Condemning Vs. Commending Missionaries

In the ongoing debate of immigration policy there is an anti-immigrant senator from Australia who commends the assassination of missionary John Allen Chau by the isolated indigenous people living on North Sentinel Island as though it were a good thing.

Australian Senator Pauline Hanson argues that Chau had no business "invading" the remote island, and thus justifies her own disregard towards immigrants, or missionaries even, as if they were all a menace to society.   

The illustration is full of contradictions and irony (like the fact that Hanson is Anglo Saxon which under her philosophy would exclude her from the right to even live in and much less govern Australia - a country technically of the Aborigines - who would be most comparable to the Sentinelese, not her)... But despite the political, racial, and religious issues involved, the point that Hanson tries to make of it being proper to kill other human beings entirely because those human beings are different, is extremely preposterous.

Hanson commends savage and ferocious behavior under the guise of "protection of culture", and by doing so exalts sin as if it were a virtue.

There are all sorts of things I wish I could say about the situation, but what I'm most interested in is this idea of "commendation."   

When you evaluate everything that went down in North Sentinel Island on November 17, 2018 when John Chau was killed, everyone who hears this story is ultimately forced to decide who to commend within the aftermath. Do you commend the Sentinelese like Pauline Hanson for defending their culture? or do you commend John Chau for sacrificing everything he had out of love for God and the Sentinelese?

What's discouragingly noticeable to me in my research of Chau's story, is that before the incident, apparently he was never officially commended by any local church in the States or elsewhere before embarking on this daring mission. Why, I wonder? Was it because Chau had no interest in churches? ...or was it because no church had any interest in him? I don't know the answer to that question, but my guess is that it's the latter as opposed to the former... Sure, churches like to talk about evangelism and missions and their love for the lost, but how many leaders of churches are truly willing to send out their qualified youth so they can share the gospel to the ends of the earth, and to even financially support these young people as they adapt to a different culture, master a foreign language, and lovingly share Christ with anyone they can?

My awesome elders who daringly sent me out in the care of the Holy Spirit to the Colombian mission field in 2009

...I know a few leaders of churches who would, and who even put their money where there mouth is by supporting my own life and ministry specifically (and those of you reading this know exactly who you are - and I can't even tell you how grateful I am to God for each one of you), but sadly I also know of a few other church leaders or even Christians in general who don't care very much about Christ's great commission, maybe because the subject is too complicated, as we can see from the example of John Chau... "Commend a guy like John? No way josé," church elders would think, "we would rather the young men in our congregation save up to buy fancy cars and houses and marry pretty wives so they can live comfortable suburban lifestyles and show up to our Sunday morning services and faithfully deposit their juicy checks in our tithing baskets so we can buy nicer church buildings and occasionally send our youth groups to exciting amusement parks."

...Okay, maybe I went a little too far with that, but I still think it's sad how comparably small the percentage of resources invested in world missions is by the evangelical church at large, compared to other causes... Or then again, who even cares about the money? what if we just talked about empowering our church members, both guys and girls equally, to serve Christ without any reservations, in any capacity we can think of, no matter what the cost?... What are we so scared of? That someone might get killed like John Chau and have the whole situation turn into a worldwide spectacle? ...I can see how that is something worth avoiding, but I just wish there were more people out there willing to count the cost and go for it, and serve Christ unreservedly, because the reward in Him is far greater than any material, emotional, or even physical loss we can imagine.                 

John Allen Chau's recent martyrdom has re-awaken in me that single minded drive to preach Christ crucified, cost it what it may, to anyone I can, even to the ends of the Earth...

After preparing myself in every way I could, back in July of 2009, there were two church elders who took the chance in commending me to the mission field, and since then I've started a few churches and am helping start a few more. The missionary service organization I'm affiliated with has recently asked me to get a new commendation for 2019, and I honestly don't know what's going to happen. Does anyone care?

I know there are plenty of people who criticize John for recklessly "losing his life" for Christ to the Sentinelese, but if he were a part of one of the churches that I've started in Colombia, I think I would have laid my hands on him in commending him to the mission field with seriousness and an understanding of what is at stake.

There are some who look upon this polarizing situation as a terrible mistake; I see it as an example of someone who was living for Jesus more than himself, and who carefully counted the cost of what he was doing, knowing full well that the worst that could happen was something far better than anything imaginable (Philippians 2:11). The best thing that could have happened would have been that the Sentinelese would have started to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior while they, along with John, would have awaited Christ's return...

John beat me to Jesus's presence, and I doubt he really cares about what everyone else is saying about him here on Earth. I'm sure the only words that mattered to him back on November 17th were the ones that Jesus pronounced when he stood up to tell him "Well done my good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:23) as he welcomed him into Heaven's glory.

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Articles Referenced:

1st Picture

Article by the Gospel Coalition

Article by the Washington Post

Article by New York Times

Wikipedia

Yahoo news

Thanksgiving Without Walls

While the first wave of Central American immigrants from the caravan that Trump fears so much has arrived at the American border; simultaneously there are thousands of Venezuelan immigrants arriving at Colombia's border as well, and crossing it, both legally and illegally. 

Thousands of Venezuelans and I waiting to cross into Colombia

American President Donald Trump considers the immigrant caravan in Mexico a "national emergency" and has deployed thousands of troops to the American Southern border to secure it's wall.

But instead of fearing what immigrants may or may not do in either Colombia or the States, I think the church needs to urgently mobilize itself to receive foreigners in love, and share the gospel with every newcomer as best as we can.      

In Ephesians 2 Paul talks about Christ breaking down the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles, thereby reconciling us both to God in one body through the cross (v. 14-16).

While many like to build walls to separate us from those who are different - Jesus came to give eternal citizenship to those who are near and those who are far off (v. 17-19).

Thanksgiving was invented to remind us of how indigenous locals helped our immigrant ancestors survive the winter, and give God thanks.

So instead of building bigger walls, our nation should be setting bigger tables to bring near through love and the proclamation of Christ, those who have been alienated and separated from God (v. 12- 13). Irregardless of race, economic level, or legal status.

Why I'm Not a Good Samaritan

I think we often misunderstand the parable of the Good Samaritan as a teaching intended to turn us into more compassionate people when really, that's not the main intention of the parable at all, as great of an intention as that may be.

...While the parable of the Good Samaritan definitely inspires us to notice hurting people's needs irregardless of their race or religion or condition, and to attend to them in love, costing us what it may; I think we miss the crucial point of what Jesus is teaching us if the only thing we glean from this story is that we need to become better people who love others more...

Of course loving people more is a great objective (and I know that I really need to do that better), but I believe that there is something deeper here than what is initially understood.

Every teaching of Jesus always has an objective, and every objective is always directed to someone specific. In this case, Jesus was sharing this parable to an expert of the law who was trying to justify himself (Luke 10:25-29); and I believe that this is the best clue that we have in understanding what Jesus is ultimately getting at in this specific story.

The two questions Jesus addresses in this story are as follows: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" and, "Who is my neighbor?".

...According to the characters in this parable, the answer to the second question is clear. It's everyone - including, but not limited to, my enemy (just like the Jews were to the Samaritans, and the Samaritans were to the Jews)... But how should I love my enemy? Well, surprisingly, the way the good Samaritan loved the man that fell into the hands of the robbers is how - by going way above and beyond any normal call of duty, and risking all my life and resources in giving others all the time and help they need at my own expense.

The beauty of Jesus' teaching in this parable is that when we consider the good Samaritan, his example is exactly what we need so we can know how to love others, and we're inspired to start doing so, even though we know that if we're honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we really don't come close to that standard. Maybe we want to, but we don't really want to have to...

In my mind I love the idea of being the hero in this story, I love the idea of being the good Samaritan.

But when I'm in a hurry walking down the sidewalk in Cucuta to get to an appointment at the mall and I see a single mother with her baby begging for money on the edge of the sidewalk; I honestly don't want to have to stop and talk to her and take her and her child to a hotel for them to stay at and then buy them food and share the gospel with the mother before I tell her I'll pick her up the next day to take her to a Bible study. I don't want to pray for her and think of a business option she can work at to sustain herself, and then be the one to subsidize the operation. I don't want to show up late to the appointment at the mall where I was supposed to talk to another fellow who has all kinds of needs both personally and for his family back in Venezuela as well, in every way you can possibly imagine.

Eating dinner last night with three Venezuelan Women who live off the mercy of others on the  Cucuta streets Kailey, Irismar, and Fabiola; along with Keily's daughter Cristal and Irismar's son Fabian

Sure, in my mind I want to be the type of guy that would stop and do all that, but then again in real life when I'm walking down the street and I see the desperate mother with her child, looking at me with sadness, I wish I hadn't seen her. But I did though. And so I just act like I didn't, and keep walking to the mall, where I'll try to follow through with my other commitment, and then maybe I can help out the mother on the street on another occasion... All of this of course, out of neglect to a desperate woman with her child who aren't even my enemies... just beautiful Venezuelans created in the image of God who need my help.

Eating with Venezuelan immigrant musician friends Isaac, Alexander, and Jose at the mall

If I'm honest with myself, I'm usually like the priest or the Levite; even though I know I should be like the Samaritan.   

But the ultimate question still remains: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Well, the logical answer to that question is to simply fulfill every single aspect of the law, down to the smallest detail of it, and to do so in the same way this Samaritan exemplified so beautifully for the man who had been robbed... a Samaritan who was part of a sect that implies he had terrible theology compared to the Jewish priest and the Levite, who both should have been the first ones to respond to God's overarching command to love their neighbor, as they both knew they should have, even without thinking twice about it.

But each of them did think twice about it, and a third and fourth time as well probably, just like I would have, until they convinced themselves that they shouldn't help the poor man who was dying there, as much as they knew that helping him was exactly what they should have done.

...When I'm walking down the street here in Cucuta, I know full well what loving my neighbor as myself looks like, but most of the time I love myself more than my neighbor, and in the few cases that I love my neighbor as much as I love myself - that usually only lasts like a good ten minuets at most, and then I'm back to loving myself again, without my neighbor included, and would rather just ignore my next neighbor altogether who might pop up somewhere down the road again, in the form of someone else. Perhaps maybe I should even move somewhere more high class, where I don't have to see anyone in need, so that then I wouldn't even have to think about helping others to begin with...

Other neighbors in Cucuta, in the form of someone else

See, the answer to the question "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" is initially understood only when we consider the law, and once we consider the law, our condition before it is only that of total hopelessness and despair.

And that's exactly where we need to arrive if we're ever going to realize the need we have for grace.

We need to come to a point where we see how totally incapable we are of achieving salvation on our own, if we're ever going to then come to a place where we can receive the salvation we so desperately need from our terrible condition of sin. This realization comes when we understand who we are in light of a different character in this parable...

Though I wish I were the Samaritan, I usually act like the priest or Levite, and so consequently, who I'm most comparable to in this story is the man who fell among the robbers.

When I consider my life and understand that I don't always act like a good Samaritan by loving every single neighbor at every single moment in every single situation in my life; then there's nothing else that I can do other than recognize my own desperate need for a Savior to come and rescue me for every single sinful act of neglect towards every single neighbor that I could have loved but didn't.

If I don't realize I'm a hypocrite, then I am a hypocrite. If I don't realize that Jesus is essentially my  good Samaritan that came to rescue me in the moment of my deepest need, then I'll only think about other people's needs and feel sorry for them and try to make myself feel good about who I am by helping them without realizing that I am the one who needs help, and there is only one who is good enough to help me and that is God (Luke 18:19). And that I both need him and need to point others to him, more than I need anything else.

The reason why Jesus told this parable to the expert of the law was to challenge him in his self-justification. It was to make him realize that he needed a Savior, the very one who was standing in front of him... The expert of the law didn't so much need a story to remind him of how to be kind to people, though the parable of the good Samaritan does so to a T. What both the expert of the law and everyone one of us needs to be reminded of is that there is only one in all of history who has loved us like that "perfect Samaritan", and though we should imitate him in his love, we actually aren't even close to loving like he loves... The expert of the law needed a story to remind him of how far he was from being that "Samaritan" in his own strength, just like we need this story to remind us of how far we are from perfection as well, and thus in faith cry out to Jesus for his all-sufficient grace, as if we see a good Samaritan approaching us there in the distance... a "good Samaritan" as it were, who is ultimately a personification of the good Jewish man Christ Jesus.

Church Planting Among Venezuelan Immigrants

Hi - 

There are a few teachings of Jesus that have really floored me recently. One of those is in Luke 14 where Jesus refers to the invitation of eternal life as that of an invitation to a great banquet... Jesus, who would compare himself to the master in this story, becomes angry when he hears of people's excuses in not coming to the feast and tells his servants to go quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. The servants obey, and yet there is still more room and so Jesus says, "go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in."  

For the past few months I've been trying to start a church in Colombia's border city with Venezuela (known as Cúcuta), and sometimes I feel like one of those servants in the parable going out into the streets inviting anyone I can. Just like in the parable, there are a lot of unlikely guests who have shown up; such as  immigrants and transvestites, who generally don't fit into the typical Christian "status quo."

On a few occasions we've shared meals together, but the main thing I want to do is share the gospel. I want to share it in such a way that my friends can clearly understand it and sincerely accept it. 

Some have, and many have gone on to other cities or countries in hopes of finding better opportunities while they sing some of the gospel songs that I've taught them along the way. Please pray that my friends would cling to Jesus and grow up in him throughout every stage of their journey.

This last week I connected with a group of immigrant street musicians and we've been singing together on the streets to the people in cars who give my friends a few coins in return. 

It's kind of fun to be honest, though sad at the same time, and I think that showing my friends that I care about them and that I identify with them is what makes the gospel that much more powerful. 

Last night I played some basketball with a few guys I met casually at a mall and at the basketball court, and I have high hopes that at least 4 of them will be a part of our Bible study tonight.

If you want to see a documentary of how this ministry started, please click HERE.

-Sam  

Missionary Profile: https://www.cmml.us/node/817    

Interesting Investments

Hi -

Do you want to know what's one of the worst things you could possibly invest in right now? ...That would probably be the Venezuelan Bolivar, or worse yet, the Petro, which is Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's most recent concoction of some sort of oil-backed cryptocurrency that is an even poorer purchasing option than Bitcoin (whether or not Bitcoin will hold its own remains a mystery) ...But in other news, the American housing market is up, the US dollar is going down, and trade with China is tense.

But seriously man, the Venezuelan economy has gotten way out of wack. A couple weeks ago I visited the Colombian border town of Cucuta, and I traded $1 US dollar for tens of thousands of Venezuelan Bolivares and even that, within a few months, will likely depreciate even more. 

Warren Buffet suggests buying in when the market price is low, and even though I don't intend on buying a house or any kind of cryptocurrency at this time, I do think that investing eternally into Venezuelan people is a good deal. Amidst their poverty, I sense they are really open to the gospel, just like the opposite may be true for those who have great wealth (Mark 10:25).

But there's another type of investment that's sure to generate fantastic rewards, and it can be in giving a disciple something as simple as a cold cup of water (Matt. 10:41-42). In fact, when I was in Cucuta the woman in the picture on the right gave me just that, and even though I personally didn't tell her about it - hopefully she already has, or one day will - drink of the true water that springs to eternal life (John 4:14).

...Because of the donation given to me from a veteran missionary last month - during holy week there was a group of 12 people led by Fabio (a disaster relief specialist that I commissioned from our church) that went to Cucuta to share the gospel with and help out the poor and displaced, many of whom are Venezuelan immigrants.

Team led by Fabio in Cucuta 

Also, as a result of another donation, every Sunday we feed approximately 30 Venezuelan friends at our church, and help specific families or individuals as the Lord lays them on our hearts.

I've had a few people ask me how they can contribute as well, and while one courageous brother brought 11 students and parents to help here in Bogota last week, another option is by making a direct deposit or sending a check via Christian Missions in Many Lands. If you're interested in doing so, click HERE to learn more.

American team led by Mark along with Venezuelan immigrants in Bogota

Sincerely,

Sam Killins

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Missionary Profile: https://www.cmml.us/node/817

The Influence of Nate Bramsen

At the beginning of 2018, I got to hang out a lot with Nate Bramsen who is an incredible preacher, missionary, world traveler, athlete, friend, social media powerhouse, and follower of Jesus... I mean I’m talking like heavy doses of his presence haha. For starters, I got to ease into his ministry at a conference in Tennessee and hear him speak passionately on the glory of the cross, and the Christian’s charge to stand firm in the faith. Then, I met up with him more personally towards the end of the conference to go over the game plan for the next couple of weeks as he was going to fly to Colombia along with his friend Madison to work with some friends and I to challenge and strengthen a whole bunch of churches and people in Colombia, especially our church and me included.

He and Madison touched down in Bogota and from there on out it was pure adrenaline man. I mean like conference after conference; exploring waterfalls after climbing mountains; cruising around in motorbikes after doing so in taxis; meetings after (or during) meals; hair cuts (what little there was to cut) after running around to find free wifi; and yeah – I mean just all sorts of fun and intense moments of watching and helping him pour into others whether they be church leaders, young followers of Jesus, recovering addicts, people devastated by an avalanche, or anyone else who happened to show up at one or more of the 20 speaking engagements he had in the lapse of 10 days… I mean this guy took the definition of a missions trip to a whole other level.

…So it was kind of awkward because there would be moments where a meeting would end and he would be talking or praying with someone and I needed to tell him something or have him go somewhere but in my mind it was just like, “man – if I interrupt him now, that might seriously affect this other guy or girl’s future ‘cause the conversation they’re having right now seems really intense.”

But I would interrupt him anyway, and he would be like, “it better be for something important because I was just having a really meaningful conversation back there.”

…But besides just setting up the meetings and going everywhere with him, I was also his number one interpreter. Of the 20 messages he gave, I interpreted for 18 of them, and I think that more than anyone else, I was the main guy benefitting from his exposition of the Word. Why? Well, because besides just hearing everything he said and processing it and then translating it in my mind, I was also saying it out loud again for everyone to hear. And let me tell you, every message was super powerful, and meaningful, and challenging, and inspirational and yeah – I don’t know, just right on.

Yet in addition to the awesome time that we got to hang out in Colombia - 5 days after leaving, Nate got married, and I had the privilege of being one of his 33 groomsmen.

So, there’s this passage in John chapter 3 where a few of John the Baptist’s disciples are frustrated because even though John the Baptist at one point was baptizing tons of people (he had even baptized Jesus), all of a sudden everyone was going over to Jesus to get baptized by his disciples instead (v. 26)... and you can almost pick up on the inferiority complex they were having when they complain to John and are like, “So why does Jesus get all the attention now?” and “What’s the big deal with this guy anyway?"

Well John the Baptist’s response is awesome, and what he says is that he was sent before Jesus to prepare the way for him (John the Baptist’s message was that of repentance), but now that Jesus’ ministry was in full force – he felt the same way I felt when I was a groomsman at Nate’s wedding… I was happy for him! And I just wanted to stand beside him in showing everyone my approval and support for what was taking place as he was getting married to Priyanka… I didn’t want to take the spotlight away from this beautiful couple, and I certainly didn’t want to be envious or lame or depressing either. John the Baptist needed to decrease so that Jesus could increase, and in my own experience, that’s what I felt like I had to do when Nathan Bramsen came to Colombia.

Essentially, I had prepared the way for Nate. I set up his itinerary, and when Nate came I didn’t want to have him sit down while I preached or something like that, I wanted him to preach as much as possible because he does it way better than I do, and I wanted all my friends in Colombia to benefit as much as possible from his awesome ministry. I mean heck – I even wanted to benefit as much as possible from his ministry, because when the knowledge and glory of God and the spiritual lives of those who hear the Word are at stake – we need those who can most effectively bring about that work, sharing it. My role was like that of a mid-fielder getting the soccer ball to the striker so that he or she can score the goal... Or like the baseball player who’s in the line-up to hit a single so that the power slugger can hit a grand slam and bring everyone home.

Do you get the point? The purpose of any ministry is to give God the most glory, just like in sports the purpose of playing is to win. What’s going to work best? How are we going to accomplish the goal? How is God going to receive the most glory? …Those are the questions we should be asking ourselves, not “how many people are following me? how awesome do I look as I stand on stage? How am I going to get more glory for myself?” …And I say that, and it sounds obvious, but in real life it can be a struggle… I’m sure that there’s more than one of us who has, at some point, compared him or herself to Nate and been like, “Why don’t I get invited to speak at huge conferences and have people eagerly follow me wherever I go?” “Why can’t I travel to dozens of countries each year and get to soak in the beauty that each exotic place has to offer?” “Why am I not an elite diamond member that flies first class with Delta and posts sick pictures of air plane wings in the sunset that get thousands of likes?” …You laugh, but it’s true.

Well, because Nate does it better than we do. His messages penetrate deeper, his gospel is clearer, his passion is more contagious, and he also walks around in his sermons and keeps everyone awake a lot more effectively than we do.

Is that bad?... No, it’s awesome! In fact, it’s what should give us all joy, just like it gave John the Baptist joy to think about Jesus, and it gave me joy to think that Nate was getting married (v. 29). It gives me joy to think about Nate’s ministry because he’s reaching more people for Jesus and inspiring more youth to follow him, and that’s the point. He’s giving more glory to God and that’s spectacular. Nate, and now his lovely wife Priyanka along with him, are out there to win for the Kingdom of God, and that should make us super excited because we’re a part of the same team.

It’s kind of like when you see Nate with his shirt off and you’re like “jeez lue weez man haha, I didn’t even think those types of muscles existed” haha. Well, the truth is that they do, and Nate has them and they’re not fake, and now that you’ve seen them you have one of two choices to make (okay so this illustration is starting to get really weird all of a sudden haha, but just bear with me for a sec). The two options you have are either to keep your shirt on, or you can start working out more often, like he does, and eventually get an 8 pack yourself (ok, so in the picture I probably should have kept my shirt on).

And it’s the same in ministry – you can see the widespread effect of what Nate is accomplishing through the power of the Holy Spirit, and you can get behind him in praying and helping him and Priyanka make it further, or you can sit back and try to think of ways in which they aren’t perfect. You can also either be intimidated by Nate’s influence and “keep your shirt on,” or you can get a communication degree or start praying and studying the Bible more like he does and start daring yourself to step out in faith beyond what you already have. 

Nathan Bramsen is one of the most influential disciples of Jesus in our generation, and just like Paul said to the church in Corinth, “follow my example as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1), so also in many ways we should follow Nate’s example as he follows the example of Christ. Maybe not in all ways, but in a lot of ways I think we should (Nate has plenty of idiosyncrasies that are neither here nor there).

But it’s that drive to win that’s so powerful…

I remember a few years back we were playing doubles against two random old men in tennis, and there was a match where I was serving, and we were up 40 - love. Well, I missed my first serve and I was getting ready for my second, and I asked Nate if I could try to serve it hard again and he was like, “no, I think you should play it safe and we should just win this thing.” Well, we did win that game, but at the end of it all we lost the set because the old guys were just plain cheating. I was kind of like, “whatever, it’s just a game,” but Nate was really frustrated.

What I learned right then was that Nathan is programmed to win, and just messing around in tennis or life or whatever is not an option because there’s a lot at stake… And you know? He’s right. Why in the world should we be messing around or letting old cheaters get in the way of us when Jesus has given us a clear assignment and there are so many people out there who desperately need us to share the gospel that we’ve been entrusted with?

Every single time that I’ve been with Nate, it didn’t matter if he was preaching to 20 people or if he was preaching to 700 – he always did it with everything he had in him.

And that’s the kind of guy I want to be passing the ball to in real life.