What is a human life worth? And more pointedly — is your life worth laying down so that someone else can hear the gospel? On October 3, 2021, Grace Bible Church of Phoenix welcomed missionary Ben Anderson, International Director of Things to Come Mission (TCM), who brought a message close to his heart: What Is the Soul Worth?
Ben and his wife Joyce have spent their lives on the mission field — from Kenya to the Philippines, from Vietnam to Indonesia — laboring to bring the gospel of grace to unreached people groups. This annual update was a window into that world, and a challenge for every believer to consider the worth of a human soul.
The Troas Strategy: Taking the Gospel Where It Has Never Gone
Ben shared about TCM’s “Troas Strategy” — a framework inspired by the Apostle Paul’s vision in Acts 16, where God called him to Macedonia. The strategy focuses on deploying missionaries into regions where the gospel has not yet taken root, particularly within the 10/40 Window — the band of nations stretching from West Africa to East Asia where the majority of the world’s unreached people live.
TCM currently works on 17 mission fields. Ben described partnerships with local national missionaries — people like Jimmy Escobar, a Filipino church planter who relocated to Vietnam — who are uniquely positioned to reach their neighbors. Through regional gatherings like a recent conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where 200 people from 17 nations gathered, TCM is building a network of gospel workers across Southeast Asia.
Acts 20:24 — Paul’s Measure of a Life Well Spent
The central passage of Ben’s message was Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders:
“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
— Acts 20:24 (NIV)
Paul had spent three years in Ephesus — more time than anywhere else in his ministry. And yet, when it was time to move on, he pressed forward because souls were still waiting to hear. Ben connected this to Hudson Taylor’s famous conviction: “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.” The question Paul’s life raises is the same one Ben poses to every congregation he visits: Is a soul worth your life?
Jimmy Escobar: A Life That Counted
One of the most moving parts of Ben’s message was the story of Jimmy Escobar, a Filipino missionary who sensed a call to Vietnam — a country that had long been closed to the gospel. Jimmy and his family relocated, learned the language, planted their lives there, and began building relationships. Incredibly, through a divine appointment on an airplane, he connected with a former president of the Philippines who later helped TCM gain official NGO registration in Vietnam.
But the story took a hard turn. Jimmy contracted COVID-19 and died. It raised the aching question again: Was it worth it?
Ben’s answer was drawn from the legacy of another young life — his own sister, who died of meningitis at age 11. Before she died, she had spoken plainly to a neighborhood boy: “You need to be saved.” Seventy-five years later, that man — transformed by Christ — told Ben he had never forgotten those words. His life had impacted hundreds, perhaps thousands.
“Imagine what this guy’s life would be like if he’d never heard of Christ. Instead, his life has impacted hundreds and thousands — maybe tens of thousands of people.”
— Ben Anderson, TCM Update 2021
The Mystery of the Gospel to the Gentiles
Ben also drew from Ephesians 3, reminding the congregation that Paul was entrusted with a special mystery:
“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
— Ephesians 3:6 (NIV)
In Ephesians 2, Paul had described Gentiles as “without hope and without God in the world.” But that changed with the gospel. Ben’s point was stark: there are still communities today — entire people groups — where men and women live and die without any exposure to Jesus Christ. They have no hope. And the body of Christ carries that gospel.
So What?
Ben Anderson’s message was not a guilt trip — it was an invitation to see the world the way Paul saw it. We are saved for a purpose. Our families are a crucial part of that purpose. But the gospel’s reach extends beyond our homes to people who have never heard the name of Jesus.
You may never move to Vietnam or Kenya. But you can pray, give, and go — even across a neighborhood. The missionary impulse is not a calling reserved for a few. It is the natural overflow of a heart that believes the gospel actually changes lives.
As Ben closed: “Will my life make a difference? One day we’ll move on — will the world be different because we were here?”
Scripture References
- Acts 20:24 — Paul’s commitment to finish the race and testify to God’s grace
- Ephesians 3:6 — The mystery of Gentiles as fellow heirs through the gospel
- Ephesians 2:12 — Gentiles once without hope and without God in the world