“Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” -Habakkuk 1:5
A few years ago I was reading my Bible at a rate I don’t think I will ever be able to reach again. I was spending about an hour and a half in the morning reading. I would read for almost an hour on my lunch break and I would read more in the evening. During one of my reading sessions, I was reading through the minor prophets and ran into Habakkuk. I’m not sure I had ever actually read Habakkuk before. Did I even know it was in the Bible? It didn’t take too long to get to verse 5, I paused, reread the verse. I tried to continue on with my reading but I had to keep reading verse 5. “Look at the nations and watch…” I had to pause. I live in a suburb of Atlanta. According to Global Frontier Missions, there are people from 145 countries in metro Atlanta, representing 761 people groups. In the last ten years, over 1 million people have immigrated here. God is bringing the nations to Atlanta. Of those 761 people groups 93 of them are classified as unreached or unapproached (see https://joshuaproject.net/ for more information on unreached peoples).
God is doing something new in Atlanta, He’s gathering the nations like never before. This is giving us opportunities like never before to reach the lost world. This is how God works: He initiates an amazing work that we would never think of, then He invites us to be apart of the work. We see this in Genesis when the Lord creates the Earth, then creates man and places him in the garden to work the land and name the animals. We see this pattern with Jesus, he trained his disciples and then sent them out. We see it again in his resurrection and ascension. Jesus had spent his last three years proclaiming, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand” and as he ascended he invited his disciples into his work saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”
My role is here in Atlanta. I get to create jobs and start relationships as a way to find people who are open to hearing the good news that comes through Jesus Christ. The only question left is what is your part? How do you fit into the gathering of the nations?
Brian and his wife Anna serve in the metro Atlanta area, home to people from more than 761 different people groups. They work with refugees and urban poor with Envision Atlanta. Brian has helped Envision Atlanta start two businesses, a window cleaning company, and a mobile thrift store. One of the goals of each business is to provide job training and livable wages to its workers. Brian and Anna are required to raise their own support to pay their salary. You can give here. Search for Brian and Anna Baldwin where it says, “type name of worker or project”. Envision is part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and your gifts are all tax deductible. Every gift is valuable for advancing the work being done. You can also sign up for Brian and Anna’s newsletter here (outside link FYI).
Brian Valois 