Mike’s Sea2sea Blog

In Aberdeen, South Dakota in the early 1950’s, the pastors decided together to invite an evangelist from Chicago, a singing group called the Cheye Trio, a bass singer named Joe Blinko, and a well-known pianist for a series of meetings.

Not many people came.

But a woman went forward one the first nights, and the young Alliance pastor noticed nobody paid attention. So he went and spoke with her. She knew nothing about church, had bleached blonde hair, smoked, worked in a tavern and lived in a basement apartment. They ran out of time talking, so he invited her back the next night. And the next. The third night, she suddenly “awoke to the claims of the gospel”.  Some kind of dramatic change came over her. The pastor was afraid that she wouldn’t feel at home in his church. He suggested she attend the Salvation Army citadel. She would have none of it! She wanted to go where the pastor was.

When she came, she had such a glow of joy and peace, and the Aberdeen Alliance people embraced her. Her life underwent a transformation. She had two small boys, around 8 and 10. Both became Alliance pastors!

My grandpa (the young pastor) has told me this story many times. I recently Googled the last name of the woman who went forward  and sure enough there’s some Alliance pastors out there, and how many people have encountered Christ through their ministry?

What do I love about this story? A life changed – yes. But after my experience as a pastor, I see the miracle in the moment my grandpa’s deciding to whether to go over and speak to this woman (at some local Christian event that was not going very well). I see the miracle in her coming back to the meetings. And – oh, I love this one– I see the miracle of the people of this Aberdeen fellowship put their arms around Ms. Salfrank and love her, ready to see where the adventure of following Jesus would take her and them together.

This story is local Americana. This story is also completely universal, experienced in a hundred thousand different communities, thousands of languages. Drink mixing smokers and railway workers in Aberdeen; cocoa farmers in Cote d’Ivoire and rebel soldiers in Lebanon … ‘chosen seed of Israel’s race, ransomed from the fall’…

What a way to change the world.

(Sign me up)

Joel Moriba Onivogui - Directeur de Mission EPEG

Dashed were my idealistic hopes of blow-by-blow blogging during my recent March trip to Paris, Turkey and Guinea. But over the next weeks,  I hope to unpack and share the blessings I received throughout the 18 days of travel.

The Gift of Collegiality

When my grandfather first shared some of the benefits of teaching Bible College, he emphasized the depth of relationships between colleagues and students. “Michael”, he said (with his trademark look that meant ‘Are you listening? This is important!’ ),  ”I could go anywhere in the world, and there would be someone there to take me in.”

While in Guinea, International Worker Dan Ibsen often arranged meetings for us with local pastors and national leaders. I think it was my favorite part, because it offered an insight into the relationships between our workers and Guineans, as well as the hopes and dreams of the people God has raised up for Kingdom leadership in that country.

One such meeting involved Pastor Joel. After initial introductions, Joel was asked to share his ministry. He told us about how the EPEG (Alliance churches in Guinea) has begun over the past few years to send out their own ministry people to live and work among the unreached cultures present in Guinea. His task was helping make sure that their missionaries had the training they needed, and  also to visit and cast vision among churches  and pastors about God’s heart for the nations, so that they support these bold workers in doing what seemed impossible – to cross tribal boundaries and present Christ.

My ears perked up – hey, that’s what I do! Though I think he does much more of the direct overseeing of missions work than I do, we were able to compare notes  on rallying churches to the bigger picture of reaching those who have not yet heard; what it’s like to meet with pastors who have concerns about how to fit this into the priorities of church life; how our workers can become discouraged when the work shows little fruit.

In other words, we were facing the same stuff.  The Guinean church is asking it’s people to look beyond their own people, even though there is a world of need there too, and sacrifice their resources, and some of them even to go and live among another culture that may reject them. They are being challenged to stand firm, and hold forth the gospel in an ethnically diverse,  majority muslim country.

Despite opposition, God’s redemptive purposes keep moving forward…..

And here’s another thought for reflection: there’s a “you” in Guinea, too! In fact,  all over the world, there are believers “sowing in tears” (Psalm 126), hope against hope, that God would bring his harvest. We really are the same, much more so than we think.