– We have just completed the 117th Council of The Christian and Missionary Alliance in the United States. Join me in the joy.

I love this family called The Christian and Missionary Alliance. It has been such an honor to serve these 10 years, and this week has been a climactic week in so many ways—the moving of the Spirit of God, the assembly of the people in business, the preaching of God’s Word, the launching of five goals for the next two years. The fact that we are now in this season of moving forward beyond the four-year National Conversation and seeking to see how we best implement those things that God has raised up among us to be and to do. And family, we’re complex.

We come from so many backgrounds of theological positions and ethnicities and languages, cultures, but we have rallied around the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. The centrality of God’s Word is our foundation, and this mission that He has sent us on as He brings forth His passion within us, it spills out to global advance. We just commissioned a few dozen more international workers to go to the ends of the earth. We’ve just received a very significant Great Commission Day Offering that you can still be part of. We’ve just experienced worship like I’ve rarely seen it anywhere as far as people’s responsiveness and the Spirit of God meeting us. And we are moving forward on mission together as a family.

Join me now as we get to enjoy the scenes and themes of Council 2023 Spokane. May this inspire you with renewed passion and hope for your part in this family.

– And the revival came. Why not this evening?

– There’s times when steps of faith are called out of us, and fear slithers into the path of every step of faith. Will we be reluctant or expectant? Apprehensive or anticipating?

– Are we making it a priority in doing all that we can to take all of Jesus to all the world? Because yesterday is forever gone, and tomorrow may be too late.

– Sending workers out, taking the gospel to the poor and the oppressed and the marginalized—it is not a job! It has to be something that we do even without thinking because we carry the very same Spirit of Christ in us.

– Life is brutal. We get hammered again and again. We get to the point of disappointment, discouragement. We retreat; we become scared.

– Because you’ve lost that sense of expectancy, and your Father is saying to you, “If you’re weary today, if you’re wounded today, if you’re ready to give up today, come to Me, and watch Me lift you again because I want you to soar.”

– This is more about us saying we are serious about not hiding ourselves away and hoping for the best and hope the culture doesn’t get us, but to say, “Jesus, You’re calling us into the land. We’re going to be strong and courageous and see where You take us.”

– So, we declare together, “Fear, you don’t get to win tonight. Fear, you don’t get to make the decisions tonight.” You have not been given a spirit of fear but a spirit of sonship. You have not been given a spirit of fear but a spirit of a sound mind. A spirit of love.

– Something is changing. The prayerful presence of God’s people is pushing back the darkness in many places around the world. When the Kingdom shows up, generational sin is broken.

– The Kingdom of God is the place where lost people get found. The Kingdom of God is where people who are disconnected from God find a relationship with Him. The Kingdom of God is the place where lonely people find community. The Kingdom of God is where hurting and broken people find healing in Jesus’ name, where missionaries are raised up and sent out, and where love gets poured out worldwide.

– What shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation?

– [Crowd] No!

– Persecution?

– [Crowd] No!

– Distress?

– No! In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

– We must empower every woman, every girl, every man, every boy, every junior, every senior by the power of the Holy Spirit according to their gifting to make a difference for the Kingdom of God.

– Now is the time for us to be sending like never before.

– We’ve got to be present because how are they going to know unless they hear? How are they going to hear unless somebody tells them? How are they going to be told unless they’re sent?

– Our God expects us to find long-lost family out of every people, nation, and tongue.

– This work that has begun in us can’t stop with us; it has to spread.

– Every bit of sowing in Jesus’ name will produce a crop. Faith declares it.

– We must not stop praying. We must not stop going. We must not stop sending. We must not stop giving until not just some tribes have been reached but when every tongue, every tribe, and every language under heaven and earth is represented in heaven to be worshiping Jesus.

– The light has shown in Burkina Faso, and God is continuing to shine His light.

– Merci.

– Thank you.

– Merci.

– Thank you.

– Merci.

– Thank you.

– This is the launch of our public phase of what we call Project ReImagine. So, we’re moving from isolation to intersection.

– This is about the future handoff to the next generation of missionally focused, outside-the-box thinking, church-planting kind of people for the future glory of Christ and the future flourishing of this movement.

– For us to fulfill the calling of God, we need to be a loving Church.

– But I want to tell you the most important business of this Council is that we receive the heart of Jesus—His kindness, His power, His compassion, His love that compels us to take His presence to the darkest and to the most neglected places in this world. This is the invitation of Jesus.