Mike Lopez heads OneLife, an innovative menu of projects sponsored by the International Mission Board and its Student Mobilization Department. Churches, youth groups and individual students can engage at any level of investment into cross-cultural endeavors that care for orphans, free those caught in human trafficking, build daily water and waste systems for villages, care for kids in school and so much more.
What Lopez really loves doing is loving Jesus and overflowing that passion into other people. He has a perspective on reaching everyone for Christ that arguably would inspire anyone who typically drags his or her feet on matters of evangelism.
YWJ: You’ve spent decades working with all ages on the mission field, probably trying more approaches than the average person would consider. How did you land on what you’re doing with OneLife?
Lopez: Certain projects that we invested into seemed to be more about the human needs realm versus the spiritual needs. We decided to pull those aside and call them something different in order to make engaging in global missions more accessible. That became OneLife. These are efforts that relate more to human trafficking, clean water, education, poverty, hunger and agriculture. It’s really pushed some buttons for Americans who are immersed in the “Have it your way” culture and enjoy choosing how they’ll engage.
YWJ: What do you mean by that?
Lopez: We allow adults and students to become advocates for whatever cause they want to adopt. That means it’s really up to you to articulate how long or how deep you want to go in [serving in a particular area]. Someone may say, “I’m not going to stop until I see a certain kind of noticeable transformation in this or until Jesus comes back,” while others will say, “I want to raise enough money to reach a schoolhouse full of kids.” We talk about how the thirst inside of us can meet the needs of the thirsty, which brings us back to how Jesus is the Living Water. Basically, “Adopt your cause. Become an advocate. Change the world.”
YWJ: Let’s play that out a bit. Imagine a youth group is thinking about taking a trip somewhere, and the students are ready to spend thousands of dollars on travel expenses. Do you think it’s better they go and have their lives changed or that they send the money they would have spent so there’s that much more to impact the needs on the other side?
Lopez: If I had to choose I’d say they definitely need to err on going on that trip. Not only would their lives be changed, but they’d become life-changers in the lives of others. So many people around the world never have taken that opportunity, and I think the youth of our nation know Jesus enough to step out on what they have heard about Him in church or Sunday School. We’re charged to help them go and share the message with others. It’s a command we call the Great Commission.
So I don’t see that just getting their money and sending it to someone else to do the work is the best model. We do offer opportunities such as that, but my hope would be that down the road the kids end up finding their own hands-on way of reaching the nations.
YWJ: OneLife seems set up to do that from its first step to its 5,000th step. What types of projects do you see students interested in most?
Lopez: High school students tend to be more interested in projects dealing with children. It’s something they know they can do and make a difference in, maybe because it hasn’t been that long since they were kids. Perhaps they have brothers and sisters they couldn’t imagine being orphaned.
For example, 65 percent of kids in Zimbabwe have lost one or more parents. That means they’re on their own when it comes to school, and most can’t afford a simple composition book…They have to write their lessons in the dirt. One of OneLife’s projects involves getting 150,000 notebooks to distribute to these kids, with each one having the plan of salvation and a True Love Waits message on the cover. Inside, it’s just plain paper, though. In the places where we’ve already done this, the school test scores went from 40th in the nation to eighth in the nation. Kids can relate to that.
YWJ: Wow! That really seems obtainable.
Lopez: It is…Students know what a notebook is. Others might relate to a water project because they understand the need for water, even if they’ve never had to live without it. We have another project where we run a shelter for girls who normally beg each day on the streets. These girls now can come by, get a uniform while we wash their clothes, and learn basic life skills that will make them less likely to become victims of human trafficking. Every teenager or youth group can find some way to be an advocate.
YWJ: Can you talk more about what an advocate is or does?
Lopez: It could mean that you sit right here and raise awareness through social media, networking a website or more. One high school girl said, “I read on your OneLife website that the average person in a developing [country] walks 3.5 miles a day to fetch water. I’m going to run 3.5 miles a day and get people to pledge money that I can give to OneLife.” So she’s running each day and has become yet another [person] who is making a difference. She hasn’t asked about going overseas, but her influence could get the word out to many others I think.
There was one student who came to me and said, “There’s nothing I can do. I’m a food and science major.” I said, “So?” She asked, “What can a food and science major do?” I said, “We have a project where exploited women are coming out of prostitution. We want to help them find employment by setting up a bakery. Could you help us do that?” She said she could; so she went over, set it up, bought the local ingredients and taught [the local women] how to make some recipes. It’s everyone contributing his or her piece.
YWJ: It really seems simple, but full of powerful opportunities.
Lopez: People hold the key to freedom for the enslaved. We need to help the next generation realize salvation for those who never have heard of Jesus will come through them. So, youth workers have to focus on moving kids forward so people’s lives are being transformed.
YWJ: What if they’re just not into it?
Lopez: First, we have some projects that aren’t very attractive. We have one in China where people need to build outhouses because human waste is seeping into the ground water. That’s the water supply for the plants that pigs eat, and people eat those pigs and get sick. Whole villages have developed epilepsy because of it. So our guys designed a way for people to go to the bathroom—something that isn’t glorious on the surface that’s changing people’s lives.
On the other hand, Jesus said to do this kind of stuff. It’s literally a command. It’s why we give people an opportunity to know stories so they can pray for a name and a face. It’s about changing the world one life at a time. I usually tell people that nobody by him or herself can eradicate human trafficking across the world or stop worldwide hunger, but you can do it one place at a time—by taking it piece by piece. When people ask, “Why are you doing this for us?” we tell them it’s because of the love of Jesus and His message.
YWJ: What kind of changes do you think we’ll see in how this next generation does missions, be it through the influence technology or other shifts?
Lopez: One time in India I met a kid who was hoping to go to college. [The family] lived in a shack, but somehow his father managed to get him a laptop. He showed me where he kept it near where he sleeps, and it was literally a dirt floor with no furniture. Yet they had electricity and were able to find a wifi signal from a neighboring high rise. After my trip, I was able to Skype with that kid from the United States to his slum—right there with all the local kids, goats and chickens—and say hello. It was a funny kind of thing…On one hand it’s the 13th century, and on the other hand we’re in the future. Maybe that’s where we’re headed.
Then again, nothing should preclude us from going live and being face to face with people. Research may help us determine more specifically where the unreached people groups are, but relationships are where it’s at. Soon you realize it’s not really about us, but about God and His harvest.
