Many years ago, a 15 year old girl named Jane asked a question on the comment page of an article of mine entitled “What is a Missionary?“. Since she asked the question publicly, I thought it would be good to respond publicly as well. As far as I can remember, I haven’t ever written about this particular question on my blog, although I have done so numerous times at churches and other gatherings over the years.
How did you know that you were called to be a missionary to China?
I became a Christian when I was 15 and the Lord really began to make me into an evangelist when I was 16. However, I never had any thoughts of going to China until I was 18 and in the middle of my first ever mission trip, a two month stint in Peru in the Summer of 2002.
After graduating from high school, I knew I wanted to do some kind of missionary work. But I didn’t know where and I was open to going (almost) anywhere. I ended up going to Peru, sort of against my personal wishes (I preferred a particular slum in Kenya at that point), but it was while serving in the dusty hillside settlements in the outskirts of Lima, Peru that I first heard about an opportunity in China from my team leader, Seth.
He said that my evangelistic zeal reminded him of a friend of his in China (an Aussie who had a passion for passing out tracts and sharing the Gospel in every Chinese city), and that I “should go over and check out their ministry for a few weeks”. That was the first time I ever considered going to serve in China, but within a week a connection had been made and I had tickets to travel to China for two weeks the very NEXT MONTH!
I remember sitting on the steps of a run-down apartment building in a gang-infested neighborhood in Callao, Peru, pondering the possibility of becoming a “real” missionary. I knew that life as I had known it up until then as a normal American kid from the Bible belt would likely never be the same again. It really did feel like an “uprooting” of sorts. Although I wasn’t yet called to go anywhere in particular, I was giving myself up to the probability of going somewhere soon. I was growing up.
My first trip to China was a two-week whirlwind. I enjoyed the “fun” experiences my little team had and the ministry we were able to do (lots of tracts distributed throughout Jiangxi and northeast Guangdong), but on a fleshly level I did not like China at all, at least the swath of south-central China that I had seen (too hot, humid, dusty, dirty, weird food).
So at first I didn’t personally feel any kind of call to drop everything and move to China. In fact, I was enrolled in college and scheduled to start classes the day after my return. Although I knew that I wanted to be in ministry, I still didn’t have any idea exactly what that would look like.
It was in this context, as my truck broke down while driving home from college just days after returning from China, that I was suddenly struck (in my “mind’s eye” is how I always put it) with an incredible burden for the Chinese people. As I waited in the sweltering August heat alongside Interstate 40 for my mom to come to my rescue, I knew what I needed to do. I thought to myself:
“I can’t stay here when so many people back in China don’t know Jesus.
I’ve got to go back to China, learn Chinese, and serve in some way.”
Within an hour, I had shared some version of this with my patient and loving mother, also informing her that I would probably drop out of college as a first step in the process of returning to China.
This “calling” for me felt irrevocable. In fact, I didn’t want to revoke it. Some people talk about fighting the call of God (Oh Lord, please don’t send me to Africa!), but I never experienced that. When God called me, He also made me willing. It was all part of the same gracious call.
So I did drop out of school (all but one 8 week class, “Public Speaking”, which I used to preach to my classmates) and began to “prepare” to go to China. With my parents’ blessing, and the blessing and support of my local church, along with the help of numerous family and friends, I was able to fly to China in mid-January, 2003, for my first year on the mission field.
The Lord provided for my needs that first year and (among other ministry travels and adventures) I was able to teach myself Chinese, not to mention grow in my burden for China’s unreached. I returned to the USA in late 2003 and then Peru in early 2004, and my wife and I were wed in Peru in mid-2004 (that’s a long story for another day). We now have three kids, and lived and ministered primarily in China from 2004-2018, when I was arrested, interrogated, and (among other things) deported for our evangelistic efforts.
Now we are back serving in Peru for a season, where my journey in missions began nearly 20 years ago! Obviously, not everyone will be “called” in the same way, but this is how it happened to me!
