This past weekend our family had the great opportunity to be commissioned as missionaries with the North American Mission Board in Atlanta. We met missionaries doing everything from church planting, inner city ministry, chaplains, collegiate ministry, to truck stop ministry.

To hear the stories… They were rich with the power of God at work in places like Newfoundland, Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego, Nova Scotia, Oklahoma, South Dakota and all across North America. It was encouraging as always to hear God stories of believers doing the work in new, refreshing ways. We developed new friendships with Hispanic Church Planter Enrique, who we gave the nickname John Wayne. Ty is from Dayton and is doing collegiate ministry with Baptists in Ohio. I could go on about the friendships.

The one thing we all had in common is our faith through the risen one – Jesus. God is on the move in North America, but believers must be in the trenches now more than ever. In a country that has 300 million people of whom 225 million are not yet believers, the task of introducing the 225 million to Jesus looms larger than ever.

My thoughts on this cloudy, cool Wednesday morning from northeast Ohio.