Someone gets left behind

No one left behind. 
That line has been popularized in war movies, SEAL team memes, the Marines and most especially by “Lilo and Stitch.” The line is a powerful statement about solidarity, family and commitment as well as courage.

But yesterday, I realized that the opposite, “somebody gets left behind,” used in the right context can and has been shown to be a hundred if not a hundred thousand times greater. I’m sure many people will disagree and declare that it’s not fun to be left behind by someone, but that’s probably a different can of worms.

Imagine a group of 65 idealistic, American young men and women who’ve just completed their one-month summer mission to set up an “outpost” in the middle of an impoverished, politically unstable, hot, humid country with pockets of unrest and daily street protests.

Your team experiences for the first time what it’s like to walk through a political version of a fog: the cloud and scent of tear gas, the chaotic blare of horns, police sirens, police whistles and wall-to-wall humans, all used to the daily anarchy.

They have overcome logistical challenges, language barriers, stretched their cash to the last cent, successfully connected with and established local assets who are young, radical and equally passionate. They have even set up shop in a nondescript basement resembling the catacombs or an unmade septic tank under a dilapidated movie house.

 I can almost imagine a grunt asking, “Are we having fun yet?” or a whinner complaining, “This is not the tropical summer trip I signed up for.” But instead, they all stayed true to the mission. Soon the 65-person team is scheduled to return home. Then the decision comes down: 63 members go home, two stay behind. This is your first mission and you and your young wife and son are to be left behind.

If you choose to accept this mission, you will no longer be a registered member-dependent with your golf and country club in Tennessee, the boat and beautiful lake you spend summers on will become just a memory and the wide green expanse of country life you took for granted will literally be transformed into hollow blocks and concrete.

For your sacrifice, you might get a chance to ride a river cruise on the grey tinted Pasig River. In exchange for your picturesque country scenes, you will get to commute on jeepneys and the LRT and take daily trips down to your new “to-die-in-address:” 1880 Claro M. Recto Avenue, Manila, Philippines.

You will have daily spa and sauna days in the windowless, no air conditioning meeting place where 200 or more wide-eyed students will congregate and elevate the room temperature and humidity that will make the pores of your skin look like micro faucets.

In this mission, you and your lovely wife will get the chance to prove whether prayers do get answered, so the electricity is not cut off at your catacombs address. You will get to drive a fully loaded Harabas or Tamaraw and you are guaranteed to witness the daily miracles that Filipino students experience as they pray for money to pay tuition fees, food and board.

If you agree to be “left behind,” you will get to lead a band of malnourished college kids mostly from the provinces, with funny accents and hilarious English and who have never been off the island of Luzon.

Your mission, Mr. Steve Murrell, if you choose to accept it, is to go “from a mission field to a mission force” composed of Filipinos. You are to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with young men and women, the Filipino youth, to give them an alternative to the radicalism and pervasive desperation of the times.

As compliance with this mission’s targets, you will teach, train and equip Filipino students whom you will send out to all the campuses in the University Belt where an estimated 3,000 potential leaders and change agents for Christ are to be found.

Steve and Deborah Murrell chose to be left behind and as a result, Victory Christian Fellowship was established.

Last week, they celebrated 40 years: 3 nights, 1,000 volunteers, 30,000 worshippers, 156 churches, 8 preachers at MOA Arena. From the basement of Tandem Cinema, they now have a multi-story facility at the BGC, a soon to rise facility in the University Belt, various offices and church venues in almost every province and major city or town in the Philippines, in Asia and the world. They are part of the global organization Every Nation where some 300 Filipino pastors and missionaries serve in various capacities.

I invite you to find, buy, borrow or read the book “The Manila Miracle” – From A Mission Field to a Mission Force” by Steve Murrell. 

It is a colorful, faith-inspiring story of the 40 years that resulted in the transformation of hundreds of thousands of young Filipinos and their families whose lives were changed by gospel sharing, mission focused individuals. It is NOT about religion or church recruitment; it has always been about believing in the gifts, talents and abilities of the youth as transformation leaders.

“Victory Christian Fellowship: We honor God by making disciples, training leaders and planting churches in the Philippines, Asia and the world.”

 As I look back on 40 years, I have seen how they started with sharing God’s love and divine sacrifice, healing of spiritual and emotional wounds, equipping with vision, faith and leadership skills, assigning responsibility and, most especially, accountability and establishing clarity of purpose and responsibility to God and country.

 As a result, lives were changed, families united, marriages saved or strengthened, leaders and business established – and for all these, they gave glory to God.