We are all called to be MISSIONARIES

In 2010 the invitation of the Lord to our Church was to that everyone become missionaries in the communities we are called into.  This is the meaning of being a missional church.  Here is a story that though I am not sure it if is true, is good to read anyway.  You never know what God wants to do as we join him on His mission to reach people with the Gospel.

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Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at the church, the Pastor
and his eleven year old son would go out into their town and hand out
Gospel Tracts.

This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his
son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside, as well
as pouring rain.

The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, 'OK, dad,
I'm ready.'

His Pastor dad asked, 'Ready for what?'

'Dad, it's time we gather our tracts together and go out.'

Dad responds, 'Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring rain.'

The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, 'But Dad, aren't people
still going to Hell, even though it's raining?'

Dad answers, 'Son, I am not going out in this weather.'

Despondently, the boy asks, 'Dad, can I go? Please?'

His father hesitated for a moment then said, 'Son, you can go. Here are the
tracts, be careful son..'

'Thanks Dad!'

And with that, he was off and out into the rain.. This eleven year old boy
walked the streets of the town going door to door and handing everybody he
met in the street a Gospel Tract .

After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled wet
and down to his VERY LAST TRACT. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone
to hand a tract to, but the streets were totally deserted.

Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to
the front door and rang the door bell. He rang the bell, but nobody
answered.

He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He waited but still
no answer.

Finally, this eleven year old trooper turned to leave, but something
stopped him.

Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the
door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the front porch!

He rang again and this time the door slowly opened.

Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly
asked, 'What can I do for you, son?' With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up
her world, this little boy said, 'Ma'am, I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I
just want to tell you that * JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU * and I came to
give you my very last Gospel Tract which will tell you all about JESUS and His
great LOVE.'

With that, he handed her his last tract and turned to leave.

She called to him as he departed. 'Thank you, son! And God Bless You!'

Well, the following Sunday morning in church Pastor Dad was in the pulpit.
As the service began, he asked, 'Does anybody have testimony or want to say
anything?'

Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet.

As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face, 'No
one in this church knows me. I've never been here before. You see, before
last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband passed on some time ago,
leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a particularly cold and
rainy day, it was even more so in my heart that I came to the end of the
line where I no longer had any hope or will to live.

So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my
home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof, then stood on
the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck. Standing on
that chair, so lonely and broken-hearted I was about to leap off, when
suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me. I thought, 'I'll
wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.'

I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more
insistent, and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly...

I thought to myself again, 'Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings
my bell or comes to see me.' I loosened the rope from my neck and started for
the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder.

When I opened the door and looked I could hardly believe my eyes, for there
on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had ever
seen in my life. His SMILE, oh, I could never describe it to you!

The words that came from his mouth caused my heart that had long been dead,
TO LEAP TO LIFE as he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, 'Ma'am, I just
came to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU .' Then he gave me this
Gospel Tract that I now hold in my hand..

As the little angel disappeared back out into the cold and rain, I closed
my door and read slowly every word of this Gospel Tract. Then I went up to my
attic to get my rope and chair. I wouldn't be needing them any more.

You see-- -I am now a Happy Child of the KING. Since the address of your
church was on the back of this Gospel Tract, I have come here to personally
say THANK YOU to God's little angel who came just in the nick of time and by
so doing, spared my soul from an eternity in hell..'

There was not a dry eye in the church. And as shouts of praise and honor to
THE KING resounded off the very rafters of the building, Pastor Dad
descended from the pulpit to the front pew where the little angel was seated....

He took his son in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.

Probably no church has had a more glorious moment, and probably this
universe has never seen a Papa that was more filled with love & honor for his
son.... Except for One.