By Paul Richardson
MSI International Director

Every seat was filled. More than 300 educators had traveled from across Indonesia to gather for the 10th Annual Charis Teachers’ Conference. I sat toward the back and surveyed the crowd. Before stepping up to speak, memories from the last quarter century flooded my mind, and gratitude flooded my heart.

Since 2003, God has provided Mustard Seed donors and faithful prayer partners who have walked with us every step of the way. What began as a “mustard seed”—just 50 children and 5 national teachers—has grown into a network of Christian schools now educating thousands of Indonesian students.

Our team has pioneered a transformative curriculum emphasizing character formation, leadership development, and creative problem-solving. We have trained teachers and equipped young leaders. We have built schools and systems.

And yet, as I prepared to speak to an auditorium full of teachers that day, one thought pressed on my heart. The most foundational and transformative story in human history is not the story of educational advancement. It is that we were separated from God and drowning in sin. The Father sent His Son, Jesus, into the world. He lived the life we could not live, sinless and perfect. He surrendered Himself to betrayal. He endured torture and bore the weight of the world’s sin upon the cross. And on the third day, He rose in victory.

That story changes everything.

In Luke 18, Jesus tells of two men who went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee. The other, a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood confidently and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” His résumé was impressive and his achievements admirable.

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even dare to look up. He beat his breast and cried out, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”

Jesus concludes with stunning clarity: it was the tax collector, not the religious achiever, who went home justified before God.

The kingdom of God is not entered through achievement but through repentance.

Have you ever hit rock bottom? When your strength ran dry? When you felt alone and desperate in a vast and indifferent universe? Can you relate to the prodigal son, hungry, humiliated, eating pig slop, when he finally “came to his senses” and began the journey home?

Those are the most sacred moments of our lives, when only one option remains: to cry out, “Father, have mercy on me!” In those moments we reach for Jesus, the hope of the world.

Our team will remain committed to cultivating the future leaders of a nation through Christian education. Yet, with the awareness that if we achieve excellence without repentance, we will have failed. Christian education matters, but only when it flows from, and continually returns to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

May this Easter be your most meaningful remembrance ever!