Just a side note here… This post if my article from the NightLight Branson newsletter for July! Thanks for reading and as always feedback is welcome!

There have been moments in my life when I have been accused of taking the Scriptures too seriously or too literally.  Often, it leaves people around me feeling like I am too much.  Too holy, too serious, too bold, too harsh, and too reckless.  I’m sure there are moments when I am out of balance and some of these things are true.  But I am also sure that being too much in some of these areas has actually qualified me to be the director of a ministry location at age 26.

The reality is that, when I was younger, I read the Scriptures, believed them to be true, and took great risks to do great things regardless of circumstance.  This has left me uncomfortable, exhausted, and overwhelmed–and absolutely and foolishly hopeful.  One of the Scriptures that I took as absolutely true when I was 18 years old was Isaiah 58:10:

“…and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”

Six years ago, I truly started believing that, if I spent myself for the sake of the Gospel, the lost would be found, the captives set free, and the glory of God would shine through me.  So, I started sacrificing in lots of ways to invest in things that are eternal.  In return, God has taught me some incredible things and led me on an awesome adventure.

I think the church wants adventure and freedom and desires to shine forth the Glory of God.  But I think the church has also somehow forgotten that God was serious when He asked us to spend all we have on eternal things.  When I look back at other times in history when people have fought for freedom, I am amazed by how much people sacrificed during the fight against slavery, the fight for women’s rights, and the fight for civil rights.  Some people sacrificed everything.  This only reminds me that I am called to spend myself on behalf of the oppressed.  If others have given up so much for human rights, how much more should we, the church, be giving up for the oppressed who need to know freedom through the Gospel?

I know what you’re thinking, “Mindy is going to ask us for money again. That’s why she’s talking about sacrifice.”  But you’re only partially right.  Instead, I’m asking you to truly partner with us as we spend ourselves to set the captives free.  This is not simply about writing a check.  Yes, we need you to give so we can keep doing ministry.  But we also need you to care about what we do, why we do it, and how we do it.  We need you to pray with us and encourage us when it’s hard, when we walk through the desert, and when we feel like there is no fruit being harvested.  Don’t base your giving off of numbers.  Base your giving off of our vision, purpose, and heart to see God set the captives free.  We need you to celebrate with us when we have small victories and when we see mountains move.  We need you to spend yourself right alongside us as we spend ourselves.  I know this costs your time, money, talents, and energy, which are probably things you feel you don’t have to offer.  But I am asking you to sacrifice so the Gospel can go into the dark places:  Into the streets, the clubs, and the brothels.  We have an amazing opportunity to see God work in impossible ways.  How much better will the journey be if we spend our lives on things that last, together?  So go ahead.  Join us.  You know you want to

Just a little note to let you know that this post is actually the article I sent out in NightLight’s April newsletter.

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.  Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.  Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.  I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

-John 4:31-38

I’ve been stuck on the truth in this passage for the past six months. Since we first publicly launched the Branson location, we have found so much favor. Whether it’s with volunteers, with club owners and managers, or with other organizations, so many connections have just “happened” to fall into our lap. The prideful side of me would love to think that this has something to do with me. But this passage tells me something different. It tells me that I probably have nothing to do with the fruit I harvest, whether in my personal life or as part of this ministry. Instead, this fruit comes from work that other people in the body of Christ have done before me. When we reap a harvest, it is because someone else has sown out of obedience before us, and when we sow, we should do so with hopeful expectation that someone else will harvest what we sow.

Interestingly, the passage above comes immediately after a conversation Jesus had with a Samaritan woman about how true worship should really look. I believe the proximity of these stories is no coincidence. Rarely do we get to see the fruits of our own labor. Often, this can be discouraging. We want results—immediately and in large amounts.  When we don’t see them, we get discouraged.  Why? Because our focus is on ourselves rather than on kingdom things, which often require legacy to create. And this is one way the enemy distracts us from true worship; how he can keep us from hope and joy. You see, hope and joy are found when we drink from the eternal water that Jesus provides. We find joy when we humbly receive and harvest the fruit of someone else’s labor. We find hope when we sow out of obedience to our Father, because we expect Him to do something extraordinary with the little we have to offer. This is what true worship is. We worship in spirit and truth when we hear the voice of our Father, respond in obedience to His voice, and give Him the glory for the fruits harvested. True worship is when we can sit in the knowledge that the fruit harvested is a gift from a holy God who loves us so passionately, and respond with thankfulness.

I am so thankful for the things people have done to sow into our ministry: the financial gifts given, the seeds planted in the girls working in the sex industry, the people who have helped pour into me and our team. Some of these things started a long time ago, and some have just started, but all of them have affected eternity. So now I ask you to sow again into what we are doing. Sow with your time, your talents, and your finances. I can make no promises on what the harvest will look like. I have no idea when it will come, how much will be harvested, or the circumstances surrounding it. But I can honestly say with great expectation that God will multiply what you sow and do something incredible for His kingdom with what you have to offer. How will you invest in the harvest?