 |
| Pam & Ron, Word of Life Fellowship |
Glam—Grace Ladies Are Missionaries.
Grace Presbyterian in Peoria, Illinois is our common ground.
Each year Grace opens their doors wide to us. They celebrate
us; they minister to us; they feed us; they offer us microphones in every service
and Sunday school class and invite us to minister to them; did I say they feed
us? We transform the narthex into a showroom of mission organizations. And in the
process the Grace family has become friends.
The conference officially starts Sunday morning. We walk in
following the children carrying flags of many nations. Each of the more than 50
missionaries is introduced by name. The congregation stands and welcomes us
with much clapping. Every year my eyes overflow.
We meet together in large groups and small. We meet together
as women. (The men have their times too.) We listen, we talk, we laugh, we
pray. Some of us are single, some married; some are mothers, some grandmothers.
A few of the grandmothers are Great-grandmothers. And they still travel to be
with us. I am in awe. Over the years bonds of friendships have formed and
tightened.
Our hearts and our callings are similar; how we live it out
is as unique as each of us.
The 2014 theme, The
Missing Puzzle Piece, highlighted that so well. Each of us is an integral piece of the puzzle to reach our world
with the gospel of grace.
I have learned much from my fellow missionaries. They are
the heroines of the faith. I have walked with these women through days of
blessing and days of hard. Their stories minister to my soul. Tissues are always
available.
Allow me to introduce a few of these remarkable ladies …
Dorothy is a women of prayer. As the women share their
missionary journeys I have ceased being surprised when they say I am here because of Dorothy’s prayers.
Before her retirement, Dorothy spent many years in the jungles of Papua, New
Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Becky and Sandy are co-laborers with Bill and I with the
Navigators. Becky (an RN) is one of the most creative teachers I know. She
applies that through her church, coaching Navstaff in fundraising, even
traveling to southeast Asia to teach nurses.
Sandy, a friend since the 1980s, is a published author.
Married later in life she turned that blessing into ministry by authoring, Love Worth the Wait. Check it out on
Amazon here:
Karen grew up on the mission field in Venezuela. It was
natural for her to move to Indonesia with her husband to serve with Mission
Aviation Fellowship. Besides raising two of their three children there, she
taught English to Indonesian women, led Bible studies, and played the piano for
monthly missionary services. Now back in the states, her ministry has expanded
to leading classes at Curves, and serving as the new Mission Secretary at
Grace.
Deb is a daughter of Grace Pres. She serves with her husband
Mark (who was behind the camera) at the headquarters of Wycliffe Bible
Translators in Florida. Deb’s role is the director of orientation and training.
Along with Mark, she loves training and encouraging Wycliffe colleagues serving
across the globe.
Alise lives in California. She and her husband, on staff
with CRU, focus on providing prayer support for the Jesus DVD
outreaches, publishing a quarterly prayer guide, and responding to questions about the Jesus film. Alise always has new stories
of encounters with curious seekers. Two things I
personally love about Alise is her encouraging heart (I have often been the
recipient of her affirming words), and her gift of piano. We all are blessed as
she serves the missions conference by bringing the grand piano to life in the
sanctuary.
“Deep friendship is a calling forth of each other’s
chosenness and a mutual affirmation of being precious in God’s eyes”. Henri
Nouwen in Life of the Beloved.
Every year we have the privilege of calling forth the chosenness
of our missionary sisters as we affirm them in God’s specific call.
These are some of the things I love about the missions
conference. Next Thursday I’ll share some of the pitfalls that we fight when we
gather together. To be continued ...
"... together with one voice you ... glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". Romans 15:5 and 6
No comments:
Post a Comment