Planning to Participating...Cindy's Beginning

I never imagined that I would one day be preparing to head to the mission field full time. I grew up in the Baptist church. I participated in GA's, heard about WMU through my grandmother, prayed for missionaries on their birthdays with my "adoptive grandparents," and always heard of mission work across the world. I participated in a variety of mission projects growing up but never felt called to actually "do" mission work.


Seven years ago Cornerstone Baptist Church, our home church, was preparing for a mission trip to India. I worked with the children ministries and wanted them to participate in a way that made them feel like an integral part of the trip. They couldn't go to India, but we could bring India to them. I helped turn the gym into a city in India and taught the children about the area our team would be serving. I then introduced them to the idea of Looking Good Bags. These were bags for people the team would encounter that included hygiene items such as a comb, toothbrush, soap, washcloths, and etc. We collected three duffel bags full. I have never felt so excited to be serving as then.


Two years later I answered the call to full time ministry and began to work on my seminary degree in Christian Education and went to work for Cornerstone part time. Shortly after that Marsha Judy stopped me in the hall one morning and asked when I was going to commit to the upcoming Ecuador mission trip. I told her I had no plans to go. God was using me with the children to assist in the trip and I felt fulfilled. I had no inkling that God actually wanted me to go, not just participate. I agreed to pray for the weekend about the trip and God answered boldly and clearly that I was to go.


Six weeks later I was in Ecuador working with the Quichua people. Our goal was to walk the streets of a village to find evangelical believers that the IMB missionaries could connect with for the purpose of church planting. I was hooked by the 2nd day. There was no greater high than being on the mission field sharing God's love.


The final day of the trip reminded me that missions can be fulfilling, but it requires a willingness to lay everything down. As our team handed out Bibles to the Quichua people at a local market, my translator and I were mobbed. His passport and wallet was stolen and I was literally lifted off the ground by the people pressing in to get their own copy of the Bible. I was scared to death and it took quite a few hours to recover, but later I realized that God had been faithful. I also had to question what was I willing to give up to put the Word of God in the hands of people who did not know him.


After the experience of the first trip I knew that God had called me to missions. I imagined continuing to go on short term trips and maybe one day leaving my position of Children's Minister to become a Director of Missions, or maybe one day even going to work for a missions organization to help coordinate trips.


I went on four more trips to both Ecuador and Ukraine. I went as a strategic planner, as a team member, and as a team leader. I struggled to do the rest of my job when there was a mission trip that called for my attention. I felt torn between loyalties - loyalty to my specific job description and my desire to do missions full time, loyalty to Marsha Judy who was in charge of missions and a desire to facilitate more trips.


All along I felt a call to missions. I even applied and interviewed with a mission organization that worked with children. The position was that of a team planner and facilitator. Just what I felt both gifted and called to do, but after much prayer, God said no. I was disappointed, but I knew I had heard God clearly. I figured one day God would open the door, but I don't think I totally believed it. Missions was my goal, but my family would never go along with the whole idea, so I knew it would never happen.


Then my world totally changed on November 2, 2008. Scott and I had taken Alex and Hannah to Myrtle Beach for a few days of family time and get away. Walking along the beach I said something about going to the mission field in a joking manner and both Scott and Hannah came back with responses saying they were just waiting on me to be ready to go. It was like a slap in the face. They were waiting on me and I had dismissed the idea that they would ever go. The rest of the trip was a blur. I was constantly asking them if they were serious.


Scott explained that years before he had committed to God that he would go, but knew that he had to let God work on me. He was just waiting. Hannah had gone with me to Ukraine that summer and had believed that God had called her to fulltime missions. She was ready to answer that call now.


I asked for time to think, pray, and process. All of a sudden we were no longer talking about one day in the future going to the mission field, but questioning was I willing to give up whatever it took to reach people of the world for Christ. I spent time praying, studying, and questioning. Was I really willing to do what it took to reach people for Christ?


On Monday, November 10, we submitted our application to serve with the International Mission Board, part of the Southern Baptist Convention. Hitting submit came with a variety of emtoins - a sense of relief, fear, and excitement. This would be the beginning of an incredible journey that only God knows where it will take us and when this portion of hte journey will be complete.


This is "the ride of a lifetime." I know that there are many ups and downs to come, but I am already discovering that walking this close to God brings with it more joy, peace, excitement, and love for people than one can imagine. Whatever the IMB decides, I pray that I grab every moment of the journey and spend it right up close to Christ! No longer will I be satisfied with just planning for people to share the love of Christ, I will participate.