God Said Ecuador

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?-2 Corinthians 2:14-16

Nafisa and I have always expected that God would call us to foreign missions.  I don’t know why, but let’s just say we just expected it and embraced the idea. 

God Pressing:

But I started to notice in about September of 2010, God really beginning to press on me.  At first I really couldn’t put my finger on what He was doing or what I was feeling.  It was like He was creating some sort of dissatisfaction within me, but a good dissatisfaction, a godly one. I knew God had called me to Pastor and preach, so I wasn’t questioning that call.  It was as if God wanted to create a dissatisfaction within me so that I could see that He was calling me to other things.  I just knew that God was moving in me and speaking to me and I had to figure out what it was he wanted.  I would pray relentlessly over this asking God to show me what He wanted and to give me clarity in this.

All the scriptures:

As the days went by, it seemed like every scripture I studied, every text I preached, and every sermon I heard was about God commanding men to make known His glory among the nations.  I absolutely could not get away from seeing and hearing that from God everywhere I turned.  God spoke to me through scriptures such as Isaiah 66:18-20, 2 Timothy 2:2, Matthew 28, Acts 13:47, Romans 10, Psalms 34:3, Psalms 67 and every time I heard one of those text, I felt as if my heart was literally going to jump out my chest.  I knew that God was calling us to make known His fame and glory to the nations.

Telling Fisa and pacing the floor:

Once I knew for sure that God was calling us to “go” to a foreign mission field, I told Nafisa.  It wasn’t a major announcement or anything.  I just simply told her one night as we lay in bed that I was pretty sure God was calling us to foreign missions to plant churches.  She was very supportive, and as always I knew she would follow my leadership.  The only questions she had for me that night was when and where.  

Nafisa is the kind of wife that will follow me wherever I think God is leading us without hesitation, which is a great thing.  However, it can be dangerous as well.  We wanted to be certain that we were going where God wanted us to go, and not where Trevor wanted us to go.  So, we made a deal between us; neither one of us would tell the other where we thought God was leading us until we both thought we knew where.  After that we really began to pray, together and separately.  I would literally stay awake at night pacing the floor and asking God to show us who it was He was calling us too.

Meeting Dr. Smith:

Finally, in about November 2010 I contacted Dr. Smith (Executive Dir. Of Missions; BMAA) to let him know what we were feeling and scheduled an appointment with him.  After we were unable to get together several times because of weather and other unforeseen events, we decided to meet together at the January 2011 Mission Symposium in Lufkin, TX. 

God said Ecuador:

During the week leading up to our meeting, I was attending a “Basic Training” seminar in Conroe, TX.  While attending the conference and learning about missional movements, planting, and discipling, God really began to give me a picture of what that might look like for me in a foreign country.  As that picture began to develop I continued to pray about where and who God was calling us to.  Finally, on the last night of our stay, as I was driving to a restaurant and praying about this place, God laid the country of Ecuador on my heart.  In fact, I would have to say it was the closest thing to audible I could explain.  For months we had been praying about where, looking at maps and globes, searching websites like joshuaproject.net  and hoping God would show us a sign.  I was desperate and pled with God for wisdom and discernment.  I needed something, a sign, anything.  I was ready to start spinning the globe in my office while closing my eyes, and then just stop it with my finger to see where it landed.  We’d just call it divine providence, right?  Ok, so I did that a couple of times and it kept landing in the ocean so I quit.  Seriously though, during that time we gave thought to a number of countries and people groups, but never did Ecuador cross our mind.  It was nowhere on our radar.

God tells Nafisa Ecuador:

I left that next day for Lufkin to attend the Mission Symposium and meet with Dr. Smith.  When I arrived at the hotel after the first night I called my wife to remind her to pray for our meeting the next morning with Dr. Smith concerning missions.  I also told her that Bro. Buddy Johnson had asked me to go with him to teach along the river in the Amazon Basin.  At that point she replied to me by saying, that she wondered if the Amazon went through Ecuador.  She said that as she had tried to do her Bible study that night she was very distracted, so she just spent time in prayer, and that for some reason God has just impressed upon her heart the country of Ecuador.

The Meeting:

I wrote the name Ecuador in my Bible and armed with this information, I met with Dr. Smith the following morning.  I told him that we felt God calling us to foreign missions.  I explained that we felt led to plant churches that planted churches, but that we were hoping the missions department might give us some guidance as to where.  I told him that we wanted to be open to wherever God wanted to send us, but that we felt like it might be Latin America.  I didn’t mention Ecuador though.  Dr. Smith then replied by telling me that if we were looking into Latin American, Ecuador would be a good place to consider because we had no missionaries there.  At this point I felt like God was being pretty clear in His calling us to Ecuador.

Symposium/Bro. Phil:

I left the meeting overwhelmed by what God was doing and returned to the symposium.  Brother Phil Knot was the first director to open the morning session and he began by saying, “Today, God is going to call someone to the mission field”.  At that moment I just began to cry uncontrollably and confess to God that I knew now what He wanted me to do, and I had no excuse not to do it.  He had made it clear that He was calling us to plant churches for His glory in Ecuador.

God confirms:

Since that time we have studied the country intensely and we spent two weeks traveling the country itself.  During this time God has only confirmed His call with a greater sense of authority, clarity, and confirmation.  The moment we landed in Ecuador we knew this was home and every move we made in the country felt as if it were led by the hand of God.  There is no doubt in my mind that this is what God has called us to do, no doubt this is where He has called us to go!

For His Glory,

Trevor and Nafisa