Fulfill the Great Commission, Part 1

In a cabin nestled in the old fir-covered mountains of the North-West, a missionary asks for prayer. Surrounded by new and old friends, he fights back tears and shares that the Chapra Amazonian people asked for a translation of the Bible in their language. David Skinner has overcome threats, sickness, and imprisonment to fulfill the great commission of Jesus in over 40 countries worldwide. The compassion of Christ pointed his heart toward the untouched thousands of tribal men, women, and children in South America. There he goes from village to village displaying the power of the simple gospel.

Last week, I joined a group from my church to do some work at Dignata School of Justice and Transformation in Montana, where I met David. We were able to help James and Shannon Doherty (his daughter and her husband who started the school) prep some cabins for the upcoming semester, where they train people to go into all the world and preach the good news. God met us in the beauty of His creation, but the herald’s cry of these missionaries reminded us nature is not enough to save people like the Chapra.

“Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

Romans 10:13-15 (NASB)

Fulfill the Great Commission

God called my wife and I to go into the mission field, so in September our local church (The Crossing) is sending our family North to attend Dignata’s school. There we’ll receive training and go to Germany, Latvia, and the Netherlands where James and Shannon have joined with (and begun) gospel-focused initiatives which practically help trafficked women and children.

I hope you too are stirred to share the gospel, maybe even in a foreign land, or to come with us to Dignata’s school to be equipped and sent. But if your calling is to fulfill the great commission at your work and community here in the U.S., you can still be a part of what David Skinner with Network Bible Translators (NBT) is doing. Getting to the people and communicating with them has not been easy, but their souls are worth his sacrifice. Now those who’ve accepted Jesus need the Word of God.

To meet the need, David’s set up a studio in Peru where his organization, NBT, is translating the Gospel of Mark into tribal languages. They’re recording and loading these translations onto sturdy solar-powered MP3 players which can’t be erased or written over. David is delivering these devices to Amazon people, ensuring they have the Gospel to study as they grow in discipleship. The Chapra desire to have the Bible and we can be a part of God giving it to them. Obey the nudging He is giving you to support this effort at NBT.org/donate.