Whose Agenda?: Entrusting Missions to the Lord

At our annual Edenite outreach conference, the organizers asked me to lead a group to the cities of Sook and Aldous. I’d seen God at work in Sook and longed to return to Aldous after five years away. As I prayed, excitement grew for what the Lord might do.

But God had other plans.

Our group was assigned a local evangelist, Beerah, who serves faithfully in a nearby province. On the first day he shared his itinerary—three full days, none in Sook or Aldous. My heart sank. These cities weighed heavy on me, but I knew we needed to honor and highlight Beerah’s ministry. I entrusted my agenda to the Lord.

Beerah’s approach was simple yet profound: find a “prepared person”—someone open to Christ and willing to introduce him to family and friends—and invest deeply in their lives. One man battling alcoholism became such a person. Beerah’s compassion for him, his grieving wife, and their extended family opened remarkable doors. We were soon feasting in the home of a patriarch devastated by the earthquake, the loss of his son and the recent death of his wife. That night, the family—Muslim and Orthodox alike—asked us to pray for jobs, homes, children and peace. Out of deep pain, they turned to Beerah’s God for hope.

I was struck by the beauty of Beerah’s ministry, which had started with one person but deepened after two years in which he wholeheartedly served everyone, regardless of their faith or level of brokenness.

It was beautiful.

Yet my heart still burned for Aldous. Like Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3—“when I could bear it no longer”—I finally asked Beerah to excuse me from the tourist outing so I could go. He wasn’t thrilled, but he agreed.

What followed felt like chasing shadows. No responses to my messages. A failed phone call. I wondered, Am I being led by the Spirit or wasting time? But I pressed on.

At last, God opened a door through a man named Aydin, who led me to his elderly relative Huseyn—someone I had loved and prayed for over the years. Though Huseyn had long rejected Christ, I was grateful for the chance to see him once more before his passing just a month later. Even more surprising, Aydin led me to bold Orthodox believers who urged him, a Muslim, to return to Christ. Was Aydin himself the “prepared person” I had prayed for?

When I reunited with Beerah, instead of tension, we shared one of our most honest conversations ever—brother to brother, heart to heart.

Looking back, I thank the Holy Spirit for guiding each step. By yielding first to Beerah’s agenda, I witnessed the beauty of his ministry. By later stepping out in faith, I reconnected with people and places God had long placed on my heart.

Whose agenda? Not mine. Not Beerah’s. But the Lord’s—and His proved far better than I could have imagined.