‘The Call’ – Part 2 of 4

In February of 2014 I went to Lead Summit in Seattle, Washington with Pastor Aaron and Jonathan.  I had been looking forward to the trip because it’s an amazing environment for getting refueled in ministry.  I heard God clearly the year before about some changes that needed made in Life Point’s Men’s Ministry, and this year I was open for what God had in mind next.

What happened surprised me – really, I didn’t see it coming.

I wrote about how Anne and I felt called to be more involved with missions in the last post; but I didn’t think much more beyond that.  We diligently prepared – kept our ‘vacation’ fund unused and tucked away in case we couldn’t raise the funds to go on a trip; we felt very comfortable in accepting that we were going to be an annual short-term mission trip family.  Perhaps God would even use our experience to help lead trips for 516 Missions and Life Point.  That was the extent of our ‘planning’.

After two sessions of speakers at Lead Summit, God tapped me on the shoulder.  I listened to Chase Reynolds talk about missions in Papua Indonesia; I have several pages of notes in my journal from his Skype session, but these highlights speak volumes:

1.       I don’t want to be a Samson – Chase said he didn’t want to waste what opportunities God had given him.  I thought, ‘I don’t want to be a Jonah!’

2.       Is it worth it? – Chase said the Yefta people do not consider whether they can do something or how hard it will be; they simply ask, ‘is it worth it?’

3.       Here’s one other little bonus that I took note of as Chase spoke: Dream big, start small, act now.

I also listened to Lynn Raburn talk about foreign missions.  Again, I have a lot of notes from what he said, but this really impacted me:

1.       Lynn shared a true story about a rich man who gave up his business life to pursue a missionary life – the man died of sickness in transit to his destination.  In his Bible were written these three phrases: No reserves, no retreats, and no regrets.

So, those all sound inspirational, right?  I’ll be honest – I’ve listened to hundreds of missionaries share their hearts for why they do what they do.  I’ve heard them proclaim why others should get involved in foreign missions.  We even had a missionary that stayed with us every few years growing up!  (Now I know what he was doing: he was on furlough and visiting the churches that supported him – my family gave him a place to stay for a few weeks while he touched base with churches in western Pennsylvania and the West Virginia panhandle.)  But, I never felt called to be a missionary.

For some reason…the supernatural way of God, of course – this was different.

Each night at Lead Summit, Aaron, Jonathan, and I always debrief about what God is saying to us.

I asked them, ‘do you feel called to be a foreign missionary?’  (I wanted to rule out the possibility that the speakers had simply been compelling and inspirational.)

They looked at me blankly and both answered, ‘no.’

I said, ‘I think I might be.’

Later that night, Aaron asked me to share that statement with Ryan Copico.  I told Ryan I was now praying about that – his jaw dropped and he said, ‘you realize what you’re praying?  Be careful what you pray for!’

Now, seven months later, I understand what Ryan meant – he has been in the business of working with missionaries long enough to know that not many people really feel called to long-term foreign missions; and even fewer take it seriously, and even less yet actually see it through.

So, that was all pretty intense.  I sat around praying and thinking through it all (by human logic…that didn’t help), and the idea seemed insane.  My family loved being a part of our local church – it was comfortable; sure, the ministry was challenging, but our lives were simple and comfortable.

And, how was I going to explain this to Anne?  She would think I was insane!

When I got home, I did share that with Anne.  I told her I felt called to be a foreign missionary.  She said, ‘I’m not surprised. Me too!’

If you know Anne, that’s an unfathomable statement.  In the past, she wouldn’t go to a restaurant for the first time without me.  She needed the familiar.  She loved our peaceful, low-key life in our tiny house.  I was shocked.  We spent hours talking about what that might look like, but we didn’t get very far.  We knew God had planned for her to go to Kenya this year and I was going to City Reach.  What we did discuss was that I felt drawn to Kenya.

I wasn’t sure if that was even a possibility; I didn’t know if James Taylor needed other families to come along side him, but maybe we could go learn from the Taylors.  Anne smiled when I went through all this with her, and she showed me a video about East Kenya Missions.  At the end of the video James talks about what they need next – one of the things they needed: five families to join them.

I can’t describe what that felt like.  I’m not even going to try, because it will only limit the awe I have for the way God works.

That was a big week of transition for us – not what we expected after leaving Jamaica, for sure – and, not what I expected before going to Seattle.  We knew we had to pray, read God’s Word, and listen for affirmation.  I’m an American; it’s very hard to wait!  God moves on God time, not mine.