AGWM News

Obeying God’s Call

On Christmas Eve morning, a long-time family friend lost her battle with cancer and went to be with the Lord. She and her husband had been involved in ministry for many years.

At her funeral service the pastor challenged each of us to live our lives with eternity in focus. As the old saying goes: “Only one life, will soon be passed. Only what’s done for God will last.”

The story is told that as missionary-explorer David Livingston’s body was being carried through the streets of London’s vast throngs, an elderly man wept. He said: “I knew him as a boy. I ridiculed his decision to go to Africa. I was ambitious. I cared for my own special interests. Now, with a misspent life behind me, I acknowledge that Livingstone made a wise choice when he answered and obeyed God’s call.”

As I write this, there are several thousand young people attending the World Missions Summit in Cincinnati. I pray that all of them, as well as myself, will make a commitment to spend this next year (and the rest of our lives) not on our selfish interests, but obeying God’s call to do whatever tasks He has chosen for us that will have eternal value.

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A Truly Memorable Christmas Gift

In 1976 someone gave me a ticket to attend the first NFL football game the Seattle Seahawks ever played. Being from the Northwest, I have been a Seahawks fan ever since.

After we moved to Springfield, Missouri, I took my children, Matt and Debbie, to Kansas City two or three times when they were younger to watch the Seahawks play the Chiefs.

On December 14 of this year, my son, Matt, took me to St. Louis to watch the Seahawks play the Rams as an early Christmas gift. It was a great game with the Seahawks winning in the last play of the game.

Some gifts we receive are truly memorable, as was this one.

I remember growing up on the mission field we received many special gifts from loved ones, Women’s Ministries groups and others.  Also memorable.

I trust you are remembering your missionaries in some way this Christmas. Being overseas at this time of year can be a lonely time. Knowing that someone back home cares will mean a lot to them. 

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Still Our Heroes

My mother, retired missionary Ruby Wilkie, is visiting with us for the holidays from her home near Seattle.

She is active in her local church leading a women’s Bible study and working in other ways. For the past 13 years she has volunteered at her local public elementary school assisting the kids in various ways, including helping the Hispanic children with their English. The children and teachers call her “Nana.” Twice she was chosen as volunteer of the year for the entire school district. While my father was alive he was also active in his local church and often assisted in a nearby Spanish church.

There are retired missionaries and other ministers in many of our churches. We need to seek them out and, as their health and circumstances allow, use them to bless our congregations. And we need to honor them. With double honor, according to the apostle Paul (see 1 Timothy 5:17).

This Christmas season is a wonderful opportunity to remember and honor in a tangible way our retired missionaries and all our ministers. Even though their ministries on the mission field and behind the pulpit may be over, they are still our heroes.

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Modern Media Explosion

In my parents’ early days on the mission field, my father, Earl Wilkie, sometimes rode on horseback in his travels around El Salvador. He preached to one group of people at a time. He taught in Bible schools with mimeographed notes and few or no textbooks. He wrote his missionary newsletters on a manual typewriter and mailed them to the States, sometimes taking weeks to arrive. He took pictures with his 35mm Leica and showed them during itineration in the States to one church at a time, with my mother, Ruby, narrating each slide.

My brother, John, an AGWM missionary, currently makes videos for Bible schools through IBMM that are disbursed in Latin America through the Internet and other means that can be seen by multiple groups at the same time. He and most other AGWM missionaries now drive around the mission field in Speed the Light vehicles on greatly-improved roads in most countries of the world.

Missionaries now preach and share the gospel not only in local settings, but also on tapes, videos and DVDs created on their own, or through ministries such as IMM. They communicate around the world through Internet ministries such as Network211, and on personal and ministry Web sites and blogs. The Bible schoolteachers and students have access to many more textbooks and Internet courses such as the “Faith in Action” textbooks produced by Global University and put on video by IBMM. Missionaries can now instantly e-mail or call their friends, family and supporters, and show in churches quality videos or PowerPoint presentations they create themselves.

It’s an ever-new, ever-growing technological world in which we live. I’m grateful the Assemblies of God World Missions is taking advantage of these various methods of communication. I believe God is allowing this modern media explosion in these last days to enable us to share the gospel not only with just a handful of people at a time, but with the masses around the world who still need to hear that Jesus loves them. Let’s take advantage of these communication gifts in every way we can.

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Shaky Bridges

When I lived as a young boy on the mission field in Bolivia, South America, we often traveled around the country. Many roads back then had no bridges and we had to ford the rivers in our Dodge Power Wagon. Other roads had bridges, some good and some not-so-good.

We were driving across the highlands near La Paz one day and came upon a bridge built decades earlier for llamas. The wooden planks that made up the roadway were held together by old ropes that stretched across the 100-foot-wide suspension bridge.

Dad made us all get out and wait on solid ground as he slowly started out over the river. We held our breaths. Would the old bridge hold a five-ton Power Wagon? Or would the ropes or planks break and Dad and the truck crash down to the river below? As he made his way across the bridge the wooden planks rose like a wave in front of him like a mini parting of the Red Sea.

In life we sometimes come to those types of bridges. We drive merrily along and suddenly come to a bridge that looks ready to collapse on us, like the bridge at Universal Studies that comes apart with the press of a button. We are not sure if we can make it across. Financial difficulties. Marriage problems. Health issues. Life that happens to all of us.

When I was a boy we often quoted Psalm 91 in family worship. I have often repeated the words of this chapter in my mind and sometimes out loud, both in good times and bad. The whole Psalm is good, but I especially like verses 11-12 which read: He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

We made it across the old suspension bridge okay that day. I’m sure our guardian angels were lifting up that old structure as the Power Wagon crossed.

As you and I cross our shaky bridges, we can depend on the Lord to get us over to the other side so we can continue our exciting journey through life. 

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Missionary Newsletters

One of the responsibilities (and privileges) of my position in World Missions is to read the quarterly missionary newsletters. 

The letters discuss their current efforts on the mission field, sometimes showing photos. They often ask prayer for their future missions endeavors, for physical healing or for other needs. Some write of the persecution or hardships they or those around them are going through.

Some of the missionaries, especially those in Europe, observe how the weakening dollar is affecting their ministries, and their need to raise additional funds just to stay even.

I especially enjoy reading about the growth in their ministries, their victories, and the miracles they experience or witness.

One of my favorite stories was posted in the October 9, 2007, article titled Signs and Wonders and Miracles:

“Rocky and Sherry Grams, missionaries to Argentina, wrote about Marcelo Hoyos, a pastor and Bible school graduate who travels by horse to minister in mountain villages. On one trip, after an hour of trotting, his horse picked up speed. Hoyos looked around and saw a host of angels setting the pace, riding alongside them. His mare continued to pick up speed and got in line. Eighty people accepted Christ on that trip.”

As I read through the letters, whether the missionaries are reporting about their victories or needs, they are upbeat. They are enthusiastic about their call to missions and thrilled with what God is doing through them. They believe they are where God wants them, and know God will take care of them whatever they might be going through.

When our soldiers return home after an overseas war we rightly honor them as heroes. We should do the same with our missionaries.

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