A summary for convenience sake

I've noticed that many folks are still accessing Nomad 4 God and for that I thank the Lord. For convenience's sake, I have assembled the essence of the blog in the following posts.

• What it's like: Part 1 (Being a Missionary)
• What it's like: Part 2 (Health Issues)
• What it's like: Part 3 (Kids)
• What it's like: Part 4 (Security Issues)
• What it's like: Part 5 (Discouragement)
• What it's like: Part 6 (Furlough)
• What it's like: Part 7 (GIC)
• What it's like: Final Installment (Resignation)
• What it's like: Post Script (Staying Home)

• Sense of Urgency
• Devasted
• The Task
• Reflections

If you are interested in Mission and do not know where to turn, you can call the International Mission Board toll free at 1-800-999-3113. Mission opportunities are available to persons of almost any age.

I urge you to contribute to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. You can contribute directly by clicking here.

May God bless you as you seek to serve Him.

What it's like: post-script (staying home)

Today is the day that we would have returned overseas from furlough if we had not resigned. It has been a very hard day. We have had all kinds of feelings, ranging from sadness to giddiness. From reflectiveness to feelings of anticipation.

There is a large part of me that wonders what my colleagues think about me. After all, our lives intertwined so much for so long. There is another part of me that says since I am following God, it doesn't matter what others think of me. I just sincerely didn't want to discourage my fellow missionaries from the task at hand. Of course, I can't help but to think about all the wonderful things that God would have done had we stayed. That is moot, since He is going to be doing so many wonderful things here on the home mission field.

I am truly enjoying being a pastor; I NEVER thought I would. I see God use me each Sunday as He gives me the words to say; words that I would have never thought of on my own.

Yes, it is bittersweet; I would have loved to have gone back, but I dare not disobey. My place is serving at God's direction. I wouldn't rather be any other place in the whole world.

I anticipate this being my last post on Nomad 4 God. I will however not delete this blog, but leave it up as a tribute to God's grace.

Different Blog Location

Friends, I have decided to direct you to the blog I now post at. I am now the pastor of Immanuel Southern Baptist Church in Wagoner, OK.

Thanks to all of you who have sent notes of encouragement. I am pleased to know that you have enjoyed reading Nomad 4 God. I pray God's richest blessings for you.

NOTE: LINK FIXED 2/13/08

What it's like: final installment (resignation)

From the 10/40 Window to Mayberry; the journey isn't over yet.

We arrived in the US on furlough back in March. By mid April, God had made it undeniably clear that He wanted us to remain in the US and pastor a church.

Two things: 1) I ALWAYS thought I would retire from the IMB and be an "emeritus missionary", and 2) I have NEVER been a pastor before.

In combination, these two things sent me into a "crisis of belief" (a la Experiencing God). Why would God have us spend so many years overseas only to return "home" and pastor a church? I could not (and can not) answer this. However, I know this to be true: this is what God wants me to do.

Amazingly, my wife felt the Lord speaking to her in the same way (except for her being a pastor).

I have never had such a hard time with something that the Lord has directed me to do. You see, I LOVE(D) being a missionary. There was nothing else I wanted to do and nothing else I wanted to be. God began to whisper to me that I needed to make sure that I loved HIM more than I loved being a missionary. Ouch. That one was close to the heart.

However, EVERY step of the way in this process, God has confirmed His direction and our obedience. To be very honest, I threw out many "fleeces" (a la Gideon) and have determined that HE REALLY, REALLY WANTS ME TO DO THIS. I am utterly amazed. A little confused about "why", but mine is not to questions my Father's desire.

I will admit that my letter of resignation was the hardest letter I have ever written, except, perhaps, for the letter to my colleagues letting them know that we would be resigning. I thought about posting a copy of the letter here, but, quite frankly, it is just too personal of a thing to have up on the internet.

I have honestly loved my work with the IMB over the past many years. I love my colleagues and my service to them. I respect the leadership of the Board and my region. I have no "beef" with the Board, my colleagues, my team, or anything else about it. I am simply following the guidance of my Heavenly Father.

In a way, I feel as though I am betraying the cause of Mission. However, I know I am doing the will of my Father. In a way, I feel that I am being a source of discouragement to those who are excited about and involved in Mission. However, I know I am doing the will of my Father.

My new church is a small church in NE Oklahoma. It has been a church that has been hurt and is tired. I do not know why the Lord wants me to be its shepherd. It is in a small town that reminds me of Mayberry (a la Andy Griffith). I will start August 1.

My last day as a missionary with the International Mission Board is July 31. My last day as a missionary is when I see my Saviour's face. It will be my goal to lead my church to be "on mission, with God".

I have enjoyed being "Nomad For God", but there is no reason to keep up the secret identity. To that end, I am not sure it is worth keeping up this blog. I am unconvinced that I can share with you who I am and not jeopardize the security of those with whom I have worked. Any suggestions?

So, without further ado, this will probably be my last post as Nomad on Nomad. I will maintain my blog account and my nomad4god@gmail.com email account.

Thank you to all who have prayed for me and my family. Thank you to all those who support Mission through prayer and giving. Thank you to all who continue to serve our Lord through obedience to the Great Commission.

Won't you please begin to consider what you will give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this year? The goal is $165,000,000.

May God bless you all.

This Blog Rated "R"

That's right. I found this little webiste over on Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee. I find it very interesting that "Missionary" warrants an "R" rating. Strange.




This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
missionary (13x)
death (2x)

Find out what your blog is rated here.

MQotW

"Love is the root of missions; sacrifice is the fruit of missions" - Roderick Davis

MQotW

"People who don't believe in missions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said the field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East, West, North and South." - J. Howard Edington

MQotW

"I believe that in each generation God has called' enough men and women to evangelize all the yet unreached tribes of the earth…. It is not God who does not call. It is man who will not respond!" - Isobel Kuhn, missionary to China and Thailand

No disrespect intended

I mean no disrespect to anyone who cares about the PPL survey thing. However, I don't hold much stock in surveys and/or statistics. For instance, give me 30 minutes and I can prove the existence of Santa Claus, given the right demographics.

Please remember: just because a certain number of people believe in something (or don't believe in something) doesn't make it true. (There is a HUGE number of people out in Utah who believe with all their hearts that they will be a god when they die.)

I think that what this all really means is that we must be tolerant of each other on things that really don't make that much difference. Please don't let it be a stumbling block for folks to come to Jesus. Argue, but argue with love. And, if need be, agree to disagree.

That's my two cents.

Interesting Day

Today, my family visited a nearby Baptist church. It is one of only two Sundays where we haven't been traveling or speaking somewhere. My wife attended there on the other Sunday, when I was so sick that I didn't go to church.

They knwe my wife when we walked in from the other time she visited. Today, they were glad to see us (and meet me and the rest of the family). So glad, that they asked me to teach their kids' Sunday School class. The they pastor also asked me to preach! My goodness! They didn't know I would be attending; I was a visitor; I was the preacher!

What an interesting day.

MQotW

"People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives ... and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted." - Nate Saint, missionary martyr

MQotW

"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?" - David Livingstone

Pray for Art Rogers

Please take a moment and pray for Art Rogers who posts over at 12 Witnesses after you read today's post.

Rejoice with me!

Luke 4:17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him (Jesus). And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, Luke 4:18 "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, Luke 4:19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." Luke 4:20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. Luke 4:21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

My grandmother (same on as in the post below) had some sort of stroke behind her left eye in 1986 and left her sightless in that eye. A year or so ago, she had a stroke behind her right eye and eventually lost 99% of the sight in her right eye. It has left her (understandably) depressed and sad by the turn of events in her latter years (she's 91).

Today, my mother took her to the eye doctor . (She has been to countless eye specialists to see what could be done; they all said they could do nothing) However, this new doctor took a look at her eyes, then another look, then yet another look. Finally, he sat back and said, "I think I can help". He told her about a laser procedure and my grandmother wanted it done right then and there. They were able to do it.

MY GRANDMOTHER HAS FULL SIGHT BACK IN HER LEFT EYE!
PRAISE THE LORD!

Update on my grandma's church

Well, I preached yesterday at my grandmother's church. To give you some background, this is the church that dismantled the indigent clothes closet because they "didn't want that riff-raff coming in and out" of their church. Since then, they also made it clear to me that they weren't going to give me an honorarium because I was still on full salary with the IMB and didn't need the money. They are correct; I don't need their money. (at this point, I don't want it, either)

So, for the past 6 weeks or so, I have been praying about what to preach on. I specifically didn't want my emotions to get away with me and prevent God getting the glory for yesterday. So, I ended up preaching on James 2:1-13. I called the sermon "Prescription for an Ailing Church". I was gracious, but I didn't hold back. I told them that they were a sick church and they needed fixing and anyone who didn't see that their church was in trouble was part of the problem. My whole family attended, since it was Mother's Day. I saw many, many mouths gape open wide at much that I had to say. Again, I was gracious, told them I needed to hear it as much as they did, and the reason that I was saying what I was saying was because I loved them and wanted them to be the very best they could be.

Last night, I showed slides about our missionary life. I challenged them and encouraged them to reach our of their comfort zone and reach the people around them. I did a mini-sermon on Acts 1:8 before I showed the slides (PowerPoint) Afterwards there was an ice cream social. I mentioned at the beginning of the slide show that several people had been offended by what I said, due to the number of folks, (n0ticably deacons) who weren't there that night who normally were. I went on to explain that since most of what I had to say was scripture, that they were offended by the Word of God and were under conviction by the Holy Spirit.

Many people who attended last night told me how much they appreciated what I had to say. They said they felt like their toes got stepped on, but that was OK as they hadn't been stepped on in a very long time.

Pray for this little church. Pray that God would get a hold of them and really shake them up. For HIS glory!

MQotW

"The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity." - Mike Stachura

Really?

Do we really need this many different kinds of cereal? I need therapy after every time I go to Wal-Mart!

MQotW

"Go, send, or disobey." - John Piper

What it's like: part 7 (GIC)

GIC, or Global Impact Conference, is the mission's emphasis strategy created by Johnny Hunt, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA. In a nutshell, it follows the Acts 1:8 strategy of reaching your hometown, then your state, then your country, then the world. It encourages a church to combine their missions offerings into a year long endeavor, not just IMB at Christmas, NAMB at Easter, etc. Generally, it serves to increase the offerings, not dilute them. The actual event is a missions fair, with lots of local, state, NAMB, and international missionaries and ministries invited to attend and to "schmooze" with the local congregation.

The missionary assumes the role of spiritual celebrity, much to the uneasiness of the missionary. Certainly of all the things we do missions for, we don't do it for our own glory. It is a constant job to keep the focus on God and HIS work, not on our OWN pitiful little corner of HIS work. I have, however, decided to keep attending them when asked, because I have seen God change people through these conferences. Basically, I see God at work there and I choose to join Him.

I received the following letter from a man at the last GIC I attended. It had the subject line: I'm mad at you for stirring the waters of my life If you read it the same way I do, it looks like he should be mad at God, not me! (lol)

I must share with you what an impact you have on me this week-end. I visited with you at breakfast on Saturday, and again on Sunday, individually with (your wife). Your courage and conviction are contagious. The waters in my life are quite peaceful, and I am happy. You, however, stirred those waters, and I am entering a grappling contest. I want the peace that I know and cherish. I do not want to pulled down by the current the crashes over the waterfall. I told (your wife), that I was mad at you because you have stirred the waters of my life.

I must confess that I have really enjoy participating in GIC's. They are unique opportunities to address crowds of people who are already interested in missions. They are opportunities for missionaries, especially those of us in Security 3 areas, to "feel" like missionaries. We get to wear special name tags that identify us as missionaries, we get to tell our stories to folks who want to hear, and we get to be loved on and let us "refill" our cup. We get to stay with members of the church and get to know them and their families.

If you ever have an opportunity to attend a GIC, or even better, house a missionary during a GIC, GO FOR IT!

MQotW

"If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn't it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death." - Dave Davidson