Briefly share your salvation experience and your call to ministry.
I was born into a Christian home
to very godly parents. At the age of 5 I
realized my need for the Savior and asked Christ to forgive me of my sins and
be my Savior. At age 9 I recognized that
I belonged completely to God and that He had a plan for my life. I gave my life to Him for His purposes. Then at age 11 I knew God had called me into
missions. He used several factors, His
Word being the main factor and in particular verses such as Is. 6:8 and Ro.
12:1,2. At this point I answered yes to
His call in my life to serve as a missionary to Africa. The only specific was that He called me to be
willing to serve somewhere in Africa. I
had His peace about that as I surrendered to Him and have had His peace about
it ever since.
What did you do before you were a missionary?
After high school, I attended
Piedmont Bible College (now Piedmont Baptist College) in Winston-Salem,
NC. From there I taught 3rd
grade in the Christian school at my home church in Hartsville, SC for 1
year. I also worked through the years in
the church office as well as doing bookkeeping for my grandfather’s furniture
business.
Tell us about your current ministry. Where
are you and what are you doing?
I am currently working in Mali,
Africa. I’ve been working as a
missionary to Mali since 1985, arriving in Mali in 1989 and working in church
planting as a church planting assistant.
Since the end of 1995 I have been working at Buckle Bible Institute (IBB
– Institut Biblique de la Boucle) in Gao, Mali.
Specifically, I’m a professor in our regular program at the Bible
institute along with being the director and professor of the women’s program
and working as school administrator and other positions at the school. Apart from the school, I work through our
local church in Gao being involved in the women’s and children’s ministries,
visitation for evangelism and discipleship and leadership training. God has also given me the privilege of
modular teaching in other areas of Mali outside of Gao for ladies’ groups
working through the local churches. I’m
currently in the States on an early furlough due to the unrest in Mali and am
praying that the Lord will make a way for me to return in mid-September, for
now to Bamako if not to the north of Mali.
We’re praying and trusting to be able to start our school year at IBB in
October.
How long have you been serving as
a missionary?
I was accepted by EBM to
serve in Mali in 1985.
What does a typical day look like for you while you are on the field?
It’s very hard to say since a
typical day has so many unscheduled happenings.
But here’s a fairly decent idea of what goes on during my day this past
year: Most days I’m up by 5am due to sleeping outdoors and daybreak. Sundays – I
head out for church about 8am. Services begin at 8h30 and I’m usually home
again around 11h30. During that time I
pick up and take home lots of passengers as well as direct the children’s
classes. Afternoons are for visiting and
studying for the week. Mon – Fri – At school by 7am. We have classes and I either teach or am
preparing/doing admin work/etc, from 7am to noon. I leave for home about 12h30 and prepare
lunch and take our rest time. Most
Malians take a rest in the early afternoon due to the extreme heat. I also use that time to do more studying and
prep work for my classes. At about 2h30 I head back to school for classes from
3 to 6. If it’s still light after classes
I usually either – visit, stay at school and work on studies or admin work,
etc. I do, because of the culture, try
to get home just before dark. Then I
visit with my ‘African family’, care for other visitors who’ve dropped by for
medicines or other needs, care for extra things that come up (most people know
I’m home for the evening at this point), ending up with studying and prep for
classes again until around 10 or 11 pm.
Somewhere along the way I prepare supper for myself and the teen girl
who was living with me. I try to be in
bed by midnight if I can. Saturdays are
taken up with housework, more studies, marketing, church ladies’ group Bible
study (teaching), visiting and doing activities with our church ladies and
getting ready for Sunday.
As you reflect on the years you have spent as a missionary, please
share with us some of the highlights of your ministry.
I think most of the highlights have been when I was
blessed to be a part of seeing someone come to know Christ as Lord and Savior
and then watching and trying to help that person grow into a mature child of
God. In a Muslim area it doesn’t happen
as often as it seems to in some other areas.
But it’s so special to be a part of it when it does. A sort of icing on the cake for me is being
able to teach God’s Word to women and see how it touches their lives or to see
them applying it to their lives. I just am overwhelmed at times to see how
much I’ve been blessed to care for, evangelize and teach in Mali. One highlight for me is being in the classroom
whether it’s at IBB or one on one and then to see how God takes His Word and
makes it grow in someone’s heart.
What have been some of the biggest challenges that you have faced on
the field?
Briefly: Loneliness and isolation,
political unrest (5 evacuations over the years), being away from family,
relationships with other missionaries, learning new languages.
What person(s) has had the biggest influence on your life?
My parents, a missionary couple my
home church supported when I was growing up, my childhood pastor
What would you say to encourage others (young or old) to consider
full-time missions as a profession?
Whether you’re ready to consider
missions as a profession or not, first of all make sure you’re living according
to Ro. 12:1,2. If we’re truly the living
sacrifice, then we should be open to consider whatever God may ask of us. Dying to self and living for Christ doesn’t
always sound comforting to our ears. It
can conjure up fears; mostly fear of the unknown. Rather than look at the unknown, look at what
you do know of God. He loves you more
than anyone can. He only wants what’s
best for you (even if it sometimes is hard).
He’s promised to never leave you.
He will not ask of you something that’s too hard for you and Him to do
together, enabling you to do what He asks you to do. Learn to enjoy the blessing of His presence,
trust Him and let Him be your comfort zone.
He. 13:5, Mt. 28:18-20.
Please share some specific prayer requests with us.
·
First of all please pray for the political
situation and unrest in Mali. Pray for our brothers and sisters living as
refugees now that God would continue to heal their hearts and give them comfort
and wisdom at this time, not to mention patience with each other.
·
Pray for friends left behind in the Islamists’
controlled north of Mali. Many are
hurting, hungry, have been violated in different ways, etc. For now there seems no one is on the horizon
to come and help or whatever help may come may be a long time in coming.
·
Pray for the ones who’ve found the literature
from our churches scattered across the towns.
Who knows but that in this way the rebels have done a part in spreading
the gospel. Pray for the salvation of
those there who have already heard the gospel and for a means to let others
hear.
·
Pray for IBB (the Bible institute), for the
needs there to get things in order to finish the school year, for financial
needs, for our regular donors and the need for more regular support.
·
Pray for wisdom for those of us waiting to see
when we’ll be able to get back to Mali or what may be next on God’s calendar
for us. For those on furlough now like
me, pray that God opens the right doors for churches and uses us to be a
blessing and an encouragement to the people He leads us to along the way.
·
Pray for personal financial needs to be met.
·
Praise and prayer for my father’s health. He’s
made tremendous improvement and is walking again with a cane, doing more for
himself, eating and gaining strength. He’s
supposed to start a new medication which is a chemo medication but there are
some huge obstacles in the financial end to get around first. Pray that this
treatment will be able to be done and will also go well. Also think of my mother who is in good health
but very tired from being a caregiver.
What are some current needs that you have and what can we do to help
meet those needs?
The needs we have now are for
caring for the refugees. You’re already
helping greatly with this through managing the Refugee Fund. Otherwise, your prayers are what God will use
to help meet other needs. Thank you so
much for your openness and willingness to help.
You’ve taken a lot on by inviting us to join you and you don’t know how
much your help, encouragement, love and kindness have been a blessing to
me. God has already been using you to
meet my needs in these many ways. Thank
you!
- Kathy Miller
- Tim & Janice Phillips (part 1)
- Tim & Janice Phillips (part 2)
- Ken & Sarah Beckley
- Cindy Faile
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