My Call to Missions

How God led me to Missions

I grew up in Pleasant Union Christian Church, a non-denominational congregation, where I was taught the fundamentals of the Faith. A church heavily supportive of International Missions, I grew up in an environment that respected and loved international missions. On numerous occasions, my family would feed, and even host, missionaries while on furlough. My earliest childhood Pastor, Tom Jackson, was actually a missionary himself prior to serving at Pleasant Union. He resigned pastoring our church to go back to Liberia, where he and his wife were eventually killed during a conflict between the government and rebel forces. Though I was skeptical of it being a very fun life, missions was a part of my childhood.

I answered God’s Call to the ministry as a 15 year old young man. Though I have sinned many times, and doubted many things, I have never doubted God’s Call on my life. It was, and is, unmistakable to me. I have participated in short-term mission trips to Romania, South Africa, and most recently, El Salvador. Additionally, I have participated in, and led, many stateside mission trips (most recently, our trip to Pearlington, MS).

While my calling to ministry was clear and unmistakable, my calling to missions has been a much slower realization. Jenny had felt called to the mission field for years, but in obedience to the Scriptures, she patiently waited to follow my lead. I, on the other hand, knew God wanted to use us for missions, but due to my own fears, I always would put it off by saying things like, “Maybe God wants us to serve by leading teams or after our kids are grown.” Sadly, the truth is, I was scared to leave my extended family, and take my family to an area of more danger and much more uncertainty. It was during a revival meeting that Dr. Bruce Ashford, director of the Great Commission Center at Southeastern Seminary, held at my church that God broke my heart regarding my fears. Bruce preached a familiar verse, Luke 14:26, where Jesus teaches that my love for Him must be supreme above my love for my family. It was through that message, and a couple of late night discussions with Bruce, that I recognized my own disobedience and submitted my life to God for missions.

Interestingly, Jenny had felt a drawing from the Lord during Bruce’s message as well. The next day she saw where I had been on the IMB website and she asked me, “So are we going on the mission field?” To which I said, “I think so.” I’ll never forget her response. She simply said, “Alright, let’s go.” We now share the same feeling: let’s go.