I was reading a newsletter from good friends of ours a few days before I wrote our letter. The wife, Jenni, had been a student in our ministry in Kirksville, Missouri more than 30 years earlier. It's amazing to see now decades later how the Lord has used them and where they been in the world over the years. She and her husband are some of the most effective people we know in ministry.
Reading their letter got me thinking. I pulled out from my files a newsletter that I had written when we lived in Kirksville and ministered at Northeast Missouri State University back then (now called Truman State University). Both Dianne and I were leading groups there -- I a men's group and Dianne a women's group. In that 1983 newsletter we had written about the students in our groups, including a short paragraph about each of them and including a quote from a few of them.
As I read that letter from long ago, it amazed me how those two groups with only a few students in each group have been so significantly used by the Lord around the world. The students were from different backgrounds and had very different personalities, talents and skills. Thinking about each of them, I was so encouraged by where they are today that I decided to include a section in our current newsletters throughout all of 2012 where I can highlight them and other former students like them.
It's fascinating to see where the Lord has taken students who have come through our ministries -- some were not even believers when we first met them -- and where they are today. Some from Kirksville, but many others from our other ministries around the US. What's happened in their lives and how they have touched literally tens of thousands of lives around the world -- some from 5 years ago, some 10 years, some 20, and some even more than 30 years ago.
In our newsletter back in 1983 we wrote about:
- Jenni, who with her husband have lived in east Africa for 25+ years and ministered in a number of surrounding African nations.
- Scott, who came to faith in Christ with a friend of mine shortly before I met him. He and his wife have lived in Croatia for more than 18 years and raising up many Croats for the gospel there.
- Susie, who with her husband have consistently reached out to their many friends, neighbors, and others with the gospel. Susie's husband, Mike, who she met in Kirksville, is now a medical doctor in the US Air Force and serves our Lord faithfully where've he's assigned.
- Barry, also a medical doctor in the US military, met his wife, Debbie, through our ministry in Kirksville. They've had their ups-and-downs in life over the years, but both come humbly to the Lord and seeking him for help and guidance. They're special people to us.
- Mark and Karla, also met through our ministry. Mark came to faith in Christ early during his college days with me. They now have a family (and even grandkids!) and live in southern Missouri. They live a very simple lifestyle and are 100% committed to the Lord.
- Karen met her husband, Boyd, through our ministry. Both came from families who are committed Christians. Dianne and I have the privilege of equipping them for ministry -- and they have ministered faithfully to others throughout the decades. They've moved a number of times around the midwest due to Boyd's jobs, and each time have been significantly involved in their church and reaching out to others with the gospel. They have five great kids, some who now are married.
There are others from years long ago that I could write about here in my blog and in our newsletters. I am struck with the fact that we never know what lies ahead for the students we have the privilege to meet and work with in our ministry. Sometimes we are truly amazed at how the Lord uses them and far greater ways than we ever could imagine and in far greater ways than ourselves.
Makes me look at the men and women we currently are involved with at the University of Michigan. Where will some of them be in 30 years? (I'll probably not see that time.) God uses people in great ways when they are yielded to him and have a desire to serve him in other's lives.
(PS: If you'd like to receive our bi-monthly newsletter by email, let me know. Click on the "You Contact Me" button in the "Blinking 12:00" blog header and let me know that you would like to be added to our email newsletter list. You can read ways the Lord is using our ministry in the lives of many at the University of Michigan.)
