The Best...........really!

A number of years ago I stood in front of our church and declared for all to hear, "Lord, I don't want to be a checkbook for missions......I want you to come and choose our best to serve you in the cause of the great commission!" Some time later a couple came into my office to tell me that they had just returned from a short term mission trip to the Amazon Basin in Brazil and were planning, with our blessing to return as full time missionaries with Project Amazon (PAZ). Their names: Don and Betty Best. Well, the Lord heard me and he came and got our Bests. Don is an elder at Agape Christian Fellowship. Their youngest son, Jonathan is currently training to become a missionary pilot. He most likely will return to Brazil to work with his mom and dad as a pilot for Project Amazon.

Don and Betty were recently home on furlough where they spent some of their time in the apartment we keep for visitors and missionaries when they're home. They left yesterday to return to Brazil, but what a blessing it was to have them home.

What a much greater blessing to know that they represent not only the "best" that we have to offer, but are what I believe just one segment in a long string of investments in the ministry of worldwide evangelism that God has graced our little church with the opportunity to make. For many years Elder David "Doc" Baldwin and his wife Phyllis served as missionaries to the British Virgin Islands. Their daughter and son-in-law Jon and Diane Post worked with Pastors in Kaliningrad, Russia. Steve and Pat Copple have served in Indonesia and other parts of southeast Asia for many years. Another Agape elder, George Meyers and his wonderful wife Janet serve with Calvary International out of Jacksonville, FL and send missionaries around the world. Carl and Verlaine Brown (Carl is also an elder at Agape) served for a number of years in Guatemala and Oaxaca, Mexico. Jon Edwards, who we consider to be a blessed part of our church family is currently working with children in Peru and the list goes on. Joyce Thompson in Turkey, Sara Bickel in Tanzania, D'Andrea Weeks in Uganda, William and Hannah (Kirkman) Levi in Sudan.

It just keeps getting better. I'm meeting regularly in a mentoring relationship with a 23 year old man from our church who is preparing to go to the mission field as a missionary pilot.

Over those years God has allowed me to train leaders and initiate church planting and economic development projects in Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya giving me access to literally thousands of bright and energetic young men and women who are committed to taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. As a church we have regular short term teams that go to Brazil, Cameroon, Kenya, Mexico, and Peru.

Someone has said, "Be careful what you pray for you might get it." I would, in fact, like to ammend that little proverb to say, "Be bold in what you pray for, you might just get it!" Many years ago I asked the Lord to send committed believers from our little fellowship to the ends of the earth. I didn't just want to "mail it in;" I want us to be a vibrant, effective part of the program of reaching the world for Christ. I asked for a bigger tent, for larger borders, for a greater trust from the throne in the affairs of the Kingdom. As a matter of fact, our Statement of Purpose reads: "The purpose of Agape Christian Fellowship is to win, equip, and send committed followers of Jesus Christ who will be able to share His gospel from Brattleboro to the uttermost parts of the earth."

As I embraced Don and Betty yesterday and watched them drive down the street toward Boston and the airport from which they would return to Brazil it is difficult to explain the sense of awe and thanksgiving that swept over me. That God would from the heart of spiritually dark New England, allow a little spark of light that would shine to the uttermost part of the earth - is just the best!