Our Story of How We Entered Missions as told by Don
24 years ago I was working on a doctorate in E Texas, at Texas A & M at Commerce, I was an educational consultant working with schools across America and taught and wrote curriculum for a start-up business for what was planned to become a franchise of private K-12 schools across America. Kathy was working in a hospital as a med-tech. We had two sons with a third on the way.
At the time Kathy picked up a book written by Melody Green about Keith Green's life entitled, "No Compromise." She recommended I read it. Before she could finish, I got a hold of the book and was deeply moved by a particular section where Melody tells how Keith came to realize, through the Spirt's prompting, that as a Christian musician he had made his music and ministry an idol. That somehow, he'd come to love his ministry and music more than he loved the Lord. Keith, deeply convicted, determined he would lay down his music and ministry and never pick them up again, unless the Lord gave them back.
The Spirit of God used these same words from the book in my own life. Like Keith, I was prompted by the Spirit that I had made idols out of working on a doctorate, being an educational consultant, and developing a business plan to start private schools across America. It is not that any of these things are wrong in and of themselves. It is what I made of them as a Christian, that the Lord was speaking to me about. I had fallen into the trap of putting these things first, loving them more than I loved the Lord.
Deeply convicted, I went to Kathy, who was a couple months pregnant with our third son and shared how the Holy Spirit was working in my life. I told her I was going to resign from the doctoral program, as an educational consultant and as a participant in the endeavor to start private school across America. Deep down I knew that I didn't love these things more than I loved the Lord, though I wasn't behaving as if this were true. My actions as a Christian were not consistent with my beliefs. I'll never forget Kathy's response, "Just let me have this baby."
I resigned from all three activities. As a result, as you can well imagine, I had a great deal of time on my hands. That time was spent reading the Word and praying. The more I prayed and read the Word the more the Lord revealed. He was doing a deep work in my life. At times I found myself prostrate on the floor, overcome with conviction for the sin He was pointing out. The Word of God was opening up and speaking to me in ways I'd never experienced before. I began to see how my life up to this point had basically been spent on things with little to no eternal consequence.
It was as if my eyes were lifted above the horizon by the Lord and there was this deep sense of calling to live life with eternal purpose, eternal perspective and eternal consequence. The Word of God challenged me to think about and ask, "If I stood before the Lord in that very moment, would what's revealed, in how I had lived my life, amount to a pile of wood, hay or stubble OR would what's revealed be gold, silver and precious stones? Would all that my life produced, up to that point, be burned ashes OR be purified by fire and not destroyed. Again I found myself flat out before the Lord as I acknowledged that what would be revealed would result in a pile of ashes.
The Word again spoke to me that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground it would remain alone. There must be death before there can be life. The hard outer coat of the seed must fall off before new life can fully emerge. The Lord was breaking away every hindrance to His life and His good work showing up, flowing in and through me.
The Word helped me to see there were some good things accomplished in and through my life but that the one thing the Lord had against me was that somewhere along the way, as a Christian, I had lost my first love. Once again, deeply convicted, I cried out to the Lord as I longed to re-discover returning to that place of Him being my "first love" and to more fully and consistently living life from that place.
It became clearer to me as I spent concentrated and consistent time with the Lord in the Word and in prayer of what was on His heart. The Lord gave me insight into why the disciple John was referred to as "the Beloved" by Jesus. When the Word says that John would lay his head on the breast of Jesus, it occurred to me, he couldn't help but hear the heartbeat of Jesus. I believe that John not only heard the physical heartbeat of Jesus but he also came to know what Jesus' heart beat for. You know it is possible for anyone who spends time leaning into Christ to discover what is on His heart. I began to hear what was on His heart and my heart started to beat in sync with the Lord's.
What is it that his heart beats for? What is He passionate about? What is He willing to lay His life down for? I heard it beating for the Lost...it beats for those who don't know Him as Lord and Savior, that they would come to know and be in relationship with Him. His heart beats so that none should perish. The more time I spent with the Lord the more I was convinced that His heart beats for those that don't know his amazing forgiveness and love.
The Word of God also spoke to me through the words of the Macedonian call - "Come over and help us." It was a call the Spirit was applying to my life though I wasn't entirely sure where the "over there" was exactly.
Initially I thought the work the Lord was doing in my life was completed when I laid down consulting, the career in education, and graduate studies, those things I'd made idols. My promise to the Lord, just like Keith Green's, was to not pick them up again unless God gave them back. Little did I know the full implications of this decision, the journey just begun and the adventures that lie ahead.
Convinced with what was on the heart of God and determined to join God in what I sensed He was already doing... I went to Kathy to let her know how the Lord was impressing upon me a sense of calling for us, to join His missional heart and become missionaries - seeing people come to a saving knowledge of Christ. I wasn't sure what it meant to be a missionary but I was convinced this is what we were being called to do. Kathy's response went something like her first one...just let me have this baby and then we'll talk about it. There was a work that God not only wanted to do in my life, there was a work he wanted to do in our marriage.
I came to Kathy early on and asked for her forgiveness for the things the Lord would point out throughout this journey. In true typical male conquering fashion...we confess, ask for forgiveness and then we expect to move on. God wanted to do a deeper work in our marriage and it wasn't going to be as quick a fix as I'd thought. Over the years Kathy had followed me on this and that adventure. In her mind she's wondering, "Is this adventure going to be any different?" You see I'd lost her confidence and trust over the years and it would take time to regain both.
Well in time Kathy and I did begin to look into how we might fulfill the calling God had on our lives to be missionaries. We checked out Last Days Ministries - the training center started by Keith and Melody, from there we were sent down the road to YWAM and finally came across a short term mission experience in Paupa New Guinea with a group called, New Tribes Mission. By this time our third son, Josiah was born. He went with us to PNG while our two eldest, stayed with our pastor and his wife for six weeks. It was while we were in PNG that God brought Kathy and me together in our call to be missionaries. (Kathy share)
After our time in Papua New Guinea, we came back to the states, picked up our kids, sold our home and most of our worldly possessions and made our way into missionary training to become Bible translators and church planters. During our time in training, we were approached and asked to consider getting involved in the education of missionary children. A couple who were responsible for the education of missionary children kept asking to meet with us. We knew what they wanted. I just knew they would ask us to get involved with them in the education of missionary children. To stop them from hounding us we decided to invite them over for dinner. After the meal they started talking about the ministry they envisioned for us. The ministry they described sounded very similar to my educational consulting role I'd laid down never to pick up again. That's when the Spirit of the Lord spoke, do you remember the words you said when you laid down education, teaching and consulting? Of course I remembered. The Lord whispered into my heart in that moment and said, "I'm giving consulting and being involved in education back, now pick them up and bring glory to my name."
You see God not only knows how Kathy and I are wired, with the gifts and talents He's given, He also knows how He's wired you the reader. He wants to take each of our gifts, our passions, and talents - how He has wired us, and use our lives for His Kingdom, for His glory, honor and praise. He wants our lives to have an eternal impact, rewarded when we stand before him, where it is revealed how we have invested and spent our lives. Revealing whether the building materials used were gold, silver and precious gems that last forever or if our life was spent building with wood, hay and stubble that doesn't make it through the fire. The Word of God says it will be revealed at the end of our days how we have invested and spent our days.
Our Lord is a jealous God. If there are things in this world you love more than Him, He will faithfully and graciously point those things out to you by His Spirit, just as He did for us. May we encourage you who haven't yet heard from the Lord to let Him speak to your hearts about what is on His heart and listen to the very personal invitation the Spirit makes to have you join Him in seeing the lost, the least and the last brought into relationship with Him.
Your part in all of this is really quite simple...
It could be that your response is to pray. Praying for missions and missionaries does make a difference. Personally we have over 300 people who receive our weekly update, many of those readers are faithful prayer warriors. Please know, prayer for missions and missionaries makes a tremendous difference.
Another response could be to the call to support and give to the missions efforts of the church. We encourage you to find out about the different missionaries and projects the church supports. If you haven't already given to the mission budget of the church please consider this as a way to respond.
And finally there could be some in the church who will respond to a call to go - to be scattered - to be seeds planted...some for your neighbor's sake, some even serving as cross cultural missionaries... while others will consider and go on short-term mission trips.
What will your response be?
At the time Kathy picked up a book written by Melody Green about Keith Green's life entitled, "No Compromise." She recommended I read it. Before she could finish, I got a hold of the book and was deeply moved by a particular section where Melody tells how Keith came to realize, through the Spirt's prompting, that as a Christian musician he had made his music and ministry an idol. That somehow, he'd come to love his ministry and music more than he loved the Lord. Keith, deeply convicted, determined he would lay down his music and ministry and never pick them up again, unless the Lord gave them back.
The Spirit of God used these same words from the book in my own life. Like Keith, I was prompted by the Spirit that I had made idols out of working on a doctorate, being an educational consultant, and developing a business plan to start private schools across America. It is not that any of these things are wrong in and of themselves. It is what I made of them as a Christian, that the Lord was speaking to me about. I had fallen into the trap of putting these things first, loving them more than I loved the Lord.
Deeply convicted, I went to Kathy, who was a couple months pregnant with our third son and shared how the Holy Spirit was working in my life. I told her I was going to resign from the doctoral program, as an educational consultant and as a participant in the endeavor to start private school across America. Deep down I knew that I didn't love these things more than I loved the Lord, though I wasn't behaving as if this were true. My actions as a Christian were not consistent with my beliefs. I'll never forget Kathy's response, "Just let me have this baby."
I resigned from all three activities. As a result, as you can well imagine, I had a great deal of time on my hands. That time was spent reading the Word and praying. The more I prayed and read the Word the more the Lord revealed. He was doing a deep work in my life. At times I found myself prostrate on the floor, overcome with conviction for the sin He was pointing out. The Word of God was opening up and speaking to me in ways I'd never experienced before. I began to see how my life up to this point had basically been spent on things with little to no eternal consequence.
It was as if my eyes were lifted above the horizon by the Lord and there was this deep sense of calling to live life with eternal purpose, eternal perspective and eternal consequence. The Word of God challenged me to think about and ask, "If I stood before the Lord in that very moment, would what's revealed, in how I had lived my life, amount to a pile of wood, hay or stubble OR would what's revealed be gold, silver and precious stones? Would all that my life produced, up to that point, be burned ashes OR be purified by fire and not destroyed. Again I found myself flat out before the Lord as I acknowledged that what would be revealed would result in a pile of ashes.
The Word again spoke to me that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground it would remain alone. There must be death before there can be life. The hard outer coat of the seed must fall off before new life can fully emerge. The Lord was breaking away every hindrance to His life and His good work showing up, flowing in and through me.
The Word helped me to see there were some good things accomplished in and through my life but that the one thing the Lord had against me was that somewhere along the way, as a Christian, I had lost my first love. Once again, deeply convicted, I cried out to the Lord as I longed to re-discover returning to that place of Him being my "first love" and to more fully and consistently living life from that place.
It became clearer to me as I spent concentrated and consistent time with the Lord in the Word and in prayer of what was on His heart. The Lord gave me insight into why the disciple John was referred to as "the Beloved" by Jesus. When the Word says that John would lay his head on the breast of Jesus, it occurred to me, he couldn't help but hear the heartbeat of Jesus. I believe that John not only heard the physical heartbeat of Jesus but he also came to know what Jesus' heart beat for. You know it is possible for anyone who spends time leaning into Christ to discover what is on His heart. I began to hear what was on His heart and my heart started to beat in sync with the Lord's.
What is it that his heart beats for? What is He passionate about? What is He willing to lay His life down for? I heard it beating for the Lost...it beats for those who don't know Him as Lord and Savior, that they would come to know and be in relationship with Him. His heart beats so that none should perish. The more time I spent with the Lord the more I was convinced that His heart beats for those that don't know his amazing forgiveness and love.
The Word of God also spoke to me through the words of the Macedonian call - "Come over and help us." It was a call the Spirit was applying to my life though I wasn't entirely sure where the "over there" was exactly.
Initially I thought the work the Lord was doing in my life was completed when I laid down consulting, the career in education, and graduate studies, those things I'd made idols. My promise to the Lord, just like Keith Green's, was to not pick them up again unless God gave them back. Little did I know the full implications of this decision, the journey just begun and the adventures that lie ahead.
Convinced with what was on the heart of God and determined to join God in what I sensed He was already doing... I went to Kathy to let her know how the Lord was impressing upon me a sense of calling for us, to join His missional heart and become missionaries - seeing people come to a saving knowledge of Christ. I wasn't sure what it meant to be a missionary but I was convinced this is what we were being called to do. Kathy's response went something like her first one...just let me have this baby and then we'll talk about it. There was a work that God not only wanted to do in my life, there was a work he wanted to do in our marriage.
I came to Kathy early on and asked for her forgiveness for the things the Lord would point out throughout this journey. In true typical male conquering fashion...we confess, ask for forgiveness and then we expect to move on. God wanted to do a deeper work in our marriage and it wasn't going to be as quick a fix as I'd thought. Over the years Kathy had followed me on this and that adventure. In her mind she's wondering, "Is this adventure going to be any different?" You see I'd lost her confidence and trust over the years and it would take time to regain both.
Well in time Kathy and I did begin to look into how we might fulfill the calling God had on our lives to be missionaries. We checked out Last Days Ministries - the training center started by Keith and Melody, from there we were sent down the road to YWAM and finally came across a short term mission experience in Paupa New Guinea with a group called, New Tribes Mission. By this time our third son, Josiah was born. He went with us to PNG while our two eldest, stayed with our pastor and his wife for six weeks. It was while we were in PNG that God brought Kathy and me together in our call to be missionaries. (Kathy share)
After our time in Papua New Guinea, we came back to the states, picked up our kids, sold our home and most of our worldly possessions and made our way into missionary training to become Bible translators and church planters. During our time in training, we were approached and asked to consider getting involved in the education of missionary children. A couple who were responsible for the education of missionary children kept asking to meet with us. We knew what they wanted. I just knew they would ask us to get involved with them in the education of missionary children. To stop them from hounding us we decided to invite them over for dinner. After the meal they started talking about the ministry they envisioned for us. The ministry they described sounded very similar to my educational consulting role I'd laid down never to pick up again. That's when the Spirit of the Lord spoke, do you remember the words you said when you laid down education, teaching and consulting? Of course I remembered. The Lord whispered into my heart in that moment and said, "I'm giving consulting and being involved in education back, now pick them up and bring glory to my name."
You see God not only knows how Kathy and I are wired, with the gifts and talents He's given, He also knows how He's wired you the reader. He wants to take each of our gifts, our passions, and talents - how He has wired us, and use our lives for His Kingdom, for His glory, honor and praise. He wants our lives to have an eternal impact, rewarded when we stand before him, where it is revealed how we have invested and spent our lives. Revealing whether the building materials used were gold, silver and precious gems that last forever or if our life was spent building with wood, hay and stubble that doesn't make it through the fire. The Word of God says it will be revealed at the end of our days how we have invested and spent our days.
Our Lord is a jealous God. If there are things in this world you love more than Him, He will faithfully and graciously point those things out to you by His Spirit, just as He did for us. May we encourage you who haven't yet heard from the Lord to let Him speak to your hearts about what is on His heart and listen to the very personal invitation the Spirit makes to have you join Him in seeing the lost, the least and the last brought into relationship with Him.
Your part in all of this is really quite simple...
It could be that your response is to pray. Praying for missions and missionaries does make a difference. Personally we have over 300 people who receive our weekly update, many of those readers are faithful prayer warriors. Please know, prayer for missions and missionaries makes a tremendous difference.
Another response could be to the call to support and give to the missions efforts of the church. We encourage you to find out about the different missionaries and projects the church supports. If you haven't already given to the mission budget of the church please consider this as a way to respond.
And finally there could be some in the church who will respond to a call to go - to be scattered - to be seeds planted...some for your neighbor's sake, some even serving as cross cultural missionaries... while others will consider and go on short-term mission trips.
What will your response be?
posted by Don and Kathy Williams at 8:06 AM
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