City Upon a Hill

Someone said to me today, “You don’t need a degree to be a missionary.” I write this as an encouragement to readers who attend seminary and to those who do not, to those who are missionaries across the world, and to those who are living the Great Commission at our back door.
I have a friend who is a sort of “self-appointed mentor” to a number of Liberian refugee children who live in government housing projects. The household of 3 or 4 male children is being raised by their refugee mother alone who barely speaks English and certainly has a different idea of parenting skills. This past weekend, my friend approached me with some questions (since I have a background in family counseling). The children had told my friend that the mother had been showing them pornographic videos at a very young age in order to prevent them from wanting to watch the videos when they were older. She had been watching the videos with the boys of various ages. He also told me about how he had taken them to church with him and when he dropped them off at their apartment later that evening, the mother was not home and did not return home for several hours. The boys were left outside without a key for several hours into the already dark evening in one of the most unsafe neighborhoods in the city.
While my friend and I discussed the legal implications of this as well as the level of inappropriateness in parenting style, the point that I wish to make here is focused elsewhere… Because my friend has his faith grounded in our Holy Father, he is able to minister to this family in need of a Savior. He offers guidance and hope to these young boys whose mother seemingly unknowingly breaks her children’s hearts and souls by burying them deep in sexual immorality and abandonment. My friend is perhaps the only reflection of Christ they see throughout their week.
Let’s look at it this way: Somewhere in a dark, rent-controlled apartment lives a family who struggles against the world and has no light of hope. Across the city lives a single, 20-something, just out of college with the Light of the World in his heart. They are just another family trying to make it in the dark. He is an ordinary person trying to figure out what’s next. But he serves a God who is not just another god. And he lives with a faith that is not just an ordinary faith. And because of this extraordinary faith, he walks in obedience with the One True God who sheds light in all the dark places.
Whether we are in seminary or working a secular job, whether we are finishing up a doctorate or completing a GED, whether we are preaching to the masses from a pulpit or from behind a counter to an audience of one, if we are children of God we are missionaries. I will let my friend admonish you to remember the extraordinary God whom you serve and to seek Him out where He is working, then join Him regardless of your present circumstances. Somewhere, on the other side of the city, someone is waiting in the dark for a light to come on. Don’t be afraid to go into the dark places because that is precisely where the Light is needed. And only those who have the Light can share it.

Reflecting an image

imago Dei. In His image.




At creation God’s purpose for me is to worship Him and obey Him and, by these means, bring glory to His name. As was recently discussed in my Old Testament class, the nuance of Genesis 1:26-27 is not that God created us to look like Himself, but rather to be His image on Earth — in other words, to reflect characteristics of God to all of creation. This, in turn, will magnify His glory, if done properly. The great tragedy is that at the Fall of mankind, the image of God in man was fractured, shattered like a mirror, no longer able to accurately reflect the image of a Holy God.



I am a shattered mirror. And like a shattered mirror, my splintered, broken reflection often draws more attention to itself than it does the image of the Sovereign Creator. But. The Gospel restores my cracked and fractured image, allowing me to reflect more acceptably the image of my Redeemer.



I can’t take credit for the beauty of this mirror analogy. (Dr. Robinson’s knack for the use of imagery is present in a number of my posts.) So for the second time this semester, I’m about to walk through The Story Training Guide, first in class and again in the upcoming weeks with the young professionals class at my local church. If The Story isn’t familiar to you, I recommend you take a minute now to stop and introduce yourself to it by clicking the website here: TheStoryTraining.com. You won’t regret it.



Anyway, my self-assigned task for at least a couple of days during the next few weeks, as I re-examine the narrative of the Gospel with Dr. Reid and other young pros, is to find a small, portable mirror somewhere in my seminary apartment and take it around with me, not just in my bag or purse, but on my person. My little mirror is going to serve as just one reminder on those days of 1) my role in accurately reflecting Christ to the world 2) how fragile my witness can be if I am not mindful of it and 3) that, by God’s love and sacrifice, I am a restored image of a Holy Creator.



This idea has the potential to be a creative reminder… or possibly a painful experience. I’ll let you know how it works out for me, and whether or not I end up with a shattered mirror in my back pocket.

The importance of one

I am currently 1/3 of the way through my first semester mid-terms and while my brain feels like it has hit maximum capacity, I know there’s much more to learn. So let me take a break from studying to share with you my latest perspective.




For three years preceding my move to Southeastern, I led a weekly Bible study for high school girls. When I signed on to volunteer, my intentions were to become more involved in my church and serve the Lord consistently in this new capacity. I had little idea what this ministry would become for me over the course of the next 3 years as I watched a group of 7 high school freshmen turn from teenagers into beautiful young women of faith. By the time the Lord called me to move from Tennessee to North Carolina, my younger sisters in Christ were entering their senior year in high school, and I was grieved at the thought of leaving them at such a crucial time in their lives. Knowing that the Lord didn’t need me to complete any work in their lives, I tearfully left our small group trusting that God would provide for “my girls” (as I endearingly term them) and hoping for the continued privilege of playing a small part in their lives.



God has indeed answered my prayers in allowing me to maintain communication with these girls and hear some of their recent stories. With social media being the primary means of communication for their generation, I receive numerous text messages from week to week highlighting how the Lord is working out His plan for each of them. I’ve been so blessed and extremely encouraged to read messages such as, “Pray for my friend at work, she keeps asking me about church.” Another message reported, “I bought my friend a Bible and we’ve been talking about God. She got saved during tonight’s church service!” And still another text informs me that at 18, an honorable young lady is excited about her first boyfriend (who has recently talked to her parents and asked for permission to date her). Just this weekend, I received a picture text of one of the girls wearing a crown after winning the homecoming title at her Christian school. Her classmates voted for her under the theme “Faithfulness.” That same weekend I catch word that she led an acoustic worship set for her high school youth group on Sunday night.



I am both encouraged and humbled beyond words to acknowledge that over the past 3 years God assigned to me the task of discipling these 7 young ladies as they grow into faithful, young women who love and serve Christ. The significance of pouring my life and service into these girls is not lost on me as I read and learn of the model of discipleship Christ provided in His written plan of evangelism. Appropriately, this is a recurring topic as I speak to professors and sit in classes here at SEBTS — this idea of placing the emphasis on quality versus quantity, discipleship to the few versus preaching to the multitudes (without, of course, de-emphasizing the importance of mass communication of the Gospel). Something to think about: “When discipleship is the means of growth, the result is greater orthodoxy.”