We cannot always measure effectiveness by visible fruit. Some of my favorite testimonies of salvation are of people who trusted Christ after repeated witnessing attempts by multiple people.

I purchased my first goat as a thirteen-year-old fresh out of the city suburbs. I had no idea what I was in for. I named my new pet Sarah Jane, and exactly one day after my purchase, she had four kids. And I had my hands full. Sarah Jane nursed two of the kids, and I bottle fed the other two.

A lot of fear that Western Christians have about Muslims comes from a lack of understanding of the Islamic faith. Some Christians are deceived and pulled away from the faith. Others, such as Christians who burn the Koran, fail to show Christlike love and undermine missionaries’ efforts to win Muslims to Christ. There is a spiritual warfare raging between true Christianity and the Islamic world. We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, and this war will not be won through military might or political demonstrations. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to overcome the darkness of this world.

I think of teachers much like I do of nurses—heroes. Like nursing, teaching is an unsung job that requires tremendous amounts of personal investment in other people’s lives. And, also like nursing, teaching has the potential to make a tremendous difference as well.

He conducted a city-wide meeting in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1947. I listened to a recording of a fabulous sermon that he preached there. But at the end of his life, he was dependent on alcohol and the great ministry he once had vanished. Why did he not continue?

One of the highlights was a service in the town of Goroka. The church house was filled with hundreds of people. Approximately fifty children sat on the floor. All three of us preached. Not one child left their seat. I still can’t believe how quiet and attentive the children were for a three-hour service.

One of the core ministries that God has greatly blessed in our church is the organized discipleship on Wednesday evenings. Not only are there new people continually being enrolled in discipleship and others completing the course, but the biblical grounding and personal mentoring that takes place during the weeks of discipleship continues to bear fruit in people’s lives years after they have finished.

The Shunammite’s promised son had died, but his mother still believed God. Through Elisha this lady had been promised a son from the Lord, and she decided to believe God again when her child breathed his last breath.

Having served as a church planting missionary in London, England for over five years, I had some groups that were a tremendous blessing. I also had others who were a tremendous burden and left my family and the ministry that the Lord gave us suffering when they left. Let me quickly say, a missions trip can be a great blessing to the church planter or it can be a great burden. Below are a few thoughts about short term missions trips that will come from the perspective of a pastor and a church planter:

One of the easy traps for parents to fall into is having shortsighted goals for their children.