The harvest is plentiful
As of today, I’ve spent a total of 11 months in Côte d’Ivoire. This is a country I dearly love and a place where I tangibly see the Lord at work. I remember one of the first things that really spoke to my heart was the way in which God unites believers of all nations and tongues to worship Him. Côte d’Ivoire is a country about the same size as my home state of Kansas and there are over sixty different languages spoken here! And in this country, I’ve added my English voice in worship alongside at least five of those languages.
God is in the midst of reaping a bountiful harvest in this country and I am incredibly blessed to have played a role, minor as it may be, in His golden fields here! The truth goes beyond the fact that God is working in this country and reaping His harvest. The humbling reality is that He is working in this country through the Great Commission. “Go.” And in the midst of workers responding with, “Send me! I’ll go for You,” He is using their willingness to follow Him to work great things in their hearts and lives as well.
Not only is He accomplishing great things in this country, He is accomplishing great things as He sends workers into the harvest. He is providing. He is sustaining. He is continually redeeming, sanctifying, and transforming. As I spent the summer of 2013 fundraising to spend nearly a year in sunny, hot and humid Ivory Coast, I saw the Lord provide for all my needs in miraculous ways. Of course Cru has support raising training, support goals, support deadlines. And as my August 1st deadline of 100% in-hand funds approached, I was sitting at about 65% with a week left. Yet I trusted that, if God wanted to send me, He would provide the means. I met with a couple I’d never met before who had been referred to me and told them about the vision for ministry in Côte d’Ivoire and the goal of making disciples and going north to those untouched by the Gospel. After my talk, the husband asked about specific support goals and percentages. I had $12,800 left to raise at that point and he turned to me and said, “We’re going to write a check for half that right now. If you don’t raise the rest of your support, let us know and we’ll cover it.” They wrote a check for $6,400 right there. A day later, another person gave $4,000 and the rest flowed in quite easily. I look back on that and can honestly say that it was by no strength of mine that I raised all my support. God wanted to send me and He provided the means.
He wants to send others. As I write this, I know of three individuals in the process of joining staff with Cru for to do full-time ministry in Côte d’Ivoire. In addition to this, there are five young individuals trusting the Lord this summer as they raise support to come here in September for a year as I did.
I want to extend the challenge to you. Matthew 9:37-38 says, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” We are praying for more workers to join us in the work that the Lord is doing here. There are people who need to willingly say, “Send me! I’ll go.” Are you willing to lay aside comfort for a week, a summer, a year, or even an indefinite amount of time and trust the Lord to provide the means and use you to play a role, minor as it may be, in His golden fields here?
Add your voice to the throng of those worshipping the Lamb, from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation as more are added to the numbers day by day. May the Gospel go forth with power to all of the sixty plus languages of Côte d’Ivoire and beyond. Will you join us in the fields?
God is in the midst of reaping a bountiful harvest in this country and I am incredibly blessed to have played a role, minor as it may be, in His golden fields here! The truth goes beyond the fact that God is working in this country and reaping His harvest. The humbling reality is that He is working in this country through the Great Commission. “Go.” And in the midst of workers responding with, “Send me! I’ll go for You,” He is using their willingness to follow Him to work great things in their hearts and lives as well.
Not only is He accomplishing great things in this country, He is accomplishing great things as He sends workers into the harvest. He is providing. He is sustaining. He is continually redeeming, sanctifying, and transforming. As I spent the summer of 2013 fundraising to spend nearly a year in sunny, hot and humid Ivory Coast, I saw the Lord provide for all my needs in miraculous ways. Of course Cru has support raising training, support goals, support deadlines. And as my August 1st deadline of 100% in-hand funds approached, I was sitting at about 65% with a week left. Yet I trusted that, if God wanted to send me, He would provide the means. I met with a couple I’d never met before who had been referred to me and told them about the vision for ministry in Côte d’Ivoire and the goal of making disciples and going north to those untouched by the Gospel. After my talk, the husband asked about specific support goals and percentages. I had $12,800 left to raise at that point and he turned to me and said, “We’re going to write a check for half that right now. If you don’t raise the rest of your support, let us know and we’ll cover it.” They wrote a check for $6,400 right there. A day later, another person gave $4,000 and the rest flowed in quite easily. I look back on that and can honestly say that it was by no strength of mine that I raised all my support. God wanted to send me and He provided the means.
He wants to send others. As I write this, I know of three individuals in the process of joining staff with Cru for to do full-time ministry in Côte d’Ivoire. In addition to this, there are five young individuals trusting the Lord this summer as they raise support to come here in September for a year as I did.
I want to extend the challenge to you. Matthew 9:37-38 says, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” We are praying for more workers to join us in the work that the Lord is doing here. There are people who need to willingly say, “Send me! I’ll go.” Are you willing to lay aside comfort for a week, a summer, a year, or even an indefinite amount of time and trust the Lord to provide the means and use you to play a role, minor as it may be, in His golden fields here?
Add your voice to the throng of those worshipping the Lamb, from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation as more are added to the numbers day by day. May the Gospel go forth with power to all of the sixty plus languages of Côte d’Ivoire and beyond. Will you join us in the fields?
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