The Invitation

Richardton, North Dakota (ACN)

It is 1:47am on Sunday morning and I am to speak at First Baptist, Hebron, North Dakota about Stephanie's cancer and our upcoming Russia mission trip (December 2009). For more information! When Stephanie and I started this journey to North Dakota last Monday I had no idea that the following Sunday I would be speaking at this church, in which Stephanie grew up, was baptized and in which she married me.

July 2, 1994 we were married in this church. It was packed with people, 4 of whom were there because of me and everyone else? Well they were there for Stephanie. She was well know here in this town of 800 and well loved. So now I must speak to this crowd of people who are essentially the same people who watched us marry, lo these 15 years ago.

I was invited to speak partly because of Stephanie and her cancer and partly for the Russia trip. You see, Pastor David Ling, the pastor of the church in which Stephanie grew up, is a good friend. He has been to Russia with us 3 times and has expressed a desire to return on this next trip. Now our lives, Stephanie's and my life have both been entangled in this small town in North Dakota.

Having said all of the above, I still have not come to the nut of the problem. The thing is that I must invite the people of this church to go to Russia with us, and it is a diffcult task. On the one hand, I know that God has a need in Russia for these people from this tiny town in North Dakota, but on the other hand how to invite them in a way that will reach their hearts and lead them to Jesus. By that I don't mean lead them to a saving knowledge of Jesus, they already have that, no I mean lead them to Jesus in such a way that the Holy Spirit will be able to pursuade them to go to Russia.

Oh you say, just tell them and they will follow, but to that I respond with 14 years of expereience of asking pe0ple to go and having good reactions and very bad reactions. The Holy Spirit may already be at work on someone's heart even as I am writing this and I could easily turn this person off to the trip by what I say or how I say it. Without the Holy Spirit working in my life right now as I prepare to speak tomorrow I am undone and the work that God has for me to do in Russia will go unfinished.

So you see, the invitation to go to Russia much be couched in words that encourage and not discourage, in words that show my love and God's love for the Russian people. I don't go because I love the Russian people, though that is true, no I go because God has asked me to go. No that is not exactly the essence of the transaction that transpired in 1992, when God first spoke to me. No, God did not ask me to go He commanded me to go. I was compelled to go. This was the work of the Holy Spirit through our pastor at the time and through some of the people that went on the trip. They came back and told of what happened on their trip and the Holy Spirit used that to get a hold of my heart.

So now I wrestle with the invitation to these people. What to say, how to say it, how much to say. Obviously, these words must be those of the Holy Spirit so now at 2:13am I invite the Holy Spirit to cleanse my heart, to fill me with love for these people to whom I am to speak, to give me the words to say, God breathed words and not my own so that the people of this church will take up the challenge and join me in the Great Adventure.

If you are reading this and think maybe you would like to go, or maybe you would just like to read a little more about our trips then read our Russia Mission Trip Survival Guide.

So if you perchance read this blog and do so before 1:00pm on Sunday December 28th, 2008 then I aks that you say a prayer for me that I may use God's words and not mine when I speak at this church. If it is too late for that then pray that I always use God's words when inviting people to work in Russia with us.

Andy

I know that there is someone in Russia with whom these people