Let God Drive

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Ethan Batschelet, Missionary, Honduras
October-December 2015

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV)

Have you ever pulled an all-nighter on the road? Well, like most missionaries in their long travels, I have. I am from Iowa and, for part of my homeland ministry assignment in the United States, I spent time with supporters in Oregon. At the end of my time there, my uncle flew to Portland and we drove home to Iowa together. We were in a bit of a rush due to other commitments back home, so we had to drive throughout the night. I was convinced that I was going to make it all night driving us home (yeah, right). About an hour into Wyoming, my uncle started nudging me and telling me that I had been swerving. He had noticed that despite all of the sugary candy and pop we had consumed, I was tired. But I didn’t want to quit driving; I just wanted to keep going. However, out of what was most likely fear for our lives, he convinced me to pull over and he took over driving through Wyoming and South Dakota. It wasn’t until I trusted my uncle to handle it and give me a rest did the situation become less dangerous.

It’s the same with the Lord sometimes. We aren’t always willing to pull over and let Him handle it when we most need to.

Five years ago, I began my God-led journey with WGM by serving as a volunteer in the island nation of Grenada. But as happens many times in our lives, God had other plans. I found out that what had been planned as three months of service in Grenada was actually going to be six weeks of service in Grenada and six weeks in Honduras. I learned that I was going to have to leave Grenada, a country with almost no violent crime, to go to what is known as the most violent country on earth instead. I began doubting the Lord and His plans for me in missions.

That was the first time I came across Deuteronomy 31:8 as a source of encouragement. I’m a planner. I like everything planned out in advance so as to have at least some idea of what is coming. I like to take care of things myself. Needless to say, that isn’t so easy on the mission field. I needed to learn flexibility.

The Lord brought me from one country I loved to another country that I wasn’t very open to accepting initially. Little did I know that He would take that country I didn’t want to accept and turn it into my home. Sometimes we have to let go of the wheel and let God drive.

In this Deuteronomy passage, the Lord was reassuring and strengthening Joshua before he took charge of the Israelites as they were about to head into the Promised Land. He is always there to reassure and strengthen us as we are about to take a leap of faith. Despite all of the difficulties or nervous reactions provoked by big change, He will take care of us no matter what.

ACT: Do you know someone who is struggling with letting God take the “wheel” in their life? Share this story with them and take time to read and study Deuteronomy 31 together.

Overcoming Weird

An excerpt from...

Overcoming Weird

Pointing Girls to God in Ukraine

By Oksana Brower, Missionary, Ukraine, with Rachel Elwood, Support Staff
October-December 2014

It’s considered weird to be a Christian in Ukraine.

When I first started a girls’ discipleship group three years ago, I encouraged the girls to invite their non-Christian friends to come. There was a lot of skepticism at first—was this another crazy cult?

Between inflation, government corruption, and the scars of communism that continue to linger, young people don’t have much hope for the future. This feeling of apathy is almost a disease among them. I can’t “fix” it for everyone, but over time, I’ve built trust with a few girls ages 16 through 20, and we’re starting to see a few glimmers of hope as they are brought into an understanding of God.

We get together once a week and talk about God, life, and the Bible. I don’t have a curriculum or study guide because those kinds of materials aren’t available here. My goal is to show them that God is not all about rules; He’s all about love and acceptance. We talk about what it means to fall in love with God. We talk about how our choices reflect what we value. Some of the girls come from Christian homes and some do not. (I now have two groups who meet separately; one for Christians and one for non-Christians.) But even the girls who come from Christian homes struggle with understanding God. They have few mentors to help them mature in their faith.

I also meet with them one on one, where we can get into more personal discussions. But it’s hard! Sometimes I just don’t see any progress in their lives, and I worry I’m not doing enough. Recently, I prayed that God would help me disciple them better. God just said to me, “Love them.”

I realized that these girls weren’t really being loved, not by their families or even at church. To love people sounds so simple. But it’s not; it gets complicated. It means living with people through their messes and mistakes. I began to understand discipleship on a new level. It was not enough to preach or teach them; I had to love them. God is helping me see that He is working in their hearts, and I hope to simply point them to Him.

How do we point people to God? Through loving them and living our lives with consistency and without hypocrisy. Those girls observe my relationship with Bill. They see how we parent our son, Denis. They know that we are the same, whether at church or at home. No, we’re not perfect. But we are able to show them that walking with God is a journey and that there is hope that can be found.

ACT: Is God calling you to lead a discipleship group? Unlike for Oksana, several resources are available in the United States to use. May we recommend the World GO! Manual for starters.

The World Was His Parish

An excerpt from...

The World Was His Parish

In Memory of Denis Applebee
April-June 2013

The Call staff would like to honor the memory of Dr. Denis Applebee, a great man of God who was a significant part of the magazine for over 25 years through his columns “The World Is My Parish” and “A Window on the World.”

On September 16, 2012, World Gospel Mission lost a great warrior for the Great Commission when Dr. Denis Applebee passed away at the age of 84 at his home in Ivybridge, England.

After his conversion to Christ, Denis had two life goals: to serve Christ and to be like Christ in life. Without question, we can affirm that his life goals were achieved. Denis was a beloved speaker across the United States and around the world, and those who heard him preach—whether young or old—were blessed by the gifts God had bestowed on him.

He loved the writings of fellow Englishman John Wesley. Wesley often told listeners, “The world is my parish.” Wesley’s quote synchronized so well with the role God asked Denis to play that it seemed only natural for his first column in The Call (formerly Call to Prayer) to be titled, “The World Is My Parish.” In his first of many articles for Call to Prayer, Denis referred to Wesley’s statement, “To put myself alongside such a fellow countryman may seem a bold claim as well, but I dare to do so as I answer God’s call to minister to the missionary family of World Gospel Mission.”

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV). Denis truly fixed his eyes on the eternal as he served to build up the church in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and around the world. For us at The Call, we remember a godly man who wrote from his heart out of an intense desire for all people to know the one true Savior.

Pick up Dr. Applebee’s pen and continue writing so that others will know the one true Savior. Write your story of what God has done in your life. (It doesn’t have to be long.) Once written, ask God who you need to share your story with. Set up a time to meet with that person and share your testimony.