Word UP with Webb

Mud Huts or Brick Houses: Mission Work Starts at Home

• Michael

Share episode

What happens when churches set aside their individual agendas and work together for God's kingdom? The Engage Mission Conference gave us a powerful glimpse of this unity in action, and the results were nothing short of transformative.

Following the Acts 1:8 framework, we explored what it means for every believer to identify their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ends of the earth. This isn't about checking boxes—it's about recognizing that mission work begins right where you are. As we shared with our students while doing local outreach: "The only difference between here and the foreign mission field is you're walking up to brick houses instead of mud huts."

The weekend delivered an unexpected revelation when, before we even knocked on our first door during outreach, God orchestrated a salvation moment that wasn't on our agenda. While practicing our gospel presentation with two young ladies, one realized she needed to make her faith decision—proving that sometimes when we think we're reaching others, God is actually working on those right beside us.

Brother Mack Brunson closed the conference with a challenging reminder to "stick to the basics." If we're honest, many of us want the advanced spiritual content while neglecting the fundamentals. But mission work, kingdom building, and spiritual growth all begin with the simple disciplines of Bible reading and prayer. As he pointedly asked, "If it's so easy, then why haven't we perfected it?"

The Engage Mission Conference wasn't just about strategies and methods—it was about breaking down walls between congregations, combining resources, and recognizing that we're stronger together. When we shift from "our church" to "the Church," we create spaces where God can move beyond our expectations. The question remains: where is God calling you to serve in your Jerusalem before reaching the ends of the earth?

Speaker 1:

Good morning, guys, and welcome to Word Up. It is Monday and here we are starting a new week, coming off of the heels of the Engage Mission Conference. Those of you that were able to come and to be a part of that, how awesome that time was. Today's quiet time Psalm 63, verses 1 through 8. If you haven't had time to dig into God's Word, please go there. Spend some time with the Lord today. But instead of really going off of the quiet time, I really want to just talk about the conference. I want to talk about the ways that God moved and the things that I want to talk about. The ways that God moved and the things that I saw our students take in just give testimony to what God did. So those of you that may not be from here or may not have any clue what I'm talking about Engage Mission Conference is a conference focused on bringing churches together, sitting down together and digging into God's Word, looking at the vision of what it looks like to be a part of the kingdom church, to work together for the glory of God. Not to build our kingdom within the four walls of our church building, but to go out, partner with other believers and build the kingdom of God. And so we started that off on Friday with breakouts about why do we do missions, and the challenge was for our churches, establish your Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the ends of the earth, for our students. You already know we are going halfway to Honduras for our summer camp and it's going to be all about Acts 1-8. And our mission for the upcoming year is that everything that we do would have a mission, whether it be our Jerusalem, the things that we do here near our church, in our own communities, the way that we go out and we do outreach and we take the gospel into people's homes, the way that we serve our local ministries, and then even taking it all the way through, highlighting each of the four areas identified in Acts 1-8, all the way to the ends of the earth, where we're going on the foreign mission field. And so our whole vision is that each and every student, each and every church member, would find their passion.

Speaker 1:

Where is it that you're passionate to serve God? You may not be called to go to the ends of the earth. It may not be the time in your life you may be tending to a sick family member. We all have different situations, but there is no one in the kingdom of God saved by God that is not called to be on mission for God. If you are not on missions, you are the mission on mission for God. If you are not on missions, you are the mission.

Speaker 1:

And so I'm very excited about the opportunities that are coming, the ways that some of the conversations that took place just between different churches coming together and saying, hey, we've got this really awesome ministry mission that we do with our church and why do we close that off to our church family, if I've got students that want to go with you on your mission trip and you've got students that want to come with me on our mission trip, why do we not do that? Why are we so worried about building up our kingdom and trapping people within our walls that we prevent them from being able to grow? I may not be able to go on a mission trip all times of the year, but I have students that are available whenever you have a trip going, and so I want to send them with you, because when they come back, they're going to have a fire that's going to spread to all of the students in our group and they're going to be leading others in how to share the gospel and take it out. So it really was a fantastic day on Friday of just learning the basics of how to establish a mission team, a mission team, how to identify those leaders who will be champions for your trips, that will be advocating and sharing the testimonies of what is taking place. And then on Saturday for us, we had a lot of our students that went with us.

Speaker 1:

We went through and we listened to some of the missionaries talk about the different ministries in their parts of the world and then we were able to get on a van, drive to another part of our county and partner with another church to go out and do an invite for their Easter service and their Easter programming that they have coming up. And it was such a special time because here we are, I've got kids that are on fire, that have just listened to foreign missionaries talk about the ministry work that they're doing. And all of our students said I know that I'm ready to go on the mission field, I'm ready to be on missions. And so when we got on that van to drive across our county, I told them here it is, you're on a mission trip. We just were at the church. We were at our central location, we ate a meal together, we got on a van and now we're going out into the neighborhood just like you will on the Ford mission field. The only difference is you're going to walk up to a brick house instead of a mud hut. So if you want to be on missions, realize that there is mission work to be done here and let's go do it. And so we divided up and we identified as the church that we were in their community. We were no longer identifying as our church that we came from. We're now part of their church, serving alongside them in their community for the glory of God, to build up the kingdom church. And it was just a beautiful picture of our students coming together, working together just to grow the kingdom of God.

Speaker 1:

So we go out and on the street that we were given we had directions of which houses to visit and I had a young lady from our youth group that was with me and she had brought a friend. We start walking down the street and the direction said start here and begin sharing the gospel until you get to the end. Well, you know what? The directions were clear, but God put on my heart. Hey, I need to make sure that her friend knows who Jesus is. And so sometimes, even though the directions are laid out for you, even though you have a clear path of what you're supposed to do, you've got to be sensitive to what God is showing you. So I decided, I said we're going to walk all the way to the end of the road and we're going to start with the house on the end and we're going to work our way back as we start walking and begin sharing the gospel and just telling them what we would say if we encountered somebody who opened the door for a gospel presentation. We get to the end of the presentation and we unpack the full gospel and we explain all the truths and we get to the point where, hey, there's a decision that has to be made. Each and every one of us have to make a decision. And that young lady looked at me and she said I know for sure, I know for sure that I've accepted Christ and that I am a follower of his. And I was amazed, it was a blessing to see, and I look over and the young lady who's a part of our youth group, who brought the friend, she's crying tears running down her face. She says I can't say that. She said I can't say that I know. She said God has just revealed himself to me and I don't know, but I'm ready to start my walk with Christ. And so I tell you all of that to say yes, the Engage Missions was great.

Speaker 1:

We have a mission to do here. When we engage in missions here, when we are obedient to do what God has called us to do, he shows out in ways that we don't expect. He shows out and he shows you how to do things differently. He says don't just follow the rules, don't just follow the certain path that's laid out for you. Be sensitive, spend time with me, let me lead and guide you in the ways that you should go. And the whole time that I thought I needed to speak to the friend, I really needed to speak to her and God just showed out. And so we had our first salvation before we ever knocked on the first door. And I think that's a beautiful picture of what happens in our churches when we come together, when we work together, when we're obedient, when we're serving the kingdom, not serving ourselves, when we're out on missions. Because he says go. He says to do I mean Acts 1.8, matthew 28.19,. He gives us clear direction of what we're supposed to do with our lives, and it's not always about the people we're going to touch. He works right back inside of us, just because we're obedient. So, guys, I hope that you were able to come On Saturday night, brother Mack Brunson.

Speaker 1:

He came and his whole message was stick to the basics. Are we doing the basics? Are you reading your Bible? Are you praying to Jesus? Are you spending time developing that relationship and fellowship with our Heavenly Father? And he said I know you want me to move on, you want me to get in more depth. And this seems easy. But if it's so easy, then why haven't we perfected it? Why are we not doing it? Well, all of the things that we're talking about, they're great. Missions is great, sharing the gospel is great. But if we're not doing the basics of getting in God's word, if we're not having a daily quiet time with him, reading his word and praying with him, we cannot do anything else.

Speaker 1:

In missions, in our walk with Christ, in our families, in our schools, it all starts with the basics. I love you, guys. Get in God's word, enjoy that time with him, just like in our quiet time today. Psalm 63, verse 5, my soul is satisfied as with fat and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When you, like David, realize that God's faithfulness is more important than life's necessities such as food and water, you will praise him with your joyful lips. I love you, guys. I hope you have a great week. I'll be back here tomorrow.