Why Are We Doing This?

"No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once." (Oswald J. Smith)

As our family progresses toward service with Pioneer Bible Translators, I’ve been asked many questions.  I hope to be able to answer these in different formats.  Some questions I’ve answered in personal conversation, some I hope to answer in sermon form, and for other questions, I will write answers.  In this space, I’d like to answer the question "Why?"  People want to know why I would move to working with a mission organization that focuses on the unreached parts of the world when I’m part of such a great congregation.

There are over 340 million people in the world who have no access at all to the written Word of God.  They haven’t rejected the Scripture, it doesn’t even exist in their language.  This number represents more than the entire population of the United States (311 million).  Of the over 2,100 different language groups these people are part of, 900 of them have no church presence at all.  If we truly believe Jesus is the only means of salvation for the world, and that God has commissioned the Church to share the good news with them, we have to be willing to make sacrifices to see it happen.

The task of taking the gospel to the Bible-less and Church-less people of the world will require people willing to go to the most remote places on the planet.  For them to thrive spiritually and make disciples when they arrive, they must have people willing to support them financially and spiritually.  They are like the branches of a tree where the fruit is produced.  But branches cannot survive unless they are attached to a trunk that is supported by a network of roots.  God has called our family to serve in the role of being the trunk of the tree.  Those who support us will be the roots who will hold us up so we can train and disciple those whom God is sending to the ends of the earth.

Twenty Three

I woke up early on November 23^rd, 1985.  It was a Saturday and I’d stayed up late the night before with the guys in the dorm.  The cafeteria didn’t serve breakfast anyway, so sleeping in made sense.  As I lathered up in the shower, I remember brainstorming about how I would propose to my girlfriend.  We’d only been dating a few months, but in the microwave of the Christian college environment, the relationship had quickly gotten to a point where marriage seemed inevitable.  That afternoon we worked together in the darkroom developing photos for the college yearbook.  When she asked, "I was wondering if you would be willing to marry me?" I was shocked.  Never saw that coming.

I graduated from college on May 16^th, 1987.  The following Saturday seemed to make the best sense for the wedding, so we wed on May 23^rd.  I had no idea at the time what the significance of that date was in my family history.  My biological mother told me that she met my father on May 23^rd, 1965.   After I was adopted, my adoptive family fell apart and eventually we met again.  She brought me back home to live with her on May 23^rd, 1980.

Long before I knew who Michael Jordan was, I had been playing football in a Pee Wee League.  The number of the uniform I was assigned?  23.

When Ann & I got married, we’d planned to go a long time before having children.  We weren’t ready for the responsibilities of parenting.  Apparently God has a sense of humor.  When I returned from a youth conference with the students in my youth group, we had one of those "guess what Honey?" conversations.  Our first child was born on March 4^th, 1990.  At the time Ann & I were both 23 years old.

Last year during one of our church worship services, I felt convicted by the Lord to devote myself to being a better husband.  In a private moment, I made a personal commitment to the Lord to be more devoted to my wife.  As I took communion, I noticed for the first time that there are little numbers written on the bottom of the plastic communion cups we use.  The number 23 was written on the bottom of mine.  I kept the cup.

Ann & I have now been married for 23 years, and we feel strongly called by the Lord to serve as missionaries with Pioneer Bible Translators.  We told our elders about our decision in December, and they asked that we be ready to announce our resignation in mid-January.  I was ready to make the announcement on January 16^th, but they ask that I wait a week.  So I made this pivotal announcement in our lives the next Sunday – January 23^rd.

Once you notice a pattern, you tend to look for things that reinforce it.  It is hard to regard all this as pure coincidence, and yet one cannot also help but wonder what if anything it may mean.