Getting "back to work"

-->

Getting “back to work” part 1.

When Discipleship Ministry Partnership Development (DMPD) training started we all knew it was going to be intense.  And we knew we were setting aside other very important work because this work was strategic, central. We were being trained in a sustainable model of Nigerian missionaries developing Nigerian ministry partners.   If, by God’s grace, were successful in this endeavor, we’ll have a way of bringing more and more Nigerian missionaries into this important ministry and keeping them longer.

However, still there are those moments, like when I receive a phone call from the pastor who desperately wants several megavoice players (small solar powered audio Bibles) there’s simply no one available who can load these audio Bibles with these Scriptures in his language.  If we make a little exception now, it could compromise the whole DMPD program.  What do you do? By God’s grace, Pastor was able to manage the training he was playing with fewer of the megavoice players, with the promise that as soon as possible, we’d get the rest to him.

It’s no wonder we find ourselves saying, when can we get “back to work?”  Janet, one of the members of our Scripture Engagement Team, has a new perspective on this after going through DMDP.  “Of course, we are eager to get back to our main ministry, she says, but this is ministry too.”  Here at DMPD each day we meet with several different people, have the opportunity to share with them the exciting things God’s doing through Bible translation, and then pray with them about any concerns they have in their lives.  It’s a very personal beginning to new relationships, bringing honour and glory to God.  This is important work too. 

Getting “Back to work” part 2

All this took a sudden twist for me when I found myself with a high fever.  I’m unable to go to work, that is to DMPD.  I couldn’t do anything except lie in bed, and try to get well. During the 30 day Blitz program (the intense training for DMPD) I missed five working days and some weekends, but it felt like a lot more than that.  I found myself wanting to get “back to work” but as God had me flat on my back, I found myself in a place where I could know greater intimacy with him, and learn more about faith than I would have in the official working place.