Just a little info - Alan Phillips

Oh great world of Blog … Greetings!

Those who know me know that global missions runs rather freely in my veins. I was the child of missionary parents where I grew up in Perth, Australia. Later in high school when we moved to Oklahoma from the other side of earth, we used to have missionaries come stay in our home quite frequently. Now in my ‘advanced years’ (no need for “Amens”), I have come full circle. Following my college years and then a couple of decades of work in higher education administration and consulting, I now work with a missions ministry called, Missions Resource Network, here in the Dallas metroplex. I also serve on the missions team of the Lake Cities Church, as our church strives to make a difference in people’s lives, both locally and globally.

I grew up going to church three times a week, memorizing scripture, hearing lots of sermons, going to Bible class and VBS, attending Christian College lectureships, and “Gospel Meetings”, and eventually graduating from a Christian University. What I learned most about what Christianity has to offer, however, I observed from my parents and from other selfless ‘soldout’ followers of Christ. As a child and teenager, I watched my parents give of themselves in extraordinary ways. They served others as people had need without partiality for status and without judgment … the physically poor and the spiritually poor. They shared their joy-filled lives (and still do) with anyone and everyone, for they saw (and see) each contact with someone an opportunity to reflect the selfless love of Jesus. By the standards of the world my family didn’t have much, but in reality we had everything!

In reflection I’m reminded that you and I are called to be ‘missionaries’. Self was nailed to a cross. Our identities as Christ-followers are not tied up in our pedigree, where we went to college, where we live, our family makeup, our careers, our portfolios, nor our church affiliation. God’s calling is personal. I pray that in humility I will consider others greater than myself. I pray that His power be at work within me, because I can’t do it alone. I pray that people will not see me, but rather that they see Jesus who lives within me. I pray that as iron sharpens iron, we might sharpen each other in His service. And not because of anything that I’ve done, but rather because of my debt that Jesus paid, I proudly claim to be His missionary!

Alan Phillips - an IronMan