Lost in Translation

Proverbs 6:6-8 (NKJV) "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest."

I´ve been preaching a series of messages on Proverbs and have been meditating on the them every morning. This morning I read the proverb above and thought, "Wow, that´s a perfect description of a good missionary." Being on the mission field I hardly have anyone who directs what I do each day. You pastors know how that is too. On one hand it´s liberating and on the other hand frightening. The question that constantly haughts me is, "Am I doing what´s most important as a missionary?"

I definitely think that "doing ministry" is not the place of a missionary. But it´s so easy to fall into that trap. I "do the ministry" when I preach, teach, counsel, etc. without thinking about training anyone to do the same. As the old addage says, "Teach them to fish. Don´t just give them a fish."

On a practical level our church started this week with Wilder as our ministry intern. The church is going to be paying him for a year to study and work with us. This Sunday he´s going to be preaching his first sermon. In spite of a lot of failures on my part as a missionary, I don´t think that we can lose with this idea because after a year Wilder will be more equipped then he is now. He´ll have learned a lot, and he´ll be able to avoid many pitfalls that José and I have fallen into.