Transitions :: Same Family. Same Mission. Different Role.

As you already know, we have dedicated our lives to following Christ, serving as career missionaries with Campus Crusade for Christ. It’s hard to believe, but we have now been serving for more than 10 years together on staff, extending the Gospel of Truth to university students in the United States and around the world. Through our involvement with Campus Crusade, we have been given amazing opportunities to impact the lives of countless young men and women in Indiana, Ohio, Colorado, Mexico, Spain, Chile, Albania, Fiji, New Zealand, and from other places we may not even realize – all with the desire to see the Lord “turn lost students into Christ-centered laborers.”

Throughout our staff careers we have also taken on many roles in several different environments over the years. We have worked as new staff, senior staff, summer mission project leaders, STINT team leaders, and as local team leaders or ministry directors. We’ve had the privilege to work with teams and students in the context of large university campuses, metropolitan catalytic movements, international exchange projects, and pioneering new movements at universities overseas.

Wow! As we look back over all these experiences, we see the many lives God has allowed us to touch in conjunction with your prayers and support. Along the way, God has called us forward with the steps of faith, ones He has helped us to take for our own growth and sanctification as we follow Christ. We can also see clearly how He has orchestrated all of these experiences, leading us steadily into what will be our next set of roles on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.

In Romans 12, the Apostle Paul says, “… I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” He goes on to share with us that, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.” He also expresses that these gifts are unique to us and that we bring glory to God when we use those gifts in proportion to the faith and ability given to us.

For Jill and myself, with the multiple roles we’ve done on staff, with all the places we’ve served Christ, and with the reality that while we have often put ourselves in positions where we have worked out of weakness (allowing God to show us His power and greatness!) we have also learned more and more about the gifts, strengths, and passions that God has instilled in us. As we realize how He’s made us, we want to humbly seek to be great at what He’s made us for and to present our whole selves to serving Him with these strengths.

So, we invite you to read on in my additional posts about the roles we are moving into with the Great Plains International Regional Team, where there is a great need for our help and opportunities to pursue roles that will help us leverage our ministry experience and skills.