many people think things are so bad they feel God must not even exist.
When I was nine years old, my classmate Jackie was electrocuted when he
grabbed an overhead electrical line while climbing high in the top of a tree. The
voltage was so powerful, it killed him instantly, and he fell out of the tree to the
ground. My whole fourth-grade class attended the funeral. As I sat there in the
service staring at the casket displayed in the front of the church congregation, I
questioned how such a thing could happen. How could my friend be in class
with me one day and then be gone the next?
I can remember the teachers who accompanied us to the funeral trying to
console us. They made statements like, “God wanted Jackie to be with Him” and
“God knows what is best. This must be the will of God even though we don’t
understand why.” I thought to myself, then you are saying God killed Jackie? Or
at the very least, God wanted Jackie to grab that electrical line because God
wanted Jackie to be electrocuted? Are you telling me everything that happens is
God’s will?
Even as a nine-year-old child, I found that what they were telling me didn’t
make sense. I thought God loved us and watched over us. How could He be a
loving God and kill my friend? As I grew older, I heard ministers place the
blame on God to explain why different situations like accidents, natural
disasters, and even deaths of loved ones happen. “Well, God is sovereign! We
know all of this is a part of God’s will.”
But praise to my King and Savior, He is not the one who caused or is at fault
for all that is evil and wrong in the world. Not everything that happens in life is
the will of God. For example, it states in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is … not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” But even though
this verse makes it clear that God wants every person to be saved, not everyone
is saved. So in some cases, God’s will does not come to pass.
If the true definition of the sovereignty of God means that God controls
everything that happens, there would be no need to pray, no need to give
financial offerings, no need to grow in the knowledge of the scriptures, and
ultimately, no need to evangelize or to send missionaries to other countries
because whatever happened would be what God wanted, regardless. It is time to
get back to the word of God and teach believers what is really from God and
what isn’t.
 REBUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched
land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like
a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and
will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken
Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwelling.
—Isaiah 58:11–12 NIV
 SEVEN

The Cure for a Post-Christian Culture

ny time a formerly strong Christian nation falls into a post-Christian

A condition, it usually requires a series of specific events or dynamics to take
place to reverse the current trend. These things serve as the catalyst for a
forerunner movement that will help set the stage for radical spiritual change in
the culture, starting with the church itself.
For example, one of the needed ingredients for genuine change in any
situation is repentance—but not in the sense of doing penance. True biblical
repentance causes a person to change their thinking, which leads to a change of
heart and direction. But the actions of the American church will not be able to
just stop there. There are some other ways in which the American church must
respond as well.

A Reality Check

Before anyone can be delivered out of a bad situation, one must first come to
the reality that one is in a bad situation in the first place. I am convinced that a
large portion of the body of Christ in the United States doesn’t have a clue
concerning the declining spiritual state of the country, including a significant
percentage of the church leaders. A large portion of American churchgoers have
become “Christian-ish”: there is a resemblance of Christian likeness but little
real substance of that true identity under the surface.
We must see the eyes of the American church opened so it can truly see its
current spiritual condition. In reality, the church itself has become a new
“mission field.” Many national Christian leaders are starting to speak out
concerning the fact that it is no longer about just reaching the lost out in the
streets. Many fear that a large percentage of the people in their churches are not
truly born-again as well.
How can this be? After much study of the present church culture in America,
researchers Christian Smith and Melinda Denton make this statement in the
National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR):
We have come with some confidence to believe that a significant part of
Christianity in the United States is actually only tenuously Christian in any
sense that it is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition.
… It is not so much that US Christianity is being secularized. Rather, MORE
SUBTLY, Christianity is either degenerating into a pathetic version of itself or,

more significantly, Christianity is actively being colonized and displaced by

quite a different religious faith.
Smith and Denton are extremely forthright in declaring that the American
church has substantially morphed into Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.
They claim that it is supplanting Christianity as the dominant religion in the
United States. Smith and Denton feel confident enough about this conclusion to
write:
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is actively displacing the substantive
traditional faiths of conservative, black, and mainline Protestantism,
Catholicism, and Judaism in the United States. … It may be the new
mainstream American religious faith for our culturally post-Christian,
individualistic, mass-consumer capitalist society.
What exactly is meant by the term “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”? The book
Almost Christian, published by Oxford University Press, lists five guiding
beliefs of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism:

1. A god exists who created and orders the world and watches over life on
earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the
Bible and by most world religions.
 3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God is not involved in my life except when I need God to resolve a
problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, made this startling accurate
prediction over one hundred years ago about things we are confronting in our
church culture today:
The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy
Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation
without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.
Much of the Western church has fallen into a counter-church culture. Instead
of raising up true disciples of Christ that are focused and engaged with the
mission of God of reaching this world with the good news of Jesus Christ, a
large portion of the church has been taken over by the “cult of nice.” C. S. Lewis
made a statement that accurately describes what we face in our American society
today. He said,
A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further,
turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as
a miserable world and might even be more difficult to save.
Rick Renner, theologian, teacher, missionary, pastor, and international speaker,
has titled what is happening in the American church as “Modern Nicolaitanism.”
Historically, the Nicolaitans were the early Christian-pagan syncretists, the false
teachers that crept into the church, who disguised themselves as followers of
Christ – who professed to be His ministers and servants – but who led the people
astray. Renner states:
Modern Nicolaitanism dresses itself in the guise of progressiveness,
dismissing much of the Bible as being too restrictive or exclusive of other
people’s beliefs. Instead of being a guide to absolute truth, the Bible is used
merely as a reference for illustrations, motivational sermons, inspirational
 ideas, principles to build a marriage or business, and so on, and is never to
be used to judge or to imply that someone is wrong. Today this trend is so
rampant in the church that the basic tenets of the Christian faith are largely
not known by most churchgoers, especially by those who are younger. Basic
Bible doctrines such as the virgin birth, the sinlessness of Christ, sin,
salvation, holiness, eternal judgment, are often unknown, inadequately
taught, or considered optional. Where modern Nicolaitanism prevails, sound
doctrine is replaced with social action, social justice, and an attempt to
appeal to mass audiences by making people feel better about themselves.
Thus, true doctrinal teaching of the Bible is diminished, replaced by
different variants of watered-down, “politically correct” instruction.
It is imperative that we do not kid ourselves on this crucial point:
metaphorically speaking, the church is facing a whole new ball game. Church as
usual will not get the job done because church as usual is not getting it right. Our
present church culture in the United States does not simply need a revival of
what it presently has or what it presently is. In some cases, the church is in need
of a reformation from the foundation up.
A Reinfusion of the True Gospel Message

The centerpiece for how to cure a post-Christian culture is a reinfusion of the

true gospel message. Jesus declared in John 8:31–32 these liberating words: “If
ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
The American church must start its journey back by returning to a Christ-
centered gospel that is based on the word of God and cloaked in the
demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power instead of propagating a watered-
down “me-centered” gospel that creates a powerless, self-absorbed church that
has little influence on the spiritual condition of a nation.
We must come to the realization that simply being “seeker friendly” may
increase the number of bottoms in the seats for a while, but it will not change the
spiritual culture of America—not anymore than another foosball table is going to
ignite our teenagers for the things of God. There is only one thing that can
change the heart of man, and that is the truth of God’s word. When instructing
his spiritual son, Timothy, on where he needed to keep his ministry’s focus and
take the early church, the Apostle Paul gave him these God-inspired words of
wisdom in 2 Timothy 4:2 (ASV): “Preach the Word: be urgent in season, out of
season, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
For the true Christian, the Bible is the final court of appeal in all matters. The
word of God sets the standard that all true Christians are committed to uphold.
The word of God does not become outdated, nor does it need to be revised by
society to match the times. God’s word is the final authority, and it shall remain
so forever! If God declares that abortion, same-sex marriage, adultery, pride, or
any other thing is wrong and sinful, then it is not open for debate nor is it up for
a vote. It is time for many Christians and Christian organizations to understand
that we are first citizens of the kingdom of God before we are citizens of the
United States of America. We are not called to uphold certain rights of others
when those so-called rights go against the word of God.
Willingness to Take an Unpopular Stance

The enormous task before the American church will not be easy, and church
leaders will have to address our current post-Christian dilemma with
extraordinary courage—to the point where we will have to put our lives and our
ministries on the line. It will require this type of commitment and boldness
because our society has moved so far away from its traditional Judeo-Christian
values, and Protestant Christianity is no longer in the majority in the United
States.
While many worldly groups in the United States who relentlessly stand against
traditional Christian values have come out of the closet, the American church
has been forced into the closet. These groups now, to a frightening degree,
dictate what parts of the word of God we are allowed to preach in church and
what parts we are not allowed to preach. This is being accomplished either
through our liberal court system or simply by intimidation.
Make no mistake about it; we must be aware of a very real threat that could be
ahead for anyone who is willing to make a public stand for righteousness. In
order to marshal political correctness, our present society will watchfully tolerate
the Christian community only as long as we don’t really stand for anything and
are willing to sit passively by and not confront all that is spiritually, morally, and
ethically wrong. But the moment the Christian community decides to make a
public stand and oppose the humanistic, politically correct, demonic views that
we are being force-fed through the media, television, and our public school and
university systems, we must be prepared to face an onslaught of criticism and
attack that will come from multiple directions.
The American church has come to a place where we must be real with
ourselves and honestly answer these questions: What are we truly committed to
in this hour? How far are we willing to go? If our main concern is to protect our
popularity, our ministries, and whatever present comfort we enjoy in life, we will
not be prepared or equipped to confront the forces of darkness that are moving
the United States into the depths of a post-Christian state.
This is not a day for the faint of heart. This is a time when we need to see the
true Church unite together for the cause of Christ, no matter the cost, and reclaim
the United States of America for its Creator. Our Christian leaders will have to
come to a point of decision where they are willing to make a stand and buck the
current trend of what is popular for the sake of what is right, pure, and holy.
An Unwavering Patience

The present spiritual condition in the United States did not develop overnight.
Remember, the root cause for any post-Christian state to develop in any nation is
the preaching of a faulty gospel over an extended period of time. This means that
the reinfusion of the true Gospel message must be preached over an extended
period of time as well in order to see America become a strong Christian society
again.
The good news is that we can reverse the current spiritual trend in the United
States, but it will take time and patience on our part. We must be unwavering in
our resolve and not become discouraged if we experience a few temporary
setbacks.
One powerful example of someone who demonstrated how to stand strong in
the midst of adversity was the Apostle Paul. In Ephesians 6:13 (NAS), he
instructs us with these words: “… and having done all, to stand firm.” And in
Galatians 6:9 (NIV), he gives us this promise: “Let us not become weary in
doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
To return to being a strong Christian nation, we will need the church leaders to
serve as examples of what we need to become. Our present generation of
churchgoers will need to be retaught. They are simply a product of what has
been demonstrated to them and what has been instilled in them. They will have
to be summoned to a whole new way of life that demonstrates radical obedience
to Christ. This must be accomplished through the preaching of the
uncompromising word of God and through public demonstration of how our
leaders live their own personal lives for Christ. When it comes to changing the
spiritual culture of the United States, it would serve us well to remember the old
leadership principle: you don’t get what you want; you get who you are!
What will it take to set the stage for radical spiritual change in America?
• A repentant heart that humbles itself to its Creator
• A reality check that will cause an awakening in the church to its present
spiritual condition
• A reinfusion of the true gospel message that carries the power to influence
and change the culture of a nation
• The willingness to take an unpopular stance, even if it costs us everything
• An unwavering patience that gives us the ability to stand as long as it takes
 EIGHT

Biblical Lordship

henever a Christian nation starts to slip from its Christian roots into a
W post-Christian state, one of the first scriptural underpinnings that is lost
and must be restored back into the Christian culture is biblical Lordship. Too
many people have been persuaded to walk down front in a church service to ask
Jesus to be their Savior when there was no understanding of Lordship
whatsoever. They fill out a card and are told that they are now right with God.
This is exactly what happened to me in 1976! Up to that time in my life, I was
not living for the Lord. After much persuasion, I agreed to attend an “old-
fashioned” revival meeting in my town. A local church had set up a big tent,
built a platform on one end of it, and filled it with chairs. A guest evangelist had
been invited to come and preach.

As I sat there in that tent and listened to the message about Jesus, I started to
feel uneasy. I didn’t want to be there. (I later learned that I was under the
conviction of the Holy Spirit.) Then the preacher gave an altar call. He said, “If
you come down front to accept Jesus as your Savior by repeating this prayer, you
will not go to hell.” I thought to myself, I don’t want to go to hell. So I got up
and went down front and repeated their prayer.
But there is a major problem with this story! I heard nothing about Lordship.
When I walked down that aisle, I had no intention of turning the control of my
life over to anyone. I just didn’t want to go to hell. I was determined that I was
going to run my own life, and I was going to do whatever I wanted. I wasn’t
looking for Lordship. I was looking for fire insurance and some sense of
emotional relief.
 Even though many people were excited about my going forward at that revival
meeting, the truth is that I left the service that night in the same spiritually lost
condition in which I had come. I did not truly surrender my life to Christ until a
year later.
How many times has this same thing happened in the lives of other people?
We all know of numerous examples of people who have claimed to become
Christian, but nothing in their lives really changed. They still cheat on their
spouses. They still hang out in the wrong places. They steal things on the job,
but they have been told that they are right with God because they said a prayer
and filled out a card.
Richard Stearns brings up this same concern in his book A Hole in Our
Gospel. He writes:
In our evangelistic efforts to make the good news accessible and simple to
understand, we seem to have boiled it down to a kind of “fire insurance”
that one can buy. Then, once the policy is in effect, the sinner can go back to
whatever life he was living—of wealth and success, or of poverty and
suffering. As long as the policy is in the drawer, the other things don’t
matter much. We’ve got our ticket to the next life. There is a real problem
with this limited view of the kingdom of God; it is not the whole gospel.
Rick Wood, the managing editor of Mission Frontiers, voiced the same
concern in an article titled Are We Proclaiming a Defective Gospel? He writes:
Are we trying to market the gospel to a generation of self-centered people
who really don’t understand their desperately lost state before a holy God
and therefore are not really saved? Have millions of “believers” simply
hired God to make their lives complete?
Why isn’t there any real change in the lives of these so-called new Christians?
Because there is no genuine, biblical Lordship! They have bought into an
intellectual form of Christianity that is far from the real gospel message that
Jesus preached. Jesus said in Luke 6:44, “Each tree is recognized (known) by its
own fruit.” When people genuinely give their lives to Christ, it should cause a
deepening, spiritual, ongoing transformation that radically changes their
Christian walk from that of the world.
In recent times, many ministers across the United States have voiced their
concern that a large percentage of the American church may not be truly born-
again. This is the result of the preaching of a watered-down gospel in order to be
more acceptable to our current self-absorbed culture. As I stated earlier, one of
the newest mission fields in the United States is the church congregations
themselves.
David Platt, the pastor of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham,
Alabama, made this alarming confession in his book Radical:
As a pastor, I shudder at the thought and lie awake at night when I consider
the possibility that scores of people who sit before me on a Sunday morning
might think they are saved when they are not.

To illustrate this point, let me relate to you this story that happened a few
months ago. I was asked to minister in a well-respected, established church on a
Sunday morning. It was considered a real honor to speak in this church because
not many outside ministers were given that privilege. I was made to feel
welcomed by all the church staff, and the pastor told me I had complete liberty
in the service. Before the service was turned over to me to minister the word of
God, the pastor asked whether there were any visitors present. One young couple
raised their hands and actually stood up to greet the congregation. So I knew the
rest of the two hundred people present were regular church members.
Even though I knew I was ministering to a group of people who had been in
church for years, I deeply felt that God wanted me to minister on the subject of
true biblical Lordship. At the end of my message, I gave this altar call:
Many of you that are here this morning may not have ever heard a message
on Lordship. Even though you have attended church for years, the Holy
Spirit may have revealed to you the fact that you have never truly made
Jesus Lord of your life. You may be a good church member, but you are not
 truly born-again. You may have never relinquished control of your life to
His leading because you know you are still in charge. It is time for you to
make the decision to step down off the throne of your heart and allow Jesus
to take His rightful place in your life as Lord and Savior.
Then I asked whether there was anyone who wanted to make Jesus the Lord of
his or her life and be born-again. To my amazement, fifty-six out of two hundred
people responded to the invitation, including the visiting couple and one of the
elders of the church. How many other churches across the United States are in
the same spiritual condition as this one? I believe there are more than what we
want to admit.
Notice the two circles. They represent two different spiritual conditions of
someone’s life. The first one has Jesus at the center of the person’s life with
everything under His Lordship.

The second circle is a common example of the type of people we find in the
American church today. The person is still in control of everything in his life, but
he has accepted Jesus as simply another part of his life. This decision is made
not on the revelation of his lost, sinful condition, but rather on the motivation
that Jesus might make life better for him and help him to get what he wants.
There is no real Lordship.
Dr. Daniel Williams, church planter and missionary statesman, views our
present American church culture as riddled with a form of polytheism. He states:
As I survey the spiritual landscape of American society it looks increasingly
like the spiritual condition of the Roman Empire in its decline, with a
pantheon of gods being worshipped and served. Polytheism is the worship
or belief in multiple deities and the Romans, like the Greeks before them,
were Polytheists. The Romans not only considered themselves as
intellectually, militarily and technologically superior, they also regarded
themselves as spiritually sophisticated. In fact, Romans were a very
religious people and attributed their success as a world power to their
collective piety by maintaining good relations with the gods.
Polytheism is now all the rage yet the average American would deny it
while happily watching American Idol. When the concept of an all knowing,
supreme God is removed from being the center of a believer’s life, other
things take on more meaning. The modern version of idol worship takes the
form of sports, recreation, sex, fame, wealth and a plethora of other things
treasured above their actual value. When spirituality is embraced it is neatly
tucked into the pile of other deified interests or needs. The idea of full
surrender to God above all other things seems arcane to the modern mind.
After all, we must be balanced, mustn’t we?
There is an old saying, “Jesus is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all!” That
statement makes a strong point. God is not something that we try to work into
our lives. He is our life! We do not accept Jesus as a part of our life in case we
need Him to take care of a problem and until then He should stay out of the way.
No! This is a totally wrong concept of the true gospel message.
On several occasions over the years, I have encountered different people who
claimed to be Christians but their lives demonstrated something else. In an
attempt to justify their lifestyles, they would tell me, “Jerry, I have accepted
Jesus as my Savior because I said a prayer in front of a church congregation
years ago, and I was told that I will get to go to heaven. But Jesus isn’t really
Lord over my life. I will eventually get to that point.” The scary thing about what
they said is the fact that they don’t even realize that statement is unscriptural.
Until a person accepts Jesus as Lord of his life, He will not be his Savior. But the
moment we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, He automatically becomes our
Savior.
There are literally millions of church-attending Americans that desperately
need to consider whether they have ever truly, authentically trusted in Christ for
their salvation. It would be advantageous to take a long, hard look at the words
of Jesus in Matthew 7:21–23. He says,
Not everyone that said unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from
me, ye that work iniquity or practice lawlessness. [emphasis added]
At the same time, it is important to understand that Lordship is not
perfectionism. Lordship is a condition of the heart. It is when we make a genuine
decision to yield to the Lordship of Christ. Walking out a life of obedience to
Christ is a learning process. We must learn to crucify the flesh and to be led by
the Holy Spirit. It is our heart of obedience to Christ that demonstrates Lordship.
It will not be a demonstration of a perfect Christian life, but it will at least be a
demonstration that is obvious to others that we love God and want to live our
lives for Him.
One thing that is hindering people from receiving a genuine new birth
experience is vague terminology in our presentation of the gospel. In a large
portion of the American church, certain biblical terms that Jesus taught us, such
as “born-again” and “saved,” are now considered taboo. The use of these terms
is no longer considered an appropriate practice. They’re considered too mystical
sounding or too definite. So we have replaced these biblical terms with
statements like “coming to Christ” or “come to faith.” I am sure there are many
competent ministers that give a sufficient scriptural explanation when they use
these alternative terms, but is this really improving our presentation of the gospel
message? “Come to faith”—what does that mean? It sounds more like a set of
church disciplines that we are asked to uphold rather than spiritual regeneration
of the human spirit.
It is extremely important for people to have a solid scriptural understanding of
their salvation experience. We want to make sure people understand that
someone doesn’t become a Christian by sitting in church services anymore than
someone can become a car by sitting in a garage for a long period of time. I
realize what I am saying is extremely elementary, but these are the types of
things we are dealing with because of the biblical ignorance that now exists in
many of our overly seeker-sensitive churches.
In John 3:1–8, Jesus explains to Nicodemus that in the same way there is a
specific time he was born physically, there needs to be a specific moment also in
his life when he chooses to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. At that moment,
he would be born of the Spirit—born again! This is the place of understanding
that we need to bring people. Church membership means nothing without the
new birth experience.
When it came to the ministry style of Jesus, it was direct and to the point when
speaking to Nicodemus about the importance of being born-again. Remember,
Nicodemus was highly educated, trained in the Torah as a Pharisee, and a
member of the Sanhedrin. If he struggled with the concept of being born-again
when Jesus explained it to him, how much more will our society in America
today need a clear, direct, scripturally sound message about salvation? We can’t
afford to dance around the subject of the new birth trying to find some new
“socially acceptable” terms when ministering to people.
The Apostle Paul declares in Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Lordship is the foundation on which
everything is built in the Christian’s life.
God has an incredible plan for our lives in which He promises to lead us and
to provide for all of our needs—spirit, soul, and body (2 Peter 1:3). But for us to
experience the life God has provided for us through His Son, Jesus, we must
relinquish our lives to Him, wholly and completely—period! He is Lord! He is
master! He is God! He is our all in all! That is what true Christianity is all about.
This is what some refer to as the “Great Exchange.” We exchange our lost,
sinful condition (our life) for His righteousness (His eternal life). In Mark 8:35,
Jesus explained it to His disciples this way: “For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the
same shall save it.” The Apostle Paul explained how this worked in his life in
Galatians 2:20:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Dealing with “Self”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian, wrote in his book The Cost of

Discipleship that the first call every Christian experiences is “the call to abandon
the attachments of this world. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and
die.” It is the act of dying to self and living for Christ that truly sets us free from
the bondage of this present world. When we choose to live for ourselves, we are
living a cheap imitation of what God really has for us. Genuine peace, joy,
acceptance, and purpose can only be found and experienced when we break out
of the life of “self” and turn our lives over to Christ for His leading and service.
Over the years, I have heard much teaching on the subject of learning to love
yourself. Usually the teaching is based on Matthew 22:39, where Jesus instructs
us to love our neighbor as ourselves. So much emphasis is placed on how
important it is to learn to love ourselves so that we can also love our neighbors.
But I believe that is missing the point Jesus was trying to make.
Our problem has never been a lack of love for “self,” nor will it ever be. Self
naturally loves self. Self wants to live for self. Self wants to please and cater to
self. And Jesus knows that! It is for that reason we are instructed by Christ to
redirect our love for self toward others. Scripture does not lead us on a quest to
learn to love ourselves more, but rather just the opposite. The word of God
instructs us to die to self, to get over self, and get set free from self because a
self-focused life is the problem in the first place. The true gospel is a call to self-
denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment. A.W. Tozer states, “We need to rid
ourselves of any pursuit that begins with the word self.”
Genuine biblical Lordship catapults us in a different direction that leads us
into an incredible life where we learn to become stewards over the things of God
for His glory. Ownership turns into stewardship. Everything—our time, our
talents, our treasures—belong to Him to be used for His purposes. We become
the instruments of God to carry out His will on the earth.
By stewarding the things we possess for the purpose of carrying out God’s will
on the earth, we can no longer be entrapped by material possessions in a way
that will cause us to sin or drift away from God. We actually become qualified to
handle the blessings of God on an incredible scale. Riches, fame, power, or
anything else cannot corrupt or destroy our Christian walk because we are not
living for self, but rather we are living for God. We no longer desire to chase
after lustful, worldly things because we have been spiritually born into a higher
calling that is so much greater than anything this world has to offer.
When we submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is at work in
us to carry out the will of the Father. Philippians 2:13 states this point well: “For
it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of HIS GOOD PLEASURE.”
The psalmist David declares the same thing with these words in Psalm 23:3:
“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” And in the
process, we step over into a new realm of living. Our lives are not limited to
human effort, but rather we tap into God’s ability as we function under His
leading. This is totally liberating because we get set free from the destructive
leading of our own fleshly motives, desires, and impulses.
God delights in using ordinary Christians who come to the end of themselves
and choose to trust in His abundant grace and extraordinary provision provided
through the redemptive work of Christ. He stands ready to allocate His grace and
power to all who are desperately dependent on Him and radically devoted to
making much of Him.
In a time where in many cultures (including the United States) the word
“Christian” has lost its meaning and everyone seems to claim being a Christian,
it is critical that our church leaders preach the true gospel that presents biblical
Lordship and not some cheap imitation. By establishing biblical Lordship, we
are laying the necessary scriptural foundation for a godly, Christian society to
emerge. If we fail to establish this fundamental truth, the stage is set for the
broadening effect of a counterfeit Christian culture to develop.
 NINE

Kingdom Christianity

ne of the scriptural underpinnings that must be reestablished when dealing

O with a post-Christian state is what is called “kingdom Christianity.” This
foundational truth is lost when the Church presents a gospel that has been
narrowed to a simple transaction marked by saying a prayer and filling out a card
at some prayer breakfast or altar call so we can officially register a decision for
Christ. The new convert is left with only the satisfaction that he has his ticket to
heaven, but he doesn’t have any real understanding of his position or purpose in
the kingdom of God.
For the American church to regain its spiritual role in changing a post-
Christian culture back into a strong Christian society, we must get back to
preaching the same gospel that Jesus preached: the gospel of the kingdom of
God.

Steve Smith, mission executive and longtime church planter, contends that the
American church will never truly be on target until it possesses the right
perspective concerning the kingdom of God. In an article titled “Getting
Kingdom Right to Get Church Right,” he makes this statement:
Jesus was launching a kingdom so radical in nature that we must realign our
whole concept of what God wants to do in and through us, especially in how
He will do it. This includes how we live as church. … As disciples
throughout history have made it their priority to see the kingdom explode
among lost populations, they have often seen churches multiply rapidly
generation by generation through ordinary new believers. Unfortunately, as
churches become established, a tendency emerges to consolidate efforts and
focus more on the church development than on kingdom expansion. Which
 priority is right? Kingdom first or church first? Both are important, but to
get church right, we must get kingdom right.
The message of the Bible is primarily about redemption of all mankind
through the expansion of God’s kingdom on the earth with the church as God’s
main instrument in carrying this out. But the true concept of kingdom has been
lost, partially because of other concepts of government in which we are more
familiar. People in the United States have a democracy mind-set instead of a
kingdom mind-set.
This is one of the reasons many people who claim to be Christians see nothing
wrong with passing laws legalizing actions in America that go directly against
scripture, such as abortion or same-sex marriage. Even though they claim these
actions go against their own personal convictions, they believe we should allow
them for the sake of the convictions of others. So they end up upholding and
voting for something that they claim goes against their personal Christian
beliefs. How could an alarming portion of the American church, especially the
younger generation, end up with this type of thinking? This is the result of
Christians having a democracy mind-set rather than a kingdom perspective.
Francis J. Pratt of the US Center of World Mission addresses this issue by
giving an explanation of how Christians have been “culturalized” rather than
being an impacting force within the culture. He explains:
The most significant problems for the Church originate in our becoming lost
in earthly cultures. The net effect is that we attribute our cultures’ values and
beliefs to God and, in essence, reinvent God in our own image. This process
has changed our reading of the Bible, our understanding of the gospel and
our perception of our place in the world as the Church and our duties as the
children of God.
We desperately need to reestablish a kingdom culture in the American church.
The good news that Jesus proclaimed had a fullness beyond salvation and the
forgiveness of sins; it also signified the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. This
new kingdom would turn the existing world order upside down.
 In the book Rediscovering the Kingdom, Myles Monroe makes this statement:
The kingdom concept was born in the heart of man, placed there by his
Creator as the purpose for which he was created. Despite the fact that there
are many types of kingdoms throughout history, there are certain
characteristics common to all kingdoms. The kingdom of God, according to
Jesus, also possesses these components. Here are some you will need to
know in order to understand how kingdom works:
All kingdoms have:
• A King and Lord—a sovereign
• A territory—a domain
• A constitution—a royal covenant
• A citizenry—community of subjects
• Law—acceptable principles
• Privileges—rights and benefits
• A Code of Ethics—acceptable lifestyle and conduct
• An army—security
• A commonwealth—economic security
• A social culture—protocol and procedures

As Christians, we must understand that we are citizens of the kingdom of God

—first! And being so, we submit to the authority, rule, and all the precepts (as
listed above) of that kingdom, which are laid out for our benefit in the word of
God.
Jesus’s entire ministry was focused on initiating the kingdom of God. He used
the word “kingdom” over one hundred times, while He used the word “church”
only twice. The driving motivation of Jesus’s life was not to get us to heaven,
but to get heaven in us. Jesus’s passion was to establish His Father’s kingdom on
earth in the hearts of men.
In Mark 1:14–15, we find the account of when Jesus started His public
ministry, and He was very clear concerning what Gospel message He came to
deliver:
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching
the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the
Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God, and that is the only gospel
He ever proclaimed in any public setting. So as far as we are concerned as true
followers of Christ, the gospel of the kingdom of God is the only true gospel
message. Jesus proclaimed the good news that the kingdom of God had come to
earth. It was not a social gospel to stimulate the intellect or to make people feel
better about their self-absorbed lives. Jesus’s message was the good news that
God’s kingdom had come on earth, and any who would come would be reunited
in spirit and fellowship with Him and be restored to their full position and rights
as children of God and citizens of His kingdom.
Jesus started His earthly ministry by declaring that the KINGDOM HAS ARRIVED!
He was announcing that the kingdom of heaven has now invaded earth and that
He represents that kingdom.
But Jesus also realized that the people had a wrong concept when it came to
the kingdom of God. This is why Jesus told the people they needed to “repent”
as a part of His announcement concerning the kingdom. What did He mean by
“repent”? In this particular context, Jesus was not talking to the people about
confessing their sins. We must understand that Jesus was talking primarily to
Jewish people. What did Jewish people believe? They were under the oppressive
rule of the Roman Empire. The Jews hated this! And they believed a Messiah
was coming that would break the power of the Roman Empire over the Jewish
people. Then, their Messiah would set up an earthly kingdom, and the Jewish
people would reign with Him.
This is why Jesus told them to repent. What does the word repent mean? It
means to change your mind. Jesus was telling them that the way they were
thinking about the kingdom of God was all wrong. He did not come to set up an
earthly kingdom with territorial borders and properties, but rather the kingdom
that He came to establish was a spiritual kingdom that would be established in
the hearts of men and women. This is why Jesus declared in Luke 17:21 that “the
kingdom of God is within you.”
In Matthew 11:12, Jesus talks about the battle that is connected to the
advancement of His kingdom. The King James Version states it this way: “And
from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force.” From this verse, we recognize that the
kingdom of God is advancing on the earth, but Jesus is quick to point out that it
does not happen without a fight—a spiritual fight. The moment we accept Jesus
as Lord of our lives, we are automatically enlisted into the Army of God. Every
born-again Christian is called to war, but not a war against people. Rather,
Ephesians 6:12 tells us we are called to war against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, and against spiritual
wickedness in high places.
In the realm of the spirit, there are two kingdoms. One is the kingdom of God
with Jesus as its King. And the second is the kingdom of darkness. Satan rules
over that kingdom. These two kingdoms are warring over the souls of men. In
Matthew 11:12 in the New International Version, we gain more insight into how
the kingdom will advance. Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until
now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay
hold of it.” In this verse, Jesus is not only declaring that the kingdom of God is
advancing in the earth, but He is also declaring that He has a kingdom of people
by which the kingdom is advancing.
We are that people! As a follower of Christ, you are not just a Christian. You
are a kingdom Christian who is not only a part of the kingdom but the very
instrument of God that is called and anointed to push back darkness and bring
forth the spreading of the good news of the kingdom of God throughout the
whole earth.
In Matthew 24:14, we see the process of the gospel of the kingdom of God
advancing on the earth to its ultimate goal. Jesus said, “And this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and
then shall the end come.”
Jesus lays out the incredible, but simple, criteria for what it will take for us to
wrap up our role in advancing His kingdom on the earth. The bottom-line
stipulation is for us to preach the true gospel to every tribe, tongue, people, and
nation. And that gospel message is the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD! He did not
say the gospel of salvation, nor did He say some watered-down socially accepted
gospel. He declared that only the real gospel will do! When we accomplish this,
then the end shall come. If the American church could truly understand this, why
would Christians not want to play an important role in seeing it accomplished?
After the disciples had spent time observing Jesus’s prayer life in Luke 11:1,
they realized He communicated with the Father in a way that they had never
seen or experienced. They could recognize that there was a special divine
connection that Jesus had with the Father, and they desired to have it as well. So
the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray in the same manner. This is
when Jesus gave them what we call today the Lord’s Prayer, which is also
recorded in the sixth chapter of Matthew.
Within the Lord’s Prayer, we could pull out many important principles that
would apply to our prayer life. But when it comes to praying the will of God,
Jesus taught the disciples to pray that the kingdom would come forth on the earth
so the will of God would take place here as it is in heaven. In other words, Jesus
taught us that our prayer life should be focused on the advancement of His
kingdom.
In Matthew 6:33, only a few verses after the recorded Lord’s Prayer, Jesus
teaches us a major key on how to get our earthly needs met. He said, “But seek
ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you.”
Jesus exhorts us not to get caught up in the things of this life, but to put the
kingdom of God first and everything else will be added. This is why many
Christians struggle so much in the area of finances. They are living Matthew
6:33 backward from what Jesus taught; they spend all their time and energy
trying to deal with “all these things.” And if they have any time, energy, or
resources left over, they may consider doing something for the kingdom. It is
time to get kingdom right, and then the rest of the things in our lives will start
falling into their proper places.
As Christians, we must see ourselves as God’s people with a divine destiny to
fulfill while we are on this earth. We are people of purpose! We are people on a
mission from God! This may sound preachy or elementary, but the truth is that
most of our church members are off course when it comes to the plan God has
for them in the kingdom. They are caught up in the affairs of life just like the
people in the world. This is why Christians must be taught to see everything
from a kingdom perspective.
Kingdom Christians carry out their lives focused on two main things: (1)
worshiping the King of the kingdom and (2) expanding the King’s kingdom on
the earth. If I am a pastor, I don’t spend all my effort building my ministry. I
pour my life into raising up disciples for Christ who possess a kingdom focus. If
I am a businessperson, I give my best to succeed in business so I can use it to
help perpetuate the kingdom of God on the earth. Our time on earth is all about
advancing the kingdom!
When people catch hold of a kingdom perspective for their lives, it totally
changes the way they think about everything. As an example, I will relate to you
something that happened to me while ministering in the Philippines to a small
group of businesspeople. After I had finished speaking, a lady approached me
and shared that after hearing what I had said she had realized that she was
looking at life as a Christian all wrong. She went on to say that she was a
successful businesswoman who owned two restaurants. Because she now had
plenty of money to live a nice, comfortable life, she planned to simply sit back,
enjoy life, and live off what she had created.
 But that morning, this businesswoman caught hold of the gospel of the
kingdom! She literally said to me, “What am I thinking? I can’t sit back and
simply take it easy because I can. God has given me the ability to create
businesses. And now I know why. It is to help advance His kingdom. I have the
ability to do more—a lot more—but I didn’t have a reason to use my business
skills to do more. Now I do! I am going to start six more restaurants so I will
have the ability to give more to the work of God and do my part in helping
advance His kingdom on the earth.”
What a powerful testimony! What would happen if every Christian in America
caught hold of the same revelation as this Filipino businesswoman did
concerning the kingdom of God? It would revolutionize and revitalize the
church!
In Matthew 6:19–20, Jesus points out how senseless it is to spend our lives
accumulating things just so we can live comfortably, as if that was the purpose of
our existence on earth. He says:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

Another issue in the American church is that we have gotten caught up in

preaching a gospel the Lord never told us to preach. Instead of preaching the
gospel of the kingdom of God, we have focused the majority of our efforts
preaching the gospel of salvation. We preach His death on the cross for our sins
and His resurrection as the guarantee of our eternal life. All of this is indeed true,
and it is certainly good news, but it is not the full gospel Christ told us to preach.
Many in the Church have discovered the King, but they have no clue about the
kingdom that He came to bring to mankind. We must see this reality change!
There is a big difference between preaching the gospel of salvation and the
gospel of the kingdom of God. The gospel of salvation is glorious, but it is just a
part of the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of salvation is focused on going to
heaven. The gospel of the kingdom is focused on bringing heaven. We have to
stop confusing our destination with our assignment.
When a person’s understanding of the gospel is limited only to salvation and
his total focus is simply on getting to heaven, the Great Commission mandate is
lost in the process. And at that point, Christians simply focus their lives on being
good providers for their families and being good church members for their
communities. It is sad and debilitating to think that a great percentage of the
American church has not experienced the realities of the kingdom of God, much
less committed themselves to proclaiming its message.
The Ultimate Threat to the Kingdom of God

In reality, the ultimate threat to the advancement of the kingdom of God is not
the misguided people in the world or the devil. It is the Christians themselves
getting caught up with simply living life. When a Christian society starts
slipping from its Christian roots, like we have seen in the United States, it is not
because the Christians are so morally corrupt, but rather they are simply
spiritually disengaged from what God called them to be. Life takes over, and
their Christian walk becomes more of a moral discipline in a secular context
rather than a destiny to fulfill during their time on earth.
In so many words, the Apostle Paul conveyed to Timothy that it is the “affairs
of this life” that are the greatest danger to the church. Church people end up
adapting to the common ways of the world and set their goals based on a certain
level of preservation of life rather than recognizing their role in the kingdom of
God. In 2 Timothy 2:4 (NASB), Paul gives us this instruction: “No soldier in
active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may
please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”
This scripture paints an incredible picture pertaining to us as kingdom
believers. We are the Army of God. We represent the kingdom of God on the
earth. We have received our marching orders from our Commander-in-Chief, the
Lord Jesus Christ. We are on a mission! When we know that, it is critical that we
do not allow the affairs or the circumstances of life to stop us from carrying out
our Great Commission mandate.
 TEN

Great Commission Focus

ne subject in the Bible that Jesus considered very important and spoke on
O more than most subjects is the whole issue of Christian stewardship. But
many times we fail to get to the real issue. Biblical stewardship is more than
getting church members to put money in the offering each Sunday. It is all about
taking ownership of why God has us here on this earth in the first place. The
actual carrying out of Christ’s Great Commission mandate defines our
stewardship.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven in the twenty-eighth chapter of Matthew
(NIV), He reaffirmed the mission He had for the church one more time with
these words:
Therefore 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. And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age.
Down through church history, we referred to this mandate from Christ as the
Great Commission. But what is it in clear and simple terms, and what does it
really mean to the average Christian? In its simplest form, the Great Commission
is a mandate to the church (every believer) from Christ to go and make disciples
in every nation (ethnos—people group).
The Great Commission is our mission from God. This is why we are still on
this earth after we become Christians. Missions is a direct response by the
church to carry out that mandate. Missions is not simply a program in the
church. It is the purpose of the church! God has raised up local congregations to
be His instruments to equip the body so the body can carry out His global
ministry plan. The local church is the driving and sending force behind every
missions endeavor and is the seedbed for all future missionaries.
Jesus commands us to go. He has created each of us to take the gospel to the
ends of the earth, and anything less than fervent commitment to this purpose is
unbiblical. It is for this reason that Dr. David Shibley makes this statement in his
book A Force in the Earth: “Any church that is not vitally involved in missions
forfeits its biblical right to exist.”

Even though what Dr. Shibley says is scripturally sound, these are some strong
words. But they can also be faith-building words for pastors and church
congregations. If your church is vitally involved in missions, then your church
has a biblical right to exist, and not only to exist, but to carry out its destiny on
the earth. You are a people on a mission for God!
Eliminating the Confusion

Missions is one of the most misunderstood subjects in the church today. Most
Christians don’t even realize that they are called to missions. Some of the
confusion has been caused by the lack of good terminology. I am convinced that
too many preachers use a number of Christian terms in sermons on a regular
basis, thinking that the people in the congregation correctly understand what
they mean when they really don’t.
One time when I was assisting a local church with the development of their
missions program, I met with five people that were serving on a missions
committee. The first thing I told them was they needed to bring some clear
definition to the terms they were using to develop a written missions plan for
their church. To illustrate what I meant, I asked each one of the five individually
to give me their definition of the word missions without the others hearing or
seeing their answer. When I finished compiling their definitions, I had five
different answers. I received five different definitions for missions from the
people who served together on the missions committee, so what understanding
do you think their church congregation had concerning missions?
Here are some basic terms that every Christian should understand. You will
quickly notice that all these words are derived from the word mission.
Great Commission: It is the one command Christ gave the church to fulfill. This
is why we call it the “Great Commission.” It is our God-given
mission to make disciples among every people group.
Missions: It is all the activities of the body of Christ to help complete the
mission. Every believer is called to help carry out these missions
activities.
Missionary: It pertains to those that are raised up out of the church as sent ones
to advance the kingdom of God cross-culturally beyond their
Jerusalem.
The word missionary is used in many different ways in our church circles
today. Some Christians will argue that we are all missionaries. One old saying is
that everyone is either a missionary or a mission field. I understand the point
behind that statement, but the statement itself still causes confusion when it
comes to missions and the carrying out of the Great Commission. When people
say we are all missionaries, they normally base that conclusion on the fact that
the whole world is a mission field, and we are all called to help reach it with the
good news. But there is a big difference between being a missionary and
someone evangelizing their neighborhood. By giving the word missionary such a
broad meaning, it leaves us with no biblical term for those called and sent to
minister cross-culturally in another land among different people groups who
need to be reached.
Where does the word missionary come from? It is not a Hebrew word nor a
Greek word. It actually comes from the Latin word missio, which means “one
sent.” And historically, it refers to one sent cross-culturally to foreign lands and
peoples. The bottom line is every Christian is called to missions, but not
everyone is called to be a cross-cultural foreign missionary.
 Every Believer Called to Missions

Every believer is called to be a Great Commission Christian. So that means

every Christian is called to missions. To illustrate this point, let’s look at 2
Corinthians 5:17–20:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God,
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath committed unto
us the WORD OF RECONCILIATION; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath
committed unto us the WORD OF RECONCILIATION. Now then, we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you
in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
What Christians must be taught by the church is that the moment they accept
Christ, everything in the verses we just read took place—immediately! Let’s
look at each verse individually and recognize what actually happened.
In verse 17, when you accept Jesus as Lord of your life, regeneration takes
place in your human spirit and you are born again. You are made a new creation
in Christ. All the sins of your past are removed, and you are accepted into the
beloved as the redeemed child of God. Christians usually have some level of
understanding when it comes to the new birth as stated in verse 17, but that is
usually as far as any understanding goes. The moment someone receives Christ,
verse 18 also goes into effect.
In verse 18, God calls you in the ministry, not after you are a church member
for ten years, not after you attend Bible school, but immediately. God calls you
to the ministry of reconciliation. This means every Christian is divinely called by
God to help reconcile this lost world with its Creator. This is a direct reference to
the Great Commission! Missions is not a special call to a chosen few. Missions
is the call of every born-again believer in Christ.
 When we accept Jesus to be Lord of our lives, we are made new creatures in
Christ and are immediately called into the Great Commission ministry. We are
divinely called to be kingdom Christians and function on the earth as God’s
instrument to advance His kingdom until God has representation (worshipers)
from every people group on the earth. That is your calling! That is the Great
Commission! But that still isn’t everything that happened when you accepted
Christ. Verse 19 went into effect as well.
In verse 19, the moment you accepted Christ, God committed to you the
“Word of Reconciliation.” This is the gospel message of the kingdom that the
world is waiting for! And God is counting on you to help deliver the word to
them. The word committed in Greek means trusting. God trusts you to not get
caught up in yourself or the affairs of life, but rather to stay faithful and focused
on the one task (mission) He gave you. That is why we call it the “Great
Commission.”
When we understand what actually took place when we were born-again, by
examining 2 Corinthians 5:17–19, we gain a deeper appreciation of verse 20.
Verse 20 starts out with these two words: “Now then.” Now that you know
that you are a new creation in Christ called into the Great Commission ministry
and the very instrument of God to get the message of the kingdom of God
delivered to all mankind, you suddenly realize that you are truly an ambassador
for Christ. You are God’s representative on the earth, assigned and anointed to
carry out His Great Commission mandate. The very definition of an ambassador
is the highest-ranking official representing one nation to another. We are God’s
heavenly representatives representing the kingdom of heaven on the earth.
But the tragedy concerning all this relating to our present church culture is the
fact that most Christians have no understanding of their personal missions call.
This leaves a major gap in their Christian identity. This should be Christianity
101. What happened at the time of the new birth should be taught in every New
Believers Class. But somehow it is not happening.
 A few years ago, I was a guest teacher in one of the well-known and respected
Bible schools in the United States. One morning, I had the privilege of speaking
in one of the student chapel services with the whole student body present. A few
minutes before the chapel service was scheduled to start, I entered the
auditorium through one of the side entrances. Immediately, one of the students
eagerly approached me and asked, “Are you Jerry Williamson?” Surprised, I
replied, “Well, yes I am.” As we talked, he informed me that we had a mutual
friend that had encouraged him to meet me while I was at the Bible school, and
he was appreciative that he’d actually had the opportunity.
The student asked me with much excitement, “What subject are you speaking
on this morning?” I told him that I was speaking on missions. I could see his
excitement level go down immediately as he tried not to show it the best that he
could. We talked for a couple more minutes, and then the student made this
statement: “Brother Jerry, I am sure what you are going to say will be a blessing,
but it will not particularly pertain to me. I am not called to missions.” I simply
smiled as I thought to myself, you will not make that statement anymore after
you sit through this chapel service this morning.
I want you to realize that this was a third-year Bible school student who was
scheduled to graduate in two weeks. And the truth is that he didn’t even really
know who he was in Christ. He is simply a product of our present church culture
that has given him the impression that missions is a special calling to a chosen
few. This is a result of not being adequately taught about the kingdom of God
and Christ’s Great Commission mandate. I have heard of seminary students who
graduated with a four-year degree and never had one class on missions.
Here is a simple demonstration that depicts the condition and dilemma we
have with most Christians in our American churches today. I will use this phrase
consisting of three parts to help make my point.
 Because of the lack of understanding in the body of Christ concerning our true
identity in Christ, we have turned the Great Commission into a special call to
only a select few within the body of Christ. The Church has plucked the Great
Commission out of the center of the three words as I have displayed and placed
it way over to the side. By doing so, we end up with a picture that looks
something like this.
 By taking the Great Commission out and making it some lofty, special call for
the few select people in the body of Christ that become missionaries, we literally
disconnect the believer from the very purpose that God has for them on the
earth. And this is the picture of most of our people sitting in churches today. Our
church culture has left a major gap between the believer and the call that God
has for them to fulfill. They are literally disconnected from their God-given
destiny. It is time to reinsert the Great Commission and reconnect believers back
to their Great Commission call.

Several years ago, a research poll by George Barna showed that 75 percent of
the Christians surveyed could not give a correct scriptural definition of the Great
Commission, and that included many pastors. Over the years, I don’t think that
percentage has improved. If anything, it is probably worse. In reality, this means
that at least 75 percent of the body of Christ today in America doesn’t even
know or understand the very mission that God has called them to fulfill while on
this earth. No wonder we are currently losing the spiritual battle for our country.
To a great degree, our present church culture has excelled in recruiting people to
serve the needs of the church, but we forgot to tell the body of Christ about their
God-given calling to help reach the world.
Bringing Greater Definition to the Mission

Remember the definition of the Great Commission I gave at the beginning of

this chapter? The Great Commission is a mandate to the church from Christ to
go and make disciples in every nation. What are some other ways we can bring
more scriptural clarity to that statement? Here are some scriptural facts that may
help:
The Great Commission is a command, not a suggestion. A. T. Pierson, an
internationally known American pastor at the end of the 1800s, preached over
13,000 sermons and wrote over 50 books. Pierson was adamant about the fact
that our response as Christians to Christ’s Great Commission mandate is not an
option. His words still exhort us to embrace our God-given purpose:
Our great captain has left us His marching orders: Go ye into all the world
and preach the Gospel to every creature. … Such a plain command makes
all other motives comparatively unnecessary. …Where there has been given
a clear divine word of authority, immediate, implicit submission and
compliance will be yielded by loyal, loving disciples. Even to hesitate, for
the sake of asking a reason, savors the essence of rebellion.
Jesus gave us the Great Commission in all four Gospels and in the Book of
Acts:
• Matthew 28:19–20: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.”
• Mark 16:15: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures.”
• Luke 24:47–48: “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his
name among all nations.”
• John 20:21: “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”
• Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
 and to the ends of the earth.”

The truth is the whole Bible expresses God’s Great Commission mandate. In
Genesis 12:1–3, Abram becomes the first cross-cultural missionary. In Psalm
96:3, it tells us to “declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all
peoples.” Even in the Epistles, we are told in 1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV) that “you are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that
you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light.” We are people of proclamation called to the ministry of
reconciling the world back to God.
The Great Commission is more than salvation. When asking people what the
Great Commission is, you will commonly hear that it is evangelizing the lost or
it is getting people saved. Those things are a part of it, but those definitions fall
severely short from what the Great Commission really is. The core focus of the
Great Commission is “making disciples,” and (we will learn) the key component
to making disciples is the Great Commission.
Biblically speaking, there is no true discipleship without raising up people
who understand and embrace the Great Commission as their personal calling.
The first genuine step in this process of becoming a real disciple of Christ is to
envision and lead people into a scriptural revelation that missions isn’t some
activity that Christians decide whether they want to be involved in. Missions is
God’s mandate to every born-again believer. In other words, we are Great
Commission Christians, and missions is our calling.
When we look at the discipleship model Jesus gave us, we come to realize that
most of the discipleship programs that are available in churches today are
significantly different. Discipleship is not just memorizing more scripture. It is
not learning to simply act holy and be a nice church member, but that is what a
lot of discipleship programs have become. The bottom line is that we become
genuine disciples of Christ when we become a part of the discipleship making
process, locally and globally.
 When we examine what Jesus meant when talking about biblical discipleship,
Matthew 28:19–20 becomes an excellent template from which we can work.
First, “Therefore go” is a going out part that represents the initial “reaching
others” aspect. The gospel must be carried to the lost. Over 2.7 billion people in
the world have never heard the gospel message one time.
Second, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit” is the “bringing in” part that deals with the initiation of new
converts.

Third, “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded

you” is the “changing over” aspect to a new focus, purpose, goals, and so on.
This is where the new Christian is transformed into a disciple—or we could say
a Great Commission Christian.
The terms “disciple” and “Great Commission Christian” are synonymous
when studying the words of Jesus in Matthew 28 because if a Christian does not
build his life around carrying out Christ’s Great Commission mandate, that
person has not been transformed into a true disciple for Christ. Jesus initiated a
process that was meant to be duplicated and repetitive. Below is what I call the
“Discipleship Cycle,” which demonstrates this discipleship dynamic.
 Here is how it is carried out: Jesus said, “Go.” Why, Jesus? To make disciples!
Where, Jesus? In all nations! How, Jesus? By teaching them to do what I told
them to do! Which is what, Jesus? Go! Why, Jesus? To make disciples! Where,
Jesus? In all nations! How, Jesus? By teaching them to do what I told them to
do! Which is what, Jesus? Go! Why, Jesus? To make disciples! Where, Jesus? In
all nations! How, Jesus? By teaching them to do what I told them to do! Which
is what, Jesus? Go! Get the point?
There is an old saying that the Christian faith is just one generation away from
extinction. Without true disciples of Christ being raised up, the next generation
will not be reached. This is a reality not only for the church where it is, but for
those seeking to build it where it is not. This is why it is not enough to simply
get people saved or even to just plant churches. We must turn new converts into
true disciples that embrace and carry out the Great Commission to sustain any
Christian movement in any country for more than one generation.
The Great Commission exposes our purpose as Christians. As kingdom
believers, we live with a sense of divine purpose. While we are on this earth, we
have a limited amount of time to carry out that purpose. This means time is our
most valuable possession God has given us. It is the one thing that we cannot
make more of. We can make more money; we can make more of a lot of things,
but we cannot make more time. Every day, every minute, and every second is
priceless, and we only have one opportunity to spend it. Once the day is over, it
is gone forever. If Christians truly realized how valuable their time is, they
would not be so willing to spend it on just anything.
Years ago, I heard an illustration about the Christian’s mission in life by using
a ladder and a wall. It showed how some Christians spend their whole lives
trying to climb to the next rung on the ladder, and some even succeed in getting
all the way to the top, just to find out that the ladder was leaning up against the
wrong wall. The ladder represents our lives, and the wall represents God’s true
purpose for us while on earth. Too many people have their ladders propped up
against the wrong wall. They spend their whole lives working diligently up the
ladder only to find out that they had pursued a life that was a cheap imitation of
what God really had for them.
In Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV), God declares: “For I know the plans I have for you.”
What a tragedy for Christians to live their lives and never really step into God’s
plan He prepared for them.
Great Commission Church

While Jesus was on the earth, He accomplished three important things

pertaining to the church:

1. Jesus birthed the church. (John 20:22, Matthew 16:18)

2. Jesus commissioned the church. (Matthew 28:19)
3. Jesus empowered the church through the Holy Spirit to carry out the
commission. (Acts 1:8)

In Acts 1:8, we learn several things about the Great Commission call on the
believer and the local church corporately. Jesus said, “But you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The first
thing we can identify is that this verse is not just for missionaries, pastors, or
evangelists. This is a believer’s verse. Every born-again child of God is an Acts
1:8 Christian. The scripture says you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you, and you will be my witnesses.
The second thing we learn is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit enables you
to carry out your Great Commission calling. Jesus promises you power through
the Holy Spirit to be His witness. The word “witness” in the Greek means
“martyr.” It is simply another way that Jesus is telling us that we are called to lay
down our lives for the advancement of the kingdom of God in the earth.
The third thing we learn about Acts 1:8 is the incredible scope of your Great
Commission call. You are called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to make an
impact in your local community to the most remote nations around the world. In
other words, every Christian is called to help their local church reach their
community and the world at the same time.
Over the years, I have noticed that many ministers do not correctly interpret
Acts 1:8, and it is usually in two specific ways. The first is when a pastor says
that his church will get involved with foreign missions after they reach their
whole community. The pastor explains that Acts 1:8 instructs us to reach our
community first, and then move on. That is a wrong interpretation of the verse.
Acts 1:8 did not say Jerusalem then Judea then Samaria then the ends of the
earth. It says Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth.
If what the pastor said was true, every missions trip the Apostle Paul made
would have been unscriptural. We are to reach our community and the uttermost
parts of the earth at the same time. It is not either/or. It is both simultaneously!
God is no respecter of persons. He is just as passionate about the unreached tribe
in Asia as He is the businessman in North America.
The second common mistake made when interpreting Acts 1:8 is when a
pastor says his church is not involved with foreign missions because their
mission field is their city. The pastor is right, but he is only half right. Every
church is called to reach their Jerusalem (their community). But they are just as
called as a church to help reach the uttermost parts of the earth as well.
Bob Sjogren, president of UnveilinGLORY, challenges us to embrace God’s
heart for the whole world with these words:
If you have a vision to reach your neighborhood, your town, or even all of
America, rejoice! You’re seeing God’s heart for 5 percent of the world’s
population … expand your vision to God’s whole heart for the uttermost
parts of the world, and get to know the rest of your God.
Years ago, I was conducting a missions training workshop in a church in the
Midwest. When going over the activities and outreach programs of the church
with the staff, it became evident that this church was extremely passionate about
reaching their city for Christ. They were spending thousands and thousands of
dollars and hundreds of man hours each month to feed the poor, help the
homeless, minister to broken families, and conduct Bible studies in the local
jails. But they didn’t have any real vision or passion for foreign missions. So
what did I do? I commended them for the tremendous heart and love they had to
reach their community for Christ. Then I showed them from scripture that God
wanted them to have that same passionate love and commitment toward reaching
the nations at the same time. God loves churches to give their best to reach their
community, but not while they forget about the rest of the world.
Every Christian individually and every church congregation corporately have
both a local call and a global call to fulfill. This is why Christians don’t have to
pray to see if they “feel led” to help their church reach their community. In the
same way, Christians don’t have to pray to see if they “feel led” about being a
part and supporting the foreign missions program of the church. Why would
Christians pray about something that Jesus has already told them to do? This is
why they are still on the earth after accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior!
David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary who dared to adventure into
some of the darkest and most dangerous parts of Africa in the 1800s, opening up
over one-third of the continent to the gospel. This Great Commission call we
have received from God was always considered by Livingstone as an incredible
privilege, not a burden to bear. He said, “If a commission by an earthly king is
considered to be an honour, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be
considered a sacrifice?”
Scriptural Plan to Reach the World

Once Christians learn that they are called to help reach their community and
the uttermost parts of the world at the same time, the next obvious question is,
“How can a person do that?” If you live in the States, how can you reach other
nations? The answer is that you can’t by yourself! It requires you to interact with
the rest of the body of Christ. This is an important point that most Christians
have not been taught. The reality is that God has placed a Great Commission
calling on your life that is so big you can’t fulfill it on your own. This is the
purpose for being a part of a local congregation. God calls us to be a part of a
local church so He can take our individual callings and bring them together into
a powerful corporate calling.
In Romans 10:14–15, God lays out a scriptural plan that empowers us to fulfill
our individual Great Commission callings through the corporate combined effort
of the body. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul:
How then shall they (the lost) call on Him (Jesus) in whom they have not
believed? And how shall they (the lost) believe in Him (Jesus) of whom
they have not heard? And how shall they (the lost) hear without a preacher?
And how shall they (the preachers) preach unless they are sent?
These verses identify two distinct roles in the congregation of any church body
when it comes to missions. The first role is that of a “sent one.” These are the
people in the congregation that are raised up to be sent out as missionaries. In
Romans 10:15, Paul makes the point that the preachers (missionaries) cannot go
preach to these foreign nations unless others help send them. Every church has
people sitting in the congregation that are called to be cross-cultural foreign
missionaries because God wants to use every church to raise up and send
missionaries to the nations.
This brings us to the second distinct role that we can identify in God’s plan
laid out in Romans 10:14–15, and that is the role of the sender. Every person in a
local congregation is either called to be a sent one (missionary) or they are called
to be a sender of missionaries. Paul Brannon, a true missionary statesman who
has dedicated over fifty years to global evangelism, explains it this way: “When
it comes to the mission field, we have two choices as Christians. We can either
go as missionaries, or we can help send others in our place.”
From a biblical perspective, missionaries are not people who simply “go” to
the foreign mission field. Scriptural missionaries are those who have been raised
up and sent to the mission field by the rest of the body of Christ. Every church is
called to be a missionary-sending church. The body of Christ is literally the
sending force behind God’s global missionary movement.
An important question to ask at this point is, which is the most important role
when it comes to carrying out missions to complete the Great Commission, the
sent ones or the senders? Many times, we emphasize the incredible need for
missionaries to reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ! But at the
same time, it is also important to emphasize the fact that without senders we lack
the ability to send missionaries anywhere. So the senders are just as essential in
completing the Great Commission as the missionaries themselves! We’re not all
called to go live overseas. Missionaries on the field need people who are willing
to support them prayerfully, financially, and in a myriad of other ways. The truth
is that both roles are equally important in carrying out God’s scriptural plan to
reach the global harvest.
When teaching on the subject of missions, I frequently conduct a
demonstration where I interview a missionary in front of the congregation.
Through the questioning of the missionary, I unveil the incredible commitment
level that is required to become a missionary (sent one). For example, most
people who become missionaries give up years of job training, good jobs, nice
incomes, good benefits and retirement packages, closeness to relatives, nice
homes, good friends, and good church families for the call to move to a strange
culture, new environment, different language, and the challenge of providing a
stable home environment for their families. When I ask the congregation to rate
the commitment level of the missionary on a scale of one to ten, with ten being
the highest level of commitment, almost all of them say “ten.”

This brings us to an extremely important point. If the sent ones and the senders
are equally important in carrying out their roles in God’s Great Commission
plan, how can we expect to reach the nations for Christ when we demand the
missionaries (sent ones) function on a “ten” commitment level when the senders
are functioning on a “one” or “two” level? Missionaries function on a ten level
because they have to. They have no choice. They have to lay it all on the line in
order to make the transition.
But the senders must come to the realization that God is counting on them to
help reach the world just as much as those He calls to be missionaries. It is a
team effort! If a Christian is not called to be a sent one (missionary), he is
automatically called to be a sender. And he should manage his life in a way that
he can play a significant role in sending missionaries to the nations. Giving to
the support of missionaries should be a high-priority item close to the top of his
monthly budget, not at the bottom or, worse, living a lifestyle that gives to
missions only when he has enough money for everything else he wants. It is
through the sent ones/senders method that God gives the body of Christ a plan to
reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ, and in a way that every
Christian can fulfill their Great Commission call.

But you may ask, is there an example in scripture where the early church
actually carried out Romans 10:14-15? The answer is yes! In Acts 13:1–3, we
find these words:
 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and
teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of
Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch,
and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said,
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they
sent them away.
The Antioch Church was carrying out exactly what the Apostle Paul taught us
in Romans 10. A congregation of believers had been established in the city of
Antioch in which Paul was a part. After a time of prayer and fasting, Paul and
Barnabas were identified to the leadership by the Holy Spirit that they were to be
“sent ones” from the church body. In other words, the Holy Spirit was
commanding the church to give up Paul and Barnabas for the missions work that
they were called to fulfill. So the church leaders obeyed the Lord and gave up
some of their best members and diverted some of their resources to be used in
another work that was outside the needs of their own church.

Regardless of how useful Paul and Barnabas were to the Antioch church, the
brethren faithfully obeyed. With a true spirit of faith, they gave up their self-
interests, and with prayer, fasting, and aid, they sent them forth. Paul and
Barnabas were the “sent ones,” and the rest of the congregation served the
missions cause as “senders.” This began the first recorded missionary journey of
Paul and Barnabas from their “home” church in Antioch to neighboring
provinces surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.
The congregation at Antioch—through their fellowship with the missionaries,
obedience to Christ’s Great Commission mandate, and submitting to the leading
of the Holy Spirit—was instrumental in many souls being saved. While they
certainly would have been able to accomplish many things in the city of Antioch
with these men, there was an additional principle at work of stretching beyond
themselves to reach others in distant lands.
 But the fact is that most churches have never raised up a missionary from their
own congregation. This is something that we must change if we are going to
reach the world for Christ. We have people in our American churches that are
called by God to be cross-cultural missionaries, but they are dying in the pew.
Whenever I speak in churches, I can literally sense the Holy Spirit reaching out
and tugging on the hearts of certain ones sitting in the congregation to become
missionaries. But without help, those people will never be able to answer their
missionary call.
One executive of a large missions organization once made the statement that
after being in missions for over forty years, working with a large segment of the
body of Christ, he is convinced that 95 percent of all people in the United States
who are called by God to be full-time, cross-cultural missionaries never answer
the call. It is my personal conviction (without any scriptural evidence except that
God so loves the world) that if the Church was hitting on all cylinders and
operating at maximum potential, we would be tithing our congregations to the
nations. That means 10 percent of each congregation would be sent as
missionaries while the other 90 percent of the congregation would serve as
senders. Can you imagine the size of the harvest of new church members the
church would reap if that was the case? Presently, the number of missionaries
being sent from America is less than 1 percent of the church.
The Issue of Grace

One of the bright spots concerning what has been taught in the American
church in recent years is the strong emphasis on the grace of God. This message
has literally set millions of Christians free to step into a whole new realm in their
Christian walk. Because of the strong emphasis on the faith message for the last
three or more decades, an element of its teaching was morphing into a form of
“works.” If you do this and this and this, you get this.
Even though I will always be grateful for the faith message and it will
continue to be an important part of my Christian foundation, I must admit that I
didn’t escape falling into the trap of “works.” I spent years trying to earn things
from God that Jesus had already purchased for me through redemption. It is
absolutely liberating to learn to live from a position of grace rather than a
position of works. The revelation of God’s grace has caused me to fall in love
with God as never before. My passion is to access the fullness of His grace so
that I may walk on a whole new level of supernatural, unearned favor that I can
use to bring Him glory.
While the wonder of grace is worthy of our attention, if that grace that has
been bestowed upon us is disconnected from its purpose, the sad result is a self-
centered Christianity that bypasses the heart of God.
Many years ago, I was invited to preach in a church on a Sunday morning. I
preached on Matthew 28:19–20, showing how Jesus commanded us as the
church to take the gospel to the world. After the service, the pastor quickly
approached me, handed me an envelope, and told me that he needed to leave. I
thought his actions were a little odd, but I had no idea that it was about to get a
lot more odd, and soon.
A couple of days later, I tried to contact the pastor by phone several times to
see if everything was okay because I figured he left the church service on
Sunday in a hurry because of some emergency. But I was not able to reach him.
Then I received a letter in the mail from him. It informed me that he didn’t want
me to contact his church anymore and to take the church’s name off any mailing
list I may have. He went on to explain that they were a “grace church” that
emphasizes the message of “grace.” By coming in and preaching about the Great
Commission, he felt like I was violating their stance on grace and that I was
putting his people under bondage.
As I read the letter, it almost didn’t seem real. How can we come to a place in
our church culture that it is considered offensive and out of place to stand up in a
church service and read the “red print” in our Bibles? To disconnect God’s
blessing from God’s global purpose is to spiral downward into an unbiblical,
self-saturated Christianity that misses the point of God’s grace altogether.
 ELEVEN

A Spirit-Led Life

n July 16, 1974, over 2,700 evangelical Christian leaders from 150 nations
O gathered at Lausanne, Switzerland, to unite in faith and commitment for the
sake of world evangelization. The historic gathering has come to be known as
the Lausanne Congress. The theme of the congress was “Let the Earth Hear His
Voice.”
One important document that came forth from this gathering of world
Christian leaders was the Lausanne Covenant. This has become one of the most
influential documents in modern Evangelical Christianity and has served as a
clarion call to the body of Christ for decades. A portion of the Lausanne
Covenant was dedicated to affirm the place and the importance of the Holy Spirit
in respect to the Great Commission mandate. It says:
The Holy Spirit is a missionary spirit; thus evangelism should arise
spontaneously from a Spirit-filled church. A church that is not a missionary
church is contradicting itself and quenching the Spirit. Worldwide
evangelization will become a realistic possibility only when the Spirit
renews the church in truth and wisdom, faith, holiness, love, and power. We
therefore call upon all Christians to pray for such a visitation of the
sovereign Spirit of God that all His fruit may appear in all His people and
that all His gifts may enrich the body of Christ. Only then will the whole
church become a fit instrument in His hands, that the whole earth may hear
His voice.
If the work of God were purely a human enterprise, the neglect of a Spirit-
filled, Spirit-led life might be intelligible. But in response to a supernatural
charter, led by an omnipotent Leader, with all His supernatural power pledged to
its support on the conditions of consecration and prayer on the part of its human
agents, a neglect of a Spirit-led life is a denial of the Lord’s leadership and a
willful limitation of our effectiveness and influence in society.
The importance of being led by the Spirit goes without question. How can we
expect to fulfill God’s supernatural work in the hearts of people simply through
the efforts of our own strength? It is impossible! In our own strength, we can
build something that is impressive, entertaining, enjoyable, and attractive—but
not supernatural! The Apostle Paul gives us one of those ultimate statements
when it comes to the importance of being led by the Spirit of God: “For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Years ago, a story was conveyed to me about one of the major Christian
leaders of the underground church in China who miraculously received the
opportunity to visit the United States. While he was here, many prominent
Christian ministers took him on an extensive tour of some of the biggest and
most well-known churches and ministries in our nation. Afterward, the
American Christian leaders asked him what he thought about everything he had
seen. The underground Chinese leader responded by saying, “All of this is very
impressive! It is amazing what you have accomplished without the Holy Spirit.”
I am sure that was not the answer our American ministers expected to hear, but
the answer was nevertheless quite insightful. If any indictment can be made
against the Western church, it would be that we have become professional
church builders. It is like we have turned church into a highly professional and
competitive machine in which we find ways to rev up the church experience so
we can outperform all the other available church models in the vicinity.
Instead of winning our society back to Christ, we have ended up using most of
our resources and manpower in a competition between churches to see who can
become the most attractive to people who are mostly already Christians. This all
comes from a strategically defined and highly developed formula for success
that we have learned through seminary courses, church growth conferences, and
from secular business models.
John Piper, a well-known pastor, global crusader, and author, pleads with
American ministers with these words:
We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry.
Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and the heart of the
Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual
death we will have in our wake. … You cannot professionalize the love for
his appearing without killing it. And it is being killed. The world sets the
agenda of the professional man; God sets the agenda of the spiritual man.
The strong wine of Jesus Christ explodes the wineskins of professionalism.”
I understand that the church must improve and update its methods of
presentation to take advantage of technology. There is an element of excellence
that is a positive thing. But somewhere along the line we quit raising up Spirit-
led, anointed ministers with hearts pursuing the presence and purposes of God
and started producing ministers who calculate the success of their ministries
through a set of formulas and techniques that boast guaranteed success in
building an impressive ministry. And in the midst of it all, little to no
consideration has been given to the leading of the Holy Spirit or the real mission
of the church. Everything is done based on surveys that show how to create the
greatest experience and the greatest response. It all sounds more like the way a
politician would run a political campaign rather than the way Jesus wants to lead
His church.
Over 150 years ago, Hudson Taylor, the well-known missionary pioneer to
China, made this statement: “We have given too much attention to methods, and
to machinery, and to resources, and too little to the Source of Power, the filling
with the Holy Spirit.”
Recently, I was speaking to a young minister who took the liberty of telling
me the keys to building a successful ministry. He started out by saying, “It is all
a numbers game. You just have to know the right formula.” He went on to lay
out for me all the main components. None of those components included prayer,
the leading of the Holy Spirit, discipleship making, or a Great Commission
focus. As I stood there listening to this young minister talk, I thought, Am I
really hearing this? Is this what we are producing as our next generation of
Christian leaders? It is like we have learned how to “build church” to the point
that we no longer need God in the process. We now build churches on gifts,
talents, programs, and décor, but no anointing! A strategically developed
program and the clock have become the masters of the service while God hasn’t
been in charge of anything for a long time.
The late John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Churches, once shared a
story about what happened to him during a personal prayer time. While he was
worshiping God, he heard the Lord say, “John, I want My Church back.” I
believe that is God’s cry to the American church. God wants to be in charge
again. God wants a people that function in power, boldness, and supernatural
anointing under the leading of the Holy Spirit.
The largest and most powerful church movements in the world today are in
Africa, Asia and Latin America, and those movements are largely fueled by
fasting and prayer, discipleship, worship, and dependence on the power and
leading of the Holy Spirit. They are not happening because of clever marketing
plans or professional showmanship.
When it comes to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it would serve us
well to remember the words of John R. Mott: “Those who make history are those
who submit to the One who orchestrates it.”
 PRESSING TOWARD THE GOAL

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward
the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ
Jesus.
—Philippians 3:13–14 NIV
 TWELVE

The Finish Line

od is orchestrating everything toward one ultimate goal that is described in

G Revelation 7:9 (KJV):
After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number,
of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their
hands.
This incredible scene is where everything is heading. This is the end goal and
it will not change. If we are not working towards that end, we are not following
God’s plan, but developing our own. We might even be opposing God’s own
plan. At best, we are irrelevant.
The day is coming when a tremendous multitude will be standing before the
throne of God with representation from every people group on the earth. But for
that to happen before the throne of God, it must first happen on earth. There
must be worshipers raised up among every group. And that is where we come in
as kingdom Christians.
We are those people Jesus spoke about in Matthew 11:12 that have taken hold
of the advancement of God’s kingdom on the earth until there are disciples
among every people group that represent the kingdom of God. That is why we
are here! That is our purpose! That is our stewardship on the earth.
In 2 Timothy 2:4, the Apostle Paul states very clearly to his spiritual son,
Timothy, that to be a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ we cannot become
entangled with the affairs of this life. When we hear the statement “affairs of this
life,” we usually think about not getting caught up in the things of this world—
and that is definitely a large part of it. But Christians can get just as caught up in
Christian things as well and never get to carrying out the real mission Christ has
given us: to reach the world with the gospel. Notice the circle in the graphic at
the top of the next page. The circle represents your life. At the center of your life
is your mission as a kingdom believer. Everything named on the outside line of
the circle are just a few things from the Bible that you are to learn in your walk
as a Christian.

This is where a good Bible-teaching church comes in. Being a pastor of a local
congregation is an incredible responsibility. As a matter of fact, in Hebrews
13:17, the writer exhorts us not to give our pastors a lot of grief or a hard time
because they are going to answer to God for our souls. The pastor and church
leadership are responsible for teaching us all the different things that the Bible
talks about for being strong Christians. A few of these things are listed around
the edge of the circle. But here is the challenge we face in our American
churches today. Because most Christians lack in their understanding of the
kingdom of God and the Great Commission, they believe that becoming strong
in those different areas is the goal for their Christian life. And by becoming
strong in those areas, they have fulfilled their calling as followers of Christ.
 While I was preaching in a church recently, I made this statement: “This might
be a shock to some of you, but having a good marriage is not the goal for your
life; nor is just raising good children the goal for your life.” I could tell that the
people were surprised I would say that, and that tells us something about where
most Christians are at spiritually today.
The truth is we are to become strong in our marriages, in our families, and all
the areas the Bible teaches so we can get past all of our personal issues and apply
more of our energy toward the real mission. The church serves as God’s
instrument to train Christians to be strong in every area of life so they are
equipped to not be entangled with the affairs of this life. If a person’s life
consists of all the problems (issues) they can handle, they end up never getting to
the Great Commission. God wants us to grow up in Him to the point that the
circumstances of life no longer dominate us so we can focus on getting the real
mission completed.
To help us not get caught up in the affairs of this life, we need to remind
ourselves often that we are just passing through this life and heading toward
something so much better. We are citizens of another kingdom! We are not of
this world, nor should we be living for this life! Concerning this point, John
Piper pleads with the body of Christ with these words:

We are aliens, and living like aliens is utterly necessary. When professing
Christian aliens are absorbed into the world and give up walking by the
constitution of the Kingdom, and give up loving the King, and give up
pursuing the cravings of the Kingdom, then they have no warrant for
thinking that they will inherit the Kingdom. It is a great tragedy when a
professing believer lives for this present world.
The writer of Hebrews also points out the importance of not living for this
world by using the Old Testament saints as our examples. In Hebrews 11:13, the
Bible states that they considered themselves as pilgrims and strangers in this
world. They knew that all things in God were heading toward a climatic end, an
ultimate goal—and that served as their hope in God concerning their eternal
destination.
The Apostle Peter exhorted the early Church to have this same mentality. In 1
Peter 2:11 (Phillips Translation), Peter says, “I beg you, as those whom I love, to
live in this world as strangers and temporary residents.”
What should be the central focus of the life of the believer? Matthew 6:33
—“Seek first the Kingdom.” What should be the main focus of our prayer life?
Matthew 6:10—We are to pray that the Kingdom of God would come forth in
every part of the earth, so that God’s will can be done here as it is in heaven.

Recognizing the Finish Line

In Hebrews 12:1–3(NIV), we are given this instruction:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to
the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially
the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God
has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion
who initiates and perfects our faith, Because of the job awaiting him, he
endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of
honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful
people, then you won’t become weary and give up.
As the people of God, we live with divine purpose. We are residents of heaven
serving as His ambassadors carrying out God’s mission on earth—which is the
Great Commission. The writer of Hebrews compares our mission to running a
race. We are told that the race isn’t a 100-yard dash, but rather it is a race that
will require commitment and endurance. Jesus is to be our example. If we keep
our eyes on Jesus and not become weary and give up, we can cross the finish
line and complete the race (mission).

In Matthew 28:19–20 (NIV), Jesus gives us a detailed account on exactly how

to run the race:
 Therefore 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. And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age.
We run the race by using our time, talent, and treasures in a unified effort with
the rest of the body of Christ for the purpose of raising up disciples in every
nation. The finish line marks the moment that this task is completed. Jesus
makes this point clear in Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end
come.”
In other words, we run the race God has set before us by going and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom to the nations. The race is finished when true disciples
of Christ have emerged in all nations. By understanding this, Jesus literally gives
us a way to calculate how far we have come and how far we still have to go. We
learn this by taking inventory of our involvement in the nations. By determining
how many nations we have reached with the gospel by raising up disciples, it
tells us how far we have come. By identifying how many nations where we still
need to carry out this task of raising up disciples, we find out exactly how far we
have to go.
But we must also understand exactly what Jesus meant when He used the
word “nations.” He was not talking about nations in the sense of geopolitical
borders like we would think. The word “nations” in Greek is the word “ethnos.”
This is where we get the English word “ethnic.” Jesus was talking about the
different ethnic groups or people groups in the world. One geopolitical nation
may have within its borders hundreds of ethnic groups. When the Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ has raised up disciples among every people group, the Great
Commission is completed.
Due to the tedious and diligent work of the U.S. Center for World Mission
since 1976 and other ministries like the Joshua Project, 16,590 ethnic people
groups have been identified in the world. The definition of a people group is an
ethno-linguistic group with a common self-identity that is shared by the various
members. Characteristics that make up a people group include a common name,
common identity of individuals, common history, customs, family and clan
identities, inheritance patterns, common ethnic factors, and so on. Out of the
16,590 people groups, 9,427 of them have already been reached with the gospel.
This represents around 58 percent of the global harvest, leaving 7,163 people
groups that still need to be reached. The country that has the most people groups
is India, with 4,879. The number of those still unreached is 2,283.
The more we learn about the awesome call of God on our lives as Christians,
the greater the reality sets in that we can’t afford to be playing games with our
Christian walk. There is too much at stake! We are losing the harvest. Roughly
150,000 people die every day. Each person that dies out of that number has a 75
percent chance of being eternally lost. This means that over 100,000 people are
dying every day without Christ. That is 700,000 every week! Wiki.answers.com
claims 68 people every minute die without Christ. The most tragic part about all
of this is that Jesus paid the price to provide eternal life for all of them, but we
have failed to deliver the good news. The gospel is only good news if it reaches
people in time before they die. It is not good news to those that never hear it.
It is not that we can’t win the world for Christ; we simply choose not to.
According to the U.S. Center for World Mission, there are over 1,000 churches
in the world right now for every unreached people group:1,000 to 1. This is why
the late Dr. Ralph Winter made the statement that the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is twenty times stronger than it needs to be to finish the task, but most of
it is dormant. The biggest sleeping giant on the earth is the church. If it ever
wakes up, the Great Commission is finished! And the devil knows it. That is
why he fights missions so hard.

This is why real kingdom advancement must become a significant part of our
values as Christians. Size of a ministry means nothing! How great our ministries
look to others means nothing. How financially blessed we are means nothing.
All these things mean nothing if we aren’t seeing real progress in the
advancement of the kingdom that brings us closer to the completion of the Great
Commission.
What It Will Take

When Jesus gave the church the Great Commission, He didn’t give us a
mandate or command we could not accomplish. Jesus set the stage for the gospel
to go forth to the whole world through His church. And He sent the Holy Spirit
to empower us for the task! But for some reason, the body of Christ seems to be
satisfied by just doing a little something for missions so we can say that we are
involved in the process. But Jesus didn’t call the church to dabble in the Great
Commission and then pass it conveniently on to the next generation. We are
called to COMPLETE IT! We must not only refocus the church to get its eyes off
itself, but we must also reenvision the church with the reality that the completion
of the Great Commission is closer that we think.

John R. Mott, one of the true missions pioneers through the Student Volunteer
Movement at the end of the 1800s and the early years of the 1900s, was
responsible for recruiting and mobilizing thousands of college students for
foreign missions from all across the United States. His impact on missions is still
being felt today. He realized that if a generation of believers would truly
embrace Christ’s Great Commission mandate, that generation could reach the
world. His words still challenge us to be that generation: “The worldwide
proclamation of the gospel awaits accomplishment by a generation which shall
have the obedience, courage, and determination to attempt the task.”
Every Home for Christ has planted over 3.25 billion gospel messages home to
home in 216 nations, resulting in over 116 million followed-up decision cards
and responses. Dr. Dick Eastman, the international president, encourages the
body of Christ with these words: “A literal fulfillment of the Great Commission
is not as complex as it may seem. And as we all work together, it can happen far
more quickly than you might imagine.”
But in order for us to be that generation, we must position the church for the
task. There are a few issues to consider.
Retooling the church
The American church must become missional at its core in the truest sense of
the word and stop functioning as an enabler to a self-absorbed society. This will
require local congregations to receive a certain amount of training and equipping
them to have the ability to engage in its local and global task. This will require a
discipleship process that creates Great Commission Christians, not simply
faithful “church people.” It will require the church to become better prepared to
actually maximize its potential as a Great Commission church through a more
extensive understanding of missions. Over 90 percent of all churches in the
United States do not even have a written missions plan that can be implemented.
Most churches claim to be involved in missions but they have too many missing
components in their missions programs to be effective.
Increased Number of Missionaries
The number of full-time, cross-cultural missionaries from the United States
has been in decline through most of the new millennia. Part of the reason for this
trend is the growing concept among American churches of being able to use
short-term missions trips as their primary missions tool to reach the world. This
has proven to produce mixed results at best. Approximately two billion dollars
each year is spent for short-term missions. This means that we as the American
church are spending as much on short-term trips as we are on supporting long-
term missionaries. Research approximates between one to four million people
from North America take short-term missions trips each year.
Even though the use of short-term missions teams is an important part of a
global mission strategy, it is far from the total answer to reaching the world for
Christ. There is no evidence of the establishment of any major Christian
movement in the world among the least-reached nations without the presence of
full-time missionaries and the planting of new national churches.
According to a report released in 2009 by the Research Department of the U.S.
Center for World Mission, 32,000 additional missionaries are needed to engage
the least-reached population segments among the 7,163 unreached people
groups. This may sound like an unattainable number of missionaries to recruit,
train, and mobilize. But in reality, it equals raising up one missionary in every
250 churches worldwide. Over two-thirds of these missionaries will come from
non-Western nations.
Global Missions Trends 2008 reported on its website that 95 percent of all
graduates of our American Christian seminaries and Bible colleges stay in the
United States to minister to 5 percent of the world’s population while 5 percent
of the graduates go to the mission field to reach 95 percent of world’s
population.
Redistribution of Current Missionaries
According to Christianity Today, there are 306,000 foreign missionaries
serving where the gospel is already accessible and a significant Christian
population already exists. There are only 10,200 foreign missionaries working in
the unreached world. For every one million unreached Muslims, there are less
than three missionaries.
Even within the United States, Global Evangelistic Resources reports that 97
percent of all Christian outreach/evangelism does not target non-Christians but
other Christians.
Redistribution of Mission Finances
The churches today in America spend 98 percent of its income on itself while
using 2 percent to reach the world. For every $100 of Christian giving to all
causes, only five cents goes to financing pioneer church planting among the
least-reached nations. That means .0005 percent of our Christian giving is going
to reach the unreached peoples of the world.
Increased Partnership
 It has always been God’s plan for missions to be a team effort. There is no
place for elitism, territorialism, or individual kingdom building when it comes to
the global harvest. God wants the whole body working together to reach every
nation on the face of the earth with the good news of Jesus Christ. When a
church endeavors to carry out their missions program by themselves, the
limitations on what they can accomplish will be significantly increased.
With the average church size in America being around seventy-five members,
most churches do not have the people, the resources, or the missions expertise to
make a significant impact in world missions working alone. This is why it is
critical for churches to work with other churches and mission agencies to
maximize everyone’s potential in the global harvest.
Threat of Universalism

Universalism is a doctrinal belief that emphasizes the universal fatherhood of

God and the final salvation of all souls. The main argument for universalism is
that a good and loving God would not condemn people to eternal torment in hell.
Some Universalists believe that after a certain cleansing period, God will free
the inhabitants of hell and reconcile them to himself. Others say that after death,
people will have another opportunity to choose God. Universalism also implies
that there are many ways to get into heaven.
These views run counter to the Bible. Jesus Christ taught that those who reject
Him as Savior will spend eternity in hell after they die: Matthew 10:28, 23:33,
25:46; John 3:36.
James Fowler, president of Christ in You Ministries, notes, “Desiring to focus
on the rosy optimism of the universal perfection of man, sin is, for the most part,
an irrelevancy. … Sin is minimized and trivialized in all universalistic teaching.”

Universalism was taught by Origen (AD 185–254) but was declared heresy by
the Council of Constantinople in AD 543. It became popular again in the
nineteenth century and is gaining traction in many Christian circles in America
today. No theological issue could be more important to our commitment to
Christ’s Great Commission mandate than how deeply we comprehend the idea
that people without Christ are eternally lost and that there is salvation in no one
else. If people are truly lost outside of Christ and accepting Jesus as Lord of our
lives is the only avenue of redemption, what possible higher priority is there than
to spread the gospel of the kingdom of God as far and as fast as we can?

Universalism, in its various shades and forms, serves as a serious threat in

causing Christians to not be as passionate about reaching the nations for Christ
because it teaches that all people will eventually be saved anyway. It is a belief
that is unscriptural and started in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:4, the devil
deceived Eve and told her, “You will not surely die.” The devil is still trying to
deceive people with the same lie.

Over the years, the Barna Research Group, a division of the Barna Group,
Ltd., in Ventura, California, has released reports that are quite disturbing when it
comes to the public’s understanding that people are eternally lost until they
accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Even a large number of Christians
are confused on the issue. One report stated, “There is a growing tendency to
believe that all good people, whether or not they consider Jesus Christ to be their
Savior, will live in heaven after they die on earth.”
In 2001, Barna reported that more than half of all adults in the United States
(51 percent) believed that if a person is generally good, or does enough good
things for others during his lifetime, he will earn a place in heaven. Because of
the lack of a strong biblical foundation among a large sector of America’s
Christian population today, the threat of universalism continues to grow. In 2008,
the website of Global Mission Trends posted an article stating that 33 percent of
evangelical college and seminary students believed that people can be saved
without specifically turning to Christ. You have to ask, what type of Bible
theology are these institutions teaching?
 As evidenced by a recent survey, the majority of evangelicals are beginning to
embrace a pluralist worldview. Approximately two-thirds of evangelicals (64
percent) think there are multiple paths to salvation. In mainline Protestantism,
the statistic is as high as 73 percent.

When a young mine worker was recently rescued from a Pennsylvania coal
mine cave-in, he was interviewed by TV journalist Stone Phillips. The emotional
interview was aired on Dateline NBC. This young man said that he asked an
older veteran trapped in the mine with him during the ordeal, “Will I go to
heaven … ’cause I know the Bible says you’ve got to be baptized to go to
heaven, and I haven’t been baptized.” His coworker and friend, in an attempt to
comfort the concerned man, responded, “All good people go to heaven,” and
then he stressed, “no matter what.”
The answer that the veteran coworker gave the young mine worker is simply
another example of how the majority of people in America believe you will go to
heaven if you are good. One of the reasons for this is that most Americans get
religious beliefs from what they see on television more that they do from the
Bible. What is more alarming is the fact that this type of Universalism has
filtered into the American church on a greater scale than anyone probably
realizes. Some surveys show that a surprising number of church members
believe that people can go to heaven without accepting Christ as their Lord and
Savior.
But what does the Bible say? Scripture clearly describes what happens to those
who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior. In 2 Thessalonians 1:7–9 (NKJV),
Paul speaks about the second coming of Christ and what will happen to those
who do not know Him:

When the Lord Jesus is revealed with His mighty angels, in flaming fire
taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with
 everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of
His power.
There is a real hell to shun, and a real heaven to gain!
Jesus declared in John 14:6, “No one comes to the Father, except through Me”
(NKJV). Jesus is the doorway to eternal life for all men. People separated from a
saving knowledge and belief in Jesus Christ are without hope and eternally lost.
This is why missions is so critical!
When it comes to the subject of being eternally lost, it is important to
remember these two points:
1. People are not going to be lost when they die; they are born lost because of
the sin of Adam.

In John 3:18, 36 (NKJV), the scriptures state that the unbelieving person is
“condemned already” and that “the wrath of God abides on him.” In Romans
1:20 (NIV), Paul declares,
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal
power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
This testimony of nature is sometimes called general revelation. Paul is
declaring that the revelation of God is so strong in the earth that it is the sin and
the hardness of heart that has blinded man from the truth (2 Corinthians 4:4).
2. The one who doubts the lostness of those who have not heard the gospel
message of Jesus Christ need to carry the argument to its logical conclusion.

For if those who have not heard are not accountable, there is no further need to
preach the gospel and no need for missionaries. But scripture does not support
that. In John 14:6, Jesus did not say, “No one goes to the Father but through me
—unless you have never heard about me.”
Dick Hillis, founder of Overseas Crusades, makes his point on the issue:
 If those who have not heard will somehow be saved, would it not then be
best if they did not hear? Did Christ misguide His followers when He sent
Paul throughout all Asia Minor and Europe? Or when he sent William Carey
to India, Hudson Taylor to China, and tens of thousands of missionaries
around the world? If the un-evangelized are not lost, is not the mission
program of the church a ludicrous blunder? Are millions of dollars spent on
a useless program? If the unreached are not lost, does not the Scripture
become a bundle of contradictions, the Savior become a false teacher, and
the Christian message become “much ado about nothing”?
But what if people have never heard the gospel? Is it fair that they go to hell?
The truth is that God has gone to the very limits of boundless love to prevent any
human being on earth from perishing. The Apostle Peter declared that God is not
wanting anyone to perish, but He wants everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter
3:9b).
We must remember that God’s character is not on trial. God is just and full of
mercy. He sent His Son Jesus over two thousand years ago to pay the price for
the salvation of every man, woman, and child. Any failure of lost people to not
have a chance to hear the gospel and to accept Christ is the failure of the church.
We are commissioned by Christ Himself to take the gospel to the whole world.
The conclusion is that, yes, people are really lost. Yes, it is our responsibility
to bring them the good news. The question remaining is, will you answer your
missions call either as a missionary or as a sender? The lost are waiting and the
clock is ticking!
 THIRTEEN

Framework for the Christian Life

he framework for a Christian life should look and be radically different from
T that of the world. But that is not the case in twenty-first-century America.
The Christian community seems to plan and conduct their lives off of the same
basic template as the world.
People in our Western society frame their lives around four main life-planning
components. They are education, career, security, and reward. This is a widely
accepted success model that most Americans work toward and teach their
children to work toward as well. It is also the basic template that any career,
guidance, or financial counselor would use. But there should be a different
dominant driving force than just these four components for the life of anyone
who is a true follower of Christ. And that dominant force is our calling as
kingdom believers!

Please don’t misunderstand me; there is nothing necessarily evil or wrong with
those four components that I mentioned—until they are not put in the context of
kingdom. None of them standing on their own merit should be considered as an
adequate plan for the life of a Christian. By following the pattern of the world,
we have replaced:
• Spiritual empowerment with education.
• Our God-given mission with a career.
• Faith in Christ with a false sense of worldly security.
• God’s eternal promises with temporal earthly
reward.

And when you add it all up, it equals trading the Great Commission for the
American Dream. The American Dream may have started out as a symbol of
hope to many, but it has morphed into a pursuit of self-advancement, self-
esteem, and self-sufficiency through individualism, materialism, and
universalism.
Great Commandment—Great Commission

What is the proper spiritual framework on which you should be building your
Christian life? Let me use a physical building as an illustration representing the
spiritual life of a believer. Every correctly designed building has a main structure
or frame that gives the whole building its ability to stand. Once the main
structure is in place, it provides the necessary support needed so we can add the
other functional parts. We add windows, doors, stairs, interior rooms, sheetrock,
pipes, wires, paint, and so on.
Many Christians have been in church for years and have listened to hundreds
of sermons and teachings, so you would think they would be mature enough
Christians at this point to live stable, productive lives for Christ. After all, they
do know all about windows, doors, wiring, plumbing, carpeting, and so on,
meaning that they do know a lot of things from and about the Bible. But in
reality, their lives are like a house of cards that may collapse at any moment if
the right wind (adversity) comes along. Their lives lack stability and strength
because their spiritual houses lack the proper structural framework to build their
lives on.
In Matthew 22:35–40, Jesus gives us the proper structure for our spiritual
houses (lives):
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him,
and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said
unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
 To give you some background of what is taking place, this lawyer is a teacher
in Jewish law sent by the Pharisees to try to trick Jesus into saying something
that they could arrest him over. So the lawyer’s question was very specific and
exact in nature: what is the great commandment? Jesus answered his question by
saying to love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, and mind. But Jesus refused
to stop there. He included the second commandment in His answer as well,
which is to love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, Jesus refused to
separate these two commandments. In verse 40, Jesus declares that on these two
commandments hang all the laws and the prophets. Christians can fulfill the
word of God by simply fulfilling these two commandments. In James 2:8, this is
called the “royal law.” From this, we gain the understanding of what is the
necessary spiritual framework for our lives.

Our whole lives, as Christians, are built on two relationships: one is our
relationship with God, and the other is our relationship with other people (or, we
could say, humanity). Our relationship with God is a vertical relationship. Our
relationship with others is a horizontal relationship. It is our vital relationship
with the first one that gives us the ability to fulfill the second one.
The first relationship deals with our cultivating an intimate relationship with
our Father God. He wants us to spend time with Him. And when we do, we
literally start taking on the nature and attributes of God. Loving God and
spending time in His presence through the fellowship of His word, through times
of worship and in prayer, transforms us into His likeness. The more time we
spend with God, the more we act, talk, and think like Him, which in turn
determines the way we respond to others.
Here is a story that illustrates what I am saying. One summer when I was eight
years old, I visited my Uncle Bill on his huge chicken farm. Uncle Bill was a
tall, slender man who always wore blue overalls. He walked with his chest
sticking out and his thumbs tucked under the sides of the suspenders of the
overalls. Uncle Bill had a son about my age, my cousin Kenny. I had not seen
Kenny since I was about four years old, so I remembered very little about him.
When Kenny came walking out of the house to greet me, he looked like a
miniature version of Uncle Bill. He was wearing blue overalls just like his dad.
He even walked like his dad with his chest sticking out and his thumbs tucked
under the sides of the suspenders of the overalls. It was amazing how Kenny
even talked like Uncle Bill with a raspy quality to his voice.
As incredible as it seemed that Kenny would look, act, and even sound like his
dad, it is really quite natural. Kenny spent a lot of time with his dad working on
the farm. His dad was the biggest influence in his life, and, over time, he simply
took on his father’s attributes, characteristics, and even his disposition.
Research studies show that the average person takes on the personality,
mannerisms, and habits of their five closest relationships. If this is true, how
much more true is this when we spend time with God? It is through an intimate
relationship with Him that we start taking on His nature, His attributes, His love,
and His character. What is the character of God? In 1 John 4:16, it says God is
love. What is the heart of God? John 3:16 declares that God so loved the world
that He gave His Son. When we live the first commandment, we take on the
nature of God and will naturally start carrying out the second commandment.
Henry Martyn, the selfless and courageous Anglican missionary in the early
1800s to India and beyond, made this statement describing what happens to us
when we get close to the heart of God: “The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of
Missions, and the nearer we get to Him the more intensely missionary we must
become.”
This takes me back to something I mentioned earlier: how do we know if we
are fulfilling the first commandment? The answer is by checking to see if we are
fulfilling the second one.
The first and second commandments that Jesus shared with the lawyer literally
serve as God’s structural framework for our lives. Again, this structure is made
from two relationships: our relationship with God and our relationship with
humanity. We get our identity from the first one, and we get our purpose from
the second. The first one is the Great Commandment, and the second one is the
Great Commission.
 God wants all of His children to be involved in carrying out the Great
Commission, but the reality is that Christians will never truly embrace their
Great Commission call until they are living the Great Commandment. No matter
how much preaching they hear and how much scripture they are taught
concerning missions, it will do very little good. Their intimate walk with God
will compel them to reach out to a lost and dying world. The church must teach
people to build their lives on the Great Commandment. Then they will
automatically embrace and carry out the Great Commission.
 FOURTEEN

Where Your Heart Is …

s citizens of the wealthiest country in the world, how much do American

A Christians give? According to the many articles, surveys, and papers on this
subject, documented by GenerousGiving.org, believers are increasingly giving
less, and that is causing a significant effect on the church’s involvement with
carrying out its mission of making disciples in all nations.
When examining what the American church gives to international missions, it
shows a waning of support that has been a trend for the past several decades.
Empty Tomb, a nonprofit research group in Champaign, Illinois, reported that
shrinking denominations are at a support level of less than 1 percent, while
growing groups are showing a higher level of support for international missions
at 2.8 percent. But in either case, giving to international missions is still on a
steady decline.

Gene Edward Veith of World Magazine reports almost the same identical
findings as Empty Tomb. Their research shows that out of every dollar given to a
US Protestant church, the average amount that goes to overseas missions is two
cents. Veith goes on to say that the church’s current spending practices seem to
indicate an increased emphasis on internal operations and programs over the
broader mission of the church.
An important point to realize is this fact: the level of Christian giving has
historically not been dictated by the condition of the economy. One example of
this is the trend that shows that as people in America become richer, their giving
percentage becomes less. Sometimes it is easier for a poor person to tithe than it
is a rich person because the more zeros a person must add at the end of the
number on their tithe check, the harder it is for them to write it. There are some
notable exceptions to this trend, but that is what they are—exceptions!
Another example that Christian giving trends are not dictated by the condition
of the economy is the fact that in 1920, the church gave 10 percent of the total
offering to missions, compared to today’s 2 percent. Giving is not an economic
issue; it is a spiritual issue. In our present church culture in America, the normal
Christian doesn’t even tithe, giving less per capita than Christians gave during
the Great Depression.

When the economic crisis hit in 2008, it caused the weekly tithes and offerings
of many churches to significantly drop. The immediate reaction across the board
was to severely cut or eliminate their giving to missions. With a large number of
churches, the missions giving was considered discretionary spending (whether
that is admitted or not), making it a low-priority budget item when compared to
everything else in the church. I realize there can be extenuating circumstances
that call for drastic actions, but, at the same time, the American church must quit
looking at missions as an extracurricular activity. Missions is the purpose of the
church!
While many church leaders blame the decline in missions giving on a down
economy, it may serve the church well to consider whether it is the other way
around: the down economy is the result of the decline in missions giving.
Missions giving had been in decline in the American church years before the
2008 economic crisis. Just a thought!
This leads us to a very important question that desperately needs to be
addressed: does Christian giving, or the lack thereof, affect the spiritual
condition of a nation? The answer is an emphatic yes! And I base this answer on
the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also.”
The principle that Jesus is teaching us is wherever a person puts his money,
that is where his heart really is. It is like the old saying, “Show me your
checkbook, and I will show you what you are passionate about.” In other words,
we spend or give our money (resources) toward what is the most important to us.
The greatest illustration of this truth is God Himself. In John 3:16, the Bible tells
us that God is so passionate about reaching all the people in the world that He
gave His own Son. God gave His best for what is really important to Him!
Many Christians claim to be passionate about God, but they really aren’t. They
like to think they are so they will feel better about themselves. The truth is they
are a lot more passionate about many other things in life than God or the
purposes of God. And according to the words of Jesus, the way they use their
money reveals it. It could be motorcycles, scuba diving, golfing, travel,
vacations, cars, clothes, or a number of different things. But where a person puts
their money reveals the real story. There is nothing morally wrong with the
things I mentioned as long as God and His purposes are more important and at
the top of our passion list.
When a Christian stops giving to God, his heart starts to wane from the things
of God. In reality, giving to God’s work is simply more than a nice Christian
gesture; it is essential to the overall spiritual health of the believer.
Years ago, a pastor of a prominent church in the Northwest told me about an
interesting discovery he had made concerning his church congregation. He said
over the years he had been surprised (shocked) many times when certain
members backslid and left the church. In a pursuit to try to understand why this
happened, he came across an interesting fact. He discovered that in every case,
the people who backslid and left the church had quit tithing and giving to the
church approximately six months earlier. Because their treasure was no longer
there, neither was their heart.
Russell Linenkohl, a tremendous man of God and spiritual father to hundreds
of people, once approached a businessman about becoming a financial supporter
of a missions ministry. The businessman told Russell that he had no interest or
desire to support foreign missions. But Russell was persistent in his appeal. He
told the businessman that if he started giving to missions, God would change his
attitude and his heart toward helping the global harvest. Almost out of total
respect for Russell, the businessman agreed to start giving to missions on a
nominal but consistent basis. This resulted in the businessman becoming more
and more passionate about global missions because where you put your treasure,
your heart follows. From the time that Russell approached him until the present,
this businessman has given over one million dollars to help spread the good
news of Jesus Christ around the world.
When we fail to adequately teach Christians about the kingdom of God and
their identity as Great Commission Christians, their focus starts to turn inward,
and their actions and resources are focused more on self rather than the things of
God. And what complicates this issue is when churches cater to this self focus of
the individual to simply put more bottoms in the seats. This creates a downward
spiraling motion when it comes to the overall spiritual condition of the
individual and the church.
The Importance of Christian Leadership

Whether we address the issue of giving, biblical Lordship, kingdom

Christianity, a Great Commission focus, Spirit-led life, or any other topic that is
crucial when dealing with a post-Christian culture, we must not lose sight of the
fact that the success or failure in reclaiming America for Christ will hinge
heavily on the issue of Christian leadership. The way Christians act today toward
the things of God is simply a reflection of what has been modeled to them by
their church leaders. Why should we expect the average Christian to be
passionate about the Great Commission when the average church invests 98
percent of its time, energy, and resources on itself? What is modeled before the
congregation is the standard and commitment level they tend to embrace. J. L.
Ewen challenges Christian leaders to not forget those that are still waiting in
darkness for the good news of Jesus Christ: “As long as there are millions
destitute of the Word of God and Knowledge of Jesus Christ, it will be
impossible for me to devote my time and energy to those who have both.”
 In 1928, the late Dr. Oswald Smith founded the People’s Church in Toronto,
Canada. He demonstrated to the world the impact a local church can make on the
global harvest when its congregation was taught to live with a Great
Commission focus. Smith carried the conviction that if the church truly had
God’s heart, it would invest at least as much in reaching the world for Christ as it
spends on itself. This was a conviction People’s Church lived by giving over 50
percent of their total annual income to missions supporting over five hundred
missionary workers worldwide. While impacting the world through their
missions involvement, the congregation at People’s Church continued to flourish
and grow locally, making a major impact on the city of Toronto and on the
country of Canada as a whole. On many occasions, Dr. Smith was heard making
this statement: “Why should anyone hear the gospel twice until everyone has
heard it once?”
 FIFTEEN

Sustaining a New Momentum

o sustain any national Christian movement or create a new one among any
T people group, it requires four foundational components. They are
evangelism, leadership training, church planting, and ongoing discipleship.
These four components feed each other, creating and strengthening the
movement itself. To sustain a strong Christian movement in America, it will
require these four components in motion as well.

But once we get past these four foundational components, the most effective
and scriptural way to keep any local church congregation or any national
Christian movement strong and healthy is a major focus on the Great
Commission through a strong missions vision. Some current Christian leaders
have gone as far as saying that the Great Commission is the cure for the
American church!
Robert Wilder issued a warning over one hundred years ago that a church
maintains its own health by following in obedience the command of the Lord.
He went on to state:
“The hope of the church is missions. It is not simply how we shall save the
world, but how we shall save ourselves. The church that forgets the world
will speedily be forsaken of the Holy Spirit; and the church that embraces
the world in her love and in her labor is the church that, in losing herself for
her Master’s sake, shall gain herself, her Master, and the world.”
J. Ross Stevenson, the president of Princeton Theological Seminary, also
emphasizes the importance of missions when it comes to maintaining a healthy
church: “The non-missionary church sins against its own best interest and is
inviting defeat. A stay-at-home Christianity is not real Christianity at all.”
Missions is not just a nice thing to be involved in. It is essential for the long-
term health of the church in any country because anytime a church or the church
culture of a nation starts to lose its Great Commission focus, that church
movement will eventually turn inward and will start losing its momentum.
When speaking to pastors and church leaders on the challenges of dealing with
a post-Christian culture, I strongly emphasize this statement: “Experience has
taught us that the lack of a strong Great Commission focus among any church
movement in any country will eventually serve as the entrance point to a post-
Christian state.” This is why it is not enough to just get people saved and plant
churches. We have to raise those churches up to be strong Great Commission
churches full of Great Commission Christians. If we fail to do so, the movement
could start showing post-Christian tendencies in one generation.
Dr. Daniel Williams, church planter and missionary statesman, taught me a
phrase many years ago that I never forgot. He said, “The Great Commission is
what keeps our keel in the water.” The first time I heard Dr. Williams make that
statement, it sounded a little strange to me. But over the years I have learned
exactly what he meant by it. It is the Great Commission that keeps us grounded
as Christians. It keeps the focus off self and on a lost world that Jesus died for.
When we take the Great Commission out of the vision of the church, we
automatically start the process of transforming the church into an instrument of
self-focus and self-preservation.
The Great Commission Strengthens the Church

By helping national church movements in emerging Christian nations develop

strong missionary-sending programs, I have seen it proven over and over again
around the world, in numerous countries, that a strong Great Commission
emphasis will bless the church spiritually, financially and numerically. But only
a small percentage of American churches have experienced that reality. Even
though a high percentage of American churches say they are involved in
missions, very few have ever embraced missions on a scale that would expose
what missions will really do for the church.
Through the years, different research studies have shown the more people in a
local church that have a heart for missions, the more they have a heart to reach
their own community as well. Why? Because a missions’ heart is a heart to reach
people, help people, and minister to people. When people get excited about
reaching the world, it affects the way they act around people in their own
neighborhoods.
One thing most pastors would say concerning their churches is, “We could
sure use more resources so we can do more for the Lord.” When pastors talk
about more resources for their churches, they are generally talking about two
things: more people and more money. How would a strong missions program in
your church affect those two areas? Let’s look at the findings from a research
study conducted by the Assemblies of God (AG).
One of the success stories in modern missions has been the foreign missions
endeavors of the Assemblies of God. Through their missions programs, millions
of people have been reached for Christ around the world with thousands of new
churches planted.
From the conception of the Assemblies of God movement, one of their main
areas of focus has been world missions. But, like every church movement, some
of the AG congregations embraced missions more than other AG churches. The
church leaders wanted to know what effect this had on both groups of churches.
Their research yielded two startling facts:
1. Strong missions churches experienced 67 percent to 120 percent more
converts annually than non-missions churches based on the particular year.
2. The people attending strong missions churches received 15 percent more
total per capita income than the members in their non-missions churches.

The conclusion of their study was clear. The AG churches with a strong
missions program experienced a significant increase of people and finances over
their non-missions churches. God loves to bless the work of the local church
when that work includes reaching out to the nations of the world.
A living example of this would be Pastor Dan Betzer, the senior pastor of First
Assemblies of God Church in Fort Myers, Florida. Today, Pastor Betzer is well-
respected as a national Christian leader, well-known writer, successful church
builder, and as an anointed teacher of the word of God. When Pastor Betzer first
started in ministry, he says not everything went well for him. When giving his
personal testimony years ago, he told about the early years when he was the
pastor of a small church that was in financial debt with no natural means to get
out. In the midst of his desperation, he shared how God gave him a key
revelation that he has been building ministry on since that day.
Pastor Betzer said God told him, “Son, build the church on missions and you
will never lack in finances again.” But he said, “Lord, the church is in debt with
no way to pay the bills. How do I address that?” God replied, “Have a missions
convention and raise money for missions. I will take care of the debt.” That is
exactly what Pastor Betzer did, even though it didn’t seem logical to raise money
for missions when they couldn’t even raise money to pay the bills of the church.
But the people responded, and their financial situation started changing almost
immediately. The offerings got significantly larger, more people started tithing,
and the debt of the church started disappearing.
Many years later, Pastor Betzer accepted the senior pastor’s position at First
Assemblies of God Church in Fort Myers, Florida. The church had lost a large
number of its members, resulting in the church getting into deep financial debt.
Pastor Betzer knew he was taking on a real challenge. So what did Pastor Betzer
do to turn the bad situation around? He did exactly what God had told him
before; he started building the church on a strong missions vision.

Today, First Assemblies of God Church is a thriving, growing church with

new multimillion dollar facilities. And it is all debt free. Every chance he gets,
Pastor Betzer encourages pastors to get vitally involved in missions.
While the late Pastor John Osteen, the founder of Lakewood Church in
Houston, Texas, (the father of Pastor Joel Osteen) was alive, Lakewood Church
gave millions of dollars to missions every year. He adamantly believed that
every church is called to have a strong, vibrant missions program. During a
missions and leadership conference years ago, Pastor Osteen made this
statement: “God has finances reserved for the harvest and pastors need to know
this; unless the church gets involved in missions, the congregation will never see
that money.”
 SIXTEEN

Time to Act

he bottom line is that churches in America are shrinking, skepticism is

T growing, and apathy about spiritual matters seems to be at an all-time high.
What Christianity means to American Christians today is often far different from
what Christianity meant to their parents and their grandparents. Millions upon
millions of Christians in the United States simply do not believe many of the
fundamental principles of the Christian faith any longer. Without a doubt,
America is becoming a less Christian nation.
But we are far from being without hope. There still is a strong core of true
Christian believers in the United States. There is no question that the spiritual
momentum in this country is heading in the wrong direction, and it will take true
courage and dedication to turn the tide—but we can! We are not ignorant in this
situation, nor are we grasping to understand what we need to do. The church
simply needs to wake up from its current spiritual condition and return to its
biblical roots. Jesus is still the Commander-in-Chief, and He is still waiting for
us to be the church we were meant to be, worshiping the King, sensitive to the
Holy Spirit, carrying out His commission, and looking toward our eternal hope!
It is time for the church to act. It is time to go to work and take back the
United States of America for Christ again. There are no magic formulas or clever
marketing schemes that are going to bring the United States back to God. The
body of Christ needs to simply fall upon its face at the feet of our King and listen
for the words of our Master.
But this is also the time for bold leadership that will rally the body of Christ
around the cause of Christ and help the church take its focus off itself and place
it back on God. As we seek the face of our Father with yielded hearts, the Holy
Spirit will speak and bring forth divine wisdom and guidance for this hour.
 Let us learn from our past and lift up a shout unto the Lord as we embrace the
challenging days ahead. As a starting point, let us consider the following:
• Sound the alarm on America’s spiritual condition
• Quit catering to the self-absorbed attitude of our society
• Operate from a global perspective
• Preach the uncompromised word of God
• Lead people into a true born-again experience by accepting Jesus as Lord
• Teach Christians their true identity as kingdom believers
• Transform church people into true disciples
• Create a strong Great Commission focus
• Learn to be led by the Spirit of God
• Invest in what is eternal
• Get the church out of debt
• Model all the above as leaders in the body of Christ
• Having done all, stand
 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever
you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
—Matthew 16:18–19 (ESV)
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Shibley, David. “Don’t Let Them Perish.” Charisma Magazine. Accessed
September 17, 2013.
http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/evangelism-missions/28-dont-let-them-
perish.
Martyn, Henry. “One-Way: Missionaries: The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of
Missions.” Accessed September 17, 2013. Jimmy Larche, Founder and Pastor,
www.jimmylarche.com. http://www.jimmylarche.com/2011/08/one-way-
missionaries-spirit-of-christ-missions/
Veith, Gene Edward. “Who Gives Two Cents For Missions?” Accessed
September 17, 2013. Joel Belz, Founder. www.worldmag.com.
http://www.worldmag.com/2005/10/who_gives_two_cents_for_missions/
Smith, Oswald J. The Challenge of Missions. Waynesboro: Operation
Mobilization Literature Ministry, 1999.
Ewen, J.L. “Millions Destitute of the Word of God.” Accessed September 17,
2013. Within Reach Global is a non profit Christian organization.
www.withinreachglobal.org. www.withinreachglobal.org/millions-destitute-of-
the-word-of-god.
Betzer, Dan. Personal testimony on Compact Disc.
Osteen, John. Lakewood Church Missions Conference, 1981.
 About the Author

r. Jerry Williamson was ordained in 1982 and served as an associate pastor

D for three years in a church in Missouri before serving as a missionary
through the missionary agency GO TO NATIONS; he served in Ecuador in
1985-86.
Since 1990, Jerry has served as a part of the GO TO NATIONS Executive
Leadership Team. For seven years, Jerry traveled the world overseeing 150 full-
time missionaries and missions projects in 24 different countries.

In 1991, Jerry established the Missionary Preparation and Orientation

program, which is a six-day missions orientation for people who are interested in
becoming missionaries. This missionary candidate program has trained over
1,100 people for cross-cultural missions service and continues to draw people
from all over the world.

In 1995, Jerry designed a ten-week field internship for new missionaries called
the Timothy Field Internship. This program provides a field experience that
addresses important areas that help establish a solid foundation for full-time
missionary service. Currently, the Timothy Field Internships are conducted on
four different continents.

In June of 2000, Jerry was appointed President of GO TO NATIONS. Through

his leadership, the ministry continues to expand in its global outreach and its
service to the local church. Jerry continues to travel extensively overseas helping
missionaries and national leaders by providing Bible teaching and preaching,
leadership training, and counseling to missionaries and international leadership.

He is considered the pastor’s friend and constantly interfaces with church

leadership across the United States. He works closely in helping local churches
develop their missions programs and is a frequent speaker in their missions
conventions. Jerry carries a deep love for the global body of Christ and is
passionate about adding value to the lives of others.
 About GO TO NATIONS

A different kind of missions agency…

O TO NATIONS is a servant-ministry, helping the body of Christ maximize
G their capabilities in impacting the world for Christ. Since 1981, GO TO
NATIONS has served churches, Bible schools, business people, missionary
candidates, and Christians at large by providing missions expertise and global
ministry opportunities.
The mission is to GO TO NATIONS with the gospel of Jesus Christ until
every tribe, every tongue, and every nation has heard. The method is to bring
hope to a hurting world, to train leaders to change nations with God’s love, and
to provide a banner of support to missionaries as they work to fulfill the Great
Commission in all nations.
Churches…
GO TO NATIONS is a service ministry to local churches in the area of global
missions. GO TO NATIONS provides missions services to over 800 churches
across the United States by helping them carry out their missions programs. A
variety of tools and training programs are available to help pastors and church
leaders to envision their congregations for missions, to develop a written
missions plan, to create a missions committee with a missions director, to
develop a protocol for potential missionary candidates, and to conduct powerful
missions conferences.
Potential Missionaries…
GO TO NATIONS has helped over 1200 people become missionaries and is
ready to help you. Our stateside, six-day missionary candidate programs and ten-
week overseas internships provide a solid, healthy start for anyone who is
considering full-time missionary service. GO TO NATIONS also provides an
apprenticeship for missionary candidates with a variety of field placement
opportunities that match the call of God on your life. Become a part of a field
team that is dedicated to each other and the work of the Lord.
Short-Term Missions Trips…
GO TO NATIONS provides a variety of short-term missions trips that can be
modified to the gifting and talents of your church’s missions team. Teams of
construction, evangelism, medical, Bible training, children’s ministry or many
other areas of ministry, God can use in the nations.
GO TO NATIONS is grateful for all who have partnered in prayer and support
to reach over 1.4 million souls with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Partnering
together, we can do our part going into all the world and making disciples of
every tribe, every tongue and every nation.

P.O. Box 10305

Jacksonville, FL 32247
PH: 904.398.6559
FAX: 904.619.8098
info@gotonations.org
www.gotonations.org
 Other Enriching Tools Available by
Dr. Jerry Williamson
HOW TO DEAL WITH A POST-CHRISTIAN CULTURE

This one-hour DVD with built-in power point presentation serves as an

excellent tool to train pastors, leaders, and church congregations in what is the
cause for the United States slipping into a post-Christian culture, and
understanding what is the cure. Hundreds of pastors have found this powerful
teaching from Dr. Williamson to be eye-opening, convicting, and empowering.
This teaching is also available on CD.
WHY MISSIONS?
A KINGDOM-CENTERED GOSPEL

A CALL TO ALL
Back to Basics
A BALANCED CHRISTIAN LIFE
Avoiding Extremes
 GLOBAL PATHWAY

International versions of Global Pathway are available in English, Russian,

Spanish, and Swahili.
 STEPS…TO THE MISSION FIELD

Books, CDs, and DVDs are available for purchase online at

www.gotonations.org/shop
or by emailing info@gotonations.org
 Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT
THE PULSE OF A NATION xi
An Awakening
ONE Fire in My Bones 23
TWO Looking in the Mirror 31
THREE Seeing the Big Picture 37
FOUR The Spiritual Progression of Nations 45
FIVE The Cause of a Post-Christian Culture 55
SIX Four Variations of a Faulty Gospel 61
Rebuilding the Foundations
SEVEN The Cure 81
EIGHT Biblical Lordship 93
NINE Kingdom Christianity 109
TEN Great Commission Focus 125
ELEVEN A Spirit-Led Life 157
Pressing toward the Goal
TWELVE The Finish Line 165
THIRTEEN Framework for the Christian Life 187
FOURTEEN Where Your Heart Is … 195
FIFTEEN Sustaining a New Momentum 203
SIXTEEN Time to Act 211
BIBLIOGRAPHY 215
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 223