April 1-3 was a weekend I had been waiting for! Missions conference...a favorite time of the year for me. Advertise a missions conference in many places and attendance drops and regulars take a break. Missionaries on furlough (home from the field to rest and raise support) report small crowds and little offerings. Tight financial times and unmet church budgeted needs often mean missionaries go without why churches struggle to make the mortgage payment on their facilities.
Gilbert Jules, a missionary pastor and church builder from Port au Prince, Haiti; Dean and Heidi Selden, directors of Operation Uplift in Westcliffe, Colorado--a summer ministry outdoors that challenges high schoolers to authentic Christian living; and Luke and Becca Voight, headed under SIM to Malawi, Africa to minister to children and teens through soccer and the gospel--these were our special guests.
And special they were. In every way. In their passion. In their presentation. In the power of their lives--called and committed in service to God.
Our missions menu included someone prepping young people for God's call, a young couple heeding God's call, and a veteran missionary obeying God's call through service to Him. The whole gamut of missions was present and we were challenged to acknowledge God's blessings with thanksgiving and to observe God's purpose for us in stepping out in missionary service to Him--both here and abroad.
I felt waves of emotion all week. I am Luke and Becca's pastor; I have known Dean since he was three eyars old and I have had the privilege of working with Gilbert in Haiti. I have a special relationship with all of these missionaries and feel humble and blessed to serve along side them.
An old saying resonating in my ears this week--"If God calls you to be a missionary, don't stoop to eb a king".
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