The Call---Part One

About 14 years ago, Good Shepherd Community Church began systematically praying for unreached people groups.  Six years ago, the Hopewell Network of Churches, of which Good Shepherd is a part, pinpointed the Isaan people group in Thailand as God's specific call to missions.  Not deterred by the fact that nobody was interested in going there, they kept praying.  "When are you finally going to send a team there?" people asked.  "In God's time..." was always the reply.
   
Just over 12 years ago, we returned from a term of service with Wycliffe in Cameroon, Africa.  We've seen many transitions in our lives between then and now.  About 5 years ago, we started getting the distinct impression that God was preparing us for something, but we didn't know what.  We just kept saying "Yes" to whatever He told us to do next.  Keith went to Bible college.  We changed churches (to Good Shepherd!).  We moved.  We tried out every method of evangelism we came across.  We asked a ton of questions, but God gave us dreams and visions instead of answers.

When we had to close our aquaponics business six months ago, we thought it was the death of our dream to impact the physically and spiritually hungry world.  We were right.  But it was only the beginning of our call.  A dream, explained our board members, is something one COULD do; a call, on the other hand, is something, that one MUST do.

In April, when Keith landed an almost-too-good-to-be-true job at Four Seasons, his boss asked him if the "call" was dead.  Keith said it was not, but it was definitely on the shelf for the time being.  We had grieving to do, and a "dark night of the soul" to walk through.
   
In the subsequent months, our call to "the least of these" was solidified and refined by fire.  New specifics emerged....the voiceless, orphans, those caught in the web of sexual trafficking---and all that in the context of an unreached people, those who have never had the chance to hear the Gospel.  We had no idea if or how all that could come ever together at once.  We accumulated a collage of pictures, statistics, stories, verses, and slogans on the wall of our kitchen nook.  Finally, almost two months ago, we knew in our hearts it was a question of when and how to get involved, not if.

We began gently pushing on some doors.  We talked with the YWAM Caribbean Director about the exciting possibility of working in Guyana.  And we signed up to go along on an "exploratory" trip to Thailand with our church network.  As it turned out, that door didn't require even a gentle push.  We touched it and immediately fell in!  The need is tremendous, the return on investment has incredible potential, and God gave specific confirmations (coming in Part Two) that completely aligned our call with this opportunity.  It is the right vision in the right place at the right time.