Time magazine’s April 2010 article, “The 100 Most Influential People in the World,” is a fascinating look at people—male and female, young and old, North American and international, recognized and unrecognized—who are making significant contributions to their respective fields.  Time editors and readers voted on the 100 honorees, and the recipients are arbitrarily categorized as leaders, artists, thinkers and heroes.

Recipients vary from singer Lady Gaga to U.S. President Barack Obama to Chinese blogger Han Han to golfer Phil Mickelson. In the list are politicians, businesspersons, soldiers, musicians/singers, economists, TV and stage personalities, humanitarians, comedians, writers, designers, restaurateurs, scientists, physicians, philanthropists, educators, philosophers, lawyers, sports personalities, and a firefighter.  I suspect that among the list are those who claim Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Atheism, or any number of other belief systems as their faith. 

Several thoughts come to mind as I read this list.  I am first reminded that the world in need of the gospel is much larger than my daily Kentucky world. Indeed, at least 40 of the 100 influencers are internationals. The fact that East Asians and Africans are the most represented among the internationals should surprise only those who have not recognized ongoing geopolitical shifts around the world. The human race is much bigger than any of us—yet our Great Commission mandate to get the gospel to this ever changing and always growing world remains (Matt. 28:18-20).

Second, we must do the Great Commission because all human beings—regardless of their achievements—are lost without a relationship with Jesus Christ.  People around the globe are doing good things like promoting progress in Africa and Haiti, standing against oppressive regimes, seeking cures for deadly diseases, advancing reforms in education, counseling and feeding the poor, and championing basic human rights.  Such acts are certainly honorable and worthy of the attention of a major news magazine—but they do not earn salvation. Everyone must still respond to the gospel, having heard it from someone who first proclaims it. 

This is where this list in Time most captures my thinking. In many ways, this list of “influencers” is a list of unknowns. Even the editor admits such: “You might not have heard their names before.”  He continues, though: “but their innovations and efforts will help change the world for years to come.”  We may not recognize or remember long the names of some of the world’s most influential people, but the fruit of their labor may well outlast them.

Somehow, that’s the way God’s economy works.  Think about Great Commission believers who daily proclaim Christ around the world.  They are salt and light to a lost world (Matt. 5:13-16), telling the Good News without concern for worldly recognition. Sometimes only their immediate family and friends recognize their names.  In some cases, only a few others know where they are serving geographically.  These believers will likely never be featured in a national magazine.  For some, to paint their portrait across the cover of Time magazine might, in fact, be dangerous.  But, these “unknowns” are willing to remain unknown, giving their lives so that Jesus alone might be known. 

Great Commission leaders around the world (and in our local churches) may be unknowns, but their efforts will change eternity – and that’s the kind of influence that really matters.  That's Great Commission influence.
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See Rick Stengel, “Under the Influence,” Time 175, No. 18 (2010): 8.