The Call

After speaking to our church youth group, a young man asked "how do you become a missionary?" We answered in sharing some of the steps we have gone through to get to this point. However, in thinking about this more, I think I would have answered a little differently! All Gods children are missionaries in the place where God has called them.  "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20  We all are called, we just need to be open the the 'where' part of our calling!


I believe our call to Uganda began even longer ago, but I am going to begin here.......In January 2010, we traveled to Ethiopia to bring our daughter Kidist home. She was four years old and the answer to our daughter Chloe's prayers. During our wait to bring Kidist home we spent time in scripture exploring God's heart for the orphan. We grew to understand that His heart is for the least of these. In Ethiopia, we saw the faces of the ones He speaks about in Matthew 25; Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison and come to You? And the King will answer and say to them,  'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' We met a mother who was forced to give up her daughter because she could not feed her. We saw orphan children on the streets begging.  God opened our eyes to a need. He opened our eyes to the people of Africa who need hope. We have a solution. Are we going to stay here and stay comfortable or GO make disciples, Go be the hands and feet to people in need, and GO share the hope we have in Christ. We struggled upon returning to the States and trying to go back to our normal routine. Four months after Kidist joined our family I (Michelle) was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was forced to think a lot about life, death, and priorities. We came to realize even more clearly that  life is truly a vapor here on earth. We had to ask ourselves if our life here was focused on ourselves and our comfortable lifestyle or on Christ and His priorities. God was at work in both of our hearts preparing us for our dinner with Tim and Angie Sleidrecht in the Spring of 2011.


Tim and Angie are the team leaders of Team Beyond in Soroti, Uganda. We had met previously to talk about our church orphan ministry team helping out with their ministry to orphans in Uganda. The plan was to talk more about this at dinner. However, the conversation was mostly focused on the ministry they are presently doing in Uganda and Chris asking lots of questions! Toward the end of our time, Tim and Angie asked us to pray about joining their work in Soroti. Chris would say that everything in his head was saying NO NO NO and his heart said YES. We asked them to pray for wisdom, courage, and for a letter from God.....wouldn't that be nice.  Eight hours later the below letter arrived, emailed to Chris from a close friend who never emails him. Similar letters along these lines arrived the next several days. Our friend Steve knew nothing of our talk with Tim and Angie. Coincidence? No, we believe God really needed to get our attention.


May 10, 2011 

Hard of Hearing

by Charles R. Swindoll

Read Exodus 3:4--22

Moses had been resistant for forty years, telling himself all that time that his was a lost cause. Now, when God came with a direct, simple call, the old shepherd couldn't handle it. In fact, he wouldn't let himself believe he might still be useful to God. "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt" (Exodus 3:10).

Now that wasn't complicated, was it? The Lord spoke in a tongue Moses could understand. He gave him a simple, two-fold command. First, He said to Moses, "I will send you." And second, "You will bring My people out." That was the plan.

Notice, please, that this was not a multiple choice arrangement. It wasn't even an invitation. It was a call. God does not speak and ask our advice regarding His plan. God makes declarations. He doesn't open up the scene for a rap session or a dialogue. He doesn't call in a blue-ribbon panel of consultants to suggest viable options. He speaks, and that is that.

At very unique junctures of our lives, God says to us, "Now, My child, I have this in mind for you. I know that you have knotted things up in the past. And I know that you may knot things up in the future. But as far as today, right now, this is My plan for you. Now go. I'm sending you, and I will be with you."

God told him that he would be an instrument in the deliverance, but God Himself would be the deliverer. Huge difference. In God's calling, He has a plan; but He never expects you to carry out that plan. He's going to pull it off. He simply wants you to be the instrument of action. After all, it is His reputation that's at stake, not yours. All He asks is that you give yourself to Him as a tool He can pick up and use. That's all.

Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Great Days with the Great Lives (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

This letter was a beginning of the way that God confirmed to our family that He wants us in Uganda, serving Him through being the hands and feet of Him to the people there. The vision of Team Beyond is to transform lives and communities through the power of God. They do this by walking alongside the local church to reach out to the oppressed. They strive to energize, equip, and engage local, passionate, Christians to grow deep roots in the Biblical worldview, centering on Christ, the full expression of the Fathers love, and on the value of human life and, as result, to bring hope, dignity, and wholeness to the poor, slave, and blind! We are excited to use the gifts God has given us to join Team Beyond in the work that is already being done!