I have to admit that I’m that type of person who really likes numbers. When I was still in school I took all of the math classes possible, I volunteered for math competitions, I was a math tutor, you name it. If it involved numbers, I wanted in on it. I guess I was, and maybe still am, the classic nerd. To this day, I still enjoy budgeting, reading and tracking statistics, basically anything with numbers, but now for a different reason.

This fall I will have been in ministry for 20 years, and during that 20-year period of time I have realized that numbers aren’t always just systematic marks on a page. Quite often they represent so much more — people. Think about these numbers for just a moment: The current estimated population of our world is 7,300,000,000. Every day, about 353,000 babies are born. That’s over 10 times the entire population of Polk County being born into our world daily. And then the sad statistic, every day more than 150,000 people die in our world. So what we’re seeing is a global population growth of about 200,000 people every day.

When we’re talking about world evangelism, missions, we must realize that these really are big numbers, and numbers that we can’t manage on our own. God knew that. That’s why we need Him. In Acts 1:8 we read these words, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” These words were directed to the Apostles, those who were standing there with Jesus as He would soon ascend back into heaven. But Jesus gave the Apostles words of assurance that although He was leaving they would not be left alone. The Holy Spirit was coming, and it was through the working of the Spirit that the Apostles would be emboldened to take the gospel to lands far and wide.

While that message of hope and command to go forth into the world proclaiming the gospel was directed to those particular men, I believe it also applies to us today. The Lord knew the Apostles would not live forever, but the message He was calling them to communicate would. Once the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost, He would empower believers then, as well as today, to spread the gospel message locally, regionally, as well as globally. That’s what all of that Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the end of the earth stuff was all about. It’s about a God-sized plan to reach the world with the message of salvation in Jesus Christ and Him alone.

So what should those of us living right here locally be doing about that plan? First of all, we need to be witnesses of God’s grace, mercy and salvation right here in Polk County. Share with others what God has done in your life. If you’re already doing that, get ready for step two where you begin to look beyond your own city and look to other areas where you might be able to help communicate the message of the gospel. Is there somewhere that you can serve to help possibly meet the physical and spiritual needs of others through a short-term missions trip, building project, or outreach event going on somewhere else here in Missouri or around our area? Then, step three; have you ever considered how God might use you to minister to people of a totally different culture? If not, why not? It’s part of God’s plan, and I believe He wants all of us to be actively considering how we can best be used by Him.

-Derrick Lewright