Editor: Let me ask you a “what-if” type of question. What would you envision God doing around the world if all believers accepted the challenge of the PEACE Plan?

Rick: I believe God is starting a second Reformation. The first Reformation was based on creeds; the second Reformation is based on deeds. God’s people are going to be “doers of the Word,” and the result is going to be the global glory of God. I see God completely mobilizing ordinary believers to defeat the five giants. I see churches rapidly multiplying all over the world and completely evangelizing the entire planet. We have what we call our “20/20 vision”—10 million churches with 100 million small groups mobilizing 1 billion disciples for the PEACE Plan by the year 2020.

Those numbers stagger the imagination, but God’s Word says He is able “to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope” (Eph. 3:20 NLT). And the Church is God’s instrument for accomplishing these things. The Church is truly the greatest force on the face of the earth. More than one third of the world’s population claims to be followers of Jesus Christ. The Church is everywhere, even in villages that don’t have a school, a clinic, a hospital, a fire department, a post office, or any businesses. The Church is the only thing in the world that is growing faster than the global giants. The Church has God’s authority to attack the giants, and we have God’s Word that His victory is inevitable and unavoidable.

We may look at these problems and think, “These are too big! How could we possibly solve them?” But with God, nothing is impossible. What do you think could happen if God’s people prayed against these global giants, prepared for action against these giants, and then moved through faith to tackle these giants? Think about the exponential explosion of ministry when millions upon millions of small groups in millions upon millions of churches organize in such a way that each person can do their part!

Editor: If Christians began to confront the giant problems you have talked about in their own communities, how would it change their churches? How would it change their communities?

Rick: It’s hard for us to imagine the radical difference it would make because there aren’t many examples of God’s people systematically attacking all the giants in the power of God’s Spirit. Some of the giants are being attacked in some places by government programs or social service agencies, but you don’t see transformation, in part because the problem is as much spiritual as it is physical and real change has to happen in the whole person. Government programs and social service agencies can’t accomplish that; only God can change people both inside and out. The shame is that God’s people haven’t been faithful in all the ways God calls us to serve. The Church is the body of Christ, but it has been a body without hands and feet.

When you look for the places where the hands and feet of Christ are at work in the world, you get a glimpse of the radical transformation we will see when all God’s people begin to systematically attack the giants. We see churches that become energized in worship and service, churches that are growing because unchurched people are drawn to places where God’s Spirit is changing lives. We see government and business leaders turn their backs on self-interest and corruption and set their hearts on serving the people. We see whole communities enjoy a better standard of living because people have become economically self-sufficient. We see children growing up healthy instead of dying from preventable illnesses like malaria or diarrhea. We see fewer widows and orphans because the HIV/AIDS rate is reduced. We see people filled with hope because they have received an education that opens the door for a brighter future for them. We see a world that is more like what God intended it to be in the first place—and get a glimpse of what it will be like when his kingdom comes “on earth as it is in heaven.”

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