together that the world may know Jesus Churches that send
1.888.866.6267
witness@multiply.net
We welcome your feedback.
Read online: multiply.net/witness
If you would prefer not to receive a printed copy of Witness, please contact us.
When I first became a pastor twenty-three years ago, God impressed on me that I had too low a view of the local church. I saw it as an institution, an organization, with all its inherent flaws and weaknesses. Over the past twenty years, the Spirit of God, the Word of God, and the people of God, helped me to see the Church in a very different light—something beautiful, something powerful. Despite human sin and brokenness, God gave me a higher view of the Church as the mysterious and beautiful bride of Christ.
It was the Book of Ephesians in particular that helped lift my eyes to see the greater story of God. In the first half of Paul’s letter, I saw God’s amazing love and expansive grace declared, and by the end of the letter, I realized that it was only in the context of this greater story that our lives begin to make sense and have greater purpose. We are drawn into God’s story of salvation and grace, and we see the power and beauty of the Church, only as we live our lives worthy of the calling we have received.
When I look at our MB churches in Ukraine right now, I see everyday disciples living lives worthy of the calling they have received.
4867 E. Townsend Avenue, Fresno, CA 93727-5006 USA
300-32040 Downes Road, Abbotsford, BC V4X 1X5 Canada
For other office locations, see multiply.net
When I look at our MB churches in Ukraine right now, I see everyday disciples living lives worthy of the calling they have received. In the midst of an ongoing war, the needs and circumstances are overwhelming, and the darkness is both physical and spiritual. And yet, the Church continues to serve those in need, bring comfort and counsel to the traumatized, and partner with others in God’s mission. They are living and proclaiming a hope in Christ, while praying for peace that passes understanding and for the light of Christ to overcome the darkness.
In Ephesians 3, Paul describes this divinely designed beauty in the Church like this: “His intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (3:10-11). A little later, Paul
adds, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (4:11-13).
These two passages give quite a picture of the Church. By the grace of God and a Gospel centered on Jesus Christ, the Church declares the wisdom of God in the heavenly realms and is able to attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, as there is Spirit-filled gifting, unity, and knowledge of God. These are remarkable images and truths of the Church becoming a beautiful and powerful outpost of the kingdom of God in every corner of the globe. It’s also where our stories are embedded in God’s story.
Now, from my vantage point within Multiply, I continue to love the Church and to maintain a high view of the local church. Multiply exists to serve the Church (and most particularly our MB family), not the other way around. We help churches send disciples to make disciples in all corners of the world. Our desire is to connect the local to the global context and to be about God’s mission together. Our collaborative work is not only in sending disciples, but also developing missional leaders, and strengthening mission partnerships. But we do all this to contribute to a movement of disciples who will fulfill the mission that Jesus gave us. In this edition of Witness, you will read about how God is at work in local churches in places like Wichita, Black Creek,
and Orange Cove, and to the ends of the earth. Around the world, local churches are making disciples of Jesus that are in turn making disciples of Jesus, joining in God’s story of truth and grace for lost people. In all of these stories, global workers are partnering with national leaders to support the extraordinary work of local churches. And somehow, God allows us to be part of it.
May God lift your eyes to see more of the beauty of the local church of which you are part.
As you read these stories, may God lift your eyes to see more of the beauty of the local church of which you are part, and may God’s Spirit nudge you toward ways that your church could be part of the stories God is writing in both local and global contexts. We want to join you in helping the manifold wisdom of God be declared in the heavenly realms, and see the transformation found in Jesus Christ be experienced in the lives of individuals, families, and countries around the world. This is the story of God’s Church!
Bruce Enns General DirectorBarry Falk is the Lead Pastor of Black Creek Community Church in British Columbia, Canada, and Jana Hildebrandt is the Director of Missions at Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas. They each sat down recently with their respective Mission Mobilizers: Greg Laing (Western Canada) and Stephen Humber (Midwest US).
Stephen: Jana, what does it mean for Ridgepoint to be a sending church?
Jana: We place a high value on mission and fostering a desire to be a part of what God is doing around the world. When it comes to choosing our partnerships, we try to go deep rather than wide, which means we like to support workers that we already have a relationship with. We don’t just support financially, but we want to be hands-on in partnering with them, going to see them, building relationships with their national partners, helping with projects, praying, staying in touch.
Stephen: What are practical examples of focusing on mission in your congregation?
Jana: We started an Adventure Room for kids where we try to foster an interest in other cultures and, more importantly, an excitement for what God is doing around the world. It helped to plant a seed in many of our younger missionaries. We also like to highlight our missionaries on Sunday mornings and, when we can, to provide more in-depth opportunities to hear
about how God is at work in their ministry. But we’ve also participated in numerous mission trips, which have probably been the most impactful. We’ve had more than 450 people involved in our family-friendly starter trip, and then we’ve encouraged many to go on other trips to become more engaged with our missionaries. As people go on these trips, we watch for where God is stirring their hearts and then we encourage the next step of investigating or discerning. In fact, every one of our church-sent missionaries participated in at least one mission trip when seeds were planted in their hearts prior to being sent out long term.
Greg: What about your church on Vancouver Island? Barry, what does it mean for Black Creek to be a sending church?
Barry: Over the years, we have been blessed to have a number of believers called out of the normal to go and bring the good news of Jesus to those who need to hear. For us, twenty years ago, that meant sending a family of four to East Asia to serve in a very restricted setting, and they are still involved in that mission today. When you send someone out, it always seems to bring back an element of life, vision, and perspective to your church family.
Greg: How do you nurture a heart for sending among your congregation in Black Creek?
Barry: This is a challenging question, and it’s a topic we pondered in our pastoral staff meeting. We have taught on the priesthood of all believers and that God doesn’t see pastors and missionaries on a higher spiritual level. So, I have personally counseled many people who are zealous for the Lord to serve where they are planted and not to seek full-time ministry. Sometimes, this feels counter-intuitive and contrary to the traditional method of stirring up fervor, and yet it has produced fruit in quite a number of people who have chosen vocational ministry and full-time mission service.
Stephen: What are some examples of sending workers from Ridgepoint?
Jana: We have been so blessed to walk alongside Travis Jost as he followed God’s call to leave a career in banking to become a missionary. It wasn’t an easy path to let him go, to see Travis leave his home, his church family in Kansas. But what a joy for us to see how Travis is investing in God’s kingdom in Burundi! We know his impact is great and we love that we can be involved in his ministry through our prayers and support. There have been others, as well, like Nasser al-Qahtani. It’s humbling to think that a simple invitation to join a church mission trip to France put in motion God’s plan for Nasser to take on such a key role in resourcing and encouraging the Church in the Middle East. So, with both Travis and Nasser, we just kept supporting their next “yes” and walked with them in discernment and prayer.
planter, but she carries a strong gift of prayer. The kingdom of God is like that, often surprising in who God chooses to go and represent him. It is such a joy for our church family to extend our mission across Canada.
Stephen: Jana, what does your partnership with Multiply look like?
Jana: We love having Multiply keep us in the loop, resource us, walk alongside our mission candidates, and counsel us in how to care for our missionaries. Our Midwest team has been invaluable in recent years as we walked with missionaries through discerning new assignments, dealing with the stress of being in a restricted country, walking through family tragedy, and working with families who struggle to see their loved ones far away. We love working with our missionaries to identify what a mission trip might look like based on where they’re at on the mission strategy map, noting that not every trip has to have the same outcomes and values. Some are strictly to build relationships, some to give support through working alongside them, some to just pray.
Greg: Barry, what does partnership with Multiply look like for Black Creek?
Barry: As an older MB church, we have inherited the rich blessing of belonging to a larger family of churches, which includes Multiply as a church-based organization. Our relationship with Multiply has been a longterm, faithful walking together as the Holy Spirit leads us to bring the “good news of great joy to all people.”
Greg: What is one of your favorite examples of Black Creek sending a worker into the field?
Barry: We recently commissioned a young lady from our congregation to full-time work with Multiply, serving among an unreached people group in Toronto. In some ways, she might not be considered a typical church
To explore partnership opportunities for your local church, get in touch with a Mission Mobilizer at 1.888.866.6267
To learn more about current service opportunities, go to multiply.net/serve
In 2015, Gediminas and Kristina Dailyde left their home in Lithuania and traveled to Canada to participate in Multiply’s long-term missionary training. It was a rich time of learning, equipping, and becoming aware of their many connections within the global MB family. They returned several months later to Vilnius, Lithuania, to start a church and serve among their own people.
However, several years later, in 2022, when war broke out in their region, relationships with their global family were put to the test. How would they respond to this crisis?
“On February 24, 2022, everything changed for us in Lithuania,” said Gediminas. “When Russia invaded Ukraine, it hit us personally. We thought to ourselves, ‘If Russia will go to Kyev, they will go to Vilnius.’ We just weren’t prepared for this. Our churches weren’t prepared for this.”
chain, one of them being Multiply’s Regional Team Leader for Europe and Central Asia, Johann Matthies. “Johann was the one who coordinated our efforts,” Gediminas explained. “Although he lives in Germany, Johann had spent so much time in Ukraine, and he knew all of the different leaders so well.”
According to Gediminas, this coordination was essential because it was hard at times for non-Ukrainians to know how best to help. “When you don’t know the people personally, it’s hard to know how to help,” he said simply. “It’s actually possible to help in ways that don’t really connect with real needs.”
Gediminas and his small MB church in Vilnius were in shock, but they were also determined to do whatever they could to help. Together with other MB church leaders in Lithuania, they knew they had to do something. “We immediately connected with MB church leaders in Eastern Ukraine,” said Gediminas, “and we asked them what we could do.”
MB churches in Lithuania began mobilizing teams and vans to bring basic supplies like food and clothing to Ukraine. “We just reacted to the need, and we drove right into Ukraine, and whatever we brought to them, they brought to others. They knew where the greatest needs were.”
It was Lithuanians helping Ukrainians help other Ukrainians—an effective chain of helping. Yet Gediminas was quick to point out that there were more links in the
However, with Johann’s facilitation, Gediminas and the others from Lithuania were able to meet with the Ukrainian MB church leaders and identify with them in their struggle. “Our help was very small compared to other organizations,” said Gediminas, “but the connections we made with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters were very strong. On our visits across the border, we sat with them for hours and listened to their specific needs. We ate borscht together. We prayed together. Of course, we brought supplies and money, but they told us later that the most meaningful part for them was that we came into their country, into their suffering, just to be with them.”
For Gediminas, this identification was at the heart of effective collaboration in Ukraine, and he saw something similar in the international response. “This crisis in Ukraine brought a lot of different people together globally,” said Gediminas. “We couldn’t do this on our own. But as soon as we started doing something, Johann connected us with churches in the Netherlands, in Germany, in Canada, and the US.”
Gediminas reflected on how personal connections strengthened the relief effort: “Where the chain is connected, where each link is attached to another, and there’s pressure, there is something happening, there is heat generated. That’s what I felt when I was driving through
When war broke out in their region, relationships with their global family were put to the test. How would they respond to this crisis?
Poland together with Greg Laing (Multiply in Canada) and with John Best (Willingdon Church). Of course, they were giving us help, but there was a connection between us. I learned from them, and they learned more about Lithuania, and about Ukraine. And there was that partnership, that good heat, you know? It’s a spiritual family. It makes a brotherly chain.”
“We sat with them for hours and listened to their specific needs. We ate borscht together. We prayed together... we came into their country, into their suffering, just to be with them.”
The small network of MB churches in Lithuania had limited resources. Yet, in the end, their relief efforts were multiplied significantly because of the broader international response. It was a global family of faith united in Christ that responded compassionately to a regional conflict, giving people all over the world an opportunity to participate.
In November 2022, Gediminas sent a video message to churches in North America and Western Europe, explaining, “We want to thank all of the churches that helped our Lithuanian MB churches to accept and help Ukrainians.”
His introduction was followed by heartfelt words of thanks from numerous Ukrainian refugees that had found refuge, relief, and hope in Lithuania.
According to Gediminas, the crisis—and the corresponding opportunity—is not over. “We are facing more challenges,” he said. “Our people are getting tired, and we expect more refugees from Ukraine in the winter.”
Yet Gediminas is not despairing. He has witnessed the strength of the global MB family, and especially their spiritual vitality. As real as the needs are in Eastern Europe, and as harsh as the realities of war have become in Ukraine, there is an abiding hope in Christ and in his Spirit at work in the Church. “We will face this together,” said Gediminas, “our faith is strong, our love is real.”
Please continue to pray for peace in Ukraine, and pray for the global MB family in our efforts to help Ukrainians in their time of need. For recent updates about Multiply’s response to the war in Ukraine, including prayer requests and giving opportunities, go to multiply.net/ukraine-in-crisis
When God first called us to go to Peru, we knew the task ahead would be difficult. Our small Hispanic church in California was behind us, but they could not possibly be our only financial support.
As we prepared for our launch to Peru and worked on partnership development, we visited so many churches: large, small, wealthy, struggling, far away and nearby. There were people who loved missions and people who openly said, “I don’t believe in missions, and I don’t care to support missions.” It was an emotional rollercoaster ride.
However, there was one incident that caused us to feel God’s love in a profound way.
Ana Maria and Roberto are in their mid-sixties, and they own a second-hand store in Orange Cove, our hometown. They are also members of Buen Pastor, our home church where we pastored for sixteen years. While we were packing up our household to move to Peru, we made many trips to their store to drop off boxes!
On one of those trips, Ana Marie shared with us her frustration and sadness. As a couple, they wanted very much to support us on our mission assignment in Peru, but the reality was that in the last couple of years sales had been minimal and they were barely making ends meet. I was touched by her love and concern.
Sometime later, my husband, Pablo, stopped by their store to drop off yet another load from the purging of our house. Ana Maria seemed excited to see him, smiling as she pressed a baby sock into his hands. Feeling the sock, Pablo realized that there was something stuffed inside.
“I have been saving money,” she said happily, “putting it away a little at a time in this sock. I wanted so much to give you an offering. In my heart, I resolved to save at least $200, but God has been good!”
Inside the sock was $225, in small bills. So much love in a tiny sock.
When Pablo came home and told me the story, I cried. I knew their financial struggles. I knew how hard they worked to earn a living. Yet they were giving sacrificially for the sake of God’s mission in Peru. That day, the Father reminded me that he is the one who called us on this journey, and he would provide. It is not about an abundance of resources but an abundance of love coming from a willing heart.
Maricela and her husband, Pablo, and their three sons, were recently sent to Peru as long-term missionaries from their church in Orange Cove, California, and several other supporting churches. To become a part of their support team, go to multiply.net/chavez
“I was not sure if anyone would come,” Jaeem confessed. “My Muslim family members were still angry that I had chosen to follow Jesus, and now I was taking a wife from a Hindu background. No one was happy!”
That day, as Jaeem and his bride-to-be, Manju, prayed about the complexities of their upcoming wedding, they were reminded of the greatness of their God, who had overcome far more challenging circumstances in both of their lives. Theirs was hardly a typical romance, after all. Both had come out of abject poverty and had first met in an orphanage.
Jaeem was only six years old when his parents died. His oldest brother was away studying in the city, and the three younger siblings were sent to the village to live with their uncle, a man who was himself very poor. School was out of the question—the children had to work for their keep.
Jaeem began to understand that he had not come to this orphanage by accident— God had chosen him.
“Every day, my uncle sent me out to collect fuel,” Jaeem remembered. “Buffalo dung, sugarcane leaves, dry branches from the jungle. It was very hard. We had lost everything: our family, our home, our hope.”
In the end, Jaeem’s older brother decided to leave school, find a job, and bring his siblings to live with him in the city. Crowded together into a single room, they could barely afford the rent. “We all had to work,” Jaeem said. “Even so, there was never enough to eat. Our bodies were very small. It was a miserable situation. Sometimes we could not stop from crying.”
One day, Jaeem’s older brother heard about a Christian orphanage in the city. The home cared for over fifty
children, meeting basic needs as well as providing education and discipleship in the ways of Jesus. As a Muslim he hesitated, but they were desperate. He applied for his siblings, and they were accepted.
“The manager and wardens of the children’s home were very kind,” Jaeem recalled, “loving us as their own children. Over time, past sorrows were wiped away.”
At the orphanage, Jaeem found what had been lost: family, home, and hope. “I also found Manju there,” he grinned, “but I did not know that I had found my future wife!”
Daily devotions and Sunday services exposed the children to the Gospel, and Jaeem began to understand that he had not come to this orphanage by accident—God had chosen him. “On my twelfth birthday, God spoke to me from Isaiah 60:1; ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.’ It was at that moment that I knew I wanted to work for him.”
When he reached adulthood, Jaeem went on to study computer engineering. While at college, he served with Campus Crusade for Christ, eagerly reaching out to fellow students with the Gospel. It was there that he ran into the little girl he had once known at the orphanage, astonished to find that she had grown into a beautiful young woman, and gratified to find that the attraction was mutual. Upon graduation, Jaeem began to work full-time for his country’s largest telecommunications services company, with Manju cheering him on.
It was a classic success story, including a fairy-tale romance. However, Jaeem never lost sight of his humble roots.
Jaeem chose to live with some of the other grown children from the orphanage, and did his best to be a good example, encouraging them to attend church and get involved. Jaeem modeled this by serving in his church as a youth leader. It was this work that made him realize his own inadequacies and placed within him a hunger to be more equipped. “I kept
praying for a chance to do theological studies,” he said. “Then, it happened. I had the opportunity to do a graduate degree at a Bible college through distance learning. I was so thankful!”
However, as the increasing demands of his job made study almost impossible, Jaeem cried out for another opportunity. Before long, his prayers were answered when he was offered a ministry position with a non-profit organization doing community development among the poor. Not only did they employ him, but they covered his tuition. Within two years, he was ordained, working as a pastor, and planning his wedding. It seemed like a perfect ending to the story.
“That’s when it hit me,” Jaeem said, thinking about his own family. “What about my brothers? What about my sister? They were still upset that I was a Christian. They wanted me to come to my senses, find a nice Muslim girl, and settle down. Now I was marrying a girl from a Hindu family, and I had left an excellent job to become a pastor! There were threats that I would be disowned, cut off.”
Jaeem and Manju sensed God leading them to design a wedding ceremony that would somehow give both sides of the family a glimpse into the heart of God.
Jaeem and Manju sensed God leading them to design a wedding ceremony that would somehow give both sides of the family a glimpse into the heart of God.
“One day, there will be a wedding in heaven,” they reminded each other, “the wedding of the Lamb of God with his Church. There, people from all nations will see the big, inclusive love that God has for us. How could we help our family see a little of that now, at our wedding?”
Jaeem and Manju were able to create a ceremony that honored aspects of both the Hindu and Muslim traditions, without compromising a clear and bold statement of their faith in Jesus. On their wedding day, family members were entranced.
“That was nine years ago!” Jaeem exclaimed. “Since that day, both of our families tell us that we have chosen the right path. Even though they have not yet come to faith in Jesus, they always invite us to speak into their important decisions and ask for our prayers when they are in difficulty.”
Their family relationships provide Jaeem and Manju with great encouragement and joy. “They came to our wedding,” they said with gratitude, “so who knows? Perhaps they will also come to the wedding of Jesus, where they, too, may be one with us as the Bride of Christ.”
Jaeem and Manju serve in partnership with Multiply in South Asia and continue to pastor several house churches, as well as providing discipleship and micro-business training for a network of churches. They have a seven-yearold daughter and twin five-year-old sons.
Please pray for Jaeem and Manju and their children as they serve in South Asia and live out their faith in Jesus as a testimony to their unbelieving families.
To receive our Daily Prayer Guide and keep up to date with prayer requests from our global workers and national partners worldwide, go to multiply.net/dpg
In recent months, the church leaders within our network were planning a big outreach event. With a civil war raging in this country bordering Thailand, there were not a lot of places where a large gathering could be hosted safely, but they decided to do it on a remote mountain where there were several small villages. It seemed safe.
One evening, several of the pastors were gathered in one of their homes at the base of the mountain to plan the camp. Suddenly, at 11:00 PM, the door was kicked open and military forces entered the home with their guns drawn. Four pastors were arrested and taken to jail.
In the jail that night, the pastors looked around at the other people in their cell, their faces swollen, and their bodies bruised. They knew what the military was capable of—intimidation, torture, even death. That night, it was difficult for them to sleep.
The next day, the wife of one of the pastors called our teammate. She was in tears. She also knew how grave the situation was. So, we prayed together, and asked God to give the men courage, that they would feel his presence in that cell.
SOUTHEAST ASIA | Adrienne PennerJesus said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Later, one of those in jail named Pastor Daniel told us what happened:
We were terrified. We cried out to God and asked, “Why has this happened? What are we doing here? We had great plans to share the Gospel at the outreach. Why, Lord?”
While we were praying in our cell, our captors came in to interrogate us. Suddenly, one of the other prisoners turned on us and, in an attempt to avoid more torture for himself, he started falsely accusing us, saying, “These men are with the armed resistance!”
Two of the pastors were taken away for more interrogation, while another pastor and I remained in the cell with the rest of the prisoners. We felt sick with fear and anger. How could this man betray us and lie about us?
But then I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit ask me, “When will you tell these men about me? When will you tell them about the hope that you have? These men are all as scared as you.”
I felt convicted for my lack of compassion. Immediately, I started sharing the Gospel with everyone in the cell, telling them about my life before I met Jesus, how I had been a factory worker in Thailand and heard the Gospel for the first time. I told them about how I had surrendered my life to Jesus and returned to my country to share my faith with my people.
As I was sharing, the guard came back into the cell with the other pastors. Miraculously, they were unharmed. To everyone else’s surprise, the guard announced, “You will be released tomorrow. Someone has paid your fine, and so we will let you go.”
We praised God and, for the next several hours, we kept sharing our faith with our fellow prisoners.
The next day, we were released from jail with only the clothes on our backs—everything else had been confiscated, our wallets, money, and identification—but we returned home rejoicing that God had done a mighty work for us and that the light of the Gospel had gone forth into one of the darkest places we knew.
Later, at the outreach event, many more people came to the Lord as Pastor Daniel and the others shared their story about how God had met them in jail and provided an amazing opportunity to share the Gospel. Within weeks, many of the same people gathered to celebrate Easter up on the mountain, and it was quite the party.
Pray for peace and political stability in this nation and pray for Pastor Daniel and other church leaders like him who are risking their lives for the sake of the Gospel.
At the end of December 2022, John Warkentin completed his active service with Multiply and entered into retirement in California. He recently sat down with fellow media team member, Eric Geddes, to discuss aspects of his career as a missionary storyteller.
Eric: How did you first get involved in missions?
John: When my wife, Geri, and I were newlyweds in California, we went to banquet for what was then the Board of Missions and Services. We were young and we heard this call to give. We were also broke financially, living month to month. So, we knew we couldn’t give much money to missions, but we thought maybe there was something else we could give—our lives. That was back in 1974, and we’ve never forgotten that moment, and we’ve pretty much been involved in missions ever since.
Eric: How about your involvement in media ministry?
John: I was in a movie theater (believe it or not, God speaks to me through movies). I had just finished watching this film called “End of the Spear” based on the true story about five missionaries who were martyred in South America. It was a powerful film and, as the closing credits rolled, I was sitting there crying, tears streaming down my face. Geri was beside me and she turned to me and said, “What’s going on? Why are you crying?” I told her that I wasn’t crying because of the content of
the movie—which was impactful—but I was crying because I heard God saying to me, “These are the stories that I want you to be telling. Why aren’t you telling them?” I felt convicted, so that night, I went home from the theater, and I stayed up until 2:00 AM filling out an application for MB Mission to join their media team.
Eric: How has your role in media ministry changed over the years?
John: For the past fifteen years, I have served as a global missionary telling God’s stories through video and photography. I traveled a lot and worked closely with our missionaries, telling their stories. But over time I also got more involved with the media team based in North America, and in developing our global media network, which focused on connecting with anyone within our organization worldwide that was working with storytelling, in photography or video. And then, during the last four years, I have focused mostly on training others. I did some production, but I was laying most of my production down and was investing more and more of my time training others in media ministry.
Eric: You traveled a lot. What was one of your most memorable trips?
John: I love engaging new cultures and people and I have so many highlights. But I’ll choose my trip to Mongolia. It was my second time there, and I was scheduled to do a media workshop, training people how to tell stories using video. Really, I went there to train one person who worked with our team in the north. But, as we planned the event, it grew. As word spread and interest developed, we decided to host the workshop in the capital, and suddenly we had several other Mongolian ministries wanting to send team members to the training. They were all so hungry to learn. We held the workshop in an apartment in Ulaanbaatar, and I just remember waking up every day, having breakfast, and then people all came to me for the workshop. And it was simply amazing to see them all grab onto how to do storytelling with video. When I left, and I thought about it, I realized that I had trained people who could reach throughout their country. It was such a multiplication factor that I had never even dreamed of. And those people are still using their media gifts in Mongolia to this day.
Eric: What was your favourite part of your media ministry?
John: I love photography and video. But more than those things, I love telling peoples’ stories. That is my passion, and my calling. When I get to know
people as I interview them, as I spend time with them, it’s amazing how I’ve been impacted by people, and how God has used me in their lives. It’s amazing. If you look at my body of photographic work, you will see not just beautiful landscapes or settings, but people in every image. I’m drawn to people.
Eric: When you were away from home and away from Geri, what helped you stay connected?
John: When I went on trips, Geri would give me verses of Scripture to take with me. So, I always had a word from God, or she gave me a word or a song that I would listen to. Those things actually gave me a sense of peace, a sense of home, a sense of her touch. And we did connect when we could, when I had internet. Of course, she prayed for me, and sometimes she was prompted to pray when I was sick or in trouble in some way. At times like that, we were together in spirit through prayer. And that made me feel at home.
Eric: What’s next for you and Geri?
John: In terms of concrete plans, we have chosen to participate in a two-year course on spiritual direction, and I’ve also been invited to train national leaders in other countries on how to use their cell phones in video ministry. So, I’ll be traveling again to do that. These are things that we’re praying and asking God about. But I feel that God has awakened me to the fact that each day is a miracle of life. He wants us to trust him and treat each day as if it might be our last. Life and death are very close to one another, closer than any of us realize. As you’re younger, you think that you have all these years to live, and death is just so way out in the future. But at this stage of life, my sense is that God is saying that life and death are actually very close together. I need to treat life with respect, and to trust God with every day, every moment. Most of all, I’m just grateful that I can have a real relationship with Jesus. I can spend time with him. I can speak to him. I can listen to him. I can simply just be with him. That’s mind boggling, but it’s something I’m learning about right now.
To watch the last video that John produced for Multiply, go to multiply.net/story/god-is-calling
“I love photography and video. But more than those things, I love telling peoples’ stories. That is my passion,”
Is God calling you to join our team in Mityana, Uganda?
Watch at multiply.net/joinourteam
together that the world may know Jesus
