My youngest brother Brian has been a missionary in Africa for about ten years. First he lived in Benin, a country in West Africa, then he moved to Cape Town, South Africa, and now he, his wife, Sondra, and his two little boys, Noah and Bryson, live in Zambia, close to the border of Congo. Brian told me once that he knew God called him to Africa when he was in the fourth grade. He’s been faithful to his call.
On our last trip to Namibia, I met a few other Christians who have been called to do God’s work on this great continent. The day we left Atlanta, I gathered our group in the boarding gate area for a brief prayer. I didn’t think we drew attention to ourselves, but after I said “Amen”, someone got my attention. An African American man motioned me to where he was sitting and asked where we were going. He said at one time he had been a youth pastor and team trips held special memories. He told me his name was Brandon and that he was going to Zambia. “A missionary came to our church and invited a group to go with him to Zambia. I thought what he was doing was great, but I knew Africa was not for me. Something kept gnawing at me, though, and finally I decided God wanted me to make the trip. I went and I have never been the same. God has now called me to move there to help the native Christians build His Kingdom. I just quit a great job in Jacksonville, I’m going on a two month visit, then I’m coming back to watch my daughter graduate from college and my wife and I are moving to Zambia. Can you believe it?”
On the YWAM base in Windhoek, I met a guy from Texas who is about my age. Kevin worked as a plumber most of his life until he heard God’s call to missions. “God told me to give away everything I had and go spread His Good News. So that’s what I did. The last four years I’ve been living with some of the poorest people in the world.” Kevin labors in the war-torn land of Angola which borders the northern part of Namibia. Kevin lives in a mud hut, the same type of house as everyone else in the area. He has no electricity, no running water, and he is constantly fighting malaria which is rampant in much of Africa. Kevin receives $300 a month from his supporting church in Texas, but he says that is more than he needs. Recently, his church purchased a new four wheel drive Toyota truck that he uses for God’s glory. He told me 26 Angolans will ride in the back of the truck at one time. Despite this great vehicle, it took Kevin two twelve-hour days of driving to cover 170 miles. The road conditions of Angola are a little rough. Despite all the hardships Kevin encounters, I recognized a radical disciple of Jesus whose strength is the joy of the Lord.
One day in the city, I ate lunch with a native Namibian named Cas. Cas grew up in the northern part of the country, but God called him to pastor a church and start a Christian school in Windhoek, the nation’s capital. Cas is a muscular man who looks like a rugby player. Where I played basketball, baseball, and soccer with my kids, Cas teaches his three sons to hunt. My friend John says Cas is an excellent hunter. A local farmer just called him to track and shoot a leopard that was killing livestock on his property.
Cas impressed me as a strong but gentle shepherd who loves his flock and longs for the unity of God’s church in his city. Three years ago he started a weekly prayer meeting with different church leaders of Windhoek. At first he said these meetings were very awkward. “No one trusted each other. We all seemed to care more about our own little domains than about God’s desire for the world to know His love.” But as these leaders simply continued to meet and pray, the barriers started to fall and they started to really care about one another. Just recently, there was a flood in another part of the country. All the leaders went as one to the impacted area and served the hurting. “No one cared who got the credit. We were no longer in competition with one another. We were simply loving and serving as God calls us to do. It was beautiful.” My friend John tells me that Cas is probably the most respected Christian leader in the whole city. I see why… he reflects Jesus.
No matter where we are called on this earth or no matter what God calls us to do, we know we are all called to reflect Jesus.
“Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him.” I Corinthians 7:17 ”
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:28-29