by Elder Peter Lim

When I wrote Part 1 a few months ago, I had in mind the road that leads to Heaven in general as the best place to be. Of course I still stand by that truth. However, I wanted to write a little more specifically of why that place is San Diego for me in particular. Actually, there are many places in the world that I would like to be at. It’s not because it would be fun, or beautiful, or better food, or low cost of living, or job/business would be better, or people are friendlier, or people in San Diego have made it difficult for me to stay, or just need a change, or just want to see the world, or any number of other reasons. No, the only reason I would like to be anywhere else is because of the opportunities for ministry there. As of a few days ago, my missionary friends have had to leave their homes within a moment’s notice because of civil unrest in the Islamic country in which they are serving in and bands of men are walking around with guns and other weapons, killing hundreds of people. I wish I was there with my friends. There is a church half way around the world where it’s freezing cold and much blood has been shed historically for the cause of Christ. I wish I was there with fellow believers who have become dear to my heart. There is a little church plant about 8 hours North of San Diego who can use some more help to reach the lost and strengthen the members there. I wish I was there with fellow church planters. There are small churches all over the world where they are praying for someone with any knowledge of scripture to come and help them to grow. I wish I was there with strangers who are fellow brothers.

So what in the world am I doing here in the comforts of San Diego? Good question. Why are you where you are? I am here in San Diego with a definite purpose: to minister in the church here. We have a need for faithful people to serve sacrificially in a difficult situation. The difficulties here include: a culture that is indifferent or even hostile to Christianity, pseudo-intellectuals who ignorantly follow the influences of the world, a church-culture which produces either baby Christians or self-deceived “Churchians” who think that they are saved when they are not (Matt. 7:21-23). We San Diegans need a beacon that shines brightly in this dark world in order to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in a clear light. This gospel needs to be clearly preached and demonstrated to the many young people who come through our fine city. The mission field is right here in our own church as many people are finding out that they’ve been walking through life with a worldly world-view that can barely be considered Biblical. We have seen people testify that they had been deceiving themselves into thinking that they were Christians when they couldn’t even give a basic outline of a gospel presentation, let alone understand the extent of their own sinfulness before a Holy God with a brokenness in spirit. Many are thinking that it’s okay and normal for a “Christian” to go through life arguing about the technicalities of where to draw the line between liberty and legalism rather than living under the power of the Spirit and contriteness of heart. There is much work to do right here in San Diego.

In the movie “Star Trek: Insurrection”, there is a scene in which Captain Picard discusses with one of the planet’s residents regarding life. Picard asks her why she and her people never took advantage of their superior technical knowledge by building starships to explore the universe. Her answer is, “Anywhere I could go, would only take me away from here” meaning that she is already in the most wonderful and best place to be. Why would she ever want to leave? In the same way, I can only think of one reason why I would ever want to leave San Diego and the work we are doing here… in obedience to the call from God to evangelize to the lost elsewhere, which reminds me of our frequently quoted phrase, “the definition of missions is just church over there.” That’s why I believe God has sent me here to San Diego, to minister to His bride, Lighthouse Bible Church, as she reaches out to the lost here in America’s Finest City. If you share my desire to reach San Diego and you plan on being here long term, please let me know and I’ll add you to my personal list of coworkers that I expect to minister with for the next 40+ years.