Excerpt: Chapter 8, “Leave Your Mark,” from "True Religion" by Palmer Chinchen

Leave Your Mark

Brian quickly approached me as soon as our college worship hour wrapped up. I had shared with the group that our next trip’s destination would be Cuba, and I asked them to pray about going. “Palmer, I’ll go on one condition,” Brian blurted out. “Promise that I will be thrown in prison, and I will go.”

“Why in the world do you want to go to prison in Cuba?” I asked.

“I’ve been a Christian my entire life,” he said, “and I have never been persecuted for my faith. I want to suffer for being a Christian.”

“Brian, I’ll do all I can to get you thrown in prison!” I promised with a smile.

At 20, Brian was already weary of the rut. He was tired of feeling like his life did not count for Christ.

You know exactly how Brian felt if you’ve ever …

felt like you were living on a treadmill,
sat in traffic,
folded piles of laundry,
paid bills—lots of them,
felt trapped in a cubical,
wanted to quit your job,
waited in line at Safeway,
sat in front of a computer mind-numbingly delegating
spam,
felt stuck in the rut of life
or been in a spiritual rut going nowhere …

and on the inside your soul screamed, There must be more!

There is. I hope you will believe me.

God has so much more he wants to do in your life and through your life.

I’m convinced an intimate connection exists between going and changing. You open your life to the possibility of transformation when you go someplace else, someplace new, someplace other than where you are right now.

Kyle was in a rut. His life was going nowhere. His soul was numb. Life had turned catatonic. He was 27 years old, working at fitness club leading routines for the geriatrics crowd and soccer moms.

Kyle had been a basketball star in high school, played D-1 tennis in college, earned a master’s degree—and now life was at a dead end.

He was sitting at our dining room table wondering how he ended up in this paralyzing grind. My wife, Veronica, and I listened for a while before I said, “Kyle, you need to quit your job, sell everything in your rental home, buy a plane ticket, and move to Africa.”

I was really surprised when he said he would think about it.

When he left, Veronica questioned my advice—“Palmer, you can’t just tell people to quit their jobs and move to Africa. How do you know that’s what’s best for his life?”

“I don’t,” I answered, “but I can tell this—he’s dying to be alive.”

Less than a month later, I was helping Kyle drag every last piece of furniture out of his rental, including a few items that belonged to his roommates, for a yard sale on his front lawn. He was moving to Africa to serve as the Athletic Director for a Christian college. We sold about $600 worth of junk that day, just enough for a one-way ticket to Lilongwe.

Kyle’s desires changed. His passions changed. He came alive.

He met a beautiful girl from Cape Town and got married. He’s founded one of the largest sports ministries in southern Africa. He’s changing lives.

Our conversation over dinner happened more than 10 years ago; he’s still in Africa today.

It Starts With Go

The book of Genesis records a great interaction between God and Abram: “The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and GO!'” God gives Abram this simple command—“Go!” He does not say where. He does not promise what it will be like. He just says, “Go!—and I will bless you. Others will be blessed through you. I will use your life in great ways … if you Go!”

We often have conditions for God. “When I’m debt free, I will go. When my kids are out of the home, I will go. When I am certain I know where you want me, I will go. When my in-laws have peace about us going, I will go. When there is more stability in that country, I will go.”

Famous 19th century missionary-explorer David Livingston once received a telegraph from the London Missionary Society that read, “We would like to send someone to help you in Africa. STOP. Please inform us if there are good roads to your mission. FULL STOP.”

Livingston sent this reply: “If the person you are sending needs good roads, please do not send them. STOP. I need someone who is willing to go where there are no roads. FULL STOP.”

Practically everything about life today screams, “Don’t go!” I hear people say they felt unsafe the last time they visited another country and vow never to leave the United States again. Safety and security seem to be life’s driving concerns. But God has called you live differently.

One Sunday

The front of the auditorium was crowded, lines of people backed down every aisle. They waited in anxious anticipation to write their names with colored chalk on a black wall. Some held hands, some had quivering hands … because this act was a life-altering commitment. They waited to write their names as a vow to God that they would leave this country to give their life away for the cause of Christ.

I was floored. I had no idea we would see this kind of response to my challenge: Give your life away to change this world, and God will change you.

On one Sunday, 240 people at The Grove signed their names to say I will go and give my life away.

Three Great Challenges for This Generation

Giving your life away to love desperate people was Jesus’ idea. He illustrated this expectation by telling of a man who was beaten down, robbed and left in a ditch to die. His challenge to Christ-followers was to stop—stop and love as He loved.

Today a man lies on the side of the road. His name is Africa. He is a continent beaten down by poverty, disease, and injustice. And if we as Christ-followers have any ambition of honoring God with our lives, then we must respond. This is true religion.

In my opinion, this generation must respond to three great plights in Africa: (1) extreme poverty, (2) disease (particularly malaria and HIV), and (3) injustice (specifically the unjust treatment of women.)

And responding to the pain and problems in Africa begins one person at a time.

Eliminating Extreme Poverty Begins With One Person

The World Bank defines extreme poverty as those who live on less than $1 a day. For the extreme poor, every day is a fight for survival. Over 1 billion people live this way, about a fifth of the world’s population.

Rhoda Nyreinda is a member of my staff at The Grove, and one Sunday she shared her own hunger-story from Malawi:

Malawi is considered one of the world’s poorest countries. Because of this, poverty, hunger and starvation are everywhere—every night in my home countless men, women and children go to sleep hungry.

I grew up surrounded by hunger and hungry people. Here’s what it feels like to be hungry: When you’re hungry …

You feel helpless.
You feel weak.
You feel shame.
You feel desperate.

The most desperate are hungry parents—who cannot feed hungry children. Hungry and desperate parents will do almost anything for food.

Recently in my mother’s village, a family was starving, literally starving to death. The rain had not come, the harvest was poor, and now they had eaten the last of their maize supply … even the maize seed for next year’s crop.

They had exchanged every possession they owned with the maize sellers for food. Now they had nothing left to give … so the maize seller suggested they give him their youngest son. The proposal was preposterous, trading their son for two bags of maize.

But, if they did, then the other five children would eat for another month. If they did, they, too, would live to take care of their other children.

When your greatest concern is surviving just one more day, you will do practically anything just to eat.

The parents gave into the burning pangs of hunger—and traded their toddler for two bags of food.

That’s what it’s like to feel desperate,
That’s what it’s like to feel helpless,
That’s what it’s like to be hungry.

***

But here’s the hope—extreme poverty can be ended. Global economic experts like Jeffrey Sachs say by the year 2025 we can end extreme poverty. Sachs, a Harvard economist who some have named “The Smartest Man in the Word,” has used his “shock economics” to turn fledging economies around. He is firmly convinced that if affluent nations and people pool their resources—and only 1 percent of our wealth—we can end the plight of the poorest of the poor.

The effort, however, must be massive and concentrated. The reason why we have been unable to put out the fires in Africa is because we haven’t fought them with enough fire hoses. If your house is burning to the ground, one hose will not put the fire out. But what if you hit the fire with a hundred hoses?

And we don’t have to give or do enough to make poor countries or poor people rich; we simply have to do enough to help them get their foot on the first rung of the economic ladder. When countries get their foot on the ladder of development, they generally are able to climb upwards. But if a country or person is trapped below the ladder, with the first rung high off the ground, they can’t even get started.

Again, it’s like being trapped on the roof of a burning building. If a helicopter hovers overhead and drops a rope ladder, you suddenly believe you will be rescued. But what if the helicopter hovers just a couple of feet too high, and you cannot reach the ladder? You won’t even be able to get started. But if it comes low enough for you to grab just the first rung, you will most likely climb out of the trap.

And here’s where it begins—with you and me. It starts with people committing to give themselves away to changing the plight of hurting people. It starts with one person putting shoes on a man’s feet. It starts with churches and clubs and communities adopting one village to give the people there clean water. It starts with companies and businesses putting fertilizers in the hands of farmers. It starts with countries caring about other countries and putting medical facilities in every region.

It starts with one person.

That one person is you.

Eradicating Malaria Begins With One Person

In many cases, hospitals in Africa are a blight.

When you approach the central hospital in Lilongwe, its perimeter is fogged by smoke from dozens of outdoor cook fires smoldering under the trees. If family members don’t come and cook meals for you, you will lay in the ward for days without food.

As you walk through the doors, the stench is nauseating. Wards are crowded beyond description. Some patients lay head to toe on a single mattress, some are lain on cardboard under the bed, some are left in the halls. It’s not a ward for healing. It’s a chamber for dying.

AIDS and malaria in particular have overwhelmed the continent. A child dies every 30 seconds. But here’s the kicker—malaria is preventable, malaria is completely treatable, and malaria can be eradicated.

Up until the 1950s, malaria was a problem in Florida, and we eradicated it. Because of the United States’ interest in Panama, we eradicated it there. And if we concentrate our efforts and resources, we can accomplish the same in Africa. You and I can be a part of turning the tide in Africa.

Every time now I travel to Africa with teams, we distribute nets, thousands of them. In the scope of things, however, even thousands of nets are only a drop in the bucket when the need is millions. But maybe that’s how we can pick the man up off the roadside. One person caring enough to stop, spend $10, and give life to one person.

It starts by someone going to one village and hanging one bed net in one dwelling.

It starts with one person.

It starts with you.

Ending Injustice Starts With One Person

An overwhelming mountain of Scripture commands God’s people to care for the oppressed. Justice is in the heart of God.

Just weeks ago a mob of men carried out a judge’s order and stoned a young woman to death in Kismayo, Somalia, for the crime of adultery. The stoning was the real crime—a most heinous crime, to be precise. In my opinion, this was the vilest act of injustice I’ve witnessed in my lifetime—yet the world was silent. CNN was silent. Our president was silent. America was silent. It’s not supposed to be this way.

We can’t be silent anymore. Ending injustice begins with one person speaking up for those who have no voice, with one person defending the weak.

Here’s the bottom line: (1) God hates injustice, and He wants it stopped. (2) Seeking justice on behalf of the oppressed is doable. (3) You are part of God’s plan for ending injustice in the world.

Change Me

That one Sunday I invited several people to say publicly what God had shown them and changed in them when they became expatriates for Him and left this country to take a piece of heaven to hurting people in Africa.

Jarrett said, “The first time I saw children caring for babies, God changed my heart about adoption.” Steve the airline pilot followed by saying, “When I came to my first African village, God placed a passion in my heart for hurting people that I didn’t even know I had.” Jared the college student explained, “While I sat on a bus heading into the Malawian highlands, I sensed God clearly say to me, ‘Give your life to ministry.’ I have.” Darrel said, “The first time I saw peasants drinking water out of a murky swamp and I in turn helped dig a well, I realized one person, just one man like me can make a world of difference.” And Susie shared, “When I spent time in Malawi, ‘the warm heart of Africa,’ God changed my future forever. I will never live the same.”

The global experience will disturb your soul and change your spiritual state. You will have new eyes, you will have a softened heart, you will have an upsized idea of God, you will love people in new ways, you will be bothered by things you never noticed before, you will discover the ability to do things you never believed you could do. Your heart will never be the same.

For 240 people who wrote their names on a black wall with colored chalk, that one moment, that one act, that one Sunday will forever change the way they live.

Changing this world for good starts on one day—that day is today.

Changing this world for good starts with one person—that one person is you.

It's Worth the Risk

When you leave America behind, your identity is solely dependent on the beautiful dark navy, 25-page booklet with your frightened mug stamped on page two. Next to it is your date and place of birth. And when you are literally thousands of miles away from home, standing in a small concrete building, with the air stale and smoky, in front of an intimidating, belligerent immigration official who accusingly reads the words, “Port Angeles, Washington—where is that?” Your mind wildly spins back to the tranquility of your childhood home, which bears absolutely no resemblance to where you now stand. Of course you wonder, Why did I ever leave? When he finally hands your passport back, you hold it close to your chest as though it contains life’s only hope.

Police are no longer the friendly, chit-chatty guys you joke with at Denny’s. You learn quickly to stay clear and as inconspicuous as possible. You don’t drink water out of the tap … anywhere. You seldom venture out at night. There are no such entities as the OSHA, EPA, Better Business Bureau, Bureau of Consumer Protection, or restaurant food inspectors. Forget about refunds. There is no 911, no ambulance, no ER, and no ATM. You are confused by the exchange rate and the need to negotiate a purchase price for everything … even a Coke.

In spite of all this, God says, “GO!” Yes, go. It’s worth the risk. Leave your country, leave your father and mother. Leave your Denali, leave Las Vegas, leave your Starbucks, leave your mother-in-law. Leave the mall and Costco. Because when you burst the bubble that’s trapped your soul, you open yourself up to the possibility of God doing something new and wonderful in your spirit. You just might be transformed.

Is It Safe?

I’ve heard the “Is it safe?” question a hundred times from those who test the edges of going global. Recently I was preparing a team to serve in East Africa, and one of the college guys said his mother wanted to come to our next meeting. As the meeting began, it became clear she had one pressing question for me: “In all these missions trips you have lead, has anyone been left behind?” I guess I really wasn’t tracking with her. I thought she meant had I left someone behind in a foreign country much like I sometimes mistakenly left kids behind at Knott’s Berry Farm when I was a junior high pastor. Another team member set me straight—“No, she’s asking, has anyone died on your trips?” Oh, the “Is it safe?” question.

I answered her question something like this: “There are some things I cannot promise when your son goes to Africa. I cannot promise he won’t get malaria, yellow fever or bilharzia. I can’t promise there will be no political riots or coup d’états. I cannot promise he won’t be held at gunpoint at a police checkpoint or be harassed by soldiers. But I can promise this—I can promise your son’s life will never be the same. I can promise he will be dissatisfied with an ordinary life. I can promise he will see God in a new way. I can promise he will live differently.”

She let him go.

Don't Waste Another Day

Certain images haunt me. The one that frightens me the most is picturing myself old—not debilitated, just sedentary, sitting sleepily in a La-Z-Boy, doing a crossword puzzle, mindlessly watching television. There is nothing that scares me more than to end up with a life wasting away.

But you can waste a life right now; it doesn’t just happen when you grow old. Let me tell you how to waste your life. For more than 20 years, Mike of Alexandria, Indiana, has come home from work and painted his baseball with a coat of paint. He began the hobby in 1977 and has painted this single baseball with more than 18,000 coats of paint. Mike takes his hobby seriously. He keeps a log and records the time and day and color he paints on the ball. On days when he’s feeling ambitions, Mike says he puts two coats of paint on the bulging baseball. Riveting. It’s now 110 inches in circumference and weighs 1,200 pounds.

You may think this is a joke. It’s not. Why in the world would anyone spend a lifetime painting a baseball? I have no idea.

Live with some urgency. This life won’t last forever.

In a dream, the apostle Paul saw a man from Macedonia begging him, pleading for him to come share the hope of the Christ with his people. I love what we read next: “We decided to leave for Macedonia at once!” The situation offered no delay. The ship is sinking. The time to act is now. Waste no time. Stop the wanton pleasure and empty leisure and the fooling around. Get up, get out and go—God needs you now.

If you’ve ever prayed about or considered giving your life away globally, then go, now. Conditions may never be perfect. You can wait a lifetime for the stars to align.

Realize this: God created you with a beautiful, perfect purpose in mind. He intends for you to live a life of significance, a life that impacts people and changes lives, cities and nations.

Begin each morning asking, “God, in what way do you want me to change this world for you today?” Live that way. Take every opportunity He gives. Walk through every open door … and crash through the ones bolted shut.

When a good friend returned from his uncle’s funeral, his first words were, “Wow, that was weird.”

“Why?” I asked.

He said, “All they talked about at his funeral were the peppertree bushes he raised in his backyard. The pastor talked about the peppertrees. My family talked about the peppertrees. They even had a peppertree bush on the podium.” His thoughts were the same as mine—is that all his life was about? Raising bushes? That was it?

Value each day. Every day is a gift from God, given to you as an opportunity to serve the world, love people, influence governments and leave a mark. Live that way, and one day you will hear the words I long to hear: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Leave Your Mark

Not too long ago, Nike ran a full-page ad in magazines across the country. The layout was simple, a full black page with white letters that read:

My name is ________________________.
I am ________________ years old.
My dream is to …
Leave your mark.

Live to leave a mark for Jesus Christ on this world. Live to leave a mark for Jesus Christ on the lives of everyone around you.

***
I called the guys together in the cramped back hall of the large church as we waited for the organist to kick into the song that would signal the beginning of the wedding I was about to perform for two college seniors from Taylor University. I had them huddle around the groom. As we were about to pray, one of the groomsmen (all of whom where Taylor Football players) interrupted and said, “Could we recite together, ‘What Will Today Bring?’ Our football team says these words together before every game.”

“Sure,” I replied.

So together they recited the following … I would call it a poem, but since they were all football players we will simply call it … “words that go together.” I later had one of them write it on a napkin at the reception.

What Will Today Bring?

‘Tis is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it, or use it for good.
What I do today is important because I am
exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone
forever;
Leaving in its place something I traded for it.
I want it to be gain, not loss …
Good, not evil …
Success not failure,
In order that I shall never regret the price I paid
for it.
—Author Unknown


The lead pastor of The Grove in Chandler, Ariz., Palmer Chinchen grew up in Liberia, Africa, and later lived in Malawi. He is an author and speaks on the need for a Christian response to injustice and affliction.

This is an excerpt from True Religion: Taking Pieces of Heaven to Places of Hell on Earth by Palmer Chinchen. Copyright © 2010 by Palmer Chinchen. True Religion is published by David C. Cook. Publisher permission required to download and reproduce in any way. All rights reserved.

To order from Amazon.com: True Religion: Taking Pieces of Heaven to Places of Hell on Earth

Each issue of Outreach is designed to bring you the ideas, innovations and resources that will help you reach your community and change the world.