Interview
4 minute read
About a year ago Rebecca*, my wife, and I stepped into the role of Regional Leader for North Africa, although we live in Spain. We have three children – our eldest son is in the United States, and our daughter will move there in the autumn, both starting college this year; that’s big news for us! Our youngest son is still with us on the field.
Rebecca and I met in the Middle East with Pioneers in 2004, at a time when Pioneers didn’t have any teams in North Africa. By the time we reached Chad we had two children. We were in a place where the gospel is really needed, engaging with a people group for the first time, in the east of the country. It was really significant. When we moved there, we didn’t know of any believers. There were a lot of challenges and struggles, but the Lord knows about them and used our naivety.
But there came a point where Rebecca told me very bluntly, ‘I don’t like homeschooling. This is not who I am made to be.’ Through that I began to understand that the Lord was going to be moving us on. In our case, our children’s education and needs have been the number one priority. We moved to the capital, away from that tribe, and, in a lot of ways, it wasn’t any easier – but there was a missionary kid (MK) school. A few years later there was another critical transition point as that school only goes up to eighth grade (year 9 is the UK equivalent). Should we send our children to boarding school or what? In our case, that’s where Spain came into play, because there’s an English-speaking school. So now we’re in a place visited by thousands of tourists every year. Having moved from Chad it’s such a funny place and yet, at the same time, it’s super strategic. We’re still a part of the work and really thankful to be so, but there is this constant reevaluation – Lord, what are you doing? What are you leading us to?
The Lord has been doing something. We were the first people to go into Chad with Pioneers, and when we left there were five or six teams, with about 40 adults with 40 kids. Now, with the current visa ban on Americans, the number of workers is dwindling, and come May, there will just be two non-Americans left in the country, unless the situation changes.
Something that we don’t talk about enough at the beginning of someone’s missionary journey is that, at some point, it is likely that you’re going to have to pivot. For one reason or another, you may not be able to stay in the place that you hoped to be long-term. The Chad Team Leaders have done a great job in having this conversation with the teams. They haven’t just gone back home, they’ve been encouraged to find a strategic pivot Plan B. These workers are now spread out across several different countries, taking survey trips, seeing where they can land for a term. None of them have hung up their missionary boots yet, which is encouraging.
We’re in a spiritual battle and the prayers of the saints are powerful and effective. If we’re not praying, we’re not affecting things. If as workers, we’re going into places and not praying in the authority of Jesus, then we are setting ourselves up for attack and failure. We need the prayers of the saints to help equip his people and to demolish strongholds, as Paul says.
There is this constant reevaluation – Lord, what are you doing? What are you leading us to?
For us, being able to invest in the Area Leaders is a real joy. They are a wonderful group to be a part of and lead, and it’s a joy to be doing it with Rebecca. We’re supporting them amidst not just things that are going on in North Africa, but also in their lives, sometimes really traumatic stuff. As Regional Leaders we have a dual role – leading but also providing pastoral care to the Area Leaders. Missionaries have their own issues to deal with; they’re just regular people. They’re saints, but they’re not super saints, even though, certainly where I come from, in the south of the United States, there is this perception that missionaries have a holy calling, and they’re often put on an invisible pedestal!
The Lord really can use anyone. I call myself an unskilled labourer. I studied History at university. But when I heard about these unreached peoples, I needed to go. And the reality is, if people like me don’t respond, then people will not hear. God wants to partner with us and he loves partnering with us. It’s a mystery why a sovereign, omnipotent God wants to partner with us, but what a privilege it is. He is also patient. We really need to take that seriously, because he is waiting for us. That has consequences. There have been a number of American missionaries in Chad over the years, but with that door being closed and no opening in sight, who will go? Can we pray for people to be raised up from the UK to go to Chad? It’s an expensive place to be, and so that precludes other new sending nations from easily sending there. So who’s going to go? Please pray for workers.
Rebecca and I went to the field in our early 20s. We moved to a new country, which was hard work – in some ways a terrible experience. We did lots of things wrong, but we look back now, we’ve got children who love the Lord, and we’re super thankful for that. We haven’t missed out on life. In fact, doing things at a young age serves as a fertiliser for your faith! It exposes your weaknesses super quickly, and by God’s grace, you can get broken in that and increasingly find identity in Christ. It’s not until you get in those moments where you get exposed for who you really are and are broken that Christ meets you there.
*Names have been changed for security and library images used.
