Making it Count
Saying “Yes, Lord” Once More
Last night Tom preached in an Italian church in Milan. I listened and prayed as he preached from Luke 15 on the shepherd who left the ninety-nine to go after the one lost sheep. I considered the ratio of 99:1—this is the ratio we face here, except there may be one who is found, in the midst of the 99 lost. Here in Italy and in many other parts of Europe, less than 1% are in His fold and have a personal relationship with the Shepherd.
The power of one. Last night, one adult man responded to the invitation, and heaven had a party over it! We in Europe sow seeds widely in hopes for that one who will respond. Our vision stays strong, and we train toward the goal that through one, many will be reached, many groups started, many disciples multiplied, many someday who will be around His throne praising Him in their own language, because one has said “Yes, Lord.”
Who’s counting? The Shepherd does. The one is important to Him, so we seek to make that one count!
Herein lies the dilemma of these days. Many of you have read or heard about our organization’s financial dilemma (see links to articles at www.imb.org). We have said “Yes, Lord” to His calling, and even though we are very close to what most would consider retirement age, we have planned to continue here several more years. After helping to process others to get to the field, we felt led to go back through the reappointment steps to be back on the front lines. What will our “Yes, Lord” look like at this time in our lives?
We wanted to write you before we receive the actual details of the Voluntary Retirement Incentive that is being offered this week. We want to ask you for your prayers, joining us in the prayer that never fails: “Not my will, but Yours be done.” We want to be transparent about the struggle that we and many of our colleagues are facing.
We also want you to know ahead of time that, however He leads us, we plan to make it count.
If we say “Yes, Lord” to this modified timing, it is only because God has led and has changed our plans, and because we believe that His ways are higher than ours. This response would be because we have listened and been obedient, wholeheartedly laying ourselves and our plans at His feet, and trusting that He will provide – not only for us, but for IMB, and for continued laborers to be thrust into the harvest. We would face the future with a strong sense of calling to be a part of the sowing and harvesting in another setting.
If we say no to this retirement invitation, we would continue to say a wholehearted “Yes, Lord” to Him, and we would purpose to make our time count. Our “no” would not be to prove any point or to deny the financial need of our organization, nor would it be to deny the possibility of others serving who may have more years to give. It would be only because He has given us the calling, gifts and health to continue serving in this place, and because we wholeheartedly believe in our front-line tasks of reaching the unengaged and unreached peoples of Europe and in training new personnel across eighteen time zones to “make it count”.
Whatever our decision, we plan to make it count. And we want to ask you to do the same.
To our fellow “seasoned workers”, we join you in praying for wisdom and discernment for such a time as this. We pray that we would have no cause for guilt or shame as we consider the right factors, as we seek to hear only His voice, and to obey. We join you in the prayer for making your years count, wherever you are and however God is leading you. Only He can tell you what is right for you. We love you, pray with you, appreciate your wholehearted service, and support your decision.
To our younger colleagues, we pray that you will make your time count more than ever, that God will give you vision and strength to carry out that vision, that you will pour yourselves into learning your language and the culture of your people group, and that He will give you a supernatural love for them. We pray you have endurance to press on even when others may be packing up and going home. We pray for unusual opportunities to sow seeds and for the harvest of many lives to come out of each one who bows to Him. We pray for wisdom beyond your years and experience, when wisdom of more experienced colleagues may not be as readily available. We pray that you will make every day count. We love you and believe in you, and lift you up during these days of inevitable increased transition for you.
To those of you who pray and give, we thank you once again and ask you to “make it count” like never before! Because you have prayed and given through the years, we have the amazing privilege of being on the front-lines of seeing God work, and there are no words to express our gratitude for this. If there ever was a time to pray and give, it is now. Please pray, that we, as well as our IMB leaders and colleagues around the world, will have wisdom in these days of decision, that we will seek His glory above our own desires, and that His Kingdom will expand as never before.
Make it count – be wholehearted in giving yourself to Him, and in your own pursuit of the one, wherever that may lead you. “Yes, Lord”—because we really can’t call Him LORD and give Him anything other than our “Yes”.
—Bonnie Hearon
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Look around you and ask for eyes to see from His perspective. Make a friend and share His story. “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” (John 4:35).
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