Serving God Across the Ocean or Across the Street
Your mission field starts with the person sitting right next to you
Living in southern California, I never thought I’d speak French again, until one Sunday morning when our church pews were especially crowded and I found myself dusting off my second language like an old pair of boots.
My parents moved our family from California to France for full-time missions work when I was seven. After language school, they partnered with local pastors and churches to grow disciples and breathe new life into dying congregations. Over the next dozen years, I saw with my own eyes what God could do when willing people used their gifts for His glory.
It’s all fair game
It was only natural that years later, once I had moved back to the States and finished college, I would feel the itch to serve God in big and mighty ways. One Sunday, I found myself sitting in a church basement with a few dozen others who were going through a membership class. We listened to a summary of all the ministries this church was involved with and all the ways in which they could use our help. Then the leaders handed us a spiritual gift survey to determine each of our particular strengths. I took great care in circling my answers and tallying my responses. I flipped to…
