Have you heard the expression “Boots on the Ground?” Well our Live Dead Missionaries are the boots on the Silk Road. Here we’d like to take a moment and allow one of them to share part of their life with you. Some names and details have been changed, but this is a true story from this colorful, vibrant, and sometimes surprising region and those who God has called to work here.

A man began attending our local church. He was there basically every week. People assumed this “native” man was a local believer because why else would he come? Questions were not asked and assumptions were made. Then one Sunday, I was able to sit down with Seth and have a longer conversation. Seth isn’t a native. He came to our host country a little over 20 years ago as a young boy to escape the genocidal war in his home nation. Seth is also not a Christian. No one had asked. Everyone assumed.

I began to meet with Seth on a weekly basis. As we talked, something else became clear.

Though Seth had been attending a church for several weeks and though he had begun reading the Bible, he had never heard the Gospel. No one had ever explained to him the Good News of Jesus. Assumptions had been made and questions were not asked.

Seth now knows the Gospel. Seth now knows what it takes to become a follower of Jesus. He is on a journey to accepting Jesus. Questions were asked. The Good News was shared.

How often is this repeated? How often do we assume our neighbor, our coworker, the visitor at our church already knows the Gospel? How many assumptions do we make and how many questions go unasked? It is all too easy to assume that someone already knows or that someone is a follower of Jesus.

It is all too easy to assume that someone else will ask, that someone else will share. Yet the Great Commission is for all of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus. We are all called to share the Gospel.

We are all called to make disciples. This year, let’s all make it a goal to assume less and ask more. Whom can you share the Good News of Jesus with?