Children singing at Calvary Lutheran Church.

By Tom Shanklin

I was privileged to speak at Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee, Illinois for their annual Fall Missions Festival. I had a great time with the children in Sunday School sharing a slide show from the various countries where we have ministered. A young boy named Thomas was well versed in geography and was able to tell me the continent in which each country was located, except for Haiti. I wasn’t sure about Haiti myself, so I’d say Thomas did pretty well. It turns out Haiti is considered a part the continent of North America, though it is a part of the Caribbean Islands.

I spoke to the congregation a message called “Missions—the Heartbeat of God” based on Romans 10:1-17. Some of the main points were:

• Missions begin with prayer. (Rom 10:1)
• God saves people through His Word. (Rom 10:8-10)
• How shall they hear without a preacher? (Rom 10:14)
• How shall they preach except they be sent? (Rom 10:15)

We have wonderful Good News! The world is dying to hear it. It’s time for all of us to do our part to get this Gospel out to the people.