From The President
Dear Friend of JAARS,
A Bible expositor once said, “True faith always has content—the revealed word of God. Salvation comes to those who believe the facts of the gospel.” He was exactly right. And the apostle Paul asked these questions: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14–15, 17 ESV).
As believers, we logically know that Christ’s command is to make disciples and go to the nations. Even so, some questions arise in my mind: How many more generations do people without God’s Word have to wait until we go? Where are these people who “have never heard”? Sure, unsaved people are everywhere, even in our own neighborhoods. Still, they have access to God’s Word, and despite that access, they have chosen to ignore what is readily available.
What about those who have never heard—who have no access and no knowledge of the facts of the gospel? They still exist in far-off, hard-to-reach places.
That is why God commands those of us who have His truth to go to the nations. In Christ, God is “reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:19–20 ESV).
How can we be ambassadors? Well, we can learn the skills, find the remote people, and take God’s Word to them. Or, if unable to do that ourselves, we can go to the nations by supporting those with the skills to go. At JAARS, we can help you go to the nations. Together, we can fulfill the Great Commission—by training, deploying, equipping, and sustaining with your support in partnership. Collectively, we—as the body of Christ—can go to the nations. God makes His appeal through us.
When the apostle Paul was answering questions from the Corinthians about their current circumstances as new believers, he made a remarkable, inspired statement. He declared in 1 Cor. 7:17, “Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” While the immediate context addresses marriage, position, and family, the principle is broad. God calls each of us to a life that He has assigned.
Ephesians 2:10 states,
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Prepared beforehand. That we should walk. Living the life God has assigned.
As we seek that goal together, we know God moves through His people to support one another. Some of us can fly airplanes. Some can translate the Word of God and then reach remote people via our airplanes. Some can provide the resources to fly those airplanes. All can reach those who have never heard—God making His appeal through us to be His ambassadors. That is our passion—indeed, our calling—at JAARS. It is also our appeal. Let’s go to the nations together.
After a wonderful year of celebration for our 75th anniversary, JAARS is now creating its next generation. We call it the 4th Generation of JAARS. We have incredible skills to train this newer and younger generation and the ability to mentor and disciple them. This generation is already being trained and equipped to reach new fields in remote rainforests and beyond.
But they cannot do it without your help. We cannot train them without your help. And those to whom God is making His appeal need all of us as His ambassadors so that they may be changed by the power of His Word.
Training, equipping, deploying, sustaining. Praying and supporting.
Won’t you please help us fulfill the Great Commission together?
Steve Russell
JAARS President and CEO
