The Great Commission: Go Forth!
Jesus repeatedly calls for us to be His witnesses, at home and abroad. But all of us? Is it really for everyone, everywhere, and at all times – or just for those who are “called” to Africa and/or China?
For some, like Valley evangelist Steve Wingfield, it has meant serving for over 40 years as a pastor and an evangelist, both at home and abroad, even when it took him into the center of a spiritual revival and political revolution that brought down an oppressive Communist regime in Romania.
This is not new to America. Evangelists George Whitefield and John Wesley led such campaigns in the 18th century that helped ignite the first Great Awakening and the fight for independence. It was Charles Finney and other pastors in the 19th century who helped bring an end to slavery. And it was Billy Graham who answered the call for spiritual renewal on the last century.
The Church in America: A Fading Zeal?
But does that same passion for God and Country still burn in America today, or has it been snuffed out by a gospel of health and prosperity? By a secular culture that has banned prayer and Bible reading in our public schools? And by a government that is actively hostile to expressions of Christian faith?
Moreover, how do we respond to the rising number of “millennials” who are either unaffiliated with any religion or even identify themselves as atheists? Many of them come from broken homes and have never experienced the love of Christian parents or been exposed to Christian teaching?
How can we reach them? Do we even speak the same language?
The New Great Awakening
Though the culture has changed dramatically, the Bible has not, and its message is as current and as powerful today as it was 2000 years ago. As Jesus reminds us, our call is to love God and also to love our neighbor as ourselves – even those who sometimes look, talk, and act very differently from ourselves.
We need to meet them and engage them where they are rather than limiting ourselves to people who look like us and think like us. All of us can bloom where we are planted or, as Jesus commanded, we must also be willing to leave our comfort zones and to “GO”, wherever that may lead us.
Together, we can direct our individual springs of revival into small streams of renewal that create mighty rivers of righteousness. Together, they can create a powerful tidal wave of New Great Awakenings that will sweep out current ethical corruptions and moral evils from our culture and from the halls of power.
Together, we can then rebuild our broken down foundations on the time-honored Judeo-Christian values and Constitutional principles on which America was first established. And yes, together, we can once again be that shining City of a Hill that our earliest settlers envisioned for all the world to see.
With God’s help, we can do it, for unless God builds the city, they labor in vain who build it.
Our Special Guest
These are some of the questions and challenges that the Crossroads team are discussing this morning with Steve Wingfield, founder and president of the Steve Wingfield Evangelistic Association.
He has answered this call to “GO” for over 40 years and to lead special “Encounters” in some 16 states and 17 foreign countries, including numerous Victory Weekends at NASCAR weekends because “That’s where the people are.”
Crossroads: Where Faith and Culture Meet
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From the Crossroads Team, for God and Country!
Dean