Testimony and call to Missions
2 Corinthians 5:17(ESV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
I always thought I was a Christian my whole life but was confronted with a question when I was 28 years old that scared me to death. Was there a point in my life when God saved me? When I past from Hell to Heaven? Was I changed because of this? Was I a new creation like this verse says? I was scared to death because I honestly couldn’t see this change.
I grew up as a Catholic in a small town where almost everyone was a Catholic. I went to Catholic schools, first Communion, Confirmation like all of my friends. I thought I was a good person but I was a filthy, wretched, evil person that stored up the wrath of God my whole life. This is how I was and how God saw me. The world never saw this, they thought I was an all around good guy, never had trouble with the law, treated people good for the most part, and was responsible.
But I was a wretch in God’s eyes. I sinned against Him every day. I broke all His laws a thousand times over. I sinned all day and then did one good thing and thought I was righteous. I deserved Hell and still do for that matter. So God sought me. I wasn’t looking for Him. I thought I had Him. But He sought me. He gave me the desire to start reading the Bible for the first time in my life at the age of 28. I wanted to get back into my faith.
But I was a wretch in God’s eyes. I sinned against Him every day. I broke all His laws a thousand times over. I sinned all day and then did one good thing and thought I was righteous. I deserved Hell and still do for that matter. So God sought me. I wasn’t looking for Him. I thought I had Him. But He sought me. He gave me the desire to start reading the Bible for the first time in my life at the age of 28. I wanted to get back into my faith.
I decided to start going back to the Catholic church. This lasted six months before I was fed up. I was reading one thing in the Bible and hearing the opposite in church. The church was contradicting the Bible in some areas. I had lots of questions. I tried to talk to the priest but he never gave me the time of day. He told me to first sign up as a member.
My wife was Protestant and so were her parents. Her parents had witnessed to me before but my heart was hard. I started going to a Bible study at Clinton Community church with my wife. It seemed that God was opening my eyes up to truth for the first time. I would learn more in an hour at this Bible study, which the Pastor was teaching verse by verse through each book, than I did my whole life as a Catholic.
I started getting a hunger for God’s Word, I needed to know more. I had a thousand questions. The more I read the Bible the more I wanted to read. Over the next few months, God worked His Spirit in me and showed me my wretched state and I knew I was going to Hell because of my sin. God then showed me the way out through His Son Jesus Christ. I didn’t walk down an isle or raise my hand. God saved me through the means of reading of His Word. When I did repent and put my trust in Jesus Christ everything seemed to change. I was learning truth that I never knew before and starved for more. I was so excited about what God did that I had to tell everyone. I figured that if they knew what I did they could be saved as well. I told everyone but they reacted as you would expect. Most thought I was crazy and they didn’t understand the change that happened in me.
I had zeal without knowledge.
Not long after my conversion I took a job in another town.
I didn’t want to leave my new church but my current job was ending.
This was all God’s
Providence directing me.
The town I moved to was very small but there was a new Southern Baptist Church starting, so I checked it out and got involved.
The pastor was sound in doctrine, preaching and teaching expositionally through the Bible.
Over the years I studied a lot and grew in knowledge and my zeal for the lost and evangelism grew rapidly.
The more I studied and the more grounded in theology I became the more I had to share it with others.
With the encouragement of the Pastor I started preaching at our church and then other churches.
I taught evangelism classes and encouraged people to join me in proclaiming the gospel.
I eventually started a street evangelism ministry in the biggest town that was close to me, which continues today.
God has brought several of us together and by His grace we are able to share the biblical gospel with hundreds of people on the street each year.
After some trials on a trip to
Singapore and
Malaysia, God started increasing my burden for missions and we started supporting several. Over the next several years God started conforming me to His desires and now, I not only wanted to see sinners saved but I wanted to see them discipled and taught sound doctrine and grow in grace. As I consistently shared the gospel on the streets, my desire to see people grounded in truth became a greater burden because of all the bad doctrine I ran into continually.
Just as God at first burdened me to share the gospel with my friends and relatives and then to all the people in my town and then the cities surrounding me, He now was expanding my burden to the nations. As I studied missions and read biographies of missionaries I felt God calling me to take the gospel, not just to the
United States, but to all the nations. My burden grew heavier as time went on and God providentially put books, preachers and missionaries in my path to confirm my calling.
Through the grace and providence of God I met a man, who is now my best friend, at Alistair Begg’s pastor’s conference in
Cleveland. He was raising support to take his family to
Peru as missionaries. Over the next few years we spent a lot of time talking and ministering together. God began confirming my calling to work with my friend as a team in
Peru. At first my wife was not ready for career missionary work so I thought I would do short term work and support missionaries until God called my wife. I didn’t have to wait too long because within a year God radically changed and called my wife. We are now ready, willing and excited to leave everything behind and give our lives for the sake of the gospel.
It is important to say that my call to the foreign mission field was not a mystical event; I just read the great commission and obeyed it. God confirmed this desire in me inwardly, then outwardly through the church and individual Christians that know us and He now continually confirms this desire through my daily Bible reading and His providence. As God confirms our calling clearly and is advancing us to the mission field rapidly, we sit in amazement at His goodness and glory.
By God’s grace, we are now ready to go to the nations. God has prepared us to be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill our ministry and offer up our lives as a sweet aroma to God.
We will initially move to an area outside of the city of
Cusco to work with an established, biblical Peruvian church. The city of
Cusco sits high in the
Andes mountains at around 11,000 feet in elevation. The population of
Cusco is around 350,000 and has a rich history of the Inca Empire.
In the
Cusco area the climate is generally dry and temperate, with two defined seasons. The dry season lasts from April through October, with abundant sunshine, and occasional nighttime freezes: July is the coolest month with an average of 49.3 °F. The wet season lasts from November to March, with night frost less common: November averages 56.1 °F. Although frost and hail are common, snow is virtually unheard of.
The country of
Peru is around 80% Catholic. The main language in the country is Spanish but the Quechua language is spoken in several regions. There a large number of minor Amazonian languages as well. The main occupations in
Peru are agriculture, industry and services with 44% of the population below the poverty line.
Mission Philosophy and Vision
Before we are able to move to
Peru, we will spend one year in
Costa Rica for language school. It is very important to learn the language because almost no one speaks English where we are going in
Peru. Without knowing Spanish, we will be unable to live and function, let alone minister and preach to the Peruvians.
When language school is complete we will move to an area outside of
Cusco,
Peru to live for the rest of our lives. Our goal is to work with a solid, biblical Peruvian church until we get ingrained into the culture. We will help teach, preach and evangelize with the Peruvian church and they will help us learn language specifics, culture and government.
After we are ingrained into the culture and speaking fluently we will work with the Peruvians in the church and move into some of the unreached regions, which have no church of any kind, to make contacts, evangelize, start bible studies and eventually, by God’s grace, establish a biblical church. Although we will initially be starting the church, our goal is to see God save Peruvians and raise them up into leadership positions and eventually take the church over. When God works in this way and the church is sustained by the indigenous people, we will move into new regions as God leads.
Our vision is not to see American churches planted and sustained by Americans, but to see God work amongst the Peruvians to start biblical churches that are sustained by the Peruvians relying on the grace of God. We do understand that the Peruvian Christians are willing to evangelize and plant churches which is very encouraging to us. What they lack at times is training in sound biblical doctrine. A big part of our ministry will be to disciple the new Peruvian believers in these historical biblical truths.
The Means
The works of George Muller had a big impact on shaping my philosophy on depending on God for provision. I have never asked people for financial support or for an opportunity to present our ministry. We simply go to our mighty God, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and knows what we need before we ask it, and ask Him to raise up senders to sacrifice at home so we can sacrifice in the field. Even though we have never asked for support, God has already answered our prayers and raised up some people and churches to sacrifice with us. It seems almost crazy to ask men for support when we can go to the source and ask our Sovereign God who knows our needs.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen Philippians 4:19
God can and will supply our needs. God gave us His Son who is the greatest gift and above all gifts, to die in our place and take the wrath of the Father upon Himself to reconcile us to God and satisfy the justice of God. It is unfathomable to think that God won’t give us our daily bread.
God is sending us to
Peru and He will confirm our calling by raising up individuals and churches to give and pray sacrificially for the equal privilege of being obedient to God in the great commission to take the gospel to all nations. We are fully trusting in God to raise up the senders He wants to support us. It is a test of faith and through it, God will get all of the glory for providing for us.
The End
What is the end goal of our work in
Peru? It is the same purpose we all have in life, which is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We are not going to
Peru necessarily to rescue lost and depraved sinners from a wrathful God. We are going out of obedience to God to go to all nations, lead by Christ, to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. (2 Corinthians 2:14-15)
We primarily want to see the name of our Sovereign God glorified and made great instead of being blasphemed in
Peru. We understand that the Bride of Christ has been built by they blood of the martyrs and that anyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. We have sacrificed everything for this move and pray that God will use our weak, lowly bodies for His glory and good.
