In 2000, Billy Graham gathered in Amsterdam about 10,000 evangelists and leaders from evangelistic organizations.
Graham asked Paul Eshleman, the founder of The Jesus Film Project®, to invite 600 top mission strategists to discuss the fulfillment of the Great Commission. During the breakout times, those strategists sat at 75 tables in a large ballroom. The specific focus of the discussions dealt with how to start ministries in over 200 of the world’s largest “unengaged, unreached people groups” (UUPGs).
The discussions extended over several days during the conference. About halfway through that time, Bruce Wilkinson, founder of Walk Thru the Bible, stood in front of the 75 tables and encouraged them to consider which UUPGs God might ask them to adopt and reach.
“I watched God tap people’s hearts,” Wilkinson said, as different people came forward, making a commitment, one after another. Then after over half the groups were adopted, it went quiet. No one else came forward. In the silence, Wilkinson began to pray. Then, he noticed a buzz at a table in the back, Table 71.
Steve Douglass, newly appointed president designate of Campus Crusade for Christ®, was the leader of the table discussion, and he and the others at Table 71 sensed an increasing burden to get involved. They saw it as a tragedy that people were unreached and no one was even trying to reach them. So, they found themselves saying, “Let’s just do this.” They then brought a note to the front and handed it to Wilkinson: “Table 71 will take the rest.”
Together, they signed a commitment that they would not rest until there were “zero” remaining UUPGs.
Right away, the energy at Table 71 grew. A few other people joined the table group discussion. By the end of the strategy sessions on that last day, there were representatives from Wycliffe Bible Translators, Youth with A Mission (YWAM), Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru), the Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) and other organizations. They kept on meeting over time, after the sessions closed — even while the janitors were stacking the chairs in the ballroom — until they came to a point of definite commitment. Together, they signed a commitment that they would not rest until there were “zero” remaining UUPGs.
Since that day, Table 71 has met three times per year to fulfill the commitment to “zero.” And, over time, other mission leaders have become involved. Steve Douglass asked Bob Varney (his senior advisor in 2000) to co-lead the meetings. Although the first couple years were challenging as the group endeavored to accomplish the task, God was at work building trust among the leaders. One resulting example of unselfishness was when Avery Willis (IMB) said to Mark Anderson (YWAM), “Everything we have in church-planting materials in the International Mission Board is yours to use for free.”
New ideas unfolded to get the job done better and faster. For example, after Bob Varney led a devotional on Luke 5, a new partnering concept led to a turning point in how Table 71 member-organizations worked together. Relationships strengthened and trust built up within the group. Key efforts were started from the relationships of Table 71, like the International Orality Network (Avery Willis), Call to All (Mark Anderson) and Finishing the Task (Paul Eshleman).
God used a relatively small group of leaders to help the missionary efforts of the body of Christ focus on a crucial part of fulfilling the Great Commission — engaging unengaged, unreached people groups.
After a while, the meetings included a report on how many UUPGs had been engaged and how many were left to engage. And the results have been exciting. In Amsterdam there were 230 large UUPGs featured, and then a bit later 639 with over 100,000 in population were tracked. But it was eventually determined there were about 3,300 UUPGs of all sizes. Almost all of those groups have now become engaged.
Reflecting back, it is exciting to realize that God used a relatively small group of leaders to help the missionary efforts of the body of Christ focus on a crucial part of fulfilling the Great Commission — engaging unengaged, unreached people groups. Besides Table 71’s efforts, other ministries, denominations and local churches have become involved in engaging UUPGs.
God used Table 71 to keep the body of Christ focused on the unengaged, unreached. Critical factors were a compelling vision, complementary contributions, relational trust, unselfish sharing of resources and a strong commitment to take action to help see the goal of “zero” achieved.