Boss Delivers “GO Week” Chapel Message Sept. 14

Jacob Boss, affinity leader for the European peoples with the International Mission Board, delivered the OBU chapel message Sept. 14. The service took place in Raley Chapel’s Potter Auditorium on the OBU campus in Shawnee. His message centered on Romans 10:11-15.

The event was part of “GO Week,” an annual week on the University’s campus that focuses on mobilizing students to serve in Global Outreach, including short-term trips overseas and domestically through OBU’s Avery T. Willis Center for Global Outreach. Each year, hundreds of OBU students, faculty and staff travel to numerous locations around the world, serving in as many as 20 different countries annually. OBU has historically sent more alumni into overseas service through the International Mission Board than any other university.

“Looking at the world today, it is a place that is desperately in need of the gospel,” Boss said. “The world today is a place where many people are asking very, very deep questions. So this morning, I want to remind us of a reality and I want to ask us all some very challenging questions in light of this reality.”

“The reality is that lostness is real,” Boss said. “The reality is that the gospel is the only solution to this massive problem of lostness. The reality is that followers of Jesus are the means to get the gospel to the lost.”

He then shared that there are currently more than two billion people who have not yet heard about Jesus.

“Are you being obedient in engaging this reality? This is not an insignificant question. This question carries an eternal weight. I do not mean to put an undue burden on anyone this morning, but at the same time, the day and the time in which God has put you and me providentially on this Earth requires an urgency that can be easy to forget.”

Boss is the affinity leader for the European peoples with the International Mission Board (IMB). He was originally sent by his church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to serve in Asia in 2008. He has served the IMB by equipping believers to engage lostness among Muslims, Hindus and urban youth. In 2012, he became vice president of global training for Meridian, where he helped develop and implement simple, reproducible theological tools to see healthy multiplying churches across the 10/40 window.

He rejoined the IMB in 2014 when he moved to a large city in Asia to engage global cities with the Gospel. His family moved to London, England, in 2017 to continue engaging the global cities of the world. Jacob, along with his wife Elisabeth and their four children, have served as affinity leaders for Europe since August 2019.

Learn more about Global Outreach at OBU, including upcoming trips and application details.