The other day I was in an email conversation with a blogging friend. In one of the emails they asked me what a typical day was like for me, and I realized that, having only been here about one week and being new to it all, I really wasn’t exactly sure of the answer myself. I also realized that many of the people who support and pray for us obviously don’t really know either.
We are called missionaries, although I’m not sure that the word itself communicates much. For me the word always suggested an individual who left their country and went to some place where no white man had ever gone before. They lived there (unless killed) for years learning the language and culture hoping to shine the light of Jesus Christ. Ironically, it was that limiting picture of what a missionary is that eventually gave my wife and me one of our purposes for our ministry. Having spent our lives avoiding our call to missions because we didn’t think we fit the mold, we now know that there is no mold and we hope to show others that truth as well, giving a new paradigm of what it means to live for the Kingdom of God. God has given us a variety of gifts, and all of those gifts are needed to help reap the harvest.
Now, having said that, God has led us currently to live as staff at The King’s Lodge in Nuneaton, England, in Warwickshire County. We have joined a community of about 150 people, all of whom are seeking to follow God’s call in their lives in ministry and service for the Kingdom. Their ministries are as varied as flavors (flavours) of ice cream. There are people here who are pouring their lives out into the youth and children of the United Kingdom, hoping to give the British youth a vision for the world. There are others who are using their gifts to manage the training base itself, their primary focus being administration. Still yet others are in a role that primarily involves focused intercessory prayer and organizing others to do the same, at the base, at churches, and around the world. Some are focused on training and discipleship; others work on preparing outreaches internationally. One department trains missionaries how to study the bible inductively, providing a nine-month course during which the students read all of the bible at least 5 times! And some focus on basic health care education. And there are still others that do a little bit of all of these. In fact, everyone has bits and pieces of ministry and all spend some time ministering in other cultures.
Tara and I feel called to mobilize more families into missions. We believe there are many whom God has called, but, like ourselves, they may not see any path for them to follow that calling. We also want to see families be healed, grow, and remain faithful to one another for a lifetime. Finally, we hope to see the Kingdom of God advanced in all arenas of life and pray our ministry always involves a component of righting injustice around the world.
The King’s Lodge helps us fulfill our call by offering summer mission trips that others (like you) can join. It also has a leadership team that understands God’s grace and who lead by serving and encouraging those whom they lead to follow Christ. As a result, although we are a part of training others and serving on the base, we are being discipled all the while by God-fearing and gracious Christian men and women who have been doing mission work for many more years than we have.
What all of that means for me specifically in February and March 2008 is this: I maintain office hours from 8:30 to 5:30 each day. I have been asked to help The King’s Lodge in a development strategy for some new additions to the base. Given my background as a lawyer, I am researching charities and foundations to see if there are agencies that would see our capital project as something worthy of their funds. I will be writing grant proposals and furthering the development project.
It is no small project. We plan two major additions (a new maintenance garage and workshop as well as a new 200-person meeting room) and will be renovating other areas to have 4 new hospitality suites (where you could come and stay inexpensively (even free!)), a new training room, and to provide better disability access. All of this is estimated to cost £900,000 (almost $2,000,000).
I also am involved in media at the base. I will be writing for its website and for other communications that the base puts out. I frequently will be seen with a camera in hand recording life at the base, hoping to capture our passion digitally so that we can communicate that passion to prospective and current donors and prayer partners for the King’s Lodge.
Beginning in April Tara and I both be staffing what is called a Crossroads Discipleship Training School. This will be a 24-hour a day job of discipling men and women (and their children) from around the world, preparing them to do cross-cultural mission work. There will be formal teaching to do, one-on-one discipleship, small groups, and simply living out a Christ-centered life for the “trainees.” Even now we are beginning to do some of that informally as we meet and live with those in the current discipleship training school. In fact, just yesterday our base leader commented on how we, simply by living here as a family, disciple the young people here as many come from backgrounds where they may have never seen a wife love and respect a husband and vice versa, or a dad be gracious with a son or daughter, and he emphasized that that was a big part of them agreeing to let us come serve at the base.
The Crossroads training course will culminate in July and August with outreach trips to Asia and/or South Africa. There those we have been training will see their training applied as they pour out their lives in ministry to the poor and needy.
Finally, Tara and I both continue to raise our three children, hoping to disciple them to follow Jesus all of their days. And we rely completely upon God to provide all our needs, financially, emotionally, spiritually. We desperately need your prayers as what we are doing is no small challenge. God is faithful, but we struggle. And, we only know what lies ahead until the end of this summer and from there we await the next assignment from our Father.
