I Thought I Was Fine. My Barnabas Team Knew Better.

Serving as a cross-cultural worker is not an easy life. It is hard work. And amidst the joys and triumphs of ministry on the frontlines, there can also be a lot of confusion, isolation, and disappointment. I experienced that in my own heart during my most recent years on the mission field the Middle East I found myself walking down a dead-end without a clear sense of the Lord’s leading.

At AFM, we are blessed to form a Barnabas Team before launching to the field. The Barnabas Team provides CCWs with a strong support network before, during, and after their field service. Like Barnabas, who encouraged and strengthened others in ministry, the team comes alongside CCWs to encourage, advise, serve, pray, and help meet practical needs.

During that time, my Barnabas Team was faithful to pray with me and help me process these hardships on our monthly Zoom calls. But they were more than just a team of counselors helping debrief my experiences. They spoke truth into my life in a direct and meaningful way. And although it was hard for me to hear at the time, the Holy Spirit used their voices to help me realize that I was in a situation from which I needed to step away and reset.

Because they were brave enough to confront me with love and compassion, I saw the need to seek a healthier and more stable context for my life and work in the Middle East; and I’m so glad I did. I realize now that if I had stayed and continued treading water overseas, I would not have been able to receive the same degree of spiritual growth and excitement for serving the Lord that I now have.

This season of re-equipping has been deeply life-giving. I have grown as a man, a leader, a Christian, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. The Lord brought my wife and I together so that we could begin the next chapter of life and ministry together. He has shown me that being a bearer of light and a bringer of the gospel is not about being scattered to the four winds and left to serve him in isolation and emptiness.

He invests deeply in the edification of his people. I have experienced firsthand how God has poured out His Spirit upon me through the love and investment of so many brothers and sisters, especially those on my Barnabas team. Having an intentional group of prayer warriors and spiritual advisors who had my back was truly a gift, and one that I find fundamental to a mission of health and abundance.