As you are going…
A teammate shared with me that Matthew 28:19 can be translated not just as “Go therefore and make disciples..”, but “As you are going, make disciples…”
This phrase radically changed how I see the Great Commission.
As we moved into the last two weeks of our time in Ghana, we were headed into a type of mission that the World Race calls “Ask The Lord” or “ATL”. I became more aware of how ministry can happen along the way. It’s not about the destination, but it is about the journey.
In preparing for ATL I was super nervous. How do I know what the LORD is actually speaking to me? Does He speak audibly? In pictures and images? Words? Bible verses?
The answer is YES.
D. All of the above.
I speak to you continually.
You do?! Ok, then let’s do this.
What does ATL look like?
Honestly, I thought it would look something like me praying to God at a busy intersection asking “Do I turn right or left?!” as I’m staring up to the heavens in the midst of a pouring rainstorm with my massive backpack on my back. I imagined I wouldn’t hear any clear direction so I would have to resort to sleeping under a bridge with the homeless and eating the last bit of Clif bar that I hoarded since leaving the US for “such a time as this”.
I thought that was going to be trusting in the Lord for provision.
But how is that truly trusting the LORD??! That is 100% relying on myself.
That’s not allowing space for God to show up. That’s not asking expectantly.
God broke me during malaria. I think that was my sleeping under a bridge scenario. And now, I know that I can fully and truly 100% rely on Him for every waking moment. I was relying on God every single moment of my malarious state, and I am relying on him every waking moment of this ATL situation as well.
God doesn’t withhold good gifts from his children.
It all started by asking God for direction while in bed in Sunyani, Ghana.
I prayed and got nothing….
Well, I did get a picture of a happy face lollipop – but as my teammate said, “That seems a little froot-loopy.” Which I agree.
Lots of people got images of water, wells, rivers, the direction Northeast, ideas of discipleship and mentoring, working with women, a bed, staying in a place for awhile, refreshment, Muslims, children. I thought maybe some where near the national park (because i am just so intrigued by national parks), and some thought we would go to the city Tamale.
So we went to bed praying about it more, and the following morning I got so much confirmation about the water references, I kept getting “follow the river”, enjoy life and laughter, rains, showers, freedom, be open, share your gifts, cast your anxieties on Him.
The night before leaving Sunyani I couldn’t sleep at all. I’m pretty sure that was because God was calling us to make a move, and we weren’t doing it. We were waiting for a audible YES, but instead sometimes we must take a step forward and expect God to show up in BIG ways.
So, we booked the only AirBnB in Tamale and headed to the bus station the following morning.
When we arrived at the station, the tickets were sold out, for the only bus that goes to Tamale that day.
But no problem for God. He orchestrated it so that they would offer us a private bus to Tamale if we could fill 30 seats.… 5 teams were headed to Tamale… 6 members on each… there’s 30 people….
Once we arrived, we were able to contact our host who met us at the station and got us settled into the house. He was an interesting character – a Muslim that believes in Jesus, with a Rastafarian twist, has a British wife and child, and a lot to talk about. We felt safe there that night, but the following morning, we spent time in prayer and really asked God for where is would want us to be. One thing we did find interesting, was that even though the man and woman running the AirBnB had no real religious attachment let alone an evangelical one, they mentioned on AirBnB advertisement that they were close to the Seed Ministry run by Bob and Bonnie Parker…
After a time of prayer, many of my teammates saw images related to the watering of seeds.
I received a picture of a raft floating down a river with people getting baptized. And Bob and Bonnie were heavy on my heart. I felt we needed to talk to them.
We kept praying and decided that at 1pm we were going to walk over to Seed Ministry and ask boldly if they would be willing to take us in, or if they had ideas of where we could go.
When we arrived there, (literally across the street) Bob was out at a village, but Bonnie was home. She was willing to take time away from her Discipleship Training Class and sit down and talk with us.
We told her what we were doing, where we were from, how we’d been led there, and asked if they had anything for us to do and if we could learn more about Seed Ministry. We told her we didn’t exactly have a place to stay but felt God calling us there.
After she listened to us, she began to speak and I was sunk… hook, line and sinker. This lady is amazing.
Bonnie said they had exactly 6 beds available and they have so many different facets their ministry that we could plug in anywhere we felt gifted and wanted to serve. Children’s ministry, church leader training, a discipleship type school… you name it. They did have a river ministry where they would take a pontoon boat out along the river and share the gospel to remote villages, but the boat was currently getting repaired.
It was realized later how much God totally orchestrated this meeting because Bonnie and Bob weren’t supposed to be there for those two weeks, but Natalie, a girl from Louisville, was there till the end of the month, so they stayed in Tamale an extra two weeks. God’s pretty cool.
We said we were passionate about women’s ministry, Bonnie said that’s where they lack, but she has always trusted God to bring people in to serve alongside them in that area in particular… so that was awesome.
We said we love kids, she said, that’s their main focus.
She broke from our conversation by saying, “Well I love divine appointments, and I’m going to talk to Bob and hopefully he’s as excited as I am.”
Wow.
God you are so cool.
In the mean time, Natalie came home and she was so excited because she’s been interested in doing the World Race!
Bob said they would love to have us stay, and so they had a van to come and pick us and all of our stuff up, and then we we able to move in FOR FREE that night!
Then they fed us dinner, which consisted of salad and MAC AND CHEESE!
Bob and Bonnie’s story is just so sweet and you can see the joy and love of Jesus just exuding out of them.
The rooms have air conditioning, and we each had a bathroom and shower.
We are so blessed.
The following morning, Bob made coffee and then they had someone to take us to a clinic (our bodies were still stricken with illness), and all around town.
Olivia and Carlin both had malaria for the third and fourth times, so how beautiful was it that they had a comfortable place to rest.
Katy and Karla, the healthy ones were able to go and work in a school – which is their love.
Then Alexandra and I had the opportunity to go out and meet some people that afternoon.
That is when we met Zara.
She’s a Muslim woman incredibly interested about talking about her faith, learning more about the Bible, and wanted us to come back for conversation – and she gave us a Quran to study.
That’s exactly what we prayed for. Women. Muslim. Discipleship.
Later, Bob came in and said they had a trip going to Mole National Park the following week and we simply needed to let him know if we wanted in on the fun.
I’ve been dying to go. And remember I felt like God wanted us to go there somehow?!
With that invitation, Bob basically invited us to stay at Seed Ministry for the rest of our ATL time and serve alongside them and their ministries.
God not only helps us survive. But He allows us to THRIVE.
Why did I think He would only provide enough for me to “make it”?
Instead, He says, “Here my child, you’ve committed to following me day by day, and I’m going to give even more than you could ever ask think or imagine.”
GOD IS GOOD.
Follow up: I had been wanting to do something related to baptism on the Race and I thought that was going to be leading a baptism in the River or something of the sort, but after Bonnie said their River ministry was on hold, I figured I wasn’t going to be participating in any baptisms any time soon. But… Bob asked me to paint a mural behind their baptismal! How cool is that?! Now I get to be a part of so many more baptisms as my painting will be inspiration in the background for years to come!
