First let me start by saying, I had no plans on being a foreign missionary. I knew since I was seventeen, when I surrendered to preach, that I would be in full-time service to the Lord. I always thought that I would be pastoring somewhere in America. When I began serving as Assistant Pastor at the Independent Baptist Church of Anchorage, I thought the Lord might leave me there for many years. After four years, the Lord began dealing with my heart about the country of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It started shortly after I arrived in Alaska, when I was reading a prayer letter from a missionary who was in PNG. I did not think at the time, “God is calling me into foreign missions,” but I knew there was something different about that country. I began to pray about it on a regular basis, and this continued for several years.
In the fall of 2000, a PNG missionary preached at our annual mission conference. He was going to PNG for about two weeks in January of 2001, and I was able to travel with him. I was thrilled that the Lord had opened the door for me to go to PNG on a mission trip. I did begin praying the Lord would use this trip to settle, in my heart, if He was calling me to that country. After the trip, Mariann and I met with our Pastor and his wife, and I told him the Lord had not called me to PNG. After I left the restaurant that night, I began to feel convicted about saying no. I began to spend a lot of time in prayer about the matter, and even put out a “fleece.” After a period of time, the Lord showed me, without a doubt, that he was calling me to PNG!
I still remember when it was clear to me the Lord had called me to PNG, and I surrendered to it. I was not jumping up and down with joy–I was scared. I grew up outside of Cleveland and consider myself a “city boy,” and now the Lord was putting me in Papua New Guinea! Yes, I should have had more faith, and trusted the Lord. I preached and taught for years that, “The Lord is in control, and he puts nothing in your life that you can not handle with his help.” I found out that it sure was easy to preach, but now I had to apply it in a way I never had to before. We are very grateful for the Lord’s call on our life, and look forward to many fruitful years, with God’s help, in PNG.
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