500,000 people
Half a million. That’s a lot of folks. It’s more than I “can shake a stick at” so to speak. 
 And that’s roughly the population of the metropolitan area of Pereira, the capital of Risaralda where we live and work. 500,000 – more than ten times the size of the town where I was born. More than 12 times the size of the town where my sons were born. More than 5,000 times larger than the town where my father preached when I was a child.
500,000 people – and they all need the opportunity to hear the gospel. Some consider themselves quite religious. Some have never thought about the matter. And yet they all need to have a personal relationship with their Creator and Redeemer. They all need to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus the Christ.
Right now we are seeking a better place to meet. The living room where we’re meeting right now has reached capacity – and that’s because not everyone is able to come right now. One lady is on the verge of giving birth. One family can not afford the bus fare for them all to come. And there are other folks with other reasons.
So, where does one find a place to reach out to 500,000 people from? Where should we go? What do we need? How do you reach 500,000 people with the Gospel? That last question is the easy one. You reach 500,000 people one at a time. We don’t expect that the place the Lord leads us to will enable us to reach every soul in this town. But we DO need a place that is reachable by more people with whom we already have contact. And when the time comes we’ll seek out another place, and another, and another. Because we’re called to be salt to this world and the salt does no good if it’s clumped up.
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