APRIL 25, 2022
MAKING WAVES
BY ERIC ROCHESTER
Making Waves…sometimes that phrase can be taken in a negative context, but it can also be applied in a very positive way. Last year, during a family vacation, some of us were tossing a little Kansas City Chiefs football around amid some powerful waves off the Florida Panhandle Gulf Coast, which was a lot of fun by the way! That got me thinking about waves…not just about waves of water, but spiritual waves…kingdom-advancing waves…waves that God is creating in and through the citywide Body of Christ in the KC metro area. He’s making these waves through His people for His Kingdom!
Waves of sea usually travel in groups…groups of 12-16 waves…and the biggest wave is usually the middle wave of the group. So, imagine a group of 14 waves and the seventh wave is the biggest…it has the most energy and power. God has been creating these waves over the past decades in the KC area and, during our lifetimes anyway, I don’t think we have yet experienced that big seventh wave. I do believe, however, that it is on the horizon! Maybe we’re currently in wave #3, or wave #4, I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like we are only in the first wave, but I also don’t believe we’re in the biggest wave of the group yet!
Just as water moves in power through waves, words move in power through air in waves. God’s Spirit and Word move in unique concentrated waves of power, often in response to the prayers of His people.
"His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves." - Revelation 1:15
At The Sending Project, we are blessed to be impacted and guided by Jesus’ powerful voice as we play our part with making kingdom-advancing waves by building strategic missional unity in the midst of all of our diversity. Those are our three key values: mission, unity, and diversity. M.U.D. Hopefully, those values are clearer than MUD to you! We’ll see God’s Kingdom waves advance stronger and further, the more united we are as the citywide Church of KC. There is a real correlation there.
The Sending Project almost never creates its own frontline ministry initiatives…but rather we pay attention to what the Lord is doing missionally through churches, ministries, businesses, and individuals, and then we foster kingdom connections among them and establish ministry partnerships to advance God’s missional purposes.
We are blessed to be networked with more than 300 churches and more than 200 ministries. We facilitate many events each year that bring pastors, ministry leaders, and others together for missional learning, connections, and Holy Spirit guided collaboration. We are also grateful to have several ministry partnerships (American Bible Society is one example) that further our mission. We love to bring God’s people together for His purposes…and we know that many times we don’t even get to know the results of these waves of kingdom-advancing connections…but one day we will.
We sometimes say it this way: our ministry is to promote your ministry! A practical example of that is that we have now established our Sending Project website events calendar as a calendar for the missional events of the citywide Church of Kansas City…churches, ministries, etc., are now able to have their missional events added to our calendar. Imagine being able to go to a web page to learn about what’s on the missional horizon among the KC-area Body of Christ. That is now a reality!
We are blessed to be organized around eight different enterprises through which we are making kingdom-advancing waves! Waves of churches, waves of kingdom connections, waves of God’s Word, waves of trauma healing, waves of collective outreach, waves of missional prayer, waves of individuals living on mission, and waves of global ministry!
God is the One who is making these waves through us and you. We are better together. The Lord is making kingdom-advancing waves through His people for His kingdom, and we are prayerfully catching waves God is creating and surfing those waves as far as we can for His glory!
Watch The Sending Project Making Waves Virtual Experience to learn more about these kingdom-advancing waves and how you can help support this mission!
Eric Rochester
Eric is the Founder, President, and Executive Director of The Sending Project.