Recently a friend who works in Asia wrote, “I’m always surprised to hear people tell me they don’t know anything about Jesus!!! Absolutely nothing! Today three more souls got to hear the Good News for the first time. I’m so honored to be the one to tell them…” This frequent occurrence should challenge us and remind us how blessed we are if we live in a country with freedom of religion and grew up in godly homes.

I urge you to open your eyes this week, especially when you visit public places. Take note of the people who are obviously from other parts of our world. No, I do not want to fuel prejudice in your hearts; I ask you to consider the possibility that God has them here so they can learn to trust in Jesus and be equipped to start disciple making movements in their home nations.

For such movements to happen back home, many of these folks will have to learn a different model of church than we experience here in the U.S. Mufreesboro is home to a fairly large ELL (English Language Learning) School. More of the students come from Saudi Arabia and China than any other nations. While these students live in our city, it will be wonderful for them to come to know Jesus. But how much more valuable their time will be if they are equipped to facilitate church planting movements back home. It will require training them to “do church” in ways that will not make them a target when they return. If we deeply connect them to church as we know it, we make it more likely they never return because they know such is not possible where they call home.