Until the Whole World Hears

“Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”

Isaiah 55-5

This Sunday at church the sermon was about world missions – how it should be our priority as Christians to spread the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. Our pastor Todd said that for the longest time he focused the majority of his attention on the people in his own community and in the United States who didn’t know Jesus. He didn’t think much about going out into the world and sharing the gospel. Then he read Isaiah 55-5 and it completely rocked his world.


Todd explained that God’s missionary purpose is for the unknown nations to hear the gospel and for those people to receive Christ as their Savior. The Bible tells us that before Christ can return, every nation, tribe and tongue must hear about Jesus. It is our responsibility as Christians to share the good news with those who may never get the chance to hear if we aren’t obedient to God’s call.


I admired Todd’s honesty on Sunday. It wasn’t long ago that I was just like him. I had all kinds of excuses for not supporting global missions. I would say, “Lord, there are so many people in the U.S. that don’t know you, people in our own backyards.” When God placed adoption on my heart, He also began to give me eyes to see the world from His perspective and a heart to do something about those who desperately needed to hear about the love of Jesus. For the first time in my life I actually desired to go on a Mission trip. There was a time in my life when going to Africa or some other third-world country scared me.


On Sunday Todd announced that our church would be taking their first mission trip to Haiti in September. John scribbled something on our talk notes and elbowed me. He had written and underlined “we are going.”


We both feel very much like God is asking us to get on that plane and be the hands and feet of Jesus for the people of Haiti. We will have the opportunity to work with an organization called Mission of Hope, which is 20 miles north of Port-au-Prince. The complex sits on 76 acres of land and employs over 150 Haitians. Approximately 2,500 children are enrolled in the School of Hope and the Hope House Orphanage is home to over 60 children. Hope Clinic sees hundreds of patients every week and over 1,000 adults, youth and children come from surrounding villages to attend Church of Hope each week.


When we first started looking into adoption, we thought we would adopt from Haiti but quickly discovered that adoptions were closed. Through our adoption process, God has given us a heart for the orphan and there are millions of orphans in Haiti. We would love nothing more than to lavish the love of Jesus on these children – even if just for a week.


Will you please pray for us as we seek God’s direction? We want to be obedient and go on this trip if that’s what God wants for us, but we are also faced with the high cost of the trip. The one thing that I have learned through our adoption process is that when God calls you to do something, He provides the resources to do it. It may mean that John and I have to sacrifice some of the comforts in life, but we are willing to do that if it means we can be on that plane to Haiti. My human mind can’t comprehend how we will get to Haiti, but God knows. I had no idea how we would ever come up with $28,000 for our adoption, but God has provided $21,000 since July.


I know that God knows my heart. He knows that John and I both desire to go on a mission trip. We trust that He will provide the resources and show us the path He has to get us to Haiti. I believe that if we are willing to be obedient, He will show us the way. I know that this experience will be life-changing for both of us and I can’t imagine being able to experience it along side of John. I am already praying that God will prepare our hearts for what He has in store.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching

them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Matthew 28:19-20