The Ends of the Earth

Today is PENTECOST - the birthday of the Church. Read more here about the meaning of Pentecost.


Read the story of Pentecost from the second chapter of Acts.


This amazing day - when 3000 new believers were baptized - was the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise found in Acts 1:8 -- where Jesus told the believers:

ACTS 1:8. You will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere -- in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.


Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, uses this verse as a template for becoming a "World Class Christian" and a "World Class Church."

JERUSALEM represents your closest acquaintances - friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors.

JUDEA represents your county, your geographic region, including people you don't know.

SAMARIA represents people of a differenct culture, language, or ethnic group than yourself.

THE ENDS OF THE EARTH represents...well...the ends of the earth! No limits to the ministry God places on your heart.

A worldly Christian looks at faith primarily from the point of view of personal fulfillment.

A world-class Christian is eager to be used by God -- however, whenever, wherever!!

So where do you stand in relationship to becoming a World Class Christian?

Have you participated in a missions trip in another country?

Have you made a significant financial contribution to help someone else to go on such a trip?

Do you pray regularly for anyone in another country.


Read here about international mission projects in our conference.


Read here about medical mission projects.


Read here about domestic mission projects.


Read the stories about 21st century missionaries - at work around the world! Browse some of the biographies (note these are listed alphabetically, and there are additional pages beyond this one). Adopt at least one missionary to being praying for on a daily basis.


Read some of these "Hallelujah Moments," celebrations of God at work in global mission!


Read this article by Rick Warren, "The Great Commission: Starting Where You Are in Your Life Mission."

Have You Checked Your Porch Lately?

Sometimes we can be real, real busy doing church work and miss an opportunity on our own front porch.

Read this story (Acts 3:1-10) of what happened to Peter and John as they were on their way to the temple one afternoon for prayer.

Did you notice that the account is careful to mention that Peter and John "looked intently" at the man who was begging for money?

Then Peter told the man to look up at them.

How often is it that "hurting people" hanging out on the porch of the temple are invisible to our eyes?

Notice what Peter had to offer the man. Surely he thought he was in for a nice, generous donation! But God had something else in store for him, as Peter told the man, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”


Peter "took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him." (Acts 3:7-10, nrsv)

How many times is there a need "right in our own backyard" that we easily overlook?

Are there times that we tend to respond with a little bit of silver or gold (a financial donation) when God may have something so much greater to offer through us?

The Bible tells us that "ministry on the porch" became a regular part of the life of these early followers of Christ:

ACTS 5:12 (cev). All of the Lord's followers often met in the part of the temple known as Solomon's Porch.

How might our church family be faithful in mission both globally as well as "right in our own backyard?"

Open your eyes as you go around your community. What opportunities for ministry do you see?


PROVERBS 17:19 (tniv). Whoever builds a high gate invites destruction.

Are there ways that God's people sometimes build a gate too high and leave people out?

Archeologists have found a sign in the ruins of the temple that said: “No foreigner is to go beyond this point. Whoever is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his death which will follow.”

Surely no church would ever put up a sign these days. But are there more "subtle signs" that we give to the world around us that say "past this point you dare not go."


Read this message - "Power to Heal" - by Ray Stedman, for another perspective on the story in Acts 3:1-10.


A Methodist church in Georgia has begun a special focus ministry called "Solomon's Porch." Check out their website here. Why might they have picked the name "Solomon's Porch?"

How Open Is YOUR Door?

On Mother's Day, it is appropriate to remember that one of the ways the Bible teaches us to open our doors is in our own homes.


LUKE 13:35-36 (nlt). Be dressed for service, and well prepared, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks.

LUKE 14:12-13 (nlt). When you put on a luncheon or a banquet, don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

HEBREWS 13:1-2 (nlt). Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!

1 PETER 4:9 (nrsv). Be hospitable to one another without complaining.

ACTS 2:46-47 (cev). Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, while praising God.


We can see that home-based hospitality goes hand in hand with a Sunday morning emphasis on hospitality at church. In a society of gated communities and private back porches, this may be needed more than ever.


Randy Frazee writes about how churches today sometimes miss the joys of simple home-based hospitality:

In the early church, people didn’t get on their camels to go to Bethany to worship. We have adults who seem to have suffered a spiritual stroke. They go to church, but they have forgotten that wonderful sense of hanging out, that basic expression of fellowship in their neighborhoods.

Read here this article about how Frazee is helping the huge megachurch Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago area is using simple meal gatherings in homes as a way to fulfill the call to make disciples of Jesus Christ!


Sunday School expert Josh Hunt writes about the power of "giving your Friday nights to Jesus":

Fasten your seat belt, friend, because this is the most high powered approach we have. I do not know anything that works better than giving Friday nights to Jesus. Giving Friday nights to Jesus will reach more people in less time than any method I know. In fact, if you give Friday nights to Jesus and your class does not double in two years or less, it probably can't be done. The really unbelievable thing is that giving Friday nights to Jesus is more fun than Six Flags.

Read the rest of the article here on giving your Friday nights to Jesus!


"A Christian home is a miracle to be shared!" This statement comes from Karen Mains, who wrote the book Open Heart, Open Home. Karen believes that a hospitable family can change its neighborhood and a hospitable church can change its community. Just inviting folk to dinner can become an evangelistic act. Mains insists that the acts of warm invitation and true welcome are God-like and can reap surprising spiritual fruit.

Read more about what Karen Mains has to say at this link.


TRY THIS: Do a Google search for the phrase "radical hospitality" - you will find a lot of interesting, thought-provoking stuff!