My Calling To The Nations - Scott's Story

I met Jesus in October of 2000 and had my life forever transformed! For the first time in my life, I experienced true peace, joy, and a lightness as the burden of my sins was lifted. I was a new man but God wasn't finished yet, and He would begin to show me more of His heart as we journeyed on together. I went on missions trips and was a part of various service projects throughout the next several years, but there was more that God wanted to show me.

The Lord began to unfold more of His heart to me through the meta-narrative of Scripture. For the first time, I began to see the advancement of His Kingdom and His heart for the redemption of all nations as a central theme of the text. From the Adamic Commission to "be fruitful and multiply" all the way to the New Jerusalem descending onto the New Earth, there was a theme of God's Kingdom expanding and His dominion growing over all the Earth. The hinge point I found in all of this was the Great Commission:

"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus, Himself, had reclaimed what Adam gave up in Eden. He took back the dominion over the Earth that Adam had, but gave over to Satan through his willful choice to sin. All authority has now been given to Jesus, who fulfilled what Adam could not. And what did He do with the authority He had received from the Father? He commanded us to "go" and see His Kingdom spread through every nation of the world.

My Transformational Moment

In 2003, as all of this was becoming more clear to me, I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do about it. I was at a worship service during a prayer time and told the Lord, "here am I, send me". Then something unexpected happened...as I was praying, I saw an image of a world map drop in front of me and unroll like a scroll. As it did, it revealed the terrain of the earth with no borders or country markings. Then while I was beholding the map, three pins dropped down into three different locations. One fell in Europe, one fell in central Africa, and one fell in India. The Lord made it clear to me, that night, that He wanted me to be a part of three different moves of God in three different parts of the world over the course of my lifetime.

This moment came to define my vision for my life and has been a vision that opportunities are measured against. I had no idea, at the time, just how defining that prayer would be.