WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.050
.

00:00:01.950 --> 00:00:05.650
When I tell people I’m a missionary,
I get all kinds of questions.

00:00:05.650 --> 00:00:09.113
People ask,
“What kind of missionary are you?”

00:00:09.113 --> 00:00:13.242
Or they want to know exactly
what it is a missionary does.

00:00:13.242 --> 00:00:16.537
Or a lot of times,
people will say, “A missionary?

00:00:16.537 --> 00:00:18.330
Here? You mean, that’s really a thing?”

00:00:18.330 --> 00:00:22.950
Well, there’s 281-million lost people
in the U-S and Canada.

00:00:22.950 --> 00:00:25.212
So yeah. It’s a thing.

00:00:25.212 --> 00:00:27.715
But there’s one question
no one’s ever asked me.

00:00:27.715 --> 00:00:28.924
And I wish they would.

00:00:28.924 --> 00:00:32.094
No one’s ever asked,
“Where’s the finish line?”

00:00:32.094 --> 00:00:33.971
That’s the question I want to hear:

00:00:33.971 --> 00:00:36.682
“What does ‘mission accomplished’
look like?”

00:00:36.682 --> 00:00:40.686
You can watch videos
about North American missionaries like me.

00:00:40.686 --> 00:00:43.500
You can read stories about us.
And you can pray for us.

00:00:43.500 --> 00:00:46.650
But don’t get so caught up in the methods
and minutiae of what we do

00:00:46.650 --> 00:00:48.652
that you miss the main thing.

00:00:48.652 --> 00:00:51.197
Everything you see and hear
and read about us

00:00:51.197 --> 00:00:53.074
is really just a means to an end.

00:00:53.074 --> 00:00:57.000
We start churches to make Jesus known.

00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.747
We meet needs to make Jesus known.

00:00:59.747 --> 00:01:03.209
We move to unfamiliar places,
we meet unreached people,

00:01:03.209 --> 00:01:08.255
and we attempt unrealistic things…
just to make Jesus known.

00:01:08.255 --> 00:01:11.217
There’s nothing more important than that.

00:01:11.217 --> 00:01:12.927
Nada.

00:01:12.927 --> 00:01:14.804
Nothing at all.

00:01:14.804 --> 00:01:17.014
Jesus said, “Go into all the world

00:01:17.014 --> 00:01:20.643
and proclaim the gospel
to the whole creation.”

00:01:20.643 --> 00:01:24.522
And so
that’s what our finish line looks like.

00:01:24.522 --> 00:01:28.609
It looks like obedience.
Same as your finish line.

00:01:28.609 --> 00:01:31.946
God speaks.
You give. We go.

00:01:31.946 --> 00:01:36.242
Everything starts with your gifts
to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

00:01:36.242 --> 00:01:40.621
Those gifts enable us to go to places
where the gospel’s never been.

00:01:40.621 --> 00:01:43.290
And this is
where we cross our finish line.

00:01:43.290 --> 00:01:47.461
This is where, together,
we make Jesus known.