Blessed Friday. Persecution and tragedy are very real, but so is the life-altering power of the gospel.

In today’s edition:

• A special feature with Glory Road’s Jamie Dean

• Why “The Missions Guy” Is Not A Missionary

• The Rwandan Genocide: How to pray 30 years later

🎙️ Jamie Dean’s Glory Road: Revisiting a beloved story with a new and expansive lens

We’ve just  released the final episode of our narrative podcast series Glory Road. It focuses on Eric Liddell’s remarkable journey from Olympic gold medalist to martyrdom in China, and discovers what is happening with the gospel Liddell loved in the countries he knew best.

Jamie Dean took us all on a journey that started in Ancient Olympia and ended in a Japanese Prison Camp. We wanted to know more about her process in hosting a series like this, and what this experience has meant for her.

The Commission: As you were considering various podcast topics, why did you decide to focus on the life and story of Eric Liddell?

Jamie Dean: I knew this summer’s Olympics would mark the 100^th anniversary of Eric Liddell winning a gold medal in the Paris Olympics of 1924. It seemed like a good time to revisit his story, especially the lesser-known side of his life as a missionary in China. And I thought it would be a good opportunity to explore what’s happening with the gospel today in the countries he knew best. 

TC: For followers of Radical who haven't listened to Glory Road yet, what would you say makes this series different from any other "retelling" of Eric Liddell's story?

JD: The podcast goes beyond what many have heard about Liddell's victory in the 1924 Olympics, and it also looks at the story of his missionary service in China for the next 20 years.

But I would also say the podcast is just as focused on what's happening with the gospel today in countries like Scotland, France, and China. We talk to believers from those nations, and we learn about how they're involved in really encouraging ministry in otherwise discouraging circumstances. It's a chance to see God at work in unseen corners of the kingdom.

TC: What was your favorite place that you visited while producing Glory Road?

JD: Tough question! Each place was really different, but an excursion to the Orkney Islands off the coast of Northern Scotland was like stepping back in time (in a good way). And it’s hard to beat a walk along the Seine River in Paris, even in the winter. 

TC: How did hosting the Glory Road podcast shape and grow you as a storyteller?

JD: It reminded me again of how God’s kingdom is so vast, and how it’s advancing in so many ways we never really see. It motivated me to look to more unseen places to discover how God is at work, and to never underestimate what He’s doing, even in hard places. 

TC: How should the life of Eric Liddell be an example to us, as Christians, as we strive to make Jesus known in our neighborhoods and nations?

JD: I think his commitment to being faithful even when it’s costly is something we can apply to our Christian lives every day. But I also really appreciated what one person said to me about believers in places like China today.  She said the question isn’t really how can we be more like them, but how can we be more like Jesus? It’s His work, and He’s the real hero.

🌍 Among the unreached for the unreached

Radical exists to help Christians make their lives count by following Jesus and making him known, in their neighborhoods and all nations. For some, it looks like staying in their hometown, serving in their local church and supporting global workers reach the unreached from there. Others are called to be those global workers, and to become that, they need training. 

The Radical Training Center aims to help prepare future global workers to make disciples and plant churches among some of the hardest-to-reach people and places on earth. A new class of students will, Lord willing, begin arriving in-country and settling into their new home within the next few days. 

Their first few weeks will be spent hearing staff testimonies, meeting active field workers and discovering potential landing spots for when they finish the program. They will be getting introduced to language learning and culture acquisition, planning out some of their major projects, and will be challenged to stay close to Jesus daily and pay attention to the inclinations of their heart.

How to Pray: These students and the instructors need to get acquainted with one another. Pray that as they begin eight months of intensive training for long-term service among hard-to-reach people, they find unity in Christ.

Next Steps: You and your church can get involved with Radical Training Center in two ways:

• Send. Future global workers may already be in your congregation. Send them to be equipped by our team.

• Sponsor. Support one or more of our current students in the program.

If you’d like to engage with the Radical Training Center, don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected] to talk further about how you could do so!

👀 Why “The Missions Guy” Is Not A Missionary

It was one of the most significant conversations in my entire life, one of those hinge moments upon which the entire trajectory of your life turns.

In college and seminary, I had begun to see God’s passion for his glory among the nations all over Scripture. I also started learning about how many people in the world had never heard the gospel, and I thought, “This is a no-brainer. I need to be a missionary.”

I started talking to Heather about this, and she was fully on board. One day, Jerry Rankin, who was the president of the International Mission Board—an organization I later had the privilege to lead—came to our seminary campus. He was coming to our campus to preach and I was asked to take him to breakfast. The night before, I told Heather, “I’m taking the president of the IMB to breakfast. I’m going to tell him we’re ready to go overseas. Is that okay with you?”

Thankfully, she said, “Sounds great to me! Go for it.” We prayed together that night, and the next morning, and off I went.

As soon as Dr. Rankin and I sat down for our breakfast, I started pouring out my heart. “I see God’s passion for all nations in His Word. I see the need for the gospel in the world. My wife and I are ready to be missionaries.”  Dr. Rankin looked back at me, and for about 60 seconds, he encouraged me in response to what I had just said.

But then he spent the rest of breakfast—almost an hour—talking to me about the need for pastors who lead churches where the gospel has gone to send more people where the gospel hasn’t gone. I was so confused.

That night Heather asked me, “How did it go?”

I said, “I think the president of the IMB just talked me out of becoming a missionary. I couldn’t figure out why.”

Confused, she asked, “What did you say?” as if I had just blown an interview and bungled the plan for our life.

I responded, “I don’t know!” I replied, just as confused as she was.

But here’s why I’m so thankful for that conversation with Dr. Rankin. He created a category in my mind that wasn’t there before. It should have been there, but for some reason I had totally missed it.

There is a type of person who is passionate about the spread of the gospel to the nations but who doesn’t go overseas as a missionary. The more I thought about it, the more I realized, “Of course there’s that type of person. It’s called a Christian.”

Every person who has the Spirit of Christ in them wants the world for Christ. Do you have the Spirit of Christ in you? Then you are passionate about the world being reached with the good news of Christ. Passion for mission apparently is not just for missionaries.

We are all created and called by God to follow Jesus and make him known in the world–with a consuming passion to see the glory of his name spread to all the nations. This is part of what it means to be a Christian.

When I think about over 3 billion people unreached by the gospel in the world, we don’t just need hundreds, or even thousands, more missionaries passionate about the gospel spreading to the nations. We need hundreds of thousands and millions upon millions of Christians passionate about the gospel spreading to all nations.

Until that happens, ever-increasing numbers of people will die without ever hearing the gospel. And in the process, we will miss out on what it means to follow Jesus.

🇷🇼 Tragedies of the past won’t withhold hope for the future

This summer marked the 30th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, a 100 days where the Tutsi minority were killed by armed Hutu militias. Up to 1 million people are estimated to have been killed during this time. 

Hurt and loss are still felt in Rwanda. The genocide occurred in what was one of Africa’s most Christian regions, and after the horror, many questioned the Church and their own faith. 

How You Can Pray: Today, we can praise God for how he has healed hurting Rwandans and led them to himself, as Rwanda’s population is a majority Christian population. Pray for more laborers to be sent to Rwanda and churches planted, so many more may learn about the true salvation, forgiveness, and life only found in Christ.

📌 Attention Worthy

• Church is not about you. Scripture’s teaching on our sinful depravity should shape the way we do ministry. As Alex Duke reminds us, attracting unbelievers is good, but attractionalism is bad.

• Is God stirring something in the next generation of missionaries? John Piper lays out healthy missions convictions and some organizations worth partnering with.

• Lausanne Movement released State of the Great Commission Report, a collaborative work of 150+ global mission experts that’ll help you understand the greatest gaps and opportunities for the Great Commission’s fulfillment.

_{THIS WEEK’S COLLABORATORS:}

_{Jamie Dean, Selah Lipsey, Steven Morales, Jairo Namnún, Camille Suazo}

_{MAKE YOUR LIFE COUNT!}