Launching as an AFM missionary may not feel exactly the same as putting the first boot print on the moon, as Neil Armstrong did 50 years ago this month, but it’s got to be close. Let’s take this analogy for a spin.
It all begins with a mandate. President Kennedy struck a chord with his 1961 mandate to place a man on the moon, and the tragedy of his subsequent assassination cemented America’s resolve to make it so.
Christ Jesus set all of Christendom resonating with His mandate: Blanket the globe with the message of My saving Gospel, and Heaven itself will descend to earth. His subsequent sacrificial death and resurrection ushered in the ministry of the Holy Spirit who prompts and empowers us to obey His mandate.
Would-be astronauts volunteered for training as scientists and engineers calculated and crafted. Finally, the president’s dream was embodied in sheet metal and rocket fuel. The astronauts stepped through the hatch and waved to the cameras. The countdown, the engines fired, and . . .
Called by God, men and women from all walks of life step forward and prepare themselves for the knowns, the known unknowns and unknown unknowns of mission service. Responding to the same divine current, thousands of supporters give of themselves, fashioning mighty vehicles of prayer and funding. The missionaries step through the airplane door and turn to wave goodbye to friends and family. The plane taxis, throttles up, and . . .
We have liftoff!
Here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.
—The Plaque Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong left on the Moon
Here on earth the Creator of the universe was born a human child. He came in peace to give His life for all mankind. He is coming again.
—The Gospel
