In the Game

Spent the day yesterday with some of our best leaders on the field – Jack and his wife, and Dan.  Jack and Dan labor in two of the most restricted nations in the world and have done an incredible job in reaching and discipling local students.

Jack is the senior pastor of a church in a restricted atheist country.  He is from that nation and grew up with no knowledge of God.  A few years ago, as a university student, he took shelter under a shed in front of the university library during a sudden downpour.  Taking cover under the same shed was a short term outreach team of Filipinos from Victory.  Jack heard them speaking in English and asked them if they would help him with his English by conversing with him.  Our team was pleasantly surprised and gladly taught him English and shared the Gospel.  Jack was delighted.  When he got home that day, he grabbed a dictionary and looked up the words “God” and “Jesus.”  He had never heard of those words before!  Our team connected him with our Filipino missionary who discipled him, mentored him, and eventually turned the church over to him.

Jack is now a husband and a father.  It is with great joy that I have seen him grow and mature from a student, to a pastor, then a husband, and now a new father.  It is an honor to call him a friend and a co-laborer.  He is one of the finest pastors in all of Every Nation.

Dan is a Filipino missionary in a radically Muslim nation.  His story is inspiring and worth retelling. Dan worked as a finance assistant for a large organization a few years ago.  At the time, we were in the process of putting together a team to send to a closed Muslim nation where we were given a rare open door.  Pastor Steve bumped into him one afternoon and asked him if he would be open to going as a missionary to this dangerous country.  He only had a few hours to decide as we had a deadline to meet.  He needed only a few minutes.

Dan eventually became the team leader.  They established a work in the most prestogious university of that nation and gained the favor of the Muslim chancellor.  At one point, Dan's team was literally running the university!  Eventually, a door opened for him to work in one of the government ministries through an international NGO.  He was not qualified to do what he was doing (he is an engineer and minister by training) but because of his spirit of excellence, integrity, work ethic, and character, his Westerner boss was released and the position given to Dan by the NGO.  His job today entrusts him with the management of millions of dollars on a daily basis because they know he is incorruptible and a man of God.

Dan is one of the finest, most reliable and responsible leaders I have had the privilege of working with.  I am overjoyed everytime I think about his success because he fully deserves it after years of faithful labor. 

I thank God that I get to work with men like Jack and Dan everyday.  Somebody once said something like "find a job that you love and you will never have to work a single day in your life."  If that is true, then call me a bum.  I haven't worked a single day in the last 16 years.