“The Secret” of being a ‘Cowboy Missionary’!

The Moscow experience for the Saws (I need to give them a last name for continuity.) is a story in itself. I will pick that up later. Remember that they are on their way to Moldova (Former USSR) in the cold of Winter and they make it as far as Minsk, the Capital of The Republic of Belarus. (Trivia = White Russia.) Jamie (Lets give them all a name.) the wife and Mother acquires a position in a Private business that provides a service to Diplomats & Dignitaries. I will mention ‘Tent Makers’ below.

Patrick (Not his real name) is a full time Missionary that Ministers to anyone who will stand still long enough to hear the message. This group is about 75-80 % late teens & young adults, tho there are families and even singular Grannies & Gramps there too. Babushkas and Dadushkas. (Sp?)

Now keep in mind that these people are like our own children … Family for sure and we are doing the best to stay in communication with them. E-Mail was antiquated and not reliable then, tho I communicate today with another spiritual son & his family in Minsk as tho there was no miles between us. With VoIP we talk computer to computer all over as … well almost as good as using a land line to talk to your next door neighbor. Believe or not funds started to come in right away Not A Flood per se and we had to rely on God to show us how to get it to them. Today it is just a matter of depositing monies into their MC or Visa debit card and one just goes to a bank, almost as we do here. I have to say that nothing is ever … was ever easy and there still seems to be a complex issue in every situation over there in the Former USSR. I believe the federation is called the CIS i.e. Confederation (of) Independent States today.

Some how … … … some way we made contact with other Missionaries on their way there or going back there after a Sabbaticals, along with Business people endeavoring to set up trade with the Belarussians and they carried the funds and little essentials into them for us. Keep in Mind that ACI, which was at that time headed up and ran by Ken and Carol Meeks at that time was a big part of this and because of their experiences were really a big help.

Now let me get to “The Secret” of being a ‘Cowboy Missionary’!” and my experience the first time.

I was just talking to my neighbor (Who God is moving in his life now after knowing him for over forty years.) that there is a hole in every human being that is to be filled with only the presence of God. I was telling him (And he Knew … ) how for so many years I tried to cram anything and everything into it and never got any satisfaction till I recommitted myself to Christ. My wife and I did that in December of 1977. I pray that this will happen thirty years later in my neighbor’s life.

Sometime in 1993 The Spirit of God Placed … … ‘A Knowing’ deep down inside of me to assist my Friends & Family to get on down to Chisinau the Capitol of Moldolva. The Ministry was doing so good and growing in Minsk that there was not a drive to get on down to where they were called.

When I told my wife that God had called me to the Mission Field she was incredulous and I could see the heels digging in. Nonetheless, I sat down to my Radio Shack Tandy that my brother in law gave me when he got his super 286 and wrote the second paragraph of my Deputation Letter. It went something like this:

If you think that this is just another preacher trying to get into your billfold, then before you read another word, … throw this into the trash can.

I showed this to the lovely wife of my youth the next morning and she said, “Oh Yea! That is going to get you a lot of support!”

Nevertheless, before we went to Church that morning, she told me that should our Pastor concurred that she would support me in the move, tho she would stay and keep the home fires aglow.

Our youngest son flat out told me that he did not want me to go over to that dangerous place. I had to remind him that a few months before that one of our neighbor’s son up the street was blown away by a ‘drive by’ down the street. Of how his mother and I ducked and hid behind the decorated rock portion of the exterior wall up in our bedroom one night when a drive by filled the neighbor’s car across the street with lead.

I just knew that I would be safer over there in Russia than here at home! The only real danger was to the hair on the back of my neck when I found myself in some bizarre situations.

Moving along! Keep in mind that I did not know how God was going to do this, only that He was going to do it! After the Service we went up to our pastor and my wife is watching both of us very closely, as I told him that I had been called to Missions and the need to assist getting the Moldolvian Ministry going. Without any hesitation, he was in agreement and we also agreed that Minsk was the home camp till the timing was right.

That afternoon after I drafted the 1^st and 3^rd paragraph, ( it was about 2 pages after it was done.) we went up to the High Desert where there was a family gathering, It was probably a birthday. When we went in some of my brother’s in-laws were already there and we had not seen them for a while. Before we even sat down, I was asked directly, without hesitation what I was up to these days. Keep in mind it was only the night before that I had received the calling.

Funny you asked, I replied. I have been called to Missions. To Belarus and then to Moldolva to assist some friends in the ministry that they were called to. Directly, without hesitation, I was told, “We want some of that!” and we soon had the 1^st $1,000, as an emphatic GO! During the middle of the next week and I still did not have the Deputation Letter written yet, we found ourselves out of town at some friend’s that we never saw unless it was on the week end. We had fellowshipped with them before they move away and were like Family too. The 1^st thing he said, (as it had been a while since seeing them too.) directly and with out hesitation, “What are you doing these days?”

I am not being repetitious or redundant in making these connections. You have to hear this being ‘screamed’ at me with Spiritual confirmation. When I told him in few words what was happening, he responded emphatically, “We want some of that!”

In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established! Deut. 17:6; Deut. 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19; Hebrews 10:28;

Having a tenacious character, there was nothing that would stop me now! By The Way! In these later years I am still being honed, as even the God Given tenacity, with out the explicit direction of The Holy Spirit, blinds one to the obvious opportunities. However, Learn I Will! In JESUS’ Name! Hopefully without, as much self effort. IYKWIM? It is so much easier to do it by HIS numbers!

Cutting to the chase! Well next week MORE! “The Secret” of being a ‘Cowboy Missionary’! Part 2. And ‘The Tent Makers'

©2007

“Cowboy Missionaries On The Go!” - - - - - - Re: 'Cowboy Crane Operators'

I have a need to explain a little more about this term “Cowboy”! Back in the late fifties and early sixties I was working on Missile Silos at Vandenberg AFB, and these Silos are around 200 feet deep. After we dug them and ‘slip formed’ the poured in place concrete, Structural Iron Workers erected the Crib Iron in the Silo. Most Iron Workers are Cowboys themselves, ‘Daring’ just a part of their characters.
The crane operator was extremely good and would bring these men out of the hole in a ‘Man Cage’ and they would be egging him on, yelling and jumping, bouncing the cage. He got so that as soon as the cage cleared the hole, he would swing the boom quickly to half way between the hole & where the cage was supposed to be set down. As the cage was swinging really fast, he would agilely swing the boom over to where he would at the last minute gently placed the cage on the X that marked the landing spot. This operator was GOOD! And so, the Iron Workers called him a ‘Cowboy Operator’. Not to take anything away from “The Cowboy Ministries” that minister to Cowboys today. I thought this would be a good place to give some meaning to my use of the term. By The Way, The safety program at that time (OSHA?) eventually stopped the Cowboy Antics, as it was extremely dangerous.

Back to my story and our friends who were Cowboys!
They sold and gave away everything, which was not much, & off they went with Family & Friends wondering if they had lost their mind. You might say they did lose their mind, … after they found their heart!

Our friends and their four kids took off for Moldova via Moscow in 1994 with only what they had with them, about $1,500.00 in cash, in the middle of winter. On their way, on the plane was a Mission Group from a Korean Church here in So. Cal. On their way to St. Petersburg to minister for a week, the Plane change destinations in mid flight, which caused our friends to miss their connections in Moscow.

Another friend of ours, went with them, to help them get established and he returned to US two weeks later. He was sitting next to one of these people in the other group and was telling the woman who was sitting between him and her husband, about this family that heard the voice of GOD and sold (and gave away) everything, but the clothes on their back and was heading for Moldova, which is below the Ukraine. This woman started to weep and our friend asked her husband if he offended her and the Husband with a smile on his face, said no … that his wife had a dream that GOD told her that she was to give a family on this trip, $2,000.00 who were on their way to the Mission Field.

Needless to say, that everything was on schedule, regardless of what the circumstances were saying. To make a long story shorter, When in Moscow, they told a person that they were on their way to Moldova and the response was, “It is a long train ride to Moldova!”

I may eventually write more about their adventures and God meeting their needs, as I put this book together, yet I am in the process of contacting them, to see where they stand on this.

Next Week: More on Cowboy Missionaries! ©2007

Cowboy Missionaries That Are Not Cowboys!

How far do you have to back up to get continuity? I will fill in this gap, as The Book progresses;

To Continue:

We met this family in a Church that “we found our selves in”, (A Story in Itself!) and to us they were believers … yet not judging, they seemed some what nominal to us. We tried every thing not to fellowship with them, except outright rudeness. Every Sunday and I mean ‘Every Sunday they invited us over to their house for dinner and fellowship. Now I did not need to Talk about GOD all the time, yet our conversations were always mundane and secular. When we would interject something a little bit spiritual, it very seldom got much traction. Nevertheless, we kept plugging along. And AND A N D we soon ‘Knew’ that GOD had put us together. And we became really good friends!FAMILY!

This Church was basic Fundamental, Evangelical, Non Charismatic, where we could probably be labeled as Pentecostal who had served in a light … well Charismatic Denomination for over 20 years.(That said, They were not a Denomination) … (You figure that out, tho It will eventually be a part of The Book too. See : Where Do I Fit In The Body Of Christ? VI (2nd Para.); Below.)

After a couple of years, now finding ourselves singing from hymnals, and being directed by The Holy Spirit, our friend found himself in a fuller relationship with God and in more light in understanding Spirituals. 1Cor. 12:1 ff.

He told me one evening, that God knew that "I would never step foot into a Pentecostal Church and that is why HE sent you to me!"

Sometime in 1993 or 4 a couple on Deputations visited, the Church on their way to China. (Going to China will become an interesting portion of the Book later on.) My friend’s wife received the calling during this visit, yet he wasn’t going to have any part of it. Our Pastor’s wife told her to just start praying and believe it or not … Oh Yea, you’re a believer, within 2 months he was called to the Republic of Moldova, former USSR. I can still hear him now (Writing and) Singing, Moldova, Moldova, I hear the cry from Moldova! (Which was a completed song by the time they left.)

When I asked how he was going to get support … IF … When it came in, he had found a support group that were not a Spiritual Covering yet collected & dispersed support revenue and for lack of a better term “Cowboy Missionaries”. This had no reference to Cowboys per se, it meant those who were on their own, going into the Mission field.

This group was Aviation Missionaries that dropped Scripture & Tracks into Villages in Mexico, until the laws changed that prevented them from doing it. It evolved into what it is today and the Acronym ACI now stands for Assisting Christian Individuals, International.

Click on their Link (above) and Take a look at what is available. If you have any questions, Email Nancy Hagerman, She will be blessed for an opportunity to assist you in getting started as a Missionary.

Funny now, as I Googled , there does not seem to be anything that uses that term for that meaning. As a side note, should you know anywhere it is used like this, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Next Week “Cowboy Missionaries On The Go ©2007 !”http://www.bigdadgib.net/2008/01/20/good-baptist-cowboy/trackback/

The Unique Way To Missions

Loved Of The LORD,
So many times, as we have been ministering, I have been asked about the process to be involved in Missions. All I can say is that the way GOD took me,(And later The wife of my youth, with me.) was contrary to any Church &/or Group Mission ways that I know about. Most Missionaries have to drum up support to so much a month, (around $20 - $40 thousand a year) before they are sent. This might be a new term for you, but to go along with that"Special Uniqueness" of our calling, we found ourselves a part of a special breed called “Cowboy Missionaries”. Below is a portion of a very Good article on the normal Deputation process. Check out the link for the full article!

Missionary deputation is often looked upon as "the pits," a horrible experience through which fledgling missionaries must pass in order to become "real missionaries." "If only we could avoid deputation," say some who claim that otherwise they would consider missionary service. Ernest D. Pickering, Th.D.

In July of 2007 we were up in the Yosemite area for a Special Retirement Celebration of one of our former Pastors and some friends from down here in So Cal were staying in the same Lodge with us. During our conversations, our Mission trips were shared in passing & I was “Told” that I needed to write it down so other people could partake of it too. Here it is in the middle of November of 2007 and I find myself writing another chapter of The Book.
I have to back up and tell another story for background before my own story, as this is really a step of faith. Next week … Same writer, Same Blog! 1 ©2007