Climbing Your Own Mount Everest: Embracing the Great Commission S5 EP#188

And I asked him, I said, Sir Edmund, I said, I want to maximize this season of my life. And what would be any coaching that you would give to me?

And he was 88 years young in Auckland, New Zealand. And this is what I would say to all of our listeners today. Listen to what he said. If you only do what others have already done, then you'll only feel what others have already felt. But if you would dare to do something that no one else has ever done, then you'll have a satisfaction that no one else has ever had.

And when you're choosing your life's project, if there's no fear involved, then you'll become bored with it and you won't even finish what you begin. But after you decided what it is you're going to do, start right now. Listen to what he said. If you only do what others have done, you only feel what others have felt. But if you do something no one has done, then you'll have a feeling that no one else has ever had. What is our Mount Everest? It's the Great Commission.

It's our opportunity to climb, claim, and conquer and finish the assignment. And we will have a satisfaction that no other generation has ever had. I believe this is our grandest moment.

Let's seize it and let's go to the finish line together. Welcome to the Unconventional Ministry Podcast. I'm Dennis Weens, your host, the Senior Impact Catalyst at SAT7USA. And the sponsor of this podcast is SAT7USA. So I invite you to go to their website, sat7usa.org, and read some of the amazing stories of God working across the Middle East and North Africa.

These are countries that are in the news a lot, and we're subtly drawn into a secular worldview of hopelessness, but wherever the gospel is, there's hope, and there's amazing stories of how God is working in countries, in people's lives, and I invite you to go read these amazing stories. My guest today is Dr. James Davis, a leader in networking across the world. Dr. Davis has successfully developed and deployed more than 10 major international initiatives.

Which in turn have created compounding momentum throughout the entire body of Christ. Dr. Davis is committed to synergy and mobilizing the global church for the completion of the Great Commission. Dr. Davis, welcome to the Unconventional Ministry Podcast. Well, Dennis, it's just a joy and honor to be with you and the entire Sat7 family. We are living in unprecedented times, and this is the generation that will complete the Great Commission, and this is an exciting time to be alive on the earth.

You know, thinking about your bio and these 10 major international initiatives and all that you're doing for the body of Christ around the world, let's start with your calling to ministry. Where did God or who did God speak through to speak to you that really launched you into this global ministry? Thank you, Dennis. I came to Christ July 15th, 1973, B.C. And B.C. stands for Before Computer and Before Cell Phone.

And it was a glorious morning when I came to know the Lord at an incredible church in Montgomery, Alabama. And then about a year and a half later, I began to sense the Lord whispering to me about full-time ministry. And I didn't come from a pastor's family or missionary family. My mom and dad were business people, wonderful Christian people. And I began to sense a call of God upon my life to serve as an evangelist in the church. And I surrendered to that call in the summer of 1975.

I began preaching August 19, 1979, and the Lord began to open doors in that regard. And by the time I was 23, I was forming our nonprofit that we have today and had to give a mission statement, why you want to do it. And I listed three steps to finishing the Great Commission as the purpose for which we would start our nonprofit. And it's the entity that I have served in my entire adult life.

So when I'm filling out paperwork highlighting employer history, I only mentioned one item, and that's what I've served all these years. There was a time, Dennis, when it was kind of fashionable, where people were going back and writing their mission statements. And I always found that kind of intriguing because the Lord had already given us one, and we didn't need to go back and rewrite our own.

I guess they didn't like the one the Lord gave them. And no matter who we are, whether we're full-time in ministry, whether we are a business leader, whether we're a lay leader in the church, no matter who we are, we all are responsible for helping fulfill the Great Commission. And the problem is that the goal is bigger than the role. And so therefore, we all have a role in the goal. We all have a part in God's heart. And I would say that to our audience. No matter who you are, you have a role.

You have a part. And together, we can complete it. Individually, we will never get it done.

Right. Amen. Well, one of the 10 global initiatives that you're involved in is the Global Church Network. I grew up as a TCK in West Africa and then went back to Africa for 27 years. Now I work across the Middle East, but live in the U.S. The Global Church Network. Let's talk about that a little bit to our podcast listeners. What is that? I believe a net is made up of little knots. And no knot, no net, no network.

Well, how does that apply, Dennis, to you and me and to others that are participating in our podcast? Our responsibility is to tie relational knots to build a net that works. A little string by itself is not much in a net, but tied together uniquely, we can accomplish something far broader and bigger. I'm often thought of the story of Peter working all night. We all know the story, and he caught nothing. The next day, he had more than nothing.

He had an entire net filled to the point that it was beginning to break. And he had a decision to make. And the decision was, am I going to share the fish with the other boats now? Or am I going to lose it all? Well, he made the wise decision. He called the other boats over, and there was plenty of fish for every boat. We don't have a harvest problem. We have a sharing problem.

And if the Lord gave us what we desire in finishing the mission, we don't have enough churches even today to capture all the harvest. And so people say, well, you know, I'm concerned where they're going to end up. Well, I understand that point, but the point really is, we do not have a limited number of fish. We have a limited number of boats to get it in. And the harvest is plentiful. The labor's a few. We're going to have to learn to share the harvest.

And in those early days when we were launching the network, Dennis. I reached out to the late Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ and made a phone call into him. And we began a series of conversations and then fasting and prayer. And then in January of 2002 in Orlando, Florida, four months after 9-11, we launched the Global Church Network and began to build synergy so that once we build synergy, we can mobilize and then we can finalize in that order.

And so what I would say to anyone listening today, make a list of the closest friends in your life, for that's where you'll be five years from now. And if you're not cultivating new friends and adding value to them, your future will be smaller, not bigger and brighter. And I would encourage you to develop relational currency. It's the greatest currency in all of the world. And as a result of it, Dr. Bright and I, we began a network.

And within a couple of years, Dr. Bright was with the Lord. And we've continued to build the Global Church Network. And it's at gcnw.tv. And today, there's more than 2,800 different denominations in the network and more than 700,000 local churches. and 226 hubs that make up the network as well. And we're very grateful, Dennis, that we've had the opportunity to serve in this capacity. God has really blessed your partnership around the world with all these different denominations and churches.

And I was reading on your website, 5% of Christianity is located in North America, 95% of Christianity is distributed throughout the world. But I think a lot of times as I visit, I think American leaders think that 95 is here and 5% is around the world. And you go on to make the statement that they are more likely operating with an old visionary paradigm.

So let's talk a little bit about these old visionary paradigms that need to change. Thank you, Dennis. About maybe 10 years ago now, time is so fleeing past all of us. Dr. Leonard Sweet and I did a book entitled We Are the Church. And I would recommend our listeners to try to get a copy of it. You can find it there, no doubt, on Amazon.com, not any problem. But We Are the Church, and the cut line on it is the untold story of God's global awakening.

The truth of the matter is here in America, and I thank God I have the privilege to live in America, and our family lives here. Our two daughters are from mainland China and incredible daughters, 24 and 19. But around 50 million probably are Christ followers in America, one out of seven, 15%. But 50 million compared to the rest of the world. You will find different numbers articulated when it comes to Christianity.

Some will have it to 2 billion plus when you bring all of the Protestants and Catholics into that mix. So at any rate, if it's a billion, it's 5%. If it's 2 billion, it's 2.5% live here in America, and the rest do not. If you ever doubt whether or not sowing into God's kingdom will bring eternal dividends, you don't have to worry about it anymore. The church has grown up all over the world. These are the greatest times to be serving the Lord.

A hundred years ago, when a missionary left the West, he or she didn't necessarily have to ask, does God already have somebody in a particular area of the world? Because there probably was very little Christian, if any, Christianity in many portions of the world. But today when a missionary leaves the West, he or she needs to ask,

Who does God already have there? And if he already has an incredible man, woman of God, or a small group or a strong group of men and women serving there, we don't go to compete. We go to complete. We don't go with our ego and logo. We go to we go. And that's really one of the great paradigm shifts. The mission field has become a mission force. Another great paradigm shift is that we're moving from parenting to partnering.

In the past, it was parenting, raise the money, provide all the resources. But that's not necessarily true today. Around the world, God has blessed his people, and there are resources all over the world. I mean, I could name some of them, but the point is the hardest thing you will ever do in networking is change people's mindsets, especially if they've had it for a long time. And another shift, Dennis, is we're moving from silos.

It's amazing how entrenched some have been in certain silos, and we're moving from silos to really networking to finish the assignment. And when we collectively work together, we're getting past what's the name on the door to actually finishing the Great Commission. And these paradigm shifts are continuing, and we're also in paradigm shifts technologically, not just philosophically, that's taking place very quickly in the 21st century.

Well, thank you for sharing those paradigm shifts. What are some hindrances in the Western church to making this pivot to new paradigms? Well, thank you. The first of all is that we think we know, but we really don't know. We think we're leading when in fact we're not. You know, I have a friend of mine in Fiji. His name is Suli Asikrulo. Phenomenal work there. And he says to me, he says, James, you'll know when you go.

And there's nothing like sitting down, breaking bread, spending time with a brother or a sister or a group of men and women in a different place in the world. There's nothing like it. And it's better than a Zoom call or a phone call where you get a chance to know the men and women and learn. I often say that the neighbors know the neighborhood.

If you're focused on an unreached people group, if you can spend time with the neighboring people that are surrounded or close by it, you're going to have a better understanding of the neighborhood by just simply talking to the neighbors. And it's very important to be able to do that because we think we know in the West, but there's so much about it that we don't know. We also think that we are leading. The truth of the matter is, men and women around this world are doing laps around us.

Some years ago, I did an article on the top 10 strongest churches in the world, and that top 10, none of them were listed in the United States of America. It's like when I get asked. I get asked oftentimes about, you know, tell them what you think are the top 10 airlines in the world. And And I will say, well, let me just let you know right up front that none of them in North America make that list.

And yet we would think if we don't have a knowledge of the air industry that we think ours is the best and brightest. And we are living in a time when the church is growing compoundingly all over the world. And it's so important that we have an understanding of what the Lord is up to. If you want to know what the Lord is up to, just see what he's lifted up and you'll know what he's up to. And it's important for us to understand it because we've got to go to the finish line.

So for our podcast listeners, we have some pastors listening, church leaders. Of course, a lot of them are people that sit in the pew on Sunday morning.

What would be your advice as starting steps to move in this direction of making these pivots like you've been talking about? Well, thank you. And as I answer the question, it's going to appear to be self-serving at first, but it's not. I would recommend my book entitled How to Make Your Net Work, and I separate those two words, how to make your net work. And the cut line on it is tying relational knots for global impact. And I decided to write it after we built the network. And it's in many,

many different languages now. I would start there. And the second thing I would do is I would really honestly make a list of the closest friends in my life and assess them and pray into them. And then ask myself the hard question, Lord, where do you want me to be three years from now or five years from now? What are the steps you want me to be a part of?

And then the next thing I would do is I would make some appointments and I would go see certain people and ask for two hours of their time anywhere in the world and get to know them because these are the mountain peaks of Christianity that God has raised up all over the world. That's some of the things I would initially do right away.

Very good. I'll give the website, your website, as well as the link to that book. That you've suggested. And I know on your website, I was visiting there, looking around a little bit, and you have an event coming up, the Jerusalem Council in Athens. Tell our podcast listeners a little bit about it. Thank you, Dennis, for taking the time to bring it up. It means a lot. You know, 2,000 years ago, we had Jerusalem Council 1 and Acts 15,

and the question regarding the Gentiles was settled once and for all. Praise be to the Lord. But as we step into what we call the third millennium church. For our listeners today, we're just a few years away from stepping into an entire new millennium. We're wrapping up the second millennium in 2030, but at the same time, we're stepping into the third millennium. And so that's why we often frame it as the third millennium church.

And so as we're about to step into a new millennium, we're hosting Jerusalem Council 2. and you can find it at JerusalemCouncil2.com. And the focus is, you know, the church of the third millennium. But Dennis, we're going to answer with God's help and with those in the room, seven major overarching questions of our time. And these questions are highlighted on JerusalemCouncil2.com website.

And it's going to take place in Athens, August 12, 13, and 14, as we pray and ponder and plan, what is the Holy Spirit saying to us as believers in this day and time as we're wrapping up the second millennium and starting into the third? It's so important for us to have a sense what the Holy Spirit is saying as we step into the third millennium. And so I would encourage our listeners to just at least check it out so you're better aware of what the Lord is doing in this day and time.

Well, thank you, Dr. Davis, and what you've been talking about. It shouldn't be unconventional to any of us because it's in Scripture. We should all be doing it. But I thank you for coming on the Unconventional Ministry podcast and sharing and enlightening us and challenging us to start tying our nets and preparing and making that list of five people we're going to talk to. So thank you for joining us. Thank you, Dennis, for the opportunity. And I would like to say this as we wrap up.

Back in 2007, I was privileged and it was very honored, privileged to sit down with Sir Edmund Hillary in his home and spend the afternoon together. And I asked him, I said, Sir Edmund, I said, I want to maximize this season of my life. And what would be any coaching that you would give to me? And he was 88 years young in Auckland, New Zealand. And this is what I would say to all of our listeners today.

Listen to what he said. If you only do what others have already done, then you'll only feel what others have already felt. But if you would dare to do something that no one else has ever done, then you'll have a satisfaction that no one else has ever had. And when you're choosing your life's project, if there's no fear involved, then you'll become bored with it and you won't even finish what you begin. But after you decided what it is you're going to do, start right now. Listen to what he said.

If you only do what others have done, you only feel what others have felt. But if you do something no one has done, then you have a feeling that no one else has ever had. What is our Mount Everest? It's the Great Commission. It's our opportunity to climb, claim, and conquer and finish the assignment. And we will have a satisfaction that no other generation has ever had.

I believe this is our grandest moment. let's seize it and let's go to the finish line together thank you Dennis it's been an honor to be with you today. Thank you, and I encourage our podcast listeners to listen and then share this with their church, with their friends, with their networks, put it on your social media, and bring more awareness to more people about what God wants to do through each of you as podcast listeners with your networks and for the Great Commission.

So again, thank you for listening to this podcast. The Unconventional Ministry podcast shines a spotlight on inspiring, innovative local Christians and their ministries that are making a difference in their communities and beyond. Each episode explores unique stories of faith in action, from local witness and creative outreach to innovative support for the marginalized.

We dive into the challenges and victories of those following God's call to step outside of traditional ministry roles, offering listeners practical insights and fresh ideas for living out their own faith. Subscribe today as we celebrate believers who serve in unexpected ways, trusting God's unconventional methods to transform lives and impact the world.