CALLED: MARK, A 28-YEAR-OLD CARPENTER AND ELECTRICIAN

BY TIM ALLAN, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Very few 28-year-old single men would choose to give up all they know and commit to live in a small city halfway around the world.

Fewer still would agree to live with a local family they have never met and all because they have a compelling desire to share the gospel with those who have never heard it.

But that is exactly what carpenter and electrician Mark is doing in Central Asia, after much prayer and discussion with his SIM mentors and others.

Mark, who comes from a small town in eastern Canada, said: “There is no greater joy than to be walking in step by step obedience to God’s call on my life. And that is exactly what I am doing by going to Central Asia.”

God has taken Mark on a long journey to reach this point of life. Mark has suffered the pain of family turmoil, divorce and seeing his father go to jail. At times in his life, he has been very close to Jesus; at others, he has been very far away indeed.

Brought up in a nominally Christian family, he and his three brothers and one sister always went to church, attended Sunday School and went on camps. But Mark was, by his own admission, a handful as a child. Even at the age of 13, he was going to parties and getting drunk. It was his mum who kept nagging him to go to the church youth group, even though he had already dismissed them as a bunch of uncool people who would make him even less cool than he already was.

But, by the grace of God, his mum dragged him along to the group and he was amazed to be greeted by people who seemed very different. They had peace, they had certainty and they had Jesus Christ.

Mark says: “They put me on a better path by treating me with dignity and respect. Suddenly, the stories I had learned as a child all made sense and the dots connected. It made sense that I would live my life for Jesus.”

Mark was having dreams in which he saw himself taking the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth

Within two weeks of that awakening, Mark was having dreams in which he saw himself taking the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth. While he pushed those to the back of his mind, he seemed set on a good path.

But things fell apart again when he went to Bible College, intending to become a youth pastor. His deteriorating relationship with his father, combined with the devastating fallout of a broken romantic relationship, ended up with him leaving before completing his degree. And that was where his life really headed downhill.

He said: “For the next few months I pursued a life of debauchery which was utterly dishonouring to God. I was angry with God. How could he have led me so far and then abandoned me? I headed west and took a job planting trees, intending to make my life there.”

But God was not done with Mark. He ended up having to head back home to live with his mother. Suddenly, aged just 21, he was confronted with his own fallenness, his inability to succeed and the mess he was making of his young life.

It was then that he fully recommitted his life to God, rejoining the church he had been in before going to college.

He said: “I volunteered with the youth ministry and got more and more involved. It was like going into rehab - my passion for God was reignited. Suddenly, the dreams about mission to the ends of the earth starting coming again.

“I had this huge desire to share Jesus with everyone I met and would even talk to strangers on the street to tell them the good news. This was spotted by my pastors and I started to talk to them about mission.

“Then I went to a church conference and walked past a room for prayer, in which a little old lady was scribbling in a notebook. She said she was praying for someone to go into long-term mission. I asked her who, and she showed me her notebook. She had written my name over and over again.”

From there, Mark started to think more about mission. He remembered meeting an SIM mission worker during his high school years and then connected with SIM through a church contact.

He went on a vision trip to Ethiopia, and then a couple of trips to the Dominican Republic. All the time, God was nurturing the seed of sharing the gospel with unreached people in his heart.

As he continued his conversations and prayers, God opened the door for him to go to Central Asia.

He has now committed to spending 18 months learning language and culture and living in a city where he knows no-one. Some might say he is brave, some might say he is foolish - but Mark says he is simply answering God’s call.

He said: “I could have had a lucrative career back home, with all the things that would have brought me. But it would not have brought real fulfillment.

“I am convinced I have been made to know God and to make him known and that is what I will be doing in Central Asia.”

PLEASE PRAY

� For Mark to adapt quickly to a new and different culture, especially as he settles into living with a family who do not speak English

� For Mark to build relationships as quickly as he can with local people through language school or sports clubs

� For Mark’s ministry to prove fruitful in Central Asia and that he is able to bring many people into relationship with Jesus