More than a decade ago, a Gateway employee wrote a book detailing her experiences as a missionary in Romania just after Communism collapsed. She was invited into the country as a university lecturer and given freedom to speak about democracy, human rights, and the gospel. After her first presentation, which included the gospel, a Romanian professor replied, “We wait you. Why did you take so long to come?” Another professor humorously added, “When I was a child, we used to say that even if the Americans were coming in a wheelbarrow, they should be here by now.” It was poignantly funny only because liberation had finally come.
When I read this moving book, the three-word title captured my mind and has ricocheted there for a decade. Those three plaintive words—we wait you—summarize what so many must feel after hearing the gospel. What took you so long to get here? If you have known this good news, how could you not move heaven and earth to get it to me? What was so important you couldn’t come faster to tell me about Jesus?
Those three words—we wait you—haunt me. They come to mind when I am making ministry decisions about allocating resources when I am dealing with people who insist some lesser issue must be my priority, and while listening to endless debates about temporal issues more related to personal preference than gospel expansion. As Southern Baptists prepare for our annual meeting next week in Nashville, perhaps we will have a more productive meeting if these three words occupy our minds—we wait you.
People who have never heard the name of Jesus, much less the gospel, are waiting for good news. Their lives are broken, distressed, and hopeless. They are enduring rather than thriving. They are seeking answers in religion, substance abuse, sexual pursuits, material gain, or some other vanity. We have good news for them, the responsibility to reach them, and a viable means—the total program of the Southern Baptist denomination—to get the job done.
We wait you. May those words be convicting and motivating as we meet together next week.
We Wait You by Taryn Hutchison (Pleasant Word Publishing: Enumclaw, WA), 2008.
Read More
Comfort Twice Over
When we provide comfort to fellow believers, we are the means by which God has chosen to provide his comfort.
Inheritance & Glory: Our Vocation
For believers, while heaven may seem long away, our eternal inheritance is already available to us in the here and now.
Listen
Brian Borgman
On this episode of The Jonathan Edwards Center Podcast, Dr. Chris Woznicki interviews Dr. Brian Borgman regarding his book, Jonathan Edwards on Genesis. They discuss Edwards as an exegete, as an interpreter of scripture, specifically looking at Genes
The Dents
Tyler sits down with longtime missionaries and retired Gateway faculty, Don and Anne Dent. The Dents served with the IMB for over 30 years and most recently at Gateway Seminary. In this episode, they reflect on their past experiences from working in the mission field
Watch
Jonathan Edwards and the Asbury Revival
Chris Chun and Chris Woznicki discuss the signs of true revival, signs of the work of the Holy Spirit, and why it is important to critically assess the characteristics of revival in a spirit of charity.
Jonathan Edwards and the Baptists | Douglas Sweeney, Nathan Finn and Chris Chun
Dr. Douglas Sweeney and Dr. Nathan Finn joined Dr. Chris Chun for a panel discussion on Jonathan Edwards, recorded live at the SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim.