How we got here in the first place
I have often pondered the curious manner in which a life’s story is directed. Much of our story is “given” to us. Our skin color, language, IQ, DNA, personality and worldview are all handed to us as a gift from our family. In fact, the story of our lives is well underway before we walk out on the stage. We start speaking lines with only one word, then grow into a more active role with time. Along the way there are always these unexpected plot twists we never see coming.
Praise for Thinking Small…
Click here for the Thinking Small video This is a good video and one that is though provoking.
Raising a family with no set salary
What’s it like to raise a family of six kids knowing that you will have no salary for over twenty years? That’s been our lives so far. The first four years in Jamaica we lived on a “faith missions” basis. That basically means that you pray a lot and run to the mailbox every day and hope 
It was a nail-biting experience and we had very little money–BUT I have to be quick to add that God was always faithful to feed us and meet our needs. In time, most of our support actually came from the young Jamaican church we pastored as it grew larger. The good people brought us food from their gardens and an occasional chicken. We grew a lot in our faith. Since we were only a phone call and a three hour flight away from our parents that system worked for us in that season.
Moving to Asia in 1990 with a minimum 10 year commitment required a more organized way. The Church of God had a new system of “self-funded missions” which was a lot more work but was actually a quantum leap forward in funding. Here’s how it worked:
* Regional Field Director approves a budget for you. You raise it.
* Travel to churches for offerings to cover the startup funds in cash.
* Ask church members to make monthly pledges for your living expenses.
* Come home every four years to re-visit these churches and ask the people to renew their support.
This system required a lot more from us:
* We had to find pastors willing to open their pulpits to us (nobody knew us).
* Needed to live on the road with three small kids for about a year. We went through chickenpox & stomach flu while in the homes of others. (May God reward all of them richly for their love even when our kids vomited on their carpets!)
* We had to get past the embarrassment of asking people for money.
* We had to guard our own hearts against being extra nice to people out of financial motives.
* Most of all, we had to keep our children from being corrupted through fundraising.
Our walk with God and our ministry in His Church has always been sincere. We don’t want our children to begin to see it as “a show” or to ever view people as a source of money and nice things. Money is a very powerful force in everyone’s life so this issue has concerned us deeply through the years. Your anointing flows from your innocence and we never want to lose ours as a family.
Some missionaries complain about the workload, citing that other missions fundraise for their field staff, but we don’t mind. Some people even turn to professional fundraisers used by large ministries to avoid the work. We don’t want this either. We want to develop genuine relationships with our support team. If someone cares enough to sacrifice financially to keep us in missions, that forms the basis of a unique heart bond. This community has been one of the greatest rewards for serving in missions.
We are determined to be faithful missionaries and have prayed for faithful supporters. God has granted that. We have been missionaries now for 25 years. On top of all the daily provision from partners, many tell us that they pray for us every day. That floors us. We are supported, not by strangers answering form letters, but by people who genuinely love us.
Is Missions Life Harmful to Children
On Dec. 29, 2002 six masked men, armed with automatic weapons, entered our campsite on a remote island in the Philippines looking for potential kidnap victims. They didn’t take Sherry or our kids and missed me (a long story), but two of our friends were taken and never seen again. One was our dear friend, Tony Lehmann.
This event reopened a question we thought we had answered 20 years before, “Is missions life harmful for our children?” To be honest, while life in developing countries has many blessings and rewards is does have its added risks from police corruption, less public safety overall, and from diseases like Hepatitis B, malaria, and TB.
The kidnapping brought us again to a crossroads of decision. Manila is the kidnap/murder capital of Asia by 400%. Health is also an issue. Five of our kids had already tested positive for TB exposure over the past 3 years. Now we knew four families who had been touched by kidnappings. Should we pack it in and find safer ministry in the USA? Concerned friends counseled us to do just that. We had to hear from God and from our own hearts.
Seven days later, I needed to make a quick trip to take Andrew to start his life at Lee University in Tennessee. We had never sent any of our kids to the States alone or to college before. There were many details to accomplish. Sherry felt strongly to stay behind with the other kids and be a strength for Tony’s wife, Kristine. We sent out emails asking for prayer and I took AJ to Lee.
Andrew and I attended church on Sunday, looking like everyone else on the outside, but inside I was so troubled and full of questions. Thank God this was a Pentecostal church and after the singing the pastor felt led to skip the sermon and just call everyone to the altar for an extended time of prayer. I needed that so much!
As I lay across the altar pouring my heart out to God I felt a warm brotherly arm around my shoulder and Bob McCall from the Church of God Missions Department began to pray for me. Bob was the perfect intercessor that day. He was himself raised in Latin America by missionary parents. (It is really such a privilege to be prayed for that way! I pity those millions who have never had anyone lay hands on them in loving intercession.) I returned home to Manila in a few days, relieved to be reunited with everyone there.
The next 30 days of “cat and mouse” intrigue and ransom negotiations were dramatic for Kristine’s family and for ours too. We were baptized into a much deeper level of chaos, betrayal and institutional spiritual darkness than we had ever seen before. We felt helpless in many ways, but also felt empowered by the Spirit. We saw the power of active love. (You know, God is always especially with you in the wilderness).
During this intense month we lived in a refining crucible. It clarified our vision, values and theology about God, mission, risk and what we ultimately hoped to accomplish through our own short lives.
We decided to stay. Regarding the kids, we felt strongly that we were called into missions as a family, not just as a couple. We have come to believe that only God ultimately controls the dramatic events of our lives and that whatever He allows is good. We are also convinced that missions life, though it has cost at times, has been incredibly rewarding in our kids lives. They “see” people and tune into their hurts. They love all colors and cultures. They have experienced living for others rather than just for their own comfort. In the end, wherever God sends them, they will do well.
We are happy missionaries and we have discovered that the safest place in all the world to be is in the center of God’s will for our lives. Thanks for helping us stay on the field for so many years already.
June is Our 30-Day Appeal
June is our month-long initiative to raise the $3000 per month that we need in order to return to the missions field in Thailand. Our heart’s cry is to see the gospel at work in the lives of those who have never heard. Please help us get back to the place of our calling.
On Monday for the next four weeks I will make a special post about some aspect of our experience as missionaries in Asia for the last 20 years. In today’s post we explain how we came to be missionaries in the first place. Every life is a story. We hope you’ll enjoy ours. If you like these four weekly posts please help us make new friends by forwarding them to your contacts who might be interested. Thanks!!!!
Help Emerge Reach Asia
Hey, I need your help IF you are able. This year Emerge will open our new media training center in Thaialnd and also support workers in many Asian lands. I am asking for 200 people to agree to give $25 a month toward this need. If you can help please click this link. Let’s help give Asians a chance to hear the gospel for the first time. Thanks so much!!!!
The Edge Radio
One of the most enjoyable journeys of my life has been the establishment of the Edge Radio, an FM music network in the Philippines. I had no history in radio (I had been a senior pastor and college president/professor for 20 years), but whenever I would listen to destructive messages in music I would always think, “Oh, I wish I could get in on that conversation.” Kids were listening and the messengers sounded so “together” but the direction they were suggesting for young lives would surely lead them to pain and perdition. As a pastor I had dealt with the mess of broken lives on a weekly basis. I really began to develop a burden that God’s calling to this generation could be echoed through modern media with an acceptable style. One thing led to another and the Edge was born. The most important ingredient was the gathering of the team. Ron Titular was my first partner. He became the co-founder and planted the Manila station. Then Jim Reyes (pictured) who left his job at another radio ministry because he too had a vision for contemporary Christian music. He founded the Davao station. Then came Raymond Gonzales who founded Lucena, then finally Tom Arellano, who took over Davao after Jim left for the USA. Millions each day can tune in to the Edge for Christian music and teaching. Each of these men has a wife equally dedicated to the ministry. We are also blessed with Love Benevides and Owie Burns along with a host of volunteers. These are amazing media missionaries. Together we are still on a great adventure.
Learning to Read at 35
We were standing on the brow of the high hill upon which Buso’s village sat like a bird’s nest on high. She was eager to tell us about her culture’s practices of weddings (just pass an egg around the girl’s midriff, then into the hand of the man and do this in front of your families and you are married) and how they make their living. Then she reached into her bag and produced a notebook from which she took a piece of papers with English characters spelling her language phonetically. I am learning to read! This is my first page of words. In my heart I already knew who to thank for this but through the interpreter I asked anyway, “Who gave your tribal language these words and who taught you to read them?” ”The missionary!” she replied with a smile. ”And is this a page from the Bible?” She smiled and nodded yes. Giving their language a written form would not be important to anyone else but someone who wanted them to be able to read God’s Word in their own tongue. Usually a translation takes a dozen years of someone’s life to produce. The gift is doubled. First, the people have God’s message of love and his offer of adoption in their own heart language. Secondly, they can now record thoughts, culture, history and feelings in their language for the first time. Buso, at 35 had been given the gift of written language and she was visibly excited at this new discovery. Praise the Lord for the sacrificial servant who labored at this obscure task for so many years…and for those who continued to support him/her financially through all those years of slow work.
