After this meeting, I wanted to bounce our ideas off of some people "on the ground" - experienced missionaries connected with the C.A.R. So I sent a sketch of our ideas to Dave Guiles, Executive Director of GBIM. He gave me and our team several insightful responses - one of which rocked my world...
First, Dave shared his excitement and encouraged our work to this point. Basically, "you guys are doing great and thinking ahead based on the needs in the C.A.R. that you sense God leading you to help with!"
Second, he encouraged me to think with similar openness, prayer, and planning about other parts of the world as well. Obviously, God's Kingdom is moving all over the world, and our church would have the resources and opportunities to invest strategically in other places as well. (Pray for wisdom and guidance and patience on that one - and I totally agree with Dave's thoughts there!)
Third, and finally, the dude rocked my world.
He said, "You should come with us to Africa in September."
Okay, actually, he wanted me to prayerfully consider it. To talk it over with my wife, Jennie. To think about how it might help our church's mission efforts. To look over the schedule, the plans for the trip, and the team of pastors who were going.
Yikes - the trip was less than four months away. Does God really want to open this door for me to go to Africa? To be engaged with other leaders here and serving brothers and sisters in Christ on the other side of the world?
That was definitely a lot to pray about and consider!
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