Sponsored jointly by James O. Davis of the Second Billion Initiative and Church of God World Missions, the Finish Line Summit took place at Church of God Headquarters in Cleveland, Tenn., October 27 and 28.
Attended by 50 high-level global church and missions leaders, it was a time of renewal to the commitment of the Great Commission, especially relating to the need to reach the thousands of unreached people groups around the world.
Dr. Douglas LeRoy , director of Church of God World Missions, opened the conference, explaining the vision of the Finish Line. He said, “Our goal is to equip for the mission everywhere around the world. The Great Commission is a command to obey; after all, there is no second chance to harvest a ripe crop.” He continued, “The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.”
Pastor and founder of the World Harvest Church in Fiji, Suliasi Kurulo , followed, telling the cry of 40 percent of the world that have never heard the name of Jesus. He mentioned, “Our compassion must be deepened. It will take the heart of compassion to reach those unreached people, which will require us to broaden our commitment and stretch our faith.” He concluded by saying that those on the front row, the people who have heard of Jesus over and over, must think of those on the back row, those who are still waiting to hear of Him.
The conference used the technology of Skype to bring in speakers from around the world, including Philip Jenkins , professor at Penn State. He explained global Christian movements and suggested that we are now living in an era of Christian history that is more transformational than the Reformation itself. Another broadcasted leader was J. Hudson Taylor IV in Taiwan, who stated that a shift has taken place, with missionaries coming from non-western countries.
Roland Vaughan of Church of God World Missions shared the illustration of an arrowhead and its many parts that are necessary to penetrate a target. He explained that in order to reach into the darkness, one has to identify the target, build a base, understand the target and develop a strategy. David Sobrepena , pastor of the 35,000 member Word of Hope Church in the Philippines, illustrated the growth of the Filipino church, stating, “The single most effective way to disciple and evangelize a nation is to plant churches.”
The second day of the conference opened with Church of God Assistant General Overseer David Griffis , who shared from Revelation 1:9. He said, “We are gaining something we lost—it is our unity. Remember that we are brothers and companions; tribulation is around us, but we are in the kingdom.” Lazarus Yeghnazar , pastor in Iran, spoke through Skype, “Jesus has broken into Iran in the darkest part of our history.” He explained that over a million Iranians have come to Christ and that miracles are continuing to occur in the country.
Pastor Suliasi Kurulo from Fiji shared his heart again, explaining how to become a reproductive leader. He examined the need to love people fervently, and that, “we don’t beat people into the kingdom; we love them into the kingdom.” He also extended the need for vision in connecting to the Great Commission.
Following Pastor Kurulo, Gus Crocker , missionary from Guatemala, shared the need for the church to adopt a new missiology. “Even though the mission of the church has not changed in its core and purpose…changes in the environment may result in a dramatic slow down of one of the most exciting missionary movements in the history of the church,” he said. Alex Mitala , pastor in Uganda, added, “it will take every believer in the local churches to finish the race.”
Indian pastor Dr. Alex Abraham finished the conference, sharing the necessary elements for completing the task of the Great Commission. He broke it down into four, labeled PREM, an Indian word for love. This included prayer, research, equipping and mobilizing.
The conference concluded with a call to action, to not only run the race, but to also win it—the race to win souls to Christ. The Second Billion strategy aims at establishing 5 million churches to win the next 1 billion souls to Christ. Further conferences and summits will be taking place throughout the U.S. and around the world.
Justin Rose
World Missions Media Team