The opportunity for kingdom work and evangelism is greater than it has ever been. The receptivity factor among the nations is at an all time high. Those working in missions today just ache, seeing the need and the opportunity and the scarcity of workers available to send. CONSIDER YOUR ROLE Despite what churches all across Western nations have done to send and support missionaries, the missions enterprise is still literally tens of thousands of missionaries short today. More and more missionaries going out these days are second-career Christians. Some have begun to call them "finishers". These are people who leave engineering or teaching or management or some other job — they bring those life skills with them. Many like this who apply to mission agencies today are folks like you that hear God's call and answer. They believe it is more than giving and prayer that God is requiring of them. Some mission agencies can equip you to go to the mission field so expensive formal education can be avoided, if you so choose. For many of these folks the issue is purpose. The question they wrestle with is, "How can what I do have eternal purpose?" Or, "Where can I make a lasting contribution in the years that I have left?" Good questions. Greg, a man in his late 30's, has a wife and two children from California. They went to work with UWM in 1999 in northern Kenya. The people they work with are the Turkana, a semi-nomadic tribal people that herd cattle and goats. They have no knowledge of the God of the Bible. Greg and his familly live in a simple house, literally in the desert, miles away from the nearest small town. Greg did not go into missions because he could do nothing else with his life. He is a brilliant computer systems person with very high skills. He was in great demand by companies that had Y2K compliance issues to solve. In fact, he was offered a very high paying job, but he gladly turned it down. He was not even tempted, because Greg new that God had something of far more eternal value for him to do in Kenya. He and his wife are using their lives to see to it many Turkana are represented in heaven with the other tribes and tongues and peoples who will be there giving glory to God and who make up that international choir of worshippers. There are missionary assignments like this. There are thousands of other tasks — one that will fit you, home and abroad. So then, whether it is stepping up your prayer life, or your giving, or both, or actually joining the ranks of missionaries yourself, the bottom line we each must answer for our lives is, What will give the most glory to God? What can I do with my life to make His glory shine with more brilliance? Each of us must decide our individual response to the Lord. This likely means we must de-value what seems to be the comfort and security of our present lives to abandon, what we must ultimately abandon, all for treasure in Heaven. -----Prayer ---- Lord, do I have it upside down? Why am I seeking to make myself something on this earth? Help me, show me how I am to respond so that you to get all the glory, all the praise, from me and those from among the nations. I will step up my commitment to pray, to give, to go in response to your calling. Lord most High, be magnified. Amen. As presented at a church Missions Conference by Rev. Woody Phillips, President of UWM.