Pearce challenges listeners to get involved in God’s work
Ron Pearce always says that he wants to arrive in heaven tired.
"I watch as pastors, church planters and church leaders all across the world are working tirelessly to share Jesus with a lost and dying world, and I want to follow in their footsteps," says Pearce, who is the executive director of Empower Ministries.
"There's lots of time to rest in heaven when we get there. I want to get to heaven having expended all my energy sharing the stories about what God is doing, and in my own way, supplying the church in the world with the tools it needs to reach the lost."
Empower is an international mission organization that exists to strengthen and equip national churches around the world, and to assist in revitalizing the church in Canada. It provides assistance to national churches in 27 countries through supplies of Bibles, New Testaments and training materials; national worker support; and tools such as bicycles, lanterns and boats for evangelism.
Pearce started Empower in June 2004, after working with World Serve Ministries for 13 years. He says his goal for his upcoming talks at Missionfest Manitoba West on Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27 is twofold.
Firstly, he wants to bring Missionfest attendees the latest news from his travels, so that they are aware of the work God is doing in the world that does not necessarily get reported in the media. Secondly, he wants to challenge and encourage attendees to get involved in the work God is doing.
"God is the head of missions," Pearce says. "This is His work. So, I'm just a reporter, telling [people], 'This is what God is doing in the world right now.'"
Growing up, Pearce says he was exposed to mission work at church, as well as through his uncle and aunt, who were in charge of a mission organization in Africa. His passion for missions was further stoked when he was a Bible college student.
"[I felt] an intense burden for the 'lostness' of people around the world and [a] deep conviction that people without Christ are heading to an eternity of suffering," he says.
After college, Pearce worked as a pastor and then for 10 years as an insurance agent. Eventually, he found his way back to missions.
His recent travels with Empower have taken him to Ethiopia, Myanmar, and India.
While in the Indian state of Orissa in July, Pearce visited a village called Twelve Pillars. Four years ago, riots in the area ravaged the village, with thousands of people looting, burning buildings and killing Christians.
"Christians had not met together since the riots and they wanted to share that they weren't scared anymore," Pearce says. "Hundreds and hundreds of people gathered under a makeshift tent and I was allowed to give them words of encouragement."
Pearce met with the local pastor afterward, who told him that while the riots were horrific, they gave Christians in the area an increased desire to share Jesus Christ with their non-Christian neighbours.
Many of the people who in the past persecuted Christians are accepting the invitation.
"It's amazing—these people who at the time were so filled with hatred and violence are coming to the Christians to ask for forgiveness," Pearce says.
"They're accepting Christ. That can only happen through the power of the Holy Spirit."
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