Our time here in Chile has come to a close. As my team and I struggle to say goodbye, feeling as though our hearts are breaking, we are now asking the question, “what made us think we could say ‘goodbye’ 11 times this year?” Our family here has gone above and beyond! By welcoming us in, sharing their hearts with us and giving so generously to us, we have keep asking, “wait who are the missionaries here? Because we have been so blessed by THEM!” I could continue to write so much about our new Chilean family, but I would really like to focus on the humble, passionate shepherd that leads the way. Pastor David.
Pastor David was our host and ministry leader for our first month. I learned an incredible amount from him each and every day. Throughout this month, I had the opportunity to sit down and pursue intentional conversation with him that taught me more about being a missionary, the humility of leadership and impact that comes as we turn our focus to Jesus. When asked to describe his job, his response was simple and powerful, “To know God and be known by him.” I love this answer because it takes away all of our worldly connotations of the word “job.” As disciples of Jesus, we have the blessing of resting in this sentence to describe our everyday. With Jesus, we are expected to bring nothing more, nothing less than our broken, sinful hearts to the foot of the cross to know our Savior and be known by him.
“Why are you here?” Was my next question. His response: “Obedience to God’s call.” The word “why” has come up quite often when questioning my own call. This month has been a rollercoaster of feeling confidence and insecurity constantly. So the only natural, or rather fleshly, response is to ask “why God?” Pastor David’s answer is, once again, simple and powerful. Obedience. I am here because I felt called to journey with Jesus around the world, to meet his church on the grand scale, to be humbled and built up in His love, so when I return, I may continue to live in obedience. Pastor David is on the same journey of obedience. As disciples, we are called to, above all else, live in obedience with God’s call.
The final question I had for Pastor David quickly brought me back to where my entire journey with Jesus began. “What are your passions?” “Souls.”
In the year 2011, a very influential and strong authority figure in my life pursued my heart in conversation, questioned me about the sin I was pursuing, listened to my brokenness and told me about the cross; a sacrifice made for ME. Matthew Chambers has a passion for souls and has impacted many because of his deeply rooted passion. Several years after that encounter in 2011, I had the blessing to be the one pursuing hearts of campers as a member of the summer staff. As our Camp director, Matt regularly reminded us that we, as camp staff, had the best and most important job because we were handling precious souls. That same passion is alive in Pastor David and his church, community and family is a testament to that passion. A passion for souls is all Jesus needs to work through us. As we pursue the hearts of others and point them the cross, He meets them there. This passion now runs deeply through my veins, as a broken vessel made powerful by Jesus, himself.
It was an incredible blessing to learn and walk with Pastor David on my first month of this 11 month journey. His hands are powerful tools in building the Kingdom of God, by the blood of Jesus. May we each learn to live in the simplicity of knowing God and being known by him, the freedom of obedience to His call and the joy of passionately pursuing the souls of His children.
This is the first blog in a series called “Kingdom Hands,” where I will be interviewing one person from each country to learn from them and their ministry, in order to grow as a missionary myself, and to share with all of you, missionaries at home.
As we are now in our placement in Argentina, I pray you are just as excited as I am to learn from the leaders in Kingdom work here!
