Taking Faithful Steps

Anytime Ellie spoke with her friends about the Gospel, she was overcome with an unshakable feeling – that she would one day devote her life to ministering among the unreached.

During her junior year at university, she talked with a friend who would soon move overseas. While he talked about the passion the Lord had instilled in him to go, her eyes were opened to the existence of unreached people groups and her perspective was forever changed. She was unable to forget that feeling of disbelief that there are billions of people who have never had the opportunity to learn about Jesus. After she received her Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, she became certified as a teacher.

She knew her life was being directed toward seeing the unreached know Christ, she simply didn’t know how. Ellie wanted to obey this newfound calling on her life, but every logistical question was without answer.

She discovered a missions-training curriculum called Launch Global, taught through Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas. She said she clearly heard the Lord’s prompting, “Here’s how you’re going to pursue it.” She applied and was accepted into their two-year program.

Still overwhelmed and uncertain, Ellie asked, “What is it you have for me, God?”

At one point during her training program, she was sent to New York City for a short-term outreach project. As she and her team walked through the bustling streets, they prayed the Lord would present opportunities for them to share the Gospel. 

It was there, walking through the neighborhoods of the city she heard the Lord say, “Pursue this.”

She gladly accepted this word but when it came time to decide where and with whom she would go, it was still unclear. The Lord had lead her this far, where was he in the rest of her questions?

After months of patiently deliberating, Ellie met with a couple who had lived overseas for four years and were looking for a team to move to the Middle East. That’s when she heard the Lord say, “This is it.”

“I know I’m supposed to be there and with these people.” Ellie said she never once doubted the decision to obey. The last and most difficult question she had left to answer was how she would go when she was attached to years of monthly, student loan payments.

Ellie told the Lord, “I don’t know how long it’s going to take for me to pay off this debt, but I trust you.” Then, she said, “And I had a note in my phone: ‘Apply with The GO Fund.’”

Ellie had put off the idea for months. In a conversation with a supervisor, she was told she should consider this organization that takes on student loan debt for qualified missionaries. She thought there must be some catch or that she would not be selected in the end, but she put her trust in the Lord’s plan and applied.

To her surprise, excitement and joy, she was interviewed and later selected as a partner.

“To be partnered with (The GO Fund) is truly such a gift,” she said. “I can’t believe I get to be here without that weight on my shoulders. Each month I get an email from my FedLoan with a message that says, ‘Your payment was processed today.’ The fact that someone’s dong this on my behalf is amazing and I’m so honored.”

Ellie is now in the Middle East. She and her team are in their first year of language acquisition and are striving to acclimate to their new home. She said God continues to provide generously everything they need.

Lord, instead of asking you to “be with me,” help me to recognize that your presence is already here.

These are the words Ellie consistently prays as she transitions to her new life. When she looks back over the process she endured to arrive at this point in her life, she sees the moments in which God has spoken, moved and arranged everything for her good.

How good the Lord is to bring us to each place in our life and answer us when we call. We need only recognize that he is already there in the details, ready to offer answers like, “Here’s how,” “This is it,” and “It’s here.”

To Be Willing

As eleven-year-old Elizabeth* sat with her family in their Michigan church, a missionary who had traveled from India shared stories from the stage about a far-away land and of people who had never heard of Jesus.

Elizabeth listened intently to the man’s heart for the people he interacted with and the ministry God had set before him. That’s when she heard the Lord quietly ask her, “Would you be willing to go to India?”

Unshaken by the question, she thought, “Yes Lord, I’ll go.”

Little did she know at the time where the Lord would eventually lead her but this willingness to go would follow her throughout her life.

While attending Eastern Michigan University, she met Jacob*. They were both involved in student ministry on campus through which they met several international students. These relationships fostered in both a desire to see unreached people groups transformed by the Gospel.

Over one weekend, Jacob attended a discipleship and worship conference while Elizabeth simultaneously participated in a different conference. When he was alone, Jacob sensed the Lord asking him what he wanted to do after graduating from university.

Jacob wanted to marry Elizabeth but wanted to obey the Lord’s calling above that desire. He wanted to know what the Lord had planned for him to do next with his life and was confident He would lead the way. “I’ll do whatever and go wherever,” he said.

Then, he knew. Jacob told the Lord he wanted to go to the Middle East.

When the two returned from their conferences, Elizabeth said she knew with confidence the Lord was leading her to full-time ministry overseas. Before Jacob could share his revelation, she told him that she was being called to the Middle East.

“I’ll do whatever and go wherever.”

Their willingness to go not only affirmed their call to unreached ministry but also their future as husband and wife.

After they were married, they trained for two years. They were equipped and eager to begin life in their new country and yet, their drive to be healthy and effective field workers was consistently overshadowed by their student loan debt. They left anyways, but after one year of living overseas, they had to return to the United States and find a way to cover their costly, student loan payments.

While back in the States, they were introduced to The GO Fund. 

They applied to the student debt repayment program, uncertain if this was how the Lord would bring them relief and still skeptical of The GO Fund’s ability to help.

When they were interviewed and accepted soon-after, they rejoiced in the Lord’s direct answer to prayer and returned to the Middle East completely unencumbered.

Jacob, Elizabeth and their three children are now growing and thriving in their new home. They operate a tourism business with other families on their ministry’s team and have seen many opportunities to share the Gospel with locals in their city.

Obedience. Their lives are marked by it. Little did Elizabeth know as an eleven-year-old that one moment of confident obedience would lead her to this ministry. Little did Jacob know that when he determined he would follow the Lord’s leading above anything else he wanted, he would be brought together with Elizabeth to raise a family in their middle eastern city.

What provision and exciting new chapters unfold when the Lord prompts us and we are willing to lean in and respond, “Yes Lord, I’ll go … I’ll do whatever and go wherever.”

*Names have been changed for security.

Conquering the Storm

In East Asia there lies two coffee shops, the only foreign-owned businesses in a city of 500,000 people.

They are operated by Shawn and Megan*, a family burdened by the lostness of the country. In their city alone, there are 190 unreached people groups. They are taking on the charge of making the Gospel known throughout their vast community by drawing people to the only coffee establishments in town.

“You believe in God?” 17-year-old Xiong once asked them. He walked into the shop hoping to learn more about the outsiders who had moved to his city. He asked Shawn and Megan why they came. They made small talk, and deeper pieces of their faith seeped into the conversation.

Xiong was captivated by what he heard. “I’ve never met anyone who believes in God before, not my parents or my friends, but in my heart, I always knew there was a God.”

Three years later, Xiong is now a bold and faithful follower of the Lord. He attends one of the most prestigious universities in the nation and can find more direct ways of reaching a generation of the lost.

Owning this cafe also allows Shawn and Megan to bring three other missionary families into the country under their business visa, as well as provide jobs for locals. In their city, a church needs to be planted and the team desperately wants to see it built. Their goals and ambitions were on the horizon of possibility one year ago, but it almost came crashing down.

Their student loan servicer would no longer allow them to make the lowest-monthly payment toward their debt. Their earnings from the coffee shops displayed a larger income than what they truly make. Shawn and Megan live on the financial support of a team of people in the United States while every penny from their business goes back into the sustainability of their shops. To close the gap in their suddenly costly, monthly payments, they returned to the U.S. to raise extra support.

Nearly one year after returning to the States, without an answer for how they were going to cover their debts, the East Asian government gave another threat— to revoke their business visa.

In the year they were trying to raise extra funds, the foreign officials grew suspicious of their time in America. It was assumed they took the profits from their business to spend their income in another country- a tactic that has become a common problem.

Losing their business visa would mean the loss of their shops. It would mean the return of the other families on their team who depend on the visa to stay. Then, they saw the Lord intervene in a miraculous way. Through casual conversation with friends, they were introduced to The GO Fund.

Shawn excitedly applied to The GO Fund's student debt repayment program and they were called for an interview shortly after.

They had been so faithful to trust the Lord and his provision. They knew he had a plan. They had prayed so often for answers. Just when they allowed themselves to imagine a break in their circumstance’s storm, they were notified by the foreign government that they had one week to return or they would lose their eligibility as business owners. Would the storm overtake them?

Matt Sonke, program director at The GO Fund, was astounded by their ministry’s vision and the results they see from what is already established. Aware of their looming deadline, he rallied together a committee of the organization’s board members to either approve or deny Shawn and Megan as partners.

Two days before Shawn, Megan and their two children boarded their flight back to East Asia, their future in the country still undetermined, they were called and told, “You have been approved! Your debt has been taken.”

The storm was broken! They could breathe again and lift their eyes to the warm and radiant sun. Shawn and Megan are now back in the city where their businesses have opened a multitude of opportunities for relationships to form – in their shop and beyond.

They source their coffee beans from surrounding, remote villages. These areas are completely unengaged with the Gospel and nearly impossible to access because of the government’s tight travel restrictions. However, their business provides a legitimate purpose for visiting these villages many times per year. This is one of many examples in which the Lord has divinely appointed a channel for the team to share the Gospel with the unreached.

Thanks to The GO Fund Champions, Shawn and Megan’s family and team are unhindered and ready to continue their ministry for many years to come. They excitedly anticipate meeting many more like Xiong; ready to love them, share truth with them, and all over the course of several, delicious cups of coffee.

*names have been changed for security