Soon after the video encouraging ordinary people to invest in others, Marvin Campbell, The Navigators’ US President closed us out with a stirring challenge beginning from Matthew 9.36 – 38:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9.36 – 38, NIV)

Marvin shared four principles. Here are the highlights:

Principle 1: The harvest is plentiful (9.37)

A plentiful harvest has a sense of urgency to it if we’re talking literal farming. The crops must be brought in when they are ready. Jesus used the same imagery in John 4.35:

Don’t you have a saying, “It’s still four months until harvest”? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (NIV)

Principle 2: The urgent call is for workers (9.38)

Workers, not debaters, apologetics experts, theologians. Workers.

Principle 3: Jesus commissions everyday people

Jesus asked the disciples to pray for workers, and then they found out they were those workers. Not missionaries. Everyday people. You don’t need multiple degrees. Years of Hebrew and Greek. Professional clergy have often unintentionally truncated the spread of the gospel. Jesus gave spiritual authority to ordinary people.

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. (Matthew 10.1, NIV)

Principle 4: The mission will face challenges

The gospel is not a walk in the park. It’s a walk with King Jesus and his Kingdom. With authority come responsibility, persecution, and family strife. (Matthew 10.16 – 22)

Marvin closed with a summary:

• The harvest is still plentiful (Matthew 9.37)
• The urgent call is still for workers (Matthew 9.38)
• Jesus still commissions ordinary believers (Matthew 10.1 – 8)
• The mission will face challenges (Matthew 10.16 – 20)

Then Marvin reminded us that right before his ascension, he told his followers:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1.8, NIV)

…meaning:

His last command must remain our first concern. – Marvin Campbell, US President, The Navigators