Missionary Testimonies

How they heard their call

“The call of God is like the call of the sea; no one hears it but he who has the nature of the sea in him.”  - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest 

The ways God calls seems to be as varied as those He calls. In these stories from our missionaries, we hope you get a sense of the many ways God speaks.

The first nudgings
"When I first heard the calling of God upon my life, it was not to the mission field or into full-time ministry. It was a call to follow after Him,” writes Neal Hicks. ". . . As my desire to love Him and obey Him developed, He privileged me to draw closer to Himself and catch a glimpse of what was on His heart. He led me to see beyond myself to those who were 'like sheep without a shepherd.' Through His Word, I heard time and time again the Shepherd's voice calling me to step out in faith." Neal did step out in faith, and was preparing for full-time ministry when he sensed God's directing Him to be a missionary in Japan, where he, his wife, Mari, and children now serve with The Mission Society. 

Neal and Mari Hicks serve in pastoral ministry in Japan, Mari’s homeland.  They also serve with several prayer ministries and are leaders in the nationwide International VIP Club ministry, which reaches into both Japan’s corporate business world and the political arena.

The call that won't go away
Both Don and Jackie Craig sensed God's call to missionary service when they were just teenagers. But after 25 years of marriage, "We had become a typical, comfortable, middle-class couple with successful careers and a considerable degree of security," Don writes. That's when things started changing.

It was during Don's Walk to Emmaus in 1986 that he "clearly heard the Lord saying that it was time to answer His call to full-time missionary service. When I told Jackie about my experience, her response was, 'When do we leave and where are we going?' We then told each other for the first time how God had called us while we teenagers."

Don and Jackie Craig served as Mission Society missionaries in Costa Rica.

Burdened by a need
"Nothing can ever surpass the peace that comes from knowing you are doing God's will," writes Joetta Lehman, who served in Haiti. Joetta wanted to be a missionary ever since she met her "first real live missionary at age 10." She went on a short-term mission trip to Haiti in 1977 and subsequently took several other mission trips there, once for two years. "Each trip to Haiti," she writes, "God dealt more intensely with my heart and burdened me with a need for the neglected children."

Joetta Lehman served among the people of Haiti, appointed jointly by The Mission Society and OMS International. She now works in the headquarters of OMS.

Journaling a call
One evening during his first year at seminary, John Rentz was struck by the words of Psalm 22:27 and 30. "The verses seemed to leap out at me,” he remembers. “'All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.' I had never thought about missions before, but as I read those words, I started thinking about people who lived in remote parts of the world who had not had a chance to hear the Gospel. And in my mind's eye, I saw someone preaching the Word to a people group in one of these far-flung places. It seemed as if God were saying to me, 'John, you belong in that picture.'" John journaled late into the night about the vision which the Lord had laid on his heart. The next morning, in the light of day, John reconsidered the vision. He questioned whether or not God has really spoken to him. "I didn't want to appear foolish, so I just kept quiet about it. But I did think, 'Lord, if You want me to do this work, You'll guide me.'"  Two years later, while pastoring a small parish in Georgia, John hosted a visiting missionary for a week. "I shared with him my vision from years before." Later, at a friend’s suggestion, John read some information about Wycliffe Bible Translators. “I couldn't believe my eyes,” he remembers. “I pulled out my old journal and reread the vision God had given three years earlier. It was a perfect match. I knew this was what God wanted me to do.” Nearly six years later, I headed for the Solomon Islands along with my wife and daughter, to help the Reef islanders translate the Bible into their language. Saying "yes" to God meant that we got to know these special people at one 'end of the earth' through whom God richly blessed our lives. Although our six years there were punctuated with many trials, I wouldn't trade anything for the joy of seeing the Islanders read the Story for the first time in their own language.

The Rentzes serve in New Zealand working jointly with The Mission Society and Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Surrender
During her high school years, Beth Greenawalt had a youth pastor who "encouraged us to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, wherever He might call," she writes. "I remember praying, 'Okay, Lord, but please don't send me somewhere like Alaska.' (Cold weather is not my favorite.)"

After being inspired by testimonies by great Christians like Corrie Ten Boom and Brother Andrew who lived or ministered behind the Iron Curtain, Beth often prayed "for courage to be as true as these faithful men and women of God who underwent great persecution." She attended Oral Roberts University, where, she writes, "we were constantly encouraged to 'go where His light is dim and His voice is heard small.' One day in my dorm room, as I listened to some [contemporary Christian] music, I remember praying, 'Okay, Lord, I'll even be willing to go to Alaska if You want.'" After they married, even though Beth and Dave participated in several short-term mission trips, they "lived with a sense of unfulfilled calling for years." 

Today, Beth and Dave Greenawalt and their children are helping to plant a United Methodist cell church in Budapest, Hungary, appointed jointly by The Mission Society and the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church.