Back to Basics
By Nathan Schmidt, Missionary, Bolivia
October-December 2014
I had to get back to the basics of the Great Commission. I was doing ministry—teaching, preaching, visiting with people, etc.—but felt like I was missing something. Something wasn’t right. God brought me back to the Great Commission. I thought, “But I’m a missionary. I know the Great Commission.” But I really didn’t know it nor was I really completing Christ’s command—to make disciples.
In October 2013, Amy and I started a home Bible study group in a neighborhood that has no evangelical church. A family from one of our churches living there opened up their home to us. Juan Carlos and Dalia were a young couple from the neighborhood and began attending the group. They were not believers, but they had a little bit of church background. Amy went to visit them in their house one evening. She reported back to me that they were so open and wanted to grow. They wanted to be discipled, they wanted to dedicate their son to the Lord, and they wanted to get married. Amy saw such a hunger for the Word of God in their lives.
I was traveling at the time but arranged for a visit with them as soon as I returned to Tarija. During that visit, they both prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior.
It has been a joy meeting with them weekly, discipling them, and seeing them grow in the Lord. They have had some problems that we have had to work through, but God is changing their lives and giving the victory. Lord willing, we will be celebrating their wedding and baptisms soon.
Little by little, Juan Carlos is reaching out to his friends and praying for opportunities to share about Jesus with those who ride in his taxi. Praise the Lord for disciples here in Tarija, Bolivia! May God give us many more people with a desire to truly follow Him.
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