This last Sunday (03/17/13) I was blessed to have five minutes to speak at both my church services at Nowthen Alliance.
The time I was given to speak is called the “missionary minutes”, one Sunday a month my church honors a missionary or mission group. They get to tell the congregation what God is doing in their lives, most of the time they are on vacation or home assignment. Many of the missionaries attended Nowthen Alliance before they went into the field. In order to have speaking time on Sunday you first need to get approval from the Missionary Board. This is when I saw Gods prefect planning start to unfold in front of me. Before I left for Youth With A Mission (September 2011) I was on the Missionary Board with my mom. I now called the chairman of the Missionary Board, who was my high school principle, and asked about attending a meeting to ask permission to be the missionary speaker at a Sunday service. I was surprised to hear that I could make my request at the very next meeting! I quickly made flyers to give to board members to read as I talked to them about The World Race. Needless to say they loved the idea of me sharing about what God has called me to do this July 2013. My attending the meeting worked out for everyone because they did not have a speaker for this month. God knew I would call and be approved just five days before the Sunday I was suppose to speak! Thinking I would have to now try to get off work or call in; I was very concerned. But no, it just so happened that I had my first Sunday off in a year and it was the Sunday I was scheduled to speak! Wow! Thank you God! Time to get to work and make a Power Point Presentation and start praying about what to say and to whom I needed to reach out to.
Sunday morning came very fast and before I knew it Sunday was here and I had to speak. I was ready, even though I was nervous. The moment I started talking the Holy Spirit took over and helped me. The presentation went very well. When I finished speaking the pastor prayed for me. I sat down by my mom happy one service was done with. My dad was at work (state trooper) but he came and stood in the back of church when I talked. After coffee and cookies, it was time for round two, this time I was more confident about my speech. My older brother was able to make it to the services because God planned the dates out long ago and arranged everything for me; and I am very thankful for that. I knew all the people in the second service; this is the service I usually attend. This service is also more contemporary and has fast paced music.
My church is 100% supportive of me and will be praying for me as I go serve for a year around the world.
A big thanks to Nowthen Alliance Church for letting me share!
