You ask...We answer.

I have kept a running list of questions Jeremy and I have been asked while raising support. Most of the time we have a chance to answer them right then, but I know there are some people who may be wondering about these questions and have not had a chance to ask. So, here are some of the most asked questions with answers. If anyone has any other questions, please feel free to contact Jeremy or me and we would love to talk with you!

When do you plan to leave?
Our goal departure date is September 2013. This is completely dependant on our funding. Jeremy has resigned from his job and will leave on June 30th. The school has already begun the process of hiring his replacement, so this is definitely happening! I say that our departure date is completely dependant on our funding, that means we cannot leave unless we are 100% funded.
OMS holds cross training in January and July of each year. We need to be at July Cross-Training in order to meet our goal. That means we must be at least 50% funded in June. But, obviously we want to be further along than that.

Where will you live?
Our first three months in Spain will be spent in Madrid (the capital). During this time our only assignment will be language learning. We will focus completely on language learning then so that the rest of our first term can be devoted to serving the people fully. We will mostly likely live with another missionary couple or with someone they know.
After the first three months we will move to another area near El Escorial. There we will have an apartment since will be our home during our time in Spain.

What exactly will you be doing?
It is difficult to explain exactly what we will be doing. I say this because, just as a pastor, or any other career minister, each day will look different than the next. Our end goal is to plant churches or house churches. We will be doing this by simply building relationships. In order to do this, part of my job will be teaching English classes. Jeremy will likely be working with a youth group that has already been formed. Our days will be filled with these activities along with team meetings, projects, planning events, and day-to-day activities.
The team that we will be working with has a goal to reach 25 different towns in an area northwest of Madrid. Everything that we do will be in an effort to meet this goal.

How long will you be there?
This is another question that is somewhat difficult to answer. Our first term with OMS is two years. After that time we will have six months of furlough. This will be a time when we come back to the States and visit family, supporters and possibly do more support raising if necessary. Following our furlough time we will return to Spain for at least 4 years.
At this time Jeremy and I do see our missionary status as a career. We do not see ourselves returning to the States to find another job or career anytime soon. Clearly, I say this knowing that God may have other plans for us after these first two years. But, at this time this is what He has revealed to us. Our time in Spain may just be the beginning. He may have another location in store for us or he may reveal something completely new. However, we are acting in boldness and confidence that Spain is His calling for us.

How will you make money? Will you have another job?
Our income is solely from our monthly faith promises. That means that as you respond to our presentations and calling with monthly faith promises- your funds are supporting the ministry that God has called us to. We will not have another job while in Spain. This is due not only to Visas but also because we want to dedicate as much time as possible to this ministry. We do not want to spread ourselves thin and not be able to give everything to this work.

Why do you have to raise SO MUCH money?
People have asked about the exact amount we must have pledged monthly. I sometimes hesitate to give the exact amount because I do not want you to be hung up on the number. However, the number is important. The people at OMS have carefully figured out just how much we will need each month to operate and function well as missionaries in this area.
Let me tell you that our salary is only a fraction of the total monthly pledges we need.
The best way I can think to explain our MSR (Missionary Support Requirement) is as if we were self-employed. Anyone who owns a small business can tell you that the money that comes in must not only cover your salary but also all of the business expenses that you will incur. Our monthly pledges cover much more than what comes into our bank account.

I hope this offers you a little more clarity about what we will be doing and also how you can be a part of this.

The Sent and The Senders

Not every Christian is called to meet every need. Not every Christian is called to be a missionary or a pastor or to any full time ministry. Most are called to fields outside the realm of ministry. But all are called to minister to their family, church family and seek how they can grow the Kingdom.

Two specific callings go hand in hand. Those who are called to be sent and those who are called to be senders. Not everyone is called to be sent, but anyone can be a sender. Anyone, in any job or ministry, part time or full-time. Anyone with any spiritual gifts or talents or abilities. Anyone can be a sender.

Maybe you have a job at home, or a family, or you know exactly the place God has called you to be. Maybe, for whatever reason, you know that you cannot physically go to another country. But God tells everyone to go. As you go to work, as you go to school, as you go to the store or the movies. Go and make disciples. But, I think we should all strive to do more than just the bare minimum.  We should strive to do all we can to spread the Gospel. Are you comfortable with where you are? Are you comfortable with what you are doing for the Gospel? Do you think you should be more uncomfortable? Have you considered being a sender?

As a sender, a person feeds into the lives of the sent. A sender makes it possible for the sent to be sent. Senders give encouragement, provide financial support and share in the reward of seeing those in other places come to know Christ. As a sender you fulfill the Great Commission. You send your prayers and your resources to the ends of the earth.

Both the sent and the sender are required. Both are equally important. Thankfully, we have been able to experience both aspects, and are continuing to send others, while God is calling us to go. But before we can be sent, we must find our senders. We are asking God to show us the people who will send us. We are seeking out those we can feed into spiritually. We want to be a blessing to our senders as they are fulfilling their call to send. We want to encourage them as they encourage us.
This truly is a team effort. This is a job that cannot be done alone.
Would you join our team?

The Love Offering

A man and his wife sat quietly in the pew as the preacher spoke compellingly about missions. When the preacher was finished with his message he called for the ushers to come forward. He sent them out to collect an offering. The man, sitting by his wife reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. The wife looked at him knowing that inside the envelope was his two week pay check. The ushers reached their aisle and the plate was passed to the man. Without hesitation he placed the envelope in into the offering plate.

The woman was rightly concerned. Though they were not poor, she wondered how they would purchase groceries for the next two weeks. What would they eat? What if they needed something? But she said nothing.

Once the ushers had returned to the front they emptied the plates and the preacher stood up. This time he said, "Men, many of you are wearing gold watches. In these offering plates are tin watches. They tell the time just fine so I'm asking you to take off your gold watch and replace it with a tin one. We will sell your watches and use the money for missions."

Once again the plate reached the couple and the man removed this watch and replaced it with a tin one. The wife again watched in silence as her husband put on the new tin watch. She said nothing but was wondering what had overcome her husband.

The ushers reached the front of the church again and emptied all of the watches out of the plates. Again the preacher stood up. This time he said, "Ladies, many of you are wearing expensive jewelry that you really do not need. Take it off and place it in the offering plates. We will sell it and use the money for missions."

The man quietly took his wife's hand and she was comforted. When the plate reached their row, he lifted her and gently slipped off her diamond engagement ring. Stunned, she sat in silent as her eyes filled with tears. With a quiet "plink" the ring dropped into the offering plate.

One last time the ushers emptied the plates at the front of the church and the preacher stood up. Now he said, "For this last offering, I will not send the ushers out. Instead, this time you will offer yourselves. If you are led, come to the front of the church and give yourselves to missions."

The man took his wife by the hand and together they went to the front of the church. They knelt beside a Japanese couple and prayed.

The man and his wife were Charles and Lettie Cowman. The Japanese couple were Juji and Katsuko Nakada. Together with E.A. and Julie Kilbourne they would later form Oriental Missionary Society which is now known as One Mission Society.

...I go to Spain.

Learning and growing in our calling has been a process. It has been a process of learning to sacrifice, learning to trust God and each other, and learning to stop and listen. It has also been a process of growing as a couple, growing as students, and growing in Christ. 

As we reached the point where we knew God had called us into overseas missionary service, that was where the real seeking began. We had to wait for God to present the place. We looked at Great Britain, Colombia, and Ireland, but the doors continued to close. God laid a burden on our heart for Spain, but, as we have learned, we have been burdened for the lost in other places as well, so we could not take this as confirmation, but as another avenue to seek an opening.

Through the next couple of months, we received confirming moments and began to set our hearts on this place. The confirmation that I truly needed came through a desire to read God's Word while I was at work on September 14, 2012. I was flipping through the Bible, not really sure what I was seeking, but just knowing that God had prepared something for me. In my turning, I stopped and began to read.


"But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain." Romans 15:23-24 


There it was, simply laid before me. I have read through the Bible cover to cover several times, and generally a passage like this would be one I would read and move on. I know this little bit of Scripture doesn't seem like much, but it was to me. I have been involved in some form of ministry for a few years now (although as Christians, we are all in ministry). For a few years, I was a youth pastor. Since then, I have served as an Admissions Director for a Christian University, giving me more opportunities to reach out to people than I could have asked for. 

I have loved the time I have served in ministry here, and I have met so many amazing people who have been of great encouragement in this calling pursuit. Now, God has called my wife and I to a new ministry - a ministry to a population that is starving for, while also resisting, the Gospel. Check out this article to see just how resistant Spain truly is. A population where most consider themselves Catholic, yet only 10% regularly attend a worship service. As I've mentioned before, 47 million people live in Spain, yet less than 1% claim to be evangelical Christians. Spain has some tough soil to plant on.

Anyways, back to the passage. While there is much work left to do here, God is revealing that this is not where He wants us to stay. So here we go, we're moving on to Spain. 

Sadly, I know that we have not seen many of you who read this blog in some time. We hope to do that as we continue through the process. We want to visit you, we want to talk with you, we want your prayers and support, and we want to build our relationships here. I am learning, as I speak with veteran missionaries, that our relationships with you will be more and more important while we are on the field.

If you have not already, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter. We'll start sending out regular newsletters soon, and we want to make sure we are sending information to the right address and email. Also, our OMS profile page is now live, so check that out. 

As always, thank you for your prayers and support. Mel and I are trying to open ourselves up as much as possible for God to use us freely. We'll both be finishing school a semester early, so that is requiring more work in a shorter amount of time. We'll be starting Spanish language training soon and scheduling appointments to develop partners for ministry. It's going to be a busy year as we hope to be on the field early fall 2013, but God is faithful. 

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of a small baptism service that just happened Tuesday where a lady named Veronika wanted to profess her faith through baptism after a Sunday morning invitation. This happened as a result of one of the house churches that were planted by the team in Spain. As Mel said in her last post, it is great knowing our assignment (Vision Sierra Oeste church planting team), and knowing that efforts already established are working.

Our Purpose and Our Passion

“I set myself on fire, and people come to see me burn.” – John Wesley

This quote has come to my mind a lot recently. When I think about it, my immediate mental interpretation is that I would certainly run to the person on fire, but I would probably bring a hose. It’s not a statement that you generally hear someone say, but this was Wesley’s response to a question about why such large crowds of people would travel for miles to hear him preach.

Wesley had lived much of his life clinging to an outward Christianity - the Christianity where the works you did were the focus. He said that he hoped to be considered a good Christian by following three basic principles: “(1) Not being so bad as other people, (2) Having still a kindness for religion, and (3) Reading the Bible, going to church, and saying my prayers.” To have an enthusiastic passion for Christ was a distant concept, because salvation came largely from the works you did.

Mel and I came together with two separate thoughts of how our lives would go, but through the process of becoming one flesh, we have spent time with God trying to find our combined purpose. This quote comes to mind because at times it has been difficult for me to find the burning passion of following Christ. I have been in ministry for a few years, and in that time, I have had highs and lows, but I don’t feel that anyone ever rushed to watch me burn. Until recently, I still had this feeling that the spark was missing from my relationship with God.

On a recent trip to Medellin, Colombia, I found my passion. In an individual prayer time, I had to break away from my wife so that God could speak to me individually. As many of you know, Mel has had a passion for missionary work since she was 15 years old, and our marriage had left both of us confused about the calling on our lives. I was resisting the combining of our gifts and abilities and Mel had times where she wondered if her calling was lost or misunderstood.

I realized during this prayer time that I need to quit being resistant and just be open to His leading, so I asked – “God, what do you want for us to do?” And then the answer came – “Go.” I’ll be the first to say that God doesn't speak audibly much, but I think sometimes it takes a life changing moment for Him to clear His throat. In that moment, I found my passion. In that moment, I found the burning desire to follow Christ with all that I have. In that moment, I found hope and a purpose.

After much prayer and conversation, Mel and I took this message and redirected our path. Questions began to surface – Where? When? What organization should we go with? How long? What about our friends and family? – but these questions seemed minor in light of God’s plan. If He has told us to go, then he’ll reveal the path to get there.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

A couple of weeks ago, Mel and I went to Indiana to interview with One Mission Society. We had been working through the application process for several months and had finally reached this pivotal point. We spent a day getting to know the inner workings of OMS and the expectations placed on us as missionaries. We met people from different offices and learned more about the philosophy of ministry that One Mission Society has had for over 100 years. Today, we received a phone call notifying us that we were approved as Missionaries with One Mission Society!

Over the last few months, God has laid Spain upon our hearts. This is the country where we feel that God is calling us to serve. 1% of the population of Spain consider themselves Evangelical Christians. 1% of 46 million people… and this is where faith comes into play. How exactly does around 500 thousand people reach out to over 45 million others with the Gospel of Christ? “I set myself on fire, and people come to see me burn.” The Gospel of Christ is attractive if there are followers that are serving Him passionately. I want to be one of those followers, and I believe that passion comes from purpose. With Christ, we all have a purpose, and I’m excited that Mel and I have reached the point of understanding that purpose.

More updates will follow, and I believe Mel will be posting something really soon. If you have any questions about the process or any questions for us, feel free to post a comment or to email me at reese.jdr@gmail.com.