A New Kingdom Adventure

Message Transcription

Karl Ihfe: Good morning, church. It is good to be with you. Uh, this passage, Matthew 28, has been so important to our church family for years and years. Uh, it's been what's inspired us to take on the opportunities and the challenges of taking the gospel and sharing it all over the world. And so we are excited to get to tell you a little bit about that. Over these next couple of weeks. I've invited a few of my friends here who serve on missions committee. I'm going to have them introduce themselves here in just a second, to tell you a little bit more about them and how they've gotten connected with missions, but I want to challenge you to be listening for opportunities. How might God be calling you to partner with us as we seek to share the gospel, to partner with like minded ministries all over the world, here in Lubbock and around the globe. Uh, to build and strengthen and multiply, uh, God's kingdom work in the world. So as we begin, let me just invite my friends here, tell us a little about who you are and, um, what role you play on missions, and we'll get to how you're connected to it in just a minute. But please introduce yourselves. Holly will start with you.

Holly Robbins: My name is Holly Robins, and I am the chair of the missions committee at Broadway. And I am a second generation missions committee member. My father also served. Earlier in the 80s. That's right, that's right.

Karl Ihfe: And Holly serves as our chair of our committee. Joseph, you're doing your best Gary Backus impersonation this morning. So, Gary, Gary has a cough and didn't want to stand here and cough in front of you all morning. So Joseph, entertaining.

Joseph Ellis: As that would be.

Karl Ihfe: That's right. Yeah.

Joseph Ellis: So I'm Joseph Ellis. Um, I've been a member of the committee for several years now. A few years, a handful of years. Um, and now I'm also one of the elders that helps oversee the committee.

Karl Ihfe: Perfect. All right. Thank you.

Brian Sherrill: Brian, I'm Brian. Sheryl.

Karl Ihfe: Not Brian Fisher, not Brian, though Brian Fisher is a great guy to be.

Brian Sherrill: If you were to confuse me with any. Brian. Brian Fisher is great.

Karl Ihfe: Absolutely right.

Brian Sherrill: Yes. Brian. Right.

Karl Ihfe: But you are Brian, Cheryl and Cheryl.

Brian Sherrill: Yes.

Karl Ihfe: Yeah. Tell what role do you play on missions?

Brian Sherrill: So I played member of the missions committee. Uh, I help out with all things kind of tech related. Yes. Uh, and that's really it. Okay.

Karl Ihfe: All right. Great. Well, uh. Valued member. Valued. Very valuable member. Brian works in the IT industry, in the real world. And he brings that wisdom and expertise to help us with missions. So, uh, let's talk a little bit about missions and, uh, how you got involved in it. I know some of you have long family roots, um, as part of the committee, but also just curious for you what drew you to be a part of mission? How did you get connected to missions at Broadway? And, uh, Brian, can I pick on you first this time? And we'll come back this way.

Brian Sherrill: I was sitting at my house. The phone rang and it was Holly Robbins. And Holly said, Brian, I've signed you up to be on the missions committee. That's literally it. Okay. I was at she did ask if I would serve. She did. I prayerfully considered it. Um, and I decided to join and I'm so thankful that I did. I've learned in so much about what we're doing here at Broadway. But more than that, what God is doing around the world. Uh, and that's been very eye opening to me. I've always been very sheltered and very Texan. Not even American Texan. Uh, in my thinking and my way of thinking. And so getting to see what God's doing globally, uh, is just absolutely mind blowing.

Karl Ihfe: So what you're saying is you weren't a missions expert. By no means joined the committee. Okay.

Brian Sherrill: All right.

Karl Ihfe: Very Texan. Okay. All right. Uh, Joseph, can you rescue us here?

Joseph Ellis: Those are excused. Yeah. Like exclusive. You can't be a Texan.

Brian Sherrill: And missions that were exclusive. I'm just saying very sheltered.

Joseph Ellis: Yes. So for me, my call, uh, came from Tim Talley. So if you see Tim Talley coming toward you, be be thankful for one thing, because Tim's great. Brace yourself. Because he might be coming. And to tell you that, you know, you would be a really great fit for this ministry, this thing. Um, and, and somehow in our conversations, uh, that came up and, uh, he said that I would be a good addition to the team. And I said, well, okay. And and similar to Brian, I am I am not a missions expert. It's not something that has been at the forefront of my mind. Um, but I wanted to help and join the team. Cool.

Karl Ihfe: Thanks, Jess. Holly, what about you?

Holly Robbins: Okay, well, first of all, if you see my name pop up on your cell phone, or if you see a member of the missions committee walking towards you, please don't run from us. Um, I have, growing up at Broadway, I went to every mission trip that the youth did. I watched my family, my father, participate in missions. But my true love for missions probably started when we went to Ecuador with our oldest son and in every way, shape and form, by human standards, that trip should have been an absolute disaster. But our God is so much bigger than we could ever imagine. And because of him, our trip was truly successful, not only for the people that we got to bless, but also for ourselves. And just watching that and experiencing it is just mind changing and life changing. So that's really how my true love and passion for mission started.

Karl Ihfe: So picking up on that theme, Holly, and we'll kind of keep working back the other way as you think about being a part of missions and now getting to learn about what we do and how we're involved in the different partnerships that we have. How have you seen God at work in our mission points around the world? How have you seen his hand moving and blessing and and his kingdom growing?

Holly Robbins: Randy and I were able to visit the Dixons in Greece this past August. And if you look at the Dixons and their ministry, Satan has thrown so many roadblocks in their way. In the last several years, Brad has had several health scares. They're raising children in a culture that is very different from the Texan culture, very and just other things that are going on. But because of God and all the power that he has, the Dixons and their team have baptized over 100 people in the last calendar year. So it's because of God? Yeah. Amazing.

Karl Ihfe: Pretty. Pretty remarkable, isn't it? Yeah.

Brian Sherrill: Uh, Joseph, real quick, can I piggyback on that, please? The people that that the Dixons are baptizing, the vast majority of them are not Greek. They're people that are being displaced to Greek because of other things happening across the world. And so one of the things that I've been fortunate enough to learn is about what what's happening and what God's doing in the world. And when you look at everything that's going on and a lot of it, what you're going to hear is very bad. And it is. War is not good, it's very bad. But what God is doing is a result of that is pretty much a fruit basket turnover as far as where people are winding up and the people that the Dixons are getting to baptize and to spread the news and love of God and of Jesus Christ, are people that never would have heard this message because of where they came from. So it is truly powerful. What's happening for the Dixons in Greece and the people they're getting to interact and work with?

Karl Ihfe: Yeah, this amazing work of refugees being displaced by war and other things. Many have come never hearing the gospel, only maybe hearing the name of Jesus, but not even knowing much beyond that. And getting to introduce to him has been pretty amazing. Uh, Joseph, what about for you? How have you seen God at work in our mission points around the world?

Joseph Ellis: So for me, one of the, um, central tenets or big, uh, item in my mind that I want to emphasize and be a part of is, is the teaching and spreading of the Word of God. Um, I like to teach Sunday school classes, things like that. Um, and so for me, the idea of what the Harrisons are doing with translating the Word of God into languages that have into which the Bible has not been translated previously, and in fact, in some cases, languages that don't have a written form, even in to develop a written form of a language and translate God's Word into that new written down language, I think is just tremendous. My goodness gracious. How, uh, what what greater work can any of us do than to share the Word of God with people? And so that that particular effort has, has really stood out in my mind.

Karl Ihfe: It's so inspiring, isn't it, to hear this amazing work. In fact, in two weeks, pioneer Bible translators are going to be here with us, and they're going to bring their setup of the Bible translation project that's happening. There are over 400 different languages. They're trying to either develop the ethnography for it and then translate scripture, or they're translating Scripture into tongues that have never had any scripture at all in their native speaking tongues. And so JR Bucklew, who is uh, their church and regional director here in the States, is going to come and share with us about that incredible work, and you'll get to see it and put your hands on these different Bible translations. Uh, the work that you heard about Gary referred to at Uzima, where we're raising Bibles or, you know, trying to to purchase Bibles to give to the churches there in Uzima so many churches there, I think there are 30 or so, uh, and many of them, maybe most of them only have one Bible in the entire church for all of them. And so what we're trying to do is send Bibles so that those churches can not only have more Bibles in the congregation, but that they can begin to hand those to those who are wondering and who are curious and who want to know more about Jesus. It's really, really cool. Uh, so. Well. And please, Brian, I.

Brian Sherrill: Want to expand a little bit upon what Carl's talking about. Museum we know and love because of the tallies. The tallies were here. They went to Kenya back in the 80s, and the people they worked with there developed Uzima training center. And the training center was about teaching the people skills and trades and crafts. But one of the biggest things that they teach is the Bible. They created a preaching school and those preachers that left Uzima that the tallies helped found are going out. And the ones who have started these over 30 churches in and around that area and among people, again, like you said, who don't have a language or don't didn't have a written language. And because of groups like Pioneer Bible Translators, they have developed that language, and now they have produced the Bibles in that language. And what my children, two generations later, are getting to do is take part in the work that the tallies helped start. And to me, when you talk about seeing God move, that's God movement that is long lasting, multi-generational faithfulness that is happening because of mission work that this church did over 40 years ago. And the challenge would be the first person to say it's not because of them, but I'm telling you, they listen to God. They went, they did. And because of that, my children are getting to take part in the work that they did.

Karl Ihfe: Yeah. Pretty amazing.

Pretty amazing. Yes, absolutely.

Karl Ihfe: So, as you can hear, missions have been a part of Broadway's heart from the very beginning, and our partnerships have lasted for a long time. What we found these last two years is some transition, some change, as folks are coming off the mission field and transitioning out of those spots that we're looking for new partnerships and some new opportunities where the gospel could be proclaimed, where the Bible can be shared with those who don't have it. And so, uh, next question is kind of is around that idea as we look into the future and what's coming down the road, what are you excited about when it comes to the future of missions at Broadway? What are some of the things that are just sparking your curiosity and imagination as you think about Broadway starting 2024 and beyond? Joseph, you want to start that one for us?

Joseph Ellis: Uh, so for me to see to hear stories about what has been going on all over the world, what God has been doing, everything that we talk about here as a body that we read about, that we sing about, that we praise God for that. We that we see that happening around the world in all these other countries. What I'm excited to see as as things have changed and as things are evolving over time, uh, especially with regard to our college population, is the fact that in a very real sense, God is bringing the world to us, to our doorstep. Um, we have such an opportunity to reach out to young people from all over the world who are right here in Lubbock, Texas. Um, that are that are coming to church and asking questions. And I think, well, not I think I know that God is preparing us and and laying groundwork for some amazing work to be done right here in Lubbock, right here in this local region that will then spread around the world as as these people go home and they talk to their families and they talk to their friends. Um, we've got a built in channel right here in Lubbock, Texas that I'm excited about. Yeah.

Brian Sherrill: Very cool, very cool.

Karl Ihfe: Brian, what about for you as you think about the future, what's exciting you?

Brian Sherrill: I've never really considered myself a great visionary. Okay, so I'm going to preface that. But when we look at what's happening in the world all across the world. In the Bible tells us this, and it's told us this for a thousand years. The harvest is ripe. There is so many people wanting the good news of Christ, needing the good news of Christ. And and when they hear it, they're just. I mean, if you look at statistics about what's happening out of Africa alone, that region, I mean, it is insane how that's blowing up. We talked to the Dixons in Greece. It's crazy just the number of people that are so drawn to the story, the message and the hope and the good news of Jesus Christ. I mean, you can't get enough of it. And so to me, that causes a lot of hope. And in, in great, um, anticipation about what's going to be next and where we can partner next. And it's like opportunities are everywhere and we might not exactly know what our next specific opportunity is for us to partner with. But there that mission field is absolutely ripe. We got to hear a good friend of mine was a missionary in Russia for several years, and we got to hear from him. He came and shared with our committee one evening about his work that he did in Russia, and I was just again surprised. I don't know why I'm surprised, but I do get surprised at just how fertile the field is even in a place like that. And so when I tell you that the world is hungry for this, they are hungry for this. And there's so many opportunities that we have as a church, excuse me, as a church body to partner with these workers across the world. So I'm very, very hopeful and excited.

Karl Ihfe: Definitely. Holly, what would you add?

Holly Robbins: So the Trevinos, who have been working in Peru at the age of almost 80, have decided that it's finally time for them to start slowing down and enjoying retirement. So they will be rolling off of the mission budget at the end of May. So if you notice in the little brochure that was handed out with our the mission budget, we have something called a new mission point. And that is currently how it still is. We are looking to add someone new to partner with what that looks like. We don't know exactly, but this is where we do need your help. We need you to cover us in prayer. We are trying so hard to listen to the direction that God wants us to go, so that we can be the most effective to bringing to growing his kingdom. So what that looks like, we don't know yet, but hopefully within the next several months we can have something more to share with you. But please join us in prayer for this.

Brian Sherrill: Yeah, it's.

Karl Ihfe: The first time in a long time that we've been sitting in this spot where we get to look down the road and say, okay, God, what are you doing? And what are you calling us into? Uh, this church has a long legacy of being the first in line to do lots of hard things, to go to hard places to take on, hard challenges. And so we've been doing that with these missionary partners for the last 40 some odd years. And now we're getting to ask that question again. Okay, what about in our day what's happening around us. And so we want to also hear from you. Where are you seeing God move. Uh, what are some of the things that are inspiring you and challenging you to share the gospel in the areas where you are, your work and your school and your neighborhoods as we dream about. So we invite you to pray. We invite you to dream along with us, and we're excited to see what is going to happen next. Where are we going next? In fact, uh, next week you're going to get a magazine that's totally devoted to our mission points. You're going to get to hear about and see and read about our current mission points. What's happening, some of the updates there, you'll get to see some of the things that that we've been talking about and praying about and dreaming about as it's coming to life. But you'll also hear some of those echoes of God. What do you have for us? What's next? As we as we look down the road and we invite you to to join us for that.

Karl Ihfe: The next couple of Sundays, we're going to be focused on our current missions and what's happening. And updating you, but also telling you about some new, some new partnerships that are starting to spring up and new work that's beginning. So a lot to be considering and thinking about and praying about. We want you to be aware of if you have some questions, we want you to come and talk to us. Uh, we want you to to feel free to reach out and share feedback. We want to hear from you, uh, as as we finish this morning, the last question that I want to to ask our panel to talk a little bit about is kind of in that spirit of. All right, so what if what if I am Texan and I don't have a lot of missions experience, but what I hear is resonating with me. I want to be a part of people coming to know and love and follow Jesus. I want to be a part of this incredible work of translating the Scripture into languages that have never seen it before. I want to be a part of meaningful conversations. I want to be a part of a short terme mission trip where I can experience like. Like Holly and her family have, of the power. Our of of giving our life, pouring it out for someone else, and seeing how God works in other times and places. What advice do you have? Mission committee folks here of how how do we get involved? What's a way that we can take our next step in joining Broadway in missions? Who wants to start?

Brian Sherrill: So if you're interested in all, if you have a heart for missions and you want to know more, be involved. Plugged in. There's lots of ways to serve. And and I can promise you, you don't have to sit in a chair on stage in front of everybody. If that's not your gig, that's okay. We will take your help and not ask you to do this part of it. Um, but we need help in a lot of different areas. Number one, we need you to pray. Please be praying as we look forward to the future of missions and what we're going to do next, who we're going to partner with next, where we're going to be partnered at. We need you to be praying for our current mission points. We have a lot of great partners in the field working today. Very, very hard to spread the news of Jesus Christ. And then we need you to pray for us that we'll have the guidance, and we'll be listening closely to discern what the will of God is, so that we know how best to serve the church and how to serve the world through the message of Jesus Christ. I would say, first and foremost, pray. Secondly, uh, we do have some task teams. We have some liaisons. Joseph can tell us more about that. Um, but if you're kind of interested in being a key connection there, that's another great way to serve. And then we are we are wanting to add some more to our missions committee. And so if you have an interest in that, if you want to be plugged in in the know and help shaping and forming our our missions efforts at Broadway, reach out to Holly. Let her know that you have an interest in that. We would love to talk to you more about that. Awesome. Thanks.

Joseph Ellis: Well, yeah, all that stuff that Brian said.

Brian Sherrill: Sorry, I didn't mean to stall. Thanks. Ditto.

Joseph Ellis: Thanks for saying all this stuff, Brian. No, I did want to echo that. Um, well, let's see, let me preface it by saying, first of all, God is doing great things. He is already, um, even though we we might not be involved with it. God is doing amazing things now, blessedly, thankfully, he's asked us to be a part of that. And in fact, he has commanded us to be a part of that. And so us humble people here at Broadway say, well, let's let's partner with God. Let's let's tag on to what he is already doing. And here at Broadway for decades, for decades, Broadway has built a legacy of being a missions oriented church, both both sending missionaries as well as supporting mission work all over the globe as well as locally. Um, and we want to keep that legacy alive. Now, of course, that can evolve. That can change the way that looks. Um, but we want to partner with God as he's doing these great things. And we need humans. We need you people, you actual people here at Broadway Church of Christ. Uh, if you feel any inkling of a calling or an interest in participating in this work and joining our team. Uh, yeah. As Brian said, reach out to us, let us know. Join us. Uh, we we meet once a month. It's not a huge time commitment, uh, in that regard, but you get to see and be a part of and, and, and partner with God in these amazing, amazing things. Uh, again, that we talk about and pray about and worship God for here every Sunday. This is the real life stuff that's going on around the world, and we'd love for you to join us in that. Thank you.

Holly Robbins: When I was first asked to join the missions committee, I was so overwhelmed because I don't have any training in missions. So, um, the biggest thing that I would like to say is you don't have to have any knowledge. You just have to have a love of God, and God is the one that does it all. He does all of the heavy lifting. He just asks us to partner with us. He wants us to join in and work to grow his Kingdom. So we have all different ways to be involved. Obviously you could be on the missions committee, but we also have something called a task team. We have divided the missions program into smaller, different areas. So there are so many different task teams that you can be involved in. We have our liaisons, we have our junior liaisons is what we're trying to start next, where we want our children to be involved because they are just as much a part of this church as the adults. We have our prayer teams, we have short time missions because that's something else that we want to start doing again. And doing well is to be able to go and visit our mission points and truly be partners with them. So if you have any questions, I think my number is in the newsletter. Call me, text me again. Don't hang up if I call you because we want this to be a church wide ministry.

Karl Ihfe: Yeah, yeah. You know, one of the things I'm excited about is I look at our budget, our budgets, the challenge budget. It's going to cost more money this year. And we've done it intentionally, number one, to do a better job of staying connected with our mission partners, but also in coming back to you and saying, how can we as a church really own this, really take on these trips? We haven't done short Tum missions very much since Covid. Uh, that's all changing. Jeremy and his team of college students are going to be taking a mission trip here next month. Uh, we want our youth group to start jumping back into short tum missions trip, but we also want you to join in that. And so one of the ways you might want to get involved is say, hey, I'd love to sponsor one of our trips that's coming up, or, hey, I've got an idea about maybe a family trip that we could do, or hey, my work is is partnering with this great organization and we're going to spend a few days doing this work. Would you guys be interested in helping invest in that? Uh, we have lots of ideas that we're going to share with you over the next few weeks about how we hope Broadways missions will continue to grow and thrive, not only now and in 2024, but in years to come. Can we thank our panel this morning? This is not an easy thing to do. Thank you guys so much. Um, let me pray for us. And again, if you're thinking, uh, God's talking to me, he's he's been challenging me.

Karl Ihfe: Maybe it's a relationship at work or at home in the neighborhood where, you know, he's wanting you to take a risk, to be courageous. Would you be willing to share God's love with someone else? And you just need a little help, a little counsel, a little prayer on how to take that next step. We invite you. Come and talk to us. Uh, come. Come have a conversation with us. We'd love to challenge, to encourage, to exhort you to do whatever we can to help you take that next step. Let's pray together, and then we'll join in worship. Father, what an amazing thing it is to be yours to know that there were men and women in years past that loved you so much that they were willing to share your gospel. You had every one of us here today is a living testimony of that faithfulness and God, we give you thanks that that we have this family here at Broadway. And God, as we look back at all the amazing things that you have done in and through our church family, we're astounded. We're overwhelmed. Uh, we are amazed to see your hand at work, your kingdom continuing to grow and expand in the world. We're so thankful for partners we've had, like the Talleys who gave so sacrificially, who lived for decades in another place that was different, where they spoke a different language and lived by different customs and rituals. And yet, because of their love for Jesus and their love for your word and your people that you have created, they were willing to go and serve in that significant way.

Karl Ihfe: And God, we get to continue to partner with the new generations that have come from that incredible work. But God, we've seen that not only in Africa, we've seen it in Europe, we've seen it in, uh, um, in Asia, we've seen it in South America. God. Just amazing, amazing. God. Thank you for your love for us and for the work that you're doing and that we get to partner with you. So, God, for each and every one of us as we walk out today, would you inspire us to be on the lookout for ways that you are calling us to take our next step in joining you in mission work here in Lubbock, in our schools, in our neighborhoods and our families to just love people radically, to share the truth and the hope that comes not from an election, not from having the right people in charge of other people, but rather simply in knowing that we love and follow you and that we're going to sacrifice and we're going to share, and we're going to do our best to fulfill the great commission that you gave to us. Uh, father, thank you. Thank you for the men and women who have been a model to us in this great work. Lord, would you help us to emulate them in the ways that, uh, that you provide for us in the days and weeks and months to come? Father, we love you so much. We pray all this in the power of Jesus name. Amen.