What can I do to prepare now?

Be faithful in service now.

The divine moment is the present moment. The way you serve in the local church now is how people will assume you will serve overseas later. One of the great misconceptions of our time is that one becomes a missionary once they get a passport and visa. Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10).

Questions for your personal spiritual formation:

• How am I serving Christ’s bride and a world in pain?

• Does my Christian community see me as a missionary or a mission field?
• Do I long to partner with the local church beyond receiving financial support?
• Do family members recognize the fruits of God’s Spirit in me?

Yield your life to the teachings of Scripture and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

The single most important attribute we look for in future ministry candidates is teachability. As followers of Jesus (Matt. 4:19), the cry of our heart is to serve the purposes God has for us in this generation. We believe one of the best ways for spiritual formation to take place is through the obedience and implementation of the truths found in Scripture and continual submission to the beckoning of the Holy Spirit.

Questions for your personal spiritual formation:

• Do I come to Scripture with a desire to be taught?
• Do I put into practice what I read in the Bible (Luke 8:21)
• Am I more prone to speak first or to listen first?
• In what ways do I tell God, “No”?

Put together a “wide net” prayer team…today.

Who are the people in your life who would pray for you if you came down with malaria tomorrow? Thinking through your church directory, Facebook list and address book, who are the people who would get down on their knees and ask God to intervene for you? Regardless if this number is 5, 50 or 500; this is an incredible blessing God has put in front of you. If these are the kind of people who would pray reactively for an emergency, there is a good chance these are also the same folks who would be willing to pray for you proactively too.

Prayer is our main strategy at Pioneer Bible Translators. We recognize we can do nothing without God’s mighty hand. We must begin preparing our Prayer Team while we are this side of the ocean to get them used to praying for God’s intervention, direction, divine appointments and life transformation.

Questions for your personal spiritual formation:

• Who are the people God wants me to “take with me” to the mission field?

• Does God want to use my testimony of how He is mobilizing me/my family in my preparation to challenge, encourage and inspire the people God has placed in my lives?
• Have I thanked God for the people He has put into my life to walk alongside of me on my journey?

Attend a Perspectives course.

Perspectives.org Over the course of fifteen weeks, you will be taught by fifteen different instructors about different perspectives of the world Christian movement. There are dozens of classes offered throughout the country.

Attend Pioneer Bible Translators’ Discovery Intensive.

Over the course of a week, we will give you an overview of the skills necessary to become a Bible Translator, show you how to start a literacy program for pre-literate people, and how we use Bible Translation as a mechanism for church planting. In addition, we will show you all the roles necessary for bringing a people the Word of God (see this list of some of our most urgent personnel needs). In many ways, this week is to Bible Translation what Space Camp is to the NASA program. We will show you all the places God is working through Pioneer Bible Translators as we invite you to take steps to discern if this is the ministry God is leading you to join.

Solicit the Advice of a “narrow” prayer team.

If you ever get to the point where you say, “If God would simply tell me what to do, then I would do it” or you would like to confirm the thoughts and ideas God has stirred in your heart, I would encourage you to seek out three or four people of wisdom; people who love you, want to see God’s Kingdom come, full of God’s Holy Spirit AND are who don’t have a vested interest in the outcome of your decision (boss, parent, perhaps girlfriend, roommate, etc). Tell them all the things that excite you about your plans, tell them the things that worry you, the trepidations, the uncertainties and ask them to pray for a Word from the LORD. You may want to phrase the question as “Is there any reason why I should not do this?” (Following the Acts 13 model for discerning God’s will.)

As you share your requests with these people, probe your own heart and be attentive. Is there a particular response you hope God brings back to you?

Then give God’s Holy Spirit some elbow room to work. After the time you all agree upon, go back to the people you have asked to pray and listen to what God put on their hearts and minds. If you hear the same advice, questions, concerns over and over again, listen to it.

Questions for your personal spiritual formation:

• Who is driving my decision making process? Am I following the Father’s leading or am I asking God to rubber stamp my plans?
• Are my decisions made in faith or in fear?
• Have I tested the spirits to see if my doubts and worries are from God or from the Enemy? (I John 4:1)
• Will I trust God in the outcomes He brings me to or will I try to force His hand?
• Is there someone other than God the Father I am trying to please through my decision?