why i love WBC

This is missions week at WBC. I heart missions week. On Tuesday at our monthly staff lunch we had a time to talk with some of our missionaries who are in town. I sat down with Leon and Beth who are Navigator staffers on the UofW Whitewater campus. Such a great couple.

It was fun to listen to each missionary speak about what they are doing, and learn a little of their story. So very inspirational. To me what sets WBC apart from so many churches, especially the ones that get a lot of attention for being innovative, for being hip, for their exciting senior pastor is that for 80+ years we have been committed to the cause of Christ around the World. We are not the most innovative, hippest and our Senior Pastor is not the most exciting. Sorry Rob, you are great! You know what I mean. You are not going to find a picture of Rob on the front page of the website, because it is not about that.

This year we will spend 1.8 million dollars on ministries outside the four walls of the church. There are hospitals, seminaries, AIDS education, AIDS hospices, and dozens of other ministries to the poorest of the poor because of this commitment. We will spend 1.8 million this year, and more next year, and more the year after that. Could we spend it on killer productions on Sunday morning? Could we spend it on an over the top children's and student ministries facility? Could we hire about 30 extra staff members to run some sort of ministry? Could we have a cafe the size of Chili's in our lobby? Yes. Of course. And we could come up with about 10 other things to spend that kind of money on.  But that is not what God has called us to do.

Twenty-five cents of every dollar given to the church goes directly to missions. We support almost 100 missionary families, which means we support 400+ people serving on every populated Continent.

Three years ago when I asked if I could take on Local Missions, I asked Rob what it would look like if we spent as much locally as we do globally? It will take us some time to get to 25% giving locally. But by the end of 2010 we could be investing close to $450,000 just in DuPage County. Wow. I am praying we get there and more.

We have gotten to this place because we have been focused, unwavering and firm in our commitment to God's word. This is why we see growth in new disciples each year, and why we see more people leave for the mission field each year.