Missionary Broadcasting.com

I am, by any measure, a conservative and traditional Christian. Growing up in church I attended a Sunday morning and Sunday evening service, along with a Wednesday night prayer meeting; all at which we sang hymns, and heard old fashioned preaching from an old King James Bible. On frequent occasions, we would also do some traditional ministry outreach, such as handing out tracts and (as we called it) knocking doors. If you’re waiting for me to explain how I have “matured” to the point of believing many of these things are irrelevant in modern culture, you can forget it! I am rather becoming more and more convinced that what we did back then is just exactly what is needed today.

That is why I was so wonderfully encouraged by an article I read yesterday, written by a man I have never met. His name is Travis Snode, and he serves the Lord as a missionary in Northern Ireland. I can’t explain just exactly why I was so touched by his post entitled Don’t Knock It, except to say that it brought back memories of knocking on an unknown door, at an unknown house, on an unknown street. It reminded me of the unknown response I would recieve from an unknown man or woman as I made a feeble attempt at either a gospel presentation or a church invite. I could almost feel the lump in my throat as I rapped on the first door, then could just as easily feel the calm setting in as I walked up the second, third, and fourth driveway. For certain it gave me a nostalgic moment, but it also caused me to remember the very real sense of accomplishment I felt when a lost soul showed up on Sunday because of my efforts. It was during those times that I first felt God’s leading into His full-time service!

If you wonder why I am bothering to explain in such emotional terms my reaction to a simple article, expressing nothing more than the everyday efforts of a faithful missionary; let me clear up the confusion. I am grieved to the point of tears over an attitude that is gaining ever-increasing momentum in some fine, doctrinally-sound churches. It shows no outward signs of rebellion, but makes slow and deliberate movements in anything but a traditional direction. It pats young men like myself on the head, and in condescending tones tells us to “get with the times”.

Well…after hearing me express the virtues of the traditional, you may also feel I should modernize. Remember you are reading a blog entry, written by a 31 year old man, who has spent the entirety of his adult life laboring passionately in the field of technology. Then acknowledge it is not simply the “new” that the traditionalist fights against. It is the replacement of the old with something that is not, by any Biblical standard, better.

Does anybody want to go out and knock some doors with me?