Remember when tweeting was what birds did? Now it seems that everybody’s chattering on Twitter, myself included. Although I’m still getting used to this new form of communication, I must say it’s made it easy for me to keep track of what my friends are doing.

Thanks to Twitter, I’ve been able to follow World Vision’s Make a Difference Tour 2010, featuring Max Lucado, Michael W. Smith, Third Day, and others. They are wrapping up their 20-city tour this week. In particular, I’ve enjoyed reading Max Lucado’s tweets.

Max Lucado in Ethiopia in 2009. (Jon Warren/WV)

What’s been on Max’s mind lately? Unity among the body of Christ. (Maybe it’s the result of riding cross-country on a bus with a big, diverse group of Christians?)

Here are some of his recent tweets:

When believers agree, Jesus takes notice, shows up, and hears our prayers. (Matt 18:19-20)

Unity matters to God. There is “one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16).

Cooperation is more than a good idea; it is a command. “Make every effort to keep unity of the Spirit” (Eph 4:3).

No I or ME or YOU. We are in this together. We are more than followers of Christ. “We are parts of his body” (Eph. 5:30).

“You [all collectively] shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). Jesus didn’t issue individual assignments; He works in community.

 A common concern gives us a common song. None of us can do what all of us can do.

Of all people, Max Lucado could go it alone. He’s a fantastically successful author whose many books have sold 65 million copies. People around the world know his name. In worldly terms, someone of his status wouldn’t need anyone.

But Max isn’t besotted with his own fame. He remains a true servant, as we all are called to be. He leans on others, as all of us must. Max has learned a lot from the book of Acts, in which the early Christians showed us the way to live, praise, and work in community.

Do you seek unity with other believers? Do you agree with Max that when you do, Jesus “shows up”?

P.S. Praise God for a successful Make A Difference Tour. Early results show that nearly 12,000 children have been sponsored!

All this week I’ve been at the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism in Cape Town, South Africa. More than 4,000 Christian leaders from 197 countries have come together here to confront the critical issues of our time as they relate to the future of the Church and world evangelism.

Richard Stearns speaks at the Lausanne Congress.

I have wept more than once this week. Tears ran down my face as I listened to Libby Little passionately tell the story of her husband, Tom Little, the medical missionary brutally killed in Afghanistan in August. She said that his death provided the fragrance of Christ to those who killed him.

I cried hearing the testimony of an 18-year-old North Korean girl who lost both her mother and father to prison because they refused to stop sharing the gospel. This brave girl spoke passionately and brilliantly to us for 15 minutes—until she broke down during her last two sentences, as she pledged to pick up where her parents had left off: taking the gospel to the North Korean people. 

And I wept during the powerful Bible expositions of Ephesians as I grasped again the length, width, height, and depth of the riches of Christ, the mighty power of the gospel, and the great mission of the Church on earth.

Today, John Piper made a plea that Lausanne would embrace the two great truths intentioned in the global Church: first, that the gospel impels us outward to fight all unjust suffering in our world; and second, that the gospel brings the message of salvation from eternal suffering.

In other words, we should care about all suffering—now and in eternity. May we not choose between the two.

I’ve been on a lot of planes lately, crisscrossing America as well as flying to other continents. Today, I touched down in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism.

When I travel, I often think about worldview—how we see our world. I’m often struck by how different these views can be from person to person. There’s a worldview I like to call “the Rick Steves view of the world.” Rick Steves, of course, is the wonderful travel writer who writes all of those marvelous European travel guides and hosts a travel program on PBS.

In this worldview, the world is a wonderful and fascinating place, filled with magnificent monuments, cultural attractions, and fabulous restaurants. It is the world of art, literature, and beauty—and all of it can be ours if we buy a ticket and explore it.

Renee' and I have had our worldview shaped by scenes like this -- the Guatemala city dump, where families and children sort through garbage for things to sell. (Jon Warren/WV)

That worldview is true. Its sinister antithesis is what I call “the Rich Stearns view of the world.” This is a world of severe famines, ethnic and religious hatred and violence, pandemic diseases, human exploitation, and grinding, brutal poverty. Sadly, this worldview is also true.

Most Americans don’t embrace my worldview, and no wonder—Rick Steves’ worldview is certainly more fun. (Mind you, this is not to say that Rick is unaware of or uncaring about poverty. He supports the Christian hunger-fighting group Bread for the World.)

I don’t believe God gives us the option of turning a blind eye to the suffering and need in our world, whether it’s here or 10,000 miles away in Africa. Changing your worldview—seeing the areas of need as well as the beauty—isn’t easy, but it’s necessary in order to be used by God to bring relief to the suffering, to help turn the “Rich Stearns world” into Rick Steves’ world of joyful discovery.

What’s your worldview? Are you open to seeing more—even when it hurts?