Acts 1:1-8 Reaching the Lost in Missouri

I want to share with you the fact that we are in the middle of a sphere of “lostness” in Missouri.

I have handed out to you a sheet entitled “Counting the Cost.” This sheet, which was produced by the Missouri Baptist Convention, shares with you facts about the population in the past ten years. It also shares with you the need for more evangelical churches in this county.

Let me also share with you the following facts:

Here are some local facts about the population in Barry County population. In 2000, there were 34,010 people in the county. In 2010, there was 35, 597. This is an increase of 4.7 percent.

The sheet says that there was 19,308 adherents, which is a decrease of 7.4 percent for the past decade. What this means is that church attendance has decreased in the county in the past ten years.

That is not all. Barry County has seen changes in the population in the past ten years. As the chart will show on this slide, Exeter, Cassville, and Monett have increased. But the smaller southern towns have decreased. I would take that to mean that there are more people moving into the cities.

However, as the next map shows, the percentage of lostness in our county is still between 55-64 per cent. This is shown by the “non-evangelical population in 2010 on your chart.

Based on the idea that a church should have at least 73 members, under a traditional model, we would need 297 new congregations in Barry County alone to keep up with the population growth.

Now I know and you know that many people claim to be members and are not. We also know that there are many people who are members and who don’t make church a priority in their lives.

So I realize that some of these statistics do not take that into account. However, I do believe that we can reach our city, county, and state for Jesus Christ.

If we look at the progression which Jesus gave us to reach our world, we can see that Jesus called us to reach out through relationships. They are based on geography, but I want us to address them personally.

I have given you four blanks on your handout in which I want you to fill. I want you to think of four people (or even four families) whom you can reach. I am still going to hand out to you different names of people from our church to call from time to time. However, I want you to think, pray, and then share with these people about Jesus.

Jesus said that you are called to witness about Him, not convert people to Him. He will do the converting. But we have to be actively sharing (or witnessing about Jesus to them.)

In Missouri, God has called me to go to:

MY JERUSALEM My home relationships ________________
MY JUDEA My local (county) relationships ________________
MY SAMARIA My cross-cultural relationships ________________
MY ENDS OF THE EARTH My world relationships ________________

I want to end this with a retelling of the mission which Jesus gave if Missouri were our world.

If Jesus called us to reach out to everyone in our state, what would it look like:

God has called me to missions in Missouri

We are called to do missions in Missouri. This verse identifies our spheres of influence: local, surrounding centers, cross-cultural missions, and world missions. But the fact of the matter is this: We don’t even have to leave the state to do missions. I want to talk to you about places where we can do missions in Missouri.

There are people in Washburn, Exeter, Seligman, and Cassville; all in Missouri.

These people need to hear about Jesus from you and me.

There are Purdy people, Clever people, Famous people, Radical people, and Peculiar people.

They need to hear about Jesus from you and me.

There are people from the Far West, from the East End of Missouri to the West End of Missouri. There are people from Center, Missouri to Halfway, Missouri.

They need to hear about Jesus from you and me.

There are people who live in Grace, but don’t know the grace of God.
There are people who live in Joy, but have no joy.
There are people who live in Faith, but need to place their faith in Jesus Christ.

There are Liberals in Missouri, but strangely no Conservatives.
There are people who Doolittle, but also want Fair Play.
There are very patriotic people in Missouri. They live in Seventy Six, Missouri, as well as Independence, Freedom, Republic and Union, Missouri. Obviously, there are no Confederates in Missouri.

There are all kinds of people in Missouri. We need to reach them. They can be famous people like Brumly or Cosby, or Collins, or Dalton.

Apparently there are a lot of people named Glenn in Missouri. They live in places like:

Glenallen, Glencoe, Glen Echo Park, Glenwood

We need to reach out to people who live in towns in Missouri with names like these:

Jack, Jeff, Joanna, and the James Brothers, or Kelso, Leslie, Laurie, Leonard, or Jane. Perhaps you know Roscoe (no, not the one from the “Dukes of Hazzard”). Maybe you know Stella, Tina, Preston, or Watson, or Elmo (and I don’t mean the red muppet on “Sesame Street” – although he might need saving too.)

Maybe you know Bran-son, Jack-son, Jame-son, Fergu-son, or Eugene, or Cooter, or Craig. Maybe you know Franklin, or Ethel, or Emma.

They all need to hear about Jesus, in Missouri.

Red, Yellow, Brown, Black, and White – they are all precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children. Well, there area kinds of different colorful folk, as well as colorful towns you will find in Missouri. There is Grayson, Blue Eye, Blue Springs, as well as Ginger Blue. There is a Brown Station, as well.

However, the predominate color of Missouri must be green:

Greencastle, Green City, Greendale, Greenfield, Green Park, Green Ridge, Greentop, Greenville, Greenwood

I told you that you can go to all kinds of places in Missouri.

You can go to Cool Valley, Deep Water, and Town and Country, all in Missouri.
You can go from a Summerville to a Springfield, all in Missouri.
You can go from Sunrise Beach to Sunset Hills, all in Missouri.
You can go to Sugar Creek, or Sweet Springs, all in Missouri.
You can go to a Holiday, or a Goodnight, both in Missouri.

If you are interested in gems, minerals, and rocks, Missouri is the right place for you. You can go to Cobalt, to the Golden City, to the Irondale, Crystal Lakes, or Emerald Beach.

You can travel all over the United States if you wanted to, and never leave Missouri. You can go to famous cities like these: Houston, Memphis, Osceola, Richmond, Bowling Green, Gainesville, Beverly Hills, Miami, Coney Island, and Denver, all in Missouri. You can travel to different states to do missions. You can go to California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington, all in Missouri.

You can travel the world to famous cities, and never leave Missouri.

You can travel the world for missions – in Cairo, Paris, Lucerne, Versailles, Verona, Vienna, Budapest, Strasburg, Warsaw, all in Missouri. You can go to Cuba, Peru, Mexico, Japan, Lebanon, Scotland, and Holland, all in Missouri. You can even go around Globe in Missouri.

At the same time, it must be a very spiritual state. There may be many spiritual people in Missouri around you. You may know:

Saint Ann, Saint Charles, Saint Clair, Saint George, Saint James, Saint John, Saint Joseph, Saint Louis, Saint Martins, Saint Mary, Saint Paul, Saint Peters, Saint Robert, Saint Thomas, Saint Genevieve

All of these people may be around you in Missouri. They may seem holy to you. They may talk about how spiritual they are. Yet, they still need to hear about Jesus, in Missouri.

Now if you are counting, I just quoted 136 places you can travel in Missouri. You don’t have to go far to share Jesus. You have enough people and places around you in Missouri to reach the world for Jesus Christ.

Look around you. There are all kinds of people who need to hear about Jesus, in Missouri. Who are you going to go to share about Jesus?

Photo by Brittney Butler on Unsplash