This weekend my wife and I attended a national conference ACMC geared toward equipping churches with the information they need for missions.
I heard several ideas, some of the ideas involving motivation for going were:
Find a need and fill it (fill the gap).
Filling the gap is an old idea, find your specific passion.
Find your passion, then find a fit for your passion.
Find your skills and then find where you can fit.
We are all told to serve, are you willing to answer.
You need two character traits to do well - Self Discipline and Self Esteem.
We need to reach the unreached with the Gospel of Christ.
Now, I knew that I was being called to Papua New Guinea specifically before all of these ideas, so I'm testing them currently against what I know. The true help of this ACMC was in equipping me and my wife to go, showing us what we need to work on, and prepare for.
Deliberate path for discipline our kids.
Home base of encouragement and accountability for family, finances, prayer.
Deep spiritual formation and character.
Preparation for suffering.
A Heart of love for the lost.
Those are the key areas we need to develop. There are skills we need to develop as well.
Another benefit of the ACMC was that we were exposed to many different organizations. We got excited about several, but Wycliffe really reached us. Before this conference, I didn't know as much as I do now about the various passions people have and methods for reaching and discipling the lost.
SO...
My family is in the process of applying to Wycliffe for full time service in Papua New Guinea, lifetime.
and the question I get asked is "tell me about your call".
But people ask that question so cavalierly, as if I can get it all out in a soundbyte. It takes me 2 hours to discuss on any level of thoroughness. God is so thorough. (http://gng2png.blogspot.com)
so last night I was working on my soundbyte to tell people about my calling, but I think it does God a disservice... here it is (my wife is working on hers):
I've always wanted my life to be a way to glorify God and not be about myself. I married with the intention of becoming a dynamic team for ministry. When we had kids, we devoted them to ministry. We got involved in all kinds of ministries, but I never felt that I had found the specific place God intended for me. And then we heard a man talk about PNG and I went. When I got there, I was so absolutely convinced through a myriad of seemingly unrelated events in my life, parts of my character, and personal interests, suddenly connecting, that this was the exact place engineered for my family to be. So I prayed and studied and sought out God and listened, and He put a burning on my heart for PNG, that I belonged there. I am homesick now for a place I've been to for only 16 days. I no longer live in this world, I belong in that one.
