{"id":5419,"date":"2025-12-17T16:48:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T16:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T16:48:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T16:48:01","slug":"missionary-obeying-the-great-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"MISSIONARY: Obeying the Great Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I have claimed this land for God.”<\/p>\n

The words were written by John G. Paton and adorn the grave of his wife and child. It was a declaration of faith that God would bring the people of the New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, to Himself. The islanders were thought of as savages; in fact Paton slept on the grave to prevent the bodies of his wife and child from being eaten by cannibals.<\/p>\n

Paton famously said, “If I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms.”<\/p>\n

Today the islands are full of churches\u2014even some very close to the site of Mrs. Paton’s grave.<\/p>\n

Stephen McCaskell<\/a> is the producer and director of a six-part video series called Missionary<\/em>, which includes an episode about Paton, as well as others which tell the stories of famous missionaries. Listen as he tells why the church today needs<\/em> the example of men and women sent by God and obedient to the Great Commission. Watch this behind-the-scenes video<\/a> of Stephen and the team tracking down Paton’s legacy in Vanuatu.<\/p>\n

He’ll also share about filming in England on the path of William Tyndale, as well as stories of David Livingston, Amy Carmichael, Hudson Taylor and William Carey. Stephen also shares what he wants viewers and churches to take away after viewing the Missionary film series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The VOM App<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for your smartphone or tablet will help you pray daily for persecuted Christians throughout the year, as well as providing\u00a0free<\/u>\u00a0access to e-books, audiobooks, video content and feature films. Download the VOM App for your\u00a0iOS<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Android<\/strong><\/a> device today.<\/p>\n

Listen to this episode on VOMRadio.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I have claimed this land for God.” The words were written by John G. Paton and adorn the grave of his wife and child. It was a declaration of faith that God would bring the people of the New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, to Himself. The islanders were thought of as savages; in fact Paton slept on the grave to prevent the bodies of his wife and child from being eaten by cannibals. Paton famously said, “If I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms.” Today the islands are full of churches\u2014even some very close to the site of Mrs. Paton’s grave. Stephen McCaskell is the producer and director of a six-part video series called Missionary, which includes an episode about Paton, as well as others which tell the stories of famous missionaries. Listen as he tells why the church today needs the example of men and women sent by God and obedient to the Great Commission. Watch this behind-the-scenes video of Stephen and the team tracking down Paton’s legacy in Vanuatu. He’ll also share about filming in England on the path of William Tyndale, as well as stories of David Livingston, Amy Carmichael, Hudson Taylor and William Carey. Stephen also shares what he wants viewers and churches to take away after viewing the Missionary film series. The VOM App\u00a0for your smartphone or tablet will help you pray daily for persecuted Christians throughout the year, as well as providing\u00a0free\u00a0access to e-books, audiobooks, video content and feature films. Download the VOM App for your\u00a0iOS\u00a0or\u00a0Android device today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vom-radio","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nMISSIONARY: Obeying the Great Commission - Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MISSIONARY: Obeying the Great Commission - Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""I have claimed this land for God." The words were written by John G. Paton and adorn the grave of his wife and child. It was a declaration of faith that God would bring the people of the New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, to Himself. The islanders were thought of as savages; in fact Paton slept on the grave to prevent the bodies of his wife and child from being eaten by cannibals. Paton famously said, "If I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms." Today the islands are full of churches\u2014even some very close to the site of Mrs. Paton's grave. Stephen McCaskell is the producer and director of a six-part video series called Missionary, which includes an episode about Paton, as well as others which tell the stories of famous missionaries. Listen as he tells why the church today needs the example of men and women sent by God and obedient to the Great Commission. Watch this behind-the-scenes video of Stephen and the team tracking down Paton's legacy in Vanuatu. He'll also share about filming in England on the path of William Tyndale, as well as stories of David Livingston, Amy Carmichael, Hudson Taylor and William Carey. Stephen also shares what he wants viewers and churches to take away after viewing the Missionary film series. The VOM App\u00a0for your smartphone or tablet will help you pray daily for persecuted Christians throughout the year, as well as providing\u00a0free\u00a0access to e-books, audiobooks, video content and feature films. Download the VOM App for your\u00a0iOS\u00a0or\u00a0Android device today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-17T16:48:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"vomtechsupport\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"vomtechsupport\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"vomtechsupport\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/5ff286fd5505fccd2d5ebfd9d4203216\"},\"headline\":\"MISSIONARY: Obeying the Great Commission\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-17T16:48:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.persecution.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/VOM-Stories-VOMRadio-Placeholder.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"VOM Radio\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/missionary-obeying-the-great-commission\/\",\"name\":\"MISSIONARY: Obeying the Great Commission - 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