Missions Commissioning 2017

0:42Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble, and you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.

1:22Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again, not that I seek the gift, but I see that I I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering and sacrifice, acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, be glory forever and ever. Amen.

2:01This is God's Word. You may be seated. Many of you know we planted New Life Baptist Church in March of 2009 with a specific mission to preserve and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to make mature disciples of all nations for the glory of God. And making mature disciples is something that starts here at home. It's something that has to begin with us sharing the good news of Jesus with our co-workers and our neighbors, our friends and our classmates.

2:39And then from here, it expands outward because it cannot just stop here. Millions and millions of people around the world are unreached or unengaged with the gospel, meaning that they have never heard the good news of Jesus, or they currently have no opportunity. To even hear of the good news of Jesus, our church cannot reach everyone, but we can be faithful to send those who have been called to go to the nations, to recognize them, to equip them, to train them, and to send them to the unreached and unengaged of the world. And so, friends, today we've had already the great privilege of commissioning our short-term team to go to East Asia this summer.

3:26And in just a few minutes, we'll have the opportunity to commission Nathan and Rebecca Forbes, who are going to be leaving New Life to go to training for two years in South Texas before, Lord willing, engaging in missions work and church planting in Latin America. And I'm happy to report that almost every year out of our eight-year existence, we have sent at least one, if not more than one, short-term teams to go and encourage and participate in the work of long-term missionaries in the regions that we're at work in all around the world. And the Forbes family represents the sixth family unit that we have sent out in eight years to full-time vocational mission work.

4:08And so God is clearly at work in us and through us, and for that we can rejoice. Now, before we get to Philippians, I want to take a few moments to consider Acts chapter 13, because this is one of the greatest passages in the Bible with respect to sending and going to the nations. It's a passage that we studied together last school year. We went through the book of Acts. If you'd like to, you can go back and listen to the full sermon on Acts 13. It's online.

4:38But let's look at the screen together at Acts 13, 1 through 3. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Minaean, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

5:14Now, if you're somewhat familiar with the book of Acts, you know that Antioch was the first place that believers in Jesus Christ were known as Christians or little Christs. Saul, who would soon become known as the Apostle Paul and Barnabas, had recently returned from Jerusalem. They had taken a gift from the church at Antioch to Jerusalem in order to help alleviate the suffering that they were experiencing due to a famine in the region. And I want you to see that when they came back, they came into a church that was blessed with lots of great leadership. There are five different men here noted as being gifted, gifted prophets, gifted teachers from two different continents and many different countries. What a blessing for one church to have this many gifted leaders serving it. What a blessing to have such a diverse group of leaders serving.

6:05But while praying and fasting one day, the Holy Spirit calls them to set aside Barnabas and Saul, perhaps their two most gifted leaders, for the work that he was calling them to do. Now, friends, the constant temptation for churches is to hoard the very best leaders. Sometimes that's out of a wrong desire to simply grow a church as large as possible. Sometimes it's because we just simply lack faith that God can provide again for us in the ways that he's provided in the past.

6:39But there's no doubt in my mind that sending out Paul and Barnabas was very difficult for the church at Antioch, just as it has been very difficult each and every time, nearly every year, when we have sent out gifted leaders from New Life to go and be missionaries and pioneer church planters all over the world. But as we learned last year when we studied Acts 13, obedient churches send the called to proclaim the gospel. After fasting and praying, the church lays their hands on them and then sends them off. And what's very clear from this passage is that the missionaries that we see here were sent by the Holy Spirit and the local church.

7:24The missionaries were sent by the Holy Spirit and the local church. Paul and Barnabas did not act as Independent free agents. They didn't just decide, this is what we're going to do, and then go to the church and say, church, this is what we've decided. No, the Holy Spirit spoke not only to them, but also to the church, so that the Holy Spirit and the church sent out Paul and Barnabas. We could say that the Holy Spirit confirms his calling through the local church.

7:54We looked at this quote from John Stott last year when we preached this text. I want to bring it up again just because I think it's so powerful and so needed. He says, So, in our anxiety to do justice to the Holy Spirit's initiative, we should not depict the church's role as having been entirely passive. Would it not be true to say both that the Spirit sent them out by instructing the church to do so and that the church sent them out having been directed by the Spirit to do so? This balance will be a healthy corrective to opposite extremes. The first is the tendency to individualism, by which a Christian claims direct personal guidance by the Spirit without any reference to the church. The second is the tendency to institutionalism, by which all decision-making is done by the church without any reference to the Spirit.

8:52Although we have no liberty to deny the validity of personal choice, it is safe and healthy only in relation to the church. To the Spirit and the Church. And so we see here, friends, that the Holy Spirit is ultimately the one who calls, and the local church is the one who confirms that calling. And so there is a partnership there. And that's what we see in Acts chapter 13. We have this model of how God intends a sending church and its missionaries to function together. Both goers and senders are called to be partners in ministry.

9:30Now, Paul continued to partner with local churches all throughout his life as he worked as a missionary and pioneer church planter. And besides the church at Antioch, probably the best example of him partnering with another local church is with his relationship with the church at Philippi. Now, during Paul's second missionary journey, Paul and Silas and Timothy were traveling through what was known as Asia at the time, what we would call Central Asia today. They were traveling through the region, and they were attempting to take the gospel into Bithynia, which is northern Turkey today. But the Spirit of Jesus prevented them from doing that. And then God speaks to them in Acts 16, verse 9. Look on the screen. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us.

10:21And so immediately they traveled to Philippi, one of the leading cities in the region, and they saw fruit. They attended a prayer meeting by a river, a wealthy Woman named Lydia was converted, and then they saw a demon-possessed girl. She was following them around. They delivered the demon from her. She became a follower of Jesus. And then, when they were thrown in prison for exorcising this demon from this young girl, the jailer and all of his household became believers in Jesus, and they were baptized as well.

10:53And so these people formed the foundation of the church at Philippi. And years later, Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians for several reasons. First, to encourage them in their faith. Second, to thank them for the gift that they had sent. And third, to let them know about their mutual friend Epaphroditus, who was ill and had recovered. And so that gives us the background to what we're going to be reading today in Philippians 4. And that is the introduction to my sermon.

11:26We are now through that. So let's turn our attention now to Philippians 4, verse 10, where we're going to learn that senders and goers are called to be partners in ministry. Philippians 4, verse 10. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Paul rejoices because the Philippians had revived their concern for him. It was about 49 AD that Paul took the gospel to Philippi. Roughly 13 years have passed since he first met them, although he did see them again about five years before writing this letter. The entire time, all these 13 years, the Philippians had been concerned about Paul. They prayed for him. They hoped for the best for his ministry. But you have to keep in mind, this is the first century. They had no opportunity to show tangible support for his ministry until now. And so Paul is thanking them because they have revived their concern for him.

12:41Now, friends, many Christians have good intentions when it comes to missionaries. And many Christians even have good opportunities when it comes to missionaries. But unfortunately, for many Christians, we fail to take advantage of the opportunities that we have. The old adage proves true: out of sight, out of mind. And that's exactly what we find with most missionaries and most churches in their relationship together. It's not a true partnership. It's out of sight, out of mind. They might have sent them out. They might have funded them initially or even in an ongoing way, but there's no sense in which they are partnered together in an ongoing way. Their concern needs to be revived. And that's something that we hope is never the case here at New Life with any. Of our missionaries, and that's why we go to great lengths to make sure that our missionaries are not out of sight and out of mind. That's why every other week before the service, you're going to see us talk about our missionaries and remind you to pray for them and support them. That's why, permanently across the hall on those wooden boards, we have information about every region that we're working in and information about each one of our missionary families that's serving there. So that at any point you can go get information. You can put that in your Bible or your journal. You can put it on the fridge. You can put it anywhere that will help you not let them get out of sight and out of mind. We want to put every tool in your hands to ensure that we don't ever have to revive our concern because our concern is always there. We're always doing our very best to support our missionaries in every possible way. So the Philippians had good intentions but no opportunities, but now they have good intentions and an opportunity to match those intentions with this opportunity for tangible partnership. So let's look together now at verse 11.

14:39Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Well, friends, after Paul's third missionary journey, he returned to Jerusalem. And if you remember that section of the book of Acts, his friends all along the way were trying to get him not to go back to Jerusalem. They said, if you go back, you're going to be arrested. But Paul felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to go back to Jerusalem to resume the work that he'd started there years before with the brothers. And so he went, and sure enough, he was arrested and imprisoned. He spent two years at Caesarea and then two years in Rome under house arrest. And so he's been imprisoned for about four years total and two years in Rome when he writes this letter. And yet, in spite of the fact that Paul for years, for more than a decade, has been serving as a missionary, in spite of the fact that he has been imprisoned for four years, he writes to the Philippians that he has no needs.

16:04How can that be possible? He says in the rest of the verse, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Now, friends, this is very important for us to grasp. Paul has learned in whatever situation to be content. Contentment does not come naturally. For any one of us, I studied business at Texas AM. Specifically, I studied marketing, which is the art of making you discontent with what you have. That's what the whole system is. It's coming up with PR efforts, it's coming up with advertising efforts, it's coming up with every possible way to tell you that the perfectly fine pair of shoes that you own are not new enough and good enough, you need another one, or the perfectly fine car that you own is not new enough and good enough, you need a new one. Discontentment comes naturally to all of us, including missionaries. Some of us are tempted to think that missionaries are a special breed of people that are content with having less than the rest of us. Well, friends, that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that contentment is a skill, it is a discipline that we all have to learn. All of us have to learn to be content. It's not something that comes natural to us. So, what's the secret? How could the Apostle Paul be content no matter what?

17:37He says, verse 13: I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Now, please note the context. Paul is not talking about scoring touchdowns, he's not talking about hitting the game-winning shot. Now, I was an athlete. I love athletes. I appreciate what I assume is the heart behind them writing it on their tape and on their faces. But really, in context, this verse has more to do with what they would say in the post-game interview after a loss than it does with whatever happens on the field.

18:26He's not saying we can do any and everything through Christ who strengthens us. The context is suffering, being content. That's the context. But it's been misinterpreted and misapplied so badly. You have two football players on opposing teams with this etch on their face. If one is trying to score a touchdown and the other is trying to prevent the touchdown, they both cannot do all things through Christ who strengthens them. One is going to succeed and one is going to fail. This verse is only true at all times and all places if we put it in its proper context, and that is suffering and being content with what we have. This is a skill, a discipline that we must learn. And so, Nathan and Rebecca, there are going to be times on the field, the mission field, where you face plenty, where you face hunger, where you face abundance and need, and it is our desire that you would know that we will not forget you, that God will not forget you, that Jesus. Jesus is the great provider who will provide both for us and for you, and that you can do all things through him who gives you strength. Jesus is the one who is able to give all of us, including our missionaries, the strength to endure, is the one who can and will provide for every one of us, is the one through whom we can do all things, including learning to be content no matter what our life circumstances bring.

19:55So let's look now at verse 14. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you, Philippians, yourselves, know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

20:50Now, friends, it's very apparent from this passage that Paul trusted in the Lord to provide everything that he needed. And yet, at the same time, He was thankful. He says, it was kind of you to share my trouble. Friends, the Philippians bore the burden with Paul. They didn't just hope for the best for his life and ministry. They did not just pray for him, but they also sacrificed to provide for his needs. Look at what Paul wrote. I am well supplied.

21:30He was not just scraping by, living in poverty while he was on the mission field or while he was in prison. And let me be clear, there were many times in Paul's life where he was scraping by, where he was hungry, where he was in danger from animals, from thieves, from those persecuting him, shipwrecked, a day and a night adrift at sea. Paul had those times. Every Christian needs to be ready to sacrifice for the gospel. All of us have to be ready to face hunger and need. All of us.

22:08But I think we need to question the assumption that so many of us have that missionaries should basically be living in poverty to take the gospel to the nations. That if they barely have enough to survive, they have exactly enough. Why is it that we think that? Again, every Christian has to learn contentment. All of us need to be ready. Ready to serve the Lord in hunger and in need, in abundance and in not having enough. All of us need to be ready. But, friends, we don't think of our own lives like this. We don't think if I am barely scraping by, living at or just above the poverty line, everything is fine. If there's ever anyone in our church body that is struggling to make ends meet, we immediately step in as a church body to help them. Because we don't think people should just be scraping by. We want them to be well supplied. But for some reason, when it comes to missionaries, we seem to think these are a different breed of people. They're content with basically nothing. All they need is just enough to survive, and that's plenty. Why do we think that? Paul said, I am well supplied. We want to make sure that our missionaries are well supplied. They're prepared to suffer. They're prepared to face want and hunger and everything else.

23:28But why should they face that because of our stinginess? Why should they face that when we have such abundant resources at our disposal? You see, the Philippians were prepared to sacrificially give to ensure that Paul was well supplied because they saw themselves as partners with Paul in ministry. They were partnered with him. In fact, when Paul left Macedonia and Philippi specifically, he says here they were the only church who partnered with him. Things got hard down the road in Thessalonica, they sent help for his needs again and again to make sure that he was cared for while he proclaimed the gospel to those people. It's a real partnership. Look at verse 15. This is a two-way street. He says that they partnered with him how? In giving and receiving. Giving and receiving. Friends, that is so true about our relationship with our missionaries. It is a two-way street of giving and receiving. Yes, we give. We give our time.

24:36We give our money. We give our prayers to our missionaries, but we also receive from them. One of the greatest encouragements to me personally is when I get emails from our missionaries on the field talking about how they are praying for us and our ministry here in College Station. When they come home, they don't spend their time in the United States lounging at the beach. They come here to College Station to train us and to equip us. We are receiving greatly from them because that's what partnership is. It's a two-way street. It's giving and receiving. This is the kind of relationship that Paul had with the church at Philippi. What a blessing. Look at verse 19.

25:26And my God will supply every need of yours. According to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Paul ends this section in his letter with this great reminder that God is going to supply their every need. I mean, they had given a lot to support God's work through the Apostle Paul, and he wanted to encourage them. And friends, I, of all people, need this encouragement. New life is not a wealthy church by American standards. We are not a large church by American standards.

26:11And yet, we have sought to be faithful year after year, sending out those who are called to proclaim the gospel to the nations. And we are sending people exclusively to unreached and unengaged parts of the world. Sending people to unreached and unengaged parts of the world is expensive. By definition, these are not developed areas, most of them. By definition, they don't have some of the ease of transportation and connectivity that the rest of the world has. So, this is an expensive endeavor. And so, time and time again, I find myself tempted to worry: Lord, how are we going to pay the bills for our building, for our programs? How are we going to ensure that the staff is well supplied? How are we going to make sure that we can keep supporting the mission? We have to say nothing of sending out new missionaries year after year.

27:05And it's in those times where I feel worried and anxious that I need to come back to this promise. Look what he says: My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. God owns all things. He owns all things. He is not limited in any way. And so, friends, we have to assume that if God, through His Holy Spirit, is calling people at New Life Baptist Church to go to the nations, and that calling is confirmed through the church, like we see in Acts 13, that He is going to provide. He's going to give them and us everything that we need to ensure we can be faithful. But I'm constantly tempted to worry that we won't have enough. And maybe you are as well. And so we need this encouragement. We need this encouragement that God will supply from His riches everything that we need.

28:04And so, friends, Paul is a goer, and the Philippians as senders had a real partnership, as we see. They engaged in giving and receiving to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus. And so, we desire, above all, to be faithful to the Great Commission, and we want to be wise as we send people. And that means that we have to have a real partnership. Between us, the senders, and those who are called to go. And so, let me conclude now with a few action steps that I want you to consider.

28:42First, invest time to learn about God's heart for reaching the nations. Many of you have heard of a class called perspectives. Perspectives is one of the greatest ways that you can understand God's heart for reaching the nations and learn more about that. We partner with several other churches in the area to offer perspectives every single spring. And so, you can certainly consider taking perspectives. I hope you will. But perspectives is a pretty significant investment of time and money. And so, New Life, in partnership with several other churches in our community, are going to be offering in the fall every year, starting this fall, a new class called For the Nations. It's a smaller time investment, it's a smaller financial investment, but we hope that it will stoke the fire in your heart to learn about God's heart for the nations and then to partner with our missionaries. And so, let me encourage you to invest the time, invest the money to learn about God's heart for the nations. My second encouragement is to get to know our missionaries and the regions in which they minister.

29:56You can visit the connect room right after the service. Nathan and Rebecca are going to be. Be there, members of our short-term team to East Asia will be there. You can talk to them personally, but also on that back wall, we've got information about every region that we're working in, and we've got information about every single family. Again, I want you to take that information. It's not a decoration. I know it may seem like that. It's on the wall. It looks so pretty. You're like, should I take that? I don't know. Yes. We hope that we will run out. I want to see those bins empty all the time. Because that means that you are taking those cards and putting them, again, not out of sight, out of mind. Don't take it in the Bible and put it in Esther.

30:38If you're going to put it in your Bible, put it somewhere like Matthew or something that you're going to read 17 times this next year. I want you to put it in a place where you'll see it so the missionaries aren't out of sight and out of mind. Get to know them and the regions that they minister in. And then, third and finally, commit to partner with our missionaries through your prayers and finances. Commit to partner with your missionaries through prayer and finances. Most of you probably know this. You may not know this, but a significant portion of every single dollar that you give to New Life Baptist Church goes to support missions and church planting among the unreached and the unengaged. A significant portion. And our hope and prayer is that that percentage that we give to reaching the unreached and the unengaged is only going to increase every year.

31:28And then above and beyond that, I want to encourage you to consider sacrificing directly to support one of our missionary families or more than one. So many people that I talk to think there's just nothing that I can do. Friends, there is something that you can do. There's something that all of us can do. If you only have enough disposable income for one cup of Starbucks coffee per week, $2.50, you think, what good is that going to do? $2.50 a week is $10 a month. If 100 people in this church forego one cup of coffee every week, that's $1,000 per month going to missions, $12,000 per year going to missions. You can make a difference, even with the smallest gift. And so let me encourage you.

32:19When the baskets come by, give, no matter what you can give. Text in a gift. Go online. Give that way. Partner directly with the missionaries. But together, we can accomplish something great if we will all sacrifice and we'll all do what we can. No one's calling you to do more than you can, only to be faithful to do what you can. So invest time to learn. I want you to get to know our missionaries and the regions that they minister, and I want to challenge you to commit to partner with us and with them in sending and going.

32:54And so, friends, today we're going to be commissioning the Forbes family. And before we do that, That we want to give you, many of you who don't know them very well, the opportunity to get to know them. And so, at this time, we're going to have Nathan and Rebecca come up and share a little bit about what they're doing and how you can partner with them. So, would you welcome Nathan and Rebecca to the stage? I was saying at nine o'clock, it feels like the tonight show. We set up the stage differently, we have an interview.

33:32If I acted like Jimmy Fallon, how would that go over, do you think? Strangely. Yep, agreed. We'll not do that then. Rebecca, you and Nathan were a part of the core group nine years ago that helped to plant the church. I'm fairly certain that you were out of high school, but not completely. Yeah. You two weren't even married when our church began. Just share a little bit about your family. Your beautiful kids are on the screen behind us here. Just tell us a little about your family and your story.

34:04So, this July, Nathan and I will have been married eight years, and we met while we were students at Texas AM. And when we were dating, we were members at Living Hope Baptist Church. And at that time, we joined the core group that would eventually plant New Life. So, when we were in the core group, that's when we got engaged. And then, shortly after New Life planted, we got married in July of 2009. And in In the summer of 2010, we moved to Guatemala. New Life actually supported us and sent us out at that time. And we lived in Guatemala for about 15 months at an orphanage there where we lived and worked with the kids. And when we came back, we just said we want to keep being a part of New Life. We just loved this church so much. And so we didn't have jobs. We signed a lease on an apartment and came back. Maybe not the wisest thing at the time, but God provided.

34:56But I support this decision. Any of you who don't have a job are welcome to stay. But so we've spent just the last six years, you know, first as just healthy church members and then as life group leaders and then Nathan getting to come on as an elder, just really loving our life and the gift of being a part of this church. And in that time, the Lord has given us two precious girls, Piper, who's two and a half, and Clara, who's ten months old.

35:25Yeah, thanks, Rebecca. It's been fun to see God grow your family. I'm hoping, praying to win Piper's heart one day where she will not kind of move away from me, but maybe toward me when I walk. Australian's a little scary. I am, yes. That is universal among all the children in this church. I think I just care too much. I try too hard. Nathan, talk about a little, what it looked like for you to process a potential calling to the nations. Was this something that you guys always felt called to, or did that develop over time? What did that look like?

35:58I became a Christian when I was. 17 and basically from that time forward, I felt that the Lord might be calling me to missions. I didn't really know what that looked like, but as years went forward, I just continued to sense that calling and even sense that calling grow in my heart. And so, while Rebecca and I were dating about 10 years ago, we had a conversation where I basically came to her and said, I need to know that you're wanting also to spend your life on the mission field because that's how I felt that the Lord was leading me. And so, it's been a long process.

36:29No pressure, just wanting to know. Just an innocuous question. Yep. It actually was a lot of pressure because that was going to be whether or not we continue dating. And so, that was 10 years ago. And so, it's been a long process of coming to this place, of moving to the field long term. Rebecca mentioned that we went to Guatemala, and really, we moved there because we wanted to make disciples of the kids there. We wanted to learn Spanish for other ministry and work opportunities, and we wanted it to be a testing ground for us to consider: is this what God's calling us to? Do we enjoy and thrive living and working cross-culturally? And so, we came back from what was probably the hardest year of our lives and said, Yes, we want to do this long term. We want to go about things differently, but we want to do this long-term. And so, about four years ago is really when that general call became more specific, feeling a greater burden for unreached areas of the world and having a desire to see healthy churches planted there. And then, over the past four years, the elders of the The church and other friends have only confirmed that calling in us.

37:33And we learned a lot through that process, too. I mean, we sent Nathan and Rebecca out. We were supporting them, I think, at a hundred bucks a month. How very generous. It would have been wise for us to say at the time, we want to invest more in you, in your developments, your marriage. We're not at a place right now that we can support you fully financially. And it would have been wise for us to kind of tap the brakes on that. But the Lord used that in great ways and in your lives and in ours as well. So thank you for being the guinea pigs. Rebecca, how was processing the call for you personally? I mean, you know, you are a wife, a mom now, two young kids. I think there's probably a lot of moms, dads, single students who might be thinking, like I talked about in the sermon, you know, this is just a special breed of person that would do this, but I don't get that sense that that's the case with you. This was a difficult thing to process.

38:26Well, as Nathan said, you know, this was something that we had talked about from the beginning of our relationship. And so in dating, and then more particularly in engagement and then marriage, Nathan shared kind of his heart and vision for our future. And I felt like I was really able to come under that as his wife and just say, I really want to take on this conviction and this vision that you have and take it on as my own. And so when we moved to Guatemala, this was something that we definitely both of us love doing, were excited about, and were really side-by-side partners in the ministry that we had there. And both came home excited to think about something like this in our. Future. But in 2014, when I had my daughter Piper, that's definitely a time when I really kind of had to take a step back and reconsider what do I really think about going overseas with my family? Because it's one thing as a couple to say, I'm willing to risk my safety, my security, my stability for myself. But am I willing to do that with these two now little girls the Lord has entrusted to me? And am I willing to do that? And so it was hard. I definitely think there were several months after she was born where I kind of really wrestled with those thoughts and talked to Nathan about it. But as I really considered it and I thought, what is the one thing that I want for myself, for my husband, for my children? I want them to know and love Jesus so greatly. And, you know, for us, we feel like the Lord has called us to do it in this way. And what a gift that our girls would get to see our lives laid out. And we pray that they too would come to know him and want to lay down their lives for the sake of the gospel. And so I think as I came to a place where I realized, like, this is a privilege that our girls would get to enter into this ministry with us, I was really able to say, yes, Lord, I'm ready to go on as a family into the future.

40:14Yeah, that's really great. And a great perspective on all of that. Nathan, can you talk a little bit about what you guys and the church body together feel that you're called to do long-term with respect to missions? Our end goal is to end up in a place in Latin America. America, where there are no churches reaching their own people. And so there might be an appearance of Christianity in certain towns or cities, but maybe the gospel that they're presenting is not the true gospel of the Bible. It's not one that can save anyone. And so we want to end up in a town or city like that to make disciples to see a healthy church planted where one day we aren't needed at all. We don't want to be where I'm a pastor in a church and it's dependent on us staying there. We want it to be nationally led so that they can flourish without us. And so really success for us is when we're not needed anymore and we, I guess, can leave or should leave so that they can thrive without us. And so that's the end goal for us.

41:12We've sent through a bunch of different agencies before in partnership with our local church, but you guys are the first ones we're going to be sending through To Every Tribe. Rebecca, could you talk a little bit about how you're hoping that they're going to prepare you to go to the field? Yeah, so we're going to be moving down to South Texas in August and partnering with this organization, To Every Tribe, where we'll be there for two years being trained by them. So To Every Tribe was started about 15 years ago by its founder, David Sitton, and him and his wife served as missionaries in Papua New Guinea for about 25 years and then had to come home off the field and just really had a burden and conviction to see missionaries prepared for a life of taking the gospel out to the nations. And so, yeah, we really love what this organization is doing. We feel like we really. Agree with them theologically and philosophically, and we feel like they're really equipping people to do the work. So, what this is going to look like for us is three weeks out of the month, Nathan will be in the classroom. They have a year that's focused on theology, so just learning more about the Bible and about God. And then the second year is focused more on just the practicalities of how do you live in another culture and make the gospel accessible to them and live in a particularly hard context. So, I'll still get to stay home with the girls, but there will be some weeks when I'll get to go into the classroom as well with Nathan. But the fourth week out of the month, we actually get to go as missionaries into northern Mexico and we'll be working in a town or a village across the border for the next two years, hoping to see a church planted there as well. So, when we found this organization and we loved it, and then we also saw that we weren't just going to be equipping our heads in the classroom, but really getting hands-on experience across the border and working in a language and a context that will be similar to what we're wanting to do long-term. We were like, yes, we were all about it. So, we're really excited to start that in August. Yeah. One last question, Nathan.

43:08Do you think that the Rockets are going to, as a church body, best partner with you guys as you get ready to go? We talked a lot about partnership in the sermon today. What will that look like specifically to partner well with the two of you and your family? I was thinking about the first question. Yeah. I don't even know who's playing right now. I guess I know you're not going to be there. They're playing the Spurs.

43:31The Mavericks did not. I know, I know, it's sad. It is for all of us. Long-term partnership? Is that the question? It is, yes. Okay. Recently, I was reading 3 John, which, if you're not reading the Bible, I highly recommend it as a great place to start. It's the shortest book in the Bible. And it's basically a letter from John to this man named Gaius, encouraging him of being a faithful sender and encouraging Gaius' church to be a faithful sending church. And he uses a term that I really enjoyed. He talks about the church being fellow workers for the truth. And so I would say to be a faithful sender, how it begins is really realizing that we're on the same team with the same goals. We just have different roles. And so, just as Rebecca and I are seeking to be joyful, sacrificial goers, that if you were a joyful sacrificial sender, everything else is just going to fall into place because you are going to be a great sender if you care about the nations in that way. Some of the main ways that you can serve as a faithful sender are prayer, financial support, particularly monthly financial support, and communication. And so we really believe that fruit won't be born unless the Lord moves. And so if we're not praying, and if y'all aren't praying, we don't believe that God is going to move and make disciples. We believe that he's pleased to glorify himself by answering that prayer. And so we would. Say, start by praying, and then considering the new life missionaries and who can you become a monthly supporter of them. Just like Alan mentioned before, it's not necessarily as much the amount as just regularly, financially supporting a missionary to be fully involved with them in this work. And then finally, communication. I think this is the easiest and the most overlooked in the sense that you might think, oh, it's really easy to send an email every once in a while, and then a year rolls by and you realize you haven't done it. Or, oh, it's really easy to call that friend on the phone that's a missionary now, and the same thing. And you just realize, oh man, I forgot to do that again. But I'll find a time to do that. And so I would say put it on your calendar. Make it a priority to respond to newsletters, to send emails to a missionary that you support, to call them on the phone, to potentially visit them or host them when they're back on furlough. But really trying to get that communication and encouragement piece as well.

45:55Well, thank you guys so much for giving us the opportunity to get to know you a little bit better and your calling. And just want to say we love you, we are going to miss you, and we look forward to partnering with you guys in the long term in many different ways. Well, friends, at this time, we're going to invite the elders up to pray over them. We invite you to pray with us during this time. So, elders, if you guys come forward, and we'll pray and commission the Forbes officially here.

46:25Let's pray together. God, we thank you for the Forbes family. What a blessing they've been to our church, to many of us. God, they've helped us to know and understand your heart for the nations better. I think about many years ago when they came on board, and just over the years, being a part of our church, the culture of our church has changed dramatically. God, we thank you for that. God, through their efforts, we are more faithfully sending and going.

47:03And God, we praise you for the work that you've done. God, more than that, they have been wonderful co-workers here in our own community, in our own church. God, they have been great friends inside the office, outside the office, just getting to know them, love their family. And so, in every way, God, we thank you for the wonderful blessing we've had these many years to partner with Nathan and Rebecca. And as we transition to our new partnership as senders and goers, God, we pray for your provision.

47:43God, I pray for their family as they make this great transition that you would provide friendships for them, for the girls. God, I pray that you would provide the support they need, that they wouldn't just survive, but they would thrive. God, I pray that you would teach them through this training process, equip them, help them to grow in their passion for people who don't know you. And God, I pray for us, that you would provide for us, that we would stay focused, be faithful to send and go as we have and as we're seeking to be.

48:41And God, that you would help us as we look to fill the great void, as Nathan transitions off staff, that you would provide for us, be preparing a man who would come and lead us, who has the same heart to see men and women come to know you. So, in all this, God, we rejoice that we together get to partner in the gospel as senders and goers. We pray for your provision and we thank you for the blessing of dear friends. I pray that you would help us to continue as we pray for them, give, as we communicate.

49:22God, help us to be faithful and that our relationship wouldn't be out of sight, out of mind. We ask these in Jesus' name. Amen.