What God Can Do Through a Short-Term Trip

Wheels up. Goodbye America.

I had never experienced the strange realization that the next time my feet were on the ground, I would not be standing on American soil. It would be ten days before my feet stood atop the glorious red clay of North Carolina again. In the meantime, I would be engaged in a new culture, surrounded by people who do not see the world the same way I do—in a country that is predominantly Muslim. This was a totally new experience for me, and I dare say it changed my life.

I first sensed a call to full-time ministry during my junior year of high school. At the time, it seemed the Lord was calling me to student ministry. However, in my last year of college, the Lord began to stir in my heart a love for the nations. I began to ask myself why my default option was to stay in America. As I sat in chapel and heard, week after week, about the unreached people groups around the world, I was faced with the heart-wrenching reality that millions of people don’t have access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This shook me and pierced my core.

Now, up to that point, I had been on a mission trip to Anchorage, Alaska, but never out of the country. In fact, I didn’t even have a passport!

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: “Thomas, how in the world did you sense a call from the Lord to go overseas without ever having been overseas?”

The Lord used two things to lead me in this direction, and both demonstrate the way God works through community. When I was in college, I had several friends who were international students. As I spent time with these brothers and sisters, I made an intentional effort to learn bits of their various languages. It was actually through one of my friends that I began learning Mandarin Chinese—and I loved it.

I began to share the Gospel with Chinese individuals at various restaurants and grocery stores in the area. I would tell friends in my church about these conversations, and I distinctly remember one conversation I had with one of my best friends. We were eating dinner at Wegmans, and I was telling him about a conversation I had recently had with a Chinese gentleman. I will never forget what he said to me: “Thomas, that’s not normal.” He went on to encourage me to consider pursuing cross-cultural ministry of some kind.

By this point, several people had affirmed that I should consider missions work. And while I was grateful for the affirmation from others and the exposure to diverse cultures, I wanted to see missionary work firsthand. Going on an overseas trip felt like the next step God was calling me to take. So, I decided to go on my first-ever international mission trip this summer. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

After over twenty-five hours of air travel, we landed in Southeast Asia. As I stepped out of the tiny airport into the tropical air, it sank in: We’re here. The passport worked. Up until that point, the reality of traveling to another country hadn’t quite set in. But in that moment, it hit me—my anticipation had now become observation. When I looked around and saw the people outside the airport, I noticed that, for the first time in my life, I was in the minority. I didn’t mind. In fact, I quite liked it.

Over the course of our time in this Muslim-majority country, our team spent time discipling Asian believers and sharing the Gospel with Muslim university students. As we engaged in discipleship and evangelism day in and day out, I found it really is true that the best way to discern your giftings is to practice.

The Lord particularly used a moment in the village to clarify my next steps in ministry. I remember eating lunch with our translator and another young man named Joshua in the mountain village where we were staying. We were eating our fish and rice when our translator, David, made a comment about the sermon I had preached the night before on Exodus 17. He said he had never thought about how the rock relates to Christ until hearing the sermon.

As soon as he said this, Joshua jumped in and asked, “Wait, what do you mean ‘the rock is Christ?’”

I began to explain what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 and how Jesus makes sense of the picture in Exodus 17, of the rock being struck and bringing forth water. As we examined how Jesus Christ is the Rock who was struck for our sake to give us life, I could see the lightbulb come on for Joshua. He began to express other questions he had about the Bible—questions he had never thought to ask before.

We sat there for another thirty minutes and just talked about the Bible. I had never truly considered how precious my seminary education was. After all, I’m surrounded by other seminary students all the time who know the same things I do and don’t bat an eye at the connection between Christ and the rock in Exodus. But in that moment, I realized there are people in other countries who are starving for this kind of Bible study. They are hungry for the Word, and the Lord has given me a gift to build up and serve His global Church.

As we did ministry in this country, discipling believers and sharing the Gospel with Muslims, I noticed I was exercising the gifts my church family had affirmed in me. Not only that, but I also absolutely loved the ministry we were doing. God used this taste of overseas ministry to affirm that this is indeed something I should take steps toward doing longer term.

Wheels down. Back in the States.

Little had changed about me—that is, except for one thing: I had a clear next step toward ministry. Every trip I have been on has been instrumental in clarifying God’s call for my life. The Spirit has used every one of them to sanctify me in some way and to reach others with the Gospel.

So, the question I want to ask you is, where are you going? Consider going on one of the mission trips available through the CGCS listed here.

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15).