RobAnne and I met at Westmont, and the dorm Barrett moved into was the dorm where RobAnne lived when I first began to date her. It brought back a lot of great memories.

Give me a minute to brag on Westmont. Westmont is a liberal arts college. It has resisted the idea of becoming a university. It’s a small school by choice. The community around it will not allow it to grow any more than 1,200 students, and so the school has resisted adding graduate-level programs and has simply focused in on being the best liberal arts college it can be. What that means is that the classes are small and the professors are accessible. Barrett’s freshman English class sat around a dining room table, drank tea, and talked about Shakespeare. There was that kind of intimacy.

Westmont is a school led by some very, very wise people. Ben Patterson is the campus pastor. Ben has made a lifelong ambition of understanding prayer. He’s written a couple of books about prayer and some on what it means to wait on God. I watch how he orchestrates the community of Christ-followers at Westmont. It’s small enough to be intimate and yet large enough to be vibrant in faith.

Westmont does things really well. Whether it’s the new buildings they build or the quality of the program, they want to bring excellence to the educational process. Westmont is one of those places where, when you drop your student off, it seems safe. It’s not safe because everyone’s a Christian, as there are young men and women who come to Westmont who will be confronted with the claims of Christ as the professors integrate their faith and the Word of God into their disciplines, whether biology, chemistry, art, English, or religious studies. It’s an amazing dance on the part of the professors. They allow the questions to be asked, the criticisms to be made, and maybe even some doubts to be expressed in large ways. They carefully speak with students, not by telling them what to believe, but by showing them through God’s Word and through the classic Christian literature that God is the God of Creation and should be worshipped.

Beyond all that, what was amazing to RobAnne and me was standing in the dorm room with Barrett and her two roommates before we left and joining hands with the other parents to ask God to bless that room, bless those students, keep them from harm, and allow them to experience Christ in an amazing way. As we walked to the car, RobAnne and I spoke to each other about how amazing it is that the experience of blessing the room and blessing the relationships in that room is absent in so many schools.

I’m proud that my daughter is going to Westmont and more proud that it is a place where she will learn what it means to be a great woman of God who loves Jesus with her whole heart.

There’s a section where God asks Samuel, “How long will you mourn over Saul?” Samuel was paralyzed by his past, worried about the mistakes he’s made and why Saul didn’t work out. He was fearful for his life, as Saul took out his anger on Samuel. But God said, “Go. Go and I will be with you. Go to the House of Jesse, and I’ll show you what to do.”

What I love about preaching is to watch the Word of God take root in people’s lives. As I was preaching on Sunday, there was a man about four rows back on the right, and it was obvious that he was really struggling with his past, that he couldn’t get beyond what he believed people thought of him because of his past. But I watched as that story unfolded, as Samuel began to move and anointed David, and David out of the sheep field became the king of Israel. I watched that man in the fourth row find life. I could see it in his face.

I think we need to understand the power of God’s Word – the power of teaching and studying and knowing and devouring God’s Word. You see, God’s Word changes lives because it shows the very character of our Savior. It lets us see the Creator who has come to our planet to show us what it’s like to be a Christ-follower.

I love watching people respond to the Word. I pray that all of us in the mission and all of you who are reading this blog will be close to God’s Word, as it is the power of God in salvation. 

Over the past few months, my job has been to introduce myself and the ministry – the vision, the mission, and all we’re about – to these nominees and to answer any questions they have. The Nominating Committee then calls the nominees and makes the ultimate decision about who joins our Board of Trustees.

I met many extraordinary people, but one in particular stood out. He owns his own business. He loves Jesus and realizes his business is given to him to be used for the kingdom. He disciples his sons, he spends time in his church, and he loves our mission and our missionaries. I can only imagine how wonderful it is to have a person like him on your support team.

Some of the other nominees have worked at AMF camps. Many of them have prayed for or financially supported missionaries for a long time. Meeting the nominees reminded me that we’re not alone, and each one of us builds a team of people around us who support us, care for us, and love us. Missionaries even get financial support.

This past weekend, RobAnne and I went to a church party. There were about twenty-five or thirty people there who are a part of our church called Sanctuary. We played games together, we had a barbecue, and we just laughed together, but there was one moment when the leader of this group, who just had open-heart surgery, talked about how the body cared for him when he was in the hospital. Over thirty people came to visit him – people who care about his health. They prayed with him and loved him.

That’s what church really is. Church isn’t the service or people putting on programs. It’s the body of Christ being the body of Christ, both within the church and as they go to their jobs and places of business.

Teams of supporters are key for all of us, whether it’s the church or prayer supporters or financial supporters. God bring people around each one of His children to bring them more in tune with what He wants us to be.

What I really enjoyed was going to the meeting the night we were there. The camp was junior age. I think it was fourth through sixth graders. After some incredible worship, the local director of Child Evangelism Fellowship was the speaker. He got up and did a skit that involved a lot of the kids about how a person can come to know Christ and how we can’t do it on our own. Quite frankly, it was kind of chaotic and the kids weren’t really into it, and it just didn’t feel like it was going to go anywhere until he began to tell a story.

The story wasn’t up-to-date in content. The illustrations that were flashed on the screen were in PowerPoint, but they were very old and not what I would call exciting. But this man had such a great ability to tell a story that we were all on the edge of our seats – including me! I just couldn’t believe what an incredible storyteller he was, involving the students and including questions. He could stay in complete command of the room of sixty-five junior-aged kids.

In fact, when he got to the end of the time, at an exciting part, and he said, “If you want to know how it ends, come back tomorrow!” I found myself wanting to come back just because of his ability.
The event reminded me that we all have gifts. Not all our gifts are the same. Not all our passions are the same. I don’t know if I could keep the junior-aged kids riveted on their seats like he did, but I do know what I can do. I know that God has given me the gift of faith and the gift of prophecy to be able to articulate a vision, cast it, and allow people to follow. That’s my giftedness.

I watched the people in the kitchen at Camp Morrow use their giftedness in an incredible way as they made meals. I watched AMF missionaries Jason Birman and Chip Shetler use their leadership abilities. I watched how they ran the camp with such servants’ attitudes. Good for Camp Morrow! I learned something about giftedness by watching those people use their gifts.

I’ve been to Fir Point twice now, and both times I’ve been very impressed with him as a volunteer. It reminds me how much of our ministries is the result of volunteers willing to spend their time and effort helping us accomplish what God has called us to do.

Recently, I was in a meeting where we were talking about volunteers, our need for more volunteers, and the tendency in churches now to pay people instead of having them volunteer. I’m so thankful that our ministry across the country – all these camps and Vacation Bible Schools and prison ministries, ministries that involve older people – rely on people who simply give their time and efforts, who are willing to do what God has called them to do.

Ned Nay is a model of volunteer service, almost an icon. We need more Neds in our lives.

I grew up in the city of Detroit. Detroit has many wonderful traditions: fireworks on the river, Vernor’s ginger ale, and the fairgrounds on Woodward Avenue are great memories. But when people visit Detroit, they don’t see those things because it’s not their hometown. They don’t have the roots; they don’t have the imbedded bias toward Detroit. But I do, and I love it very much.

It reminds me, though, that we need to have deep roots to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that when He speaks His voice is familiar because it’s our home base, our DNA, our spiritual home. We create an environment where God can speak to us because it’s safe, comfortable, and familiar. It’s our spiritual hometown.

A few years ago, I went down to Mexico and visited a small mission church where I had taken a group of students as a youth pastor in the late 1970s. I had a marvelous experience, standing on the steps of that little church and thinking about what God had done in my life at that place. It was a spiritual home.

It may seem silly to draw a connection between Detroit and our spiritual roots, but there is something that we long for. We long to connect deep to our history and past. It’s great that God says, “I’ve grafted you into My family.” He’s grafted us into His family so that we can have long roots that will last through turmoil.

I know that many of our missionaries and staff are busy on Sundays, and they need to work hard preaching and bringing people together. I think that’s great. But I think there’s something to be said if you’re always ministering and you don’t have a place to be recharged.

Our little church, Sanctuary in Beaumont, began about two years ago. It’s really starting to grow, and it’s exciting to see people come to be part of our church family. Here is what I like about our home church:

One, it provides me some friendships. After church we go out to dinner. We talk, and we spend time thinking and learning about each other.

Two, it provides a sense of accountability. I have a home base, a place where I can go, and they ask me questions about my ministry. They ask me questions about life.

Three, it provides me an opportunity to minister, not for money, not for my job, but just because I want to be part of the church called Sanctuary. I’m not here very much, and I go long periods of time without connecting with people because of my travel schedule, but when I do, I find ministry. On Sunday, a young man asked me to pray for his foot, which needed healing. Another person in our church asked for prayer about her marriage. It’s fun to be called on to minister at your home church.

The last thing I appreciate about our church is teaching. We learned about the prodigal son Sunday morning, and it was good to hear a new and fresh perspective.

I hope that this idea that those of us who are missionaries don’t need a home church is quickly dispelled. We need a home church. I believe it’s the principal way God works in people’s lives.