“I am either going to be a Top 40 disc jockey or a missionary!” I was 37 years old and these were my final words in a resignation talk at a church where I had been a youth pastor for four years.

I did, in fact, become that disc jockey for a few months before I found an opportunity to work in my passion of leading youth and adults in the rich experience of serving people in need around the world by starting Mission Discovery in 1991. In just a few days Mission Discovery will enter it 25th year of ministry!

I was meeting with a friend yesterday who was on the first Mission Discovery trip. Mike and I discussed how we could celebrate with you and others what God has done through you and thousands of volunteers. “In 25 years of your work, what lasts?” Mike asked. What lasts?

I thought back to Colonia Rivera de Bosque (Forrest River), a poor neighborhood outside the city of Reynosa, and wondered if any of the dozens of 12’x16’ homes had survived. I can’t imagine that they would be standing. They were meant to be a short-term solution to an immediate need to get families out of the mud and move to a healthier living environment. What lasts?

In Eugene Peterson’s “The Message,” Matthew 6:20 is crystal clear: “Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars.” I know that eternal differences have been in the lives of both those served and the servers that are made possible by your investment in kingdom-building.

My songwriter friend Jim Weber asks the same question in his song titled “Diamonds in the Dust. “When the sand has slipped through my hourglass, and I find myself looking back over all that I’ve done, will it stand in the wind that blows future to past? And is anything here gonna last when my time is done?”

Thank you for investing your treasures in Mission Discovery as we seek to serve the poor with the love of Christ.

As this year closes, would you consider including Mission Discovery in your year-end giving? Over the years, your special gifts in December have moved Mission Discovery forward in making sure that we continue to offer ministry that has lasting value.

[Maury Buchanan and his wife Ann live in Gallatin, Tennessee)