Growth

Summer: An Opportunity to Use Your Skills on the Mission Field

“When it comes to the mission field, it’s not a matter of ‘Lord, should I go?’ but of ‘Lord, I’m going unless You stop me.”

I leaned back in my chair in the middle of an interview with Andy Gwynn, listening to what he just said.

Andy is a senior Studio Art major who works in the Advertising Services department at Pensacola Christian College as the on-campus photographer.

While he has many interests—from videography to gymnastics—what stands out in Andy is that he has surrendered himself to the Lord’s plans. Like many other students on campus, Andy is taking what he’s learned in the classroom setting and applying it on the mission field this summer.

“Peru was never on my personal agenda,” Andy commented. “The first time I went to Peru back in 2010, I was actually headed on a missions trip to Costa Rica. But the trip was canceled, and my other option was to join a medical team going to Arequipa, Peru, to assist at a missions clinic there. Well, I hadn’t been planning on Peru, I didn’t have the funds, and I didn’t feel I had much to offer in the medical field.”

Here, Andy made a choice.

He said, “The group leaders said that they needed my help, and I felt that God wanted me to go. So I started sending out text messages and praying, and in a way that only He could have worked, the Lord raised just the funds I needed in time to go to Peru! If God wants you to go, He’s going to get you there. I mean, just think about what may hold us back from the mission field. Is it money? Come on—He’s God! Money is nothing to Him!”

I paused for a moment and looked down at my measly interview questions: “Overall, how will you contribute to your team?” “What is one skill that you would say most qualifies you for this trip?” I’d come to hear about how great someone could be on the mission field, and instead, I heard about the faith someone could have in a great God.

I put aside my questions and just listened.

Andy went on to describe his upcoming missions trip back to Peru this summer:

“This time, I’ll be doing some evangelistic work there. I’ll pull from my studies in studio art and web design, but my main goal is to use my experience in videography to minister to the people down there and to inspire the people back here to get involved in missions and to take action.”

His stories from Arequipa, of the hunger for truth and the faith of the people over there, were incredible!

I was suddenly struck by a thought. “Andy, why do you think people here in the States don’t respond to God’s message like that?”

“A lack of desperation,” he replied without hesitating. “We don’t understand true need here. In Arequipa, people live on the bare minimum. So when you tell them that there is a God powerful enough to supply all their need, they believe it.”

Well, Andy is packing his bags, slinging a camera over his shoulder, and heading back to Peru in just a few weeks! And what’s so great about that? It is simply an example of this: that when you are faithful to God, He will use you for amazing things!

God is looking to use each of our individual sets of skills to minister to others in the way He has specifically called us. He is looking for a surrendered heart toward His call. He is looking for us to “put aside” our greatness and put our trust in His. And you know what’s so great? You don’t have to be all that great to do that.

0
The thoughts and opinions expressed in Life in the Nest are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Pensacola Christian College.

Avatar photo

Major: Performance Studies

Home town: “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through...” Also, my dad is in the Air Force.

View all posts by Anna Grace

Avatar photo

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Thank you!