Why not stay where the harvest is ripe and the workers are few?

Bill Walsh reports on the DGM blog:

Today in Johannesburg, South Africa, I had lunch with Pastor Tim Cantrell of Honeyridge Baptist Church. Tim and his wife Michelle are from California and have taken up residence here, committing themselves to the ministry of this church. Yesterday an associate here in the region gave me a copy of a short article that Michelle wrote last year. I was touched by the description of their calling to minister in this country:

I could faithfully serve Christ and the gospel in another country. But I wouldn't expect to reap the same amount of fruit as in a desperate place like Africa: “God chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him.” (James 2:5). People here see their need for the Great Physician. People are suffering. We have the cure that they are asking for. The gospel (a biblical worldview) is the ultimate cure for AIDS and poverty and crime. In more western countries, people are deceptively self-sufficient and hardened to the gospel. Why not stay where the harvest is ripe and the workers are few?

Read the full article (PDF).