If God leads you into world missions, your story will be different from ours. We send this forth simply as how He did it for us. It is merely an example of the kinds of things God may do for you.
My husband and I served in the pastorate for about 30 years. We served churches in Michigan, Washington, California, and Iowa. We believe God used us in these churches. He used some of them to bring trials into our lives to make us grow spiritually, to experience His protection and provision, and to know God more intimately (for details see Warrior, Wounded, Wisdom; Focus Publishing; Bemidji, Minnesota).
When we left our church in Iowa in August, 1998, we sold our home and moved back to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I was raised. We found an apartment to rent that offered a month to month lease, as opposed to a yearly lease, because we believed that God would call us to another church in just a few months. He did not. Keith had a few opportunities to speak at churches in Michigan, but none of them called my husband to be their pastor for various, and sometimes bizarre reasons. We had never experienced this before. It had always been just a matter of time to find God’s direction. God had always led us and people were generally receptive to our ministry. But not this time. As we waited on God to show us His will, we experienced living by faith as never before.
Keith worked at three jobs during this time while I did some substitute teaching. The first was in the main building of the post office during the Christmas rush in December, 1998. He would come home exhausted, taking a 20-minute nap on the living room floor before dinner. And then sometimes a soak in the tub. He wasn’t used to physical labor, having a sedentary position most of his life.
We felt a tug to missions, but always thought we would possibly do missions when the kids were grown and on their own. Our two sons had just graduated from college; our older son was married. Was it time to make that move? We talked with missionaries at the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism and they helped arrange a trip for us to Southeast Asia. We visited schools in which we could possibly teach in the Philippines; an interdenominational, English- speaking church in Hong Kong which was considering Keith to be their assistant pastor; and Singapore where ABWE had a seminary extension. None of these opportunities worked out. None of the schools tugged on our hearts, the church found an assistant pastor who spoke both Mandarin and Cantonese (Keith’s was a little weak; no, read non-existent) and the seminary needed men with a doctorate which Keith didn’t have.
We came home still wondering what God wanted us to do. We were both concerned that He might not want to use us anymore, that we were being put on a shelf (How do you do desperation with dignity?). Little did we know that within a year or two He would expand our ministry worldwide.
I wish I could say we were always faithful and upbeat. We weren’t. There were many days I would cry and worry. The Lord used Keith’s ongoing study on the book of Job to encourage us both. We felt like we were experiencing a taste of what Job went through.
People would ask, “What are you going to do?” We said we didn’t know and were waiting on God to show us. “Well, when do you think He will show you?” “We didn’t know.” It was a difficult time. God was stretching us. Teaching us.
I substitute taught at a local Grand Rapids Christian school. Would they call again? At a time when life should be getting easier (55 years of age), it was getting tougher. They did call, asking me to sub for a veteran teacher who was sick. She was a pillar of the school who was “never” sick and very capable. But she was now seriously ill. They asked me to sub a day at a time, then a week at a time. She came back twice, too early as it turned out, and they finally asked me to finish out the year. It turned out to be a three-month job teaching third graders, an experience which turned out to be quite valuable in the future.
As the school year ended we knew Keith needed another job. Though we did not see His hand, God was at work. We met a carpenter at church during the greeting time. It was Memorial Day Sunday evening service. Bill suggested Keith meet with him at a local restaurant on Tuesday noon to discuss a possible construction job. At their lunch, Keith met a local Christian businessman, Tom, who needed someone to write a small book describing his next business venture in India.
Keith became Tom’s composition guy that summer. Dressed in shorts and sandals, he finished the book by October and began looking for another job. He found one working as a greeter at a car agency on 28th street. Turns out the owner’s son was a believer and they prayed together a number of times over Keith’s nine months there (stay tuned—that would figure big in the future . . . if you can figure what I am saying!).
But before he started work there, we flew out to Seattle on two free tickets that needed to be used before they expired. We wanted to see our friends from our years of pastoring in Lynnwood, Washington.
While we were there, enjoying lunches and dinners in various homes—wined and dined as the pastor returning home for an encore—one of the couples asked if we would consider serving at Action International Ministries, headquartered in the Seattle area. This couple had volunteered at Action for years, answering their phones and stuffing envelopes. We were willing to look at anything. We just wanted to be used.
We interviewed with Rex Lee Carlaw, the USA Director. They needed someone to lead MemberCare and write their newsletter. The position would combine our experience in the pastorate, our interest in missions, and writing. Since Keith had already written some books, it fit. It sounded interesting to both of us.
One major hurdle—Action missionaries lived totally by faith. They had to raise support from churches and individuals and live on whatever came in each month. There was no fund to make up for short months as was the case in some mission agencies.
I didn’t want to do it. I was afraid of this kind of faith living and asking others to support us. We had experienced many missionaries appealing to my husband when he was a pastor, asking if they could come and present their ministry even though we both knew there was no money in the budget for them. I didn’t want to be in that position. I just wanted a steady paycheck!
I remember Rex called us about three times after we returned home. About the third phone call, I could hear my husband’s questions and comments. I could tell he was softening and warming to Action. I sat in the living room arguing with God.
I didn’t want to do it. After the call, he came out and told me he thought this was what God wanted us to do. I remember the moment because I knew God spoke to me right then. He said (not audibly, just a very strong mental impression) that He wanted me to listen and to be open to my husband’s leadership. I took a deep breath and we agreed to ask our friends in our Christmas letter (it was early December) for their thoughts and opinions.
Amazingly, all but one of our friends who wrote back said, “Yes, this is you. Go for it.” One very practical minded friend—a General Motors exec—wrote back and said we would have three problems: (1) Action was an interdenominational mission agency whereas all of our church friends were Baptists and some Baptist churches didn’t support interdenominational missions. (2) We were in our 50s and most churches desire to support younger missionaries. (3) We would be living in the states as administrative missionaries, rather than living on the field planting local churches. He turned out to be right on all three counts. Many churches didn’t even call back when my husband requested the opportunity to present our ministry. But we didn’t know that at the time.
We were sensing God leading us through three factors: (1) I was reading I Peter chapter one in my regular daily devotional time and came across verse 13, which says, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action (emphasis added, MK) . . . .” Yes, I was taking the word out of context but the timing of my reading this passage as I struggled with the question made it clear God was talking directly to me. I shared this verse with my husband and he agreed that God was speaking to us.
(2) God began to show us that our “living by faith” was not temporary, it was training for the future. Preparation for something new.
(3) Seattle friends called during that time and asked us to come back to the Seattle area to visit them and help them work out some challenges in their lives (they eventually asked us to consider starting a church in their area) and offered to pay our way to do so.
In February 2000, Action sent out 15 candidate reference letters on us. We waited as they were returned.
In March 2000, Action’s candidate secretary called and asked if we could come to Seattle for a board interview. We responded “Yes,” because we already had funds for the trip (due to our friends’ offer). We asked our Grand Rapids friends and family to pray that God would lead us. He did. We were accepted and felt God’s calling to commit ourselves to Action. Was I still concerned about raising support and living by faith? Yes, but I was willing to try it. I was willing to step out in faith.
Recent Comments