CAPE TOWN, South Africa–David Garrison, as Global Strategist for Evangelical Advance at the International Mission Board, is committed to “learning all that he can and influencing all that he can for the sake of fulfilling the Great Commission.”

He certainly has opportunity to do both as he attends the Third Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization meeting in Cape Town, South Africa October 17 to 24.

Garrison, who has served with the Southern Baptist IMB for 26 years and is known as an authority on church planting movements, said he is delighted to be a part of the historic global gathering of evangelicals. “Seeing the wider body of Christ gather like this is a little taste of heaven.”

Other denominations and organizations have entire “silos of information and experience” that need to be explored, he said. “I like to say that if the body of Christ only knew what the body of Christ knows, then the body of Christ would know all that it needs to know to do the work of Christ in the world,” he said.

Garrison was a member of the Lausanne Strategy Working Group and now, as one of the 4,000 participants at the invitation-only gathering, he is participating in plenary sessions, table group discussions, and other breakout groups. He is also connecting and reconnecting with leaders from other strategic mission organizations.

He is also relishing seeing Christian brothers and sisters from Malta, Tunisia, Japan, Egypt, Eastern Europe and other places where he and his wife served as IMB missionaries.

“I think this gathering is an encouragement for anyone who participates, and especially for those who have been harassed or persecuted for their faith,” Garrison said. “Here they know they are not alone. This is an opportunity for renewal in the Body of Christ. If Christians around the world can see that they are a part of something bigger than themselves that God is doing to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then this Congress will be a success. So far, it’s looking pretty good.”

Reflecting on Cape Town 2010, Garrison said that he has found the program to be diverse, but balanced. He has been very pleased with the solid Bible teaching of John Piper, Vaughan Roberts and others. “This conference is taking us back to the Scripture. That’s what ties us together.”

The commitment of Congress organizers to seating a diverse group resulted in limiting the size of the U.S. delegation to 400 persons. Even so, Garrison believes that the global economic downturn probably hindered the attendance of some Southern Baptists. “As a matter of stewardship,” he said, “some of our IMB strategists who might have otherwise come, did not.”

The missiologist is looking forward to sharing his Lausanne experience with IMB leadership in early November. First he will hopscotch to Addis, Ethiopia, to lead a training conference of 300 evangelists.