I am a missionary and the thing that motivated me to get into this aspect of ministry was the overarching mandate from Jesus to go and make disciples of all peoples. If there is any command I don’t want to overlook, that’s it. The very last words Jesus spoke on earth said that we, his followers, would receive the power of the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses to our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).
But here is a confession you may not expect to hear from a missionary: I have always found it a challenge to share the gospel because most people don’t seem eager to hear about it. This was true in California when I was a pastor, and (this may surprise you) it was even true in Kenya where our family did missionary work for 10 years.
So I have thought a lot about how to share my love for Christ more effectively in a world that doesn’t care to hear about it. Over the last 10 years God has taught me something about that. Here is what I have come to see: People need to see that Jesus loved them so much that He died for them, was buried for them, and rose from the dead…for them. But how can they see that?
Here is what God has taught me: People will see the dead-buried-risen Christ as they observe one of Jesus’ followers go through the same process, while still holding on to their faith. (I don’t know if you caught the weight of that sentence. If you breezed over it, please read it again.)
They will see a Christian going through a death-like experience…
…a burial-like experience…
…and a resurrection-like experience.
That is what I have come to call my Passion story, for it is the retelling of the Passion of Christ through our lives today.
Not only do I want to write about my Passion story on this blog. I believe you have a passion story to tell–in which you died a kind of death, you endured a kind of burial, and you had (or will have) a kind of resurrection.
That’s the story I’ll be telling here. I hope you will follow along.
 People will see the dead-buried-risen Christ as they observe one of Jesus’ followers go through the same process.
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