I will be leaving for Indonesia and Malaysia this coming Monday. I have heard that God is doing some great things out in these countries. As I go to these places, I will be asking God to give me His eyes and ears to see and hear what the Spirit of God is doing in Southeast Asia.
One of the greatest benefits of working on a college campus is the connections that I build over the years. In our 10 year church history, there have been many students from these countries who have come to the University of Michigan to study. It is a privilege to see them experience the power of the Gospel, get discipled and trained to transform the world. In a sense, they then become missionaries back into their countries.
As we were making plans for this trip, it was awesome to see many of our former students helping out with some of the preparations in Indonesia and Malaysia – connections are truly helpful 🙂
This picture was taken by NASA from outer space in intervals and put together. The bright dots represent the lights that emanate from the cities. As you can tell, the bigger the lights, the bigger the city. Guess who uses up most of the world’s electricity?
I love this picture because this is the vision that the Lord gave me when I was going down the Ucayali River in the jungles of Peru back in the late 1990’s. I remember going on top of the big boat and looking out into the stars. God gave me a glimpse of what it would be like if each of the stars represented planted churches around the world. Since we are called to be the “light of the world,” we are like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden (Mt 5:14). What would it be like if each of the lights represented a church that shines the light of Christ? I have always said that the Church is to be “a visible display and a viable demonstration of Christ’s love.”
We are already seeing various ripples coming out of Ann Arbor and Chicago. It is our hope and prayer that God will give us the privilege of planting more churches around the world so that we can allow Christ to shine through us.
God is already sending out the ripples and preparing the way. This picture was taken in June 7th, 2007 from my blog visits.
I will try to update my blog from my travels. Please keep me in your prayers.