As my wife and I remember our conversions almost twenty years ago, we think of the extreme sacrifices that disciples made for the mission of evangelizing the world.  Many disciples sold cars, clothing, valuable collectibles, and even wedding rings because they had a dream to see the evangelization of this world in our generation.  We reflect on the joy of our past sacrifices as we strive to revive our own hearts for the mission.  My wife, Elizabeth, sold thousands of dollars of artwork for missions.  I remember the dance performances I did to raise money for African plantings.  We remember the life sacrifices we made as well:  preaching on the subway, going street-to-street, and door-to-door evangelizing.   Even though my wife was an art director (a sixty to eighty hour a week job!) with a 3-hour commute every day, she always made it to midweek service.  We remember the all night prayer times, the week-long fasts, the urgency we had for a lost world.  We remember studying the Bible with people all night and baptizing them at 4 am, because tomorrow was not promised to them.

We remember the miraculous church plantings: Russia, Africa, the Middle East, Japan, China, and the list goes on and on!!!  We remind ourselves often that we were the fruit of the dream to evangelize New York City!  How grateful we are that a mission team of 18 people moved to New York City with a dream on their heart!  We remember our fellow disciples moving across the world with one suitcase and a dream.  Every disciple has memories of the many sacrifices they have made over the years.
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