“Christianity by its very nature is a mission-driven movement,” stated Dr. George R. Knight, Adventist author and church historian. Speaking of Adventists, Knight then posed the question: “What is it that has driven this little group of people to the ends of the earth?” Do you know the answer?

As this magazine arrives in your mail, the 59th General Conference Session in Atlanta will be ending. If any lesson needs to be learned by the world body of Adventists it is that disproportional resources are needed—human and financial—to reach the unreached people groups with the good news of salvation.

Your church and mine needs more people willing to answer the call to foreign mission service on the frontiers. So much work remains to be done. For example, the Adventist Church has been in the Philippines for more than 100 years, yet only four of that nation’s 74 people groups have been reached. That must change, and soon, if we are really serious about fulfilling Christ’s gospel commission.

Rejoice! Seven missionary families are now preparing at the AFM Training Center in Berrien Springs, hoping to launch in September: Rob and Kelli Doss to Thailand; Jason and Maggi Harral to Benin; Glenn and Melody Roper to Southeast Asia; David and Brittney Sandvik to India; the Apias to Papua New Guinea; and the Santanas to Brazil.

Sixteen student missionaries and four short-term missionaries will arrive in late July for a month of training before going to serve with career missionaries. Do you hear God’s call to go? Don’t spurn the conviction! Do you have a son or daughter you can encourage to serve nine months as a student missionary? That vision flows from the same source as the one that drove our once-tiny band of Christians to become in Knight’s words, “. . . the most widespread unified Protestant church in the history of Christianity,” propelled by the apocalyptic gospel commissions of Revelation 10:11 and 14:6.

Your church and mine needs to devote more financial resources to recruiting, training and placing frontier missionaries among unreached people groups. Our giving is not keeping pace with our vision. In 2009, Adventists in North America gave $21.75 per capita to missions, less than 42 cents per Sabbath per member!

Knight also observed that, “Adventists are a small group of people with a large vision. Let’s make sure that we never become a large people with a small vision.”

AFM needs more resources to support missionaries who are already serving as well as those who are preparing to serve. In this our 25th-anniversary year, can you send a gift of $25, $125, $1,250, $12,500 or even $25,000 to keep the vision alive and well? The people whose lives are changed by your gifts will be your neighbors in the New Jerusalem. What better investment can you make? Use the envelope in the middle of the magazine to send your gift today or visit www.afmonline.org to give online. Thank you so much!