“How did you get involved in missions?” This is a question I have been asked many times during our furlough this year.
First of all, I married a lady who was deeply interested in mission service. But for me personally, things got started shortly after Cara and I married. We still had two years left at Union College, and we were considering whether we should apply to go as career missionaries with AFM. I was raised on stories from the mission field by authors like Eric B. Hare, Josephine Cunnington Edwards and many others. I had heard that missionaries needed to have lots of skills beyond pastoring, such as plumbing, electrical, mechanical and many others. However, I had virtually no experience doing any of these things. I didn’t even want to fill out the application because I was certain that I didn’t have what it took to be a “real” missionary.
Cara believed in me and encouraged me to talk with Dale Goodson who happened to be at Union for an AFM rally. The rally was a time when all the furloughing missionaries got together at one of our Adventist colleges for a missions emphasis weekend. During some down time, Cara and I stopped by Dale’s exhibit and talked with him. Dale was very gracious and listened to all of my fears. Then he told me, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” I left the church that day convinced that if God wanted us to go with AFM, He would open the door.
Before long we had been accepted as missionary candidates, our fundraising goals were met, and we were off to the field. All God needs is someone with a willing heart who will go where He wants them to go. When Cara and I did this we found that God had plans for us that were much bigger than we had ever imagined. He has given us ample opportunities to grow our skillsets. In the mission field we find ourselves doing things that we have no prior experience or knowledge to tackle. He has been merciful to us and has given us the support and room we need to grow and develop.
If you have fears and don’t feel that you are qualified for cross-cultural mission service, don’t forget what Dale told me so many years ago: God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
If you have questions, please prayerfully reach out to our friends at the AFM office. They can help answer those questions. Who knows? Maybe God is even now opening the doors for you to be a frontier missionary.
