Stories from the Field

January 2004

The Green Bay Packers and missions

The Green Bay Packers' fans are some of the most fanatical anywhere in the world. Aluminum bleachers and sub-zero temps await even the most devoted fans. Season tickets are cherished like winning the lottery. In fact, the waiting list for season tickets is pretty long ... 61,000 to be exact. If you go sign up for season tickets they tell you that you will never see a Packers game in your lifetime. Your children will also not see a game in their lifetime. Your grandchildren might see a game if enough people die!

Every year thousands of missions requests go unfilled ... not because people aren't qualified but because there are not nearly enough who care. Soft church pews at home, multiple ministries to meet all kinds of needs, etc. … don't seem to be sending workers to the harvest field. Maybe we should put aluminum bleachers in our sanctuaries and hand out seat cushions that read: "I will help fulfill the Great Commission in my lifetime." Why don't we have 61,000 on a waiting list to go to the nations? Why do the Packers' fans tolerate the cold aluminum bleachers? It's simply because they are more passionate about football than most believers are about the Great Commission and telling the nations about Jesus. Let's PRAY for the day that the old mentality of "let's pay the missionaries to go" will be left far behind as God calls us ALL to be a vital part in reaching the world.

By Darrell Samuelson, Tarleton State BCM director