7 Reasons to Go Winter Conf 18.1.1986 — George Verwer

Prayer, Missionary Support, and Operation Mobilization's Financial Needs

A personal prayer request. I just received a proof copy from our printer in New Jersey, where our USA office is, of the most unusual prayer letter that I've ever written. I've been writing prayer letters for about 28 years, since when I first went to Mexico.

Some of you may not know this story, but the Bethany Bookshop in Mexico City, that's been going for maybe 20 years, was the first ground-level, street-level bookshop that was ever opened in that city, Christian bookshop.

My wife and I and a few others opened that shop, store, I think you say over here, bookstore, back around 1959. And that's where my wife and I lived, in a closet in the back of that store, when we were first married.

And we wondered what happened to it in the earthquake, but apparently 36B, Independence Street, is still standing. And so when you pray for your bookstore ministry in Mexico City, maybe you can pray for me as well.

But the prayer letter I've just written, is the first prayer letter in 28 years of OM's history, that ever openly mentions anything about finance. Can you imagine the traumatic experience of writing such a letter?

To write such a letter, we had to get complete unity from the senior leadership and the general council of OM worldwide. The final decisions in OM are made, waiting upon God, by the whole body of people we meet once a year, all who can get there, usually four or five hundred of us, the other thousand generally can't get there.

And God gave us unity, after hours of prayer and discussion, really over quite a period of time, that we should be more open and honest, and engage in what some missions call, information without solicitation.

For the last couple of years, we've been stating that's what our policy was, but we weren't really practicing it. It was almost considered unspiritual in OM to mention money, unless you were preaching something from the Word.

And as I've shared with you already, we had a lot of confusion. This prayer letter, going out right now, is going to shock a few of our prayer partners. Because it shares openly the tremendous dilemma that OM is in, in this area, and the fact that the Dulas probably will not be able to leave on schedule for Africa.

The African project is the largest single project in the history of OM. Involving 15 to 17 nations, almost all of those nations have been extended, even the government, an official invitation to us. Our line-up people are already there, and I would just really ask you to pray for this letter that is going out, that somehow our people, our prayer partners, would not misunderstand, but they would just really pray and do whatever God wants them to do.

But we really need to see a breakthrough as a result of this letter, similar letters going out around the world. I don't know if you've ever read that leaflet by Keith Green. I'd be happy to send you one.

I mean, by Melody Green, Keith Green's widow, called Unsung Heroes. I would have thought here at Bethany that should be required reading, because you have a lot of behind-the-scene workers. But that is the most brilliant leaflet I have ever read about the behind-the-scene ministry in missionary work.

Many of our people are in the behind-the-scene ministry. We have a publishing house, and we have small printing presses here and there, and we have all kinds of behind-the-scene activities. We have headquarters in 35 nations.

All of them have offices. To get 2 ,000 summer candidates, we have to process between 10 ,000 and 15 ,000 people. And that takes a lot of people behind the scenes. So I recommend that little leaflet. I think the literature that's being produced by Last Days Ministry is quite exciting.

You can get their magazine free of charge. I've just written another article for it called, Why Many Volunteer and Few Go. I'm actually going to touch on a few of those points this evening. That's something really exciting.

I know you were already praying for Youth with a Mission last night after the meeting and after my phone call to my board of directors that I mentioned to you. I talked at length with Leyland Paris, the director of YWAM in North America, and agreed to go to their GoFest gathering there in Texas in July, when they're hoping to gather thousands and present the challenge of world evangelism.

And that's something perhaps you can be praying about. How exciting it is to see what God is doing through Youth with a Mission. Just before coming here, I spoke to their entire British staff. Over 250 full-time, just in Great Britain.

75 of them were from other countries evangelizing and working in the British Isles. Very exciting. Is there anybody that's here for the first time this evening? Somehow you're just here for the first time.

Raise your hand. Welcome. How many others? I've only been here last night and tonight. You're evening people. You're working all day. You can't come to these festivals. All right. Quite a few people. Maybe I should just mention the fact that between last night and last night, there's been almost a volcanic eruption on our book table.

And there has appeared a packet of books that you've never seen anything like it in the history of bargains. Ten books, $50 to $70 worth of books that you can pick up for a $10 postdated check. And if the check bounces, you'll probably never even hear from us, so we wouldn't encourage that kind of mischief.

Straight thinking about God. No substitute for persevering. That brilliant book, How Come It's Taking So Long to Get Better, a $6 book. Let's see what else. Sometimes they change the books in these packs.

Let's just see what else is in here. ABC of follow-up. Here's a book, How to Give Your Children Everything They Really Need. Joy of Growing Older. That's for Alec. And here's one by Theodore Epp, The All-Sufficiency of Christ.

He Went to Be with Jesus in 85. For Families Only. A brilliant book. That's worth $5. Here's one for the children. All of these books. The idea is to try to get book fever into your overfrozen spiritual blood system.

Because, you know, the way some people go to a book table, you think we were selling some kind of frozen fungus. Sort of just look and, you know, touch and then walk away. The idea is not just to get another book for yourself, but books to give away.

Every Christian should be a literature distributor. I've written a book on that, actually. You published it in Spanish. It's one of the most slow-selling books ever printed. But it's about how every Christian can be a literature distributor.

You don't have to necessarily go about it in the same way I do. You can be a real low-profile operator. But you can have a lot of treasure laid up in heaven by getting involved in a literature ministry.

I've been around to all these other tables gathering up everything that's free. I can't understand how people can put free things out and have anything left at the end of the day, except the average Christian has as much vision as a flea on a ski trip.

But I hope that you'll take advantage of this literature and also the maps and the books by men like Tozer. My newest book, which isn't so new now, I was totally opposed to any Verwer books because I'm not a writer.

But a publisher in England and an editor started listening to my tapes and sort of bent my arm, really, to put some more of that material into writing. And then I corrected it and put in a lot of quotes.

The best part of my books are all the quotes from other people's books. But if you want a little follow-up on what I've been sharing, because tomorrow's our last day, you can either get one of these cassette albums full of material or you can get one of my books where I deal with a lot of other material that I wish I had time to share with you here.

Operation Mobilization's Long-Term Missionary Calling

I find quite a few people don't understand operation mobilization. I'm almost tempted to speak about OM. Maybe I'll pray about that tonight and get some courage for tomorrow. Not that I've been told not to speak about OM.

I haven't been told anything. But I think it's important to understand that OM is firstly a long-term, spiritual, revolutionary, missionary force committed to world evangelism. It's not a short-term work.

When I launched into this and found co-workers to launch out with me, there was no discussion of short-term. When I found the first Indians who joined and became full-time workers, it was all life commitment.

They left high-paying jobs, some of them, to come into this work. Short-term with us partly developed because we needed a way to get people moving out of OM that we didn't want. Then we discovered that was really a good way also to channel people into other missions because there's all kinds of people.

We felt a very great loyalty to other missionary agencies. We have people who have graduated from OM working with almost every single major mission society in the world. We've had 37 ,000 graduates. So that's exciting.

But our first burden is still to find men and women who will become long-term career missionaries, especially in the Muslim world, communist world, Hindu world, and wherever else in the world because we're now working almost in the entire world.

We even on our ships need longer-term people. Our captain has no intention of leaving the ship unless he gets ill. He might not even leave then. And he's a retired man. First time I ever met him was right here in Minneapolis.

And I hope that some of you might take a little extra effort. I know you may specialize in superficiality. I hope not. To figure out what OM is actually doing because I believe many more of you. I often say, you know, if a Bethany person can't get on in OM, I don't know who can.

There are many similarities. Only WECC is better in handling Bethany people and, of course, Bethany missions than Operation Mobilization. We're third, you see. So we'd like to get a few more of you on OM and longer term.

And we hope you'll pray about that and pick up this little leaflet introducing Operation Mobilization. OM's four target areas. There are actually six, but there are four there. And some of the other material.

And I believe you will get excited and get in touch with us for long term or short term. We also have our short term program for us. We call that two years. We do have a summer program. That's a hiccup mini program.

We don't encourage it so much, but it has been the entrance for many people into our two-year, five-year, ten-year, twenty-five-year program. So we're sort of, you know, a pluralistic group with a wide range of fishhooks.

And we hope some of you will get involved. Here's a new leaflet we just published with our new policy, How to Be an OM Partner. We're looking for people not just to go but also to give. And believe me, we see both of these ministries clearly in the Word of God.

Hallelujah. How many of you have had an encouraging, challenging day? Raise your hand. What about the rest of you turkeys? I don't believe in any discouraging, non-challenging days. Just, you know, just share that with you.

There's no extra charge. Just throw that out. But really, it's so pathetic when we see Christians who are not living in the light of their inheritance, the fullness of grace, the joy of God, the reality of His presence.

One of my blessings was to visit this tremendous, whatever you call it, in-depth Whirlpool Sona workout room. I tried to bust in there at one o 'clock. I discovered that was women's hour. Fortunately, the door was locked.

So I went and made a phone call. Then went in there at three o 'clock. And that's a great place. I don't like jogging on ice. I'm not as young as I used to be, and I can just imagine myself slipping and breaking my nose or something delicate.

So it's great to be able to run indoors. And you are very privileged people to have such a workout room and all that you have there in terms of exercise facilities. So that was a part of the blessing that I had for today.

I also had a 45-minute interview with this woman who's writing a book on Christian music. And if she prints what I said on the telephone, I found out in the middle of the conversation I was in the men's dorm, surrounded by Philistines.

And if she prints all that, there'll be a very unusual book coming out. Well, let's turn in the Word of God to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 1. Don't forget Operation Feedback is still open.

I don't say things unless I mean them. Anything you want to say, any prayer requests, put it on a big piece of paper. Give it in at the literature table. Tomorrow night's the best time because you may get something to say tomorrow.

I've already offered one or two free things, which is really silly and gives my office personnel excessive work. But when I offer something free, like that leaflet Unsung Heroes, I mean it. I just find it impossible not to give away literature.

I've done about 30, 40 letters today. And in almost every letter I send a free book or a free leaflet or five free leaflets. And it's amazing. I can sit here. I'm traveling in the motorhome of an old friend, a dear friend of mine who's with me.

And I can sit in that little motorhome and I can dictate letters, literally talk to people all over the world through the miracle of the dictaphone, a little tiny machine, a little cassette tape. You know one of the greatest needs in missionary work?

Women who know how to type or men. How many of you know how to type? 25 words a minute or more. That's unbelievable. That just blows my circuits. You are very gifted, talented, special people. And I'd be willing to pray with you personally about coming and typing for me in England.

And don't believe all this fantasy about British weather and fog. We get very little fog anymore. And we get lovely weather. The sun comes out occasionally. And we praise God for people that we've had from Bethany working with us there in England.

In England we have a work among Arabs. We have a work among immigrants. We're church planting among Muslims in Bradford. We have work, of course, among the British. We have a literature ministry. We have the international headquarters of O .M.

Lots going on. Great Britain. And a lot more happening in Britain than you may ever imagine. Mark chapter 1. The Lord Jesus walking along the Sea of Galilee. Verse 16. He saw Simon, Andrew his brother, casting a net in the sea for they were fishermen.

Interesting. Jesus said unto them, come after me and I will make you become fishers of men. And straightway, it's an old English word, straightway, immediately, they forsook their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately he called them and they left their father. Imagine that.

Left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants. And they went after him. Notice over in chapter 2. Very different kind of character. Verse 14. And as he, Jesus, passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office and said unto him, follow me.

And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass that as Jesus was eating in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many and they followed him.

Here we see the Lord Jesus walking among ordinary men and choosing them for this great task of being fishers of men. I so appreciate the opportunity of having a series of meetings with you. I can't always do that because one message can bring other messages into balance.

And I hope some of you will get tapes of messages you've missed. And the message I'm sharing this evening needs to be brought into balance by what I shared yesterday morning. Because I made it very clear that laymen in the factory, in the office, are not second-class citizens.

And that God is leading different people in different ways. But my burden this evening is a burden concerning the need for full-time fishers of men in the harvest fields. And I believe it is biblical that we have full-time workers.

I know some of the arguments against full-time workers. A couple of rather well-known men of God in this country have been hitting pretty hard at this lately. And I understand a little bit of where they're coming from.

Full-time Christian work has been abused. There are all kinds of full-time Christian workers. But as we think of the work especially overseas, and then we think of the enormous backup force that's needed for missions, we realize we need people just as Jesus needed people back then, who will leave their nets.

And that is the toughest decision that many of you will have to make in your life. A few of you may have to make, some of you will have to make a reverse decision to go back to your nets because of the complexity that's sometimes involved in getting into longer-term missionary work, especially overseas.

The Origins and Effectiveness of OM's Ship Ministry

But I want to share with you this burden that God put on my heart when I was sailing on the Dulas. Our larger ship had come back from South America, 300 on that ship. And I went with my daughter, wanted to get some time with her, and we went through Spain by train and grabbed a ship in southern Spain and sailed to the Canary Islands and joined the Dulas and then sailed with the Dulas back to Spain.

Now I had touched on related areas in other messages, but I never quite gave a message as strong as the message I gave during a series I was giving on the ship. One of the concepts, one of the 25 concepts behind the ship ministry was that we could train people and teach people and have intensive study while we were at sea going to the next major evangelistic crusade.

You can never understand the ministry of Lagos and Dulas unless you've been on those ships. I was the one that had the original vision for this ministry and wrote the original memo. 21 years ago I wrote that memo.

Why we need ocean-going ships in world evangelism. And I can say today, and I'm a very critical person when it comes to my own movement. No one can devastate OM as fast as I can. But in being sometimes critical of the ship ministry, I can say that it's actually gone better and has proven to be far more effective in world evangelism and discipleship training and carrying out our various goals than I ever expected.

Anyway, I was traveling on that ship and I shared this message. It's simply called, Seven Reasons Why You Should Go. Now I was pointing to you, the audience that was there on the ship. And this is a message that I felt was for them.

I didn't give it again for quite a while, until I had a similar audience. And I feel this is a message that the Holy Spirit has to prepare people for. It's not something I give out in a high school meeting.

I love high school meetings. It's not a message I give out to new converts or even in the average local church. I might give it out in a very missionary-minded church where there's been a lot of preparation.

And I feel you are also the kind of audience that I can share this message with, though it's modified each time I give it. Seven Reasons Why You, a student here at Bethany, should go. Now I know there are visitors here, and we're going to allow you to listen to this message.

And we hope you'll also realize that if you're in fellowship and in part of this great church, that this message probably fits into your situation as well. Now I'm not going to appeal to your emotion, primarily.

Sometimes as missionaries we appeal too much to people's emotion. And I want to tell you that on the mission field we at times already have too many emotional people. If we're going to work in the Muslim world, if we're going to work in the non-responsive areas, we need a few more phlegmatics.

Good Scandinavian background phlegmatics might be some of those here. Praise God for the glorious occasional Italian or Spaniard or just mongrel like myself who may arrive. Welcome. Don't feel intimidated by the Norwegian-Scandinavian factor.

There's a great place for you. And we need each other. But in the work of God sometimes we get a little bit too emotional. And we show our missionary slides and our missionary horror movies and people are weeping and, you know, Will you go?

Will you go? And I tell you, in OM we've had 28 years of sorting out these characters. And we've sent some of them back home. Farming is a good place for the emotional types. Really, they can get out in the fields and dance and jump up in the air and scare the birds that want to eat the crop away.

And you don't need any scarecrows then. But on the mission field, we need plotters. William Carey said, give me plotters. We need people who have committed themselves and committed their wills to serving God, to sowing the seed, to following up, and to the missionary work that they have been led into.

Seven reasons. I want to appeal to your minds. I want you to think. I know it's late. My body is about two in the morning. So if you feel tired, you can pray for me. I want you to think. Because I think you need to have reasons.

Many of you are already planning to go to the mission field. This will just fortify. This will just perhaps help you have a greater confirmation that you're going. I just got a letter from a Dutch woman in our New Jersey office who was there on the doulos when I gave this message.

She was one of the many short-term people on OM. It's 70 on doulos. Respond to the invitation. And make a commitment to career missions the next day. I gave them a night to think about it after I shared this message.

That's in the midst of young people already in missionary training, on OM, on the ship. So who knows? Even here where so many of you are already moving forward in missions, there may be some who make a more final decision this evening about going.

May God strengthen your will. I would have been wiped out in missions years ago if God had not strengthened my will when I was 17, 18, 19. I love those words in Joshua, be courageous. I'm not a courageous person by nature.

I'm a coward. I saw a great book some time ago, Handbook for Witnessing for Cowards. I thought, praise God, they finally got a book for me. You know, I'm known as this very aggressive, evangelistic, Mr. Door-to-Door.

And the fact is that I do, of course, engage in evangelism. And one of the first things I did when I was saved was started going door-to-door in my own town selling books, winning people to Christ. But I never found it easy.

Never found it easy. To this day, I don't find it easy to talk to a person about Jesus. I'd rather curl up and read a book. I'd rather write a letter. At least all the people who have written to me, they seem open.

They're ready to receive. It's easier for me to preach an evangelistic meeting to a thousand people or even on television, I've done it, than talk to one person, cold turkey, on a train or a bus. That's one of the reasons in OM we encourage every OMer to be involved in face-to-face encounter, eyeball, nose-on-nose, not quite lip-on-lip evangelism.

Unless they pass out and you need artificial respiration. And we've discovered in our work that many young people who are petrified of door-to-door work and street work and personal work, not only learned how to do it, but they have enjoyed it.

And I have learned how to enjoy all these forms of evangelism. But it's often a battle as well. Seven reasons why you should go. Who's you? All of you who are sitting here. I mean, let's face it, this kind of meeting isn't popular.

You know, I actually thought we'd have twice as many people here. I mean, you know, Ignat, I don't know what Bethany is. I thought people come from all over Minneapolis. They heard Bethany. I mean, over in Europe, we feel Bethany is a very famous, important, significant place, at least to know him.

So, you know, I've come all the way from London. I figure these Minneapolis people ought to be able to travel across the city. But there's not many visitors. I don't know, maybe you don't advertise it.

So I somehow believe those who are here, this is in God's sovereign purposes. You know, maybe I'm mixed up, you can pray for me, but I believe world missions is really on the heart of God. I don't believe there's much going on in Minneapolis as important as this tonight.

Everybody's talking about these, these, what are these games coming up? The Rose Bowl or some bowl? Fish Bowl? What's this? What game is football games coming up? Ah, Super Bowl, yeah. I don't know, I guess it's E .T. versus Clint Eastwood, something big, I know.

To me, next to missions, it's a dull bore. It really is. I used to be absolutely neurotic on sports. I was a Yankee fan. I won money every year on the New York Yankees. You remember in the 50s. Some of you weren't around, of course.

But, you know, it really gets a bit boring, especially watching. To me, spectatorism in general turns me off. The whole thing of just sitting. Now, I know this is part of my temperament, and I don't want to make you sitters feeling guilty, even though you're getting calluses on your bottom.

You know, don't feel bad. But, you know, I like to be a doer. You know, if we're going to have sports, let's go do it. You know, let's go play football. Or let's go skiing. But just watching. Now, if that's the way that you get your relaxation, and that really recharges your batteries, and it just enables you to get back to the job and serve Christ better, hallelujah, go watch the Super Bowl.

Because I believe in relaxation. Seems that we're a bit excessive at times in that area. Seems when it comes to prayer meetings, people like it short and sweet. When it comes to sports, they like to go all the way.

You know, let's watch it right to the final touchdown, and then they have extra time. And American television, those of us who live in Britain are a little spoiled. The most unbelievable interruptions by the most ridiculous advertising I have ever seen.

It's a good time to walk out, I guess, and win someone to Christ, and then come back. But I don't know how people handle television in this country. So I believe this meeting tonight is important. I feel bad that more people aren't here.

I'm just being honest. But we're not going to worry about that because we believe it's in God's providence you're here. And I believe you're here because God wants you, many of you, to go. Can you spell go?

I know spelling's not a big thing in the States these days. Go. Not yet? Good. Good. Reminded me of a story someone told me of years ago when I was here at Bethany, and I was getting a little bit hyper.

I'm trying to be a lot more self-controlled these days. And I cried out, are we... It must have been in the context, of course, of the message on missions. Are we going to let China go to hell? And a little girl, very young, shouted out from the back of the church, no, I think she's 16 now, talked with her mother.

I think it was her mother yesterday. Seven reasons why you should go. Let's get so many names here just to get this personal. How many Davids? Davids, raise your hand. You, okay. Matildas, how many Matildas?

No Matildas. Marys, raise your hand. You. James. Peters. Georges. Any Georges here? You. All right, I don't have time to go through everybody's name, but I think you got the point. One of the reasons, of course we know, undermining these seven practical reasons, undermining all of this is the basic command of Scripture.

I don't like to go over ABC in a school like this that is teaching missions. So I'm not going to go over the Great Commission. I'm not going to go over Acts 1 -8. I take it you already have the ABCs. You know that Jesus said, go.

You know that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. You know that Acts says there's no other salvation except in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we'll jump on from that foundation and give some of these practical reasons.

Reason One: Few Reach This Level of Missionary Commitment

Number one. Not many ever get as far as you have already gotten in terms of missionary commitment and interest. You may not realize that. And I will tell you, this is an unusual institution in present-day American practice and thinking.

The very fact that most people who come here are to some degree committed to missions. The very fact that you're not academic neurotics, which is the order of the day, even in some of our best Bible colleges.

They have sold out to academics. The prayer meeting is not attended. The missionary conferences are poorly attended. The faculty, oh my land, the faculty of some of these institutions, I wouldn't give them a job even, you know, polishing the end of somebody's shoe in Operation Mobilization.

Because they have so little vision. It's professional Christianity in America. You get a job, you get a salary, you don't really know what commitment is, much less forsaking all for the sake of the gospel, spiritual warfare, and all that we read about in the Book of Acts.

Forget it! It's not existent to any great degree in present-day American evangelicalism. They may seem like strong words. I don't say strong words without a lot of research, 29 years of it. A .W. Tozer said it already years ago, we have measured ourselves by ourselves for so long, we no longer have higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit.

I had a missions conference in one of our great Bible colleges. They brought me all the way from England, and I will tell you, hardly a single faculty member even attended. They are not interested to any great degree.

They are in their own career. They are basically promoting and practicing selfism. Selfism is the big thing today. It's the I-my-me philosophy. It's what's in it for me, my career, my salary. The very fact that people just jump from church to church, often hinged on higher salaries, is proof enough.

I could write a book on this subject. It would be the greatest or one of the greatest indictments of present-day pseudo-Christianity in America that could ever be written. The other side of the coin is God is loving, God is merciful, God is forgiving.

He works with people where they are, and He does somehow specialize in even using and working through spiritual babies. And I believe we are a nation of spiritual babies, spoon-fed spiritual babies, that want the blessing but not the responsibility.

And I believe God has given you an unusual calling in this school and in this whole community. And God in His sovereignty has brought you here from many parts of the world. Met someone today from Brazil.

It's interesting, after meeting him I went back to my work and I found the announcement about a big OM Missions conference going on in Brazil, I think right now. God is working in that country. Not many get as far as you get, or have already gotten.

Now you may not feel you're very far. I know some young people who just specialize in putting themselves down. You probably don't feel you have any great, tremendous, overwhelming missionary vision. In fact, the average Bible school student, who is committed and who is serious, is often feeling guilty about his lack of compassion.

Beware of hyper-idealism in the area of compassion. You're still a very human being, no matter how filled with the spirit you are. And compassion doesn't come lightly and it does not come automatically.

It's a daily exercise of faith to turn from self, to turn from our own lukewarmness and our own weakness, to dependence on Christ, to a work of grace in our hearts that gives us compassion and sends us out, like Praying Hyde and thousands of others whose footsteps we follow in, to reach the lost.

If you, after the vision you receive, after the teaching you receive, after the exposure you receive, even in conferences like this, if you don't go, who will? Would you tell me? Maybe you could write me a note.

Somebody out of Yale University? Somebody who is making $50 ,000 a year? Selling vitamins? Who is going to go? Now, I believe God is doing a work on the university campus, and I'd like to see some of these university students, just as I did, leave university and come to Bethany.

That's a bit of a radical message. That wouldn't be too popular in some circles, I would dare to say. In Britain, to leave university is considered almost a mortal sin by the sort of middle-class, snobberbia-type Christian person.

Really! And in this country as well, many people feel you must get all these academic qualifications first. Then, maybe, perhaps, you could, you know, think of some missionary work. You probably won't.

Because, number one, by the time you finish all that academic pursuit, you'll be married. And the chances of Little Miss American Muffet of 1985 going to the mission field is about as great as E .T. winning a hockey match.

And so we have a lot of frustrated people because they somehow decide they want to go, but Little Miss Muffet doesn't want to go. Or maybe if Little Miss Muffet wants to go, Little Mr. Puffet doesn't want to go, because he's a materialist and he's got the all-American dream.

In any way, he's basically so used to such a soft way of life, and life in America is generally so soft. Just the thought of enduring hardship on the mission field is enough to give the person a clear, unmistakable case of the argues.