Missions Update

Sunday, February 22, 2004

Rev. Earl Pierce and Gary Thies

Typed from audio transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from the one who has launched us out into the deep, Jesus Christ.

Dear Fellow Missionaries,

I have a confession to make this morning. I'm adopted. Not in the usual sense, that the parents who raised me adopted me, but in the missional sense. You see, I'm not a native Iowan. Now most of you have already figured that out but, just to clear it up, I was adopted by Iowa District West to be your missionary twelve years ago last month. Now this was even before Mr. Gary Thies started his work in the District making adoption agreements part of our every day mission speech here. And if it isn't part of your speech by the time we're done today, it will be.

You see, at the 1991 Convention of the District, under the theme Partners in the Gospels, a proposal was put forward to start new missions in Iowa District West. For the first time in 15 years before that, we were going to start some new missions. Part of that proposal was to call a missionary, a church planter, to begin at least three new missions in the greater Des Moines area, in Norwalk, in Polk City, and in Clive. And today we have Christ our Savior in Norwalk, Beautiful Savior in Polk City, and Living Faith in Clive as a result of that adoption and that partnership that began in 1992. All three of these are now active on their own in mission reaching out to their communities. This morning, over 400 are gathered in those three locations proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.

And at our Board of Directors' meeting last Tuesday, I was pleased to announce that, for the first time in over 40 years, we had no congregations on subsidy. That is not to say that we're not doing mission work in Iowa District West. Quite the contrary. We're doing more than ever. For 2004, the mission portion of our District budget stands at three?quarters of a million dollars for work here in the District. And for the first time ever the amount allocated for non-Anglo and specialized ministries represents the majority of our budget with more money being spent in those areas than for new Anglo missions. Now when you consider, in 1992, the mission budget for the District was well under $200,000, you can clearly see there's been a dramatic response from the partners in the other boats. From that call going out to come over to help us, 175 boats, and the boats that are the congregations of Iowa West, responding.

I remember quite vividly that phone call I received from Pastor Rhinehart who was then the Mission Executive for the District. It was on October 1, 1991. Now I remember the date clearly because it was my youngest daughter's birthday and when I asked her a few days before what she wanted for her birthday, she said, "I want you to get a call." Not that she was trying to get rid of me. She thought it was time for our family to move. And so, on her birthday, I received that telephone call. He had just told me that the Board of Directors of Iowa West had called me to be their missionary. And while I was in a position to consider a call, I knew that the Lord wanted me to go where the action was in missions, to the southwest, to the northwest to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho where 70% of the population is unchurched. "Iowa?" was my first response. "Everybody's already Lutheran in Iowa. Why in the world would you need a missionary in Iowa?" And so with that puzzlement combined with the fact that I did receive that call, I felt called at least to come and check it out. That was 12 years ago, and I'm still here. Since then, we've adopted six other missionaries to come over and help us. The catch is that large. But it's not just in Iowa that God is calling missionaries, partners in the other boats, to come along side to help with the catch.

Now when I first preached here, back when I was that church planter starting those churches, I brought a shovel along as my show and tell, and I used that shovel to demonstrate. I promised that, after the service, I would go around the church and I would dig a trench and after I dug that trench, I would fill it with salt water. So, whenever you left the building, you would go across the salt water. So, in other words, every time you left the building, you would go overseas into the mission field.

And then a couple of years ago, I brought rocks. I brought a wheelbarrow-load of rocks, and we handed them out. I gave you a choice. You could either throw them at me or we could bring them up and build a temple. And luckily, most people brought them up to build an altar to the Lord.

Well, while those are both kind of dangerous objects for a pastor to bring for a sermon, probably the most dangerous I brought this morning to share that message of God calling those very special missionaries is Mr. Gary Thies.

"Thank you very much, Pastor. I want to share with all of you this morning that God is calling people. I'm amazed, as I travel around, God has blessed me and allowed me to speak in more than 700 congregations and it's really interesting, as I travel, I find that people think God isn't calling people like He did in the bible, like Moses and Abraham. Wrong again. God's still calling people. You're just not hearing about them.

This morning, I want to share with you that God's calling unusual people. If you ever study scripture, God always called the most unusual people, the ones you and I wouldn't pick. You think about the greatest missionary that ever lived, the apostle Paul. He was a murderer and a persecutor of Christians. God says, "This is who I'm going to use as the greatest missionary." And then we think about Jesus calling His disciples, a fisherman. And this fisherman stood up in front of the leaders of the church and he said, "The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off for all whom the Lord our God will fall." Do you know that God's calling people? And Peter knew that.

I was a bank president in Mapleton, Iowa. For 33 years, I was there in the same bank. And then one verse changed my life dramatically, Ephesians 2:10: "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good work, which He has prepared in advance for us to do." God's got work for you to do. That applies to each and every one of you, and it's a time that we need to wake up in the church. I go to some churches, and you know what I hear coming out of the churches. Snores. Some are falling asleep. Not this, however. I'm so delighted to report that this church is on the grow. New members. That's good because you know what the mission of the church is in God's calling missionaries, like you and me, just ordinary people.

Now I wonder how many of you know that God's called Pat Monroe, for example, the deaf missionary here who is working so well with the deaf people here in our District. Ninety-five percent of deaf people have never heard the gospel. God's using Laotian, Sudanese pastors here in the area. But I wonder how many of you know that God's calling just ordinary kind of people like Brent Smith from Lincoln, Nebraska. I remember interviewing him. I thought to myself, "Wow." This guy was working for the leading CPA firm in Lincoln, Nebraska. Passed his CPA exam on the very first test. One of the sharpest young men I've ever known, and then he said, "Gary, God's called me. I'm going to be the first business manager in Kazakhstan." I went over there to Kazakhstan and saw him there. He sat in a great big room. He'd been there six months, and there he sat on the floor with a whole bunch of little Russian children and he was speaking Russian to these children teaching them a bible class. And I looked at him and I said, "Brent, I can't understand this. You've been here for six months and you can handle this Russian language?" And he looked up at me, and he got tears in his eyes and he said, "You don't get it, do you?" I said, "I guess I don't." He said, "Gary, it's a gift. God's called me to be here. I couldn't do this on my own."

I wonder how many of you know that God's calling people like Pastor John Duitsman who, in January 2000, began our first work in East Africa. Do you know we have over 350 congregations there? That's whom Pastor Pierce went to visit just in November. I wonder how many of you know that Pastor Duitsman was working for a finance company, and he heard the message and God called him in a most unusual way. He didn't sleep all that night that he heard that call, and he got up the next morning. He called his boss and said, "I'm not coming in for work today." And the boss said, "What? What's wrong? Are you sick?" And he said, "No, and I'm never coming in for work again. God's called me."

Yeah, there are those kind of people out here, people that understand this calling business. And it's happening around the world in Russia, in Africa, right here in Iowa District West. I want you to know that God's calling you, people just like you, personally. It's time to wake up."

While we have that call, it's not that all of us are going to have that call to follow Peter out to help with the catch right at that point. But that is not to say each of us does not have a very important part to play. The catch itself might have been lost. If the partners in the other boats had not been willing to set down what they were doing, they were doing very important work. They were there along the shore repairing their nets, cleaning them up to be able to go out again. But they were willing to set that aside to go out and help with a catch that someone else had made. How would the story have ended had they not been willing to do that? If the partners had stayed on the shore? Think of that picture of Peter in his boat out there with a net overboard with that catch of fish there groaning on the net yelling for help and no one came. The net would have been burst asunder, the fish all back into the sea. And Peter would have been left not only with no fish as he was before but now all his nets would have been ruined as well. The partners in the other boats responded.

Likewise with our Partners in the Gospel plan that brought me here to the District. In many ways, Gary, this was kind of a preview of coming attractions because that Partners in the Gospel plan in 1991 set about to link people directly with the opportunities that God was providing. You see, it was only part of the proposal that they would call a missionary to start new work for the first time in 20 years in Iowa District West. The rest of the story is that call was sent out for support for the work. Knowing the dramatic rise in land values during the 1990's, the possibilities for starting new missions became harder and harder because of the costs involved for the property for these new churches. And likewise, even still today, I'm working with Pastor Cizek, our missionary in Waukee, and we're looking at exploring possibilities for where that church will be located when that time comes. And we've looked at some properties, some very, very good properties, some very fine $5,000-an-acre Iowa farmland that we can have for $2,900 an acre. And some of the property in the Waukee area has gotten so expensive that rather than price it by the acre, they're pricing it by the foot, and that's in the $6.00 to $7.00-a-foot range. Do your math real quick. That comes out something around $300,000 an acre. It takes more than a missionary on the ground to begin new ministries in today's economy. It takes the partners in the other boats.

That was recognized back when we started the Partners in the Gospel plan. For the first time in many, many years, the people of Iowa West were asked to be those partners. They were asked to come along side with their mission gifts in a very direct and very targeted way because of what Jesus had done for them. And they responded, and that program brought in over $1.5 million that helped pay down the cost of that land to help begin new work with the deaf, to begin a new outreach to international students at Iowa State and Memorial in Ames.

But that's the big picture, that's the broad expanse, the $1.5 million, the $300,000 an acre. In all my time in the District, I have yet to see a check come into the District office for $1 million. It's not just those big numbers how things happen. Much as it took Peter and James and Andrew and John and all of their companions, likewise, with our work together. It isn't about the biggest giver. It's not about what the total is. What it's really all about is those partners in the other boats, right, Gary?

"As I travel around, I've had a wonderful opportunity to meet some of God's very special people, people who are not playing church. I want to ask you this morning as you sit here in the pew, are you playing church this morning? Or does the Lord Jesus really live in your heart? When God calls us home, He's not going to say, "Now let's see, were you a member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa?" And I know for some of you, be careful, especially you pastors now, don't throw rocks at me, but God isn't going to ask you if you're members of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. That's right. He's going to see if the Lord Jesus really lives here.

And so I want to share with you God using individual people that you would not imagine to get His work done. The greatest missionary I ever met in my life, and I've interviewed hundreds and hundreds of missionaries, is a man who went to the 4th Grade and he wore bib-striped overalls. Did you ever meet anybody like that? He worked on the farm all the time, and I could smell the pipe tobacco always that he kept right here. It was on his lap I learned of the Lord Jesus. He had a wonderful, simple, childlike faith that was so powerful because Jesus said, "Except you have the faith of a little child, you'll not enter therein." Little kids get it. When I spoke down in Mount Calvary in Omaha at their Lutheran School, I showed them a picture of a hut where I stayed in Africa. And little Matthew Kelly, 1st Grader, with a little round face and brown eyes sat right here, and I said, "Matthew, does that look like your home?" And he looked up at me and he said, "No way." I said, "Where's your home?" And he looked up at me and he said, "Heaven is my home." How many of you guys would have got that right today?

We're just passing through here, folks. I want to just share that with you. This is not our home. And once we realize that Jesus did it all for us on that cross, it's a free gift. We know where our home is. You know what my dad said just before he passed away? He looked up at me and he said, "Gary, don't cry." He said, "Just a little while, we'll all be together." Suppose he got it? Yeah.

I want to share with you Jesus has done it all for us. We know where our home is. And once we realize that, there's only one thing you're sitting in the church for today and that's to tell more people about Jesus. You know what my dad said? He said, "Gary, we just got to make sure there's more people in heaven when you and I are together." Once the church catches that vision, the church begins to grow and God begins to call people and exciting things happen.

The real missionaries of the church are you. You understand that? And I want to share with all of you if ever I come around and say, "Are you one of the missionaries here?" Buddy, you know what the answer is? "You bet your life I am." We've all got a job to do, first with our family. When I see a little family sitting together, is that your family? You've got a job to do. Make sure you're all together in heaven. But then it doesn't stop there. It keeps growing, and God uses unusual people, people that you wouldn't imagine.

I want to share with all of you it's really, really important to really get it. When we talk about the partnership, the individuals that Pastor Pierce talked about, I want to share with you. I sat with this family, and they had sold a tremendous business. God had blessed them in a tremendous way, and he looked over at his wife, got tears in his eyes and he said, "Mom, if God's called us to do this, we need to open this new mission field, we're going to make this gift for $465,000." That wasn't the largest gift I've ever received. The largest gift I've ever received came from St. Paul Lutheran Church in Ames, Iowa. When I got through speaking, I'll never forget. There was a guy who came up to me, about your age, and he was dressed in khaki work clothes, had work shoes. He came up to me and said, "Gary, I just want to tell you, now I know God's called us." And he said, "I haven't been a very good example of a father." He said, "I have a family and when I put those kids to bed at night, I should be setting the example and praying with them for a missionary family. Do you have a missionary family?" I said, "I just happen to have one. I've got this adoption agreement and the picture of a little missionary family that you can pray for every night." He said, "Oh, that's good. I'd like to have you meet my wife." He signaled, and she came over and they had seven children. And then I looked at their clothing and I looked at their little shoes and I realized. And I took my pen up to that agreement and I just crossed out the dollar amount. I just scratched it out. Let's write in here, "Will pray each day." I'll never forget the look on this guy's face when I did that. He looked at me and he started to cry. He said, "Gary, we don't have anything." But he said, "We know God's called us. Could I send $10.00 the first of every month to help our missionary family?" I said, "Yeah, that'd be great. That'd be just wonderful." That was about nine years ago, and they've never stopped. And the first of every month they send their check for their missionary family and they pray regularly. That's the largest gift I've ever received. You see, it has nothing to do with the amount. God looks in here, what's in our hearts, and that's the way He calls individual people and it's real important we all understand that.

Just at the right time, God calls special people to get His work done. God grant that you understand that, that God's calling people."

It takes all of us, all of us working together, all of us who can join Peter in confession, "Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man." For he and his companions were astonished with the great catch of fish they had taken and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Now we join Peter in this confession every time we see a miracle, the gift of a child, at the early service, the blessing of another child entering God's kingdom through the water of baptism. While Pastor was pouring the water on that child's head, we could see the hand of God taking hold of His new child into His kingdom. At the 11:00 service, we'll again be experiencing that miracle when we're invited forward, invited forward worthless sinners that we are to take the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. We know we're not worthy. We know that without Christ we stand before God as sinful human beings, ready to run and hide just as Peter was there, just as Adam and Eve, our first parents, stood there in the garden. But we know that God's love for us brings us here this morning, brings us to stand before the throne forgiven and free because of Jesus' suffering and death in our place. How do we know that? Because of that farmer in bib overalls who told his child about the love of Jesus there on his knee. Because we hear each and every Sunday morning the word of God proclaimed assuring us again and again the forgiveness that's ours. We know because we know that Word of God. We've heard it. Scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing as Paul reminds us, "How then can they call on the one they have not believed in and how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard and how can they hear unless someone preaches to them and how can someone preach unless they are sent?" It takes many forms, and God calls many missionaries.

With us this morning with the Sunday School children are our missionaries to the deaf, Pastor Dennis Konkel and Pat Monroe. You're supporting Pat as a congregation through those special mission envelopes you have. They share the Word of God with people who can't hear it, who can only hear it by seeing it, by Pat and Dennis sharing the Word in their hands, in their motions, and by seeing the Word of God in each of our lives. These people will come to know. We send people who know the language, such as Dennis and Pat, to people who don't know the Savior. Nowhere is this more true than the 10/40 zone extending from West Africa to East Asia. From 10 degrees north latitude to 40 degrees north latitude is the biggest concentration, literally billions of people who don't know Jesus. It's not a safe area, not a safe area for Christians, let alone Christian missionaries. But God, by the power of His spirit, is beginning to develop some cracks in this new iron curtain. And my trip last November was into the heart of that area, right into the middle of the 10/40 zone into central Sudan, and my being able to come back out and tell you about it is proof of that. I met with literally hundreds of Christian brothers and sisters at 12 degrees north latitude via Karindi in the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan. I shared with them and their humble faith. And that's the eastern part of the Nuba Mountain area, an area combined with the western part is about the size of Iowa. And the doors, the cracks into that 10/40 zone continue to open. This past Thursday, right here in Ames, Iowa, I was able to meet with Ishmael Jalab. Ishmael Jalab is the deputy commander of the Western Nuba Mountains. He was at Iowa State for some study for a few months to learn English, to learn about democracy. He was raised a Muslim. He is not practicing any faith right now and, of course, I invited him to our international student ministry at Memorial in Ames. But he was interested in what we wanted to do in Nuba, and our work right now in the Nuba Mountains is limited to the eastern side. But in my conversation with Ishmael, he said basically, "You all come." He wants more schools opened, more English being taught, and he's not opposed to having the gospel message come with new churches as well.

But these are places that are very difficult to go into. Not only that, it's very difficult for white people to go into. I had to go to three different government offices, rebel government offices, to be able to go into the Nuba Mountains and see what the Lord has done in the last two years. With 32 new churches being opened and 8,000 new Lutheran Christians now joining us in our common faith, and this was done strictly by law people sharing the good news having been in the refugee camps, learning about their Savior being trained by Anglo white missionaries in Kenya. They will go back in equipped to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's how it happens. It doesn't happen by you or me going into those kinds of areas for extended periods but by people with that passion for Jesus Christ taking the message back into their homelands. Gary, tell us more about how this work is going on.

"As I travel, I'm amazed how little people know about what's going on in the world. Maybe because outside these stained-glass windows we're so busy in our daily life with so much of our routine that we really don't take time to say, "Lord, what are you doing? What's happening in these last days?" I want to share with all of you today when I came back from East Africa and I saw what was happening there, I realized we really were in the last days.

The bible says in the Book of Acts, "In the last days, I'll pour out my spirit on all men," and I want to tell you, that pouring out is happening. How many of you today, right now, realize that, in the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia, the Mekane Yesus Lutheran Church, they're averaging baptizing 900 a day? 900 a day. There are 4.1 million Lutheran Christians in the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia. Do you know how many members there are in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod? 2.5 million. There are 1.5 million more Lutherans in Ethiopia, one country in East Africa, than we have in the whole Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Now I hope that wakes you up today. I hope that when you go home, you say, "Gee, I didn't realize that." Yeah, there are some really amazing things happening. Last year in Africa, the number of Lutherans grew by 1.1 million members. That's pretty exciting. And yet, that says something to us. We have work to do, work to do here. We lost 28,000 members in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod last year. You know why? I'll tell you why. We have too much. We're more concerned about the material things. Where Pastor Pierce traveled, they don't have electricity. They don't have television, but they have something much more powerful than electricity and television. They have the Lord Jesus.

I want to share with you when I sat under a tree over there in northern Kenya among the Pokot people that have never heard the name of Jesus. You see everyone here in the United States heard the name of Jesus. Oh, yeah, they've got the Passion movie now and everybody knows Jesus, and a lot of people use His name in the wrong way. But people in that area have never heard the name Jesus. In Acts 28:28, it says, "And I'll send my salvation to the Gentiles and they'll listen." That's what's happening over there. They're listening, and Jesus is coming into their heart. When I sat under that tree and looked at Moses, the evangelist we trained and sent up there, I said, "Moses, I can't believe this. You work here six months, and you have a congregation of 500 people under this tree." And he looked at me and he had something I'll always remember, a little tear came down across his cheek and he looked at me and he said, "Our God powerful." Isn't that a great statement? He didn't say, "Look what I done. Boy am I an evangelist." No, he said, "Our God powerful." He said, "I have seven other congregations also." Six months? Eight congregations? Pretty exciting. God's calling people.

And that's what's happening in missions, and when we think we're in charge, we're in trouble. Before we began our service, we prayed together and once again, we said, "Lord, we're not in charge. You are." Whenever I get into trouble about ministry and I see what's happening, it's when I think I'm going to do something. Folks, God doesn't need your money. God owns everything. You just have to decide in your life how much of His money you're going to give back to Him. That's it. That's the concept. A lot of people don't understand that.

I want to share with all of you the telephone call that came. The voice on the end of the phone said, "Gary, we've just inherited $100,000 out here at our congregation in western Nebraska. This is Wednesday I know, and Sunday night they're going to be voting on how they're going to use these resources, and I'd like to see them use something for the mission of the church to tell more people about Jesus. Do you think you could send me some adoption agreements or ideas on what we could do?" I said, "Well, no, I can't do that. I'll come in person. I'll adjust my schedule." Do you know what I was motivated by? Got any idea what I was motivated by? The money. That's the struggle. We don't want to be motivated by the money. It's the spiritual vision we must maintain. See that cross up there? That's where we have to focus. And I said, "I'll be there." And I worked up a program and I went out there. Had a dynamic power point presentation. I got through, and I met with all the elders and the leaders of that congregation. I said, "Now Sunday night when you have your voters' meeting, remember, this is the mission of the church and I gave examples." I drove away from there, my car just glided away, and I even felt my hand kind of coming up like this and going, "You sure did good, Gary." You know what, chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me. Sinful. I came back, and that Sunday night I got a telephone call. It wasn't from out there. It was from Pat Monroe, this missionary that's here. You know what she said? "Gary, our Sunday School down in Council Bluffs has grown so much with the deaf children, if you could get a van, I'd sure appreciate it to pick up all these little kids." She said, "Can you do that?" I said, "I can't do anything, but God can. Let's pray about it, Pat." I got up the next morning, and I had to speak in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and so I went over to Fort Dodge and before I walked out of the office, the telephone rang and the voice at the end of the phone said, "Gary, this is the elder out here in Nebraska. We had our voter's meeting last night and I just wanted to tell you that voters just felt they wanted to keep that money because they may need it." You know what I got? Zero. God said, "I'll do the calling, not you, Buddy. I'll call the people to give the privilege of serving in His kingdom." I was really rejected. I drove over to Fort Dodge. I spoke in the morning. I had just about 1½ hours in the afternoon before I spoke that night at Good Shepherd and I thought, "Gee, I can't waste this time." Met a farmer over there. I have to drive up there. Called him up there, and he said, "Gary, Mom and I are home. We just happen to be home. It's interesting. We've been gone. You caught us just on the right day." Drove out there. These people were in the country. I got the directions and drove in and there in the garage, what do you suppose was sitting in front of the garage, buddy? Got any idea? A van. Thank you for being here today. A van! I walked inside and talked to these people, and we had a wonderful talk. I got ready to go and I said, "Hey, whose van is this out here?" And they said, "Oh, that's our van." I said, "Oh really?" "Yeah, we want to sell it. We've advertised it several times but nobody's answered our ad." I said, "Oh, really? What are you asking for the van?" And he said, "Well, what do you mean?" I said, "Well, I could sure use a van like that for that missionary that's here this morning, Pat Monroe. She's picking up little children." This guy looked over and kind of got tears in his eyes, and he looked at his wife and he said, "Now, Mom, do you understand why nobody's answered our ad? God had this planned for us." He said, "Gary, we'll just give you the van."

Now think about that, folks, and that's the last little example I'm going to give. I'm not in charge. I thought I knew everything and had everything planned out. No. God says, "I have people waiting. Just listen." That's the way God works.

There are exciting things going on. Just listen. God's calling."

And Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid. From now on, you will catch men." We're part of those companions. So they pulled their boats up on shore and left everything and followed Him. Amen.

Copyright 2004 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church