Lesson from the Mission Field 11-10-24

Overview

You Are Already on the Mission Field

The numbers paint a sobering picture: only about 20% of Americans attend church weekly, while 57% seldom or never attend a religious service. Among non-churchgoing members of Gen Z, 72% have doubts about the existence of God. Globally, after Christianity (31%) and Islam (23%), the third-largest group is those with no religious affiliation at all. These realities should reshape how we think about the people around us. Many we assume are "Christian" may, at best, claim a cultural Christianity—and the harvest is far greater than we tend to imagine.

When we hear the word missions, we often picture a youth trip, a week abroad, or a career calling like those served by Christians sent to Bangladesh or other foreign fields. But Jesus' commissioning words don't compartmentalize the work. In Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:44-48, John 20:30-31, and Acts 1:8, Jesus commands his followers to go, proclaim, baptize, teach, and witness. He sets no time limit and no geographic boundary. The call is to all nations and to the end of the age.

That means your mission field begins the moment you wake up. It includes your spouse at the kitchen table, your child, your roommate, the coworker, the neighbor, the stranger in the grocery store. Every person you encounter needs the Word of the Lord—the believer for strengthening, the seeker for answers, the unbeliever for salvation. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:13-18, faithful witness expands our "sphere of action" so the gospel reaches further—not for our boasting, but for God's glory. Like a drop of color spreading through milk when touched, the Holy Spirit works through ordinary contact to spread the gospel from one life to another.

A few pastoral reminders as you go: First, as Paul David Tripp puts it, God doesn't merely inform you of the work of his kingdom—he calls you in to participate. You don't need to see the whole picture; you only need to be faithful where he has placed you. Second, the Christian life is not a private, solo relationship with Jesus sealed in a box. We are called into community and sent outward—neither hidden nor isolated. Third, what Christ calls you to do, he also equips you to do. Whether it's a conversation at a Friend Speak table where someone hears for the first time that the rainbow is God's covenant promise, or a quiet conversation in a pregnancy clinic where a young man hears that salvation is not earned by being "a good person" but received as a free gift in Christ—the Spirit does the work. We simply show up and plant seeds. You are a missionary. Go this week to the people and places the Lord has appointed for you.

Transcript

Good morning. 3s

Okay, so we are starting a new Sunday school class. 5s

We'll be doing this for three weeks. 8s

And I think we're going to have a lot of fun with this. 11s

But fun is always a driving force for me, 14s

which I don't know if that's good or bad, 18s

but you know, whenever we get together, we will have fun. 22s

So there you go. 26s

Let's open in prayer. 27s

Heavenly Lord, we thank You so much for this day. 28s

We thank You so much for Your Word. 32s

We thank You that You have promised to write it in our hearts 34s

and to have it upon our lips. 38s

Lord, we ask that as we engage with You in Your Word, 41s

that You would indeed grow us richer, richer, 45s

and more deeply in knowing You and being able to share Your 48s

glorious Word with others. 54s

Lord, bless this time of study and lead us forth this week 55s

to serve You in all the places that You send us. 60s

We lift this to You in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 65s

Okay. 69s

20% of Americans attend church every week. 71s

Out, yes. 75s

20% of Americans attend church every week. 78s

41% of Americans are in monthly church attendance or more, 84s

so that would be, you know, a little better once a month. 90s

57% of Americans are seldom or never in religious service attendance. 95s

Now, I am no mathematician, 104s

but I do know that 57% is more than half of Americans that are never 107s

or seldom in a religious service or in attendance. 119s

Regular church attendance has steadily declined since the turn of the 126s

century. 72% of non-churchgoing members of Gen Z have doubts 130s

about the existence of God. 137s

That just stinks, which is actually kind of funny considering 143s

the sermon for today. 148s

But no, that is, that sounds so bleak. 151s

And we can think about our own lives and think about, you know, 156s

well, most of the people that I know are Christian. 160s

Most of the people that I know have a church home. 163s

Most of the people I know, but is that so? 167s

Is that so? 174s

Or is it that maybe most of the people we know at best claim a cultural 175s

Christianity? 182s

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I am Christian. 183s

And we know of, you know, being culturally Jewish or culturally Muslim 186s

or culturally Catholic or culturally Protestant. 191s

Are the people that we know culturally Christian? 196s

Are they Christian? 203s

Are they some of the undetermined? 205s

Because more than half of the American population seldom or 212s

never attends a church service. 219s

I know I promised this would be fun. 225s

We're starting out with bleakness, but there's a purpose. 228s

There is a purpose. 231s

Based on a study of the world's population in the 2010s, 233s

Pew Research estimated the world religions as Christians 237s

is 31% of the world population. 242s

Muslims, 23%, no religious affiliation is 16%. 246s

Then you have Hindu's Buddhist, folk religionists, other religions, and Jews. 252s

So the top three religions, you have Christianity at 31% of the world population. 257s

Then you have the Muslim, and then you have the third top is nothing at all. 264s

People who absolutely do not subscribe or believe in anything. 270s

No greater higher power, certainly not God. 277s

So thank God for missionaries. 284s

Thank God for missionaries. 287s

When I was studying for this or starting to study, I thought, 289s

okay, let's just break down mission in and of itself. 292s

Mission is a specific task with which a person or a group is charged. 296s

It's a pre-established and often self-imposed objective or purpose. 302s

It can be a calling or a vocation. 308s

It can be a body of persons sent to perform a service or carry on an activity, 310s

such as a group sent to a foreign country. 316s

A team of specialists or cultural leaders sent to a foreign country. 318s

A ministry commissioned by a religious organization to propagate its faith or carry on humanitarian work. 324s

So a missionary then is a person undertaking a mission and especially a religious mission. 332s

Okay, so when we think about missions, what's the first thing that pops into your brain? 341s

You can answer. 348s

Trips, mission trips, mission trips. 350s

And when we think, I mean we have so many mission trips here at Living Word. 352s

And when we think of mission trips, what do we think of? 356s

Or who do we think of? 358s

Oh, Costa Rica youth. 361s

Yeah, we think about usually, oh yeah, mission trips. 363s

That's what our youth do. 369s

Or oh yeah, I did mission trips when I was young. 371s

And the truth is that most of us, most of us, have not been career missionaries, 375s

where we make our living as a career missionary. 384s

We have some in this church that that was their career. 389s

Steve Burke in Ming Wei, Stephen Ming Wei. 393s

Their career prior to being here was as missionaries. 395s

Allison, where's Allison? 400s

Allison Anderson was a career... 402s

No. 406s

She's pointing to an empty grouping there. 408s

So no, Allison, excuse me, Allison Anderson was a missionary. 412s

She served over in Bangladesh. 416s

So there are career missionaries. 419s

And for those of us who don't want to be career missionaries, we kind of think, 422s

oh, great. 427s

So when I have kids and they grow up, I'll send them on mission trips. 428s

So they can do missions. 432s

And it's these compartmentalized, special times carved out in our lives to do good work, 434s

to share a Bible story, to do VBS. 443s

And it's this set apart thing. 448s

But is that what scripture? 452s

Is that what scripture has for us? 455s

Let's start with... 460s

Let's start with Mark. 463s

And I'm going to try to keep it going in, like, order in scripture. 465s

So Mark, oh, I'm not. 470s

You know what? 472s

Okay, let's actually start with Matthew. 475s

And then I will do what I said I wanted to do. 478s

Matthew, chapter 28. 480s

Matthew, chapter 28. 483s

So this is the first gospel in the New Testament. 485s

First gospel, 28th is the last chapter. 488s

It's right before Mark. 491s

So we're going to look at what Jesus says in verse 18, or beginning in verse 18, 493s

where it says, and Jesus came and said to them, so he's speaking to his disciples. 501s

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 506s

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 511s

and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. 519s

And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age. 523s

Let's go over to Mark, Mark chapter 16. 527s

Mark chapter 16, beginning in verse 15. 532s

And he, that's Jesus, and he said to them, again, the disciples he's speaking to, 538s

go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. 544s

The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 549s

Okay, and then let's go over to Luke. 556s

That's the next gospel, Luke chapter 24. 559s

Luke chapter 24, beginning in verse 44. 565s

Then he said to them, again, this is Jesus, speaking to his disciples, 572s

these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, 577s

that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled. 581s

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, 588s

thus it is written that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 593s

and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. 598s

You are witnesses of these things. 607s

You are witnesses of these things. 611s

Let's go over to the gospel of John, chapter 20. 614s

The gospel of John, chapter 20, we're going to look at verse 30. 619s

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, 627s

but these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, 633s

and that through believing you may have life in his name. 639s

Then let's go finally to Acts chapter 1. 644s

This is just the next page, probably, Acts chapter 1, looking at verse 8. 647s

Again, this is at that ascension time. 657s

Jesus is speaking to his disciples, and he says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, 659s

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Al Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 666s

Okay. Each of those times, Jesus is saying that they will be witnesses, that they are to go and proclaim, 674s

that they are to teach, that they are to baptize, that they are to make disciples. 683s

Does he say, and when you have kids, raise them, so when they're about 16, they can go and do some good stuff. 691s

No. Does he say, I want you to set aside about one week every year where you go and you build a house in my name. 703s

No, he doesn't say that. He says, go. He doesn't give us a frame of time. 724s

He says, proclaim, be my witnesses, and he doesn't give us a set space. 733s

He says, all the world. So, is mission work done in China? Yes. 741s

Is it for you and I to do in China? Maybe? Maybe? Maybe not. 750s

If the Lord is calling you to be a missionary and to dedicate your life to sharing his word in China, then that is the mission work that he has appointed for you. 758s

But if you are not appointed to go over to China and share his word, is your service done? Has your mission been completed for the Lord? 768s

No. Because the Lord gives us mission wherever He places us. And He gives us mission every single day. 780s

Every single day we come into contact with someone, with someone that needs the word of the Lord. 795s

If they are already a believer, if they are in the, oh, now we're going to math, 43% that are regular church attenders. 807s

If they are 20%, I think it was. Yeah, 20%. If they are already believers and in weekly worship and praising the Lord, and maybe you even gone on a mission trip with them, do they need the word of the Lord? Yes. 815s

Absolutely. 831s

What about the people out there that you meet in the grocery store that may or may not know the Lord? We don't know. Do they need the word of the Lord? Yes. 835s

We all need the word of the Lord. Jesus does not say only go to these people. He says go to every nation. And it's an every day thing. 850s

Right now we are in DFW. We are called to be in DFW. And this is where our mission begins. 865s

You each have a place of residency. Your mission begins in the morning when you wake up with every person you encounter, whether that is your spouse, your child, your roommate, someone on social media. 876s

You are always in the mission field that seems exhausting, seems daunting and overwhelming. But what Christ calls us to do, He also empowers us to do. 897s

And when we think of missions in terms of setting aside this chunk of time, setting aside, you know, time to go and travel, having to go out somewhere else, it can be daunting. 914s

But in the everyday life, Christ is calling you to be His servants. Christ is calling you to be His witnesses. And that will look however it looks in each of our lives. 931s

Let's go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, 2 Corinthians, chapter 10. 948s

And we're going to look at verses 13 through 18. 956s

We're Paul writes, we, however, will not boast beyond limits, but we'll keep within the field that God has assigned to us to reach out even as far as you. 972s

For we were not overstepping our limits when we reached you, we were the first to come all the way to you with the good news of Christ. 982s

We do not boast beyond limits, that is, in the labors of others, but our hope is that as your faith increases, our sphere of action among you may be greatly enlarged so that we may proclaim the good news in lands beyond you without boasting of work already done in someone else's sphere of action. 990s

It's not boasting on what we're able to do, it's sharing so that that ring, that sphere goes further. 1011s

And further, we did an experiment in Bible encounters with the kids this past Wednesday where we had a bowl of milk and food coloring and you dropped the food coloring in and it's different colors and there are just these little dots floating in this white milk. 1023s

And we're talking about kindness and the experiment is, you know, we are all these little floating dots. 1037s

But, and the people around us are these floating dots, but you take a Q-tip with a little bit of soap on it, we say that's us with the Holy Spirit. 1047s

And you touch those dots, you touch those dots of color and they, P, expand, and P, expand, and they run into each other and they start mixing and pretty soon you have not these separate little dots, but you have one bowl of, well we talked about kindness and how kindness spreads from one to another until there's kindness ever. 1057s

And we're all everywhere, it's the same thing even greater when we are going into our bowls of milk and we have all of these little dots of people around us and we, with the Holy Spirit, go and we touch, we encounter those dots. 1086s

We encounter the people around us with the Holy Spirit, P, the work of the Holy Spirit expands and then they have the Holy Spirit and they can go and touch the people in their lives and counter the people in their lives and P, and it continues to expand out and it's not for our own glory, it's not for our own gain, but it's to God's glory. 1106s

It's for his kingdom and we all have those bowls of milk that we are surrounded by. 1134s

And so we all have those opportunities to go and engage with people in our lives and in the community and sometimes that may look like going out into the world, but it also can look like sharing some of these things. 1143s

And so it's something with my spouse at the kitchen table. 1164s

It's still mission because my spouse at the kitchen table still needs the word of God and vice versa. I need the word of God too. 1170s

So we are always in the mission field. We are always, we are on an eternal mission trip as long as we are this side of heaven. 1182s

We are always called to be witnesses of God and His goodness. 1196s

It was really interesting. Okay, so two things. 1204s

So Paul David Trip is an author. He's a pastor. I think he's in the Reform Church, but he's written a lot of books. 1208s

And there's a devotional that it's really good that it's every day graces, I think, something like that. 1218s

Anyway, it's really good, but he said, he said God doesn't inform you of the work of His kingdom. 1228s

He calls you into it to participate in the work of His kingdom. 1237s

So we don't know the big picture. We don't know the big story, but we know that we are called to participate in the big story, in the big picture, where God has placed us. 1244s

Also, there was another thing that I found really interesting. When I started reading it, I thought, what is this man trying to say? 1258s

You know, I'd get an all-huffy. And then as I read it, I went, oh, that's kind of interesting. 1264s

So, yes, I am not above pridefulness. So pray for me. 1270s

So Chad Bird is a Lutheran theologian, and he wrote an article on saying that he doesn't want to have a personal relationship with Jesus, that no one is called into a personal relationship with Jesus. 1276s

And this is where I thought, what is he talking about? 1295s

But I think that what the point he was making was very, very valid in that he is saying the relationship we are called into in Christ is a relationship of community, a relationship with others. 1297s

No one is supposed to be solo in their walk of faith. None of us is called to be an island. 1316s

Pastor Eibel had a sermon on this a couple of years ago about none of us being an island, and really that is the gist of what Chad Bird was getting to. 1326s

We do have a relationship with Jesus, but we aren't called into a relationship in a box with Jesus. 1338s

We are called into a relationship with Jesus that we can go forth and share him with other people. 1347s

Okay, so we have more to say about this. 1360s

Each week we are going to build on this and about mission and kind of reframing our thoughts on mission. 1364s

But what I really want to do each week is to invite people who are not career missionaries. 1371s

They don't make a living being missionaries, but they are missionaries nonetheless. 1381s

And I have a couple of missionaries that I would like them to share a little bit about their mission work and how God has called them to be used right here, right now, where he has placed them. 1388s

So I invite the mid-fid missionaries up here. 1401s

First of all, I don't consider myself a missionary, but I guess I am. 1415s

Okay, well time out. So this is the whole point. 1420s

This is the whole point. 1424s

You are missionaries. Each and every one of you is a missionary. Go again. 1426s

Well, Pastor Kerry asked me to talk about friend speak and I have to confess this is only my second time to go to friend speak, but I had the most amazing conversations on Friday of this week. 1436s

And I was so excited about it. I honestly, it was the highlight of my week. 1450s

I couldn't even believe the things that were happening and what we were talking about. 1455s

And I was really just kind of overcome. And after it happened, I came out and I ran into her and I was telling her about it. 1460s

So I came on Friday and I was a little bit just a couple minutes late getting here. 1469s

And so I took a lady that was already at a table. There were three of the visitors there with one of our church volunteers. 1475s

And Steve said, oh, take one of these ladies because she's over there with her mother and she really prefers not to be at the table with her mother. 1485s

So I went over there and the younger girl came with me and she's from, there's a lot of Japanese people here, which is really interesting. 1493s

And so this young girl, she had just graduated from the University in Tokyo and was here visiting her mother. 1501s

And I think she's been here maybe most of the summer. And so we just talked and got to know each other a little bit. 1508s

Steve had given me some tips and said, you know, just start off with talking to them, getting to know them, asking them, how is your week? 1515s

You could ask, you know, what is the best thing that happened to you this week? Did you have any problems this week? 1522s

And just getting to know each other and she was really interesting. She's probably 21 or 22 and had majored in languages and wants to be an interpreter. 1528s

And she was so interested in the reading. And so I was thinking about Friendspeak. I thought, oh, well, they must just read straight from the Bible. 1540s

But it's actually a curriculum and you get a lesson each week and the lesson this week was Jesus, it's always from the book of Luke. 1547s

And the lesson this week was Jesus being tempted in the desert by Satan. And when I saw it, I was like, oh, we're going to talk about the devil. 1556s

And so, but anyway, she was so interested in everything. And I started out with the vocabulary words, which I think helps with reading the passage. 1564s

Then you have the words and you've already kind of discussed the words. And everybody knows the story of Jesus' temptation in the desert. 1575s

So our vocabulary words this week were desert, tempted, devil, and worship. So the only she had pretty good English actually. 1583s

The only word that she knew what it meant was desert. And so we talked about tempted, devil, and worship. So at that point, I was like, wow, I cannot believe that I'm actually sitting here talking to somebody who doesn't know the word temptation. 1595s

And she was tempted, which led us to talk about sin. And she's taking notes. She's so interested. I was just kind of overwhelmed by it. 1613s

She was taking notes and so tempted led to the word sin. And we talked all about that, which she did not know the word sin. And then we talked about devil, which I was really afraid to talk about the devil. 1622s

But she had so many questions and she asked me, is the devil a person? She didn't know what the devil was. She said, is he like a creature? Or is he a person? 1636s

And so we talked all about that. And we talked about how God is completely holy and the devil is completely evil and the forces of good and evil, which she wasn't really aware of all of that. 1648s

And then finally in some of our conversations, she said, are we talking about heaven and hell? And I said, yes. And so she said, so there's really a place called hell. And I said, yes. And that's where the devil lives. And God is in heaven. 1662s

And so then we, after we did our vocabulary words, we read the passage and we took turns. She would read a paragraph and I would read a paragraph. I asked her, how would you like to do it? And she said, well, I'll read a paragraph and you read a paragraph. 1677s

So I just kind of did whatever she was comfortable with. But we discussed the passage and pretty good detail because she just had a lot of questions. And then that led to a lot of information. 1691s

One of the words, well, it continues to refer to scripture in the passage because Jesus used scripture to answer Satan's questions. But then afterwards we read some of the questions that the curriculum gives you. 1708s

It took us a while to get there because we had such great discussion on the passage, but it said, have you ever read any scriptures or sacred writings? And if so, which one? And she really put some thought into it. And she said, you know, I'm not sure if I have, but she said, would Noah's ship be considered scripture? And I said, yes. 1727s

Noah's ship is in the Bible. It's scripture. And so I said, tell me about, you know, what do you know about Noah's ship? And she had a book or a video she couldn't remember when she was really young. And she said, I know there was a big wave coming and Noah built a ship for his family because he didn't want to get hit by the water. 1751s

And that's pretty much what she knew about it. But I said, that is exactly it. You know, that's a very good summary of it. But I said, there's a lot more details to that. And, you know, the story is in the Bible. And she said, well, if I wanted to know more, where would I find that in the Bible? And I'm like, oh, Lord, this is so good. You know, she wants to read the story. 1777s

So I told, I got my phone. I said, because we didn't have a Bible at the table, but it's in Genesis 6. And she's writing all of this down on her paper. And I said, do you have a Bible to be able to read more about it? And she said, actually, I do. She said, my mother has given me a Bible, but she said, honestly, I've really never read it. And she said, I have a couple of friends who are Christians, but I don't know that much about the religion. 1799s

She said, honestly, in Tokyo, in Japan, we really don't have any religion. We just don't do religion there that much. And so we talked a little bit more about Noah's Ark and that it's in the book of Genesis. And she had so many questions about it. We talked about the rainbow. That's what I was so amazed at. When I told her that the rainbow was God's promise that he would never flood the earth again. 1827s

And her face just lit up and she said, I cannot believe that. I did not know that. And I said, yes. So I said, so when you see the rainbow in the sky, that's God speaking to us even today with his promise that he will never flood the earth again. And I said, it started, you know, thousands of years ago in the Bible, but he's still speaking to us in the sky now. 1853s

And she was just so thrilled about that. She was so excited to know she said, I've never known that that's what the rainbow was. But anyway, our conversation continued on. I felt like I might have overwhelmed her because she had so many questions that led us to from Noah's Ark. We then talked about creation and the fall of man. And she said, wasn't there a snake there? And I said, yes. And I said, that kind of ties back into our world. 1878s

And I said, I'm going to tell you a story that we started with because I said, do you know who the snake was? And she said, no. And so I told her that the devil showing up again. And we talked about, you know, the devil is here now, tempting people today. 1906s

But anyway, I was just so thrilled by our conversation. Her mother came over after the pretty much everybody had left because she was still sitting there talking to me. And her mom came over and she pulled out her Bible because she said, this is the same Bible that I've given my daughter. 1922s

And she said, I know that we read from Luke each week, but she said, I know there are four gospels in the Bible. And so she started asking questions about the different gospels. 1943s

Did they have the same information and who were these people? She just had a lot of questions too. So we had really good conversation with her mother. But I was just really happy when I left that God had given me this young girl who had so many questions and wanted to ask me. 1955s

I was really happy to know so much and just really felt like the Lord was on her heart wanting to prompt her to know more. But I have to say in closing that I didn't do anything special or I just walked through the door. 1972s

The Lord did all of that and he was obviously already prompting her heart to be inquisitive and want to know these things. And everyone in this room, you've been in Sunday school, you've heard Pastor Kerry and Pastor Ible's wonderful sermons, you're totally equipped. 1991s

And you've already been taught everything here at this wonderful church and we have a mission field right out there in the family life center with we don't even have to go find the people. 2013s

They're coming in our door and wanting to know more and I feel like if she had stayed at that table that morning with three people and then one volunteer, I'm sure it would have been really good. 2022s

But I don't know if she would have totally opened up and asked all of those questions and had these same conversations. And again, it's not because I did anything. It was just that I was there and she could talk to somebody. 2037s

So Friday morning, you woke up and said, I am going to go on a mission trip, a mission trip to living word. No, but the mission is there. The mission is always there and God places us in his mission field for his purposes, according to his timing and glory. 2051s

So thank you for showing up Missionary Melinda. Well, appreciate it. And Friday morning, I actually thought, oh, I've really got too much today. I don't know if I'm going to go to friends speak and then I thought, no, you're going to go. So I'm glad that I did. 2070s

Thank you. 2089s

And Mark. 2090s

Good morning, everybody. Yes, so I'm a volunteer at mid-city's women's clinic. And so, and for those of you that don't know about mid, I'm sure we all do because we've been, we've been a faithful donor for the clinic for years at the church. 2094s

And you may ask, what's a guy doing it at pro life clinic? They actually have a program, which you may have heard about, but it's called Manda Man. 2110s

And, but they also have, we probably, Janice Honeycutt is also, she's a faithful servant at the clinic. She's been there for about a year. I've been there for about two years and just doing some volunteer work there. 2118s

And actually, so with mid-says, women's clinic has been around for over 40 years. And they actually are very blessed by donations through the church and other churches and supporters. 2131s

They're actually opening a second clinic. That one is in Ulyss. And the second clinic is actually going to be in Justin because actually they looked at the demographics. 2142s

And there's a lot, there's a need and there's so much growth happening out in the Justin Argyle area that they decided they needed to be very faithful and actually set up another clinic there because there isn't another pro life clinic in that area. 2150s

So that's the reason why they've got that second clinic. So for the Manda Man program is, and again, they do go for you training there. So that's the good thing. 2165s

You have to know a little more than just reading, but there is training there. So there's about 20 men who volunteer and are faithful volunteers at the clinic. 2173s

About a 30, probably a 30% of the females that come into the clinic. And sometimes they do actually think this is an abortion clinic. 2183s

So they're actually there because they're thinking they are, they have a problem. And the problem unfortunately is a baby. 2191s

So they are now pregnant or they think they're pregnant. And they want to be able, they have a possible grade sonograms, they're a sonogram equipment, and they have sonogram readers who will confirm if they have a baby or not. 2198s

But then about 30% of the females who come and actually come in with a man. And the man may be there for various, could be a husband, could be a boyfriend, could be a high school student who unfortunately was in a situation where you can't be a child. 2211s

You might have gotten the girl pregnant. And so when there's a man there, we actually talk to them. We talk to them privately in a great room, just one in one while the, while the lady is getting a sonogram done. 2227s

And we actually talked to them about two different things. The script is very simple. It's about options. If the young lady is actually pregnant. And then we talked to them to them about the gospel. 2240s

So we actually do that. And so it's such a simple script, but the options of course would be, would be keeping the baby. And the beautiful thing about the clinic is there's so many resources. And of course we do the massive diaper drive here every year. 2253s

But there's resources there because a lot of times these are 16 year old, 18 year olds, 20 year olds, and they're very financially strapped. So one of the biggest things is I can't keep this baby because babies cost a lot of money. 2268s

And that's true. Of course everybody knows that who's had children. But there's so many resources that the clinic provides around financial resources, diapers, formula, counseling on financial for helping them with their finances. 2282s

So that's a wonderful thing that's an outreach of the actual clinic. And so we talked to them about the options. So again, possibly ideally keeping the baby or looking at adoption. 2297s

And we do talk to them openly about the abortion process. And it's interesting for a man to talk about abortion. But I know that we've got a doctor here. So Tony may know knows a lot about, but there's a very high risk. 2311s

There's a high risk to actually getting an abortion. So there are women who can be totally they will they will be in a situation where they'll never be able to have children again or they could actually die. 2323s

So we talked to them about the risk factor and also the emotional factor. We also then talk about the gospel is that the man figure as all of us know and hear that our husbands that the man is the spiritual leader of the house. 2335s

And therefore like it or not even if this was a bad situation or a situation you got yourself into and you're you're a senior in high school. You have to be thinking about your what you have to do to own the situation. 2348s

So we want to make sure because of the man decides to actually keep the child that we there's a very high probability the female may decide even if she's abortion minded she may decide to actually keep the baby. 2360s

If the man is going to do his part and actually be accountable for the actions that took place between he and the lady. 2374s

So we talked to them about that and then we also then talk to them very openly. There's a questionnaire and we talked to them about do they have a do they believe do they have a faith. 2383s

And so some of them put out there some of them talk some of them have Christians some of them have Muslim some of them have Jew being Jewish but we actually talk to them very open about their faith and then we actually talk to them very open if they because in quite often they talk about they're a good person. 2392s

Therefore I'm a good person therefore I'm going to be going to heaven. And then we openly provide some scripture to say that's exactly not that's not how that works. 2408s

It's not just being a good person and doing good things for others it's it's actually about accepting the Lord Jesus Christ into their into their world and actually considering the Lord Jesus as their savior. 2419s

So we talked to them and we actually do this it sounds like a very long time but we actually have about seven to ten minutes per man before the lady one of the volunteers will come back and actually will actually escort they'll actually tell him what's to the female because in some cases it's actually a false it's actually a false positive. 2431s

So they're actually they're not they're perhaps not pregnant but if there's a confirmation then they'll actually talk to the the man and the woman together for a few minutes. 2449s

But again the one of the key things that and they've also just statistically they've actually saved there has been over 35,000 babies that have been saved at the clinic 35,000. 2457s

So it's almost the size of great fine. So you think about it that were that were actually pro abortion minded that actually became pro life minded by the conversations there and the and the wonderful work that God is doing at the at the program. 2470s

So again for any guys who are interested I'm happy to talk to them again it's called the man demand program. You get fully trained. 2484s

And there's only your only commitment is a three hour commitment per month some some men who retired are there every day or every week but is a three hour commitment same for the ladies there's a three hour commitment that you're asked to do every month. 2490s

And again it's just you never know who you're going to run into and in some cases people may have been raised as a Christian but then they had a falling out for whatever reason or they were that Gen Z and they decided they didn't need God in their life. 2504s

So they might have been a Christian they might have been baptized we talk about that very strongly but then we talk about that they need to get back into a church environment. 2519s

So that's how the ministry and the mission work happens at the clinic itself and it's just a wonderful ministry and it's a lot of faith like I said they're in they're in their 41st year and they're actually building a new clinic in in Justin right now so supposed to be open early part of next year. 2526s

But it's just a wonderful clinic and there's so many resources there to try to help and we also do talk about abortion as another as another thing that they should consider and so we talked to them about abortion be our adoption we talked to them about adoption and we talked to them very openly about the process of adoption. 2542s

So if you're even thinking that you really cannot keep this child then there's there are thousands upon thousands of people who are very financially they have the means to adopt and there are sometimes they're just looking for a newborn baby to adopt and give them a loving household. 2560s

So we talked about lots of options there again we do it in a very short time frame but if any man would like to talk to me about it or Janice for the females as to what their process is very similar. 2576s

We just talked to them about options and then we talked to them very openly about the gospel and that is amazing how many people because I didn't think I would be the type who would be equipped but of course God did equip me to be able to talk openly about the gospel it's a very smooth conversation and sometimes you get somebody's very anti Christianity for whatever reason but often you can have a very good conversation and then as we we hear from our pastors here living word we're just here to plant the seed. 2586s

So some people will accept Christ there but actually in some cases it's planting that seed and it's just openly talking about Jesus Christ and that is the free gift of salvation. 2616s

So when it comes down to that so we're just there to be plant seeder we're there to to plant those seeds and then let the Holy Spirit do the rest of it for us. 2627s

Thank you. 2635s

We are we are running over but that's okay because these are really compelling stories I mean you get into the mission field which is here we talk to missionaries which is you and you can't help but but dive in and be engaged so go forth this week missionaries of the Lord as you have been called to the places and to the people that the Lord is calling you amen. 2636s

Amen. 2664s