What a missionary does with his time while traveling full-time on deputation will greatly depend on his family situation, but using that time wisely as a good steward is absolutely necessary. Here are some pointers that my family found helpful to use our time wisely, and yet enjoy the journey when we were on deputation:

Have you ever heard a teacher make a statement like, “I don’t teach math, I teach students.” This is an interesting statement and this manner of thinking should impact each of us who are teachers. Regardless of what we are teaching, we must keep in mind that our focus ought to be the students, not the subject matter.

As a child, I remember people saying there are two things you should not discuss: religion and politics. I suppose people thought these were private matters and only led to arguing and disagreement when discussed. But if you truly believe something, shouldn’t you express it to others? Wouldn’t you want everyone to embrace what you believe is the truth?

After preaching several times a week for almost forty years, I am not sure I could honestly say that very many of those thousands of messages were completely pure in motive. Far too many times, (especially, although not exclusively, as a young man) my motive was to impress the listeners with my eloquence, humor, or knowledge.

Largely through the planning and organization of one of my staff members, we recently developed a more comprehensive, five-part discipleship approach. We put the picture of each new family with whom we are working on a piece of paper and are able to track from that one sheet of paper in these five areas:

I have been encouraged recently by some signs of spiritual maturity in a few of our church members. I have seen people who a few years ago were like fragile, young plants needing lots of spiritual attention and investment, now exhibiting the strength and stability of a mighty tree.

If there is a story in the Bible that simultaneously encourages and irritates me, it is the account of Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

This ladies event was used for a Ladies Night Out we organized here at Lancaster Baptist Church. The title of this event was Celebrate a New Day using the theme of Happy Birthday.

If there was ever a man who knew the hand of God’s power on his life and ministry, it was Elijah. And if there was ever a time in which he saw God’s power mightily displayed, it was when he called down fire from Heaven on Mount Carmel.

We cannot give approval to everyone we meet. We meet people who wear clothing of which we cannot in good conscience approve, use language of which we cannot approve, and live lifestyles of which we cannot approve if we wish to be consistent with Scripture. Unfortunately, a desire to disapprove that of which God disapproves has caused us to be perceived as rejecting the individual whose behavior we cannot condone.