Modern Day Paul: living life SOLD OUT for the Gospel

Ministry this month has been so many things. I wish I could physically transport each of you readers here to Thailand to experience our ministry host Pat for yourself. He’s BEYOND amazing. He has only been saved for 7 years but he’s truly living out the gospel how Jesus intended. He exemplifies everything a Christian should be and truly has a kingdom mindset. Our World Race mantra is “Life is ministry. And Ministry is life.” And this man lives that out to his core in everything he does. The day Jesus turned his life around, he was literally on his way to murder his then ex-wife (now they’re remarried) and her boyfriend and he went to his daughter’s school first and a missionary chatted with him there and encouraged him to go home and read the Bible and for some reason (i.e. The Holy Spirit), he listened and turned around and went home to actually read the Bible and didn’t murder his ex-wife as intended. And eventually he was saved and his life is RADICALLY different. Night and Day difference now. He used to be in a gang and beat people up on the regular (he honestly doesn’t know if he has murdered anyone because often they’d leave people with blood spilling everywhere after beating them to a pulp & he doesn’t know if any of these people ended up dying), do every kind of drug, drink beaucoups of alcohol daily, do stints in prison, physically abuse his daughter, and even more. He was Saul before Jesus appeared to Him at Damascus. Today he’s a changed man. His grade school teachers came to visit him the other day and were amazed at the transformation. He went from the always-in-trouble lost student he was in high school who was consistently in night school and summer school because he was flunking classes left and right to the passionate man of God he is today. Truly a miracle! And a testimony of God’s grace and power to transform those prodigals we as Christians often deem lost beyond hope. And because he has such a sordid past, he’s able to relate well to the broken and the lost.

So living with a modern day Paul is convicting for sure. He daily challenges us to be bold and evangelize every chance we get, even if that means just handing them a gospel track (pamphlet explaining and illustrating the gospel in Thai) since most Thai people don’t speak English. He reminds me of Jesus in the way he ministers to the outcasts of society that other Christians are unwilling to associate with. He does prison ministry 2+ times a week and he’ll tell you that many Christians will do bible studies at the prisons but their involvement in the prisoners’ lives stops there. He says the prisoners feel abandoned by the church when they get released from prison and no one checks on them or helps them adjust to life as a member of society. So Pat builds relationships with prisoners in juvenile detention centers while inside the jail walls and then takes in 7-8 (on average) boys at a time to live on his farm. He disciples these boys, feeds/ shelters them, finds them work on the farm or another line of work, shows them Jesus’ love, and helps them get back on their feet and become functioning members of society again. Oftentimes, these boys will fall back into their previous way of life if not for Pat taking them in and giving them a fighting chance. He sees their potential and the power Christ has to completely wreck their lives in the best way and he welcomes them in when everyone else (even their own families) reject them and tell them they’re nothing. I mean, Pat has 2 daughters (ages 3 & 14) and his lovely wife and mother-in-law that he’s exposing to ex-rapists, ex-murderers, and ex-drug lords. WHO does that??!!! People on fire for Jesus who are willing to take a risk to obey Him and live out the gospel do. Pat says that if you aren’t living out your life taking crazy risks for the Lord daily, then you’re not doing it right. Jesus didn’t promise it’d be easy but He promised it’d be WORTH IT.

Pat has a mission to visit every juvenile detention center in Thailand and share the gospel and plant a church in each one. He even randomly asked his 14-year-old daughter Perth what the total # was and she answered correctly with 77 total in Thailand. No big deal right??! I mean, what teenage girl is concerned with the number of prisons to reach for the gospel?? Pat’s daughter, that’s who. The way he loves his daughters along with the lost, downtrodden, outcasts, and criminals in his community imitates Christ’s life and His love for the unwanted, the messy, and the broken.

Pat is blunt, honest, passionate, convicting, kind, hilarious, accepting of anyone, and so so WISE. Literally, I wish I could have a continuous recording of everything he says because TRUTH just spouts out of his mouth with every word he udders (couldn’t resist: farm ministry this month ;). He’s so driven by the Spirit and it’s refreshing and challenging because most Christians don’t live like that. They put God in a box and play it safe. He pushes us to get out of our comfort zones because only then are you relying on the Holy Spirit like God intends. It’s in the risky and uncomfortable that we see God show up, that we develop boldness, and that we can truly impact the world for Christ. Because, really we’re ALL called to be missionaries. We just have different mission fields that may or may not be abroad. Our neighborhoods, schools, slums, workplaces, etc are all areas where people desperately need the hope, peace and joy that only Jesus offers. People are facing eternal damnation and we hold the cure: the gospel of Jesus. Pat always says, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (?Matthew? ?9:37-38?)

?So, let’s respond to the Lord’s calling on each of our lives and echo the words of Isaiah: “Here am I. Send me!” (?Isaiah? ?6:8) No one else can reach the people in your mission field like you can and yes God can use someone else but don’t you want to be a part of His kingdom work in bringing life and hope to the lost?? That’s what this life is all about, dear friends, so step out of the boat in faith and watch how God will use you. Don’t wait til you have completed bible school or some specified training program. Start right now. My friend Pat told us we wasted $17,700 on the World Race and we could’ve just studied the Bible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit like him. He’s led over 1,000 people to Christ in 7 years because he’s SOLD OUT for the gospel. You are called and already equipped so the world needs you, friend. Don’t miss out on the adventure of a lifetime! Walking with Christ and submitting to Him every day and living by the Spirit is the only way to the fulfilling, exciting, impactful life we all crave, so what are you waiting for?