When I traveled to East Asia years ago, I had the opportunity to spend time with a group of young people. Their passion to reach the unreached was exciting and challenging. They shared with me what God was doing in their lives. I was intrigued to know how they had become so sensitive to God’s direction and to the need of reaching people who had never had a chance to hear the gospel before.

Several shared that it all began with prayer. They were taught and understood the importance of prayer. They expressed how when they were praying, they were exactly where God wanted them to be. Asking God for His will and pleading for lost souls became their prayers. This made it possible for them to be more sensitive to God’s leading, and now they were serving in East Asia.

How did these young people come to this place in their lives? Something happened to get them there. They were mobilized to pray for the unreached, for their missionaries, and for more laborers. All of this was happening in their church. They gained a passion for souls! Others were praying around them and they joined in. These young people were excited and felt like they had an important role. They said Sunday school classes were praying for specific unreached people groups. Maps were made, profiles of these groups were put together, research was done. Exciting things were happening all around them.

Before their church could have arrived at this level of concern for the unreached, something had to take place. The urgency of the task was conveyed. Awareness of the situation of the unreached was made clear. A vision of reaching the unreached had been cast.

Where did this come from? Someone had to start all this and cast the vision. Someone had to see the need, know the need, and realize the battle. Someone was leading the charge, developing the plans and maps, setting the strategies, and leading. Someone was praying for the unreached. Someone had a vision, mobilized the church, and planned to include everyone. Who were they?

According to these young people it was their senior pastor, their college pastor, and youth pastor. The leaders of their church were the ones.

If we are going to get people involved in the Great Commission, we must first get them to pray. Second, they must be shown the vision. Third, they need to be mobilized to participate. Fourth, their hearts must be in the right place to be used by the Holy Spirit. For this to happen, they need their church leaders to lead the way.