Week 11

This past week our speaker's name was Troy Sherman and he taught on missions. He was by far one of the most entertaining and easiest to listen to speakers we have had. He put a lot of emphasis on radical love in missions. He said that missions is simply serving and loving people. I learned this past week that in our society we usually pray as if we are trying to convince God to answer our prayers. It's like we're trying to talk God into doing things like ending poverty and saving people. He is already convinced! Are we? Troy talked about being the answer to our own prayers. If we are not willing to be the answer to our own prayers, then why are we even praying? When we take action and actually try to do something about our prayers, God reveals part of His heart to us. God is convinced! Go and do something about what you know! We know so much about Jesus and about all of these injustice issues that are going on in the world, but we do nothing! The first speaker in DTS called this the Tragic Disconnect(knowing everything, but doing nothing). We are called to live lives full of love. Love is an action! Love does something. Troy Sherman said that, "Love demands a response." That doesn't mean that you have to go to the ends of the earth to find someone to radically love. Everyone needs to know of the perfect love that God has for them, and they can...through us. As Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." I want to encourage you guys to start actively loving those around you. That could be something as simple as asking a stranger how they are doing. You will probably find that when you radically love, you are blessed even more than the other person.
Most of my notes this week consist of random quotations from Troy. Here are a few of my favorites:

"The world is desperate for people who are desperate."

"The Gospel is a message of "come back home". It's not about Jesus just coming in and fixing up the place."

"It wasn't the death of Jesus that saved us, but His love."

"God has given us everything necessary to change the world."

"Pray like it all depends on God, but work like it all depends on you."

"The blood of Jesus only covers what I uncover."


Thank you all for your prayer and support! I hope you all are abundantly blessed in Christ. I will be posting my final blog post before outreach in the next few days. I am praying for you all!

In Christ,
Kaitlyn Couey