“If you wait… more will go!”

Those were the words the Lord gave me about 5 years ago when our plans to move to Africa were suddenly “put on hold.” We’d been planning for years — preparing, meeting all the criteria of our covering both on the local church level and from Foursquare Missions International. It was all a go, but then we were asked to wait as the national church in Kenya was having some serious difficulties. It was so hard to understand at the time. One thing we’ve learned is that God is sovereign and His timing truly is perfect!

I remember the day the Lord told me, “If you wait, more will go.” It was then I determined that I was going to do everything I could to impact others in the area of missions, as well as continue to prepare and build relationships with others. God was faithful to His Word! During the next few years of ministry we saw several individuals raised up, released and go – ministering on the mission field. With missions teams we’ve seen many individuals brought to a new level of understanding and passion for missions through personal participation as well as with their prayers and financial support.

I had the wonderful blessing of pastoring hundreds of precious children and youth at New Song Christian Fellowship in Nashville. I looked for every opportunity to instill a heart for missions into the lives of our kids… God’s heart! I wrote a children’s musical entitled, “Christmas All Over The World.” It was based on the premiss that when God calls a family to the mission field he doesn’t just call the parents, He calls the whole family! The lead character travels the world to see how God is using kids all over the world. As our kids were learning the songs they would study what that country is like, what’s going on there missions wise, and how to best pray for that country.

Brenda and friend Julie wrote a curriculum based on the ABC’s of the Bible. It was missions based. A=About the Word, B=Bible Time Friends and C=Country. For example, when the lesson was on letter “A” the verse was, “All have sinned.” The story was about Adam & Eve and how sin entered the world, and the country was Australia. The children were led in a time of prayer for that nation.

As you can see we took this Word very seriously and I know we’ve helped educate and raise up many kids to have a heart for the nations. In recent years our live concerts took a definite turn towards missions too especially with the recording of the Komborera record and the Zimbabwe choir and band that toured with us.

The time finally came when the Word from the Lord and our leadership was loud, resounding… “YES!”

As most of you know, Brenda was born in Kenya. Her family served here for many years. Her brother is currently the Director of Overseas Missions for PAOC.

Be encouraged! God knows what He’s doing! Life is a faith walk… we see in part! It’s hard to see the BIG picture when you’re struggling along through the process but I want to encourage you to EMBRACE IT! Let your loving Heavenly Father work into you all He needs to for your assignment. Be open to what He needs to work out too! That is equally important! He will be faithful to complete the good work He has begun in you!