100 People Network

Story by: Brian Lundin
Photography by: Tiffany Palmer

It’s almost as if Allan had been on the path to mission work since before he was born.

His grandparents were Christian missionaries in East Africa and his aunts, uncles and cousins have worked overseas in the name of Christ his entire life. He grew up keenly aware of what it meant to sacrifice a comfortable life in the United States in order to serve the unreached on the other side of the world. In a few weeks, he will take another big step in his journey by moving to North Africa.

In high school, Allan got a chance to travel to Rwanda. It began to break his heart, realizing that virtually every person he met there was lost. It was then that the desire to follow in his grandparents’ steps began to take shape inside of him. The next year he went to Kenya for three weeks. By the end of the trip, he was hooked and felt the Lord calling him to go to the lost.

When Allan began college at the University of Texas, he had planned to apply to medical school upon graduation. But in the back of his mind, he still dreamed of returning to Africa. Becoming a doctor was not Allan’s passion, but it was familiar and safe because so many members of his family had pursued that path.

As graduation neared and Allan prepared to take the admissions test for medical school, he started to seriously seek God’s plan for his future. Did God want him to become a doctor? Was he to serve in Africa? Was his desire to work overseas what the Lord wanted for him or was it what he wanted for himself? Allan went through a period of doubt and struggle, fearing that he might make a mistake.

Through time spent in prayer, study of the Word, and counsel from his family and friends, Allan reached a place of rest in the sovereignty of God. He was able trust that the Lord’s will would be done, that he had a role to play in it, and that all he had to do was keep his eyes on Jesus and trust him.

Allan realized that he was, indeed, called to serve overseas. And from that point on, he fully embraced it.

He decided against medical school and began a season of praying and waiting for God to bring the right opportunity before him. Around this time, the Austin Stone began the 100 People Network and Allan felt prompted to sign up.

Through the process of officially becoming a Goer, he met and spent time with teams headed overseas and prayerfully sought God’s path for him. For a year and a half, Allan worked, served in internationally-focused ministries, and prayed for a specific calling that would take him overseas.

The Lord walked with Allan through that season of waiting and wondering. Finally, he led Allan to a team bound for North Africa with hopes to engage a people group that has had almost no opportunity to hear the gospel. After a short period of prayer and reflection, he was convinced that this was the right time, the right team, and the right people group.

After nearly ten years of learning, dreaming, praying and preparing, Allan and his team are preparing to leave for North Africa in a few short weeks. As he looks forward to serving, building relationships, and growing the church in a dark part of the world, his excitement builds. He finds his inspiration and guidance from Paul’s letter to the Philippians:

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:7-8)

Leaning on Paul’s words, Allan looks to his future, down a path with a destination he can’t yet see … and he knows only that Jesus is walking right there alongside him. He’s eager to carry the gospel to the unreached for the rest of his journey.

Verge 2012 Main Conference was an exciting time to learn from voices across the world.

In case you missed the Main Conference or are looking for summaries of every session, we've provided links below of recaps by Justin Taylor (of The Gospel Coalition). 

• Day One: For the City, Incarnational Mission, For the Gospel
• Day Two: Incarnational Leadership, Disciple-Making, For the Nations 
• David Platt: 8 Non-Negotiables for Mobilizing the Local Church for Accomplishing the Great Commission

If you are looking for the video version of the Main Sessions, this week is the last week to purchase Verge 2012 Digital Access Pass for only $49. Click here to purchase

Also, if you missed the Post-Verge "For the Nations" Conference, you can purchase the digital access to all the Post-Conference session. You will be redirected to the LifeWay store to purchase this content. Click here to purchase

The Post-Verge "For the Nations" Conference consisted of main sessions and breakouts featuring the following speakers + breakout topics:

• Rick Warren: Ministry and Love
• David Platt: Mobilizing the Local Church
• Ying Kai: T4T - Training for Trainers
• Rodrick Gilbert: Multiplication of Disciples
• Patrick Lai: Business for Transformation
• Jeff Lewis: Impacting All Peoples from Every Domain
• George Patterson: Simple Movement Principles
• Casey Morgan: Globalizing: The New Lost Art in World Missions
• Matt Ellison: Unleashing Your Church to Reach the Unreached
• Steve Hawthorne: Reaching Global Cities

Story by: Casey Henegar
Photography by: Jami Sall

When Gig and Janet Janicek opened their missional community group to three goers from the 100 People Network, they didn’t know what to expect. They anticipated that Ruth, Lucy, and Angela would share their stories, ask for prayer and financial support, and continue on in their support raising journey. But, in his mercy, God had something different in store. Something much bigger than anyone in the group had ever imagined.

The girls came to the missional community and began to share. As a part of a casual conversation, the girls began to share their visions, confirmations and internal struggles. The Holy Spirit was present and hearts were being changed.

They presented themselves as ordinary girls; not supernatural but just obedient. The group was in awe of their faithfulness.

As this missional community group of “seasoned” believers, as some would call them, listened to the girls, Gig realized that these young women weren’t sharing with a bunch of peers. They were actually sharing with people who were old enough to be their parents. And the community group noticed that, too. Before the girls left that night, hearts had been changed, checks had been written, and plane tickets had been purchased. The Holy Spirit moved and the life of this missional community group would never be the same.

A few days later, Gig presented to the group the idea of forming advocacy teams for the girls and the response was overwhelming. Although no one really knew details of what to expect, Don and Shelley Williamson immediately knew that God had prepared them for a mission such as this. He had led them to many of the 100 People Network meetings, to this specific missional community group, and to these girls. 

There was no better time to serve, and they were ready.

With Lucy’s advocacy team already having been established, the group quickly formed teams for Ruth and Angela. Now each of the girls had an advocacy team leader, physical needs coordinator, communications director, re-entry coordinator and prayer leaders.

The Janiceks and Williamsons were honored to be a part of Ruth’s team. As believers, they were continually floored by Ruth’s boldness in her mission. Her faith was unwavering, her obedience was strong, and her willingness to leave was a genuine calling. Each member of her advocacy team quickly grew to love Ruth as one of their own.

Within two weeks of their first official meeting, Ruth’s team found themselves gathering at the airport to send her off. What had started as random goers from the 100 People Network visiting a community group had quickly turned into a deeply-rooted partnership in the gospel. But Ruth wasn’t the only one who benefitted from this.

Acting as her vital support system propelled each member of her team to really dig deeply in the Word, to truly commit to her prayer needs, and to become her sound, wise counsel. They began to pray, Lord, give us your wisdom and the Lord abundantly answered their prayers.

When Ruth encountered financial difficulty while on the mission field, her advocacy team went to work and served as her hands, feet, and voice, setting out to meet each of her needs. This included sharing with other missional community groups and traveling to Ruth’s hometown to speak at her home church.

The members of her advocacy team realize that it is not the eloquence of their words that convinces people to partner with Ruth, but that God works in spite of them. As they see continual answers to their prayers, they are reminded that God is leading their team here and abroad.

“Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.  For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.” (3 John 1: 5-8)

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had!” Gig exclaimed. “We get to experience the same joy Ruth gets from serving overseas because we are now being faithful. We’re so thankful that God showed us what a sender is!”

Ruth is no longer someone that they just support. She is part of their family, and she always will be. 

Story by: Brian Lundin
Photography by: Scott Wade 

Noah Burns has deep roots in Austin. He grew up in the Texas capital and has strong connections all around. There is the high school he graduated from, the university he loves, and the church where he came to know the Lord. It’s where his family and friends are.

Recently, though, Noah has felt a tug to uproot from Austin and his tight network here to follow Jesus to his new home, in a nation thousands of miles away where he knows almost no one – except the Lord.

After being saved as a high school freshman, falling away for a time, and then graduating from college, Noah’s faith was refreshed and the Lord drew him near. “His faithfulness and steadfast love for me is very real in my day-to-day life,” Noah stated. In this renewed closeness with Christ, Noah felt a call to pursue a lifelong interest in acting that took him to Los Angeles.

It was a tough time professionally, but he found a home in a local church that welcomed him, where people were committed and the worship was powerful. God continued to grow Noah’s faith during that time in a very evident way. “It’s the coolest thing in the world when God is actually moving in your life,” he said. Noah’s acting career, however, didn’t take off and he felt God’s call to return to Austin – and, as it turns out, to a lofty calling to another faraway place: North Africa.

Noah had no concept of what it meant to serve internationally when he moved home to Austin and started attending The Austin Stone. “I never knew about missions, never thought about missions. I didn’t know what an unreached people group was,” Noah said.

Upon hearing a recommendation, he began reading Let the Nations Be Glad John Piper and the first paragraph hit him hard. It said:

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

This thought, this concept of worship, compelled Noah to leave his hometown in order to serve his Lord. In addition to worshipping the Lord through his obedience, Noah also finds sustenance in the promises of God.

If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (John 14:23)

And that’s exactly what Noah and his team are doing in North Africa. “We’re going there to gather God’s children. I have brothers and sisters there, and my job is to go over and find them,” Noah proclaimed. “I know God’s promises; He will bring them to Him.”

The freedom that Noah found in those promises has begun to put his personal idols to death. Before he answered the call to overseas missions, Noah struggled with seeking the approval of others. “I was the last person to look for an opportunity to share my faith with my friends,” he confessed. “I was just really cowardly.”

Once Noah committed to serving in North Africa, he found that God would sanctify him through his obedience, and he started to see victory over his idol of approval. “Now, by God’s grace, I am always talking about Jesus,” he said. “I look back just nine months ago and think about the person I was and how God has used this to bring me to where I am today.”

Noah’s calling has already produced fruit in an unexpected place: “Both my parents have just fallen head over heels in love with Jesus over the last few years,” he told me. “Two years ago if I had come home and said, ‘I really feel the Lord taking me overseas’ I think they would have not understood it, but now they are incredibly passionate about it.”

He laughingly relayed a small suspicion that that his parents are a bit envious of his calling. And who can blame them? “I worship him for calling our team,” he said. “I worship him for calling me. I mean, how humbling is that? God is calling me to gather his children!”

Story by: Lori Richter
Photography by: Kim Ellis

Ryan, Ann and baby Henri are pioneers on the mission work frontier. Where they are going, there are no churches, no gatherings of believers. “We have confidence that God is going to save them,” Ryan states. “We may not see the fruit in our lifetime, but Jesus purchased them.

Ryan admits that “Frontier mission work is easy.” His boldness comes from Revelation 5:9, “By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” This is the basis for Ryan and Ann’s confidence. God’s mission is to have worshipers from every people group around his throne. Therefore, Ryan declares, “We just have to go get them.” 

Scripture flows out of Ryan, “‘I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice’ (John 10:16 ESV). And so we go. As we talk about Jesus and share life together with them, he’s going to bring his sheep together and build his church.”

Two years ago, God began to reveal the plight of unreached people to Ryan and Ann. God tugged at their hearts as they learned that there are 2.5 billion people who have no access to the gospel. But for every 100 missionaries who go out, only one goes to an unreached people group.

Then about a year ago, Ryan’s heart once again stirred. He began to look into planting a church in the Austin area. However, he realized that anyone in the United States can drive to a good church. God once again brought his focus back to the 2.5 billion unreached of the world.

Through the process of an intense study of Abraham, God destroyed the comfort and security idols in Ryan’s heart showing him that when you follow his mission, there’s no such thing as a risk. Even if you lose everything, you still have everything in God. God freed him to consider planting a church overseas. Ryan came home to a sympathetic Ann and told her, “God is calling me to plant where there is no church.” 

Ryan wants to go where “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). He and Ann hope to start a church planting movement in the midst of an unreached people group that will continue long after they’re gone.

When asked about the biggest change God has made in her heart through this process, Ann said, “God has increased my trust and reliance on him. It’s ok not to know what it’s going to look like a month or two from now. I’m just being able to let go of a sense of security with baby Henri. They can take our stuff, but not take our lives. But if we do lose our lives for Jesus, we can’t fail in the end. I know that my trust and reliance on God will continue to grow and flesh out more with time.”

With regard to Henri’s safety, Ryan says, “Here [in the States], there’s a sense that though you totally get God’s sovereignty, you still feel that you’re in control of your children. But over there, you know you’ve got nothing. It’s all God. He’s got to take care of our kids. In reality, the situation is exactly the same, but over there you’re forced to understand that it’s all in God’s control.

Ryan and Ann understand the anxiety that comes with leaving everything behind. They get that it will take time to adjust and that security and safety are a completely different experience in the Middle East. It won’t be easy. But the fact remains that Jesus is going to bring his sheep in. That brings comfort in the midst of knowing how hard it’s going to be.

Story by: Lori Richter
Photography by: Phillip Glickman

 “She’s not my child. I came to the realization that these beautiful daughters I call mine are not. Ashley belongs to God. If he’s ready to take her back to be with him, that’s fine,”  said Theresa Chandler  as she remembered her daughter’s brush with death in May 2011.

Tony, Theresa and their two teenage daughters, Ashley and Jane, are peaceful, hopeful, calm and confident. After talking with the Chandler’s for just a few minutes, it is obvious why they are so nice to be around: God is their source. Their relationship with God, their Father, runs deep and because of what He did for them.

In November 2010, God called the Chandlers to prepare to move tothe Middle East as part of the Austin Stone’s 100 People Network. Fundraising had started, their family was moving into a temporary home, and – after being laid off from his job – Tony began to work toward moving their family to the Middle East.

During Thanksgiving, Theresa and the girls spent the holiday with family while Tony traveled to the Middle East on an exploratory trip. One evening, without warning, Ashley got sick. This healthy, athletic young woman found herself exhausted when she simply walked across the room. God gently spoke to Theresa: Go to the ER. There they learned that Ashley was in heart failure, kidney failure and had fluid in her lungs.

With Tony in the Middle East, the Chandler’s missional community sprang into action. They moved quickly to help Theresa and Ashley in whatever ways they could. They prayed, arranged for Skype calls, brought food, and spent an entire day in the hospital waiting room praying. Meanwhile, Tony’s team on the trip with him also began to pray and arrange for him to catch the next flight home. Remarkably, Theresa and Tony say that they knew God was in this situation with them. They never felt panicked. Theresa said, “I knew God had her.”
 

Tests revealed that Ashley had a rare disease causing inflammation of the arteries, a diagnosis that typically goes undetected until a catastrophic event occurs.It’s plain to see that God was involved in Ashley’s early illness and diagnosis. She was released from the hospital after a month-long stay and was home for Christmas.

Then, in May, Ashley’s blood pressure unexpectedly shot up again. Unable to bring it down, doctors at Dell Children’s Medical Center suggested that Ashley be flown to a nephrologist in Cleveland, Ohio.  Ashley underwent an angioplasty and renal artery bypass surgery. During the surgery, Ashley crashed and doctors administered CPR. Twice. After a grueling 12 hours of surgery, Tony and Theresa were finally told that their daughter was successfully out of surgery.

Again, the Chandler’s missional community sprang into action. People prayed and sent out the message to pray  and the word spread. A few members of their community even traveled to Cleveland to visit with the family while Ashley was hospitalized. They soon realized that Ashley was about to miss her high school graduation ceremony, so the community petitioned the school and creatively made arrangements for Ashley to participate via Skype with balloons, cake and, of course, a cap and gown. As her name was called to walk the stage during the ceremony, Ashley heard the Frank Irwin Center erupt into cheers as the hospital staff simultaneously broke out into applause.

During their stay in Cleveland with Ashley, the lease on the Chandler family’s house expired and they needed to move. Their community packed, moved and unpacked the family in their new house. Their furniture was placed in exactly the same place as their previous home, even down to the smallest detail. When the Chandlers came home, their dishes were in the kitchen cabinets and their clothes were in the closets. Their missional community also helped pay for the family’s return plane tickets and put together a fund to help with Ashley’s medical bills.

Sharing life together in this missional community went to the extreme. As hospital staff, friends and family watched people care for the Chandlers, Theresa and Tony made a point to be intentional about telling them what God was doing in their lives and the support their missional community gave them. They boldly told them, “This is the way Christ’s people act!”

Today, the Chandler’s have a story to tell; a story of God’s faithfulness and how He uses His people to meet the needs of his children. They said, “This is a story to God’s glory. When you’re living for Christ and not the world, you’re going to have trials. It’s going to happen. One way to prepare is to be in a missional community. We couldn’t have endured through this experience without the love and support of our missional communities.”

Tony, Theresa, Ashley and Jane Chandler are planning to leave for the Middle East in the summer of 2012.   

By: Mike Cosper (The Gospel Coalition)

The world waits anxiously as the leadership transition unfolds in North Korea. It's premature to suppose that the death of Kim Jong-il guarantees improvement or hope for the oppressed people of that totalitarian nation. Uncertainty and regime change inside a violent leadership culture could result in tragic consequences for ordinary citizens.

In a recent column for The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof gave us a glimpse into the world of North Korea. He describes "The Loudspeaker," a radio mounted on the wall of every North Korean home that randomly vomits propaganda on North Koreans. "In his first golf outing," it shrieks, "Comrade Kim Jong-il shoots five holes-in-one!" The speaker recounts robotic answers to questions from two North Korean schoolgirls and the horrific story of a husband asking and receiving permission to execute his wife, who raised questions about Kim Jong-il's womanizing.

By now, we've probably all seen the video and photos of North Korean citizens weeping and tearing at their clothes and hair in agony at news of their infallible leader's death. We ask what could possess people who suffer under such harsh conditions, such deep poverty, such rank abuse to mourn the death of their oppressor. But this is nothing new.

There were similar levels of unimaginable cruelty in Germany during the Third Reich, as well as in China under Mao and the Soviet Union under Stalin. The 20th century learned the lessons of the industrial revolution and created vast government machines of oppression. Ordinary citizens terrorized their friends and neighbors, buying into propaganda that told them such cruelty served of the invincible demi-gods who led their state.

Unfortunately, the collapse of North Korea would not be the end of totalitarianism. Many other nations, such as Cuba, hover near the border of this description. As political philosopher Hannah Arendt has said, "It is in the very nature of things human that every act that has once made its appearance and has been recorded in the history of mankind stays with mankind as a potentiality long after its actuality has become a thing of the past." Dictators and despots will continue to learn from their predecessors and build bureaucratic machines of terror and oppression.

But only for a time.

Oppression Will Cease

The fact remains that a day is coming when in Jesus' name, "all oppression will cease." Even the oppression of totalitarians in North Korea.

North Korea is a glaring reminder of the brokenness of the world and the great evil that we are capable of carrying out. Machinized terror, systematic oppression, gulags, prison camps, and propaganda are all the product of a God-given imagination running horribly awry. Under the weight of that corrupted imagination the world groans in weariness. North Korea's rulers have drained the resources of a starving nation, pouring every dollar they could into the military, which stands as both a tool of oppression against their people and as bared fangs to the world that looks on in disgust. Yet that power is somehow cosmically undone by the birth of a child in a stable in Bethlehem.

As Placide de Cappeau de Roquemaure phrased it so brilliantly in his hymn "O Holy Night":

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
As yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Sin's entrance sent the world careening towards destruction, creating a rift between heaven and earth that required sacrifices, temples, and veils to protect us from the furious heat of God's holiness. The Christ child's entrance into the world set the two on a collision course once again, with the promise that the babe in the straw would reconcile them all, destroying death and sin in the process.

Cannot Defeat the Gospel

I can't help but think of Herod as we imagine North Korea at Christmas. The isolation of their people and the brutal persecution of Christians is like the murderous response of that other king when he heard of the birth of the Messiah. Like the later attempts by Roman emperors---indeed, all those made by despots throughout history---every attempt to crush the gospel has and will continue to fail. Christians in North Korea need our prayers and whatever help we can provide.

Jesus taught us to pray "on earth as in heaven," inviting us to look at the world through the hope-filled promise of reconciliation. It's through those eyes that we should look to North Korea, or Iran, or any other populace suffering under the crushing thumb of dictators. There is nothing so liberating as the news that we have a better King and an eternal hope. In spite of their screeching protestations, every tyrant's days are numbered. A King was born in Bethlehem who will one day bring justice and peace.

Merry Christmas, North Korea. We love you and we're praying for you. May the wondrous announcement of the birth of the One True King take root in your people, spreading a fearless hope in your hearts as you face the uncertain days ahead.

To learn more about N. Korea & the gospel, watch Michael Oh's sermon at Desiring God's National Conference: "Finish the Mission" here

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By: Collin Hansen

We're tempted to view the so-called 10/40 window as entirely closed to Christian witness. But God has been working here in remarkable ways.

When Drs. Pat and Marian Kennedy first arrived at this Arabian desert oasis in 1960, they confronted a dire situation. Half the children died during childbirth. The maternal mortality rate wasn't much better: 35 percent. They had no electricity and no air conditioning in this region where temperatures approach 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. Yet they persevered to build Oasis Hospital, nothing more than a simple cinder-block structure at first, and demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ for a needy people.

Today Al Ain boasts about 550,000 residents in the prosperous United Arab Emirates (UAE). The city is overshadowed by two world-class cities, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. But if not for the faithfulness of the Kennedys and many others who followed them to Oasis Hospital, there might be little Christian witness in these influential cities. Indeed, the story of this spiritual oasis highlights the providential wisdom of God, who works in us and through us to accomplish purposes we can scarcely fathom.

I recently visited Al Ain with a team organized by Training Leaders International to teach pastors from the nearly 30 churches that meet on the hospital campus. Our team, including TGC executive director Ben Peays, lectured and led discussion for a diverse group of pastors and laypeople committed to growing in their knowledge of God and his Word. Mindful of objections to Christianity in this part of the world, we talked about the formation of the biblical canon, doctrine of Scripture, Trinity, and the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The promise of jobs both skilled and unskilled in this wealthy nation attracts workers from all over the world, including the Philippines, India, and Pakistan. Many of these immigrants claim at least nominal Christian faith, but it's no small miracle that the UAE allows them to worship openly. Neighboring Saudi Arabia, officially closed to Christianity, looms large in the region, as does Iran, a short trip away across the gulf. Yet Christians left a good impression on Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founding father of the UAE. Though deceased, he continues to hold sway over the nation with his likeness posted on everything from motorcycles to billboards. Sheikh Zayed appreciated the care of a pioneering missionary hospital in Bahrain, so he invited Christians to start a similar work in Al Ain...

To continue reading, click through to The Gospel Coalition Article - "Spiritual Oasis in the Middle East"

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No Christians, No Scripture, No Missionaries: Update to the List by Ted Bergman and Bill Morrison [from Lausanne World Pulse]

It is imperative for those of us who follow Christ to disciple all peoples. Of the many peoples that need missionaries, which are highest priority? We believe it is the groups which, so far as we know, have no Christ-followers among them, no books of the Bible, and no missionaries with the intent of bringing the gospel to them.

In an earlier article we listed languages some missionaries must learn in order to witness to these highest priority peoples.

This article is an update of that list based on further research. The result is a reduction of the number to only 112 languages! These peoples are found in 21 countries.

The largest number, 25, are in China; 16 are in Nepal, and 15 in Iran. The previous list was a combination of data from the World Christian Database (WCD) and SIL’s Ethnologue. The WCD was chosen because it could be consistently correlated with SIL information about scripture availability for nearly every people group in its database. The WCD gives corroborating information about data that a people group has no Christians (though we don’t know for certain how accurate and current this is).

But other databases have information and sources we can use to improve our list. For instance, Joshua Project data often relies on Paul Hattaway (author of Operation China), Patrick Johnstone (former editor of Operation World), Omid (for data on South Asia)¹, and others. The IMB’s Church Planting Progress Indicators (CPPI) is informed by IMB field workers. In fact, researchers from all four of the global databases work together. There is value in having these different perspectives on the situation.

The biggest difference is in whether a list includes only those with fewer than 2% evangelicals, or no Christians of which we know. The “evangelical or Christian” distinction is important to understand. Joshua Project takes both into consideration. To be designated “unreached,” the group must be less than 2% evangelical Christian and less than 5% Christian adherents. An evangelical is a subset of Christian adherents and is defined on their website.

To continue reading the article: http://bit.ly/sWvNGE

To download the list of People Groups with little or no Christian witness: http://bit.ly/uBpLJh

Story by: Brian Lundin
Photo by: Scott Wade

With its current population of over 1.21 billion people, India is on track to become the world’s most populous country by 2025. Greg wants to see a church planting explosion there that would rival what has taken place in China. For someone with such high hopes, washing the feet of the poor in the countryside might seem like too meager of a beginning. But Greg is following the example of humility that Christ displayed for us: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

Greg was raised in church, but by the time he started school at The University of Texas, he realized he was not living in obedience to God. Originally, his goals were to obtain a degree in computer science, find a good job and pursue what this world has to offer. But at the invitation of a good friend, Greg started attending The Austin Stone and going to a campus Bible study. At that point, God made some remarkable changes in his life.

When asked about the change, Greg states, “I started living in response to grace.”

Two years ago, while at a ministry on campus, Greg saw a flyer about a rural foot washing ceremony performed by Christian workers in India for the Dalit–the “untouchables” or those who are “broken to pieces.” On this flyer, Greg saw Christians going to these broken and outcast people at the bottom of the caste system, kneeling before them, and humbly serving them.

According to Hindu teachings on caste, only through good karma and the cycle of reincarnation can one escape poverty and desperation. Greg desired to bring the message of grace into this culture, to bring the good news that Christ has delivered us from death regardless of caste, society and our very own sin. He wanted to show the Indian people that the gospel saves and that their value does not lie in which caste their society places them, but rather in what Christ has accomplished for them. Eager to watch God restore the Dalit and transform the nation of India with the same grace that is transforming him, Greg pursued the opportunity on the flyer and went to India to wash the feet of the poor and broken.

After that trip, Greg’s longing to serve the Indian people, the poor, the broken and the outcast, continued to grow. When The Stone launched the 100 People Network, Greg saw a direct path to pursue his calling. “I think it is biblical to be sent by your home church,” he says. Upon joining the network, Greg found more than support and camaraderie. “It didn't take long for me to understand that God put me in the 100 People Network because he understood that I knew nothing about being a goer, and they were prepared to train people like me,” Greg states. “I learned so much about God, serving him and loving him more. Not just that I'm loving him more, but that I'm inviting people to love him.”

In a few weeks, Greg will be back in India. However, this time, after the foot washing and preaching events have concluded and the teams have moved on, Greg will remain, serving the people of the town and showing them a life lived in response to grace. He will focus on building relationships, making disciples and planting a church—a church that Greg hopes will be one of many.

Greg has the support of his friends and family. Understandably, his parents are worried, but their joy in Greg’s role in God’s mission to the unreached overshadows their fears. Greg’s concerns about moving to India--how much he may miss country music and fishing—do not compare to his desire to follow Christ’s example to take the gospel to the broken. He’s excited to see their response to God’s grace.