For Claire and me, our dream of working overseas as missionaries took root before we were married. While we have been blessed to be in full-time ministry in Florida, we now feel that God is opening the way for us to fulfill His calling and our dream to be full-time missionaries in Ireland.

Claire and I met during an evangelistic series held by the Finleys. The messages were powerful, and we were blessed to get to know each other better at the end of every meeting. After the evangelistic series ended, our friendship blossomed, and the rest is history. We now have a son studying at Southwestern Adventist University and two daughters, ages 6 and 2 years old. For many years, we talked about being missionaries overseas, especially after we came home from short-term mission trips, which we go on every year. Now the Lord is leading us to minister full-time in Ireland.

Ireland isn’t the first place that comes to most people’s minds when they think of mission fields, but it is a place of great spiritual need. The Republic of Ireland has a long and painful history with Christianity, which led to generations of fighting between Protestants and Catholics. Many Irish people see Catholicism as part of their culture rather than as a personal, life-changing walk with Jesus, and much of the population has a secular worldview, despite religious labels.
Among the native Irish, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is almost nonexistent. Most of the church growth has come from immigrants. The Irish need to know Jesus in a new way and to experience the peace that only He can give! We want to be used by God to share Him with the people of Ireland.

Our prayer is to reach people and help raise up future church leaders the way Jesus did. “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me’ (MH 143).” Our missionary partners in Ireland, the Dyserts, opened a tea shop, which they use as a center of influence. I will be running the tea shop as a way to connect with people, especially men, and Claire will be leading small groups and working with women and children. Together we will work to build relationships with people we can introduce to Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior and train and equip to be disciple-makers.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).

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