MAGNOLIA MINDS: ‘We have to get Lottie to the Moon!’

By Aaron Tucker

“We have to get Lottie to the Moon!”

Miss Madelyn, a young lady who is both precious AND precocious said these words as she encouraged her church family to buy some breakfast foods and coffee on their way to Sunday School at the Lottie Moon Coffee Shop, organized by the GAs (Girls in Action) of Raymond Road Church in Jackson.

On the Sunday mornings of December, these girls served breakfast goodies and coffee, and encouraged folks to place their donations in the box to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. Miss Madelyn’s favorite sales pitch was to encourage us to put our money in the box because, “We have to get Lottie to the Moon!” As her pastor, I confess that she convinced me several times to help Lottie!

But as many laughs as her catchphrase brings, she is RIGHT! Think for a moment about what she is saying.

First, WE have to do this. There is no one else. The Lord has reconciled all Christians to a relationship with Himself, and has given to ALL of us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20). We are the ones who have been commissioned by Bethlehem’s Christmas Child to go and to make disciples and to baptize and to teach. There is no other plan. 

Second, we HAVE TO do this. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 is not a suggestion. It is a command from our Lord. It is further reinforced by Jesus’ prediction that “this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” If we want to hasten the second coming of Jesus, then we had better be busy about our commission from our commander in chief, the King of Kings. Also, according to Romans 10:13-15, those around us cannot give their lives to Christ if no one tells them how. Every Christian must go and pray and support.

Third, we Christians do have goals so lofty that it might seem like we are shooting for the MOON, just as our namesake Lottie did in her own missionary ministry. However, these lofty goals were not dreamed up in our imaginations. We simply desire what the Lord Himself desires — that ALL people would come to repentance and that NONE would perish (2 Peter 3:9). We believe that ANYONE who believes in Christ will not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). And Southern Baptists have believed since before the days of Ms. Lottie Moon’s missionary ministry to China that our churches should unify together under the banner of an impossible but imperative task. This task is our highest calling, a calling so high it would seem like shooting for the moon. This task MUST be attempted. This task is the responsibility of us ALL.

I encourage you to heed young Miss Madelyn this Christmas season. Help get Lottie to the Moon. Support our International Mission Board through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Pray for our missionaries. And consider this: perhaps this seemingly impossible task is not impossible after all. Perhaps we will attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God (as the missionary William Carey said). Let us join Lottie Moon herself in her lofty task of telling the whole world that Jesus saves, and shoot for the moon itself. Jesus taught us that “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). 

Finally, do not merely give and pray, but also go and tell. Let us remember during this season that the gift of Christmas, the good news of great joy, the newborn King of the Jews, is not worshipped by everyone. But we have something to tell them this Christmas. There was born that first Christmas night in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11). His name is Jesus, and he has come to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). 

Tucker is pastor of Raymond Road Church, Jackson.