by Paul Nielsen

Eddie Landreth and his wife Rhonda are pointed towards the long-term mission field. They presently volunteer in many different ways at University Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but their hearts are aimed at cross-cultural missions

Propel: Do you remember when and how this passion, this interest for world missions began for you?

Eddie: Rhonda and I felt God’s call on our lives at First Baptist Church McAlester, Oklahoma, in June 2002. It was during a missions festival we attended just a month after my first mission trip to Malawi, Africa. I knew that this was my purpose in life. God confirmed it by calling us both at the same time.

P: In what ways were you involved in missions this past year?

E: I went to India with the Washington-Madison Baptist Association last May to help with Tsunami relief work. We went to help build a “vocational/lifestyle rehabilitation” in Vidjayawada. I have taken the IMB’s Thessalonica training course taught by the author and IMB facilitator Bruce Carlton.

P: What obstacles have you encountered as you have pursued your interest in world missions?

E: My wife and I are currently and persistently working towards becoming debt-free so that we may pursue our calling to serve God wherever he sends us.

P: What would help you overcome the obstacle, the debt?

E: An outpouring of God’s abundant grace in providing a way for this debt to go away!

P: How has God used other people or resources to help you along as you continue to pursue missions?

E: We often find ourselves discouraged because we don’t see things happening fast enough. I personally get dejected at times. However, when this happens and never without fail God puts someone in our path to bring missions to the forefront of our thinking. I can be in a poor frame of mind and will come home to find that I have received emails from many friends in four different continents, eight different countries. This is my silent confirmation from God. He has called us to this undertaking. Why should I doubt that he will not provide a way to make it happen? I must remember to remain in Him and we will receive these things in His time, not ours.

P: How would you like your missions involvement to look ten years from now?

E: I fully expect to be on the field. If not we will continue to serve locally, wherever He leads.

P: You’re a member of a Southern Baptist Church, correct? How has this influenced your missions vision for good or bad? Or has it influenced it at all? I’m interested to know your thoughts on the IMB, the way they function and the work they are currently involved in abroad, perhaps in particular where you see yourself serving with them.

E: As we are Southern Baptists, we will apply as missionaries to the IMB. If for some reason the IMB doesn’t share in our being sent, then we will simply find another sending agency. We believe God has called us and that He is currently preparing us. He will send us out. I believe that the The Cooperative Program that is currently in place is a wonderful way for all churches in the Southern Baptist Convention to participate in God’s plan for missions. I also can appreciate how IMB missionaries are allowed to spend all their time serving in the field. Most other sending agencies require that their personel spend up to half of their time raising their own support. I think that would be most distracting and disheartening as I can see that this might require a lot of time and energy that could be spent on assignment. It is our prayer that God would use us wherever and however He sees fit.

Eddie on a mission trip, in the back with the straw hat

by Paul Nielsen

Meet Tobias and Selma Bidlingmaier. They hail from Bochum, in Western Germany, and both are presently working on PhD dissertations. Tobias and Selma attend a Baptist church in Bochum and host an international student Bible study in their home. Their hobbies at the moment include doting on the neighbor’s cat, who comes by almost everyday. They also enjoy rock climbing; and Selma is learning the cello, which she suggests is much more therapeutic for her than for the neighbors.

Propel: Long-term missions is a real possibility for you in the future.

Selma: Missions is definitely a possibility for us in the future. As of yet, we have no concrete plans and our speculations of where God will lead us range from China to Africa to Germany. Only He knows and it’s in His hands.

P: Do you remember when and how your interest in world missions began?

Tobias: When I came to college it was clear to me that I wanted to reach out to students. So I joined a student ministry group which was doing missions on campus. Soon I realized that there were a lot of international students on campus and together with some friends we started an international bible study group and invited international students over to our places.

Selma: The interest in missions for me began at an early age. My mother used to read to my brothers and me, stories, biographies, and accounts of missionaries all over the world. I’ve had an inkling since then that I would someday be involved in God’s work. But missions became a calling at college. At the University of Nebraska, I got involved with T-GAN, an international Christian fellowship. The group’s vision was to witness to international students on campus, to make disciples, and ultimately to see those students return to their native countries as missionaries.

P: What role does “welcoming” — or international student ministry — have in the scheme of world missions?

Tobias: International student ministry is a great chance to reach out to many people from all over the world in your home country. At colleges and universities there are students from almost every nation of this world, even from the most closed ones to Christianity. Being away from home and their own culture can open students for new experiences. Often they are eager to get to know the new culture, and Christianity being a part of it.

Furthermore, international students are often the elite of their countries and will often have important positions where they can influence many other people. I think international student ministry is a very important part of fulfilling the great commission.

P: What are some effective strategies, in your experience, for reaching out to international students?

Selma: I think one of the most effective strategies for reaching out to international students is being there for them at the very beginning, picking them up at the airport, to the very end. We found that just being there, helping them settle in to a completely new country and environment helps build long-lasting friendships.

Tobias: Offering help with administrative errands or other hurdles or inviting students into your home can become a good starting point for initiating the first contact and building friendships.

Selma: I guess I’m not so much the direct evangelist type of person but rather the one-to-one, or what I like to call the friendship evangelist. I think that the best witness to internationals and to people in general lies in our conduct towards our family in Christ (as in John 13:34), and towards others. When we show international students that we genuinely want to love them, their natural tendency will be curiosity, “Why are they so nice? What’s different about them?”

Keeping an open home or dorm room with some food, movies, games, and open hearts will ensure a constant flow of visitors too! This is especially true during thanksgiving, or Christmas when the dorms are deserted and internationals look for some company. If you’re going home to your family, take an international friend with you!

I have found that food is not only the door to a man’s heart but to everybody’s. Internationals love to taste the cuisine of their host countries.

Tobias: Also organizing parties, trips, retreats, or various other activities are a possibility for reaching out. Bringing together international students with a group of Christian students will automatically create possibilities for witnessing. While I was studying in Nebraska, I joined three retreats together with other international students. In the course of these, friendships deepened and many possibilities for sharing arose.

P: What obstacles have you encountered as you have pursued your interest in world missions?

Selma: For me, world missions or even evangelism itself begins to blur from my vision when I start to concentrate on myself. In other words, I lose interest in missions when my needs, dreams, or desires become greater than the need to see others coming to know their Savior. Other worldly things, such as my career, start to cloud my vision of Him and I lose perspective of His great commission!
Moreover, I also struggle with the lies of the deceiver that tell me I’m not good enough and that I could never be a part of God’s great calling — that I’m spiritually inferior to others and I should leave the work to those more experienced than myself.

P: How would you like your missions involvement to look ten years from now?

Selma: We can only speculate but it looks like we might be heading towards careers in academia. One thing we have in common is a passion for students and academics. Our guess is that we will remain in the university ministry scene working with students, especially internationals. That could happen here in Germany or elsewhere in the world. One advantage being in this field is the myriad of world mission possibilities, even in countries with closed door policies towards Christianity.

P: From your experience, what word of advice or encouragement would you offer to others on the journey of deepening involvement in world missions?

Tobias: Stay actively involved in your church. Seek contact with international students or foreigners at your place. And attend mission conferences.

Selma: Stick with people with the same passion! Get to know missionaries; they have lots of wisdom to share. If you have a chance, go on a short-term mission trip. They give you an idea of what it involves and it will also give you lots of ideas how to pray and support your missionaries. Keep your doors open to opportunities as well as to people and be sensitive to God’s promptings. I am always so encouraged to hear people talk about their desire to serve God in missions. There are so few. If you know that this is something you would like to do, go all out!

by Paul Nielsen

Casey and Traci Letellier are on a mission to serve with Innovista. For the past four years, Casey — a Minnesota native — has been the graphic designer for a mission organization based in Denver. Traci — born and raised in Arkansas — is a writer and folk musician.

Propel: You are in the midst of fundraising for a term in the United Kingdom. Did you receive any type of training before beginning the funding process?

Letelliers: Yes. It was fairly informal training. Jason Lane, the director of Innovista International, spent a day with us to help strategize a fundraising plan and an initial time table. We’ve also received lots of good advice from our missionary friends and acquaintances along the way — something we really value.

P: How has the support raising process been different than your expectations?

L: We didn’t fully realize how many missionaries were already being sent from this area [northwest Arkansas]. Many of the people traditionally interested in missions work are already giving to their capacity and are unable to help anyone new. Some of our most generous support has actually come from people about our age who are just getting established in their jobs and are interested in missions. But then again, one of our most generous supporters is a World War II veteran.

P: From your experience, what word of advice or encouragement would you offer to others preparing to begin the support raising process?

L: At times we felt the expectation (and have received advice) suggesting that to be effective we needed to approach our support raising as we would a political campaign, and use carefully chosen emotive terms throughout our presentation. One time in particular, we received this kind of advice and went away really discouraged because taking an approach like that would be completely inauthentic to who we are. While the support-raising process is almost certainly going to be stretching, and some serious hard work no matter how you go about it, it seems to us that support raising shouldn’t require you to be people that you’re not. We’re still figuring out how this looks for us. One thing that we have found is that we usually connect better with individuals or small groups, rather than a crowd.

Another thing we would encourage other missionaries to do is to present your vision with excellence and sensitivity to the audience before you. There is an old stereotype that identifies missionaries as a certain hyper-spiritual sub-group of believers who tend to look a certain way and talk with their own insider jargon. This stereotype does a disservice to the Church by pigeon-holing a certain group and alienating Christians who might excel at some mission-related work but just don’t fit the look. Do your part to help do away with this dated missionary stereotype!

Obviously, any missionary raising their own funds would like it to be finished as quickly as possible. We initially hoped to leave for the field in January, so we found places for our stuff and moved out of our home in December. It is now April. We’ve been living out of a suitcase without the privacy of our own home for about four months. This has been hard at times, but we still think it was a good decision. We think it was a clear demonstration to our community of our determination to go as soon as possible. It has also been good to make a clean break from our ‘former’ life and focus on support-raising full time.

Neither of us are big risk-takers by nature, so embracing this time of transition as an adventure has been incredibly helpful. The word “adventure” does such a great job of communicating the feeling of discomfort and occasional peril, but also of joy and occasional triumph. As silly as it may sound, it has really summed up our experience so far.

Finally, as you embark on this adventure, make your plans and set your time-frame — but beyond this, trust God. When things don’t go according to your plan or time-frame, try not to lean on your own understanding or limited perspective. Like we’ve been discovering, you can’t know exactly what God has in store for you. No matter what kind of successes or set-backs come your way, acknowledge that God has not left you to wander aimlessly. He has a purpose for you — even now — even during the times of transition.

P: What has discouraged you the most in the fundraising process?

L: We’ve been discouraged to encounter many people who are just too busy and their schedules too full to even take the time to hear about what we’ll be doing. This is especially discouraging because we’ve pretty much dismantled our former life in order to go. Sometimes we’d just like people to get excited with us about this adventure God has us on, even if that’s as much as they can offer right now.

P: What obstacles have you encountered as you have pursued your interest in world missions?

L: Since our missions focus is Europe, we’ve occasionally encountered a traditional view of missions that doesn’t quite know how to categorize us. Britain is not a third-world country or a tribe without a written language. Our roles will also be professional in nature: graphic design, writing and editing primarily to develop relational evangelism training material and resources geared toward 16-30 year olds. On the surface, our field and focus just aren’t what people think of when they hear the terms “mission” or “missionary.”

P: How have you overcome these obstacles?

L: Once we get the chance to sit down with somebody and explain the nature of our work at Innovista, they usually get it. I think a lot of people enjoy and are even encouraged by having their idea of missions and, even more specifically, their idea of evangelism expanded.

P: How would you like your missions involvement to look ten years from now?

L: Ten years from now we see ourselves on the sending end again — praying for and giving to other missionaries. The whole experience of being one of the sent has been so valuable for us! We’ve discovered just how vital it is to have a team of people who are willing to stay on the home front and do the work of sending others.

by Paul Nielsen

I met Geinene Carson and her husband Mat at Missions Fest Northwest in 2005. She has served with Operation Mobilisation since graduating college in 1999. Her first three and a half years were spent serving with a team in Vienna, Austria.

She moved back to the US in 2002 to join OM’s recruiting team. And, for the past year, Geinene has been actively pursuing the development and promotion of a pioneering new Visual Arts Ministry, OM Artslink. Presently, her position is Missions Mobilizer and Artslink Director.

Propel: When you and Mat were dating, did you both feel as though God was taking you in the same direction towards or into missions?

Geinene: Good question. We both had developed an obvious passion for missions and were coming to terms individually that our short term mission experiences with OM could very likely become life-long careers. Missions then, in a sense, was seen as a reality for our lives whether dating or not.

The catch was that we had very different mission experiences and ideas for what our future mission involvement would look like. Matthew had served his first three years in the Muslim world. I, on the other hand, had been serving in secular Europe, gaining a great passion for sharing Christ among Europeans while also developing avenues for using visual art in ministry. We knew God was calling us into missions, but we questioned if we were called to the same type and region of ministry. I love Muslims but didn’t hold the same passion and urgency that Matthew had for them. He had never really experienced Europe nor held the same passion that I had for using the arts. It was an interesting dilemma, one that concerned us both for some time. Our question was “How would God marry our passions and missions experiences?” We wondered if it would end up in one of us sacrificing our passion and ministry and adopt the other’s.

In those early dating days, I remember being somewhat concerned that if I pursued marriage with Matthew, I would have no choice but to go to the darkest parts of the Muslim world, having to sacrifice my independence as well as my artistic talents. Noticing my uncertainty on the matter, a mentor of mine shared a great piece of advice with me, which changed the way I looked at the matter. She said, “Geinene, before you try to figure out if you are called to this ministry . . . you first need to answer if you are called to this particular man.” She further explained to me how once I know of God’s leading in our relationship, then the rest would fall into place as God would have it. She talked about how God could change my heart for ministry, or Matthew’s. God could even change both our ministry paths entirely. This advice really simplified things in my mind. Instead of worrying about all the “ifs,” I just had to simply focus on my relationship with Matthew and find out if he was someone God had placed in my life for a reason.

Propel: Are you and Mat both headed in the same direction in your mission service today?

Geinene: I can now say yes without a doubt. We are headed in the same direction, married in our purpose and cause, complementing each other with differing gifts and talents. As our relationship has developed and we find ourselves married almost two years, we have learned to celebrate our differences instead of being threatened by them. We are discovering a “team” mentality, seeking the Lord’s will together instead of separately. Our differing backgrounds in ministry are beginning to make sense as our lives become uniquely ours.

God recently led us into a most exciting ministry. Like I said before, our question had always been how God would marry our different visions: his for Muslims and mine for the Arts. We share a love for cities and an interest in learning more about urban church-planting through creative means. God opened the door for us to move into the city of Atlanta to help with a dying church. Here we find ourselves surrounded by a most dynamic community. Two blocks away is the biggest Mosque in the Southeast, and in the other direction a most secular art community.

I am gaining a new understanding and experience with the Muslim community while he is most interested in immersing himself in the art community and helping me lead art teams to Europe a couple of times a year. If you ask me, this is really a God designed location for us and a great training ground for where He will be sending us next.

by Paul Nielsen

This issue features Erik Henrickson

(seen pushing over some ruins in Pergamum, Turkey). His experiences, with Operation Mobilisation, sailing round the Earth intrigued me. So I asked if he’d share a few more details of his involvement in missions for Propel.

Propel: You spent 5 years on the Operation Mobilisation ship the Doulos, right? What prompted you to make your initial commitment to serve on the Doulos?

Erik: Yes. For five and a half years. I was first challenged into missions at a seminar called Day of Discovery (Now NVision). After some curiosity into missions I read Unveiled at Last by Bob Sjogren. Very challenging. I was praying and looking for some way to be involved in missions. In February 1999, John Brown University held a missions week, and George Verwer was the speaker. He challenged each of us to go 2 years overseas in a missions capacity. I stood up. At that point, I didn’t know when or where or how, but I’d go. So after 6 months of prayer and prompting I officially applied. Five months after that I was onboard the Doulos.

Propel: You’ve just come back to the states to serve in OM’s home office. What will your new responsibilities be?

Erik: My specific role is heading up their Internships Program. We challenge students to take an academic internship overseas. We have 4,000 missionaries in 100 countries, so we can place anyone, with any background, with any set of skills or studies, and send them anywhere. We want to see these students have their world view changed, and enter into a missiological lifestyle. Whether they go long term overseas or work at home, they will be better equipped for life and be more involved in missions and their church.

Propel: What was your field of study in college? How have you used that in your service with OM?

Erik: Mechanical Engineering was my field of study. I was able to use it in the engine room of the Doulos. I worked as an Engine Rating for 10 months. Then because of my degree, and the school’s ABET accreditation, I was able to take an exam with the US Coast Guard and get my marine certificate. I served in that capacity for 14 months.

Propel: What were the most difficult and the most rewarding aspects of teamwork in a mission context?

Erik: Well, people are people. Different ways of working, different values. But Christians have Christ at the center so that makes it easier. But tensions do arise from time to time. Most rewarding? It’s fascinating to learn about each other’s cultures.
I am a team person. I much prefer to do things as a team. We all bring different talents to the table. That’s what makes the Doulos amazing. 300 people from 40 nations working together. And the same is true in our office here. There is a lot of talent in that, and we can do some amazing things for God together. We are greater than the sum of the parts.

Propel: In light of your missions service, is there another line of study or tidbit of knowledge you wish you had in order to be a better missionary?

Erik: It would be nice to have more Bible Study, but that should never be something to stop a person from being a missionary.

Propel: What have you found to be helpful in keeping your mission vision alive and growing?

Erik: Listening to other missionaries and hearing their stories. That is probably my biggest motivation. Just the other day, I was able to listen to a missionary from Afghanistan - amazing!

Propel: From your experience, what word of advice or encouragement would you offer to others on the journey of deepening mission involvement?

Erik: For me it was a seminar, some books, a couple of short term mission trips. And then the Doulos and a lot of prayer. It’s one step at a time. Talk to missionaries. Go to seminars and mission conferences. For me, if I see and hear what God is doing, then I get excited and want to join in.

Propel: Is there a passage of Scripture that keeps you going, keeps you involved in missions?

Erik: Acts 13:41 says, “For I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.”

God is at work in the world, and it is amazing to see. I played a small part on the Doulos which is only a part of OM, which is only a part of the missions movement, which is a part of the greater work of God.