Elder Conversation
by Wes Tucker
It’s Neighbors & Nations, our semi-annual missions emphasis designed to equip and mobilize us for gospel advancement beginning next door and reaching around the world. We began last Sunday with Dr. Chuck Lawless of Southeastern Seminary here for our morning worship gatherings and equipping us in our Everyday Discipleship event later that night. There are still many events and resources to help you grow in gospel advancement that you can find on the Neighbors & Nations web page.
A recurring challenge I hope you hear during these events is that every Jesus follower can and should be involved in advancing the gospel. Dr. Lawless certainly challenged us to that end in Sunday’s message from Matthew 28:16-20. Two of his four main points were:
- “We make disciples at the command of Jesus.”
- “All of us are included in the command to make disciples.”
We can Pray. We can Give. We can Go.
Last week I highlighted the new tcbchurch.org/gopray that features a Neighbors & Nations Reading and Prayer Guide as a way to Pray. Continue using that resource to guide your prayer the remaining week and a half.
This week I want to challenge you to consider how you Go.
At TCBC two easy handles we use to talk about ways to go are Go Moments and Go Trips.
- Our everyday moments become Go Moments when we intentionally seize the opportunity to make Jesus known.
- Every member of TCBC is challenged to take advantage of Go Moments in our everyday lives. Do we believe that we are God’s primary tool of fulfilling the Great Commission?
- To lean into another challenge from Dr. Lawless on Sunday night, every Jesus follower should have at least one relationship with an unbeliever with the intentional aim of investing in and praying for them to see them come to saving faith in Jesus.
- Who can you actively pursue with the gospel these 2 weeks? Undoubtedly, the person(s) that come to your mind leading into this holiday season are family members. You’ve likely been burdened for some of them for many years. Perhaps many have rejected the gospel for decades. I want to encourage you to not get discouraged, but continue trusting the Lord to bring them to faith and repentance. Don’t stop praying for, sharing with, and modeling the life of a faithful Jesus follower to your friends and family. Dr. Lawless gave testimony to the grace of God to his parents, who he longed to see come to faith for 36 and 47 years respectively before they died. Praise be to God!
- On Go Trips we proclaim the gospel on strategic short-term trips of 1-7 weeks. We Send Disciples on Go Trips to advance the gospel as we Serve the Vulnerable, Train Leaders, Reach the Unreached, and Plant Churches.
- Join the Go Team to learn about, pray for, give to, and sign up for 2025 Go Trips at our Go: 2025 Lunch this Sunday from 12:30-1:30 in Room J/K/L of the Adult Hall downstairs. RSVP here!
Jesus followers go to our neighbors and the nations!
Wes Tucker
Elder / Connections Pastor
Wes Tucker serves on staff as our Connections Pastor. He served in various leadership roles for six years at TCBC before coming on staff in the fall of 2013. He earned a Master of Arts in Church Ministries degree through The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary while participating in Cohort 1 of the Tri-Cities Leadership Training Program. Wes and his wife Jennifer have four children: Cameron, Grayson, Hayden, and Caroline.