A little history...
I grew up in a Southern Baptist Christian home. My Mom, Aunt and Uncle were children of a Minister and I even played church as a child and delivered sermons to them in my room. As a youngster, I thought I might one day grow up to be a preacher. God had other plans and that never happened.
My life has been full of ups and downs. From being a child of divorce (my lowest) to my marriage and birth of my son (my highest)! God has always been there- protecting me and guiding me. Doors have been opened and closed by his hands and plans put into play long ago seem to be coming to fruition.
I have had on my heart for several years now a desire to do more for Christ's Kingdom. At one point, I thought that I needed to start a Youth Ministry another time a Drama Ministry. But those ideas never panned out. I just never felt led to take the necessary steps to pursue that lead. My retail job has for several years sucked the life out of me and kept a veil upon my heart for all things Godly. I really have felt too depressed to "get involved" per se. But, one Sunday at church in 2012, the bulletin had a promo for a Mission Trip to Vietnam. And something clicked inside me. Missions...! I had to know more and look into the possibility of going. I talked with Joey, our Associate Pastor (who quickly has become my Mentor and Friend), and he gave me the details about the Expedition and E3 Partners. I was so excited! I signed up several days later and started the Fundraising Process. My wife and son supported this new endeavor and we were quickly amazed as family, friends and strangers started sending me money to fund my trip. God was so good to me! The trip came and went and it changed my outlook on life. But- I returned to the daily grind and my passion quickly faded and once again became replaced by luke-warmness.
2013 comes and with it another opportunity to go to Vietnam with E3. This time as a Sports ministry and an even larger Expedition team. A blessed time in Ho Chi Minh City quickly ended and then back to the day to day toil of retail...
The end of 2013 and the first few months of 2014 brought a change to my job. I accepted a promotion to go into Mgmt last November, went thru training and started in Newport TN as a fresh faced Assistant Manager of Walmart. I was moved from store to store and drove mile after mile to whatever location they needed me at. After 2 1/2 months of sheer frustration, despair, physical pain and anguish- I made the decision to throw the towel in and sever my employment with the company. That was a scary decision!! But you know what? I had the support of my wife and son and even more importantly the assurance of God that we would be ok...
Even greater reason to be at home unemployed was that Pam had to have back surgery. And I got to be home and take care of her for over 3 weeks- meeting her needs, running errands, taking Daniel to school, cooking supper and doing whatever was needed thruout the day. God's timing is perfect!
Gloria from E3 came to visit our church 2 weeks ago. She gave a great report on the E3 strategy for the Indochina region and mentioned that they needed a staff member as a Communications Coordinator. This intrigued me and little did I know (until later) that Pam was thinking that I should look into the position. I called Gloria and we chatted about the needs for the team and I shared what was on my heart about wanting to give myself full time to His Ministry. Gloria prayed with me and agreed that this is the time to make that next step for His Glory.
I am now pursuing a Full Time Staff member position with E3 Partners Ministry for the Indochina region. This would include the countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. I have a 4 page application to fill out, several videos to watch and summarize, a 3 part phone interview process- all of which could take 2-3 months. If I am accepted and on boarded- I then will begin training and attend a class called "BodyBuilders" which will show me how to raise funds monthly by gathering Ministry Partners to fund a small salary and pay for Expeditions. I would like to see me going on 3-4 Expeditions a year and know that it is all in God's hands at this time...
Too many things have happened at this point not to say it's God's timing and plan that I have traveled this path. It is not my will, but my Lord Jesus Christ that guides me!!
"But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
(2 Timothy 4:17)
