Well, if you weren’t able to go this morning – I want to give you a basic gist of what Vice President Bob Fetherlin spoke about this morning at the breakfast at church. His talk was entitled, “Advancing the Kingdom: Getting ‘Infected’ with the ‘Virus.’” He started out by mentioning two churches that are equally unhealthy. The first church was a local church that is investing greatly in their local community, but one that is not very involved in anything outside of our country. The second church was one that is totally invested in overseas ministry, but has little to no ministry with their surrounding community.
The solution? We need to become “glocal” Christians in our efforts to spread the good news. Having a “glocal” focus is a combination of being “global” and “local” in our missions focus. Bob based his challenge to us on Acts 1:8, which says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In order to become “infected” with the “virus”, Bob gave us four convictions that we need to embrace as individuals and as a church.
First, we are to really come to a good understanding of the lostness of those who are far from God. We need to become painfully aware of the urgency of their situation. Using scriptural evidence, Bob explained that we have all “fallen short” (Romans 3:23) and “gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). Our iniquities have separated us from God, and have caused him to hide his face from us (Isaiah 59:2). Furthermore, those who remain lost, will not go unpunished (Proverbs 11:21), and that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Bob said, “people who are far from God are desperately lost, and without hope,” and he made the point that often we say that we believe this, but many times our actions do not portray what we say we believe. So, the first conviction we must have is that the lostness of those who are without God is very real, and very urgent.
Second, Christ is the one and only answer. The world has come up with many other answers and things to fill our lives with, but in actuality, Christ is the only answer to the problem of lostness. Bob reminded us that, John 14:6 clearly tells us that “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Also, we need to remember that, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Bob’s third point was that accessibility to the good news is critical. He referenced Matthew 24:14, which says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” He also reminded us of the familiar passage of Romans 10:14-15, which says, “How can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” Bob shared a staggering illustration that really drove this point home for me. If you were to ask someone in Centerville to leave their house in search of someone who could point them towards Jesus as the answer to this problem of lostness, he or she would have to speak to 4 or 5 people before someone could tell them about Jesus. Ask someone in Madrid, Spain to do the same thing, and they would have to speak to 500 people before someone could share Jesus with them. Then he mentioned the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey. Do you know how many people someone would have to speak with before they were pointed towards Jesus? An individual searching for Jesus as the answer to lostness would have to speak to 30,000 people before he or she found someone who knew about Jesus. The accessibility of Jesus to those who are lost is extremely critical.
The final conviction which we must possess in order to be “glocal” in our thoughts is that of incarnation. “Jesus gives us the model for carrying out his mission,” says Bob. Remember that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) We learn in Isaiah 53:3 that Jesus was a man of sorrows, and was familiar with suffering.
Bob used a beautiful illustration from his own life to share this important conviction with us. He spoke of a time when his firstborn son was very sick with a high fever. They put him to bed that night hoping that he would feel better in the morning, but Bob awoke to the pained cries of his son in the middle of the night. When he touched his hand to his head, he felt the fever burning within him. They had tried giving him Tylenol, but it wasn’t working. The doctor had told them that there was one other possibility before they should take him to the emergency room in the event that they were faced with this problem. He had told them to fill the bathtub with tepid water and to hold their son in the water. Then, while he was still in the water, they should drain the tepid water and start replacing it with very cold water which would allow his body temperature to safely and slowly come down. When they tried to hold their son in the water, he could not stand it on his own. The doctor had warned them that this may be the case, and had told them that one of them may need to get in the bathtub with their son in order to break the fever. Because Bob was willing to get in the bathtub with his son, he was able to withstand the cold – because he didn’t have to do it alone. And soon, the fever broke.
Bob challenged us that unless we are willing to “get in the bathtub,” we won’t see the fruits that we are looking for. Jesus had it in his mind that we would immerse ourselves in the ministry, and take on the sufferings of those we are ministering to. Bob mentioned that it might be good to have a website that shared the gospel, but that he had to believe that actually going to someone and relating to them would be far more successful in leading someone to Christ.
So, in order for us to be “glocal” in our thoughts and beliefs, we must first realize the severity of the lostness of those who are far from God. We must then know beyond the shadow of a doubt that JESUS is the only answer, and be willing to share that. We must make Him the accessible answer to those around us who are lost. And finally, we must be willing to go to the difficult places in order to share His word and truth.
In the end, we were presented with a couple of tests to see how “glocal” our church is. First, we asked ourselves the question, “If my church were to close down at the end of this month, are there local, unbelieving people who would feel the loss?” The second question we asked was, “If my church were to close down at the end of this month, is there a distant people group who would feel some impact and loss?” We ended by deciding that we want our lives to be used up for God when it comes time for us to die, and the only way we’re going to be able to ensure that is to live out every day with the thoughts and ways of Jesus in our minds, and allowing them to control our actions in everyday life. I hope that you find this to be as much of an exciting challenge for you and for our church as I did.
Bekah Biggs
Kayla Slaven from Asbury College and Elisha Parrett and Vanessa Tracey from Indiana Wesleyan University went with me on this trip.
We served the Nueva Jerusalem Church of the C&MA by pouring a concrete floor,
participating in a church service and sharing our faith stories.
for this very remote but beautiful waterfall and river.
As the congregation and mission team stood on the bank the translator and those who were baptized stood in the current of the river.
Please pray for Pastor Vladimir as he leads the community of believers in Quito!! 
