Missions & Young Adults
Jimmy Seibert, senior pastor of Antioch Community Church in Waco, Texas, believes everybody is called to missions.
As pastor of the 3,000-member church founded on a vision of planting churches and sending missionaries into the world, Seibert says he believes Jesus has called all believers to help fulfill the Great Commission.
"When we decided to focus on the unreached of the world, it caused us to do church differently," says Seibert, author of the book Passion and Purpose: Believing the Church Can Still Change the World. "We weren't just trying to be a great American church. We were trying to train and disciple our people in such a way that they could reproduce the kingdom of God anywhere in the world."
Seibert, along with his wife, Laura, and a group of friends who shared their vision for a missions-based church, founded Antioch Community Church in 1999. Before that, the same group of people had started a missionary training school; planted churches in Russia, Mongolia and Uzbekistan; and formed an international missions organization called Antioch Ministries International. The church gained international attention in 2001 after the Taliban arrested two of its young missionaries—Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer, who were rescued by U.S. Special Forces after they had spent 104 days in a harsh Afghani prison.
The church has grown from one small service to several services of more than 3,000 people each. Members of the church have helped bring tens of thousands of people to Christ locally and throughout the world.
"I believe with all my heart that the church is the hope of the world," Seibert says. "People are hungry for Jesus, but what people need is discipleship and a genuine, authentic community that lives that out. "
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