I often wonder (tongue-in-cheek) if when Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few,” it was actually a warning about how busy the work could be! I find that serving in this day of harvest is often energizing and wearisome, engaging and overwhelming. Yet I realize that this is the everyday circumstance where I need to be thankful — above all to give God glory, but also for my own sake.

My natural tendency is to focus on problems — which I think I can do something about — more so than blessings, which are manifestations of God’s grace. But “blessing” is the only way I can describe the dual privilege of being on a leading edge of the Great Commission and serving with an incredible team of co-workers and ministry partners.

It’s funny how easily “the amazing” can turn into “the routine.” This occurred to me a while back as I strolled through the GMO office in Orlando. Large LCD monitors show real-time statistics of how God is touching lives around the world through our ministry — numbers so large that I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around them.

Our team is often abuzz with global activity — I can simultaneously observe one co-worker developing a web site in Arabic, overhear someone on the phone in Spanish, and see that yet another is on a Skype video call to a different hemisphere. A couple of our staff might be processing applications from volunteer online missionaries, while another works to program a new feature for our email response system. Even opening my own email inbox can be an adventure in global partnership.

Recently at GMO’s new Silicon Valley studio (which I helped build-out this summer), I recorded our basic evangelism and discipleship videos in Korean. I’m currently working on plans to do this same set, and perhaps even more content, in five or six other languages. It’s truly exciting to be creating content that God can use to change lives. I also receive the joyful blessing of partnering with mission-minded Believers from other cultures and language groups.

When I joined Campus Crusade for Christ nine years ago (as of this summer), part of my call was to engage others in the Great Commission. As I’ve recorded interviews with our online missionaries, I get to see first-hand how our ministry is fostering a passion for global evangelism and discipleship in other Believers.

Finally, I’m thankful for the partners that God uses to financially support my ministry. Ever week or so, I will download a list of recent gifts — tangible reminders of the vision and mission I share with committed individuals and churches. It is truly an honor to be involved, and to involve others, in a movement that I see God using in a significant way to complete the Great Commission.

“Faith” is simple word that is difficult to adequately define. It describes the beliefs and convictions that guide our attitude and actions; what I do says more about my faith than what I say. And Biblical truths of what it means to have and apply faith are often repeated as well-meant but shallow, inept clichés. Encouraging someone they need to have “faith the size of a mustard seed” is easy; living it out is a whole different matter.

The familiar words of Hebrews 11:1 define faith as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. ”  Like the faith heroes of the Bible, we look with hope towards a God who has both kept His promises and still has promises to keep. As followers of Christ, we can understand every problem, every circumstance, and every decision as part of the story unfolding between two bookend events: Christ’s resurrection and Christ’s triumph as King. We live as aliens and strangers in this world, knowing that what we cannot yet see — the Kingdom of God — is far more real than anything we do see.

I am increasingly convinced of the connection between faith, joy, and glory. Faith is simply taking God at His word, trusting in His nature and promises, and turning that truth into actions. Radical faith comes when we take this to the extreme, laying aside sin, doubt, worldly perspectives, and whatever else gets in our way. Faith is how God has chosen to reveal His glory in and through us. Our true and lasting joy comes when God shows up, when He comes through for us. Why should we not want anything less radical quantities of faith, joy, and glory? A faith that is not radical is a faith with unrealized potential.

I doubt that anyone just wakes up one morning and decides “I’m going to become a radical.” Rather, it’s a series of steps, big and small, that lead to radicalism (whether for good or for evil). By any definition, Jesus was a radical; he defied the norms of his contemporaries. So if we are called to follow Jesus’ example of total dependance on God, then we to are called to be radical. Yet if anything is clear from scripture, is that God doesn’t just “zap” us with radical faith; rather, He develops it through a messy, difficult, and often confusing process.

I’ve found myself wondering how many aspects of my life are defined by “radical faith.” It seems like there should be some — after all, I am a missionary! God has shown me that, by His grace, He’s already covered the landscape of my life with situations where I’m going to be in deep trouble apart from Him. Yet I find myself both yearning and somewhat nervous to have God develop in me an ever more radical faith.

Steve Douglass, the president of Campus Crusade for Christ, worked with Crusade staff and students at a local university to develop a Bible study series called Essentials of Spiritual Growth and Multiplication. The basic idea is to help believers understand, apply, and then share core spiritual principles. A while back, my co-worker Mike and I took on the task of turning this material into online courses (“e-learning”) to disciple new believers.

Since this is a discussion-based study, we decided that the best way to adapt it for online use would be to film a “scripted Bible study.” The person taking the course becomes a “virtual” member of the group, answering questions and responding to the discussion. But we had a big problem: we didn’t have the resources or people needed to make this idea possible.

After joining our team last Fall, Kristina began looking at options and found a studio that we could rent at a reasonable rate. And last January, she ?organized GMO’s first-ever “casting call,” asking local Christian actors to come and audition. Mike finalized the scripts he had written, and I began looking for equipment we could borrow.

Driving home weary after the first of our two production days, it struck me how this was an ?incredible example of God’s Kingdom in action. Our five actors and four additional crew members gladly gave of their time and energy to be part of this effort. The studio time and equipment was paid for by the gifts of many donors to GMO and the other ministries that loaned equipment. And, of course, I was there because of the commitment of my ministry partners. God masterfully coordinated the gifts and talents of many believers so that we might impact others — many of whom we will never meet this side of heaven.

There is still work to do to for the four lessons we’re creating, and if this pilot is successful there are 20 additional segments of the Essentials series that can be developed. If if so, it will be awesome to see how God will bring all the pieces together again.

The Psalms, of course, are referring to the commands and laws God gave to Abraham and Moses. This is the foundation upon which Jesus gives His own commands; He said, “I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.” [Matt. 5:17] Jesus’ death and resurrection fulfilled, once and for all time, the requirements of the Law. But while the Old Testament laws are the “do’s and don’ts” of pleasing God, Jesus’ commands pointed to something even greater. In word and deed, Jesus’ commands reveal His worldview or paradigm — the reality of heaven itself.  In Jesus this reality becomes accessible to mankind: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” [John 14:6]

Jesus’ reality stands in sharp contrast to the reality of earth. “Love the Lord your God … Love your neighbor as yourself.”  “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” If I wanted to list all of Jesus’ commands, I could simply copy and paste large chunks of the Gospels into this letter. But the point is, Jesus isn’t talking about “doing things better” — He’s talking about doing things completely differently, old nature replaced by new nature. It’s an existence so different that it can only come when one reality gives way to another.

The foundation of Jesus’ reality is His relationship with the Father. The reality of His followers is established by relationship with Jesus and, through Him, the Father. John 15:1-17 is the familiar “vine and the branches” passage where Jesus tells His followers to “abide” or “remain” in Him, in His love, just as He does with the Father. Without this connection, none of Jesus’ commands make any sense, do any good, or are even worth attempting. “Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” [15:5]  How do we do this? Jesus says in verse 10, “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” It’s a cycle: we remain in relationship with Jesus by following His commands, which we can only do… if we remain in Him.

Jesus’ commands are not a new 10-point moral code tacked onto the old one. Nor did Jesus give us a formula for following Him and getting God’s blessing. His commands describe the reality God originally intended for us that was then marred by sin. Commands that are not designed to restrict us, but to free us — and bring us the joy for which we were created. Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” [John 15:11] Right back to what it says in Psalms — and so much more.

Let’s be honest: there’s something about “obedience” that doesn’t sound like fun — nor does it seem like “good marketing” for our cause. At least on the surface. We are called to live and proclaim God’s reality — an eternal kingdom of joyful relationship — which is far better and desirable than the sin-warped reality into which we’re born. The invitation to follow Jesus is an invitation to enter into His reality. The Great Commission mandate of “teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded” is about helping others enter and mature in Jesus’ reality; His priorities, perceptions, power, and practices becoming those of His followers.

As I journey with God, He is continually changing the way I think so that in my heart and mind the world’s reality is ever more replaced with Jesus’ reality. In the face of any circumstance or difficulty — from economic jitters to literal earthquakes, personal challenges to future worries — I can choose to define things in terms of Jesus’ reality instead of mine or anyone else’s. In Jesus’ reality, I can say confidently, “With God, all things are possible.” I can regard “the least of these” as truly worthy and valuable.  I can trust “that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God.” And I can celebrate that “nothing can ever separate us from God’s love” — nothing can ever cut me off from Jesus’ reality. [Rom. 12:12; Matt. 19:26, 25:40-45; Rom. 8:28, 8:38]

People worldwide are searching for hope, for meaning… for a different reality. Last year, the Lord allowed Global Media Outreach to tell 67 million people how to enter His reality through faith in Jesus Christ. And 10,502,641people indicated their decision to trust Christ for the first time or renew their commitment. We don’t know what kind of “soil” all these people are — only that they were searching and responding. Yet many of the 1,943,585 people who contacted us by email certainly need to learn the joy and fulfillment of obeying all that Christ commanded.

I can only be truly passionate about that which I’ve truly experienced. The more I know and experience Jesus’ reality, the greater my motivation to tell others about it as well. I trust the same is true for you. Thanks for being part of my mission to help others discover and grow in Jesus’ reality.

From their homes, offices, or internet cafes (especially in other countries), these volunteers are an indispensable resource for Global Media Outreach. In many cases, someone will simply contact us to request follow-up after making a decision to follow Christ. This is an opportunity for one of volunteers to personally pray for him or her, point to some of our online follow-up tools, and offer to answer any questions. Other times, though, someone may contact us with a specific spiritual need — personal tragedies, family difficulties, or other emotional or spiritual issues.

In the last year, the number of emails received by GMO has doubled, to over 200,000 each month. Yet the number of volunteers, currently about 3,700 worldwide, has not kept pace. This is why our ministry is urgently trusting God to help us expand to 10,000 online missionaries in the next several months. While we need many more English-speaking volunteers, other language groups — especially Spanish — have even more urgent needs.

Part of this need can be met by telling more and more individuals about our ministry. But the greater growth will likely come through our increasing number of partnerships with churches in the US and beyond. Many churches already offer short-term international mission trips. By partnering with GMO, churches can give their members an international ministry opportunity everyday — including those who would otherwise be unable to travel.

I’ve recorded video interviews with several of our online missionaries, including my recent trip to Brazil. It’s exciting to hear how a person’s faith and vision for global missions expands through their involvement in GMO. This is a great opportunity for any believer to be actively involved in helping to fulfill the Great Commission.

This post comes with a challenge (maybe you saw this coming): have you considered becoming an online missionary with GMO? In just a few minutes a day, you can help people you’ve never met — in places you may never visit — grow closer to God. What about your church? There are people all around you on Sunday morning who would be thrilled to become more involved in God’s work.

To get started as an online missionary, just go to www.GMOjoinus.com and click “volunteer.” Be prepared to provide one spiritual reference and briefly describe how you became a Christian. And if you do sign up, please let me know — I would be excited to know you are involved! I would also welcome the opportunity to talk to you, your pastor, or missions committee about partnering with GMO.

My trip to Brazil had two purposes. The first was to produce GMO’s basic evangelism and discipleship web video content in Brazilian Portuguese. The other purpose was to record several interviews and gather other footage to create a video documenting the model that has emerged with GMO’s partnership in Brazil. We would like to launch similar partnership in other countries.

The GMO Brazil story began in 2006 when some former missionaries, Brad and Victoria Myers, learned about GMO through their church in California. They realized the potential for this ministry in Brazil, a country where internet access is increasingly common. They then asked our leadership if they could help facilitate training and recruiting volunteer online missionaries in Brazil.

Brad and Victoria went to Brazil and presented the GMO vision and strategy to their friend, Pastor Marcos, and others in Campinas. The pastor’s church, Igreja Baptista El Shaddai, provided a small office space and some funds to help get things started. One of the church’s members, Paulo, began the task of translating GMO’s email response system and training materials into Portuguese. Paulo is now one of our “super volunteers” and helping GMO recruit online missionaries in other Latin American countries.

See more photos from Brazil!

God’s supernatural blessing, working through the commitment of our partners, has transformed a handful of volunteers into a movement of over 500 online missionaries spread across Brazil. In addition to their own country, these believers are having a global impact by responding to Portuguese-speaking people around the world: Portugal, Angola, the United States, and many other places.

From the start, the GMO Brazil partnership has included several other pastors and churches. Today, over 100 churches from multiple denominations have joined the effort: Baptist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, Foursquare, and more. Besides involving their members in global ministry, this provides a natural and solid link for those being reached online in Brazil to connect with a local church — a key goal of our ministry.

Victoria Myers met up with me in Brazil and helped organize a celebration for GMO Brazil. (She also helped interpret both the language and culture for me.) On Saturday, September 26, one hundred twenty people gathered at a hotel in Campinas to celebrate what God had done through this ministry partnership. Some flew in from 1000 kilometers away, while others drove 5 or 6 hours to be there.

It’s impossible to put into words the great  joy and blessing it was for me to be with them — to witness the spiritual kinship and unity of purpose they shared with other GMO partners in the US and around the world. With my friend Paulo as the interpreter, I had the privilege of telling the group about some of GMO’s future plans and announce some new web sites being launched in Portuguese.

Even though I had practiced with some with Spanish-speaking volunteers in Orlando, doing interviews in Portuguese was quite intense. I would ask a question, which was then interpreted, the interviewee would respond, and then I would get a quick interpretation of what he or she said. But I ended up with some great material from Pastor Marcos, Paulo, three other pastors involved with GMO, several of our online missionaries… and a couple who came to Christ through one of our web sites!

Since I also needed to capture some other footage of Brazil, I spent a day shooting in São Paulo — it’s the fourth largest city in the world and, of course, has some world-class traffic jams! I was accompanied by my interpreter and two men from Pastor Marco’s church as my guides and security guards. Even though I saw just a sliver, I was struck by the tremendous diversity of people in this city of 20 million — there’s even a “Japan-town.”

I was able to master a few basic words and phrases in Portuguese. And, of course, I had to sample some of the local cuisine… including a “Brazilian hot dog” which is hard to describe, and was kind of tasty (but later required several tablets of antacid). You can see a photo of this “delicacy” and other pictures on my web site.

I’m so thankful for the opportunity to spend time with our GMO partners in Brazil. I was blessed by Pastor Marcos’ heart for reaching his city and, through GMO, the world. The members of his church gave me a very warm welcome and it was a unique pleasure to fellowship with them. I’m humbled to be part of a ministry that is involving so many other committed believers around the world in fulfilling the Great Commission. And I’m all the more thankful for my own team of partners who make my ministry possible.

On my last night in Brazil, many of my new friends asked when I would be coming back. I simply replied, “When God allows” — which I truly hope will be sometime soon!

AJ (James Madison University) and Kenny (Penn State) worked with me on several different video projects — including a new, visually-orientated gospel presentation and the Arabic versions of one- to two-minute introductions to the books of the New Testament. Samuel (Ohio University) worked with our programming team on several different projects. Each of the guys also helped answer some of the email responses that come into GMO’s web sites.

Serving as the director of this project has been almost like a second full-time job — especially in the weeks and days leading up to the project. Once the guys arrived, I found myself in the role of project director, chauffeur, manager, teacher, financial manager, activity coordinator, discipler… and more.

Recruiting is one of our basic, not-so-subtle reasons for this summer project. By developing a vision for global online ministry within these students is something God might use to lead some of them into full-time work with Global Media Outreach. Like so many other things with faith, you plant the seed and wait to see what happens.

This is also the summer for Campus Crusade for Christ’s biennial staff conference in Fort Collins, Colorado. I’ve been helping our team plan a campaign to recruit new online missionaries and co-workers from among the 6,000 US staff members at the conference.  My primary task was designing a booth for the ministry fair — a major undertaking that took us 8 hours to build, but turned out to be very effective in communicating GMO’s ministry and vision.

As I write this letter, I’m in the last week of a 46-day marathon that includes a month in California for the project, 10 days in Colorado for the conference, and another 3 days in California to wrap up the project before returning to Orlando.  I honestly don’t know who has gotten more out of the summer project — me or the students. All this left me with a “good kind of tired” — the kind where you know it’s God who keeps you going, not your own strength. I also believe that God will bring some good things out of this summer, for both me and the ministry. And I’m as thankful as ever for your prayer support!

The initial plan was to create a set of videos for use in a forth-coming guide for new believers.  Each 60- to 90-second video will be integrated in a web page covering core concepts of the Christian faith over the course of 30 days. This trial project is part of our growing efforts to effectively disciple those we’re reaching online.

Earlier this year, I began planning the Japanese translations of our “core content” videos — one gospel presentation and 16 follow-up video messages. Rev. Suzuki, a Japanese pastor in the Los Angeles area, agreed to be our presenter. Once the follow-up project began coming together, it made sense to arrange for him to come down to the San Diego area to do the recordings. This was also the first time I’ve managed the whole translation process, which was very much an “educational experience.”

The third project was one of those “while we’re at it” things — a 10-part video series on prayer that will be part of an upcoming evangelism and discipleship site designed for a youth audience.

For the follow-up and prayer videos, we decided to use outdoor environments to create the feeling of two friends talking in a park. We also used some new equipment to create a “film look” for the videos — most noticeably, a shallower “depth of field” that allows the background to be out of focus. While these tools and locations let us achieve a new level of production quality, it also added significant complexity to the effort.

Every spiritual advance happens in the face of spiritual opposition. I’m convinced that when you commit an endeavor, big or small, to God’s will and protection, that nothing happens by chance — whether, in this case, it’s an equipment breakdown, scheduling conflicts, or a pesky cold virus. Before leaving on this trip, I e-mailed my partners and friends a reminder to pray for this production trip. And I’m convinced this made all the difference. Thank you for your faithful prayer support!

When the disciples asked about the end times, Jesus responded, in Matthew 24:14, “The Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.” Looking at Jesus’ words in the larger context of Scripture, we realize that while the exact timing and details are still a mystery, the outcome is clear. One way or another, every nation will be reached with the good news of God’s forgiveness and redemption in Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:16-17 says, “For by him [Christ] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Walt Wilson, GMO’s founder, points out that “all things” includes bits, the most basic form of digital data. Bits form bytes, and bytes form text, images, video, and audio that we use to communicate the Good News. The opportunities we have for sharing the gospel in the Internet era didn’t surprise Jesus; He planned it from the beginning.

Other Great Commission efforts are also accelerating. Wycliffe Bible Translators can now, in a two-year timeframe, translate enough Scriptures to plant a church in a language group. OneStory (a partnership between Campus Crusade, Wycliffe, and other ministries) is creating Bible-based stories that can be easily learned and repeated in oral-learning cultures. There so many things I hear about God doing around the world; in faith, I believe He’s doing even more that is still unreported.

As I write this, Global Media Outreach is currently seeing as many as 24,000 indicated decisions for Christ each day — double what we were seeing just 6 months ago. This is due solely to the power of the Holy Spirit that is unleashed through our obedience to God’s will. Yet I am convinced that we have many, many more steps to take before God’s intentions for Spirit-powered, Internet-facilitated ministry are fully revealed.

Within the next decade, perhaps sooner, some 95% of the world’s population will be digitally connected — many of them through digital media devices using cell-phone networks. One thing is clear from the brief history of online ministry: wherever digital data can be accessed, we can share the gospel.

God’s redemptive plan, centered in the person of Jesus Christ, continues with full force in our present day. The clouds gathering on the horizon suggest that something big is brewing… yet while we see indications of what God might do, we won’t know for sure until it happens. Still, I can say with 100% certainty that each day brings us one step closer to the plan’s fulfillment.

Countless believers have faithfully and obediently been part of the Great Commission. To think that we could be witnessing God’s grand finalé — let alone actively participating in it — is humbling, challenging… and motivating.

Please pray for accelerated development of effective discipleship resources for new believers; specifically, pray for wisdom in developing experimental online learning course. As the number of indicated decisions for Christ through our online outreaches continues to increase, so also does our need to provide effective discipleship resources for new believers. I’ve been interested for a long time in the potential for online learning (aka “distance learning” or “e-learning”) as a discipleship tool. Last fall, a co-worker and I began developing a course on essential principles of spiritual growth. Though the project was delayed by other needs — we got the first draft lesson done last month — we’re hoping to soon complete the first four lessons and release them for a public trial.

Pray for the creation of a new 30-day guide for new believers and my role in producing videos that will cover topics for each day. Video production continues to be a major aspect of my work with GMO. I’m planning a major production trip to San Diego in early May. In addition to helping with the script writing, I’ll be shooting 30 one- or two-minute video segments for this guide. I may also be shooting for two other video projects during this same trip.

Pray for the people, means, and opportunities needed to translate and record the remaining language videos for our key web sites sites. My immediate focus is getting the videos created in Japanese. Recently, I was wondering how we could get the scripts translated… and two hours later, a Japanese-speaking volunteer walks into our office! I’m hoping that we can complete the other remaining languages this year — Portuguese, Russian, Italian, and German. This means GMO will be able to share online a gospel presentation and basic follow-up materials, in text and video, for the top 10 languages used on the Internet. These languages represent 90% of the world’s online population.

Pray for students interning with GMO during the Silicon Valley Summer Project. I’ve been asked to help recruit interns as a way of raising up the people GMO needs to carry out our mission. I’m planning to direct our ministry’s first-ever summer project this June and July. We’re hoping to have four to six students work as interns in GMO’s Silicon Valley office. We’re trusting God to bring the right students to us, and provide for all the logistics that go into this type of endeavor.

I’ve said many times that I’m often aware — in some way — that people are praying for me and my ministry. Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer! It is futile to expect supernatural results without supernatural power, which only comes when we ask for it in prayer. I’m going to be setting up a special, semi-private prayer request page on my website and emailing a web link to it. If you are not already receiving my email updates, you may subscribe using this form.