Yes, No, Wait

DML is blessed with leaders who have many years of experience.  Through the years we have learned to check with God before jumping into new opportunities.  We are blessed with a board and team that highly values seeking the Lord.  The goal is to discern whether God is saying, yes, no, or wait. We love to hear the Lord say “yes” to opportunities.  Especially when we see the value in those opportunities to expand the Kingdom of God!

At our recent Board meeting, we discussed some of the parameters that might confirm the Lord’s "yes."  We also discussed some parameters where the Lord is saying “wait" or "no.”  DML is blessed by some amazing opportunities being presented to us.  Currently our budget is enough to help empower 12 partners working in 11 countries.  But not enough to take advantage of a growing number of opportunities. That means we need to use the word "wait." One of the opportunities comes from the team that invited us to Cote d'Ivoire, a French speaking country in West Africa.  French speaking countries in Africa often lag behind when it comes to resources and help.  We were fascinated by the early steps in DML being taken by business leaders and their Churches.  We believe God desires DML to expand into French speaking Africa.  But we need to see God confirm this with the resources needed.

God is opening many opportunities for DML.  This past week we had conversations with people, churches, denominations and ministries from many diverse places.  As DML becomes better known, we are entering into conversations from people around the world.  These leaders  have a passion for the blending of faith and work in and through the church.  We had requests for DML just this week from Chad, Zambia, Brazil, Honduras, and El Salvador.  

Some of these opportunities may be met through some strategic partnerships that DML has made with like-minded organizations who are taking DML and making it their own.  These partner ministries are able to bridge some of the resource gap to reach new countries with the DML message, but not all.

God is rallying His people around the oft-forgotten message of Genesis 1 and 2 .  I was reminded this week that DML is part of the vision of God to redeem and restore creation to His purpose.  This is not a short term process but a long term vision measured in time as only God can measure.

The Bible says that the harvest is plenty but the workers are few.  But what we are finding is that the harvest is plenty, the workers are showing up and available, but the resources to support these initiatives are not yet in place.

The answer for now seems to continue to be "wait."  

But there is also a sense that God is up to something here and I'm looking forward to seeing how we can continue to join Him in the work that He is already doing!

We just sent out the DML June letter and amazing newsletter from Tanzania, describing the work going on with the Masai.  If you have not received your copy in your mailbox, please click on the links to read it here!