Tell

Look at your nativity today. 

Those shepherds, the insignificant placeholders, notice them. 

For these were the first to tell. The first humans to speak it out, to 'go' and share the good news. They can't contain it. The sky had opened up with the armies of heaven. They praised God with Angelic beings. They were the first to find Him, little baby tiny in a feeding trough, a ”sign to you.” 

They heard Mary's story and Joseph's encounter. Perhaps this spontaneous gathering in a barn was indeed the very first church. Believers gathered around the manger. But they didn't stay together for long; no, there was work to do. There was a telling to happen. The first missionaries leave the barn door open as they rush out. People have to know. They must know. Everyone must know. 

“Please, let's pray for my family," she said—new believer, full of Jesus, faith just hours old.


"I want them to know it like I do, to know there is only one God.” And so together, we prayed. We looked toward her house, which was just steps from our front door, held up our hands, and prayed. She, too, came from small things, a simple one-room home with a lifetime of financial struggle behind her. But suddenly, it became imperative she give her time and energy to the living and telling of the Good News. I hired her as my translator for half of what she was making at a larger organization. "Maybe wait until we receive more funding so I can pay you better, " I suggested. 

"I want to do this work," she said, eager to get started.
The two of us began what would become years of partnership together in a story only God could write. 

Months later, at her baptism, her mom stood by my side, invited by her daughter; she came to support what she didn't understand. She was not a believer when she arrived that day, but when her daughter came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit overshadowed the mother, and she was never the same again. Together, the two of them began to go and tell, live and tell, live changed, live free, live God’s unconditional love.  People were reached. Families were touched. A community was created. In the next round of baptisms, Troy asked them to baptize those they had brought to the Faith. "You are the church," he said. 

Baptize them, stay with them, disciple them, tell them more... keep on telling...
The day we left Mongolia, our first Believer's mom kissed Troy on the top of his head, saying, “ Thank you. You are the ones who told us. Without you, we may have never known about Jesus.”  

And we may never know how all the telling is still going on today... long after the missionaries have departed or just how far the telling may go.