Breaking Barriers

The air was electric as I watched live TV, along with much of Africa, whooping and hollering as Eliud Kipchoge crossed the finish line and busted the two-hour marathon barrier. He became the first human ever to do this, defeating the ‘unbeatable’ mark by 20 seconds. The fact that he is Kenyan and I am in Kenya naturally meant that I was with people who were expressing themselves loudly and boisterously! “He did it.” “YAYYYY…I can’t believe it!”

But seriously. This is an incredible feat! Think Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile! Or Michael Phelps taking home 8 gold medals in a single Olympics.

This African, running in Vienna, broke one of the unimaginable barriers that many thought would not happen in the foreseeable future. Yet he did it! Vision, hope, years of training, and he accomplished what seemed impossible. I was surely caught up in the moment of human achievement, excitement, and, even inspiration.

Now, if you can transition with me from temporal accomplishments to eternal ones, then you are, in fact, catalyzing barrier-breakers with us! And it is also inspiring and powerful.

As we head to Rwanda for this week’s leadership conference, I am reflecting on these young, African barrier-breakers for the Kingdom. They are passionate, they are trained and/or learning, they are diligent and faithful and disciplined.

They are hungry for the glory of God to fill the earth, and they want to do all they can to see this accomplished.

They have big vision and even bigger goals. They are motivated by the unreached and willing to do what it takes so that NO one lives without hearing the Good News of God’s revolutionary love at least once. The African facilitator of this conference has set this motto: “3.19 Billion yet to be reached with the Gospel. If we don’t change nothing will change.”

These young leaders are unhindered by the limits of others or the traditions of those who have gone before them. They believe that they can see movements multiplying disciples, churches, and leaders throughout their own nation and even throughout the continent. They are focused on seeing new, unreached areas penetrated with such movements. And they take with them the constant desire to see the neediest of those reached lifted and empowered.

All of which seems like an impossible task. Humanly it is!

But we are not relying on human inspiration, but God’s encouragement and Spirit. And, like this Eliud Kipchoge, they are part of a team that brings this about. If you are reading this, that’s you!