Bill and I recently returned from a mission’s conference at our home church in Illinois. We always love going. But this year was extra special. Let me share three snap shots.
The first snap shot started over thirty years ago with a young non-Christian teen sitting in her English class in a public high school. The teacher invited one of his friends, a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators to give a presentation on linguistics. Her name is Dorothy. The young girl was mesmerized and decided to major in linguistics in college. Noticing the special interest of the girl, the teacher re-contacted Dorothy after the presentation and asked her to pray for “that girl”. For the next ten years Dorothy prayed for “that girl” never even knowing her name.
In the meantime “that girl” became a Christian and was introduced to Wycliffe Bible Translators by her boyfriend ~ who was interested in aviation ~ during her college years. Eventually they married and joined the staff of Wycliffe. They have been serving with them since 1977. But they never met Dorothy.
During the missions conference “that girl” met her prayer warrior friend for the first time! It was an amazing reunion testifying to the faithfulness of God.
The second snapshot revolves around Noah, the 15-year-old son of our other missionary friends with Josiah Venture who are ministering in the Czech Republic. Noah has been a contestant on the Czech Republic’s version of American Idol, “Czech Superstar 2011”. You can see one of his renditions of a Beatle song and another from that genre here. What I loved about this story is what Noah was trusting God for in his TV experience. His prayer requests included that he would have boldness, humility, discipline and that he would be the light of Jesus as he rubbed shoulders with many in the TV and music industry.
The last snapshot is of the ladies weekly quilting group at the church. This group of women meet on Tuesday mornings to learn the craft of quilting and to enjoy sharing around the Word of God. This group is an official part of the women’s ministry at the church and meets at the same time each week as some of the small group women’s Bible studies. It is one of the most successful outreaches to women that the church has! It is the largest group; it is multi-generational; it reaches many women outside of the church family.
I see one theme in all three of these stories. Dorothy, Noah and the quilting ladies are all living out who God created them to be. They may not be proclaiming the Gospel with words but they are incarnating the life of Christ to their worlds by doing what they love. In the midst of their everyday lives, in a public high school English class, on a TV set in the Czech Republic and in a quilting group God is advancing His Gospel in settings that may not hear of His love in any other way.
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16