Every Generation Needs to Reach Its Generation
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| Sandie and Greg Mundis |
An interview with Greg Mundis
Greg Mundis was elected executive
director of Assemblies of God World Missions at the 54th General
Council in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 4, 2011. Recently, Called to Serve interviewed Mundis about how his missionary service
prepared him for this new assignment, as well as what challenges AGWM faces in
the coming decade. To see Mundis’ installation service and testimony go to http://agtv.ag.org/Mundis_testimony.
Tell us a little about yourself and your family.
My wife Sandie comes from a
strong Italian Pentecostal background and I am a “Heinz 57” American from an
unbelieving home. We met in her uncle’s little church in Youngstown, Ohio. For
me it was love at first sight. She then went off to Central Bible College
because of a missionary call on her life, and I went to Youngstown State
University to study political science. After I had a dramatic call to ministry
at the altar one Sunday night, we reconnected. We have two children who are
married to wonderful spouses, and we have eight grandchildren. Our daughter
serves as a missionary in the Middle East and our son is a spinal orthopedic
surgeon in California.
How did you become a follower of Jesus Christ?
I was 13 years old, visiting my
half-sister in Ft. Gordon, Georgia. We went to a little base chapel where a
Billy Graham movie (black and white) was being shown. At the altar call I
walked down the aisle with several soldiers and gave my heart to Jesus. Later
at the Italian Pentecostal church, I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
How did God call you to be a missionary?
My wife and I were serving as
youth pastors at Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri. The year was 1977
and we were sensing that God had another direction of ministry for us. On June
12 the superintendent of the Assemblies of God in the Philippines shared a
testimony after he had visited the World Pentecostal Conference in Europe and
stopped in Austria. His heart was moved at the lost condition of people in
Austria. He used his entire testimony to say that Austria needed workers and
that would be his message when he got home to the Philippines. On that morning
God shot an arrow of a vocational call to missionary life through my heart for
Austria. The same day our second child, our son, was born.
Where did you serve on the field? What form did your missionary work
take?
We served in Austria from 1980
through 1997. We were involved in evangelism — media evangelism, leadership
development seminars, youth ministry, Bible School ministry — and we helped to
plant Vienna Christian Center (an international church). In addition I served
as an area director for Central Europe and was appointed Europe regional director
in 1998.
How did you feel when you realized that God was calling you to lead
AG World Missions?
Sandie and I, along with the
other candidates for executive director, were deeply involved in prayer for
God’s will. We spoke with one another before the election and shared with each
other that we were comfortable if any one of us would serve in this office.
Upon hearing the results of the fifth ballot, we were stunned, shocked,
humbled. We accept the will of the Council as God’s hand of direction on our
lives.
Early on, the AG resolved to do “the greatest work of evangelism the
world has ever seen.” What does this present generation need to do to
accomplish that resolution?
I believe with my whole heart
that every generation needs to reach its generation. God has equipped this
present generation with incredible gifts. They also have more tools at their
disposal than any other in history. But they need the same commitment, calling,
and passion as every generation since Christ to accomplish the task. It is not
only about the tools and gifts but also about the character, call, and
commitment of individuals and the church as a whole.
Compassion is a new theme in AG missions. How do AG missionaries
demonstrate compassion on the field?
Actually compassion is a theme
that is receiving a revived emphasis. I say revived because one can think of
the Lillian Thrasher Orphanage that celebrated its 100th anniversary
last year as but one example among many of missionaries reaching out in
compassion ministry over the last century. What I can say is that the present
generation has embraced the fourth pillar of our mission of reaching, planting,
training, and touching in a new and more significant way than in the past. It
is in part the recognition of the biblical mandate of taking the whole gospel
to the whole world in word and deed.
What can the U.S. AG learn from its international brothers and
sisters about faithfully following Jesus Christ?
Much of the world where AGWM
operates (217 countries and territories) does not have the political clout, the
economic status, or the inherited freedoms we enjoy in the U.S. In their
particular contexts, they have been a witness for Christ while being ostracized
from mainline society through prejudice, poverty, and political/social/religious
systems. They have not only survived as a testimony to the fact that Christ
will build His Church, but they are thriving in spite of persecution in some
cases. We as Americans need to bring to the forefront of our heart and mind
that Christianity is about a relationship with Christ that supersedes political
persuasion, economic security, or manmade social/religious systems.
What can local church pastors do to better support AG World
missionaries?
The backbone of AGWM is the
missionary. I cannot emphasize this enough. The growth of the Assemblies of
God, I believe, is because of the grace and outpouring of the Holy Spirit in
the world. I also believe it includes the fact that our missionaries are on the
ground in different countries working with a multitude of different people
groups. They know the language, the culture, and the power of God to do His
work in their context, and the results speak for themselves.
Supporting the missionary
through prayer and finances is as vital today as it was in the days of the
apostle Paul, the golden age of missions, and in the last years of our AG
history. As missionaries, we recognize the changes in the culture here in the
U.S. and the churches’ adaptation to get the gospel out in the culture. If the
missionary and the pastor could set a time for the missionary to come in to
that church’s individual context, it would be a blessing to the congregation
and the missionary.
I recommend securing the booklet
that still is in a beta format, 13 Things
a Pastor Would Like to Say to a Missionary but Can’t ...13 Things a Missionary
Would Like to Say to a Pastor but Can’t. The beta site is: www.mpdialog.com. This will set up the
format for a creative dialogue. Also the pastor can keep in mind that when the
missionary comes and shares, it is not all about money.
It is about prayer support and
sowing the seeds of information so that God can reach the hearts in the
congregation with a call to a missions vocation or a missionary associate
assignment. The exposure to the need through the missionary is one of the great
tools God can use to touch the hearts of people for overseas ministry.
How can we pray for you as you begin this new assignment in service
to Christ?
Thank you for asking this
question! I will admit upfront that the task of leading this great missionary
enterprise consisting of approximately 150 support staff and 2,700 missionaries
and missionary associates is overwhelming. No one person is adequate for the
task. My request for prayer is that the Lord would give me His wisdom,
discernment, and humility. These three elements among many others are needed to
be able to lead like Christ modeled in Mark 10:45.
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