When I left pastoral ministry to become the president of Reach Beyond, I asked God to give me a vision and passion around which I could frame the rest of my life. The more I begged God for clarity, the more he impressed on me the vision of John:

I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing: Salvation to our God on his Throne! Salvation to the Lamb! (Revelation 7:9-10 MSG)

Today, there are somewhere around 700 million Jesus-followers in the world. According to missiologists, more of John’s vision has been realized in the last 100 years, than in all previous centuries combined. Every day, 74,000 new believers enter the Kingdom. (I can’t say that all these folks are genuine disciples…but they do confess the name of Christ).

Every day, I wonder if John’s vision will be fulfilled in my lifetime.  (I hope and pray so)

In spite of all the amazing Great Commission gains, we still have our work cut out for us! While there are many places where the Church is strong and thriving, there are many other places where the Church is fragile or non-existent. There are still 1900 ‘tribes’ (of more than 100,000 people) that don’t have an indigenous Church that’s strong enough to reach their own. With less than 2 Jesus-followers for every 100 people, they still need outside help to reach their own. Of those 1900, there are 645 ethnic groups that still don’t have a church, a Bible, or any known Gospel witness at all.

We can change that! With God’s help, we can ensure that there will be representatives from every nation, tribe, race, and language worshipping before the throne.

God has given us powerful and dynamic tools that are capable of crossing all geographical, cultural, and religious boundaries. Through our vast network of media, agency, and church partners, we have access to millions of Jesus followers that we can inspire and catalyze to help finish the task.

Could John’s vision be realized in our lifetime? YES!

Does God want to use us? YES!

Are we ready and willing? YES! Let’s do this!

You are loved,

Steve

Resources:

Great Commission Action Guide: downloadable

International Day for the Unreached: dayfortheunreached.org

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