Hey folks! Welcome to another installment of our Five Question interviews with IMB-type people. I'm sorry for the extended delay, but I've been busy making people angry and burning my bridges and generally making a nuisance of myself. Thankfully, I've gotten a partial lobotomy and have turned over a new leaf long enough to lure in another unsuspecting interview subject. Our guest today is Edneena Goitenflasshen. Mrs. Goitenflasshen has been with the IMB for many years, working in both rural and urban areas. She and her husband, Junger, have raised children and dogs on the field, all of … [Read more...] about Five Questions with….an IMBer of a Certain Age
The Goal of a Servant’s Heart
Small wooden houses in the Texas heat. Wild felines under the wooden floors and joists, fighting and mating. Laurel Drive and the canals on the other side of the tracks. The high school, built like a prison and emblazoned with traditional purple and gold. First Baptist Church on Main Street in the days before they built the annex. Service. She was young when it first occurred to her. It wasn’t a call so much as merely a desire. To serve the Lord and His people, wherever they were, just seemed instinctive. It was natural, of course, to someone who cut her teeth on stories of Hudson … [Read more...] about The Goal of a Servant’s Heart
Even God Walks Away
Jared Moore has written previously on this site of the need for moral self-control. If I understand him correctly, he rails against (for example) those who would blame women and their attire for causing men to think lusty thoughts. Mr. Moore argues that personal purity means controlling our actions, urges, thoughts, and desires regardless of the images we see or opportunities we have. I think he is absolutely correct. Personal purity is not saying, "Hey, I'm working hard over here to be good, so could you take your clothes or your movies or your books and go elsewhere? I really don't … [Read more...] about Even God Walks Away
He’s Not Listening, I Don’t Think…
In the first chapter of Deuteronomy, we can read Moses’ account of certain aspects of Israelite history. Specifically, he addresses the situation in which the people were too afraid to enter the land due to the reports of the spies. In short… Spies went. Spies returned. Spies disagreed on report. The people despaired. God sent them back to the wilderness. The people recanted. The people entered the land. The Amorites rocked. People died. And in verse 45 Moses laid it out: “You came back, sobbing like schoolgirls, licking your wounds, but the Lord totally ignored you and let you … [Read more...] about He’s Not Listening, I Don’t Think…
Why Won’t the IMB Send Me Over There? Part Two
If you want to read Part One, click here. “I’ve given money,” said Applicant Joe, “scads of it. I’ve taken mission trips. I host IMB workers in my home and in my church. Why won’t the IMB honor my call? If they aren’t going to honor my call, then why is so much emphasis placed on calling?” I hear your cry. It is a fundamental philosophy that the IMB honors the calling of their missionaries. However, that is only a part of the overall picture. I want to paint that picture, as much of it as I can here, and conclude with the implications for calling. The SBC The SBC, of … [Read more...] about Why Won’t the IMB Send Me Over There? Part Two
Why Won’t the IMB Send Me Over There? Part One
A few weeks ago I posted something about missionaries who face rejection from their families. At the tail end of the comment cycle, someone posted the following: I hope you’ll include a blog in this series about when plans change (like when the SBC, the denomination you’ve been a part of your whole life, can’t send you to the mission field like you’ve been praying about for 15 years because they’re just not sending people where you feel called… THAT can be a challenge, too!) I want to reply to this if I can. I can’t provide a comprehensive response for the simple reason that I am not a … [Read more...] about Why Won’t the IMB Send Me Over There? Part One
The Prayers I Could Have Prayed
When I was a child, I learned to pray from watching my Dad. Dear heavenly Father, thank you for this day, thank you for this food. In Jesus’ name, Amen. That was the standard blessing he offered at supper, nightly, sometimes mumbling it into his beard after a long, exhausting day. He meant every word of it, no matter how routinely identical the words were. As I matured into adolescent immaturity, I began to notice how he prayed at other times. Our Father, in the name of Jesus we come to you humbly… He prayed sitting in church, standing in Bible studies, hunched over on the edge of my … [Read more...] about The Prayers I Could Have Prayed
Potato-Based Missions
I headed out to work this evening, doing a little missionary-ing. I left the apartment and ventured down to Avenida 10 de Agosto, walking the quarter of a mile to the nearest trolley stop. It was not yet exceptionally crowded, so I only had to wait for the third trolley before I was able to board. The attendant shoe-horned me into the last available spot just barely inside the vehicle, making sure the doors didn’t pinch me as they closed. I’m about 6’ tall, not exactly gargantuan, but most Ecuadorians are far shorter, somewhere around 5’ 5”. For me, a bus or trolley ride is usually an … [Read more...] about Potato-Based Missions
Calvinism and International Missions
I've enjoyed the recent interview with Ed Stetzer on this site, especially Part 2 that references extreme Calvinism and rabid anti-Calvinism in the convention. I make no claim of proficiency in debating the matter, and I am not usually given to extreme points of view on most issues. However, I would like to offer just a few personal notes from an SBC missionary's perspective. -I have yet to meet an IMB missionary for whom the question of Calvinism is especially relevant. I don't mean Calvin raised no significant points of debate; rather, the question of whether we are to be Calvinists or … [Read more...] about Calvinism and International Missions
Call to International Missions, Part 2: Familial Approval
If you're just joining us, you'll want to read part 1 of this little series here. We'd all like the approval and support of our families, right? We all want to make hard choices, especially about missions, confident that our parents and siblings will be right there with us every step of the way. We want to be Samuel, given to the Lord's service by grateful parents. We'd like to be Samson, brought into the world with the understanding that Mom and Dad would prep us for ministry. Heck, we would even accept Gideon's fate, supported by an idol-worshipping father who at least stood up for … [Read more...] about Call to International Missions, Part 2: Familial Approval