“How do we plant a church?” “The answer is as simple as it is difficult to actually employ: “We plant a church in the same way that we pastor a church. We do the work of an evangelist, we disciple converts in the context of a growing community of faith, and we train leaders until they are qualified to lead their own people as elders.”

Missions are born out of the local church and with the purpose of establishing a church(es)…any other means or goal is not biblical missions…not primarily but exclusively the role of the church...parachurch ministries under the oversight of the local church can assist but is not the means...no other body has authority from Christ to send but the local church

I. Identifying and Training Leaders: Moses-Joshua, Elijah-Elisha, Paul-Timothy…Seminary and Bible Schools can assist but should not be handed over totem (Matt. 9:36-38; Eph. 4:11-16)…Evangelist, Pastors, Teachers (church planter is the pastor of a young church)

“Missionary work and theological reflection about the gospel depend on one another. Christian communities are, or become, centers of missionary work only if their leaders and their individual members are involved in understanding, explaining and proclaiming the gospel.” -Eckhard Schnabel

II. Ordain, Send, and Oversee (2 Tim. 2:2; 5:22; Acts 13:1-4; 14:26-27)…Jesus was sent (John 3:16-17; Jesus sent Apostles/Disciples (John 20:20-21), missionaries are sent by churches today (Acts 13:1-4)…men that are qualified based on (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9)…

III. Sending and Caring: Financial Support, Prayers, Visits:  (Phil. 4:18; 3 John 5-8)

I'm glad that you've chosen on this beautiful day not to enjoy the sunshine, but to come to God's house to worship. I'd like to turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and read verses 14 through 16. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long. But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness.

He was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up into glory. So Paul here gives the very focus, the point of his writing the letter, is that Timothy will know how to conduct or to behave himself in God's house. Of God's house, he says, it belongs to the Lord. It's the church of the living God, and it's the pillar and support of the truth. So the church has been given this treasure, the gospel, to make it known, to protect it, to proclaim it.

And then he gives a short confession of faith. Jesus revealed in the flesh, vindicated to the Spirit, seen by angels, then proclaimed among the nations." Jesus has been proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. So you see from what Paul has written, I trust, the importance of the local church, The importance of the local church in reference to the truth, the gospel, the word of God. The church is the organism that God has chosen to make his word known to mankind, to the nations. The church is not a primary means to make the truth known, it is God's exclusive means.

Someone may ask, what about parachurch ministries? In fact, I minister in a parachurch ministry, but it's a ministry that is under the oversight of a local church that does not supplant the local church. The local church is the exclusive means that God has chosen to make his word known, to call out men and women to faith, to edify them in the faith. So this morning, let's begin with the local churches that the factory of the Great Commission, and again, from the very title, we see expressed God's purpose and plan for the church, the local church. Someone asked, how do we plant a church?

Then the answer is as simple as it is difficult to employ. We plant a church in the same manner that we pastor a church. See, this isn't rocket science. We plant a church in the same way that we pastor a church. We do the work of an evangelist, we disciple converts in the context of a growing community of faith, and we train leaders until they are qualified to lead their own people as elders.

It's that simple. Now I want you to know this morning I come before you, I have not, I confess to you, I have not read modern missiology practices and goals. I come to you as a man that has been set aside by a local church as an elder, and what I know about missions is primarily through the study of God's Word, and thankfully by rubbing shoulders with men who have studied missions from the Word of God. And I'm convinced that the local church is the factory of the Great Commission. It is the chosen means that God has determined to make His glory known to the nations through the proclamation of the gospel.

The church is the people of God that the Lord has chosen to edify believers, to mature them in the faith. So missions is born out of a local church and with the purpose of establishing churches. So missions is born out of a local church and what is the purpose to plant churches? So missions, the study of missions is looking at God's Word and understanding how we get from one church to another church, how we see one church mature and develop so that men can be sent out and local churches can be replicated as the gospel goes forth, as the Great Commission is fulfilled in local churches planting or establishing local churches. So that's what I mean by the factor of the Great Commission being the local church or local churches, God's purpose to fulfill the Great Commission through local churches.

And this morning, we want to notice in particular how God does this through raising up missionaries or leaders and that's going to be the focus. I really don't have time to get into how God uses mercy ministries, how God uses on the field doctors and nurses and establishing orphanages, other than to say, when you see Mercy Ministries, I believe again, they should, those that go forth in Mercy Ministries, should be approved by the local church that they're going out from. And the purpose on the field is to strengthen that local church that is being established. So everything is going to center upon the church. In fact, when I speak of missions, I'm primarily talking about ecclesiology.

I believe missions is a very important topic that comes under the rubric, under the heading of ecclesiology. Ecclesiology is the study of the church. And I don't think missiology, the study of missions and ecclesiology should be distinct and separated one from the other. Missiology should come under the study of the church. So this morning I'm going to talk primarily about men that God raises up to send forth to preach the gospel.

Now what kind of men are we talking about? Turn to Ephesians chapter four. Now again, I'm trying to approach this biblically. If I was given the Bible, that's all I had, and I was commanded to develop a plan omissions completely by the Bible. What would be the criteria or criterion that I would develop strictly from the Word of God, the Bible.

And I believe Ephesians chapter 4 teaches us something about missions and how we are to identify and train leaders. Well, we have to understand what a missionary is. What does a missionary do? Well, the word missionary simply means one that is sent, one that is sent out. But who is the missionary?

Let me ask you this question this morning. What offices are in the church today that God has called to build up the body, to expand his kingdom? What would be the biblical terms that we would use? We might say, well, a church planter. Well, really, a church planter is just a pastor that's pastoring a young church.

You might say a missionary. And I don't want to try and, you know, argue over terms. Certainly, there is principles from the scripture that would cause us to say, this is what a missionary is. This is who he is. I'm talking about biblically.

How would we define who a missionary is? Well, in Ephesians chapter four, let's pick up in verse seven. But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives and he gave gifts unto men. Now this expression, he ascended, what does it mean?

Except that he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth he who descended is himself also he who ascended far above all the heavens so that he might fill all things now that's speaking of Jesus right you see that Jesus is the one that descended to earth from heaven in the virgin birth, God made manifest in the flesh. He was buried and afterwards he ascended back to heaven. He was raised from the dead. He was made Lord in Christ. He was exalted to be the head over the church.

And he, Jesus, gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers. Now the gifts or the offices of the apostles and prophets, They were revelatory gifts. They were given by God to establish the foundation of the church. They received revelation directly from God. And we have their inspired, inherent teaching in the Bible.

So we don't have the offices of apostles and prophets today. In fact, we don't need apostles and prophets, the offices, because we have apostles and prophets in the Word of God. So we have the foundation, the Word of God, the apostles and prophets have laid this foundation. So today in the church, we have Evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Those are the three offices.

So when I think of a missionary, I think of one that has the gifting that's qualified to fulfill these offices, the evangelist. The one who has a heart for spreading the good news of Christ and edifying the body of Christ by helping train other evangelists. An evangelist is one who has made his life study the gospel. So you understand the gospel is not simply this elementary ABCs of Christianity that you are converted through, and then you move on to bigger and better things. Friends, you and I will spend all eternity delving into the gracious abyss of the gospel and we will never fully comprehend how God has redeemed sinners through his son.

So the evangelist makes his life study the gospel And he is able to articulate the gospel. If you want to understand more about the evangelist, then study the life of Philip. The qualifications of Philip are found in Acts chapter six. You find more about Philip in Acts chapter eight and Acts chapter 21. He was a man that understood the gospel.

He was a man that could expound the scripture to articulate the gospel when he did so with the experience of the eunuch, the eunuch from Ethiopia. He was able to expound Isaiah chapter 53. So an evangelist is not simply, you know, this guy, he's kind of a lone wolf. That's sometimes how evangelists are pictured. He's this lone wolf.

He's this guy that's, you know, dropped into Asia and he's got dreadlocks and he's walking around and he doesn't understand what propitiation is. He doesn't understand, You know, the beauty, the depths of the gospel. He knows Jesus died for sinners and God loves the world. That's what he knows. That's about as far as he can expound the scriptures.

We thank God for God's people who are young in the faith. But my friends, an evangelist is one that has made the gospel his life study, and he can teach the gospel. And he can teach the gospel with power and grace. Wherever you find Philip teaching or proclaiming the gospel, there's always joy associated with this proclamation. So an evangelist has been given to the church, and then pastors and teachers.

There's been discussion whether the pastor and teacher is at the same office or two different offices. Whether it is or it isn't, I believe both are found in the church, and there's a lot of overlap between the two. But if it is two different offices, the qualifications for both are the same. They must be mature men that fit the qualifications of 1 Timothy chapter 3. And when you find God calling a missionary, he will fit one of these three.

And in fact, among these three giftings, you will find overlap. Now, the evangelist, he's primarily the one that proclaims the gospel. He's used by God to bring people to faith, but not outside of the local church. He brings people to faith so that they might come into the community of believers and be strengthened and edified by the pastors and teachers. So he's not a lone wolf, he's not working outside of the local church, he's working in cooperation with the pastor.

And in fact, to some degree, he has to have the ability of a pastor and a teacher, even though his primary focus is evangelism. The same way with the pastor. His primary function is to build up and strengthen the local body, those that have come to faith, but at the same time, he does do the work of an evangelist. He is involved in evangelism, but the thrust of his ministry is to building up the body and training other elders. So the evangelists, pastors, and teachers are given for what purpose?

Verse 12, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of their faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." So the missionary or the evangelist, pastor, and teacher has been given by Christ to the church. And they have been given to the church to build up the church, to strengthen the church. This is the reason missiology or missions is a church endeavor. It does not take place outside of the church. It's God's design to work through the local body so that people come to faith.

And once they come to faith, they are strengthened and edified by the body. Now, notice the Evangelists, the pastors, and teachers, they're equipping the saints so that the saints then can minister to one another. That's how the whole church is involved in missions. As the evangelist preaches the gospel and people are converted, they come into the local body. And the church is built up by the pastor proclaiming the word, the teacher proclaiming the word.

And as the church grows in maturity and understanding, They begin to minister one to another. So the evangelist, pastor, and teacher, they are not designed by God to do all the work of ministry. They are to equip the church for ministry so that you men, You can meet together with other men during the week, during lunch, or sometime over the weekend and you can ask one another, how is your soul? Are you spending time in God's word holding one another accountable? Young men teaching, older men teaching younger men.

The same way with the older sisters, the aged women edifying and strengthening, the young women caring for one another. That's how we're all involved in missions because missions is simply the maturing, the establishment and the maturing of local churches. So the evangelists, the pastors, teachers, what we can say, missionaries, They are for the purpose of strengthening the body so that the body ultimately, in verse 16, can strengthen and edify one another. It is from Christ, the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building of itself in love. So this morning, as you consider your responsibility in the local church, it's to build one another up.

It's to encourage one another in the faith. Talk to one another about what God has been doing in your life, what God has been showing you in his Word. Be willing to find those that you can have confidence in, that you can open up to about your struggles, being real with one another. That's what happens in the context of a local body. Sometimes we put on this spiritual facade, don't we?

Everything's great, everything's well, when oftentimes our heart is broken, our children are straying, we're having difficulty communicating in our marriages, Our hearts grow spiritually cold, we're struggling with some particular sin, and we try to hide it. We put on this facade, everything is well, I'm this great Christian, I've got it all together. Instead of being able to share life with one another so that we might be encouraged and strengthened and held accountable and build up and mature and become more like Jesus. It's how you are involved in the Great Commission. It's by being a devoted, committed member at the very least of a local church.

So missions is born out of the local church for the purpose of planting other biblical churches. All right, so first of all, that's my long introduction, but the point is, the focus of this message is the missionary fulfilling one of these three offices. Much more to missions, and we'll try to get to that in the next message, but I want to primarily focus on who the missionary is and how the church plays a part in the missionaries' calling. So first of all, in order for the church to be the factor of the Great Commission, Missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and teachers have to be identified and trained. The primary incubator for missionaries, again, is the local church.

That doesn't mean that the church cannot use seminaries or Bible schools. In fact, you have one fairly close to your local church, so that'll be ideal if a man wants to pursue education in that way and the elders are committed to that. It's a great opportunity. See what happens sometimes when the church relinquishes the training of men and they go off to seminary, if that man comes back he's not going to be the same man. He's going to become a part of another local body, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse.

But he's going to come back different. He's going to be in a church setting that's going to be possibly different from yours. Is it going to be a healthy church? So, he's going to come back different oftentimes than the way he went away. But whether seminary or Bible schools are used, we must understand that the primary ministry for identifying and training leaders is the local church.

Oftentimes this comes in a mentor-mentee relationship. Think of some of the mentor-mentee relationships in the Bible. How about Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha. We come to the New Testament, Paul and Timothy, Paul and Titus. If seminaries or Bible schools are used, the church cannot relinquish these men to the schools.

They must continue to play a very important part in their life. First of all, identifying these men, and that's where biblical elders are vital. See where it's going back to again? Church, local church. Because local churches have biblical elders, or they should have biblical qualified elders that can help identify men that have a calling from God, that have been gifted to preach the gospel, to minister to God's people.

See education is not enough. Education cannot make a pastor, teacher, evangelist. I believe, I believe the Bible teaches there is a calling, there is an inner calling, there is a gifting that can come only from God. That's the reason Matthew chapter 9, that's one of the reasons We see the importance of praying to the Lord because you and I, we cannot make a pastor. We cannot manufacture a pastor.

We identify pastors. We help train pastors. But Just because a man is ordained to the office doesn't mean that he has the gifting. In fact, you find sometimes in struggling little churches, you know, they become desperate. We don't have a pastor.

So they look out, well, You know, Brother So-and-so, he reads his Bible. So there may come a pastor. Well, every Christian should read the Bible, but we need to identify those that have been gifted by God. And only God can call a man into the ministry. So in Matthew chapter nine and verse 36, Jesus seeing the people, he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord the harvest to send out workers into his harvest." That God would be the one who would call men into the ministry. That God would equip men with this gifting so that they can preach the gospel, proclaim the Word of God, and edify and build up the body. What elders and the church, they identify. They identify.

Theologians oftentimes have referred to an inner calling and an external calling. The internal calling is from God. The external calling is the church recognizing that gift and setting that man aside and ordaining him to the office. The church recognizing that this man has the gifting to proclaim the gospel, to teach the word of God, and to shepherd and care for the flock. So the men are identified, and then they are trained.

They are trained. So, the best training comes in the context of the local body. The pastors pouring their life into men that have this gifting. And in fact, that's what will be replicated on the mission field. I've developed a relationship with a cross-cultural missionary in Cambodia.

Very dear brother. In fact, he's praying for this meeting today. And I don't want to seem as if I'm knocking the mission efforts at large. But friends, there's some silly stuff that's going on under the name of missions. It's not biblical.

Well, this brother was sent out by his local church to Cambodia to help establish churches and to train men in the ministry. And he keeps running into missionaries and they think he's a rebel because he was sent out by a local church to plant local churches. Something's wrong. Something's wrong. I've been greatly encouraged as I see him pouring his life into nine men who have the gifting to pastor.

Initially he was going throughout Cambodia with a translator. He was preaching to village after village, and the Lord was blessing that, but he came to the conclusion, if I'm going to impact the church here in Cambodia, if I'm really going to make a difference, I need to begin to pour my life, my life into nine men. Now some people would think, wow, there's so much to be done. Spending your time with just a few men, that seems like you're not being a good steward of time and resources. Brothers and sisters, If a missionary or a pastor, a teacher, an evangelist, if he can be instrumental in pouring his life into one man and helping establish one biblical healthy church where there's not one, that's monumental.

So some people say, well, you know, we've been planting, you know, hundreds and hundreds of churches over the last couple of years here in this country. Praise God, but I'm suspicious because of the silly stuff that's going on. And what I want you to know, I want you to know this about missions, I want you to know this about your local church. If you pour your life, if you are able to pour your life and just to a few people and those people impact the kingdom of God, I believe on that great day when you stand before Christ you can be assured that Jesus Christ will commend you. Commend you.

Planting one church where there hasn't been a church for 2, 000 years, that's huge. That is big. Because some people think, well, we've got to plant hundreds of churches if we're going to make an impact. When you plant one church where there's never been a church, that is of eternal consequence. That's huge.

But it begins with the church identifying and training leaders in the context of a local body and also when it comes to missionaries identifying and training leaders. And then once those men are identified and they are properly trained, by training they're able to proclaim the gospel. They understand the word of God. They can teach. By being trained, I mean they fit the qualifications of 1 Timothy chapter 3.

What are the qualifications for a missionary? Well, someone says they're somebody that's young, they've got a lot of zeal, they don't have enough sense to know any better. No, no, no. Oh my. The qualifications for a missionary, If the missionary is primarily the evangelist, pastor, teacher, will be the qualifications that are found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1.

So the church identifies those men. They are trained up as leaders and then they are set aside or ordained to the office. They are sent out by the local church, and the local church continues to oversee that man or those men. So here's the qualifications in 1 Timothy chapter 3. I don't think we...these are not things that we can negotiate with.

These are non-negotiables. These are non-negotiables. You say, but there's so much to be done in the world, we need to get on a quicker pace. See some people think that the problem with missions is the local church. I'm serious, some people think that.

You know, the local church is a hindrance to missions because the local church gets in the way. We could do things a lot quicker, a lot faster if we could just circumvent the local church. My friends, that's pragmatism. Biblically, what does the Bible teach? Here's the qualifications for a missionary.

1 Timothy 3, 1, it is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, It is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?

And not a new convert so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil, and he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Now, somebody says, yeah, but that's the qualification for an overseer or a pastor. We're talking about missionaries, and this is where the church gets in trouble. Okay, what are the qualifications for a missionary? Because we're saying the missionary is something different from the evangelist, pastor, teacher.

His qualifications are different. Well, in fact, 1 Timothy 3 is simply the description of a mature Christian, a mature Christian who has the ability to teach. So just because someone has a lot of zeal and they're ready to get out on the mission field doesn't mean they're ready. Much harm can be done to that person and to the church if a person that does not fit the qualifications is sent out. These are the qualifications.

These are the non-negotiables. Think about a cross-cultural missionary that's going to the field where there's no gospel, there's no church. The people group that he is ministering to and among, they're going to take on his theology, his Christology, his ecclesiology, And that teaching is going to spread among that people group. Think about that. If he's the only missionary there, he's going to impact A whole people group, maybe an entire nation.

So we're dealing with some really serious stuff here. Does he meet the qualifications? Notice what Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5, the church needs to take this very serious. The elders that send a man out, they must be sure that this man is ready Because if He's not, they will be responsible for His error and His sin, partly. First Timothy 5 and 21 Or 22, do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others.

Keep yourself free from sin. So we don't hastily lay our hands on this missionary because he's not ready. We will bear the responsibility of the sin. Brothers and sisters, we're talking about standing before Christ one day and giving an account for what we've done. So the missionary has to meet the qualifications of the pastor, of the teacher.

He's got to be able to understand the Word of God and to teach it. Now, obviously, that doesn't mean that there's not...you know, he's reached a place where he doesn't learn anymore. None of us have. All of us continue to learn, but he's got to meet the qualifications. He's got to be sound in his theology.

The church has to know that, that he has a grasp of the gospel, that he understands the word of God, that he understands systematic theology. He ought to have some understanding about church history because oftentimes what you find in church history is just heresy is repeated. So church history can be helpful, identifying this heresy and how it was combated. Notice also in Titus chapter 1, the qualifications of an elder. So Paul left Titus and Crete that he should set in order what remained, Titus 1 verse 5, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you." Primarily the same qualifications come down to verse 9 rather than being able to teach, here's how Paul describes it to Titus, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort and sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

So he has to have this level of spiritual biblical maturity before he is sent out. And then he is sent out by the church. The church is the exclusive sending agency for missionaries. We have a wonderful expression of this in Acts Chapter 13, when the church at Antioch sends out these two immature fledgling Christians called Barnabas and Saul, I'm being facetious, They sent out the very best. That's the church, that they are willing to send out their very best.

Why? Because of their love for God and their love for the perishing. So in Acts 13 Verse 2, while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they're being sent out by the Holy Spirit.

Well, who sent them out? The Holy Spirit of the church. Yes, both. The Holy Spirit directing through the church. The church sent them out.

The church sent these men out with authority. The church recognizing their gifting. So then Acts chapter 14, they understood their accountability to the church. When they returned from their mission trip, in verse 26 of Acts 14, they sell to Antioch from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. So the church sends them out and the church cares for them.

I've got three minutes so I'm gonna say this real quick. You know, I'm not saying that this is wrong or sinful, It's not, but sometimes what our churches do, so this man has a calling to go into the mission field, the elders recognize it, and they say, all right, we want you to take a couple of months off and we want you to raise support. But first off, the local church ought to be involved in supporting that man. And if a church cannot fully care for that man, the elders of that body should call around other trusted elders and talk to those elders and to their churches about some men that are very capable in their body that they're sending out. So that this person doesn't have to go through this awkward program of just kind of calling people up out of the blue and saying, I need your support.

Let the elders help in that. Let the elders call up other elders and say, we've got a man here, we trust him, We have complete confidence in him, you know, because there is a place in the New Testament where sister churches labor together in sending out men and helping men. But the local church, when they send a man out, they're saying, we approve of this man and we're going to do our best to support the man. So turn to 3 John. Verse 5, beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren and especially when they are strangers and they have testified to your love before the church, you do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God, in a way that's worthy of God.

That means you're going to help them financially to the best of your ability, in a way that is worthy to the Lord. That means you're going to continue to care for them. When a missionary is sent out by a local church, the elders need to continue to be a part of his life. The church needs to be praying for those missionaries. The elders ought to be visiting those men to encourage them.

The local church, see the beautiful responsibility that we have, the opportunity as the factory of the Great Commission. Church be praying that God would raise up men in your own body. Parents pray that. Say, well, I want little Johnny to live right here beside me the rest of his life. Well, that's good, but maybe there's something that God has in store for Johnny that's moving to another city, maybe moving across the ocean.

Johnny, if you want to live by mom and dad, that's all right. I'm not knocking Johnny for that. But what I am saying is let's not be so selfish that we don't want to give what we love away in God's service to the expansion of his kingdom. So the church, it's the exclusive means that God has ordained in the Great Commission, a church birthing missionaries and sending them out what for to plant other local churches. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for the local church. We thank you that You have bought the church with your own precious blood. God, we pray that you would give us a love for the local church, that you would help us to behave in such a way that we would give you honor and glory. God, we do pray that you would raise up men, that they would be sent out into the harvest. God, the harvest truly is plenteous.

God, 3.1 billion people without the gospel. God, would you please, we pray, give men that burden, give the men the ability, and help us to support those that you call. We pray in Christ's name and amen.