missionaryMAC

I got my hair cut in the middle of the day yesterday. When the stylist asked me if I was off work, I think I said something like "I have an... interesting job right now." As an LCMS Career Missionary, the first line of my job description reads as follows: Commits to an ongoing schedule and strategy for ministry support raising, in coordination with the Mission Advancement Department, the Communications Department, and related service areas. I work. Full time. My focus right now is fleshing out my spring & summer calendar with missionary visits and presentations. Reaching out to congregations I'm connected to in hopes they'll welcome me to speak or present occupies most of my time. Once I confirm an engagement, I zero in on other congregations I could hit on the way there/back or while I'm there. They may be others I had previously identified, or ones suggested by Mission Advancement (just one  of the teams that works out of the International Center and is d...

Happy Friday! A couple of weeks into this journey, I'm finding that I've been asked some of the same questions repeatedly. I thought a fun and informative post would be to share my answers. Q: When are you leaving?   A: That is dependent upon how quickly I can build a sustainable support network. My personal goal is to be in the DR by the beginning of August; the entire Latin America & the Caribbean region has a retreat starting on August 6, followed by 2 days of regional team meetings. I can't think of a more ideal way to meet everyone and jump right into the thick of things! Q: What are you doing between now and then?   A: My full-time job right now is support-raising. More on exactly what that looks like in a future post.  Q: How much do you "need" to raise?   A: My total financial profile is just shy of $100K. Roughly $70K would be sufficient to be "green lighted" for deployment, provided it's a healthy mix of congregations...

Chapel on Friday was a full-on Divine Service that featured the "Rite of Sending" for 11 of us. Following readings from Romans 12:3-8 and Matthew 9:35-37, we were prayed over and then presented with certificates of completion. I had a small cheering section of people there supporting me, including my parents.  The recessional hymn was one of my faves, "Hark, The Voice of Jesus Calling," (LSB 827). It references the following words from the prophet Isaiah: And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me," (6:8).   Amen to those last five. Until next time, blessings!

I mentioned in my previous post that Week 1 of New Missionary Orientation is underway; in fact, we've made it more than halfway through. There are 11 others participating besides me: A FL pastor + his wife and 3 teenagers, going to Russia A retired couple from GA, going to the Czech Republic A pastor originally from Gary, IN, being deployed as a national missionary through Mission Field USA to Gary, IN A STL area pastor and his wife taking a part time call (4 mos/yr) to Papua New Guinea, having previously served there in the 70s A Concordia University WI student from IN, going to Taiwan The goal is to equip us with a support-raising "toolbox" so that we can leave "sprinting"...from congregation to congregation, that is, as we become network-building road warriors! After some generalities on Monday morning, we eased into things with the "Engaged Contributor Workshop," an 8-hour, intensive experience about identifying the blessings that are all ...

I'm excited to share with you that I recently accepted a Solemn Appointment from the LCMS Board for International Mission to serve as a Career Missionary! My role will be Volunteer Coordinator for Latin America & the Caribbean, so, Lord-willing, I'll be relocating to the Dominican Republic later this year.   It's been 6+ years since I left the mission field. In the interim, it was my privilege to serve on the Marketing & Ecommerce team at Concordia Publishing House. I'm so, so grateful for my time spent there and all of the ways I grew professionally, personally, and spiritually. However, I feel as though every experience up to this point, including those years, has been the Lord's hand leading and grooming me to serve Him in this new vocation. Basically, it's my dream job.  Here's a basic sketch of the timeline for my foreseeable future: My last day at CPH was Friday. My coworkers made it clear that I will be missed, and surprised me wi...