The Process

Many people, when they think of a "missionary," think of someone feeding orphans in Africa, or praying with a drug addict for salvation, or maybe even preaching and teaching the Word of God to eager disciples. This is not untrue. However, those are snapshots in time...the best and most rewarding parts of the job. So what do missionaries do when they are not doing what we picture them doing? I'm getting a better idea of that all the time :)

The road to National Missionary Appointment has been a long, arduous process, that I am learning to appreciate. Here are some of the milestones we have negotiated so far:

- 6 More Bible courses
- 6 Hour "pioneering assessment" interview
- Application for "License to Preach"
- Licensing exam
- Licensing interview
- Ohio Missions Committee interview
- 1/2 Hour pre-National Appointment application interview
- 52 Page National Appointment application (requiring about 20 references!)
- 5 Page "5-Year Strategic Ministry Plan"
- Myers/Briggs online assessment (93 questions)
- 3 Hour personality assessment/psychological evaluation (well over 700 questions!)
- 1/2 Hour personality assessment debriefing for both Brittany and me

We are so thankful to have gotten this far. Much of what we have accomplished was said to be impossible with the timeline we had to work with. I believe God has pushed us through because he wants us on our campus as soon as possible!

However, we're not done yet! We still have at least 2 big milestones ahead of us.

- A week-long orientation and training gathering in Missouri upon our approval

AND

- Fully raising our support budget

It's just a shame that the last item on the list has the potential to take longer than everything else put together! The point is, we are working hard (even though it may be "behind the scenes") so that we can be on campus as soon as possible, preaching the God News (not a typo!) and preparing more missionaries to reach the whole world.

Thank you for joining us in God's plan and helping us get through the good to reach the great!