What is better?
My senior year in high school was a year where God deeply ingrafted in my soul a desire to reach the unreached in Africa. My prayer has been, "Lord, I'm willing to go wherever you place me." and still is the cry of my heart. Here I am; send me. Africa has always been my focus because I was born on the continent and have witnessed the needs there first hand. I have an abiding desire to see the continent of Augustine and Athanasius filled with thanksgiving to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
This prayer grew increasingly intense during my senior trip to South Sudan with my father. While in the youngest nation on earth, one of our goals was to connect with believers already there and offer theological training from Central Africa Baptist University (CABU). After meeting with various churches and church leaders, it became obvious that there is a famine of theologically trained, rooted pastors, teachers, and church planters in the country. My father probably was keenly aware of this going into the trip, but it was something I witnessed first hand.
The question that lingered in my heart during and after the trip was, "What is better? Is God calling me to go to a place like South Sudan, or to equip those who will go?" Although I am willing, my heart and mind kept running back to this question: what if God wants to work through my Zambian roots to play a role in equipping the next generation of missionaries that will be sent from the Zambian church to the unreached peoples of North Africa? Specifically, what if God wants me to play a teaching and equipping role at CABU? With my gifting and background, I am convinced that he has called us to do just this.
Resurrection Church of Lincoln Park shares our burden and is sending us to train servant leaders at CABU. They are sending us to plug into a local church in Kitwe, teach at CABU, and—if God wills over time—partner with churches to plant new churches in Zambia and beyond.
If you have some free moments today, please pray for:
- God to give us wisdom in our planning and preparation to go.
- God to provide us the rest of our ministry funds.
- God to sustain the ministry in Zambia and the churches there that are currently, actively supporting African missionaries.
Jesus Over Everything,
Austin and Rachel