A Disciple and Their World, Part 2.
Updated: Sep 4
August 3, 2026
Be A Witness
DISCIPLES ARE COMMITTED TO INFLUENCING THEIR WORLD, BEING OBEDIENT TO THE GREAT COMMANDMENT (MARK 16:15-18), THE GREAT COMMISSION (MATT. 28:19-20) & THE GREAT WITNESS (1COR 9:19-23)
CORE ISSUE: MISSION
1st KEY PASSAGE:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:19-20)
2nd KEY PASSAGE:
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover. (Mark 16:16-18)
3rd KEY PASSAGE
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (1 Cor. 9: 19-23)
BACKGROUND:
This continues my June blog’s focus on world evangelism—being a witness to the world around us who are in desperate need of Jesus Christ: our neighbors, our community, our city, our country and, as Acts 1:7,8 says, to the ends of the earth.
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7,8)
One benefit of growing up and remaining in the same area for most of your life is that you come to know nearly everyone—and nearly everyone knows you. Yet our society is a highly mobile culture, and many people never even meet their neighbors. We are all different, shaped by varied life experiences.
What is someone else’s world and life really like? A vital part of building relationships is what I call the Jump Culture phenomenon. We must do more than see the back of the person’s head sitting in front of us during a church service. We should practice the Jump Culture relationship principle by taking simple steps—such as learning our neighbors’ first names. In doing so, we may discover a fellow believer or neighbor who is in desperate need of prayer.
I have experienced three distinct 180-degree Jump Culture moments that profoundly shaped my life and future as a Jump Culture teacher: my first missionary journey to India, my second to Mexico, and my third to the John 3:16 Mission in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although I have since traveled to several other countries, these three experiences remain the most formative. As a professor at Oral Roberts University, I have also had opportunities to teach in those countries and in other places, including Great Britain, Russia, Africa, and the Fiji Islands.
In the movie “Gone Baby Gone”, the opening dialogue best articulates how we can define culture,
“I have always believed it was the things you don’t choose that make you who you are; your city, your neighborhood, your family. People take pride in these things, as if it was something they had accomplished, the bodies around their souls, the cities wrapped around those. It helps to know where people started.” [1]
The term culture, can be better understood as enculturation, is the gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture or group by a person. The individual becomes an accepted member of the culture and fulfills the needed roles within the group. More importantly, the individual knows and establishes a context of boundaries and acceptable behaviors dictated by the framework of that society. It teaches the individual their role within society, as well as, within their culture and lifestyle.[2]
Culture begins with where we come from—our background, traditions, customs, language, and understanding. My own story is rooted in the lives of my African American parents. My father’s family were sharecroppers from rural Charlotte, North Carolina, where he worked on a farm before enlisting in the United States Army. My mother came from the small rural town of Dothan, Georgia, and later moved to Charlotte, where she met and married my father. Her family also worked as sharecroppers. In the early 1900s, sharecropping provided many formerly enslaved communities with a portion of the crops, including dairy and meat, from the land where they lived and worked.
As descendants of formerly enslaved grandparents, both of my parents were shaped by post-slavery families in the southeastern United States. This background only begins to describe the cultural landscape of my life. As noted earlier, culture leaves an indelible mark on our history—a genealogical footprint that should not be erased or denied. A Culture Jump, or Jump Culture phenomenon, is the intentional leap we make across cultural boundaries to witness to others and ultimately disciple them.
The biblical text in Matthew 28 present to us the beautiful mosaic of God’s culture, from creation to apocalypse.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
This vision of a diverse gathering of nations reflects the Greek word ethnos, which refers to peoples rather than political countries. It reveals God’s mosaic: the world’s diversity brought into His kingdom and, ultimately, into the heavenly scene described in Revelation 7. God the Father will unite all of His Elect, people from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages to live with Him and enjoy eternity.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen. (Rev. 7:9–12)
This passage from Revelation reflects God’s purpose from the beginning, when He created Adam and Eve. Scripture presents three major cultural turning points. The first occurs in Genesis 11, when God confuses the people’s language and scatters the nations after the tower of Babel. The second occurs in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost, when people from many regions hear the Galileans speaking in their own languages. Together, these moments trace the biblical story from creation and humanity’s fall through the cultural diversity that follows. In Adam and Eve, we see the biological origin of human society, revealing the breadth of God’s cultural mosaic. Oral Roberts, founder of Oral Roberts University, reflected this same vision in the mandate he believed God gave him during the university’s earliest development.
“Raise up your students to hear My voice, to go where My light is dim, where My voice is heard small, and My healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed yours, and in this I am well pleased.”
I am a product of this vision, as are my wife of more than 40 years and our children. More broadly, Jump Culture means intentionally entering another person’s cultural and social world. In my upcoming treatise, Jump Culture for Christ’s Sake, I will explore these ideas and encourage you to enter another person’s world with understanding and purpose. Amen!
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
Make a list of people or countries that you think may not yet know Christ.
How can you build a bridge to a neighbor from another country and show Christlike love?
If they are from another religious sect will you pray daily for them to be saved?
If the need arises, will you share the Gospel with them or others?
What are some ways to reach out to cultures to show that Jesus completely loves them?
How can you turn a conversation with an unsaved person into a Gospel presentation?
[1] Move; Gone baby Gone. Mystery/Thriller/Crime Drama. 2007, 1hr. 55min.
[2] Kottak, Conrad Phillip. Window on Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Anthropology; McGraw Hill, New York 2014.
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