"Striking the Match" (Peru - September 8, 2004)

At Global Missions Fellowship, we believe in making the most of every opportunity so that God receives even more glory. In November we will be joining together with churches from Tacna, Peru and working alongside them to do evangelism and discipleship that results in new cell groups or churches. In essence, we will be attempting to ignite a wildfire that spreads throughout that city and beyond.

The Analogy:
Our last home had a woodburning stove in it that taught me a great deal about starting fires. I used to strike match after match cramming the thing with logs and newspaper . . . usually to no avail. I learned that to start a fire you have to make the conditions right. By taking the extra time on the front end of arranging small pieces of kindling, I could insure that when the match was struck the outcome would be a fire. The same can be said for our trip in November. A short-term mission trip, like a match, has a very short amount of time to accomplish a much greater task. Many organizations strike the match, but never take time to arrange the kindling. Not so with GMF. For that reason, Pat Powell and I will be traveling to Tacna this weekend to conduct a Leadership Development Conference where all the pastors and leaders from the participating churches will be gathered together for a time of prayer, training, and planning. It is our desire that as we take the time to "arrange the kindling" through this conference, that when November comes and we show up to "strike the match", the results of our campaign will far outlast our presence and a wildfire of the Spirit of God will spread in our wake.

Please take the time right now to pray for Pat and I as we head out. Pray for the following:
- That God would give us travel mercies and all our flights will be on time and peaceful
- That God would assemble the churches and leaders that HE wants to participate
- That God would give Pat and I wisdom and boldness to be able to communicate effectively
- That the conditions would be made right for a church planting movement to erupt in our wake
- That God provide the finances and people on this end (in the U.S.) for each person going and to cover our budget

- That God would raise up at least 5 more people to join us on the trip so we can work with every church that has expressed interest . . . could that person be YOU? Don't answer that question . . . let God answer it for you. If God says, "GO", then click here and you can sign up for the November 12-20 trip online. The cost is $1900.

We appreciate your prayers and your willingness to follow God in this Divine Opportunity! I look forward to reporting to you all that God does this weekend.