Jim Reapsome

So you want to be a missionary: By Jim Reapsome

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." -Matt 9:37-38

Be sure you are sent by the owner of the harvest-the Lord Jesus Christ-to work in his fields. You will go because his harvest is bountiful and his workers are scarce. You will go because others have prayed for you to be sent by him.
      Be sure you have Jesus' authority to do his work. You must be in step with the Lord's program, policies, and practices. This is much more important than having some organization's authority to do its work.
     Be sure Jesus knows you by name, and that he knows all about you, warts and all. You are his companion and friend. He wants to live in you and bear fruit in, with, and through you. You are his plan and program to bring in his harvest.
     Be sure you know Jesus' commission and the message he wants you to proclaim. You will find this only in the closest communion with him in his words and in prayer. Your calling is to listen before you work, to meditate before you life a hand. 
      Be sure you know the full scope of workin in the harvest, because the fields are full of helpless, harassed, hurting people for whom few others-especially those in power-have any compassion at all. Their needs are total-spiritual and physical. They must be touched as well as taught, brought to spiritual life in God's kingdom as well as to a physical wholeness and health here and now.
     Be sure you know that working for Jesus is not work for hire. You did not earn your way onto his work force, and therefore you must not expect wages from him.
     Be sure you trust Jesus to give you all you need to survive in the fields. Don't load yourself up with a lot of stuff you think you will need.
     Be sure you learn from Jesus how to size up the harvest. Pray to enter the lives of those who will welcome you. Don't be surprised, however, because some parts of the field are not ripe. In fact, some people will reject the workers who bring peace.
     Be sure you know you will be working like a sheep among wolves. You will work in weakness, not power. Ask Jesus to teach you how to survive and be a proficient harvester, despite the risks of being caught off quard, or trusting your own cleverness.
     Be sure you are prepared for persecution at the hands of religious and political leaders. This will be for the sake of Jesus, so you can testify to him. This is a tough way to harvest, but it is the Lord's way. The Holy Spirit will speak through you, so don't worry about this in advance.
     Be sure you are prepared for frightful consequences of your harvesting. Not everyone will be happy. Families will be split by betrayals and even death. You will be hated for your allegiance to Jesus, but don't quit because he will save you. If persecution in once place gets really bad, go to another place.
     Be sure you don't put yourself above Jesus. Expect to share his lot in every way. He didn't come for appreciation, respect, and power. He came to seek and save the lost, and for that he was called a devil. He said his workers should expect much worse.
     These are not my instructions. They are from Jesus himself. (Matthew 9:35-10:25) 

When is enough enough?

 "Learn to do good;

seek justice,

correct oppression;

bring justice to the fatherless,

plead the widow's cause."

Isaiah 1:17

My sister came downstairs and asked me if I was ok....I told her I was, but then as I have been thinking about it, I'm really not ok. My heart is heavy, its full of disgust, its full of anger and shock.

Whenever I have the chance I like to support Love146 another organization committed to seeing Child Sex Slavery gone one day. But today as me and my friend Haley were driving back from St. Cloud I found myself not being able to engage with her. We had just got done volunteering at an event for awareness of Human Trafficking. I found my mind in another place, a place of disbelief. At the event today a woman who spoke for, Not for sale was doing her thing, speaking about the issue. All the things she was saying were things I had heard before, until she mentioned how MN is 13th in the states, just the states for Human Trafficking activity...Yeah, I had known it was happening in the states. But it made me almost ashamed that this was happening next to me, next to where I live. She said, Mall of America is one of the biggest areas the trading happens....ahhh man guys I felt like I had been knocked out.

Sometimes I get worried at how naive I can be.
How comfortable I can get in my own life,
doing my own things,
working my own job,
making my own money,
driving my own car,
having freedom to do what I want...
I get that I won't be able to change the world, I get that alone I can't do much. That in order to succeed in most things I need people supporting me. But what I'm having trouble with right now is how blind we can become.
How scared we can become to stand up for something that could cause our comfortable lives to shift, to change, to become uncomfortable.

I'm struggling with the fact that some days I would rather buy my cup of coffee, drive my car, and sleep in my bed then take the time out of my day to pray for...no better yet, to research more about the problems happening in my area.  Not only research, but after researching ACT, to DO SOMETHING.

I want to do something, I want to become involved, I want to change the world. But that won't happen unless other people are supporting the same cause...and that whole thing won't happen if Jesus is not involved.

That is one thing that Haley and I talked about on our car ride back home is that in order for ANY of these organizations to thrive, and to be effective Jesus needs to be the center. The victims of trafficking need to realize there is another way of life, that they don't have to keep living in hell. It concerned us that organizations that are "christian" based will sway what they say to different audiences. Is God not the ultimate hope, the ultimate restorer? Does he not provide in ways unimaginable? The victims of trafficking won't know true life until we share what true life is.

Jesus let us see how you see. Let our hearts break for the oppression these young girls and boys are facing. Show us, let us into your heart. Father we want and desire for the chains to be broken, for the oppressed to be free. Give us a way to bring your hope, love, and healing into the places that are broken, hopeless, and dirty. Help us to see the people behind all this evil, help us see that the ones who run the brothels, the ones who traffic the slaves are also made in your image, you still love them. But we know you are a God who loves to see justice take place, you are a God who hates seeing your children abused. We trust you will do what you need to do, and that you will show us what we need to do.

Get Involved:

Freedom Firm 

Love146 

Not for Sale 

Breaking free 

3generation 

Indescribable greatness

I am home.

Two songs to describe how I feel right now, Yearn-Shane and Shane, Mystery-Phil Wickham.


Woah, God is moving. I think you must be blind if you don't see it. Being back, of course its hard I see how materialistic we are, how many pointless things we have, the amount of money we spend on coffee and things like that. But then I look past that, I see the beauty of this place. I see the beauty of how different the cultures are from MN, to South Africa. When I was flying back I had some super sweet encounters with God, I felt his love for everyone I saw in a way I never had experienced before. It took me three days to get home, and I could soooo tell when I got back into America. The warmness of the people changed immediately, it was very cold if I could put it like that, conversations were not so easily started. That was difficult for me at first, I would try to start a conversation and all I would get was a "i'm good." Then they would continue what they were doing...anyways I want to talk about God again.

I have now been back for 3 weeks, and I can honestly say I am in a place right now where its hard for me to describe how great God is. I am at a place where my whole being becomes humbled at the thought of what Jesus CHOSE to do..for us...for you and I as unworthy as we are, and he does it over and over again. WAHHHH. I mean ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It BLOWS MY MIND. 
Everywhere I look I find something awesome that I can thank God for. I have been in SO MANY fricken sweet conversations that only God could have orchestrated. I have been blessed to the point of some random woman paying for a lunch I was having with my sister...like ahh so sweet. I am just in love, and I can't put it any other way. If you have not found this love I would encourage you to check it out, because it is the most satisfying love you can find. This world has NOTHING that comes close in comparison to how awesome God's love is. nothing.



God as we continue to face each and every day help us see your face. Help us recognize you in every situation we are in. Let us bring glory to your name in ALL circumstances. Give us the confidence we need to fight the many trials we will face. We know you will never leave us or forsake us and for that we are so thankful. Let us feel your love today in a way we never knew we could, make yourself real to us.