“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew F. Leighty Executive Director

At the end of my freshman year, I applied to serve that next school year as a resident assistant in my college dormitory. Most first-year students didn’t get selected — the odds weren’t in my favor, and I knew it. But when the university announced they were forming an all-international floor, made up of men who had traveled to the United States to learn English and study abroad, something stirred in me.

I applied anyway.

I didn’t expect to get it. I was still a teenager. There were older, more experienced students eager for the same opportunity. But the thought of living and serving alongside young men from around the world — at a Lutheran university like Concordia University Chicago (known as CURF, Concordia University-River Forest, back in my day), no less — moved me in a way I couldn’t quite explain at the time. It wasn’t just the novelty of it. It was the possibility of sharing with them, in the middle of ordinary dorm life, something far more important than English vocabulary or American customs. The love of Christ.

I was stunned when I learned I had been selected.

What followed was my first real, lived experience of Matthew 28. Right there in a dormitory hallway, leading devotions and getting to know each of them personally — their stories, their families, their questions, their lives — all nations, right down the hall.

Jesus explained the scope of sharing the Gospel when He gave the Great Commission — all nations, every people, every tongue, and every corner of the earth. He sent His disciples forward with the most powerful assurance imaginable: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).

That promise is still alive today. I think about that when I consider the reach of this ministry, and I think it might surprise you. When you tune in to watch “Worship Anew,” you might picture others like yourself — a neighbor across town, a fellow senior down the road, or someone who now worships from their living room because the drive to church has become too difficult. And the signal reaches even further than that.

“Worship Anew” airs on TCT, a network with an international presence, and through WorshipAnew.org, our mobile app, YouTube, and streaming platforms, the broadcast is accessible to viewers virtually anywhere in the world with a screen and a connection. And for American service members stationed overseas, “Worship Anew” is there too through the American Forces Network — the familiar voice of an LCMS pastor proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, bringing the comfort of home and the hope of the Gospel to an unfamiliar place. Wherever and however someone can access a screen — smartphone, tablet, or a television set, the Gospel can find them there.

All nations. Jesus meant it.

You may be thinking: I’m just one person. What can I really do? And yet, consider what you already do. You pray. You give. You share your faith with your grandchild who calls on Sunday afternoon, with the neighbor who notices your peace in hardship, with the caregiver who wonders where your hope comes from. That is the Great Commission, too.

Every one of the disciples on that hillside was sent — to their families, their neighbors, their communities — carrying the same glorious truth: that Jesus Christ has died for sinners, has risen from the grave, and reigns with all authority in heaven and on earth. His authority is what makes the mission possible. His strength carries it forward. And His promise, “I am with you always,” is the assurance we need every day.

The Commission goes forward. Through a satellite over Africa. Through a dormitory hallway in Chicago. Through you, right where you are.

“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun does its successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.”
— “Jesus Shall Reign” (LSB #832), Isaac Watts, 1719

All nations. All neighbors. All of us — together — in Him.