Reference

Matthew 26:36-46

Well, my American friends and partners, I made it back to Mount Elgon. It absolutely is my favorite place on planet Earth other than my patio in my backyard. The construction is complete. We have no more building to do on the buildings. I didn't know if I'd ever get to say that, but God has done it.
Every space is being used, every inch is being maximized. Even places that we thought would be empty and not be used for anything now are housing, home ec, teaching, cooking, teaching welding, plumbing, all sorts of vocational training. That was not my vision. That was Pastor Richard. He has a saying.
He wants everyone to leave this training center with the word, the of God in their heart and a skill or trade in their hand. We want these men and women to be self sufficient apart from God. And you helped make that happen. It truly is amazing. I have no words to explain to you what God has done over the 10 years that we've been constructing this facility.
Thank you for standing with us. We're almost to the end. All that's left is a little bit of landscaping, defense. And that's really just to satisfy me. The Kenyans are pleased with what's here now, but I love the beauty of Kenya.
I want this place to be a testimony to God. Thank you again. God bless you. Thanks for welcoming me into your church, your heart, your life. And thanks so much for opening not only your heart, but your pocketbook to join God and what he's doing here in Mount Ogon, Kenya.
God bless you.
Some of you know the story. Some of you don't. Those of you that do know it, it's worth repeating. Those of you who have never heard it, you must hear it. 22 years ago, I stood in that spot.
Where those beautiful buildings are now is a grass field. And Pastor Richard, who is one of my key overseers, we have six regional overseers, Kenya, that have pastors under them, and church planters and evangelists and so on and so forth. I don't live in Kenya. I live in Arkansas. Arkansas is a lot like Kenya, just a little different.
I'm a missionary at large. If you don't know what that is, it's because I probably invented the term. It means I just go back and forth. I'm God's delivery boy. I go and see what's needed on the ground.
I meet with our leaders on the the ground. I try to train our leaders on the ground. I try to make sure that their marriages are healthy, that their families are happy, that everything that they need to be successful in ministry is provided for them. And then I come back home and I tell their story to people like you. You guys bought the story years ago and have been faithful partners all this time.
And because of that, miracles take place. We stood in a cornfield praying that God would give us those buildings. This ministry was birthed in prayer. We just got through with prayer. Nothing happens of significance apart from prayer.
I used to preach that. Now I believe that because I've seen it with my eyes. We needed buildings. We needed money, we needed resources. We needed help.
As we stood there, I waited for two years before we prayed this prayer. We bought the land. We owned the land. I was sitting in a little shed, and we were doing pastor training. And just as audibly as I'm speaking to you, God said, let's just go ahead and pray for the buildings today.
And so I said, well, that's a little weird. And I don't operate that way. And he said, well, it's not your operation, it's mine. And, and so during one of the breaks when we came onto it, I said, okay, I think today's the day that we pray for the buildings. And my Kenyan pastors who are great men of faith and they pray all kinds of goofy prayers all the time as though they think God is going to do something.
I said, let's just go stand in the cornfield. Here's what we're going to do. I said, just reach into the cornfield. I'm thinking field of dreams here or whatever, just reaching the cornfield and just, just pray, you know, God, we need this corn to turn into buildings. Now I'm sitting there going, that's probably not going to happen, but if it does, I'll have no problem raising the rest of the money that I need.
Amen. If I just come tell you that story, I'll get everything I need. But it didn't happen that day. We just stood the corn and prayed. And it took time.
It was gradual, but it took 10 years for everything to get completed. But as I stand here to today, I don't know how many classes we've been through of two year training for basic instruction for those who want to plant churches, who want to pastor, or for those who are just members of the church like you are, who want to be better Bible teachers, who want to learn how to pray, who want to learn how to do ministry. Well, we literally are seeing God show himself strong all over East Africa as I was there just a few weeks ago, back a few months back. I'll be back in July. As I stood there, I watched and I seen faces that I didn't know.
I seen people in the worship team and people sitting in seats and I'm like, who are these people? I began to ask them questions and I found out during the break time that we had every East African nation represented in the building that exists. You have no idea what a miracle that is. I began to research and found out that we had every single tribe save two sitting in the building that day. There's two that we've been praying for that we've had zero success penetrating.
1 Primarily, I mentioned to you before is the Pakot P O K O T. They're bad people. They're just wicked people. They're worthless people. They're cattle thieves. They will sell, steal whatever you got and they'll kill you while they're doing it.
Life is cheap to the coats. And I have had a passion. I sit there in our training center on one mountain range, Mount Elgon. I'm looking across the valley at another mountain range, and that's where they live. And I sit there, and you don't know me, but it's just in me since I was a little boy.
Wherever it was that you couldn't go, that's where I wanted to to go. I hunt behind the no trespassing sign. Are you with me? That's my makeup. And so I'm sitting there going, we've got to go to that mountain.
I'm talking to my overseers. I'm talking to my leaders. We've got to go over there. And one of them finally said, we can go one time. We will not be coming back.
So I began to realize that God's plan was not for us to raise up martyrs or militia, but God's plan was to penetrate that culture and give us just one. Just one. And so we begin to pray specifically. And here's how we pray. Coats are dangerous people.
If you're going to minister to dangerous people, God needs to send you. What kind of people? Dangerous people. So we begin to pray. God, we need some dangerous men to be born again.
And you'll never believe what happened. He sent us a bandit, an armed bandit. And it took watching his two partners die at his feet at the hands of the village. And they told him, drop your weapon and start running and don't stop. And he did.
Somewhere in that process, he began to weep. And he didn't understand why they let him go. Why did they kill the other two and let me go? And he ran and he ran and he ran and he ran. And the story is ended up being about 12 or 13 miles that he ran.
I don't do kilometers very good. He ran all these miles, and he finally came to a church house and went in there. Of course, it wasn't Sunday. And there was one old woman. The old woman was the caretaker of the building.
He told her her story, and she said, I want you to meet my pastor, and we're going to pray. And of course, he trusted Christ. And now he is in the process of evangelizing. You have to evangelize before you can plant churches. You can't build churches out of people who are not born again.
So you have to bring them the gospel first. So now he's bringing them the gospel at the risk of his life. And as I sat with him the other week or a few weeks back at breakfast I looked at him and I said, edison, be quick. He says, what do you mean, pastor? I said, be quick.
I said, because you're not going to last. I'm going to need replacements because they're going to kill you if they can. So do you believe in prayer? Do you really? Well, we have a guy named Edison somewhere today is out in the bush and he's after a group of bandits.
Now nobody goes after bandits on purpose except for guys like Edison. When he catches them, one or two things are going to happen. Either they'll receive the gospel or they'll kill Edison. It's just that simple. And if they receive the gospel, then we can end up with two Edison's and then we can have four, and then we could add eight, and then we could have 16, and then we could have 32, because that's God math.
But we've got to keep him alive long enough to get the first cycle done. So if you really believe in prayer, then why don't you pray for a guy named Edison? He spells his name wrong, but it's correct. In Africa it's E, D, D, Y, S, O, N. Isn't that the way you spell it? Edison.
So pray for Edison. Well, we left the cornfield and God gave us an incredible, incredible experience. We have folks come through two years deals. You can go to the next slide. I wanted to see our people in between teaching and preaching sessions.
I wanted to see them gathered for fellowship. These people were not bused in. We didn't uber these people in. They live in those mountains somewhere. Now they're out there in the middle of cornfields.
But we're in Africa. And when they come to church, they come dressed like this. I usually don't. You saw me, I'm in my khakis and it's really hot and I'm sweaty and nasty. But they love to gather.
This was a few years ago at just one of our training conferences. This is who you send out. And I mean literally. If we fly a drone over the training center when we finish a session, it looks like a bunch of ants going down every footpath and every direction back to their village. Most of them do not have buildings.
Many are meeting under a tree, which is fine. All you need in Africa to do worship is a tree. You can't do it without a tree because you're on the equator. It will fry you. If you're going to do ministry without a tree, you need to preach on hell because that's all anybody will be thinking about.
We saw this grow, and now we're moving fellowship to the next level. I begin to pray as we finish the two buildings, the conference center and then the dormitories where we can house a hundred. Now, nobody has to come and go. Nobody has to travel. Nobody has to cross any rivers.
Nobody has to worry about the band, the bandits, or any transportation. We can let them stay there for weeks at a time so we can intensify the training. I said, God, it would be so good if we could have a place where they could sit around the table. I taught this here before. Do you understand?
Have you experienced that there is something different about fellowship around the table than anywhere else? It's just different. And so imagine you just got through hearing Trevor teach, or you just got through hearing someone bring the gospel, or someone teach you how to pray, or someone began to tell you these are the ways that you use evangelism. And you just finished that session. And then we say, let's pray for our food.
And we walk a couple of meters next door and sit down in tables that look like this. And the discussion is just buzzing. These guys, these men and these women, they don't get to do this. They don't see each other. They're isolated, they're insulated.
They live in a. In a village where there is no one else. They live for moments like this. I wanted this dining hall. I wish you could see the back of it.
I don't have time. It literally has complete commercial kitchen. Back there. We can feed 200 people at a time. We stretched it.
This last video we had 250. Most of them were sitting outside. But those of you that read Swahili. Do we have anybody read Swahili here, by the way? That's a chance.
Anybody read Swahili? Well, the back wall says you do read Swahili. Do you know what it says on the back wall? Can you read it for us? You can't see it very good.
Here's what it says. Luke 18. It says, Men, I'm always to pray and never give up. Men ought always to pray and never give up. You know what pictures hanging there that the cornfield.
See, when you're sitting at the table in the middle of a cornfield, eating food at no cost, it makes it hard to argue with the favor and grace of God.
God has decided to show himself strong on the mountain called Mount Elgon and literally is giving us the quarter of Africa known as East Africa. Hundreds, even thousands, are coming to Christ every year. And the ministry has grown so rapidly, I cannot give you accurate reports. I'm sorry I don't have a staff. I'm not going to spend our money to hire accountants to do the numbers for us.
But just trust me. There's more people getting saved in East Africa than has ever been saved in the history of missions, ever. And God is my helper. We will press that until it spills off the African continent. And maybe one of these days, God will even send us evangelists to a very, very needful American church.
That's my prayer, so you join me as we pray. We're not gonna bow our heads or close our eyes. You just pray. When you think about your offerings, when you think about your prayer time, when you think about this church, you need to. To know that every time you contribute what you're doing, it's not just us.
You have many missionaries in many places doing many things with today's mind. Amen. So we're going to talk about Africa today. Every time you give something, it's impacting this. I didn't get to talk about the kids.
I could show you the kids. That's where the real money is. I can show you the picture of the kids and you just give everything you got. But these pastors, these teachers, these evangelists, this. This is the key to life.
Not physical life. This is the key to eternal life. That's what you're investing in. I came with a gift. I am God's delivery boy.
My job is to go to Africa and find out what God needs to complete the work that he's doing there. You say God needs nothing. I understand the theology. Let's be a little more practical. Okay, let's talk Mississippi, this morning.
God, what do you need to complete or continue this ministry in Africa? And he begins to show me. And I walk around literally with a notebook, just writing stuff down. And when I get on the plane, the list is always too long. And I look at it, I say, this is not going to happen.
This is absolutely impossible. This is out of the realm of. This is just stupid. This is stupid God. We got a little tiny ministry.
That's headquarters is in spare bedroom in Hot Springs, Arkansas. There's no way that these kind of resources will flow through here. And God's not much for arguing. He just gets real quiet when you begin to argue with him. And if you'll give him time, he'll give you videos like this.
If you give him time, he'll give you experiences like the dining hall. If you give him time, he Will give you stories like the one that I tell you telling you to die. My job is to come back here and tell you the stories and find where God has deposited his resources and remove those resources from where they're deposited and put them on the mission field where he wants them at work. I do the best I can with that job. You pray for me as I do.
Pray that God will give me favor. I'm meeting with people this weekend, people this weekend who have resources that need to be on the ground in Africa. My job is. Is to tell them your resources need to be on the ground with Africa. Will you pray that I'll have boldness to do that?
You pray I'll have favor for that. I'm meeting with churches this weekend that need to do exactly what Great Commission is doing. They need to come alongside us and partner with us because the work's too big. Some of them need to take an entire piece of the African ministry for themselves because their church ministry is so big and so massive that they could take it and literally own it and call it theirs. I am 72 years old.
I'm not in the business of expanding. I'm in the business of giving away. I have ministry to give away to anybody who is willing to obey God and be faithful with it. But I don't just carry things one direction. I carry things two directions.
And I come this morning bearing a gift for the church. It's a handwritten note, postpone note, book. It's from a woman you've not met. Her name is Beatrice Juma. Her husband is our oldest elder, one of our overseers.
They work in a farming regional area. And Beatrice wrote you this note on April 15th of this year. To our supporters, hello to the great men and women of God, I hope this letter gets you fine and well. We're grateful for the support you continue to give to our husbands, our pastors. It has been of great help for the work of the ministry as they support the ministry, as they support their family's basic needs, as they minister to their family, and they have humble time to preach the gospel.
You've just been an angel to us here in Kenneth. She's not writing this to me. And the word angel simply means what? Messenger? You've just been a messenger to us.
In Kenya, we used to be desperate. Our kids used to lack school fees and food and medical care. But since you came in, it was like the garment of shame has been taken away.
Standing with us for more than 20 years is a miracle. Friends, we have nothing in Return. But our sincere prayers. May God bless you abundantly. We love you all, Mrs. Beatrice.
Jim, that's for you. I've done my job.
Now, the next time that you think that missions doesn't matter, I want you to go to the office and ask for that note right there.
I want you to look at the line that I underlined. She didn't. That says, it's like the yoke of shame has been lifted from us. That's what you did. You didn't build those buildings.
You didn't buy airline tickets, send me there. You didn't buy suits for these pastors where we did all that stuff. It wasn't just the medical. Did you hear what she said? It said it was like a yoke.
A burden of shame has been lifted off of us. Do you know what happens to the man, to the woman of God, once they get out from under a burden of shame? Do you know what happens when you set somebody free? Do you know what happens to an athlete when they finally let it go? How many times have we stood with our athletes?
Said, you just. You're squeezing it so tight you got your teeth. Just relax, man. Just let it go.
Shame will keep you from letting it go, won't it?
Don't have to live that way. God called me to preach. I love to preach. Some days I'm pretty good at it.
There's a Message in Matthew 26 that you ought to hear sometime. I can't preach it today, but we can look at one sentence.
Jesus is having his worst day. If you want to learn something from somebody, don't learn from their best day.
There's nothing to learn from their best day. Chances are their best day is so much above what you think your best day will ever be that you'll just look at go, well, I'm glad it happened to you. That could never happen to me. But when you see someone who is spiritual, when you see someone who's mature, when you see someone that is godly and you come alongside them, if you can catch them on their worst day, if you can find them on their worst day, hard to do. Real hard to do.
Because those of us who are spiritual don't let you catch us very often, do we? We have some great filters. You will never know when I'm having my worst day. Trust me, because I don't trust you.
Jesus didn't trust people either. Not everybody. Matthew 26. Jesus is headed to the garden of Gethsemane. If you grew up in church, you know the story.
If you don't you need to read it. It's pretty amazing. He's got a group of ragtag guys with him, and he tells them, this thing's coming to an end. They're going to kill me. He's been telling me, they're going to kill me.
They're going to kill me. They're going, no, they're not. No, they're not. Yes, they are. No, they're not.
Yes, they are. Yes, they are. So finally we're at the end, and he says, you know it's coming. He tells them before they go to the garden. He says, this is it, man.
He said, don't panic. When I do go to the cross, three days later, I'll be back. They have no clue what he's talking about. But Jesus goes to the garden on his worst day. Jesus worst day was not on the cross.
I submit to you that was his best day. His worst day was in the garden. I want you to read these passages with me. Matthew 26. I'm going to skip over and just start in verse 38.
He's got the guys with him. If I was preaching this and teaching this, I would talk to you about the importance of garden friends. But I don't have time to do that. You see, you need friends, you need family. You need community in the church, but you need a handful of garden friends.
What is a garden friend? That's the ones you take to the garden with you. What are you talking about? When you're in big trouble, that's who you want with you. You cannot do this kind of ministry.
You cannot pray these kinds of prayers alone. You gotta have some folks with you. Loneliness will absolutely SAP the life out of faith. Loneliness is the silent killer of faith. Trust me on this.
I live a lonely life. Anybody who lives their life on the platform is the loneliest person that you will ever meet. Because when I finish here, you go do what you do. I get in my truck and I go to my hotel room by myself. I've been doing it now for over 40 years.
When Jesus finished ministry, it was always a lonely day. That's why he would escape. That's why he'd go across the lake. That's why he'd get away from the people. Wasn't just physically rest, he's emotionally drained.
Matthew 26:38. Jesus says to these garden friends, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Do you believe that? No, you do not. Because this is Sunday morning and this is church.
And you don't believe in this Jesus, you Believe in a Jesus of your imagination who never had a bad day, who was never sorrowful about anything and never really worried about death. Because, after all, he's God, right? But this is Jesus the man, and that shorts us out because we only know Jesus the God, man, which is the right technical words for who Jesus is. But Jesus was all flesh. If he was not all man, then what he did is useless for you and me.
If his pain was not real, we have no redemption. If his death was not real, we have no hope of resurrection. If he did not physically walk out of the tomb in a new body, then you have no shot of ever walking out of anything with a new body.
It's exceedingly sorrowful. What does that mean? That means there's more sorrow than there's ever been.
This is the worst day, guys.
He tells the garden friends. Y' all just stay here and watch. That's that loneliness piece. I don't want y' all to go pray with me. In fact, sometimes it's best even with these garden friends.
They're wonderful people. They love God. They love you. But sometimes it's best to just tell them, hey, you just sit here. And if they start praying, ah, I'll pray.
You just sit here. Okay? Because you might say something stupid. Just sit here. I'll pray.
And Jesus goes. And he prays very quickly. Look at this. He goes a little farther and he fell on his face. Is that in your Bible?
I'm using a new King James. I know there's a lot of translations in the room. Does everybody's Bible say something like he fell on his face? Does that sound like he knelt down? Does anybody have the knelt down translation?
No. I have that picture hanging in my garage, the antique picture. You know, the one where Jesus is molded green. And he's knelt down and he's looking. He got the halo and looking up, and the beams are coming down.
And that's supposed to be in the garden. That's not what I'm reading here. He fell down on his face. He collapsed is what he did.
He said, oh, my Father, if it's possible. Whoa. That's not a good way to start a prayer. You think?
God, if you can let this cup pass from me. Here's your word. Here's your word for the day. It's all I came to give you. Nevertheless.
Nevertheless not what I will, it's what you will.
We'll send you out of here with two questions.
Are we praying to know God's will, or are we praying to change God's? Mind so we can get our way.
I'm talking to you. I'm not talking to us. I'm talking to you. When you pray, if you do pray, are you praying so you can find out what God wants, or are you just telling God what you want and trying to change his mind?
I'd say 85% of my prayer is the latter.
We're running in great company. It's what Jesus did.
Verse 42. He does the exact same. Father, if it's any way. I don't want to do that. I don't want to do this.
I do not want to do this. You can go back and read this this afternoon. I don't want to do this. Let's find plan B.
He prays this three times, guys. Three times. He's persistent. But the word nevertheless keeps coming back. You know why?
Because Jesus understood what we need to know this morning prayer is to get us to the place where we want what God wants.
Do you know what God wants? I have a Bible full of things here that we can theologically discuss and teach, and we should do that. And it happens in this church. So if you're visiting, stay here. Because they do that.
They believe this book and they teach out of this book. And they'll reason with you out of this book. And that's a good thing. But I'm talking in a very broad sense today, outside of the Bible, outside of specifics that we know are true from the word of God. These things we know are the will of God because they're in the word of God.
They're not open for debate. I accept them by face value. That's not what I'm talking about. When we pray, we are praying to find out, God, what do you want in this specific situation?
Because until I know what he wants, there's no way I can ask for the right thing. Because what I want is so huge. It is huge. What I want is sitting right here on my face and I can't see anything but my problem, my issue, my need. That's all I pray about.
I am the most selfish praying person that you will ever meet in your life. I pray for me and what I need.
But when we get to the place where we pray for what God wants, then we get all that God has to give when we want what he wants. When we want what he wants, we get all he has to give. And guess what?
He has it all.
He has it all.
The L6 nerve in my left eye is paralyzed.
Everything from here over is double vision. Been that way for five months. Doctor says most guys my age, it goes away on its own. Six months. If it doesn't, they do a surgery.
50. 50 on the surgery, but they get to make a house payment with it.
I'm a month away from that.
My garden friends, when they found out about that, you know what they said? Let us pray for you. Please do. I've had people pray for me now on three continents. My wife prays for me daily.
My kids pray for me daily. I pray for me daily. Last night, when I was seeing twice as many trucks as there are, really on Interstate 30, I really prayed.
We talk after church, husbands. Don't think I'm winking at your wife. I'm trying to focus so that I can just get one so I'll know where to look.
Why am I talking about this? Because some of you need to hear this. I don't know what God's will is about. This stupid. I think I know.
I nearly fell off a cliff in Kenya this last trip because I can't see when I'm walking. I'm so glad that we have these steps here that are wide enough that I can at least make my way up here if I'm not careful. I grew up living on the edge. I love to live on the edge. I like to preach with my toes hanging off the platform.
It's very dramatic. I learned it in evangelism school about 40 years ago. But with this I can do. It's pretty dang risky. I need a net.
So I don't know what the limit is on praying for healing, prayers, whatever it is. I'm getting real close to it on his eye thing.
So I decided to switch.
I started praying. I don't know what you want with this ideal. I know you're in the glory business. That's all you care about, your glory.
So if it gives you glory for me, wear a black patch and let's do it. Gives you glory for me to fall off a platform, then, okay, let's embarrass the preacher. That'd be okay. If that brings you glory. Whatever brings you glory.
And then when I can, if I can ever get past the cynical to the real, then my soul will be at rest. But listen to this.
If the next time you see me, I have a white cane, I will still be going where God tells me to go. You just better pray he gives me a driver before then.
Nevertheless. Nevertheless, it's the only word that'll get you through Calvary and out of the tomb. Father, I pray for us this morning that we wouldn't just be people of prayer, but we'd be people who pray. What do you want? What do you want of me?
What do you want in me? What do you want through me? What do you want me to do? What do you want me to say? Where do you want me to go?
How do you want me to give? How do I live with this man? How do I live with this woman? How do I raise these kids? How do I run this business?
How do we grow this church? How do we obey you in the best possible way so that you can be the star of the show and our name can fall by the wayside? God, I pray this morning that we would learn to pray as Jesus prayed. I don't want this, But I want you more than what I want.
So nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.
I'll bet you're glad you came today. Let's stand together. We're going to open these prayer lines after we adjourn our service so you can get prayer again. So prayer ministry team, if you'll come forward, there's a far banner to my left and your right. It's called membership.
It's going to be some servants of the Lord standing over there after the service. And if you're curious about what it means to belong to our church, they will be glad to speak with you and tell you about what it means to belong with us. There's one more way you can worship God. Today I'm going to ask you to take a step of faith. Fill out this ministry card before you leave.
Like after we, after we adjourn. If you haven't filled that out, you can just sit back down in faith. Write some things out there. Help me find a small group. I'm ready to trust Jesus.
Want to be baptized. I'm curious about membership. Let us pray for you. Our staff prays for these and our elders every week. We worship God this way.
Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the gathering of the saints. Thank you God for light ministries, for the power that you've moved with Mike and Teresa and all the leaders throughout the years. God, I can't believe that we get to support this ministry and see so many churches planted, so many new believers over in the eastern hemisphere. God, I pray their tribe increases.
I pray that it will continue to go forward and then we can continue to be apart. All for your glory, Lord, in Jesus name and a faith filled church said Amen. You dismissed.
Very into area called Turbo. It's Turbo. Turbo. It's just in the middle of the country. It's in cornfield.
All agriculture between ca and we've driven past the turn all but it's a weird name. It is. It's a region. Turbo region. The name of their village is actually number one one.
I think I may have met him. Yeah. He's a little shorter than us. Very stocky, very round. I remember when he there.
Oh, yeah.
Powerful man. He is. He is our oldest patrol guy.
African. I don't know what that.

 

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Join us this Sunday at Great Commission Church for a welcoming and uplifting worship experience. If you’ve been searching for a church near you, you’ll discover a warm, authentic church family ready to help you grow in faith.

We are a family-friendly, non-denominational Christian church in Olive Branch, serving individuals and families throughout DeSoto County and the greater Mid-South. People looking for Christian churches in Olive Branch often discover a vibrant community where faith comes alive and lives are transformed through the Gospel.

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Families searching for a church with strong children’s programs love our engaging Kids Ministry and safe, caring environments. Students can connect through our Youth Ministry, and adults of every stage can find community through groups, prayer, and discipleship opportunities. As a multi-generational church, we love seeing every age grow in faith together.

Meaningful Worship

Experience contemporary worship with modern Christian music, heartfelt prayer, and Gospel-centered messages designed to help you encounter God personally. If you’re looking for vibrant worship near Memphis, you’ll find a place that feels both authentic and inspiring.

Grow in Your Faith

We offer Bible studies, small groups, and discipleship opportunities that help you understand and apply God’s Word to everyday life. If you’re looking for a place to grow spiritually, you’ll find support and encouragement here.

Connected to Our Community

We are passionate about serving our neighbors through outreach and local partnerships, making a positive impact in Olive Branch and beyond.

Conveniently located in Olive Branch, we serve families from surrounding communities, including Southaven, Germantown, Collierville, Lewisburg, and Byhalia.

You’re Invited

If you’re looking for a church family, meaningful community, and Gospel-centered worship, we would love to welcome you.

Join us this Sunday at Great Commission Church — where faith, love, and community come together and lives are changed by Jesus.