Have I not
commanded you? Be strong and
courageous! Do not tremble or be
dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:9
Things
are changing and I think it is for the good!
In September of last year I (Justin) went to Texas for a weekend of
meetings with the e3 Partners Sudan team.
My supervisor told me then that our family might not be able to go to
Southern Sudan as e3 missionaries. E3
Partners does not have many long-term field missionaries, their strategy is
based on short-term trips. We were
approved to go long-term, but that changed when we had a baby. A family with children required more
organizational support than e3 felt they could provide, so they asked us to
either move to short-term missions like the rest of them or find a new
organization that would send us to Sudan.
There’s
something incredibly humbling and slightly discouraging about calling one
organization after another and hearing them say no, but through the process God
gave us so many “without a doubt” confirmations that we were still doing what
He had called us to, and He just wanted us to trust Him.
When I
was in Sudan in December, I met some people who suggested that we contact
Pioneers. I had never heard of Pioneers,
but a few days later we were denied by another organization that didn’t want to
start work in Southern Sudan, so I called them.
The issue with many of the organizations was that we were going as a
family, with a young child, to such a remote place. I explained that to the people at Pioneers
and they asked us to apply anyways.
Well, two weeks ago we went to Orlando for orientation and final
interviews, and at the end of that week they appointed us.
God is
so awesome. We contacted Pioneers
because we just wanted an organization that would let us go, but the more we
talk to people and learn about the organization, the more we realize that
Pioneers is a perfect fit for us. God had
it all worked out already. The process
was long and sometimes discouraging, but God has called us, He is in control,
and He is good so we can trust Him.
Not much
has changed with the actual ministry that we’re going to do. We’re still going to Southern Sudan, still
planning to start churches and disciple national leaders to lead
self-supporting and reproducing national churches. We now get to do all of that with an agency
who has the support and help that our family will need.
