Missionary

Today United Methodist Missionary Rev. Evelyn Erbele visited our little church in Coos Bay. She and her husband are serving in the Methodist church in Lithuania. She told us some wonderful stories about the ministry going on there, even in the midst really crushing poverty.

I don't often talk about this, but one of the main reasons that I'm a pastor now is that I once experience a strong call to mission work. I never had a flash-bang experience that told me to get ordained; that was a gradual process. But I did have a flash-bang experience that told me to be a missionary. Melissa and I pursued it heavily at the time, but I was too unqualified to do it at the time -- I didn't even yet have a bachelor's degree. So, I set that to the side, believing strongly that God still had some training in mind for me. It was that spark the set me on the path that led to seminary and commissioning.

But that was seven years ago, and the missionary dream still being unfulfilled, I guess I had pushed it down, out of the way. But Ev's visit today sparked my memory. And now, I actually have the credentials to do it. We'd still have to finish our adoption process here, and I'd have to finish my probationary period here and be ordained, but in a few years, it could be a possibility. Something very interesting to think about.