Missionary or Mission Field?

So, I was in Fresno, CA, doing some video taping for Champions For Life (Bill Glass Ministries). Wendell Tyler, former running back for the 49ers, was speaking at one of the banquets and, as he left, he said, 'Remember, you're either a missionary or a mission field.'

For me, it was one of those 'hhhmmmm' moments. You know, when you sort of react and then you freeze, thinking about whatever was just said? Could it be true? Or is this one of those puesdo-profound statements that one reads on church signs?

So, I started thinking. It sounded reasonable. Which one was I? What about the people I go to church with? I mean, it's easy to apply this to the masses of people who don't go to church, but what about those of us who go to church? Am I a mission field? Are my friends a mission field? What about the kids in my sunday school class?

Ok, on some level, we're all a mission field. Everyone needs work at something. No one's perfect.

Having said that, I started to view the people around me in a totally different light. Now, just about everyone I meet or have any contact with, I ask the question, 'are they a missionary or a mission field?'

What, exactly, is a missionary? How does one determine if another person is a missionary or a mission field? I'm glad you asked.

I think that a missionary is someone who shares their faith verbally and with their works.

Does someone share their faith verbally? No? Mission field. Do they go out of their way to share their faith with their works? No? Mission field.

Does this mean that someone who isn't a missionary isn't a good Christian? I don't think that's the point. I think that someone who isn't a missionary just hasn't moved there yet - for whatever reason. I am talking here about small 'm' missionary. Not big 'M'-move-to-Africa-for-the-rest-of-your-life Missionary. I think that everyone is called to be a missionary (see two previous links and Matthew 4:19).

I started looking at my sunday school class as a mission field. Instead of seeing them as little Christians, I started to view them as a mission field and as people who needed to be taught how to be missionaries. While in SS, I presented the gospel whenever I could. I told them stories of the cool stuff that happened to me on my mission trips. I prayed for them (not as much as I should have). Kind of like when I was a teacher and I figured out that the seniors I had looked like adults, but still didn't know how to act like it. I made it my goal to show them how to behave like adults and it paid off.

Well, when I came back from a mission trip in Harlan, KY, the LABC kids had just returned from their mission trip in Matamoros. They were talking about it in SS large group and Caleb stated that he and some of the others in his group had prayed and asked God to show them something. Caleb said that he and a few others got a picture of an old woman that they had seen a day or two before. They found the lady again, talked to her, and she came to faith in Christ!

What does this have to do with our theme today? I asked Caleb about it and he said that he prayed because of the ATL I told him about. He moved from being a mission field to being a missionary. Way cool.

When Carla and I were in Harlan, we started to pray for the salvation of some of the kids on the mission trip. It was apparent that some of them weren't very strong in their faith and that others weren't even saved. By the end of the week, two of them had come to faith in Christ. We viewed them as a mission field, instead of missionaries.

What about you? Are you a missionary or a mission field? If you don't pick...you're a mission field. However, the cool thing is, you get to pick.