“Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a doctor and a pastor, because that is what Jesus was.”
As a little boy, from the earliest years I can remember, I felt a special call to overseas missions. Now let me make it very clear: Mission service is not limited to overseas work; rather, it is a life lived with intention and purpose. Every one of us should identify as a missionary: Nurse Missionary, Teacher Missionary, Accountant Missionary, Mechanic Missionary and so on. But God places a specific call in the hearts of some people for overseas missions.
My call into mission service was certainly influenced by the mission stories that my mom read to me as a child: the adventures of a doctor walking through jungles, the pilot flying over vast lands, and the missionary boats sailing into the unknown. These stories of sacrifice and commitment resonated in my young heart. I decided that I wanted to serve Jesus and share His love with people who had never heard of Him.
That call was solidified when, as a youth, I had the opportunity to experience short-term mission service. For the first time, I realized the world was much bigger and more diverse than I had ever imagined. People processed the world around them differently from how I did. People looked different, spoke differently, and certainly ate different foods than me. But at the heart of all humanity is a longing for purpose, for identity, for love. God used short-term mission service experience to confirm that He had set me apart for cross-cultural mission service.
God’s biddings are also His enablings. When God calls, He equips, and He opens the doors. And that is exactly what He did in my life. While studying at college, God introduced me to my soon-to-be wife, who also shared a passion for overseas missions. After graduation and preparation, we set sail for the mission field. We have lived in four countries, on four continents, and now speak four languages. We have lived on a boat on the Amazon River, in a wooden hut in the jungles, in a skyrise apartment building in a bustling metropolis of over 20 million people, and in a war-torn city during active bombing. We have learned to share God’s love with people who see the world through a completely different perspective. With 19 of our 23 years of marriage spent in an overseas mission, we would not do it any other way.
To each young person reading this issue dedicated to short-term and student mission service, my appeal to you is that it is NEVER a waste to invest a year or more of your life while in college to serve God in unreached areas. The returns will be eternal. What more can we hope for than to stand before Jesus on that special day and be surrounded by people who had the chance to know Him because of our sacrifice and service?
To all our readers: AFM is about mission, about sharing Jesus with the unreached—those who have never heard the good news. Partner with us. Join us in fighting the spiritual battle by becoming our partners in prayer. Beg for the Holy Spirit to be poured out daily upon our frontline missionaries and upon our office staff working to support them. Jesus is coming soon!
