Spring Campaigns: One Word
For more on Spring Campaigns and Spring Missions, click here.
“I want you to think of one word. What one word is the Lord speaking to you about your time here?” This was the question posed to us by our team leader, Captain Josh Hinson, on our final nights in San Jose, Costa Rica.
During your two years as a cadet at the Evangeline Booth College, you are required to take several longscale trips. It was the first week of March 2024, and my cadet session, the Defenders of Justice, was on our second-year Spring Missions trip. We had spent the past several days engaging in evangelism opportunities, open airs, children’s ministry, and adult programs such as Bible studies. We were physically exhausted but spiritually charged because every day God moved mightily in our hearts and in the lives of the people we were sent to serve.
Before this trip, I had paid no attention to world services or even missions. If you had asked me if I would ever serve overseas as an officer, the answer would have been an automatic “NO.” Of course, I would qualify it with, “I don’t feel called to go.” That was truthful, as I had yet to feel called overseas.
There’s one thing I am learning about God’s call: it’s a constant thing, and walking in that call can reveal so many things — things you might not be ready for. We began our week of preparation with a powerful consecration service, and it was there I asked God to change my heart about world missions. I did not want to come back the same.
Preparations concluded and we boarded our plane. I wish I could tell you about every detail, encounter, face, personality, struggle, heartache, laugh, and sunset. I wish you could see, hear, and feel what I felt with your own eyes, ears, and heart. I can say with certainty that God changed me, and I came back different.
To tell you the truth, I didn’t want to come back. The biggest change I’ve experienced is just a humble respect for officers who serve overseas. They give their whole hearts and work long days and hours getting just 50 percent of their allowance if they’re lucky. It’s a tired cliché always hearing how “blessed” we are in the U.S., but it couldn’t be more true. We are very blessed here. We toured through one of the poorest neighborhoods I have ever seen.
One word. The “one word” that the Lord revealed to me in Costa Rica was “future.” This word has several different meanings for me. A future for the people, that they would continue to seek the Lord’s face. Future for the children served at The Salvation Army schools there. Despite the devastating poverty that they are growing up in, they will have a chance at quality education and a better life. For the officers serving there, to never grow tired or weary and have every need met for themselves and their families. For me, I pray that God would use me to impact the world around me, both in the U.S. and abroad.
If you were to ask me now if I would ever serve overseas, you would hear a strongly affirmed “YES” before you even finished the question. I believe God is asking me to be willing to serve overseas, and when the time comes, I will gladly complete the application.
But what about you? What can you do? Perhaps serving physically in another country is out of reach, but trust me, God can and will use you to advance His Kingdom. Be willing, open-minded, and humble. Let the Lord lead you to make a difference in this world of ours. Also, give, please give. Dig deeper when it comes time for that world services offering. Be a blessing, friends.
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:40 NIV).