Pursuing Much Fruit
John 15: 5 says "I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me."
The words of Jesus in this passage are some of the most powerful, to me, in the Gospel record. The goal of my life is to produce fruit for the Lord Jesus Christ in the multiplication of disciples and churches to the Glory of God. For years the desire to see fruit of the Gospel has been a driving force in my life. The primary question for me has been, how can I best serve the Lord and produce the most fruit for Him. For me this quest has gone through several stages in my understanding.
First, it was an understanding of bringing souls to Christ through missions and evangelism. That explains where I was when we started our organization in 1988 and named it "World Missions and Evangelism".
Later, as we gained experience in missions, we focused on leadership seminars for pastors and leaders and for a time on large outreaches and crusades.
During that time, we came to understand the need to make disciples, not just converts, and the critical part that church planting had in this process.
Finally, we came to hear about the amazing things that are happening in Church Planting Movements around the world and determined to make the fostering of cpms the primary focus of WME. Throughout this journey the key has been a desire to produce fruit for Christ.
One of the key organizations working in cpm worldwide is New Generations International. Their web page can be visited at: newgenerationsintl.org. I remember the first time I saw their motto for their cpm projects: The Passionate Pursuit of Much Fruit. I realized that this was the pursuit that I had been on as well.
This is the reason that WME is focusing on helping to launch a church planting movement in Honduras. We believe that much fruit is about to be reaped for the Kingdom of God. This pursuit is worth whatever the cost, whatever the effort required. I have envisioned this pursuit in the terms of the parable of the Pearl of Great Price that Jesus told in Matthew 13: 45-46. The possibility of seeing a church planting movement transform the nation of Honduras is so valuable, that it is worth selling everything to have it. That is why I launched out to pursue this goal full time this year, leaving the local pastorate of a church that I love with all my heart and have served for 25 years. The opportunity to see this kind of fruit in a whole nation has beckoned me to launch out into the deep. I can honestly say that WME is very passionately pursuing much fruit!
And the first signs of fruit bearing are appearing. As of the last week, there are 44 ongoing discovery Bible studies in various locations in Honduras. New leaders are being mentored and another 28 studies are about to begin. We believe that these studies are on the way to becoming fellowships of believers and eventually new churches that will, in turn, plant other churches.
Much fruit is coming. Join us in prayer for the harvest.
The words of Jesus in this passage are some of the most powerful, to me, in the Gospel record. The goal of my life is to produce fruit for the Lord Jesus Christ in the multiplication of disciples and churches to the Glory of God. For years the desire to see fruit of the Gospel has been a driving force in my life. The primary question for me has been, how can I best serve the Lord and produce the most fruit for Him. For me this quest has gone through several stages in my understanding.
First, it was an understanding of bringing souls to Christ through missions and evangelism. That explains where I was when we started our organization in 1988 and named it "World Missions and Evangelism".
Later, as we gained experience in missions, we focused on leadership seminars for pastors and leaders and for a time on large outreaches and crusades.
During that time, we came to understand the need to make disciples, not just converts, and the critical part that church planting had in this process.
Finally, we came to hear about the amazing things that are happening in Church Planting Movements around the world and determined to make the fostering of cpms the primary focus of WME. Throughout this journey the key has been a desire to produce fruit for Christ.
One of the key organizations working in cpm worldwide is New Generations International. Their web page can be visited at: newgenerationsintl.org. I remember the first time I saw their motto for their cpm projects: The Passionate Pursuit of Much Fruit. I realized that this was the pursuit that I had been on as well.
This is the reason that WME is focusing on helping to launch a church planting movement in Honduras. We believe that much fruit is about to be reaped for the Kingdom of God. This pursuit is worth whatever the cost, whatever the effort required. I have envisioned this pursuit in the terms of the parable of the Pearl of Great Price that Jesus told in Matthew 13: 45-46. The possibility of seeing a church planting movement transform the nation of Honduras is so valuable, that it is worth selling everything to have it. That is why I launched out to pursue this goal full time this year, leaving the local pastorate of a church that I love with all my heart and have served for 25 years. The opportunity to see this kind of fruit in a whole nation has beckoned me to launch out into the deep. I can honestly say that WME is very passionately pursuing much fruit!
And the first signs of fruit bearing are appearing. As of the last week, there are 44 ongoing discovery Bible studies in various locations in Honduras. New leaders are being mentored and another 28 studies are about to begin. We believe that these studies are on the way to becoming fellowships of believers and eventually new churches that will, in turn, plant other churches.
Much fruit is coming. Join us in prayer for the harvest.
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