Mere Missions

54 • M ere M issions : M oving F orward to M ultiply

any person knows how to make a meal each day in which to receive strength and nourishment. II. Those assessing church planters must be able to “see” that they have been with Jesus. Is their endearment to the Lord a sincere and pure devotion? Are they without any guile (a person of innocence, honest intent, and pure motives, whose life reflects the simple practice of conforming his daily actions to principles of integrity)? Is the aroma of the Lord Jesus upon him/her? Do you sense the righteousness, joy and peace of the Kingdom of God reigning in their life through the Holy Spirit? If you don’t sense this in your spirit, or see it in their life, then the individual is not ready to be sent out into missions. They may be a John Mark who will be useful later but is not ready now. They will bring harm to the church planting effort just like the team of the Seven Sons of Sceva. We must know for certain that the potential planter has “been with Jesus” because our enemy will surely know if they are or are not (Acts 19). III. Is the rule and reign of the Lord and His Kingdom in the thoughts and actions of the potential church planter? When your emerging leader of your first church plant (1997) is extradited to Texas for murder, is Jesus Lord? When the 1992 Rodney King riots are raging in your community, is Jesus still on His sovereign throne in your life? Is the Lordship of Jesus so rooted and established in the potential planter that when the inevitable onslaughts of the Kingdom of Darkness hit the planter from the left and right, inside and outside, they will not abandon the Lord’s calling but faithfully move forward because He is Lord? When Jesus is firmly established as Lord, the church planters prayer during the hard times is, “Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not what I want