Wig-Take 101

This Christmas break our family visited the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas and learned all about the race to the moon.  The men and women who worked on that program were asked to do what seemed impossible.  They had to work toward answers to questions that they did not yet know existed.  They needed to develop systems that were not yet developed. The vision to put a man on the moon was far bigger than their own capacities and yet they did it. They worked with a determination that would get their men to the moon. 
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“. . . but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.” 
                                                                          - Luke 5:19

If you are not familiar with the story of the paralytic whose friends would let nothing stop them from getting him into the healing presence of Jesus, I’d encourage you to stop and read the short story in Luke 5:17-26.

These were men whose determination would let nothing stop them from bringing their friend to the feet of Jesus.  They were men of stubborn perseverance who knew their ultimate objective and were determined to achieve that objective no matter the obstacles and no matter the cost.  

This is a theme Jesus brings us back to again and again in the book of Luke.  A man loses a single lamb and he leaves the ninety-nine others to search far and wide for it.  A woman loses a single silver coin and sweeps the house in search of it despite the nine others she has in her pocket.

Relentless searching seems to be the appropriate response in the kingdom of God to the reality of the lost.  And celebration is the appropriate response to finding what was lost.

What’s It Going To Take
I first heard the term “Wig-Take” in 2007 in Chang Mai Thailand.  Our trainer was telling of his work in SE Asia among an unreached people group numbering in the millions.  He was sharing the plan that he and his team had developed to reach the entire people group.  They had started in prayer with a simple question that he called a Wig-Take question: What is it going to take to reach this people group?

I’d grown up with questions like, “How can we get more people to come to our church?” a vision which suddenly seemed stunningly inadequate in light of his vision to reach an entire people group; a remote ethnic group of nearly 2 million people with no gospel access and no known believers and who were largely illiterate.

It began to seem even more inadequate as he shared stories of their work among these people and what God was doing.

This question presupposes a vision that is bigger than me.  It’s presupposes a God sized vision, a vision I could never accomplish alone. 

Pastor Chris Galanos writes about how he discovered the Wig-Take principles and explains it this way,  “What’s It Going to Take to Reach Everyone in the People Group?” Not what can I do or what can you do. Not what have others done before us. Not what’s possible. No. What’s it going to take? That’s the question we must ask! We have to be willing to do whatever it’s going to take! [read the whole article]

Our trainer in Thailand challenged us with the statement, “If your vision is something you can accomplish by yourself, your vision is probably too small.”

I want to encourage you to begin to dream and pray for a God sized vision for your context. 

Perhaps you live in a city: What is it going to take to reach everyone in your city?

Perhaps you live in a small rural town: What is it going to take to reach everyone in your county?

Perhaps you are working among a remote group of people in Africa: What is it going to take to reach ALL of them?

Pray to the Lord of the harvest for a God sized vision and then begin to ask yourself, what is it going to take?

 Are we willing to do whatever it is going to take?  

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