Legacy in Reverse

My church has been having its annual Missions Conference the past three days, and this year I helped with the M.I.T (Missionaries In Training) program for the kids. Each night I got to walk around with about 10-15 4th-graders as they heard about missionaries who went to India, and as they got to see what life is like in places like South Africa. Being with the kids at my church for stuff like this is one of the great joys for me! They're funny, maddening, and help keep me from becoming too focused on myself and thinking that church is all about my needs being met.

Tuesday night was the last night and, as is pretty typical, by the last night of anything, kids (and the leaders) can become a little frayed. The next-to-last thing we did was listen to the Children's Director talk about what it really means to go and be a missionary to places around the world. In other words, this was the "challenge" part of the whole thing. At one point the Children's Director said, "And guys, that's one of my prayers for y'all, is that one day God would call some of you to go to some country around the world and tell people about Jesus." And, as he said it, goosebumps covered me, and a lump welled up in my throat, because I had forgotten momentarily why I volunteered to help in the first place.

See, here's the thing: I don't help with the kids during the Missions Conference because I'm trying to gain favor with the Children's Director (or even anyone else in the church). I don't even do it because they're always shorthanded. (I learned a long time ago, I can't meet every need that's out there.) No, really, at the end of the day, I do it because I want those kids, those 4th-graders to hear about missions, to learn about examples of those who've gone before them, because ultimately, I want them to go.

As I watched them this weekend learning how to play Cricket or painting their South African flags or listening to the actor who played William Carey, I was praying, "Which one, God? Which of these are you gonna call? Who's it gonna be, that's gonna take the Gospel to a people group that I've never even heard of?" That's what I was praying. That's what I'm hoping. It's not keeping them preoccupied while their parents are upstairs in the "real" conference. It's the possibility that one day, when I'm in my 60's, I'll sit down with them at the Missions Conference in 2043, and they'll tell me about the churches they're helping plant in Bangladesh, or how they're seeing some really exciting breakthroughs happen with orphans in North Korea, and I'll sit and marvel that they're being able to go into these countries that I've been praying for all these years and longed for the chance to set foot in.

Could it be Brock. . .or Grace. . . or Gabe. . . or Madison? Next year's conference? Sign me up!