It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to this Fall 2006 issue of our Priority! magazine. You will discover in the articles and features of this issue what I choose to call Mission People.
I recall watching with great anticipation the launch of Apollo II, which carried our first astronauts to walk on the moon, on July 20, 1969. On July 4 of this year, the launch of Discovery continued our Mission Advance in outer space.
The Mission men and women featured in this issue of Priority are on a Mission with God. They do not mount to the skies with the force of a jet stream like Discovery, but they are empowered by the living Holy Spirit of God with clean hands and clean hearts to serve and touch the mission of soul-saving given to us by Jesus Christ. In the Great Commission, we read the words of Jesus Himself, as recorded in Matthew 28:18–20. Here they are, as paraphrased by Eugene Peterson in The Message:
"God authorized and commanded me to co-mission you. Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this day after day, right up to the end of the age."
Go—Train—Instruct—Practice
This is the mission of the Salvationist today, and we hold to the promise given to all of Christ's disciples: "I'll be with you as you do this."
The practical demonstrations as illustrated in the lives of these 21st-century disciples give evidence of the co-mission we are engaged in. We walk and work and go and train and instruct people to discover God's amazing love and forgiveness and His eternal plan for their lives.
As territorial commander of the Salvation Army's USA Eastern Territory, I commend all those who demonstrate an active "On-Mission" partnership with God. Have you sensed God's call to be a Mission Partner with Him? Do you know the power, the God-given, God-sustained power that can change your life into a holy mission?
God has a plan and place for all of us in Mission Partnership with Him, to change our world and bring the light of God to the darkness.
Why not become a Mission Partner today?
God bless you.
Lawrence R. Moretz
Commissioner
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