September 2018 – David* had grown up in church, attended seminary, and served as a family pastor at one of the most notable churches in the country. In 2011, he and his wife Terri* left the pastorate and moved to a rural area to start a retreat ministry for struggling couples. What happened in that quiet place was far from what they expected.

“God started stripping away our life piece by piece,” David told AFA Journal. The ministry came to an end within a year, and the couple faced six hard years. They experienced a painful spiritual birthing of sorts. What they knew of living as Christians and ministry leaders was torn down, and a new life began.

“The Lord showed us He wanted our surrendered hearts, not our ministry,” David said. “For the first time we really started following Jesus.”

David had always placed his trust in men for direction in his life. The concept of listening to Jesus and truly following Him in a relationship of direct obedience had somehow been overlooked.

As David and Terri immersed themselves in God’s Word and presence, genuine repentance and obedience followed. Initially, the most life-changing Scripture was Matthew 6:34, instructing believers not to worry about tomorrow. Then Matthew 5:42, addressing generosity (giving to anyone who asks), made inroads into their hearts.

First steps
“We had a huge savings,” explained David. “We weren’t spenders, we were hoarders. And God put His finger on that in our life. And one day we gave our savings away to the Masseys, a couple in their 60s who were leaving behind their retirement to become missionaries in China.”

David and Terri started a thriving business making and selling decorative Scripture boxes online and to boutiques. As children were added to their quiver, Terri began homeschooling, and eventually David took some of the older children with him on overseas missions. Serving others became an integral part of family life. And they prayed continually for God to reveal His plan to them.

Though their income was higher than ever, they simplified their life, joyfully making do with bare necessities and giving the majority of their earnings to missions and disciple-making.

Three years after David and Terri gave their savings away, the Masseys came home on furlough and gave David and Terri their old family home. In an interesting turn of events, the Masseys’ prodigal son helped David remodel the Massey farmhouse.

During the process of working alongside David daily, the prodigal and his entire family surrendered their lives to Christ.

“I wasn’t behind a pulpit or in a counseling office,” exclaimed David. “It was just the every-day real stuff – just following Jesus.”

The couple learned that relationship and obedience were not only key in following Jesus but also in leading others to Him. David also began visiting inmates in the local jail. And much of that ministry flowed into their home as those incarcerated, mostly drug addicts, reached out after their release. Fear was cast out as the family trusted God to love those who were hard to love.

“We thought, Lord you’ve given us this business, and you’ve made it successful,” Terri explained to AFAJ. “We were able to support so many missionaries, so maybe God put the foreign mission field on our hearts so we could send others out. We had become comfortable with that.”

God’s plan
But, the Lord had a different plan. Everything changed in May 2016 when David met with the leader of Global Outreach, an international mission organization, and learned about an opportunity in the Middle East. He was intrigued as the vision was shared about an area once saturated with the gospel.

“I thought, That’s going to be a great thing for someone,” he said. “But before I got home, the Lord worked on me. And when I told Terri about it, she immediately knew it was for us.”

The couple waited for their seventh baby and arrived in the Middle East just six months later, only to be shocked by the poverty and filth that marked the area.

“The first year was really difficult,” explained Terri. “We were very sick. Crazy things happened. I was stung by a scorpion; David had a seizure and fell off a cliff.

“But never once did it cross our minds that we had missed the Lord or that we needed to go back because life was easier in the U.S. It was just part of it – there was definitely warfare.”

David began teaching in a private Christian school, once a beacon of light before the dangers created by the Gulf War chased off the missionaries operating the once academically rigorous school and a high quality hospital. Thirty years later, little evidence of that Christian influence remained, only stories told by the locals of what once was.

About 70% of the students attending the school today are from Muslim homes, and the Christians are “in name only,” explained David. And, sadly, the Christian hospital has been taken over by the government.

Terri continues to homeschool their children, ranging in age from 2 to 15, and the older children each help David teach in the elementary age classroom one day a week. Their musically gifted,15-year-old daughter has fallen in love with the Arabic people and learned the language. And she visits homes inside a nearby Syrian refugee camp.

Welcoming life
As the only Westerners in the area, they were immediately welcomed into local homes for meals and fellowship. Both David and Terri lead Bible studies, and their children have formed strong relationships with local children.

“The Arabs are in and out of our house all day long,” said Terri. “We are really just looking for a few who will be disciples and make disciples – however long that takes. We feel that once we’ve done that, our work will be done.”

When the family comes home during the summer, they are encouraged and strengthened for their journey when they see the multiplication of disciples they left behind here in the states. And, as they reflect on the hospitable spirit with which they were welcomed in an unfamiliar place, they are convicted to live less like Westerners and more like the kingdom culture.

David explained that while Muslims live within the context of the historical culture revealed in Scripture, they do it because it’s the custom.

“It’s sweet, it’s kind, but underneath it all, it’s flesh,” he said. “But for believers, going the extra mile for others comes from living out salvation – from an overflow of the Holy Spirit.

“When we come back to the U.S., we are on the lookout for people who look different because we want to make them feel loved.”

Though the Holy Spirit helps believers accomplish His purposes, that doesn’t necessarily remove the struggle many have with intentionally reaching out to others. David cites Matthew 7:24 in which Jesus admonishes His followers not only to hear His words, but also to put them into practice.

“Practice is awkward,” David said. “It’s different. It’s new. Let’s ask God to make us relational.”   

* Names are changed for privacy and security.

_____________________
Global Outreach International
P.O. Box One
Tupelo, MS 38802
662-842-4615
globaloutreach.org

The Massey Place
(decorative Scripture boxes)
mkt.com/massey-place