The Sending Church

God answered this prayer with Pastor Russ Tyree. He came to me at a fellowship meeting and asked me about Zambia. As I began to tell him of the openness of the Zambians to the Gospel, and about their first elected president being a born again man and his declaration of the nation as a Christian nation, Pastor Tyree was visibly moved. I told him how you can preach anywhere in Zambia: in government offices, schools, streets, and market places. I told him how the people are crying out for someone to tell them of Christ. He said, “Our people need to hear this.  Can you come to our missions conference.” I told him that I did not have a sending church yet, and thus could not book meetings.   I had already turned down 3 other meetings. You really do not know how hard this time was. We could only wait…

Sending Church Provided!

This began the next chapter of our new missionary life. Pastor Tyree said that they were in the middle of a building program, and really did not have the resources to take on a missionary.  Humanly speaking, the circumstances were not right, but God had laid this ministry on his heart.  This was an answer to our prayers as God seemed to want us to be sent out from a church other than the one that I pastored.  I did not want to church shop and we so desperately wanted a sending church who loved this ministry as much as we did. My wife and I had prayed that God would just give us a sending church.

Pastor Tyree and I both agreed to pray about the matter.  I did not want to “interview” churches.   I wanted God’s will. The next day Pastor Tyree and I talked over the phone. He told me that God didn’t say no! With that I traveled over the mountains to Auburn and met with Pastor Tyree and Co-Pastor David Wilder. They came with a large atlas and we began to talk about AFRICA!  What a blessed meeting. I told them about the burden of the Lord upon my heart and God began to knit our hearts together.

Pastor Russ Tyree

I did not know very much about Pastor Tyree. I soon learned that years ago he marched around a piece of property barefoot while praying and claiming it for the Lord. The owners had decided not to sell it to the church, but Pastor Tyree had a different plan! After that meeting with God, he went and spoke with the owners of the property and they sold it to Valley Baptist Church! That is the kind of man who would become our sending Pastor.  Praise be to God who gives us much greater and better than we ever would get on our own.

Pastor David Wilder

Getting to know Pastor Wilder was also a real blessing. As a missionary leaves to go on the field, it is comforting to know that the future of the sending church is secure. It is exciting to see that Pastor Wilder shares the same vision to reach the World for Christ.

The wisdom of waiting would soon become evident as John Shrader began his search for a sending church. He felt convinced that God’s will was that he also be sent out of Valley Baptist Church. However, where the idea of taking on one missionary was big, the idea of two was daunting. But God began to work. Valley Baptist is now the sending church of both John, and I.  I see this as simply nothing less than the hand of God. The people saw the vision and missions giving skyrocketed!

 WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!

After faith, God moves.