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About the author: Before joining SAT-7 in 2003, Dennis Wiens and his wife Cindy served for over 20 years in France, Mali, and Cote d'Ivoire in a variety of ministry roles helping the Church. Dennis grew up in West Africa as a TCK (Third Culture Kid) where his parents were international workers with the Mali, West Africa church. Dennis helped pioneer the FM radio project in Mali, using specially designed, solar-powered FM radio stations for church-based sustainable development. Dennis and Cindy work as a team to apply their international experience and knowledge of cross-cultural ministry to the advancement of SAT-7, speaking and informing as they network with churches throughout the US.

Today's Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 3:1

In 2 Thessalonians 3:1 Paul is asking the Thessalonian church to pray. Asking for prayer was not unusual. What he asked them to pray for might surprise you! In the hostility of the first century and a church facing persecution, Paul’s preaching was not always welcomed in the cities he visited. The apostle Paul requested prayer for a rapid spread of the Gospel message. He asked that the message shared would be honored and that the outcome would resemble what happened the first time the Thessalonians heard the gospel message through Paul’s teaching.

With our mass media, radio, satellite television, internet, and social media we can understand and imagine a rapid transmission and the spread of a viral message. But in Paul’s day there was none of these modern tools. What was Paul thinking? Curious what Paul meant by a rapid spread of the message? I Thessalonians 1:3 gives us the clue.

In I Thessalonians 1:3, the recipients of the gospel applied practically Paul’s teaching; they internalized its meaning and allowed Paul’s teaching to so permeate all aspect of their lives that people saw in them the message of the gospel lived out. The Thessalonian Christians lived as witnesses!  “your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” They were living examples of being a follower of Christ. 

The rapid spread of the gospel Paul asked them to pray for was not modern mass media but living as witnesses! A rapid spread of the message is each of us living our faith so tangibly and intentionally that people notice and wanted to follow Christ as well. This is what the Thessalonian church modeled for us. This is what we want to see across the Middle East and North Africa through your prayer and financial support for the SAT-7 ministry.

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