A View from the Church on Sending Our Best and Brightest: Believing God for 1%

This month, our church embraced the 1% Challenge: asking God to raise up and send out 1 percent of our church members into cross-cultural, global missions. It’s a little bit scary, but we believe God can do this, and we believe that God would be glorified if our prayers are answered.

Our prayers are attached to specific people, some of our best and brightest. I’m asking God to send away our children’s director, one of the best youth interns we’ve ever had, one of our brightest college students, and a fully-invested member of our worship team. These are people who are committed to worship, discipleship, prayer, and evangelism. They’re friendly, kind, and generous. They’re open with their struggles, approachable, and committed to Jesus and to our congregation.

So why would we ask God to send them away?

We’re asking God to send them away because they’re our best and brightest people, because they love Jesus, because they understand that the gospel is good news, and they want people to hear it! We’re asking God to send them away because, according to the Joshua Project, there are more than 3 billion lost people in the world, 80 percent of whom don’t know a single Christian. We’re sending them out because we’re unapologetic believers in the Great Commission. We believe that God saves people through ordinary people who preach an extraordinary message—that Jesus died on the cross to save sinners like us. We’re sending them out because the cross matters, because grace matters, because heaven and hell are real places, and because lost people matter to God.

I love the fact that we’re asking God to do something so big, so audacious, so beyond our own capacities and capabilities that, when it happens, the only explanation is, “God did this!” I love the fact that I won’t get the glory! I love the fact that MTW won’t get the glory. I love the fact that the PCA won’t get the glory. … I love the fact that God will get the glory!

What if we all prayed, “God, would you raise up and send out 1 percent of our members?” Do you think God can answer that prayer? I do! Wouldn’t you like to tell your kids and grandkids about the time we had an unrealistic dream and prayed audacious prayers, only to sit back and laugh as God answered those prayers beyond our wildest dreams? I would!

So will you join us? Will you pray? Will you send your best and brightest people to the global mission field? Will you believe that God can use them to change the world by advancing His kingdom?

Joel Treick is senior pastor of Pinewoods Church (PCA) in Cantonment, Florida.